title: Renault Twizy

text: A planned Renault battery plant near Paris was delayed due to technical constraints. Construction will start in the second quarter of 2012 and production of batteries is expected to begin in 2014 or 2015. In the meantime Renault intends to buy batteries for its EV range from a joint venture between Nissan Motor and NEC as well as LG Chem of South Korea.


title: Renault Twizy

text: The Twizy 80 in its standard European configuration received two stars in the Euro NCAP Quadricycle Ratings in 2014.


title: Renault Twizy

text: Since its market launch in March 2012, global sales reached 9,020 units through the end of 2012, of which, 9,015 units were sold in Europe, making the Twizy the best-selling plug-in electric vehicle in the European market that year. In France, a total of 1,551 units were registered through June 2012, including 1,212 Twizy 80s and 339 Twizy 45s, representing a market share of 89% in the heavy quadricycle segment, and a market share of 28.5% among all categories of electric vehicles sold in France during the first half of 2012, surpassing the Bollore Bluecar, the top selling highway-capable all-electric car during this time period.


title: Renault Twizy

text: Global sales fell 66.4% in 2013 from 2012, with 3,025 units delivered. Cumulative sales reached 14,160 units through October 2014. , the best-selling markets were Germany with 3,728 units and France with 3,276 units, followed by Italy with 2,265 units, Spain with 1,292, and Benelux with 1,137 units delivered since 2011. The milestone of Twizys sold worldwide was achieved in April 2015.


title: Renault Twizy

text: In 2016, Renault introduced the Twizy to Ecuador, along with the Renault Kangoo, expecting to import at least 150 to 200 units between the two models. The carmaker teamed with a shopping centre in Cumbayá (a suburb of Quito) and the Ecuadorean Production Ministry to hold a draw for two examples in an introductory campaign. The winners received their cars on 17 February. All subsequent units are scheduled to arrive in-country from June, 2016, and will retail from US$14,990. Sales in Latin America totaled 305 units through May 2016, with Colombia as the regional market leader with 252 units, followed by Brazil with 34 units. The Renault Twizy 40 was certified by Transport Canada in March 2016, and was scheduled to be released on the Canadian market by mid-2016.


title: Renault Twizy

text: , Twizy sales led by Germany with 4,404 units, followed by France with 4,048, Italy with 2,696, Spain with 1,551, Benelux with 1,355, and Switzerland with 1,141. Until December 2016, a total of 18,592 units had been sold in Europe, representing 96.1% of global sales. Global sales since inception totaled 29,118 units through December 2019.


title: Renault Twizy

text: In 2020, Renault India said they were considering offering a stripped-down version of the Twizy Cargo for the Indian market.


title: Renault Twizy

text: Renault tested a carsharing program called Twizy Way in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, beginning in late June 2012. During the testing phase the program operated with a fleet of 50 Renault Twizys distributed over a pilot area covering around , and around 200 were allowed to sign up for testing. Twizy Way opened the service to the general public in December 2012.


title: Renault Twizy

text: In 2015, the Scoot scooter sharing company offered rides within San Francisco in the "Scoot Quad", a Twizy with Nissan badging.


title: Renault Twizy

text: In September 2014 the Chinese company Zhejiang Litong New Energy Automobile Corporation launched the Rayttle E28 which greatly resembles the Twizy in outside appearance, size and claimed performance.


title: Christian von Koenigsegg

text: Christian Erland Harald von Koenigsegg (born July 2, 1972)known professionally as Christian von Koenigsegg is an automotive engineer and entrepreneur, and is the founder and CEO of the Swedish high-performance automobile manufacturer Koenigsegg Automotive.


title: Christian von Koenigsegg

text: In 1994, Koenigsegg launched the "Koenigsegg project" which eventually became Koenigsegg Automotive. Christian, together with designer David Crafoord, created a design concept following Christian's original sketches. The first prototype enabled the foundation of Koenigsegg Automotive.


title: Christian von Koenigsegg

text: Christian von Koenigsegg is the son of Jesko von Koenigsegg, CEO of JK Energiteknik, and fashionista Brita Aasa. The von Koenigsegg lineage is attested from CE 1171 and originates in Swabia Germanic-Roman Empire where his ancestors were knights (see Königsegg for details). The current logo of Koenigsegg Automotive is based on the Königsegg familial coat of arms.


title: Christian von Koenigsegg

text: Von Koenigsegg grew up in Stockholm, and spent a year in high school in Danderyd before enrolling at Lundsbergs boarding school, and then studied economics at the Scandinavian School of Brussels. He showed an interest in cars from an early age, starting at the age of five when he watched the stop-motion film "The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix", about a bicycle builder who built a racing car, "". When he was six years old, he drove a go-kart for the first time, and he vividly recalls this as "one of the best days of his life".


title: Christian von Koenigsegg

text: Christian von Koenigsegg founded Koenigsegg Automotive AB in 1994 in hopes of producing a "world-class" sports car. This company was financed initially with money from Christian's previous business ventures. He also received $200 thousand from the Swedish technical development board. Christian's father became an early investor and financed the operation for over 3 years. Halldora von Koenigsegg became involved in 2000 as the COO.


title: Christian von Koenigsegg

text: Christian von Koenigsegg has come up with many innovations and several of them are patented. To name a few - the click flooring system, the Triplex rear suspension, the top mounted active rear wing system, the patented Koenigsegg synchro helix door actuation system, the patented rocket catalytic converter, the patented dual throttle compressor pressure relief system, the patented direct drive transmission, a patented hollow core composite production system, a patent pending dielectric coolant system and several patents for Freevalve — an innovation that uses electronics and air pressure to actuate intake and exhaust valves. This provides very high precision and unlimited timing control, instead of the traditional camshaft, allowing for engines to be much more efficient by reducing weight and size of engines, while making each cylinder able to be controlled independently, allowing for more complete combustion.


title: Christian von Koenigsegg

text: Christian von Koenigsegg married Halldora von Koenigsegg in 2000. There are competing stories about where Christian and Halldora met. Some sources say that they met during their studies in Brussels, Other sources say they met while in high school. They presently have 2 sons, Sebastian and Samuel. Sebastian von Koenigsegg currently works at Koenigsegg Automotive AB as a Brand & Content Manager.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: On March 9, 2020, "Ensemble Stars!" was rebranded and relaunched under the title , with the original app split into two games catering to different gameplay styles: "Ensemble Stars!! Basic", the original game; and "Ensemble Stars!! Music", a rhythm game.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: The success of the game led to several stage plays and manga adaptations. An anime television series by David Production aired from July 7 to December 22, 2019. A theatrical anime premiered on March 4, 2022.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: "Ensemble Stars!" was released for the Android on April 28, 2015, and iOS on May 1, 2015. Shortly after the game's release, in 2015, Sousuke Sōma, who provided the voice for Arashi Narukami, was replaced by Ryo Kitamura, with all voice clips replaced on July 18, 2015; Kitamura would later go on to portray the character in the stage play adaptations. In April 2017, Yoshimasa Hosoya left the franchise due to a medical hiatus, and Happy Elements announced that he would be replaced by Tomoaki Maeno in the role of Hokuto Hidaka, with all his voice clips replaced beginning on May 31, 2017.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: On November 9, 2019, Happy Elements announced at the Animate Girls Festival that they would be adding two new groups, Alkaloid and Crazy B. On March 15, 2020, "Ensemble Stars!" was relaunched and was split into two separate games: "Basic", the original game; and "Music", a brand new rhythm game; both games offered different gameplay but contained the same events, storylines, and items.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: In March 2016, "Ensemble Stars!" was planned to launch in China in Q2 2016 through Tencent. In February 2018, "Ensemble Stars!" was launched in South Korea through Kakao Games. On December 24, 2021, an English version of "Ensemble Stars!! Music" opened pre-registrations for users in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: A manga adaptation written and illustrated by Ichi Sayo was launched in Kodansha's "Shōjo" manga magazine Aria on August 28, 2015 and ended on December 28, 2016.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: "Ensembukubu Stars!", a 4-panel gag parody drawn by Bkub Okawa, is serialized on "Ensemble Stars!" official Twitter account and "Dengeki Online" since 2017.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: An anime television series adaptation was announced in December 2015. It was planned to premiere in 2017, but the staff announced they had postponed it in February 2017. The series was produced by David Production aired from July 7 to December 22, 2019, on Tokyo MX, SUN, KBS, TVA, and BS11. Masakazu Hishida was the director under the pseudonym Junpaku Yagurashita. Yasufumi Soejima was the series director, with Shinichi Inotsume as chief writer, and Haruko Iizuka, Tomoyuki Shitaya, and Eri Nagata as character designers. Akira was the scriptwriter, and Tatsuya Kato composed the series' music. Funimation has acquired the series for streaming in North America; the simuldub premiered on August 4, 2019. The anime uses the CACANi 2D animation & in-between software tool.


title: Ensemble Stars!

text: The series received a compilation film titled "Ensemble Stars!! Road to Show!!", which premiered on March 4, 2022. It featured 10 idol characters already featured in the game (Mao Isara, Makoto Yuuki, Aira Shiratori, Mayoi Ayase, Nagisa Ran, Hinata Aoi, Kohaku Oukawa, Rei Sakuma, Izumi Sena, Ritsu Sakuma) as well as the player character Anzu. It also featured Mitsunari Samejima, a new character specific to the film. Masakazu Hishida directed the film at David Production, with Asami Nakatani serving as chief director, Seitarō Kino writing the scripts, Haruko Iizuka designing the characters and serving as chief animation director, and Tatsuya Katō composing the film's music. In addition, "BukuSuta The World", a series of animated shorts based on Bkub Okawa's parody manga "Ensembukubu Stars!", were screened in theaters with "Road to Show!!"


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (initially referred to as Guitar Hero 3) is a music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the third main installment in the "Guitar Hero" series, following "Guitar Hero II". It is the first game in the series to be developed by Neversoft after Activision's acquisition of RedOctane and MTV Games' purchase of Harmonix, the previous development studio for the series. The game was released worldwide for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 in October 2007, with Budcat Creations assisting Neversoft on developing the PlayStation 2 port and Vicarious Visions solely developing on the Wii port respectively. Aspyr published the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions of the game, releasing them later in 2007.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" retains the basic gameplay from previous games in the "Guitar Hero" series, where the player uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of lead, bass, and rhythm guitar parts in rock songs by playing in time to scrolling notes on-screen. The game, in addition to existing single-player Career modes, includes a new Co-Op Career mode and competitive challenges that pit the player against in-game characters and other players. "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" is the first game in the series to include an online multiplayer feature, which is enabled in the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 versions. Initially the game offers over 70 songs, most of which are master tracks. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions feature the ability to download additional songs. The musicians Tom Morello (of the bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave) and Slash (of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) make appearances both as guitar battle opponents and playable characters in the game. The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows versions also include Bret Michaels (of Poison) as a non-playable character.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Critics and fans acclaimed the game, but reviewers noted a difference in the game's style compared to previous installments, associating it with it being Neversoft's first development attempt with the series. The game is often cited to be too difficult, creating "walls of notes" that are difficult to complete, and led to alterations in note placement for future games in the series. According to Activision, "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" is the best-selling video game of 2007, both in terms of units sold and revenue earned, and that it is the first single retail video game to exceed one billion dollars in sales. It is one of the best-selling third-party games available for the Wii.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Gameplay for "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" is similar to previous titles in the series. The player hits notes as they scroll towards the bottom of the screen in time with music to maintain their performance and earn points. To hit notes using the guitar controller, the player hits the strum bar while holding down the corresponding colored fret buttons. If the player uses the standard controller instead of the guitar controller, the correct buttons need to be pressed, but the player is not required to strum. Notes can be sustained, during which the fret button is held until the note is complete, and they can also form two- to four-note chords. The game simulates hammer-ons and pull-offs for sections with a rapid series of notes, allowing the player to forgo strumming on specifically marked notes. Missing a note causes the performance meter to drop. When the meter drops too low, the player fails the song, represented in-game by the band being booed off the stage. A string of 10 consecutive correct notes earns a multiplier to increase the player's score, which can occur up to four times. Special sections, marked by starred notes, can be used to build Star Power. When the player has enough Star Power, they can activate it and further double the scoring multiplier either by tilting the guitar controller vertically or by pressing a specific button on the controller. While Star Power enabled, the performance meter increases more quickly when a correct note is hit, and missing notes have a decreased penalty. "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" contains four difficulty levels: Easy, which uses three of the fret buttons; Medium, which makes use of four of the fret buttons; Hard, which uses all five fret buttons; and Expert, which adds no new fret buttons, but increases the number of notes and the general difficulty.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: During a song, avatars of the virtual band, including one character selected by the player, will perform in time to the music, responding appropriately to the unleashing of Star Power or the failing of a song. "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" has a cast of thirteen characters, which the player can further customize with alternate guitar skins and stage outfits using in-game money earned from successful performances. The player can access the game's three boss characters—Tom Morello, Slash, and Lou the Devil—as playable characters once they have completed their respective Boss Battles in Career mode. Although Bret Michaels appears in the game and sings specific songs, he is not a playable character in the game.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: The single-player Career mode in "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" features 8 tiers with 42 songs total. Within each tier, the player completes a number of songs, the number depending on the selected difficulty level, before they are offered an encore performance of one additional song and complete the tier. After a tier is complete, a new tier is introduced. "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" includes Career mode boss battles based on the game's multiplayer Battle mode; at three points during the Career mode, the player must compete against a boss character to progress. Each successfully completed song earns in-game money that the player uses at the game's store to unlock new characters, outfits, guitars and finishes, bonus songs, and videos. Additionally, completing a song in Career mode unlocks it for play in all other game modes.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" is the first game in the series to feature a storyline for the Career mode, portrayed through animated cartoon scenes between venues produced by Titmouse, Inc. Studios.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: The band starts as a neighborhood sensation, and after signing a recording contract with a shady music producer named Lou, gains worldwide fame, performing at venues around the world. However, when the band attempts to break the contract, Lou reveals himself to be the Devil, and their recording contract is actually a contract for their souls. Lou forces the band to play against him in the netherworld at "Lou's Inferno", but the band is able to succeed, forcing Lou to break the contract. The band returns to the mortal world as "Rock Legends".


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Two players using the same console can participate in Co-Op Career mode, with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass or rhythm guitar depending on the song. There are six tiers of songs which the players complete in the same manner as the single player Career mode. The encore song for each tier is unique to Co-Op Career mode. There are no boss battles in this mode. The animated Co-Op storyline portrays the vocalist and drummer, who are looking for a guitarist and bassist. After their first performance, the drummer decides to make a video of the band. The video helps boost the band's popularity, and they soon earn a gig in Japan. The band is forced to take a three-month hiatus to reconcile their differences of opinion on the band's future. Their comeback performance starts a neighborhood fire and places the band in jail. Lou arrives, offering the band to be freed from jail if they perform for the inmates. However, after their performance, the band finds themselves in Lou's Inferno, and is forced to play a live show for the netherworld in order to return to the mortal world.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii versions of "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" feature online competitive play, in which the player can compete against another user through the console's network service. There are three modes of online play, Face Off, Pro Face Off, and Battle mode. Face Off challenges are score attack modes introduced in "Guitar Hero II" where two players attempt to gain the best score on a given song; in the standard Face Off challenge, the players may select different difficulty levels, while Pro Face Off requires the players to play at the same difficulty.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: The Battle mode in "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" is a competitive mode between two players either locally or over network play. Two players compete against each other and attempt to make their opponent fail or lose by successfully playing Battle Power sequences, which replaces Star Power sections, to earn attacks that can be used against the opponent. Players can store up to three attacks at a time, and release them by using the same methods used to trigger Star Power in normal gameplay. The resulting effect may either make the song more difficult for the other player by adding additional notes or partially displaying the gem tracks, or may force the opponent to perform special actions to clear the effect, such as by pressing a fret button down repeatedly in response to a broken guitar string effect. Should a player fail the song, the other player wins. If neither player fails the song, they compete in a Sudden Death segment, in which the only attainable Battle Powers are Death Drain attacks, which inevitably makes the opponent fail by draining his or her Rock Meter.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: "Guitar Hero III" was bundled with newly developed wireless guitar controllers for the console releases, though previous controllers from other "Guitar Hero" games could be used. Lee Guinchard, RedOctane's vice president of hardware, stated that wireless controllers were the "first, foremost consideration" for the game. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of the controller was modeled after a black Les Paul guitar, with faceplates that can be swapped out. The PlayStation 3 version requires a dongle to achieve wireless capabilities. The Wii version is also a Les Paul design, but features a special slot to insert the Wii Remote into. This slot allows the game to offer several features exclusive to the console, such as by using the internal speaker and rumble on the Remote to provide feedback on missed notes and Star Power. The PlayStation 2 guitar is based on a Kramer Striker model, and also uses a dongle to achieve wireless functionality. All models features a detachable guitar neck that would make it easier to transport the controller. The PC and Mac versions of the game are bundled with the same USB-based Gibson X-plorer model that shipped with "Guitar Hero II".


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Activision purchased RedOctane in 2006 for $100 million to achieve "an early leadership position in music-based gaming". In September of that year, MTV acquired Harmonix, the developer of all "Guitar Hero" games up to that point; this purchase would later lead to the development of the competing music-game series, "Rock Band". Without Harmonix's availability, Activision selected Neversoft to develop "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock". Neversoft president Joel Jewett stated his company was asked to develop the game because of a conversation that Jewett had with RedOctane's founders Kai and Charles Huang at the 2006 E3 Convention, in which Jewett mentioned how the first "Guitar Hero" game helped reduce the stress in the Neversoft offices during their development of "Tony Hawk's Project 8". Several months later, Jewett was contacted by the Huangs, asking if Neversoft wanted to work on "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock". Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane, recognized Neversoft had a "10-year track record of launching a game every single year and being in the top of the charts" and felt that the development group "brought a better and deeper sense of music sensibilities" to the series. Despite the experience from the previous games, Alan Flores, head of development at Neversoft, commented that the game was "deceptively simple" and that it took much work for their 30-person team to recreate the gameplay for "Guitar Hero III". Though they "wanted to take the Guitar Hero experience to the next level" by adding additional instruments in the same manner as "Rock Band", they opted to focus on perfecting the guitar gameplay. In 2010, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated that they believed Neversoft would help them to develop great games for the series, but has since come to regret their failure to seek Harmonix for further development responsibility and believed this would have been a better move for both companies.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: The note tracks, on-stage motions of the band, and stage lighting and effect synchronization were created by the same team of developers who were all musicians and had previous experience in note tracking either from other music video games or from MIDI tracking. The note tracks were developed by placing notes in time with the song; for sections that had difficult parts to track within the game's engine, they opted to use sequences of notes that would seem to the match the music but still be playable. Hammer-ons and pull-offs ("HOPOs") for the previous "Guitar Hero" games were automatically placed by the software; in this iteration, the engine was designed to allow manual placement of HOPOs to make it easier to create certain effects in songs, such as sustained string bends. Character animations were selected from several made available by the animation team, while stage lighting and effects were selected to mimic those used in live performances from YouTube or from concert appearances. A separate team came up with the concepts for the various stages and arenas in the game. The team wanted to keep the same art style as the previous "Guitar Hero" games but add "a certain spark" to improve upon previous designs. Once a stage idea was brainstormed, the team sought visual references from real stages to expand upon, and a 2D drawing of the envisioned stage was prepared for review and to remain a constant goal of the stage design. From that, a "pop up" three-dimensional version of the stage was created, and elements from the 2D concept art were added to determine the appropriate placement of set decorations. This team worked with the animation department to place the band members, stage lighting, and other effects in the game before the final 3D version of the stage was completed. The final stages included several animated elements to help further bring the stage to life.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: For the game's characters, the developers intended to keep the comical looks from the previous games, but they decided to update their appearances with realistic materials and textures to take advantage of the more powerful level of graphics capabilities of seventh-generation consoles. The designers first drew character sketches to determine the characters' looks and clothing, creating a main and an alternate outfit for each character, which were then made into reference artwork. Afterward, low-level meshes for each character were created, with details added with Zbrush, resulting in characters that, before being scaled down for the game environment, had more than six million polygons. Texture of Couches and pixel shaders were added using the team's previous work on "Tony Hawk's Project 8" to match the style of earlier "Guitar Hero" games. Unlike the "Tony Hawk" games, each character in the game was given a unique skeleton to match their variations in sizes and shapes, allowing the animators to create unique moves for individual characters. "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" introduces three new characters modeled after real-life musicians. Slash, Tom Morello, and Bret Michaels, each performing one or more songs from their past recordings. All three were brought into the game using motion capture from the Motion Analysis Corporation.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" features 73 playable songs; 42 are part of the main setlist, 6 are exclusive to the Co-Op Career mode, and the remaining 25 are bonus tracks. In total, 54 of the game's songs are master recordings. In addition, the Career mode includes three guitar battles, one against each boss: Slash, Tom Morello, and Lou the Devil. Slash and Morello both wrote and recorded original battle music for the game. Guitarists Steve Ouimette, Ed DeGenaro and Geoff Tyson play as Lou the Devil for the final battle, and re-recorded a metal guitar version of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" for that purpose. The soundtrack features songs such as "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones, "Cherub Rock" by The Smashing Pumpkins, "Sabotage" by Beastie Boys, "The Metal" by Tenacious D, "My Name is Jonas" by Weezer, "Rock and Roll All Nite" by Kiss, "School's Out" by Alice Cooper, "Talk Dirty to Me" by Poison, "Slow Ride" by Foghat, "Barracuda" by Heart, and "Down 'n Dirty" by L.A. Slum Lords. It also features re-recordings of "Anarchy in the U.K." by Sex Pistols and "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour specifically for "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock", as the original master tracks could not be found. This game is the second game in the series to feature a bonus track (The Stone Roses' "She Bangs the Drums") that is not an original recording. The first being a remake of 'Drink Up' performed by Ounce of Self on Guitar Hero 2.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: The game also supports downloadable tracks for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions; several free and for-cost downloadable songs and song packs are available on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store. In July 2008, Activision announced that it would release downloadable content for the Wii in the first quarter of 2008, but eventually was unable to do so because of limitations with the Wii's internal memory storage, an issue that was overcome in the sequel, "Guitar Hero World Tour". When heavy metal band Metallica released their album "Death Magnetic" on September 12, 2008, it was also made available as a downloadable song pack for "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock", "Guitar Hero World Tour" and the 2009 spin-off "Guitar Hero Metallica". In addition, the compact disc soundtrack for the game offers a code used to redeem three exclusive playable tracks on the Xbox Live Marketplace.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Activision's original announcement of "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" indicated a planned release in their 2008 fiscal year, ending on March 31, 2008.; RedOctane later clarified a release in the last quarter of 2007, and further revealed that all versions of the game would feature wireless controllers as well as online multiplayer and downloadable content. The game was officially announced by Activision and RedOctane on May 23, 2007, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. Budcat Creations ported the game to the PlayStation 2, and Vicarious Visions ported it to the Wii. In September 2007, Aspyr announced they would be publishing "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X ports. Demos of "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" appeared in "Tony Hawk's Proving Ground" for the Xbox 360 in the Xbox Live Marketplace, and from the Internet as an ISO image. The demo features five songs ("Lay Down", "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Even Flow", "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", and "The Metal") played within the Desert Rock Tour venue. As shipped, the game did not offer offline Co-Op Quickplay mode, a feature that was included in "Guitar Hero II". This mode was added to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions via a patch.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Activision called "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" its "largest product launch ever", selling more than 1.4 million copies, and making over $100 million in its first week of release in North America; another 1.9 million copies were sold in the following month. Subsequently, the company was concerned that they were unable to meet the game's demand for the 2007 holiday season. As of July 15, 2008, the game has sold more than eight million copies. During the first seven months of 2008, the game sold 3.037 million units in the United States, 412,000 in the United Kingdom, and 26,000 in Japan, for a total of 3.475 million units, according to the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, and Enterbrain. More than two million copies of the game were sold for the Wii platform, making it the best-selling third-party title for the platform. Game sales during the first 12 months after the game's release were over $750 million. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, Activision CEO Mike Griffith stated that "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" is the first retail video game to exceed one billion dollars in sales. According to accumulated data from NPD Group in January 2010, "Guitar Hero III" is the second best-selling video game in the United States since 1995, following "Wii Play". In March 2011, the title had become the top selling game with $830.9 million in lifetime sales.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" received acclaim from critics and fans, although it scored lower than its predecessors on review aggregator Metacritic. The Gibson Les Paul controller included with the game's bundled version received particular praise. GameSpy, in a review of the four console versions, favorable reviewed the new controllers, and called the Wii guitar the best guitar peripheral that they had seen, praising the vibration option.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Several reviews criticized the changes made to "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" compared to previous games in the "Guitar Hero" series. IGN's review of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions considered the game a "pretty safe effort" from Neversoft, doing little to change the game due to it being their first time working on the series. They also criticized the lack of customizable characters. IGN's review of the Wii version described the game's presentation and art direction as feeling "forced", and, as a result, less visually appealing than previous installments. "GameSpy" criticized some of the difficulty tweaks in the game, stating that "Medium simply feels like Hard-minus-the-orange-button," and that the Star Power phrases were too long, comparing the overall game to a "trial by fire" in contrast to the previous games in the series. They were critical of the dongle approach used for the PlayStation 3 controllers, and failings in the online support for the PlayStation 3 version. They also stated that the PlayStation 2 version received "the short end of the stick" because of a lack of online play. "GameSpot" criticized the game for its "heavy dose of in-game advertising." "Official Xbox Magazine" also criticized the game for being "too competitive", a facet not readily found in the previous games. The PC version has been criticized for its high system requirements, and for lag and slowdown problems even on high-end systems.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Recognizing the game's popularity, "Guinness World Records" created a category for the Highest Score for a Single Song on "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" in its "Gamer's Edition", using the song "Through the Fire and Flames", noted as the most difficult song in the game. The record has been traded back and forth between Chris Chike, who also won the 2008 Play N Trade National Guitar Hero III Tournament, and Danny Johnson, the present holder of the record. Both Chike and Johnson have completed the song without missing a note, documenting their performances on YouTube, though both Chike and Johnson have hit 100% of the notes at an official event leading to a hard world record breaker.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: In November 2010, Axl Rose sued Activision for $20 million for misuse of Guns N' Roses music and its musicians (specifically Slash) in "Guitar Hero III". In the lawsuit, Rose claims that when he learned that a Slash-like character and other Velvet Revolver songs would be included in "Guitar Hero II", he refused to allow Activision to use "Welcome to the Jungle" within "Guitar Hero III", nor promotional images of Slash that had already been created. According to Rose's claims, Activision stated that these would only be used as promotional material for a trade show, but ended up using them within the game. Furthermore, Rose asserts that Activision had used "Sweet Child o' Mine", which was only licensed for use on "Guitar Hero II", for promotional material within "Guitar Hero III". The judge in the case allowed the trial to move forward after an initial hearing in March 2011. A jury trial was expected to start in May 2012.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: At initial hearings in August 2012, the judge dismissed a fraud claim made by Rose, considering that it took three years for Rose and his publisher Black Frog Music to file these claims after the release of the game, an excessively long time for such a claim. The judge maintained the likelihood of the breach of contract argument, setting a jury trial to likely occur in early 2013. In January and February 2013, the judge dismissed the case, indicated that the lateness of the filing of the lawsuit, about three years since the release of the game, gave him grounds to throw out the suit, though Rose stated that the delay was due to promises made by Activision for a Guns N' Roses-themed game as compensation for the violation of contract terms.


title: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

text: Although the Wii version of the game was advertised as supporting Dolby Pro Logic II, players reported that the game would output audio in neither Pro Logic II nor stereo, providing only mono sound. Activision had offered a free replacement remastered game disc that corrects this issue for North American and European releases. Later, Activision further extended the replacement program to include a full refund of the game's purchase price as an alternative to obtaining a replacement disc. A class-action lawsuit over the mono sound issue was settled out of court, and Activision agreed to ship free faceplates for the Les Paul guitar controller to those who requested a replacement disc. Additionally, during the first few days of the game's release, players experienced difficulties uploading their scores to the official "Guitar Hero" website. Neversoft attributed the problem to "heavy amounts of traffic".


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: Kundavai Pirattiyar commonly known mononymously as Kundavai, was a princess of the Chola empire who lived in the tenth century in South India. She was the daughter of Parantaka II and Vanavan Mahadevi. She was born in Tirukoilur and was the elder sister of Chola emperor Rajaraja I. She had title as "Ilaiyapirātti Kundavai Nachiyar".


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: However when her husband Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan was crowned king in his hometown Bana Kingdom, she did not accept the offer to become queen of the kingdom and remained as the princess of Tanjore.


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: Kundavai (also transliterated as Kundhavai or Kunthavai) was born in 945 CE. She was the only daughter of the Chola king Parantaka II and queen Vanavan Mahadevi. She had an elder brother – Aditha Chola II, and a younger brother – Raja Raja cholan I.


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: Kundavai married Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan, a member of the Bana Dynasty, a feudatory of the Cholas mentioned in the Tanjore inscriptions. He was also the commander of the Chola infantry that fought in Sri Lanka in the days of Rajaraja l. The territory under his authority was known as 'Vallavaraiyanadu', and occasionally 'Brahmadesam'.


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: Along with her great-aunt Sembiyan Mahadevi, Kundavai brought up her nephew, Rajendra I, who was the son of Rajaraja I and "Thiripuvana Madeviyar", princess of Kodumbalur. Rajendra I spent most of his childhood in Pazhaiyarai with Kundavai and Sembiyan Mahadevi.


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: Kundavai is celebrated as mentor to Rajaraja I. Her influence continued into the next generation as she helped rear Rajendra Chola. Uniquely for her era, where royal women were used to forge alliances, Kundavai's father allowed her to exercise her free will, whereupon the princess resolved to stay in the Chola kingdom all her life. Esteemed throughout the Chola realm for her taste and learning, Kundavai was requested to look after the daughters of other royal clans, tutoring them in art, music, and literature.


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: She built at least two Jain temples, one at Rajarajeswaram later known as Darasuram and the other at Tirumalai. She built a hospital after her father named Vinnagar athura salai at Thanjavur and donated extensive lands for its maintenance. She made lavish donations to the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur during the reign of her younger brother Rajaraja Chola I and her nephew Rajendra Chola I.


title: Kundavai Pirāttiyār

text: Here is an excerpt from the 29th year of Rajaraja that lists some of her gifts to Brihadeeswarar Temple:


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Irvin Kershner (born Isadore Kershner; April 29, 1923November 27, 2010) was an American film director, actor, and producer of film and television.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: He gained notice early in his career as a filmmaker for directing quirky, independent drama films, while working as an influential lecturer at the University of Southern California. Later in his career, he transitioned to high-budget blockbusters such as "The Empire Strikes Back", the James Bond adaptation "Never Say Never Again", and "RoboCop 2". Through the course of his career, he received numerous accolades, and was nominated for both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Palme d'Or.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Irvin Kershner was born in Philadelphia, to Russian-Jewish parents. They were born in Kyiv, Russian Empire. His artistic and cultural background was a mixture of music and art. The study of music (violin, viola, and composition) was the most important activity of his early years. He attended Temple University's Tyler School of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Later, he went to New York and Provincetown to study with the famous painting teacher Hans Hofmann. He then moved to Los Angeles where he studied photography at the Art Center College of Design.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: During World War II, Kershner served three years with the U.S. Eighth Air Force as a flight engineer. He later began his film career at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, teaching photography and taking cinema courses under Slavko Vorkapić, a montage artist and then dean of the School. Kershner then accepted a job as still photographer on a State Department film project in Iran under the Point Four Program, which ultimately led to an assignment as a director and cinematographer of documentaries in Iran, Greece and Turkey with the United States Information Service.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: When he returned to the States, he and Paul Coates (1921–1968) developed "Confidential File", a documentary television series. Kershner worked as writer, director, cinematographer, and editor. He later developed and directed the television series "The Rebel" (1959–61), as well as the pilots for "Peyton Place", "Cain's Hundred", "Philip Marlowe", and others.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: He then moved on to feature films, including: "Hoodlum Priest" (which starred Don Murray); "The Luck of Ginger Coffey" (with Robert Shaw and Mary Ure); "A Fine Madness" (with Sean Connery, Joanne Woodward, and Jean Seberg); "The Flim-Flam Man" (starring George C. Scott); "Up the Sandbox" (with Barbra Streisand); "Loving" (with George Segal and Eva Marie Saint); "The Return of a Man Called Horse" (starring Richard Harris); the critically acclaimed TV movie "Raid on Entebbe" (a true-life drama which was nominated for nine Emmys, including Best Direction); and the supernatural thriller "Eyes of Laura Mars" (starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones).


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Kershner was the son of Jewish immigrants. He considered himself an internationalist, saying "I've been a student of Christianity. I've been interested in the historical basis of the Muslim religion. I studied Buddhism. I don't think of myself as a Jew except by birth, as I don't follow the customs. I'm a Jew because other people consider me so. My pride is in being international."


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Kershner directed "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), the sequel of the 1977 hit film "Star Wars". Writer-producer George Lucas knew Kershner as a teacher in the film program at USC School of Cinematic Arts. Kershner was a surprising choice in directing the film. According to Kershner himself, he once asked Lucas: "Of all the younger guys around, all the hot-shots, why me?" Lucas replied: "Well, because you know everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know, but you're not Hollywood."


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Kershner, who was an appealing directorial candidate to Lucas because of his concern for character development, was at first reluctant to direct the film. When asked by Lucas to work on the project over lunch, Kershner refused. Kershner's agent was told about the meeting and encouraged him to take the job. Kershner later discussed his motivations: "I was grabbed by the fairytale which Lucas invented and wanted to be part of keeping it alive." Of his cinematic style, Kershner has said: "I like to fill up the frame with the characters' faces. There's nothing more interesting than the landscape of the human face".


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Kershner turned down a chance to direct "Return of the Jedi" (1983), having spent almost three years of work on "The Empire Strikes Back". Richard Marquand was eventually chosen to direct the third film in the original trilogy. Kershner stated, in retrospect, that he would have accepted an offer to direct one of the films of the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy had they been produced sooner, as Lucas originally estimated the of them to be ready for release in 1988 rather than in 1999.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Kershner had projects that he was going to be involved with in the late 70s and early 80s. He signed on to direct an adaptation of "I, Robot" from a script by Harlan Ellison, which was never filmed. Later, he was initially hired by producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown to direct an adaptation of Eric Van Lustbader's novel "The Ninja" from scripts by W.D. Richter and Tom Cole, but the project was cancelled following months of pre-production.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: After "Empire Strikes Back", Kershner directed "Never Say Never Again" (Sean Connery's return to the role of James Bond), the HBO film "Traveling Man" (starring John Lithgow and Jonathan Silverman, this film earned Kershner an ACE Award nomination), and "RoboCop 2". He also directed the pilot of the television series "seaQuest DSV", and he made his debut as an actor in the Martin Scorsese film "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), in which he played Zebedee, the father of the apostles James and John. He played a film director in Steven Seagal's "On Deadly Ground". He was a faculty member at the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. In 2000 he was a member of the jury at the 22nd Moscow International Film Festival.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: In fall 2002, spring 2003, fall 2004, and spring 2004, Kershner served as a Visiting Professor and Research Associate at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also provided cinematography training. He and the founding director Martha Nell Smith remained close and he served as her advisor until the end of his life.


title: Irvin Kershner

text: Kershner died on November 27, 2010, at his home in Los Angeles after a -year battle with lung cancer. Kershner had been working on photographic projects before his death. He was survived by two sons, David and Dana.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: .5: The Gray Chapter is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot. Released in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands on October 17, 2014, the UK on October 20, 2014 and in North America on October 21, 2014 by Roadrunner Records. It was the first studio album by the band in six years and the first not to feature original founding members bassist Paul Gray and drummer Joey Jordison due to the death of Gray in 2010 (the title of the album being a reference to his surname), and Jordison being fired from the band in late 2013, as well as the only Slipknot album to feature original guitarist Donnie Steele on bass, although the tracks he played on are unknown, and the first Slipknot album to have Alessandro Venturella on bass and Jay Weinberg on drums. The album includes six singles and has received commercial success and acclaiming reviews. A standard and deluxe edition of the album was released. It is also the band's final studio album to feature their longtime percussionist Chris Fehn before his dismissal from the band due to a lawsuit in March 2019.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: "The Negative One" received a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 57th annual Grammy Awards. The album was nominated for Best Rock Album the following year, along with a Best Metal Performance nomination for the song "Custer".


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: The writing process of the record began in late 2013. Wanting to dedicate more time to the album, guitarist Jim Root decided not to tour with Stone Sour in January 2014.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: A new bassist and drummer were added to the lineup during live shows. Taylor told "Loudwire" that two similar masks were created for their appearances in music videos and stage performances, as, when the new members were given the opportunity to make their own masks, the results were, according to Taylor, "kind of cartoony" and did not fit the mind set of Slipknot. Both members were briefly shown in the music video for "The Devil in I", but their identities have not been announced by Slipknot amidst speculation. Root revealed in an interview that founding guitarist and former touring bassist Donnie Steele was involved in some of the studio sessions for the album, but that ultimately Steele declined to rejoin the band in favor of starting a family with his wife. Bassist Alessandro Venturella of Krokodil was identified by the unique tattoos on his hands, performing in the video for "The Devil in I". Jay Weinberg from the band Against Me! was brought in to audition on drums after Joey Jordison was fired from Slipknot. Jay Weinberg is the son of Max Weinberg, the drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and Conan O'Brien's drummer and band leader for his late night talk show. Max Weinberg introduced Jay Weinberg to Slipknot and from there on forged a friendship by going to several concerts and being invited backstage; the band liked what he brought to the table and was told he was free to join if he wanted and he accepted. The album was produced by Greg Fidelman and mixed by Joe Barresi. Fidelman is known for his work with Metallica, System of a Down, Audioslave and more, as well as mixing Slipknot's third album, "", in 2004.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: On July 15, the band began releasing short teasers for the new album for over a two-week period that turned out to be clips from the official video along with samples from a song entitled "The Negative One". The song was released on August 1, 2014 and an accompanying video was released on August 5, 2014. It was directed by Shawn Crahan; however, it did not feature any of the band members.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: On August 13, 2014, the band revealed the cover art for their official radio single entitled "The Devil in I", and the single premiered on August 24, 2014. The official video for the single was unveiled on September 12 featuring the members with new variations of their masks with the exception of Taylor who debuted a new mask and the new bassist and drummer's masks which were very similar.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: Slipknot began their world tour at the second iteration of Knotfest as headliners on October 25 and the 26 with Anthrax, Five Finger Death Punch, Otep and Black Label Society among others in California. A co-headline North American and European tour with Korn dubbed the "Prepare for Hell" tour commenced afterwards with King 810 in support. Slipknot and Korn embarked on the British leg of the Prepare For Hell tour in January 2015. In addition to the standard edition, a deluxe edition featuring two listed and three unlisted bonus tracks, and a special edition featuring a T-shirt of the album cover have also been released.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: ".5: The Gray Chapter" received generally positive reviews, as most critics praised the return of their older sound from "Slipknot" and "Iowa", while maintaining the melodies the band explored on "". Florino characterized it as "the most abrasive work since their self-titled debut," "The Guardian"'s Dom Lawson as "every bit as warped and explosive as previous records" Ray Van Horn of Blabbermouth.net hailed the album as "a return to their punishing roots" and noted that "AOV" showcased some elements of thrash metal. "Exclaim!" critic Bradley Zorgdrager pointed out that Slipknot "wastes no time kicking it back to 2001's "Iowa"" while "Metal Hammer"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s critic Dom Lawson noted that "there's plenty of [...] brutal, turbocharged Slipknot [...] here," while "Rock Revolt" mentioned that the album uses elements from their previous studio albums while "pushing the creative boundaries of [their] past albums into new territory." "Q"' magazine's Tom Bryant complained that the album's lighter tracks, namely "Goodbye," "Killpop," and "The One That Kills The Least," were "disappointingly timid." However, he followed by commenting that "It's possible to entirely forget these when Slipknot play to their strengths: unrelenting darkness and attack," using "Custer," "The Devil in I," and "Lech" as examples.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: Several critics praised the way the album acknowledged Gray's memory. "Rock Revolt" noted plenty of lyrical content relating to Gray. While "Revolver" magazine critic Dan Epstein and Gregory Heaney from AllMusic concluded that "they don't try to sugarcoat their loss, anger or grief anywhere on the album," and that "from that deep well of pain, another great Slipknot record has emerged," and that "they're able to channel their grief into a productive album, allowing them to continue moving forward [...] with one of the strongest albums of their career," respectively. Zorgdrager saw it as "it's a considerable accomplishment and a lovely eulogy to their fallen comrade." Several critics appreciated the composition of the album, with Van Horn characterizing it as "a largely dark, often moving listening experience." "Loudwire" critic Chad Childers wrote noted the "mix of all the different sounds" creating "a musical journey" and pointed that while the album "rocks and pummels you in all the right places like you would hope, it also shows a depth in emotion and some heavily personal moments on a much grander scale," while Artistdirect critic Rick Florino gave the album a perfect rating concluding that "by the time this journey ends, it feels as if Slipknot have come full circle." "Billboard" critic Gary Suarez was a little more critical of the album stating, "for such an emotionally loaded comeback, ."5: The Gray Chapter" is Slipknot's least gripping LP. [...] "Skeptic" is lyrically awkward, but the band recovers well on processional closer "If Rain Is What You Want." Emblematic of both Slipknot's strengths and its weaknesses, perhaps this album is the sort of warts-and-all eulogy Gray would have wanted."


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: Former drummer Joey Jordison praised the album saying that he ""listened to the whole record multiple times, and I think it's great. It's fucking cool and I'm glad they moved on. I'm glad they're carrying on the name, because what's important is the fans.""


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: The album's lead single, "The Negative One", was nominated for the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 57th Grammy Awards. Additionally, the album was nominated for the Best Rock Album and "Custer" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: ".5: The Gray Chapter" landed in the number one spot in Australia on the ARIA Albums Chart with 14,188 first week sales. It was Slipknot's second album to debut at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 albums chart by selling 132,000 copies in its first week. The album also debuted at number one in Japan, Canada, Russia and Switzerland. It had top 5 debuts in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Mexico, Denmark and Finland.


title: .5: The Gray Chapter

text: There are three hidden tracks. The first is silent. The second starts with distorted music, before moving on to an interview with distorted audio. The interview is with a man who claims to have written massively famous heavy metal albums. The third is a farewell track played at the end of their live shows. The tracks are commonly referred to as "-Silent-", "-Talk-" and "-Funny-" respectively, but don't have any official names. The three tracks are omitted on the Spotify and ITunes version of the Special edition.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: Inonotus obliquus, commonly called chaga (a Latinisation of the Russian word "чага"), is a fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae. It is parasitic on birch and other trees. The sterile conk is irregularly formed and resembles burnt charcoal. It is not the fruiting body of the fungus, but a sclerotium or mass of mycelium, mostly black because of a great amount of melanin. Some people consider chaga medicinal.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: "Inonotus obliquus" is found most commonly in the Circumboreal Region of the Northern Hemisphere, where it is distributed in birch forests.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: The name "chaga" ( ) comes from the Russian name of the fungus (transliterated from "чага"), which in turn is purportedly derived from the word for the fungus in Komi-Permyak, the language of the indigenous peoples in the Kama River Basin, west of the Ural Mountains. It is also known as the clinker polypore (from its resemblance to the slag left after a coal fire, known commonly as "clinker" when coal fires were common), cinder conk, black mass and birch canker polypore. In England and officially in Canada, it is known as the sterile conk trunk rot of birch.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: "Inonotus obliquus" causes a white heart rot to develop in the host tree. The chaga spores enter the tree through wounds, particularly poorly healed branch stubs. The white rot decay will spread throughout the heartwood of the host. During the infection cycle, penetration of the sapwood occurs only around the sterile exterior mycelium mass. The chaga fungus will continue to cause decay within the living tree for 10–80+ years. While the tree is alive, only sterile mycelial masses are produced (the black exterior conk). The sexual stage begins after the tree, or some portion of the tree, is killed by the infection. "I. obliquus" will begin to produce fertile fruiting bodies underneath the bark. These bodies begin as a whitish mass that turn to brown with time. Since the sexual stage occurs almost entirely under the bark, the fruiting body is rarely seen. These fruiting bodies produce basidiospores which will spread the infection to other vulnerable trees.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: Generally found growing on birch ("Betula" spp.) trees, it has also been found on alder ("Alnus" spp.), beech ("Fagus" spp.) and poplar ("Populus" spp.). In species other than birch, the fungus often appears as buried stem canker, instead of the charcoal-like mass found on birch trees.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: Attempts at cultivating this fungus on potato dextrose agar and other simulated mediums resulted in a reduced and markedly different production of metabolites. Cultivated chaga developed a reduced number of phytosterols, particularly lanosterol, an intermediate in the synthesis of ergosterol and lanostane-type triterpenes.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: The black sclerotium has large concentrations of melanin. Chaga contains extremely high concentrations of oxalate, 2800–11200 mg total oxalates/100 g sclerotium, one of the highest reported in any organism.


title: Inonotus obliquus

text: Chaga is traditionally grated into a fine powder and used to brew a beverage resembling coffee or tea and tastes strongly of Chinese herbal tea. However, caution is warranted with chronic use due to the extremely high concentrations of oxalates in chaga. Three extraction processes may be used.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Homosexuality has been documented in China since ancient times. According to one study by Bret Hinsch, for some time after the fall of the Han Dynasty, homosexuality was widely accepted in China but this has been disputed. Several early Chinese emperors are speculated to have had homosexual relationships accompanied by heterosexual ones. Opposition to homosexuality, according to the study by Hinsch, did not become firmly established in China until the 19th and 20th centuries through the Westernization efforts of the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. On the other hand, Gulik's study argued that the Mongol Yuan dynasty introduced a more ascetic attitude to sexuality in general.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: For most of the 20th century, homosexual sex was banned in the People's Republic of China until it was legalized in 1997.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In a survey by the organization WorkForLGBT of 18,650 lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, 3% of males and 6% of females surveyed described themselves as "completely out". A third of the men surveyed, as well as 9% of the women surveyed said they were in the closet about their sexuality. 18% of men surveyed answered they had come out to their families, while around 80% were reluctant due to family pressure.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: There was a step forward for the China LGBT community after the Weibo incident in April 2018, where the public outcry over the platform for banning homosexual content led the platform to withdraw the decision. Yet, in 2021 Weibo censored the accounts of numerous LGBT student organizations without any prior warning.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Traditional terms for homosexuality included "the passion of the cut sleeve" (), and "the divided peach" (). An example of the latter term appears in a 6th-century poem by Liu Xiaozhuo:


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Other, less literary, terms have included "male trend" (), "allied brothers" (), and "the passion of Longyang" (), referencing a homoerotic anecdote about Lord Long Yang in the Warring States period. The formal modern word for "homosexuality/homosexual(s)" is "tongxinglian" () or "tongxinglian zhe" (, homosexual people). Instead of that formal word, "tongzhi" (), simply a head rhyme word, is more commonly used in the gay community. "Tongzhi" (; sometimes along with "nü tongzhi", ), which was first adopted by Hong Kong researchers in Gender Studies, is used as slang in Mandarin Chinese to refer to homosexuals. Such usage is seen in Taiwan. However, in mainland China, "tongzhi" is used both in the context of the traditional "comrade" sense (e.g., used in speeches by Chinese Communist Party officials) and to refer to homosexuals. In Cantonese, "gei1" (), adopted from English "gay", is used. "Gay" is sometimes considered to be offensive when used by heterosexuals or even by homosexuals in certain situations. Another slang term is "boli" (), which is not so commonly used. Among gay university students, the acronym ""datong"" (), which also refers to utopia, in Chinese is becoming popular. "Datong" is short for "daxuesheng tongzhi" (university students [that are] homosexuals).


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Lesbians usually call themselves "lazi" () or "lala" (, ). These two terms are abbreviations of the transliteration of the English term "lesbian". These slang terms are also commonly used in mainland China now.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The story of Dong Xian, which details the same-sex relationship between Emperor Ai of Han and one of his male concubines has been cited by Hinsch as evidence of the historical tolerance of homosexuality within the Chinese empire. However, critics have cited the fact that the relationship ended in tragedy and violence to argue that the story was therefore critical rather than supportive of homosexual relationships.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Ming Dynasty literature, such as "Bian Er Chai" (), portrays homosexual relationships between men as enjoyable relationships. Writings from the Liu Song Dynasty claimed that homosexuality was as common as heterosexuality in the late 3rd century:


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Some scholars argue that Confucianism, being primarily a social and political philosophy, focused little on sexuality, whether homosexual or heterosexual. Critics have argued that under Confucian teachings, not having children was one of the greatest sins against filial piety, contending that while procreational bisexuality was tolerated, exclusive homosexuality was not. Emperors were still obligated to marry women and raise heirs, and same-sex sexual activities and relationships were merely tolerated as secondary practices. Confucian ideology did emphasize male friendships, and Louis Crompton has argued that the "closeness of the master-disciple bond it fostered may have subtly facilitated homosexuality".


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Although Taoist alchemy regarded heterosexual sex, without ejaculation, as a way of maintaining a male's "life essence", homosexual intercourse was seen as "neutral", because the act has no detrimental or beneficial effect on a person's life essence.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In a similar way to Buddhism, Taoist schools sought throughout history to define what would be sexual misconduct. Broadly speaking, the precept against "sexual misconduct" in Taoism relates to extramarital sex. The term for a married couple () usually in Chinese suggests a male with a female, though Taoist scripture itself does not explicitly say anything against same-sex relations. Many sorts of precepts mentioned in the Yunji Qiqian (), The Mini Daoist Canon, does not say anything against same-sex relations, maintaining neutrality.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Opposition to homosexuality in China rose in the medieval Tang Dynasty, but did not become fully established until the late Qing Dynasty and the Chinese Republic. There exists a dispute among Sinologists as to when negative views of homosexual relationships became prevalent among the general Chinese population, with some scholars arguing that it was common by the time of the Ming Dynasty, established in the 14th century, and others arguing that anti-gay attitudes became entrenched during the Westernization efforts of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China in the 19th and 20th centuries.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In Ancient Fujian, the region had developed a sexual culture isolated from that of the rest of the Chinese empire. During the Qing Dynasty, the local population began worshipping a Taoist deity known as Tu Er Shen, who served as the guardian of same-sex love. The deity was originally a human by the name of Hu Tianbao. Hu was executed after having been caught peeping on a nobleman he had become attracted to. He was originally destined to go to hell, but the guardians of the spirit realm took pity on him, as his crime was committed out of love. He was then appointed as the guardian of same-sex love.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The Central Qing government of Beijing labeled followers of Tu Er Shen “cultists” and demanded for their persecution and elimination. It was during this dynasty that China's very first law against non-commercial same-sex sexual conduct was enacted. However, the newly created offense of homosexuality carried the most lenient penalty possible in the Qing legal system. Today, the temple of Tu Er Shen, located in New Taipei, serves as the world's only religious temple dedicated exclusively to same-sex love.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The earliest law against a homosexual act dates from the Song Dynasty, punishing "young males who act as prostitutes." The first statute specifically banning homosexual intercourse was enacted in the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Ming dynasty China banned homosexual sodomy (anal sex) in the Ming Code since the Jiajing emperor's reign and continued into the Qing dynasty until 1907, when western influence led to the law being repealed. The Chinese mocked and insulted Puyi and the Japanese as homosexuals and presented it as proof of their perversion and being uncivilized. The only time homosexual sodomy (anal sex) has been banned in Japan was for short time for 8 years in 1872-1880 due to western influence.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Lu Tonglin, author of "", said "a clear-cut dichotomy between heterosexuality and homosexuality did not exist in traditional China."


title: Homosexuality in China

text: During Mongolian ruled Yuan dynasty, lots of Persian speaking administrators were relocated from Persia and Transoxiana to Beijing, in the meantime due to the exotic appearance of the Persian newcomers, Persian young adult males were favored to be used as extravagant cupbearers and courtiers at the Chinese emperors palace. However, after the overturn of Yuan dynasty, the tradition was still continued to Ming emperors palace.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Same-sex love can sometimes be difficult to differentiate in Classical Chinese because the pronouns he and she were not distinguished. And like many East and Southeast Asian languages, Chinese does not have grammatical gender. Thus, poems such as Tang Dynasty poems and other Chinese poetry may be read as either heterosexual or homosexual, or neutral in that regard, depending on the reader's desire. In addition, a good deal of ancient Chinese poetry was written by men in the female voice, or persona. Some may have portrayed semi-sexual relationships between teen-aged girls, before they were pulled apart by marriage. Male poets would use the female narrative voice, as a persona, to lament being abandoned by a male comrade or king.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Another complication in trying to separate heterosexual and homosexual themes in Chinese literature is that for most of Chinese history, writing was restricted to a cultivated elite, amongst whom blatant discussion of sex was considered vulgar. Until adopting European values late in their history, the Chinese did not even have nouns to describe a heterosexual or homosexual person per se. Rather, people who might be directly labeled as such in other traditions would be described by veiled allusions to the actions they enjoyed, or, more often, by referring to a famous example from the past. The most common of these references to homosexuality referenced Dong Xian and Mizi Xia.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Chen Dynasty's "Book of Chen", records the relationship between Emperor Wen of Chen and his favorite male lover, Han Zigao. Chen famously said to Han: "people say I am destined to be an Emperor, if it comes true, you will become my queen." Chen did become an Emperor in 559, but he was unable to keep his promise to Han and instead, he made him a general. Han spent all his time with Chen until the latter died in 566. Outside the tomb of Chen, discovered in 2013, two statues of "pixiu" were found, different from the usual male and female design, since both of them are male, and are believed to represent Emperor Chen and Han Zigao.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The Tang Dynasty "Poetical Essay on the Supreme Joy" is another good example of the allusive nature of Chinese writing on sexuality. This manuscript sought to present the "supreme joy" (sex) in every form known to the author; the chapter on homosexuality comes between chapters on sex in Buddhist monasteries and sex between peasants. It is the earliest surviving manuscript to mention homosexuality, but it does so through phrases such as "cut sleeves in the imperial palace", "countenances of linked jade", and "they were like Lord Long Yang", phrases which would not be recognizable as speaking of sexuality of any kind to someone who was not familiar with the literary tradition.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: While these conventions make explicit mentions of homosexuality rare in Chinese literature in comparison to the Greek or Japanese traditions, the allusions which do exist are given an exalted air by their frequent comparison to former Golden Ages and imperial favorites. A Han Dynasty scholar describes in Garden of Stories the official Zhuang Xin making a nervous pass at his lord, Xiang Cheng of Chu. The ruler is nonplussed at first, but Zhuang justifies his suggestion through allusion to a chancellor who received the confessions of a fisherman by singing a song. At that, "Lord Xiang Cheng also received Zhuang Xin's hand and promoted him." A remarkable aspect of traditional Chinese literature is the prominence of same-sex friendship. Bai Juyi is one of many writers who wrote dreamy, lyrical poems to male friends about shared experiences. He and fellow scholar-bureaucrat Yuan Zhen made plans to retire together as Taoist recluses once they had saved enough funds, but Yuan's death kept that dream from being fulfilled.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Other works depict less platonic relationships. A Ming Dynasty rewriting of a very early Zhou Dynasty legend recounts a passionate male relationship between Pan Zhang & Wang Zhongxian which is equated to heterosexual marriage, and which continues even beyond death. The daring 17th century author Li Yu combined tales of passionate love between men with brutal violence and cosmic revenge. "Dream of the Red Chamber", one of China's "Four Great Classical Novels" from the Qing Dynasty, has scenes that depict men engaging in both same-sex and opposite-sex acts.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: There is a tradition of clearly erotic literature, which is less known. It is supposed that most such works have been purged in the periodic book burnings that have been a feature of Chinese history. However, isolated manuscripts have survived. Chief among these is the anthology "Bian er chai" (), a series of four short stories in five chapters each, of passion and seduction. The first short story, "Chronicle of a Loyal Love", involves a twenty-year-old academician chasing a fifteen-year-old scholar and a bevy of adolescent valets. In another, "Qing Xia Ji" (), the protagonist, Zhang, a valiant soldier with two warrior wives, is seduced by his younger friend Zhong, a remarkable arrangement as it is stereotypically the older man who takes the initiative with a boy. The work appeared in a single edition some time between 1630 and 1640.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: More recently, Ding Ling, an author of the 1920s in China, was a prominent and controversial feminist author, and it is generally agreed that she had lesbian (or at least bisexual) content in her stories. Her most famous piece is "Miss Sophia's Diary", a seminal work in the development of a voice for women's sexuality and sexual desire. Additionally, a contemporary author, Wong Bik-Wan, writes from the lesbian perspective in her story "She's a Young Woman and So Am I" (). Author Pai Hsien-yung created a sensation by coming out of the closet in Taiwan, and by writing about gay life in Taipei in the 1960s and 70s.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Same-sex love was also celebrated in Chinese art, many examples of which have survived the various traumatic political events in recent Chinese history. Though no large statues are known to still exist, many hand scrolls and paintings on silk can be found in private collections .


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Gay identities and communities have expanded in China since the 1980s as a result of resurfacing dialogue about and engagement with queer identities in the public domain. Since the 1990s, the preferred term for people of diverse sexuality, sex and gender is "tongzhi" (). While lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) culture remains largely underground, there are a plethora of gay cruising zones and often unadvertised gay bars, restaurants and discos spread across the country. The recent and escalating proliferation of gay identity in mainland China is most significantly signaled by its recognition in mainstream media despite China's media censorship. There are also many gay websites and LGBT organisations which help organise gay rights' campaigns, AIDS prevention efforts, film festivals and pride parades. Yet public discourse on the issue remains fraught - a product of competing ideologies surrounding the body; the morality of its agency in the public and private arena.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Like most modern societies, public sentiment on homosexuality in China sits within a liminal space. While it is not outright condemned, neither is it fully accepted as being part of the social norm. In many instances, those who associate with the queer community also associate with another marginalised group, such as rural-to-urban migrants and sex workers, and therefore the stigma that is attached to aspects of queer identity is often a manifestation of perceived social disobedience against different intersecting vectors of 'moral rights'. As Elaine Jeffreys and Haiqing Yu note in their book, Sex in China, individuals who interact within the queer community do not necessarily identify as being homosexual. 'Money boys', men who provide commercial sexual services to other men, but do not identify as being homosexual, are an example of such a social group. Their minority status is imbued with aspects of criminality and poverty. This suggests that the 'perverseness' attached to homosexuality in mainland China is not purely informed by a biological discourse, but, depending on the circumstances, can also be informed by accepted notions of cultural and social legitimacy.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The influence of Western gay and lesbian culture on China's culture is complex. While Western ideas and conceptions of gayness have begun to permeate the Chinese gay and lesbian identity, some Chinese gay and lesbian activists have pushed back against the mainstream politics of asserting one's own identity and pushing for social change due to its disruption of "family ties and social harmony." Most of the exposure to Western gay and lesbian culture is through the internet or the media, but this exposure is limited—mainstream symbols of gay and lesbian culture (such as the rainbow flag) are not widely recognisable in China.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Justice Anthony Kennedy quoted Confucius in his majority ruling in "Obergefell v. Hodges" leading to discussion of the ruling on Sina Weibo. Chinese microblogging services also facilitate discourse on things like coming out to parents and articles in the People's Daily on gay men.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In 2009, a male couple held a symbolic wedding in public and "China Daily" took the photo of the two men in a passionate embrace across its pages. Other symbolic gay and lesbian weddings have been held across the country and have been covered positively by the Chinese media.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In 2012, Luo Hongling, a university professor, committed suicide because she knew her husband was a gay man. She alleged their marriage was just a lie since the man could not admit he was gay to his parents. Luo was considered a "homowife", local slang for a woman married to a homosexual male akin to the English term "beard".


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In 2016, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television banned images of homosexuals on television.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: On April 13, 2018, Sina Weibo, one of China's largest and most popular microblogging platforms, announced a new policy to ban all pieces of contents related to pornography, violence, and homosexuality. According to Weibo, this act was requested by the “Network(Cyber) Security Law.” However, it is unclear which “Network Security Law” Weibo was referring to. In the newest edition of “People's Republic of China Network(Cyber) Security Law” put into effect on June 1, 2017 by the government, media related to pornography is banned, yet the issue of homosexuality is not mentioned. It remains unclear if Weibo's decision reflects its company's own discrimination against the LGBTQ community, or if it foreshadows the government's future policy against this group.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Weibo's announcement led to the anger of China's LGBTQ community as well as many other Chinese citizens. A Weibo user called “"Zhu Ding Zhen" ” made a post, saying, “"I am gay, what about you?" ” This post was read more than 2.4 billion times and shared by about 3 million users, commented by 1.5 million users, and liked by 9.5 million users in less than 3 days. On April 16, Weibo posted another announcement to reverse its previous decision, stating that Weibo would stop banning pieces of contents related to homosexuality and expressed thanks to its users’ “discussions” and “suggestions.”


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Adult, consensual and non-commercial homosexuality has been legal in China since 1997, when the national penal code was revised. Homosexuality was removed from the Chinese Society of Psychiatry's list of mental illnesses in 2001 and the public health campaign against HIV/AIDS pandemic does include education for men who have sex with men. Officially, overt police enforcement against gay people is restricted to gay people engaging in sex acts in public or prostitution, which are also illegal for heterosexuals. In addition, the declassification in 2001 was never officially recognised by the Ministry of Health (Now National Health Commission).


title: Homosexuality in China

text: However, despite these changes, no civil rights law exists to address discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Households headed by same-sex couples are not permitted to adopt children and do not have the same privileges as heterosexual married couples.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: On January 5, 2016, a court in Changsha, southern Hunan province, agreed to hear the lawsuit of 26-year-old Sun Wenlin filed in December 2015 against the Furong district civil affairs bureau for its June 2015 refusal of the right to register to marry his 36-year-old male partner, Hu Mingliang. On April 13, 2016, with hundreds of gay marriage supporters outside, the Changsha court ruled against Sun, who vowed to appeal, citing the importance of his case for LGBT progress in China. On May 17, 2016, Sun and Hu were married in a private ceremony in Changsha, expressing their intention to organize another 99 LGBT weddings across the country in order to normalize gay marriage in China.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In 2014, a Beijing court issued an unanticipated ruling against the practice of gay conversion therapy. This ruling, however, did not apply nationwide and different district courts have issued various conflicting rulings. In 2016, a Henan court awarded civil damages to a victim of gay conversion therapy who had been physically and psychologically traumatized as a result of the procedure. However, the Court did not expressly prohibit the practice. In parallel to the previous decision, the Henan's court's decision also did not apply nationwide. At the national level, no action has been taken against gay conversion therapy and the practice continues to be promoted on a national level. LGBT activists have been pressuring the central government for a complete nationwide ban.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Due to social pressure, family values, the homophobic nature of the Chinese government, along with personal safety concerns, gay men and women sometimes enter into heterosexual-presenting relationships for appearances. When a straight woman marries a gay man, the woman is known as tongqi; when a straight man marries a lesbian woman, they are known as tongfu. When a lesbian woman and a gay man marry each other, the resulting marriage is known as xinghun, or cooperative marriage.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Much more research has been done on tongqi than tongfu, although neither has been extensive. Researchers at the Harbin Institute of Technology conducted a study on tongqi and tongfu in China. In their research, they were able to find over 200 tongqi to interview but only about 10 tongfu. They hypothesized this was because men are less likely to take their complaints online, and are less likely to be aware they are married to a queer person than their female counterparts, so they are less likely to be represented in self-help groups. They also hypothesized that men are more likely to be pressured into marriage than women, due to the social pressure to produce an heir. It is estimated that over 80% of bisexual and gay men in China marry straight women but the percentage of lesbian and bisexual women who marry straight men is unknown.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: Xinghun, or formality marriage, is a tradition among Chinese queers that has seen uptake in recent years. Due to the rise of the internet, and specifically, online dating sites, Chinese entrepreneurs have created services to expedite the marriages of gay men and women to each other. Some examples of these services are the Queers app created to facilitate lavender marriage and Chinagayles.com, a service created in 2005 with over 380,000 registered accounts that has claimed to facilitate over 20,000 sham marriages.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The practice of Xinghun has become more accessible with the rise of the internet, but has also come under more scrutiny in recent years. Most people opposed to the practice were born in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Deng Xiaoping was the chairman of China. Xiaoping's economic policy of "reform and re-opening up" opened up China to foreign imports but also foreign ideas, such as acceptance of homosexuality and autonomy in marriage choices. Xiaoping's policies led to a more market-based economy in China and a populace that was more willing to express their ideas. Young Chinese people raise issues about the complications that could arise from sham marriages, such as male violence through rape or assault towards an unwilling wife, or the issues that come from raising a child who does not know the full extent of their parents' identities and relationship.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The following terms are not standard usage; rather, they are colloquial and used within the gay community in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.


title: Homosexuality in China

text: The following are prominent mainland Chinese and Hong Kong people who have come out to the public or are actively working to improve gay rights in mainland China and Taiwan:


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In 2015, film-maker Fan Popo sued government censors for pulling his gay documentary "Mama Rainbow" from online sites. The lawsuit concluded in December 2015 with a finding by Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court that the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) had not requested that hosting sites pull the documentary. Despite this ruling, which Fan felt was a victory because it effectively limited state involvement, "the film is still unavailable to see online on Chinese hosting sites."


title: Homosexuality in China

text: On December 31, 2015, the China Television Drama Production Industry Association posted new guidelines, including a ban on showing queer relationships on TV. The regulations stated: "No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviors, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on." These new regulations have begun to affect web dramas, which have historically had fewer restrictions:


title: Homosexuality in China

text: "Chinese Web dramas are commonly deemed as enjoying looser censorship compared with content on TV and the silver screen. They often feature more sexual, violent and other content that is deemed by traditional broadcasters to fall in the no-no area."


title: Homosexuality in China

text: In February 2016 the popular Chinese gay web series "Addicted (Heroin)" was banned from being broadcast online 12 episodes into a 15-episode season. Makers of the series uploaded the remaining episodes on YouTube, and production of a planned second season remains in doubt.


title: Park Yoo-na

text: Park Yoo-na (born December 23, 1997) is a South Korean actress under 8D Creative's WIP sub-label. She is best known for her roles in the television series "My ID is Gangnam Beauty" (2018), "Sky Castle" (2018–2019), "Hotel del Luna" (2019), "True Beauty" (2020-2021), and "Rookie Cops" (2022).


title: Misnomer

text: A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name no longer suitably applies. A misnomer may also be simply a word that someone uses incorrectly or misleadingly. The word "misnomer" does not mean "misunderstanding" or "popular misconception", and a number of misnomers remain in common usage — which is to say that a word being a misnomer does not necessarily make usage of the word incorrect.


title: Misnomer

text: The term "anachronym" (note well "-chron-") as defined in Garner's Modern English Usage refers to this type of misnomer. Examples cited by Garner include the persistence of the word "dial" in its telephoning sense after the rotary dial era and the persistence of the term "tin foil" in the aluminum foil era. Anachronyms should not be homophonously confused with anacronyms (note well "-acro-"), which are words such as "laser" and "sonar" that have acronymic origin but are generally no longer treated like conventional acronyms (that is, they are used syntactically like any other words, without reference to their original expansions).


title: Vera Farmiga on screen and stage

text: Vera Farmiga is an American actress, director, and producer. She began her career on stage as an understudy in Ronald Harwood's 1996 play "Taking Sides" on Broadway. The following year, she starred in the Off-Broadway play "Second-Hand Smoke" (1997) by Mac Wellman. Farmiga made her film debut in the drama-thriller "Return to Paradise" (1998). She then had supporting roles in the romantic drama film "Autumn in New York" (2000), the crime drama film "The Opportunists" (2000), and the action thriller film "15 Minutes" (2001). Farmiga's breakthrough role came in 2004, when she was cast in the drama film "Down to the Bone". For her performance, she won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Acting and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She then starred in the political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004) and the crime thriller "Running Scared" (2006).


title: Vera Farmiga on screen and stage

text: Farmiga's role in "The Departed" (2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, brought her to worldwide prominence. She subsequently had a lead role in the romantic drama "Never Forever" (2007). In 2008, Farmiga starred in the historical drama "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas", for which she won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. That same year, she appeared in the political drama "Nothing But the Truth", for which she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then starred in the psychological thriller "Orphan" (2009), and gained critical acclaim for her role in the comedy-drama "Up in the Air" (2009), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Vera Farmiga on screen and stage

text: In 2011, Farmiga made her directorial debut with the drama "Higher Ground", for which she was nominated for the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Director and the Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture. Also in 2011, she starred in the science fiction film "Source Code". The following year, she appeared in the action thriller "Safe House" (2012) and the comedy-drama "Goats" (2012). In 2013, Farmiga starred as Lorraine Warren in the horror film "The Conjuring", for which she was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Scared-As-Shit Performance. The following year, she starred in the drama "The Judge" (2014). In 2016, Farmiga reprised her role as Lorraine Warren in the horror sequel "The Conjuring 2" and co-starred in the satirical comedy "Special Correspondents". In 2018, she appeared in the action thriller "The Commuter" and the biographical drama "The Front Runner". In 2019, Farmiga starred in the science fiction thriller "Captive State", the monster film "", and the horror sequel "Annabelle Comes Home".


title: Vera Farmiga on screen and stage

text: From 2013 to 2017, she starred in the A&E drama-thriller series "Bates Motel" as Norma Louise Bates. Her performance in the role earned her the 2013 Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television, and nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2013), the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (2013–2015), and the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2013). She also served as a producer on the series. In 2019, Farmiga starred in the miniseries "When They See Us". For her performance, she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.


title: European dragon

text: The Roman poet Virgil in his poem "Culex" lines 163-201, describing a shepherd having a fight with a big constricting snake, calls it "serpens" and also "draco", showing that in his time the two words probably could mean the same thing.


title: European dragon

text: In and after the early Middle Ages, the European dragon is typically depicted as a large, fire-breathing, scaly, horned, lizard-like creature; the creature also has leathery, bat-like wings, four legs, and a long, muscular prehensile tail. Some depictions show dragons with one or more of: feathered wings, crests, ear frills, fiery manes, ivory spikes running down its spine, and various exotic decorations.


title: European dragon

text: In folktales, dragon's blood often contains unique powers, keeping them alive for longer or giving them poisonous or acidic properties. The typical dragon in Christian culture protects a cavern or castle filled with gold and treasure. An evil dragon is often associated with a great hero who tries to slay it, and a good one is said to give support or wise advice.


title: European dragon

text: Though a winged creature, the dragon is generally to be found in its underground lair, a cave that identifies it as an ancient creature of earth.


title: European dragon

text: Roman dragons developed from serpentine Greek ones, combined with the dragons of the Near East, in the context of the hybrid Greek/Eastern Hellenistic culture. From Babylon, the "muš-ḫuššu" was a classic representation of a Near Eastern dragon. St John's "Book of Revelation"—Greek literature, not Roman—describes Satan as "a great dragon, flaming red, with seven heads and ten horns". Much of St John's literary inspiration is late Hebrew and Greek, but his dragon is more likely to have symbolized the dragons from the Near East. In the Roman Empire, each military cohort had a particular identifying "signum" (military standard); after the Parthian and Dacian Wars of Trajan in the east, the Dacian Draco military standard entered the Legion with the "Cohors Sarmatarum" and "Cohors Dacorum" (Sarmatian and Dacian cohorts)—a large dragon fixed to the end of a lance, with large, gaping jaws of silver and with the rest of the body formed of colored silk. With the jaws facing into the wind, the silken body inflated and rippled, resembling a windsock.


title: European dragon

text: Several personifications of evil or allusions to dragons in the Old Testament are translated as forms of "draco" in Jerome's Vulgate. e.g. Deuteronomy (32:33), Job (30:29), Psalms (73:13, 90:13 & 43:20), Isaiah (13:21, 27:1, 34:13 & 43:20), Jeremiah (9:11), and Malachi (1:3).


title: European dragon

text: Dragons in Greek mythology often guard treasure. For example, Ladon, a hundred-headed dragon, guarded the tree of Hesperides until he was slain by Heracles. Likewise, Python guarded the oracle of Delphi until he was slain by Apollo out of revenge for Python tormenting his mother. The Lernaean Hydra, a multiple-headed serpentine swamp monster killed by Heracles, is said to be a dragon.


title: European dragon

text: In a tale in Apuleius's "The Golden Ass" (also called "Metamorphoses of Apuleius",) a band of travelers ask a shepherd for refreshments. The shepherd asks why they care about refreshments in such a place. An old man asks the travelers if they can help get his son from a well; one of them goes to help. When he does not return to the group, they go search for him. They find a monstrous dragon eating the said man from the group while the old man was nowhere to be seen.


title: European dragon

text: The Roman author Pliny the Elder in his book "Natural History" (book 8, chapters 11 & 13) describes the Indian "drakōn" as a big constricting snake, likely the Indian Python, but described exaggeratedly as able to kill an elephant by constricting its neck.


title: European dragon

text: The Roman author Claudius Aelianus in his book "De Natura Animalium" describes the "draco" as a big constricting snake found in India, presumably the Indian Python, but with its size and strength greatly exaggerated so that it can kill an elephant by constricting its neck; this battle between a "draco" and an elephant is repeated with much embellishment in later descriptions of "dracones" or dragons in bestiaries.


title: European dragon

text: Classical European dragons are often described as illuminating the air. This is often taken by Christian writers as a metaphor for Lucifer, whose name means "bearer of light".