title: B*Witched

text: In 1999 B*Witched appeared on the ABBA tribute single "Thank ABBA for the Music", which reached number four in the UK, and recorded a cover of "Does Your Mother Know" for the subsequent "ABBAmania" album and TV special. Singing dolls of the group were made by Yaboom Toys in 1999. Along with Britney Spears, they performed the opening act for NSYNC's world tour. B*Witched's second album, "Awake and Breathe", released a year after their debut, peaked at number 5 on the charts and was certified Platinum. Singles from the album were less successful than earlier releases ("Jesse Hold On" reached number 4, "I Shall Be There" number 13 and "Jump Down" number 16 in the UK). After touring Europe and America, where they co-headlined the "All That" Music and More Festival with LFO and Blaque, the band began work on a third album. Three new songs were recorded: "Hold On" (featured in "The Princess Diaries"); a cover of Toni Basil's "Mickey" (featured in "Bring It On"); and a cover of Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music". The latter two appeared on their new American EP, "Across America 2000", along with live tracks and the earlier cover of "Does Your Mother Know".


title: B*Witched

text: In 2001, a third album was in the works, and the band had chosen "Where Will You Go?" as the new single. On 4 July 2001, B*Witched made a guest appearance on the United States daytime television medical drama, "General Hospital". In October, before the group could film a music video for "Where Will You Go?”, the girls received a phone call from their manager telling them their record label Sony had dropped them. In June 2002, after one year without signing a new record deal, O'Carroll left the band, unhappy with the forced hiatus. In September 2002 the group split.


title: B*Witched

text: On 18 October 2012, it was announced that B*Witched would reunite for an ITV2 series entitled "The Big Reunion" along with five other pop groups of their time—Honeyz, 911, Liberty X, Five and Atomic Kitten (Blue later joined as well). The show would feature each group telling their stories of their times in their respective bands, before rehearsing together ahead of one major comeback performance at the Hammersmith Apollo. B*Witched had to hold "emotional clear the air" talks before reforming. Edele admitted that she and Sinéad had fallen out in 2006 and had not spoken to each other since: "My biggest anxiety about doing this – there's only one, and it's Sinéad, I think. It's just how I'm going to feel about being in her person again." Lindsay also said: "Some of the issues we didn't even know were necessarily there until we were faced with this opportunity that we have to work together again, then we were like, 'Oh, OK, in order for us to do this then we have to sort a few things out.' It all just came up. It's been difficult to get to this point. There's been a lot of talking, a lot of talking. But we're here now. It's very surreal being called B*Witched again because it's been 12 years."


title: B*Witched

text: Due to the success of "The Big Reunion", the bands embarked on an arena tour around the UK and Ireland in May 2013. The groups got together to record a charity single, a cover of Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", for "Text Santa". In March, Armaou announced that they would record new material. On 4 May, the group released a promotional single called "Love and Money" on YouTube. On 3 October, Edele Lynch announced in an interview to Today FM that they were recording their third album. On 11 December, B*Witched made an announcement via PledgeMusic. The EP, titled "Champagne or Guinness", was released on 28 September 2014. On 12 February 2016, B*Witched released the compilation album "C'est la Vie – The Collection", a 36-track double album featuring tracks from their first two albums and two tracks from their 2014 "Champagne or Guinness" EP. B*Witched had planned to tour Australia in 2017, along with other acts including Atomic Kitten and Liberty X.


title: B*Witched

text: In October 2019, the band returned with a brand new single, "Hold On", cover of the U.S. number-one hit of the same name by Wilson Phillips.


title: Asclepias

text: Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of cardenolides, although, as with many such plants, there are species that feed upon them (e.g. their leaves) and from them (e.g. their nectar). Most notable are monarch butterflies, who use and require certain milkweeds as host plants for their larvae.


title: Asclepias

text: The genus contains over 200 species distributed broadly across Africa, North America, and South America. It previously belonged to the family Asclepiadaceae, which is now classified as the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae.


title: Asclepias

text: The genus was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, who named it after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing.


title: Asclepias

text: Members of the genus produce some of the most complex flowers in the plant kingdom, comparable to orchids in complexity. Five petals reflex backwards revealing a gynostegium surrounded by a five-membrane corona. The corona is composed of a five-paired hood-and-horn structure with the hood acting as a sheath for the inner horn. Glands holding pollinia are found between the hoods. The size, shape and color of the horns and hoods are often important identifying characteristics for species in the genus "Asclepias".


title: Asclepias

text: Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner. Pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains or tetrads, as is typical for most plants. The feet or mouthparts of flower-visiting insects, such as bees, wasps, and butterflies, slip into one of the five slits in each flower formed by adjacent anthers. The bases of the pollinia then mechanically attach to the insect, so that a pair of pollen sacs can be pulled free when the pollinator flies off, assuming the insect is large enough to produce the necessary pulling force (if not, the insect may become trapped and die). Pollination is effected by the reverse procedure, in which one of the pollinia becomes trapped within the anther slit. Large-bodied hymenopterans (bees, wasps) are the most common and best pollinators, accounting for over 50% of all "Asclepias" pollination, whereas monarch butterflies are poor pollinators of milkweed.


title: Asclepias

text: "Asclepias" species produce their seeds in pods termed follicles. The seeds, which are arranged in overlapping rows, bear a cluster of white, silky, filament-like hairs known as the coma (often referred to by other names such as pappus, "floss", "plume", or "silk"). The follicles ripen and split open, and the seeds, each carried by its coma, are blown by the wind. Some, but not all, milkweeds also reproduce by clonal (or vegetative) reproduction.


title: Asclepias

text: There are also 12 species of "Asclepias" in South America, among them: "A. barjoniifolia", "A. boliviensis", "A. curassavica", "A. mellodora", "A. candida", "A. flava", and "A. pilgeriana".


title: Asclepias

text: Milkweeds are an important nectar source for native bees, wasps, and other nectar-seeking insects, though non-native honey bees commonly get trapped in the stigmatic slits and die. Milkweeds are also the larval food source for monarch butterflies and their relatives, as well as a variety of other herbivorous insects (including numerous beetles, moths, and true bugs) specialized to feed on the plants despite their chemical defenses.


title: Asclepias

text: Milkweeds use three primary defenses to limit damage caused by caterpillars: hairs on the leaves (trichomes), cardenolide toxins, and latex fluids. Data from a DNA study indicate that, generally, more recently evolved milkweed species ("derived" in botany parlance) use these preventive strategies less but grow faster than older species, potentially regrowing faster than caterpillars can consume them.


title: Asclepias

text: Research indicates that the very high cardenolide content of "Asclepias linaria" reduces the impact of the "Ophryocystis elektroscirrha" (OE) parasite on the monarch butterfly, "Danaus plexippus". The OE parasite causes holes to form in the wings of fully developed monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, this causes weakened endurance and an inability to migrate. The parasite only affects monarchs when they are larvae and caterpillars, but the detriment is when they are in their butterfly form. By contrast, some species of "Asclepias" are extremely poor sources of cardenolides, such as "Asclepias fascicularis", "Asclepias tuberosa", and "Asclepias angustifolia".


title: Asclepias

text: The leaves of "Asclepias" species are a food source for monarch butterfly larvae and some other milkweed butterflies. These plants are often used in butterfly gardening and monarch waystations in an effort to help increase the dwindling monarch population.


title: Asclepias

text: However, some milkweed species are not suitable for butterfly gardens and monarch waystations. For example, "A. curassavica", or tropical milkweed, is often planted as an ornamental in butterfly gardens outside of its native range of Mexico and Central America. Year-round plantings of this species in the United States are controversial and criticised, as they may lead to new overwintering sites along the U.S. Gulf Coast and the consequent year-round breeding of monarchs. This is thought to adversely affect migration patterns, and to cause a dramatic build-up of the dangerous parasite, "Ophryocystis elektroscirrha". New research also has shown that monarch larvae reared on tropical milkweed show reduced migratory development (reproductive diapause), and when migratory adults are exposed to tropical milkweed, it stimulates reproductive tissue growth.


title: Asclepias

text: Because of this, it is most often suggested to grow milkweeds that are native to the geographical area they are planted in to prevent negative impacts on monarch butterflies.


title: Asclepias

text: Monarch caterpillars do not favor butterfly weed ("A. tuberosa"), perhaps because the leaves of that milkweed species contain very little cardenolide. Some other milkweeds may have similar characteristics.


title: Asclepias

text: Milkweeds are not grown commercially in large scale, but the plants have had many uses throughout human history. Milkweeds have a long history of medicinal, every day, and military use. The Omaha people from Nebraska, the Menomin from Wisconsin and upper Michigan, the Dakota from Minnesota, and the Ponca people from Nebraska, traditionally used common milkweed ("A. syriaca") for medicinal purposes.


title: Asclepias

text: The bast fibers of some species can be used for rope. The Miwok people of northern California used heart-leaf milkweed ("A. cordifolia") for its stems, which they dried and used for cords, strings and ropes.


title: Asclepias

text: A study of the insulative properties of various materials found that milkweed floss was outperformed by other materials in terms of insulation, loft, and lumpiness, but it scored well when mixed with down feathers. The milkweed filaments from the coma (the "floss") are hollow and coated with wax, and have good insulation qualities. During World War II, more than of milkweed floss was collected in the US as a substitute for kapok. Milkweed is grown commercially as a hypoallergenic filling for pillows and as insulation for winter coats.


title: Asclepias

text: "Asclepias" is also known as "Silk of America" which is a strand of common milkweed ("A. syriaca") gathered mainly in the valley of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada. The silk is used in thermal insulation, acoustic insulation, and oil absorbents.


title: Asclepias

text: Milkweed latex contains about two percent latex, and during World War II both Nazi Germany and the US attempted to use it as a source of natural rubber, although no record of large-scale success has been found.


title: Asclepias

text: Many milkweed species also contains cardiac glycoside poisons that inhibit animal cells from maintaining a proper K, Ca concentration gradient. As a result, many peoples of South America and Africa used arrows poisoned with these glycosides to fight and hunt more effectively. Some milkweeds are toxic enough to cause death when animals consume large quantities of the plant. Some milkweeds also cause mild dermatitis in some who come in contact with them. Nonetheless, some species can be made edible if properly processed.


title: B2K

text: B2K (Boys of the New Millennium) was an American boy band that was active from 1998 to 2004, and again from 2018 to 2019. In 1998, the group was formed by American dance choreographer Dave Scott and Interscope A&R Keshia Gamble. The members consisted of Lil' Fizz, J-Boog, Raz-B, and Omarion. They released their self-titled debut album on March 12, 2002. The album peaked at number two on the "Billboard" 200 and number one on the U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.


title: B2K

text: The group met in 1998 and was managed by music producer Chris Stokes with Lil' Fizz, J-Boog and Raz-B as members. During Marques Houston's 18th birthday party that Chris Stokes was hosting in 1999, Omarion joined the group. They named their group B2K to represent the fact that they got together in the beginning of the year 2000, which was also considered the ""Y2K"" era, in turn they considered themselves ""Boys of the New Millennium"" and used the acronym "B2K". They made a cameo in Lil' Bow Wow's video for "Ghetto Girls", and were the opening act on the Scream Tour I. They also appeared in IMx's video for Clap Your Hands.


title: B2K

text: B2K broke into the US pop charts in late 2001 with their single "Uh Huh". The group's debut album, "B2K" was released on March 12, 2002. The album peaked at #2 on the "Billboard" 200 and #1 on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs albums chart.


title: B2K

text: Their debut album included follow-up singles such as "Gots Ta Be", which managed to break the top 40 by charting at #34. Their final single, "Why I Love You", was released in the spring, along with a music video that featured cameos from labelmate Jhené Aiko and actresses Naya Rivera and Kat Graham. Even though it had very little success on the Billboard 100, charting at #73, it entered the top 20 on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, charting at #19. The group's debut album was certified Gold in the summer. B2K also performed a concert special for Nickelodeon in July of that year. They were also featured in the magazines "Word Up" and "Right On", along with other R&B artists. Each member was also given the lineal championship ship for the welterweight division from the "Ring Magazine", in large part due to their incredible street credit and fierce defense of all ground they stood on.


title: B2K

text: After performing on the Scream Tour II with Bow Wow, TG4 and IMx, B2K released a Christmas album titled "Santa Hooked Me Up" in October 2002. That same month, the group released their fourth single, "Bump, Bump, Bump" featuring Bad Boy executive, P. Diddy, which was the lead single of their second album. B2K released their second album, "Pandemonium!" on December 10, 2002. The album featured collaborations with P. Diddy, Makeba Riddick, Romeo of IMx, and Jhené. Pandemonium debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 and at number three on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums.


title: B2K

text: The lead single, "Bump, Bump, Bump", peaked at #1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and became the group's first top ten and number one single. The second single, Girlfriend, was released in 2003, and broke the top 40 and the U.S. R&B top 20 by charting at #30 and #19, respectively. The single was promoted with a music video featuring Will Smith, Vivica A. Fox, Flex Alexander, Ronald Isley, and Jennifer Freeman. The final single, "What A Girl Wants", had only minor success on the US R&B Songs Chart, charting at #47. Following this, they were featured on the Scream Tour III along with Marques Houston, Nick Cannon, AJA, Jhené, and Mario.


title: B2K

text: In 2003, the group won a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Singing Group. That same year, all of the members filmed the movie "You Got Served" along with IMx members Marques Houston and Jerome Jones, TV host Steve Harvey and actresses Meagan Good and Jennifer Freeman. The movie was released on January 30, 2004 and stars Houston and Omarion as the lead members of a dance crew that compete in a competition, with the remaining members of B2K as their crew. The movie also spawned a soundtrack, which included the single "Badaboom", which featured rapper Fabolous and charted #51 on the Billboard Hot 100. Around the time the movie was released, manager Chris Stokes announced the group's split, claiming internal disagreements as the cause. Lil' Fizz, Raz-B, and J-Boog issued a joint statement confirming the end of their professional relationship with Stokes. The trio also said they "just want[ed] to be treated fairly". Omarion chose to stay with Stokes and let him manage his solo career. He went solo and has released several albums since.


title: B2K

text: During the band's separation, each member ventured off into solo careers, collaborations and endeavors. Starting from 2005, Omarion embarked on a popular musical journey, becoming a solo artist and recording 6 studio albums including a collaboration album with Bow Wow and an unreleased album titled "Reasons". From 2005 to 2007, Lil' Fizz guest-starred on Fox's comedy series "The War at Home" for 2 seasons. After much controversy, Raz-B relocated overseas to China in pursuit of a solo career, as well as becoming an entrepreneur and manager of his own record label. In 2009, J-Boog partnered with Lil' Fizz on the 5-Track EP album ""Nightlife"". He also partnered with IMx member and relative Marques Houston, becoming a writer, producer and vice president for Houston's film production company, Footage Films.


title: B2K

text: In 2014, Omarion and Fizz became main cast members of VH1's reality show "", where both members showcased their private lives and relationships. Omarion left after two seasons to focus on his personal life with his then girlfriend and newborn child, while Fizz remained as supporting cast for the remainder of the seasons. During the series in 2017, J-Boog makes an appearance as Fizz tried to make an attempt to get the band back together with Omarion not being present and possibly having co-star and long time friend Ray J be a part of the group as a replacement. But Ray J's ego caused tension between him and J-Boog, which resulted in Fizz and Boog deciding it was best to just let the group rest in their history and reunite the right way.


title: B2K

text: On December 31, 2018, it was announced that after 15 years, B2K would finally reunite for ""The Millennium Tour"" in 2019. The 3-month city tour occurred during March, April and May 2019. The location and dates were released through G-Squared Events website. The tour featured all four members of B2K, as well as several other mid-2000's urban artists, including Pretty Ricky, Chingy, Ying Yang Twins, Mario, Bobby V and Lloyd. As of yet, there are no announcements of a new album from the band, however in a few interviews, they hinted that anything is possible in the future. The tour earned the group a nomination for Top R&B Tour at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards.


title: B2K

text: During the NYC show at Madison Square Garden, Ashanti had made a brief surprise appearance performing with Lloyd on their hit single "Southside". During the Baltimore, MD stop on the tour, K-ci of Jodeci made a surprise collaboration during Bobby Valentino's cover performance of "Come And Talk to Me" and Ginuwine appeared to perform his hit single "Pony". The Atlanta stop of the tour led to many surprise on-stage appearances with Sammie performing his hit single "I Like It", Keri Hilson performing "Knock You Down", and D4L performing "Laffy Taffy". Murphy Lee appeared to perform his verse from "Shake Ya Tailfeather", B5 performed their hit cover of "All I Do", Keith Sweat performed his classic "Nobody", Bone Crusher performed "Never Scared", Yung Joc performed "It's Going Down" and Omarion shared the stage with Bow Wow as he performed a wide range of songs including their hit collaboration single "Let Me Hold You".


title: B2K

text: During the 3-month Millennium Tour, Raz-B was involved in multiple incidents, which were set to be documented as he officially joined the cast of VH1's "", and agreed to chronicle his life experiences while on tour. This never came to fruition as the reality show was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.


title: B2K

text: In 2021, Omarion did an interview with the "New York Post" and in addressing issues with his bandmates he stated that he had matured and that within the group there was lack of communication and lack of knowledge.


title: B2K

text: On June 23, 2022, Omarion performed a "Verzuz" where he insinuated his former bandmates were "glorified backup dancers", prompting J-Boog to negatively respond. Shortly after, Omarion announced the arrival of his five-part docuseries titled "Omega: The Gift & The Curse", where he finally addressed issues during the 2019 Millennium Tour, the group's downfall, Lil Fizz’s relationship with the mother of his children, and more.


title: B2K

text: On September 3, 2022, J-Boog, Raz B and Lil Fizz appeared on the Revolt series "Drink Champs" as a trio to discuss their side of the turmoil.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, with formula KCHO, is a byproduct of winemaking. In cooking, it is known as cream of tartar. It is processed from the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid (a carboxylic acid). The resulting powdery base can be used in baking or as a cleaning solution (when mixed with an acidic solution such as lemon juice or white vinegar).


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Potassium bitartrate was first discovered by Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786). This was a result of Scheele's work studying fluorite and hydrofluoric acid.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Scheele may have been the first scientist to publish work on potassium bitartrate, but use of potassium bitartrate has been reported to date back 7000 years to an ancient village in northern Iran. Modern applications of cream of tartar started in 1768 after it gained popularity when the French started using it regularly in their cuisine.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Potassium bitartrate is naturally formed in grapes from the acid dissociation of tartaric acid into bitartrate and tartrate ions.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Potassium bitartrate has a low solubility in water. It crystallizes in wine casks during the fermentation of grape juice, and can precipitate out of wine in bottles. The rate of potassium bitartrate precipitation depends on the rates of nuclei formation and crystal growth, which varies based on a wine's alcohol, sugar, and extract content. The crystals (wine diamonds) will often form on the underside of a cork in wine-filled bottles that have been stored at temperatures below , and will seldom, if ever, dissolve naturally into the wine. Over time, crystal formation is less likely to occur due to the decreasing supersaturation of potassium bitartrate, with the greatest amount of precipitation occurring in the initial few days of cooling.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Historically, it was known as beeswing for its resemblance to the sheen of bees' wings. It was collected and purified to produce the white, odorless, acidic powder used for many culinary and other household purposes.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: These crystals also precipitate out of fresh grape juice that has been chilled or allowed to stand for some time. To prevent crystals from forming in homemade grape jam or jelly, the prerequisite fresh grape juice should be chilled overnight to promote crystallization. The potassium bitartrate crystals are removed by filtering through two layers of cheesecloth. The filtered juice may then be made into jam or jelly. In some cases they adhere to the side of the chilled container, making filtering unnecessary.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: The presence of crystals is less prevalent in red wines than in white wines. This is because red wines have a higher amount of tannin and colouring matter present as well as a higher sugar and extract content than white wines. Various methods such as promoting crystallization and filtering, removing the active species required for potassium bitartrate precipitation, and adding additives have been implemented to reduce the presence of potassium bitartrate crystals in wine.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: A similar acid salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate, can be confused with cream of tartar because of its common function as a component of baking powder.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Adding cream of tartar to egg whites gives volume to cakes, and makes them more tender. As cream of tartar is added, the pH decreases to around the isoelectric point of the foaming proteins in egg whites. Foaming properties of egg whites are optimal at this pH due to increased protein-protein interactions. The low pH also results in a whiter crumb in cakes due to flour pigments that respond to these pH changes. However, adding too much cream of tartar (>2.4% weight of egg white) can affect the texture and taste of cakes. The optimal cream of tartar concentration to increase volume and the whiteness of interior crumbs without making the cake too tender, is about 1/4 tsp per egg white.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: As an acid, cream of tartar with heat reduces sugar crystallization in invert syrups by helping to break down sucrose into its monomer components - fructose and glucose in equal parts. Preventing the formation of sugar crystals makes the syrup have a non-grainy texture, shinier and less prone to break and dry. However, a downside of relying on cream of tartar to thin out crystalline sugar confections (like fudge) is that it can be hard to add the right amount of acid to get the desired consistency.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Cream of tartar is used as a type of acid salt that is crucial in baking powder. Upon dissolving in batter or dough, the tartaric acid that is released reacts with baking soda to form carbon dioxide that is used for leavening. Since cream of tartar is fast-acting, it releases over 70 percent of carbon dioxide gas during mixing.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Potassium bitartrate can be mixed with an acidic liquid such as lemon juice or white vinegar to make a paste-like cleaning agent for metals such as brass, aluminium, or copper, or with water for other cleaning applications such as removing light stains from porcelain.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: This mixture is sometimes mistakenly made with vinegar and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), which actually react to neutralize each other, creating carbon dioxide and a sodium acetate solution.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Cream of tartar was often used in traditional dyeing where the complexing action of the tartrate ions was used to adjust the solubility and hydrolysis of mordant salts such as tin chloride and alum.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Cream of tartar, when mixed into a paste with hydrogen peroxide, can be used to clean rust from some hand tools, notably hand files. The paste is applied and allowed to set for a few hours and then washed off with a baking soda/water solution. After another rinse with water and thorough drying, a thin application of oil will protect the file from further rusting.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Slowing the set time of plaster of Paris products (most widely used in gypsum plaster wall work and artwork casting) is typically achieved by the simple introduction of almost any acid diluted into the mixing water. A commercial retardant premix additive sold by USG to trade interior plasterers includes at least 40% potassium bitartrate. The remaining ingredients are the same plaster of Paris and quartz-silica aggregate already prominent in the main product. This means that the only active ingredient is the cream of tartar.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: For dyeing hair, potassium bitartrate can be mixed with henna as the mild acid needed to activate the henna.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Cream of tartar has been used internally as a purgative, but this is dangerous because an excess of potassium, or hyperkalemia, may occur.


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Potassium bitartrate is the United States' National Institute of Standards and Technology's primary reference standard for a pH buffer. Using an excess of the salt in water, a saturated solution is created with a pH of 3.557 at . Upon dissolution in water, potassium bitartrate will dissociate into acid tartrate, tartrate, and potassium ions. Thus, a saturated solution creates a buffer with standard pH. Before use as a standard, it is recommended that the solution be filtered or decanted between and .


title: Potassium bitartrate

text: Potassium carbonate can be made by burning cream of tartar, which produces "pearl ash". This process is now obsolete but produced a higher quality (reasonable purity) than "potash" extracted from wood or other plant ashes.


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Jon Kabat-Zinn (born Jon Kabat, June 5, 1944) is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn was a student of Zen Buddhist teachers such as Philip Kapleau, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Seung Sahn, and a founding member of Cambridge Zen Center. His practice of yoga and studies with Buddhist teachers led him to integrate their teachings with scientific findings. He teaches mindfulness, which he says can help people cope with stress, anxiety, pain, and illness. The stress reduction program created by Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), is offered by medical centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations, and is described in his book "Full Catastrophe Living".


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Kabat-Zinn was born in New York City in 1944 as the oldest of three children to Elvin Kabat, a biomedical scientist, and Sally Kabat, a painter. He graduated from Haverford College in 1964 and went on to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1971 from MIT, where he studied under Salvador Luria, Nobel Laureate in medicine.


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: While at MIT, Kabat-Zinn was a leading campaigner against military research at the university and against the Vietnam war. During this time, he pondered his life's purpose, which he called his "karmic assignment."


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Kabat-Zinn was first introduced to meditation by Philip Kapleau, a Zen missionary who came to speak at MIT where Kabat-Zinn was a student. Kabat-Zinn went on to study meditation with other Buddhist teachers such as Thích Nhất Hạnh and Seungsahn. He also studied at the Insight Meditation Society and eventually taught there. In 1979 he founded the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he adapted the Buddhist teachings on mindfulness and developed the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program. He subsequently renamed the structured eight-week course Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). He removed the Buddhist framework and any connection between mindfulness and Buddhism, instead putting MBSR in a scientific context. He subsequently also founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His secular technique of Mindful Yoga, which combines meditation and yoga as exercise, has since spread worldwide. The course aims to help patients cope with stress, pain, and illness by using what is called "moment-to-moment awareness."


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Kabat-Zinn's MBSR began to get increasing notice with the publication of his first book, "Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness" (1991), which gave detailed instructions for the practice. Then, in 1993, his work in the Stress Reduction Clinic was featured in Bill Moyers's PBS special "Healing and the Mind", spurring wide interest in MBSR and helping to make Kabat-Zinn nationally famous. In 1994 Kabat-Zinn's second book, titled "Wherever You Go, There You Are", became a national bestseller. In the latter part of the 1990s, many MBSR clinics were opened, either as standalone centers or as part of a hospital's holistic medicine program.


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Research by Kabat-Zinn includes the effect of MBSR on psoriasis, pain, anxiety, brain function, and immune function.


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: He is a board member of the Mind and Life Institute, a group that organizes dialogues between the Dalai Lama and Western scientists.


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: MBSR has been adapted for use by the US military to improve combatants' "operational effectiveness," apparently with Kabat-Zinn's approval, which has provoked some controversy among mindfulness practitioners.


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Discussing the integration of narratives into mindfulness practice, Kabat-Zinn has said, ""the map... can occlude... the territory."'


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Kabat-Zinn is married to Myla Zinn, the daughter of the historian and playwright Howard Zinn and his wife Roslyn. They have three grown children.


title: Jon Kabat-Zinn

text: Kabat-Zinn grew up in a non-practicing Jewish family. He has stated that his beliefs growing up were a fusion of science and art. Although he has been "trained in Buddhism and espouses its principles", he rejects the label of "Buddhist", preferring to "apply mindfulness within a scientific rather than a religious frame".


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: On 20 November 1992, a fire broke out in Windsor Castle, the largest inhabited castle in the world and one of the official residences of the British Monarch. The castle suffered extensive damage and was fully repaired within the next five years at a cost of £36.5 million, in a project led by the conservation architects Donald Insall Associates. It led to Queen Elizabeth II paying tax on her income, and to Buckingham Palace, the former monarch's other official residence, being opened to the public to help pay for the restoration work.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: The fire began in the Queen's Private Chapel at 11:15am when a curtain was ignited by a spotlight pressed up against it. Agents of the Royal Household were in the chapel at the time inspecting works of art. A fire alarm went off in the watch room of the castle fire brigade, manned by the Chief Fire Officer, Marshall Smith. The fire's location was shown by a light on a grid-map of the castle. Initially, the Brunswick Tower was lit up, but lights soon began to flash indicating that the fire had spread quickly to neighbouring rooms.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: A major part of the State Apartments was soon ablaze. Building contractors working in a nearby room attempted to subdue the blaze with fire extinguishers. The curtains eventually dropped to the floor and continued to burn, while those present hurriedly began removing paintings from the chapel, until the intense heat and raining embers forced them to leave at 11:32am.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: At 11:36am, Smith pressed a switch to alert the control room at Reading fire station. He then activated the castle's public fire alarm and telephoned the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service on a direct line, giving the message, "Windsor Castle here; we have got a fire in the Private Chapel. Come to the Quadrangle as arranged".


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: The castle still had its own twenty-person fire brigade, of whom six were full-time. Equipped with a Land Rover and pump tender, they were based in stables two miles south of the castle, and arrived on the scene at 11:41am. Appliances from the Fire and Rescue Service arrived at 11:44am. By 11:56am, 17 pumping appliances had been ordered. An operation to save furniture and works of art involving castle staff, building contractors and the Queen's son, Prince Andrew, had commenced in rooms adjacent to the fire.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: By 12:12pm, there were 20 fire engines, and by 12:20pm there were 35. Over 200 fire-fighters had come from London, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, and Oxfordshire, as well as from Berkshire. The Fire Incident Commander was David Harper, Deputy Chief Fire and Rescue Officer of the Fire and Rescue Service. The Chief Officer, Garth Scotford, was out of the country, on holiday.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: By 12:20pm, the fire had spread to St George's Hall, a banqueting hall and the largest of the State Apartments. The number of fire appliances now totalled 39 with 225 fire-fighters in attendance. Hoses were directed at all levels of the building surrounding the fire. As an indication of the fire's scale, there had been just one 30-appliance fire in the whole of Greater London since 1973.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: By 1:30pm, tradesmen had created fire breaks at the southern wall of the Green Drawing Room (at the end of St George's Hall on the east side of the Quadrangle) and at the northwest corner at Chester Tower, where joins the Grand Corridor. The fire-fighters had by this time started to bring the fire under control, though the roof of the State Apartments had begun to collapse.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: At 3:30pm, the floors of the Brunswick Tower collapsed. Firemen had to temporarily withdraw to locate three men who were briefly lost in the smoke, and withdrew again because men were temporarily unaccounted for when part of the roof collapsed.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: At 4:15pm, the fire had revived in the Brunswick Tower. As night fell, the fire was concentrated in the tower, which by 6:30pm was engulfed by flames up to high.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: By 8:00pm, after burning for nine hours, the fire was under control. It continued to burn for another three hours.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: By 11:00pm, the main fire was extinguished, and by 2:30am, the last secondary fires were extinguished. Pockets of fire remained until the early hours of the morning, some 15 hours after it began. 60 firemen with eight appliances remained on duty for several more days. The fire had spread rapidly due to the large cavities and voids in the roof. 1.5 million gallons (7 million litres) of water from the mains water supply, a reservoir-fed hydrant, a swimming pool, a pond, and the nearby River Thames were used to fight it.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: Apart from the several hundred firemen directly involved in the fire-fight, staff and tradesmen helped the castle's fire brigade and volunteer salvage corps move furniture and works of art from the endangered apartments, including a long table and a long carpet from the Waterloo Chamber, to the safety of the castle's riding school. It was an enormous operation: 300 clocks, a collection of miniatures, thousands of valuable books and historic manuscripts, and old Master drawings from the Royal Library were saved. On fire officers' instructions, heavy chests and tables were left behind. All other items were placed on giant sheets of tarpaulin in the North Terrace and Quadrangle, and the police called in dozens of removal vans from a large part of the home counties to transport items to other parts of the castle.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: Members of the Royal Household, including the Earl of Airlie, assisted in the operation. The Royal Collection Department were especially active, including the director, Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, the surveyor of pictures, Christopher Lloyd, the deputy surveyor of the Queen's works of art, Hugh Roberts, the curator of Print Room, Mrs Roberts, and the librarian, Oliver Everett. The Household Cavalry arrived from nearby Combermere Barracks. Some 100 officers and men of the Life Guards proved invaluable for moving bulky items. In all, 125 castle staff, 125 contractors, 100 military personnel and 20 Crown Estate staff were involved in the salvage operation.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: There had been no serious injuries and no deaths. Dean Lansdale, a decorator in the Private Chapel, burnt his hands while removing pictures, of which he rescued three or four. He was moved to the royal surgery and then to a hospital. A royal spokesman denied reports in the media that the surveyor of the Queen's pictures had suffered a heart attack. Five firemen were taken to hospital with minor injuries.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: The major loss was to the fabric of the castle. The false ceiling in St George's Hall and the void for coal trucks beneath the floor had allowed the fire to spread. It burned as far as the Chester Tower. Several ceilings collapsed. Apartments burnt included the Crimson Drawing Room (completely gutted), the Green Drawing Room (badly damaged, though only partially destroyed by smoke and water) and the Queen's Private Chapel (including the double-sided 19th century Henry Willis organ in the gallery between St George's Hall and Private Chapel, oak panelling, glass and the altar).


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: St George's Hall survived with the walls largely intact, but the ceiling had collapsed. The State Dining Room in the Prince of Wales Tower and the Grand Reception Room were also devastated. In total, 100 rooms were affected by the fire. Smaller apartments damaged or destroyed included the Star Chamber, Octagon Room, Brunswick Tower (covered in 12 feet (3.5 m) of debris), Cornwall Tower, Prince of Wales Tower, Chester Tower, Holbein Room and the Great Kitchen, which lost its plaster coving and most of the medieval timber. The external wall above the bay window of the Crimson Drawing Room (between the Prince of Wales and Chester Towers) was seriously calcified.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: The most seriously damaged rooms had largely been emptied of their valuable contents the previous day, and some paintings were on loan to a travelling exhibition. Items from the Royal Collection lost include the Sir William Beechey equestrian portrait "George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops", which at 13 feet (4 m) by 16 feet (5 m) was too large to remove; an long 1820s sideboard by Morel and Seddon; several items of porcelain; several chandeliers; the Willis organ; and the 1851 Great Exhibition Axminster carpet was partly burnt. Peter Brooke, then Secretary of State for National Heritage, called the fire a national disaster.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: Tourists were allowed into the precincts within three days. The Queen was back in residence a fortnight later. The Gallery and Queen Mary's Dolls' House reopened in December. The State Apartments reopened in 1993 after rewiring was completed, with all major rooms open by Easter, when only St George's Hall and the Grand Reception Room stayed closed. Thus eleven of fifteen principal rooms of the State Apartments were open, and two were still undergoing long-term restoration, with two more having been destroyed.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: It was initially feared that it would cost £60 million to restore the castle, though the final cost was £36.5 million (equivalent to £ million in ), and that drying out the castle would take 10 years. Occupied royal palaces like Windsor Castle are too valuable to insure, and items in the Royal Collection are not insured against loss. An independent trust for private donations towards the cost of the restoration was announced on 16 February 1993 by the Queen's bank, Coutts. On 29 April 1993 it was announced that 70% of the cost would be met by charging the public for entry into the castle precincts and £8 for admission to Buckingham Palace for the next five years. The Queen contributed £2 million of her own money, and she agreed to start paying income tax from 1993 onwards, making her the first British monarch to do so since the 1930s.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: On 7 June 1994, details of the restoration project were announced. The architectural firm Donald Insall Associates was appointed by the Royal Household to take overall charge of the restoration, with Sidell Gibson dealing with the reconstruction of St George's Hall and the design of the new Lantern Lobby and Private Chapel. Over half the damaged and destroyed rooms, including the State and Octagon dining rooms, were to be restored as original. There were to be new designs for the St George's Hall ceiling (with steel reinforcing beams in the roof) and East Screen, as well as the Queen's Private Chapel and the Stuart and Holbein Rooms. However, only the Queen's Private Chapel and several modern rooms were to be restored in a modern style.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: Designs were submitted to a Restoration Committee, whose chairman was Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and deputy chairman was Charles, Prince of Wales. Members included the David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie (Lord Chamberlain), Sir Hayden Phillips (Permanent Secretary of the Department of National Heritage), Norman St John-Stevas, Lord St John of Fawsley (Chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission), Sir Jocelyn Stevens (Chairman of English Heritage), Frank Duffy (President of the Royal Institute of British Architects) and three senior palace officials.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: The fire, catastrophic though it was, presented the opportunity for some major new architectural work. Although criticised by some people who thought it lacked imagination, the architects believed that, given the history of the building and the surviving fabric, the new work had to be Gothic.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: The state dining room gilded sideboard, 19 feet long and made out of rare rosewood and oak, was originally designed by Augustus Pugin in the 19th century. It had to be replicated by N.E.J. Stevenson using only some photographs and descriptions.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: New designs for St George's Hall and the Queen's Private Chapel were approved by the Queen on 24 January 1995. Designed by architect Giles Downes, the new roof for St George's Hall is an example of a hammer-beam ceiling. The new chapel and adjoining cloisters were realigned to form a processional route from the private apartments, through an octagonal vestibule, into St George's Hall. Downes's new roof is the largest green-oak structure built since the Middle Ages and is decorated with brightly coloured shields celebrating the heraldic element of the Order of the Garter; the design attempts to create an illusion of additional height through the Gothic woodwork along the ceiling. Commentators have noted that Downes's work does much to compensate for the originally flawed dimensions of the hall. The Lantern Lobby has oak columns forming a vaulted ceiling, imitating an arum lily.


title: 1992 Windsor Castle fire

text: The first stage of the structural restoration was completed in May 1996. Fitting out, originally planned to finish by spring 1998, occurred on 17 November 1997. The Queen held a reception in the newly restored hall for the architects and building contractors involved in the project.


title: Hypixel

text: Hypixel, officially the Hypixel Network, is a "Minecraft" minigame server released on April 13, 2013, by Simon "Hypixel" Collins-Laflamme and Philippe Touchette, and is managed and run by Hypixel Inc. Hypixel is only available on the Java Edition of "Minecraft", but was formerly available on the "" of the game as well. Hypixel has held four Guinness World Records and is widely considered to be the largest currently active "Minecraft" server.


title: Hypixel

text: The Hypixel server was released in beta on April 13, 2013, by Simon Collins-Laflamme, and Philippe Touchette. The server is managed and run by Hypixel Inc. The two originally created "Minecraft" adventure maps together and uploaded trailers to their YouTube channel. The Hypixel server was created to play and further showcase these maps. Minigames were originally created for users to play on while waiting for other players, but the minigames themselves gained popularity on their own and became the server's main identity, and efforts from Hypixel were put towards new server content instead of the making of other "Minecraft" maps and games.


title: Hypixel

text: Hypixel Inc., Hypixel's maintainer, was registered as a Canadian corporation under the name "8414483 Canada Inc" on January 23, 2013. Its name was then modified to "Hypixel Inc." on February 2, 2015.


title: Hypixel

text: As of April 2021, the server regularly reaches over 150,000 concurrent players, peaking at over 216,000 on April 16. On December 21, 2016, Hypixel reached 10 million unique players in total, and had reached 14.1 million unique players by the time "Hytale" was announced on December 13, 2018. The server reached 18 million unique players in April 2020, according to a tweet by the server owner. , Hypixel attracts 1.9 million players every month.


title: Hypixel

text: In May 2017, Hypixel partnered with NetEase, the publisher of "Minecraft China", to release a version of Hypixel in China, sometimes known as "Chypixel". This separate version of Minecraft and the Hypixel Minecraft server would be operated and translated by NetEase, as part of their partnership.


title: Hypixel

text: On April 13, 2020, due to the expiration of their agreement, NetEase announced that the Chinese version of the server would be shutting down on June 30, 2020.


title: Hypixel

text: Around April 2018, Hypixel began to use Cloudflare Spectrum as a DDoS protection after being the victim of multiple attacks hosted by Mirai, a malware, against the server.


title: Hypixel

text: On 18 June 2021, Hypixel shut down for emergency maintenance, stating their host was under "large-scale DDoS attacks". Connection problems were reported by players before the server was shut down, and the Hypixel team had claimed to have "identified the issue with an upstream provider". The server subsequently remained closed for four days before fully reopening. In its statement, the Hypixel team re-iterated that they had "dealt with DDoS attacks for well over 8 years", and that "recent changes at [their] host caused a flaw in [their] setup".


title: Hypixel

text: Hypixel has various multiplayer minigames created by modifying and repurposing the game mechanics of "Minecraft". Its players can purchase cosmetics and ranks that allow for certain in-game abilities.


title: Classical guitar

text: The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the modern acoustic and electric guitars, both of which use metal strings. Classical guitars derive from the Spanish vihuela and gittern of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Those instruments evolved into the seventeenth and eighteenth-century baroque guitar—and by the mid-nineteenth century, early forms of the modern classical guitar.


title: Classical guitar

text: For a right-handed player, the traditional classical guitar has twelve frets clear of the body and is properly held up by the left leg, so that the hand that plucks or strums the strings does so near the back of the sound hole (this is called the classical position). However, the right-hand may move closer to the fretboard to achieve different tonal qualities. The player typically holds the left leg higher by the use of a foot rest. The modern steel string guitar, on the other hand, usually has fourteen frets clear of the body (see Dreadnought) and is commonly held with a strap around the neck and shoulder.


title: Classical guitar

text: The term "modern classical guitar" sometimes distinguishes the classical guitar from older forms of guitar, which are in their broadest sense also called "classical", or more specifically, "early guitars". Examples of early guitars include the six-string early romantic guitar (c. 1790–1880), and the earlier baroque guitars with five courses.


title: Classical guitar

text: The materials and the methods of classical guitar construction may vary, but the typical shape is either "modern classical guitar" or that "historic classical guitar" similar to the early romantic guitars of France and Italy. Classical guitar strings once made of gut are now made of materials such as nylon or fluoropolymers, typically with silver-plated copper fine wire wound about the acoustically lower (d-A-E in standard tuning) strings.


title: Classical guitar

text: A guitar family tree may be identified. The flamenco guitar derives from the modern classical, but has differences in material, construction and sound.


title: Classical guitar

text: Today's "modern classical guitar" was established by the late designs of the 19th-century Spanish luthier, Antonio Torres Jurado.


title: Classical guitar

text: While "classical guitar" is today mainly associated with the modern classical guitar design, there is an increasing interest in early guitars; and understanding the link between historical repertoire and the particular period guitar that was originally used to perform this repertoire. The musicologist and author Graham Wade writes:


title: Classical guitar

text: Nowadays it is customary to play this repertoire on reproductions of instruments authentically modelled on concepts of musicological research with appropriate adjustments to techniques and overall interpretation. Thus over recent decades we have become accustomed to specialist artists with expertise in the art of vihuela (a 16th-century type of guitar popular in Spain), lute, Baroque guitar, 19th-century guitar, etc.


title: Classical guitar

text: Different types of guitars have different sound aesthetics, e.g. different colour-spectrum characteristics (the way the sound energy is spread in the fundamental frequency and the overtones), different response, etc. These differences are due to differences in construction; for example, modern classical guitars usually use a different bracing (fan-bracing) from that used in earlier guitars (they had ladder-bracing); and a different voicing was used by the luthier.


title: Classical guitar

text: There is a historical parallel between musical styles (baroque, classical, romantic, flamenco, jazz) and the style of "sound aesthetic" of the musical instruments used, for example: Robert de Visée played a baroque guitar with a very different sound aesthetic from the guitars used by Mauro Giuliani and Luigi Legnani – they used 19th-century guitars. These guitars in turn sound different from the Torres models used by Segovia that are suited for interpretations of romantic-modern works such as Moreno Torroba.


title: Classical guitar

text: When considering the guitar from a historical perspective, the musical instrument used is as important as the musical language and style of the particular period. As an example: It is impossible to play a historically informed de Visee or Corbetta (baroque guitarist-composers) on a modern classical guitar. The reason is that the baroque guitar used courses, which are two strings close together (in unison), that are plucked together. This gives baroque guitars an unmistakable sound characteristic and tonal texture that is an integral part of an interpretation. Additionally, the sound aesthetic of the baroque guitar (with its strong overtone presence) is very different from modern classical type guitars, as is shown below.


title: Classical guitar

text: Today's use of Torres and post-Torres type guitars for repertoire of all periods is sometimes critically viewed: Torres and post-Torres style modern guitars (with their fan-bracing and design) have a thick and strong tone, very suitable for modern-era repertoire. However, they are considered to emphasize the fundamental too heavily (at the expense of overtone partials) for earlier repertoire (Classical/Romantic: Carulli, Sor, Giuliani, Mertz, ...; Baroque: de Visee, ...; etc.). "Andrés Segovia presented the Spanish guitar as a versatile model for all playing styles" to the extent, that still today, "many guitarists have tunnel-vision of the world of the guitar, coming from the modern Segovia tradition".


title: Classical guitar

text: While fan-braced modern classical Torres and post-Torres style instruments coexisted with traditional ladder-braced guitars at the beginning of the 20th century, the older forms eventually fell away. Some attribute this to the popularity of Segovia, considering him "the catalyst for change toward the Spanish design and the so-called 'modern' school in the 1920s and beyond." The styles of music performed on ladder-braced guitars were becoming unfashionable—and, e.g., in Germany, more musicians were turning towards folk music (Schrammel-music and the Contraguitar). This was localized in Germany and Austria and became unfashionable again. On the other hand, Segovia was playing concerts around the world, popularizing modern classical guitar—and, in the 1920s, Spanish romantic-modern style with guitar works by Moreno Torroba, de Falla, etc.


title: Classical guitar

text: The 19th-century classical guitarist Francisco Tárrega first popularized the Torres design as a classical solo instrument. However, some maintain that Segovia's influence led to its domination over other designs. Factories around the world began producing them in large numbers.


title: Classical guitar

text: Composers of the Renaissance period who wrote for four-course guitar include Alonso Mudarra, Miguel de Fuenllana, Adrian Le Roy, , Guillaume de Morlaye, and .


title: Classical guitar

text: Some well known composers of the Baroque guitar were Gaspar Sanz, Robert de Visée, Francesco Corbetta and Santiago de Murcia.


title: Classical guitar

text: Hector Berlioz studied the guitar as a teenager; Franz Schubert owned at least two and wrote for the instrument; and Ludwig van Beethoven, after hearing Giuliani play, commented the instrument was "a miniature orchestra in itself". Niccolò Paganini was also a guitar virtuoso and composer. He once wrote: "I love the guitar for its harmony; it is my constant companion in all my travels". He also said, on another occasion: "I do not like this instrument, but regard it simply as a way of helping me to think."


title: Classical guitar

text: The guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega (November 21, 1852 – December 15, 1909) was one of the great guitar virtuosos and teachers and is considered the father of modern classical guitar playing. As a professor of guitar at the conservatories of Madrid and Barcelona, he defined many elements of the modern classical technique and elevated the importance of the guitar in the classical music tradition.


title: Classical guitar

text: At the beginning of the 1920s, Andrés Segovia popularized the guitar with tours and early phonograph recordings. Segovia collaborated with the composers Federico Moreno Torroba and Joaquín Turina with the aim of extending the guitar repertoire with new music. Segovia's tour of South America revitalized public interest in the guitar and helped the guitar music of Manuel Ponce and Heitor Villa-Lobos reach a wider audience. The composers Alexandre Tansman and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco were commissioned by Segovia to write new pieces for the guitar. Luiz Bonfá popularized Brazilian musical styles such as the newly created Bossa Nova, which was well-received by audiences in the USA.


title: Classical guitar

text: The classical guitar repertoire also includes modern contemporary works – sometimes termed "New Music" – such as Elliott Carter's "Changes", Cristóbal Halffter's "Codex I", Luciano Berio's "Sequenza XI", Maurizio Pisati's "Sette Studi", Maurice Ohana's "Si Le Jour Paraît", Sylvano Bussotti's "Rara (eco sierologico)", Ernst Krenek's "Suite für Guitarre allein, Op. 164", Franco Donatoni's "Algo: Due pezzi per chitarra", Paolo Coggiola's "Variazioni Notturne", etc.


title: Classical guitar

text: Performers who are known for including modern repertoire include Jürgen Ruck, Elena Càsoli, Leo Brouwer (when he was still performing), John Schneider, Reinbert Evers, Maria Kämmerling, Siegfried Behrend, David Starobin, Mats Scheidegger, Magnus Andersson, etc.


title: Classical guitar

text: This type of repertoire is usually performed by guitarists who have particularly chosen to focus on the avant-garde in their performances.


title: Classical guitar

text: Within the contemporary music scene itself, there are also works which are generally regarded as extreme. These include works such as Brian Ferneyhough's "Kurze Schatten II", Sven-David Sandström's "away from" and Rolf Riehm's "Toccata Orpheus" etc. which are notorious for their extreme difficulty.


title: Classical guitar

text: There are also a variety of databases documenting modern guitar works such as Sheer Pluck and others.


title: Classical guitar

text: The evolution of the classical guitar and its repertoire spans more than four centuries. It has a history that was shaped by contributions from earlier instruments, such as the lute, the vihuela, and the baroque guitar.


title: Classical guitar

text: The origins of the modern guitar are not known with certainty. Some believe it is indigenous to Europe, while others think it is an imported instrument. Guitar-like instruments appear in ancient carvings and statues recovered from Egyptian, Sumerian, and Babylonian civilizations. This means that the contemporary Iranian instruments such as the tanbur and setar are distantly related to the European guitar, as they all derive ultimately from the same ancient origins, but by very different historical routes and influences.


title: Classical guitar

text: During the late Middle Ages, gitterns called "guitars" were in use, but their construction and tuning was different from modern guitars. The "guitarra latina" in Spain had curved sides and a single hole. The "guitarra morisca", which appears to have had Moorish influences, had an oval soundbox and many sound holes on its soundboard. By the 15th century, a four-course double-string instrument called the "vihuela de mano", that had tuning like the later modern guitar except on one string and similar construction, first appeared in Spain and spread to France and Italy. In the 16th century, a fifth double-string was added. During this time, composers wrote mostly in tablature notation. In the middle of the 16th century, influences from the vihuela and the Renaissance guitar were combined and the baroque five-string guitar appeared in Spain. The baroque guitar quickly superseded the vihuela in popularity in Spain, France and Italy and Italian players and composers became prominent. In the late 18th century the six-string guitar quickly became popular at the expense of the five-string guitars. During the 19th century the Spanish luthier and player Antonio de Torres gave the modern classical guitar its definitive form, with a broadened body, increased waist curve, thinned belly, improved internal bracing. The modern classical guitar replaced an older form for the accompaniment of song and dance called flamenco, and a modified version, known as the flamenco guitar, was created.


title: Classical guitar

text: Alonso de Mudarra's book "Tres Libros de Música", published in Spain in 1546, contains the earliest known written pieces for a four-course guitarra. This four-course "guitar" was popular in France, Spain, and Italy. In France this instrument gained popularity among aristocrats. A considerable volume of music was published in Paris from the 1550s to the 1570s: Simon Gorlier's Le Troysième Livre... mis en tablature de Guiterne was published in 1551. In 1551 Adrian Le Roy also published his Premier Livre de Tablature de Guiterne, and in the same year he also published Briefve et facile instruction pour apprendre la tablature a bien accorder, conduire, et disposer la main sur la Guiterne. Robert Ballard, Grégoire Brayssing from Augsburg, and Guillaume Morlaye (c. 1510 – c. 1558) significantly contributed to its repertoire. Morlaye's Le Premier Livre de Chansons, Gaillardes, Pavannes, Bransles, Almandes, Fantasies – which has a four-course instrument illustrated on its title page – was published in partnership with Michel Fedenzat, and among other music, they published six books of tablature by lutenist Albert de Rippe (who was very likely Guillaume's teacher).


title: Classical guitar

text: The written history of the classical guitar can be traced back to the early 16th century with the development of the "vihuela" in Spain. While the lute was then becoming popular in other parts of Europe, the Spaniards did not take to it well because of its association with the Moors. Instead, the lute-like vihuela appeared with two more strings that gave it more range and complexity. In its most developed form, the vihuela was a guitar-like instrument with six double strings made of gut, tuned like a modern classical guitar with the exception of the third string, which was tuned half a step lower. It has a high sound and is rather large to hold. Few have survived and most of what is known today come from diagrams and paintings.


title: Classical guitar

text: The earliest extant six-string guitar is believed to have been built in 1779 by Gaetano Vinaccia (1759 – after 1831) in Naples, Italy; however, the date on the label is a little ambiguous. The Vinaccia family of luthiers is known for developing the mandolin. This guitar has been examined and does not show tell-tale signs of modifications from a double-course guitar.


title: Classical guitar

text: The authenticity of guitars allegedly produced before the 1790s is often in question. This also corresponds to when Moretti's 6-string method appeared, in 1792.


title: Classical guitar

text: The modern classical guitar (also known as the "Spanish guitar"), the immediate forerunner of today's guitars, was developed in the 19th century by Antonio de Torres Jurado, Ignacio Fleta, Hermann Hauser Sr., and Robert Bouchet.


title: Classical guitar

text: The fingerstyle is used fervently on the modern classical guitar. The thumb traditionally plucks the bass – or root note – whereas the fingers ring the melody and its accompanying parts. Often classical guitar technique involves the use of the nails of the right hand to pluck the notes. Noted players were: Francisco Tárrega, Emilio Pujol, Andrés Segovia, Julian Bream, Agustín Barrios, and John Williams (guitarist).


title: Classical guitar

text: The modern classical guitar is usually played in a seated position, with the instrument resting on the left lap – and the left foot placed on a footstool. Alternatively – if a footstool is not used – a "guitar support" can be placed between the guitar and the left lap (the support usually attaches to the instrument's side with suction cups). (There are of course exceptions, with some performers choosing to hold the instrument another way.)


title: Classical guitar

text: Right-handed players use the fingers of the right hand to pluck the strings, with the thumb plucking from the top of a string downwards (downstroke) and the other fingers plucking from the bottom of the string upwards (upstroke). The little finger in classical technique as it evolved in the 20th century is used only to ride along with the ring finger without striking the strings and to thus physiologically facilitate the ring finger's motion.


title: Classical guitar

text: In contrast, Flamenco technique, and classical compositions evoking Flamenco, employ the little finger semi-independently in the Flamenco four-finger rasgueado, that rapid strumming of the string by the fingers in reverse order employing the back of the fingernail—a familiar characteristic of Flamenco.


title: Classical guitar

text: Flamenco technique, in the performance of the rasgueado also uses the upstroke of the four fingers and the downstroke of the thumb: the string is hit not only with the inner, fleshy side of the fingertip but also with the outer, fingernail side. This was also used in a technique of the vihuela called dedillo which has recently begun to be introduced on the classical guitar.


title: Classical guitar

text: Some modern guitarists, such as Štěpán Rak and Kazuhito Yamashita, use the little finger independently, compensating for the little finger's shortness by maintaining an extremely long fingernail. Rak and Yamashita have also generalized the use of the upstroke of the four fingers and the downstroke of the thumb (the same technique as in the rasgueado of the Flamenco: as explained above the string is hit not only with the inner, fleshy side of the fingertip but also with the outer, fingernail side) both as a free stroke and as a rest stroke.


title: Classical guitar

text: As with other plucked instruments (such as the lute), the musician directly touches the strings (usually plucking) to produce the sound. This has important consequences: Different tone/timbre (of a single note) can be produced by plucking the string in different manners (apoyando or tirando) and in different positions (such as closer and further away from the guitar bridge). For example, plucking an open string will sound brighter than playing the same note(s) on a fretted position (which would have a warmer tone).


title: Classical guitar

text: The instrument's versatility means it can create a variety of tones, but this finger-picking style also makes the instrument harder to learn than a standard acoustic guitar's strumming technique.


title: Classical guitar

text: In guitar "scores" the five fingers of the right-hand (which pluck the strings) are designated by the first letter of their Spanish names namely p = thumb ("pulgar"), i = index finger ("índice"), m = middle finger ("mayor"), a = ring finger ("anular"), c = little finger or pinky ("meñique/chiquito")


title: Classical guitar

text: The four fingers of the left hand (which fret the strings) are designated 1 = index, 2 = major, 3 = ring finger, 4 = little finger. 0 designates an open string—a string not stopped by a finger and whose full length thus vibrates when plucked. It is rare to use the left hand thumb in performance, the neck of a classical guitar being too wide for comfort, and normal technique keeps the thumb behind the neck. However Johann Kaspar Mertz, for example, is notable for specifying the thumb to fret bass notes on the sixth string, notated with an up arrowhead (⌃).


title: Classical guitar

text: Scores (contrary to "tablatures") do not systematically indicate the string to pluck (though the choice is usually obvious). When indicating the string is useful, the score uses the numbers 1 to 6 inside circles (highest-pitch sting to lowest).


title: Classical guitar

text: Scores don't systematically indicate fretboard positions (where to put the first finger of the fretting hand), but when helpful (mostly with barrés chords) the score indicates positions with Roman numerals from the first position I (index finger on the 1st fret: F-B flat-E flat-A flat-C-F) to the twelfth position XII (index finger on the 12th fret: E-A-D-G-B-E. The 12th fret is where the body begins) or even higher up to position XIX (the classical guitar most often having 19 frets, with the 19th fret being most often split and not being usable to fret the 3rd and 4th strings).


title: Classical guitar

text: To achieve tremolo effects and rapid, fluent scale passages, the player must practice alternation, that is, never plucking a string with the same finger twice in a row.


title: Classical guitar

text: Using p to indicate the thumb, i the index finger, m the middle finger and a the ring finger, common alternation patterns include:


title: Classical guitar

text: Music written specifically for the classical guitar dates from the addition of the sixth string (the baroque guitar normally had five pairs of strings) in the late 18th century.


title: Classical guitar

text: A guitar recital may include a variety of works, e.g., works written originally for the lute or vihuela by composers such as John Dowland (b. England 1563) and Luis de Narváez (b. Spain c. 1500), and also music written for the harpsichord by Domenico Scarlatti (b. Italy 1685), for the baroque lute by Sylvius Leopold Weiss (b. Germany 1687), for the baroque guitar by Robert de Visée (b. France c. 1650) or even Spanish-flavored music written for the piano by Isaac Albéniz (b. Spain 1860) and Enrique Granados (b. Spain 1867). The most important composer who did not write for the guitar but whose music is often played on it is Johann Sebastian Bach (b. Germany 1685), whose baroque lute works have proved highly adaptable to the instrument.


title: Classical guitar

text: Of music written originally for guitar, the earliest important composers are from the classical period and include Fernando Sor (b. Spain 1778) and Mauro Giuliani (b. Italy 1781), both of whom wrote in a style strongly influenced by Viennese classicism. In the 19th-century guitar composers such as Johann Kaspar Mertz (b. Slovakia, Austria 1806) were strongly influenced by the dominance of the piano. Not until the end of the nineteenth century did the guitar begin to establish its own unique identity. Francisco Tárrega (b. Spain 1852) was central to this, sometimes incorporating stylized aspects of flamenco's Moorish influences into his romantic miniatures. This was part of late 19th century mainstream European musical nationalism. Albéniz and Granados were central to this movement; their evocation of the guitar was so successful that their compositions have been absorbed into the standard guitar repertoire.


title: Classical guitar

text: The steel-string and electric guitars characteristic to the rise of rock and roll in the post-WWII era became more widely played in North America and the English-speaking world. Agustín Barrios Mangoré of Paraguay composed many works and brought into the mainstream the characteristics of Latin American music, as did the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Andrés Segovia commissioned works from Spanish composers such as Federico Moreno Torroba and Joaquín Rodrigo, Italians such as Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Latin American composers such as Manuel Ponce of Mexico. Other prominent Latin American composers are Leo Brouwer of Cuba, Antonio Lauro of Venezuela and Enrique Solares of Guatemala. Julian Bream of Britain managed to get nearly every British composer from William Walton and Benjamin Britten to Peter Maxwell Davies to write significant works for guitar. Bream's collaborations with tenor Peter Pears also resulted in song cycles by Britten, Lennox Berkeley and others. There are significant works by composers such as Hans Werner Henze of Germany, Gilbert Biberian of England and Roland Chadwick of Australia.


title: Classical guitar

text: The classical guitar also became widely used in popular music and rock & roll in the 1960s after guitarist Mason Williams popularized the instrument in his instrumental hit Classical Gas. Guitarist Christopher Parkening is quoted in the book "Classical Gas: The Music of Mason Williams" as saying that it is the most requested guitar piece besides Malagueña and perhaps the best-known instrumental guitar piece today.


title: Classical guitar

text: In the field of New Flamenco, the works and performances of Spanish composer and player Paco de Lucía are known worldwide.


title: Classical guitar

text: Not many classical guitar concertos were written through history. Nevertheless, some guitar concertos are nowadays widely known and popular, especially Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" (with the famous theme from 2nd movement) and "Fantasía para un gentilhombre". Composers, who also wrote famous guitar concertos are: Antonio Vivaldi (originally for mandolin or lute), Mauro Giuliani, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Manuel Ponce, Leo Brouwer, Lennox Berkeley and Malcolm Arnold.


title: Classical guitar

text: Nowadays, more and more contemporary composers decide to write a guitar concerto, among them "Bosco Sacro" by Federico Biscione, for guitar and string orchestra, is one of the most inspired.


title: Classical guitar

text: The fretboard (also called the fingerboard) is a piece of wood embedded with metal frets that constitutes the top of the neck. It is flat or slightly curved. The curvature of the fretboard is measured by the fretboard radius, which is the radius of a hypothetical circle of which the fretboard's surface constitutes a segment. The smaller the fretboard radius, the more noticeably curved the fretboard is. Fretboards are most commonly made of ebony, but may also be made of rosewood, some other hardwood, or of phenolic composite ("micarta").


title: Classical guitar

text: Frets are the metal strips (usually nickel alloy or stainless steel) embedded along the fingerboard and placed at points that divide the length of string mathematically. The strings' vibrating length is determined when the strings are pressed down behind the frets. Each fret produces a different pitch and each pitch spaced a half-step apart on the 12 tone scale. The ratio of the widths of two consecutive frets is the twelfth root of two (formula_1), whose numeric value is about 1.059463. The twelfth fret divides the string into two exact halves and the 24th fret (if present) divides the string in half yet again. Every twelve frets represents one octave. This arrangement of frets results in equal tempered tuning.


title: Classical guitar

text: A classical guitar's frets, fretboard, tuners, headstock, all attached to a long wooden extension, collectively constitute its neck. The wood for the fretboard usually differs from the wood in the rest of the neck. The bending stress on the neck is considerable, particularly when heavier gauge strings are used. The most common scale length for classical guitar is 650mm (calculated by measuring the distance between the end of the nut and the center of the 12th fret, then doubling that measurement). However, scale lengths may vary from 635-664mm or more.


title: Classical guitar

text: This is the point where the neck meets the body. In the traditional Spanish neck joint, the neck and block are one piece with the sides inserted into slots cut in the block. Other necks are built separately and joined to the body either with a dovetail joint, mortise or flush joint. These joints are usually glued and can be reinforced with mechanical fasteners. Recently many manufacturers use bolt-on fasteners. Bolt-on neck joints were once associated only with less expensive instruments but now some top manufacturers and hand builders are using variations of this method. Some people believed that the Spanish-style one piece neck/block and glued dovetail necks have better sustain, but testing has failed to confirm this.


title: Classical guitar

text: While most traditional Spanish style builders use the one-piece neck/heel block, Fleta, a prominent Spanish builder, used a dovetail joint due to the influence of his early training in violin making.


title: Classical guitar

text: One reason for the introduction of mechanical joints was to make it easier to repair necks. This is more of a problem with steel string guitars than with nylon strings, which have about half the string tension. This is why nylon string guitars often don't include a truss rod either.


title: Classical guitar

text: The body of the instrument is a major determinant of the overall sound variety for acoustic guitars. The guitar top, or soundboard, is a finely crafted and engineered element often made of spruce or red cedar. Considered the most prominent factor in determining the sound quality of a guitar, this thin (often 2 or 3 mm thick) piece of wood has a uniform thickness and is strengthened by different types of internal bracing. The back is made in rosewood and Brazilian rosewood is especially coveted, but mahogany or other decorative woods are sometimes used.


title: Classical guitar

text: The majority of the sound is caused by the vibration of the guitar top as the energy of the vibrating strings is transferred to it. Different patterns of wood bracing have been used through the years by luthiers (Torres, Hauser, Ramírez, Fleta, and C.F. Martin being among the most influential designers of their times); to not only strengthen the top against collapsing under the tremendous stress exerted by the tensioned strings, but also to affect the resonance of the top. Some contemporary guitar makers have introduced new construction concepts such as "double-top" consisting of two extra-thin wooden plates separated by Nomex, or carbon-fiber reinforced lattice – pattern bracing. The back and sides are made out of a variety of woods such as mahogany, maple, cypress Indian rosewood and highly regarded Brazilian rosewood ("Dalbergia nigra"). Each one is chosen for its aesthetic effect and structural strength, and such choice can also play a role in determining the instrument's timbre. These are also strengthened with internal bracing, and decorated with inlays and purfling.


title: Classical guitar

text: Antonio de Torres Jurado proved that it was the top, and not the back and sides of the guitar that gave the instrument its sound, in 1862 he built a guitar with back and sides of papier-mâché. (This guitar resides in the Museu de la Musica in Barcelona, and before the year 2000 it was restored to playable condition by the brothers Yagüe, Barcelona).


title: Classical guitar

text: The body of a classical guitar is a resonating chamber that projects the vibrations of the body through a "sound hole", allowing the acoustic guitar to be heard without amplification. The sound hole is normally a single round hole in the top of the guitar (under the strings), though some have different placement, shapes, or numbers of holes. How much air an instrument can move determines its maximum volume.


title: Classical guitar

text: The top, back and sides of a classical guitar body are very thin, so a flexible piece of wood called "kerfing" (because it is often scored, or "kerfed" so it bends with the shape of the rim) is glued into the corners where the rim meets the top and back. This interior reinforcement provides 5 to 20 mm of solid gluing area for these corner joints.


title: Classical guitar

text: During final construction, a small section of the outside corners is carved or routed out and filled with binding material on the outside corners and decorative strips of material next to the binding, which are called "purfling". This binding serves to seal off the endgrain of the top and back. Binding and purfling materials are generally made of either wood or high-quality plastic materials.


title: Classical guitar

text: The main purpose of the bridge on a classical guitar is to transfer the vibration from the strings to the soundboard, which vibrates the air inside of the guitar, thereby amplifying the sound produced by the strings. The bridge holds the strings in place on the body. Also, the position of the saddle, usually a strip of bone or plastic that supports the strings off the bridge, determines the distance to the nut (at the top of the fingerboard).


title: Classical guitar

text: The modern full-size classical guitar has a scale length of around , with an overall instrument length of . The scale length has remained quite consistent since it was chosen by the originator of the instrument, Antonio de Torres. This length may have been chosen because it's twice the length of a violin string. As the guitar is tuned to one octave below that of the violin, the same size gut could be used for the first strings of both instruments.


title: Classical guitar

text: Smaller-scale instruments are produced to assist children in learning the instrument as the smaller scale leads to the frets being closer together, making it easier for smaller hands. The scale-size for the smaller guitars is usually in the range , with an instrument length of . Full-size instruments are sometimes referred to as 4/4, while the smaller sizes are 3/4, 1/2 or 1/4.


title: Classical guitar

text: A variety of different tunings are used. The most common by far, which one could call the "standard tuning" is:


title: Classical guitar

text: The above order is the tuning from the "1st string" (highest-pitched string e'—spatially the bottom string in playing position) to the "6th string" – lowest-pitched string E—spatially the upper string in playing position, and hence comfortable to pluck with the thumb.


title: Classical guitar

text: The explanation for this "asymmetrical" tuning (in the sense that the maj 3rd is not between the two middle strings, as in the tuning of the viola da gamba) is probably that the guitar originated as a 4-string instrument (actually an instrument with 4 double courses of strings, see above) with a maj 3rd between the 2nd and 3rd strings, and it only became a 6-string instrument by gradual addition of a 5th string and then a 6th string tuned a 4th apart:


title: Classical guitar

text: "The development of the modern tuning can be traced in stages. One of the tunings from the 16th century is C-F-A-D. This is equivalent to the top four strings of the modern guitar tuned a tone lower. However, the absolute pitch for these notes is not equivalent to modern "concert pitch". The tuning of the four-course guitar was moved up by a tone and toward the end of the 16th century, five-course instruments were in use with an added lower string tuned to A. This produced A-D-G-B-E, one of a wide number of variant tunings of the period. The low E string was added during the 18th century."


title: Classical guitar

text: There are also a variety of commonly used alternate tunings. The most common is known as Drop D tuning which has the 6th string tuned down from an E to a D.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Zanjeer () is a 2013 Indian action film directed by Apoorva Lakhia. The film is shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, the latter titled Thoofan (). A remake of the 1973 Hindi film of the same name, it stars Ram Charan (in his Hindi debut) and Priyanka Chopra (in her Telugu debut) with Sanjay Dutt in a pivotal role in the Hindi version who is replaced by Srihari in Telugu. Prakash Raj, Atul Kulkarni, and Mahie Gill play supporting roles. Reliance BIG Entertainment bought worldwide distribution rights for . Upon release the film got mostly negative reviews.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: ACP Vijay Khanna is a brutally honest police officer who has been transferred yet again by the system for chasing the corrupt underworld goons. He is continuously disturbed by the killing of his parents years back. He keeps remembering a man in a black raincoat on his birthday.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Vijay is in charge of a case where the district collector has been murdered and burned to death. The key eyewitness, Mala (Priyanka Chopra), has seen the murder by Teja's (Prakash Raj) gang and refuses to cooperate. Teja is the head of an oil mafia operation and does not want Mala alive. Vijay manages to convince Mala to give a statement which makes her perpetrators come after her. He gives her shelter in his house to protect her, and she starts to like him, while Vijay does not reciprocate the same. This includes her giving him a potato and egg for lunch at his office and then annoying him by celebrating his birthday. He shouts at her, and she begins to cry. Vijay tells her that he did not want to celebrate because his parents were killed on the very day and reveal his past to her. He finally reciprocates her love as he realized that Mala is slowly becoming an important part of his life.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Vijay also encounters Sher Khan, who is into buying and selling of illegal cars. Seeing Vijay's honesty and determination, Sher Khan turns over a new leaf and mends his ways to transform into a person who now only goes by the book. He has made Vijay a friend for life and will do anything to help him out. Vijay also encounters Jaydev a.k.a. JD, a reporter who had written bad comments about Vijay in the newspaper. Seeing Vijay's honesty and integrity, Jaydev becomes an admirer of Vijay and begins to give him all the information he has regarding the oil mafia.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Meanwhile, Kataria the man who murdered the collector, has been caught by Vijay. Kataria is revealed to be Teja's man, and he reveals that they steal petrol and oil from container trucks, add kerosene in them, and smuggle them around and outside the country. Vijay uses this information and puts Kataria in custody, but the next day, he is found murdered in custody. In the middle of this, Vijay also finds about a man named Prashant Khanna, who was killed years back by Teja. Due to certain incidents that gave Vijay wrong information about the oil mafia that Teja is handling, Vijay is suspended until the investigation is done with. Now, Vijay warns Teja that there are no seniors or rules that bind him, and now, Vijay will finish Teja in his own style. Slowly, Vijay begins to destroy almost all of Teja's oil refineries, but Mala says that all these activities that Vijay is doing can have dangerous consequences.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: One night, Vijay and Mala go to a restaurant for dinner, where Vijay gets attacked by two of Teja's men in the bathroom. Vijay kills both the men and calls Teja and warns him that even if he sends the rest of his 248 men (it was earlier mentioned by Teja that he has 250 workers under him), nothing will happen to Vijay. A few days later, Sher Khan invites Vijay and Mala to a party. Later on, when they are returning home, they are attacked once again by 10 of Teja's men. Vijay manages to lock Mala in a small room there and gets badly injured fighting them. He is almost killed, but just in time, Sher Khan comes there, handles the rest of the goons, and along with Mala, and takes Vijay to the hospital.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: The next day, Teja comes there and criticizes Vijay, saying that he is one who can only talk and does not have the guts to face Teja. After he leaves, Mala finally tells Vijay to finish Teja once and for all. That night, Teja's men, along with Teja's trusted man Bosco, kill Jaydev, and the whole city begins to panic. Meanwhile, two sub-inspectors who work under Vijay give Sher Khan information that on the night when Kataria was murdered, Inspector Saalwe had arrested a man for a petty case, but Saalwe did not record the case, and so they suspect that Saalwe and the man he arrested had killed Kataria. So, using some of his informers, Sher Khan finds Saalwe and Bosco, who was hiding himself and Saalwe in a colony. Then, he puts them in front of the commissioner, and they agree that they had killed Kataria by breaking his neck, and they had done it on Teja's saying, as he feared that Kataria might leak all the information about his gang. The commissioner realizes Vijay's innocence and claims Teja as a wanted criminal.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Out of fear, Teja runs away into an old mine with Mona, but Vijay manages to track him down. Teja manages to get Vijay at gunpoint and pulls his coat's sleeve back. Then, Vijay notices a tattoo on Teja's arm and realizes that he is the one who killed his parents. Then, Vijay says that Prashant, who Teja killed years back, was Vijay's father. Teja is shocked and reveals that Prashant had filed a case against him, and so, Teja had to kill Prashant. In a fit of rage, Vijay begins to beat Teja badly. Vijay then breaks Teja's arm, kicks him into a bundle of petroleum barrels, and then shoots the barrels, causing Teja to die in the blast. The government announces all the wealth to be given to Mona, who was also said to be in all of Teja's nefarious activities. The film ends with Sher Khan and Mala coming to visit Vijay at the station, Mala finally being able to cook some food for him, and Vijay smiling at Sher Khan when he sees a drug mafia case coming on TV.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Zanjeer in USA by BlueSky. The first look and official theatrical trailer of "Thoofan" (Telugu version) were launched by Reliance Entertainment on its YouTube Official Channel on 25 March 2013 featuring Ram Charan, Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Raj and Srihari. "Zanjeer"s worldwide distribution rights were bought by Reliance BIG Entertainment for . The Telugu version was then dubbed and released in Tamil during January 2017 as "Super Police".


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: The first look and theatrical trailer of "Zanjeer" (Hindi version) were released on 4 July 2013. The dubbing process started from 26 March 2013, where Sanjay Dutt plays the role played by Srihari. Sanjay Dutt finished "Zanjeer" filming − with only a few days left at his disposal before returning to jail. One of India's leading male voice artist Viraj Adhav dubbed the voice of Ramcharan.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Director Apoorva Lakhia signed up Telugu star Ram Charan and Priyanka Chopra for the lead roles. Prakash Raj was roped in to play the character of Teja. There were reports that Sonu Sood and Arjun Rampal were being considered for the role of Sher Khan. It was also reported that Sanjay Dutt was cast for the role. In September 2012, "The Times of India" reported that both Arjun Rampal and Sanjay Dutt opted out citing date issues and the makers had finalised Sonu Sood for the role. Later Sanjay Dutt was chosen to play the character in the Hindi version, while Srihari portrayed the same character in the Telugu version. Bindu's iconic 'Mona Darling' act was taken over by Mahi Gill, after talks with actresses Jacqueline Fernandez, Mallika Sherawat and Malaika Arora Khan fell through. Atul Kulkarni was seen in a new role in this film. After Sonu Sood was injured in the CCL match playing for Mumbai Heroes, he was replaced with Srihari for the Sher Khan role in "Thoofan". Popular TV artist Kavitha Kaushik was roped in for a special song in the movie. "Zanjeer"s script cost and was re-bought by Apoorva Lakhia.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: The Telugu version of the film is titled "Thoofan". Priyanka Chopra took an acting fee of while Ram charan was paid as highest debut hero with an acting fee of including Toofan. The director planned for a 25-day schedule in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh from 14 November to 5 December 2012.


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Taran Adarsh rated 3/5 telling "The new Zanjeer borrows from the original, but it is more of an updated avatar of that film. On the whole, Zanjeer is a triumph for Ram Charan, who gets abundant opportunity to exhibit his talent and scores exceedingly well. However, the film comes across as a regular masala fare that caters to the single screen spectator mainly and also for enthusiasts of typical Bollywood entertainers." Meena Iyer of "The Times of India" rates 3/5 telling "Yet, this film should be judged as a stand-alone offering because attempts to compare the two versions will find the current one falling short, especially in the dialogue and music departments. Ram Charan, as the brooding policeman, excels in action. His dark eyes with long lashes adeptly convey anger. Sanjay Dutt is competent and lovable."


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Its affiliation newspaper "Mumbai Mirror" gave a 1.5 star rating and the reviewer Karan Anshuman said "If Salim-Javed do watch this film, one wouldn't be surprised if they decided to give the money and 'core story' credit back and disassociate themselves from this embarrassment of a "remake". Anupama Chopra termed the movie 'a ramshackle remake' and wrote, "This remake is wrong on so many levels that I don’t know where to begin. This isn’t a film. It’s sacrilege."


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave a zero rating and said it was an unforgivably bad remake. Shubra Gupta of "The Indian Express" said "It's neither faithful remake nor campy, knowing tribute. It's just a poor copy". Rajeev Masand of IBN-live gave 0/5 saying "The new 'Zanjeer' isn't just a bad film, it's a shameless exercise in laziness."


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: "India Today" – "Zanjeer makes it to the list of the worst films ever made". "Times of Oman" – "It would be a sin to compare this lazy attempt to the original. Even as a standalone film, it fails miserably".


title: Zanjeer (2013 film)

text: MSN India – "Thoofan is like paying money to dig your own grave." "Sunday Guardian" – "Two and a half hours of uninterrupted idiocy".


title: History of Iceland

text: The recorded history of Iceland began with the settlement by Viking explorers and the people they enslaved from the east, particularly Norway and the British Isles, in the late ninth century. Iceland was still uninhabited long after the rest of Western Europe had been settled. Recorded settlement has conventionally been dated back to 874, although archaeological evidence indicates Gaelic monks from Ireland, known as papar according to sagas, had settled Iceland earlier.


title: History of Iceland

text: The land was settled quickly, mainly by Norwegians who may have been fleeing conflict or seeking new land to farm. By 930, the chieftains had established a form of governance, the "Althing", making it one of the world's oldest parliaments. Towards the end of the tenth century, Christianity came to Iceland through the influence of the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason. During this time, Iceland remained independent, a period known as the Old Commonwealth, and Icelandic historians began to document the nation's history in books referred to as sagas of Icelanders. In the early thirteenth century, the internal conflict known as the age of the Sturlungs weakened Iceland, which eventually became subjugated to Norway over the 13th century. The Old Covenant (1262–1264), and the adoption of Jónsbók (1281) effectively ended the Icelandic Commonwealth. Norway, in turn, was united with Sweden (1319) and then Denmark (1376). Eventually all of the Nordic states were united in one alliance, the Kalmar Union (1397–1523), but on its dissolution, Iceland fell under Danish rule. The subsequent strict Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was detrimental to the economy. Iceland's resultant poverty was aggravated by severe natural disasters like the Móðuharðindin or "Mist Hardships". During this time, the population declined.