title: Jakob Fugger

text: On 15 July 1507 Maximilian I sold the County of Kirchberg, located at Ulm, the adjacent lordship Weißenhorn with the associated city, as well as the lordships Wullenstetten and Pfaffenhofen(Roth) from the Habsburg possessions in Further Austria to Jakob Fugger. Maximilian I who crowned himself Holy Roman Emperor in 1508 received a payment of 50,000 guilders for these sales. More sales followed in 1508 where he sold manor Schmiechen and in 1514 where he sold the lordship Biberbach to Fugger. Maximilian I elevated Jakob Fugger into nobility in 1511 and granted him the title of Imperial Count in 1514 so the former burgher could operate his business without interference from local nobility. In the course of his life Jakob Fugger also became lord of more than 50 smaller villages.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Criticism from reformer Martin Luther on the Fugger business methods and novelistic portrayal from early research have led to the notion that Jakob Fugger exercised considerable power over Maximilian I the king and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, while more recent research shows that this was only partially true. However close to the end of his life Maximilian was so heavily indebted to Jakob Fugger that he had no choice but to continue his support for the emperor to still be able reclaim his outstanding debits. When Maximilian's grandson Charles V stood for election to become the next Emperor Jakob Fugger raised a sum of more than 500,000 guilders, a significant portion of his wealth and of the total amount raised in his support, to ensure the seven Prince-electors would choose him. Thereby he helped prevent the election of Francis I of France which would have endangered his claims and investments gravely, although it also made him highly dependent on the House of Habsburg.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Much later the Fugger family lost a large portion of their wealth following three Spanish state bankruptcies (1557, 1560, 1575) under the reign of Philip II of Spain.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Likely at the insistence of Jakob Fugger the company became one of the first open trading companies () in Europe in 1494. At the same time, it was renamed into "Ulrich Fugger of Augsburg and brothers" to show the equality of the three brothers involved in business issues, even though Tyrolean sources almost universally speak of the Jakob Fugger company and central contracts of the Hungarian trade were all signed by him. At this development the greatly increased influence of Jakob within the company can be observed. Since the late 1480s Jakob Fugger more and more dominated the company's policies, although the eldest brother Ulrich still formally led the company.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: The enormous growth potential in the mining and ore trade was very profitably harnessed by Jakob Fugger in the following years. As collateral for loans that he had given to the Habsburgs and the King of Hungary, he demanded mine revenues of Tyrol and the transfer of mining rights in Upper Hungary to him. Through this method he eventually established a dominant and almost monopolistic hold on the copper trade in Central Europe. With his business partner Hans Thurzó he founded the Hungarian trade in 1494. Mines funded by Fugger were constructed in Neusohl (present-day Banská Bystrica, Slovakia), at the time part of the Hungarian Kingdom. The expansion continued with the construction of smelting plants in Neusohl and nearby Moschnitz, Arnoldstein in Carinthia, Hohenkirchen in Thuringia. The copper was distributed through manufactories in Breslau, Leipzig, Kraków and Ofen. For transportation to the ports of Gdańsk, Stettin, and Lübeck on the Baltic Sea Fugger funded the construction of a new road across the Jablunkov Pass. From those ports the copper was shipped to the Russian region and additionally through Antwerp to Lisbon where it was an important Portuguese trade good destined for the export to India. Part of the copper was also transported through Wiener Neustadt and the Adriatic ports Triest and Zengg to the copper market in Venice. At the time mines from both Tyrol and Hungary provided the bulk of the total European production in copper which provided an incredibly advantageous position in the European market, albeit not a total monopoly.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: The Fugger family were the first German trading house in a direct business relationship with the Roman Curia. In the year 1500, Jakob Fugger loaned the Vatican the money necessary to build the new St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, as well as other buildings within the Vatican. To repay Jakob the massive amount of money owed, Pope Leo X had to heavily tax the German people as well as sell indulgences, which was heavily unpopular with a large group of monks, including Martin Luther. Partly because of the corruption within the church, Martin Luther was prompted to write his Ninety-five Theses. Following the death of Pope Alexander VI in August 1503 Jakob Fugger intensified his contacts to the Vatican in Rome. For the new Pope Julius II Fugger financed the recruitment in 1505/1506 of the Swiss Guard, which still exists today. Early dealings in Rome are attributed to the cleric Markus Fugger in 1473. In 1477 the Fugger business was responsible for transferring church revenues from Sweden to Rome. Between 1508 and 1524, the company leased the Roman mint, the Zecca, manufacturing 66 types of coins for four different popes. After this the Fugger family was represented by only one manufactory in Rome, mostly due to the "Sacco di Roma" and the less German-friendly Medici Pope Clement VII.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: The commodity trade played a relatively small role compared to the two main branches of the Fugger business, banking and mining. It is only because of the associated exotic investments that Jakob Fugger's early trading expeditions take a prominent place in the history of the Fugger business.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: After Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India and the establishment of the Portuguese spice monopoly, Jakob Fugger took part in the spice trade and in 1503 opened a manufactory in Lisbon. He received permission to trade pepper, other spices, and luxury goods such as pearls and gemstones through Lisbon. Along with other merchant houses of Germany and Italy he contributed to a fleet of 22 Portuguese ships led by Francisco de Almeida that sailed to India in the year 1505 and returned in 1506. Even though one third of the imported wares had to be ceded to the King of Portugal the operation was still profitable. Soon afterwards the King declared the spice trade a monopoly of the crown in order to secure his income and exclude foreign merchants from participating. However, the Portuguese were still largely dependent on the copper delivered by Fugger which was an essential export good for the trade with India.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Unlike the Welser family, Jakob Fugger's participation in the overseas trade was very cautious and conservative, and the only other operation of this kind he invested in was a failed trade expedition to the Maluku Islands led by the Spaniard Garcia de Loaisa. There is some evidence that he financed Magellan's famed voyage.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Especially for mining projects in upper Hungary the Fugger company required enormous capital, which at the time it could not raise. Hence Cardinal Melchior von Meckau was the main sponsor of the Fugger business in 1496. The Prince-Bishop had secretly and unknown to his church chapter invested 150,000 guilders in the Fugger company in return for interest, thereby evading the official church ban on interest. When he died in Rome in 1509 this investment was uncovered. The Pope, the bishopric Brixen and the family of Meckau all claiming the inheritance now demanded the immediate payback of these assets which would have resulted in insolvency for Jakob Fugger. It was this situation that prompted Emperor Maximilian I to step in and assist his banker. On the condition of assisting Pope Julius II in a war against the Republic of Venice the Habsburg monarch was recognized as being the rightful heir of Cardinal Melchior von Meckau. The inheritance could now be settled by amortizing outstanding debts. Fugger also had to deliver jewels as compensation to the Pope. However, in return for his support, Maximilian I demanded the continuous financial support of his ongoing military and political campaigns.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Since the death of his brothers Georg in 1506 and Ulrich in 1510, Jakob Fugger was now running the Fugger business as the sole policy and decision maker. The company was renamed into "Jakob Fugger und Gebrüder Söhne" (Jakob Fugger and Brothers Sons). In the following years up until his death Jakob Fugger managed to raise the family fortune which amounted to about 200,000 guilders in 1511 to more than 2,000,000 guilders, perhaps 2% of Europe's GDP.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Emperor Maximilian died in January 1519 and bequeathed to his grandson Carlos I the hereditary lands of House Habsburg with adjoining Burgundian lands as well as a disputed claim to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. To secure his essential investments into House Habsburg Jakob Fugger decided to support the election of the 19-year-old claimant to the throne. In addition to Carlos I, the English King Henry VIII, the French King Francois I and Frederick III, Elector of Saxony announced their candidacy. Francois I had already secured the votes of the Archdiocese of Trier and the Electorate of the Palatinate as well as offering a sum of 300,000 guilders of election money. The Prince-electors consisted of the three archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Trier in addition to the King of Bohemia, the Elector of the Palatinate, the Margrave of Brandenburg and the Duke of Saxony.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: This was a difficult situation for Carlos I who now relied on the riches of Jakob Fugger to sway the election in his favor. Fugger transferred the enormous sum of more than 850,000 guilders to the Prince-electors which ultimately resulted in the unanimous election of Carlos I as Holy Roman Emperor on 28 July 1519. Out of this 850,000 guilders Fugger himself funded around 550,000 while another merchant house of Augsburg, the Welser family, contributed about 150,000 and three Italian bankers providing the rest. What today would be seen as bribery was common practice in the election of the Emperor. Exceptional however were the immense sums involved, mainly due to the keen competition among the princely candidates.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: A few days later the Pope granted Carlos I, now Charles V, the right to name himself Elected Emperor. It was only in 1530 that Charles V was crowned Emperor by the Pope in Bologna. He was the last Emperor to receive a papal coronation.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Charles V, since his election reigning over a realm "where the sun never set", was now deeply indebted to Jakob Fugger. In 1521 the debts amounted to more than 600,000 guilders. The Emperor amortized 415,000 of this sum and in return granted the Fugger company the silver and copper mining operations of Tyrol. During the Imperial Diet of 1523 in Nuremberg it was debated whether to restrict trade capital and the number of trade establishments companies were allowed to maintain. Jakob Fugger intervened and reminded the Emperor that ""It is known that your imperial majesty could not have claimed the Roman crown without my help..."" () The added demand of repayment of all debts eventually led to all discussions of trade restrictions and limits to monopolies being dropped. In addition to this Jakob Fugger was granted a concession to mine quicksilver and cinnabar in Almadén. The Fugger company was involved in the Spanish mining business up to the year 1645.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: In 1498 the 40-year-old Jakob Fugger married Sybille Arzt (also: Artzt) Grand Burgheress of Augsburg, the 18-year-old daughter of an eminent Augsburg Grand Burgher. This marriage opened the opportunity for Jakob to elevate to Grand Burgher of Augsburg (German "Großbürger zu Augsburg") and later finally giving Jakob Fugger the long-awaited aspiration of a seat on the city council (German "Stadtrat") of Augsburg. Four years after the wedding, Jakob Fugger bought for his young wife 40,000 guilders worth of jewels from the treasure of Burgundy, among them the jewel known as the Three Brothers, which the Fuggers later sold to Edward VI of England to become part of the Crown Jewels of England. Jakob wanted to demonstrate that he was after all equal to the Habsburgs, at least financially. However the jewels were left in a chest in the basement of his house for fear of theft and envy. The couple had no children. Seven weeks after her husband died Sybille Arzt married a business partner of Jakob and converted to the Protestant faith.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Jakob Fugger died on 30 December 1525. The inventory performed by his heirs revealed assets totaling 3,000,058 guilders and liabilities amounting to 867,797 guilders resulting in a surplus of 2,132,261 guilders.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Because he had no direct descendants, the company and its assets were bequeathed to his nephews Raymund and Anton Fugger, who also led the company. Anton managed to double the family's fortune once more by 1546.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Fugger was a lifelong Roman Catholic. According to Stein, Fugger insisted that only Catholic inhabitants should "find care and cure" in the Fuggerei. As the Reformation progressed, the complex found itself located in an increasingly Protestant city of Augsburg. The Fugger family financed the rise to power of the House of Habsburg, who would play a prominent role in the Counterreformation.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Together with his brother Ulrich and on behalf of his deceased brother Georg, Jakob Fugger founded the Fugger chapel in the Carmelite monastery's St. Anna church located in Augsburg. It also became the burial place of the three brothers. Construction began in 1509 and was finished in 1512. The chapel was modeled after Italian burial chapels with clear influences out of Venice and Rome, thereby becoming Germany's first renaissance construction. The interior was designed with the help of many notable German artists of the time, such as Albrecht Dürer, Hans Burgkmair, Jörg Breu the Elder and Hans Daucher. The church later became Protestant which is why only two other members of the Fugger family are buried there. The building is thought to have been built in preparation for Fugger's elevation into nobility and to distance himself from the local Patricians. Furthermore, it was a medium to preserve the name and memory of Fugger in the style of the Italian "Memoria" architecture.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: The Fugger family already owned two houses in Augsburg in prominent locations when Jakob Fugger built the Fuggerhäuser near the wine-market (now Maximilianstraße) from 1512 to 1515. Builder of this Residence was most likely Hans Hiebe. Inside the Fuggerhäuser, the Damenhof (Ladies courtyard) was modeled after the florencian style grand courtyards, thus becoming Germany's first secular renaissance building. The complex was expanded once more in 1523 to accommodate the receiving of illustrious guests. The Fuggerhäuser were the private residence and administrative center of Jakob Fugger and his wife Sybille Fugger-Arzt.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Later members of the Fugger family enlarged the complex several times. The complex was mostly destroyed during air raids on Augsburg in World War II and rebuilt in a simplified way in 1955. The courtyards and several other rooms however are still in their original state. The houses are still owned by the Fugger family, partly being used to house the Fürst Fugger Privatbank.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: In 1515 Jakob Fugger advocated for an improved sermon in the church of his parish St. Moritz. In 1517 Pope Leo X issued a papal bull granting Fugger and his heirs the Patronage to the church and being able to choose the priest. The foundation still exists and the Fugger family still recommends the priest.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Beginning in 1516 Jakob Fugger funded the construction of a settlement for craftsmen and day laborers in need. In 1523 52 houses of the estate were built. It was first named "Fuggerei" in 1531. Originally it was meant to house people who were in a difficult situation through no fault of their own until they could establish stable household on their own. The yearly rent was one symbolic guilder, though additionally requested were three daily prayers in the name of Fugger and his family.


title: Jakob Fugger

text: The settlement was expanded several times, lastly in 1973. About 150 people live in the Fuggerei today, still paying an annual rent of the equivalent of one guilder (0.88 €). The Fuggerei is a major tourist attraction of Augsburg and since 2006 also houses a museum. The settlement is still administered by the descendants of the Fugger family and financed through a foundation (originally from 1521).


title: Jakob Fugger

text: Jakob Fugger made several contributions to churches and monasteries in Augsburg some of which still show the Fugger coat of arms. He funded the church San Blas in Almagro, Spain and the reconstruction of the Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome. He also built a chapel in Oberkirchberg as well as building a palace in Weißenhorn.


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: Come Home the Kids Miss You is the second studio album by American rapper Jack Harlow. It was released on May 6, 2022 through Generation Now and Atlantic Records. The production was handled by multiple producers including Harlow himself, Pharrell Williams, Rogét Chahayed, Charlie Handsome, FnZ, Boi-1da, JetsonMade, Oz, and Timbaland, among others. The album features guest appearances from Williams, Drake, Justin Timberlake, and Lil Wayne. Backed by a rich production, the album consists of Harlow's thoughts on newfound fame, relationships with women and his ambition of dominating music.


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: "Come Home the Kids Miss You" was preceded by the lead single "Nail Tech" and the chart-topping single "First Class". The album was met with mixed reviews from critics, who praised the quality of its production but criticized its lyrical substance and lack of character. Despite this, it was a commercial success, reaching the top 10 of the charts in 13 countries. It debuted at number three on the US "Billboard" 200, earning 113,000 album-equivalent units in its first week and becoming Harlow's highest-charting album of his career.


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: In March 2022, Harlow revealed the album's title and release date in a cover story with "Rolling Stone". He also spoke about working with the album's producers, including executive producers Rogét Chahayed and Angel Lopez, to make songs that develop as they go along so that they "make you [want to] continue to listen", calling it "the whole mission" for the project. Harlow called the album's material "more serious" and his intention to let listeners know he is "one of the best in [his] generation". Harlow also revealed that he hoped to collaborate with American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton "on some hard shit" for the album, and that his management had been negotiating with hers.


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: "Come Home the Kids Miss You" is a hip hop album and also features pop rap. Regarding its production, an editor for "Complex" said that "every beat on this album sounds expensive". Another said that the album has "upbeat, catchy songs". "Variety"s A.D. Amorosi says that the album's opener, "Talk of the Town", starts with a "woozily" looped piano. An unannounced guest, Snoop Dogg appears on "Young Harleezy". "First Class" features a sample of Fergie's "Glamorous". "Movie Star", which features Pharrell Williams, is electro-influenced. "Poison", which features Lil Wayne, one of Harlow's personal influences, was described as "mellow, super AutoTune". "Churchill Downs", which features Drake, has a flute-led production. "Dua Lipa" is a trap song. "Like a Blade of Grass" and "Lil Secret", both co-written with Harlow's production team, are R&B songs. According to "Esquire"s Ammal Hassan, Harlow's influence from Drake is evident; Hassan observes that Drake's influence can be heard in Harlow's flow, melodic singing and background instrumentation.


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: Harlow's previous album, "Thats What They All Say" (2020), was noted for being laid-back, charismatic. On "Come Home the Kids Miss You", he builds upon the same thing and additionally adds a more "potent, direct and swaggering" ambiance to it. The album features less humour than Harlow's debut, instead featuring more themes revolving around romance. According to "The New York Times" Jon Caramanica, the album consists of Harlow's thoughts on newfound fame, being an object of desire and his ambition of dominating music. Robin Murray of "Clash" also observes that Harlow discusses issues surrounding relationships.


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: Amorosi said that the album's opener, "Talk of the Town", is an autobiographical and braggadocio track, where Harlow discusses his rise to mainstream success with references to his neighbourhoods and allegiances while growing up. On "Young Harleezy", Harlow concentrates on self-reflection and insecurity, asking "am I enough?". On "Parent Trap", which features Justin Timberlake, the two artists acknowledge the pitfalls of fame. Similarly, "Churchill Downs" also covers this topic, in which Harlow and Drake compliment each other. "Dua Lipa" is dedicated to Harlow's admiration for singer Dua Lipa; Harlow also concentrates on the "leaps of faith an artist makes anytime he writes a lyric down".


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: "Come Home the Kids Miss You" received generally mixed to negative reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 51 out of 100, which indicates "mixed or average" reception based on eight reviews.


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: Writing for "Variety", A.D. Amorosi gave the album a positive review, writing that Harlow "improves on a good thing" and "finds a heady musical elixir." Mosi Reeves of "Rolling Stone" had a more mixed review, opining that Harlow "doesn't seem interested in much beyond dominating the charts" and that what Harlow is trying to say is an "unresolved question." Andree Gee of the same outlet characterized it as "underwhelming".


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: Kyann-Sian Williams of "NME" felt the album "doesn't feature a bunch of seminal tracks, instead packing filler between his knockout singles such as 'First Class'," while ending his review with "you'll find a gem or two here and there, but this collection's longevity is questionable." Robin Murray of "Clash" opined that the album "kicks off the album in impressive style" but "the mid-section becomes bogged down in formula", while appreciating the guest features. Tivo Staff from Allmusic also wrote that "The sound of "Come Home the Kids Miss You" is polished and ready for the massive level of worldwide commercial success Harlow has been building up to, but it's difficult to find much substance beneath the expensive sheen." Staff also said that "Harlow's flows are unchanging and his personality comes off as one-dimensional. Lyrical punch lines fall flat and vague themes of Harlow's hard-earned road to success or his various sexual exploits cycle around aimlessly song after song."


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: Matthew Strauss of "Pitchfork" gave a negative review, calling the record "among the most insipid, vacuous statements in recent pop history" while feeling that the album is "unfullfilling, lacking standout melodies or exciting rhythms" and that Harlow "does not flow intricately or write impressively, a pop star who struggles to carry a song on his own".


title: Come Home the Kids Miss You

text: "Come Home the Kids Miss You" debuted at number three on the US "Billboard" 200, earning 113,000 album-equivalent units (including 8,000 in pure album sales) in its first week. It became Harlow's second US top-five debut on the chart. The album also accumulated a total of 137.05 million on-demand official streams for the album's songs.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: Tumbleweed Connection is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John. It was recorded at Trident Studios, London, England in March 1970, and released in October 1970 in the United Kingdom and January 1971 in the United States. It is a concept album based on country and western/Americana themes. All songs are written by John and Bernie Taupin, with the exception of "Love Song" by Lesley Duncan.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: In 2012, "Tumbleweed Connection" was ranked number 458 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and number five on the US "Billboard" 200 chart. In the US, it was certified gold in March 1971 and platinum in August 1998 by the RIAA.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: Co-writer Bernie Taupin said of the album, "Everybody thinks that I was influenced by Americana and by seeing America first hand, but we wrote and recorded the album before we'd even been to the States. It was totally influenced by The Band's album, 'Music From Big Pink', and Robbie Robertson's songs. I've always loved Americana, and I loved American Westerns. I've always said that 'El Paso' was the song that made me want to write songs, it was the perfect meshing of melody and storyline, and I thought that here was something that married rhythms and the written word completely." John has remarked, "Lyrically and melodically, that's probably one of our most perfect albums. I don't think there's any song on there that doesn't melodically fit the lyric."


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: Basic tracks for three of the album's titles, "Come Down in Time", "Country Comfort" and "Burn Down the Mission", were recorded at Trident during the sessions for the previous LP, "Elton John", with overdubs completed for "Tumbleweed Connection". An early version of "Madman Across the Water", featuring Mick Ronson on electric guitar, was also recorded during the sessions for the album. It was released on several albums and reissues of "Tumbleweed Connection", though the track was ultimately re-recorded for the "Madman Across the Water" album.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson appear for the first time together on this album as the rhythm section on "Amoreena". Olsson had played on one track on "Empty Sky" for John in 1969. It is Murray's first appearance on an Elton John album. In addition to several studio players who also performed on John's previous self-titled second album, several tracks feature backing musicians from the band Hookfoot, who were also his DJM Records label mates. Hookfoot guitarist Caleb Quaye and drummer Roger Pope had also appeared on John's "Empty Sky" album.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: No singles were released from the album in the US by either DJM or John's US distributor, Universal Records, but "Country Comfort" (b/w "Love Song") was released as a single in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: The wraparound cover photo for the album was taken at Sheffield Park railway station in Sussex, approximately south of London on the Bluebell Railway. Photographer Ian Digby Ovens captured John (seated to the right in the photo but appearing to the left on the front cover, shown above) and Taupin (standing to the left, on the back cover) in front of the late-nineteenth-century station, to represent the album's rural Americana concept despite the English location. Additional photos were taken from the interior of a train on the line for the album liner notes and libretto.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: In August 2020, the Bluebell Railway announced that, to mark the 50th anniversary of the release of the album, it had restored the station to look as it did when the cover photo was taken, giving people an opportunity to re-create the scene in their own photos.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: The album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and number five on the US "Billboard" 200 chart. In the US, it was certified gold in March 1971 and platinum in August 1998 by the RIAA. The album sold very quickly in the US, debuting at number 28 on "Billbord's" Top LPs, an unusually high debut for a new artist at the time, and reached its peak position in just four weeks.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: In 2012, "Tumbleweed Connection" was ranked number 458 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: "Half of the songs don't follow conventional pop song structures; instead, they flow between verses and vague choruses. These experiments are remarkably successful, primarily because Taupin's lyrics are evocative and John's melodic sense is at its best."


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: 1981 : "good melodies and bad Westerns on it. Why do people believe that these latter qualify as songpoems?" (Note: There's an earlier Christgau's review of the album, written in 1970 for The Village Voice). Reviewing for Rolling Stone (Deluxe edition), David Fricke wrote: "1971’s "Tumbleweed Connection" needs no improvement; it is one of the best country-rock albums ever written by London cowboys."


title: Tumbleweed Connection

text: Robert Hillburn wrote for Los Angeles Times: ""Tumbleweed Connection" is that near-perfect album that artists often spend a whole career trying to produce." Dave DiMartino wrote for Yahoo! Music: "A step up from the slightly more overtly commercial "Elton John"... "Tumbleweed" is beautifully recorded and filled with very fine songs... Bordering on classic status."


title: Immediate family

text: The immediate family is a defined group of relations, used in rules or laws to determine which members of a person's family are affected by those rules. It normally includes a person's parents, siblings, spouse, and children. It can contain others connected by birth, adoption, marriage, civil partnership, or cohabitation, such as grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, siblings-in-law, half-siblings, cousins, adopted children, step-parents/step-children, and cohabiting partners. The term close relatives is used similarly.


title: Immediate family

text: The concept of "immediate family" acknowledges that a person has or may feel particular responsibilities towards family members, which may make it difficult to act fairly towards non-family (hence the refusal of many companies to employ immediate family members of current employees), or which call for special allowance to recognise this responsibility (such as compensation on death, or permission to leave work to attend a funeral). It is used by travel insurance policies to determine a set of people on the basis of whose health someone might need to cancel a journey or return early. The concept is used by some countries' inheritance laws.


title: Immediate family

text: The exact meaning of "immediate family" varies, and will sometimes be defined in legislation or rules for a particular purpose. This can change over time: in 2005 the Scottish Government proposed to change the definition for purposes of compensation payments after deaths. The definition was to be expanded from "a remaining spouse, sexual cohabitant, partner, step-parent or step-child, parent-in-law or child-in-law, or an individual related by blood whose close association is an equivalent of a family relationship who was accepted by the deceased as a child of his/her family" to include "any person who had accepted the deceased as a child of the family, the brother or sister of the deceased, any person brought up in the same household as a child and who was him/herself accepted as a child of the family, the same sex partner of the deceased, or any person who was the grandparent or grandchild of the deceased".


title: Immediate family

text: In California, for purposes of subdivision of Labor Code Section 2066, "immediate family member" means spouse, domestic partner, cohabitant, child, stepchild, grandchild, parent, stepparent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandparent, great grandparent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepsibling, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or first cousin (that is, a child of an aunt or uncle).


title: Immediate family

text: The Missouri Code of State Regulations, 19 CSR 15-7.021 (18) (H) states that "an immediate family member is defined as a parent; sibling; child by blood, adoption, or marriage; spouse; grandparent or grandchild."


title: Immediate family

text: The Australian Fair Work Act 2009, Section 12, defines immediate family as "a spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee; or a child, parent, grandparent or sibling of a spouse or de facto partner of the employee.", and "the definition of the term ‘de facto partner’ includes a former de facto partner."


title: Immediate family

text: A travel insurance policy which covers curtailment due to the death or illness of a member of the policy-holder's "immediate family" uses a wide definition but adds residential requirements: "Immediate Family is your Partner, and: parents, children, stepchildren, fostered or adopted children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, or grandparents, of either you or your Partner, who live in your Home Country." and "Partner is your spouse or someone of either sex with whom you have a permanent relationship, and who also lives with you at your Home."


title: Immediate family

text: In the United States, there are many rules and rights surrounding immediate family members after a family death. If the will names a non-immediate family member to be the executor of the will, he or she cannot have an "official role in these matters". Even if a person is not a joint owner, if they are an immediate family member a bank is likely to give them access to the deceased's safety deposit box. Some states that enforce no-contest provisions do not enforce them against immediate family members. In some states, the immediate family may receive a family allowance – a court-ordered amount paid to them from estate funds to provide help for living expenses. They may also entitled to homestead allowance – an amount of equity in the family home. In many states, household goods (sentimental but not expensive goods) can be passed onto immediate family members without probate.


title: Immediate family

text: Generally, the distribution to the immediate family leaves the spouse with the third or a half of the property and the issue with the balance. Usually, the pattern was to leave the entire estate to one's immediate family or other relatives, thereby "preserving the family as a significant social unit". The willing to other people or institutions is associated with either a wealth or an absence of an immediate family. If there is an absence of an immediate family, the testator is given the freedom to diverge from the usual distribution of property and wealth.


title: Immediate family

text: In some cases, a company will not employ an immediate family member of a current employee. Sometimes, "authorized" absence due to the death of one's immediate family member allows an employee to still be eligible for an attendance bonus. In these cases, the company the employee belongs to will acknowledge the significance of the absence and will, for example, be granted 3 working days off between the day of death and the day after the burial inclusive. Full-time workers can apply for bereavement leave, and part-time or temporary employees can apply for leave without pay.


title: Immediate family

text: Rules may specify that a person may not hold a particular office if they, "or any member of their immediate family" do not meet particular criteria. For example, a director of a NYSE company must be independent: neither they nor their family members may have been


title: Immediate family

text: an executive officer of the company within the past 3 years, received more than $100,000 in direct compensation from the company in the past 3 years, or been employed as an executive officer of another firm within the past 3 years.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: Ángela Aguilar Álvarez Alcalá (born October 8, 2003) is a Mexican-American singer. She was born in Los Angeles while her mother was accompanying her father, Pepe Aguilar, on tour. Aguilar gained notable recognition after performing "La Llorona" at the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2019. Her grandparents are the actors and singers from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: Her debut solo studio album, "Primero Soy Mexicana" (2018), was met with critical acclaim and success. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award and two Latin Grammy Awards, becoming one of the youngest artists nominated for both awards.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: Ángela Aguilar Álvarez Alcalá was born to Pepe Aguilar and Aneliz Álvarez Alcalá in Los Angeles, California on October 8, 2003, while her father was on tour. She was named after her great-grandmother Ángela Márquez Barraza Valle, her father's paternal grandmother. Aguilar has dual citizenship from Mexico and the United States; with aspirations of obtaining Argentinian citizenship by decent. Aguilar was born into a musical family, known as "La Dinastía Aguilar" (The Aguilar Dynasty). Aguilar's father is Mexican singer Pepe Aguilar, her paternal grandparents are Mexican singer-actors Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre. Since a young age, Aguilar has frequently accompanied her father on tour throughout Latin America with her brother, Leonardo Aguilar.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: In July 2018, Aguilar partnered with Voto Latino to encourage more Latino Americans to vote in American elections.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: In 2012, at just nine years old, Aguilar released "Nueva Tradición", alongside her brother, Leonardo. It featured four songs by Leonardo and four by Ángela. In 2016, Aguilar participated in the BBC 100 Woman festival in Mexico City. At just 13 years old, she was the youngest performer, she told BBC News that the music industry was dominated by men and hoped it would change.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: In January 2018, Aguilar and her family launched an equestrian-musical style tour dubbed "Jaripeo Sin Fronteras". Aguilar accompanied her father, Pepe, her uncle Antonio, and her brother, Leonardo Aguilar.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: On March 2, 2018, Aguilar released her first solo album, "Primero Soy Mexicana", produced by her father, Pepe. The album featured eleven well known ranchera songs previously performed by other prominent music artists such as, Lucha Villa, Rocio Durcal, and her grandmother, Flor Silvestre. Aguilar performed the album's first single, "Tu Sangre en Mi Cuerpo" at the 2018 Premios Tu Mundo. On September 20, 2018, Aguilar was nominated for Best New Artist and her album, "Primero Soy Mexicana" was nominated for Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album at the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards. At the ceremony, she performed "La Llorona", where she received a standing ovation from the audience. Aguilar received widespread praise from various artists, including Mexican ranchera singer Vicente Fernández for her performance. On December 7, 2018, Aguilar's album "Primero Soy Mexicana", was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Music Album.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: On April 3, 2019, Aguilar was named the Artistic and Cultural Ambassador of Zacatecas, Mexico by Mayor Ulises Mejía Haro. On May 21, 2019, Aguilar was nominated for three awards at the 2019 Premios Juventud. She performed a medley of songs alongside mariachi singers Christian Nodal and Pipe Bueno. On July 23, 2019, Aguilar released an exclusive cover performance of "Shallow" on the Recording Academy's YouTube page, with permission from the songwriter, Lady Gaga. It is the first time that Aguilar has recorded in English.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: On January 31, 2020, Aguilar released a tribute album to American singer, Selena, titled "Baila Esta Cumbia". On September 24, 2021, she released her third album, Mexicana enamorada. On April 1, 2021 she releases "En realidad", the first single from her third studio album.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by The Recording Academy in the United States. Aguilar has received one nomination.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: The Latin Grammy Awards are awarded annually by The Latin Recording Academy in the United States. Aguilar has received two nominations.


title: Ángela Aguilar

text: Aguilar was born into a musical family, known as "La Dinastía Aguilar" (The Aguilar Dynasty). Aguilar's father is Mexican singer Pepe Aguilar, her paternal grandparents are Mexican singer-actors Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre, her brother is Leonardo Aguilar.


title: Agni-V

text: Agni-V is a nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India. The missile is believed to have a range of more than 7,000 kilometers. Chinese researchers allege that the missile has the range of 8,000 kilometers. It is a three-stage, road-mobile, canisterised, solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile.


title: Agni-V

text: Agni V is primarily for enhancing India's nuclear deterrence against China. Until recently, the longest range missile India had was Agni-III, with a range of 3000–3500 km. If launched from central India this range was not sufficient to reach targets on the extreme eastern and northeastern region of China. Most of the important economic centers of China lay on its eastern seaboard.


title: Agni-V

text: Senior defence scientist M. Natarajan disclosed in 2007 that DRDO was working on an upgraded version of the Agni III, known as the Agni-V, and that it would be ready in 4 years. The missile was to have a range of more than .


title: Agni-V

text: It was estimated that the missile will be operational by 2014 to 2015 after four to five repeatable tests. Indian authorities believed that the solid-fuelled Agni-V is more than adequate to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. Even with a range of only 5,000 km, the Agni-V could hit any target in China, including Beijing.


title: Agni-V

text: The missile will allow India to strike targets across Asia and into Europe. The missile's range will allow the Indian military to target all of China from Agni-V bases, in central and southern India, further away from China. The missile is also likely to be similar to other missiles of the range of 10,000 km. The missile was designed to be easy to transport by road, through the utilisation of a canister-launch missile system, which is distinct from those of the earlier Agni missiles. Agni-V would also carry MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) payloads being concurrently developed. A single MIRV equipped missile can deliver multiple warheads at different targets.


title: Agni-V

text: With a launch mass of around and a development cost of over , Agni-V incorporated advanced technologies involving ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance. It took its first stage from Agni-III, with a modified second stage and a miniaturised third stage enabling it to fly distance of . The second and third stage are completely made of composite material to reduce weight. With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, the missile, will give the armed forces much greater operational flexibility than the earlier-generation of Agni missiles. According to a source, the accuracy levels of Agni-V and the Agni-IV (3800 km [2375 mi]), with their better guidance and navigation systems, are far higher than Agni-I (), Agni-II () and Agni-III (). According to the Project Director of Agni V, Tessy Thomas, the missile achieved single-digit accuracy in its second test.


title: Agni-V

text: According to media reports that cite official sources, the missile was being deployed by Strategic Forces Command as of July 2018. After the sixth test of Agni-V in June 2018 the missile has been inducted into the Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Armed Forces. .


title: Agni-V

text: The then Indian defence minister A. K. Antony, addressing the annual DRDO awards ceremony, asked defence scientists to demonstrate the missile's capability at the earliest opportunity. DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat told Times of India in mid-2011 that DRDO had tested the three solid-propellant composite rocket motor stages of Agni-V independently and all ground tests had been completed. In September 2011, Saraswat confirmed that the first test flight would be conducted in 2012 from Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast.


title: Agni-V

text: In February 2012, a source revealed that DRDO was almost ready for the test, but there were scheduling and logistical issues since the missile was to traverse halfway across the Indian Ocean. Countries like Indonesia and Australia as well as international air and maritime traffic in the test zone had to be alerted 7– 10 days before the test. Moreover, Indian Navy warships, with DRDO scientists and tracking and monitoring systems, were to be positioned midway and near the impact point in the southern Indian Ocean.


title: Agni-V

text: On 19 April 2012 at 08.05 am, the Agni V was successfully test-fired by DRDO from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa. The test launch was made from the Launch Complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island using a rail mobile launcher. The flight time lasted 20 minutes and the third stage fired the re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere at an altitude of . The missile re-entry vehicle subsequently impacted the pre-designated target point more than away in the Indian Ocean. The director of the test range, S.P. Das, informed BBC that all test parameters were met. According to news reports the Agni-V was able to hit the target nearly at pin-point accuracy, within a few meters of the designated target point.


title: Agni-V

text: On 15 September 2013, India conducted a second test flight of Agni-V from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 8:50 am. The flight duration was a little over 20 minutes and hit the pre-designed target in the Indian Ocean with an accuracy of a few metres.


title: Agni-V

text: On 31 January 2015, India conducted a third successful test flight of the Agni-V from the Wheeler Island facility. The test used a canisterised version of the missile, mounted over a Tatra truck. The Integrated Test Range Director, M. V. K. V. Prasad, said: "The missile, witnessed a flawless 'auto launch' and detailed results will be known after all data is retrieved from different radars and network systems."


title: Agni-V

text: On 26 December 2016, a fourth test of the missile was successfully conducted from complex 4 of Wheeler Island, Orissa at 11.05 IST. This was the second canisterised test of the missile and will now pave way for user trials of the missile by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC).


title: Agni-V

text: On 18 January 2018, a fifth test of the missile was successfully conducted from the Wheeler Island facility, Odisha at 09.53 IST. This was the third consecutive canisterised test of the missile on a road mobile launcher and the first in its final operational configuration. The missile covered a distance of 4,900 km in 19 minutes.


title: Agni-V

text: On 3 June 2018, a sixth test launch of Agni-V was successfully conducted from Abdul Kalam Island at 09.45 IST. It was the sixth missile test since 2012 and was a "precision launch". The Indian Ministry of Defence stated that the radars, electro-tracking stations, and telemetry stations tracked the vehicle throughout the course.


title: Agni-V

text: On 10 December 2018, a seventh test launch of Agni-V was successfully conducted from the Launching Complex-IV of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island at about 1.30 pm. This was for the first time that the missile was test-fired in a lofted trajectory. The missile blasted off from a hermetically sealed canister and covered nearly 2,041 km. This lofted trajectory flight was used to determine whether it followed the perfect flight path with close to zero error. This trial completed the Agni-V pre-induction trials.


title: Agni-V

text: As part of user trial, Agni-V was successfully launched on October 27, 2021 and December 15, 2022 from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. According to Ministry of Defence (MoD), the test was in line with India’s credible minimum deterrence policy with the commitment to ‘No First Use’.


title: Agni-V

text: On 15 December 2022, first night trial of Agni-V was successfully carried out by SFC from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The test was to validate new technologies and equipment on the missile. Replacing maraging steel with lightweight composite materials made Agni-V, 20 percent lighter. The launch also proved striking capability beyond 7000+ kms.


title: Agni-V

text: The Agni-V is a three-stage solid fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile with composite motor casing in the second and third stage. In many aspects, the Agni-5 carries forward the Agni-3 pedigree. With composites used extensively to reduce weight, and a third stage added on (the Agni-3 was a two-stage missile), the Agni-5 can fly significantly more to inter-continental range.


title: Agni-V

text: Total flight duration for the first flight test of Agni-V on 20 April 2012 was for 1130 seconds. The first stage ignited for 90 seconds.


title: Agni-V

text: The DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat initially declined to disclose the exact range of Agni-V. Later, however, he described Agni V as a missile with a range of 5,500–5,800 km. Du Wenlong, a researcher at China's PLA Academy of Military Sciences, told "Global Times" that the missile has a range of around . Wenlong also said that the Indian government had deliberately downplayed the missile's capability in order to avoid causing concern to other countries. The exact range of the Agni-V missile is classified. "Business Standard" reported that the range of Agni-V can be increased if needed. On 15 December 2022, the first night trial of Agni-V was successfully carried out by the SFC, after which media reports stated that the missile is now 20 percent lighter due to the use of composite materials that can increase the range beyond 7,000 km if required.


title: Agni-V

text: A ring laser gyroscope based inertial navigation system (RLG-INS) is primarily responsible for guiding the Agni-V to its target. However, Agni-V is equipped with another guidance system called micro inertial navigation system (MINGS) as a backup. These are capable of interacting with Indian and non-Indian satellite navigation systems. Both of these systems have been developed by the Research Centre Imarat. Agni V uses a system on chip (SOC) based on-board computer (OBC) whose weight is around 200 grams for control and guidance. All stages of the missile have nozzle-based control systems.


title: Agni-V

text: "The Agni-5 is specially tailored for road-mobility," explained Avinash Chander, Director, ASL. "With the canister having been successfully developed, all India's future land-based strategic missiles will be canisterised as well." The missile will utilise a canister and will be launched from it. Made of maraging steel, a canister must provide a hermetically sealed atmosphere that preserves the missile for years. During firing, the canister must absorb enormous stresses when a thrust of is generated to eject the missile.


title: Agni-V

text: If the missile is ejected using a gas generator from the canister, then the missile could be launched from any pre-surveyed launch


title: Agni-V

text: The launcher, which is known as the Transport-cum-Tilting vehicle-5, is a 140-ton, 30-metre, 7-axle trailer pulled by a 3-axle Volvo truck (DRDO Newsletter 2014). The canister design "will reduce the reaction time drastically...just a few minutes from 'stop-to-launch


title: Agni-V

text: V. K. Saraswat said that an ASAT version is technically possible: ASAT weapon would require reaching about 800 km altitude. Agni V offers the boosting capability and the 'kill vehicle', with advanced seekers, will be able to home into the target satellite.


title: Agni-V

text: In future, Agni-V is expected to feature Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs) with each missile being capable of carrying 2–10 separate nuclear warheads. Each warhead can be assigned to a different target, separated by hundreds of kilometres; alternatively, two or more warheads can be assigned to one target. MIRVs ensure a credible second strike capability even with few missiles. According to DRDO sources, a MIRV payload would be significantly heavier, since it would consist of several nuclear warheads, each of them weighting about 400 kilogrammes. A 5-warhead MIRV, therefore, would weigh two tonnes.


title: Agni-V

text: As of 2012, the primary module for MIRV was in an advanced stage of development. It will be deployed when deemed necessary, according to officials.


title: Agni-V

text: The MIRV capability of Agni-V has been tested indirectly in a discreet manner, according to Bharat Karnad, who was involved in drafting India's nuclear doctrine. Karnad states that the MIRV capability of the missile's guidance system on chip (SOC) was tested during the multi-satellite PSLV launch on 25 February 2013.


title: Agni-V

text: In India, the success of the launch was received with much acclaim and widespread media coverage. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO. Missile Program Director Avinash Chander hailed the launch saying it signified "giant strides."


title: Agni-V

text: In November 2021, India tested the nuclear capable version of Agni-V successfully, followingly the statement received by Defence Ministry was


title: Agni-V

text: “A successful launch of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile, Agni-5, was carried out on October 27, 2021 at approximately 1950 hrs from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha.<br>- Ministry of Defence”


title: Protease

text: A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products. They do this by cleaving the peptide bonds within proteins by hydrolysis, a reaction where water breaks bonds. Proteases are involved in many biological functions, including digestion of ingested proteins, protein catabolism (breakdown of old proteins), and cell signaling.


title: Protease

text: In the absence of functional accelerants, proteolysis would be very slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteases can be found in all forms of life and viruses. They have independently evolved multiple times, and different classes of protease can perform the same reaction by completely different catalytic mechanisms.


title: Protease

text: Proteases were first grouped into 84 families according to their evolutionary relationship in 1993, and classified under four catalytic types: serine, cysteine, aspartic, and metallo proteases. The threonine and glutamic-acid proteases were not described until 1995 and 2004 respectively. The mechanism used to cleave a peptide bond involves making an amino acid residue that has the cysteine and threonine (proteases) or a water molecule (aspartic acid, metallo- and acid proteases) nucleophilic so that it can attack the peptide carbonyl group. One way to make a nucleophile is by a catalytic triad, where a histidine residue is used to activate serine, cysteine, or threonine as a nucleophile. This is not an evolutionary grouping, however, as the nucleophile types have evolved convergently in different superfamilies, and some superfamilies show divergent evolution to multiple different nucleophiles.


title: Protease

text: A seventh catalytic type of proteolytic enzymes, asparagine peptide lyase, was described in 2011. Its proteolytic mechanism is unusual since, rather than hydrolysis, it performs an elimination reaction. During this reaction, the catalytic asparagine forms a cyclic chemical structure that cleaves itself at asparagine residues in proteins under the right conditions. Given its fundamentally different mechanism, its inclusion as a peptidase may be debatable.


title: Protease

text: An up-to-date classification of protease evolutionary superfamilies is found in the MEROPS database. In this database, proteases are classified firstly by 'clan' (superfamily) based on structure, mechanism and catalytic residue order (e.g. the PA clan where P indicates a mixture of nucleophile families). Within each 'clan', proteases are classified into families based on sequence similarity (e.g. the S1 and C3 families within the PA clan). Each family may contain many hundreds of related proteases (e.g. trypsin, elastase, thrombin and streptogrisin within the S1 family).


title: Protease

text: Currently more than 50 clans are known, each indicating an independent evolutionary origin of proteolysis.


title: Protease

text: Proteases are involved in digesting long protein chains into shorter fragments by splitting the peptide bonds that link amino acid residues. Some detach the terminal amino acids from the protein chain (exopeptidases, such as aminopeptidases, carboxypeptidase A); others attack internal peptide bonds of a protein (endopeptidases, such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, pepsin, papain, elastase).


title: Protease

text: Proteolysis can be highly promiscuous such that a wide range of protein substrates are hydrolyzed. This is the case for digestive enzymes such as trypsin, which have to be able to cleave the array of proteins ingested into smaller peptide fragments. Promiscuous proteases typically bind to a single amino acid on the substrate and so only have specificity for that residue. For example, trypsin is specific for the sequences ...K\... or ...R\... ('\'=cleavage site).


title: Protease

text: Conversely some proteases are highly specific and only cleave substrates with a certain sequence. Blood clotting (such as thrombin) and viral polyprotein processing (such as TEV protease) requires this level of specificity in order to achieve precise cleavage events. This is achieved by proteases having a long binding cleft or tunnel with several pockets that bind to specified residues. For example, TEV protease is specific for the sequence ...ENLYFQ\S... ('\'=cleavage site).


title: Protease

text: Proteases, being themselves proteins, are cleaved by other protease molecules, sometimes of the same variety. This acts as a method of regulation of protease activity. Some proteases are less active after autolysis (e.g. TEV protease) whilst others are more active (e.g. trypsinogen).


title: Protease

text: Proteases occur in all organisms, from prokaryotes to eukaryotes to virus. These enzymes are involved in a multitude of physiological reactions from simple digestion of food proteins to highly regulated cascades (e.g., the blood-clotting


title: Protease

text: Protease-containing plant-solutions called "vegetarian rennet" have been in use for hundreds of years in Europe and the Middle East for making kosher and halal Cheeses. Vegetarian rennet from "Withania coagulans" has been in use for thousands of years as a Ayurvedic remedy for digestion and diabetes in the Indian subcontinent. It is also used to make Paneer.


title: Protease

text: Plant genomes encode hundreds of proteases, largely of unknown function. Those with known function are largely involved in developmental regulation. Plant proteases also play a role in regulation of photosynthesis.


title: Protease

text: Proteases are used throughout an organism for various metabolic processes. Acid proteases secreted into the stomach (such as pepsin) and serine proteases present in the duodenum (trypsin and chymotrypsin) enable us to digest the protein in food. Proteases present in blood serum (thrombin, plasmin, Hageman factor, etc.) play an important role in blood-clotting, as well as lysis of the clots, and the correct action of the immune system. Other proteases are present in leukocytes (elastase, cathepsin G) and play several different roles in metabolic control. Some snake venoms are also proteases, such as pit viper haemotoxin and interfere with the victim's blood clotting cascade. Proteases determine the lifetime of other proteins playing important physiological roles like hormones, antibodies, or other enzymes. This is one of the fastest "switching on" and "switching off" regulatory mechanisms in the physiology of an organism.


title: Protease

text: By a complex cooperative action, proteases can catalyze cascade reactions, which result in rapid and efficient amplification of an organism's response to a physiological signal.


title: Protease

text: Bacteria secrete proteases to hydrolyse the peptide bonds in proteins and therefore break the proteins down into their constituent amino acids. Bacterial and fungal proteases are particularly important to the global carbon and nitrogen cycles in the recycling of proteins, and such activity tends to be regulated by nutritional signals in these organisms. The net impact of nutritional regulation of protease activity among the thousands of species present in soil can be observed at the overall microbial community level as proteins are broken down in response to carbon, nitrogen, or sulfur limitation.


title: Protease

text: Bacteria contain proteases responsible for general protein quality control (e.g. the AAA+ proteasome) by degrading unfolded or misfolded proteins.


title: Protease

text: A secreted bacterial protease may also act as an exotoxin, and be an example of a virulence factor in bacterial pathogenesis (for example, exfoliative toxin). Bacterial exotoxic proteases destroy extracellular structures.


title: Protease

text: The genomes of some viruses encode one massive polyprotein, which needs a protease to cleave this into functional units (e.g. the hepatitis C virus and the picornaviruses). These proteases (e.g. TEV protease) have high specificity and only cleave a very restricted set of substrate sequences. They are therefore a common target for protease inhibitors.


title: Protease

text: Archaea use proteases to regulate various cellular processes from cell-signaling, metabolism, secretion and protein quality control. Only two ATP-dependent proteases are found in archaea: the membrane associated LonB protease and a soluble 20S proteosome complex .


title: Protease

text: The field of protease research is enormous. Since 2004, approximately 8000 papers related to this field were published each year. Proteases are used in industry, medicine and as a basic biological research tool.


title: Protease

text: Digestive proteases are part of many laundry detergents and are also used extensively in the bread industry in bread improver. A variety of proteases are used medically both for their native function (e.g. controlling blood clotting) or for completely artificial functions ("e.g." for the targeted degradation of pathogenic proteins). Highly specific proteases such as TEV protease and thrombin are commonly used to cleave fusion proteins and affinity tags in a controlled fashion.


title: Protease

text: The activity of proteases is inhibited by protease inhibitors. One example of protease inhibitors is the serpin superfamily. It includes alpha 1-antitrypsin (which protects the body from excessive effects of its own inflammatory proteases), alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (which does likewise), C1-inhibitor (which protects the body from excessive protease-triggered activation of its own complement system), antithrombin (which protects the body from excessive coagulation), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (which protects the body from inadequate coagulation by blocking protease-triggered fibrinolysis), and neuroserpin.


title: Protease

text: Natural protease inhibitors include the family of lipocalin proteins, which play a role in cell regulation and differentiation. Lipophilic ligands, attached to lipocalin proteins, have been found to possess tumor protease inhibiting properties. The natural protease inhibitors are not to be confused with the protease inhibitors used in antiretroviral therapy. Some viruses, with HIV/AIDS among them, depend on proteases in their reproductive cycle. Thus, protease inhibitors are developed as antiviral therapeutic agents.


title: Protease

text: Other natural protease inhibitors are used as defense mechanisms. Common examples are the trypsin inhibitors found in the seeds of some plants, most notable for humans being soybeans, a major food crop, where they act to discourage predators. Raw soybeans are toxic to many animals, including humans, until the protease inhibitors they contain have been denatured.


Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by English musician Elton John. The album is an autobiographical account of the early musical careers of Elton John (Captain Fantastic) and his long-term lyricist Bernie Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy). It was released in May 1975 by MCA Records in America and DJM in the UK and was an instant commercial success. The album was certified gold before its release, and reached No. 1 in its first week of release on the US "Billboard" 200, the first ever album to achieve both honors. It sold 1.4 million copies within four days of release, and stayed in the top position in the chart for seven weeks.


title: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

text: Though they would all appear on later albums, this was the last album of the 1970s with the original lineup of the Elton John Band (guitarist Davey Johnstone, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson). Murray and Olsson, who had formed John's rhythm section since 1970, were fired prior to the recording of the follow-up album "Rock of the Westies", while Johnstone would leave in 1978. This was the last album until 1983's "Too Low for Zero" that Elton John and his classic band would play on together.


text: In 2003, the album was ranked number 158 on "Rolling Stone"s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.


text: Written, according to lyricist Bernie Taupin, in chronological order, "Captain Fantastic" is a concept album that gives an autobiographical glimpse at the struggles John (Captain Fantastic) and Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy) had in the early years of their musical careers in London (from 1967 to 1969), leading up to John's eventual breakthrough in 1970. The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that would otherwise be rare in John's music. John composed the music on a ship voyage from the UK to New York.


text: "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", the only single released from the album (and a number 4 hit on the US Pop Singles chart), is a semi-autobiographical story about John's disastrous engagement to Linda Woodrow, and his related 1968 suicide attempt. The "Someone" refers to Long John Baldry, who convinced him to break off the engagement rather than ruin his music career for an unhappy marriage. It was viewed by "Rolling Stone" writer Jon Landau as the best track on the album: "As long as Elton John can bring forth one performance per album on the order of 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight', the chance remains that he will become something more than the great entertainer he already is and go on to make a lasting contribution to rock."


text: In a 2006 interview with Cameron Crowe, John said, "I've always thought that "Captain Fantastic" was probably my finest album because it wasn't commercial in any way. We did have songs such as 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight,' which is one of the best songs that Bernie and I have ever written together, but whether a song like that could be a single these days, since it's [more than] six minutes long, is questionable. "Captain Fantastic" was written from start to finish in running order, as a kind of story about coming to terms with failure—or trying desperately not to be one. We lived that story."


text: John, Taupin and the band laboured harder and longer on the album than perhaps any previous record they'd ever done to that point. As opposed to the rather quick, almost factory-like process of writing and recording an album in a matter of a few days or at most a couple of weeks (as with "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), the team spent the better part of a month off the road at Caribou Ranch Studios working on the recordings. Producer Gus Dudgeon was apparently also very satisfied with the results. The album's producer was quoted in Elizabeth Rosenthal's "His Song", an exhaustive detailed accounting of nearly all John's recorded work, as saying he thought "Captain Fantastic" was the best the band and Elton had ever played, lauded their vocal work, and soundly praised Elton and Bernie's songwriting. "There's not one song on it that's less than incredible," Dudgeon said.


text: The 2006 album "The Captain & the Kid" is the sequel, and continues the autobiography where "Captain Fantastic" leaves off.


text: The intricate cover art was designed by pop artist Alan Aldridge, drawing fantastic imagery from the Renaissance painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch. The original LP package also included two booklets; a "Lyrics" booklet which contained an uncompleted lyric for "Dogs in the Kitchen" that did not appear on the album, and another booklet called "Scraps," which collected photos and snippets of reviews, personal diary entries and other memorabilia of John and Taupin during the years that are chronicled on the album. The original LP also contained a poster of the album's cover.


text: In 1976, Bally released a Capt. Fantastic pinball machine with artwork by Dave Christensen of Elton John in his "pinball wizard" character from the movie "Tommy". In 1977, Bally released a "home model" version with artwork by Alan Aldridge.


text: The album reached number 1 in its first week of release on the US "Billboard" 200, the first ever album to do so, reportedly selling 1.4 million copies within 4 days of release, and it stayed in that position in the chart for seven weeks. It was certified gold based on pre-release orders in early May 1975, two weeks before it was even officially released, and was certified platinum and triple platinum in March 1993 by the RIAA.


text: In Canada, it also debuted at number 1 on the "RPM" national Top Albums chart and only broke a run of what would have been fifteen consecutive weeks at the top by falling one position to number 2 in the ninth week (31 May–6 September). On the UK Albums Chart, it peaked at number 2.


text: In 2003, the album was ranked #158 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.


text: A deluxe 30th anniversary edition CD was released September 2005, containing the complete album and adding "House of Cards", the original B-side to the 7" single of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", which had previously only appeared on CD on the 1992 "Rare Masters" collection. Also included is a second disc containing the complete album performed live at Wembley Stadium on 21 June 1975.


text: In September 2005, Elton John and his band again performed the entire album (minus "Tower of Babel" and "Writing") in a series of sold-out concerts in Boston, New York City and the tour's final stop, Atlanta, in October. These "Captain Fantastic Concerts" were a part of the Peachtree Road Tour and were the longest concerts in Elton's career, many lasting at least three and a half hours. The songs from "Captain Fantastic" were aired by Capital Gold Radio in a broadcast taken from 16 September 2005 performance in Boston.


text: "Curtains", among other songs from the album, was sampled in Pnau's 2012 album "Good Morning to the Night".


text: "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" was covered by Jeff Buckley. It was also covered by Coldplay for the 2018 tribute album "".


text: Note: On the original DJM Records CD version, "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" and "Curtains" are both combined into one track, making it a nine-track album. On all other CD versions (MCA Records, Polydor and French label Carrere Records), the two tracks are separated.


text: | style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|1976 || rowspan="2"| "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" || Album of the Year ||


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield is the primary fictional setting of the American animated sitcom "The Simpsons" and related media. It is an average-sized, fictional city within an indeterminate state in the United States. The fictional city's geography, surroundings and layout are flexible, often changing to accommodate the plot of any given episode.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: According to the creator of the series, Oregon native Matt Groening, Springfield was inspired by a number of real-life locations (including Springfield, Oregon and Springfield, Massachusetts). However, in order to emphasize it as an example of "Anytown, USA", the location of the fictional Springfield remains a mystery, with various contradictory "clues" being found in numerous episodes of the series.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The fictional city of Springfield was intended to represent "Anytown, USA" and not be derived from any specific real-life location. However, the producers acknowledge deriving inspiration from numerous locations including "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, and Mike Scully's hometown, Springfield, Massachusetts.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon, which, as a child, Groening had believed be the fictitious Springfield featured in the 1950s sitcom "Father Knows Best". Groening did not intend to place the fictional Springfield in Oregon, contrary to a 2012 interview with him in "Smithsonian" magazine; he instead adopted the name for the setting of "The Simpsons" in the hope that "everyone will think it's their Springfield". Al Jean explained that the magazine "misinterpreted something I've heard him say for at least 10 or 20 years. He was inspired by growing up in Portland, but it's really an every town".


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Groening liked "Second City Television" setting of Melonville, a town with a large cast of recurring characters, and used it as inspiration for "The Simpsons". He said, "I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield.' And they do".


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Because of the many contradictory statements regarding Springfield in the show, it is impossible for the town to exist in a specific state. In "The Simpsons Movie", Ned Flanders tells Bart that the state where Springfield is located is bordered by the states of Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky – only Ohio and Kentucky are neighboring states in reality, and Nevada and Maine are at opposite sides of the US.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The fictional city's unknown and unknowable geography is a recurring joke in the series; the "Dayton Daily News" called it the "riddle wrapped in an enigma that is Springfield's location". Episodes frequently make fun of the fact that Springfield's state is unidentifiable, by adding further conflicting descriptions, obscuring onscreen map representations, and interrupting conversational references.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: David Silverman, who directed the movie and various episodes of the series, joked that Springfield is located in the fictional state of "North Takoma". This is substantiated by the state abbreviations NT and TA used within the show. The telephone area codes for Springfield are 636 (St. Charles County and Western St. Louis County, Missouri) and 939 (Puerto Rico).


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: To promote "The Simpsons Movie", various actual towns and cities across the U.S. called Springfield competed to hold the premiere. The town of Springfield, Vermont, was chosen. In 2016, a "New York Times" study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "of all the Springfields in America, ["The Simpsons"] is most popular in Springfields in Virginia, Minnesota and New Jersey, and least popular in Springfields in Louisiana, Arkansas and Georgia".


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The episode "Lisa the Iconoclast" revealed that Springfield was founded by a group led by Jebediah Springfield (a cover identity for notorious pirate Hans Sprungfeld) who, after misinterpreting a passage in the Bible, left Maryland trying to find "New Sodom." After he refuses to found a town where men are free to marry their cousins, half of the group leave. The dissenters found the nearby town of Shelbyville, named after fellow pioneer Shelbyville Manhattan, and the two cities remain rivals for centuries.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield reaches its pinnacle in the mid-20th century, when it became the home of the world's first Aquacar factory; one half of the U.S. was said to wear Springfield galoshes and the city's streets were literally paved with gold. The town's prosperity is short-lived, however, and, in a 1992 episode, a fictional "Time" cover story on Springfield is titled "America's Worst City", and in a 1996 episode, "Newsweek" called the town "America's Crud Bucket".


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield's fictional geography is shown to be comically varied, and includes forests, meadows, mountain ranges, a desert, a glacier, beaches, badlands, canyons, swamps, a harbor, waterholes, and waterways. Major named geographical features includes the Springfield Gorge, Springfield National Forest, the volcanic Mt. Springfield, the West Springfield Desert ("three times the size of Texas!"), the Springfield Badlands (also known as the Alkali Flats), the gigantic Murderhorn Mountain, Springfield Glacier, Mt. Useful National Park, Springfield Mesa, Springfield Monument Park, and Springfield National Park.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The town's climate is usually depicted as dry and sunny, with a bright blue sky. However, in various episodes, it has been subject to many natural disasters, including heatwaves, blizzards, avalanches, earthquakes, acid rain, floods, hurricanes, lightning strikes, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield's environment is shown as unusually polluted. Overflowing garbage forces the whole town – both population and structures — to move five miles (8km) away from the massive dump that the old town of Springfield had become. Springfield is also home to the state's largest self-sustaining tire fire, which has been burning continuously for many decades. Lake Springfield's pollution almost leads to the town's destruction by an Environmental Protection Agency bomb in "The Simpsons Movie", and pollution from the nuclear power plant has mutated the fish in the river, and the Nuclear Power Plant's mascot is Blinky, an orange-colored fish with three eyes. Its atmosphere is so polluted that, in one 1995 episode, it reduces a comet to a tiny rock.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield is shown to feature a large numbered grid plan, ranging from streets at least as low as 3rd Street and at least as high as 257th Street.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The fictional mayor of Springfield is Joe Quimby. In the episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", Sideshow Bob runs for Mayor of Springfield and defeats Mayor Quimby, but Bob is later discovered to have committed electoral fraud.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Previous representatives include Horace Wilcox, who dies of a heart attack while in office, and Bob Arnold, who is forced to resign after Lisa exposes his corruption.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The town is home to a number of fictional sporting teams, including the Springfield Isotopes, a minor league baseball team which plays its home games at Duff Stadium; the Springfield Atoms football team at Springfield Stadium; the NBA's Springfield Excitement (formerly the Austin Celtics); and the Springfield Ice-O-Topes hockey team.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The famous fictional city is home to The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is a two-unit pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant in Springfield owned by Charles Montgomery Burns. Among the plant's employees are Homer Simpson, Lenny Leonard, and Carl Carlson, and Burns' assistant Waylon Smithers. The plant is shown to be the key supplier of the city of Springfield's energy, and the carelessness of Mr. Burns and the plant's employees often endangers the residents and natural environment of Springfield. Mutated fish with more than two eyes are often shown in the lake behind the power plant, which has a large pipe pumping nuclear waste into it. There is a crow or raven shown living near the Power Plant, which caws whenever an establishing shot of the Power Plant is on screen. A running gag in earlier seasons was the poor security of the plant, with the outside security booth often going unmanned.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The design of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is often rumored to be based on the troubled Trojan Nuclear Power Plant (closed in 1993 due to defects) near Matt Groening's home town of Portland, Oregon, or the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington. However, Antonia Coffman, Groening's publicist, has said that the Springfield plant's design is generic and that "the Springfield Nuclear Power plant was not based on the Trojan Plant or any other power plant in the country."


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Kwik-E-Mart is a fictional convenience store run by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. The Kwik-E-Mart first appeared in the first-season episode "The Telltale Head" (although mentioned in "Bart the General" as the "Quick-e-Mart"). In "Stark Raving Dad", a street sign reading "Highland" is seen outside one of the front windows, in the same blue color as is used for signs for Highland Avenue in Los Angeles. Likewise, three buildings are visible that are similar to some of those that might be seen on that street: two low buildings with bars over the windows, and a third, also with barred windows, which has a mission-style roof and a sign reading "Smog Center."


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The episode "Homer and Apu" suggests that Apu is an employee of the Kwik-E-Mart and after losing his job there had to travel to India, where the Kwik-E-Mart head office is located, in the Himalayas. However, Apu mentions at a bachelor auction that he runs his own business in "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons".


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: In addition to the sale of items offered at a typical convenience store, gasoline pumps have been shown in front of the store on two occasions."The Springfield Shopper" also sells there, and it is where Principal Seymour Skinner purchases his tabloids. In the episode "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", Apu installs 16 new gas pumps to compete with a rival convenience store, the Gas 'N Gulp. However, they, along with the Kwik-E-Mart, are destroyed when Bart accidentally interrupts a live mortar exercise at Fort Springfield, forcing the soldiers to redirect the mortar fire into the town. The episode "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield" also shows the pumps.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: In July 2007, convenience store chain 7-Eleven converted 11 of its stores in the United States and one in Canada into Kwik-E-Marts to promote the release of "The Simpsons Movie". The locations of the renovated Kwik-E-Marts were: Bladensburg, Maryland/Washington, D.C.; Burbank, California; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Henderson/Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Mountain View/San Francisco; New York City; Orlando/Lake Buena Vista, Florida; Seattle; and Vancouver/Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. These 12 locations, as well as the majority of other North American 7-Elevens, sold products found in "The Simpsons", such as "Buzz Cola", "Krusty-O's", "Squishees", pink frosted "Sprinklicious doughnuts", and other "Simpsons"-themed merchandise. The Squishees were Slurpees that are sold in special collector cups and the Krusty-O's were made by Malt-O-Meal. The promotion resulted in a 30% increase in profits for the changed 7-Eleven stores. This can be seen during the opening of "The Simpsons Movie".


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Android's Dungeon is a fictional comic book store owned by Comic Book Guy. The comic book store and its owner first appeared in the episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", when Bart sees a copy of the first issue of the Radioactive Man comic on sale for $100.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: In the episode "Worst Episode Ever", Bart and Milhouse are given the job of running the comic book store after Comic Book Guy suffers from a stress-induced heart attack and is instructed to try and gain a social life. During their brief tenure at the store, Bart and Milhouse discover a secret room filled with bootleg videotapes of various extremely rare or illegal subjects. These tapes are later confiscated during a police raid on the store.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Barney's Bowl-A-Rama is a fictional bowling alley in Springfield. It is owned by Barney Gumble's Uncle Al. In the episode "And Maggie Makes Three", Homer tells the family the story of Maggie's birth. In this story, Homer explains how he quit his job at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to work at the Bowl-A-Rama, which was Homer's dream job.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Leftorium is a fictional store in the Springfield Mall specializing in products for left-handed people. The store is owned by Ned Flanders, who first started the Leftorium in the episode "When Flanders Failed". At first, business at the store goes very poorly. Irritated with Flanders, Homer wishes that the store would go out of business after receiving the larger half of a wishbone. Homer gets his wish, and the Flanders family are forced to sell many of their possessions, much of which Homer purchases at a meager price of $75. The bank repossesses the Flanders' home and the Leftorium is to be the next asset repossessed. Homer then regrets making this wish and the fact that he never told any of his friends who needed left-handed items about the Leftorium. As a result, he manages to get everyone he knows in town to shop at Ned's store, saving it from closure.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Leftorium continues to thrive over the following years. However, Flanders mentions in several episodes that the store does not do that well, such as in the season 10 episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", where Ned mentions that the business now has a competitor "Leftopolis" next door to it. In the episode "Home Away from Homer", Ned mentions that a recently opened, left-hand megastore, called "Left-Mart" (a parody of Wal-Mart) is threatening his business. The season 25 episode "White Christmas Blues" reveals that competition from the Southpaw Superstore forced Flanders to downsize the business to a mall cart, the "Leftorium Express", which he splits with a cosmetic saleswoman. In the season 29 episode "Left Behind", the Leftorium closes for good, leaving Flanders unemployed until he finds a new job as Bart Simpson's new teacher.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The writers had wanted to have Flanders own a failing business and the idea for the store was suggested by George Meyer. He got the idea from a friend whose family had owned a left-handed specialty store which had failed.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Springfield Mall is a fictional shopping mall that features comical fictional stores and pastiches, such as the Happy Market, Cost-Mo, Girdles N' Such, Eye Caramba, The Ear Piercery, Happy Sailor Tattoo Parlor, Love Your Computer, Gum4Less, Popular Books, the Leftorium, Nick's Bowling Shop, Stoner's Pot Palace, Bookacchino's, Moe's Express (a mini version of Moe's Tavern), a Mapple Store (a parody of the Apple Store), numerous knockoff Starbucks coffee shops, and several Krusty Burgers.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Moe's Tavern is a local bar in Springfield frequented by Homer Simpson, Carl Carlson, Lenny Leonard, Barney Gumble and barflies Sam and Larry, but is seemingly unpopular with the rest of the city's residents. The tavern is named after and run by Moe Szyslak. Moe's Tavern first appeared in the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". In the first season of "The Simpsons", the entrance appears to be a saloon door.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The bar sells mostly Duff Beer, although other beverages are served. A recurring gag is the dirty and dilapidated state of the bar. In "Mommie Beerest", it is revealed that Moe was long able to avoid several enormous health code violations as he is friends with the health inspector. Another episode reveals that the bar's liquor license has expired, is only valid in Rhode Island, and is signed by Moe himself.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Moe's Tavern undergoes several makeovers in various episodes of "The Simpsons", but always reverts to its original dark, squalid state. In the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" Moe's Tavern is named Moe's "C"avern as a reference to the world-famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles played. Other notable makeovers are in the episode "Bart Sells His Soul", where Moe turns his tavern into a family restaurant called Uncle Moe's Family Feed Bag, and in "Homer the Moe" where Moe turns his tavern into a yuppie bar called "m". In the episode "Mommie Beerest", it is turned into an English pub named Nag and Weasel. In "Flaming Moe", Moe enlists the help of Waylon Smithers to transform the bar into a gay bar called Mo's, although he changes it back again at the end of the episode.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Moe and his tavern are the victim of Bart's ongoing prank calls in earlier seasons, when Bart would call looking for nonexistent people with names that would get Moe laughed at by his customers.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Krusty Burger is a fast food restaurant chain owned by Krusty the Clown as one of his many branded products and services. Krusty Burger is seen as a parody of a typical fast-food chain, like McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's. Krusty Burger is located across the entire United States; in the episode "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood", Homer uses a map of the entire United States with locations of Krusty Burger restaurants. In the episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", Krusty Burger is one of the few burger places open in Springfield, because Krusty has been paying mobster Fat Tony to keep McDonald's and Burger King from establishing local franchises.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: A common gag, especially in the later seasons of the show, is the extremely low quality of the food served at the restaurants, a parody of common beliefs and urban legends surrounding American fast food. Documentary filmmaker Decland Desmond has made several exposes on the chain, revealing practices such as stapling together half-eaten burgers and serving them to new customers, and substituting all manner of cheap filler as meat. Krusty also reveals that the Ribwich was made of an unspecified animal with more than four legs, presumably some sort of insect or spider, that was driven into extinction by its production.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Lard Lad Donuts is a donut store in Springfield. Its mascot is an (estimated) tall statue of a rather chubby boy proudly holding a donut over his head. The name and the statue of the eponymous boy are likely references to Big Boy Restaurants. In "Treehouse of Horror VI", the Lard Lad statue is brought to life by a mysterious atmospheric disturbance, enraged by Homer Simpson having stolen his giant donut. Universal Studios Florida includes a Lard Lad Donuts in the Springfield section of the park.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Luigi's is a Springfield Italian restaurant owned by Luigi Risotto, who is a parody of the "Italian pasta/pizza chef" stereotype, but seems to be aware of his status as a stock character. Luigi is polite to his customers and treats them with respect when they order, and then loudly insults and belittles them to his cook Salvatore, fully aware that they can hear him from the kitchen. The restaurant also employs an old Italian saucier, who in Take My Life, Please, claims they can tell what someone's life could have been like by stirring tomato sauce in a certain way. By using his magical tomato sauce, the saucier helps Homer see what his life would have been like if he had won his high school election. Fat Tony and his mob frequently use the restaurant for their meetings.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Frying Dutchman is a maritime-themed restaurant operated by Sea Captain Horatio McCallister. Its cuisine specializes in seafood (to which Marge is allergic), and even the bread has fish in it. Homer sued them for their refusal to honor the 'all you can eat' promise in the episode "New Kid on the Block", and was given a job as a freak attraction "more stomach than man" (to Marge's great embarrassment).


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Singing Sirloin is a restaurant where waiters sing everything they say. It is first featured in the Season 1 episode "Life on the Fast Lane"; Marge celebrates her birthday there. Bart also celebrated here after getting an A, however after Homer was unable to pay them for the food, they had to sing on stage to pay for the bill (in the episode "Homer vs. Dignity").


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Happy Sumo is a Japanese restaurant. Among the restaurant's menu offerings are all kinds of sushi, including fugu, which can be fatally poisonous if not properly prepared. The Master Sushi Chef is the only person at the restaurant qualified to prepare fugu. The restaurant also offers karaoke. Akira works as a waiter and translates on occasion for the Simpson family.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Gilded Truffle is an upscale restaurant. It features as a place where adult couples without children can go, while Homer and Marge look on wistfully from another restaurant. It also features as the scene of Bart's prank towards Edna, when he pretends to be a man interested in meeting her in person from a personal advertisement and then watches her be stiffed by the fictional date. The Simpsons are able to eat at the restaurant from Lisa and Homer's gambling proceeds following their bonding time of Homer betting on Lisa's football picks.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield Elementary School is a local school attended by Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, and most other Springfield children. It teaches children from kindergarten through to sixth grade. Springfield Elementary is depicted as a grossly underfunded school that suffers from the incompetence and apathy of its administration, teachers, staff, and students. It is portrayed within the show as a satire of publicly funded schools and education in the United States, an illustrative example and parody of the lengths undertaken by some schools to overcome underfunding.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Edna Krabappel was Bart Simpson's 4th-grade teacher, and from season 23 onwards also neighbor due to marrying Ned Flanders until Krabappel's death in season 25. In "Left Behind", the Leftorium closes, leaving Flanders unemployed, and he returns to Springfield Elementary School, where he finds a new job as Bart Simpson's new teacher, substituting the void left following by his deceased second wife Edna Krabappel.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: In 1994, the naming of a new, real-life elementary school in Greenwood, South Carolina, was left up to the students, and the name "Springfield Elementary" was chosen. The school board was unaware of the connection to "The Simpsons" until a protest by one group of parents, who argued that the character of Bart Simpson was a poor role model. The name stood, and the school opened in August 1994.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield University is a large college which Homer attended in "Homer Goes to College". It teaches several different courses, including nuclear physics, arts management, and the meaning of cartoons. Springfield University also has a fierce rivalry with Springfield A&M University. In the episode "Faith Off", the nickname of the Springfield University football team is revealed to be the Nittany Tide—a reference to the Penn State Nittany Lions and Alabama Crimson Tide.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) University is a rival institution of Springfield University. Carl Carlson is an A&M alumnus. Springfield A&M's mascot is a pig named Sir Oinks-A-Lot, who was kidnapped by Homer and his three student tutors as a prank in "Homer Goes to College".


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: Springfield Heights Institute of Technology focuses on the engineering sciences. Professor Frink is a college professor at the university, and it is from where Apu Nahasapeemapetilon earned his doctorate.


title: Springfield (The Simpsons)

text: The Springfield Retirement Castle is Springfield's retirement home for the elderly. Some noted residents of the Castle include Abraham "Grampa" J. Simpson and his neighbors, Jasper Beardley, and the Crazy Old Man.