title: Leinster Rugby

text: Before the advent of professionalism in the Irish game, provincial rugby games were generally poorly attended. During most of the 1990s, Leinster matches regularly attracted crowds of about 500 to 2,000. The decision to structure the game professionally via the provincial network through centralised player contracts and the subsequent on-field success achieved by Leinster and the other provinces resulted in a significant increase in support within a decade. Leinster had 3,700 season ticket holders in 2006, double the number of the previous season. The Official Leinster Supporters Club was formally established as a club in 2007. The last match at the old Lansdowne Road stadium was against Ulster on 31 December 2006 before it was demolished to make way for the new Aviva Stadium, earning the match the moniker of "The Last Stand". Leinster won the match 20–12, with an attendance of 48,000 – a record at the time. A previous attendance record in the Pro12 was also set at Lansdowne Road, for a game between Leinster and Munster which drew a crowd of 30,000. Leinster's supporters were named as 'Player of the Month' for April 2009 following their support in the European Cup Quarter Final against Harlequins at The Stoop.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: On several occasions Leinster have set the record for the largest Celtic league and Pro12 attendances. On 2 October 2010, Leinster beat Munster 13–9 in the 5th round of the league at the Aviva Stadium. This set a new crowd attendance record for a Pro12 game at 50,645. They subsequently set a new record on 29 March 2014 during a sellout match against Munster in which 51,700 fans were in attendance. This Pro12 record was subsequently surpassed by attendances at the Judgement Day fixtures. During the 2014–15 Pro12 season Leinster had the best support of any club in the PRO12 league with an average attendance of 17,717.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: Leinster's European Cup clash against Munster at Croke Park on 2 May 2009 set a world record attendance at the time for a club rugby union game with a crowd of 82,208.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: Leinster A is the team that represents Leinster in the British & Irish Cup, having won the competition a record two times to date, in the 2012–13 season as well as the 2013–14 season, also becoming the first and only side to ever successfully defend the trophy. Leinster A also compete in the All Ireland Inter-provincial Championship. Pre-professionalism and a formal Celtic league structure, the main Leinster team competed in the AIIPC. Since the advent of professionalism, the provinces have fielded lesser teams to concentrate on the Celtic League. The team is composed of Senior Leinster squad players requiring game time, Development contract & Academy players and, occasionally, AIL players called up from their clubs.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: From the 2007–08 season to the 2017–18 season Leinster's kits were supplied by Canterbury of New Zealand but for the next five seasons starting with the 2018 -19 season Leinster's kits will be supplied by Adidas. Bank of Ireland, the country's oldest banking institution are Leinster's primary sponsors appearing in the front of their shirt, their sleeves, the top back of their shirt and the front right of their shorts. The Bank of Ireland symbol appeared on Leinster's front right and front left collars. On occasion, the team will wear a shirt adorned with the logo of another sponsor due to a promotion run annually by the bank offering up the sponsorship space to an Irish business by way of a competition to win the right to become a sponsor for a day. During the 2013–14 season the contest was won by Dublin-based meat wholesaler Gahan Meats and for 2014–15 the shirt sponsorship winners were accounting software provider Big Red Cloud. The sponsorship prize package is valued at €50,000 and attracts hundreds of companies keen to be shortlisted each year. The left of Leinster's back shorts had Bank of Ireland between 2009 and 2013 where it was replaced by Bank of Ireland's Twitter address right up until 2015 where it was replaced by Laya Healthcare. The teams 'official airline' is Irelands' CityJet.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: Since the inception of the Celtic league, Leinster have dominated their Irish provincial rivals Ulster, with a 38–10 win–loss record. Similarly, Leinster enjoy a 33–9 win–loss ratio against western province Connacht. Leinster also hold a 32–17 head-to-head advantage against arch-rivals Munster, in one of the most intense derbies in world rugby. Of the United Rugby Championship sides, Munster have the most competitive record against Leinster; all of the league's other sides have substantial losing records against Leinster. The Welsh side, Celtic Warriors competed in the Celtic league during the first couple of seasons and have a winning record against Leinster of two wins and zero defeats.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: Among European teams, of those who have played at least three games against Leinster, only two enjoy a winning record. Stade Francais lead Leinster 3–2, while RC Toulon have a commanding 4–0 head-to-head lead. These are the only European clubs who have played against Leinster at least three times who have a winning record against them.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: The following Leinster players have also represented the British & Irish Lions. Bold indicates tour captain.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: The following Leinster players were selected in the ERC European Dream Team, an all-time dream team of Heineken Cup players over the first 15 years of professional European rugby. (1995–2010). Both O'Driscoll and Elsom were part of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup winning team.


title: Leinster Rugby

text: "* Elsom had the fewest Heineken Cup appearances in the team and was the only member born outside of Europe"


title: Leinster Rugby

text: "The players listed above were the top try-scorers and points-scorers for the European Rugby Champions Cup in a given season."


title: Leinster Rugby

text: The Golden Boot is awarded to the kicker who has successfully converted the highest percentage of place kicks during the 22-week regular Pro12 season. To be eligible, the player must have taken at least 20 kicks at goal. The prize has been awarded annually since 2012.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: William Hill is a British gambling company founded in 1934. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are conducted from its headquarters in London, alongside satellite offices in Leeds and Gibraltar, while its International business operates from its hub in Malta. The company was previously listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in April 2021. In July 2022, William Hill was subsequently acquired by 888 Holdings for £2.2 billion.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: The company was founded by William Hill in 1934. It changed hands many times, being acquired by Sears Holdings in 1971, then by Grand Metropolitan in 1988, then by Brent Walker in 1989. In September 1996, Brent Walker recouped £117m of the £685m it had paid for William Hill when Grand Metropolitan were found to have exaggerated the company's profits at the time of the sale.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: Japanese investment bank Nomura mounted a £700m leveraged buyout of William Hill in 1997. In February 1999, a proposed stock market flotation was abandoned due to "weak interest" and Nomura sold the company to funds managed by private equity firms Cinven and CVC Capital Partners for £825m instead.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: The company was eventually listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002. The following year Chief Executive David Harding was awarded a £2.84m bonus, making him the UK's fifth highest paid company director in 2003. It acquired Sunderland Greyhound Stadium in 2002 and Newcastle Greyhound Stadium in 2003. In June 2004, Chief Executive David Harding sold £5.2m of shares to fund his divorce, precipitating a decline in the company's stock that wiped £75 million off the value of the company. In 2005, William Hill bought 624 betting offices in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man and Jersey from Stanley Leisure for £504 million: the acquisition briefly took the company past Ladbrokes into first position in the UK betting market in terms of shops but not revenue. The Office of Fair Trading made William Hill sell 78 of the 624 Stanley shops due to concerns over anti-competitive practices.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In November 2008, William Hill went into partnership with Orbis (latterly OpenBet), and Israeli software company Playtech, to remedy its own failing online operation. The same month, analysts at UBS noted "concern" at the company's level of debt, which stood at over £1 billion and was later reported as £1.5 billion. In 2009, the company enacted both a rights issue and a corporate bond issue, in an effort to restructure its debt.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: From 2001 until 2009, William Hill paid George Howarth, a Member of Parliament, £30,000 to act as a Parliamentary advisor. While on William Hill's payroll he tabled amendments to the 2003 budget proposing tougher levels of taxation for person-to-person betting exchanges. Howarth left the role in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: Under the terms of the deal, William Hill paid Playtech's founder Teddy Sagi £144.5 million for various assets and affiliate companies. These included several online casino sites which William Hill continues to run under the name WHG. Playtech took a 29% stake in the new William Hill Online entity. The company wrote-off a reported £26m when scrapping their previous in-house system. In June 2009 William Hill backed Playtech despite their partner having a quarter of its stock market value wiped out following a profits warning.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In 2013, William Hill paid £424 million ($643 million) for full control of its online business marking an accelerated expansion and resulted in the dissolution of the partnership with Playtech. In May 2015, William Hill presented prototype of "Get In The Race" – a virtual horse racing application. On 2 August 2016, it acquired Grand Parade, the betting and gaming digital solutions company for £13.6 million in cash and shares.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In 2018, William Hill was fined £6.2 million by the Gambling Commission for systematic failures regarding anti-money laundering and problem gambling. The operator was found to have accepted large deposits of cash linked to criminal activity between 2014 and 2016, resulting in £1.2 million in financial gains. William Hill was ordered to return the £1.2 million profit, plus pay a penalty of £5 million for breaching regulations.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: On 7 January 2019, William Hill received regulatory approval to conclude its purchase of Mr Green for £242 million. On 17 July 2020, William Hill raised £224 million in a new ordinary share rights issue to provide a timely capital boost during the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2020, as a result of the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced that it would close 119 shops permanently. Despite that, only 16 employees would lose their job positions, while the others would be assigned to new positions. It also announced that the firm would be merging its retail and online operations.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: On 30 September 2020, William Hill agreed to a £2.9 billion takeover bid by Caesars Entertainment, the Nevada-based casino operator. The deal was unanimously recommended by the UK company's directors. It came after two rival bids by the US private equity group Apollo were turned down. In April 2021, Caesars completed its acquisition of William Hill. On 22 April 2021, William Hill was delisted from the London Stock Exchange.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In September 2021, Caesars agreed to sell William Hill's European business to 888 Holdings for $3 billion.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: William Hill employs approximately 12,000 people, 8,000 of them in the UK. The company operates 1,414 betting shops.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In addition to its online sportsbook operations, the company offers online casino games, skill games, online bingo and online poker. Since the Gambling Act 2005, gaming machines have strengthened profits to counteract falling revenues in other areas. In 2009, the company moved its online betting operations to Gibraltar to reduce its taxes by millions of pounds.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In August 2010, William Hill launched a training programme for its 10,000+ workforce to combat underage gambling in its retail outlets.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In 2019, William Hill became a founding member of the Betting and Gaming Council. In July 2019, William Hill announced it was closing 700 betting shops, saying this was because of the decision three months before to reduce the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals to £2. In August 2020, the company said it would close a further 119 shops that were not profitable during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the company returned £24.5 million in furlough funds it had received from the government.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In March 2009, William Hill closed 14 of its shops in the Republic of Ireland with the loss of 53 jobs. In February 2010 it announced that the remaining 36 Irish shops were "under review" pending the possible introduction of controversial gaming machines to Irish shops. In 2011, William Hill sold its remaining betting shops in Ireland to BoyleSports because of what a William Hill employee described as "the restrictive nature" of the laws governing retail betting in Ireland.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: William Hill had pulled out of Italy in 2008 after just two years, a failure which cost the company £1m in wasted investment. The company's joint venture in Spain ended in January 2010 with partners Codere buying William Hill's 50% stakeholding for €1, after both parties had invested an initial €10 million in April 2008. William Hill lost £11.6m in 2008 and £9.3m in 2009 on the venture.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In June 2012, William Hill expanded to Nevada, the only U.S. state to allow full-fledged sports wagering, buying three chains of sportsbooks: Lucky's, Leroy's, and the satellite operations of Club Cal Neva, for a total of $53 million. The deals at the time gave the company control of 55 percent of the state's sportsbook locations, and 11 percent of statewide book revenue. All three chains were to be rebranded under the William Hill name.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In 2013, three Australian brands, Sportingbet, Centrebet and Tom Waterhouse, were purchased by the company and later rebranded as William Hill Australia in 2015. Both Sportingbet and Centrebet were acquired in March of the year for $660m and $132m, respectively, while tomwaterhouse.com was brought in during August 2013, for an initial $34m. Tom Waterhouse was appointed Chief Executive Officer of William Hill Australia in July 2014.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In March 2018, William Hill sanctioned the sale of its Australian business to CrownBet holdings for an estimated value of AU $300 million. The sale ended the company's time in Australia after entering the market in 2012. In preparation for Brexit, in June 2018, William Hill announced that it is opening a new satellite office in Malta.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: Following the decision of the US Supreme Court regarding the case of "Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association" in June 2018, the state of New Jersey effectively legalised gambling on athletic events due to a previously successful state ballot initiative. William Hill entered arrangements to provide bookmaking services to both Monmouth Park Racetrack and Ocean Resort Casino in the state of New Jersey.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: On 3 August 2020, the bookmaker opened the first full-service betting operation housing professional sports teams in the U.S. at Capitol One Arena in Washington D.C.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In January 2021, A joint venture between William Hill and Argenbingo received a licence to offer online gambling services in the Argentinean province of Buenos Aires. On 5 May 2021, William Hill launched in Colombia following the acquisition of a majority stake in Alfabet.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In 2007, William Hill threatened to withdraw its sponsorship of various horse races, in their dispute with racecourses over TurfTV. William Hill, who had been the strongest critic of TurfTV, were later forced into a humiliating climbdown and subscribed to the channel in January 2008.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: Away from horse racing, William Hill has sponsored many other sporting events, including the Scottish Cup from 2011 to 2020, and the PDC World Darts Championship from 2015 to 2022. The company also sponsors the annual William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In May 2008, The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned William Hill from running a television advert which they found "condoned gambling behaviour that was socially irresponsible". In October 2009, the ASA banned a poster and National press advert which promised "£100 OF FREE BETS". The advert was found to be "likely to mislead" and in breach of a Committee of Advertising Practice code relating to "truthfulness".


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In March 2010, an advert stating "William Hill best prices FACT" was banned by the ASA. It had breached several Committee of Advertising Practice codes, including those relating to "substantiation", "truthfulness" and "honesty". In September 2011, William Hill made a television advert featuring the 2005 single "A Bit Patchy". In December 2012, adverts stating "Best Prices on the Best Horses" and "Best Prices on the Best Teams" were banned by the ASA. It had breached several Committee of Advertising Practice code, including those relating to "misleading advertising", "Substantiation" and "Comparisons". The ASA also banned a different advert claiming "Best Odds Guaranteed" because it was misleading.


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: In June 2021, William Hill launched its new master brand. As part of the relaunch, the company launched a new TV advert featuring their brand ambassadors Tony McCoy, Robbie Savage, Rio Ferdinand and Jermaine Jenas and used the Neil Diamond song "Sweet Caroline".


title: William Hill (bookmaker)

text: Scientific papers dealing with the statistics of sports betting mention that William Hill blocks customers or limits their stakes if William Hill gets the impression that they may try to benefit from arbitrage.


title: Rick Martel

text: Richard Vigneault (born March 18, 1956) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, trainer, and television presenter, better known by his ring name, Rick Martel. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Championships held by Martel over the course of his career include the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, WCW World Television Championship, and WWF World Tag Team Championship.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel is from a family of wrestlers, and made his professional debut at age seventeen when his brother Michel, a wrestler, asked him to replace an injured wrestler. Martel already was a skilled amateur wrestler, and quickly adapted to professional wrestling.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel wrestled throughout the world, winning titles in Canada (in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling and Vancouver-based NWA All Star Wrestling), New Zealand, Japan, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico-based World Wrestling Council (WWC). His first real success in the United States came in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Portland affiliate, Pacific Northwest Wrestling in 1979, where he became a top talent, holding the Canadian and PNW tag team titles simultaneously. He left PNW on August 16, 1980, when he lost a "loser leaves town" match to Buddy Rose. Martel also served a stint as a booker for a wrestling territory in Hawaii, where he would help the promotion set up matches and construct the storylines that would play out inside and outside of the ring.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel debuted in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in July 1980. That fall, he formed a tag team with Tony Garea. On November 8, they defeated The Wild Samoans to capture the WWF Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended the title until dropping the belts to The Moondogs on March 17, 1981. They regained the title from The Moondogs on July 21. Their second reign came to an end on October 13, when they lost to Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito. Though they would challenge the champions numerous times, Martel and Garea were unable to recapture the belts, and Martel left the WWF in April 1982.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel signed with the AWA in 1982 and quickly ascended through the ranks, defeating Jumbo Tsuruta to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on May 13, 1984. His reign as champion lasted nearly nineteen months (the third-longest title reign and the longest title reign of the 1980s), during which time he wrestled several matches with NWA World Champion Ric Flair, as well as with Jimmy Garvin, Nick Bockwinkel and King Tonga. His finishing move alternated between the slingshot splash and the combination atomic drop/back suplex. On December 29, 1985, Martel lost the title to Stan Hansen, who forced him to submit to the "Brazos Valley Backbreaker" (Hansen's version of the Boston crab).


title: Rick Martel

text: In 1986, Martel returned to the WWF, with his tag team partner Tom Zenk. They were billed as The Can-Am Connection. The Can-Am Connection had been formed by Martel in the Montreal-based Lutte Internationale in 1986. Zenk was the boyfriend of Martel's sister-in-law, and had been introduced to Martel in the AWA by Curt Hennig. The Can-Am Connection with their youthful looks and high energy in-ring performances quickly garnered the affection of fans, and they looked likely to win the WWF Tag Team Title in the near future. At WrestleMania III in front of 93,173 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome, The Cam-Am connection defeated Ace Cowboy Bob Orton and The Magnificent Muraco in the opening match, when Martel pinned Muraco with a flying cross-body helped by what commentator Gorilla Monsoon called "a schoolboy trip from behind" by Zenk. They split shortly afterward; Zenk claimed Martel had secretly negotiated an individual contract worth three times more than his partner's contract (traditionally, tag teams are paid roughly equal salaries).


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel strongly disagreed. In "Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screw Jobs", he said: “Ever since I had been fired by Jim Barnett, I decided not to discuss money matters with other wrestlers . . . I did the same thing with Tom, and he put it in his head, or some other people put it in his head, that I made more than him. But as far as Vince was concerned,


title: Rick Martel

text: if you were in a tag team, you earned the same amount of money.” He also claimed Zenk "...was overwhelmed by it all... Wrestling is very hard on your body. Hard on you also mentally. It's hard physically. Tom wasn't mentally or physically hard as I thought he would be."


title: Rick Martel

text: At the time of Zenk's departure, The Can-Am Connection was in a feud with The Islanders (Haku and Tama); Zenk's departure was worked into the feud, with the Islanders claiming that Zenk was a quitter and abandoned Martel because he knew they could never beat them. In July 1987, Martel defeated both Haku and Tama in singles competition. Then on the August 15, 1987 episode of "Superstars of Wrestling" after Martel defeated Barry Horowitz, he was jumped by The Islanders. Tito Santana, who was doing commentary in the Spanish broadcast booth, ran to the ring to help Martel fight off his attackers. Martel and Santana then formed a tag team called Strike Force. The team were played off as good looking pretty boys (a storyline that came directly from the Can-Am Connection), even using the theme called "Girls In Cars", which was originally made for the Can-Am Connection. The name Strike Force came from Santana's promise that as a team they would, "be striking (The Islanders) with force." Martel immediately came up with the team's name based on this.


title: Rick Martel

text: After winning their feud with The Islanders, Strike Force immediately challenged The Hart Foundation (Bret "Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) for the WWF World Tag Team Title. Strike Force won the titles on an episode of "Superstars" after Martel made Neidhart submit to a Boston crab. Strike Force would hold the titles for five months, defending primarily against the Hart Foundation and the Islanders, before losing to Demolition (Ax and Smash) at WrestleMania IV in Atlantic City when Smash pinned Martel as a result of Martel being hit on the back of the neck by Ax using Mr. Fuji's cane as a weapon when Martel had Smash in the Boston crab and the referee was distracted by Santana beating up Mr. Fuji on the ring apron.


title: Rick Martel

text: Shortly afterward, Martel (kayfabe) took time off due to injuries sustained in a title rematch against Demolition at a "Prime Time Wrestling" taping in Oakland, California on June 1, 1988 (aired July 11). Smash hit Martel with a steel chair, then Demolition performed their "Demolition Decapitation" finisher on him at ringside, leaving him unconscious on the floor. On the June 18 "Superstars", it was announced he suffered back injuries and a concussion. In the storyline, he briefly retired due to these injuries. In reality, he was granted leave from the WWF and took six months off to help care for his severely ill wife.


title: Rick Martel

text: Before returning to the WWF Martel returned briefly to the WWC where he defeated Kamala. Martel returned in January 1989 as a singles wrestler, before reforming Strike Force with Santana at WrestleMania V to face The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard). During the match, Santana accidentally hit Martel with his signature flying forearm smash and knocked him out of the ring. A frustrated Martel refused to tag in and walked away, leaving Santana to be beaten down and pinned. Immediately after the match in an interview with "Mean" Gene Okerlund who asked him how he could leave his partner "high and dry" and said that Strike Force was "supposed to be a team, a team", an irate Martel said, "I'm sick and tired. I'm sick and tired of him. You know, I was doing great as a singles wrestler, but no, Mr. Tito wants to ride my coattails some more. You saw his timing was off". Then angrily addressing Santana he said "You're lucky that being the gentleman that I am that I just walked off. That could have been a lot worse for you Tito Santana."


title: Rick Martel

text: Following his heel turn, Martel acquired Slick as his manager. He feuded with Santana on and off over the next two years, losing to him in the finals of the 1989 King of the Ring tournament, then defeating him at The Main Event IV taping on October 30, 1990 (aired November 23).


title: Rick Martel

text: In late 1989, Martel adopted a narcissistic gimmick, as the Model. Just before the 1989 Survivor Series (where in a continuation of their feud, Martel pinned Santana in the opening elimination match of the night), he introduced his own (fictional) brand of cologne called "Arrogance", which he carried in a large atomizer and sprayed in the eyes of his opponents to blind them. He wore a turquoise sweater tied around his neck to the ring (later replaced by a turquoise sportcoat), with a large lapel pin that read "Yes, I am a model." Martel made his pay-per-view singles match debut at WrestleMania VI at the Skydome in Toronto, where he defeated Koko B. Ware via submission with his signature Boston Crab.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel's most high-profile feud during his stint as the Model was with Jake "The Snake" Roberts, sparked when he blinded Roberts with "Arrogance" on "The Brother Love Show" in October 1990. Martel and Roberts captained opposing teams at the Survivor Series. "The Visionaries" (Martel, The Warlord and Power and Glory) defeated The Vipers (Roberts, Superfly Jimmy Snuka and The Rockers) in a 4-0 clean sweep, the first time this had happened in Survivor Series history. In the 1990 Survivor Series (unlike previous editions), the heel survivors faced off against the babyface survivors in a grand final "Match Of Survival". There "The Visionaries" teamed with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase to face Tito Santana, Hulk Hogan and WWF World Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Warrior. Martel was eliminated from the match after he got himself counted out by abandoning his team after receiving beatings from both Hogan and The Warrior. Martel continued to have the upper hand over Roberts in the 1991 Royal Rumble match, eliminating Roberts from the match en route to lasting (a then-record) 53 minutes, before being eliminated by The British Bulldog. Roberts would ultimately get his revenge at WrestleMania VII, defeating Martel in a blindfold match. For the rest of 1991, Martel represented the WWF on Japanese tours for Super World Sports. In December 1991, he lost to Naoki Sano in a match to determine the inaugural SWS Junior Heavyweight Champion.


title: Rick Martel

text: In early 1992, Martel began a feud with Tatanka, leading to WrestleMania VIII, where Tatanka pinned him. He went on to work against Santana on house shows that spring.


title: Rick Martel

text: During that time he unsuccessfully challenged Bret Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship at UK Rampage (1992). Also that summer, Martel had a brief feud with Shawn Michaels, as both men sought the affections of Sensational Sherri. The feud ended with a chain of events that resulted in a double countout at SummerSlam 1992 held at the Wembley Stadium in London, England in front of what remains the SummerSlam record attendance of 80,355. The match carried a "no punching in the face" stipulation, mutually agreed upon and eventually disregarded by the two narcissistic heels.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel then resumed his rivalry with Tatanka by stealing his sacred eagle feathers, to add to his wardrobe. The feud was resolved at the 1992 Survivor Series, where Tatanka again defeated Martel and reclaimed the feathers.


title: Rick Martel

text: In 1993, Martel mainly appeared on the lower undercard, and rarely on television, mostly on programs such as "All-American Wrestling" and "Wrestling Challenge". However, at the September 27 "Monday Night Raw" taping, he was the co-winner (with Razor Ramon) of a battle royal (aired October 4) to decide the competitors in a match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. He lost that match (aired the next week) to Ramon. After this, Martel began moving slightly up the card once again. Martel also briefly feuded with Bastion Booger, losing one of their matches when he got fed up with how Booger smelled and started spraying him with his "Arrogance" cologne. Martel also appeared at "Survivor Series 1993" in a 4-4 elimination match, being eliminated by The 1-2-3 Kid and in the "1994 Royal Rumble" as the 26th entrant before getting eliminated by his old rival Tatanka. Martel was set to appear in a 10-man tag team match at "Wrestlemania X" but the match was cancelled during the show due to the show running out of time. The match was later held 2 weeks and 1 day later on "Monday Night Raw", with Martel's team victorious. This turned out to be his final WWF in-ring match.


title: Rick Martel

text: In August 1994, Martel dropped out of the WWF picture and won't be seen again until participating in the 1995 Royal Rumble (he was a substitute for Jim Neidhart, who was fired from WWF due to no-showing events). Martel's final appearance came the following month at a house show in Montreal, as his wrestling career began to slow as Martel pursued a career in real estate.


title: Rick Martel

text: In a shoot interview with RF video, Martel claimed that he and Don Callis were set to return to the WWF as 'The Supermodels' in 1997, before Callis turned on Martel, turning him face for the first time since 1989. However, after a pay dispute with WWF owner Vince McMahon, Martel signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Callis confirmed that he and Martel were set to debut as a team during an interview with WWE.com in 2015.


title: Rick Martel

text: In 1994, Martel worked for a few appearances for International World Class Championship Wrestling (IWCCW) where in one of the matches defeated his former partner Tito Santana on September 9.


title: Rick Martel

text: After leaving WWF in 1995, Martel wrestled in the independent circuit in United States and Canada. He had a feud with Don Callis aka The Natural in Manitoba. Later that year he went to Germany to work for Catch Wrestling Association. He lost to Santana in a Texas Death match by count out for NWA New Jersey on October 14.


title: Rick Martel

text: In 1996 he wrestled in Malaysia. In 1997, Martel returned to Canada to teamed with Don Callis as the Supermodels feuding with a young Edge and Christian known as Adam Impact and Christian Cage.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel debuted for WCW in 1998 on the January 5 episode of "Nitro", defeating Brad Armstrong in his debut. Martel feuded with Booker T for the World Television Championship, failing to win it at Souled Out before winning the championship on the February 16 episode of "Nitro". Martel's comeback was cut short during his rematch with Booker T at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, when he landed badly on a throw, hitting his leg on one of the ring ropes. He tore an inside ligament of his right knee, fractured his leg and suffered cartilage damage, effectively ending his in-ring career. He was originally booked to retain the Television Title in the match, intended to be a gauntlet match, by beating Booker and then Perry Saturn. Martel and Booker worked out a finish in the ring, and then Booker and Saturn worked the second half of the match entirely on the fly. Martel was out of action for several months.


title: Rick Martel

text: During his recovery, he worked briefly as a French language announcer alongside Marc Blondin and Michel Letourneur for the French-language WCW programming that was airing in Europe.


title: Rick Martel

text: After suffering another injury in his first match back on the July 13 episode of "Nitro", against Booker T's Harlem Heat tag team partner (and real life older brother), Stevie Ray, Martel retired from the ring.


title: Rick Martel

text: After WCW, Martel wrestled his last match in Kailua, Hawaii for Hawaiian Islands Wrestling Federation defeating The Metal Maniac on March 23, 1999.


title: Rick Martel

text: After retiring from the ring, Martel worked for WCW as a trainer, and as host of the French versions of WCW programming. Rick also manages commercial properties he invested in from his earnings when wrestling.


title: Rick Martel

text: After the main event of a house show in Quebec City on May 3, 2003, then WWE Champion Brock Lesnar introduced Martel to the ring as a surprise, and shook his hand. Martel, who received a standing ovation from his home fans, said he was honoured to be associated with WWE and thanked the fans.


title: Rick Martel

text: At WWE's pay-per-view in 2007, Martel, along with his former teammate Tony Garea, saved Jimmy Snuka and Sgt. Slaughter from a post-match attack at the hands of Deuce 'n Domino.


title: Rick Martel

text: Martel is a playable character in "WWE 2K18" and "WWE 2K19", the first video game appearance since "".


title: Constitutional amendment

text: A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, they can be appended to the constitution as supplemental additions (codicils), thus changing the frame of government without altering the existing text of the document.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation. Examples of such special procedures include supermajorities in the legislature, or direct approval by the electorate in a referendum, or even a combination of two or more different special procedures. A referendum to amend the constitution may also be triggered in some jurisdictions by popular initiative.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Australia and Ireland provide examples of constitutions requiring that all amendments are first passed by the legislature before being submitted to the people; in the case of Ireland, a simple majority of those voting at the electorate is all that is required, whereas a more complex set of criteria must be met in Australia (a majority of voters in a majority of states is also necessary). Switzerland has procedure similar to that of Australia.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The special procedures for the amendment of some constitutions have proven to be so exacting, that of proposed amendments either few (eight Amendments out of 44 proposed in Australia), or none (as in Japan) have been passed over a period of several decades. In contrast, the former constitution of the U.S. state of Alabama was amended 977 times between its adoption in 1901 and its replacement by the current constitution in 2022.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: There are a number of formal differences, from one jurisdiction to another, in the manner in which constitutional amendments are both originally drafted and written down once they become law. In some jurisdictions, such as Ireland, Estonia, and Australia, constitutional amendments originate as bills and become laws in the form of acts of parliament. This may be the case notwithstanding the fact that a special procedure is required to bring an amendment into force. Thus, for example, in Ireland and Australia although amendments are drafted in the form of Acts of Parliament they cannot become law until they have been approved in a referendum. By contrast, in the United States a proposed amendment originates as a special joint resolution of Congress that does not require the President to sign and that the President can not veto.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The manner in which constitutional amendments are finally recorded takes two main forms. In most jurisdictions, amendments to a constitution take the form of revisions to the previous text. Thus, once an amendment has become law, portions of the original text may be deleted or new articles may be inserted among existing ones. The second, less common method, is for amendments to be appended to the end of the main text in the form of special "articles of amendment", leaving the body of the original text intact. Although the wording of the original text is not altered, the doctrine of implied repeal applies. In other words, in the event of conflict, an article of amendment will usually take precedence over the provisions of the original text, or of an earlier amendment. Nonetheless, there may still be ambiguity whether an amendment is intended to supersede or to supplement an existing article in the text.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: An article of amendment may, however, explicitly express itself as having the effect of repealing a specific existing article. The use of appended articles of amendment is most famous as a feature of the United States Constitution, but it is also the method of amendment in a number of other jurisdictions, such as Venezuela.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Under the 1919 German Weimar Constitution, the prevailing legal theory was that any law reaching the necessary supermajorities in both chambers of parliament was free to deviate from the terms of the constitution, without itself becoming part of the constitution. This very wide conception of "amendment" eased the rise of Adolf Hitler to power; it was consequently explicitly ruled out in the postwar 1949 constitution, which allows amendments only by explicitly changing the constitution's text.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Ethiopia can only be modified by a two-thirds majority of the country's regions, and a two-thirds majority of a joint session of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly in accordance with Article 105. The constitution's Chapter Three (describing both Human and democratic rights) and the constitution's Articles 104 and 105 are almost unamendable since they require the total consensus of the federal regional states and two-thirds of each house of Parliament. In Ethiopia's federal experience, each regional state is equal and has the right to veto amendments to the aforementioned articles.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of South Africa can be amended by an Act of Parliament, but special procedures and requirements apply to the passage of constitutional amendments. A bill amending the Constitution must be introduced in the National Assembly, and cannot contain any provisions other than constitutional amendments and directly related matters.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: At least 30 days before a constitutional amendment bill is introduced in the National Assembly, the person or committee introducing the amendment must publish it for public comment, submit it to the provincial legislatures, and, if it does not have to be passed by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), submit it to the NCOP for debate. When the bill is introduced, the comments received must be tabled in the National Assembly, and in the NCOP when appropriate.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: All amendments must be passed by an absolute two-thirds supermajority in the National Assembly (the lower house); as the Assembly has 400 members this requires 267 members to vote for the amendment. Most amendments do not have to be considered by the NCOP (the upper house). Amendments of the Bill of Rights, and amendments affecting the role of the NCOP, the "boundaries, powers, functions or institutions" of the provinces or provisions "dealing specifically with provincial matters" must also be passed by the NCOP with a supermajority of at least six of the nine provinces. If an amendment affects a specific province, it must also be approved by the legislature of the province concerned. Section 1, which defines South Africa as "one, sovereign, democratic state" and lists its founding values, is a specially entrenched clause and can only be amended by an absolute three-quarters supermajority in the National Assembly and six of the provinces in the NCOP.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Once an Act is passed by the National Assembly, and by the NCOP if necessary, it must be signed and assented to by the President. As with any other Act of Parliament, by default an amendment comes into effect when it is published in the "Government Gazette", but the text of the amendment may specify some other date of commencement, or allow the President to specify one by notice in the "Gazette".


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Brazil states various terms on how it can be amended. Article 60 lies within "Section VIII: The Legislative Process, Subsection 2: Amendments to the Constitution". The following is detailed therein:


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Article 60 is the only article prescribed under Subsection 2 of Section 8 in the Brazilian constitution.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the federal Constitution may be altered. Twenty-seven amendments have been added (appended as codicils) to the Constitution.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: All 33 amendment proposals that have been sent to the states for ratification since the establishment of the Constitution have come into being via the Congress. State legislatures have however, at various times, used their power to apply for a national convention in order to pressure Congress into proposing a desired amendment. For example, the movement to amend the Constitution to provide for the direct election of senators began to see such proposals regularly pass the House of Representatives only to die in the Senate from the early 1890s onward. As time went by, more and more state legislatures adopted resolutions demanding that a convention be called, thus pressuring the Senate to finally relent and approve what later became the Seventeenth Amendment for fear that such a convention—if permitted to assemble—might stray to include issues above and beyond just the direct election of senators.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: To become an operative part of the Constitution, an amendment, whether proposed by Congress or a national constitutional convention, must be ratified by either:


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Congress has specified the state legislature ratification method for all but one amendment. The ratifying convention method was used for the Twenty-first Amendment, which became part of the Constitution in 1933.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Since the turn of the 20th century, amendment proposals sent to the states for ratification have generally contained a seven-year ratification deadline, either in the body of the amendment or in the resolving clause of the joint resolution proposing it. The Constitution does not expressly provide for a deadline on the state legislatures' or state ratifying conventions' consideration of proposed amendments. In "Dillon v. Gloss" (1921), the Supreme Court affirmed that Congress—if it so desires—could provide a deadline for ratification. An amendment with an attached deadline that is not ratified by the required number of states within the set time period is considered "inoperative" and rendered moot.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: A proposed amendment becomes an official Article of the Constitution immediately once it is ratified by three-fourths of the States. The Article usually goes into force at this time too, though it may self-impose a delay before that happens, as was the case of the Eighteenth Amendment. Every ratified Amendment has been certified or proclaimed by an official of the federal government, starting with the Secretary of State, then the Administrator of General Services, and now the Archivist of the United States, with the Archivist currently being responsible for certification under . The certification document usually contains a list of the States that ratified the Amendment. This certification is just used by the federal government to keep an official record and archive of the Amendment for its own purposes, and doesn't actually have any legal effect on the Amendment.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: State constitutions in the U.S. are amended on a regular basis. In 19 states, the state constitutions have been amended at least 100 times.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Amendments are often necessary because of the length of state constitutions, which are, on average, three times longer than the federal constitution, and because state constitutions typically contain extensive detail. In addition, state constitutions are often easier to amend than the federal constitution.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Individual states differ in the difficulty of constitutional amendments. Some states allow for initiating the amendment process through the action of the state legislature or by popular initiative.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: There are three methods for proposing an amendment to the California State Constitution: by the legislature, by constitutional convention, or by voter initiative. A proposed amendment must be approved by a majority of voters.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: With the legislative method, a proposed amendment must be approved by an absolute supermajority of two-thirds of the membership of each house.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: With the convention method, the legislature may, by a two-thirds absolute supermajority, submit to the voters at a general election the question whether to call a convention to revise the Constitution. If the majority of the voters vote yes on that question, within six months the Legislature shall provide for the convention. Delegates to a constitutional convention shall be voters elected from districts as nearly equal in population as may be practicable. The constitution does not provide any rules for the operation of the constitutional convention.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: With the initiative method, an amendment is proposed by a petition signed by voters equal in number to 8% of the votes for all candidates for governor at the last gubernatorial election. The proposed amendment is then submitted to the voters at a general or special election.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: There are two methods of proposing amendments to the New York Constitution. All proposed amendments must be approved by a majority of voters in a referendum.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: With the legislative method, an amendment proposal must be published for three months, then approved by an absolute majority of the members of each of the two houses, and approved again in a succeeding term of the houses, with an election intervening. Finally, the amendment proposal must be submitted to the people, and for ratification must be approved by a simple majority.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: With the convention method, a constitutional convention must be convened by a majority vote of voters in a general election (referendum) on the question.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: There are two methods for proposing amendments to the Tennessee State Constitution: through the legislature and by constitutional convention. Proposed amendments must be approved by a majority of voters in a referendum.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: With the legislative method, the Tennessee General Assembly passes a resolution calling for an amendment and stating its wording. This must pass in three separate readings on three separate days, with an absolute majority on all readings. It does not require the governor's approval. It must then be published at least six months before the next legislative election in newspapers of wide and general circulation. (This is done by precedent but is not required by law.) After the election, the proposed amendment must go through the same procedure (absolute majority on three separate readings). Then it is put on the ballot as a referendum in the next gubernatorial election. To be ratified it must again achieve an absolute majority of those voting in the gubernatorial election.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: With the convention method, the legislature can put on any ballot the question of whether to call a constitutional convention. It must be stated whether the convention is limited or unlimited—that is, whether it can only amend the current constitution or totally abolish it and write a new one. If limited, the call must state which provisions of the current constitution are to be subject to amendment, and the subsequent convention, if approved, is limited to considering only amendments to the provisions specified in the call. The proposed amendments must then be submitted to the electorate and approved by a majority of those voting in the election. A constitutional convention cannot be held more frequently than once every six years.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The only method for proposing an amendment to the Texas State Constitution is through the legislature, either in regular or special session. The governor may call a special session, and specify the agenda for the session. To become part of the constitution, proposed amendments must be approved by a majority of voters in a referendum. Texas has had six different constitutions and the current constitution, adopted in 1876, has been amended 474 times.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: A proposed amendment must be approved by an absolute supermajority of two-thirds of the elected membership of each house of the legislature. It is submitted to the voters in an election specified by the legislature. The wording of an explanatory statement that will appear on the ballot must be approved by the Texas Attorney General and printed in newspapers. The full text of the amendment must be posted by all county clerks for 30 days before the election.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The only method for proposing an amendment to the Washington State Constitution is through the legislature and can originate in either branch. The proposal must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the legislature. The proposed amendment is placed on the ballot at the next general election and must be approved by a majority of the voters.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The procedure for amending the Constitution of Australia is detailed in section 128 of the Constitution. Firstly, a bill amending the Constitution must be passed by both houses of the Parliament of Australia by an absolute majority (at least 76 of the 151 members of the House of Representatives and at least 39 of the 76 members of the Senate). If one house passes the bill while the other refuses, it may attempt to pass the bill again. If the second house again refuses to pass it, the Governor-General (presumably on the advice of the Prime Minister) may still submit the proposed change for referendum.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Following this, Australians then vote on the proposal. For a referendum to succeed both of the following must be achieved


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The double majority is a major factor in why since 1906 out of 44 referendums only 8 have been successful.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians has been campaigned for since 1910, including having an Indigenous voice to parliament enshrined in the Constitution.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: In the Communist-ruled People's Republic of China, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China states how to be amended under Article 64 of "Chapter III: The Structure of the State". It says the following:


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Since its commencement in 1950, Indian constitution has been amended 105 times, as of August 2021. Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati Case held that parliament's power to amend is not unlimited, and it can't amend the basic structure of the constitution. The ‘basic structure’ includes the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law, Independence of the judiciary, doctrine of separation of powers, federalism, secularism, sovereign democratic republic, the parliamentary system of government, the principle of free and fair elections, welfare state, etc.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Indonesia states that it can be amended corresponding to Article 37 of "Chapter XVI: Constitutional Amendments" within the document. Proposal to amend the constitution must submitted by one-thirds members of the People's Consultative Assembly. Two-thirds of the members of the People's Consultative Assembly must be present: any proposed amendment requires a simple majority of the entire People's Consultative Assembly membership. The form of the unitary state cannot be changed.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Japan states that it can be amended corresponding to Article 96 of "Chapter IX: Amendments" within the document. It says the following:


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Japan has used this Constitution since Saturday, 3 May 1947. It was adopted and implemented as the most quintessential doctrine of Japanese governance following the Second World War and the Sino-Japanese war. As a result, in order to ensure that Japan would not be a source of future aggression, a special portion was written into the document in the form of "Article 9: Renunciation of War". It describes as follows:


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Even though these two paragraphs are not expressly protected by an eternity clause, many Japanese people argue that it needs to be interpreted as being irrevocable due to the significant and precise nature of the article.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Under the common interpretation of the Constitution, amendments can be proposed by one of three methods: a People's Initiative, a Constituent Assembly or a Constitutional Convention.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: This was changed beginning in the 1990s and Article 12 of the constitutional amendments must be approved by Taiwan's parliament and referendums voted by the citizens residing in the ROC free area.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Turkey details, through Provisional Article 175 under "I. Amending the Constitution, participation in elections and referenda" of "Part Seven: Final Provisions"


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Turkish constitution was adopted and implemented in 1982. , it had been amended 21 times. Every amendment which has been approved into the document was passed by the people through a constitutional referendum that occurred in 2017. This means that all twenty-one amendments were added at the same time. Due to the contents that it would exponentially extend presidential tenure as well as controversies about electoral misconduct, the referendum was intensely controversial. Global attention was drawn to it both before and after the results were finalized for the same reasons.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between member states that describe the constitutional basis of the European Union. Prior to the Treaty of Lisbon’s entry into force in 2009, there was only one procedure for the revision of the treaties on which the EU is based: the convening of an intergovernmental conference. Since 2009, Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union has laid down two procedures for the revision of the treaties.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Albania states its terms for being amending under Article 177 within "Part 17: Amending The Constitution".


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Austria is unusually liberal in terms of constitutional amendments. Any piece of parliamentary legislation can be designated as "constitutional law", i.e., as a part of the constitution if the required supermajority and other formalities for an amendment are met. An amendment may take the form of a change of the "Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz", the centerpiece of the constitution, a change to another constitutional act, a new constitutional act, or of a section of constitutional law in a non-constitutional act. Furthermore, international treaties can be enacted as constitutional law, as happened in the case of the European Convention of Human Rights. Over the decades, frequent amendments and, in some cases, the intention to immunize pieces of legislation from judicial review, have led to much "constitutional garbage" consisting of hundreds of constitutional provisions spread all over the legal system. This has led to calls for reform.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: A majority of two-thirds in the National Council is all that is required for an amendment to take effect. Only in the case of a fundamental change ("Gesamtänderung") of the constitution a confirmation by referendum is required. Since 1945, this has only happened once when Austria's accession to the European Union was approved by popular vote.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: If a constitutional amendment limits the powers of the states, a two-thirds majority in the Federal Council of Austria is required as well. Depending on the matter on hand, two-thirds of the Federal Councilors present (attendance of one-half of all Councilors is required), or two-thirds of all Federal Councilors must approve. If the amendment would change articles 34 or 35, the majority of councilors of at least four of the nine states is an additional requirement.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Belgium can be amended by the federal legislative power, which consists of the King (in practice, the Federal Government) and the Federal Parliament. In order to amend the Constitution, the federal legislative power must declare the reasons to revise the Constitution in accordance with Article 195. This is done by means of two so-called Declarations of Revision of the Constitution, one adopted by the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, and one signed by the King and the Federal Government.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Following this declaration, the Federal Parliament is automatically dissolved and a new federal election must take place. This makes it impossible to amend the Constitution unless an election has intervened. Following the election, the new Federal Parliament can amend those articles that have been declared revisable. Neither Chamber can consider amendments to the Constitution unless at least two-thirds of its members are present and the Constitution can only be amended if at least two-thirds of the votes cast are in favour of the amendment.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: In the Article X, defining the amendment procedure, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina states that it can be amended by a decision of the Parliamentary Assembly, including a two-thirds majority of those present and voting in the House of Representatives. The Constitution does not say who has the right, and under what rules, to present the amendments to the Parliamentary Assembly. Also, in the paragraph 2 of the Article X, the Constitution states that the rights and freedoms, as seen in the Article II, cannot be derogated, as well as the paragraph 2 itself.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina was amended once, in 2009, to include the outcome of the Brcko District final award. Several constitutional reforms were attempted between 2006 and 2014, to ensure its compliance with the case law of the European Convention on Human Rights in the Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina and following cases ("Zornic", "Pilav") regarding ethnic- and residence-based discrimination in passive electoral rights for the Presidency and House of Peoples.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Under the current Constitution of Bulgaria (1991), there are two procedures for amendment, depending on the part of the constitution to be amended:


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Passage of a constitutional act in the Czech Republic can only be accomplished through the agreement of three-fifths of all Deputies and Senators present at the time the proposed act is laid before each house of Parliament. It is the only type of legislation that does not require the signature of the President to become law. Furthermore, it is the only type of legislation the President cannot veto.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Denmark provides an example of multiple special procedures that must be followed. After an amendment has been approved by parliament, a general election must be held; the new parliament must then approve the amendment again before it is finally submitted to a referendum. There is also a requirement that at least forty percent of eligible voters must vote at the referendum in order for an amendment to be validly passed.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Estonia can only be modified by three-fifths majority in two successive complements of Parliament, and a referendum for certain chapters.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Amendments or revisions to the Constitution of Finland (including replacement) can be proposed by the Government or by any member of Parliament. These must first be approved by a majority of Parliament, and then after a parliamentary election by a two-thirds supermajority.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: A proposal can be declared by a five-sixths supermajority of Parliament as “urgent,” after this it can be approved by two-thirds immediately – without an election. This second procedure is also used for emergency laws that temporarily deviate the Constitution.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Amendments to the Constitution of France must first be passed by both houses with identical terms, and then need approval either by a simple majority in a referendum or by a three-fifths majority of the two houses of the French parliament jointly convened in Congress.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Federal Republic of Germany uses a basic law as its constitution. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany states its terms for amending under Article 79 of the document.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The third paragraph was made by its framers to protect the country against a future totalitarian regime such as that of Nazi Germany. This is an example of the eternity clause in constitutional designing.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Greece is amendable through the terms which mentioned under Article 110 beneath "Section II: Revision of the Constitution" of "Part Four: Special, Final, and Transitional Provisions".


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Ireland can only be modified by referendum, following proposal approved by the lower and upper houses of the Oireachtas, amongst citizens entitled to vote for the President. The amendment succeeds by simple majority, and no quorum is required.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Article 138 of the Constitution provides for the special procedure through which the Parliament can adopt constitutional laws (including laws to amend the Constitution of Italy). Constitutional laws start by following the ordinary legislative procedure, which requires both houses of parliament to approve the law in the same text, with a simple majority (i.e. the majority of votes cast). However, after having been approved for the first time, they need to be voted for by both houses a second time, which can happen no sooner than three months after the first. In this second reading, no new amendments to the bill may be proposed: the bill must be either approved or rejected in its entirety.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The constitutional law needs to be approved by at least a majority of MPs in each house (absolute majority) in its second reading. Depending on the results of this second vote, the constitutional law may then follow two different paths.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Only four constitutional referendums have ever been held in Italy: in 2001 and 2020 (in which the constitutional laws were approved), and in 2006 and 2016 (in which they were rejected).


title: Constitutional amendment

text: To change the Constitution of the Netherlands the legislature must pass a law by simple majority proposing to change the constitution ("voorstelwet", lit. proposed law). The lower house must then be dissolved and after elections the proposal is considered again. To actually change the constitution the change must be passed by 2/3 majority in both houses of parliament.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Poland says the following under Article 235 of "Chapter XII: Amending the Constitution" within it:


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution is amendable through the terms prescribed under "Title II: Revision of the Constitution" of "Part IX: Guaranteeing and Revision of the Constitution" between Articles 284 and 289.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Romania mentions and outlines the terms by which it can be amended in "Article 150: Amendment Initiative", "Article 151: Amendment Procedure", and "Article 152: Limits to Constitutional Amendments". All three articles are written under "Title VII: Amendment of the Constitution" of the document.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Russia was created by the Russian Federation in 1993. It can be amended in correspondence with Articles 134 through 137 of "Chapter 9: Constitutional Amendments and Revision of the Constitution" under the document. In 2008, certain amendments were proposed which extended the terms of the President of the Russian Federation and State Duma members from four to six years and four to five years in duration respectively. These constitutional amendments are the first truly substantial amendments to the country's constitution added into the Russian constitution fifteen years prior to its adoption and implementation fifteen years earlier.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Serbia states its terms for being amended between Articles 203 to 205 under "Part 9: Amending The Constitution" within the document. Even though the Serbian constitution can be amended, this has never happened even once ever since the document was adopted and implemented in 2006 when Montenegro declared its independence from Serbia after an independence referendum was won. This brought the state of Serbia-Montenegro to an end.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Constitution of Spain can be amended through the procedures detailed between Articles 166 to 169 under "Part X: Constitutional Amendment" of the document. Additional details are provided between Sections 71 to 76 within the document as well.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Swedish Constitution consists of four fundamental laws: the Instrument of Government, the Act of Succession, the Freedom of the Press Act, and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: The Instrument of Government, under "Chapter 8. Acts of law and other provisions", articles 14 to 17, states that in order to amend the fundamental laws, the Riksdag must take two identical decisions, and that these decisions must be separated by a general election. At least nine months shall elapse between the first submission of the amendment proposal and the date of the election, unless an exception is granted by the Committee on the Constitution with a majority of five sixths of its members.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: One third of members of the Riksdag can also call for a binding referendum on a draft constitutional measure which already passed the first vote.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: In the United Kingdom, devoid of a written constitution and exercising pure parliamentary sovereignty, the final authority on all quasi-constitutional matters is ultimately the parliament itself (the legislature), by a simple majority. This means that when the legislature wishes to make changes to constitutional matters (i.e. relating to the machinery of government), there can be no entrenchment clause or special procedure which can stand in its way. Although consideration must be given to the Human Rights Act which supersedes all legislation, the act can itself be abolished or amended by a simple majority of Parliament. Despite clauses such as those in the Scotland Act 2016, which proclaims that Scotland's devolved government cannot be abolished except by a referendum, legal commentators have noted that the Parliament of the United Kingdom may set aside such a requirement by a simple majority. Such purported entrenchment clauses are thus little more than expressions of hope and sentiment on the part of a parliament. A similar situation can be found in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, which purports to restrict the ability of a Prime Minister on a whim to dissolve Parliament and hold a general election, as was formerly the case; in 2019, this requirement was annulled by simple majority through the passing of the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019, allowing a snap election to be held. This power of Parliament may be seen by some as a weakness of entrenchment clauses in the British system, but others contend it represents an unbridled democratic power of the electorate to effect rapid and dramatic change. Thus in the British system no parliament can bind its successor, it cannot pass an effective entrenchment clause seeking to tie the hand of future governments.


title: Constitutional amendment

text: Some constitutions use entrenched clauses to restrict the kind of amendment to which they may be subject. This is usually to protect characteristics of the state considered sacrosanct, such as the democratic form of government or the protection of human rights. Amendments are often totally forbidden during a state of emergency or martial law.


title: Optimism

text: Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled with water to the halfway point: an optimist is said to see the glass as half full, while a pessimist sees the glass as half empty.


title: Optimism

text: The term derives from the Latin "optimum", meaning "best". Being optimistic, in the typical sense of the word, is defined as expecting the best possible outcome from any given situation. This is usually referred to in psychology as dispositional optimism. It thus reflects a belief that future conditions will work out for the best. For this reason, it is seen as a trait that fosters resilience in the face of stress.


title: Optimism

text: Theories of optimism include dispositional models and models of explanatory style. Methods to measure optimism have been developed within both of these theoretical approaches, such as various forms of the Life Orientation Test for the original dispositional definition of optimism and the Attributional Style Questionnaire designed to test optimism in terms of explanatory style.


title: Optimism

text: Variation in optimism and pessimism is somewhat heritable and reflects biological trait systems to some degree. It is also influenced by environmental factors, including family environment, with some suggesting it can be learned. Optimism may also be linked to health.


title: Optimism

text: Researchers operationalize the term differently depending on their research. As with any trait characteristic, there are several ways to evaluate optimism, such as the Life Orientation Test (LOT), an 8-item scale developed in 1985 by Michael Scheier and Charles Carver.


title: Optimism

text: Dispositional optimism and pessimism are typically assessed by asking people whether they expect future outcomes to be beneficial or negative (see below). The LOT returns separate optimism and pessimism scores for each individual. Behaviourally, these two scores correlate around r = 0.5. Optimistic scores on this scale predict better outcomes in relationships, higher social status, and reduced loss of well-being following adversity. Health-preserving behaviors are associated with optimism while health-damaging behaviors are associated with pessimism.


title: Optimism

text: Some have argued that optimism is the opposite end of a single dimension with pessimism, with any distinction between them reflecting factors such as social desirability. Confirmatory modelling, however, supports a two-dimensional model and the two dimensions predict different outcomes. Genetic modelling confirms this independence, showing that pessimism and optimism are inherited as independent traits, with the typical correlation between them emerging as a result of a general well-being factor and family environment influences. It is suggested that patients with high dispositional optimism appear to have stronger immune system since it buffers it against psychological stressors. Optimists appear to live longer.


title: Optimism

text: Explanatory style is distinct from dispositional theories of optimism. While related to life-orientation measures of optimism, attributional style theory suggests that dispositional optimism and pessimism are reflections of the ways people explain events, i.e., that attributions cause these dispositions. Here, an optimist would view defeat as temporary, does not apply to other cases, and is not considered their fault. Measures of attributional style distinguish three dimensions among explanations for events: Whether these explanations draw on internal versus external causes; whether the causes are viewed as stable versus unstable; and whether explanations apply globally versus being situationally specific. In addition, the measures distinguish attributions for positive and for negative events.


title: Optimism

text: An optimistic person attributes internal, stable, and global explanations to good things. Pessimistic explanations attribute these traits of stability, globality, and internality to negative events, such as difficulty in relationships. Models of Optimistic and Pessimistic attributions show that attributions themselves are a cognitive style – individuals who tend to focus on the global explanations do so for all types of events, and the styles correlate among each other. In addition to this, individuals vary in how optimistic their attributions are for good events, and on how pessimistic their attributions are for bad events, but these two traits of optimism and pessimism are un-correlated.


title: Optimism

text: There is much debate about the relationship between explanatory style and optimism. Some researchers argue that optimism is simply the lay-term for what researchers know as explanatory style. More commonly, it is found that explanatory style is quite distinct from dispositional optimism, and the two should not be used interchangeably as they are marginally correlated at best. More research is required to "bridge" or further differentiate these concepts.


title: Optimism

text: As with all psychological traits, differences in both dispositional optimism and pessimism and in attributional style are heritable. Both optimism and pessimism are strongly influenced by environmental factors, including family environment. It has been suggested that optimism may be indirectly inherited as a reflection of underlying heritable traits such as intelligence, temperament, and alcoholism. There is evidence from twin studies that show, for instance, that the inherited component of the dispositional optimism is about 25 percent, making this trait a stable personality dimension and a predictor of life outcomes. Its genetic origin, which interacts with environmental influences and other risks, also determines the vulnerability to depression across the lifespan. Many theories assume optimism can be learned, and research supports a modest role of family-environment acting to raise (or lower) optimism and lower (or raise) neuroticism and pessimism.


title: Optimism

text: Work utilising brain imaging and biochemistry suggests that at a biological trait level, optimism and pessimism reflect brain systems specialised for the tasks of processing and incorporating beliefs regarding good and bad information respectively.


title: Optimism

text: The Life Orientation Test (LOT) was designed by Scheier and Carver (1985) to assess dispositional optimism – expecting positive or negative outcomes, and is one of the more popular tests of optimism and pessimism. This was also often used in early studies that examine the effects of these dispositions in health-related domains. Scheier and Carver's initial research, which surveyed college students, found that optimistic participants were less likely to show an increase in symptoms like dizziness, muscle soreness, fatigue, blurred vision, and other physical complaints than pessimistic respondents.


title: Optimism

text: There are eight items and four filler items in the test. Four are positive items (e.g. "In uncertain times, I usually expect the best") and four are negative items e.g. "If something can go wrong for me, it will." The LOT has been revised twice—once by the original creators (LOT-R) and also by Chang, Maydeu-Olivares, and D'Zurilla as the Extended Life Orientation Test (ELOT). The Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R: Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) consists of six items, each scored on a 5-point scale from "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree" and four filler items. Half of the coded items are phrased in an optimistic way while the other half in a pessimistic way. In comparison with its previous iteration, LOT-R offers good internal consistency overtime although there are item overlaps, making the correlation between the LOT and LOT-R extremely high.


title: Optimism

text: This Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ: Peterson et al. 1982) is based on the explanatory style model of optimism. Subjects read a list of six positive and negative events (e.g. ""you have been looking for a job unsuccessfully for some time""), and are asked to record a possible cause for the event. They then rate whether this is internal or external, stable or changeable, and global or local to the event. There are several modified versions of the ASQ including the Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire (EASQ), the Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanations (CAVE), and the ASQ designed for testing the optimism of children.


title: Optimism

text: Optimism and health are correlated moderately. Optimism has been shown to explain between 5–10% of the variation in the likelihood of developing some health conditions (correlation coefficients between .20 and .30), notably including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and depression.


title: Optimism

text: The relationship between optimism and health has also been studied with regard to physical symptoms, coping strategies and negative affect for those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and fibromyalgia.


title: Optimism

text: It has been found that among individuals with these diseases, optimists are not more likely than pessimists to report pain alleviation due to coping strategies, despite differences in psychological well-being between the two groups. A meta-analysis has confirmed the assumption that optimism is related to psychological well-being: "Put simply, optimists emerge from difficult circumstances with less distress than do pessimists." Furthermore, the correlation appears to be attributable to coping style: "That is, optimists seem intent on facing problems head-on, taking active and constructive steps to solve their problems; pessimists are more likely to abandon their effort to attain their goals."


title: Optimism

text: Optimists may respond better to stress: pessimists have shown higher levels of cortisol (the "stress hormone") and trouble regulating cortisol in response to stressors. Another study by Scheier examined the recovery process for a number of patients that had undergone surgery. The study showed that optimism was a strong predictor of the rate of recovery. Optimists achieved faster results in "behavioral milestones" such as sitting in bed, walking around, etc. They also were rated by staff as having a more favorable physical recovery. In a 6-month later follow-up, it was found that optimists were quicker to resume normal activities.


title: Optimism

text: A number of studies have been done on optimism and psychological well-being. One 30-year study undertaken by Lee et al. (2019) assessed the overall optimism and longevity of cohorts of men from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study and women from the Nurses’ Health Study. The study found a positive correlation between higher levels of optimism and exceptional longevity, which the study defined as a lifespan exceeding 85 years.


title: Optimism

text: Another study conducted by Aspinwall and Taylor (1990) assessed incoming freshmen on a range of personality factors such as optimism, self-esteem, locus of self-control, etc. It was found that freshmen who scored high on optimism before entering college were reported to have lower levels of psychological distress than their more pessimistic peers, while controlling for the other personality factors. Over time, the more optimistic students were less stressed, less lonely, and less depressed than their pessimistic counterparts. Thus, this study suggests a strong link between optimism and psychological well-being.


title: Optimism

text: In addition low optimism may help explain the association between caregivers' anger and reduced sense of vitality.


title: Optimism

text: A recent meta-analysis of optimism supported past findings that optimism is positively correlated with life satisfaction, happiness, psychological and physical well-being and negatively correlated with depression and anxiety.


title: Optimism

text: Seeking to explain the correlation, researchers find that optimists choose healthier lifestyles. For example, optimists smoke less, are more physically active, consume more fruit, vegetables and whole-grain bread, and are more moderate in alcohol consumption.


title: Optimism

text: Research to date has demonstrated that optimists are less likely to have certain diseases or develop certain diseases over time. By comparison, research has not yet been able to demonstrate the ability to change an individual's level of optimism through psychological interventions, and thereby alter the course of disease or likelihood for development of disease. Though in that same vein, an article by Mayo Clinic argues steps to change self-talk from negative to positive may shift individuals from a negative to a more positive/optimistic outlook. Strategies claimed to be of value include surrounding oneself with positive people, identifying areas of change, practicing positive self-talk, being open to humor, and following a healthy lifestyle. There is also the notion of "learned optimism" in positive psychology, which holds that joy is a talent that can be cultivated and can be achieved through specific actions such as the challenging negative self talk or overcoming "learned helplessness". However, criticism against positive psychology argues that the field of positive psychology places too much importance on "upbeat thinking, while shunting challenging and difficult experiences to the side."


title: Optimism

text: There are researchers in a study involving twins who found that optimism is largely inherited at birth. Along with the recognition that childhood experiences determine an individual's outlook, such studies demonstrate the genetic basis for optimism reinforces the recognized difficulty in changing or manipulating the direction of an adult's disposition from pessimist to optimist.


title: Optimism

text: One of the earliest forms of philosophical optimism was Socrates' theory of moral intellectualism, which formed part of the thinker's enlightenment model through the process of self-improvement. According to the philosopher, it is possible to live a virtuous life by attaining moral perfection through philosophical self-examination. He maintained that knowledge of moral truth is necessary and sufficient for leading a good life. In his philosophical investigations, Socrates followed a model that did not merely focus on the intellect or reason but a balanced practice that also consider the emotion as an important contributor to the richness of human experience.


title: Optimism

text: Distinct from a disposition to believe that things will work out, there is a philosophical idea that, perhaps in ways that may not be fully comprehended, the present moment is in an optimum state. This view that all of nature - past, present, and future - operates by laws of optimization along the lines of Hamilton's principle in the realm of physics is countered by views such as idealism, realism, and philosophical pessimism. Philosophers often link the concept of optimism with the name of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who held that we live in the best of all possible worlds ("le meilleur des mondes possibles"), or that God created a physical universe that applies the laws of physics. The concept was also reflected in an aspect of Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire's early philosophy, one that was based on Isaac Newton's view that described a divinely ordered human condition. This philosophy would also later emerge in Alexander Pope's "Essay on Man".


title: Optimism

text: Leibniz proposed that it was not in God's power to create a perfect world, but among possible worlds, he created the best. In one of his writings, he responded to the Blaise Pascal philosophy of awe and desperation in the face of the infinite by claiming that infinity should be celebrated. While Pascal advocated for making man's rational aspirations more humble, Leibniz was optimistic about the capacity of human reason to further extend itself.


title: Optimism

text: This idea was mocked by Voltaire in his satirical novel "Candide" as baseless optimism of the sort exemplified by the beliefs of one of its characters Dr. Pangloss, which are the opposite of his fellow traveller Martin's pessimism and emphasis on free will. The optimistic position is also called Panglossianism and became an adjective for excessive, even stupendous, optimism. The phrase "panglossian pessimism" has been used to describe the pessimistic position that, since this is the best of all possible worlds, it is impossible for anything to get any better. Conversely, philosophical pessimism might be associated with an optimistic long-term view because it implies that no change for the worse is possible. Later, Voltaire found it difficult to reconcile Leibniz' optimism with human suffering as demonstrated by the earthquake that devastated Lisbon in 1755 as well as the atrocities committed by the pre-revolutionary France against its people.


title: Optimism

text: Philosophical optimalism, as defined by Nicholas Rescher, holds that this universe exists because it is better than the alternatives. While this philosophy does not exclude the possibility of a deity, it also does not require one, and is compatible with atheism. Rescher explained that the concept can stand on its own feet, arguing that there is no necessity to seeing optimalism realization as divinely instituted because it is a naturalistic theory in principle.


title: Optimism

text: Psychological optimalism, as defined by the positive psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar, means willingness to accept failure while remaining confident that success will follow, a positive attitude he contrasts with negative perfectionism. Perfectionism can be defined as a persistent compulsive drive toward unattainable goals and valuation based solely in terms of accomplishment. Perfectionists reject the realities and constraints of human ability. They cannot accept failures, delaying any ambitious and productive behavior in fear of failure again. This neuroticism can even lead to clinical depression and low productivity. As an alternative to negative perfectionism, Ben-Shahar suggests the adoption of optimalism. Optimalism allows for failure in pursuit of a goal, and expects that while the trend of activity is towards the positive, it is not necessary to always succeed while striving towards goals. This basis in reality prevents the optimalist from being overwhelmed in the face of failure.


title: Optimism

text: Optimalists accept failures and also learn from them, which encourages further pursuit of achievement. Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar believes that Optimalists and Perfectionists show distinct different motives. Optimalists tend to have more intrinsic, inward desires, with a motivation to learn, while perfectionists are highly motivated by a need to consistently prove themselves worthy.


title: Optimism

text: Optimalism has also been classified into two: product optimalism and process optimalism. The former is described as an outlook that looks to provide the realization of the best possible result while the latter looks for a maximization of the chances of achieving the best possible result. Others classify it either as full-scale, one that implies determinism, or weak determinism, which claims that we have the best laws and initial conditions. Some sources also distinguish the concept from optimism since it does not focus on how things are going well but on how things are going as well as possible.


title: Pixiu

text: Pixiu (; Old Chinese (ZS) *"bi-qʰu") is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature. Pixiu are considered powerful protectors of feng shui practitioners, and resemble strong, winged lions. A Pixiu is an earth and sea variation, particularly an influential and auspicious creature for wealth, and is said to have a voracious appetite exclusively for gold, silver, and jewels. Therefore, traditionally to the Chinese, Pixiu have always been regarded as auspicious creatures that possessed mystical powers capable of drawing "cai qi" ( wealth) from all directions, and according to the Chinese zodiac, it is especially helpful for those who are going through a bad year.


title: Pixiu

text: There are two types of Pixiu that are categorised by their antlers. The one with two antlers is the female and is called a "Bìxié", and the one with one antler is the male and is called a "Tiānlù".


title: Pixiu

text: Pixiu crave the smell of gold and silver and like to bring their masters money in their mouth. Statues of this creature are often used to attract wealth in feng shui.


title: Pixiu

text: Pixiu are auspicious, winged animals, written about in ancient Chinese history and heralded through the millennia by fantastic stories of powerful and grandiose feats of victory in battle. Their legend has been passed down through 2,000 years of Chinese lore. They have the head of a Chinese dragon, the body of a lion, and historically sport on their heads either one antler (male) or two antlers (female). In modern times, this legendary creature’s historical physical appearance has been somewhat lost, and is now more commonly depicted with only one antler.


title: Pixiu

text: Ancient Chinese descriptions, depictions and stone carvings of Pixiu from the Han Dynasty (206 BC220 AD) show the male with a single antler and the female with two. As with the Chinese phoenix, the common image today represents a single gender with one antler (male). Pixiu have protruding eyes and sharp teeth. There is one ancient stone sculpture variation found with hooves, but all Pixiu have wings. Many have a bifurcated (split) tail that hangs low and downward that covers its rear, a representative metaphor that they hold gold inside their stomachs but will not let it out.


title: Pixiu

text: Imperial "Pixiu" used during the Qing dynasty developed the physical characteristic of a fatter, more rotund body, indicating a stomach that could be loaded with unlimited amounts of gold and all forms of wealth and good fortune.


title: Pixiu

text: Due to their similar appearances, Pixiu are often confused with stone lions and qilin, but they can easily be distinguished from those two animals by its pair of feathered wings with which it can fly between Heaven and Earth.


title: Pixiu

text: One story of the Pixiu says that it violated a law of Heaven by defecating on the floor of Heaven. When it was found out, it was punished by a spanking from the Jade Emperor. The spanking was hard enough to cause its anus to be permanently sealed. The Jade Emperor further declared that the diet of the Pixiu would be restricted to gold, silver, and jewels.


title: Pixiu

text: Another story describes the Pixiu as the well-behaved, youngest son of the Dragon King and was spoiled by its parents. One day, Pixiu played on the Dragon King's desk and accidentally broke a seal that represented the power of the Dragon King. The Dragon King became very angry and used magic to turn Pixiu into an animal. He then sealed his rectum and declared that from then on, Pixiu could only eat things representing wealth.


title: Pixiu

text: Pixiu have a reputation of being fierce creatures. The large fangs visible in their mouths are used to attack demons and evil spirits, draining their essence and converting it to wealth. Pixiu also guard against disease caused by these evil spirits. It is written that Pixiu patrol the Heavens to keep demons at bay and to protect their owners from all harm.


title: Pixiu

text: It was believed that the ferociously devoted Pixiu would always and constantly guard its master, even after he passed from this life onto the next world. It was also believed that Pixiu would help their masters ascend to heaven by flying them up to Heaven on their backs.


title: Pixiu

text: Pixiu appear to have their origin in the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) where they are found mentioned and were originally called "Táo bá" in chapter 96 of the Book of Han.


title: Pixiu

text: An annotation describes the female and male "Táo bá" to have antlers like a deer, where the male ("Tiānlù") has one antler, and the female ("Bìxié") two. In tribute to the legend of the ferocity and prowess of the Pixiu in battle, it became synonymous with the army in ancient China. The word "Pixiu", interpreted as meaning "fierce beast" and also "brave warrior", was used as a symbol on battle flags and banners.


title: Pixiu

text: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty declared that the Pixiu, who obtained and guarded the Master's gold, would be forever known as the "Treasure of the Emperor". It is said the Emperor declared that only royal personage could possess a Pixiu and it was strictly forbidden for all others to own one, including officials. This law was kept through to the end of the Qing dynasty.


title: Pixiu

text: During China's history, Pixiu were commonly displayed in ancient architecture to ward off y"in qi" () and to harness auspicious "qi".


title: Pixiu

text: Statues of Pixiu are commonly found on the four corners of the roofs of houses, palaces and halls of the most important people such as the Chinese Emperor. The Pixiu sits behind the dragon, the phoenix, the winged horse, the seahorse, and other, similar creatures.


title: Pixiu

text: In ancient China, stone statues of Pixiu were also used as tomb guardians of Han dynasty emperors and other royal persons.


title: Pixiu

text: In feng shui, Pixiu ( "Piyao" in some modern cultural translations) is the heavenly variation of a creature of good fortune. They are said to have the power to assist anyone suffering from bad feng shui due to having offended Tai Sui.