title: Van der Waals equation

text: This invariance may also be understood in terms of the principle of corresponding states. If two fluids have the same reduced pressure, reduced volume, and reduced temperature, we say that their states are corresponding. The states of two fluids may be corresponding even if their measured pressure, volume, and temperature are very different. If the two fluids' states are corresponding, they exist in the same regime of the reduced form equation of state. Therefore, they will respond to changes in roughly the same way, even though their measurable physical characteristics may differ significantly.


title: Van der Waals equation

text: The Van der Waals equation is a cubic equation of state; in the reduced formulation the cubic equation is:


title: Van der Waals equation

text: The solution of this equation for the case where there are three separate roots may be found at Maxwell construction.


title: Van der Waals equation

text: The equation is also usable as a PVT equation for compressible fluids (e.g. polymers). In this case specific volume changes are small and it can be written in a simplified form:


title: Van der Waals equation

text: where "p" is the pressure, "V" is specific volume, "T" is the temperature and "A, B, C" are parameters.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a military science fiction web series set in the universe of the "Halo" franchise. "Forward Unto Dawn" consists of five 15-minute episodes released weekly starting on October 5, 2012, and was later released as a single film on DVD and Blu-ray and was later put on Netflix in 2013. A coming-of-age story in the twenty-sixth century set 31 years before the events of "Halo 4", "Forward Unto Dawn" follows Thomas Lasky, a cadet at a military training academy who is unsure of his future within the military but feels pressured to follow in the footsteps of his mother and brother. The academy is attacked by the Covenant, a religious alliance of aliens. Lasky and his surviving squad mates are rescued by the Master Chief and must escape the planet.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: The series was produced as a marketing effort for the video game "Halo 4" intended to widen the audience of the "Halo" series and as a stepping stone to a potential "Halo" film. It was written by Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing, and directed by Stewart Hendler. "Forward Unto Dawn" was shot in Vancouver over 25 days in May 2012 on a budget just under . It has just under 500 shots with computer generated imagery, approximately a quarter of what a feature film would have, but the visual effects received praise from reviewers.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: "Forward Unto Dawn" received a Streamy Award and several of the crew received awards for their work editing, producing and filming of it. The series also won a Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for sound editing. Reviewers were impressed by the special effects and action-packed second act, but found that the plot was too slow in the first half and most of the characters were under-developed. The series was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for main title design.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: After the success of previous live-action promotional shorts, "Landfall" and "The Life", 343 Industries, the studio in charge of development for the "Halo" franchise, wanted to use a live action series to appeal to an audience of people unfamiliar with the "Halo" games. The director of franchise business management at 343 Industries, Matt McClosky, explained the intended audience by saying that, "You see something that looks like a video game, you're going to get the same crowd you always get." The live-action format was also chosen for its ability to better develop characters; the series is used to introduce the character Thomas Lasky to the "Halo" universe before his role in the video game "Halo 4". The developers wanted a protagonist with more emotion than Master Chief (whose face is never seen), to not only convey an understanding of the universe, but to better engage unfamiliar viewers.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Microsoft considers the series "the next step" between advertising material and a full-length film after the failure of a previous effort, and aimed to produce a standalone series that could be enjoyed without necessarily playing the games. The budget for the series was almost USD $10 million, Microsoft's largest investment in a live-action promotion. Director Stewart Hendler said "We're either the best-funded web series of all time, a sort of mid-road healthy TV pilot, or a super-low-budget movie." When the idea of directing a video game based web series was pitched to Hendler he declined, saying he was not interested in video game adaptions unless the subject was "Halo". Hendler was already a fan of the series, having read the novels and played the games.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Potential writers were interviewed by 343 Industries, and some were selected to write a draft of a script. Aaron and Todd Helbing wrote a pitch set on Harvest, the first planet to be attacked by the Covenant (see ""). Although 343 Industries decided not to use it, the Helbing brothers' script was the most complete and demonstrated the best understanding of the "Halo" universe so they were chosen to write "Forward Unto Dawn". The final plot was developed by 343 Industries, Frank O'Connor, and the Helbings with the intention of introducing a new character to tie into "Halo 4", which their Harvest script did not, and to explore "the least-well-known part of the "Halo" universe". In addition to providing input on the script, 343 Industries had a representative on set at all times to ensure that the series did not break canon.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: The series was shot over twenty-five days in May 2012 in the forests around Vancouver, at Simon Fraser University and at additional stages in Burnaby. The Herzog and Company production team was in Vancouver for three months with set design by Legacy Effects, the same company that worked on the previous shorts.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: The Warthog (a 4WD off-road vehicle with a mounted minigun) that appears in "Forward Unto Dawn" is the same one that was produced by Weta Workshop and used in "Landfall". Stunt driver Johnathon Kralt found that the prop "handles the roads extremely well for something that size and that height", and the four-wheel steering was an advantage for drifting. Many chase shots were made using a Mercedes-Benz ML 55 pursuit vehicle with a camera boom mounted to the roof. Another rig involved towing the Warthog on a low trailer so that cameras could focus on an actor while the vehicle was being "driven".


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: The visual effects supervisor, John Sullivan, hired Arc Productions to create just under 500 shots with computer generated imagery, between a quarter and a third of what a blockbuster film would feature. The Covenant that appear are all completely computer generated, as is the academy's space elevator, weapons' muzzle flashes and a few shots of Master Chief. Hendler felt that the visual effects were the area that needed particular focus and spent a much larger percentage of the budget on the Master Chief costume and computer generated imagery than is normal for a production.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: One scene involves a Covenant Elite stalking the cadets in the armoury. The geometry of the Elite already exists for the "Halo" video games but it couldn't be directly transferable to the Mental Ray renderer so it had to be re-topologized in ZBrush and Maya. The outdoor attack on the academy was filmed at Simon Fraser University and required photogrammetric reconstruction and laser measurement to add the aliens and weapons lighting effects in a convincing manner. A later scene in the forest was too complex to use the same techniques, lacking the geometric shapes of the university campus. Instead, Arc visual effects supervisor Terry Bradley scattered LEDs on the set. By measuring the distance between LEDs the studio could model the area with software, and then used SketchUp and Maya to add the weapons fire. The shattering of the pink "needles" fired by the Covenant was rendered in Houdini as the shots hit concrete and Master Chief's armour.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: The opening sequences of each episode show Cortana, an artificial intelligence, aboard the spaceship "Forward Unto Dawn" as she malfunctions. The five sequences were entirely computer generated by Polynoid, the animation team of Blacklist, a production company.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: "Forward Unto Dawn" takes place on a fictional planet, Circinius-IV, one of many that humans have colonized outside of the solar system. The protagonist, Thomas Lasky, is aboard a spaceship named the UNSC "Infinity" in 2557. "Forward Unto Dawn" portrays his memory of the events on Circinius-IV in 2526, when he is a cadet at the Corbulo Academy, a training facility for the children of high-ranking UNSC officers. The UNSC is training the cadets for war with insurrectionists on various colony planets.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: A Covenant army attacks the academy causing confusion and panic. Although not made clear in "Forward Unto Dawn", the Covenant are a theocratic collection of alien species that are religiously offended by Humanity and seek to eradicate it. The events portrayed in "Forward Unto Dawn" are some of the earliest encounters with the Covenant, and the characters other than Master Chief were unaware of their existence.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: The production team was responsible for casting, but Microsoft maintained a final say. The decision to use Alex Puccinelli instead of Steve Downes, the previous voice artist of Master Chief, was approved by Microsoft. The actors playing the cadets attended a boot camp before shooting to raise their fitness and accustom them to assault courses and rifle drills in their armour costumes. Cast members drove themselves to overexertion in the training, causing some to vomit, which they saw as a bonding experience.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Tom Green plays the protagonist Thomas Lasky, a cadet at Corbulo Academy and Ty Olsson plays the adult rendition. Lasky is "ambivalent about his role in the military", considering diplomacy a better option to warfare. Lasky is from a military family; his mother is a colonel and his brother Cadmon (played by Max Carver) was an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers - a special forces unit in the "Halo" universe), but Thomas is uninterested in becoming an officer. Green portrayed Lasky as a "regular teenager", unsure of his future. As research for the role, Green was required to watch the previous shorts and read the ""Halo" encyclopedia" that 343 Industries uses to preserve the "Halo" canon. Executive producer Josh Feldman considers Lasky an important character in the "Halo" universe beyond just "Forward Unto Dawn" and "Halo 4".


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Daniel Cudmore was cast to play the role of Master Chief largely due to his height and physique. The director, Stewart Hendler, wanted to contrast the size of Master Chief to that of the teenage cadets; Cudmore is 203 centimetres (6'8") tall whereas the actors playing the cadets were deliberately chosen to be "short, scrawny freshmen". In order to accurately portray Master Chief, Cudmore watched the "Landfall" shorts by Neill Blomkamp and read the "Halo" novels for the history of the character, having already played the games. Cudmore expressed interest in the history of Master Chief, the character's view on war and his role as a soldier, as he was only required to portray a utilitarian character in the series. Cudmore thinks the character is torn between aiding the cadets and completing his mission, but Master Chief's confidence and actions inspire the cadets.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Legacy Effects took a body scan of Cudmore, then overlaid a 3D model provided by Microsoft and edited it to get proportions correct. A prototype was 3D printed and then used to make moulds for the final suit. The majority of the suit is rubber over a foam bodysuit, similar to a wetsuit, with a fibreglass helmet. Cudmore compared wearing it to walking through water, although he had to perform stunts in the suit as it was made only for his body. Cudmore repeatedly watched the video of his movements immediately after they were shot to ensure that they were deliberate but without appearing robotic, "trying to make his movements a little larger than life, but still with a sense of humanity to them." Both Hendler and Frank O'Connor praised Cudmore, not just for his physique but for moving in a fluid manner in the cumbersome suit.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Anna Popplewell plays Chyler Silva, a cadet who, contrary to Lasky's beliefs, is a full supporter of the war against the insurrectionists. Popplewell portrays Silva as a competent cadet who has been hardened by her childhood surrounded by insurrectionist violence. She had a romantic connection with Lasky that was interrupted by the Covenant attack. Popplewell was new to the "Halo" series when cast for the role but thinks that the characters and aesthetic of the series have the potential to draw in a new audience.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Other characters include cadets April Orenski, a senior cadet and squad leader, played by Enisha Brewster, Junjie Chen, played by Osric Chau, who is the only cadet without a military family and has gained entry to the academy through his own achievements, Dimah Tchakova played by Kat de Lieva, Walter Vickers played by Iain Belcher and Michael Sullivan, played by Masam Holden.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: On April 30, 2012, Microsoft Studios announced that "Forward Unto Dawn" would play on Machinima Prime and Halo Waypoint (a marketing website for the Halo series) during the weeks leading up to the release of "Halo 4". The series' first episode attracted five million views on YouTube within two weeks and, as of March 2013, has eleven million views. The second episode attracted three million views within two weeks and six million views by March 2013; however, these statistics do not include views on Halo Waypoint.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: The series consists of five 15-minute shorts, the first released on October 5, 2012, with subsequent episodes released weekly. A 90-minute extended version is included with the Limited Edition version of "Halo 4", and became available on Blu-ray, DVD, Xbox Video, iTunes and video on demand services on December 4, 2012. The Blu-ray and DVD versions contain bonus features including audio commentary from Stewart Hendler and 343 Industries, a live-action Red vs. Blue PSA entitled Sleeper, as well as vignettes and making-of documentaries. On January 18, 2013, Content Media Corporation announced that they had international distribution rights for "Forward Unto Dawn" for television.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: McFarlane Toys produced 500 units of a collectible statue to tie-in with "Forward Unto Dawn" in December 2012. The statue is a thirty-six centimetre (14") tall model of Master Chief fighting a Hunter, as depicted in "Forward Unto Dawn". On November 6, 2012, to coincide with the release of "Halo 4", Mega Bloks released a model of the UNSC spaceship, "Forward Unto Dawn". The model is approximately one metre (3') long and has scenes from both the video game and the web series.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: Reviewers were divided on what standard to expect of the series and what to compare it to; the budget was beyond that of other web series but not on par with a film.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: IGN reviewer Jesse Schedeen considered the cadets other than Lasky and Silva to be "ready-made cannon fodder," having received minimal development. This detracted from the quality of the third episode, as a betrayal by cadet Tchakova had little impact due to her shallow development. However, Schedeen did appreciate Green's acting in the last episode, noting that "[Silva's] death scene was handled very well, particularly as it forced Tom Green to shed his calm exterior and react much more emotionally." In his later review of the Blu-ray, Schedeen complimented the audio and video quality, as well as the inclusion of many vignettes, documentary featurettes and commentaries.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: James Plath of "Movie Metropolis" also found the characters lacking in the first half, but noted that in the second half, the characters of Lasky and Silva "actually move beyond the clichés and pick up a personality along the way". Plath was impressed by the soundtrack, thinking it "worthy of any big-screen action flick" and also complimented the special effects saying "the CGI work is enhanced by high definition, not exposed by it." Overall however, he thought that despite the action being exciting, the "pedestrian" first half and "only adequate acting" would prevent "Forward Unto Dawn" appealing to an audience beyond existing gamers.


title: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

text: "Official Xbox Magazine"s reviewer, Edwin Evans, appreciated the direction of the series; "Stewart Hendler's well-judged editing keeps the script from sinking under the weight of its own melodrama, and his close-ups never overstay their welcome, hiding the weaknesses of the inexperienced (but talented) cast." He also echoed Plath's thoughts on the slow first half and exciting second half.


title: Ossuary

text: An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary ("os" is "bone" in Latin). The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single tomb than in coffins.


title: Ossuary

text: In Persia, the Zoroastrians used a deep well for this function from the earliest times (c. 3,000 years ago) and called it "astudan" (literally, "the place for the bones"). There are many rituals and regulations in the Zoroastrian faith concerning the "astudans".


title: Ossuary

text: During the Second Temple period, Jewish burial customs were varied, differing based on class and belief. For the wealthy, one option available included primary burials in burial caves, followed by secondary burials in ossuaries. These bone boxes were placed in smaller niches of the burial caves, on the benches used for the desiccation of the corpse, or even on the floor. These ossuaries are almost exclusively made of limestone, roughly 40% of which are decorated with intricate geometrical patterns. Many ossuaries, plain or decorated, feature inscriptions identifying the deceased. These inscriptions are the chief scholarly source for identifying naming conventions in this region during this period.Among the best-known Jewish ossuaries of this period are: an ossuary inscribed 'Simon the Temple builder' in the collection of the Israel Museum; one inscribed 'Yehohanan ben Hagkol' that contained an iron nail in a heel bone suggesting crucifixion; another, (owned by André Lemaire), inscribed 'James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus', the authenticity of which has been debated by scholars; and ten ossuaries recovered from the Talpiot Tomb in 1980, several of which are reported to have names recorded in the New Testament.


title: Ossuary

text: Geographically, ossuaries are almost exclusively associated with tombs in and around Jerusalem; however, caches of contemporaneous ossuaries have been discovered in Jericho.


title: Ossuary

text: There is ongoing scholarly disagreement as to the function and origin of ossuary burial. Some argue that this form of burial was born out of a theological shift in ideas about purity. Specifically, in the Mishnah and Talmud, Jewish sages from the period are depicted debating the methods and beliefs around ossuary burial. The perspectives they espouse are connected to the Pharisaic tradition; as such, it is speculated that ossuaries were developed by elite members of the Pharisaic religious school before spreading to other sects.


title: Ossuary

text: Others argue that material conditions of the elite have more influence on ossuaries use and form during this period. An increase in wealth among the urban elite in Jerusalem and Jericho, coupled with a building boom that created a surplus of stone masons, allowed for new kinds of burial to evolve. It has been observed that ossuaries follow philosophically with Greco-Roman ideas of individuality in death and physically with Hellenistic forms of chest burial; as such, ossuaries may be an elite imitation of imperial burial modes that did not violate Jewish cultural norms.


title: Ossuary

text: The custom of secondary burial in ossuaries, on a whole, did not persist among Jews past the Second Temple period nor appear to exist widely among Jews outside the Land of Israel. There are, of course, exceptions to every trend: after the destruction of the Second Temple, poor imitations of ossuaries made of clay were created in Galilee; the last stone ossuaries are found in the Beth She'arim necropolis and date from the late third century CE; and at least one ossuary dating from the Second Temple period has been discovered in Alexandria.


title: Ossuary

text: Many examples of ossuaries are found within Europe, including the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome, Italy; the Martyrs of Otranto in south Italy; the Fontanelle cemetery and Purgatorio ad Arco in Naples, Italy; the San Bernardino alle Ossa in Milan, Italy; the Brno Ossuary and the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic; the Czermna Skull Chapel in Poland; and the Capela dos Ossos ("Chapel of Bones") in Évora, Portugal. The village of Wamba in the province of Valladolid, Spain, has an impressive ossuary of over a thousand skulls inside the local church, dating from between the 12th and 18th centuries. A more recent example is the Douaumont ossuary in France, which contains the remains of more than 130,000 French and German soldiers that fell at the Battle of Verdun during World War I. The Catacombs of Paris represents another famous ossuary.


title: Ossuary

text: The skeletal remains of six million people lie, neatly arranged, in catacombs (also known as ossuaries or charnel houses) beneath the streets of Paris, France. The city has an estimated of tunnels and pathways, of which are packed tightly with the bones of those re-interred from the city's overflowing cemeteries in the late 1700s.


title: Ossuary

text: The use of ossuaries is a longstanding tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The remains of an Orthodox Christian are treated with special reverence, in conformity with the biblical teaching that the body of a believer is a "temple of the Holy Spirit", having been sanctified and transfigured by Baptism, Holy Communion and the participation in the mystical life of the Church. In Orthodox monasteries, when one of the brethren dies, his remains are buried (for details, see Christian burial) for one to three years, and then disinterred, cleaned and gathered into the monastery's charnel house. If there is reason to believe that the departed is a saint, the remains may be placed in a reliquary; otherwise the bones are usually mingled together (skulls together in one place, long bones in another, etc.). The remains of an abbot may be placed in a separate ossuary made out of wood or metal.


title: Ossuary

text: The use of ossuaries is also found among the laity in the Greek Orthodox Church. The departed will be buried for one to three years and then, often on the anniversary of death, the family will gather with the parish priest and celebrate a "parastas" (memorial service), after which the remains are disinterred, washed with wine, perfumed, and placed in a small ossuary of wood or metal, inscribed with the name of the departed, and placed in a room, often in or near the church, which is dedicated to this purpose.


title: Inert gas

text: An inert gas is a gas that does not readily undergo chemical reactions with other chemical substances and therefore does not readily form chemical compounds. The noble gases often do not react with many substances and were historically referred to as the inert gases. Inert gases are used generally to avoid unwanted chemical reactions degrading a sample. These undesirable chemical reactions are often oxidation and hydrolysis reactions with the oxygen and moisture in air. The term "inert gas" is context-dependent because several of the noble gases can be made to react under certain conditions.


title: Inert gas

text: Purified argon gas is the most commonly used inert gas due to its high natural abundance (78.3% N, 1% Ar in air) and low relative cost.


title: Inert gas

text: Unlike noble gases, an inert gas is not necessarily elemental and is often a compound gas. Like the noble gases, the tendency for non-reactivity is due to the valence, the outermost electron shell, being complete in all the inert gases. This is a tendency, not a rule, as noble gases and other "inert" gases can react to form compounds.


title: Inert gas

text: The inert gases are obtained by fractional distillation of air, with the exception of helium which is separated from a few natural gas sources rich in this element, through cryogenic distillation or membrane separation. For specialized applications, purified inert gas shall be produced by specialized generators on-site. They are often used by chemical tankers and product carriers (smaller vessels). Benchtop specialized generators are also available for laboratories.


title: Inert gas

text: Because of the non-reactive properties of inert gases, they are often useful to prevent undesirable chemical reactions from taking place. Food is packed in an inert gas to remove oxygen gas. This prevents bacteria from growing. It also prevents chemical oxidation by oxygen in normal air. An example is the rancidification (caused by oxidation) of edible oils. In food packaging, inert gases are used as a passive preservative, in contrast to active preservatives like sodium benzoate (an antimicrobial) or BHT (an antioxidant).


title: Inert gas

text: Historical documents may also be stored under inert gas to avoid degradation. For example, the original documents of the U.S. Constitution are stored under humidified argon. Helium was previously used, but it was less suitable because it diffuses out of the case more quickly than argon.


title: Inert gas

text: Inert gases are often used in the chemical industry. In a chemical manufacturing plant, reactions can be conducted under inert gas to minimize fire hazards or unwanted reactions. In such plants and in oil refineries, transfer lines and vessels can be purged with inert gas as a fire and explosion prevention measure. At the bench scale, chemists perform experiments on air-sensitive compounds using air-free techniques developed to handle them under inert gas. Helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon are inert gases.


title: Inert gas

text: Inert gas is produced on board crude oil carriers (above 8,000 tonnes)(from Jan 1, 2016) by burning kerosene in a dedicated inert gas generator. The inert gas system is used to prevent the atmosphere in cargo tanks or bunkers from coming into the explosive range. Inert gases keep the oxygen content of the tank atmosphere below 5% (on crude carriers, less for product carriers and gas tankers), thus making any air/hydrocarbon gas mixture in the tank too rich (too high a fuel to oxygen ratio) to ignite. Inert gases are most important during discharging and during the ballast voyage when more hydrocarbon vapor is likely to be present in the tank atmosphere. Inert gas can also be used to purge the tank of the volatile atmosphere in preparation for gas freeing - replacing the atmosphere with breathable air - or vice versa.


title: Inert gas

text: The flue gas system uses the boiler exhaust as its source, so it is important that the fuel/air ratio in the boiler burners is properly regulated to ensure that high-quality inert gases are produced. Too much air would result in an oxygen content exceeding 5%, and too much fuel oil would result in the carryover of dangerous hydrocarbon gas. The flue gas is cleaned and cooled by the scrubber tower. Various safety devices prevent overpressure, the return of hydrocarbon gas to the engine room, or having a supply of IG with too high oxygen content.


title: Inert gas

text: Gas tankers and product carriers cannot rely on flue gas systems (because they require IG with O content of 1% or less) and so use inert gas generators instead. The inert gas generator consists of a combustion chamber and scrubber unit supplied by fans and a refrigeration unit which cools the gas. A drier in series with the system removes moisture from the gas before it is supplied to the deck. Cargo tanks on gas carriers are not inerted, but the whole space around them is.


title: Inert gas

text: Inert gas is produced on board commercial and military aircraft in order to passivate fuel tanks. On hot days, fuel vapor in fuel tanks may otherwise form a flammable or explosive mixture which if oxidized, could have catastrophic consequences. Conventionally, Air Separation Modules (ASMs) have been used to generate inert gas. ASMs contain selectively permeable membranes. They are fed compressed air that is extracted from a compressor stage of a gas turbine engine. The pressure drives the separation of oxygen from the air due to the increased permeability of oxygen through the ASMs in comparison to nitrogen. For fuel tank passivation, it is not necessary to remove all oxygen, but rather enough to stay below the lean flammability limit and the lean explosion limit. An oxygen concentration of 10% to 12% is common over the course of a flight.


title: Inert gas

text: In gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), inert gases are used to shield the tungsten from contamination. It also shields the fluid metal (created from the arc) from the reactive gases in air which can cause porosity in the solidified weld puddle. Inert gases are also used in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) for welding non-ferrous metals. Some gases which are not usually considered inert but which behave like inert gases in all the circumstances likely to be encountered in some use can often be used as a substitute for an inert gas. This is useful when an appropriate pseudo-inert gas can be found which is inexpensive and common. For example, carbon dioxide is sometimes used in gas mixtures for GMAW because it is not reactive to the weld pool created by arc welding. But it is reactive to the arc. The more carbon dioxide that is added to the inert gas, such as argon, will increase your penetration. The amount of carbon dioxide is often determined by what kind of transfer you will be using in GMAW. The most common is spray arc transfer, and the most commonly used gas mixture for spray arc transfer is 90% argon and 10% carbon dioxide.


title: Inert gas

text: In underwater diving an inert gas is a component of the breathing mixture which is not metabolically active and serves to dilute the gas mixture. The inert gas may have effects on the diver, but these are thought to be mostly physical effects, such as tissue damage caused by bubbles in decompression sickness. The most common inert gas used in breathing gas for commercial diving is helium.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: Paranasal sinuses are a group of four paired air-filled spaces that surround the nasal cavity. The maxillary sinuses are located under the eyes; the frontal sinuses are above the eyes; the ethmoidal sinuses are between the eyes and the sphenoidal sinuses are behind the eyes. The sinuses are named for the facial bones in which they are located.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: Humans possess four pairs of paranasal sinuses, divided into subgroups that are named according to the bones within which the sinuses lie. They are all innervated by branches of the trigeminal nerve (CN V).


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: The paranasal sinuses are lined with respiratory epithelium (ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium).


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: One known function of the paranasal sinuses is the production of nitric oxide, which also functions as a facilitator of oxygen uptake.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: There is no consensus regarding the physiological functions of the paranasal sinuses. The most likely are:


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: Paranasal sinuses form developmentally through excavation of bone by air-filled sacs (pneumatic diverticula) from the nasal cavity. This process begins prenatally (intrauterine life), and it continues through the course of an organism's lifetime.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: The results of experimental studies suggest that the natural ventilation rate of a sinus with a single sinus ostium (opening) is extremely slow. Such limited ventilation may be protective for the sinus, as it would help prevent drying of its mucosal surface and maintain a near-sterile environment with high carbon dioxide concentrations and minimal pathogen access. Thus composition of gas content in the maxillary sinus is similar to venous blood, with high carbon dioxide and lower oxygen levels compared to breathing air.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: At birth, only the maxillary sinus and the ethmoid sinus are developed but not yet pneumatized; only by the age of seven they are fully aerated. The sphenoid sinus appears at the age of three, and the frontal sinuses first appear at the age of six, and fully develop during adulthood.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: The paranasal sinuses are joined to the nasal cavity via small orifices called ostia. These become blocked easily by allergic inflammation, or by swelling in the nasal lining that occurs with a cold. If this happens, normal drainage of mucus within the sinuses is disrupted, and sinusitis may occur. Because the maxillary posterior teeth are close to the maxillary sinus, this can also cause clinical problems if any disease processes are present, such as an infection in any of these teeth. These clinical problems can include secondary sinusitis, the inflammation of the sinuses from another source such as an infection of the adjacent teeth.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: These conditions may be treated with drugs such as decongestants, which cause vasoconstriction in the sinuses; reducing inflammation; by traditional techniques of nasal irrigation; or by corticosteroid.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: Malignancies of the paranasal sinuses comprise approximately 0.2% of all malignancies. About 80% of these malignancies arise in the maxillary sinus. Men are much more often affected than women. They most often occur in the age group between 40 and 70 years. Carcinomas are more frequent than sarcomas. Metastases are rare. Tumours of the sphenoid and frontal sinuses are extremely rare.


title: Paranasal sinuses

text: Paranasal sinuses occur in many other animals, including most mammals, birds, non-avian dinosaurs, and crocodilians. The bones occupied by sinuses are quite variable in these other species.


title: Kurganets-25

text: The Kurganets-25 () is a tracked, 25-ton modular infantry fighting vehicle and armored personnel carrier being developed for the Russian Army. The Kurganets-25 will evolve into various models, gradually replacing BMP, BMD, MT-LB and other types of tracked Soviet armored platforms.


title: Kurganets-25

text: The Kurganets-25 IFV and APC variants were first seen in public (initially with the turret and main armament shrouded) during rehearsals for the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade. Serial production was supposed to begin in 2016, however as of 2020, certification by the military is still pending.


title: Kurganets-25

text: The Kurganets-25 is designed to bring the Russian tracked troop carrier fleet up to standard with Western designs like the American M2 Bradley and British Warrior, which outclassed their Soviet Cold War BMP-series counterparts. The Kurganets-25 is based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform while being lighter than the T-15 Armata "heavy IFV" based on the same and similar to the wheeled VPK-7829 Bumerang.


title: Kurganets-25

text: There are two versions of the vehicle: a heavily armed infantry fighting vehicle carrying 6-7 troops, and a lightly armed APC carrying 8 troops. Other variants proposed for the Kurganets include an armored ambulance, an 82 mm Vasilek mortar carrier, an anti-tank vehicle, an armored recovery vehicle, a reconnaissance vehicle, a command vehicle, and an armored engineering vehicle.


title: Kurganets-25

text: The vehicle represents a departure from traditional Russian low profile designs, having a higher floor more suited for mounted combat rather than troop carrying, which provides better IED and mine protection. While the T-15 is expected to be deployed with T-14 tanks in armored formations, Kurganets-25 platforms will equip mechanized units.


title: Kurganets-25

text: The Kurganets-25 IFV features the Bumerang-BM remote control turret with its 2A42 30 mm autocannon, a 7.62 mm coaxial PKT machine gun and a bank of two Kornet-EM anti-tank guided missiles on either side. The Kurganets-25 APC variant has a 12.7 mm MG RWS instead of the Bumerang-BM turret.


title: Kurganets-25

text: The Kurganets-25 weighs 25 tonnes. This allows the Kurganets-25 to be light enough to be mobile on water. The maximum speed of the vehicle is 80 km/h on land and 10 km/h on water. Both the IFV and APC variants have a front-mounted 800 hp engine


title: Kurganets-25

text: The Kurganets-25 IFV has 360-degree coverage from its active protection system launcher tubes. This APS is smaller than the one found on the T-14 Armata and T-15, but like the T-15, it is attached close the top of the hull. A two-part projectile detection system is placed on various places on the hull and turret. The Kurganets-25 APC variant, when revealed in the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade, had a scaled down APS system which was mounted only on the turret with none on the hull.


title: Kurganets-25

text: According to the first vice president and co-owner of Concern Tractor Plants, Albert Bakov, the Kurganets-25 uses a console similar to a Sony PlayStation gamepad. It is wider than previous generations of Russian APCs and IFVs. The front located engine increases crew comfort and ease of access.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an abnormal narrowing of arteries other than those that supply the heart or brain. When narrowing occurs in the heart, it is called coronary artery disease, and in the brain, it is called cerebrovascular disease. Peripheral artery disease most commonly affects the legs, but other arteries may also be involved – such as those of the arms, neck, or kidneys. The classic symptom is leg pain when walking which resolves with rest, known as intermittent claudication. Other symptoms include skin ulcers, bluish skin, cold skin, or abnormal nail and hair growth in the affected leg. Complications may include an infection or tissue death which may require amputation; coronary artery disease, or stroke. Up to 50% of people with PAD do not have symptoms.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The greatest risk factor for PAD is cigarette smoking. Other risk factors include diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney problems, and high blood cholesterol. The most common underlying mechanism of peripheral artery disease is atherosclerosis, especially in individuals over 40 years old. Other mechanisms include artery spasm, blood clots, trauma, fibromuscular dysplasia, and vasculitis. PAD is typically diagnosed by finding an ankle-brachial index (ABI) less than 0.90, which is the systolic blood pressure at the ankle divided by the systolic blood pressure of the arm. Duplex ultrasonography and angiography may also be used. Angiography is more accurate and allows for treatment at the same time; however, it is associated with greater risks.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: It is unclear if screening for peripheral artery disease in people without symptoms is useful as it has not been properly studied. In those with intermittent claudication from PAD, stopping smoking and supervised exercise therapy improve outcomes. Medications, including statins, ACE inhibitors, and cilostazol may also help. Aspirin does not appear to help those with mild disease but is usually recommended in those with more significant disease due to the increased risk of heart attacks. Anticoagulants such as warfarin are not typically of benefit. Procedures used to treat the disease include bypass grafting, angioplasty, and atherectomy.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: In 2015, about 155 million people had PAD worldwide. It becomes more common with age. In the developed world, it affects about 5.3% of 45- to 50-year-olds and 18.6% of 85- to 90-year-olds. In the developing world, it affects 4.6% of people between the ages of 45 and 50 and 15% of people between the ages of 85 and 90. PAD in the developed world is equally common among men and women, though in the developing world, women are more commonly affected. In 2015 PAD resulted in about 52,500 deaths, which is an increase from the 16,000 deaths in 1990.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The signs and symptoms of peripheral artery disease are based on the part of the body that is affected. About 66% of patients affected by PAD either do not have symptoms or have atypical symptoms. The most common presenting symptom is intermittent claudication, which causes pain and severe cramping when walking or exercising. The pain is usually located in the calf muscles of the affected leg and relieved by rest. This occurs because during exercise the muscles of the leg need more oxygen. Normally, the arteries would be able to increase the amount of blood flow and therefore increase the amount of oxygen going to the exercised leg. However, in PAD, the artery is unable to respond appropriately to the increased demand for oxygen by the muscles, as a result, the leg muscles are overly saturated with lactic acid, resulting in pain of the muscle that only goes away with rest.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: In individuals with severe PAD, complications may arise, including critical limb ischemia and gangrene. Critical limb ischemia occurs when the obstruction to blood flow in the artery is compromised to the point where the blood is unable to maintain oxygenation of tissue at rest. This can lead to pain at rest, feeling of cold, or numbness in the affected foot and toes. Other complications of severe PAD include lower limb tissue loss, arterial insufficiency ulcers, erectile dysfunction, and gangrene. People with diabetes are affected by gangrene of the feet at a rate that is 30 times higher than the unaffected population. Many of these severe complications are irreversible.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Factors contributing to increased risk of PAD are the same as those for atherosclerosis. These include age, sex, and ethnicity. PAD is two times as common in males as females. In terms of ethnicity, PAD is more common in people of color compared to the white population in a 2:1 ratio. The factors with the greatest risk association are hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, and smoking. Presenting three of these factors or more increases the risk of developing PAD ten-fold.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: As previously mentioned, the most common cause of peripheral artery disease, especially in patients over 40 years old, is atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a narrowing of the arteries caused by lipid or fat build up and calcium deposition in the wall of the affected arteries. The most commonly affected site occurs at arterial branch points, because there is an increase in turbulence and stress on the artery at these areas where the artery branches to supply distant structures. Disease of distant structures, including feet and toes, are usually caused by diabetes and seen in the elderly population.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Additional mechanisms of peripheral artery disease including arterial spasm, thrombosis, and fibromuscular dysplasia. The mechanism of arterial spasm is still being studied, but it can occur secondary to trauma. The symptoms of claudication ensue when the artery spasms, or clamps down on itself, creating an obstruction. Similar to atherosclerosis, this leads to decreased blood flow to the tissue downstream of the obstruction. Thrombosis, or the formation of a blood clot, occurs usually due stasis or trauma. Damage to the lining of the blood vessel begins the process of clot formation. The blood clot ultimately creates a narrowing in the artery preventing adequate blood flow and oxygen to the tissue further down.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Diagnosing or identifying peripheral artery disease requires history of symptoms and a physical exam followed by confirmatory testing. These tests could include CT scans (Computed Tomagraphic Angiography), MRA scans (Magnetic Resonance Angiography), or ultrasounds for imaging. In the setting of symptoms consistent with peripheral artery disease a physician will then examine an individual for specific exam findings. Abnormal physical exam findings can lead a health care provider to consider a specific diagnosis. However, in order to confirm a diagnosis, confirmatory testing is required.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: If peripheral artery disease is suspected, the initial study is the ankle–brachial index (ABI). The ABI is a simple, non-invasive test, which measures the ratio of systolic blood pressure in the ankle to the systolic blood pressure in the upper arm. This is based on the idea that if blood pressure readings in the ankle are lower than those in the arm, a blockage in the arteries that provide blood from the heart to the ankle is suspected. An ABI range of 0.90 to 1.40 is considered normal. A person is considered to have PAD when the ABI is ≤ 0.90. However, PAD can be further graded as mild to moderate if the ABI is between 0.41 and 0.90, and severe if an ABI is less than 0.40. These categories can provide insight into the disease course. Furthermore, ABI values of 0.91 to 0.99 are considered borderline and values >1.40 indicate noncompressible arteries. If an ABI >1.40 is calculated, this could indicate vessel wall stiffness caused by calcification, which can occur in people with uncontrolled diabetes. Abnormally high ABIs (>1.40) are usually considered false negatives and thus, such results merit further investigation and higher-level studies. Individuals with noncompressible arteries have an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality within a two-year period.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: In individuals with suspected PAD with normal ABIs can undergo exercise testing of ABI. A baseline ABI is obtained prior to exercise. The patient is then asked to exercise (usually patients are made to walk on a treadmill at a constant speed) until claudication pain occurs (for a maximum of 5 minutes), after which the ankle pressure is again measured. A decrease in ABI of 15%–20% would be diagnostic of PAD.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: If ABIs are abnormal, the next step is generally a lower limb Doppler ultrasound to look at the site of obstruction and extent of atherosclerosis. Other imaging can be performed by angiography, where a catheter is inserted into the common femoral artery and selectively guided to the artery in question. While injecting a radio-dense contrast agent, an X-ray is taken. Any blood flow-limiting blockage found in the X-ray can be identified and treated by procedures including atherectomy, angioplasty, or stenting. Contrast angiography is the most readily available and widely used imaging technique. Modern computerized tomography (CT) scanners provide direct imaging of the arterial system as an alternative to angiography.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a noninvasive diagnostic procedure that uses a combination of a large magnet, radio frequencies, and a computer to produce detailed images of blood vessels inside the body. The advantages of MRA include its safety and ability to provide high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging of the entire abdomen, pelvis and lower extremities in one sitting.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The two most commonly used methods to classify peripheral artery disease are the Fontaine and the Rutherford systems of classification. The Fontaine stages, were introduced by René Fontaine in 1954 to define severity of chronic limb ischemia:


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The Rutherford classification was created by the Society for Vascular Surgery and International Society of Cardiovascular Surgery, introduced in 1986 and revised in 1997 (and known as the Rutherford classification after the lead author, Robert B. Rutherford). This classification system consists of four grades and seven categories (categories 0–6):


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Moderate to severe PAD classified by Fontaine's stages III to IV or Rutherford's categories 4 to 5, presents limb threat (risk of limb loss) in the form of critical limb ischemia.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Recently, the Society for Vascular Surgery came out with a classification system based on "wound, ischemia and foot Infection" (WIfI). This classification system, published in 2013 was created to account for the demographic changes that have occurred over the past forty years including increased incidence of high blood sugar and evolving techniques and ability for revascularization. This system was created on the basis of ischemia and angiographic disease patterns not being the sole determinants of amputation risk. The WIfI classification system is broken up into two parts: wounds and ischemia. Wounds are graded 0 through 3 on the presence of ulceration and/or gangrene and ischemia.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The TASC (and TASC II) classification suggested PAD treatment is based on the severity of disease seen on angiogram.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: It is not clear if screening for disease in the general population is useful as it has not been properly studied. This includes screening with the ankle-brachial index.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Testing for coronary artery disease or carotid artery disease is of unclear benefit. While PAD is a risk factor for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), there is no data on screening individuals with asymptomatic PAD for abdominal aortic aneurysms. In people with symptomatic PAD screening by ultrasound for AAA is not unreasonable.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: According to guidelines, taking aspirin or clopidogrel is recommended to reduce AMI ("heart attack"), stroke, and other causes of vascular death in people with symptomatic peripheral artery disease. It is recommended that aspirin and clopidogrel be taken alone and not in conjunction with one another (i.e., not as dual antiplatelet therapy). The recommended daily dosage of aspirin for treating PAD is between 75 and 325 mg, while the recommended daily dosage for clopidogrel is 75 mg. The effectiveness of both aspirin and clopidogrel to reduce risk of cardiovascular ischemic events in people with symptomatic PAD is not well established. Research also suggests that low-dose rivaroxaban plus aspirin is effective as a new anti-thrombotic regimen for PAD.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Cilostazol can improve symptoms in some. Pentoxifylline is of unclear benefit. Cilostazol may improve walking distance for people who experience claudication due to peripheral artery disease, but no strong evidence suggests that it improves the quality of life, decreases mortality, or decreases the risk of cardiovascular events.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Treatment with other drugs or vitamins are unsupported by clinical evidence, "but trials evaluating the effect of folate and vitamin B on hyperhomocysteinemia, a putative vascular risk factor, are near completion".


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: After a trial of the best medical treatment outline above, if symptoms persist, patients may be referred to a vascular or endovascular surgeon. The benefit of revascularization is thought to correspond to the severity of ischemia and the presence of other risk factors for limb loss such as wound and infection severity.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: A guideline from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association for the diagnosis and treatment of lower extremity, renal, mesenteric, and abdominal aortic PAD was compiled in 2013, combining the 2005 and 2011 guidelines. For chronic limb threatening ischemia the ACCF/AHA guidelines recommend balloon angioplasty only for people with a life expectancy of 2 years or less or those who do not have an autogenous vein available. For those with a life expectancy greater than 2 years, or who have an autogenous vein, bypass surgery is recommended.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Individuals with PAD have an "exceptionally elevated risk for cardiovascular events and the majority will eventually die of a cardiac or cerebrovascular etiology"; prognosis is correlated with the severity of the PAD as measured by an ABI. Large-vessel PAD increases mortality from cardiovascular disease significantly. PAD carries a greater than "20% risk of a coronary event in 10 years".


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The risk is low that an individual with claudication will develop severe ischemia and require amputation, but the risk of death from coronary events is three to four times higher than matched controls without claudication. Of patients with intermittent claudication, only "7% will undergo lower-extremity bypass surgery, 4% major amputations, and 16% worsening claudication", but stroke and heart attack events are elevated, and the "5-year mortality rate is estimated to be 30% (versus 10% in controls)".


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The prevalence of PAD in the general population is 3–7%, affecting up to 20% of those over 70; 70%–80% of affected individuals are asymptomatic; only a minority ever require revascularisation or amputation. Peripheral artery disease affects one in three diabetics over the age of 50. In the US, it affects 12–20 percent of Americans age 65 and older. Around 10 million Americans have PAD. Despite its prevalence and cardiovascular risk implications, only 25% of PAD patients are undergoing treatment.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: In people aged 40 years and older in the United States in 2000, rates of PAD was 4.3%. Rates were 14.5% people aged 70 years or over. Within age groups, rates were generally higher in women than men. Non-Hispanic blacks had a rates of 7.9% compared to 4.4% in Non-Hispanic whites and 3.0% (1.4%–4.6%) in Mexican Americans.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The incidence of symptomatic PAD increases with age, from about 0.3% per year for men aged 40–55 years to about 1% per year for men aged over 75 years. The prevalence of PAD varies considerably depending on how PAD is defined, and the age of the population being studied. Diagnosis is critical, as people with PAD have a four- to five-fold higher risk of heart attack or stroke.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial, and the U.K. Prospective Diabetes Study trials, in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively, demonstrated that glycemic control is more strongly associated with microvascular disease than macrovascular disease. Pathologic changes occurring in small vessels may be more sensitive to chronically elevated glucose levels than is atherosclerosis occurring in larger arteries.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Research is being done on therapies to prevent progression of PAD. In those who have developed critically poor blood flow to the legs, the benefit of autotransplantation of autologous mononuclear cells is unclear.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: Only one randomized controlled trial has been conducted comparing vascular bypass to angioplasty for the treatment of severe PAD. The trial found no difference in amputation-free survival between vascular bypass and angioplasty at the planned clinical endpoint, but the trial has been criticized as being underpowered, limiting endovascular options, and comparing inappropriate endpoints. As of 2017, two randomized clinical trials are being conducted to better understand the optimal revascularization technique for severe PAD and critical limb ischemia (CLI), the BEST-CLI (Best Endovascular Versus Best Surgical Therapy for Patients With Critical Limb Ischemia) Trial, and the BASIL-2 (Bypass Versus Angioplasty in Severe Ischaemia of the Leg – 2 )Trial.


title: Peripheral artery disease

text: In 2011, pCMV-vegf165 was registered in Russia as the first-in-class gene therapy drug for treatment of PAD, including the advanced stage of critical limb ischemia.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Norbert Leo Butz (born January 30, 1967) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his work in Broadway theatre. He is a two-time winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and is one of only nine actors ever to have won the award twice.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz was born on January 30, 1967, in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elaine (née Bourisaw) and Norbert Butz. He was raised in a middle-class family; his parents are devout Catholics. He is the seventh of 11 children and is named after his father. Some of his first theatre roles included playing the male leads at local all-girl high schools, such as Cor Jesu Academy and Nerinx Hall. He graduated from Bishop DuBourg High School. Butz earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Alabama/Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Professional Actor Training Program. He would later receive an honorary degree from Webster University in 2013.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: The murder of his sister, Teresa Butz, made national news when an assailant stabbed both her and her girlfriend in her Seattle-area home on July 19, 2009.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz's daughter Georgia Teresa was born on January 2, 2011. Butz has two older daughters, Clara and Maggie Davis, from a previous marriage.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz made his Broadway debut as a replacement swing – a type of understudy – in "Rent" in 1996, after original swing David Driver was let go. Butz ultimately replaced Adam Pascal as Roger in 1997. Additional Broadway credits include "Thou Shalt Not" (Camille Raquin, 2001–2002), for which he received a Tony Award nomination; "Wicked" (the original Fiyero, 2003); and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (Freddy) for which he received the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, a Drama League Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. His Off-Broadway credits include "The Last Five Years" (Jamie), "Saved" (Fred), and "Juno and the Paycock" (Jerry Devine), and he has toured as the Emcee in "Cabaret" and as Freddy in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels".


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz's film roles have included "Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five" (Pawnbroker), "Noon Blue Apples" (Howard Philips), and "West of Here" (Josiah Blackwell).


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz's projects include the film "Dan in Real Life" (with Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, and Dane Cook), released in October 2007, the world premiere of "Is He Dead?", a hitherto unproduced Mark Twain play that opened at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre on December 9, 2007, and "Fifty Words" Off-Broadway with Elizebeth Marvel at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (2008). In January 2008, he appeared as Captain Richard King in the miniseries adaptation of the "Lonesome Dove" prequel, "Comanche Moon".


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Starting December 23, 2008, Butz stepped in to replace Jeremy Piven in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow"; Piven suddenly and unexpectedly dropped out of the play after he experienced health problems.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz took over the part until January 13, 2009, when William H. Macy assumed the role for the remainder of the play's run.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz taught at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, for the spring semester in 2008 in the drama department.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: From April to May 9, 2010, he returned to the Broadway stage in "ENRON" as Jeffrey Skilling. Despite Tony nominations, the play struggled with ticket sales.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: Butz originated the role of Carl Hanratty in the musical "Catch Me If You Can" which played pre-Broadway tryouts at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington, from July 28 through August 14, 2009. Butz played the role of Carl Hanratty in the Broadway production of "Catch Me if You Can", which opened on April 10, 2011, and closed in September 2011. For this role he won his second Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and his second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: In April 2012, Butz appeared as himself in one episode of the NBC musical drama "Smash". Butz played Hal Wilner in "Greetings from Tim Buckley", a film on Tim and Jeff Buckley, which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: From November 29, 2012 to January 6, 2013, Butz appeared on Broadway in Theresa Rebeck's "Dead Accounts", opposite Katie Holmes, Jayne Houdyshell, Josh Hamilton, and Judy Greer.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: In 2013 he starred in the new Andrew Lippa musical "Big Fish", which premiered in Chicago in the spring and opened on Broadway in the Neil Simon Theatre in October, directed by Susan Stroman.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: In 2012, he played Uncle Peck in a limited engagement revival of Paula Vogel's play "How I Learned to Drive". He also starred in the 2013 film "Better Living Through Chemistry". He played Kevin Rayburn in the 2015 Netflix television show "Bloodline".


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: He also starred in the 2018 Broadway revival of "My Fair Lady" as Alfred Doolittle, the father of the leading role, Eliza Doolittle. He earned a nomination for Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the production.


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: From July 9–28, 2019, he appeared in an original musical collaboration titled TWOHANDER at Feinstein's/54 Below alongside Sherie Rene Scott, with musical director Todd Almond. Butz previously shared the stage with Scott in the original productions of the musicals "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "The Last Five Years".


title: Norbert Leo Butz

text: In 2021, Butz played the role of Craig Maddox in the NBC drama series "Debris" which is written by J. H. Wyman.


title: UQ Holder!

text: UQ Holder! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was serialized in Kodansha's "Weekly Shōnen Magazine" from 2013 to 2016 and later transferred to "Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine", where it was serialized from 2016 to 2022. Set several generations later in the world of his previous work "Negima! Magister Negi Magi", it follows the adventures of Tōta Konoe, a young boy who is transformed into a vampire and joins a secret society composed of immortal beings.


title: UQ Holder!

text: Tōta Konoe, the grandson of Negi Springfield, aspires to leave his village and live life in the city of Shin-Tokyo, which has a tower structure rising into space. When he is mortally wounded by a bounty hunter coming after his guardian Yukihime's life, he discovers that he has been made into an immortal vampire by Yukihime, a 700-year-old vampire mage Evangeline A.K. McDowell. Picking up another boy named Kuromaru along the way, they go to a place outside Shin-Tokyo where Yukihime leads a secret society of immortals called UQ Holder.


title: UQ Holder!

text: UQ Holder is a secret organization of immortals and "yokai" led by Yukihime. Its members reside at the "Senkyokan" (trans. "Fairyland Manor") estate, 10 km from the Shin-Tokyo coast, which fronts as a hot springs resort. Its main members are known as Numbers. Its goals are to protect other immortals living on the Earth, as well as helping the outcasts of society. It is also interested in protecting humans from the immortals that are intent on destroying society.


title: UQ Holder!

text: "UQ Holder!" is written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was first serialized in Kodansha's "shōnen" manga magazine "Weekly Shōnen Magazine" from August 28, 2013 to June 22, 2016. It was then transferred to the monthly manga magazine "Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine", starting on October 8, 2016, and was renamed "UQ Holder!: Magister Negi Magi! 2". The series ended on February 9, 2022. Kodansha has collected its 192 chapters into twenty-eight "tankōbon" volumes, with the first was released on December 17, 2013 while the final volume was released on March 9, 2022


title: UQ Holder!

text: As the series is published in Japan, it is also released simultaneously in English digitally by Crunchyroll. The series is licensed for English language release in North America by Kodansha Comics, who published the first volume on March 18, 2014.


title: UQ Holder!

text: An anime adaptation of the manga was announced in "Weekly Shōnen Magazine" in June 2016, later revealed to be a television series and an Original Animation DVD (OAD). Youhei Suzuki directed the anime at J.C.Staff, with Akamatsu handling the series composition alongside Shogo Yasukawa. Egg Firm produced the series and the main cast from the original "Negima!" anime returned. The OAD was released on September 8, 2017, while the television series premiered on October 2, 2017. Two more OADs were released with the manga's 16th and 17th volumes. The series ran for 12 episodes.


title: UQ Holder!

text: Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series and simulcast the anime on Amazon's Anime Strike streaming channel in the U.S. and in other selected digital services elsewhere. Blu-Ray version was released on 2018-11-27.


title: UQ Holder!

text: Madman Entertainment acquired the series for distribution in Australia and New Zealand, and simulcasted the series on AnimeLab.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: Jeff VanderMeer (born July 7, 1968) is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Trilogy. The trilogy's first novel, "Annihilation", won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, and was adapted into a Hollywood film by director Alex Garland. Among VanderMeer's other novels are "" and "Borne". He has also edited with his wife Ann VanderMeer such influential and award-winning anthologies as "The New Weird", "The Weird", and "The Big Book of Science Fiction".


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer has been called "one of the most remarkable practitioners of the literary fantastic in America today," with "The New Yorker" naming him the "King of Weird Fiction". VanderMeer's fiction is noted for eluding genre classifications even as his works bring in themes and elements from genres such as postmodernism, ecofiction, the New Weird and post-apocalyptic fiction.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer's writing has been described as "evocative" and containing "intellectual observations both profound and disturbing," and has been compared with the works of Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, and Henry David Thoreau.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania in 1968, and spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. After returning to the United States, he spent time in Ithaca, New York, and Gainesville, Florida. He attended the University of Florida for three years and, in 1992, took part in the Clarion Writers Workshop.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: When VanderMeer was 20, he read Angela Carter's novel "The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman", which he has said "blew the back of my head off, rewired my brain: I had never encountered prose like that before, never such passion and boldness on the page." Carter's fiction inspired VanderMeer to both improve and be fearless with his own writing.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer began writing in the late 1980s while still in high school and quickly became a prolific contributor to small-press magazines. During this time VanderMeer wrote a number of horror and fantasy short stories, some of which were collected in his 1989 self-published book "The Book of Frog" and in the 1996 collection "The Book of Lost Places". He also wrote poetry—his poem "Flight Is for Those Who Have Not Yet Crossed Over" was a co-winner of the 1994 Rhysling Award—and edited two issues of the self-published zine "Jabberwocky".


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: One of VanderMeer's early successes was his 2001 short-story collection "City of Saints and Madmen," set in the imaginary city of Ambergris. Several of VanderMeer's novels were subsequently set in the same place, including "" (2006) and "Finch" (2009), the latter of which was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. In 2000, his novella "The Transformation of Martin Lake" won the World Fantasy Award.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer has also worked in other media, including on a movie based on his novel "Shriek" that featured an original soundtrack by rock band The Church. The band Murder By Death likewise recorded a soundtrack for "Finch", which was released alongside a limited edition of the book. VanderMeer also wrote a "Predator" tie-in novel for "Dark Horse Comics" called "Predator: South China Seas" and worked with animator Joel Veitch on a Play Station Europe animation of his story "A New Face in Hell".


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: In 2014, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, consisting of the novels "Annihilation, Authority," and "Acceptance". The story focuses on a secret agency that manages expeditions into a location known as Area X. The area is an uninhabited and abandoned part of the United States that nature has begun to reclaim after a mysterious world-changing event.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer has said that the main inspiration for Area X and the series was his hike through St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. "The Other Side of the Mountain" by Michel Bernanos is among the books VanderMeer has cited as also having had an influence.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: The trilogy was released in quick succession over an 8-month period, in what has been called an innovative "Netflix-inspired strategy." The strategy helped the second and third books reach the "New York Times" Bestseller list, and established VanderMeer as "one of the most forward-thinking authors of the decade."


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: The series ended up being highly honored, with "Annihilation" winning the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards for Best Novel. The entire trilogy was also named a finalist for the 2015 World Fantasy Award and the 2016 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis. "Annihilation" was also adapted into a film of the same name by writer-director Alex Garland. The film stars Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Oscar Isaac.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: In 2017 VanderMeer released "Borne," a "biotech apocalypse" novel about a scavenger named Rachel trying to survive both a city "plunged into a primordial realm of myth, fable, and fairy tale" and a five-story-tall flying bear named Mord. As with the Southern Reach trilogy, the novel was highly praised, with "The Guardian" saying, "VanderMeer’s recent work has been Ovidian in its underpinnings, exploring the radical transformation of life forms and the seams between them." "Publishers Weekly" said the novel reads "like a dispatch from a world lodged somewhere between science fiction, myth, and a video game" and that with "Borne" Vandermeer has essentially invented a new literary genre, "weird literature."


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: In August 2017 VanderMeer released the novella "". The stand-alone story is set in the same world as "Borne" but featuring different characters.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: Dead Astronauts, a stand-alone short novel set in the Borne universe, was released on December 3, 2019.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer's upcoming novels include "Hummingbird Salamander", which is set ten seconds into the future and deals with "bioterrorism, ecoterrorism, and climate change," and a young adult series called "Jonathan Lambshead and the Golden Sphere". He is also working on a story called "The Three," based on the dead astronauts mentioned in "Borne", along with another Southern Reach story.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer is a frequent writer of critical literary reviews and essays, which have appeared in numerous publications including "The Atlantic, The Washington Post" Book World, "Publishers Weekly", and other places. For a number of years he was a regular columnist for the Amazon book-culture blog and has served as a judge for the Eisner Awards, among others. He has been a guest speaker at such diverse events as the Brisbane Writers Festival, Finncon in Helsinki, and the American Library Association annual conference.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer has also edited a number of anthologies. He won a 2003 World Fantasy Award for "Leviathan, Volume Three", a collection of genre-bending stories he edited with Forrest Aguirre. He and Mark Roberts were also finalists for the same award the next year for the anthology "The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases".


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: Most of his recent anthologies have been collaborations with his wife, Ann VanderMeer, the Hugo-award-winning former editor of "Weird Tales". These anthologies include "The New Weird", a collection of stories from New Weird authors; "Last Drink Bird Head", a charity anthology benefiting literacy; "The Weird", a World Fantasy Award winning collection of weird fiction; "Time Traveler's Almanac", an anthology of time-travel fiction; "Fast Ships, Black Sails", a pirate fiction anthology; and the Locus Award winning "The Big Book of Science Fiction".


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer is the founding editor and publisher of the "Ministry of Whimsy Press", which he set up in the late 1980s while still in high school. The press is currently an imprint of Wyrm Publishing. One of the "Ministry"'s publications, "The Troika" by Stepan Chapman, won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1997.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer has been involved in teaching creative writing. One of the projects he is involved with is Shared Worlds, an annual two-week program that aims to teach creative writing to teenagers. VanderMeer has also taught at the Clarion Workshop and at Trinity Prep School. In addition to his teaching, VanderMeer has also written guides to creative writing such as "Wonderbook", which won a BSFA Award, a Locus Award, and was nominated for a Hugo and World Fantasy Award.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer has been called "one of the most remarkable practitioners of the literary fantastic in America today," with "The New Yorker" naming him the "King of Weird Fiction." VanderMeer's fiction is noted for eluding genre classifications even as his works bring in themes and elements from genres such as postmodernism, ecofiction, the New Weird and post-apocalyptic fiction.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer's fiction has been described as "evocative (with) intellectual observations both profound and disturbing" and "lyrical and harrowing," with his mixing of genres producing "something unique and unsettling."


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: In 2003, VanderMeer married Ann Kennedy, then editor for the small Buzzcity Press and magazine the "Silver Web". They have two cats. One is named Neo.


title: Jeff VanderMeer

text: VanderMeer has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award 14 times. He has also won an NEA-funded Florida Individual Writers' Fellowship, and, the Le Cafard Cosmique award in France and the Tähtifantasia Award in Finland, both for "City of Saints". He has also been a finalist for the Hugo Award, Bram Stoker Award, International Horror Guild Award, Philip K. Dick Award, and many others. Novels such as "Veniss Underground" and "" have made the year's best lists of Amazon.com, "The Austin Chronicle", the "San Francisco Chronicle", and "Publishers Weekly", among others.


title: PlayStation VR

text: The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016.


title: PlayStation VR

text: It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 and is forward compatible with the PlayStation 5 home video game console. The PlayStation VR is compatible with the PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility using a USB to PlayStation Camera adapter that is shipped for free by Sony to anyone who has previously purchased the PS VR. There are currently no PlayStation 5 games announced that support it; if a PS VR supported game also has a PlayStation 5 version available, the PlayStation 4 version has to be installed instead via backward compatibility to be able to play in virtual reality. In certain games and demos for the VR, the player wearing the headset acts separately from other players without the headset. The PlayStation VR system can output a picture to both the PlayStation VR headset and a television simultaneously, with the television either mirroring the picture displayed on the headset, or displaying a separate image for competitive or cooperative gameplay. PlayStation VR works with either the standard DualShock 4 controller, PlayStation Move controllers or the PlayStation VR Aim controller.


title: PlayStation VR

text: The PlayStation VR has a 5.7 inch OLED panel, with a display resolution of 1080p. The headset also has a processor box which enables the Social Screen video output to the television, as well as process the 3D audio effect, and uses a 3.5mm headphone jack. The headset also has nine positional LEDs on its surface for the PlayStation Camera to track 360 degree head movement.


title: PlayStation VR

text: Sony's interest in head-mounted display technology dates back to the 1990s. Its first commercial unit, the Glasstron, was released in 1997. One application of this technology was in the game "", which permitted users of the Glasstron or Virtual I/O's to adopt a visual perspective from inside the cockpit of the craft, using their own eyes as visual and seeing the battlefield through their craft's own cockpit.


title: PlayStation VR

text: In early 2014, Sony Interactive Entertainment research and development engineer Anton Mikhailov said his team had been working on Project Morpheus for more than three years. According to Mikhailov, the PlayStation 3 Move peripheral, itself revealed in June 2009, was designed with unspecified, future head-mounted technology in mind. "We specced it and built it to be a VR controller, even though VR wasn't a commodity. As engineers, we just said it was the right thing to do. At the time, we didn't have a consumer-grade project that we could work on, but it was definitely designed with that vision in mind." Shuhei Yoshida, the president of Sony's worldwide studios, also said the project started as "grassroots" activity among engineers and programmers, which came into focus in 2010 once the Move controller had been released. Sony also went on record to say it is mandatory for all games to have no less than 60 frames per second at all times.


title: PlayStation VR

text: Project Morpheus was first announced at The 2014 Game Developers Conference. SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida introduced the device on March 18, 2014, and stated Project Morpheus was "the next innovation from PlayStation that will [shape] the future of games."


title: PlayStation VR

text: On September 15, 2015, it was announced that Project Morpheus would be officially named PlayStation VR. Later in 2015, Sony acquired SoftKinetic, a tech startup whose focus includes visual depth-sensing gesture recognition, for an undisclosed amount.


title: PlayStation VR

text: On October 13, 2016, Sony released the PlayStation VR with the price of $399 in the US, €399 in Europe, £349 in the UK, and ¥44,980 in Japan.


title: PlayStation VR

text: On April 16, 2019, Mark Cerny confirmed that the PlayStation VR would be compatible with the PlayStation 5. This is in addition to new PlayStation VR hardware to be designed for the PlayStation 5 that Sony plans to release after 2021. This was announced as the PlayStation VR2 at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show.


title: PlayStation VR

text: The prototype revealed at GDC'15 included an OLED 1920 × 1080 pixel display (providing 960 × 1080 pixels resolution per eye) with an RGB subpixel matrix, and is capable of displaying content at 120fps. It features an FOV of 100°, 6DOF head-tracking, stereoscopic 3D, and unwarped output to a TV, either for others to view what the headset wearer sees, or a separate display to compete against the headset user using a standard PS4 controller.


title: PlayStation VR

text: In September 2015, it was revealed the headset would have three rendering modes for developers to choose from: native 90 Hz, native 120 Hz, and a mode where gameplay running at 60 Hz would be displayed at 120 Hz using a motion interpolation technique called asynchronous reprojection. The interpolation would be achieved with little system resources and a small latency of under 18 milliseconds. The technique would also be utilised in the native 120 Hz mode to ensure consistent framerate. According to a Sony representative, the company expects the interpolated 120 Hz mode to be a popular choice for games.


title: PlayStation VR

text: PlayStation VR games can send different perspectives to the headset and television. Shuhei Yoshida, president of SIE Worldwide Studios, explained in regards to a demo by Japan Studio, "Monster Escape" (in which four players playing off the TV must evade a monster controlled by a player using the headset), that this ability allowed VR to become an asymmetric "social experience", similarly citing the existing game "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes" as another example of a VR-compatible game that emphasizes interaction.


title: PlayStation VR

text: On November 10, 2017, Sony released the CUH-ZVR2 model of the PlayStation VR which included minor changes, like a slimmer, more streamlined connection cable with different connectors from the CUH-ZVR1 model, and integrated stereo headphones. The newer processor unit also supports HDR video pass through.


title: PlayStation VR

text: The Aim Controller is an optional, abstractly-shaped light gun peripheral that was bundled with "Farpoint" and also sold separately for US$59.99. It is also compatible with a limited selection of VR shooter games, and mimics the feel of a gun more closely than a traditional gamepad. It has all the functions of a Dualshock controller, and, unlike the PS3-era Sharp Shooter accessory, does not require a PlayStation Move controller to be slotted in. It was praised by "IGN" as "a must-have for VR shooter fans on PlayStation".


title: PlayStation VR

text: In March 2016, Sony said there were 230 developers actively working on content for PlayStation VR, with 50 titles available by the end of the year.


title: PlayStation VR

text: Existing, non-VR games can be played within PlayStation VR via "Cinematic Mode", which renders the content on a simulated projection screen in a 3D space. The mode has three screen size options, ranging up to 226 inches (18.8 ft) in virtual size. PlayStation VR also supports the display of 360-degree photos and video. Other features, such as Share Play and Live from PlayStation, are also compatible within the headset. It can also be used to watch 3D movies on Blu-Ray 3D.


title: PlayStation VR

text: Prior to release, Sony predicted that interest in the headset would build steadily over time, through word of mouth.


title: PlayStation VR

text: PlayStation VR was first demonstrated on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", and as a playable concept during E3 2014. The device was also featured at Sony's PlayStation Experience Expo in Las Vegas in December 2014. Sony announced new information regarding Project Morpheus at the 2015 Game Developers Conference, in line with the official schedule posted on their website and released updated specifications.


title: PlayStation VR

text: In an interview with Nikkei Japan in March 2016, Sony indicated the possibility of enabling use of the PlayStation VR in connection with a PC. This would allow the device to work with platforms extending further than the PlayStation 4.


title: PlayStation VR

text: Reviews from most publications were positive; critics praised the PS VR's physical design, ease of use, and availability. Compared to other headsets that require high-end computers, the PlayStation VR only required a PS4. Most criticism was aimed at the system's performance, noting the PS4 offers less compute power than the high-end PCs required to run "PCVR" games, even though it offers "near to PC-quality performance".


title: PlayStation VR

text: As of February 19, 2017, PlayStation VR had sold over 915,000 units. Andrew House, the President and Global CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the company behind the PlayStation VR, stated that the sales of the VR were far beyond expectations. On June 5, 2017, the number of PlayStation VR units sold had passed 1 million. Sony announced that the PlayStation VR had sold over 2 million units and 12.2 million games on December 3, 2017. Sony announced that PlayStation VR had sold-through more than 3 million units and 21.9 million games worldwide as of August 16, 2018, with the PlayStation VR sold-through number increasing to 4.2 million as of March 3, 2019. , PlayStation VR has sold-through 5 million units.


title: DEF CON

text: DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, security researchers, students, and hackers with a general interest in software, computer architecture, hardware modification, conference badges, and anything else that can be "hacked". The event consists of several tracks of speakers about computer- and hacking-related subjects, as well as cyber-security challenges and competitions (known as hacking wargames). Contests held during the event are extremely varied, and can range from creating the longest Wi-Fi connection to finding the most effective way to cool a beer in the Nevada heat.


title: DEF CON

text: Other contests, past and present, include lockpicking, robotics-related contests, art, slogan, coffee wars, scavenger hunt and Capture the Flag. Capture the Flag (CTF) is perhaps the best known of these contests and is a hacking competition where teams of hackers attempt to attack and defend computers and networks using software and network structures. CTF has been emulated at other hacking conferences as well as in academic and military contexts (as red team exercises).


title: DEF CON

text: Federal law enforcement agents from the FBI, DoD, United States Postal Inspection Service, DHS (via CISA) and other agencies regularly attend DEF CON.


title: DEF CON

text: DEF CON was founded in 1993, by then 18-year-old Jeff Moss as a farewell party for his friend, a fellow hacker and member of "Platinum Net", a FidoNet protocol based hacking network from Canada. The party was planned for Las Vegas a few days before his friend was to leave the United States, because his father had accepted employment out of the country. However, his friend's father left early, taking his friend along, so Jeff was left alone with the entire party planned. Jeff decided to invite all his hacker friends to go to Las Vegas with him and have the party with them instead. Hacker friends from far and wide got together and laid the foundation for DEF CON, with roughly 100 people in attendance.


title: DEF CON

text: The term DEF CON comes from the movie "WarGames", referencing the U.S. Armed Forces defense readiness condition (DEFCON). In the movie, Las Vegas was selected as a nuclear target, and since the event was being hosted in Las Vegas, it occurred to Jeff Moss to name the convention DEF CON. However, to a lesser extent, CON also stands for convention and DEF is taken from the letters on the number 3 on a telephone keypad, a reference to phreakers. Any variation of the spelling, other than "DEF CON", could be considered an infringement of the DEF CON brand. The official name of the conference includes a space in-between DEF and CON.


title: DEF CON

text: Though intended to be a one-time event, Moss received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, and decided to host the event for a second year at their urging. The event's attendance nearly doubled the second year, and has enjoyed continued success. In 2019, an estimated 30,000 people attended DEF CON 27.


title: DEF CON

text: In 2021, DEF CON 29 was held on August 5-8 in-person in Las Vegas and virtually (via Twitch and Discord). In-person attendees were required wear masks in conference areas and to show proof to COVID-19 vaccination. Attendees with verified vaccine records (verified by a 3rd party) were given a wristband which was required for entry into the conference areas.


title: DEF CON

text: The Black Badge is the highest award DEF CON gives to contest winners of certain events. Capture the flag (CTF) winners sometimes earn these, as well as Hacker Jeopardy winners. The contests that are awarded Black Badges vary from year to year, and a Black Badge allows free entrance to DEF CON for life, potentially a value of thousands of dollars.


title: DEF CON

text: In April 2017, a DEF CON Black Badge was featured in an exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History entitled "Innovations in Defense: Artificial Intelligence and the Challenge of Cybersecurity". The badge belongs to ForAllSecure's Mayhem Cyber Reasoning System, the winner of the DARPA 2016 Cyber Grand Challenge at DEF CON 24 and the first non-human entity ever to earn a Black Badge.


title: DEF CON

text: Since DEF CON 11, fundraisers have been conducted for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The first fundraiser was a dunk tank and was an "official" event. The EFF now has an event named "The Summit" hosted by the Vegas 2.0 crew that is an open event and fundraiser. DEF CON 18 (2010) hosted a new fundraiser called MohawkCon.


title: DEF CON

text: A notable part of DEF CON is the conference badge, which identifies attendees and ensures attendees can access conference events and activities. The DEF CON badge has historically been notable because of its changing nature, sometimes being an electronic badge (PCB), with LEDs, or sometimes being a non-electronic badge such as a vinyl record. Conference badges often contain challenges or callbacks to hacker or other technology history, such as the usage of the Konami Code in the DEF CON 24 badge, or the DEF CON 25 badge reverting to the look of the DEF CON 1 badge. DEFCON Badges do not (generally) identify attendees by name; however, the badges are used to differentiate attendees from others. One way of doing this has been to have different badges, a general conference attendee (HUMAN) badge, a Staff member (GOON), Vendor, Speaker, Press, and other badges. In addition, individuals and organizations have begun creating their own badges in what has become known as badgelife. These badges may be purchased in many cases, or earned at the conference by completing challenges or events. Some badges may give the holder access to after hours events at the conference. In 2018, the evolution of this came with what was termed "shitty addon's" or SAOs. These were miniature (usually) PCBs that connected to the official and other badges that may extend functionality or were just collected.


title: DEF CON

text: Workshops are dedicated classes on various topics related to information security and related topics. Historical workshops have been held on topics such as Digital Forensics investigation, hacking IoT devices, playing with RFID, fuzzing and attacking smart devices.


title: DEF CON

text: Villages are dedicated spaces arranged around a specific topic. Villages may be considered mini conferences within the con, with many holding their own independent talks as well as hands-on activities such as CTFs, or labs. Some villages include Aerospace Village, Car Hacking Village, IoT Village, Recon, Biohacking, lockpicking, ham radio, and the well known Social Engineering and vote hacking villages. In 2018 the vote hacking village gained media attention due to concerns about US election systems security vulnerabilities.


title: DEF CON

text: Attendees at DEF CON and other Hacker conferences often utilize an alias or "handle" at conferences. This is in keeping with the hacker community's desire for anonymity. Some known handles include DEF CON founder Jeff Moss's handle of "Dark Tangent". A notable event at DEF CON is DEF CON 101 which starts off the con and may offer the opportunity for an individual to come up on stage and be assigned a handle by a number of members of the community.


title: DEF CON

text: DEF CON has its own cultural underground which results in individuals wanting to create their own meetups or "cons" within DEF CON. These may be actual formal meetups or may be informal. Well known cons are:


title: DEF CON

text: DEF CON Groups are worldwide, local chapters of hackers, thinkers, makers and others. DEF CON Groups were started as a splinter off of the meetup groups because of concerns over politicization. Local DEF CON groups are formed and are posted online. DEF CON Groups are usually identified by the area code of the area where they are located in the US, and by other numbers when outside of the US. Examples include DC801 and DC201. DEF CON Groups may seek permission to make a logo that includes the official DEF CON logo with approval.


title: DEF CON

text: DEF CON is considered the "world's largest" hacker con. It is also considered one of the core conferences, with organizers and attendees using it as a model for other conferences.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend is a weekly podcast hosted by American comedian and former talk show host Conan O'Brien. It is co-hosted by O'Brien's assistant, Sona Movsesian, and producer, Matt Gourley. The podcast debuted in November 2018 and features O'Brien talking with comedians and actors in the industry, including Jeff Goldblum, Adam Sandler, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Will Ferrell, Kristen Bell, Bill Burr, Tom Hanks, and Tina Fey; along with personal friends, such as Lisa Kudrow and Timothy Olyphant; as well as people he admires, such as Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Neil Young, and Robert Caro.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" has received positive reviews from critics and is one of the top podcasts on iTunes.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" premiered November 18, 2018, when O'Brien's talk show was on hiatus and being retooled from an hour-long format into a half-hour format. O'Brien announced, "After 25 years of extensive market research, we have learned that people want to hear my voice without seeing my face. So rejoice, America." The title refers to the podcast's premise that O'Brien is only friends with people who work for him, and the friendly conversations he has with celebrities on his talk show rarely translate to lasting friendships, an issue he is looking to fix.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: The first 36 episodes of the podcast were packaged together as one season. A second season consisting of another 36 episodes premiered on October 7, 2019, after a run of six special episodes titled "Deep Dive with Dana Carvey". A third season premiered on August 3, 2020.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: In April 2021, O'Brien launched a companion podcast titled "Conan O'Brien Needs A Fan", in which he, Movsesian, and Gourley will take questions from fans via Zoom.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: In July 2021, it was announced that David Hopping would replace Movsesian during her maternity leave. Movsesian returned on the episode released October 10, 2021, the same podcast where Gourley announced he would be taking a month-long paternity leave.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: In November 2021, O'Brien, Movsesian, and Gourley performed a live version of the podcast at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: In May 2022, the podcast, as well as the entire digital media business Team Coco, was sold to SiriusXM for $150 million. The show was announced to continue to be distributed everywhere it had previously been available.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: The podcast episodes opens with the guests stating their names and saying, "I feel _____ about being Conan O'Brien's friend" in which they state their feelings about their respective friendships with Conan, intercut with guitar music by Jimmy Vivino. This is followed by the show's theme music, "We're Going to Be Friends" by The White Stripes. The majority of the podcast is then a casual interview between O'Brien and the guest.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: Sona Movsesian, O'Brien's long-time personal assistant, and Matt Gourley, the podcast's producer, serve as sidekicks. Many of the episodes feature O'Brien periodically reading ads, sometimes introduced as a segment called "Conan O'Brien Pays Off the Mortgage on His Beach House". To close out the podcast, conversations largely unrelated to the preceding interview are featured, with O'Brien, Movsesian, and Gourley discussing topics including minor workplace squabbles, the success of the podcast, O'Brien's idiosyncrasies, or listeners' messages.