title: Rob Liefeld

text: In 2011–2012 Liefeld returned to his earlier creator-owned characters, with new books written and illustrated by other writers and artists. These included a new "Avengelyne" ongoing series debut at Image Comics under the creative team of Mark Poulton and Owen Gieni, a "Bloodstrike" series written by Tim Seeley, a "Glory" series written by Joe Keatinge and illustrated by Sophie Campbell, and a "Prophet" series written by Brandon Graham that garnered critical acclaim. He also published revivals of "Youngblood" with writer John McLaughlin with artist Jon Malin and "Supreme" by Erik Larsen in 2012.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: In August 2012 Liefeld generated controversy by posting a tweet in which he said of his creation, Deadpool, and the creators who worked on the character:


title: Rob Liefeld

text: "Testament to Deadpool's appeal and durability is that he thrives regardless of being regulated(sic) to D-list talent. Marvel A-list never touches"


title: Rob Liefeld

text: The comment was met with criticism by industry professionals who pointed to the esteemed creators who had worked on the character that Liefeld was apparently calling "D-list" creators. Among these critics was Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool, who pointed out that some of these past creators included Joe Kelly, Ed McGuinness, Joe Madureira, Gail Simone, David Lapham and Kyle Baker. Artist Dave Johnson, who had also worked on the character, referenced a video Liefeld posted on the Web a year earlier of him inking a comics page while driving, by saying, "Yes!!! I've been elevated to the "D list" of talent. Thanks Rob. Now if I can only learn how to ink while driving a car." Then-Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso also referenced other creators who had worked on Deadpool, including Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, and Tony Moore, saying, "Welcome to the D-list, @GerryDuggan @thebrianposehn @tonymoore! Howdy Doody just put your name on the list." Writer Rick Remender, another veteran of books featuring Deadpool, stated, "Lot of talented people you just called out as D-list. Might be a better way to congratulate yourself?" Liefeld defended his statement in subsequent tweets posted that day, tweeting, "Truth hurts. Did I miss the Brubaker Deadpool arc? The Millar Deadpool arc? The Loeb Deadpool arc. Get over yourself. The flip of my statement is that Marvel doesn't feature their prize talent on Dpool and the character does well-Mostly newbies, hence D-list". Liefeld stated that his point was that "heavy contract players" at Marvel such as Leinil Francis Yu, Steve McNiven, Arthur Adams, and Olivier Coipel did not produce regular monthly books featuring the character. On March 3, Liefeld apologized for his comments, saying, "As a parent I tell my kids it costs nothing to apologise, so here goes: I apologise and am truly sorry to everyone I insulted with my D-list comments. I said it and can't take it back." Liefeld stated that his original complaint was that Marvel tended to rely on new and unproven talent on Deadpool, and not to attack creators such as the then-new team of Brian Posehn, Duggan and Moore.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld made a cameo appearance in the 2016 film based on his most famous creation, "Deadpool", which was released in February 2016. In an interview that month, Liefeld stated that he was working on the graphic novel "Deadpool: Bad Blood", which was set for release later that year. In 2017, it was reported by Deadline that Liefeld was working with Akiva Goldsman and Graham King on a seven-figure movie deal for his Extreme Universe.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: In June 2019, Liefeld reacted to the sweeping editorial changes that occurred at DC Comics in the aftermath of a controversial printing error on "Batman Damned" #1 with a set of two tweets in which he stated, "DC Comics gonna drive off a cliff here real soon…..gotta get my popcorn...I ain't never seen a company in as much disarray as DC Comics. Thank God they have Batman to act as their Tylenol, , laughing gas… 'more Batman will fix it!'" When writer Mark Millar expressed skepticism of this prediction, pointing to DC's strong lineup, Liefeld replied that Millar's assessment was a dated one that had not been true since the 1980s. Liefeld further tweeted, "I understand my DC honesty will cost me a potential opportunity but who cares! C'mon… they should fire everybody in management and refresh. Batman will still be there for the next group...And Jim Lee could finally draw the X-Men for you again!!! Wins all around!!" Liefeld eventually deleted the initial two tweets, but they nonetheless prompted a series of arguments between Liefeld and users who criticized him for his remarks. This was followed by Liefeld's concession that neither Marvel nor DC were in any danger of shutting down, and his announcement that he was ending his Twitter account, and would be using Instagram.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: In July 2020 IDW Publishing released the first issue of "", a G.I. Joe-related series co-written by Liefeld and Chad Bowers, and penciled by Liefeld, Adelso Corona, and Neil Vyetake. Around that same time, Liefeld began a podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Podbean called "Robservations", in which he talks about different topics pertaining to the comics industry.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld's name has become something of a lightning rod in the industry. In an interview, Brian Michael Bendis described the polarization of opinion on Liefeld: "There is a great dichotomy...There's either some great and generous story about [Liefeld] or you will hear some unbelievable thing like, 'How is he not in jail if he did that?' There is no middle ground."


title: Rob Liefeld

text: In interviews, Liefeld has compared himself to other popular artists who experienced meteoric success and acclaim early in their careers but near-pariah status afterwards, such as LeBron James or Britney Spears, who "became vapid in pop music, and perhaps I was nothing more than a vapid comic book artist." He seems to credit his success to tapping into the zeitgeist: "I'll be the first to tell you that we [the Image collective] were never the best artists. We were never the best at anything, but just like a song or a band or whatever, we caught on and we toured rigorously."


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld is not without supporters in the industry. "The A.V. Club" says of Liefeld's critics, "Rob Liefeld is the punching bag of choice for many discerning comics fans. But he's also the man who defined what the 1990s looked like in superhero books, so he's crying all the way to the bank. For every detractor who thinks he's the worst thing to happen to comic books since Fredric Wertham, there are a dozen ravenous fanboys ready to snatch up whatever he does next." Writer Jeph Loeb, with whom Liefeld collaborated, and writer Mark Millar are reported to be admirers of his work. Millar in particular wrote the foreword to the 2008 "Youngblood" collection published by Image Comics, in which he defended that series as an entry in the celebrity superhero subgenre that predated "The Authority" and "X-Statix". Millar also compared critics of Liefeld's layouts and figure work to those who would have criticized Jack Kirby for exhibiting a cartoony style rather than photorealism, and asserted that his own children are avid fans of Liefeld's work in general, and "Youngblood" in particular. Comics writer Grant Morrison credited the Image creators with "rescuing" American comics, explaining that they responded to children's tastes of the time, and brought comics back to their basic superhero roots following the British Invasion in comics and the popularization of titles typified by Vertigo Comics, of which Morrison themself was a part. Morrison stated that they are an admirer of Liefeld's work in particular, explaining that while Liefeld's art was regarded as "total crap" in the 1990s, many comic book artists today see it as an avant-garde abstraction of reality that is as bizarre and individual as Vincent van Gogh. In 2012, Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool said of DC Comics' decision to assign Liefeld the co-scripting and drawing duties on three of their flagging New 52 titles, "Rob does have a habit, of course, of pulling out sales and attention like a rabbit out of a hat."


title: Rob Liefeld

text: In 2013, he was named on "IGN"s list of "The Best Tweeters in Comics" for both his industry insight and his bluntness.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld has been criticized for his drawing skill. In a 1996 interview, writer/illustrator Barry Windsor-Smith criticized the depth of work by the popular artists of the 1990s like Liefeld and Jim Lee, and those whom they had influenced (whom he referred to as "the Liefelds and the Lees"), stating "I don't think it has even crossed their minds that comic books can be a medium for intimate self-expression." Speaking of Liefeld in particular, Windsor-Smith said:


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld has also been criticized for designing characters with an improbable profusion of weapons, accessories, and pouches, a tendency that was subject to parody. For example, during Grant Morrison's run on DC Comics' "Doom Patrol" in the early 1990s, Morrison collaborated with Keith Giffen, Mike Mignola, and Walt Simonson to produce "Doom Force Special" #1 (July 1992), which "vicious[ly]" mocked Liefeld's work on "X-Force".


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Artist Alex Ross drew upon his dislike of the design of Liefeld's creation Cable when designing the character Magog for the 1996 miniseries "Kingdom Come". Following writer Mark Waid's instructions that the character's appearance be based on aspects of superhero design trends of the time that they disliked, Ross said of Cable, "That's a character that Mark Waid invented that was really just put to me like come up with the most God awful, Rob Liefeld sort of design that you can. What I was stealing from was—really only two key designs of Rob's—the design of Cable. I hated it. I felt like it looked like they just threw up everything on the character—the scars, the thing going on with his eye, the arm, and what's with all the guns?"


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld has also been criticized for drawing figures with exaggerated muscular anatomy, such as long legs and tiny feet, and "bizarre" anatomy on female characters that some critics felt served to objectify women, with critical articles such as "The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings", "A Gallery of Rob Liefeld's Anatomical Abominations" and "Worst Rob Liefeld Covers" among the top mentions of Liefeld's on Google. These stylistic devices were seen as the impetus for his initial success, when such affectations were unusual in comics, and helped lend such characters to successfully merchandised products. Nonetheless, the approach later became a cliché and led to a widespread hostility towards the style. Liefeld agrees for the most part with this estimation of his early work, saying, "In the mid-90s we "Mortal Kombat"ed everything. I'm as guilty as anyone..." Liefeld's friend, Image Comics partner, and "The Walking Dead" creator, Robert Kirkman, defends Liefeld, saying, "Every figure that Rob draws has a certain energy to it, a certain excitement. Every character Rob drew had seven knives and six guns and shoulder pads and pouches and belts and straps and ammunition. It was an aesthetic that as a kid absolutely blew me away. I idolized the guy...Everything he draws is interesting, whether it's accurate or not. A lot of people look at the way Rob draws the human body and they say, 'That's wrong in my eyes.' I would say that these people have no joy in their souls. It's not like Rob doesn't know what a human body looks like, I think Rob looks at a human body and goes: 'That's boring. I can do better.'"


title: Rob Liefeld

text: In addition to his depiction of human anatomy, Liefeld's art has also been criticized in more general terms for use of splash pages in lieu of multi-panel pages depicting more story, and poor design and continuity in elements such as clothing, props, and proper proportions between characters and their environments, with industry columnist Peter David responding to Liefeld's 1996 work on the "Heroes Reborn" "Captain America" by proclaiming Liefeld the "Ed Wood of comics". Kesel relates:


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld has stated that such criticism has not bothered him, in part because, at the height of his popularity, he had things outside of his work to focus on, such as the death of his father from cancer in 1999. By the 2010s, he was known to reference this perception of his work in a lighthearted manner: Following the April 2012 release of DC Comics' solicitations for that July, which included Liefeld's covers for "The Savage Hawkman" #11, "Deathstroke" #11, and "Grifter" #11—all of which showed characters' feet—Liefeld, who had been criticized for avoiding drawing characters' feet, commented, "The Hipsters don't know what to do when I draw feet. It confuses them." In "Deadpool 2", the character Domino's luck-based powers are disparaged by Deadpool: "Luck? What coked-out, glass pipe-sucking freakshow comic book artist came up with that little chestnut? Probably a guy who can't draw feet!", a reference acknowledged by Liefeld, who has pointed out that many fan favorite artists used mounds of debris or shadows to avoid drawing feet.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: At the beginning of Liefeld's run on the "New Mutants", the heavily muscled, heavily armed cyborg character Cable was created for the team, and became a popular antihero, although there is dispute over Cable's origin, with conflicting accounts of credit given to Liefeld, Bob Harras, and Louise Simonson for aspects of the character's concept and origin. For a time, Marvel credited only Liefeld and Simonson as Cable's creators within the "Cable & Deadpool" series. He also was credited as the sole creator of "Youngblood", when documentation suggests that Liefeld's longtime friend and collaborator Hank Kanalz co-developed that team with him. Liefeld has also contested sharing creator credit with writer Fabian Nicieza for the character Deadpool. In a 2016 "New York Times" interview, Liefeld said that he did "all the heavy lifting" in writing and drawing the issue in which that character first appeared, while Nicieza wrote its script, saying, "If a janitor scripted New Mutants 98, he'd be the co-creator — that's how it works, buddy. Deadpool does not exist in any way, shape or form without me. I wrote the stories. Like Jim Lee and others, I worked with a scripter who helped facilitate. I chose Fabian, and he got the benefit of the Rob Liefeld lottery ticket. Those are good coattails to ride." These remarks drew criticism from writers Dan Slott, Mark Waid, and Kurt Busiek, and artist Darick Robertson, who felt that Liefeld was diminishing Nicieza's contributions to the character. Busiek in particular referenced Nicieza's work on Deadpool's signature trait, saying, "Because the success of the Merc With A Mouth clearly has nothing to do with the guy who supplied the mouth." Liefeld later said that he hated the "Times" article, calling it "a hit piece."


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld has also been accused of swiping, or copying, art from other artists. Liefeld responded to this accusation by stating that in these instances, which he said were limited to ten, he was offering tribute to the artists of the original pieces in question, rather than plagiarizing, and compared this to the work of filmmaker Brian De Palma, who explicitly used the techniques of Alfred Hitchcock. Peter David responded to this rationale by stating that DePalma himself was criticized harshly by film critics for employing Hitchcock's techniques, and that Liefeld, who has identified himself as a "stickler" for credit, did not credit artists whose work he copied, instances of which exceeded the ten upon which Liefeld insisted. David also stated that some of these artists, such as John Byrne and George Pérez, did not react to this practice on Liefeld's part as a "tribute", and expressed displeasure at the degree to which Liefeld relied on their work.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld has also gained a reputation for producing late books, primarily his creator-owned ones, though somewhat less so when doing work-for-hire. Some issues of his series "Youngblood" shipped as much as nine months late. Liefeld has attributed this to the greater incentive a freelancer feels when doing work-for-hire assignments for a company, as opposed to working on one's self-owned work. Creator Bob Layton, who says he had to fly to Los Angeles and literally sit on Liefeld's doorstep until Liefeld finished penciling his portion of the "Deathmate" miniseries, which was an intercompany crossover published by Image Comics and Valiant Comics, and who had to ink the artwork himself in an Anaheim hotel room, stated, "There I was, with my own company to manage, and I was in California, managing someone else's people." Layton cites "Deathmate", and Image's inability to produce their half of that series in a timely manner, as the first disaster that heralded the end of the speculator boom of the 1990s, and the eventual demise of Valiant Comics.


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld has been criticized for not returning to Rick Veitch the original artwork that Veitch had produced for Liefeld's Awesome Comics series, "Supreme".


title: Rob Liefeld

text: Liefeld compared his conflicts with contemporaries McFarlane and Jim Lee to the intra-band conflicts of the Eagles, and in 2007, he stated that his feud with the Image partners was in the past, saying, "The divorce was ugly, but to me it didn't linger...I realized you just need to let it go."


title: Candlestick pattern

text: In financial technical analysis, a candlestick pattern is a movement in prices shown graphically on a candlestick chart that some believe can predict a particular market movement. The recognition of the pattern is subjective and programs that are used for charting have to rely on predefined rules to match the pattern. There are 42 recognized patterns that can be split into simple and complex patterns.


title: Candlestick pattern

text: Some of the earliest technical trading analysis was used to track prices of rice in the 18th century. Much of the credit for candlestick charting goes to Munehisa Homma (1724–1803), a rice merchant from Sakata, Japan who traded in the Ojima Rice market in Osaka during the Tokugawa Shogunate. According to Steve Nison, however, candlestick charting came later, probably beginning after 1850.


title: Candlestick pattern

text: Candlesticks are graphical representations of price movements for a given period of time. They are commonly formed by the opening, high, low, and closing prices of a financial instrument.


title: Candlestick pattern

text: If the opening price is above the closing price then a filled (normally red or black) candlestick is drawn.


title: Candlestick pattern

text: If the closing price is above the opening price, then normally a green or hollow candlestick (white with black outline) is shown.


title: Candlestick pattern

text: The filled or hollow portion of the candle is known as the body or "real body", and can be long, normal, or short depending on its proportion to the lines above or below it.


title: Candlestick pattern

text: The lines above and below, known as "shadows", "tails", or "wicks", represent the high and low price ranges within a specified time period. However, not all candlesticks have shadows.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: Mesoamerican pyramids form a prominent part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. Although similar in some ways to Egyptian pyramids, these New World structures have flat tops (many with temples on the top) and stairs ascending their faces. The largest pyramid in the world by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the east-central Mexican state of Puebla. The builders of certain classic Mesoamerican pyramids have decorated them copiously with stories about the Hero Twins, the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, Mesoamerican creation myths, ritualistic sacrifice, etc. written in the form of hieroglyphs on the rises of the steps of the pyramids, on the walls, and on the sculptures contained within.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Aztecs dominated central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Their capital was Tenochtitlan on the shore of Lake Texcoco – the site of modern-day Mexico City. They were related to the preceding cultures in the basin of Mexico such as the culture of Teotihuacan whose building style they adopted and adapted. Sites involving Aztec pyramids include:


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Maya are a people of southern Mexico and northern Central America (Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and El Salvador).


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: Archaeological evidence shows that by the Preclassic Maya (1000 B.C., approximately 3,000 years ago) they were building pyramidal-plaza ceremonial architecture. The earliest monuments consisted of simple burial mounds, the precursors to the spectacular stepped pyramids from the Terminal Pre-classic period and beyond.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: These pyramids relied on intricate carved stone in order to create a stair-stepped design. Many of these structures featured a top platform upon which a smaller dedicatory building was constructed, associated with a particular Maya deity. Maya pyramid-like structures were also erected to serve as a place of interment for powerful rulers. Maya pyramidal structures occur in a great variety of forms and functions, bounded by regional and periodical differences.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Olmecs were an ancient group of indigenous peoples that occupied territory in Mesoamerica stretching from Veracruz to Tabasco around 1300-400 BCE.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Olmec Great Pyramid of La Venta is argued to be one of the earliest and most complex settlement and ceremonial sites that can be found amongst Mesoamerican civilizations.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Tarascan state was a pre-columbian culture located in the modern day Mexican state of Michoacán. The region is currently inhabited by the modern descendants of the Purépecha. Purépechan architecture is noted for "T"-shaped step pyramids known as "yácatas".


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Teotihuacan civilization, which flourished from around 300 BCE to 500 CE, at its greatest extent included most of Mesoamerica. Teotihuacano culture collapsed around 550 and was followed by several large city-states such as Xochicalco (whose inhabitants were probably of Matlatzinca ethnicity), Cholula (whose inhabitants were probably Oto-Manguean), and later the ceremonial site of Tula (which has traditionally been claimed to have been built by Toltecs but which now is thought to have been founded by the Huastec culture).


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The site called Tula, the Toltec capital, in the state of Mexico is one of the best preserved five-tier pyramids in Mesoamerican civilization. The ground plan of the site has two pyramids, Pyramid B and Pyramid C.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Toltec empire lasted from around 700 to 1100. Although the origin of the Toltec Empire is a mystery, they are said to have migrated Mexico's northern plateau until they set up their empire’s capital in central Mexico, called Tula, which is 70 km/40 mi northwest of modern day Mexico City. When the city of Tula was in its prime it had around 40,000 people living in it and the city flourished from 900 to 1100. The city of Tula had a main plaza surrounded by 2 pyramids and a ritual ball court. The most popular pyramid on this site (pyramid b) is the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl which is a five-tiered pyramid with four giant carved pillars on top. The pyramid of Quetzalcoatl was named after a story of a legendary priest, also named Quetzalcoatl who was exiled from Tula around the year 1000. He is said to have ended warfare between Mayan city states and after that the Toltecs started worshiping Quetzalcoatl.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The best known Classic Veracruz pyramid, the Pyramid of Niches in El Tajín, is smaller than those of their neighbors and successors but more intricate.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The Zapotecs were one of the earliest Mesoamerican cultures and held sway over the Valley of Oaxaca region from the early first millennium BCE to about the 14th century.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The following sites are from northern Mesoamerica, built by cultures whose ethnic affiliations are unknown:


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: This astronomical and also ceremonial center was the product of the Chalchihuite culture. Its occupation and development had a period of approximately 800 years (ca. 200—1000). This zone is considered an important archaeological center because of the astonishing, accurate functions of the edifications. The ones that stand out the most are: The Moon Plaza, The Votive Pyramid, the Ladder of Gamio and The labyrinth. In The Labyrinth you can appreciate with precision and accuracy, the respective equinoxes and the seasons.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: A great quantity of buildings were constructed on artificial terraces upon the slopes of a hill. The materials used here include stone slab and clay. The most important structures are: The Hall of Columns, The Ball Court, The Votive Pyramid, and The Palace and the Barracks. On the most elevated part of the hill is The Fortress. This is composed of a small pyramid and a platform, encircled by a wall that is more than 800m long and up to six feet high. La Quemada was occupied from 800 to 1200. Their founders and occupants have not been identified with certainty but probably belonged to either the Chalchihuites culture or that of the neighboring Malpaso culture.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: Modern archaeological scholarly thinking has been revising the concept of the Olmecs as diffusing the majority of cultural influence in regards to architectural similarities between various Mesoamerican pyramids.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: The origin of the term mother culture, in regards to Mesoamerica, entered into the Mesoamerican historiographical lexicon in 1942 from archaeologist Alfonso Caso denoting that the OImecs were the ""cultura madre"." The mother culture model argues that there was one defining culture, the Olmecs, from where therein coexisting Mesoamerican societies derived a significant portion of fundamental societal and cultural facets. The sister culture model argues that the Olmecs were not the sole undeviating source of cultural diffusion for other Mesoamerican civilizations, but rather a segment in ongoing cultural diffusion in Mesoamerica. Further progression of the debate has evolved into costly signaling theory which argues that Mesoamerican cultures were influenced by prestigious displays which manifested, amongst other things, in their architecture. Another key facet of the debate questioned the application of the term "Mother culture" and argues that contemporary Mesoamerican civilizations were functional without Olmec influence and describing the Olmecs as the "mother culture" robs the Olmecs and the other civilizations of their agency.


title: Mesoamerican pyramids

text: In 2013, archaeological research done on the ancient Mayan city of Ceibal have hypothesized that the Olmecs had significantly lesser prominence in regards to shared architectural characteristics. This is supported by evidence, in the form of radiocarbon dating, that was found at Ceibal pointing to a flux between a plethora of Mesoamerican cultures, somewhere between 1150 BCE and 850 BCE, in which a continued diffusion of culture occurred. This evidence suggests multidirectional influence in regards to the dissemination of pyramid architecture amongst Mesoamerican civilizations.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Outlandos d'Amour is the debut studio album by English rock band the Police, released on 2 November 1978 by A&M Records. Elevated by the success of its lead single, "Roxanne", "Outlandos d'Amour" peaked at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and at No. 23 on the "Billboard" 200. The album spawned two additional hit singles: "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely".


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Although "Outlandos d'Amour" received mixed reviews upon its release, it has since been regarded as one of the strongest debut albums. "Rolling Stone" ranked it as the 38th best debut album of all time and the 428th greatest album of all time.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: With a budget of £1,500 borrowed from their manager, Miles Copeland (brother of drummer Stewart), the Police recorded "Outlandos d'Amour" at Surrey Sound Studios in an intermittent fashion over six months, with the band recording whenever the studio had free time or another band's sessions were cancelled. Miles Copeland had promised to pay Surrey Sound £2,000 upon completion of the recording, but did not give them the full amount until much later.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Miles occasionally visited the studio during recording, and he reacted to what he heard from the band with vehement derision. However, upon hearing "Roxanne" he had the opposite reaction and took the recording to A&M Records the following day, where he persuaded the record label to release it as a one-off single. Although the single failed to chart, A&M agreed to give the band a second chance with "Can't Stand Losing You". At first, A&M proposed the band create an improved mix of the song, but after five attempts admitted that it could not improve upon the band's mix, and released the original mix for the single. When it became the band's first hit, the label quickly approved the release of the by-then finished album.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Miles had originally wanted to name the album "Police Brutality". However, after hearing "Roxanne" and then envisioning a more romantic image for the band, he proposed "Outlandos d'Amour" instead. This title is a loose French translation of "Outlaws of Love", with the first word being a combination of the words "outlaws" and "commandos", and "d'Amour" meaning "of love".


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: "Outlandos d'Amour", while at times incorporating reggae, pop and other elements of what would eventually become the band's definitive sound, is dominated by punk influences. This is evident on the opening track "Next to You", despite it essentially being a love song. Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers initially felt the lyrics were neither aggressive nor political enough for their style at the time, but bassist and vocalist Sting was adamant about keeping the song as it was. "Next to You" includes a slide guitar solo by Summers, which Copeland initially dismissed as "old wave".


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: The second track is the reggae-influenced "So Lonely". Sting has said he used Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" as the musical basis for the song, while the lyrics in its verses were recycled from "Fool in Love", a song he originally wrote for his earlier band Last Exit. The song itself, about someone who is lonely after suffering a broken heart, was seen as ironic by a large segment of the band's listeners. Sting disagreed with this sentiment, saying, "No, there's no irony whatsoever. From the outside it might look a bit strange, being surrounded by all this attention and yet experiencing the worst lonely feeling ... but I do. And then suddenly the attention is withdrawn a half an hour later. You're so isolated ..."


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: "Roxanne" was written by Sting after visiting a red-light district near the band's hotel in Paris. The Police had been staying there in October 1977 to perform at the nearby Nashville Club. The song's title comes from the name of the character in the play "Cyrano de Bergerac", an old poster of which was hanging in the hotel foyer. Sting had originally conceived the song as a bossa nova, although Stewart Copeland has been credited for suggesting its final rhythmic form as a tango. During recording, Sting accidentally sat down on a piano keyboard in the studio, resulting in the atonal chord and laughter preserved at the beginning of the track. The Police were initially reluctant about the song, but Miles Copeland was immediately enthusiastic after hearing it.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: The remaining two tracks on the first side of the album are "Hole in My Life", another reggae-influenced song by Sting, and "Peanuts", a composition written by Stewart Copeland and Sting about Rod Stewart. The lyrics were meant as an expression of disappointment on Sting's part towards his former idol, of whom he said: "I used to be a great fan of his but something happened to him. I hope I don't end up like that." Having since experienced the celebrity lifestyle himself, he has said he no longer identifies with the song's lyrical content and has come to view Stewart in a different light.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: "Can't Stand Losing You" begins side two of the original LP. Written and composed by Sting, the song is about a young lover being driven to suicide following a breakup. In a 1993 interview with "The Independent", he described the lyrics as "juvenile", saying that "teenage suicide ... is always a bit of a joke"; he also claimed to have written the lyrics in only five minutes.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: The following track, "Truth Hits Everybody", is a punk-influenced song. After that is "Born in the 50's", which details life as a teenager during the 1960s. "Be My Girl—Sally" is a medley of a half-finished song by Sting and an Andy Summers poem about a blow-up doll. This leads into the semi-instrumental closer, "Masoko Tanga", the only song on the album to not become a staple of the band's live performances.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Two other songs from these sessions were excluded from "Outlandos d'Amour" but released as B-sides for two of its singles: "Dead-End Job", a song credited to Sting and Copeland, on the B-side of "Can't Stand Losing You"; and "No Time This Time" by Sting, on the B-side of "So Lonely". The latter was subsequently included on the band's second album "Reggatta de Blanc".


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Released on November 2 1978, "Outlandos d'Amour" initially performed poorly due to low exposure and an unfavourable reaction from the BBC to its first two singles, "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You", owing to their subject matter (prostitution and suicide, respectively). The latter was banned by the BBC specifically due to its single cover, which depicted Stewart Copeland "standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck, waiting for the ice to melt." The record company took notice of the notoriety and in response promoted the band's music with posters detailing how the BBC had banned "Roxanne". "Roxanne" failed to chart in the United Kingdom upon its original release in April 1978. "Can't Stand Losing You", released in August, became the group's first single to break the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 42 in October. "So Lonely" was released as the album's third single in November 1978, and did not chart.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: The Police's low-budget tour of the United States in support of the album made people across the country aware of the band, and especially "Roxanne", which was released as their first single there. "Roxanne" charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in February 1979, peaking at No. 32 in April of the same year. It was also successful in Canada, where it peaked at No. 31. The song received increasing airplay from radio DJs in both the US and the UK throughout April 1979.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: The international success of "Roxanne" spurred a UK reissue of the single in April 1979, which went to No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart. A subsequent reissue of "Can't Stand Losing You" in June 1979 nearly topped the chart, surpassed only by "I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats. "So Lonely" was also reissued, reaching No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1980.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: The album itself eventually peaked at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart in October 1979. In the US, "Outlandos d'Amour" peaked at number 23 on the "Billboard" 200. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1981 for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States, and in 1984, the album attained platinum certification after shipping one million units. It is the Police's only album not to reach the top position in the UK.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: "Can't Stand Losing You" briefly returned to the charts in 1980 as part of the "Six Pack" singles compilation set, which peaked at No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart in June 1980. In 1995, a live version of the song was released as a single and reached No. 27 on the chart.


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Contemporary reviews of the album were largely unfavourable. Tom Carson of "Rolling Stone" had high praise for the band's technical abilities, but was disparaging of their attempt to tackle sophisticated rock and reggae while posturing as punks. Carson also perceived a lack of emotional conviction on the album, especially in Sting's vocals, concluding that ""Outlandos d'Amour" isn't monotonous—it's far too jumpy and brittle for that—but its mechanically minded emptiness masquerading as feeling makes you feel cheated ... worn out by all the supercilious, calculated pretense." Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" was more positive. He complimented the band's "tuneful, straight-ahead rock and roll" and wrote that almost all of the album's songs "make the cretin in me hop", though only "Can't Stand Losing You" "makes him jump up and down". In "Sounds", Phil Sutcliffe viewed "Outlandos d'Amour" as "a distinctive and mostly enjoyable first album" and credited the band for not excessively flaunting their musical virtuosity, noting that they instead "emphasise starkness and tension, taking the bare framework of punk or reggae as their starting point."


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Subsequent retrospective reviews have been more favourable towards the album. Greg Prato of AllMusic called "Outlandos d'Amour" "by far [the Police's] most direct and straightforward release" and "unquestionably one of the finest debuts to come out of the '70s punk/new wave movement", writing that even many of the lesser-known cuts are outstanding. By 2003, "Rolling Stone" had reversed their original position on "Outlandos d'Amour" by ranking the record at No. 434 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and at No. 428 on the 2012 revised edition of the list. The magazine also ranked "Outlandos d'Amour" at No. 38 on its 2013 list of the 100 best debut albums of all time, describing the band as "post-punks who could play their instruments, absorbing reggae and jazz into the spare, bouncy sound of their debut album, a record that didn't sound quite like anything before it."


title: Outlandos d'Amour

text: Punk band No Use for a Name covered the song "Truth Hits Everybody" (with modified lyrics) on their 1990 debut album, "Incognito". The German heavy metal band Rage covered it on their 1994 Japan-only EP "Refuge". The pop-punk band Motion City Soundtrack also covered the same song for a Police cover album. Pop-punk band Fall Out Boy recorded a cover of "Roxanne" for the 2005 "Director's Cut" re-release of their debut album "Take This to Your Grave". "Next to You" was covered by The Offspring on their 2005 Greatest Hits album. The original Police version of "Next to You" was later packaged in "Rock Band", while "Truth Hits Everybody", "Roxanne", "Can't Stand Losing You", and "So Lonely" were all released as downloadable content for the "Rock Band" series.


title: Jere Burns

text: Jere Eugene Burns II (; born October 15, 1954) is an American actor who has appeared in theatre productions and on television. He played the roles of ladies' man Kirk Morris on the television series "Dear John", DIA psychiatrist Anson Fullerton on the television series "Burn Notice", Jack on the sitcom "Something So Right"', and Dixie Mafia middle-man Wynn Duffy on "Justified".


title: Jere Burns

text: Jere Eugene Burns II was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of a gown and cap manufacturer. Burns was drawn to acting late in college. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1980, he moved to Manhattan and was cast in the title role in "Don Juan" at the New York Shakespeare Festival.


title: Jere Burns

text: Burns has appeared on Broadway; his Broadway theatre credits include "Hairspray" and "After the Night and the Music".


title: Jere Burns

text: Burns made his television debut in a small role on ABC's "ABC Afterschool Special" episode "Mom's on Strike" in 1984. He had a recurring role as rapist James Fitzsimmons on "Hill Street Blues" and body collector Breughel on "Max Headroom". In 1988 he landed the role of sleazy Kirk Morris on "Dear John". In 1989 he appeared in the William Lustig film "Hit List" as Jared Riley. He appeared as the villainous Cade Dalton on the NBC miniseries "" (1991), hateful Vice President of Sales Pete Schmidt on "Bob" (1993), a member of the feuding family in "Greedy" (1994), Jack Farrell in "Something So Right" (1996), and Ben Stuart in "Life-Size" (2000). He portrayed the title character's brother in "The Trouble with Harry", an episode of the series "Twice in a Lifetime" directed by David Winning (2000); Frank Alfonse on "Good Morning, Miami" (2002); Keith on "The King of Queens" (2006); Michael on "Help Me Help You" (2006); Dr. Jim on "Surviving Suburbia" (2007); Derek Ford on "Psych", Bosco on "Grey's Anatomy" (2013); and Jacob Tiernan on "Lucifer" (2019). He starred as an FBI agent in the movie "Otis" (2008). Other screen credits include "Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles" (2001).


title: Jere Burns

text: In 2010, he appeared in AMC's series "Breaking Bad" as the group leader for a Narcotics Anonymous meeting as a part of a twelve-step program, which main character Jesse Pinkman attended. He also had a recurring role on FX's "Justified" as Wynn Duffy, a sadistic lieutenant in the Dixie Mafia, and appeared as villain Anson Fullerton in Seasons 5 and 6 (2011–2012) of "Burn Notice" on USA Network.


title: Jere Burns

text: Burns had a recurring role as Jake Abernathy on the A&E series "Bates Motel" in 2013, and appeared as Lieutenant Atkins in the TBS series "Angie Tribeca".


title: Jere Burns

text: In 1982, Burns was married to Melissa Keeler. After 14 years of marriage, they filed for divorce in 1996. The following year in 1997, he married actress Kathleen Kinmont, and they divorced in 1999. In 2008, he was married to Leslie Cohen. They later divorced in 2018 after ten years of marriage.


title: Color rendering index

text: A color rendering index (CRI) is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully in comparison with a natural or standard light source. Light sources with a high CRI are desirable in color-critical applications such as neonatal care and art restoration. It is defined by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) as follows:


title: Color rendering index

text: Color rendering: Effect of an illuminant on the color appearance of objects by conscious or subconscious comparison with their color appearance under a reference or standard illuminant.


title: Color rendering index

text: The CRI of a light source does not indicate the apparent color of the light source; that information is given by the correlated color temperature (CCT). The CRI is determined by the light source's spectrum. An incandescent lamp has a continuous spectrum, a fluorescent lamp has a discrete line spectrum; implying that the incandescent lamp has the higher CRI.


title: Color rendering index

text: The value often quoted as "CRI" on commercially available lighting products is properly called the CIE R value, "CRI" being a general term and CIE R being the international standard color rendering index.


title: Color rendering index

text: Numerically, the highest possible CIE R value is 100 and would only be given to a source whose spectrum is identical to the spectrum of daylight, very close to that of a black body (incandescent lamps are effectively black bodies), dropping to negative values for some light sources. Low-pressure sodium lighting has a negative CRI; fluorescent lights range from about 50 for the basic types, up to about 98 for the best multi-phosphor type. Typical white-color LEDs have a CRI of 80 or more, while some manufacturers claim that their LEDs achieve a CRI of up to 98.


title: Color rendering index

text: CIE R's ability to predict color appearance has been criticized in favor of measures based on color appearance models, such as CIECAM02 and for daylight simulators, the CIE metamerism index. CRI is not a good indicator for use in visual assessment of light sources, especially for sources below 5000 kelvin (K). New standards, such as the IES TM-30, resolve these issues and have begun replacing the usage of CRI among professional lighting designers. However, CRI is still common among household lighting products.


title: Color rendering index

text: Researchers use daylight as the benchmark to which to compare color rendering of electric lights. In 1948, daylight was described as the ideal source of illumination for good color rendering because "it (daylight) displays (1) a great variety of colors, (2) makes it easy to distinguish slight shades of color, and (3) the colors of objects around us obviously look natural".


title: Color rendering index

text: Around the middle of the 20th century, color scientists took an interest in assessing the ability of artificial lights to accurately reproduce colors. European researchers attempted to describe illuminants by measuring the spectral power distribution (SPD) in "representative" spectral bands, whereas their North American counterparts studied the colorimetric effect of the illuminants on reference objects.


title: Color rendering index

text: The CIE assembled a committee to study the matter and accepted the proposal to use the latter approach, which has the virtue of not needing spectrophotometry, with a set of Munsell samples. Eight samples of varying hue would be alternately lit with two illuminants, and the color appearance compared. Since no color appearance model existed at the time, it was decided to base the evaluation on color differences in a suitable color space, CIEUVW. In 1931, the CIE adopted the first formal system of colorimetry, which is based on the trichromatic nature of the human visual system. CRI is based upon this system of colorimetry.


title: Color rendering index

text: To deal with the problem of having to compare light sources of different correlated color temperatures (CCT), the CIE settled on using a reference black body with the same color temperature for lamps with a CCT of under 5000 K, or a phase of CIE standard illuminant D (daylight) otherwise. This presented a continuous range of color temperatures to choose a reference from. Any chromaticity difference between the source and reference illuminants were to be abridged with a von Kries-type chromatic adaptation transform. There are two extent versions of CRI: the more commonly used R of (actually from 1974) and R96 of .


title: Color rendering index

text: The CRI is calculated by comparing the color rendering of the test source to that of a "perfect" source, which is a black body radiator for sources with correlated color temperatures under 5000 K, and a phase of daylight otherwise (e.g., D65). Chromatic adaptation should be performed so that like quantities are compared. The "Test Method" (also called "Test Sample Method" or "Test Color Method") needs only colorimetric, rather than spectrophotometric, information.


title: Color rendering index

text: Note that the last three steps are equivalent to finding the mean color difference, formula_4 and using that to calculate formula_5:


title: Color rendering index

text: uses this von Kries chromatic transform equation to find the corresponding color ("u", "v") for each sample. The mixed subscripts ("t", "i") refer to the inner product of the test illuminant spectrum and the spectral reflexivity of sample "i":


title: Color rendering index

text: As specified in , the original test color samples (TCS) are taken from an early edition of the Munsell Atlas. The first eight samples, a subset of the eighteen proposed in , are relatively low saturated colors and are evenly distributed over the complete range of hues. These eight samples are employed to calculate the general color rendering index formula_5. The last six samples provide supplementary information about the color rendering properties of the light source; the first four for high saturation, and the last two as representatives of well-known objects. The reflectance spectra of these samples may be found in , and their approximate Munsell notations are listed aside.


title: Color rendering index

text: In the CIE's 1991 Quadrennial Meeting, Technical Committee 1-33 (Color Rendering) was assembled to work on updating the color rendering method, as a result of which the R96 method was developed. The committee was dissolved in 1999, releasing , but no firm recommendations, partly due to disagreements between researchers and manufacturers.


title: Color rendering index

text: As discussed in , recommends the use of a ColorChecker chart owing to the obsolescence of the original samples, of which only metameric matches remain. In addition to the eight ColorChart samples, two skin tone samples are defined (TCS09 and TCS10). Accordingly, the updated general CRI is averaged over ten samples, not eight as before. Nevertheless, has determined that the patches in give better correlations for any color difference than the ColorChecker chart, whose samples are not equally distributed in a uniform color space.


title: Color rendering index

text: The CRI can also be theoretically derived from the spectral power distribution (SPD) of the illuminant and samples, since physical copies of the original color samples are difficult to find. In this method, care should be taken to use a sampling resolution fine enough to capture spikes in the SPD. The SPDs of the standard test colors are tabulated in 5 nm increments , so it is suggested to use interpolation up to the resolution of the illuminant's spectrophotometry.


title: Color rendering index

text: Starting with the SPD, let us verify that the CRI of reference illuminant F4 is 51. The first step is to determine the tristimulus values using the 1931 standard observer. Calculation of the inner product of the SPD with the standard observer's color matching functions (CMFs) yields ("X", "Y", "Z") = (109.2, 100.0, 38.9) (after normalizing for "Y" = 100). From this follow the "xy" chromaticity values:


title: Color rendering index

text: The next step is to convert these chromaticities to the CIE 1960 UCS in order to be able to determine the CCT:


title: Color rendering index

text: Examining the CIE 1960 UCS reveals this point to be closest to 2938 K on the Planckian locus, which has a coordinate of (0.2528, 0.3484). The distance of the test point to the locus is under the limit (5.4×10), so we can continue the procedure, assured of a meaningful result:


title: Color rendering index

text: We can verify the CCT by using McCamy's approximation algorithm to estimate the CCT from the "xy" chromaticities:


title: Color rendering index

text: Substituting formula_19 yields "n" = 0.4979 and CCT = 2941 K, which is close enough. (Robertson's method can be used for greater precision, but we will be content with 2940 K in order to replicate published results.) Since 2940 < 5000, we select a Planckian radiator of 2940 K as the reference illuminant.


title: Color rendering index

text: The next step is to determine the values of the test color samples under each illuminant in the CIEUVW color space. This is done by integrating the product of the CMF with the SPDs of the illuminant and the sample, then converting from CIEXYZ to CIEUVW (with the "u", "v" coordinates of the reference illuminant as white point):


title: Color rendering index

text: From this we can calculate the color difference between the chromatically adapted samples (labeled "CAT") and those illuminated by the reference. (The Euclidean metric is used to calculate the color difference in CIEUVW.) The special CRI is simply formula_20.


title: Color rendering index

text: A reference source, such as blackbody radiation, is defined as having a CRI of 100. This is why incandescent lamps have that rating, as they are, in effect, almost blackbody radiators. The best possible faithfulness to a reference is specified by CRI = 100, while the very poorest is specified by a CRI below zero. A high CRI by itself does not imply a good rendition of color, because the reference itself may have an imbalanced SPD if it has an extreme color temperature.


title: Color rendering index

text: R is the average value of R1–R8; other values from R9 to R15 are not used in the calculation of R, including R9 "saturated red", R13 "skin color (light)", and R15 "skin color (medium)", which are all difficult colors to faithfully reproduce. R9 is a vital index in high-CRI lighting, as many applications require red lights, such as film and video lighting, medical lighting, art lighting, etc. However, in the general CRI (R) calculation R9 is not included.


title: Color rendering index

text: R9 is one of the numbers of R refers to test color samples (TCS), which is one score in extended CRI. It is the number rates the light source's color revealing ability towards TCS 09. And it describes the specific ability of light to accurately reproduce the red color of objects. Many lights manufacturers or retailers do not point out the score of R9, while it is a vital value to evaluate the color rendition performance for film and video lighting, as well as any applications that need high CRI value. So, generally, it is regarded as a supplement of color rendering index when evaluating a high-CRI light source.


title: Color rendering index

text: R9 value, TCS 09, or in other words, the red color is the key color for many lighting applications, such as film and video lighting, textile printing, image printing, skin tone, medical lighting, and so on. Besides, many other objects which are not in red color, but actually consists of different colors including red color. For instance, the skin tone is impacted by the blood under the skin, which means that the skin tone also includes red color, although it looks much like close to white or light yellow. So, if the R9 value is not good enough, the skin tone under this light will be more paleness or even greenish in your eyes or cameras.


title: Color rendering index

text: Ohno and others have criticized CRI for not always correlating well with subjective color rendering quality in practice, particularly for light sources with spiky emission spectra such as fluorescent lamps or white LEDs. Another problem is that the CRI is discontinuous at 5000 K, because the chromaticity of the reference moves from the Planckian locus to the CIE daylight locus. identify several other issues, which they address in their color quality scale (CQS):


title: Color rendering index

text: "reviews the applicability of the CIE color rendering index to white LED light sources based on the results of visual experiments". Chaired by Davis, CIE TC 1-69(C) is currently investigating "new methods for assessing the color rendition properties of white-light sources used for illumination, including solid-state light sources, with the goal of recommending new assessment procedures [...] by March, 2010".


title: Color rendering index

text: Dangol, et al., performed psychophysical experiments and concluded that people's judgments of naturalness and overall preference could not be predicted with a single measure, but required the joint use of a fidelity-based measure (e.g., Qp) and a gamut-based measure (e.g., Qg or GAI.). They carried out further experiments in real offices evaluating various spectra generated for combination existing and proposed color rendering metrics.


title: Color rendering index

text: Due to the criticisms of CRI many researchers have developed alternative metrics, though relatively few of them have had wide adoption.


title: Color rendering index

text: Developed in 2010 by Rea and Freyssinier, the gamut area index (GAI) is an attempt to improve over the flaws found in the CRI. They have shown that the GAI is better than the CRI at predicting color discrimination on standardized Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Tests and that GAI is predictive of color saturation. Proponents of using GAI claim that, when used in conjunction with CRI, this method of evaluating color rendering is preferred by test subjects over light sources that have high values of only one measure. Researchers recommend a lower and an upper limit to GAI. Use of LED technology has called for a new way to evaluate color rendering because of the unique spectrum of light created by these technologies. Preliminary tests have shown that the combination of GAI and CRI used together is a preferred method for evaluating color rendering.


title: Color rendering index

text: developed a psychophysical experiment in order to evaluate light quality of LED lightings. It is based on colored samples used in the "color quality scale". Predictions of the CQS and results from visual measurements were compared.


title: Color rendering index

text: Problems have been encountered attempting to use LED lighting on film and video sets. The color spectra of LED lighting primary colors does not match the expected color wavelength bandpasses of film emulsions and digital sensors. As a result, color rendition can be completely unpredictable in optical prints, transfers to digital media from film (DIs), and video camera recordings. This phenomenon with respect to motion picture film has been documented in an LED lighting evaluation series of tests produced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences scientific staff.


title: Color rendering index

text: To that end, various other metrics such as the TLCI (television lighting consistency index) have been developed to replace the human observer with a camera observer. Similar to the CRI, the metric measures quality of a light source as it would appear on camera on a scale from 0 to 100. Some manufacturers say that their products have TLCI values of up to 99.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Badlands National Park () is an American national park located in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. The National Park Service manages the park, with the South Unit being co-managed with the Oglala Lakota tribe.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The Badlands Wilderness protects of the park's North Unit as a designated wilderness area, and is one site where the black-footed ferret, one of the most endangered mammals in the world, was reintroduced to the wild. The South Unit, or Stronghold District, includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dances, a former United States Air Force bomb and gunnery range, and Red Shirt Table, the park's highest point at .


title: Badlands National Park

text: Authorized as Badlands National Monument on March 4, 1929, it was not established until January 25, 1939. Badlands was redesignated a national park on November 10, 1978. Under the Mission 66 plan, the Ben Reifel Visitor Center was constructed for the monument in 1957–58. The park also administers the nearby Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. The movies "Dances with Wolves" (1990) and "Thunderheart" (1992) were partially filmed in Badlands National Park.


title: Badlands National Park

text: This national park was originally a reservation of the Oglala Sioux Indians and spans the southern unit of the park. The area around Stronghold Table was originally Sioux territory, and is revered as a ceremonial sacred site rather than a place to live.


title: Badlands National Park

text: In 1868, at the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, the United States assured the Sioux that the Badlands shall forever be the property of the Sioux. In 1889, however, the treaty was broken and the Badlands were confiscated by the United States and unilaterally incorporated into a national park.


title: Badlands National Park

text: At the end of the 19th century, the Sioux Indians used this area as the site of the Ghost Dance, a ceremony to revive the souls of buffalo and the dead. After the last ghost dance in 1890, the United States banned the ritual, but it was revived by the Red Power movement, a movement to restore Indian rights that began in the 1960s. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court awarded compensation to the Sioux for the abrogation of the 1868 treaty, but the Sioux did not accept the money.


title: Badlands National Park

text: For 11,000 years, Native Americans have used this area for their hunting grounds. Long before the Lakota were the paleo-Indians, followed by the Arikara people. Their descendants live today in North Dakota as a part of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Archaeological records combined with oral traditions indicate that these people camped in secluded valleys where fresh water and game were available year-round. Eroding out of the stream banks today are the rocks and charcoal of their campfires, as well as the arrowheads and tools they used to butcher bison, rabbits, and other game. From the top of the Badlands Wall, they could scan the area for enemies and wandering herds. If hunting was good, they might hang on into winter, before retracing their way to their villages along the Missouri River. The Lakota people were the first to call this place "mako sica", which translates to — literally — "badlands". Extreme temperatures, lack of water, and the exposed rugged terrain led to this name. French-Canadian fur trappers called it "les mauvaises terres pour traverser," or "bad lands to travel through." By one hundred and fifty years ago, the Great Sioux Nation consisting of seven bands including the Oglala Lakota, had displaced the other tribes from the northern prairie.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The next great change came toward the end of the 19th century as homesteaders moved into South Dakota. The U.S. government stripped Native Americans of much of their territory and forced them to live on reservations. In the fall and early winter of 1890, thousands of Native Americans, including many Oglala Sioux, became followers of the Indian prophet Wovoka. His vision called for the native people to dance the Ghost Dance and wear Ghost shirts, which would be impervious to bullets. Wovoka had predicted that the white man would vanish and their hunting grounds would be restored. One of the last known Ghost Dances was conducted on Stronghold Table in the South Unit of Badlands National Park. As winter closed in, the ghost dancers returned to Pine Ridge Agency. The climax of the struggle came in late December 1890. Headed south from the Cheyenne River, a band of Minneconjou Sioux crossed a pass in the Badlands Wall. Pursued by units of the U.S. Army, they were seeking refuge in the Pine Ridge Reservation. The band, led by Chief Spotted Elk, was finally overtaken by the soldiers near Wounded Knee Creek in the Reservation and ordered to camp there overnight. The troops attempted to disarm Big Foot's band the next morning. Gunfire erupted. Before it was over, nearly three hundred Indians and thirty soldiers lay dead. The Wounded Knee Massacre was the last major clash between Plains Indians and the U.S. military until the advent of the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, most notably in the 1973 standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Wounded Knee is located approximately south of the park on Pine Ridge Reservation. The U.S. government and the Oglala Lakota Nation have agreed that this is a story to be told by the Oglala of Pine Ridge and Minneconjou of Standing Rock Reservation. The interpretation of the site and its tragic events are held as the primary responsibility of these survivors.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The history of the White River Badlands as a significant paleontological resource goes back to the traditional Native American knowledge of the area. The Lakota found large fossilized bones, fossilized seashells and turtle shells. They correctly assumed that the area had once been under water, and that the bones belonged to creatures which no longer existed. Paleontological interest in this area began in the 1840s. Trappers and traders regularly traveled the from Fort Pierre to Fort Laramie along a path which skirted the edge of what is now Badlands National Park. Fossils were occasionally collected, and in 1843 a fossilized jaw fragment collected by Alexander Culbertson of the American Fur Company found its way to a physician in St. Louis by the name of Hiram A. Prout.


title: Badlands National Park

text: In 1846, Prout published a paper about the jaw in the "American Journal of Science" in which he stated that it had come from a creature he called a Paleotherium. Shortly after the publication, the White River Badlands became popular fossil hunting grounds and, within a couple of decades, numerous new fossil species had been discovered in the White River Badlands. In 1849, Dr. Joseph Leidy published a paper on an Oligocene camel and renamed Prout's Paleotherium, "Titanotherium prouti". By 1854 when he published a series of papers about North American fossils, 84 distinct species had been discovered in North America – 77 of which were found in the White River Badlands. In 1870 a Yale professor, O. C. Marsh, visited the region and developed more refined methods of extracting and reassembling fossils into nearly complete skeletons. From 1899 to today, the South Dakota School of Mines has sent people almost every year and remains one of the most active research institutions working in the White River Badlands. Throughout the late 19th century and continuing today, scientists and institutions from all over the world have benefited from the fossil resources of the White River Badlands. The White River Badlands have developed an international reputation as a fossil-rich area. They contain the richest deposits of Oligocene mammals known, providing a glimpse of life in the area 33 million years ago.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Aspects of American homesteading began before the end of the American Civil War; however, it did not affect the Badlands until the 20th century. Then, many hopeful farmers traveled to South Dakota from Europe or the eastern United States to try to seek out a living in the area. In 1929, the South Dakota Dept. of Agriculture published an advertisement to lure settlers to the state. On this map they called the Badlands, "The Wonderlands", promising "...marvelous scenic and recreational advantages". The standard size for a homestead was . Being in a semi-arid, wind-swept environment, this proved far too little land to support a family. In 1916, in the western Dakotas, the size of a homestead was increased to . Cattle grazed the land, and crops such as winter wheat and hay were cut annually. However, the Great Dust Bowl events of the 1930s, combined with waves of grasshoppers, proved too much for most of the settlers of the Badlands. Houses, built of sod blocks and heated with buffalo chips, were abandoned.


title: Badlands National Park

text: As part of the World War II effort, the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) took possession of of land on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home of the Oglala Sioux people, for a gunnery range. Included in this range was from the Badlands National Monument. This land was used extensively from 1942 through 1945 as an air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery range including both precision and demolition bombing exercises. After the war, portions of the bombing range were used as an artillery range by the South Dakota National Guard. In 1968, most of the range was declared excess property by the USAF. Although were retained by the USAF (but are no longer used) the majority of the land was turned over to the National Park Service.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Firing took place within most of the present-day Stronghold District. Land was bought or leased from individual landowners and the Tribe in order to clear the area of human occupation. Old car bodies and 55 gallon drums painted bright yellow were used as targets. Bulls-eyes across were plowed into the ground and used as targets by bombardiers. Small automatic aircraft called "target drones" and screens dragged behind planes served as mobile targets. Today, the ground is littered with discarded bullet cases and unexploded ordnance.


title: Badlands National Park

text: In the 1940s, 125 families were forcibly relocated from their farms and ranches, including Dewey Beard, a survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Those that remained nearby recall times when they had to dive under tractors while out cutting hay to avoid bombs dropped by planes miles outside of the boundary. In the town of Interior, both a church and the building housing the current post office were struck by six inch (152 mm) shells through the roof. Pilots operating out of Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City found it a real challenge to determine the exact boundaries of the range. There were no civilian casualties. However, at least a dozen flight crew personnel lost their lives in plane crashes.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The Stronghold District also known as the South Unit of Badlands National Park, consists of lands on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation owned by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and managed by the National Park Service under an agreement with the Tribe. The land is a area. Deep draws, high tables and rolling prairie are characteristic of these lands occupied by the earliest plains hunters, the paleo-Indians, and the Lakota Nation.


title: Badlands National Park

text: On March 4, 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed Public Law No. 1021, authorizing the Badlands National Monument in South Dakota. The legislation's conditions for eventual proclamation included the acquisition of privately owned land within the proposed boundaries of the monument and the construction of a 30-mile highway through the park. The Badlands National Monument became the seventy-seventh monument within the National Park Service a decade after its original authorization, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the enacting proclamation on January 24. 1939. The monument was renamed “Badlands National Park” in 1978.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The Badlands National Monument was established in order to preserve the natural scenery and educational resources within its boundaries. The bill authorized specific scientific and educational institutions to excavate within the monument in the pursuit of educational, geological, and zoological observation. The bill includes a portion highlighting the potential for fossil excavation in the monument's geological formations.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Animals that inhabit the park include: badger, bighorn sheep, bison, black-billed magpie, black-footed ferret, black-tailed prairie dog, bobcat, coyote, elk, mule deer, pronghorn, prairie rattlesnake, porcupine, whooping crane, swift fox, and white-tailed deer.


title: Badlands National Park

text: In 1963, 50 bison from Theodore Roosevelt National Park were released. The herd has grown to over 1,200 animals. The bison habitat was expanded in 2019 by to a total of with the construction of of new fencing. The Bighorn sheep population has increased over the last couple years to a total of 233.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The black-footed ferret and whooping crane are on the endangered species list.  The black-footed ferret population inside the Badlands National Park has recovered to a population of approximately 100 individuals. This whooping crane population in the Badlands National Park is considered a non-self-sustaining wild population.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Twenty-three vegetation map classes and ten Anderson Level II land-use classes were used for interpretation of approximately 1.3 million acres encompassing the park (approximately 242,755 acres) and surrounding environs.


title: Badlands National Park

text: A prairie is a large, open expanse of grasslands. A mixed-grass prairie is a grassland where grasses of many different heights grow. Mixed-grass prairies are the transition between eastern tall-grass prairies, where more rainfall means that taller grasses can grow, and western short-grass prairies, where the dry environment favors shorter grasses. In mixed-grass prairies, such as the grasslands surrounding Badlands National Park, grasses can range in height from ankle-high to waist-high. Although trees, shrubs, and forbs grow in the Badlands, grasses dominate the landscape. The most common grass in the park is Western Wheatgrass, which grows one to three feet tall and is the state grass of South Dakota.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Badlands National Park has two campgrounds for overnight visits - Cedar Pass and Sage Creek Campgrounds. Cedar Pass lodge offers accommodations in modern cabins and full-service dining. The Ben Reifel Visitor Center within the park offers a bookstore, special programs, and museum exhibits. The White River Visitors center in the park's South Unit offers information about the region's Lakota heritage.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The Badlands Wildnerness covers about one fourth of the park and was designated in 1976. There are no designated trails and camping is permitted anywhere in what is considered to be the largest undisturbed mixed-prairie rangeland remaining in the U.S. As this wilderness is managed by the National Park Service, hunting is not permitted. U.S. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles. Although camping and fishing are allowed with proper permit, no roads or buildings are constructed and there is also no logging or mining, in compliance with the 1964 Wilderness Act.


title: Badlands National Park

text: According to the Köppen climate classification system, Badlands National Park has a hot-summer humid continental climate ("Dfa").


title: Badlands National Park

text: Badlands National Park has been impacted by the rise of oil and gas pipelines/drilling, the debate over Native American land rights, fossil loss due to criminal activity, and climate change.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The Badlands National Park faces growing encroachment from oil and gas companies hoping to transport fossil fuels throughout regions of South Dakota. Pipelines are associated with environmental risks; breaches and or breaks in the system have the potential to negatively impact the quality of life for surrounding ecosystems and wildlife. Additionally, the Badlands is quickly being surrounded by drilling and fracking projects.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The Badlands National Park also faces debate over the federal claims to the land once inhabited by the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe. Supporters of Oglala Sioux reparations argue against the U.S. government's seizure and management over sacred Native American land. The Badlands National Park began taking steps to reserve part of the park's southern unit for management by the tribe's members, creating jobs and returning ownership to those re-located out during America's Manifest Destiny, however this creation of the “Tribal National Park” has yet to come to pass.


title: Badlands National Park

text: The Badlands National Park was first established as a national monument in order to protect the abundance of fossils within the land's natural stone structures. Since the park's founding, visitors and fossil poachers/hunters have been looting the park's fossils to keep for sentimental and scientific value or to sell for profit.


title: Badlands National Park

text: By 2050, the NPS predicts that Badlands National Park will have different conditions than are currently felt in the park—including increasing or decreasing temperatures, changes in quantity of total spring precipitation, potential delays in the start of spring within the park, and various increasing frequencies of heavy precipitation events. Widespread summer drought is projected to be more likely in South Dakota within the same time frame (2050). On average, the counties of Oglala, Pennington, and Jackson (the three main counties that Badlands National Park occupies) have seen a gradual shift of monthly and annual temperatures between 1901 and 2021, leading to a warmer, drier environment.


title: Badlands National Park

text: Current climate predictions developed by the NPS have allowed Badlands National Park to develop several management techniques preparing for different climate scenarios, categorized as "no-gainer", "no-regrets", or "no-brainer" management styles. According to the NPS Climate Scenarios brief for Badlands National Park, a "no-gainer" is a current action that is not likely to achieve desired outcomes in any given future scenario. A "no-regrets" management style implements new actions that are likely to be successful in management of all potential future scenarios. "No-brainer" management involves maintaining current management practices that are likely to be beneficial, but aren't necessarily ideal. Climate Change management within the park primarily focuses on native vegetation, bison populations, species rehabilitation, archeological and paleontological preservation, and infrastructure and geohazards. Management plans for these values are primarily under the categories "no-regrets" and "no-brainer".


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The Federal government of Nigeria is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the constitution of Nigeria in the National Assembly, the President, and the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, respectively. The constitution provides a separation and balance of powers among the three branches and aims to prevent the repetition of past mistakes made by the government.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Nigeria is a federal republic, with executive power exercised by the president. The president is the head of state, the head of government, and the head of a multi-party system. Nigerian politics takes place within a framework of a federal, presidential, representative democratic republic, in which executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is held by the federal government and the two chambers of the legislature: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Together, the two chambers make up the law-making body in Nigeria, called the national assembly, which serves as a check on the executive arm of government. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Nigeria a "hybrid regime" in 2019. The federal government, state, and local governments of Nigeria aim to work cooperatively to govern the nation and its people. Nigeria became a member of the British Commonwealth upon its independence from British colonial rule on 1 October 1960.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The law of Nigeria is based on the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, and British common law (due to the long history of British colonial influence). The common law in the legal system is similar to common-law systems used in England and Wales and other Commonwealth countries. The constitutional framework for the legal system is provided by the Constitution of Nigeria.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: (1) Acts of British parliament, popularly referred to as statutes of general application during the period before independence.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: (2) Local legislation (comprising enactments of the Nigerian legislatures from colonial period to date). There were other sources which though subsumed in Nigerian legislations were distinctly imported into the Nigerian legal systems. They are called the "criminal and penal codes" of Nigeria.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Nigerian legislation may be classified as follows. "The colonial era until 1960 , post independence legislation 1960-1966 , the military era 1966-1999".


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The grant of independence to Nigeria was a milestone in the political history of the country. This period witnessed the consolidation of political gains made during the colonial era. Politicians genuinely focused their lapses in the polity. It achieved for herself a republican status by shaking off the last vestiges of colonial authority. However, despite the violent violation of its provisions, the constitution remained the subsequent administrations (military or otherwise).


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The breakdown of law and order which occurred in the period under review would not be attributed to any defect in the Nigerian legal system. Corrupt practices both in the body politic and all aspects of Nigerian life eroded efficiency and progress. There were 8 coups generally, five were successful and 3 were unsuccessful.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The president is elected through universal suffrage. The president is both the chief of state and head of government, heading the Federal Executive Council, or cabinet. The president is elected to see that the Nigerian Constitution is enacted and that the legislation is applied to the people. The elected president is also in charge of the nation's armed forces and can serve no more than two four-year elected terms. The current President of Nigeria is Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015 and the current Vice President is Yemi Oshinbajo.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The executive branch is divided into Federal Ministries, each headed by a minister appointed by the president. The president must include at least one member from each of the 36 states in his cabinet. The President's appointments are confirmed by the Senate of Nigeria. In some cases, a federal minister is responsible for more than one ministry (for example, Environment and Housing may be combined), or a minister may be assisted by one or more ministers of State.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The ministries are responsible for various parastatals (government-owned corporations), such as universities, the National Broadcasting Commission, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. However, some parastatals are the responsibility of the Office of the Presidency, such as the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Federal Civil Service Commission.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The National Assembly of Nigeria has two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is presided over by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It has 360 members, who are elected for four-year terms in single-seat constituencies. The Senate, which has 109 members, is presided over by the President of the Senate. 108 members are elected for four-year terms in 36 three-seat constituencies, which correspond to the country's 36 states. One member is selected in the single-seat constituency of the federal capital.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The legislators are elected to either the House of Representatives or the Senate to be representatives of their constituencies and to pass legislation to benefit the public. The legislative process consists of bills being drafted and presented in either of the two chambers. These bills can only become national law once they are approved by the president of Nigeria who can veto bills.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The President of the Senate is currently Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, who was elected to the senate in 2007, and the Speaker of the House is Femi Gbajabiamila, who has been Nigeria's 9th Speaker of the House of Representatives since 2019. Each member of the National Assembly of Nigeria can be elected to more than two four-year terms. Recently, the Legislative branch has been misusing its position as a check on the power of the president and his cabinet. Legislators have been known to utilize their power for not only law-making, but as a means of political intimidation and a tool to promote individual monetary success.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Senators are paid a salary equivalent to over $2,200 USD a month, supplemented by expenses of $37,500 USD a month (2018 figures).


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Court of Appeals, the High Courts, and other trial courts such as the Magistrates', Customary, Sharia and other "specialised" courts. The National Judicial Council serves as an independent executive body, insulating the judiciary from the executive arm of government. The Supreme Court is presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria and thirteen associate justices, who are appointed by the President of Nigeria on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council. These justices are subject to confirmation by the Senate.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The judicial branch of the Nigerian government is the only one of the three branches of government in which its members are not elected but are appointed. The judiciary, and the Supreme Court in particular, are intended to uphold the principles and laws of the nation's constitution that was written in 1999. Its goal is to protect the basic rights of the citizens. The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Olukayode Ariwoola .


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Nigeria democratized in 1999 with the start of the Fourth Republic, but has suffered some setbacks to becoming fully democratic. Elites in Nigeria have been found to have more power and influence than average citizens, and as a consequence of this, there has been a great deal of corruption in Nigerian politics and general life. A good sign of democracy in Nigeria is the fact that elections are becoming less fraudulent and there is more party competition. Another indicator of a strong democracy is the presence of a civil society in which citizens have the right to act and speak freely in concert with a strong use of media for everyday life. Furthermore, Nigeria has seen a heightened use of media within the realm of political issues, particularly with the recent [Special Anti-Robbery Squad] SARS protest, indicating a sense of freedom for the public to voice their opinions to the government and the world.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: According to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, Nigeria is the 115th most free nation in the world. It has been noted as a nation with perpetuating violence against freedom of speech and press. Nigeria has been found to be a vulnerable nation, both at risk of modern slavery and corruption. The nation is vulnerable due to the effects of inner conflict and governance issues. Freedom House has rated Nigeria as a "partly free" nation. In the last presidential election, the process was tainted by violence, intimidation and vote buying, which have been prevalent in many of the recent elections within Nigeria. Similarly, in the most recent legislative elections, citizens claimed the process was also characterized by intimidation and other inconsistencies. The electoral process and related laws are thought to be enacted in a mostly fair fashion, but there have been instances of intentionally complicating voting and effecting turnout. The people of Nigeria feel as though there is more freedom in their right to have different political parties to represent their opinions. This is exemplified by the vast number of legitimate parties seen in elections. Similarly, Nigerian opposition parties have a legitimate chance to participate in politics and win official positions. In regards to freedom of political expression, Freedom House indicates that opinions and institutions are often heavily influenced by non-governmental, external entities or individuals. In Nigeria, all ethnic groups and religious backgrounds have an equal opportunity to participate in politics, however, there is a lack of women elected into the government, and same-sex relationships were criminalized in 2014. The Nigerian Federal Government's officials like the president and legislators are elected to enact policy and laws, and are usually allowed to do so without interruption, but in recent years, their ability to legislate has been marred by corruption and instability. Corruption has been a major problem for the Nigerian government since its independence from colonial rule. In particular, the oil sector has allowed a great deal of corruption to take place. The government has tried to enact measures to combat corruption that infringes upon the functioning of the state, but have only been quasi-successful. The government has also been rated as lacking in transparency, often not allowing records to be available to the public that should be readily available. Journalism and the media in Nigeria are somewhat free, they are allowed to function independently from the government, but oftentimes those who criticize public figures or offices are arrested or censored. A mafia-like organisation, Black Axe, is involved in international corruption using especially on-line fraud, as reported in BBC article. Religious freedom is allowed in Nigeria, however, the government and even non-governmental organizations have been known to violently respond to groups that openly dissent to the federal government. Religion is a contentious topic in Nigeria because of heated, ongoing conflicts between Christians and Muslims within the state. Freedom House rated the Nigerian federal government well in the category of allowing academic freedom, and the public's ability to express their views even if they disagree without the government without fearing a negative reaction from the government. The Nigerian government was rated moderately on people's ability to assemble, ability to work with human rights, and the existence of unions. The judiciary was rated as moderately free from the government, and lacking in due process in trials and equal treatment of all members of society. People in Nigeria do not have great freedom of movement, and are often subjected to curfews set by the federal government in areas that are at a risk of violence or instability. There is a lack of protection for women in regards to rights to abortion, rape, and domestic abuse under the Nigerian federal government. Lastly, there is a pervasive human-trafficking problem in Nigeria and frequent exploitation of citizens that the federal government has done a poor job to prevent.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: There are 18 recognized political parties in Nigeria. There are a great number of parties as a direct result of corruption and chaos that has ensued in Nigeria surrounding the federal government and elections for years. The vast number of parties has proved to be difficult to monitor. The two major parties are the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, both of which have held the presidency and seats in the National Assembly for extended periods of time. As opposed to parties in other nations that represent a slew of political opinions that the public can align themselves with, parties in Nigeria act more so as a means through which prominent figures can gain power and influence, and there are so many because they often switch parties in order to find the one to give them the best chance of achieving authority.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Political parties have been an important aspect of Nigerian government both before and after independence was achieved from the British in 1960. Parties allow for political competition to take place, for the citizenry to find people who represent their ideas and interests in government, and for the introduction of new leaders and perspectives into Nigerian life. Many Nigerians do not understand the political party system because there are so many options and their platforms are unclear to the public. This remains an issue in Nigeria because it marginalizes those who are uneducated or uninvolved in government. Also, there seems to be a tendency for people in Nigeria to support parties based on ethnic of religious divisions, particularly along the Muslim-Christian line of division.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The 18 political parties are: Accord, Action Alliance, Action Democratic Party, Action Peoples Party, African Action Congress, African Democratic Congress, All Progressives Congress, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Allied Peoples Movement, Boot Party, Labour Party, National Rescue Movement, New Nigeria Peoples Party, Peoples Democratic Party, Peoples Redemption Party, Social Democratic Party, Young Progressive Party, Zenith Labour Party.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The president and members of the National Assembly of Nigeria are elected by members of the population who are at least 18 years old. The National Electoral Commission is responsible for monitoring elections and ensuring that the results are correct and not fraudulent. The winner of a position is elected through the first-past-the-post system that is used in Great Britain.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Nigeria has faced numerous bouts with fraudulent elections, particularly noteworthy is the general election that took place in 2007. This election was reportedly marred by ballot-rigging, underage voting, violence, intimidation, and an overall absence of clarity and accuracy from the National Electoral Commission.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Islamic Law has found its way into the heart of many Nigerian state governments, particularly in the northern sect of the country. There is a deep rift between Christians and Muslim in Nigeria, and therefore the government has taken on a hybrid of English Common Law and Islamic Law when dealing with legal issues in order to appease the diverse national population. Nigeria has the largest population of Christians and Muslims cohabitating in the world. These two religions were introduced in Nigeria largely during the colonial period, and since then, many Africans have merged their own traditional religions with these two institutionalized ones.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: Religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria has often been used by politicians and other powerful people in order to incite violence and create fear and chaos among Nigerians. This has led to many citizens questioning why Nigeria remains one federal state, and that it should possibly split along the Christian-Muslim divide. The Northern section of the country is largely Islamic, with 12 states that live under Sharia Law, while the Southern area is mostly Christian. There have been multiple attempts by Nigerian Muslims to add Sharia concepts to the Constitution which has alarmed the Christian population within the nation. Many Christians have deemed the rise in Islam in Nigeria to be dangerous and that it could possibly lead to increased terrorism and instability. This conflict is threatening the stability of Nigeria's democracy, internal structure, and civil society, and many political scientists and Nigerian leaders hope the two religions can engage in a peaceful dialogue that hopefully pacifies both sides.


title: Federal government of Nigeria

text: The greatest terrorist threat in Nigeria is from the organization Boko Haram, and became a prevalent issue in the summer of 2009. Boko Haram is a radical jihadist Islamist terrorist group from the northern sect of Nigeria. This organization has launched terror attacks that have largely targeted the Nigerian federal government, non-Muslim religious organizations, and average citizens. The rise and growing effects of Boko Haram have been attributed to the instability and fragility of the Nigerian state. They are upset by the government corruption and policy failures of Nigeria, and in particular, the poverty and lack of development of the north of Nigeria which is predominantly Muslim. The impact of Boko Haram on Nigeria has been devastating, over 37,000 individuals have died due to their terrorist attacks since 2011, and over 200,000 Nigerians have been displaced. Boko Haram was responsible for the kidnapping of hundreds of school girls in 2014, triggering the #BringBackOurGirls movement across the globe. The terrorist organization became a part of ISIS in 2015, drawing concerns to the safety and stability of Nigeria. Many world powers including the United States have contributed military resources to help fight against Boko Haram because Nigeria's oil industry is crucial to the international economy. The Nigerian federal government has launched programs and tactics to combat Boko Horam because of their prevalence. There has also been a recent rise in citizen-created, and in particular youth-led groups that are taking action against Boko Haram to protect themselves and their communities. Both the actions of Boko Haram and the government's efforts to combat terrorism have led to a growing refugee crisis in Nigeria.