title: Check Your Head

text: "Check Your Head" has received widepsread acclaim since its release. Kevin Powell of "Rolling Stone" called "Check Your Head" the Beastie Boys' "most unconventional outing to date" and stated that "the cross-pollination of styles on "Check Your Head" is confusing at times, yet the album achieves distinction because of its ingenuity." Greg Kot of the "Chicago Tribune" wrote that the group were showing "surprising resiliency and versatility", noting their new musical direction on "Check Your Head" and singling out Money Mark's performance on the album for praise, referring to him as the album's "secret weapon". "Entertainment Weekly"s David Browne, on the other hand, panned the album as a "muddled, clanking mess". Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" called "Check Your Head" a "great concept", but felt "the execution is halfway there at best", later assigning it a "neither" rating, indicating an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't."


title: Check Your Head

text: "Spin" ranked "Check Your Head" at number four on their list of the 20 best albums of the year, and it ranked in fifth place on "The Village Voice"s year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll. "Spin" later ranked the album number 12 on their list of the 90 greatest albums of the 1990s, while "Alternative Press" ranked it at number 23 on their list of the top 99 albums released from 1985–95. "Pitchfork" ranked the album at number 67 on their Top 150 Albums of the 1990s list in 2022, praising the album's funk-inspired instrumentals. In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called "Check Your Head" "a whirlwind tour through the Beasties' pop-culture obsessions, but instead of spinning into Technicolor fantasies, it's earth-bound D.I.Y. that makes it all seem equally accessible — which is a big reason why it turned out to be an alt-rock touchstone of the '90s, something that both set trends and predicted them." It was ranked number 261 in the 2020 edition of "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list (though it was not ranked in the original 2003 list or the 2012 revision).


title: Check Your Head

text: All tracks written by Beastie Boys (Adam Yauch, Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz) and "Money" Mark Nishita, except where noted.


title: NFC East

text: The National Football Conference – Eastern Division or NFC East is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Dallas Cowboys (based in Arlington, Texas), New York Giants (based in East Rutherford, New Jersey), Philadelphia Eagles (based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and the Washington Commanders (based in Landover, Maryland).


title: NFC East

text: The division was formed in 1967 as the National Football League Capitol Division and acquired its current name in 1970 when the NFL merged with the American Football League. The NFC East is currently the only division in the league in which all four current teams have won at least one Super Bowl. With 13 Super Bowl titles, the NFC East is currently the most successful division in the NFL during the Super Bowl era, with the AFC East second with nine titles.


title: NFC East

text: The division's original name derived from it being centered on the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., and the country's birthplace, Philadelphia. In 1967 and 1969 the teams in the NFL Capitol Division were Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington and the expansion team New Orleans Saints, with the New York Giants swapping divisions with the Saints for the 1968 season. This arrangement had been agreed in advance as a means to ensure all of the NFL's teams would be able to visit New York once in those three years. With the merger in 1970, following contentious negotiations culminating in a random draw, it was agreed that New York (along with the St. Louis Cardinals) would permanently return to the re-branded NFC East.


title: NFC East

text: The NFC East has a long history of being geographically inaccurate. While the New York Giants, Philadelphia, and Washington are based on the East Coast, Dallas and St. Louis (later Phoenix, then Arizona) remained a part of the East from the 1970 merger until 2002 (and after the move to Phoenix in 1987) despite being geographically west of most teams in the conference and closer to the Pacific Ocean.


title: NFC East

text: To begin with, the Cowboys were only located east of two NFC teams that were outside of the East division (Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers from the West division) while the Cardinals were east of one additional such team (Minnesota Vikings from the Central division). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the Central as an expansion team in 1976; they're located east of Dallas and St. Louis. The Cardinals relocated to Phoenix to start the season and stayed in the East through ; that made them located west of every team in the NFC except for the Rams and 49ers. The Rams relocated from Los Angeles to St. Louis to start the season and stayed in the West, while the Carolina Panthers joined the West as an expansion team that same season; this made the Cardinals and Cowboys west of every team in the conference except for the 49ers from 1995 to 2001.


title: NFC East

text: While the divisions in general have been much more geographically accurate since 2002, even following the Rams' return to Los Angeles the Cowboys are further west than every team in the league except for seven of the eight West teams in both conferences, in addition to the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFC West.


title: NFC East

text: The NFC East teams have combined to be the most successful division in the Super Bowl era with 21 NFC championships and 13 Super Bowl victories, the highest marks of any division in the NFL. The division features a number of prominent rivalries such as the Cowboys–Eagles rivalry, Cowboys–Washington rivalry and Eagles–Giants rivalry, among others. Because the division's teams are in some of the United States' largest media markets (New York No. 1, Philadelphia No. 4, Dallas-Fort Worth No. 5, and Washington No. 9), the NFC East receives a high amount of coverage from national sports media outlets. In the early 1990s the division claimed four consecutive Super Bowl champions, all against the Buffalo Bills, with the Giants and Washington respectively winning back-to-back in Super Bowls XXV and XXVI; and the Cowboys winning twice after in Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII. Those same three teams won seven out of ten Super Bowls, from 1986–87 to 1995–96 (the 49ers won the other three during that span). The Eagles are the most recent team in the division to win a Super Bowl, beating the Patriots 41–33 in Super Bowl LII.


title: NFC East

text: The NFC East was the first division since the 2002 realignment to send 3 teams to the playoffs when the 2006-07 NFL playoffs had Philadelphia winning the division and Dallas and New York taking both Wild Card spots. On the other hand, the NFC East became one of three divisions to be won by a team with a losing record (the previous two being the NFC South and NFC West) when the then-Washington Football Team won the division crown with a 7-9 record.


title: NFC East

text: The Philadelphia Eagles are the only NFC East team to actually play in the city of the team's naming, Philadelphia. The other three teams play in suburbs of the major cities they are named after. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Texas, and is the only team in this division that is not based in the Eastern Time Zone (the Cowboys are based in the Central Time Zone). The Washington Commanders play in Landover, Maryland and the New York Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where they share a stadium with the New York Jets. Analogously, three of the four AFC East teams do not actually play within the city of their naming. (The Patriots geographical identifier is New England, being named for the region the team plays in.)


title: NFC East

text: The NFC East can also be called the most valuable NFL division. All four teams in the division are in the top ten of most valuable NFL franchises (Cowboys #1; Giants #3; Commanders #7; Eagles #10). The next closest division is the AFC East, which is not completed until the 29th ranked Buffalo Bills.


title: NFC East

text: There was one division sweep of the Capitol Division: the 1969 Cowboys went 6–0 in division matchups.


title: NFC East

text: There has not been a repeat division champion since 2004. This is the longest active streak among divisions in the NFL as well as the longest in league history.


title: NFC East

text: All four teams in the NFC East have won the Super Bowl. The Cowboys lead with five, followed by the Giants with four, Washington with three, and the Eagles with one. In overall NFL history, however, the Giants lead with eight league championships, followed by the Cowboys and Washington with five each, then the Eagles with four.


title: NFC East

text: There have been three division sweeps of the NFC East Division, the 1998 Dallas Cowboys (8–0), the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles (6–0), and the 2021 Dallas Cowboys (6–0).


title: Power symbol

text: A power symbol is a symbol indicating that a control activates or deactivates a particular device. Such a control may be a rocker switch, a toggle switch, a push-button, a virtual switch on a display screen, or some other user interface. The internationally standardized symbols are intended to communicate their function in a language-independent manner.


title: Power symbol

text: The well-known on/off power symbol was the result of the logical evolution in user interface design. Originally, most early power controls consisted of switches that were toggled between two states demarcated by the words "On" and "Off". As technology became more ubiquitous, these English words were replaced with the universal symbols line "|" for "on" and circle "◯" for "off" (typically without serifs) to bypass language barriers. This standard is still used on toggle power switches.


title: Power symbol

text: The symbol for the standby button was created by superimposing the symbols "|" and "◯"; however, it is commonly interpreted as the numerals "0" and "1" (binary code); yet, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) holds these symbols as a graphical representation of a line and a circle.


title: Power symbol

text: Because the exact meaning of the standby symbol on a given device may be unclear until the control is tried, it has been proposed that a separate sleep symbol, a crescent moon, instead be used to indicate a low power state. Proponents include the California Energy Commission and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Under this proposal, the older standby symbol would be redefined as a generic "power" indication, in cases where the difference between it and the other power symbols would not present a safety concern. This alternative symbolism was published as IEEE standard 1621 on December 8, 2004.


title: Power symbol

text: Universal power symbols are described in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 60417 standard, "Graphical symbols for use on equipment", appearing in the 1973 edition of the document (as IEC 417) and informally used earlier.


title: Power symbol

text: Because of widespread use of the power symbol, a campaign was launched to add the set of characters to Unicode. In February 2015, the proposal was accepted by Unicode and the characters were included in Unicode 9.0. The characters are in the "Miscellaneous Technical" block, with code points 23FB-FE, with the exception of , which belongs to the "Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows" block.


title: Power symbol

text: The standby symbol, frequently seen on personal computers, is a popular icon among technology enthusiasts. It is often found emblazoned on fashion items including t-shirts and cuff-links. It has also been used in corporate logos, such as for Gateway, Inc. (circa 2002), Staples, Inc. easytech, Exelon, Toggl and others, as record sleeve art (Garbage's "Push It") and even as personal tattoos. In March 2010, the New York City health department announced they would be using it on condom wrappers. The 2012 television series "Revolution", set in a dystopian future in which "the power went out", as the opening narration puts it, stylized the second last letter 'o' of its title as the standby symbol. The power symbol was a part of exhibition at MoMA. In the anime "Dimension W", Kyouma Mabuchi wears a Happi with the power symbol on his back. In the television series "Sense8", the hacktivist character Nomi has a tattoo of the power symbol behind her ear.


title: Power symbol

text: The symbol, rotated clockwise by 90 degrees so it looks like a capital G, becomes part of the logo for Channel 5's programme The Gadget Show.


title: Power symbol

text: On 15th October 2019, 786 employees of Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited formed the world's largest human power symbol at Millbrook Proving Ground.


title: Laurence Leboeuf

text: Leboeuf was born on December 13, 1985 in Montreal, Quebec. She went to École Notre-Dame-de-Grâce for elementary and later on, she went to Villa Maria for high school.


title: Laurence Leboeuf

text: She made her acting debut as Évelyne Boivin in the French Canadian television series "Virginie". Later, she played Louise Lavigueur in the Quebec television series "Les Lavigueur, la vraie histoire", and more recently as Apple in "Turbo Kid".


title: Laurence Leboeuf

text: She won the Prix Jutra for Best Supporting Actress at the 10th Jutra Awards, and received a Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 28th Genie Awards, for her performance in the 2007 film "My Daughter, My Angel (Ma fille mon ange)". She has also received Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for "19-2" at the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards and the 4th Canadian Screen Awards, and Québec Cinéma nominations for Best Actress at the 17th Jutra Awards for "The Little Queen (La petite reine)" and at the 18th Quebec Cinema Awards for "Turbo Kid".


title: Laurence Leboeuf

text: At the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022, she won the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Magalie Leblanc in "Transplant".


title: Himbo

text: Himbo, a portmanteau of the words "him" and "bimbo", is a slang term for an attractive but vacuous man. The first known use dates back to 1988. Since then, the term and the stereotype it describes have generated a range of commentary and reactions from writers, entertainers, linguists, and cultural analysts.


title: Himbo

text: Several dictionaries cite 1988 as the first time the word himbo was used. By then, the word "bimbo", which earlier in the 20th century had been used for both males and females, was being used predominately for females, so himbo, a combination of "him" and "bimbo", was coined to refer specifically to males. "The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" cites a 1988 "Washington Post" description of a "macho himbo who strutted the Croisette wearing a 16 foot python like a stole around his shoulders and neck".


title: Himbo

text: Partridge defines himbo as "a man objectified by his good looks and presumed lack of intellectual qualities, a man who trades on this image, a gigolo".


title: Himbo

text: One user-submitted definition on Urban Dictionary emphasizes the sexual connotation of the word, describing it as "a male version of a bimbo, whore or slut", and using the example, "He's such a himbo he'd sleep with anything that has a pulse."


title: Himbo

text: As the word generated popularity in the early 2020s, the word himbo began to be associated with a positive masculine archetype of being attractive, stupid, but also kind and goodhearted, as the "human version of a golden retriever — beautiful, incredibly well-intentioned, and dumb."


title: Himbo

text: In 1995, Sherri Sylvester of CNN interviewed male Hollywood celebrities about the use of the term "himbo" and sexual objectification of men in entertainment and received a range of reactions. "There's a great word," said actor Keanu Reeves. "I love that. I read that and laughed my head off." Tom Selleck said he was "always flattered to be called a sex symbol" but Sylvester Stallone said he had fought "the stereotype that brawny means brainless" for years. David Charvet of "Baywatch" noted, "You find yourself doing a show for three years where you are sticking your chest out and your shoulders are back and you're holding in your stomach and you realize that that's so boring after a while."


title: Himbo

text: In a 1994 interview, sociologist Michael Kimmel, who analyzes the himbo stereotype in his book "Manhood in America: A Cultural History", said there are two types of himbos, those created for women, like the model Fabio, and those created for men, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. The man's himbo, says Kimmel, is usually known for having some kind of prowess, like Charles Atlas or Stallone, whereas the woman's himbo is 'kinder and gentler' like Woody Harrelson or, like Fabio, "a male Zsa Zsa Gabor... famous for doing very little."


title: Himbo

text: "You could legitimately call it a victory for men, that we now have men famous for doing nothing," Kimmel noted. He also observes that the origin of the himbo stereotype can be seen in mid-twentieth century television shows, whose audiences were primarily women, "that traditionally present Mother as the all-wise and Father as a bit of a bumbling idiot".


title: Himbo

text: In her 1995 book, "Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership", communications professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson


title: Himbo

text: uses bimbo and himbo as examples of 'linguistic reversal' which "creates a range of condemnation applicable to men that mirrors that for women."


title: Himbo

text: "Each of these moves invites us to examine our presuppositions", she states, and "makes it less likely that language penalizing women will be taken for granted in future exchanges." Another example she cites is trophy wife and trophy husband.


title: Himbo

text: In 2006, "Seventeen" editor Atoosa Rubenstein and psychologist Jeff Gradere spoke on the "Today Show" about the "himbo cultural phenomenon". Rubenstein describes variations of himbos like the Hound Dog Himbo and the Socialite Himbo, and compares current actors to the different categories. ""The girls love [himbos] because they are malleable." she said. "As women become more successful, they want a guy who isn't going to take over their lives...they are the wave of the future." Gradere was more critical of the phenomenon, saying that boys trying to 'dumb down' or use their sexuality to get attention or financial support was no better than girls doing the same thing." "We understand the value of women taking on more masculine roles and men assuming what were once considered more traditional female roles. However, somewhere along the way, himbos have warped this idea and turned it into a free ride at the expense of women, which is disrespectful and manipulative."


title: Himbo

text: By the early 2000s, himbo was frequently being used in entertainment. In an interview for the 2004 documentary Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!, Jemaine Clement stated that fans of the eponymous Lord of the Rings extra "[make] him out to be quite a himbo".


title: Himbo

text: In 2007, the Ugly Betty character Daniel Meade was described as a "himbo" in Season 1, Episode 11 of the show.


title: Himbo

text: Lauren Bans of "GQ Magazine" discussed the rise of the himbo character in entertainment in her 2012 article, "Bimbos with Balls", noting the proliferation of "a new breed of buffed up hollow men" was replacing female bimbo characters in shows like "New Girl", "Cougar Town", and "Parks and Recreation", "30 Rock", as well as movies like "Magic Mike" and "Showgirls". Citing even earlier himbo appearances in "Seinfeld" and "Friends", Bans theorizes that the 21st century has spawned a "Golden Age of himbodom", based on a new Hollywood vision of women as "crass sexual aggressors" who "need subjects to crassly sexually aggress".


title: Himbo

text: In the chapter "Let's Hear it for the Boy Toy" of their book "The Hookup Handbook: A Single Girl's Guide to Living It Up", authors Jessica Rozler and Andrea Lavinthal describe a variety of himbo 'types' such as actors, bartenders, models, and personal trainers, as well as identifying features of different kinds of "Himbo Hookups", including The Beauty and The Beast Complex, the Sugar Mama, and so on.


title: Himbo

text: Noreen Malone of "The New Republic" correlates the rise of the himbo stereotype and its "ornamental masculinity" in 2012 with the disappearance of opportunities for 'real expressions of manly manliness', especially for working-class men, as well as to a shift in power dynamics between men and women.


title: Himbo

text: In the early 2020s, after a twitter user called the term Himbo "ableist", a flurry of news articles and commentary about the term appeared, some of which defended the positive attributes of the himbo stereotype, like emotional intelligence and loyalty.


title: Himbo

text: The Jamaican version, according to "Dancehall Dictionary", which defines himbo as 'a young man paid for his sexual services by an older woman," is 'tadpole'.


title: Himbo

text: In a speech on hookup culture at Chico State University, a presenter included himbo on a list of synonyms for 'sexually promiscuous man' that also included "Casanova", "ladies man", "prostitute", "man hoe", and "Benedict"".


title: Himbo

text: In a UK reader survey reported in the book "Language, Power and Society", himbo was offered as a synonym for toy boy, along with other expressions like "joy boy", "lap chap", and "boncubine".


title: Himbo

text: Some commentators have continued in the late 20th and early 21st centuries to use the original term "bimbo" when referring to someone as an unintelligent, vacuous, or brutish man, such as a reporter's description of Dan Quayle or Stephen Richter's reflections on Donald Trump. In 2020, Biden got the same treatment.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Samuel James Cassell Sr. (born November 18, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach and former point guard who serves as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Drafted 24th overall in the 1993 NBA draft out of Florida State, Cassell played for eight different teams during his 15-year career. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and All-NBA Team once, both in the 2003–04 season.


title: Sam Cassell

text: In his first two seasons, he helped the Houston Rockets win back to back championships, in 1994 and 1995, and won a third with the Boston Celtics in 2008, his last season. He also helped the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves reach the Conference Finals of the playoffs in 2001 and 2004 respectively, the latter's first-ever in franchise history, and helped the Los Angeles Clippers to their first-ever playoff series victory in 2006. Known for his mid-range jumpshot, Cassell often made clutch baskets late in the fourth quarter to help his team win games.


title: Sam Cassell

text: After graduating from Paul Lawrence Dunbar Community High School in East Baltimore, Maryland, Cassell spent a year at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine, under coach Max Good. From MCI, Cassell was successfully recruited to attend DePaul University. He was declared academically ineligible based on National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Proposition 48 standards, and ended up starting his college career at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas, where he was known as a big scorer. He moved on to Florida State University in Tallahassee for his junior and senior years. In his senior year in 1992–93, he averaged 18.3 points, 4.9 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game and led the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in steals. Cassell and teammate Bob Sura formed the highest scoring and rebounding backcourt in the nation with 38.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Cassell's 1992–93 Seminoles team finished with a 25–10 record and advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to the University of Kentucky's Wildcats.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell was selected out of Florida State University with the 24th overall pick of the 1993 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. Playing mostly as a backup to Kenny Smith, Cassell developed a reputation as "clutch" and was usually on the court for the fourth quarter of close games. He was a key contributor during the Rockets playoff run his rookie year, notably dropping 22 points and seven assists in a game 7 win against the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Semifinals, and scoring 7 points in the final 32 seconds of a 93–89 win in game 3 of the 1994 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. The Rockets would win the championship in seven games.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell saw an increase in his role during his second year, appearing in all 82 games that season. He again helped the Rockets reach the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year. In game 2 of the Finals against the Orlando Magic, Cassell scored 31 points. The Rockets swept the Magic, giving Cassell his second championship in just two years in the league.


title: Sam Cassell

text: In his third season, the two-time defending champion Rockets were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the Seattle SuperSonics. Cassell's minutes, scoring and usage rates all increased in his third season, but he missed 21 games with injuries. Rockets management feared their window of winning another championship with Olajuwon, Drexler and Smith was closing, and looked to trade for another star-caliber player.


title: Sam Cassell

text: After the 1995–96 season, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns, along with Robert Horry, Chucky Brown, and Mark Bryant, in exchange for former league MVP Charles Barkley. Cassell, who was in the final year of his rookie contract, frequently clashed with head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons; Fitzsimmons subsequently resigned following an 0–8 start. On December 12, 1996, Cassell led the 5–14 Suns into Utah and defeated the Jazz who at the time were on a 15-game winning streak. Cassell scored 21 points in the 95–87 road win. Under new head coach Danny Ainge, the Suns saw marked improvement with Cassell leading the team with 14.8 points per game.


title: Sam Cassell

text: On December 27, 1996, just 22 games into the season, he was traded along with Michael Finley, A. C. Green, and a second-round draft pick to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas, and Loren Meyer. Though Cassell had begun to develop chemistry with the Suns and Coach Ainge, team management felt they could not pass up the opportunity to trade for Kidd.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Midway through the 1996–97 season, after appearing in 16 games for the Mavericks, he was traded with Chris Gatling, Jim Jackson, George McCloud, and Eric Montross to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Shawn Bradley, Ed O'Bannon, Robert Pack, and Khalid Reeves on February 17, 1997. The Nets would be the third team that Cassell played for just that season. During his time with the Nets, Cassell lived in Teaneck, New Jersey.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Following the season, though he considered an offer to return to Houston, Cassell elected to re-sign with the Nets on a six-year contract. Forming one of the league's most potent backcourts with Kerry Kittles, Cassell averaged 19.6 points, 8 assists and 1.6 steals in 34 minutes per game for the Nets that year, and helped lead them to the playoffs for their first time in four years. However, they were swept by Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the first round.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Led by coach John Calipari, who pushed the team to trade for then re-sign Cassell, the Nets were favorites in the Eastern conference entering the lockout-shortened 1998–99 season. However, Cassell sustained an injury in the first game of the season and the Nets started 3–15.


title: Sam Cassell

text: On March 11, 1999, Cassell was again traded in a three team, eight player trade that sent Stephon Marbury to the Nets, Terrell Brandon to Minnesota Timberwolves, and Cassell to the Milwaukee Bucks. Under their new coach George Karl, Cassell formed a "Big 3" with Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson. In the first game of the following season, on November 2, 1999, Cassell led all scorers with 35 points alongside 11 assists in a 98–93 victory against the Houston Rockets. On November 26, Cassell again led all scorers with 28 points, with 14 assists, this time in a 114–112 win over the Boston Celtics.


title: Sam Cassell

text: On March 3, 2001, he scored his career-high of 40 points against the Chicago Bulls. During All-Star Weekend in 2001, he won the Fleer Shootout at Jam Session on All-Star Saturday. That season, after defeating the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets in the first two rounds of the playoffs, he almost reached the Finals with the Bucks, falling just short when they lost in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers.


title: Sam Cassell

text: During the 2002–03 season, he passed 10,000 points for his career. On December 9, 2002, in one of the best games of his career, Cassell recorded a triple double with 39 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in a double overtime 140–133 victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers.


title: Sam Cassell

text: On March 28, 2008, Cassell was honored as one of the 20 greatest players in Milwaukee Bucks history during the team's 40th Anniversary Celebration.


title: Sam Cassell

text: After spending four seasons with the Bucks, he was traded along with Ervin Johnson to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Joe Smith and Anthony Peeler following the 2003 NBA draft. Cassell enjoyed his most successful season as an individual that year. He posted 19.8 points on 49% shooting, 7.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 35 minutes per game on the year. He was named to the All-NBA Second Team and voted into the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. Cassell, Latrell Sprewell and Kevin Garnett formed what was widely considered the best trio in the NBA that season, vaulting past Western Conference powerhouses the Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers for the number one seed in the Western Conference, with a franchise-best 58–24 record.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell made his playoff debut with the Timberwolves scoring a franchise playoff record 40 points, in a first-round game 1 win against the Denver Nuggets. Minnesota would win the series in five games. They faced the Sacramento Kings in the next round, with Cassell again dropping 40 points in the series opener. A series of late-game heroics from Cassell helped the Timberwolves defeat the Kings in seven games. Cassell however sustained a back injury that limited him in the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers, which the Lakers would win in six games.


title: Sam Cassell

text: The following year, the Timberwolves finished 44–38, missing the playoffs by one game in the competitive Western Conference. Cassell, who appeared in only 59 games that season due to injuries, voiced his frustration over the midseason firing of Flip Saunders and not being offered a contract extension.


title: Sam Cassell

text: After the 2004–05 season, the Timberwolves traded Cassell and a conditional first-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Marko Jarić and Lionel Chalmers. The trade is widely considered among the NBA's most lopsided ever; Chalmers never played another game in the NBA, and Jaric was traded after three unproductive yet overpaid seasons. Cassell meanwhile led the Clippers to their then-most successful season, and the draft pick from Minnesota was used by the Clippers as part of the Chris Paul trade. The Timberwolves would not qualify for the postseason again until 2018.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell appeared to have found a home with the Clippers, as he helped lead them back to the playoffs for the first time since 1997, with their best record in team history at 47–35. Since the team moved to California in 1978, they had compiled just three winning seasons. In the first round, they beat the Denver Nuggets in five games, but would fall to the Phoenix Suns in seven games in the Conference Semifinals. Between their move to California in 1978 and Chris Paul's arrival in 2011, this would be the only year that the Clippers won a playoff series.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Before the 2006–07 season, Cassell was reportedly offered a two-year, $15 million offer from the Atlanta Hawks, but eventually re-signed with the Clippers on a two-year, $13 million deal. Cassell struggled with injuries that season, and the Clippers missed the playoffs by two games.


title: Sam Cassell

text: With Elton Brand, Shaun Livingston, Chris Kaman and others suffering major injuries, the Clippers started rebuilding throughout the 2007–08 season. Although Cassell was initially reluctant to discuss leaving the Clippers, he eventually decided to listen to their buyout offers. On February 28, 2008, the Clippers reached a contractual buyout agreement with Cassell and placed him on waivers. According to the agreement, Cassell received half of his remaining salary, roughly $850,000.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell became an unrestricted free agent on March 3, 2008, when he cleared waivers, and was eligible to sign with a team of his choice. Although the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns were interested in his services, he was strongly linked with a poised move to the Boston Celtics and was expected to be in Boston once he cleared waivers. On March 1, 2008, Cassell's agent, David Falk, confirmed that Cassell would sign a contract with the Celtics for the remainder of the season if he cleared waivers, receiving a prorated amount of the veteran minimum of $1.2M. Cassell said that he would wear either No. 28 or No. 91 on his jersey, and eventually chose No. 28.


title: Sam Cassell

text: According to his agent, Cassell had signed a contract with the Celtics on March 3, 2008, but the signing was pending an official league announcement. His arrival was delayed because of a death in his family. On March 4, 2008, Cassell officially signed with the Celtics, but immediately flew back to his hometown of Baltimore to attend funeral services for his deceased family member. He made his debut against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 10, 2008. In Boston, Cassell was reunited with former teammates Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.


title: Sam Cassell

text: On March 17, 2008, Cassell had a standout performance in a Saint Patrick's Day matchup against the San Antonio Spurs, when he led the team from a 22-point deficit to a 2-point victory, scoring 17 points and hitting a clutch shot late in the game.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell, along with Eddie House, James Posey, P.J. Brown, and Leon Powe, gave the Celtics arguably the best bench in the NBA that season. They helped the Celtics finish with an NBA-best 66–16 record en route to the NBA Finals. The Celtics defeated the Lakers 4–2, with the Celtics bench out-scoring the Lakers' in five of the six games. The win gave Cassell his third championship, which would also be the last game he played.


title: Sam Cassell

text: During the 2008–09 season, Cassell served as an unofficial assistant to head coach Doc Rivers; though he did not play in any games, he was still officially listed as an active player. On February 17, 2009, Cassell was traded to the Sacramento Kings for a conditional second-round draft pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. The move was done strictly for salary cap purposes and Cassell was not expected to play for the Kings. One day later, Sacramento waived him.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell cleared waivers and was eligible to re-sign with Boston or another contender, but opted to sit out the remainder of the season, and he announced his retirement in May 2009. In 2015, Paul Pierce stated that he felt he, Garnett and Cassell were the real "Big 3" of the Celtics 2008 championship team.


title: Sam Cassell

text: On May 21, 2009, Cassell was named assistant coach of the Washington Wizards, joining Flip Saunders who was his coach in Minnesota. John Wall, who was drafted first overall by the Wizards in 2010, credits Cassell for his development into one of the NBA's premier point guards and leadership during the team's Eastern Conference semi-finals appearance in 2014 – their first playoff series win since 2005. During the 2014 offseason, Cassell's former teammate Paul Pierce signed with the Wizards, and admitted he made the decision to sign with Washington after speaking with Cassell.


title: Sam Cassell

text: After five seasons with the Wizards, Cassell was hired by the Los Angeles Clippers on September 29, 2014, to join Doc Rivers' staff as assistant coach.


title: Sam Cassell

text: Cassell appeared on TNT's "NBA Fundamentals" series, in which basketball players describe certain aspects of the game. He was chosen to illustrate the "mid-range game", i.e. shooting from the area around the free throw line, the paint, the wings and the baseline. In this clip, Cassell explains how to post up against opposing guards, shoot pull-up jump shots and hit buzzer beaters. He admires retired NBA players Terrell Brandon and Jeff Hornacek, two prolific mid-range shooters after whom he modeled his game.


title: Sam Cassell

text: His son, Sam Cassell Jr., played for Iona College. Cassell Jr. also played for and earned his associate's and bachelor's degrees from Chipola College and the University of Connecticut respectively. In 2017, Cassell Jr. was signed on the Summer League squad for Cleveland Cavaliers.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The Bentley Bentayga is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV produced by Bentley Motors since late 2015. It is the first SUV to be produced by the brand. Its body is manufactured at the Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant in Germany, then painted by Paintbox Editions in Banbury, United Kingdom, with final assembly being at Bentley Motor's factory in Crewe, United Kingdom.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Bentley's first SUV was previewed as the Bentley EXP 9 F concept car at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The concept car was based upon the Volkswagen Group MLB platform, powered by a 6.0 L W12 engine producing . The initial design of the EXP 9 F was redesigned to achieve "more traditional SUV proportions and less retro surfacing."


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The production version was announced in July 2013. The Bentley EXP 9 F's design proved to be controversial, and it received a mixed response from the automobile press. After some criticism for the design of the EXP 9 F, Bentley announced that it would change the styling for the production versions.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The production Bentayga debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2015 as Bentley's first SUV – using unibody construction and full-time all-wheel drive as well as Volkswagen Group's bi-turbo W12 engine and MLB platform, the latter shared with the second-generation Audi Q7 and the third-generation Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q8, and Lamborghini Urus.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Available in seating configurations for four, five, or seven, the Bentayga was claimed by the manufacturer as the SUV which has the highest top speed as well as the second most expensive production SUV.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: A total of 608 "First Edition" units were manufactured upon introduction, of which 75 were allocated to be sold in the US market.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The original prediction for 2016 was that 3,500 Bentaygas would be sold. When the entire production volume for the year sold out in advance, production was increased and resulted in 5,586 units being sold.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Despite its high price tag, the car was a sales success for Bentley in 2016 and became Bentley's most popular model.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Bentley revealed the name Bentayga in January 2015. The name comes from Roque Bentayga, an emblematic highland rock situated in Tejeda, Gran Canaria, the subtropical Canary Island. The company also drew inspiration from a portmanteau of "Bentley" and "Taiga", the world's largest transcontinental snow forest, composed of the first four letters of Bentley and an altered spelling of taiga. Bentayga also means "carried interest" in Swahili. An early name for the model was the Falcon.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Originally slated by Volkswagen to be produced at the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant in Slovakia where the factory where all other models based on the platform are produced, an agreement was reached with the British Government for the model to be produced at the Crewe factory. Bentley has invested £800 million in a new facility in Crewe and employed 1,000 new employees to meet the demand for 3,000–4,000 SUVs per year.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Although assembly of the Bentayga was moved to Crewe, initially production of the Bentayga's body shell remained at the Bratislava facility. Body shell production was moved to Volkswagen's Zwickau-Mosel Plant at the end of 2016.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The 2016 Bentayga was the first to receive Bentley's new twin-turbo W12 engine. Initially, the W12 was the only engine and it was capable of bypassing 6 cylinders if needed. Bentley claimed the 6.0 L capable of in 4.0 seconds, in 4.1 s, and a top speed of .


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The Bentayga uses a 48-volt electrical system to control its electrically controlled active anti-roll bar (EWAS), which helps the heavy SUV reduce body roll.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Starting in 2017, a diesel V8 derived from the VW Group diesel V8 was available. This engine is Bentley's first diesel and only offered in the Bentayga. Included are a badge on the front wing and the trapezoid quad exhaust tips. Bentley claims performance of the 4.0 L, twin-turbo diesel of in 4.6 seconds, in 4.8 s, and a top speed of .


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: A V8 engine became available in 2018. Bentley claimed the 4.0 L, twin-turbo will have performance figures from in 4.4 seconds, in 4.5 s, and a top speed of . Its combined cycle emissions are 272 g/km and its fuel consumption is .


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: A plug-in hybrid model was revealed at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show and went on sale in the UK, Europe, and North America in October 2019. It combines a 3.0 L V6 turbo petrol engine and an electric motor, for a system output of and of torque. The lithium-ion battery pack offers a range of as per NEDC testing.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The facelifted model was released in June 2020. Changes include new 3D elliptical tail-lights with animated LEDs, similar to those on the third-generation Continental GT, and a rear number plate re-positioned onto the bumper to allow for ‘Bentley’ to be spelled out across the tailgate. The rear spoiler was enlarged. New side vents, a new wheel design, and two paint colours were added. New oval-shaped split tailpipes, heated wipers with 22 washer jets in each arm, and an optional Blackline variant with blacked-out chrome complete the external alterations.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Changes were in the cabin, such as in the rear, where new seat frames in combination with extra reclining allow a increase in knee space. There are ventilated rear seats and the car can be had with four, five, or seven seats. Rear passengers also receive an updated 5.0-in removable touchscreen tablet to control entertainment and comfort functions.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The infotainment has a new system with a higher resolution 10.9-in touchscreen. Included are Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as USB-C ports, air ionisers, wireless smartphone charging, and an embedded SIM card for data services. The traditional instrument dials have been replaced with a digital display (like in newer Bentleys) and the head-up display shows much more data. The audio system is a 790W, 12-speaker stereo with an optional Naim system that has 1780W and 20 speakers.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: The optional W12 engine is no longer available for the 2020 model. The base model features a 4.0 L twin-turbocharged V8 engine generating . Optional is the V6 plug-in hybrid which will come to the market by late 2020. A new Bentayga Speed was introduced in August 2020. It shares the same 6.0 L Twin-turbocharged W12 engine with the older Bentayga Speed which generates .


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Mulliner is Bentley's internal customisation company, which creates limited-edition options and accessories. Customers are able to customise the cars including custom paint and colours as well as interior hide and carpet colours. An option is the Mulliner Tourbillon dashboard clock designed by Swiss watchmaker Breitling. The clock spins 3 times every 15 minutes.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: In May 2022, the Bentley Bentayga Extended Wheelbase, intended to replace the Bentley Mulsanne, was released. It features a V8 twin-turbo 4.0-litre engine that produces , active anti-roll bars, and rear wheel steering.


title: Bentley Bentayga

text: Some seats had not been secured properly during assembly, and Bentley issued a recall for 378 cars in November 2016.


title: Faye Grant

text: Faye Grant (born Faye Elizabeth Yoe, July 16, 1957) is an American film, television and stage actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Julie Parrish in NBC's science fiction series "V" between 1983 and 1985.


title: Faye Grant

text: Grant was born in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Her father was a police officer in her home town. She is a 1975 graduate of Lake Shore High School. She took her acting name from the street where she grew up.


title: Faye Grant

text: Her first television role was on the TV series "The Greatest American Hero", in which she appeared as Rhonda Blake, one of the students of main character Ralph Hinkley (William Katt). Her best-known role came in 1983 as Juliet Parrish in the science fiction mini-series "V," the 1984 sequel "V: The Final Battle" and "V: The Series" from 1984 to 1985. Her film credits include "The January Man" (1989), "Internal Affairs" (1990), "Drive Me Crazy" (1999), "" (1991) and "Public Affairs" (2017).


title: Faye Grant

text: She has also appeared on shows starring Stephen Collins: the TV series version of "Tales of the Gold Monkey", and "7th Heaven". She guest-starred as Abigail "Abby" Morris in the "7th Heaven" episode "What Will People Say?" which first aired on November 11, 1996. They also co-starred in "Drive Me Crazy" (1999).


title: Faye Grant

text: Grant starred on Broadway as vocally challenged Lina Lamont in the 1985 stage adaptation of "Singin' in the Rain," which won her the Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. In director Jerry Zaks' 1986 Lincoln Center-to-Broadway revival of John Guare's "The House of Blue Leaves," Grant played the deaf Corinna Stroller, following Julie Hagerty and Patricia Clarkson in the role.


title: Faye Grant

text: Grant has made guest appearances in TV shows like "The Incredible Hulk", the "Voyagers!" pilot episode as Mary Murphy, "Hardcastle and McCormick", "Time of Your Life" and "Tales From the Crypt". She appeared on the show "State of Grace" from 2001 to 2002 as Tattie McKee.


title: Faye Grant

text: Grant married actor Stephen Collins in April 1985 in New York City. They have a daughter, Kate (born in 1989). Grant met Collins during production of "Tales of the Gold Monkey" in the early 1980s.


title: Faye Grant

text: She secretly recorded a confidential marriage counseling session without the knowledge of Collins or the therapist, in which Collins discussed sexual misconduct with minors. A police investigation took place and the recording of the session was leaked. After the recording became public Collins admitted to the acts and publicly apologized. Their divorce was finalized in January 2015.


title: Blood moon prophecy

text: The blood moon prophecies were a series of prophecies by Christian preachers John Hagee and Mark Biltz, related to a series of four full moons in 2014 and 2015. The prophecies stated that a tetrad (a series of four consecutive lunar eclipses—all total and coinciding on Jewish holidays—with six full moons in between, and no intervening partial lunar eclipses) which began with the April 2014 lunar eclipse was the beginning of the end times as described in the Bible in the Book of Joel, Acts 2:20, and Revelation 6:12. The tetrad ended with the lunar eclipse on September 27–28, 2015.


title: Blood moon prophecy

text: On April 15, 2014, there was a total lunar eclipse which was the first of four consecutive total eclipses in a series, known as a tetrad; the second one took place on October 8, 2014, the third on April 4, 2015, and the fourth on September 28, 2015. It is the second of eight tetrads to take place during the 21st century AD. As with most lunar eclipses, the moon appeared red during the April 15, 2014, eclipse. The red color is caused by Rayleigh scattering of sunlight through the Earth's atmosphere, the same effect that causes sunsets to appear red.


title: Blood moon prophecy

text: The claim of a blood moon being a sign of the beginning of the end times originates in the Book of Joel, where it is written "the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes." This prophecy repeated by Peter during Pentecost, as stated in Acts, though Peter says that the date of Pentecost, not a future date, was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. The blood moon also is prophesied in the Book of Revelation chapter 6 verses 11–13, where verse 12 states, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood."


title: Blood moon prophecy

text: Hagee later wrote "Four Blood Moons", that became a best-seller, being more than 150 days in Amazon.com's top 150 by April 2014. For the week ending March 30, 2014, it was the ninth best selling paperback, according to "Publishers Weekly". By mid-April, Hagee's book was No. 4 on "The New York Times" best-seller list in the advice category. Hagee's book (and subsequent preaching series at his home congregation, Cornerstone Church) did not claim that any specific "end times" event would occur but claimed that every prior tetrad of the last 500 years coincided with events in Jewish and Israeli history that were originally tragic, yet followed by triumph.


title: Blood moon prophecy

text: Hagee and Biltz's claims gained mainstream media attention in publications such as "USA Today" and "The Washington Post". "Earth & Sky" reported receiving "a number of inquiries about Blood Moon".


title: Blood moon prophecy

text: Writing for "Earth & Sky" Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd point out that the referenced verse also says the "sun will be turned into darkness", an apparent reference to a "solar" eclipse. They note that since the Jewish Calendar is lunar, one-sixth of all eclipses will occur during Passover or Sukkot.


title: Blood moon prophecy

text: Furthermore, there have been 62 tetrads since the 1st century AD, though only eight of them have coincided with both feasts. Additionally, three of the four eclipses in the tetrad were not even visible in the biblical homeland of Israel, casting further doubt on Hagee and Biltz's interpretation; even then, only the very end of the last eclipse was visible in Israel.


title: Poveglia

text: Poveglia ( ; ) is a small island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, of northern Italy. A small canal divides the island into two separate parts. The island first appears in the historical record in 421, and was populated until the residents fled warfare in 1379. For more than 100 years beginning in 1776, the island was used as a quarantine station for those suffering the plague and other diseases, and later as a mental hospital. The mental hospital closed in 1968, and the island has been vacant ever since. Because of its history, the island is frequently featured on paranormal shows.


title: Poveglia

text: Visits to the island are prohibited, but various books and articles report on visits by writers and/or photographers. Believers in the paranormal have claimed that Poveglia is the most haunted island or the most haunted place in the world.


title: Poveglia

text: The island is first mentioned in chronicles of 421, when people from Padua and Este fled there to escape the barbarian invasions. In the 9th century the island's population began to grow, and in the following centuries its importance grew steadily, until it was governed by a dedicated Podestà. In 1379 Venice came under attack from the Genoan fleet; the people of Poveglia were moved to the Giudecca.


title: Poveglia

text: The island remained uninhabited in the subsequent centuries; in 1527 the doge offered the island to the Camaldolese monks, who refused the offer. From 1645 on, the Venetian government built five octagonal forts to protect and control the entrances to the lagoon. The Poveglia octagon is one of four that still survive.


title: Poveglia

text: In 1776 the island came under the jurisdiction of the "Magistrato alla Sanità" (Public Health Office), and became a check point for all goods and people coming to and going from Venice by ship. In 1793, there were several cases of the plague on two ships, and consequently the island was transformed into a temporary confinement station for the ill ("lazaretto"); this role became permanent in 1805, under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, who also had the old church of San Vitale destroyed; the old bell-tower was converted into a lighthouse. The "lazaretto" was closed in 1814.


title: Poveglia

text: The island was used as a quarantine station from 1793 until 1814. In 1922 the existing buildings were converted into an asylum for the mentally ill and later used as a nursing home/long-term care facility, until its closure in 1968. Afterwards, the island was briefly used for agriculture and then completely abandoned.


title: Poveglia

text: In 2014 the Italian state auctioned a 99-year lease of Poveglia, which would remain state property, to raise revenue, hoping that the buyer would redevelop the hospital into a luxury hotel. The highest bid was from Italian businessman Luigi Brugnaro, (€513,000); he planned to invest €20 million euros in a restoration plan. The lease did not proceed because his project was judged not to meet all the conditions. Other sources suggested that the deal was annulled because the bid was too low. Brugnaro initially fought the cancellation of the lease, but after he became mayor of Venice, he renounced any intentions to the island.


title: Poveglia

text: In 2015, a private group, Poveglia per Tutti, was hoping to raise €25–30 million for a new plan to include "a public park, a marina, a restaurant, a hostel [and] a study centre" according to "The Telegraph". As of mid-2019, however, the island still sat vacant.


title: Poveglia

text: The surviving buildings on the island consist of a cavana, a church, a hospital, an asylum, a bell-tower and housing and administrative buildings for the staff. The bell-tower is the most visible structure on the island, and dates back to the 12th century. It belonged to the church of San Vitale, which was demolished in 1806. The tower was re-used as a lighthouse.


title: Poveglia

text: The existence of an asylum on Poveglia seems to be confirmed by a sign for "Reparto Psichiatria" (Psychiatric Department) still visible among the derelict buildings, as photographed by Ransom Riggs in his May 2010 photo-essay documenting his visit to Poveglia. However, there seems to be no evidence of an alleged prison.


title: Poveglia

text: A bridge connects the island on which the buildings stand with the island that was given over to trees and fields. The octagonal fort is on a third, separate island, next to the island with the buildings, but unconnected to it. The fort itself today consists solely of an earthen rampart faced on the outside with brick.


title: Poveglia

text: The island contains one or more plague pits. An estimate published by "National Geographic" suggest that over 100,000 people died on the island over the centuries and were buried in plague pits. Another source, Atlas Obscura, provides an estimate of 160,000 people.


title: Poveglia

text: News reports published in 2014/2015 confirmed that the building and rusting artefacts still existed. The island contained dilapidated buildings including the church of St Vitale, a hospital, an asylum, and prison plus residential and office buildings.


title: Poveglia

text: Some time after the island had become a quarantine station for ships arriving at Venice in the 18th century, a plague was discovered on two ships. The island was sealed off and used to host people with infectious diseases, leading to legends of terminally ill Venetians waiting to die before their ghosts returned to haunt the island.


title: Poveglia

text: A doctor allegedly experimented on patients with crude lobotomies. According to various reports, most recently by the Travel Channel, the doctor jumped from the bell tower in the 1930s after claiming he had been driven mad by ghosts. He later died. Decades later, nearby residents claimed to still hear the bell, although it was removed many years earlier. That report, titled "Haunted History", also states that some restoration work had started recently but that "abruptly stopped without explanation".


title: Poveglia

text: The island has been featured on the paranormal shows "Ghost Adventures" and "Scariest Places on Earth".


title: James Ogilvy

text: James Robert Bruce Ogilvy (born 29 February 1964) is a British landscape designer, and the founder and editor of "Luxury Briefing". He is a relative of the British royal family as the elder child and only son of Sir Angus Ogilvy and Princess Alexandra of Kent. His mother was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, both being granddaughters of George V. As a result, he is a second cousin of King Charles III.


title: James Ogilvy

text: Ogilvy was born in Thatched House Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey. He was the first of four children born to royalty within a space of nine weeks in 1964, the others being Prince Edward, Lady Helen Windsor and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones. Ogilvy was baptised by Arthur Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, with Queen Elizabeth II among his seven godparents. When he was born, he was 13th in the line of succession to the British throne. As of September 2022, he is 57th.


title: James Ogilvy

text: His education began in the "palace school" with his cousins Prince Edward, Lady Helen Windsor and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones. Subsequently, Ogilvy attended Gibbs pre-prep and Heatherdown Preparatory School (with Prince Edward). After that, Ogilvy and Prince Edward went separate ways, the prince to Gordonstoun and Cambridge, and Ogilvy to Eton College and the University of St Andrews. From St. Andrews, he earned a Scottish Master of Arts degree in History of art. He then attended the full-time MBA course at Cranfield from 1990 to 1991, obtaining the MBA qualification.


title: James Ogilvy

text: He is the publisher and founder of "Luxury Briefing", a magazine launched in 1996, and has served on numerous boards of directors.


title: James Ogilvy

text: He married Julia Caroline Rawlinson, daughter of Charles Frederick Melville Rawlinson, of Arkesden, Essex, a merchant banker, on 30 July 1988 at St Mary's Church in Saffron Walden, Essex. The couple have two children:


title: James Ogilvy

text: He is also a godfather of Princess Eugenie, the younger daughter of his second cousin, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York.


title: James Ogilvy

text: In 1997, while on holiday in Florida with his wife and children, he swam out into the ocean and was bitten by a shark. Ogilvy had several leg wounds and required 30 stitches.


title: James Ogilvy

text: His maternal grandparents were Prince George, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George V; and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. Princess Marina was the daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (later known as Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark). He has a younger sister, Marina Ogilvy.


In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people. It is a federal aid program, administered by the United States Department of Agriculture under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), though benefits are distributed by specific departments of U.S. states (e.g. Division of Social Services, Department of Health and Human Services, etc.).


title: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

text: SNAP benefits supplied roughly 40 million Americans in 2018, at an expenditure of $57.1 billion. Approximately 9.2% of American households obtained SNAP benefits at some point during 2017, with approximately 16.7% of all children living in households with SNAP benefits. Beneficiaries and costs increased sharply with the Great Recession, peaked in 2013 and have declined through 2017 as the economy recovered. It is the largest nutrition program of the 15 administered by FNS and is a key component of the social safety net for low-income Americans.


text: The amount of SNAP benefits received by a household depends on the household's size, income, and expenses. For most of its history, the program used paper-denominated "stamps" or coupons – worth $1 (brown), $5 (blue), and $10 (green) – bound into booklets of various denominations, to be torn out individually and used in single-use exchange. Because of their 1:1 value ratio with actual currency, the coupons were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Their rectangular shape resembled a U.S. dollar bill (although about one-half the size), including intaglio printing on high-quality paper with watermarks. In the late 1990s, the Food Stamp Program was revamped, with some states phasing out actual stamps in favor of a specialized debit card system known as Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT), provided by private contractors. EBT has been implemented in all states since June 2004. Each month, SNAP benefits are directly deposited into the household's EBT card account. Households may use EBT to pay for food at supermarkets, convenience stores, and other food retailers, including certain farmers' markets.


text: The federal government's ability to alleviate hunger through the means of food stamps was first introduced with Congress passing the income tax law. Even after the federal government had the funding to create a social safety net, its involvement in food assistance was not introduced until the 1930s, when the Great Depression caused unemployment, homelessness, and starvation to become a national issues that permeated such a high percentage of the population. At the time of the Great Depression, farmers were growing surplus produce, but unemployed and impoverished people were unable to afford to buy it. The origin of food stamps were intended partially to help the poor, but just as equally to boost the economy and pay farmers a fair price for their labors. In essence, food stamps were intended to create a political agreement between agriculture and the federal government by giving out excess goods in a crisis.


text: The idea for the first food stamp program has been credited to various people, most notably Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace and the program's first administrator, Milo Perkins. Of the program, Perkins said, "We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm." The program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures; for every $1 of orange stamps purchased, 50 cents' worth of blue stamps were received. Orange food stamps could be used at any food retailers or wholesalers, but excluded alcoholic beverages, concession stand meals that could be eaten on premises, and tobacco products. The blue stamps could only be used to buy what the USDA defined as surplus produce, which included items such as beans, eggs, fruit, and the like.


text: Over the course of nearly four years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people in nearly half of the counties in the United States at a total cost of $262 million. At its peak, the program assisted an estimated four million people. The first recipient was Mabel McFiggin of Rochester, New York; the first retailer to redeem the stamps was Joseph Mutolo; and the first retailer caught violating program rules was Nick Salzano in October 1939. The program ended when the conditions that brought the program into being — unmarketable food surpluses and widespread unemployment — ceased to exist. By 1943, the start of World War II equalized the agricultural economy and the unemployment rate was lowered, and incentive to help those still in need was not reason enough for the government to continue this program.


text: The 18 years between the end of the first FSP and the inception of the next were filled with studies, reports, and legislative proposals. Prominent US senators actively associated with attempts to enact a food stamp program during this period included George Aiken, Robert M. La Follette Jr., Hubert Humphrey, Estes Kefauver, and Stuart Symington. From 1954 on, US Representative Leonor Sullivan strove to pass food-stamp program legislation.


text: Hunger continued for the poor people of the country even after the Great Depression ended, but advocacy to reinstate the food stamp program was generally unsuccessful while the political agenda did not require it. Until 1961 when President John F. Kennedy took office, there were few pilot programs in place to help America's poor.


text: On September 21, 1959, P.L. 86-341 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to operate a food-stamp system through January 31, 1962. The Eisenhower Administration never used the authority. However, in fulfillment of a campaign promise made in West Virginia, President John F. Kennedy's first Executive Order called for expanded food distribution and, on February 2, 1961, he announced that food stamp pilot programs would be initiated. The pilot programs would retain the requirement that the food stamps be purchased, but eliminated the concept of special stamps for surplus foods. A Department spokesman indicated the emphasis would be on increasing the consumption of perishables. This decision still provided great advantages for retailers, and the political choice to eliminate the required purchase of surplus produce created financial gains for the producers and distributors of processed foods.


text: Of the program, US Representative Leonor K. Sullivan of Missouri asserted, "...the Department of Agriculture seemed bent on outlining a possible food stamp plan of such scope and magnitude, involving some 25 million persons, as to make the whole idea seem ridiculous and tear food stamp plans to smithereens."


text: The Food Stamp Act of 1964 appropriated $75 million to 350,000 individuals in 40 counties and three cities. The measure drew overwhelming support from House Democrats, 90 percent from urban areas, 96 percent from the suburbs, and 87 percent from rural areas. Republican lawmakers opposed the initial measure: only 12 percent of urban Republicans, 11 percent from the suburbs, and 5 percent from rural areas voted affirmatively. President Lyndon B. Johnson hailed food stamps as "a realistic and responsible step toward the fuller and wiser use of an agricultural abundance".


text: Rooted in congressional logrolling, the act was part of a larger appropriation that raised price supports for cotton and wheat. Rural lawmakers supported the program so that their urban colleagues would not dismantle farm subsidies. Food stamps, along with Medicaid/Medicare, Head Start, and the Job Corps, were foremost among the growing anti-poverty programs.


text: President Johnson called for a permanent food-stamp program on January 31, 1964, as part of his "War on Poverty" platform introduced at the State of the Union a few weeks earlier. Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman submitted the legislation on April 17, 1964. The bill eventually passed by Congress was H.R. 10222, introduced by Congresswoman Sullivan. One of the members on the House Committee on Agriculture who voted against the FSP in Committee was then Representative Bob Dole, of Kansas. (Later, as a Senator, after he worked on the 1977 legislation that addressed problems with the program, Dole became a staunch supporter of it.)


text: The Food Stamp Act of 1964 was intended to strengthen the agricultural economy and provide improved levels of nutrition among low-income households; however, the practical purpose was to bring the pilot FSP under congressional control and to enact the regulations into law.


text: The Agriculture Department estimated that participation in a national FSP would eventually reach 4 million, at a cost of $360 million annually, far below the actual numbers.


text: In April 1965, participation topped half a million. (Actual participation was 561,261 people.) Participation topped 1 million in March 1966, 2 million in October 1967, 3 million in February 1969, 4 million in February 1970, 5 million one month later in March 1970, 6 million two months later in May 1970, 10 million in February 1971, and 15 million in October 1974. Rapid increases in participation during this period were primarily due to geographic expansion.


text: The early 1970s were a period of growth in participation, concern about the cost of providing food stamp benefits, and questions about administration, primarily timely certification. During this time, the issue was framed that would dominate food stamp legislation ever after: how to balance program access with program accountability. Three major pieces of legislation shaped this period, leading up to massive reform to follow:


text: P.L. 91-671 (January 11, 1971) established uniform national standards of eligibility and work requirements; required that allotments be equivalent to the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet; limited households' purchase requirements to 30 percent of their income; instituted an outreach requirement; authorized the Agriculture Department to pay 62.5 percent of specific administrative costs incurred by States; expanded the FSP to Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands of the United States; and provided $1.75 billion appropriations for Fiscal Year 1971.


text: Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-86, August 10, 1973) required States to expand the program to every political jurisdiction before July 1, 1974; expanded the program to drug addicts and alcoholics in treatment and rehabilitation centers; established semi-annual allotment adjustments, bi-monthly issuance, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) "cash-out" (which gave the option to states to issue Food Stamp benefits to SSI recipients in the form of their estimated cash value consolidated within the SSI grant, in order to reduce administrative costs); introduced statutory complexity in the income definition (by including in-kind payments and providing an accompanying exception); and required the Department to establish temporary eligibility standards for disasters.


text: P.L. 93-347 (July 12, 1974) authorized the Department to pay 50 percent of all states' costs for administering the program and established the requirement for efficient and effective administration by the States.


text: In accordance with P.L. 93-86, the FSP began operating nationwide on July 1, 1974. (The program was not fully implemented in Puerto Rico until November 1, 1974.) Participation for July 1974 was almost 14 million.


text: Once a person is a beneficiary of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program they may be automatically eligible for Food Stamps depending on their state's laws. How much money in food stamps they receive also varies by state. Supplemental Security Income was created in 1974.


text: Both the outgoing Republican Administration and the new Democratic Administration offered Congress proposed legislation to reform the FSP in 1977. The Republican bill stressed targeting benefits to the neediest, simplifying administration, and tightening controls on the program; the Democratic bill focused on increasing access to those most in need and simplifying and streamlining a complicated and cumbersome process that delayed benefit delivery as well as reducing errors, and curbing abuse. The chief force for the Democratic Administration was Robert Greenstein, Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).


text: In Congress, major players were Senators George McGovern, Jacob Javits, Hubert Humphrey, and Bob Dole, and Congressmen Foley and Richmond. Amid all the themes, the one that became the rallying cry for FSP reform was "EPR"—eliminate the purchase requirement—because of the barrier to participation the purchase requirement represented. The bill that became the law (S. 275) did eliminate the purchase requirement. It also:


text: The integrity provisions of the new program included fraud disqualifications, enhanced Federal funding for States' anti-fraud activities, and financial incentives for low error rates.


text: Senator Dole, Republican of Kansas, who had worked with Senator McGovern, Democrat of South Dakota, to produce a bipartisan solution to the two of the main problems associated with food stamps – cumbersome purchase requirements and lax eligibility standards – told Congress regarding the new provisions: "I am confident that this bill eliminates the greedy and feeds the needy."


text: The House Report for the 1977 legislation points out that the changes in the Food Stamp Program are needed without reference to upcoming welfare reform since "the path to welfare reform is, indeed, rocky..."


text: EPR was implemented January 1, 1979. Participation that month increased 1.5 million over the preceding month.


text: According to Maggie Dickinson in the book "Feeding the Crisis of Care and Abandonment in America's Food Safety Net" "The Food Stamp Act of 1977 finally eliminated the food stamp purchase requirement, which mean poor families no longer needed to have cash up front to purchase food stamps"


text: The large and expensive FSP proved to be a favorite subject of close scrutiny from both the Executive Branch and Congress in the early 1980s. Major legislation in 1981 and 1982 enacted cutbacks including:


text: Recognition of the severe domestic hunger problem in the latter half of the 1980s led to incremental expansions of the FSP in 1985 and 1987, such as elimination of sales tax on food stamp purchases, reinstitution of categorical eligibility, increased resource limit for most households ($2,000), eligibility for the homeless, and expanded nutrition education. The Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 and the Mickey Leland Memorial Domestic Hunger Relief Act in 1990 foretold the improvements that would be coming. The 1988 and 1990 legislation accomplished the following:


text: Throughout this era, significant players were principally various committee chairmen: Congressmen Leland, Hall, Foley, Leon Panetta, and, de la Garza and Senator Patrick Leahy.


text: By 1993, major changes in food stamp benefits had arrived. The final legislation provided for $2.8 billion in benefit increases over Fiscal Years 1984-1988. Leon Panetta, in his new role as OMB Director, played a major role as did Senator Leahy. Substantive changes included:


text: In December 1979, participation surpassed 20 million. In March 1994, participation hit a new high of 28 million.


text: The mid-1990s was a period of welfare reform. Prior to 1996, the rules for the cash welfare program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), were waived for many states. With the enactment of the 1996 welfare reform act, called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), AFDC, an entitlement program, was replaced that with a new block grant to states called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families TANF.


text: Although the Food Stamp Program was reauthorized in the 1996 Farm Bill, the 1996 welfare reform made several changes to the program, including:


text: As a result of all these changes, participation rates plummeted in the late 1990s, according to "Slate" online magazine.


text: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) and the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Act of 1998 (AREERA) made some changes to these provisions, most significantly:


text: The fiscal year 2001 agriculture appropriations bill included two significant changes. The legislation increased the excess shelter cap to $340 in fiscal year 2001 and then indexed the cap to changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Consumers each year beginning in fiscal year 2002. The legislation also allowed states to use the vehicle limit they use in a TANF assistance program, if it would be result in a lower attribution of resources for the household.


text: In the late 1990s, the Food Stamp Program was revamped, with some states phasing out actual stamps in favor of a specialized debit card system known as Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT), provided by private contractors. Many states merged the use of the EBT card for public welfare programs as well, such as cash assistance. The move was designed to save the government money by not printing the coupons, make benefits available immediately instead of requiring the recipient to wait for mailing or picking up the booklets in person, and reduce theft and diversion.


text: The 2008 farm bill renamed the Food Stamp Program to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (beginning October 2008) and replaced all references to "stamp" or "coupon" in federal law with "card" or "EBT." This was done to mark a more explicit focus on providing nutrition. It was also done to reduce usage of the stigmatized phrase "food stamps".


text: SNAP benefits temporarily increased with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), a federal stimulus package to help Americans affected by the Great Recession of 2007. Beginning in April 2009 and continuing through the expansion's expiration on November 1, 2013, the ARRA appropriated $45.2 billion to increase monthly benefit levels to an average of $133. This amounted to a 13.6 percent funding increase for SNAP recipients.


text: This temporary expansion expired on November 1, 2013, resulting in a relative benefit decrease for SNAP households; on average, benefits decreased by 5 percent. According to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report, the maximum monthly benefit for a family of four dropped from $668 to $632, while the maximum monthly benefit for an individual dropped from $200 to $189.


text: In June 2014, "Mother Jones" reported that "Overall, 18 percent of all food benefits money is spent at Walmart," and that Walmart had submitted a statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stating,


text: Companies that have lobbied on behalf of SNAP include PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and the grocery chain Kroger. Kraft Foods, which receives "One-sixth [of its] revenues ... from food stamp purchases" also opposes food stamp cuts.


text: Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Al Lawson introduced the College Student Hunger Act of 2019 on July 17, 2019, in an attempt to extend SNAP benefits for college students in need; the act has not passed as of October 2022. The idea was to include both Pell Grant-eligible students and independent students. Warren and Lawson both believe that students have a right to both food and education, and the goal was to alleviate financial tension. This bill has been endorsed by several organizations including Bread for the World. Specifically, the Act would allow Pell-Grant eligible and independent students to qualify for benefits, lowers the 20 hours/week work requirement to 10 hours/week, and requires the Department of Education to notify Pell Grant eligible students of their SNAP eligibility. The student hunger pilot program will test different ways students can use SNAP benefits such as directly at the dining hall or indirectly to help pay for student meal plans.


text: As directed by the US Farm Bill Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 and the Biden administration January 22, 2021 Executive Order, the USDA implemented the first cost adjustment to the Thrifty Food Plan since its introduction in 1975. The four aspects the USDA evaluated included current food prices, the typical American diet, dietary guidance, and the available nutrients in food items. The "Thrifty Food Plan, 2021", is based on the needs of a family of four as defined by law, and sets $835.57 as the monthly cost for the reference family. This is a 21.03% increase from the prior amount (adjusted for current prices), or an increase of $4.79 per day for the reference family of four, and sets $835.57 as the monthly cost for the reference family. These changes are permanent, and went into effect October 1, 2021.


text: On August 28, 2022, outages were reported across multiples states for the payment system, including the EBT program.


text: Because SNAP is a means-tested program, recipients must meet all eligibility criteria in order to receive benefits. There are income and resource requirements for SNAP, as well as specific requirements for immigrants, elderly persons and persons with disabilities.


text: For income, individuals and households may qualify for benefits if they earn a gross monthly income that is 130% (or less) of the federal poverty level for a specific household size. For example: the SNAP-eligible gross monthly income is $1,245 or less for an individual. For a household of 4, the SNAP eligible gross monthly income is $2,552 or less. Gross monthly income is the amount an individual makes each month before any deductions, e.g., taxes, insurance, pensions, etc.


text: General work requirements apply to people aged 16 to 59 to participate in the program, exempting students, caregivers of children under 6 and incapacitate people, people unable to work due to a disability, and people in drug rehabilitation. Such recipients must work 30 hours a week, or register for work or participate in state training; they may not reduce hours below 30 per week if working, quit, or decline a job offer without a good reason. For able-bodied adults aged 18 to 49 without dependents under 18 in the household and who are not pregnant, there is a requirement for 80 hours per month spent at work, volunteering, workfare, or workforce training. Critics say opportunities for training or volunteering are limited. Individual states may waive the work requirements, with many states in high unemployment areas opting to loosen requirements for SNAP eligibility.


text: In December 2019, the Trump Administration proposed to limit states' ability to issue eligibility waivers to single able-bodied adults between 18 and 49, which would result in ineligibility of SNAP benefits to an estimated 688,000 people in April 2020.


text: There is also a resource requirement for SNAP, although eligibility requirements vary slightly from state to state. Generally speaking, households may have up to $2,250 in a bank account or other countable sources. If at least one person is age 60 or older and/or has disabilities, households may have $3,500 in countable resources.


text: The lack of affordable housing in urban areas means that money that could have been spent on food is spent on housing expenses. Housing is generally considered affordable when it costs 30% or less of total household income; rising housing costs have made this ideal difficult to attain.


text: This is especially true in New York City, where 28% of rent stabilized tenants spend more than half their income on rent. Among lower income families the percentage is much higher. According to an estimate by the Community Service Society, 65% of New York City families living below the federal poverty line are paying more than half of their income toward rent.


text: The current eligibility criteria attempt to address this, by including a deduction for "excess shelter costs". This applies only to households that spend more than half of their net income on rent. For the purpose of this calculation, a household's net income is obtained by subtracting certain deductions from their gross (before deductions) income. If the household's total expenditures on rent exceed 50% of that net income, then the net income is further reduced by the amount of rent that exceeds 50% of net income. For 2007, this deduction can be no more than $417, except in households that include an elderly or disabled person. Deductions include:


text: The adjusted net income, including the deduction for excess shelter costs, is used to determine whether a household is eligible for food stamps.


text: Certain non-citizens, such as those admitted for humanitarian reasons and those admitted for permanent residence, may also be eligible for SNAP. Eligible household members can get SNAP benefits even if there are other members of the household that are not eligible.


text: When CalFresh [definition required] was first introduced, college students were not considered a main target for food assistance; most students at the time were from white, middle-class families, under the care of their parents and were young high school graduates without dependents to provide for. To prevent students from mis-using the system, students enrolled in higher education for at least half-time were automatically ineligible for SNAP.


text: However, many students nowadays come from low-income families, racial and ethnic minorities, have jobs, are parents, or are not recent high school graduates. Many college students are leaving their homes and managing their own finances for the first time in their lives and depending on where they go to school, there may be limited access to affordable and nutritious food, making students particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. In 2015, in response to the changing student population, the CalFresh Student Eligibility Amendment established exemptions to the rule in Section 273.5(a) of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations which excluded college students enrolled at least half-time from SNAP benefits. Commonly met exemptions include students be under 18 or over 49, physically or mentally unfit to work, participate in federal or state work study, be employed for at least 20 hours per week, participate in SNAP employment and training program, receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits, and caring for dependent children.


text: Unfortunately, many students are misinformed that using CalFresh or SNAP will negatively affect their financial aid packages and are worried about the stigma associated with food insecurity in college campuses. Out of fear of being ostracized by their peers, many college students simply don't apply or do not talk about the program, limiting awareness and the potential of CalFresh to eliminate college food insecurity. To counteract this, many recent legislations and changes to SNAP are focusing on SNAP education, outreach, and accessibility. For instance, the recently proposed College Student Hunger Act of 2019 focuses on improving student eligibility, increasing outreach and education for SNAP, and introduces a student hunger pilot program to test different ways CalFresh can be made more useful for students. The Act would allow Pell-Grant eligible and independent students to qualify for benefits, lowers the 20 hours/week work requirement to 10 hours/week, and requires the Department of Education to notify Pell Grant eligible students of their SNAP eligibility. The pilot program will test different ways students can use SNAP benefits such as directly at the dining hall or indirectly to help pay for student meal plans.


text: To apply for SNAP benefits, an applicant must first fill out a program application and return it to the state or local SNAP office. Each state has a different application, which is usually available online. There is more information about various state applications processes, including locations of SNAP offices in various states, displayed on an interactive Outreach Map found on the FNS website. Individuals who believe they may be eligible for P.O.SNAP benefits may use the Food and Nutrition Services' SNAP Screening Tool, which can help gauge eligibility.


text: While many schools try to connect students to SNAP, students still struggle to qualify despite facing food insecurity, feel intimidated by the probing application process, and are often misinformed of how the program works. To avoid the stigma often attached with food insecurity, many college students simply don't apply. Many students are also misinformed that using CalFresh will negatively affect their financial aid packages. While there are about 4 million people enrolled in CalFresh, there are an additional 4 million eligible people who are not enrolled which may be due to incomplete applications, improper documentation, and the time it takes to verify applications. Fortunately, measures to make the application more accessible for students are underway. For instance, California SB 173 –a bill by Senator Bill Dodd –will required colleges to alert any students participating in work-study of their SNAP eligibility and provide them with a more efficient and time-saving application process.


text: Additionally, restaurants operating in certain areas may be permitted to accept SNAP benefits from eligible candidates like elderly, homeless or disabled people in return for affordable meals.


text: Soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack crackers, and ice cream are classified as food items and are therefore eligible items. Seafood, steak, and bakery cakes are also food items and are therefore eligible items.


text: Energy drinks which have a nutrition facts label are eligible foods, but energy drinks which have a supplement facts label are classified by the FDA as supplements, and are therefore not eligible.


text: Live animals and birds may not be purchased; but live fish and shellfish are eligible foods. Pumpkins are eligible, but inedible gourds and solely ornamental pumpkins are not.


text: Gift baskets containing both food and non-food items "are not eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits if the value of the non-food items exceeds 50 percent of the purchase price. Items such as birthday and other special occasion cakes are eligible as long as the value of non-edible decorations does not exceed 50 percent of the price."


text: States are allowed under federal law to administer SNAP in different ways. As of April 2015, the USDA had published eleven periodic State Options Reports outlining variations in how states have administered the program. The USDA's most recent State Options Report, published in April 2015, summarizes:


text: Some areas of differences among states include: when and how frequently SNAP recipients must report household circumstances; on whether the state agency acts on all reported changes or only some changes; whether the state uses a simplified method for determining the cost of doing business in cases where an applicant is self-employed; and whether legally obligated child support payments made to non-household members are counted as an income exclusion rather than a deduction.


text: State agencies also have an option to call their program SNAP; whether to continue to refer to their program under its former name, the Food Stamp Program; or whether to choose an alternate name. Among the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, 32 call their program SNAP; five continue to call the program the Food Stamp Program; and 16 have adopted their own name. For example, California calls its SNAP implementation "CalFresh", while Arizona calls its program "Nutrition Assistance".


text: According to January 2015 figures reported by the Census Bureau and USDA and compiled by "USA Today", the states and district with the most food stamp recipients per capita are:


text: According to June 2009 figures reported by the state agencies, the USDA, and Census Bureau, and compiled by the "New York Times", the individual counties with the highest levels of SNAP usage were:


text: During the recession of 2008, SNAP participation hit an all-time high. Arguing in support for SNAP, the Food Research and Action Center argued that "putting more resources quickly into the hands of the people most likely to turn around and spend it can both boost the economy and cushion the hardships on vulnerable people who face a constant struggle against hunger." Researchers have found that every $1 that is spent from SNAP results in $1.73 of economic activity. In California, the cost-benefit ratio is even higher: for every $1 spent from SNAP between $3.67 to $8.34 is saved in health care costs. The Congressional Budget Office also rated an increase in SNAP benefits as one of the two most cost-effective of all spending and tax options it examined for boosting growth and jobs in a weak economy.


text: A summary statistical report indicated that an average of 44.2 million people used the program in FY 2016, down from 45.8 million in 2015 and below the 2013 peak of 47.6 million. SNAP is able to support 75% of those eligible for the program. Nearly 72 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children; more than one-quarter of participants are in households with seniors or people with disabilities.


text: , more than 15% of the U.S. population receive food assistance, and more than 20% in Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee. Washington D.C. was the highest share of the population to receive food assistance at over 23%.


text: According to the United States Department of Agriculture (based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2010), statistics for the food stamp program are as follows:


text: Amounts paid to program beneficiaries rose from $28.6 billion in 2005 to $76 billion in 2013, falling back to $66.6 billion by 2016. This increase was due to the high unemployment rate (leading to higher SNAP participation) and the increased benefit per person with the passing of ARRA. SNAP average monthly benefits increased from $96.18 per person to $133.08 per person. Other program costs, which include the Federal share of State administrative expenses, Nutrition Education, and Employment and Training, amounted to roughly $3.7 million in 2013. There were cuts into the program's budget introduced in 2014 that were estimated to save $8.6 billion over 10 years. Some of the states are looking for measures within the states to balance the cuts, so they would not affect the recipients of the federal aid program.


text: According to a 2021 study, the staggered decade-long rollout of the American Food Stamp Program led to greater support for Democrats: "Overall, I find that Democrats—at the center of the program's enacting coalition—gained votes when the program was implemented locally, apparently through mobilization of new supporters rather than the conversion of political opponents."


text: A 2018 study found that toddlers and preschoolers in households with access to food stamps had better health outcomes at ages 6–16 than similar children who did not have access to food stamps. A 2019 study found, "higher participation in SNAP is associated with lower overall and male suicide rates. Increasing SNAP participation by one standard deviation (4.5% of the state population) during the study period could have saved the lives of approximately 31,600 people overall and 24,800 men."


text: While SNAP participants and other low-income nonparticipants spend similar amounts on food spending, SNAP participants tend to still experience greater food insecurity than nonparticipants. This is believed to be a reflection of the welfare of individuals who take the time to apply for SNAP benefits rather than the shortcomings of SNAP. Households facing the greatest hardships are the most likely to bear the burden of applying for program benefits. Therefore, SNAP participants tend to be, on average, less food secure than other low-income nonparticipants.


text: Self-selection by more food-needy households into SNAP makes it difficult to observe positive effects on food security from survey data, but data such as average income can be compared. Statistical models that control for this suggest that SNAP receipt reduces the likelihood of being food insecure and very food insecure by roughly 30 percent and 20 percent, respectively.


text: A 2019 study in the "American Economic Journal: Economic Policy" found that a lifetime food stamp ban (as implemented by the 1996 Welfare reform) for convicted drug felons led to greater recidivism. The study found that this applied in particular for financially motivated crimes, which the authors said suggested "that the cut in benefits causes ex-convicts to return to crime to make up for the lost transfer income."


text: A 2021 study found that the availability of food stamps during early childhood substantially reduced the likelihood of a criminal conviction in young adulthood. The study concluded that the social benefits of food stamps were substantial enough to outweigh the costs of the program.


text: Because SNAP is a means-tested entitlement program, participation rates are closely related to the number of individuals living in poverty in a given period. In periods of economic recession, SNAP enrollment tends to increase and in periods of prosperity, SNAP participation tends to be lower. Unemployment is therefore also related to SNAP participation. However, ERS data shows that poverty and SNAP participation levels have continued to rise following the 2008 recession, even though unemployment rates have leveled off. Poverty levels are the strongest correlates for program participation.


text: A 2016 study found that SNAP benefits lead to greater expenditures on housing, transportation, and education by beneficiaries.