title: Etching

text: "Foul-bite" or "over-biting" is common in etching, and is the effect of minuscule amounts of acid leaking through the ground to create minor pitting and burning on the surface. This incidental roughening may be removed by smoothing and polishing the surface, but artists often leave faux-bite, or deliberately court it by handling the plate roughly, because it is viewed as a desirable mark of the process.


title: Etching

text: The phrase "Want to come up and see my etchings?" is a romantic euphemism by which a person entices someone to come back to their place with an offer to look at something artistic, but with ulterior motives. The phrase is a corruption of some phrases in a novel by Horatio Alger Jr. called "The Erie Train Boy", which was first published in 1891. Alger was an immensely popular author in the 19th century—especially with young people—and his books were widely quoted. In chapter XXII of the book, a woman writes to her boyfriend, "I have a new collection of etchings that I want to show you. Won't you name an evening when you will call, as I want to be certain to be at home when you really do come." The boyfriend then writes back "I shall no doubt find pleasure in examining the etchings which you hold out as an inducement to call."


title: Etching

text: This was referenced in a 1929 James Thurber cartoon in which a man tells a woman in a building lobby: "You wait here and I'll bring the etchings down". It was also referenced in Dashiell Hammett's 1934 novel "The Thin Man", in which the narrator answers his wife asking him about a lady he had wandered off with by saying: "She just wanted to show me some French etchings."


title: Etching

text: The phrase was given new popularity in 1937: in a well publicized case, violinist David Rubinoff was accused of inviting a young woman to his hotel room to view some French etchings, but instead seducing her.


title: Etching

text: As early as 1895, Hjalmar Söderberg used the reference in his "decadent" début novel "Delusions" (swe: "Förvillelser)", when he lets the dandy Johannes Hall lure the main character's younger sister Greta into his room under the pretence that they browse through his etchings and engravings (e.g., "Die Sünde" by Franz Stuck).


FC Barcelona 6–1 Paris Saint-Germain F.C. was the result of the second leg of a UEFA Champions League tie which occurred on 8 March 2017 at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. FC Barcelona overcame a four-goal deficit in the second leg of their 2016–17 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain to win 6–5 on aggregate, making it the largest comeback in UEFA Champions League history in a controversial match, which became known in Spain and France as la Remontada (the comeback).


title: FC Barcelona 6–1 Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

text: It was the third time Paris Saint-Germain faced Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League knockout phases, having lost the two previous encounters in the 2012–13 and the 2014–15 seasons on aggregate.


text: Both teams had comfortably qualified from the group stage. Paris Saint-Germain qualified as runner-up in Group A having faced Arsenal, Basel, and having achieved a 9-point lead over 3rd-placed Ludogorets Razgrad. Barcelona qualified as leaders of Group C, far in front of Borussia Mönchengladbach and Celtic and leading 2nd-place Manchester City by 6 points.


text: The first leg was played on 14 February at the Parc des Princes in Paris; both teams were in good shape with Paris Saint-Germain coming from a 3–0 away win at Bordeaux in Ligue 1 and Barcelona thrashing Deportivo Alavés in a 6–0 away win in La Liga.


text: Ángel Di María put the Parisians in front on 18 minutes with a free kick after Barcelona's Samuel Umtiti committed a foul. Julian Draxler made it 2–0 with a low shot in the 40th minute, assisted by Marco Verratti. After 55 minutes, Di María scored once again from a shot outside the box. Edinson Cavani scored the final goal of the game in the 72nd minute, securing the 4–0 win. Barcelona achieved only one shot on target during the whole match.


text: The second leg was played on 8 March at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. Once again, the two teams came into the match having won their league games, Barcelona 5–0 vs. Celta Vigo and Paris Saint-Germain 1–0 against Nancy.


text: The game had an impressive attendance of 96,290 despite the home side's heavy defeat in the first game. Barcelona's Luis Suárez scored the first goal of the game in the 3rd minute after heading the ball over the line before it was cleared by Thomas Meunier. In the 40th minute, Paris Saint-Germain's Layvin Kurzawa scored an own goal in an attempt to block a shot by Andrés Iniesta. The third goal came in the 50th minute via a penalty scored by Lionel Messi after Neymar was fouled by Thomas Meunier. Barcelona's hopes were seemingly brought down after Edinson Cavani scored Paris Saint-Germain's only goal in the 62nd minute, leaving them requiring three more to win due to the away goals rule now favoring the away side, PSG. Then Barcelona’s Mascherano dragged down Di Maria in Barcelona’s penalty area but referee Deniz Aytekin did not blow for a penalty. Neymar scored two goals in the closing stages – a free kick in the 88th minute and a controversial penalty kick when Luis Suárez fell in the 90+1st – to make it 5–1. In the final seconds of the match, Neymar delivered a cross into the penalty area, and Sergi Roberto scored their sixth and final goal in the 90+5th minute, thus winning the game 6–1 and advancing to the quarter finals 6–5 on aggregate.


text: In the aftermath of the tie, amid praise for Barcelona there was also criticism of Paris Saint-Germain for the manner in which they had failed to deal with the pressure of holding on to their aggregate lead, and speculation that the referee could be demoted from his status by the governing body due to some of the decisions he made during the match, particularly the award of Barcelona's second penalty. Subsequent analyses suggested that Paris Saint-Germain would have won the game had the VAR system been in use.


text: In the quarter-finals, Barcelona again suffered a heavy defeat in the first leg of the tie away from home, this time losing 3–0 to Juventus. However, they were unable to repeat their performance of the previous round and were eliminated after drawing 0–0 in the return leg.


text: One of the tie's main protagonists, Brazilian forward Neymar, was at the centre of a different matter involving the two clubs in August 2017 when he moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a world record transfer fee.


text: In October 2022, PSG’s striker Edinson Cavani declared to Spanish sports website Relevo that he was so affected by the defeat that he needed psychological therapy to overcome the shock.


text: In the round of 16 of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain once again faced off against each other, this time in different circumstances. A major talking point for the media was the return of Neymar to Barcelona, although he was ruled out of the first leg with an injury. Regardless, PSG won the match 4–1 at the Camp Nou, with a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappé. In the second leg, a still Neymar-less PSG side managed to hold on to a 1–1 draw, beating Barça 5–2 on aggregate and advancing to the quarter-finals.


text: In the following season's competition, it was Barcelona who experienced an unexpected comeback defeat, losing 3–0 to Roma in Italy at the quarter-final stage and going out on away goals, despite having held a strong 4–1 advantage from the home leg of the tie.


text: In the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League round of 16, Paris Saint-Germain – without the injured Neymar – were the losing team in another significant comeback, as an under-strength Manchester United side won 3–1 at the Parc des Princes (the decisive goal from a penalty in added time awarded by VAR) having lost 2–0 at Old Trafford, the first time in the history of the competition that such a deficit from a home first leg had been overcome. In the semi-finals, Barcelona were eliminated after another second-leg collapse: holding a 3–0 advantage from the Camp Nou, they conceded four goals without reply to Liverpool at Anfield.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the first studio album by Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. Songwriting began in 1987, but due to the suicide of vocalist Per "Dead" Ohlin and the murder of guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, the album's release was delayed until May 1994. "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" is widely considered one of the most influential black metal albums of all time. It is the band's only studio album to feature Aarseth and Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: Mayhem began writing songs for the album in late 1987 or early 1988, depending on the source. Vocalist Dead started to write the lyrics when he joined the band in 1988. In 1990 studio versions of the songs "The Freezing Moon" and "Carnage" were recorded, appearing on the CBR Records compilation album "Projections of a Stained Mind". Mayhem's drummer, Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg, claimed that the lyrics of "Freezing Moon" were "meant to make people commit suicide". Dead said in a 1989 interview by Marduk guitarist Morgan "Evil" Håkansson, published in "Slayer" fanzine, that by then he had written the lyrics for "Funeral Fog", "Freezing Moon", "Buried by Time and Dust" and "Pagan Fears". Finished versions of these songs appeared on the album "Live in Leipzig", a concert recording from November 1990 which was released in 1993.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: By 1991, Dead and Euronymous were living in a house in the woods near Kråkstad, which was used by the band to rehearse. On 8 April 1991, while alone in the house, Dead slit his wrists and throat and then shot himself in the forehead with a shotgun. He left a brief suicide note, which apologized for having used the gun indoors and began with "Excuse the blood". His body was found by Euronymous. Before calling the police, he allegedly went to a nearby shop and bought a disposable camera with which he photographed the body, after re-arranging some items. One of these photographs was later used as the cover of a bootleg live album titled "The Dawn of the Black Hearts".


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: To record the new album, Euronymous recruited Attila Csihar (from the Hungarian band Tormentor) as vocalist and Vikernes (who performed solo as Burzum) as bassist. This lineup – Euronymous, Hellhammer, Csihar and Vikernes – recorded the album during late 1992 and early 1993 at the Grieg Hall in Bergen. According to Attila Csihar, the whole album was recorded in three days. The album itself contained no information on lineup and credits. Necrobutcher, who had left the band before the recording sessions, claimed to have written half of the songs for the album. He stated that he and Dead wrote "Freezing Moon" and Euronymous only contributed one riff to that song. Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch (who performed solo as Thorns) wrote some of the riffs for the album and finished some of Dead's song lyrics, according to himself and Hellhammer. The main riff of the Thorns song "Into the Promised Land" (also called "Lovely Children") became the main riff of "From the Dark Past". According to Vikernes, Euronymous was responsible for most of the guitar riffs, but he claimed that Hellhammer, Necrobutcher and himself contributed some riffs, too.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: On 10 August 1993, Vikernes and Blackthorn traveled to Euronymous's apartment in Oslo, where Vikernes stabbed Euronymous to death. He was arrested and sentenced to 21 years in prison, while Blackthorn was sentenced to 8 years for being an accomplice.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: During Vikernes's trial, police said that they had found explosives and ammunition in Vikernes's home. Euronymous and Vikernes had allegedly plotted to blow up Nidaros Cathedral, which appears on the album cover, to coincide with the album's release. Vikernes denied this allegation in a 2009 interview, saying, "I was getting [the explosives and ammunition] in order to defend Norway if we were attacked any time. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union could have decided to attack us."


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: After Euronymous's funeral, Hellhammer and Necrobutcher worked on releasing the album. Euronymous's parents asked Hellhammer to remove the bass tracks recorded by Vikernes. Hellhammer refused, saying, "I thought it was appropriate that the murderer and victim were on the same record. I put word out that I was re-recording the bass parts, but I never did".


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: The album was eventually released in May 1994, around the time that Vikernes was sentenced. It featured the last lyrics written by Dead before his suicide, and the last songs recorded by Euronymous before his murder.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: In 2009, Mayhem released rough mixes of five songs from the "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" recording session as the EP "Life Eternal".


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: The title "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" is a Latin phrase meaning "(About) The Mysteries of the Lord Satan", with "Dom" being an abbreviation of "Domini", often used as an honorific prefix for ecclesiastics of the Catholic Church. The album cover is a monochrome photo of the east side of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: The album is widely considered one of the most influential black metal albums ever. According to a long feature by "Metal Hammer", "Two decades after it was recorded, it continues to top 'best album' lists by longtime fans of the genre, while at the same time providing primary inspiration for new bands whose members were not even born when it was recorded. There are many who would say it is the single most important album in black metal's broad and ever-growing catalogue, and very few who would argue that it is not, at the very least, a strong contender for that accolade." "Metal Injection" described it as "one of the most essential black metal albums of all time", writing that "In one record, the listener is exposed to all the power, glory and contradictions inherent in Norwegian black metal, thus making it a fascinating artifact from the dark past, and an essential piece of black metal listening." "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" was included on IGN's list of "10 Great Black Metal Albums". "Metal Hammer" named it one of the 20 best black metal albums of the '90s. "Loudwire" named it the 8th best extreme metal album of all time, writing that "The riffs are unforgettable and the atmosphere is caustic and suffocating with Attila Csihar's twisted, throaty cries sending it all to hell. They also argued that the album has a "stranglehold" on "black metal's legacy". Treble Magazine named it one of the 10 essential black metal albums.


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: In 2017, "Rolling Stone" ranked "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" as 40th on their list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.'


title: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

text: While Mayhem's previous vocalist, Dead had been Swedish, Csihar was from Hungary. His style was somewhat atypical for Nordic black metal then, and provoked a mixed reception from fans; for example, Metalreviews.com gave him the nickname "Attila 'Fingernails' Csihar" (although a subsequent review by the website praised his later "Ordo Ad Chao"-era performances). The song "Freezing Moon" was included on "Kerrang!" 25 Extreme Metal Anthems and various songs from this album have been covered live and in studio by such bands as Dissection (Jon Nödtveidt and Ole Öhman also performed the song with Euronymous in 1991), Immortal, Dark Funeral, Carpathian Forest, Gorgoroth, Behemoth, Vader, Enslaved, Cradle of Filth and Darkmoon. "Funeral Fog" was covered by Emperor with Csihar on vocals.


title: Madhubani art

text: Mithila painting (or Madhubani art) is a style of painting practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. Artists create these paintings using a variety of mediums, including their own fingers, or twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchstick. The pain is using natural dyes sgujvc and pigment uui


title: Madhubani art

text: sticks. The paint is created using natural dyes and pigments. The paintings are characterised by their eye-catching geometrical patterns. There is ritual content for particular occasions, such as birth or marriage, and festivals, such as Holi, Surya Shasti, Kali Puja, Upanayana, and Durga Puja.


title: Madhubani art

text: Madhubani painting (Mithila painting) was traditionally created by the women of various communities in the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent. It originated from Madhubani district of the Mithila region of Bihar. Madhubani is also a major export center of these paintings. This painting as a form of wall art was practiced widely throughout the region; the more recent development of painting on paper and canvas mainly originated among the villages around Madhubani, and it is these latter developments that led to the term "Madhubani art" being used alongside "Mithila Painting."


title: Madhubani art

text: The paintings were traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now they are also done on cloth, handmade paper and canvas. Madhubani paintings are made from the paste of powdered rice. Madhubani painting has remained confined to a compact geographical area and the skills have been passed on through centuries, the content and the style have largely remained the same. Thus, Madhubani painting has received GI (Geographical Indication) status. Madhubani paintings use two-dimensional imagery, and the colors used are derived from plants. Ochre, Lampblack and Red are used for reddish-brown and black, respectively.


title: Madhubani art

text: Mithila paintings mostly depict people and their association with nature and scenes and deities from the ancient epics. Natural objects like the sun, the moon, and religious plants like tulsi are also widely painted, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. In this paintings generally, no space is left empty; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs. Traditionally, painting was one of the skills that was passed down from generation to generation in the families of the Mithila Region, mainly by women . It is still practiced and kept alive in institutions spread across the Mithila region. Asha Jha of Madhubanipaints in Darbhanga, Vaidehi in Madhubani, Benipatti in Madhubani district and Gram Vikas Parishad in Ranti are some of the major centres of Madhubani painting which have kept this ancient art form alive.


title: Madhubani art

text: In the 1960s Bharni, and Tantrik styles were mainly done by Brahman women, who are 'upper caste' women in India and Nepal. Their themes were mainly religious and they depicted Gods and Goddesses paintings. People of lower castes included aspects of their daily life and symbols, the story of Raja Shailesh (guard of the village) and much more, in their paintings. Nowadays Madhubani art has become a globalised art form, so there is no difference in the work on the basis of the caste system. They work in all five styles. Mithila art has received worldwide attention.<ref name="a-painter-from-patna-crafted-a-live-madhubani-painting-in-bangkok/"></ref>


title: Madhubani art

text: The Madhubani painting tradition played a key role in the conservation efforts in India in 2012, where there was frequent deforestation in the state of Bihar. Shashthi Nath Jha, who runs the Gram Vikas Parishad, an NGO, started the initiative as an attempt to protect local trees that were being cut down in the name of expanding roads and development. The main reason behind this was that the trees were traditionally adorned with forms of gods and other religious and spiritual images such as those of Radha-Krishna, Rama-Sita, scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata and other mythologies.


title: Madhubani art

text: Madhubani painting received official recognition in 1969 when Sita Devi received the State award by Government of Bihar. Mamta Devi from the village Jitwarpur has also got National Award. Jagdamba Devi from Bhajparaul, Madhubani was given Padma Shri in 1975 and the National Award to Sita Devi of Jitwarpur village near Madhubani. Jagdamba Devi's foster son Satya Narayan Lal Karn and his wife Moti Karn are also well-regarded Mithila artists, and they won the National Award jointly in 2003. Sita Devi received the Padma Shri in 1981. Sita Devi was also awarded by Bihar Ratna in 1984 and Shilp Guru in 2006.


title: Madhubani art

text: In 1984 Ganga Devi was awarded by Padma Shri. Mahasundari Devi received the Padma Shri in 2011. Baua Devi, Yamuna Devi, Shanti Devi, Chano Devi, Bindeshwari Devi, Chandrakala Devi, Shashi kala Devi, Leela Devi, Godavari Dutta, Asha Jha and Bharti Dayal were also given the National award. Chandrabhushan (Rasidpur), Ambika Devi (Rasidpur), Manisha Jha were also given the National award. In 2020, Madhubani artist Dulari Devi won the Padma Shri for contributions to art.


title: David (Donatello)

text: David is the title of two statues of the biblical hero David by the Italian Early Renaissance sculptor Donatello. They consist of an early work in marble of a clothed figure (1408–09), and a far more famous bronze figure that is nude except for helmet and boots, and dates to the 1440s or later. Both are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.


title: David (Donatello)

text: The story of David and Goliath comes from 1 Samuel 17. The Israelites are fighting the Philistines, whose champion – Goliath – repeatedly offers to meet the Israelites' best warrior in single combat to decide the whole battle. None of the trained Israelite soldiers is brave enough to fight the giant Goliath, until David – a shepherd boy who is too young to be a soldier – accepts the challenge. Saul, the Israelite leader, offers David armour and weapons, but the boy is untrained and refuses them. Instead, he goes out with his sling, and confronts the enemy. He hits Goliath in the head with a stone, knocking the giant down, and then grabs Goliath's sword and cuts off his head. The Philistines withdraw as agreed and the Israelites are saved. David's special strength comes from God, and the story illustrates the triumph of good over evil.


title: David (Donatello)

text: Donatello, then in his early twenties, was commissioned to carve a statue of David in 1408, to top one of the buttresses of Florence Cathedral, though it was never placed there. Nanni di Banco was commissioned to carve a marble statue of Isaiah, at the same scale, in the same year. One of the statues was lifted into place in 1409, but was found to be too small to be easily visible from the ground and was taken down; both statues then languished in the workshop of the "opera" for several years. In 1416, the Signoria of Florence commanded that the "David" be sent to the Palazzo della Signoria; evidently the young David was seen as an effective political symbol, as well as a religious hero. Donatello was asked to make some adjustments to the statue (perhaps to make him look less like a prophet), and a pedestal with an inscription was made for it: ("To those who fight bravely for the fatherland the gods lend aid even against the most terrible foes").


title: David (Donatello)

text: The marble "David" is Donatello's earliest known important commission, and it is a work closely tied to tradition, giving few signs of the innovative approach to representation that the artist would develop as he matured. Although the positioning of the legs hints at a classical contrapposto, the figure stands in an elegant Gothic sway that derives from Lorenzo Ghiberti. The face is blank (that is, if one expects naturalism, but very typical of the International Gothic style), and David seems almost unaware of the head of his vanquished foe that rests between his feet. Some scholars have seen an element of personality – a kind of cockiness – suggested by the twist of the torso and the akimbo placement of the left arm, but overall the effect of the figure is rather bland. The head of Goliath, lying at David's feet, "is carved with great assurance and reveals the sculptor's genuinely Renaissance interest in an ancient Roman type of mature, bearded head".


title: David (Donatello)

text: Donatello's bronze statue (circa 1440s) is famous as the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after defeating the giant. The youth is completely naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, and bears the sword of Goliath.


title: David (Donatello)

text: The creation of the work is undocumented. Most scholars assume the statue was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici, but the date of its creation is unknown and widely disputed; suggested dates vary from the 1420s to the 1460s (Donatello died in 1466), with the majority opinion recently falling in the 1440s, when the new Medici Palace designed by Michelozzo was under construction. According to one theory, it was commissioned by the Medici family in the 1430s to be placed in the center of the courtyard of the old Medici Palace. Alternatively it may have been made for that position in the new Palazzo Medici, where it was placed later, which would place the commission in the mid-1440s or even later. The statue is only recorded there by 1469. The Medici family were exiled from Florence in 1494, and the statue was moved to the courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria (the marble "David" was already in the palazzo). It was moved to the Palazzo Pitti in the 17th century, to the Uffizi in 1777, and then finally, in 1865, to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, where it remains today.


title: David (Donatello)

text: According to Vasari, the statue stood on a column designed by Desiderio da Settignano in the middle of the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici; an inscription seems to have explained the statue's significance as a political monument. A quattrocento manuscript containing the text of the inscription is probably an earlier reference to the statue; unfortunately the manuscript is not dated. Although a political meaning for the statue is widely accepted, what that meaning is has been a matter of considerable debate among scholars.


title: David (Donatello)

text: The iconography of the bronze "David" follows that of the marble "David": a young hero stands with sword in hand, the severed head of his enemy at his feet. Visually, however, this statue is startlingly different. David is both physically delicate and remarkably effeminate. The head has been said to have been inspired by classical sculptures of Antinous, a favourite of Hadrian renowned for his beauty. The statue's physique, contrasted with the large sword in hand, shows that David has overcome Goliath not by physical prowess, but through God. The boy's nakedness further implies the idea of the presence of God, contrasting the youth with the heavily-armoured giant. David is presented uncircumcised, which is customary for male nudes in Italian Renaissance art.


title: David (Donatello)

text: There are no indications of contemporary responses to the "David." However, the fact that the statue was placed in the town hall of Florence in the 1490s indicates that it was not viewed as controversial. In the early 16th century, the Herald of the Signoria mentioned the sculpture in a way that suggested there was something unsettling about it: "The David in the courtyard is not a perfect figure because its right leg is tasteless." By mid-century Vasari was describing the statue as so naturalistic that it must have been made from life. However, among 20th- and 21st-century art historians there has been considerable controversy about how to interpret it.


title: David (Donatello)

text: Goliath's beard curls around David's sandaled foot, as if the young hero is running his toes through his dead opponent's hair. Goliath is wearing a winged helmet. David's right foot stands firmly on the short right wing, while the left wing, considerably longer, works its way up his right leg to his groin.


title: David (Donatello)

text: The figure has been interpreted in a variety of ways. One has been to suggest that Donatello was homosexual and that he was expressing that sexual attitude through this statue. A second is to suggest that the work refers to homosocial values in Florentine society without expressing Donatello's personal tendencies. However, during the Renaissance sodomy was illegal, and over 14,000 men had been tried in Florence for this crime, so this homosexual implication would have been dangerous. A third interpretation is that "David" represents Donatello's effort to create a unique version of the male nude, to exercise artistic licence rather than copy the classical models that had thus far been the sources for the depiction of the male nude in Renaissance art.


title: David (Donatello)

text: The traditional identification of the figure was questioned in 1939 by Jeno Lanyi, with an interpretation leaning toward ancient mythology, the hero's helmet especially suggesting Hermes or Mercury. A number of scholars since have followed Lanyi, sometimes referring to the statue as "David-Mercury". If the figure were indeed meant to represent Mercury, it may be supposed that he stands atop the head of the vanquished giant Argus Panoptes. However, all quattrocento references to the statue identify it as David.


title: David (Donatello)

text: The statue underwent restoration from June 2007 to November 2008. This was the first time the statue had ever been restored, but concerns about layers of "mineralised waxings" on the surface of the bronze led to the 18-month intervention. The statue was scraped with scalpels (on the non-gilded areas) and lasered (on the gilded areas) to remove surface build-up.


title: David (Donatello)

text: There is a full-size plaster cast (with a broken sword) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. There is also a full-size white marble copy in the Temperate House at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, a few miles outside central London. In addition to the copies in the United Kingdom, there is also another copy at the Slater Museum at the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, United States.


title: David (Donatello)

text: David continued to be a subject of great interest for Italian patrons and artists. Later representations of the Biblical hero include Antonio del Pollaiuolo's "David" (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, c. 1470, panel painting), Verrocchio's "David" (Florence, Bargello, 1470s, bronze), Domenico Ghirlandaio's "David" (Florence, S. Maria Novella, c. 1485, fresco), Bartolomeo Bellano's "David" (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1470s, bronze), Michelangelo's "David" (Florence, Accademia, 1501–1504, marble), and Bernini's "David" (Rome, Galleria Borghese, 1623–24, marble).


title: Face Value (album)

text: Face Value is the debut solo studio album by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins, released on 13 February 1981 by Virgin Records. After his first wife filed for divorce in 1979, Collins began to write songs during a break in activity from Genesis with much of the material concerning his personal life. The album was recorded from mid-1980 to early 1981 with Collins and Hugh Padgham as producers. Additional musicians include the Phenix Horns, Alphonso Johnson, and Eric Clapton.


title: Face Value (album)

text: "Face Value" was an instant commercial success and reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for three weeks and No. 7 on the US "Billboard" 200. It has since sold over 5 million copies in the US and over 1.5 million in the UK. The album received widespread praise from critics. Its lead single "In the Air Tonight", released in January 1981, reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and became known for its drum arrangement and use of gated reverb. In January 2016, "Face Value" was reissued with bonus tracks and new photography in the style of the original but featuring a present-day Collins.


title: Face Value (album)

text: By 1978, Phil Collins had been a member of English progressive rock band Genesis for almost eight years. After spending the first five as their drummer, he reluctantly accepted the role of frontman of the group in 1975 following the departure of the band's original singer, Peter Gabriel. Three years later, after departure of guitarist Steve Hackett, Genesis' nine-month world tour to promote "...And Then There Were Three..." (1978) became problematic for Collins's wife Andrea who complained that he was not at home enough and that should he commit to the full tour, she would not be there when he returned. Collins, however, maintained that the band were on the cusp of international breakthrough and the tour would pay dividends for the future. However, at the end of the tour, Andrea decided to take their two children to her parents in Vancouver, Canada. In an attempt to save his marriage, Collins moved to Vancouver, but the attempt failed. Collins returned to England in April 1979, with Andrea having agreed to return with the children.


title: Face Value (album)

text: With Genesis members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford working on their solo albums through 1979, Collins used some of his spare time to write songs. He told "Modern Drummer" early that year:


title: Face Value (album)

text: In his home in Shalford, Surrey, named Old Croft, Collins set up a Sequential Prophet-5 synthesiser, piano, Roland CR-78 drum machine, and an 8-track tape machine in his bedroom, and recorded a collection of demos with backing tracks and early lyrics. He was not concerned with the quality of the recordings as what may have lacked in the recordings would have been salvaged with the emotion in the songs. There were numerous times where Collins stopped recording earlier than planned as the ideas were not working in the studio, leaving him to resume the following day. Collins based the majority of "Face Value" on the divorce he had endured, and used a solo album as an outlet for his feelings.


title: Face Value (album)

text: During the conception of the album, Collins had forged a close friendship with John Martyn and contributed towards "Grace and Danger" (1980), which contained a similar narrative relating to divorce and relationship breakdown. Some of Collins' material that he had written was performed by Genesis on "Duke" (1980), including "Misunderstanding", the arrangement of which remained unchanged. He had played "In the Air Tonight" and "If Leaving Me is Easy" to the group, but they were left out as Collins said they were "too simple for the band".


title: Face Value (album)

text: Early album titles included "Interiors" and "Exposure". To release the album, Collins signed a solo contract with Virgin Records for UK distribution. He did so to "leave the nest" and to ensure he could maintain full creative control over the music. Collins also felt that releasing the album on Charisma Records, the same label as Genesis, would have harmed its success due to the preconceived notions people have about bands and labels. Collins thought a new label would benefit the casual listener and appeal to a wider audience. Virgin gave Collins a £65,000 advance on the album.


title: Face Value (album)

text: Recording sessions for "Face Value" took place at the Town House in London and the Village Recorder in Los Angeles between August and December 1980. The demos recorded onto 8-track were transferred onto 24-track. According to "Classic Albums", in what was considered a controversial move at the time, Collins, who grew up listening to American R&B as a child in Chiswick, decided to incorporate an R&B horn section, hiring the Phenix Horns, who played backup for Earth, Wind & Fire. Collins had asked a contact who knew the group if they were interested in playing, and upon their agreement their leader Thomas "Tom Tom 84" Washington met with Collins who asked him to sing the sections where the horns were to be placed into a tape recorder. The group recorded their parts the following day.


title: Face Value (album)

text: Collins produced the album himself with assistance from Hugh Padgham, who would co-produce several of Collins and Genesis's subsequent albums in the 1980s. Initially he considered George Clinton, Maurice White, or Phil Ramone until he realised that he merely wanted someone to endorse his own ideas. Assistant recording engineer Nick Launay was hired after Collins was impressed with his work with Public Image Limited. Collins was dissatisfied with initial test cuts of the album, describing them like a Queen album, "big, British and upfront". He then listened to several albums by black musicians including ones by The Jacksons and a collection of soul artists in his own collection, and noticed a common link with technician Mike Reece who worked at a Los Angeles mastering lab. Reece prepared a cut which Collins was satisfied with.


title: Face Value (album)

text: The simple style of music on "Face Value" was reasoned by Collins as his fondness of Weather Report's simple melodies and for black music. Collins controversially included drum programming rather than just live drum instrumentation despite his reputation as a drummer. Collins said he wanted to experiment with different sounds and was inspired by the work of his former bandmate Peter Gabriel, who had used drum programming on his last album; Collins was part of these sessions. Many of the songs' arrangements were done by Collins and session arranger Thomas "Tom Tom 84" Washington. He incorporated Indian-styled violins, played by L. Shankar, for additional textures.


title: Face Value (album)

text: The last recording session for "Face Value" was in January 1981, prior to the release of the first single, "In the Air Tonight". Atlantic CEO Ahmet Ertegun advised Collins to perform drums during the verses and opening of the song, whereas the album version does not feature live drumming until the bridge.


title: Face Value (album)

text: The album features songs of different genres. While technically a rock and pop offering, the basis of many of the tracks lies in R&B with light funk influences, especially in "I'm Not Moving", for which Collins sang his backgrounds with a vocoder. "Droned" and "Hand in Hand" are progressive rock instrumentals, with the first featuring an Indian raga sound, while "Hand in Hand" features jazz elements, a black children's choir from Los Angeles humming the music, and improvisational instrumentation by Collins and the Phenix Horns. "The Roof Is Leaking" has Delta blues and country elements. "Behind the Lines" was originally recorded by Genesis on "Duke" album as a progressive rock number. Collins worked up a horn-driven R&B/funk-inspired arrangement after speeding up the tape on the Genesis version and thinking that the sped-up version sounded like a Michael Jackson song. The cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" includes instruments and vocals playing in reverse while Collins provided multi-layered background vocals and sparse drumming. After the song ends, Collins can be heard quietly singing "Over the Rainbow" in reference to the recent murder of John Lennon; this final song is unlisted on most releases of the album (the original US cassette version being an exception), and would be the only time Collins used a hidden track on one of his own releases.


title: Face Value (album)

text: Four songs that Collins wrote during the "Face Value" sessions were ultimately omitted: "Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask" which appeared in the Genesis album "Duke", "How Can You Just Sit There" (which evolved into his 1984 single "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"), and what would become "Don't Lose My Number", which would not appear until Collins' third album "No Jacket Required" in 1985.


title: Face Value (album)

text: Collins regarded "Face Value" as a highly personal project, which gave rise to the iconic cover art with Collins' face in extreme close-up, originally intended to symbolise the listener "getting into his head"; the reverse side of the sleeve shows the rear of his head, although the CD version of the album placed this image on the insert card instead. To emphasise the personal nature of the album, Collins also hand wrote all of the liner and sleeve notes, even down to the legal statements on the outer circumference of the centre label of the disc itself. Both of the main visual elements of "Face Value" — the facial close-up, and the handwritten notes — would become a motif of Collins' subsequent albums until 1996's "Dance into the Light". When crediting the musicians in the liner notes, rather than write "Phil Collins", Collins simply wrote "Me", although in future albums he would write his initials "PC".


title: Face Value (album)

text: "Face Value" became an immediate success, reaching No. 1 in the UK, Canada, and other European countries, while peaking in the top ten in the US. "In the Air Tonight" became the album's biggest hit, reaching No. 2 in the UK, No. 1 in three other countries, and becoming a top twenty hit in the US. Other songs such as "I Missed Again" found modest success reaching No. 14 in the UK and No. 19 in the US, while the third single, "If Leaving Me Is Easy", reached No. 17 in the UK but was not released in America. Sales of the album reached five million in the US and went five-times platinum in the UK and ten-times platinum in Canada. No solo tour was produced from this album.


title: Face Value (album)

text: Robin Smith of "Record Mirror" highlighted the album's emotional restraint, commenting that it plays less like a statement of "raw emotion" and more like a "diary" of Collins' "disappointments, hopes and fantasies". In "Sounds", Hugh Fielder said that it effectively captured Collins' "multi-faceted" musicality with songs ranging "from funky beat to melancholic ballads with occasional pop and avant garde twinges." "Melody Maker"s Allan Jones considered "Face Value" a compelling stylistic divergence from Collins' work in Genesis, writing that the album "delights in confounding the familiar parameters" of the band's music. "Rolling Stone" critic Steve Pond was more reserved in his praise. He complimented Collins for forgoing Genesis' "high-blown conceits" for a simpler sound rooted in "basic pop and R&B", but found that "[his] broken heart is too clearly on his sleeve, and musical missteps abound". Pond nonetheless deemed it "unmistakably the most worthy Genesis product" since Peter Gabriel's 1977 debut album.


title: Face Value (album)

text: In 2000, "Face Value" was voted number 329 in Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums". In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Tim Sendra described "Face Value" as "Collins' most honest, most compelling work", which "stands as his masterpiece and one of the finest moments of the '80s musical landscape." Writing for "Ultimate Classic Rock" in 2013, Will Levith called it a "now-classic" album, highlighting in particular "In the Air Tonight", "which just about everybody has played air drums to one time or another", but added, "The project's most forgettable moment, however, is the closing track – an absolutely atrocious cover of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' [...] Why Collins thought it was necessary to lay such a giant turd on an otherwise awesome album is beyond us."


title: Face Value (album)

text: Reviewing the album's 2016 reissue, "Uncut"s Sharon O'Connell said that "Face Value" established Collins as a "premier-league" pop and soft rock performer, "nursing only a slight prog hangover", and "Mojo"s Paul Elliott wrote that it remained Collins' best solo record, noting its deeply personal core themes. "Dorset Echo" writer Joanna Davis said, "Most of the tracks stand the test of time, but some, like 'If Leaving Me is Easy', belong in the forgotten land of 80s ballads preceded by a saxophone introduction." Dorian Lynskey of "The Guardian" characterised the album in 2016 as "an intriguing debut, wandering between art-rock and soulful MOR... "Face Value"'s most potent quality was its emotional transparency. Like the pensive portrait on the cover, the songs addressed the listener with unflinching directness."


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Mirza Masroor Ahmad (; born 15 September 1950) is the current and fifth leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. His official title within the movement is Fifth Caliph of the Messiah (, "khalīfatul masīh al-khāmis"). He was elected on 22 April 2003, three days after the death of his predecessor Mirza Tahir Ahmad.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Following the death of the fourth caliph, the Electoral College, for the first time in the history of the community, convened outside the Indian subcontinent and in the city of London, after which Mirza Masroor Ahmad was elected as the fifth caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. At the very commencement of his accession, he found himself forced into exile from Pakistan in response to pressure from the Government of Pakistan. Since being elected, he has travelled extensively across the world to meet the members of the community and address their annual gatherings. In many of the countries he has visited it has been the first visit by an Ahmadiyya caliph.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Under his leadership the community's global satellite TV network MTA International, launched by his predecessor, has expanded into several further affiliated TV channels, social media and radio stations to provide transmission in different languages. Further campuses of Jamia Ahmadiyya, the Ahmadiyya Islamic seminary and educational institution, have been established including one in Ghana and one in the United Kingdom, the latter has been the first in Europe. He has focused particularly on directing the community in systematically countering negative media coverage of Islam and engaging in grassroots efforts to propagate what the community believes is the true message of Islam.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: In 2004, he launched – and regularly addresses – the annual National Peace Symposium (held twice in 2015) in which guests from all walks of life come together at the largest mosque in Western Europe (the Baitul Futuh Mosque) to exchange ideas on establishing world peace. These symposia have attracted parliamentarians, religious leaders and other dignitaries. In 2009, he initiated the Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize; an international peace award for individuals or organisations that have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment and service to the cause of peace and humanitarianism.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Masroor Ahmad has frequently met heads of state in different parts of the world as well as having delivered keynote addresses to the United States Congress on Capitol Hill, the European Parliament, the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament, the Parliament of Canada and the Dutch Parliament on the teachings of Islam regarding the establishment of peace, presenting Quranic solutions to world problems. He has consistently called for honesty and the observance of unconditional justice and fairness in international relations. In response to ongoing conflicts, he has sent letters to world leaders warning of the real risk of world war, and urging them to make practical efforts towards lasting peace.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Mirza Masroor Ahmad was born on 15 September 1950 in Rabwah, Pakistan, the global headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at the time. He is a nephew of Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the fourth caliph, his mother being a sister of the fourth caliph. Masroor Ahmad attended and graduated from Talim-ul-Islam High School and obtained his BA from Talim-ul-Islam College, both located in Rabwah. In 1976, Masroor earned his Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.""


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Having served the Community in various capacities, Masroor Ahmad served in Ghana for over eight years. He established the Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Salaga, a school in the northern region of Ghana, where he served as principal for two years. His success with the school in Salaga made him an obvious choice as principal of the Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Essarkyir, located in the centreal region of Ghana. There he served as principal for four years.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: After his tenure as principal, Masroor Ahmad was appointed as the manager of the Ahmadiyya Agricultural Farm in Depali located in the northern region of Ghana where he served for two years. He successfully planted and nurtured wheat for the first time in Ghana. The experiment of planting, growing and nurturing wheat as an economic crop in Ghana was exhibited at an international trade fair and the results were submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture of Ghana.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Shortly after serving in Ghana, Mirza Masroor Ahmad returned to Pakistan and was made responsible for finances on 17 March 1985. He also served as the Director of Education within the Community in Pakistan and on 10 December 1997 he was appointed as "Nazir A'ala" (Principal Director) and local "


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: In 1999, a resolution was presented in the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab which demanded that the name of Rabwah be changed because that name appeared in the Qur'an. The resolution passed without much debate and the name of Rabwah was officially changed to Chenab Nagar. Signage was placed in prominent parts of Rabwah which bore the new name. A few days later, a First Information Report (criminal complaint) was filed accusing certain members of the Community of erasing a sign which bore the new name. Though the complaint didn't mention any names, a case was registered, resulting in the arrest of Masroor Ahmad and a few other senior members of the Ahmadiyya Community. They were imprisoned for 11 days without bail, but were released without charge on 10 May 1999.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Masroor Ahmad was elected as the fifth caliph on 22 April 2003, a few days after the demise of his predecessor Mirza Tahir Ahmad.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Today he frequently tours around the world, visiting countries for the Community's Jalsa Salanas (annual gatherings). Masroor Ahmad also regularly leads prayers at the Al-Fazl Mosque in London, England as well as Friday prayers from Baitul Futuh Mosque, in Morden, London.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: On 27 May 2008, members of the Community celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the establishment of Khilafat. Masroor Ahmad spoke at a large gathering of community members in the Excel Center in London, England and took a pledge from Ahmadis worldwide. This was relayed around the world via the Community's television channel, Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International with a live link up to Qadian, India, the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and original global headquarters before the partition of India in 1947.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: A Jalsa Salana celebrating the centenary anniversary of the Caliphate was planned in Qadian for December 2008. This gathering was to mark the end of celebrations of the centenary. However, due to the Mumbai terrorist attacks in late November, and the resulting security situation, Masroor Ahmad cancelled his participation in the gathering at Qadian and returned to London. Similar gatherings were held around the world to mark the centenary of Caliphate among Ahmadis.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: In 2005, a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten published some caricatures of Muhammad that infuriated Muslims around the world. Ahmad condemned the publishers of the cartoons saying that this was an abuse of free speech. But at the same time, he condemned the violent reaction showed by some Muslims around the world saying that this goes against the fabric of peaceful teachings of Islam. He guided his community to disseminate the character of Muhammad in Denmark as well as the rest of the world through writings and dialogue. He also advised Ahmadis to send "durood" on prophet Muhammad in this time of adversity. His sermons on this issue were later published as a book, "The Blessed Model of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the Caricatures".


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: On 12 September 2006, while Pope Benedict XVI was lecturing at the University of Regensburg, he quoted the opinion of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". The quotation drew criticism from a number of individual governmental representatives and Muslim religious leaders including Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: As the leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Masroor Ahmad disapproved of the Pope's view on Islam, stating that the Pope had been irresponsible and lacked knowledge of Islam. He explicated the 'inherent peaceful teachings of Islam' and the Qur'an and sought to remove misconceptions regarding Jihad and the Islamic prophet Muhammad, in light of references made by European writers in his Friday Sermon on 15 September 2006.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: The plan to burn the Qur'an by the Dove World Outreach Center on the 9th anniversary of 9/11 attacks was highly condemned by Masroor Ahmad at the Baitul Futuh mosque in London, England. He stated that "religious extremism, be it Christian extremism, Muslim extremism or any other kind, is never a true reflection of the religion". The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community also held a "Faith Day" with representatives of other faiths as a response to the Qur'an burning.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: In 2010, plans were being made to build a 13-story Muslim community center located two blocks from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Although the Park51 building would not be visible from the World Trade Center site, opponents of the project have said that establishing a mosque so close to Ground Zero would be offensive since the hijackers in the 11 September 2001 attacks were Islamic terrorists.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam". Masroor Ahmad has, in his sermons, repeatedly refuted the allegations raised by Wilders against Islam. Addressing Wilders directly, he said:


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: In reply to the statement, Wilders asked Piet Hein Donner, Interior Minister of the Netherlands whether the government considered this a threat and whether they would take any action against Ahmad. Donner replied that he saw no threat as Ahmad threatened the destruction of Wilders through peaceful prayer only and not violence, and that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community worldwide are known to be peaceful.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: On 8 April 2012, Mirza Masroor Ahmad condemned the fatwa (edict) of Abdul Aziz al-Shaikh, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia calling for the destruction of all churches in Saudi Arabia and surrounding Arab states.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: In his Friday Sermons of 21 and 28 September 2012, the Caliph strongly condemned the anti-Islamic film "Innocence of Muslims". He said that Muslim emotions against the film were justified to an extent; however he also condemned the reaction to the film by some Muslims with riots resulting in at least 75 deaths worldwide. The Friday Sermons were attended by many media outlets including the BBC and a news station from New Zealand. He said Muslims should react by invoking durood (praise) upon Muhammad. He also indicated that the creators and benefactors of the film would all suffer a great torment by God.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: On 7 January 2015, gunmen forced their way into the offices of the satirical French newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris. They shot and killed 12 people during the attack. The attack was linked to cartoons mocking the Islamic prophet Muhammad that Charlie Hebdo had published in recent years. The Caliph categorically condemned the terrorist attacks. He said that the attacks had nothing to do with the true teachings of Islam and that the perpetrators and anyone found to be involved should be punished in accordance with the law. He further added that such cartoons grieved and pained peace-loving Muslims throughout the world and were to be condemned, but any form of violent or illegal response could never be justified and was completely against the teachings of Islam. The caliph also stated that taking to the streets in protest was not an appropriate response but rather Muslims should respond by increasing in prayer and offering salutations to Muhammad.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: On 28 May 2010, two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, came under attack from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Punjab wing. The attacks were carried out nearly simultaneously at Darul Al Zikr Mosque in Garhi Shahu and Bait Al Noor Mosque in Model Town, both 15 km apart. Ninety-four people were killed in the incident (including one attacker) with 108 injured. Another attacker was captured by the worshippers.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: The Caliph issued two press releases urging members of the Community to exercise patience and prayers and that in response, 'no inappropriate action would be shown by any Ahmadi'. He subsequently delivered a sermon giving details of the two attacks followed by a series of sermons in which he paid tribute to each of the victims, detailing their services to the Community.


title: Mirza Masroor Ahmad

text: Masroor Ahmad is the son of Mirza Mansoor Ahmad and the grandson of Mirza Shareef Ahmad, the son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. His mother is Sahibzadi Nasira Begum (deceased), the eldest daughter of Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Masroor Ahmad has two brothers and two sisters.


title: Ground sloth

text: Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbean ground sloths, the most recent survivors, lived in the Antilles, possibly until 1550 BCE. However, radiocarbon dating suggests an age of between 2819 and 2660 BCE for the last occurrence of "Megalocnus" in Cuba. Ground sloths had been extinct on the mainland of North and South America for 10,000 years or more. They survived 5,000–6,000 years longer in the Caribbean than on the American mainland, which correlates with the later colonization of this area by humans.


title: Ground sloth

text: Much ground sloth evolution took place during the late Paleogene and Neogene of South America, while the continent was isolated. At their earliest appearance in the fossil record, the ground sloths were already distinct at the family level. The presence of intervening islands between the American continents in the Miocene allowed a dispersal of forms into North America. A number of mid- to small-sized forms are believed to have previously dispersed to the Antilles. They were hardy as evidenced by their diverse numbers and dispersals into remote areas given the finding of their remains in Patagonia (Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument) and parts of Alaska.


title: Ground sloth

text: Sloths, and xenarthrans as a whole, represent one of the more successful South American groups during the Great American Interchange. During the interchange, many more taxa moved from North America into South America than in the other direction. At least five genera of ground sloths have been identified in North American fossils; these are examples of successful immigration to the north.


title: Ground sloth

text: The megalonychid ground sloths first appeared in the Late Eocene, about 35 million years ago, in Patagonia. Megalonychids first reached North America by island-hopping, prior to the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. Some lineages of megalonychids increased in size as time progressed. The first species of these were small and may have been partly tree-dwelling, whereas the Pliocene (about 5 to 2 million years ago) species were already approximately half the size of the huge Late Pleistocene "Megalonyx jeffersonii" from the last ice age. Some West Indian island species were as small as a large cat; their dwarf condition typified both tropical adaptation and their restricted island environment. This small size also enabled them a degree of arboreality.


title: Ground sloth

text: "Megalonyx", which means "giant claw", was a widespread North American genus that lived past the close of the last (Wisconsin) glaciation, when so many large mammals died out. Remains have been found as far north as Alaska and the Yukon. Ongoing excavations at Tarkio Valley in southwestern Iowa may reveal something of the familial life of "Megalonyx". An adult was found in direct association with two juveniles of different ages, suggesting that adults cared for young of different generations.


title: Ground sloth

text: The earliest known North American megalonychid, "Pliometanastes protistus", lived in the southern U.S. about 9 million years ago and is believed to have been the predecessor of "Megalonyx". Several species of "Megalonyx" have been named; in fact it has been stated that "nearly every good specimen has been described as a different species". A broader perspective on the group, accounting for age, sex, individual and geographic differences, indicates that only three species are valid ("M. leptostomus", "M. wheatleyi", and "M. jeffersonii") in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene of North America, although work by McDonald lists five species.


title: Ground sloth

text: Jefferson's ground sloth has a special place in modern paleontology, for Thomas Jefferson's letter on "Megalonyx", read before the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia in August 1796, marked the beginning of vertebrate paleontology in North America. When Lewis and Clark set out, Jefferson instructed Meriwether Lewis to keep an eye out for ground sloths. He was hoping they would find some living in the Western range. "Megalonyx jeffersonii" was appropriately named after Thomas Jefferson.


title: Ground sloth

text: The megatheriid ground sloths are relatives of the megalonychids; these two families, along with the family Nothrotheriidae, form the infraorder Megatheria. Megatheriids appeared later in the Oligocene, some 30 million years ago, also in South America. The group includes the heavily built "Megatherium" (given its name 'great beast' by Georges Cuvier) and "Eremotherium". The skeletal structure of these ground sloths indicates that the animals were massive. Their thick bones and even thicker joints (especially those on the hind legs) gave their appendages tremendous power that, combined with their size and fearsome claws, provided a formidable defense against predators.


title: Ground sloth

text: The earliest megatheriid in North America was "Eremotherium eomigrans" which arrived 2.2 million years ago, after crossing the recently formed Panamanian land bridge. With more than five tons in weight, 6 meters in length, and able to reach as high as , it was larger than an African bush elephant bull. Unlike relatives, this species retained a plesiomorphic extra claw. While other species of "Eremotherium" had four fingers with only two or three claws, "E. eomigrans" had five fingers, four of them with claws up to nearly a foot long.


title: Ground sloth

text: Recently recognized, ground sloths of Nothrotheriidae are often associated with those of the Megatheriidae, and together the two form the superfamily Megatherioidea. The most prominent members of the group are the South American genus "Thalassocnus", known for being aquatic, and "Nothrotheriops" from North America.


title: Ground sloth

text: The last ground sloths in North America belonging to "Nothrotheriops" died so recently that their subfossil dung has remained undisturbed in some caves. One of the skeletons, found in a lava tube (cave) at Aden Crater, adjacent to Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico, still had skin and hair preserved, and is now at the Yale Peabody Museum. The largest samples of "Nothrotheriops" dung can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum. Another "Nothrotheriops" was excavated at Shelter Cave, also in Doña Ana County, New Mexico.


title: Ground sloth

text: The mylodontid ground sloths together with their relatives the scelidotheriids form the Mylodontoidea, the second radiation of ground sloths. The discovery of their fossils in caverns associated with human occupation led some early researchers to theorize that the early humans built corrals when they could procure a young ground sloth, to raise the animal to butchering size. However, radiocarbon dates do not support simultaneous occupation of the site by humans and sloths. Subfossil remains like coproliths, fur and skin have been discovered in some quantities. The American Museum of Natural History has exhibited a sample of "Mylodon" dung from Argentina with a note that reads "deposited by Theodore Roosevelt".


title: Ground sloth

text: The ground sloth family Scelidotheriidae was demoted in 1995 to the subfamily Scelidotheriinae within Mylodontidae. Based on collagen sequence data showing that its members are more distant from other mylodontids than Choloepodidae, it was elevated back to full family status in 2019. Together with Mylodontidae, the enigmatic "Pseudoprepotherium" and two-toed sloths, the scelidotheriids form the superfamily Mylodontoidea. "Chubutherium" is an ancestral and very plesiomorphic member of this subfamily and does not belong to the main group of closely related genera, which include "Scelidotherium" and "Catonyx".


title: Ground sloth

text: The formerly recognized ground sloth family Orophodontidae constitutes a rather small but quite distinct group. They have been classified as a distinct mylodontan superfamily Orophodontoidea, the sister taxon to the Mylodontoidea. The taxon is now often disused with genus members reassigned to Megalonychidae and Mylodontidae.


title: Ground sloth

text: The following sloth family phylogenetic tree is based on collagen and mitochondrial DNA sequence data (see Fig. 4 of Presslee "et al"., 2019).


title: Ground sloth

text: Sloths that had longer snouts are presumed to have had greater olfactory acuity, but appear to have also had less binocular vision and poorer ability to localize sounds. A number of extinct sloth species are thought to have had hearing abilities optimized for low frequencies, perhaps related to use of infrasound for communication.


title: Ground sloth

text: A 2021 study on isotope proposed "Mylodon" and some other ground sloths must have been at least sporadically omnivorous.


title: Ground sloth

text: Many species of ground sloth are considered armored mammals, because of the bone fragments embedded in their skin.


title: Ground sloth

text: Radiocarbon dating places the disappearance of ground sloths in what is now the United States at around 11,000 years ago. The Shasta ground sloth ("Nothrotheriops shastensis") visited Rampart Cave (located on the Arizona side of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area) seasonally, leaving behind a massive stratified subfossilized dung deposit, and seemed to be flourishing from 13,000 until 11,000 BP, when the deposition suddenly stopped. Steadman "et al." argue that it is no coincidence that studies have shown that ground sloths disappeared from an area a few years after the arrival of humans. Trackways preserved in New Mexico (probably dating from 10 to 15.6 thousand years ago) that appear to show a group of humans chasing or harassing three "Nothrotheriops" or "Paramylodon" ground sloths may record the scene of a hunt. The tracks are interpreted as showing seven instances of a sloth turning and rearing up on its hind legs to confront its pursuers, while the humans approach from multiple directions, possibly in an attempt to distract it.


title: Ground sloth

text: Those who argue in favor of humans being the direct cause of the ground sloths' extinction point out that the few sloths that remain are small sloths that spend most of their time in trees, making it difficult for them to be spotted. Although these sloths were well hidden, they still would have been affected by the climate changes that others claim wiped out the ground sloths. Additionally, after the continental ground sloths disappeared, insular sloths of the Caribbean survived for approximately 6,000 years longer, which correlates with the fact that these islands were not colonized by humans until about 5500 yr BP.


title: Ground sloth

text: It is difficult to find evidence that supports either claim on whether humans hunted the ground sloths to extinction. Removing large amounts of meat from large mammals such as the ground sloth requires no contact with the bones; tool-inflicted damage to bones is a key sign of human interaction with the animal.


title: Ground sloth

text: Humans are believed to have entered the New World via Beringia, a land bridge which connected Asia and North America during the last glacial maximum. Mosimann and Martin (1975) suggested the first of these nomads descended from hunting families who had acquired the skills to track down and kill large mammals. By this time, humans had developed early hunting weapons, including the Clovis points, which were narrow, carved stone projectiles used specifically for big game. A couple of hundred years later, the atlatl became widely used, which allowed them to throw spears with greater velocity. These inventions would have allowed hunters to put distance between them and their prey, potentially making it less dangerous to approach ground sloths.


title: Ground sloth

text: Certain characteristics and behavioral traits of the ground sloths made them easy targets for human hunting and provided hunter-gatherers with strong incentives to hunt these large mammals.


title: Ground sloth

text: Ground sloths often fed in open fields. Recent studies have attempted to discover the diet of ground sloths through fossils of their dung. Analysis of these coproliths have found that ground sloths often ate the foliage of trees, hard grasses, shrubs, and yucca; these plants were located in areas that would have exposed them, making them susceptible to human predation. Ground sloths were not only easy to spot, but had never interacted with humans before, so would not have known how to react to them. Additionally, these large mammals waddled on their hind legs and front knuckles, keeping their claws turned in. Their movement and massive build (some weighed up to ) imply they were relatively slow mammals.


title: Ground sloth

text: These reasonable after-the-fact inferences from the evidence might explain why ground sloths would have been easy prey for hunters, but are not certain.


title: Ground sloth

text: While ground sloths would have been relatively easy to spot and approach, big game hunters' weapons would have been useless from farther than thirty feet away. It would have been difficult to take down a ground sloth with a spear-thrower and would have required extensive knowledge of the species. Additionally, the ground sloths' already thick hide was fortified by osteoderms, making it difficult to penetrate.


title: Ground sloth

text: Since ground sloths thrived in an environment filled with large predators, they evidently would have been able to also defend themselves against human predation, so there is no reason to expect that they would have been "easy pickings". When feeding, they had enough strength to use their long, sharp claws to tear apart tree branches; presumably their strength and formidable claws would be dangerous for hunters that attempted to attack them at close quarters.


title: Hurdang

text: Hurdang is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat. The film stars Sunny Kaushal, Nushrratt Bharuccha and Vijay Varma. It is a love story set in the backdrop of the student agitation of 1990 in Allahabad.


title: Hurdang

text: The principal photography commenced on 6 July 2019. The film was released theatrically on 8 April 2022.


title: Hurdang

text: Back in 1990s, an aspiring IAS student starts a rebellion against the caste-based reservation to be implemented by the Mandal Commission.


title: Hurdang

text: The music of the film is composed by Amaal Malik and Sachet-Parampara with lyrics written by Rashmi Virag and Irshad Kamil.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The "Balao" class was a successful design of United States Navy submarine used during World War II, and with 120 boats completed, the largest class of submarines in the United States Navy. An improvement on the earlier , the boats had slight internal differences. The most significant improvement was the use of thicker, higher yield strength steel in the pressure hull skins and frames, which increased their test depth to . "Tang" actually achieved a depth of during a test dive,


title: Balao-class submarine

text: and exceeded that test depth when taking on water in the forward torpedo room while evading a destroyer.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The "Balao"s were similar to the "Gato"s, except they were modified to increase test depth from to . In late 1941, two of the Navy's leading submarine designers, Captain Andrew McKee and Commander Armand Morgan, met to explore increasing diving depth in a redesigned "Gato". A switch to a new High-Tensile Steel (HTS) alloy, combined with an increase in hull thickness from to , would result in a test depth of and a collapse depth of . However, the limited capacity of the trim pump at deep depths, and lack of time to design a new pump, caused Rear Admiral E. L. Cochrane, Chief of the Bureau of Ships, to limit test depth to . Fortunately, in 1944 a redesigned Gould centrifugal pump replaced the noisy early-war pump, and effective diving depth was increased.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The "Balao"s incorporated the fairwater, conning tower and periscope shears reduction efforts that were being retrofitted to the "Gato"s and the preceding classes in the original design, refining the reductions and reducing the sail to the smallest practical size. By the time the boats began to be launched, lessons learned from patrol reports had been worked into the design and the bridge and sail proved to be efficiently laid out, well equipped, and well liked by the crews.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: For the masts and periscope shears, the original arrangement for both the Government and Electric Boat designs had (forward to aft) the two tapered cone shaped periscope support shears, followed by a thin mast for the SJ surface search radar, and then by a thin mast for the SD air search radar. There were minor differences in how the periscopes were braced against vibration, but both designs were nearly identical. About halfway through their production run, Electric Boat altered their design, moving the SJ radar mast forward of the periscopes, then altered it again a few boats later by enlarging the SD radar mast. Late in the war, many "Balao"s built with the original design had the SD air search radar moved slightly aft onto a thickened and taller mast. These mast arrangements, along with the tremendous variation in the gun layout as the war progressed account for the numerous exterior detail differences among the boats, to the point that at any given time no two "Balao"s looked exactly alike.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The propulsion of the "Balao"-class submarines was generally similar to that of the preceding "Gato"-class. Like their predecessors, they were true diesel-electric submarines: their four diesel engines powered electrical generators, and electric motors drove the shafts. There was no direct connection between the main engines and the shafts.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: "Balao"-class submarines received main engines from one of two manufacturers. Fairbanks-Morse supplied Model 38D8⅛ opposed piston engines, and General Motors ' Cleveland Diesel division supplied Model 16-248 and 16-278A V16 engines. Earlier Fairbanks-Morse boats received a 9-cylinder version of the Model 38D8⅛, while boats from onward received 10-cylinder engines. Earlier GM boats received Model 16-248 engines, but beginning with Model 16-278A engines were used. In each case, the newer engines had greater displacement than the old, but were rated at the same power; they operated at lower mean effective pressure for greater reliability. Both the F-M and GM engines were two-stroke cycle types.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Two submarines, and , were to receive Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) diesels, which proved unreliable on previous classes, but both boats were cancelled.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Two manufacturers supplied electric motors for the "Balao" class. Elliott Company motors were fitted primarily to boats with Fairbanks-Morse engines. General Electric motors were fitted primarily to boats with General Motors engines, but some Fairbanks-Morse boats received GE motors. Allis-Chalmers motors were to be used in SS-530 through SS-536, but those seven boats were cancelled before even receiving names.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Earlier submarines carried four high-speed electric motors (two per shaft), which had to be fitted with reduction gears to slow their outputs down to an appropriate speed for the shafts. This reduction gearing was very noisy, and made the submarine easier to detect with hydrophones. Eighteen late "Balao"-class submarines received low-speed double armature motors which drove the shafts directly and were much quieter, but this improvement was not universally fitted until the succeeding . The new direct drive electric motors were designed by the Bureau of Ships' electrical division under Captain Hyman G. Rickover, and were first equipped on . On all US World War II-built boats, as the diesel engines were not directly connected to the shafts, the electric motors drove the shafts all the time.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Many targets in the Pacific War were sampans or otherwise not worth a torpedo, so the deck gun was an important weapon. Early "Balao"s began their service with a /50 caliber Mk. 9 gun. Due to war experience, most were re-armed with a /25 caliber Mk. 17 gun, similar to mounts on battleships and cruisers but built as a "wet" mount with corrosion resistant materials, and with power-operated loading and aiming features removed. This conversion started in late 1943, and some boats had two of these weapons beginning in late 1944. , commissioned in March 1944, was the first newly built submarine with the purpose-built 5-inch/25 submarine mount. Additional anti-aircraft guns included single 40 mm Bofors and twin 20 mm Oerlikon mounts, usually one of each.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Like the previous "Tambor"/"Gar" and "Gato" classes, the "Balao" class could substitute mines in place of torpedoes. For the Mk 10 and Mk 12 type mines used in World War II, each torpedo could be replaced by as many as two mines, giving the submarine a true maximum capacity of 48 mines. However, doctrine was to retain at least four torpedoes on mine laying missions, which further limits the capacity to 40 mines, and this is often stated as the maximum in various publications. In practice during the war, submarines went out with at least 8 torpedoes, and the largest minefields laid were 32 mines. Post-war, the Mk 49 mine replaced the Mk 12, while the larger Mk 27 mine was also carried which only allowed one mine replacing one torpedo.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: This was the most numerous US submarine class; 120 of these boats were commissioned from February 1943 through September 1948, with 12 commissioned postwar. Nine of the 52 US submarines lost in World War II were of this class, along with five lost postwar, including one in Turkish service in 1953, one in Argentine service in the Falklands War of 1982, and one in Peruvian service in 1988. Also, flooded and sank while fitting out at the Boston Naval Shipyard on 15 March 1945. She was raised but not repaired, and was listed with the reserve fleet postwar until struck in 1958. Some of the class served actively in the US Navy through the middle 1970s, and one ("Hai Pao" ex-) is still active in Taiwan's Republic of China Navy.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: SS-361 through SS-364 were initially ordered as "Balao"-class, and were assigned hull numbers that fall in the middle of the range of numbers for the "Balao" class (SS-285 to SS-416 & 425–426). Thus, in some references they are listed with that class. However, they were completed by Manitowoc as "Gato"s, due to an unavoidable delay in Electric Boat's development of "Balao"-class drawings. Manitowoc was a follow yard to Electric Boat, and was dependent on them for designs and drawings. Also, and are listed with the "Tench" class in some references, as their hull numbers fall in the range of that class.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: A total of 125 U.S. submarines were cancelled during World War II, all but three between 29 July 1944 and 12 August 1945. The exceptions were three "Tench"-class boats, cancelled 7 January 1946. References vary considerably as to how many of these were "Balao"s and how many were "Tench"es. Some references simply assume all submarines numbered after SS-416 were "Tench" class; however, and were completed as "Balao"s. This yields 10 cancelled "Balao"-class, SS-353-360 and 379–380. The "Register of Ships of the U. S. Navy" differs, considering every submarine not specifically ordered as a "Tench" to be a "Balao", and further projecting SS-551-562 as a future class. This yields 62 cancelled "Balao" class, 51 cancelled "Tench" class, and 12 cancelled future class. Two of the cancelled "Balao"-class submarines, and , were launched incomplete and served for years as experimental hulks at Annapolis and Norfolk, Virginia. The cancelled hull numbers, including those launched incomplete, were SS-353-360 ("Balao"), 379–380 ("Balao"), 427–434 ("Balao"), 436–437 ("Tench"), 438–474 ("Balao"), 491–521 ("Tench"), 526-529 ("Tench"), 530–536 ("Balao"), 537-550 ("Tench"), and 551-562 (future).


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The "Balao"s began to enter service in mid-1943, as the many problems with the Mark 14 torpedo were being solved. They were instrumental in the Submarine Force's near-destruction of the Japanese merchant fleet and significant attrition of the Imperial Japanese Navy. One of the class, , brought down what remains the largest warship sunk by a submarine, the (59,000 tons). , the highest-scoring of the class, sank 33 ships totaling 116,454 tons, as officially revised upward in 1980.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Nine "Balao"s were lost in World War II, while two US boats were lost in postwar accidents. In foreign service, one in Turkish service was lost in a collision in 1953, one in Peruvian service was lost in a collision in 1988, and was sold to the Argentinian Navy. She was renamed the ARA "Santa Fe" (S-21) and was lost in the 1982 Falklands War after being damaged, when she sank while moored pierside. "Santa Fe" was refloated and disposed of a few years after the war by being taken out to deep water and scuttled.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Additionally, , commissioned but incomplete and still under construction, flooded and sank pierside at the Boston Navy Yard on 15 March 1945, after a yard worker mistakenly opened the inner door of an aft torpedo tube that already had the outer door open. No personnel were lost in the accident and she was raised, decommissioned, and never completed or repaired. Her 42 days in commission is the record for the shortest commissioned service of any USN submarine. Postwar, she was laid up in the Reserve Fleet until stricken in 1958 and scrapped in 1959.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Postwar, 55 "Balao"s were modernized under the Fleet Snorkel and Greater Underwater Propulsion Power (GUPPY) programs, with some continuing in US service into the early 1970s. The last "Balao"-class submarine in United States service was , which was decommissioned in June 1975. Seven were converted to roles as diverse as guided-missile submarines (SSG) and amphibious transport submarines (SSP). 46 were transferred to foreign navies for years of additional service, some into the 1990s, and remains active in Taiwan's Republic of China Navy as "Hai Pao".


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Interested in maintaining a ready pool of trained reservists, the Navy assigned at least 58 submarines from 1946 to 1971 to various coastal and inland ports (even in Great Lakes ports like Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit), where they served as training platforms during the Reservists' weekend drills. At least 20 "Balao"-class boats served in this capacity. In this role, the boats were rendered incapable of diving and had their propellers removed. They were used strictly as pierside trainers. These were in commission but classed as "in service in reserve", thus some were decommissioned and recommissioned on the same day to reflect the change in status.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The large numbers of relatively modern, but surplus U.S. fleet submarines proved to be popular in sales, loans, or leases to allied foreign navies. 46 "Balao"-class submarines were transferred to foreign navies, some shortly after World War II, others after serving nearly 30 years in the US Navy. These included 17 to Turkey, 2 to Greece, 3 to Italy, 2 to the Netherlands, 5 to Spain, 2 to Venezuela, 4 to Argentina, 5 to Brazil, 2 to Chile, 2 to Peru, 1 to Canada and 1 to Taiwan. One of the Venezuelan boats, "ARV Carite" (S-11) formerly USS "Tilefish" (SS-307), featured in the 1971 film "Murphy's War" with some cosmetic modification.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: At the end of World War II, the US submarine force found itself in an awkward position. The 111 remaining "Balao"-class submarines, designed to fight an enemy that no longer existed, were obsolete despite the fact they were only one to three years old. The German Type XXI U-boat, with a large battery capacity, streamlining to maximize underwater speed, and a snorkel, was the submarine of the immediate future. The Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program (GUPPY) conversion program was developed to give some "Balao"- and "Tench"-class submarines similar capabilities to the Type XXI. When the cost of upgrading numerous submarines to GUPPY standard became apparent, the austere "Fleet Snorkel" conversion was developed to add snorkels and partial streamlining to some boats. A total of 36 "Balao"-class submarines were converted to one of the GUPPY configurations, with 19 additional boats receiving Fleet Snorkel modifications. Two of the GUPPY boats and six of the Fleet Snorkel boats were converted immediately prior to transfer to a foreign navy. Most of the 47 remaining converted submarines were active into the early 1970s, when many were transferred to foreign navies for further service and others were decommissioned and disposed of.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Although there was some variation in the GUPPY conversion programs, generally the original two Sargo batteries were replaced by four more compact Guppy (GUPPY I and II only) or Sargo II batteries via significant re-utilization of below-deck space, usually including removal of auxiliary diesels. All of these battery designs were of the lead-acid type. This increased the total number of battery cells from 252 to 504; the downside was the compact batteries had to be replaced every 18 months instead of every 5 years. The Sargo II battery was developed as a lower-cost alternative to the expensive Guppy battery. All GUPPYs received a snorkel, with a streamlined sail and bow. Also, the electric motors were upgraded to the direct drive double-armature type, along with modernized electrical and air conditioning systems. All except the austere GUPPY IB conversions for foreign transfer received sonar, fire control, and Electronic Support Measures (ESM) upgrades.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The Fleet Snorkel program was much more austere than the GUPPY modernizations, but is included here as it occurred during the GUPPY era. The GUPPY and Fleet Snorkel programs are listed in chronological order: GUPPY I, GUPPY II, GUPPY IA, Fleet Snorkel, GUPPY IIA, GUPPY IB, and GUPPY III.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Two "Tench"-class boats were converted as prototypes for the GUPPY program in 1947. Their configuration lacked a snorkel and was not repeated, so no "Balaos" received this conversion.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: This was the first production GUPPY conversion, with most conversions occurring in 1947–49. Thirteen "Balao"-class boats (, "Clamagore", , , , , , , , , , , and ) received GUPPY II upgrades. This was the only production conversion with Guppy batteries.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: This was developed as a more cost-effective alternative to GUPPY II. Nine "Balao"-class boats (, , , , , , , , and ) were converted in 1951–52. The less expensive Sargo II battery was introduced, along with other cost-saving measures.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The Fleet Snorkel program was developed as an austere, cost-effective alternative to full GUPPY conversions, with significantly less improvement in submerged performance. Twenty-three "Balao"-class boats (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and ) received this upgrade, six immediately prior to foreign transfer. Most Fleet Snorkel conversions occurred 1951–52. Unlike the GUPPY conversions, the original pair of Sargo batteries were not upgraded. Each boat received a streamlined sail with a snorkel, along with upgraded sonar, air conditioning, and ESM. The original bow was left in place, except on three boats ("Piper", "Sea Owl", and "Sterlet") that received additional upper bow sonar equipment. A few boats initially retained the 5"/25 deck gun, but this was removed in the early 1950s.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: This was generally similar to GUPPY IA, except one of the forward diesel engines was removed to relieve machinery overcrowding. Thirteen "Balao"-class boats (, "Diodon", , , , , , , , , , , and ) received GUPPY IIA upgrades in 1952–54. One of these, "Diodon", had previously been upgraded to GUPPY II.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: This was developed as an austere upgrade for two "Gato"-class and two "Balao"-class boats ( and ) prior to transfer to foreign navies in 1953–55. They lacked the sonar and electronics upgrades of other GUPPY conversions.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Nine submarines, six of them "Balao"s ("Clamagore", "Cobbler", "Corporal", "Greenfish", "Tiru", and "Trumpetfish"), were upgraded from GUPPY II to GUPPY III in 1959-63 as part of the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization II (FRAM II) program. All except "Tiru", the pilot conversion, were lengthened by 15 feet in the forward part of the control room to provide a new sonar space, berthing, electronics space, and storerooms. "Tiru" was lengthened only 12.5 feet, and both forward diesel engines were removed. The other GUPPY IIIs retained all four engines. A taller "Northern" sail was included, to allow improved surfaced operations in rough seas; this was also backfitted to some other GUPPYs. The BQG-4 Passive Underwater Fire Control Feasibility Study (PUFFS) sonar system, with its three tall domes topside, was fitted. Additionally, fire control upgrades allowed the Mark 45 nuclear torpedo to be used.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The advent of the "kamikaze" demonstrated the need for a long range radar umbrella around the fleet. Radar picket destroyers and destroyer escorts were put into service, but they proved vulnerable in this role as they could be attacked as well, leaving the fleet blind. A submarine, though, could dive and escape aerial attack. Four submarines including the "Balao"-class boat "Threadfin" prototyped the concept at the end of World War II but were not used in this role. Ten fleet submarines were converted for this role 1946-53 and redesignated SSR as radar picket submarines. was the only "Balao"-class SSR. Experiments on the first two SSR submarines under the appropriately named Project Migraine I showed that placement of the radars on the deck was inadequate and that more room was needed for electronics. Thus "Burrfish" was given the Migraine II (project SCB 12) conversion, which placed a Combat Information Center (CIC) in the space formerly occupied as the aft battery room. The after torpedo room was stripped and converted into berthing, and the boat lost two of her forward torpedo tubes to make room for additional berthing and electronics. The radars were raised up off the deck and put on masts, giving them a greater range and hopefully greater reliability.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The SSRs proved only moderately successful, as the radars themselves proved troublesome and somewhat unreliable, and the boats' surface speed was insufficient to protect a fast-moving carrier group. The radars were removed and the boats reverted to general purpose submarines after 1959. "Burrfish" was decommissioned in 1956 and, with her radar equipment removed, transferred to Canada as HMCS "Grilse" (SS-71) in 1961.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: The Regulus nuclear cruise missile program of the 1950s provided the US Navy with its first strategic strike capability. It was preceded by experiments with the JB-2 Loon missile, a close derivative of the German V-1 flying bomb, beginning in the last year of World War II. Submarine testing of Loon was performed 1947–53, with and converted in to guided-missile submarines as test platforms in 1947 and 1948 respectively. Initially the missile was carried on the launch rail unprotected, thus the submarine was unable to submerge until after launch. "Cusk" was eventually fitted with a watertight hangar for one missile and redesignated as an SSG. Following a brief stint as a cargo submarine, was converted in 1955 to carry two surface-launched Regulus missiles and was redesignated as an SSG, joining the "Gato"-class in this role. She made strategic deterrent patrols with Regulus until 1964, when the program was discontinued in favor of Polaris. A number of fleet boats were equipped with Regulus guidance equipment 1953–64, including "Cusk" and "Carbonero" following the Loon tests.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: and were converted to amphibious transport submarines in 1948 and redesignated as SSPs. Initially, they were equipped with a watertight hangar capable of housing a Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT), and retained one 5-inch (127 mm)/25 caliber deck gun for shore bombardment. Both torpedo rooms and one engine room were gutted to provide space for embarked Special Operations Forces (SOF) and their equipment. Snorkels were fitted. Due to the extra personnel, to avoid excessive snorkeling they were equipped with a scrubber and extra oxygen storage. Initially, a squadron of 12 SSPs was considered, capable of landing a reinforced Marine battalion, but only two "Balao"-class SSPs (out of four overall) were actually converted. "Perch" landed British commandos on one raid in the Korean War, and operated in the Vietnam War from 1965 until assignment to Naval Reserve training in 1967 and decommissioning in 1971, followed by scrapping in 1973. "Perch" was replaced in the Pacific Fleet transport submarine role by in 1967 and in 1968. "Sealion" operated in the Atlantic, deploying for the Cuban Missile Crisis and numerous SOF-related exercises. She was decommissioned in 1970 and expended as a target in 1978. The LVT hangar and 5-inch gun were removed from both boats by the late 1950s. They went through several changes of designation in their careers: ASSP in 1950, APSS in 1956, and LPSS in 1968.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: was redesignated as an auxiliary submarine (AGSS) in 1949 and converted to a sonar test submarine in 1958–59 to test a system known as LORAD. This included a extension aft of the forward torpedo room, with swing-out arrays near the bow. Later, three large domes were installed topside for a wide aperture array.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: " Barbero" was converted to a cargo submarine and redesignated as an SSA in 1948. The forward engine room, after torpedo room, and all reload torpedo racks were gutted to provide cargo space. From October 1948 until March 1950, she took part in an experimental program to evaluate her capabilities as a cargo carrier. Experimentation ended in early 1950, and she was decommissioned into the reserve on 30 June 1950. In 1955, she was converted to a Regulus missile submarine and redesignated as an SSG.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: As of 2007 , a "Balao"-class submarine, was one of the last two operational submarines in the world built during World War II. The boat was transferred to Taiwan's Republic of China Navy in the early 1970s. The "Tench"-class ex- is the other one. They are named "Hai Pao" and "Hai Shih", respectively, in Taiwanese service.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Six "Balao"-class submarines are open to public viewing. They primarily depend on revenue generated by visitors to keep them operational and up to U.S. Navy standards; each boat gets a yearly inspection and a "report card". Some boats, like "Batfish" and "Pampanito", encourage youth functions and allow a group of volunteers to sleep overnight in the crew's quarters.


title: Balao-class submarine

text: Additionally the is aground in the Hackensack River at the site of the former New Jersey Naval Museum. As of 2022, efforts to find a new home for this vessel have been unsuccessful.


title: Militarism

text: Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the military and of the ideals of a professional military class and the "predominance of the armed forces in the administration or policy of the state" (see also: stratocracy and military junta).