title: Arctium

text: In Turkish Anatolia, the burdock plant was believed to ward off the evil eye, and as such is often a motif appearing woven into kilims for protection. With its many flowers, the plant also symbolizes abundance. Before and during World War II, Japanese soldiers were issued a 15-1/2-inch bayonet held in a black-painted scabbard, the juken. Their nickname was the burdock sword (gobo ken).


title: Arctium

text: After taking his dog for a walk one day in the late 1940s (1948), George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, became curious about the seeds of the burdock plant that had attached themselves to his clothes and to the dog's fur. Under a microscope, he looked closely at the hook system that the seeds use to hitchhike on passing animals aiding seed dispersal, and he realized that the same approach could be used to join other things together. His work led to the development of the hook and loop fastener, which was initially sold under the Velcro brand name.


title: Arctium

text: Serbo-Croatian uses the same word, , for burdock and velcro; Turkish does the same with the name , while in the Polish language means both "burr" and "velcro". The German word for burdock is and velcro is (= burdock fastener).


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Ethan Phillips (born John Ethan Phillips February 8, 1955) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for his television roles as Neelix on "" and PR man Pete Downey on "Benson".


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Phillips was raised on Long Island, New York. His father was the owner of Frankie & Johnnie's, a steakhouse on 45th and Eighth Avenue in New York City. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from Boston University and a Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University. He plays the tenor saxophone in the Alan Wasserman Jazz Band.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Ethan Phillips began his show business career in New York City, performing off-Broadway at theaters including Direct Theater, winning the Best of the Actors’ Festival there in 1977; at the Wonderhorse Theater, in the premiere of Christopher Durang's "The Nature and Purpose of the Universe"; and at Playwrights Horizons in a revival of "Eccentricities of a Nightingale". Tennessee Williams, who helped shape the latter production, wrote a new monologue for Phillips, which Williams personally dictated to him when it was realized that leading lady Jill Eikenberry needed more time for a dress change.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: In 1979–80, Phillips appeared as Maurice Utrillo in the premier of Dennis McIntyre's "Modigliani", with Jeffrey DeMunn, at the Astor Place Theater. It ran for 208 performances.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Phillips performed in many plays in New York over the next fifteen years, including Terrence McNally's "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" at the Lucille Lortel, "Measure for Measure" with Kevin Kline at The Public Theater's Delacorte Theater; and the Broadway premier of "My Favorite Year" at Lincoln Center, with Andrea Martin and Tim Curry, as well as new works for Ars Nova (theater), Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, the Hudson Guild Theater, the American Jewish Theater, and many others.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: He went on to appear in the premier of David Mamet's November with Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf at the Ethel Barrymore Theater and performed it once more with John Malkovich and Patti Lupone for Stars in the House. He played the title character opposite Peter Dinklage in "The Imaginary Invalid" for Bard College's 2012 SummerScape Festival. In 2013-14 he appeared as Stanley Levison in Robert Schenkkan's "All the Way" at the American Repertory Theater. Phillips moved with the show to Broadway's Neil Simon Theater where the play won the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor, Bryan Cranston. More recently Phillips played leading roles in the premiers of Dennis Kelly’s "Taking Care of Baby", Terrence McNally's "Golden Age", and Sharyn Rothstein's "By the Water", all for the Manhattan Theatre Club (off-Broadway). Most recently, Ethan played Murray Lefkowitz in the Broadway premier of Ayad Akhtar's "" at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Phillips' regional theater credits include leading roles for San Diego's Old Globe Theater, the Alaska Repertory Theater, at Seattle Repertory Theater, at Baltimore's Centerstage, for the Westport Country Playhouse, Boston Shakespeare Company, Actors Theater of Louisville, The American Repertory Theater, the Salt Lake Acting Co., and the McCarter Theatre. In Los Angeles, Phillips acted in "Side Man" at the Pasadena Playhouse, in "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" for the Mark Taper Forum; in "You Can't Take It with You" at the Geffen Playhouse, in "The Bourgeois Gentleman" for the Pasadena Symphony, and as Polonius in "Hamlet" for the Uprising Theater.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Phillips has been an actor at the Sundance Institute's Playwrights Conference in Utah for six summers, where he developed his play "Penguin Blues", which is published by Samuel French Inc. and is included in "The Best Short Plays of 1989" (Applause, ed. Ramon Delgado). Based on his experiences at Sundance, Phillips helped found First Stage, a playwright development lab in Los Angeles.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Phillips has appeared in over fifty films, beginning with "Ragtime" (directed by Miloš Forman). Other features include "For Richer or Poorer", "Jeffrey", "The Shadow", "Wagons East", "The Man Without a Face", "Green Card", "Lean On Me", "Critters", "Bloodhounds of Broadway", "The Island", "Bad Santa", and "The Babysitters". More recent films include "Shadow Witness", "Audrey", the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis", Woody Allen's "Irrational Man", and James DeMonaco's "".


title: Ethan Phillips

text: In 1980, Phillips joined the cast of the sitcom "Benson", playing PR man Pete Downey for five seasons.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: He has made scores of guest appearances on television series and tele films, including "Pushing Daisies", "Bones (TV Series)", "Eli Stone", "Criminal Minds", "NUMB3RS", "Las Vegas", "L.A. Law", "JAG", "Law & Order", "Arrested Development", "Boston Legal", "Castle", "Rizzoli & Isles", "The Good Guys" and "The Mentalist", "Deadbeat", "The Good Wife", "New Amsterdam (2018 TV series)", "Better Call Saul" and "Veep". He played the recurring role of Keith in the final two seasons of Lena Dunham's "Girls". He currently plays Spike Martin in Armando Iannucci's space comedy "Avenue 5" on HBO.


title: Ethan Phillips

text: In 1990, he began his "Star Trek" career playing the Ferengi character, Dr. Farek, in the "Ménage à Troi" episode of "". He went on to play Neelix on "" in 1995, and stayed with the series through its entire seven-season run. He also cameoed as a holographic nightclub maître d' in the 1996 film "", and appeared as a Ferengi pirate captain in the "" episode of "".


title: Ethan Phillips

text: Phillips has also performed voice work for several of the "Star Wars" franchise video games: 2000's "", 2001's "", and 2003's "".


title: Muzzle velocity

text: Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets, to more than in modern rifles with high-velocity cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns firing kinetic energy penetrator ammunition. To simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft, NASA launches projectiles through light-gas guns at speeds up to .


title: Muzzle velocity

text: For projectiles in unpowered flight, its velocity is highest at leaving the muzzle and drops off steadily because of air resistance. Projectiles traveling less than the speed of sound (about in dry air at sea level) are "subsonic", while those traveling faster are "supersonic" and thus can travel a substantial distance and even hit a target before a nearby observer hears the "bang" of the shot. Projectile speed through air depends on a number of factors such as barometric pressure, humidity, air temperature and wind speed. Some high-velocity small arms have muzzle velocities higher than the escape velocities of some Solar System bodies such as Pluto and Ceres, meaning that a bullet fired from such a gun on the surface of the body would leave its gravitational field; however no arms are known with muzzle velocities that can overcome Earth's gravity (and atmosphere) or those of the other planets or the Moon.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: While traditional cartridges cannot generally achieve a Lunar escape velocity (approximately ) or higher due to modern limitations of action and propellant, a projectile was accelerated to velocities exceeding at Sandia National Laboratories in 1994. The gun operated in two stages. First, burning gunpowder was used to drive a piston to pressurize hydrogen to 10,000 atm. The pressurized gas was then released to a secondary piston, which traveled forward into a shock-absorbing "pillow", transferring the energy from the piston to the projectile on the other side of the pillow.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: This discovery might indicate that future projectile velocities exceeding have to have a charging, gas-operated action that transfers the energy, rather than a system that uses primer, gunpowder, and a fraction of the released gas. A .22 LR cartridge is approximately three times the mass of the projectile in question. This may be another indication that future arms developments will take more interest in smaller caliber rounds, especially due to modern limitations such as metal usage, cost, and cartridge design. In a side by side comparison with the .50 BMG (43g), the titanium round "of any caliber" released almost 28 times the energy of the .50 BMG (1g at 10 000m/s = 50 000 joules), with only a 27% mean loss in momentum. Energy, in most cases, is what is lethal to the target, not momentum.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: In conventional guns, muzzle velocity is determined by the quantity of the propellant, its quality (in terms of chemical burn speed and expansion), the mass of the projectile, and the length of the barrel. A slower-burning propellant needs a longer barrel to finish its burn before leaving, but conversely can use a heavier projectile. This is a mathematical tradeoff. A faster-burning propellant may accelerate a lighter projectile to higher speeds if the same amount of propellant is used. Within a gun, the gaseous pressure created as a result of the combustion process is a limiting factor on projectile velocity. Consequently, propellant quality and quantity, projectile mass, and barrel length must all be balanced to achieve safety and to optimize performance.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: Longer barrels give the propellant force more time to work on propelling the bullet. For this reason longer barrels generally provide higher velocities, everything else being equal. As the bullet moves down the bore, however, the propellant's gas pressure behind it diminishes. Given a long enough barrel, there would eventually be a point at which friction between the bullet and the barrel, and air resistance, would equal the force of the gas pressure behind it, and from that point, the velocity of the bullet would decrease.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: Rifled barrels have spiral twists carved inside them that spin the bullet so that it remains stable in flight, in the same way an American football thrown in a spiral will fly in a straight, stable manner. This mechanism is known as rifling. Longer barrels provide more opportunity to rotate the bullet before it leaves the gun. Longer barrels increase the overall precision of the weapon. If one examines shot groups on a paper target from a barrel, a barrel, and a barrel, one will observe how the longer barrels produce "tighter" grouping, with bullets landing closer together on the target.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: A bullet, while moving through its barrel, is being pushed forward by the gas expanding behind it. This gas was created when the trigger was pulled, causing the firing pin to strike the primer, which in turn ignited the solid propellant packed inside the bullet cartridge, making it combust while situated in the chamber. Once it leaves the barrel, the force of the expanding gas ceases to propel the bullet forth. When a bullet is fired from a handgun with a barrel, the bullet only has a "runway" to be spun before it leaves the barrel. Likewise, it has only a space in which to accelerate before it must fly without any additional force behind it. In some instances, the powder may not have even been fully burned in guns with short barrels. So, the muzzle velocity of a barrel is less than that of a barrel, which is less than that of a barrel.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: Large naval guns will have high length-to-diameter ratios, ranging between 38:1 to 50:1. This length ratio maximizes the projectile velocity. There is much interest in modernizing naval weaponry by using electrically powered railguns, which shoot projectiles using an electromagnetic pulse. These overcome the limitations noted above. With these railguns, a constant acceleration is provided along the entire length of the device by means of the electromagnetic pulse. This greatly increases the muzzle velocity. Another significant advantage of railguns is not requiring explosive propellant. The result of this is that a ship will not need to transport propellant and that a land-station will not have to maintain an inventory of it either. Explosive propellant, stored in large quantities, is susceptible to explosion. While this can be mitigated with safety precautions, railguns eschew the need for such measures altogether. Even the projectile internal charges may be eliminated due to the already high velocity. This means the projectile becomes a strictly kinetic weapon.


title: Muzzle velocity

text: The United States Army defines different categories of muzzle velocity for different classes of weapons:


title: Gloryhammer

text: Gloryhammer (often stylized in all capital letters as GLORYHAMMER) is a British power metal band founded by keyboardist Christopher Bowes, lead vocalist of the band Alestorm. Each member of the band represents a character in the story concept. The band appears on-stage in armour and costumes to represent their respective characters.


title: Gloryhammer

text: Gloryhammer released their debut album "Tales from the Kingdom of Fife" through Napalm Records on 29 March, 2013. Prior to the release of the album, the single "Angus McFife" was released through the Napalm's YouTube channel on 7 March 2013.


title: Gloryhammer

text: The band released videos on Napalm's channel for "Universe on Fire" on 8 August 2015 and "Rise of The Chaos Wizards" on 11 September 2015. On the 25 September, 2015, Gloryhammer released their second studio album titled "" with which the band entered the official album charts in several countries, followed by tours with bands such as Stratovarius, Blind Guardian and HammerFall.


title: Gloryhammer

text: On 16 May 2017, Gloryhammer was nominated as best band in the category "Up & Coming" of the Metal Hammer Awards 2017 by the German edition of international music magazine Metal Hammer. In 2018, the band was nominated again in the same category.


title: Gloryhammer

text: In September 2018, they toured with Alestorm through North America for the first time, playing 19 shows in the USA and Canada.


title: Gloryhammer

text: On 30 January 2019, the band's official Facebook page announced the album "Legends from Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex", which was released on 31 May 2019. The band released two singles, "Gloryhammer" on 12 April 2019 and "The Siege of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust)" on 10 May 2019, through the Napalm YouTube.


title: Gloryhammer

text: Following the album's release was the band's first North American tour as headliners in June with Æther Realm as support.


title: Gloryhammer

text: On 22 August 2021, Gloryhammer announced that Thomas Winkler had exited the band. Winkler addressed the situation, stating he was fired via an email that cited the band's reasons for his departure as disagreements on business and organizational matters. In December, Sozos Michael was introduced as the new singer of the band. They released their first single with Michael as lead singer, titled "Fly Away," on 28 April 2022.


title: Gloryhammer

text: On 3 December 2022, the band's official instagram page announced the album Return to The Kingdom Of Fife. The date of release is unkown as of yet.


title: Gloryhammer

text: Shortly after Gloryhammer announced that Winkler had been asked to leave the band, a former romantic partner of bassist James Cartwright alleged that Cartwright had abused her over a five-year period. In addition, a Twitter account named "GloryhammerC" posted screenshots of what appeared to be an internal chat from 2017, between the members of the group that showed misogynist and racist behavior along with several racial slurs. Bassist Vincent Jackson Jones, who collaborated with Gloryhammer keyboardist Chris Bowes in the band Wizardthrone, released a statement on 26 August 2021 distancing himself professionally from Bowes and urging Bowes to make his own statement; at the time, none of Gloryhammer's members had made public comments on the issue. On 5 September 2021, Bowes and the rest of the band later released statements, admitting the leaked chat was true and apologizing for the racist and misogynist remarks. However they also stated that the claims regarding Cartwright and the alleged abuse were false.


title: Destiny

text: Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin "fatum" "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.


title: Destiny

text: Distinguished from fate and destiny, fortune can refer to chance, or luck, as in fortunate, or to an event or set of events positively or negatively affecting someone or a group, or in an idiom, to tell someone's fortune, or simply the end result of chance and events. In Hellenistic civilization, the chaotic and unforeseeable turns of chance gave increasing prominence to a previously less notable goddess, Tyche (literally "Luck"), who embodied the good fortune of a city and all whose lives depended on its security and prosperity, two good qualities of life that appeared to be out of human reach. The Roman image of Fortuna, with the wheel she blindly turned, was retained by Christian writers including Boethius, revived strongly in the Renaissance, and survives in some forms today.


title: Destiny

text: Philosophy on the concepts of destiny and fate has existed since the Hellenistic period with groups such as the Stoics and the Epicureans.


title: Destiny

text: The Stoics believed that human decisions and actions ultimately went according to a divine plan devised by a god. They claimed that although humans theoretically have free will, their souls and the circumstances under which they live are all part of the universal network of fate.


title: Destiny

text: The Epicureans challenged the Stoic beliefs by denying the existence of this divine fate. They believed that a human's actions were voluntary so long as they were rational.


title: Destiny

text: In common usage, "destiny" and "fate" are synonymous, but with regard to 19th-century philosophy, the words gained inherently different meanings.


title: Destiny

text: For Arthur Schopenhauer, destiny was just a manifestation of the Will to Live, which can be at the same time living fate and choice of overrunning fate, by means of the Art, of the Morality and of the Ascesis.


title: Destiny

text: For Friedrich Nietzsche, destiny keeps the form of "Amor fati" (Love of Fate) through the important element of Nietzsche's philosophy, the "will to power" (der "Wille zur Macht"), the basis of human behavior, influenced by the Will to Live of Schopenhauer. But this concept may have even other senses, although he, in various places, saw the will to power as a strong element for adaptation or survival in a better way. Nietzsche eventually transformed the idea of matter as centers of force into matter as centers of will to power as humanity's destiny to face with "amor fati". The expression "Amor fati" is used repeatedly by Nietzsche as acceptation-choice of the "fate", but in such way it becomes even another thing, precisely a "choice" destiny.


title: Destiny

text: Determinism is a philosophical concept often confused with fate. It can be defined as the notion that all intents/actions are "causally" determined by the culminations of an agent's existing circumstances; simply put, everything that happens is determined by things that have already happened. Determinism differs from fate in that it is never conceived as being a spiritual, religious, nor astrological notion; fate is typically thought of as being "given" or "decreed" while determinism is "caused." Influential philosophers like Robert Kane, Thomas Nagel, Roderick Chisholm, and A.J. Ayer have written about this notion.


title: Destiny

text: Among the representatives of depth psychology school, the greatest contribution to the study of the notion such as "fate" was made by Carl Gustav Jung, Sigmund Freud and Leopold Szondi.


title: Destiny

text: Metaphorical expressions of a predetermined destiny are commonly used by politicians to describe events not understood. Cataclysmic events are dismissed as 'a shifting of the political tectonic plates'. Otto Von Bismarck said that the best a politician can do is to 'listen for God's footsteps and hang on to His coat tails'.


title: Destiny

text: In "War and Peace", Leo Tolstoy wrote of the 'unconscious swarm-life of mankind', while Shakespeare spoke of a 'tide in the affairs of men' in his play "Julius Caesar".


title: Destiny

text: In ancient Greece, many legends and tales teach the futility of trying to outmaneuver an inexorable fate that has been correctly predicted. This portrayal of fate is present in works such as "Oedipus Rex" (427 BCE), the "Iliad," the "Odyssey" (800 BCE), and "Theogony." Many ancient Chinese works have also portrayed the concept of fate, most notably the "Liezi," "Mengzi," and the "Zhuangzi." Similarly, and in Italy, the Spanish Duque de Rivas' play that Verdi transformed into "La Forza del Destino" ("The Force of Destiny") includes notions of fate.


title: Destiny

text: In England, fate has played a notable literary role in Shakespeare's "Macbeth" (1606), Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" (1891), Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" (1957), and W.W Jacobs' popular short story "The Monkey's Paw" (1902). In America, Thornton Wilder's book "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" (1927) portrays the conception of fate.


title: Destiny

text: In Germany, fate is a recurring theme in the literature of Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), including "Siddharta" (1922) and his magnum opus, "Das Glasperlenspiel," also published as "The Glass Bead Game" (1943). And by Hollywood through such characters as Neo in "The Matrix". The common theme of these works involves a protagonist who cannot escape their destiny, however hard they try. In Neil Gaiman's graphic novel series The Sandman, destiny is one of the Endless, depicted as a blind man carrying a book that contains all the past and all the future. "Destiny is the oldest of the Endless; in the Beginning was the Word, and it was traced by hand on the first page of his book, before ever it was spoken aloud."


title: Ben Domenech

text: Ben Domenech (born January 1, 1982) is an American writer, blogger, editor, and television commentator. He is the co-founder and publisher of "The Federalist" and host of "The Federalist Radio Hour", and writes "The Transom", a daily subscription newsletter for political insiders. He also co-founded the RedState group blog. In present day, he is a frequent co-host and commentator on Fox News.


title: Ben Domenech

text: He is the former managing editor for health care policy at The Heartland Institute and former editor-in-chief of "The City". He created and hosted a daily free market podcast, "Coffee and Markets", until 2014.


title: Ben Domenech

text: In 2006, Domenech was hired as a blogger by "The Washington Post", but resigned three days later after verified plagiarism in prior work. In 2013 his work was removed from "The Washington Examiner" and "The Huffington Post" after it was disclosed that he had received payments from an agent for Malaysia in exchange for writing opinion pieces favorable to that country.


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. He is the son of Douglas Domenech, who served as the United States Department of the Interior's White House Liaison and the Secretary of the Interior's Deputy Chief of Staff during the George H.W. Bush administration, and as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular and International Affairs during the Trump administration.


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech's career in punditry began as a teenager when he began a column, "Any Given Sunday", for "National Review Online" (NRO), in addition to his personal blog. By the age of 15, "The Washington Post" noted, Domenech had already "accumulated a pile of clips from the Washington Times, Human Events, Reason magazine, the American Conservative and The Washington Post". Even though only 18, the Post assessed, "Domenech is a sharp writer with an obvious command of his national politics beat."


title: Ben Domenech

text: He attended the College of William & Mary between 1999 and 2002, leaving before his senior year after receiving a job offer from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech's "NRO" column recapped political talk shows on television. Domenech was the youngest ever political appointee of the George W. Bush administration. His father, Douglas Domenech, had held several mid-level positions in the Bush administration. Ben Domenech later worked as a speechwriter for Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech subsequently worked as contributing editor for the "National Review Online", followed by two years as chief speechwriter for United States Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). He was also an editor at Regnery Publishing, where he edited books by Michelle Malkin, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Hugh Hewitt.


title: Ben Domenech

text: In March 2006, Domenech was named as a blogger for "The Washington Post", hired to contribute to the newspaper's opinion pages from a conservative point of view. Liberal and left-of-center bloggers protested Doemenech's appointment, citing what they regarded as inappropriate comments on his blog. Among other things, Domenech called cartoonist Ted Rall a "steaming bag of pus"; described Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of former Secretary of State John Kerry, as an "oddly shaped egotistical ketchup-colored muppet"; called Pat Robertson a "senile, crazy old fool"; and labeled washingtonpost.com's "White House Briefing" columnist Dan Froomkin "an embarrassment". The "Post", however, vowed to stand by Domenech.


title: Ben Domenech

text: On March 21, 2006, only three days into his appointment, Domenech resigned his position after evidence surfaced showing that he had earlier plagiarized the earlier works of others that had originally appeared in "The New Yorker", "The Washington Post", the "National Review", and several other publications. The "Post" said it did not know about his plagiarism when the newspaper hired him. Jim Brady, then executive editor of washingtonpost.com, said he would have fired Domenech had he not first offered to quit because the allegations of plagiarism made it necessary to "sever the relationship".


title: Ben Domenech

text: During the 2008 election, Domenech wrote numerous columns for both "Human Events" and for "The Washington Times". During the 2012 election, Domenech commented extensively on social and economic issues related to Occupy Wall Street for the Heritage Foundation.


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech was the managing editor of health care policy at The Heartland Institute, writing numerous columns advocating abolishing the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as "Obamacare", and defending Republican alternatives. The Heartland Institute itself, during this time, was funded in part by Philip Morris and other tobacco companies, which at the time were working behind the scenes to defeat Obamacare. On February 7, 2013, Domenech appeared on a Heartland podcast, during which he spoke about how, in his view, smokers were being singled out for rate hikes, and other unfair treatment under Obamacare, a position long held by Philip Morris and other tobacco companies. Domenech argued on the podcast that smokers are more likely to die earlier than other people, and thus are less costly to insurance companies and the government.


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech also began to post, around this same period of time, regularly on "RedState" and began his own personal blog, "this is an adventure".


title: Ben Domenech

text: In September 2013, Domenech, along with Luke Sherman and Sean Davis, co-founded "The Federalist"; senior editors include David Harsanyi and Mollie Hemingway.


title: Ben Domenech

text: "The Federalist" is owned by a private company and thus has not been required to disclose the identities of its financial backers. Domenech and the other founders of the conservative website have refused to do so. "BuzzFeed News" has reported that the website's funding has prompted "a considerable amount of speculation in the political media world". "BuzzFeed" further pointed out that "the "Federalist" has been resolutely opaque about its finances. The site is owned by a private company and doesn't have to disclose its ownership or funding structure; its parent company, FDRLST Media, was incorporated as a limited liability company in Delaware in 2016."


title: Ben Domenech

text: In "Politico", Reid Cherlin wrote in 2014 that "The Federalist" deserved praise for "seek[ing] to go deep on the issues and sway the conversation in Washington". Matt K. Lewis wrote in "The Week" that conservative online media was divided between "staid, august publications" and "a new generation of irreverent sites", and that "[s]ites like "The Federalist" try to bridge the gap by providing serious commentary that is typically written by young, pop culture–savvy writers."


title: Ben Domenech

text: In "Bloomberg Politics", political writer Dave Weigel favorably noted that "The Federalist" frequently criticizes left-leaning publications, but was also founded with the intention of being "a source of original interviews and real-time arguments between conservatives and libertarians".


title: Ben Domenech

text: In May 2018, Damon Linker of "The Week" described "The Federalist" as "a leading disseminator of pro-Trump conspiracies and up-is-down, funhouse-mirror distortions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling and potential Trump involvement". Further commenting on "The Federalist", Linker wrote: "It is only since the election that rabid Republican partisans in the administration, in Congress, and in the media have actively dispensed with such old-fashioned norms of public life like concerns for propriety, professionalism, and fair-mindedness — all in the effort to protect a thoroughly compromised president from having to face the legal scrutiny his personal behavior and business transactions rightly prompt. In this respect at least, "The Federalist" is a website at the vanguard of a thoroughly Trumpified Republican Party."


title: Ben Domenech

text: In August 2020, Jeremy W. Peters of "The New York Times" wrote that, under Domenech, "The "Federalist" has been one of the biggest breakouts ... diving headfirst into the culture wars ... Its pieces have questioned the Me Too movement ... and called the effort to recognize transgender identity a 'war on women. Peters wrote that Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor of "The Federalist", is "one of Mr. Trump's favorites .. Her pieces ... have earned presidential retweets and affirmation for their scathing criticism of Democrats and the news media, whom she accuses of lying about just about everything when it comes to the president. Recently she claimed that journalists had fabricated reports about tear gas and the excessive use of force against protesters outside the White House (law enforcement, in fact, has acknowledged shooting a pepper-based irritant into the crowd)." Domenech, Hemingway, and other staff for "The Federalist" "offer an outlet for outrage against those the president has declared his enemies, often by reducing them to a culture war caricature of liberalism."


title: Ben Domenech

text: In early 2006, Domenech was hired by "The Washington Post's" online arm to write a blog providing "a daily mix of commentary, analysis and cultural criticism". Media Matters for America criticized the choice, claiming that "[t]here [were], however, no progressive bloggers—and no one left of center with the credentials of a political operative—on washingtonpost.com to provide balance to Domenech." Instapundit founder Glenn Reynolds surmised in an interview "The New York Times" that Domenech's appointment had attracted anger among liberals "because he was a conservative and he was given real estate at "The Washington Post"" which in turn spurred bloggers to find "something they could use to get rid of him", referring to the disclosures of Domenech's extensive plagiarism only days after his appointment.


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech launched a new website, "Red America", on March 21, 2006, but resigned three days later after having written only six posts, after his fellow bloggers posted evidence online that Domenech had plagiarized the work of other journalists from "The Washington Post", "The New Yorker", "National Review", the humorist P. J. O'Rourke, the film critic Stephanie Zacharek, the writer Mary Elizabeth Williams, and that of several other publications and writers. O'Rourke denied Domenech's claim that the humorist had granted permission to use his words: "I wouldn't want to swear in a court of law that I never met the guy", O'Rourke told "The New York Times", "but I didn't give him permission to use my words under his byline, no." Editors for Domenech's college newspaper, "The Flat Hat", denied allegations by Domenech that one instance of plagiarism resulted from his editors having "inserted a passage from "The New Yorker" in an article without his knowledge", saying that "Mr. Domenech's actions, if true, [were] deeply offensive." In another instance, Domenech has plagiarized from a front-page article in "The Washington Post", the very newspaper he was now going to work for. On March 24, 2006, the editors of "The National Review" confirmed on its blog "The Corner" that Domenech appeared to have plagiarized for at least one article he had written for that publication.


title: Ben Domenech

text: After initially denying that he had plagiarized, Domenech apologized, writing in a "RedState" post entitled "Contrition", that "[t]here is no excuse for this. ... I hope that nothing I've done as a teenager or in my professional life will reflect badly on the movement and principles I believe in ... I'm a young man, and I hope that in time that I can earn a measure of the respect that you have given me."


title: Ben Domenech

text: In 2013, Domenech was implicated in a journalism scandal that resulted in the removal of his work from "The Washington Examiner" and "The Huffington Post" after it was disclosed that he had received $36,000 from Joshua Trevino, a conservative pundit and lobbyist, in exchange for writing favorable opinion pieces about the government of Malaysia without disclosing the financial relationship. The payments only came to light when Trevino registered as a foreign agent of the Malaysian government, and disclosed that Domenech was one of several young conservative writers he paid to write articles favorable to the Malaysian regime to bolster its image in conservative media.


title: Ben Domenech

text: After disclosure of the payments, "The Washington Examiner" and "The San Francisco Examiner" removed Domenech's posts from their respective websites and replaced it with an editors' note saying that "the author of this item presented content for which, unbeknownst to us, and in violation of our standards, had received payment from a third party mentioned therein—a payment which he also failed to disclose." "The Washington Examiner" owned "The San Francisco Examiner" at the time and thus shared content.


title: Ben Domenech

text: In 2019, following staff of other American media companies unionizing, co-founder Domenech tweeted "first one of you tries to unionize I swear I'll send you back to the salt mine". In 2020, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that Domenech had threatened staff illegally and required the company to post notices in its offices and email employees to inform them about their legal rights. Domenech argued unsuccessfully at the time that the tweet was a joke. The NLRB judge ruled: "In viewing the totality of the circumstances surrounding the tweet, this tweet had no other purpose except to threaten ... "Federalist" employees with unspecified reprisal, as the underlying meaning of 'salt mine' so signifies."


title: Ben Domenech

text: The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative, libertarian nonprofit dedicated to fighting what it regards as an excessive administrative state, and which had been representing "The Federalist" pro bono, announced that they would appeal. "Reason" and "National Review" published articles disagreeing with the judge's decision.


title: Ben Domenech

text: The NLRB upheld the judge's ruling in November 2020. The NLRB ordered "The Federalist" to "direct Domenech to delete the statement from his personal Twitter account, and to take appropriate steps to ensure Domenech complies with the directive." "The Federalist" said it would appeal.


title: Ben Domenech

text: In May 2022, a three judge panel of the Third Circuit overturned the NLRB, finding that "a reasonable employee would [not] interpret Domenech's tweet as a veiled threat".


title: Ben Domenech

text: A June 20, 2002, a Spinsanity.org entry demonstrated that Domenech made up a quote he attributed to Tim Russert in order to defend President George W. Bush.


title: Ben Domenech

text: In a 2010 post written for CBS, Domenech wrongly described Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan as potentially the "first openly gay justice". Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CBSNews.com, later said in a statement that "after looking at the facts we determined that it was nothing but pure and irresponsible speculation on the blogger's part." Domenech said in an addendum to his column, "I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted—odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles." In fact, however, numerous reports confirmed that Kagan was not gay, forcing Domenech to issue a public apology to Kagan "if she is offended at all by my repetition of a Harvard rumor in a speculative blog post."


title: Ben Domenech

text: In November 2017, "The Federalist", the publication of which Domenech is a co-founder and publisher, came under criticism from both conservatives and liberals for publishing an opinion piece by Tully Borland, an Ouachita Baptist University philosopher, defending Roy Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice, and then Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, for dating teenagers, some as young as 14 years old, while Moore himself was in his late 30s. Borland argued that such behavior was "not without some merit if one wants to raise a large family". In the subtitle of the article, Borland said that he himself had "a 14-year old daughter", and if he "caught [Roy Moore] doing what was alleged" to his own daughter, he would physically harm him. "That said", Borland continued, "I don't think it's wrong to vote for Moore."


title: Ben Domenech

text: Noah Rothman of the conservative magazine "Commentary" stated that the op-ed was "rationalizing away child molestation" while "preening self-righteous" in the process. Molly Roberts of "The Washington Post" wrote that the op-ed was "uniquely awful" and advocated "moral bankruptcy". "The New York Times" has since reported that one of "The Federalist"s largest, secret funders had been Dick Uihlein, a "Midwestern packing supply magnate and Trump donor" who has also financed Moore's Senate campaign.


title: Ben Domenech

text: On February 21, 2018, Domenech sparked outrage after he called survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting a "bunch of idiots".


title: Ben Domenech

text: In July 2018, on the day that the Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election indicted 12 Russian agents, Domenech disseminated information from a hoax version of the indictment documents. Domenech falsely reported that "much of it [the indictment] is taken up by the numbers of times that people were posting memes on the internet", citing the fake indictment, which claimed that the 12 Russians charged had only engaged in insignificant "shitposting" and the use of memes.


title: Ben Domenech

text: In May 2019, Domenech's wife Meghan McCain appeared on "Late Night with Seth Meyers", where she and host Seth Meyers discussed McCain's assertion that Rep. Ilhan Omar was anti-Semitic. Shortly thereafter, Domenech posted a number of crude tweets targeting Meyers, calling Meyers an "untalented piece of shit" and "monumental asshole" who "only has his job because he regularly gargled Lorne Michaels' balls". "The Daily Beast" described Domenech's behavior as him having gone "on an unhinged rant against the late-night host ... that was at times homophobic". Domenech later deleted his tweets and apologized for "rage tweeting".


title: Ben Domenech

text: During the coronavirus pandemic, "The Federalist" published numerous articles, many of them written by Domenech himself, that contained false information or information that was contrary to the recommendations of public health experts and authorities. "The Federalist" published articles denouncing social distancing, and others claiming that fears over the coronavirus pandemic had been overhyped by the Democratic Party and the media. "The Federalist" co-founder Sean Davis wrote that Democrats were intentionally trying to "destroy the economy" as a "last-ditch 2020 play" because "all they care about is power. And if they have to destroy your life and business to get power back, they will."


title: Ben Domenech

text: Domenech also published a piece, entitled "How Medical 'Chickenpox Parties' Could Turn The Tide Of The Wuhan Virus", by an individual identified as a physician in Oregon who recommended that people hold "chickenpox"-style parties for the coronavirus to build herd immunity, recommendations contrary to those of virtually all mainstream public health experts. "Given the recent example of spring break 2020 for college students in Florida, one could imagine such gatherings even becoming a social activity", the author, Doug Perednia wrote. Pedrednia, a former dermatologist, had been a businessman for the past 25 years, during which time he had not practiced medicine, and had also allowed his medical license to lapse. "The Federalist" was subsequently temporarily suspended from Twitter because the website, Twitter said, had used its platform to promote fringe ideas that contradicted public health experts and were harmful to public health.


title: Ben Domenech

text: In June 2020, Google Ads warned "The Federalist" that it was considering demonetizing the website because of racism in its comment section; "The Federalist" removed the comments Google objected to, and Google announced that "no action will be taken". In response, Domenech said: "We are really learning the degree to which Big Tech can be weaponized by woke mobs, or woke journalists in this case, to try to shut down places who disagree with their leftist agenda."


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The Czechoslovak Legion (Czech: "Československé legie"; Slovak: "Československé légie") were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of Bohemia and Moravia from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the help of émigré intellectuals and politicians such as the Czech Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the Slovak Milan Rastislav Štefánik, they grew into a force of over 100,000 strong.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: In Russia, they took part in several victorious battles of the war, including the Zborov and Bakhmach against the Central Powers, and were heavily involved in the Russian Civil War fighting Bolsheviks, at times controlling the entire Trans-Siberian railway and several major cities in Siberia.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: After three years of existence as a small unit in the Imperial Russian Army, the Legion in Russia was established in 1917, with other troops fighting in France since the beginning of the war as the "Nazdar" company, and similar units later emerging in Italy and Serbia. Originally an all-volunteer force, these formations were later strengthened by Czech and Slovak prisoners of war or deserters from the Austro-Hungarian Army. The majority of the legionaries were Czechs, with Slovaks making up 7% of the force in Russia, 3% in Italy and 16% in France.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: In the first months of World War I, the response of the Czech and Moravian soldiers and civilians to the war and mobilization efforts were highly enthusiastic, however it turned into apathy later.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: As World War I broke out, national societies representing ethnic Czechs, Moravians and Slovaks residing in the Russian Empire petitioned the Russian government to support the independence of their homelands. To prove their loyalty to the Entente cause, these groups advocated the establishment of a unit of Czech, Moravian and Slovak volunteers to fight alongside the Russian Army.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: On 5 August 1914, the Russian Stavka authorized the formation of a battalion recruited from Czechs, Moravians and Slovaks in Russia. This unit, called the "Companions" ("Družina"), went to the front in October 1914, where it was attached to the Russian Third Army. There the "Družina" soldiers served in scattered patrols performing a number of specialized duties, including reconnaissance, prisoner interrogation and subversion of enemy troops in the opposite trenches.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: From its start, Czech, Moravian, and Slovak political émigrés in Russia and Western Europe desired to expand the "Družina" from a battalion into a formidable military formation. To achieve this goal, however, they recognized that they would need to recruit from Czech, Moravian and Slovak prisoners of war (POWs) in Russian camps. In late 1914, Russian military authorities permitted the "Družina" to enlist Czech and Slovak POWs from the Austro-Hungarian Army, but this order was rescinded after only a few weeks due to opposition from other branches of the Russian government. Despite continuous efforts of émigré leaders to persuade the Russian authorities to change their mind, the Czechs, Moravians, and Slovaks were officially barred from recruiting POWs until the summer of 1917. Still, some Czechs and Slovaks were able to sidestep this ban by enlisting POWs through local agreements with Russian military authorities.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Under these conditions, the Czechoslovak unit in Russia grew very slowly from 1914 to 1917. In early 1916, the "Družina" was reorganized as the 1st Czecho-Slovak Rifle Regiment. During that year, two more infantry regiments were added, creating the Czechoslovak Rifle Brigade ("Československá střelecká brigáda"). This unit distinguished itself during the Kerensky Offensive in July 1917, when the Czecho-Slovak troops overran Austrian trenches during the Battle of Zborov.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Following the soldiers' stellar performance at Zborov, the Russian Provisional Government finally granted their émigré leaders on the Czechoslovak National Council permission to mobilize Czech, Moravian and Slovak volunteers from the POW camps. Later that summer, a fourth regiment was added to the brigade, which was renamed the First Division of the Czechoslovak Corps in Russia ("Československý sbor na Rusi"), also known as the Czechoslovak Legion ("Československá legie") in Russia. A second division, consisting of four regiments, was added to the Legion in October 1917, raising its strength to about 40,000 troops by 1918.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: In France, the Czechs, Moravians and the Slovaks who wanted to fight Austria-Hungary were allowed to join the Foreign Legion (hence originated the term "Legion" for units of Czechoslovak volunteers). On 31 August 1914, the 1st Company of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Foreign Legion in Bayonne was created mostly of the Czechs and Moravians and was nicknamed ""rota Nazdar"" ("Nazdar!" Company). The company distinguished itself in heavy combat during assaults near Arras on May 9 and June 16, 1915. Because of heavy casualties, the company was disbanded, and volunteers continued to fight in various French units.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: New autonomous Czechoslovak units were established by the decree of the French government on 19 December 1917. In January 1918, the 21st Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment was formed in the town of Cognac; it mixed prisoners of war with volunteers living in America. The 22nd Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment was created later in May.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The creation of Czechoslovak units in Italy took place much later than in France or Russia. In January 1918, the commander of 6th Italian Army decided to form small reconnaissance groups from Czech, Moravian Slovak and Southern Slav volunteers from prisoner-of-war camps. They also served in propaganda actions against the Austrian army. In September 1918 the first fighting unit, the 39th Regiment of the Czechoslovak Italian Legion, was formed from those volunteer reconnaissance squadrons.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Czechoslovak legionaries in Italy were the first to return to newly created Czechoslovakia in 1918 and were immediately drafted into fights for new state borders, most notably in the war against the Hungarian Soviet Republic.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: After the breakout of the First World War in 1914, Czech legions were formed with almost one hundred soldiers. Flags of legions’ regiments were white and red with embroidered symbols of the Czech countries and Slovakia, linden twigs, St. Wenceslas’ crown, letters “ S”, and Hussite themes.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The reverse side of the Russian legion’s flag showed national colors for the Russian command, and Czech and Slovak colors for the Czechs and Slovaks.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The National Council of Czechoslovakia in exile (which led the anti-Austrian resistance) became the interim government on 26 September 1918 with the consent of France, Great Britain, and the USA.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The first ceremonial hoisting of the Czechoslovak flag on the house inhabited by T. G. Masaryk, the head of the interim government, took place on 18 October 1918. Based on the historical flag of Bohemia, the Czechoslovak flag was defined as the connection of two stripes, i.e. a white one above a red one.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: In November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power throughout Russia and soon began peace negotiations with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk. The chairman of the Czechoslovak National Council, Tomáš Masaryk, who had arrived in Russia earlier that year, began planning for the Legion's departure from Russia and transfer to France so the Czechoslovaks could continue to fight against the Central Powers. Since most of Russia's main ports were blockaded, Masaryk decided that the Legion should travel from Ukraine to the Pacific port of Vladivostok, where the men would embark on transport vessels that would carry them to Western Europe.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: In February 1918, Bolshevik authorities in Ukraine granted Masaryk and his troops permission to begin the journey to Vladivostok. However, on 18 February, before the Czechoslovaks had left Ukraine, the German Army launched Operation Faustschlag (fist strike) on the Eastern Front to force the Soviet government to accept its terms for peace. From 5 to 13 March, the Czechoslovak legionaries successfully fought off German attempts to prevent their evacuation in the Battle of Bakhmach.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: After leaving Ukraine and entering Soviet Russia, representatives of the Czechoslovak National Council continued to negotiate with Bolshevik authorities in Moscow and Penza to iron out the details of the corps' evacuation. On 25 March, the two sides signed the Penza Agreement, in which the legionaries were to surrender most of their weapons in exchange for unmolested passage to Vladivostok. Tensions continued to mount, however, as each side distrusted the other. The Bolsheviks, despite Masaryk's order for the legionaries to remain neutral in Russia's affairs, suspected that the Czechoslovaks might join their counterrevolutionary enemies in the borderlands. Meanwhile, the legionaries were wary of Czechoslovak Communists who were trying to subvert the corps. They also suspected that the Bolsheviks were being pressured by the Central Powers to stall their movement towards Vladivostok.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: By May 1918, the Czechoslovak Legion was strung out along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Penza to Vladivostok. Their evacuation was proving much slower than expected due to dilapidated railway conditions, a shortage of locomotives and the recurring need to negotiate with local soviets along the route. On 14 May, a dispute at the Chelyabinsk station between legionaries heading east and Magyar POWs heading west to be repatriated caused the People's Commissar for War, Leon Trotsky, to order the complete disarmament and arrest of the legionaries. At an army congress that convened in Chelyabinsk a few days later, the Czechoslovaks – against the wishes of the National Council – refused to disarm and began issuing ultimatums for their passage to Vladivostok. This incident sparked the Revolt of the Legions.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Fighting between the Czechoslovak Legion and the Bolsheviks erupted at several points along the Trans-Siberian Railway in the last days of May 1918. By June, the two sides were fighting along the railway route from Penza to Krasnoyarsk. By the end of the month, legionaries under General Mikhail Diterikhs had taken control of Vladivostok, overthrowing the local Bolshevik administration. On July 6, the Legion declared the city to be an Allied protectorate, and legionnaires began returning across the Trans-Siberian Railway to support their comrades fighting to their west. Generally, the Czechoslovaks were the victors in their early engagements against the fledgling Red Army.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: By mid-July, the legionaries had seized control of the railway from Samara to Irkutsk, and by the beginning of September they had cleared Bolshevik forces from the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Legionnaires conquered all the large cities of Siberia, including Yekaterinburg, but Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed on the direct orders of Vladimir Lenin and Yakov Sverdlov less than a week before the arrival of the Legion.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: News of the Czechoslovak Legion's campaign in Siberia during the summer of 1918 was welcomed by Allied statesmen in Great Britain and France, who saw the operation as a means to reconstitute an eastern front against Germany. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who had resisted earlier Allied proposals to intervene in Russia, gave in to domestic and foreign pressure to support the legionaries' evacuation from Siberia. In early July 1918, he published an aide-mémoire calling for a limited intervention in Siberia by the U.S. and Japan to rescue the Czechoslovak troops, who were then blocked by Bolshevik forces in Transbaikal. But by the time most American and Japanese units landed in Vladivostok, the Czechoslovaks were already there to welcome them.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The Czechoslovak Legion's campaign in Siberia impressed Allied statesmen and attracted them to the idea of an independent Czechoslovak state. As the legionaries cruised from one victory to another that summer, the Czechoslovak National Council began receiving official statements of recognition from various Allied governments.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Shortly after they entered into hostilities against the Bolsheviks, the legionaries began making common cause with anti-Bolshevik Russians who began forming their own governments behind the Czechoslovaks' lines. The most important of these governments were the Komuch, led by the Social Revolutionaries, in Samara and the Provisional Siberian Government in Omsk. With substantial Czechoslovak help, the People's Army of Komuch won several important victories, including the capture of Kazan and an Imperial state gold reserve on 5 August 1918. Czechoslovak pressure was also crucial in convincing the anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia to nominally unify behind the All-Russian Provisional Government, formed at a conference in Ufa during September 1918.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: During the autumn of 1918, the legionaries' enthusiasm for the fighting in Russia, then mostly confined along the Volga and Urals, dropped precipitously. The professor T. G. Masaryk supported them from the United States of America. The rapidly growing Red Army was getting stronger by the day, retaking Kazan on 10 September, followed by Samara a month later. The legionaries, whose strength had peaked at around 61,000 earlier that year, were lacking reliable reinforcements from POW camps and were disappointed by the failure of Allied soldiers from other countries to join them on the front lines. On 28 October, Czechoslovak statehood was declared in Prague, arousing the troops with a desire to return to their homeland. The final blow to Czechoslovak morale arrived on 18 November 1918, when a coup in Omsk overthrew the All-Russian Provisional Government and installed a dictatorship under Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak in control of White Siberia.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: During the winter of 1918–1919, the Czechoslovak troops were redeployed from the front to guard the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway between Novonikolaevsk and Irkutsk from partisan attacks. Alongside other legions formed from Polish, Romanian and Yugoslav POWs in Siberia, the Czechoslovaks defended the Kolchak government's only supply route for the duration of 1919.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: During the summer and autumn of 1919, Kolchak's armies were in a steady retreat from the Red Eastern Army Group. On 14 November, the Reds took Omsk, Kolchak's capital, initiating a desperate eastward flight by the White army and refugees along the Trans-Siberian Railway. In the following weeks, the Whites' rear was further disorganized by widespread outbreaks of uprisings and partisan activity. The homesick legionaries, who simply wanted to leave Siberia without incurring any more casualties than necessary, declared their neutrality amid the unrest and did nothing to suppress the rebellions. Meanwhile, Kolchak's trains, which included the gold bullion captured from Kazan, were stranded along the railway near Nizhneudinsk. After his bodyguard deserted him there, the legionaries were ordered by Allied representatives in Siberia to safely escort the admiral to Vladivostok. This plan was resisted by insurgents along the Czechoslovaks' route, and as a result the legionaries, after consulting their commanders, Generals Janin and Jan Syrový, made the controversial decision to turn Kolchak over to the Political Center, a government formed by Socialists-Revolutionaries in Irkutsk. On 7 February 1920, the legionaries had signed an armistice with the Fifth Red Army at Kutin, whereby the latter allowed the Czechoslovaks unmolested passage to Vladivostok. In exchange, the legionaries agreed to not try to rescue Kolchak and to leave the remaining gold bullion with the authorities in Irkutsk. Earlier that day, Kolchak had been executed by a Cheka firing squad to prevent his rescue by a small White army then on the outskirts of the city.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Aleksandr Kolchak, the leader of the Siberian Army and a great asset to the White Army in the Russian Civil War, was then promised safe passage by the Czechoslovaks to the British military mission in Irkutsk. Early in 1920 in Irkutsk, in return for safe transit eastward for Czechoslovak trains, Jan Syrový agreed to hand over Kolchak to the representatives of the Red Political Centre, who executed him on 7 February 1920 by a firing squad. His body was dumped under the ice of the frozen Angara River and never recovered. When the White Army learned about the execution, its remaining leadership decided to withdraw farther east. The Great Siberian Ice March followed. The Red Army did not enter Irkutsk until 7 March, and only then was the news of Kolchak's death officially released. Because of this, and also because of an attempted rebellion against the Whites, organized by Radola Gajda in Vladivostok on 17 November 1919, the Whites accused the Czechoslovaks of treason, but were too weak to act against them.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: When the armistice with the Bolsheviks was concluded, dozens of Czechoslovak trains were still west of Irkutsk. On 1 March 1920, the last Czechoslovak train passed through that city. The legionaries' progress was still hampered at times by the Japanese Expeditionary Force and the troops of Ataman Grigori Semenov, who stalled the Czechoslovak trains to delay the arrival of the Red Army in Eastern Siberia. By then, however, the evacuation of Czechoslovak troops from Vladivostok was well underway, and the last legionaries left the port in September 1920. The total number of people evacuated with the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia was 67,739; including 56,455 soldiers, 3,004 officers, 6,714 civilians, 1,716 wives, 717 children, 1,935 foreigners and 198 others. After their return to Czechoslovakia, many formed the core of the new Czechoslovak Army.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The number of legionaries killed in Russia during World War I and the Russian Civil War amounted to 4,112. An unknown number went missing or deserted the legion, either to make an arduous journey to return home or to join the Czechoslovak Communists. Among the latter was Jaroslav Hašek, later the author of the satirical novel "The Good Soldier Švejk".


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Czechoslovakia declared its independence from the disintegrating Austria-Hungary, on 28 October 1918 with now President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk of the Czechoslovak Republic.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Members of the Legions formed a significant part of the new Czechoslovak Army. A French military mission began in Czech territories after January 1919, led by General Maurice Pellé. After some disagreements with the Italian-led Czechs in Slovakia, President Masaryk eventually replaced Piccione with Pellé on July 4, 1919, and essentially ended the Italian connection to the Legion.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The French military mission's role was to integrate the existing Czechoslovak Foreign Legions with the home units of the Army and develop a professional command structure. On October 15, 1919, the main staff of the Czechoslovak Army was officially formed. French officers were installed as territorial commanders and commanders of some divisions. Over the course of time, there were 200 French non-commissioned officers, over 100 commissioned officers and 19 Generals. General Pellé and his immediate replacement, General Eugène Mittelhauser (also French), were the first chiefs staff of the Czechoslovak Army.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The Legion took part in the Hungarian–Czechoslovak War. On January 1, 1919, Legion troops took control of the city of Bratislava and Italian Colonel Riccardo Barreca was appointed military commander of the city. Several clashes (which killed at least nine Hungarian demonstrators) took place and Barreca himself was injured. The Italian officers continued to assist in the operations against the Hungarians during the war. Many veterans of the legion also fought in the Polish–Czechoslovak War.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Legion veterans formed organizations such as the Association of Czechoslovak Legionnaires ("Československá obec legionářská") and Legiobanka ("Legionářská banka", a bank formed with the capital they had gathered during their long service).


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: These and other organizations were known as the "Hrad" ("The [Prague] Castle") for their support of the President of Czechoslovakia.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The 2005 novel "The People's Act of Love", by the British writer James Meek, describes the occupation of a small Siberian town by a company of the Czechoslovak Legion in 1919. The original inhabitants of the town are members of the Christian sect of Skoptsy, or castrates.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: A memoir "Přál jsem si míti křídla" by Jozef Dufka was published in magazine "Zvuk" during 1996-1999 and as a book in 2002 ().


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Gustav Becvar (August Wenzel Engelbert (Gustav) Bečvář) published his memoir "The Lost Legion" in English in 1939.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: The flag of the Czechoslovak Legion can be seen in the Allies in the monumental painting Pantheon de la Guerre.


title: Czechoslovak Legion

text: Note: There were quite a few books on the Legion written in Czech that were published in the 1920s, but most were hard to find following Soviet victory in World War II.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: In a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which both the reactants and products are present in concentrations which have no further tendency to change with time, so that there is no observable change in the properties of the system. This state results when the forward reaction proceeds at the same rate as the reverse reaction. The reaction rates of the forward and backward reactions are generally not zero, but they are equal. Thus, there are no net changes in the concentrations of the reactants and products. Such a state is known as dynamic equilibrium.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The concept of chemical equilibrium was developed in 1803, after Berthollet found that some chemical reactions are reversible. For any reaction mixture to exist at equilibrium, the rates of the forward and backward (reverse) reactions must be equal. In the following chemical equation, arrows point both ways to indicate equilibrium. A and B are reactant chemical species, S and T are product species, and "α", "β", "σ", and "τ" are the stoichiometric coefficients of the respective reactants and products:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The equilibrium concentration position of a reaction is said to lie "far to the right" if, at equilibrium, nearly all the reactants are consumed. Conversely the equilibrium position is said to be "far to the left" if hardly any product is formed from the reactants.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where A, B, S and T are active masses and "k" and "k" are rate constants. Since at equilibrium forward and backward rates are equal:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: However, the law of mass action is valid only for concerted one-step reactions that proceed through a single transition state and is not valid in general because rate equations do not, in general, follow the stoichiometry of the reaction as Guldberg and Waage had proposed (see, for example, nucleophilic aliphatic substitution by S1 or reaction of hydrogen and bromine to form hydrogen bromide). Equality of forward and backward reaction rates, however, is a necessary condition for chemical equilibrium, though it is not sufficient to explain why equilibrium occurs.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Despite the limitations of this derivation, the equilibrium constant for a reaction is indeed a constant, independent of the activities of the various species involved, though it does depend on temperature as observed by the van 't Hoff equation. Adding a catalyst will affect both the forward reaction and the reverse reaction in the same way and will not have an effect on the equilibrium constant. The catalyst will speed up both reactions thereby increasing the speed at which equilibrium is reached.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Although the macroscopic equilibrium concentrations are constant in time, reactions do occur at the molecular level. For example, in the case of acetic acid dissolved in water and forming acetate and hydronium ions,


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: a proton may hop from one molecule of acetic acid onto a water molecule and then onto an acetate anion to form another molecule of acetic acid and leaving the number of acetic acid molecules unchanged. This is an example of dynamic equilibrium. Equilibria, like the rest of thermodynamics, are statistical phenomena, averages of microscopic behavior.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Le Châtelier's principle (1884) predicts the behavior of an equilibrium system when changes to its reaction conditions occur. "If a dynamic equilibrium is disturbed by changing the conditions, the position of equilibrium moves to partially reverse the change". For example, adding more S from the outside will cause an excess of products, and the system will try to counteract this by increasing the reverse reaction and pushing the equilibrium point backward (though the equilibrium constant will stay the same).


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: If mineral acid is added to the acetic acid mixture, increasing the concentration of hydronium ion, the amount of dissociation must decrease as the reaction is driven to the left in accordance with this principle. This can also be deduced from the equilibrium constant expression for the reaction:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: If {HO} increases {CHCOH} must increase and must decrease. The HO is left out, as it is the solvent and its concentration remains high and nearly constant.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: J. W. Gibbs suggested in 1873 that equilibrium is attained when the Gibbs free energy of the system is at its minimum value (assuming the reaction is carried out at a constant temperature and pressure). What this means is that the derivative of the Gibbs energy with respect to reaction coordinate (a measure of the extent of reaction that has occurred, ranging from zero for all reactants to a maximum for all products) vanishes, signaling a stationary point. This derivative is called the reaction Gibbs energy (or energy change) and corresponds to the difference between the chemical potentials of reactants and products at the composition of the reaction mixture. This criterion is both necessary and sufficient. If a mixture is not at equilibrium, the liberation of the excess Gibbs energy (or Helmholtz energy at constant volume reactions) is the "driving force" for the composition of the mixture to change until equilibrium is reached. The equilibrium constant can be related to the standard Gibbs free energy change for the reaction by the equation


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: When the reactants are dissolved in a medium of high ionic strength the quotient of activity coefficients may be taken to be constant. In that case the concentration quotient, "K",


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where [A] is the concentration of A, etc., is independent of the analytical concentration of the reactants. For this reason, equilibrium constants for solutions are usually determined in media of high ionic strength. "K" varies with ionic strength, temperature and pressure (or volume). Likewise "K" for gases depends on partial pressure. These constants are easier to measure and encountered in high-school chemistry courses.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: At constant temperature and pressure, one must consider the Gibbs free energy, "G", while at constant temperature and volume, one must consider the Helmholtz free energy, "A", for the reaction; and at constant internal energy and volume, one must consider the entropy, "S", for the reaction.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The constant volume case is important in geochemistry and atmospheric chemistry where pressure variations are significant. Note that, if reactants and products were in standard state (completely pure), then there would be no reversibility and no equilibrium. Indeed, they would necessarily occupy disjoint volumes of space. The mixing of the products and reactants contributes a large entropy increase (known as entropy of mixing) to states containing equal mixture of products and reactants and gives rise to a distinctive minimum in the Gibbs energy as a function of the extent of reaction. The standard Gibbs energy change, together with the Gibbs energy of mixing, determine the equilibrium state.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: In this article only the constant pressure case is considered. The relation between the Gibbs free energy and the equilibrium constant can be found by considering chemical potentials.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: At constant temperature and pressure in the absence of an applied voltage, the Gibbs free energy, "G", for the reaction depends only on the extent of reaction: "ξ" (Greek letter xi), and can only decrease according to the second law of thermodynamics. It means that the derivative of "G" with respect to "ξ" must be negative if the reaction happens; at the equilibrium this derivative is equal to zero.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: In order to meet the thermodynamic condition for equilibrium, the Gibbs energy must be stationary, meaning that the derivative of "G" with respect to the extent of reaction, "ξ", must be zero. It can be shown that in this case, the sum of chemical potentials times the stoichiometric coefficients of the products is equal to the sum of those corresponding to the reactants. Therefore, the sum of the Gibbs energies of the reactants must be the equal to the sum of the Gibbs energies of the products.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where "μ" is in this case a partial molar Gibbs energy, a chemical potential. The chemical potential of a reagent A is a function of the activity, {A} of that reagent.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The definition of the Gibbs energy equation interacts with the fundamental thermodynamic relation to produce


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Inserting "dN" = "ν dξ" into the above equation gives a stoichiometric coefficient (formula_11) and a differential that denotes the reaction occurring to an infinitesimal extent ("dξ"). At constant pressure and temperature the above equations can be written as


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: which is the standard Gibbs energy change for the reaction that can be calculated using thermodynamical tables.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Obtaining the value of the standard Gibbs energy change, allows the calculation of the equilibrium constant.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The expression for the equilibrium constant can be rewritten as the product of a concentration quotient, "K" and an activity coefficient quotient, "Γ".


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: [A] is the concentration of reagent A, etc. It is possible in principle to obtain values of the activity coefficients, γ. For solutions, equations such as the Debye–Hückel equation or extensions such as Davies equation Specific ion interaction theory or Pitzer equations may be used. However this is not always possible. It is common practice to assume that "Γ" is a constant, and to use the concentration quotient in place of the thermodynamic equilibrium constant. It is also general practice to use the term "equilibrium constant" instead of the more accurate "concentration quotient". This practice will be followed here.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: For reactions in the gas phase partial pressure is used in place of concentration and fugacity coefficient in place of activity coefficient. In the real world, for example, when making ammonia in industry, fugacity coefficients must be taken into account. Fugacity, "f", is the product of partial pressure and fugacity coefficient. The chemical potential of a species in the real gas phase is given by


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: so the general expression defining an equilibrium constant is valid for both solution and gas phases.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: In aqueous solution, equilibrium constants are usually determined in the presence of an "inert" electrolyte such as sodium nitrate, NaNO, or potassium perchlorate, KClO. The ionic strength of a solution is given by


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where "c" and "z" stand for the concentration and ionic charge of ion type "i", and the sum is taken over all the "N" types of charged species in solution. When the concentration of dissolved salt is much higher than the analytical concentrations of the reagents, the ions originating from the dissolved salt determine the ionic strength, and the ionic strength is effectively constant. Since activity coefficients depend on ionic strength, the activity coefficients of the species are effectively independent of concentration. Thus, the assumption that "Γ" is constant is justified. The concentration quotient is a simple multiple of the equilibrium constant.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: However, "K" will vary with ionic strength. If it is measured at a series of different ionic strengths, the value can be extrapolated to zero ionic strength. The concentration quotient obtained in this manner is known, paradoxically, as a thermodynamic equilibrium constant.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Before using a published value of an equilibrium constant in conditions of ionic strength different from the conditions used in its determination, the value should be adjusted.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: A mixture may appear to have no tendency to change, though it is not at equilibrium. For example, a mixture of SO and O is metastable as there is a kinetic barrier to formation of the product, SO.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The barrier can be overcome when a catalyst is also present in the mixture as in the contact process, but the catalyst does not affect the equilibrium concentrations.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Likewise, the formation of bicarbonate from carbon dioxide and water is very slow under normal conditions


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: When pure substances (liquids or solids) are involved in equilibria their activities do not appear in the equilibrium constant because their numerical values are considered one.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Applying the general formula for an equilibrium constant to the specific case of a dilute solution of acetic acid in water one obtains


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: For all but very concentrated solutions, the water can be considered a "pure" liquid, and therefore it has an activity of one. The equilibrium constant expression is therefore usually written as


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Because water is the solvent, and has an activity of one, the self-ionization constant of water is defined as


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: It is perfectly legitimate to write [H] for the hydronium ion concentration, since the state of solvation of the proton is constant (in dilute solutions) and so does not affect the equilibrium concentrations. "K" varies with variation in ionic strength and/or temperature.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The concentrations of H and OH are not independent quantities. Most commonly [OH] is replaced by "K"[H] in equilibrium constant expressions which would otherwise include hydroxide ion.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Solids also do not appear in the equilibrium constant expression, if they are considered to be pure and thus their activities taken to be one. An example is the Boudouard reaction:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Consider the case of a dibasic acid HA. When dissolved in water, the mixture will contain HA, HA and A. This equilibrium can be split into two steps in each of which one proton is liberated.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: "K" and" K" are examples of "stepwise" equilibrium constants. The "overall" equilibrium constant, "β", is product of the stepwise constants.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Note that these constants are dissociation constants because the products on the right hand side of the equilibrium expression are dissociation products. In many systems, it is preferable to use association constants.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Thus, for exothermic reactions (Δ"H" is negative), "K" decreases with an increase in temperature, but, for endothermic reactions, (ΔH is positive) "K" increases with an increase temperature. An alternative formulation is


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: At first sight this appears to offer a means of obtaining the standard molar enthalpy of the reaction by studying the variation of "K" with temperature. In practice, however, the method is unreliable because error propagation almost always gives very large errors on the values calculated in this way.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Equilibrium can be broadly classified as heterogeneous and homogeneous equilibrium. Homogeneous equilibrium consists of reactants and products belonging in the same phase whereas heterogeneous equilibrium comes into play for reactants and products in different phases.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: In these applications, terms such as stability constant, formation constant, binding constant, affinity constant, association constant and dissociation constant are used. In biochemistry, it is common to give units for binding constants, which serve to define the concentration units used when the constant's value was determined.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: When the only equilibrium is that of the formation of a 1:1 adduct as the composition of a mixture, there are many ways that the composition of a mixture can be calculated. For example, see ICE table for a traditional method of calculating the pH of a solution of a weak acid.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: There are three approaches to the general calculation of the composition of a mixture at equilibrium.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: In general, the calculations are rather complicated or complex. For instance, in the case of a dibasic acid, HA dissolved in water the two reactants can be specified as the conjugate base, A, and the proton, H. The following equations of mass-balance could apply equally well to a base such as 1,2-diaminoethane, in which case the base itself is designated as the reactant A:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: with T the total concentration of species A. Note that it is customary to omit the ionic charges when writing and using these equations.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: When the equilibrium constants are known and the total concentrations are specified there are two equations in two unknown "free concentrations" [A] and [H]. This follows from the fact that [HA] = "β"[A][H], [HA] = "β"[A][H] and [OH] = "K"[H]


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: so the concentrations of the "complexes" are calculated from the free concentrations and the equilibrium constants.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The composition of solutions containing reactants A and H is easy to calculate as a function of p[H]. When [H] is known, the free concentration [A] is calculated from the mass-balance equation in A.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The diagram alongside, shows an example of the hydrolysis of the aluminium Lewis acid Al shows the species concentrations for a 5 × 10 M solution of an aluminium salt as a function of pH. Each concentration is shown as a percentage of the total aluminium.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: The diagram above illustrates the point that a precipitate that is not one of the main species in the solution equilibrium may be formed. At pH just below 5.5 the main species present in a 5 μM solution of Al are aluminium hydroxides Al(OH), and , but on raising the pH Al(OH) precipitates from the solution. This occurs because Al(OH) has a very large lattice energy. As the pH rises more and more Al(OH) comes out of solution. This is an example of Le Châtelier's principle in action: Increasing the concentration of the hydroxide ion causes more aluminium hydroxide to precipitate, which removes hydroxide from the solution. When the hydroxide concentration becomes sufficiently high the soluble aluminate, , is formed.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: Another common instance where precipitation occurs is when a metal cation interacts with an anionic ligand to form an electrically neutral complex. If the complex is hydrophobic, it will precipitate out of water. This occurs with the nickel ion Ni and dimethylglyoxime, (dmgH): in this case the lattice energy of the solid is not particularly large, but it greatly exceeds the energy of solvation of the molecule Ni(dmgH).


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: At equilibrium, at a specified temperature and pressure, and with no external forces, the Gibbs free energy "G" is at a minimum:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where μ is the chemical potential of molecular species "j", and "N" is the amount of molecular species "j". It may be expressed in terms of thermodynamic activity as:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where formula_51 is the chemical potential in the standard state, "R" is the gas constant "T" is the absolute temperature, and "A" is the activity.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: For a closed system, no particles may enter or leave, although they may combine in various ways. The total number of atoms of each element will remain constant. This means that the minimization above must be subjected to the constraints:


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where "a" is the number of atoms of element "i" in molecule "j" and "b" is the total number of atoms of element "i", which is a constant, since the system is closed. If there are a total of "k" types of atoms in the system, then there will be "k" such equations. If ions are involved, an additional row is added to the a matrix specifying the respective charge on each molecule which will sum to zero.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: This is a standard problem in optimisation, known as constrained minimisation. The most common method of solving it is using the method of Lagrange multipliers (although other methods may be used).


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where the "λ" are the Lagrange multipliers, one for each element. This allows each of the "N" and "λ" to be treated independently, and it can be shown using the tools of multivariate calculus that the equilibrium condition is given by


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: (For proof see Lagrange multipliers.) This is a set of ("m" + "k") equations in ("m" + "k") unknowns (the "N" and the "λ") and may, therefore, be solved for the equilibrium concentrations "N" as long as the chemical activities are known as functions of the concentrations at the given temperature and pressure. (In the ideal case, activities are proportional to concentrations.) (See Thermodynamic databases for pure substances.) Note that the second equation is just the initial constraints for minimization.


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: This method of calculating equilibrium chemical concentrations is useful for systems with a large number of different molecules. The use of "k" atomic element conservation equations for the mass constraint is straightforward, and replaces the use of the stoichiometric coefficient equations. The results are consistent with those specified by chemical equations. For example, if equilibrium is specified by a single chemical equation:,


title: Chemical equilibrium

text: where ν is the stoichiometric coefficient for the "j" th molecule (negative for reactants, positive for products) and "R" is the symbol for the "j" th molecule, a properly balanced equation will obey:


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: Jon Kent is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, the son of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, he first appeared in "Convergence: Superman" #2 (July 2015). Jon is the newest character in the DC Universe to assume the superhero persona of Superboy. As Superboy and Robin, Jon and Damian Wayne appeared in several Super Sons comic book series featuring their shared adventures. Jon later takes on the superman mantle and stars in the comic series "Superman: Son of Kal-El". The character was revealed to be bisexual in 2021 by DC Comics.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: Jordan Elsass played the character in the CW television series "Superman & Lois" for the first two seasons, with Michael Bishop as Jon from season three. Alex Garfin portrays Jon's twin brother Jordan in the series. Jack Dylan Grazer voiced the character in Warner Bros. animated film "" (2022).


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: The character was created by writer/artist Dan Jurgens and first appeared in DC's "Convergence" event in the miniseries "Convergence: Superman" #2 (July 2015). Half Kryptonian and half-human, Jon is the biological son of post-Crisis Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane and the couple's child in DC Comics canon. His parents named him in honor of his grandfathers, Jonathan Kent and Samuel Lane. On the character, Dan Jurgens said: "The way I describe him is that he looks like Clark but has Lois' spitfire attitude and inquisitiveness." Jurgens also explains: "Lots of people might expect Jon to be something like his dad’s younger self, but it would be a bit of a mistake. His parents are not Jonathan and Martha Kent. It’s Lois and Clark. They’re different people with different ways of parenting."


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: Following "Convergence", he appeared in the eight-issue comic book series "" as a child who begins to develop superpowers of his own. In the DC Rebirth (a continuity established by DC's company-wide relaunch of its comics books in 2016), Jon appears with his parents in "Action Comics" and "Superman" when his father becomes the new Superman in DC Comics. Jon's origins are retconned in the story arc "Superman Reborn". In the four-part story, two different versions of Superman and Lois Lane (the New 52 and Post-Crisis) are merged into one complete version, creating a new DC Universe and a new origin story for Jon.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: Jon is the most recent character in DC Comics to assume the mantle of Superboy. He was officially introduced as Superboy in "Superman" vol. 4 #6 (Nov. 2016). He co-stars with Damian Wayne in the Super Sons comic books as Superboy and Robin. In 2019, the character joined the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st century in the comic book series "Legion of Super-Heroes" by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ryan Sook.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: In 2021, Jon began starring as the protagonist in the comic book series "Superman: Son of Kal-El", which replaced the "Superman" monthly title. The series features Jon protecting the Earth as the new Man of Steel in the DC Universe.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: In October 2021, DC Comics revealed that the character is bisexual and began a romantic relationship with a male friend, Jay Nakamura, a superhero and an online activist. On the creative decision, series writer Tom Taylor said: "It's not a gimmick. When I was offered this job, I thought, 'Well, if we're going to have a new Superman for the DC Universe, it feels like a missed opportunity to have another straight white savior.' So, well, this isn't everything to do with them. And there's a reason this is, this is coming in issue five and not issue one. We didn't want this to be 'DC Comics creates new queer Superman,' we want this to be 'Superman finds himself, becomes Superman and then comes out.' And I think that's a really important distinction there." Taylor also stated: "I've always said everyone needs heroes and everyone deserves to see themselves in their heroes and I'm very grateful DC and Warner Bros. share this idea. Superman's symbol has always stood for hope, for truth and for justice. Today, that symbol represents something more. Today, more people can see themselves in the most powerful superhero in comics."


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: Like his father, Superman, Jon has a civilian disguise, which includes a pair of glasses and a baseball cap. He first appeared in his Superboy attire in "Superman" vol. 4 #2 (Sept. 2016). His Superboy outfit consists of red sneakers, blue jeans, zippered jacket with the "S-shield", and a cape attached to the back.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: On designing Jon's Superboy costume, artist Jorge Jimenez said: "I started trying out some of the more classic designs as a mini homage to the classic Superman, but the guys at DC wanted to experiment with something more casual, as those are the designs that have been working better recently. We are also looking at an incomplete "Superboy;" he's not super yet, so it's reasonable to say that if he's only half super, that he should have clothing that's half super. So we started to play around with clothing that I see as popular right now with teenagers. For example, tight ripped jeans, at least in Spain, are very popular right now and I think they give a lot of mobility to the character when I draw him on the page. I've also used a popular shoe design. I must mention that I like putting effort into what I wear personally, so this way I was able to add a bit of myself to the character. The short length of the cape gives it a younger look, and the zipped hoodie... I did that thinking they might make a real version for people to wear. I also think that this aesthetic could make a connection with the younger readers."


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: It was stated that Jon is ten years old in "Superman" vol. 4 #9 (Dec. 2016). During the 2019 story arc "The Unity Saga: The House of El", Jon was aged up to seventeen years old and given a new Superboy Kryptonian suit of armor.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: In the 2015 DC Comics "Convergence" storyline, Brainiac gains access to Vanishing Point, which allows him to gain the ability to look back into the histories of the DC Universe. He collects cities and inhabitants from various timelines that have ended, trapping them in domes on a planet outside of time and space. When the "Flashpoint" resets the DC continuity, Superman and Lois from the Post-Crisis continuity have been trapped on the planet Telos in Gotham City, with the city transported there by Brainiac and sealed under a large dome. The couple is trapped in the city for almost nine months, and as Superman's powers are suppressed during this time, he and Lois conceive a child. During the event, Superman manages to get Lois out of danger and into safety and helps her with the birth of their son Jonathan, after she was kidnapped by a mentally unstable Flashpoint Superman. At the end of the Convergence story arc Superman, Lois, and their son Jon travel across time and dimensions along with Parallax, the Pre-Crisis versions of Supergirl and the Flash, where they can prevent the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and save the original Multiverse. Afterward, with their world no longer existing, Brainiac offers to send Superman and Lois to a universe of their choosing.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: In the series "", after Convergence, the Kent family arrive during the beginning of the New 52. Superman and his family live in secrecy for many years. Moving to California and adopting new identities, taking the surname "White" (a tribute to Perry White) and keeping a low profile, they stay out of the lives of this world's superheroes, with Lois becoming an anonymous author, while Superman continues his superhero duty quietly behind the scenes. Jon grows up in a normal life with his parents and is unaware of their real identities and secret activities. He begins noticing contradictions in his parents' stories and begins to suspect that his parents are more than they claim. Jon is eventually shown starting to develop superpowers of his own similar to those of his father, Superman. After he and his mother were kidnapped and almost killed by Intergang, his parents finally reveal their true origin to him.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: In June 2016, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of comic books series with DC Rebirth. DC once again re-established the Post-Crisis Superman as the Superman in DC Comics, along with his wife, Lois Lane, and their son Jonathan.


title: Jon Kent (DC Comics)

text: In the "Son of Superman" story arc, the Kent family relocate from California to a farm in Hamilton County. At the farm, Jon tries to save the family cat from a hawk but accidentally kills both animals. Clark decides to take Jon on a mission. Arriving in the Arctic together, with his father's encouragement, Jon successfully helps Superman rescue a submarine attacked by an Enteroctopus. Afterward, father and son have a long conversation about superhero responsibilities and that soon Jon will have to embrace the superhero mantle himself.