text: The Gospel of Matthew describes Jesus' triumphant entry on Palm Sunday as a fulfillment of this verse in Zechariah. Matthew describes the prophecy in terms of a colt and a separate donkey, whereas the original only mentions the colt; the reference in Zechariah is a Jewish parallelism referring only to a single animal, and the gospels of Mark, Luke, and John state Jesus sent his disciples after only one animal. Several explanations have been suggested, such as that Matthew misread the original, the existence of the foal is implied, or he wanted to create a deliberate echo of a reference in , where there are two asses for David's household to ride on.


title: Old Testament messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament

text: In the most ancient Jewish writings Zechariah 9:9 is applied to the Messiah. According to the Talmud, so firm was the belief in the ass on which the Messiah is to ride that "if anyone saw an ass in his dream, he will see salvation". The verse is also Messianically quoted in Sanh. 98 a, in Pirqé de R. Eliez. c. 31, and in several of the Midrashim.


text: In some of the most ancient Jewish writings, Zechariah 12:10 is applied to the Messiah Ben Joseph in the Talmud, and so is verse 12 ("The land will wail, each family by itself: The family of the House of David by themselves, and their women by themselves; the family of the House of Nathan by themselves, and their women by themselves"), there being, however, a difference of opinion whether the mourning is caused by the death of the Messiah Ben Joseph, or else on account of the evil concupiscence ("Yetzer hara").


text: The Gospel of John makes reference to this prophecy when referring to the crucifixion of Jesus, as can be seen in the following account:


text: Zechariah 12:10 is often regarded as mistranslated by modern-day adherents to Judaism. It is often translated by Jews as follows:


text: The Jewish-Christian debate on the correct rendering of Zechariah 12:10 oftentimes come down to the translation of the Hebrew phrase "את אשר (’êṯ-’ă·šer or et-asher)" which can mean either "whom" or "about" depending on the context.


text: Among Christian believers, opinion varies as to which Old Testament passages are messianic prophecies and which are not, and whether the prophecies they claim to have been fulfilled are intended to be prophecies. The authors of these Old Testament prophecies often appear to be describing events that had already occurred. For example, the New Testament verse states:


text: Skeptics say that the Hosea passage clearly is talking about a historical event and therefore the passage clearly is not a prophecy.


text: According to modern scholarship, the suffering servant described in Isaiah chapter 53 is actually the Jewish people. According to some, the rabbinic response, e.g., Rashi and Maimonides, is that, although the suffering servant passage is clearly prophetic and even if Psalm 22 is prophetic, the Messiah has not come yet; therefore, the passages could not be talking about Jesus. As noted above, there is some controversy about the phrase "they have pierced my hands and my feet".


text: For modern Bible scholars, either the verses make no claim of predicting future events, or the verses make no claim of speaking about the Messiah. They view the argument that Jesus is the Messiah because he has fulfilled prophecy as a fallacy, i.e. it is a confession of faith masquerading as objective rational argumentation. As Christian-turned-atheist Farrell Till argues in his "Skeptical Review",


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: Siren (stylized as SiREN) is a 2016 American horror film directed by Gregg Bishop and written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. It is the first spin-off film in the "V/H/S" franchise and feature-length adaptation of "Amateur Night", David Bruckner's segment from the 2012 anthology horror film "V/H/S". It was released on December 2, 2016 in theatres, on DVD on December 6, 2016 and on Netflix January 1, 2020. One week before his wedding day, Jonah and his groomsmen hit the town for a wild night of club hopping and debauchery. But the party becomes a savage fight for survival when they unwittingly unleash a fabled predator upon the festivities.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: One week before his wedding day, Jonah and his groomsmen hit the town for his stag party, hosted by his irresponsible brother Mac. Attempting to be more original, Mac takes them to Garden City instead of a typical party location hoping for a wild night, and instead they wind up at a lackluster strip club. Visibly disappointed at his efforts, Mac attracts the attentions of a stranger who tells him about an underground moving club that promises to surpass all expectations.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: Reluctantly, Jonah agrees to go, but the long drive to 50 north/40 west through a dark forest unnerves the group, as does the club when they finally arrive. The patrons and dancers almost convince the group to leave until the club owner, Mr. Nyx, comes out to personally welcome and see to their entertainment. Upon hearing that Jonah wants a non-cheating experience, Nyx takes him into another room and tells him to go to the window at the end while his groomsmen pay. He asks from each of the three men their favorite memories of their mothers. At the window, Jonah sees a nude young woman on the other side of the glass who begins singing. Jonah suddenly relives all the sexual encounters he has ever had at once. Meanwhile, at the main bar, one of the groomsmen, Elliot, has a custom drink with a leech in it and suddenly experiences the memory of murdering someone, after which both Mac and Rand realize they all have matching marks on the back of their necks.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: After leaving the window, Jonah hears the girl ask him not to leave and sees that the door to the room is padlocked from the outside. Fearing that the girl is a sex slave, Jonah gets Rand, tells the others to get to the car, and the two break the lock and let her out using the swiss army knife that Jonah gave them as groomsmen gifts. While attempting to sneak out of the club, the three get waylaid by guards and hide in a bathroom. Once there, the girl uses the keys she stole from one of the guards to open a shackle around her ankle, then brutally kills the guard that followed them, revealing claws and a long tail. Jonah and Rand run for the car and the four drive away, only for the girl to suddenly land on the roof and cause them to crash.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: While the girl grabs Elliot and drags him off, Nyx and his posse arrive and kidnap Rand as Jonah and Mac escape. Back at the club, Nyx questions Rand, asking why they released "Lilith" before allowing the brother of the murdered guard to torture him. Out in the woods, Jonah and Mac desperately try to find Elliot while arguing over who is to blame for the way the night has gone. Jonah realizes that the girl had sniffed him after being released, and had gone after Elliot because he has been wearing his jacket. The two attempt to cover their scent, managing to escape and find their way to a diner patroned by a pair of cops. They desperately try to describe the past few hours and the cops cuff them, Mac noticing in alarm that they have the same mark on the backs of their necks, realizing that they work for Nyx. The girl arrives at the diner and starts to sing, entrancing the cop with Jonah who quickly puts in his headphones to drown her out, watching as she murders both cops. Chasing him through the diner, the girl reveals a demonic face, announcing "I like you" before grabbing Jonah and flying away.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: Back at the club, Nyx orders one of his minions, who appears to be some sort of Gorgon, to take a very injured Rand's memories of being tortured, hunt down Jonah, and give them to him. The minion does this by taking a medusa-like leech from her head and inserting into then removing it from the mark on the back of his neck, revealing what had happened earlier when paying for Jonah's session and what had happened with Elliot, implying that part of Nyx's business is selling people memories.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: Back with Jonah, he and the girl land in a quarry, and after a few attempts to escape, she rapes him while singing, again creating a fantasy of him having sex with his fiance, Eva, and then forms her tail into a penile shape and inserts into his rectum to make him impregnate her. When he comes back to himself, Jonah runs from the now sleeping girl and makes it back to his hotel room where the minion is waiting for him. She forces him to drink the leech she took earlier and Jonah relives Rand's torture and the memory of Nyx speaking directly to him and offering a trade; the girl for Rand. All he has to do is go to a church and the girl will follow him. Jonah agrees and follows the minion to the church.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: Once there, a few things become clearer. The girl, Lily, is actually a demon from hell (a succubus to be exact) that was summoned years ago, imprisoned by Nyx, and forced to become a sex slave. Lily had become infatuated with Jonah because he was kind and helped her escape. Succubi mate for life and Lily wants him to stay with her, killing anyone who gets in her way. The church is the location where she was originally summoned and Nyx needs Jonah to lure her into a rune circle and reattach the shackle around her ankle to bind her to his will again, as he is the only person she will not kill.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: Lily arrives and hesitantly steps into the circle. Jonah apologizes to Lily he made a mistake when he released her, letting her know he was not aware it was a trap. To Nyx's anger, Jonah makes a new deal with Lily; he will not put the shackle on if she will let Jonah go. Lily agrees, and proceeds to slaughter Nyx and his henchmen, while Jonah grabs a seriously injured Rand. Mac arrives and sacrifices himself saving his brother from a vengeful Nyx. Lily kisses Jonah goodbye, and watches from above the church doors while Jonah and Rand leave.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: A year later, Jonah and Eva are married. Eva states that she wants to start their special evening soon because she is getting sleepy as she takes a drink of her wine. They make love on their anniversary. Jonah goes to get a glass of water afterwards and sees Eva asleep on the couch, realizing that he had made love to Lily and not Eva. Jonah attempts to get Lily to leave and almost succeeds, until Eva notices Lily and starts to scream, whereupon Lily starts to attack her. Jonah begs her to stop and says he will go with her. Lily grabs Jonah and they fly off into the night, Eva hysterically screaming after them.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: In May 2015, Chiller Films slated "Siren", a "V/H/S" spinoff of the segment "Amateur Night", written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, would premiere in 2016. In August 2015, "Ain't it Cool News" reported that production was underway in Savannah, Georgia, with Hannah Fierman reprising her role and Gregg Bishop serving as director. David Bruckner, creator of the original segment, was initially slated to direct, but would ultimately pass on the offer due to his involvement on an unmade "Friday the 13th" reboot. Producer Brad Miska then offered the film to Bishop, who both previously collaborated on "". Bruckner was heavily involved with the project, serving as an executive producer, second unit director, and oversaw the development of the screenplay with Collins and Piotrowski. The filmmakers opted not to use the found footage format to differentiate the feature from the short film.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: Even though the studio was pushing for other actresses for the role of Lily, director Gregg Bishop insisted that Hannah Fierman reprise her role as Lily, stating that she was the primary reason that the character was so iconic in the short. Fierman was initially hesitant to return to the role of Lily, but would ultimately sign on to the project after being drawn in by Bruckner's pitch. The actress also partook in auditioning for the role during casting.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: For the parts of the movie where Lily sings, the filmmakers decided in pre-production to utilize Hannah Fierman's singing voice. She would lip sync to a guide track for the first take to just get the melody and timing of the song (the filmmakers never intending to use that take), then in the following takes she would sing it for real. Justin Welborn was cast as Mr. Nyx, who also starred in Bruckner's film "The Signal" and Bishop's "Dance of the Dead".


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: The film was scheduled for 18 days and budgeted under a half million dollars. Post production was rushed and as a result several final visual FX shots were not approved by the director because the post house had to cut them in and deliver the movie.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: "Siren" was released on December 2, 2016 by Chiller Films. and then released on DVD on December 6, 2016 by Universal Home Video. The film was subsequently released on Netflix on January 1, 2020.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Siren" holds a 65% approval rating based on 20 critics, with an average rating of 5.30/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a 54 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: According to We Got This Covered and FlixPatrol, "SiREN" reached the Top 10 in eight different countries on Netflix.


title: Siren (2016 film)

text: "Ain't It Cool News" called "SiREN" a "rock solid monster movie with a strong ensemble cast", the "Los Angeles Times" hailed it a "clever and confident expansion of a terrific short." "We Are Indie Horror" called it a "phenomenal and intense adaptation of "Amateur Night" that far surpasses the short in tone and action. "SiREN" stands on its own and is a must-see". "Horror Freak News" named "SiREN" as one of the "top horror movies of 2016".


title: Special Olympics

text: Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held every day, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics World Games are not held in the same year nor in conjunction with the Olympic Games.


title: Special Olympics

text: The Special Olympics World Games is a major event put on by the Special Olympics committee. The World Games alternate between summer and winter games, in two-year cycles, recurring every fourth year. The first games were held on July 20, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois, with about 1000 athletes from the U.S. and Canada. At those first games, honorary event chair Eunice Kennedy Shriver announced the formation of the Special Olympics organization. International participation expanded in subsequent games. In 2003, the first summer games held outside the United States were in Dublin, Ireland with 7000 athletes from 150 countries. The most recent World Summer Games were held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from March 14 to 21, 2019. This was the first Special Olympics World Games held in the Middle East. The next World Summer Games will be held in Berlin, Germany, between June 16 to 25, 2023. This will be the first time for Germany to host the Special Olympics World Games.


title: Special Olympics

text: The first World Winter Games were held in 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, US. Austria hosted the first Winter Games outside the United States in 1993. The most recent Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in Graz, Schladming and Ramsau, Austria, from March 14, 2017, to March 25, 2017 (see also 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games). During the World Winter Games of 2013 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the first Special Olympics Global Development Summit was held on "Ending the Cycle of Poverty and Exclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities", gathering government officials, activists and business leaders from around the world.


title: Special Olympics

text: Eunice Kennedy Shriver believed that mentally handicapped people could be happy and live meaningful lives. When her mother took her sister, Rosemary, to a doctor, they were told that Rosemary’s situation was hopeless. Eunice founded the Special Olympics to positively change the public’s attitude towards mentally handicapped people. In June 1963, Eunice Kennedy Shriver started a day camp called Camp Shriver for children with intellectual and physical disabilities at her home in Potomac, Maryland. The camp sought to address the concern that disabled children had very little opportunity to participate in organised athletic events. With Camp Shriver as an example, Kennedy Shriver, head of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and a member of President John F. Kennedy's Panel on Mental Retardation, promoted the concept of involvement in physical activity and other opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. Camp Shriver became an annual event, and the Kennedy Foundation gave grants to universities, recreation departments, and community centers to hold similar camps.


title: Special Olympics

text: Also in the early 1960s, Kennedy Shriver wrote an article in the "Saturday Evening Post", revealing that her sister Rosemary, also President John F. Kennedy's sister, was born with intellectual disabilities. This frank article about the President's family was seen as a "watershed" in changing public attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities. Rosemary's disability provided Kennedy Shriver with an overall vision that people with intellectual disabilities could compete and at the same time unify together in public. It has often been said that Rosemary's disability was Eunice's inspiration to form Special Olympics (as the movement came to be called), but she told "The New York Times" in 1995 that that was not exactly the case. "The games should not focus on one individual," she said.


title: Special Olympics

text: In 1958, Dr. James N. Oliver of England had conducted pioneering research, including a ground-breaking study showing that physical exercise and activities for children with intellectual disabilities had positive effects that also carried over into the classroom ("The Effects of Physical Conditioning Exercises and Activities on the Mental Characteristics of Educationally Sub-Normal Boys, British Journal of Educational Psychology, XXVIII, June 1958). Oliver in 1964 served as a consultant to Camp Shriver.


title: Special Olympics

text: The 1964 research of Dr. Frank Hayden, a Canadian physical education professor from London, Ontario, demonstrated that intellectually disabled people can and should participate in physical exercise. He believed that the benefits of such activity would be seen in all areas of the athletes' lives. With the help of a local school that offered space in its gym, Hayden started one of the first public organised sports programs, floor hockey for individuals with intellectual disabilities, in the fall of 1968. In the mid-1960s, Hayden also developed an idea for national games, and his work brought him to the attention of the Kennedy Foundation. He shared his ideas for national games, while taking a teaching sabbatical and working for the foundation.


title: Special Olympics

text: The first Special Olympics games were held on July 20, 1968, at Soldier Field in Chicago. About 1,000 athletes from the U.S. and Canada took part in the one-day event, which was a joint venture by the Kennedy Foundation and the Chicago Park District. Anne McGlone Burke, then a physical education teacher with the Chicago Park District, began with the idea for a one-time, city-wide, Olympic-style athletic competition for people with special needs. Burke approached the Kennedy Foundation in 1967 to help fund the event. Kennedy Shriver, in turn, encouraged her to expand the idea beyond the city and the foundation provided a grant of $25,000. When Burke had approached another charity for funding, she was told, "You should be ashamed of yourself putting these kinds of kids on display". The advisory committee to the Chicago Special Olympics included Dr. William Freeberg from Southern Illinois University, Dr. Hayden of the Kennedy Foundation, Dr. Arthur Peavy, Burke, William McFetridge, and Stephen Kelly of the Chicago Park District, as well as, Olympic decathlon champion Rafer Johnson. Kennedy Shriver was honorary chair. At the July 1968 games, Kennedy Shriver announced the formation of Special Olympics and that more games would be held every two years as a "Biennial International Special Olympics". Hayden served as the games executive director through 1972, and then in international development for the games.


title: Special Olympics

text: In 1971, The U.S. Olympic Committee gave the Special Olympics official approval to use the name "Olympics". France sent the first athletes from outside North America to the second games held in 1970. The third games in 1972 saw 10 nations send athletes The first Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, U.S. The United Nations declared 1986, the year of the Special Olympics. In 1988, the Special Olympics was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The first World Games held outside the U.S., were the winter games of 1993 in Salzburg and Schladming, Austria. The Austrian president was the first head of state to personally open the games.


title: Special Olympics

text: In 1997, Healthy Athletes became an official Special Olympics initiative, offering health information and screenings to Special Olympics athletes worldwide. By 2010, the Healthy Athletes program had given free health screenings and treatment to more than 1 million people with intellectual disabilities.


title: Special Olympics

text: The 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games – the first summer held outside of the United States – took place in Dublin, Ireland. Approximately 7,000 athletes from 150 countries competed over 18 disciplines. The Dublin games were also the first to have their own opening and closing ceremonies broadcast live. President of Ireland Mary McAleese performed the ceremonial duties. The 2003 games dramatically changed the perceptions and attitudes of international society regarding the abilities and limitations of people with intellectual disabilities. The opening ceremony of the 2003 Games has been described by President McAleese as "a time when Ireland was at its superb best".


title: Special Olympics

text: On October 30, 2004, President George W. Bush signed into law the "Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act," Public Law 108–406. The bill authorized funding for its Healthy Athletes, Education, and Worldwide Expansion programs. Co-sponsored by Representatives Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Harry Reid (D-NV), the bills were passed by unanimous consent in both chambers. In July 2006, the first Special Olympics USA Games were held at Iowa State University. Teams from all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated.


title: Special Olympics

text: In May 2016, Mary Davis of Dublin, Ireland, was named chief executive officer. She is the first CEO from outside the U.S. in the organization's history. From 2017 to 2019, US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos attempted to eliminate federal funding for the Special Olympics. Each year the attempt was rejected by Congress, and the public outcry following a third annual attempt resulted in the funding being maintained in 2019. As part of the Special Olympics 50th Anniversary celebration in 2018, a new mission called the “Inclusion Revolution” was launched.


title: Special Olympics

text: The Special Olympics logo is based on the sculpture "Joy and Happiness to All the Children of the World" by Zurab Tsereteli which was a gift to SUNY Brockport when the university hosted the Special Olympics in 1979. The logo has gone through several changes in its lifetime. The "stick figure" is an abstract but humanistic form designed to convey the impression of movement and activity. The logo is a symbol of growth, confidence and joy among children and adults with disabilities who are learning coordination, mastering skills, participating in competitions and preparing themselves for richer, more productive lives.


title: Special Olympics

text: In 2018, the Chicago Park District dedicated the "Eternal Flame of Hope" in honor of the Special Olympics. The sculpture by Richard Hunt stands in a plaza next to Soldier Field, where the first games were held 50 years earlier in 1968. The Flame of Hope is the name given to the torch that is carried to and lit at Special Olympics games.


title: Special Olympics

text: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was originally selected to host the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. Due to financial problems and the constant delay in reconstruction of the venues of the 1984 Winter Olympics, the city gave up hosting the Games, and Boise, Idaho, was invited to host the event.


title: Special Olympics

text: There are 204 countries and territories, grouped into 7 geographic regions (Updated at 17 Dec 2021).Due to legal issues,eight national programs don't use the official names of their countries in English are using their official names in their local languages. :


title: Special Olympics

text: Special Olympics programs are available for athletes free of charge. More than 5.7 million athletes and Unified Sports partners are involved in Special Olympics sports training and competition in 172 countries. The organization offers year-round training and competition in 32 Olympic-style summer and winter sports.


title: Special Olympics

text: People with intellectual disabilities are encouraged to join Special Olympics for the physical activity, which helps lower the rate of cardiovascular disease and obesity, among other health benefits. Also, they gain many emotional and psychological benefits, including self-confidence, social competence, building greater athletic skills and higher self-esteem. Exercise has also been shown to be related to a decrease in anxiety levels amongst people with intellectual disabilities.


title: Special Olympics

text: To participate in Special Olympics, a person must be at least 8 years old and identified by an agency or professional as having one of the following conditions: intellectual disabilities, cognitive delays as measured by formal assessment, or significant learning or vocational problems due to cognitive delay that require or have required specially designed instruction. For young people with and without intellectual disabilities ages 2–7, Special Olympics has a Young Athletes program—an inclusive sport and play program with a focus on activities that are important to mental and physical growth. Children engage in games and activities that develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Parents say their children in Young Athletes also develop better social skills. The confidence boost makes it easier for them to play and talk with other children on the playground and elsewhere. A study by the Center for Social Development and Education (University of Massachusetts, Boston) found that the activities also had the effect of helping children with intellectual disabilities learn routines and approaches to learning, along with how to follow rules and directions.


title: Special Olympics

text: Families can also get involved with the Special Olympics experience. Family members support their athletes to the best of their ability, which may involve attending or volunteering at the events. By being involved they can boost their athlete's self-esteem and will be looked at as a constant source of encouragement.


title: Special Olympics

text: Volunteers and supporters are an integral part of Special Olympics—and millions of people around the world are committed to its programs. Some are sponsors or donors. Many others are coaches, event volunteers and fans.


title: Special Olympics

text: Coaches help the athletes be the best they can be regardless of ability—or disability. Special Olympics trains coaches through the Coaching Excellence program, which includes partnering with sports organizations. Special Olympics volunteers are introduced to lifetime friendships and great rewards.


title: Special Olympics

text: There are many events in which families and volunteers participate, but the biggest event is the Law Enforcement Torch Run, which involves police chiefs, police officers, secret service, FBI agents, military police, sheriffs, state troopers, prison guards, and other law enforcement personnel assembling to raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics. Ahead of a Special Olympics competition, law enforcement officers carry the torch in intervals along a planned route covering most of the state or country to the site of the opening ceremonies of the chapter or Special Olympics World Summer or Winter Games. Then they pass the torch to a Special Olympics athlete and together they run up to the cauldron and light it, signifying the beginning of the games.


title: Special Olympics

text: The Special Olympics athlete's oath, which was first introduced by Eunice Kennedy Shriver at the inaugural Special Olympics international games in Chicago in 1968, is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." The origin of the oath came from Herbert J. Kramer, then Public Relations Advisor to the Kennedy Foundation.


title: Special Olympics

text: In 1968, track and field, swimming, and floor hockey were the first three official sports offered by Special Olympics. As in the Olympics, events are introduced in training and then added to the competitive schedule, and from there the list of sports and events continued to grow.


title: Special Olympics

text: Special Olympics has more than 30 Olympic-type individual and team sports that provide meaningful training and competition opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. , these are:


title: Special Olympics

text: Other sports and sports-related programs include the Motor Activity Training Program and beach volleyball. Availability of sports can depend on location and season.


title: Special Olympics

text: A key difference between Special Olympics competitions and those of other sports organizations is that athletes of all ability levels are encouraged to participate. Competitions are structured so that athletes compete with other athletes of similar ability in equitable divisions. An athlete's ability is the primary factor in divisioning Special Olympics competitions. The ability of an athlete or team is determined by an entry score from a prior competition or the result of a seeding round or preliminary event at the competition itself. Other factors that are significant in establishing competitive divisions are age and gender.


title: Special Olympics

text: At competitions, medals are awarded for first, second, and third place in each event, and ribbons are awarded to athletes who finish in fourth through eighth place.


title: Special Olympics

text: In recent years, Special Olympics has pioneered the concept of Unified Sports, bringing together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates. The basic concept is that training together and playing together can create a path to friendship and understanding. The program has expanded beyond the U.S. and North America: more than 1.4 million people worldwide now take part in Special Olympics Unified Sports. The goal is to break down stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities and promote unity.


title: Special Olympics

text: Building on this, Special Olympics launched "The Revolution Is Inclusion," inviting people worldwide to sign the Inclusion Pledge. This campaign aimed at celebrating all abilities began as Special Olympics marked its 50th anniversary.


title: Special Olympics

text: A recent study of Special Olympics Unified Sports in Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and Hungary documented the benefits of Unified Sports, including the effect of changing attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities. As one Unified Sports partner said, "I am ashamed to say that I used to laugh at these people (people with intellectual disabilities), now I will tell anybody to stop laughing if I see it and I will stand up for people if I can." Other evaluations have also shown Unified Sports to be successful in building self-esteem and confidence in people with intellectual disabilities and also as a way to improve understanding and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities among their non-disabled peers.


title: Special Olympics

text: The Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Regional Research centre is based at the University of Ulster Jordanstown.


title: Special Olympics

text: As part of their 50th anniversary, the Special Olympics created the first Unified Cup. The first competition is a soccer tournament with 440 athletes from 24 countries.


title: Special Olympics

text: Unified Robotics, a program that pairs Special Olympics students with FIRST Robotics students to build robots, began in 2016, and has been bringing opportunities for technological skill development to Special Olympics students in Washington state, Arizona, and in other regions since. Special Olympics Arizona also promotes inclusion through Unified Arts programming including robotics, music, photography, art competitions, and gardening.


title: Special Olympics

text: As Special Olympics began to grow, staffers and volunteers began to notice that athletes—children and adults with intellectual disabilities—also had many untreated health problems. In 1997, Special Olympics began an initiative called Healthy Athletes, which offers health screenings to athletes in need.


title: Special Olympics

text: Healthy Athletes currently offers health screenings in eight areas: Fit Feet (podiatry), FUNfitness (physical therapy), Health Promotion (better health and well-being), Healthy Hearing (audiology), MedFest (sports physical exam), Opening Eyes (vision), Special Smiles (dentistry), Strong Minds (Emotional Health). Screenings educate athletes on health and also identify problems that may need additional follow-up. For example, the FUNfitness Program assess flexibility, strength, balance, and aerobic fitness of the athlete. Following the screen, the physical therapist would provide instructions on how to optimize their physical fitness in the areas screened.


title: Special Olympics

text: Since the Healthy Athletes program began, Special Olympics has become the largest global public health organization dedicated to serving people with intellectual disabilities. So far, more than 1.9 million Healthy Athletes screenings have been conducted for people with intellectual disabilities all around the world.


title: Special Olympics

text: The Special Olympics health initiative has attracted high-profile partners, including the Hear the World Foundation, which screened more than 1,000 athletes during the most recent World Winter Games in Korea; more than 200 of them were found to have hearing loss.


title: Special Olympics

text: In 2012, the Special Olympics Healthy Communities initiative launched in eight countries—Kazakhstan, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Romania, South Africa and Thailand, as well as six U.S. states. The goal is to improve the health and well-being of people with intellectual disabilities and allow them to reach their full potential.


title: Special Olympics

text: Scholar Keith Storey summarized common objections in a 2004 article in "Journal of Disability Policy Studies". One criticism directed at the organization pertains to the role that corporate sponsors play in it, which critics feel has led to degrading paternalism toward athletic ability. While corporate fundraising makes the games possible, critics argue, it provides good public relations for the sponsors, but does not result in integration of people with disabilities into the workforce at those companies. People with disabilities are also not widely represented on the Special Olympics' board of directors, as only two members have disabilities. This has been criticized as a double standard that reflects poorly on the disability rights movement where people with disabilities control the service delivery system rather than relying on people without disabilities.


title: Amblin Partners

text: Storyteller Distribution Co., LLC, doing business as Amblin Partners, LLC., is an American entertainment production company, which succeeded the live-action counterpart of DreamWorks and is led by Steven Spielberg. It develops and produces films under the Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Pictures banners, as well as television series through Amblin Television. The company's investment partners include Reliance Group's Reliance Entertainment, Hasbro's Entertainment One, Alibaba Group's Alibaba Pictures and NBCUniversal/Comcast's Universal Pictures. Films produced by Amblin Partners are primarily distributed by Universal in North America and select international territories and by third-party distributors through Mister Smith Entertainment in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.


title: Amblin Partners

text: Amblin Partners, LLC. was founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeff Skoll of Participant Media, Anil Ambani of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Darren Throop of Entertainment One on December 16, 2015. The company will primarily focus on producing and distributing films and television using the DreamWorks Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and Participant Media brands. For films, it uses the original DreamWorks label for mature content, Amblin label for family-friendly content, and Participant label for social justice content, although the latter remains a separate company.


title: Amblin Partners

text: On the same day as the company's formation, Amblin Partners, LLC. announced that it entered into a five-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures by which the films would be distributed and marketed by either the main Universal banner or its specialty label, Focus Features. "The Girl on the Train" was the first film released under the deal. Mister Smith Entertainment, which began its international distribution deal with DreamWorks on August 29, 2012, continues to handle distribution sales for Amblin Partners, LLC. in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.


title: Amblin Partners

text: On October 9, 2016, Amblin Partners, LLC. struck a deal with China's Alibaba Pictures, in which Alibaba acquired a minority equity stake in the company and will handle marketing, distribution support and merchandising of Amblin Partners, LLC. films in China in addition to co-financing Amblin and DreamWorks films worldwide. On February 15, 2017, Comcast's Universal acquired a minority stake in Amblin Partners, strengthening the relationship between Universal and Amblin.


title: Amblin Partners

text: On December 18, 2017, Amblin Partners, LLC. signed a music publishing deal with BMG Rights Management, covering music from its films and TV series.


title: Amblin Partners

text: On August 22, 2019, Hasbro announced that it would acquire Entertainment One for at least $4 billion. The acquisition was completed on December 30, 2019, resulting in the toy company inheriting eOne's stake in Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Pictures. On May 5, 2020, Amblin renewed its deal with Nordisk Film. On November 30, 2020, Amblin Partners, LLC. renewed its distribution deal with Universal, which continues to be an equity stake holder. That same month however, Participant terminated its equity stake in Amblin Partners, ending its relationship with the company.


title: Amblin Partners

text: On June 21, 2021, Amblin Partners inked a multi-year deal to produce "multiple new feature films per year" for Netflix.


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: Muhammad's first revelation was an event described in Islamic tradition as taking place in AD 610, during which the Islamic prophet Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel, who revealed to him the beginnings of what would later become the Qur'an. The event took place in a cave called Hira, located on the mountain Jabal an-Nour near Mecca. It is not mentioned anywhere when was the exact date and time of the revalation but according to Mubarakpuri, the exact date of this event was Monday, the 21st of Ramadan just before sunrise, i.e. August 10, 610 C.E. – when Muhammad was 40 lunar years, 6 months and 12 days of age, i.e. 39 solar years, 3 months and 22 days.


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: Muhammad was born 55 days after the incident of the elephant, which occurred in the middle of Muharram 570 - i.e. his birth date was Monday, 12 Rabi'I in that year. Many military campaigns occurred around the turn of the year, when conditions were propitious for fighting. Additionally, trade, and gatherings associated therewith, was largely seasonally based. To stop the calendar months from rotating through the seasons, intercalation was employed. This involved the occasional insertion of an extra month (announced at the pilgrimage), ideally seven times in nineteen years. Intercalation was said to have been introduced in AD 412, and it was borrowed from the Jews. The Jewish official controlling the practice was known as "Nasīʾ".


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: When the Arabs adopted the procedure they used this word "nasīʾ" to denote the whole system. It was operated similarly to the way the Jews operated it - the beginning of the year (Muharram) was tied to the spring season.


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: One can establish the day of the Islamic month (but not the month itself) corresponding to a given Julian date by projecting the fixed (i.e. non-intercalated) calendar backwards. When they do, they will find that 6 August 610 corresponds to 11 Ramadan and 10 August to 15 Ramadan. The first revelation is not looked for earlier than the last ten nights of the month. The equivalence of 40 lunar years, 6 months and 12 days to 39 Gregorian calendar years, 3 months and 22 days is also incorrect. 39 Julian calendar years, 3 months and 22 days takes us back from 10 August 610 to 19 April 571, a Sunday night in Rabi'I according to the fixed calendar proposed as Muhammad's date of birth by scholar Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Mansurpuri and astronomer Mahmud Pasha. This is 14,358 days. Taking the average length of an Islamic month as 29.53059 days, this equates to 486.21 months, which in the fixed calendar is 40 years, 6 months and 6 days. The 6 months and 12 days interval referred to above, on the other hand, is authentic and independent of this calculation. It is unaffected by whether or not the year is intercalated. It is the interval between the date of Muhammad's birth (after sunset on 11 Rabi'I) and the Shia date of first revelation (23 Ramadan). As further proof of its correctness, Muhammad died four days after his birthday, on 14 Rabi'I AH 11 (Monday, 8 June 632).


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: Given the day of the week, the date and the year any Muslim date in the intercalated calendar may be converted to Julian by utilising the known relationship between the intercalated calendar and the seasons. Under intercalation 12 Rabi'I (Muhammad's birth date) might fall in May or June. The exact date is Monday, 2 June 570. Under intercalation 23 Ramadan (the date of first revelation) might fall in November or December. The exact date is the night of Sunday to Monday, 13 to 14 December 610.


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: According to biographies of Muhammad, while on retreat in a mountain cave near Mecca (the cave of Hira), where Mohammad used to go and ponder upon the evil deeds of his community. Gabriel appears before him and commands him to "Read!". He responded, "But I cannot read!". Then the angel Gabriel embraced him tightly and then revealed to him the first lines of chapter 96 of the Qur'an, "Read: In the name of Allah Who created, (1) Created man from a clot. (2) Read: And Allah is the Most Generous, (3) Who taught by the pen, (4) Taught man that which he knew not.(5)" (Bukhari 4953).


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: Muhammad was born and raised in Mecca. When he was nearly 40, he used to spend many hours alone in prayer and speculating over the aspects of creation. He was concerned with the ignorance of divine guidance (Jahiliyyah), social unrest, injustice, widespread discrimination (particularly against women), fighting among tribes and abuse of tribal authorities prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia. The moral degeneration of his fellow people, and his own quest for a true religion further lent fuel to this, with the result that he now began to withdraw periodically to a cave named Mount Hira, three miles north of Mecca, for contemplation and reflection. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad during this period began to have dreams replete with spiritual significance which were fulfilled according to their true import; and this was the commencement of his divine revelation.


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: According to Muslim tradition, during one such occasion while he was in contemplation, the angel Gabriel appeared before him in the year AD 610 and said, "Read", upon which he replied, "I am unable to read". Thereupon the angel caught hold of him and embraced him heavily. This happened two more times after which the angel commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses:


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: Perplexed by this new experience, Muhammad made his way to home where he was consoled by his wife Khadijah, who also took him to her Nestorian Christian cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Islamic tradition holds that Waraqah, upon hearing the description, testified to Muhammad's prophethood, and convinced Muhammad that the revelation was from God. Waraqah said: "O my nephew! What did you see?" When Muhammad told him what had happened to him, Waraqah replied: "This is Namus (meaning Gabriel) that Allah sent to Moses. I wish I were younger. I wish I could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Muhammad asked: "Will they drive me out?" Waraqah answered in the affirmative and said: "Anyone who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should be alive until that day, then I would support you strongly." A few days later Waraqah died.


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: The initial revelation was followed by a pause and a second encounter with Gabriel when Muhammad heard a voice from the sky and saw the same angel "sitting between the sky and the earth" and the revelations resumed with the first verses of chapter 74.


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: At-Tabari and Ibn Hisham reported that Muhammad left the cave of Hira after being surprised by the revelation, but later on, returned to the cave and continued his solitude, though subsequently he returned to Mecca. Tabari and Ibn Ishaq write that Muhammad told Zubayr:


title: Muhammad's first revelation

text: Biographers disagree about the period of time between Muhammad's first and second experiences of revelation. Ibn Ishaq writes that three years elapsed from the time that Muhammad received the first revelation until he started to preach publicly. Bukhari takes chapter 74 as the second revelation however chapter 68 has strong claims to be the second revelation.


title: Shock absorber

text: A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most shock absorbers are a form of dashpot (a damper which resists motion via viscous friction).


title: Shock absorber

text: Pneumatic and hydraulic shock absorbers are used in conjunction with cushions and springs. An automobile shock absorber contains spring-loaded check valves and orifices to control the flow of oil through an internal piston (see below).


title: Shock absorber

text: One design consideration, when designing or choosing a shock absorber, is where that energy will go. In most shock absorbers, energy is converted to heat inside the viscous fluid. In hydraulic cylinders, the hydraulic fluid heats up, while in air cylinders, the hot air is usually exhausted to the atmosphere. In other types of shock absorbers, such as electromagnetic types, the dissipated energy can be stored and used later. In general terms, shock absorbers help cushion vehicles on uneven roads.


title: Shock absorber

text: In a vehicle, shock absorbers reduce the effect of traveling over rough ground, leading to improved ride quality and vehicle handling. While shock absorbers serve the purpose of limiting excessive suspension movement, their intended sole purpose is to damp spring oscillations. Shock absorbers use valving of oil and gasses to absorb excess energy from the springs. Spring rates are chosen by the manufacturer based on the weight of the vehicle, loaded and unloaded. Some people use shocks to modify spring rates but this is not the correct use. Along with hysteresis in the tire itself, they damp the energy stored in the motion of the unsprung weight up and down. Effective wheel bounce damping may require tuning shocks to an optimal resistance.


title: Shock absorber

text: Spring-based shock absorbers commonly use coil springs or leaf springs, though torsion bars are used in torsional shocks as well. Ideal springs alone, however, are not shock absorbers, as springs only store and do not dissipate or absorb energy. Vehicles typically employ both hydraulic shock absorbers and springs or torsion bars. In this combination, "shock absorber" refers specifically to the hydraulic piston that absorbs and dissipates vibration. Now, composite suspension system are used mainly in 2 wheelers and also leaf spring are made up of composite material in 4 wheelers.


title: Shock absorber

text: In common with carriages and railway locomotives, most early motor vehicles used leaf springs. One of the features of these springs was that the friction between the leaves offered a degree of damping, and in a 1912 review of vehicle suspension, the lack of this characteristic in helical springs was the reason it was "impossible" to use them as main springs. However the amount of damping provided by leaf spring friction was limited and variable according to the conditions of the springs, and whether wet or dry. It also operated in both directions. Motorcycle front suspension adopted coil sprung Druid forks from about 1906, and similar designs later added rotary friction dampers, which damped both ways - but they were adjustable (e.g. 1924 Webb forks). These friction disk shock absorbers were also fitted to many cars.


title: Shock absorber

text: One of the problems with motor cars was the large variation in sprung weight between lightly loaded and fully loaded, especially for the rear springs. When heavily loaded the springs could bottom out, and apart from fitting rubber 'bump stops', there were attempts to use heavy main springs with auxiliary springs to smooth the ride when lightly loaded, which were often called 'shock absorbers'. Realising that the spring and vehicle combination bounced with a characteristic frequency, these auxiliary springs were designed with a different period, but were not a solution to the problem that the spring rebound after striking a bump could throw you out of your seat. What was called for was damping that operated on the rebound.


title: Shock absorber

text: Although C.L. Horock came up with a design in 1901 that had hydraulic damping, it worked in one direction only. It does not seem to have gone into production right away, whereas mechanical dampers such as the Gabriel Snubber started being fitted in the late 1900s (also the similar Stromberg Anti-Shox). These used a belt coiled inside a device such that it freely wound in under the action of a coiled spring, but met friction when drawn out. Gabriel Snubbers were fitted to an 11.9HP Arrol-Johnston car which broke the 6 hour Class B record at Brooklands in late 1912, and the Automotor journal noted that this snubber might have a great future for racing due to its light weight and easy fitment.


title: Shock absorber

text: One of the earliest hydraulic dampers to go into production was the Telesco Shock Absorber, exhibited at the 1912 Olympia Motor Show and marketed by Polyrhoe Carburettors Ltd. This contained a spring inside the telescopic unit like the pure spring type 'shock absorbers' mentioned above, but also oil and an internal valve so that the oil damped in the rebound direction. The Telesco unit was fitted at the rear end of the leaf spring, in place of the rear spring to chassis mount, so that it formed part of the springing system, albeit a hydraulically damped part. This layout was presumably selected as it was easy to apply to existing vehicles, but it meant the hydraulic damping was not applied to the action of the main leaf spring, but only to the action of the auxiliary spring in the unit itself.


title: Shock absorber

text: The first production hydraulic dampers to act on the main leaf spring movement were probably those based on an original concept by Maurice Houdaille patented in 1908 and 1909. These used a lever arm which moved hydraulically damped vanes inside the unit. The main advantage over the friction disk dampers was that it would resist sudden movement but allow slow movement, whereas the rotary friction dampers tended to stick and then offer the same resistance regardless of speed of movement. There appears to have been little progress on commercialising the lever arm shock absorbers until after World War I, after which they came into widespread use, for example as standard equipment on the 1927 Ford Model A and manufactured by Houde Engineering Corporation of Buffalo, NY.


title: Shock absorber

text: Most vehicular shock absorbers are either twin-tube or mono-tube types with some variations on these themes.


title: Shock absorber

text: Also known as a "two-tube" shock absorber, this device consists of two nested cylindrical tubes, an inner tube that is called the "working tube" or the "pressure tube", and an outer tube called the "reserve tube". At the bottom of the device on the inside is a compression valve or base valve. When the piston is forced up or down by bumps in the road, hydraulic fluid moves between different chambers via small holes or "orifices" in the piston and via the valve, converting the "shock" energy into heat which must then be dissipated.


title: Shock absorber

text: Variously known as a "gas cell two-tube" or similarly-named design, this variation represented a significant advancement over the basic twin-tube form. Its overall structure is very similar to the twin-tube, but a low-pressure charge of nitrogen gas is added to the reserve tube. The result of this alteration is a dramatic reduction in "foaming" or "aeration", the undesirable outcome of a twin-tube overheating and failing which presents as foaming hydraulic fluid dripping out of the assembly. Twin-tube gas charged shock absorbers represent the vast majority of original modern vehicle suspension installations.


title: Shock absorber

text: Often abbreviated simply as "PSD", this design is another evolution of the twin-tube shock. In a PSD shock absorber, which still consists of two nested tubes and still contains nitrogen gas, a set of grooves has been added to the pressure tube. These grooves allow the piston to move relatively freely in the middle range of travel (i.e., the most common street or highway use, called by engineers the "comfort zone") and to move with significantly less freedom in response to shifts to more irregular surfaces when upward and downward movement of the piston starts to occur with greater intensity (i.e., on bumpy sections of roads— the stiffening gives the driver greater control of movement over the vehicle so its range on either side of the comfort zone is called the "control zone"). This advance allowed car designers to make a shock absorber tailored to specific makes and models of vehicles and to take into account a given vehicle's size and weight, its maneuverability, its horsepower, etc. in creating a correspondingly effective shock.


title: Shock absorber

text: The next phase in shock absorber evolution was the development of a shock absorber that could sense and respond to not just situational changes from "bumpy" to "smooth" but to individual bumps in the road in a near instantaneous reaction. This was achieved through a change in the design of the compression valve, and has been termed "acceleration sensitive damping" or "ASD". Not only does this result in a complete disappearance of the "comfort vs. control" tradeoff, it also reduced pitch during vehicle braking and roll during turns. However, ASD shocks are usually only available as aftermarket changes to a vehicle and are only available from a limited number of manufacturers.


title: Shock absorber

text: Coilover shock absorbers are usually a kind of twin-tube gas charged shock absorber inside the helical road spring. They are common on motorcycles and scooter rear suspensions, and widely used on front and rear suspensions in cars.


title: Shock absorber

text: The principal design alternative to the twin-tube form has been the mono-tube shock absorber which was considered a revolutionary advancement when it appeared in the 1950s. As its name implies, the mono-tube shock, which is also a gas-pressurized shock and also comes in a coilover format, consists of only one tube, the pressure tube, though it has two pistons. These pistons are called the working piston and the dividing or floating piston, and they move in relative synchrony inside the pressure tube in response to changes in road smoothness. The two pistons also completely separate the shock's fluid and gas components. The mono-tube shock absorber is consistently a much longer overall design than the twin-tubes, making it difficult to mount in passenger cars designed for twin-tube shocks. However, unlike the twin-tubes, the mono-tube shock can be mounted either way— it does not have any directionality. It also does not have a compression valve, whose role has been taken up by the dividing piston, and although it contains nitrogen gas, the gas in a mono-tube shock is under "high" pressure (260-360 p.s.i. or so) which can actually help it to support some of the vehicle's weight, something which no other shock absorber is designed to do.


title: Shock absorber

text: Mercedes became the first auto manufacturer to install mono-tube shocks as standard equipment on some of their cars starting in 1958. They were manufactured by Bilstein, patented the design and first appeared in 1954s. Because the design was patented, no other manufacturer could use it until 1971 when the patent expired.


title: Shock absorber

text: Spool valve dampers are characterized by the use of hollow cylindrical sleeves with machined-in oil passages as opposed to traditional conventional flexible discs or shims. Spool valving can be applied with monotube, twin-tube, and/or position-sensitive packaging, and is compatible with electronic control.


title: Shock absorber

text: Primary among benefits cited in Multimatic’s 2010 patent filing is the elimination of performance ambiguity associated with flexible shims, resulting in mathematically predictable, repeatable, and robust pressure-flow characteristics.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Manfred Sepse Lubowitz (born 21 October 1940), known professionally as Manfred Mann, is a South African–English keyboardist, arranger, singer and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member and eponym of the bands Manfred Mann, Manfred Mann Chapter Three and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Lubowitz was raised in a Lithuanian-Jewish family in Johannesburg, the son of David Lubowitz and Alma Cohen. He studied music at the University of the Witwatersrand, and worked as a jazz pianist at a number of clubs in Johannesburg.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Strongly opposed to the apartheid system in his native South Africa, Lubowitz moved to the United Kingdom in 1961 and began to write for "Jazz News" under the pseudonym Manfred Manne (after jazz drummer Shelly Manne), which was soon shortened to Manfred Mann. The next year he met drummer and keyboard player Mike Hugg at Clacton Butlins Holiday Camp; together they formed a large blues-jazz band called the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers. This eventually evolved into a five-piece group, and they signed a record deal with EMI in 1963, under the HMV label.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: They changed their name to Manfred Mann at the suggestion of the label's record producer, and from 1964 to 1969 they had a succession of hit records, including "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" (originally by The Exciters), "Sha La La" (originally by The Shirelles), "Pretty Flamingo", and "Mighty Quinn" (written by Bob Dylan). The group split up in 1969, and Mann immediately formed another outfit with Mike Hugg; Manfred Mann Chapter Three, an experimental jazz rock band. They disbanded after two albums, but Mann formed a new outfit in 1971, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, which still records and performs to this day. Their well-known hits included three Springsteen covers, "Spirit in the Night", "For You" and "Blinded by the Light", as well as a number of covers of other artists, including "Runner" (Ian Thomas), "Davy's on the Road Again" (The Band), "You Angel You" (Bob Dylan), "Demolition Man" (The Police), "Lies (Through the '80s)" and "Joybringer" (based upon "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" from "The Planets" by Gustav Holst.)


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Manfred Mann also appeared as a jazz pianist in the 1969 Jesús Franco film "Venus in Furs", and performed the score for that film. He has also released solo projects under "Manfred Mann's Plain Music" and "Manfred Mann '06".


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Mann has used various keyboard instruments through his career (piano and organ in the early 1960s, later also including mellotron), but he is especially known for his distinctive solo performance on the Minimoog synthesizer, which he personalized by extensive use of a filter. His keyboard parts are often improvised and inspired by jazz. One example, as he explained in an interview with "eclipsed" magazine, is his tendency to bend notes downwards on the synthesizer, which he says he got from Miles Davis.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: In the 2000s, he has regularly used a Roland keytar on stage for two or three songs. The instrument is visually striking for being decorated with zebra stripes. In the early 1970s, he played drums during the intro of the song "Black and Blue" (see video).


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: By the early 1970s Mann used a Hammond M3 organ which he had acquired from Alan Price and then modified to give it a grittier sound. This instrument was the basis for his live keyboard setup in Chapter III as well as the classic Earth Band lineup until the late 1970s. For the Earth Band Mann added a Minimoog monophonic synthesizer to his setup which he had bought in the summer of 1971. By the mid-1970s he added a Fender Rhodes 73 Stage Piano to his setup.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: In the late 1970s and early 1980s he combined the Minimoog with an Oberheim SEM to expand the filter and effect section. At this point Mann used a considerably bigger live setup for which he had replaced the bulky Hammond M3 with a one-manual Korg CX-3 organ and added a Yamaha CP-70 for piano sounds as well as an ARP Omni for string sounds.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: When digital keyboards became more common, Mann began replacing the bulky analogue instruments with them. In the early 1990s he used a Yamaha SY77 and a Korg M-1 together with the Minimoog. During the 1990s Mann also used a Yamaha VL 1.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: By the early 2000s Mann had replaced the Minimoog with a new Minimoog Voyager for his live setup which he combined with a Korg Z1 for other sounds. In the 2010s he dropped the analogue Moog synthesizers from his live setup altogether and moved to a digital setup consisting of keyboards like the Roland V-Combo.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Mann has relied on effect pedals to achieve his keyboard sounds. When he was using an analogue setup he fed his Hammond organ into a MXR Phase 100 and his Rhodes into a MXR Phase 90. His lead sounds are often combined with distortion pedals and fuzz boxes, especially for studio recordings. In the 1970s Mann used an Echoplex tape delay with his Minimoog.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: During the 1970s Mann used guitar amps to amplify his keyboard sounds. While the Hammond organ and Rhodes went into a 200 watts Highwatt half stack, the Minimoog was amplified using an "Acoustic" half stack, consisting of an Acoustic 270 amp and an Acoustic 271 cabinet.


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Mann has mostly performed backing vocals in his music. On some of his albums, he doesn’t sing at all, and instead only provides keyboard/piano instrumentation, notably on his 2014 Lone Arranger album. Particularly during the first half of his career, he would sing lead vocals on about two songs on some albums. He performs as the lead vocalist on these songs:


title: Manfred Mann (musician)

text: Manfred Mann played a minimoog solo on the Uriah Heep song "July Morning". He also played keyboards on Trevor Rabin's album "Wolf".


title: Boohoo.com

text: Boohoo Group plc is a British online fashion retailer, aimed at 16–30 year olds. The business was founded in 2006, and had sales in 2019 of £856.9 million. It specialises in own brand fashion clothing, with over 36,000 products. Growing rapidly, the company has acquired the brands and online presence of several defunct high street retailers, and also seen controversy over working conditions at some of its suppliers.


title: Boohoo.com

text: Boohoo was founded in 2006 by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, who respectively serve as group executive chairman and an executive director, and who previously supplied high street chains such as Primark and New Look. The company completed its initial public offering (IPO) in March 2014, with its shares trading considerably above the 50p float price on the company's debut in the AIM sub-market of the London Stock Exchange. Valuing Boohoo at almost £600 million, the floatation saw Kamani net £135 million and Kane £25 million.


title: Boohoo.com

text: Boohoo has been criticised for promoting fast-fashion which critics claim comes at a cost to those making the clothes and the environment. More than half of Boohoo's garments are produced in the UK, especially Leicester, London, and Manchester. Boohoo buys 75%–80% of the clothing produced in Leicester. This was made possible when other retailers such as ASOS reduced the amount they sourced from Leicester over concerns about working conditions. In 2017, the Channel 4 television documentary series "Dispatches" found that factories in Leicester supplying Boohoo (along with New Look, River Island and Missguided) were paying workers less than the national minimum wage. Boohoo stated that the work had been subcontracted without their knowledge.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In August 2019, the online businesses of Karen Millen and Coast were bought out of administration by Boohoo for £18 million. Only the online employees were taken on by Boohoo and the standalone retail stores eventually closed. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Boohoo reported an increase in sales. In June 2020, Boohoo announced that it was to acquire the brands and websites of high street chains Oasis Stores and Warehouse for £5.25 million.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In late June 2020, workers' rights group Labour Behind the Label produced a report that stated factories supplying Boohoo were not following to social distancing and forcing employees to work even if sick, claims that Boohoo denied. This was followed by an investigative report by "The Sunday Times" which claimed to have found that workers producing clothes for Boohoo at a Leicester-based company were paid £3.50 an hour, less than half the UK minimum wage for over 25s. Boohoo again distanced themselves from the company, a representative stating "We are taking immediate action to thoroughly investigate how our garments were in their hands, will ensure that our suppliers immediately cease working with this company, and we will urgently review our relationship with any suppliers who have sub-contracted work to the manufacturer in question." Standard Life Aberdeen, an asset manager and a top 10 shareholder in the group, announced that it had sold most of its stake in the company a few days after the "Sunday Times" revelations. SLA said that after engaging with Boohoo's management team a number of times during the week, it found the online retailer's response to the allegations was "inadequate in scope, timeliness and gravity". On 15 July 2020 a Conservative Party MP said that it was 'shameful' that it took a pandemic for Boohoo to finally be taken to task for its workplace practices. Philip Dunne, chairman of the Environmental Audit committee, also said that the company had not met a pledge to join the Ethical Trading Initiative organisation which brings together retailers, unions and campaign groups to improve practice in supply chains.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In September the company accepted the findings of a report by Allison Levitt QC, which found that the allegations of poor working practices in the company's supply chain were "substantially true", that its monitoring of the factories was "inadequate" due to “weak corporate governance”, and that its failure to assess the risk to workers during the coronavirus pandemic were "inexcusable". In November 2020 it appointed former judge Sir Brian Leveson to provide independent ethical oversight. An investigation by "The Guardian" newspaper in December 2020 traced Boohoo's supply chain to factories in Pakistan where workers claimed to be paid as low as £47 a month, less than the legal minimum wage, and ordered to work to shifts as long as 24 hours without receiving full overtime pay.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In January 2021, following the collapse of the UK department store chain Debenhams, Boohoo bought the brand and online business for £55 million. The deal did not include the firm's stores or workforce, leading to a predicted loss of 12,000 jobs. In February, Boohoo announced it was buying the former Arcadia Group brands: Burton, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins for £25.2 million, confirming the loss of around 2,450 jobs.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In December 2021, Boohoo has announced the expansion of operations into five new markets within the Asian region including Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In August 2022, Boohoo implemented a £1.99 charge for returning products.


title: Boohoo.com

text: According to Chief executive Carol Kane, Boohoo can differentiate itself from its closest rivals, as all their clothing ranges are own-branded with average prices of £17 comprising 9,000 clothing lines. With a primary focus on the 16–24 year old age group, it sells clothing to over 100 countries and had seven major markets, including the UK, the US, and France. Stock is purchased in small quantities of between 300 and 500 items at a time, with repeat orders typically of 25% on those that sell well. Customers can order items up to midnight for next-day delivery, including on Sunday. Customer numbers increased by 29% throughout 2016–17, up to 5.8 million.


title: Boohoo.com

text: As an online retailer, Boohoo utilise social media as an integral part of their marketing strategy. A social media manager was appointed in 2012, with all employees encouraged to assist the social media team by contributing messages and imagery. boohoo had 6m Instagram followers, 1.1m Twitter followers and 2.9m likes on Facebook.


title: Boohoo.com

text: Since 2010 the company's main distribution centre has been located on the Heasandford Industrial Estate in Burnley, Lancashire. From an initial 40 employees, the site has rapidly expanded into Burnley's largest employer, with workforce exceeding 3,500 in 2021. The company has acquired more buildings on the estate, formerly occupied by manufacturers such as TRW Automotive, and plans to continue to grow in the town. Boohoo's head of logistics said in 2021, "Ease of distribution is key and the borough sits in the heart of the UK, whilst it also provides a skilled and varied workforce."


title: Boohoo.com

text: Boohoo also owns boohooMAN, PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal and MissPap, all targeted at 16–35 year olds. PrettyLittleThing was acquired in December 2016, with the retailer purchasing a 66% stake in the business at a cost of £3.3m, with the existing management team retaining the remaining shares.


title: Boohoo.com

text: During the year up to April 2017, customer browsing from mobile devices accounted for 70% of total sessions, an increase of 4% from the previous year, with downloads of its mobile app across the United Kingdom, United States and Australia totalling around 2.2 million.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In the 10 months to December 2013, Boohoo had sales totalling £92m, with a profit before charges of £10m. By February 2014, total sales had reached £110m, with profits of £11m.


title: Boohoo.com

text: Turnover in the year to February 2015 was £139.9m, an increase of 27% from the previous year, with an increase of gross profit by 31% to £85m.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In April 2017, Boohoo announced that its profits had almost doubled to £31 million on sales up 51% to almost £300 million. When the company was floated on the stock market in 2014, it was valued at £560m, and is worth about £2 billion Internationally, the retailer suggests its 140% growth to revenue of almost £40m has exceeded expectation, whilst growth in Europe was 44% and 42% for the rest of their international operations.


title: Boohoo.com

text: Strong performance was reported in April 2018, when Boohoo announced almost double revenue from the previous year, up to £580 million, a pre-tax profit of £43.3 million and a 22 percent increase in customers. Boohoo has continued to experience strong performance with the last four-month period for 2019 experiencing a 44% jump in revenue to £328.2m.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Boohoo was reported to have turned a greater profit than in the previous fiscal year. Euronews Living reported at the time that "Boohoo has managed to capitalise on cosy clothing when its customers need comfort above all else." The company revealed a 45% increase in first quarter revenue.


title: Boohoo.com

text: In July 2020, the firm's share price fell 46% following allegations of malpractice at Leicester factories.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: Steven Craig Zahler (born January 23, 1973) is an American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, novelist, comic book artist, animator and musician.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: After beginning his career working briefly as a cinematographer, Zahler focused on screenwriting until he made his directorial debut with "Bone Tomahawk" (2015). He followed this up with "Brawl in Cell Block 99" (2017) and "Dragged Across Concrete" (2018), all of which he wrote and composed the music for. He has also authored several novels.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: His debut noir western novel, "A Congregation of Jackals", was nominated for The Spur Award by the Western Writers of America and "The Peacekeeper" by the Western Fictioneers. "Corpus Chrome, Inc.", "A Congregation of Jackals" and "Mean Business on North Ganson Street" all received starred reviews for excellence in "Booklist".


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: As a drummer, lyricist and singer, Zahler, under the stage name Czar, collaborates with Jeff Herriott, as JH Halberd, to write and perform songs as the heavy metal band Realmbuilder, who have three albums on Swedish label I Hate Records. This is following Zahler's foray into black metal with the project Charnel Valley, for which he played drums, wrote lyrics and shared songwriting duties with Worm. The two Charnel Valley albums were released by Paragon Records.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: Zahler also wrote the script for a 2011 horror film "Asylum Blackout" (also released as "The Incident at Sans Asylum" and "The Incident"), which was directed by Alexandre Courtès.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: In 2015, Zahler made his directorial debut, writing and directing the horror western "Bone Tomahawk", which stars Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Lili Simmons, David Arquette and Richard Jenkins. The film was released on October 23, 2015, in theaters and on video on demand.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: "Bone Tomahawk" was met with favorable reception, winning a few awards. The film is 'Certified Fresh' by Rotten Tomatoes, where it has received positive reviews from 90% of critics. The "New York Times" called it "[a] witty fusion of western, horror and comedy that gallops to its own beat", while the "LA Times" said "There's a humming genre intelligence at work in the grim, witty horror-western "Bone Tomahawk"." "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "[a] handsome Western with horror overtones", and "Variety" described it as "...a most violent delight", while Leonard Maltin said "[T]his modest feature leaves "The Hateful Eight" in the dust. It's provocative, original, extremely violent and extremely good." "Twitch Film" said "["Bone Tomahawk"] succeeds in demonstrating the voice of its massively talented creator." At the Sitges Film Festival "Bone Tomahawk" won the critic's award for "Best Picture", and Zahler was given the award for "Best Director". The Independent Spirit Awards nominated Richard Jenkins for "Best Supporting Actor" and S. Craig Zahler for "Best Screenplay". Kurt Russell won the "Best Actor" award at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: Zahler's second feature film as writer, director, and co-composer was "Brawl in Cell Block 99", which stars Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Udo Kier, and Don Johnson. This movie received its world premiere at the 74th Venice Film Festival in 2017. Actors Fred Melamed and Geno Segers both returned from his debut, and were joined by Marc Blucas, Mustafa Shakir, Thomas Guiry, Willie C. Carpenter, and others. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an "certified fresh" approval rating of 92% based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Brawl in Cell Block 99" rides a committed Vince Vaughn performance into the brutally violent – and undeniably entertaining – depths of prison-set grindhouse genre fare."


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: The movie made year end best of lists for "Newsweek", (Justin Chang) "L.A. Times", "Collider", JoBlo.com, (Mike D'Angelo) "The A.V. Club", and others. The picture was a New York Times Critics Pick and was screened at the Museum of Modern Art, where it was added to the permanent collection.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: Zahler's third feature film as writer, director, and co-composer was "Dragged Across Concrete", which stars Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, Thomas Kretschmann, Laurie Holden, Fred Melamed, Udo Kier, and Don Johnson. This movie received its world premiere at the 75th Venice Film Festival in 2018.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: In 2018, it was announced that Zahler would be joining the writing staff of the resurrected "Fangoria" magazine. As of 2019, he writes a column called "Malignant Growths" about microbudget horror films.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: Zahler told "Variety" that on June 22, 2006, he began his career at NYU film school as a cinematographer. In 2004, he wrote six scripts, including a western that topped the prestigious Black List entitled, "The Brigands of Rattleborge", which Park Chan-wook was set to direct.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: On September 7, 2007, "The Hollywood Reporter" reported that Warner Bros. had acquired the film rights to the anime "Robotech" with Tobey Maguire attached to star in and produce the film, while Zahler was set to write the script.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: On March 25, 2011, Sony's Columbia Pictures picked up the script of the film "The Big Stone Grid", written by Zahler and produced by Michael De Luca.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: On September 5, 2012, it was announced that FX was developing a martial arts drama, "Downtown Dragons", with Zahler set to write and executive produce.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: On October 30, 2012, Zahler was set to make his directorial debut with a horror western film "Bone Tomahawk" from his own script. Two years later, the picture went into production in California. The film stars Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: On June 27, 2013, Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to his crime novel "Mean Business on North Ganson Street". He will write the script of the film which is set to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: In 2015, Zahler told "Creative Screenwriting", "I’ve had maybe a minimum of 21 different screenplays optioned or sold, and not one of them was made in Hollywood. I had one ["The Incident"] made by a French company in Belgium, but the other 20 or more – and some of those have been optioned multiple times, I had a television series that was at FX that went to Starz that went to AMC – none of them have been made."


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: On May 10, 2016, 20th Century Fox acquired the film rights to Zahler's western novel "Wraiths of the Broken Land". The screenplay was to be written by Drew Goddard and the film directed by Ridley Scott.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: On February 1, 2017, "Variety" confirmed that Zahler would direct "Dragged Across Concrete", a film about police brutality. The film stars Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn, who previously worked together in the former's 2016 film "Hacksaw Ridge". The film premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2018, before receiving a release in the United States on March 22, 2019.


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: Although he was raised as an adherent to Judaism, he is now an atheist. Zahler has stated that he is "not politically driven; I’m not very politically interested", believing in the philosophy of "art over politics."


title: S. Craig Zahler

text: As a metal musician, Zahler is better known by his stage name Czar. As a soundtrack composer and as one half of the synthesizer duo Binary Reptile, he uses his real name.


title: Strelitzia

text: Strelitzia is a genus of five species of perennial plants, native to South Africa. It belongs to the plant family Strelitziaceae. The genus is named after Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom, who was born a princess of the house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A common name of the genus is bird of paradise flower/plant, because of a resemblance of its flowers to birds-of-paradise. In South Africa, it is commonly known as a crane flower and is featured on the reverse of the 50-cent coin. It is the floral emblem of the City of Los Angeles; two of the species, "S. nicolai" and "S. reginae", are frequently grown as houseplants.


title: Strelitzia

text: The species "S. nicolai" is the largest in the genus, reaching 10 m (33 ft) tall, with stately white and blue flowers; the other species typically reach 2.0 to 3.5 m tall, except "S. caudata", which is a tree of a typically smaller size than "S. nicolai". The leaves are large, 30–200 cm long and 10–80 cm broad, similar to a banana leaf in appearance, but with a longer petiole, and arranged strictly in two ranks to form a fan-like crown of evergreen foliage. The flowers are produced in a horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe.


title: Strelitzia

text: They are pollinated by sunbirds, which perch on and drink from the spathe. The weight of the bird when standing on the spathe opens it to release the pollen onto the bird's feet, which is then deposited on the next spathe it visits. "Strelitzia" species lack natural insect pollinators; in areas without sunbirds, plants in this genus generally need hand pollination to successfully set seed.


title: Strelitzia

text: Five species are recognised, although one—"S. juncea"—has been shown to be genetically nested within another, "S. reginae". It is possibly a mutation that is in the process of speciating.


title: Strelitzia

text: Plants in the genus "Strelitzia " produce no wind-borne pollen, and have an OPALS allergy scale rating of 1, meaning a very low risk of causing allergic reaction.


title: Strelitzia

text: The genus was named by Joseph Banks in honour of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of George III.


title: Strelitzia

text: Strelitzia's flower language has many meanings, including success, freedom, immortality, loyalty, love, thoughtfulness and optimism. It is also a symbol of the 9th wedding anniversary


title: Strelitzia

text: Freedom - Strelitzia symbolizes freedom and overcoming difficulties, reminding people not to stick to the present, but to see a wider world


title: Strelitzia

text: Loyalty - Strelitzia symbolizes loyalty to a lover, and people present Strelitzia to their partners on the 9th anniversary of marriage to express their wholeheartedness


title: Strelitzia

text: Optimism - Strelitzia chinensis symbolizes optimism and positive energy, and inspires people not to give up when they are in trouble


title: Strelitzia

text: Success - Strelitzia is a symbol of success in life and is given when congratulating someone on an important moment in life such as graduating from college


title: Strelitzia

text: "Strelitzia" is also the name of the botanic journal of the Pretoria-based National Botanical Institute, which has since been converted into the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). The "Strelitzia" journal replaced "Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa" and "'Annals of the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens".


title: Alexis Louder

text: Alexis Louder is an American actress from Charlotte, North Carolina. She is known for 2021's "The Tomorrow War" and "Copshop".


title: Alexis Louder

text: Louder graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's College of Arts + Architecture in 2013.


title: Alexis Louder

text: in "Watchmen" as Ruth Williams, the late mother of Hooded Justice and great-grandmother of Sister Night.


title: Alexis Louder

text: Cary Darling of the "Houston Chronicle" and Michael O'Sullivan of the "Washington Post" singled out Louder's performance in "Copshop" as "show-stealing" and "compelling".


title: YFZ Ranch

text: The YFZ Ranch, or Yearning for Zion Ranch, was a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) community of as many as 700 people, located near Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas, United States. In April 2014, the State of Texas took physical and legal possession of the property.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: The YFZ Ranch was situated southwest of San Angelo and northeast of Eldorado. The Ranch was settled by members of the FLDS Church who left Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona under increasing scrutiny from the media, anti-polygamy activists and law enforcement officials.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: Speaking in Sunday church services on August 10, 2003, Warren Jeffs declared that the blessings of the priesthood had been removed from the community of Short Creek (Colorado City and Hildale). Following the sermon, Jeffs suspended all further religious meetings but continued to allow his followers to pay their tithes and offerings to him. He then turned his focus to what he called "lands of refuge": secret communities that he had started to build up. Jeffs referred to Yearning for Zion Ranch, one of the lands of refuge, by the code name R17.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: The YFZ Land LLC, through its president, David S. Allred, purchased the ranch in 2003 for $700,000 and quickly began development on the property. When he purchased the property, he declared that the buildings would be a corporate hunting retreat. Allred stuck with that story even after William Benjamin Johnson, a Hildale man, was alleged to be shooting all the white-tail deer on the ranch and, after an investigation, was fined for hunting without a license. Later, ranch officials disclosed that the hunting retreat description was inaccurate; the buildings were part of the FLDS Church's residential area.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: The ranch was home to approximately 500 people who relocated from Arizona and Utah communities. It housed a temple, a waste treatment facility, a house for FLDS Church president Warren Jeffs, a meeting house, and several large log and concrete homes. There were generators, gardens, a grain silo, and a large stone quarry that was cut for the temple. According to preliminary tax assessments, about $3 million worth of buildings had been built. The sect was fined over $34,000 for environmental violations in connection with buildings on the ranch, mainly due to its failure to obtain the required permits for its concrete-mixing operations.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On March 29, 2008, a local domestic violence shelter hotline took a call from a female, identifying herself as "Sarah", and claiming to be a 16-year-old victim of physical and sexual abuse at the church's YFZ Ranch. Investigators eventually established by tracing the calls that they were placed by a much older woman, Rozita Swinton, who had been arrested for previous hoax calls posing as abused and victimized girls. The call triggered a large-scale operation at YFZ Ranch by Texas law enforcement and child welfare officials, beginning with cordoning off of the ranch on April 3. Law enforcement officers were armed with automatic weapons, SWAT teams with snipers, helicopters, and Midland County provided an M113 armored personnel carrier as backup, but they were met with no armed resistance. Authorities believed the children "had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse", a state spokesman said. Troopers and child welfare officials searched the ranch, including the temple's safes, vaults, locked desk drawers, and beds. They found evidence leading them to believe that the beds were "in a part of the temple where 'males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity' with underage girls". A religious scholar later testified in court that he does not think sexual activity occurs in the temples of FLDS sects, and that temple service "lasts a couple of hours, so all the temples will have a place where someone can lie down". Child Protective Services (CPS) officials conceded that there was no evidence that the youngest children were abused (about 130 of the children were under 5), and evidence later presented in a custody hearing suggested that teenage boys were not physically or sexually abused.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: CPS spokesman Darrell Azar stated, "There was a systematic process going on to groom these young girls to become brides", and that the children could not be protected from possible future abuse on the ranch. Interviews with the children "revealed that several underage girls were forced into 'spiritual marriage' with much older men as soon as they reached puberty and were then made pregnant". After Judge Barbara Walther of the 51st District Court issued an order authorizing officials to remove all children, including boys, 17 years old and under, from the ranch, eventually a total of 462 children went into the temporary custody of the State of Texas. The children were held by the Child Protective Services at Fort Concho and the Wells Fargo Pavilion in San Angelo. Over a hundred adult women chose to leave the ranch to accompany the children. Children under the age of four were allowed to stay with their mothers until DNA testing to identify family relations was finished; once DNA testing was completed, only children under 18 months were allowed to stay with their mothers indefinitely.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: A former member of the FLDS Church, Carolyn Jessop, arrived on-site April 6 in hopes of reuniting two of her daughters with their half siblings. She stated that the actions in Texas were unlike the 1953 Short Creek raid in Arizona. Jessop had been in Texas the prior month at a speaking engagement, where she said, "[i]n Eldorado, the crimes went to a whole new level. They thought they could get away with more" but "Texas is not going to be a state that's as tolerant of these crimes as Arizona and Utah have been." By April 8, authorities had removed as many as 533 women and children from the ranch. On April 10, law enforcement completed their search of the ranch, returning control of the property to the FLDS Church.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: Represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, mothers of the removed children sought a writ of mandamus against Judge Walther for her rulings because parents in Texas cannot simply appeal an emergency removal. Mandamus is available only when it is abundantly clear a state official abused his or her power.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On May 22, 2008, an appeals court issued a writ of mandamus to Judge Walther and found that there was not nearly enough evidence at the original hearing that the children were in immediate danger to justify keeping them in state custody. The court added that Judge Walther had abused her discretion by keeping the children in state care. The court ruled, "The department did not present any evidence of danger to the physical health and safety of any male children or any female children who had not reached puberty." The children were to be returned to their families in 10 days. CPS announced they would seek to overturn the decision. On May 29, the Texas Supreme Court declined to issue a mandamus to the Appeals Court, with a result that CPS was required to return all of the children. The court stated, "On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted." The court also noted that although the children must be returned, "it need not do so without granting other appropriate relief to protect the children".


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On May 12–15, 2009, a hearing was held in Tom Green County, Texas regarding the constitutionality and legality of search warrants executed in April 2008 on the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, Texas. On October 2, 2009, Judge Barbara Walther issued a ruling denying a defense motion to suppress the evidence seized from the YFZ Ranch, stating:


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On November 10, 2009, Raymond Jessop was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $8,000 for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on or about November 19, 2004. On December 18, 2009, Allan Keate was sentenced to 33 years in prison. He fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On January 22, 2010, Michael George Emack pleaded no contest to sexual assault charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He married a 16-year-old girl at YFZ Ranch on August 5, 2004. She gave birth to a son less than a year later. On April 14, 2010, Emack also pleaded no contest on a bigamy charge and received a seven-year sentence that will run concurrently with the sentence he received for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On February 5, 2010, Arizona Judge Steven F. Conn approved a stipulation from the previous day between Mohave County prosecutor Matt Smith and Warren Jeffs' defense attorney, Michael Piccarreta, that evidence seized from the YFZ Ranch in Texas would not be used in any manner in Warren Jeffs' two criminal trials in Arizona. Based on the agreement of the attorneys, Judge Conn issued an order adopting the stipulation. A Utah court found Jeffs guilty of two counts of rape as an accomplice in September 2007. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years to life but while serving this sentence at the Utah State Prison, Jeffs' conviction was reversed by Utah's Supreme Court on July 27, 2010 because of a flaw in the jury instructions. Jeffs was extradited to Texas, to face trial on charges facing him there. The Texas jury found him guilty of sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault of children. He was sentenced to life in prison plus twenty years, to be served consecutively, and a $10,000 fine, for sexual assault of both 12 and 15-year-old girls.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On March 19, 2010, Merril Leroy Jessop was sentenced to 75 years in prison for one count of sexual assault of a child. Jessop was convicted of illegally marrying and then fathering a child with a 15-year-old female.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On April 15, 2010, Lehi Barlow Jeffs pleaded no contest to bigamy and sexual assault of a child, avoiding a trial that had been set for April 26. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: On August 9, 2011, leader Warren Steed Jeffs was found guilty of one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years to be served consecutively.


title: YFZ Ranch

text: Rozita Swinton of Colorado Springs had previously made calls pretending to be a young girl. She was under investigation for posing as the caller "Sarah" who complained of abuse, but she could not be found. FLDS women did not know of any such girl and assumed that it was a prank call. Sarah was considered a real person by CPS until May when her court case was dropped, effectively acknowledging that she does not actually exist. Swinton has previously been responsible for hoax calls to authorities in multiple jurisdictions, setting off large emergency responses that sometimes involved dozens of police officers. Flora Jessop recorded nearly 40 hours of Swinton's phone calls, both before and after the raid on the YFZ ranch. Swinton posed alternately as "Sarah Barlow" and her sister Laura. She claimed that her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her and that his other wives tried to poison her. Swinton herself was 33 at the time, unmarried, and childless.