title: Cabinda Province

text: Consisting largely of tropical forest, Cabinda produces hardwoods, coffee, cocoa, crude rubber, and palm oil. The product for which it is best known, however, is its oil. Conservative estimates say that Cabinda accounts for close to 60% of Angola’s oil production, estimated at approximately , and it is estimated that oil exports from the province are worth the equivalent of US$100,000 per annum for every Cabindan. Yet Cabinda remains one of the poorest provinces in Angola. An agreement in 1996 between the national and provincial governments stipulated that 10% of Cabinda’s taxes on oil revenues would be given back to the province, but Cabindans often feel that these revenues do not benefit the population as a whole, largely because of corruption. The private sector, particularly the oil industry, has both affected and been affected by the secessionist conflict. During the early days of Cabinda's struggle, the oil companies were perceived as sympathetic to, if not supportive of, Cabinda’s self-determination cause. The strategy used by the separatists to gain international attention, was most evident in 1999 and 2000. During 1999, FLEC-R kidnapped four foreign workers (two Portuguese and two French citizens), but released them after several months, having failed to attract the attention of the international community. FLEC-FAC also increased its activities during 2000 with the more widely publicized kidnapping of three Portuguese workers employed by a construction company, while FLEC-R kidnapped another five Portuguese civilians. These hostages were not freed until June 2001, following diplomatic intervention by the governments of Gabon and the Republic of the Congo.


title: Cabinda Province

text: The province of Cabinda consists of four municipalities (); listed below with their areas (in km) and populations at the 2014 Census and according to the latest official estimates:


title: Cabinda Province

text: The city of Cabinda contains 87% of the provincial population. The other three municipalities lie to the north of the city.


title: Cabinda Province

text: The province of Cabinda contains the following communes (); sorted by their respective municipalities:


title: Cabinda Province

text: Two giant oil fields, the "Malonga North" and "Malonga West" were discovered in 1967 and 1970, respectively, both pre-salt or pre-Aptian producers.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Located in water depths of 50 to 75 m, oil was discovered in Barremian deposits in 1971, then the Cenomanian section in 1979.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Four offshore oil fields, the "Wamba", "Takula", "Numbi" and "Vuko", are located in the greater Takula area, producing from the Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian Vermelha sandstone deposited in the coastal environment.


title: Cabinda Province

text: Cretaceous and Paleocene vertebrates, including fossil turtles as "Cabindachelys" have been collected from Lândana.


title: Urvashi Dholakia

text: Urvashi Dholakia is an Indian television actress who played the iconic villain Komolika in the long running television series "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" and won the sixth season of "Bigg Boss".


title: Urvashi Dholakia

text: She married at age 17 and had twin boys, Kshitij and Sagar, at age 18; she has raised them as a single mother.


title: Urvashi Dholakia

text: Dholakia made her acting debut at 6 in a TV commercial for Lux soap with Revathi. As a child she appeared as Rajlaxmi in the Doordarshan TV series "Shrikant". Her first TV adult role was in Doordarshan's "Dekh Bhai Dekh" as Shilpa followed by "Waqt Ki Raftar".


title: Urvashi Dholakia

text: The 2000s decade came as a golden period in bringing Dholakia to the top list of most popular actresses up until then, as she achieved a lot of universal acclaim and awards success for her great performances in the Ekta Kapoor shows "Ghar Ek Mandir", "Kabhii Sautan Kabhii Sahelii", "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" and "Kahiin To Hoga".


title: Urvashi Dholakia

text: Among these, the character of Komolika in "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" (2001–2008), one of the most longest running television series at that point, went on to be opined by many reviews as the most iconic villain till date, winning her a number of recognitions. Since then, Dholakia and Kapoor have collaborated many times.


title: Urvashi Dholakia

text: In 2012, she participated in Colors TV's "Bigg Boss 6" and on 12 January 2013, she emerged as the winner of the season. As of 2017, she is featured in Colors TV's historical fantasy series "Chandrakanta" as Queen Iravati.


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: "Don't Leave Me This Way" is a song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert. It was originally released in 1975 by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, an act signed to Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International label. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was subsequently covered by American singer Thelma Houston in 1976 and British duo the Communards in 1986, with both versions achieving commercial success.


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: The Blue Notes' original version of the song, featuring Teddy Pendergrass's lead vocals, was included on the group's 1975 album "Wake Up Everybody". Though not issued as a single in the United States at the time, the Blue Notes' recording reached number three on the US "Billboard" Hot Disco Singles chart in the wake of Thelma Houston's version. The song proved to be the group's highest-peaking entry in the United Kingdom, reaching number five on the UK Singles Chart, when released there as a single in 1977. It became the title track of a budget LP issued on the CBS Embassy label in the UK in 1978. The track was finally issued as a 12-inch single in the US in 1979, coupled with "Bad Luck".


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: "Don't Leave Me This Way" was covered by American singer Thelma Houston in 1976. Originally assigned to Diana Ross, it was intended to be the follow-up to her 1976 single "Love Hangover", but was reassigned to Houston instead.


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: Following the release of Houston's fourth studio album, "Any Way You Like It" (1976), a Boston DJ record pool unanimously reported positive audience response to "Don't Leave Me This Way" in discothèques, and the song was selected for release as a single. Houston's version topped the US soul singles chart and, nine weeks later, the "Billboard" Hot 100 for one week in April 1977. The song peaked at number 13 in the UK. The song peaked at number one on the disco chart. Later in the year, it was featured on the soundtrack to the film "Looking for Mr. Goodbar". In 1978, "Don't Leave Me This Way" won the award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: Houston's version was revived in 1995 in several remixes, which reached number 19 on the US "Billboard" dance chart and number 35 in the UK. This version got Houston ranked number 86 on VH1's "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders", as well as the number-two spot on their "100 Greatest Dance Songs" list. In 2021, "Rolling Stone" included "Don't Leave Me This Way" in their list of "500 Best Songs of All Time" at No. 355, while in 2022, the magazine ranked it No. 121 in their "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Houston's version of the song became an unofficial theme song for the AIDS epidemic in gay male communities of the west. American artist Nayland Blake created a work for the American Foundation of Aids Research about the epidemic that referenced the song and its significance in the community. An art exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia entitled "Don't Leave Me This Way – Art in the age of AIDS" opened in 1994 containing various works about the epidemic. A 246-page publication of the exhibition also followed.


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: In 1986, the song was covered by British duo the Communards (Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles) in a hi-NRG version. This recording topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in September 1986, becoming the best-selling single of the year in the United Kingdom. The featured guest vocalist was the female jazz singer Sarah Jane Morris. The song reached number 40 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and topped the "Billboard" dance chart. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 16th favorite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: The song also had a music video, which showed the band performing in an underground setting with many fans. This included a blond stoic young man as part of the crowd simply watching. In the video, it turns out that he was chased down and caught and forced to be an informant to secret police. Near the end of the video, he finally radios in to them, and at the end they turn spotlights on the band and the crowd, forcing them to scatter.


title: Don't Leave Me This Way

text: Several remixes were issued, notably the "Gotham City Mix" which was split across two sides of a 12-inch single and ran for a total of 22 minutes 55 seconds.


title: Dack Rambo

text: Norman Jay Rambo (November 13, 1941 – March 21, 1994), professionally known as Dack Rambo, was an American actor, widely known for his role as Walter Brennan's grandson Jeff in the series "The Guns of Will Sonnett", as Steve Jacobi in the soap opera "All My Children", as cousin Jack Ewing on "Dallas", and as Grant Harrison on the soap opera "Another World".


title: Dack Rambo

text: Norman Jay Rambo was born in Earlimart, California to William Lester and Beatrice A. Rambo (née Rossi). He was a middle child in a family of four children. His siblings were William Donald Rambo; identical twin Orman Ray "Dirk" Rambo and sister Beverly Jean Rambo. Beatrice Rambo outlived two of her three sons.


title: Dack Rambo

text: After moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s, the 20-year-old twins were discovered by actress Loretta Young in 1962 and cast in her CBS series "The New Loretta Young Show". On February 5, 1967, Dirk Rambo was killed in a road accident at the age of 25.


title: Dack Rambo

text: Later that same year, Dack Rambo landed the role of Jeff Sonnett on "The Guns of Will Sonnett" and co-starred in the short-lived "Gunsmoke" spin-off "Dirty Sally", with Jeanette Nolan. During the 1970s and 1980s, he made guest appearances on "Marcus Welby, M.D.", "House Calls", "Wonder Woman", "Charlie's Angels", "Fantasy Island", "The Love Boat", "Hotel" and "Murder, She Wrote". He played Steve Jacobi on "All My Children" in the early 1980s. He also acted the lead role in "Sword of Justice," which lasted for 10 installments in 1978–79. Rambo may be best remembered on television for playing Jack Ewing in 51 episodes of the soap opera "Dallas" from 1985 to 1987. Rambo also played Wesley Harper on the 1984 short-lived TV series soap opera "Paper Dolls".


title: Dack Rambo

text: Rambo promoted a line of men's underwear trademarked in 1987 as "Under Ware by dack rambo" [sic]. While working on "Another World", Rambo learned that he was infected with HIV in August 1991. He quit the series shortly thereafter and retired from acting. Rambo then made his HIV infection and his bisexuality public, revealing that he had been in relationships with both men and women since his 20s.


title: Dack Rambo

text: For most of his career, Dack Rambo was closeted about his bisexuality, only coming out when he mentioned that he was HIV positive. Also he never married and chose to remain a confirmed bachelor.


title: Moloko

text: Moloko () were an Irish-English electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of electronica and dance music, they are best known for their UK top 10 singles "The Time Is Now" (2000) and "Familiar Feeling" (2003), as well as the 1999 Boris Dlugosch remix of "Sing It Back" which became an international hit.


title: Moloko

text: Murphy had no prior professional singing experience when Moloko was formed, while Brydon had previously worked on music as a producer with musicians such as Boy George and Cabaret Voltaire on releases from the 1990s. In 1994, the two met at a party in Sheffield, where Murphy approached Brydon with the chat-up line, "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body!" Its first sentence became their début album's title, recorded while the pair had begun dating. The name Moloko comes from the narcotic-filled milk drink, Moloko Plus, in the Anthony Burgess novel "A Clockwork Orange", based on the Russian for milk, "молоко" ("moloko").


title: Moloko

text: The group signed to Echo Records and released their single "Where Is the What If the What Is in Why?" The group's debut album "Do You Like My Tight Sweater?" was released in 1995. The group toured with Pulp following the release.


title: Moloko

text: The single "Fun for Me" was featured prominently on the "Batman & Robin" soundtrack and received radio airplay and strong MTV rotation. It reached number four in the US Dance chart.


title: Moloko

text: After Moloko finished the tour, they built a home studio and recorded their second album, titled "I Am Not a Doctor", which was released in 1998 in the United Kingdom. Though the album was unsuccessful, reaching only number 64 in the UK Albums Chart, a Boris Dlugosch remix of "Sing It Back", the third single from the album that originally failed to reach the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, was a huge hit, reaching number four in the UK chart and number one in the US Dance Chart.


title: Moloko

text: Their third album "Things to Make and Do" was released in the year 2000 and reached number three in the UK Albums Chart. The first single, "The Time Is Now" was their biggest hit, charting at number two in the charts. They started touring as a full band along with percussionist Paul Slowly, keyboardist Eddie Stevens, and guitarist Dave Cooke.


title: Moloko

text: Their 2003 album "Statues" produced two hit singles, "Familiar Feeling", which reached number ten in the UK, and "Forever More", which reached number 17. Brydon and Murphy ended their romantic relationship just before they began work on the album and, following a tour, disbanded the group.


title: Moloko

text: Moloko's music has been described as alternative dance, dance-pop, experimental pop, dance-punk and electropop. Heather Phares of AllMusic described the sound of their debut album similar to that of Portishead and Massive Attack with elements of dance, funk, and trip hop, while noting the group had "a sense of humour and sass unique to Moloko."


title: Moloko

text: "All Back to the Mine" (2001) is a collection of 21 remixes (23 in Japan). "Vol. I" and "Vol. II" (2016) each contain 34 remixes, for a total of 68. Not all of the remixes on the 2001 version are included on the 2016 versions.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: The Legend of Bhagat Singh is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language biographical period film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film is about Bhagat Singh, a Freedom Fighter who fought for Indian independence along with fellow members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. It features Ajay Devgan as the titular character along with Sushant Singh, D. Santosh and Akhilendra Mishra as the other lead characters. Raj Babbar, Farida Jalal and Amrita Rao play supporting roles. The film chronicles Singh's life from his childhood where he witnesses the Jallianwala Bagh massacre until the day he was hanged to death — 23 March 1931.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: The film was produced by Kumar and Ramesh Taurani's Tips Industries on a budget of 200–250 million (about US$4.2–5.2 million in 2002). The story and dialogue were written by Santoshi and Piyush Mishra respectively, while Anjum Rajabali drafted the screenplay. K. V. Anand, V. N. Mayekar and Nitin Chandrakant Desai were in charge of the cinematography, editing and production design respectively. Principal photography took place in Agra, Manali, Mumbai and Pune from January to May 2002. The soundtrack and film score is composed by A. R. Rahman, and the songs "Mera Rang De Basanti" and "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" being well-received in particular.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" was released on 7 June 2002 to generally positive reviews, with the direction, story, screenplay, technical aspects and the performances of Devgan and Sushant receiving the most attention. However, the film underperformed at the box office, grossing only 129 million (US$2.7 million in 2002). It went on to win two National Film Awards – Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Actor for Devgn – and three Filmfare Awards from eight nominations.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September 1907, at Banga village of Lyallpur District in Punjab Province of British India. At the age of 12, Bhagat takes a solemn vow to free India from the British Raj after witnessing the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Soon after the massacre, he learns of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's satyagraha policies and begins to support the non-cooperation movement, in which thousands of people burn British-made clothing and abandon school, college studies, and government jobs. In February 1922, Gandhi calls off the movement after the Chauri Chaura incident. Feeling betrayed by Gandhi, Bhagat decides to become a revolutionary, and, as an adult, joins the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) in its struggle for India's independence, ending up in prison for his activities. Singh's father, Kishen, bails him out on a fee of ₹60,000 so that he can get him to run a dairy farm and marry a girl named Mannewali. Bhagat runs away from home, leaving a note saying that his love for the country comes first.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: When Lala Lajpat Rai is beaten (lathi charged) to death by the police while protesting against the Simon Commission, Bhagat, along with Shivram Hari Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar and Chandra Shekhar Azad, assassinate John P. Saunders (in mistaken for James A. Scott who ordered to beat Lalaji), a British police officer, on 17 December 1928. Later on in the year 1929, when the British propose the Trade Disputes and Public Safety Bills, Bhagat, along with Batukeshwar Dutt, initiate a bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly. He and Dutt throw the bombs on empty benches due to their intention to avoid causing casualties. They are subsequently arrested and tried publicly. Bhagat then gives a speech about his ideas of revolution, stating that he wanted to tell the world about the freedom fighters himself rather than let the British misrepresent them as violent people, citing this as the reason for bombing the assembly. Bhagat soon becomes more popular than Gandhi among the Indian populace, in particular the younger generation, laborers and farmers.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: In Lahore Central Jail, Bhagat and all of the other fellow prisoners, including Sukhdev and Rajguru, undertake a 116-day hunger strike to improve the conditions of Indian political prisoners. On the 63rd day, one of Bhagat's partners Jatin Das, dies in the police custody as he could not bear the hunger anymore. Meanwhile, Azad, whom the British had repeatedly failed to capture, is ambushed at the Alfred Park in Allahabad on 27 February 1931. The police surround the entire park leading to a shootout; refusing to be captured by the British, Azad commits suicide with the last remaining bullet in his Colt pistol.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Fearing the growing popularity of the hunger strike amongst the Indian public nationwide, Lord Irwin (the Viceroy of British India) orders the re-opening of the Saunders' murder case, which leads to capital death sentences being imposed on Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru. The Indians hope that Gandhi will use his pact with Irwin as an opportunity to save Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru's lives. Irwin refuses Gandhi's request for their release. Gandhi reluctantly agrees to sign a pact which includes the clause: "Release of political prisoners except for the ones involved in violence". Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru are hanged in secrecy on 23 March 1931.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: In 1998, the film director Rajkumar Santoshi read several books on the socialist revolutionary, Bhagat Singh, and felt that a biopic would help revive interest in him. Although Manoj Kumar made a film about Bhagat in 1965, titled "Shaheed", Santoshi felt that despite being "a great source of inspiration on the lyrics and music front", it did not "dwell on Bhagat Singh's ideology and vision". In August 2000, the screenwriter Anjum Rajabali mentioned to Santoshi about his work on Har Dayal, whose revolutionary activities inspired Udham Singh. Santoshi then persuaded Rajabali to draft a script based on Bhagat's life as he was inspired by Udham Singh.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Santoshi gave Rajabali a copy of "Shaheed Bhagat Singh", K. K. Khullar's biography of the revolutionary. Rajabali said that reading the book "created an intense curiosity in me about the mind of this man. I definitely wanted to know more about him." His interest in Bhagat intensified after he read "The Martyr: Bhagat Singh's Experiments in Revolution" (2000) by journalist Kuldip Nayar. The following month, Rajabali formally began his research on Bhagat while admitting to Santoshi that it was "a difficult task". Gurpal Singh, a Film and Television Institute of India graduate, and internet blogger Sagar Pandya assisted him. Santoshi received input from Kultar Singh, Bhagat's younger brother, who told the director he would have his full co-operation if the film accurately depicted Bhagat's ideologies.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Rajabali wanted to "recreate the world that Bhagat Singh lived in", and his research required him to "not only understand the man, but also the influences on him, the politics of that era". In an interview with Sharmila Taliculam of Rediff.com in the year 2000, Rajabali said that the film would "deal with Bhagat Singh, the man, rather than the freedom fighter". Many aspects of Bhagat's life, including his relationship with fiancée Mannewali, were derived from Piyush Mishra's 1994 play "Gagan Damama Bajyo"; Mishra was subsequently credited with writing the film's dialogues.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: A. G. Noorani's 1996 book, "The Trial of Bhagat Singh: Politics of Justice", provided the basis for the trial sequences. Gurpal obtained additional information from 750 newspaper clippings of "The Tribune" dated from September 1928 to March 1931, and from Bhagat's prison notebooks. These gave Rajabali "an idea of what had appealed to the man, the literary and intellectual influences that impacted him in that period". By the end of the year 2000, Santoshi and Rajabali completed work on the script and showed it to Kumar and Ramesh Taurani of Tips Industries; both were impressed by it. The Taurani brothers agreed to produce the film under their banner and commence filming after Santoshi had finished his work on "Lajja" (2001).


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Sunny Deol was initially cast as Bhagat, but he left the project owing to schedule conflicts and differences with Santoshi over his remuneration. Santoshi then preferred to cast new faces instead of established actors but was not pleased with the performers who auditioned. Ajay Devgn (then known as Ajay Devgan) was finally chosen for the lead character because Santoshi felt he had "the eyes of a revolutionary. His introvert nature conveys loud and clear signals that there is a volcano inside him ready to burst." After Devgn performed a screen test dressed as Bhagat, Santoshi was "pleasantly surprised" to see Devgn's face closely resemble Singh's and cast him in the part. "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" marked Devgn's second collaboration with Santoshi after "Lajja". Devgn called the film "the most challenging assignment" in his career. He had not watched "Shaheed" before signing up for the project. To prepare for the role, Devgn studied all the references Santoshi and Rajabali had procured to develop the film's script. He also lost weight to more closely resemble Bhagat.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Santoshi chose Akhilendra Mishra to play Azad as he also resembled his character. In addition to reading Shiv Verma's "Sansmritiyan", Mishra read Bhagwan Das Mahore's and Sadashiv Rao Malkapurkar's accounts of the revolutionary. Because of his astrological beliefs, he even obtained Azad's horoscope to determine his personality. In an interview with Rediff.com's Lata Khubchandani, Mishra mentioned that while informing his father about his role of Azad, he revealed to him that they originally hailed from Kanpur, the same place where Azad's ancestors were from. This piece of information encouraged Mishra to play Azad.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Sushant Singh and D. Santosh (in his cinematic debut) were cast as Bhagat's friends and fellow members of the Hindustan Republican Association, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru. Santoshi believed their faces resembled those of the two revolutionaries. To learn about their characters, Sushant, like Mishra, read "Sansmritiyan" while Santosh visited Rajguru's family members. The actors were also chosen according to their characters' backgrounds. This was true in the case of Santosh and also Amitabh Bhattacharjee, who played Jatin Das, the man who devised the bomb for Bhagat and Batukeshwar Dutt. Santosh and Bhattacharjee were from Maharashtra and West Bengal like Rajguru and Das. Raj Babbar and Farida Jalal were cast as Bhagat's parents, Kishen Singh and Vidyawati Kaur, while Amrita Rao played Mannewali, Bhagat's fiancée.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Principal photography began in January 2002 and was completed in May. The first schedule of filming took place in Agra and Manali following which the unit moved to the Film City studio in Mumbai. According to the film's cinematographer, K. V. Anand, around 85 sets were constructed at Film City by Nitin Chandrakant Desai who was in charge of the production design, and "99 percent of the background" featured in the film was sets. Desai used sepia tint throughout the film to create a period feel.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Additional scenes depicting the massacre of 1919 were filmed at a set constructed to look like the Bagh as it was 83 years ago; some of them were shot between 9 pm and 6 am. The scenes at the Bagh set and other surrounding locations of Amritsar at the beginning of the film feature Nakshdeep Singh as the younger Bhagat. Santoshi selected Nakshdeep after receiving photographs of the boy from his father, Komal Singh, who played Mannewali's father.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Kultar stayed with the production unit for seven days during the outdoor location shooting in Pune. Both Santoshi and Devgn appreciated the interactions they had with Kultar, noting that he provided "deep insights into his brother's life". Kultar was pleased with the sincerity of the cast and crew and shared private letters written by Bhagat with them. The song "Pagdi Sambhal Jatta" was the last part to be filmed. A sequence in the song featuring Devgn appearing between two factions of backup Bhangra dancers took three takes to be completed. "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" was made on a budget of 200 – 250 million (about US$4.15 – 5.18 million in 2002).


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: A. R. Rahman composed the soundtrack and score for "The Legend of Bhagat Singh", marking his first collaboration with Santoshi. Sameer wrote the lyrics for the songs. In an interview with Arthur J. Pais of Rediff.com, Rahman said that Santoshi wanted him to compose songs that would stand apart from his other projects like "Lagaan" (2001) and "Zubeidaa" (2001). Rahman took care to compose the tunes for "Mera Rang De Basanti" in a slow-paced manner to avoid comparisons with the songs in "Shaheed", which he and Santoshi found to be fast-paced. Rahman followed the same procedure for "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna". He created a softer tune, saying that the "song is pictured on men who have fasted for over a month. How can I compose a high-sounding tune for that song?" Despite this, Rahman admitted that "Des Mere Des" had "some strains" from "Lagaan"s music. Rahman took "Santoshi's commitment to the film" as a source of inspiration to make an album that was " and different." Rahman experimented with Punjabi music more than he had done before on his previous soundtracks, receiving assistance from Sukhwinder Singh and Sonu Nigam. The soundtrack was completed within two months, with "Des Mere Des" recorded in an hour.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: The soundtrack, marketed by Tips, was released on 8 May 2002 in New Delhi. The songs, especially "Mera Rang De Basanti" and "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna", received favourable reviews. A review carried by "The Hindu" said that while "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" had a "forceful" impact, "Mera Rang De Basanti" and "Pagdi Sambhal Jatta" were "not the boom-boom types but subtly tuned". The review praised Rahman's ability "to impart the sombre and poignant mood" in all the album's songs "so well that despite being subdued, it retains the patriotic fervour". Seema Pant of Rediff.com said that "Mera Rang De Basanti" and "Mahive Mahive" were "well rendered" by their respective singers and called "Sura So Pahchaniye" an "intense track, both lyrically as well as composition wise". Pant praised Sukhwinder Singh's "exquisite rendition" of "Pagdi Sambhal Jatta" and described the duet version of "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" as having "been beautifully composed". She appreciated how the ""tabla", "santoor" and flute gives this slow and soft number a classical touch." A critic from Sify said the music is "good". While Pant and the Sify reviewer concurred with Rahman that "Des Mere Des" was similar to "Lagaan"s music, the review in "The Hindu" compared the song to "Bharat Hum Ko Jaan Se Pyaara Hain" ("Thamizha Thamizha") from "Roja" (1992).


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" was released on 7 June 2002 coinciding with the release of Sanjay Gadhvi's romance, "Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai", and another film based on Bhagat, "", which featured Bobby Deol as the revolutionary.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: A week before the film's release, Article 51 A Forum, a non-governmental organisation in Delhi, believed "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" to be historically inaccurate, criticising the inclusion of Mannewali as Bhagat's widow, and stating the films were made "without any research or devotion" and the filmmakers were just looking at the box-office prospects to "make spicy films based on imaginary episodes". Kumar Taurani defended his film saying that he did not add Rao "for ornamental value", noting he would have opted for an established actress instead if that were the case. A press statement issued by Tips Industries said: "This girl from Manawali village loved Bhagat Singh so totally that she remained unmarried till death and was known as Bhagat Singh's widow." The chief operating officer of Tips Industries, Raju Hingorani, pointed out that Kultar had authenticated the film, stating: "With his backing, why must we be afraid of other allegations?"


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: On 29 May 2002, a 14-page petition was filed by Paramjit Kaur, the daughter of Bhagat's youngest brother, Rajinder Singh, at the Punjab and Haryana High Court to stay the release of both "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" and "23rd March 1931: Shaheed", alleging that they "contained distorted versions" of the freedom fighter's life. Kaur's lawyer, Sandeep Bhansal, argued that Bhagat singing a duet with Mannewali and wearing garlands were "untrue and amounted to distortion of historical facts". Two days later, the petition came up for hearing before the Judges Justice J. L. Gupta and Justice Narinder Kumar Sud; both refused to stay the films' release, observing that the petition was moved "too late and it would not be proper to stop the screening of the films".


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" received generally positive critical feedback, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, cinematography, production design and the performances of Devgn and Sushant. Chitra Mahesh praised Santoshi's direction, noting in her review for "The Hindu" that he "shows some restraint in handling the narrative". She appreciated the film's technical aspects and Devgn's rendition, calling his interpretation of Bhagat "powerful, without being strident". Writing for "The Times of India", Dominic Ferrao commended Devgn, Sushant, Babbar and Mishra, saying that they all come "off with flying colours". A review carried by Sify labelled the film "slick and commendable"; it also termed Devgn's portrayal of Bhagat as "fabulous" but felt he "overrides" the character and that "the supporting characters make more impact than him."


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: In a comparative analysis of "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" with "23rd March 1931: Shaheed", Ziya-Us-Salam of "The Hindu" found the former to be a better film because of the "clearly etched out" supporting characters, while opining Devgn was more "restrained and credible" than Bobby Deol. Salam admired Sushant's performance, opining that he has "a fine screen presence, good timing and an ability to hold his own in front of more celebrated actors". In a more mixed comparison, Rediff.com's Amberish K. Diwanji, despite finding "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" and Devgn to be the better film and actor like Salam, criticised the "constant shouting and mouthing of dialogues". He responded negatively to the inclusion of Bhagat's fiancée, pointing out the film took liberties in using this "slim" piece of information "just to have a girl sing." Diwanji, however, commended the narrative structure of "The Legend of Bhagat Singh", saying that the film captured the revolutionary's life and journey well, thereby making it "worth watching and give[ing] it relevant historical background."


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Among overseas reviewers, Dave Kehr of "The New York Times" complimented the placement of the film's song sequences, especially that of "Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna" and "Mere Rang De Basanti". Kehr called Devgn's interpretation of Bhagat "glowering" while praising Sushant's "urbane and unpredictable" rendition of Sukhdev. Although "Variety"s Derek Elley found "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" to be "drawn with more warmth" and approved of Devgn's and Sushant's performances, he was not pleased with the "choppy" screenplay in the film's first half. He concluded his review by saying that the film "has a stronger lead [thespian] and richer gallery of characters that triumph over often unsubtle direction".


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Some of the criticism was also directed towards the treatment of Gandhi. Mahesh notes that he "appears in rather poor light" and was depicted as making "little effort" to secure a pardon for Bhagat, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Diwanji concurs with Mahesh while also saying that the Gandhi–Irwin Pact as seen in the film would make the audience think that Gandhi "condemned the trio to be hanged by inking the agreement" while pointing out the agreement itself "had a different history and context." Kehr believed the film's depiction of Gandhi was its "most interesting aspect". He described Surendra Rajan's version of Gandhi as "a faintly ridiculous poseur, whose policies play directly into the hands of the British" and in that aspect, he was very different from "the serene sage" portrayed by Ben Kingsley in Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" (1982). Like Diwanji, Elley also notes how the film denounces Gandhi by blaming him "for not trying very hard" to prevent Bhagat's execution.


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" had an average opening in its first week, grossing 57.1 million (US$1.18 million in 2002) worldwide, with 33 million (US$684,221 in 2002) in India alone. The film failed to cover its budget thus underperforming at the box office, collecting only 129.35 million (US$2.68 million in 2002) by the end of its theatrical run. Shubhra Gupta of "Business Line" attributed the film's commercial failure to its release on the same day as "23rd March 1931: Shaheed", opining that "the two Bhagats ate into each other's business".


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: At the 50th National Film Awards, "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" won the Best Feature Film in Hindi and Devgn received the Best Actor award. The film received three nominations at the 48th Filmfare Awards and won three—Best Background Score (Rahman), Best Film (Critics) (Kumar Taurani, Ramesh Taurani) and Best Actor (Critics) (Devgn).


title: The Legend of Bhagat Singh

text: Since its release, "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" has been considered one of Santoshi's best works. Devgan said in December 2014 that "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" along with "Zakhm" (1998) were the best films he ever worked on in his career. He also revealed he had not seen such a good script since. In 2016, the film was included in "Hindustan Times"s list of "Bollywood's Top 5 Biopics". "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" was added in both the "SpotBoyE" and "The Free Press Journal" lists of Bollywood films that can be watched to celebrate India's Independence Day in 2018. The following year, "Daily News and Analysis" and Zee News also listed it among the films to watch on Republic Day.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: In the philosophy of space and time, eternalism is an approach to the ontological nature of time, which takes the view that all existence in time is equally "real", as opposed to presentism or the growing block universe theory of time, in which at least the future is not the same as any other time. Some forms of eternalism give time a similar ontology to that of space, as a dimension, with different times being as real as different places, and future events are "already there" in the same sense other places are already there, and that there is no objective flow of time.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: It is sometimes referred to as the "block time" or "block universe" theory due to its description of space-time as an unchanging four-dimensional "block", as opposed to the view of the world as a three-dimensional space modulated by the passage of time.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: In classical philosophy, time is divided into three distinct regions: the "past", the "present", and the "future". Using that representational model, the past is generally seen as being immutably fixed, and the future as at least partly undefined. As time passes, the moment that was once the present becomes part of the past; and part of the future, in turn, becomes the new present. In this way time is said to pass, with a distinct present moment "moving" forward into the future and leaving the past behind. Within this intuitive understanding of time is the philosophy of presentism, which argues that only the present exists. It does not travel forward through an environment of time, moving from a real point in the past and toward a real point in the future. Instead, the present simply changes. The past and future do not exist and are only concepts used to describe the real, isolated, and changing present. This conventional model presents a number of difficult philosophical problems, and seems difficult to reconcile with currently accepted scientific theories such as the theory of relativity.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Special relativity eliminates the concept of absolute simultaneity and a universal present: according to the relativity of simultaneity, observers in different frames of reference can have different measurements of whether a given pair of events happened at the same time or at different times, with there being no physical basis for preferring one frame's judgments over another's. However, there are events that may be non-simultaneous in all frames of reference: when one event is within the light cone of another—its causal past or causal future—then observers in all frames of reference show that one event preceded the other. The causal past and causal future are consistent within all frames of reference, but any other time is "elsewhere", and within it there is no present, past, or future. There is no physical basis for a set of events that represents the present.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Many philosophers have argued that relativity implies eternalism. Philosopher of science Dean Rickles disagrees in some sense, but notes that "the consensus among philosophers seems to be that special and general relativity are incompatible with presentism." Christian Wüthrich argues that supporters of presentism can only salvage absolute simultaneity if they reject either empiricism or relativity. Such arguments are raised by Dean Zimmerman and others, in favor of a single privileged frame whose judgments about length, time and simultaneity are the "true" ones, even if there is no empirical way to distinguish this frame.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Arguments for and against an independent flow of time have been raised since antiquity, represented by fatalism, reductionism, and Platonism: Classical fatalism argues that every proposition about the future exists, and it is either true or false, hence there is a set of every true proposition about the future, which means these propositions describe the future exactly as it is, and this future is true and unavoidable. Fatalism is challenged by positing that there are propositions that are neither true nor false, for example they may be indeterminate. Reductionism questions whether time can exist independently of the relation between events, and Platonism argues that time is absolute, and it exists independently of the events that occupy it.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Earlier, pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Parmenides of Elea had posited that existence is timeless and change is impossible (an idea popularized by his disciple Zeno of Elea and his paradoxes about motion).


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: The philosopher Katherin A. Rogers argued that Anselm of Canterbury took an eternalist view of time, although the philosopher Brian Leftow argued against this interpretation, suggesting that Anselm instead advocated a type of presentism. Rogers responded to this paper, defending her original interpretation. Rogers also discusses this issue in her book "Anselm on Freedom", using the term "four-dimensionalism" rather than "eternalism" for the view that "the present moment is not ontologically privileged", and commenting that "Boethius and Augustine do sometimes sound rather four-dimensionalist, but Anselm is apparently the first consistently and explicitly to embrace the position." Taneli Kukkonen argues in the "Oxford Handbook of Medieval Philosophy" that "what Augustine's and Anselm's mix of eternalist and presentist, tenseless and tensed language tells is that medieval philosophers saw no need to choose sides" the way modern philosophers do.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Augustine of Hippo wrote that God is outside of time—that time exists only within the created universe. Thomas Aquinas took the same view, and many theologians agree. On this view, God would perceive something like a block universe, while time might appear differently to the finite beings contained within it.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: One of the most famous arguments about the nature of time in modern philosophy is presented in "The Unreality of Time" by J. M. E. McTaggart. It argues that time is an illusion. McTaggart argued that the description of events as existing in absolute time is self-contradictory, because the events have to have properties about being in the past and in the future, which are incompatible with each other. McTaggart viewed this as a contradiction in the concept of time itself, and concluded that reality is non-temporal. He called this concept the B-theory of time.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Dirck Vorenkamp, a professor of religious studies, argued in his paper "B-Series Temporal Order in Dogen's Theory of Time" that the Zen Buddhist teacher Dōgen presented views on time that contained all the main elements of McTaggart's B-series view of time (which denies any objective present), although he noted that some of Dōgen's reasoning also contained A-Series notions, which Vorenkamp argued may indicate some inconsistency in Dōgen's thinking.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: A. Halliday has attempted to rationalise time by arguing that it is finite. This was founded on the thought that, if an entity has, or is assigned, parts then those parts must be finite. Assembling finite parts must result in a finite whole. Therefore, it follows that past, present and future are finite. It then follows that, as they also form a whole, then the whole of time is finite.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: In the simplest case, if time is finite then it is limited. Time is thought of as existing inside of space. If there cannot be a gap between the edge of time and the limits of space, then time fills all of space, ensuring change everywhere. Therefore, time cannot flow if flow demands movement from one point to another?


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Some philosophers appeal to a specific theory that is "timeless" in a more radical sense than the rest of physics, the theory of quantum gravity. This theory is used, for instance, in Julian Barbour's theory of timelessness. On the other hand, George Ellis argues that time is absent in cosmological theories because of the details they leave out.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Recently, Hrvoje Nikolić has argued that a block time model solves the black hole information paradox.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Philosophers such as John Lucas argue that "The Block universe gives a deeply inadequate view of time. It fails to account for the passage of time, the pre-eminence of the present, the directedness of time and the difference between the future and the past." Similarly, Karl Popper argued in his discussion with Albert Einstein against determinism and eternalism from a common-sense standpoint.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: A flow-of-time theory with a strictly deterministic future, which nonetheless does not exist in the same sense as the present, would not satisfy common-sense intuitions about time. Some have argued that common-sense flow-of-time theories can be compatible with eternalism, for example John G. Cramer’s transactional interpretation. Kastner (2010) "proposed that in order to preserve the elegance and economy of the interpretation, it may be necessary to consider offer and confirmation waves as propagating in a “higher space” of possibilities.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: In "Time Reborn", Lee Smolin argues that time is physically fundamental, in contrast to Einstein's view that time is an illusion. Smolin hypothesizes that the laws of physics are not fixed, but rather evolve over time via a form of cosmological natural selection. In "The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time", co-authored with philosopher Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Smolin goes into more detail on his views on the physical passage of time. In contrast to the orthodox block universe view, Smolin argues that what instead exists is a "thick present" in which two events in the present can be causally related to each other. Marina Cortês and Lee Smolin also argue that certain classes of discrete dynamical systems demonstrate time asymmetry and irreversibility, which is inconsistent with the block universe interpretation of time.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Avshalom Elitzur vehemently rejects the block universe interpretation of time. At the Time in Cosmology conference, held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2016, Elitzur said: "I’m sick and tired of this block universe, ... I don’t think that next Thursday has the same footing as this Thursday. The future does not exist. It does not! Ontologically, it’s not there." Elitzur and Shahar Dolev argue that quantum mechanical experiments such as the Quantum Liar and the evaporation of black holes challenge the mainstream block universe model, and support the existence of an objective passage of time. Elitzur and Dolev believe that an objective passage of time and relativity can be reconciled, and that it would resolve many of the issues with the block universe and the conflict between relativity and quantum mechanics. Additionally, Elitzur and Dolev believe that certain quantum mechanical experiments provide evidence of apparently inconsistent histories, and that spacetime itself may therefore be subject to change affecting entire histories.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Amrit Sorli and Davide Fiscaletti, founders of the Space Life Institute in Slovenia, argue that time exists independently of space, and that time dilation and length contraction can be better described within the framework of a 3D space, with time as the quantity used to measure change. Sorli and Fiscaletti argue that Minkowski spacetime, and the understanding of time as the fourth dimension, lacks any experimental support. They argue that time dilation experiments, such as demonstrating that clocks run slower in high-speed airplanes, support special relativity and time dilation, but not necessarily Minkowski spacetime or length contraction.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Ideas related to Eternalism are described in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, "Slaughterhouse-Five". In the context of the novel, the Tralfamadorians are an alien species, members of which experience every point in time simultaneously. A character at one point argues that since all moments exist simultaneously, everyone is always alive-- a claim which implies Eternalism. The protagonist of the story, Billy Pilgrim, additionally lives his life out of sequence. It is stated that each moment of his life exists independent of the others, which is a clause of Eternalism.


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: Eternalism is also indirectly referenced in the comic book series "Watchmen" by Alan Moore. At one point, the character Dr. Manhattan describes how he perceives time in a manner which is consistent with Eternalism. He states that, from his perspective, the past, present, and future occur simultaneously. This is evidenced when he speaks about past or future events in the present tense, which is a frequent occurrence. His last line in the series is, "Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."


title: Eternalism (philosophy of time)

text: The science fiction novel "The Number of the Beast", by Robert A. Heinlein, explores concepts related to Block Time. One protagonist, the mathematician Dr. Jacob Burroughs, invents a device which navigates through time as one scalar dimension in a six-dimensional universe. The novel unfolds across a variety of parallel worlds. Along with block time, it is implied that there exists a block plenum of innumerable alternate universes, with each being separated by one quantum step along an axis of space-time.


title: Saw

text: A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and moving it forcefully forth and less vigorously back or continuously forward. This force may be applied by hand, or powered by steam, water, electricity or other power source. An abrasive saw has a powered circular blade designed to cut through metal or ceramic.


title: Saw

text: In ancient Egypt, open (unframed) saws made of copper are documented as early as the Early Dynastic Period, circa 3,100–2,686 BC. Many copper saws were found in tomb No. 3471 dating to the reign of Djer in the 31st century BC. Saws have been used for cutting a variety of materials, including humans (death by sawing). Models of saws have been found in many contexts throughout Egyptian history. Particularly useful are tomb wall illustrations of carpenters at work that show sizes and the use of different types. Egyptian saws were at first serrated, hardened copper which cut on both pull and push strokes. As the saw developed, teeth were raked to cut only on the pull stroke and set with the teeth projecting only on one side, rather than in the modern fashion with an alternating set. Saws were also made of bronze and later iron. In the Iron Age, frame saws were developed holding the thin blades in tension. The earliest known sawmill is the Roman Hierapolis sawmill from the third century AD and was for sawing stone.


title: Saw

text: According to Chinese legend, the saw was invented by Lu Ban. In Greek mythology, as recounted by Ovid, Talos, the nephew of Daedalus, invented the saw. In archeological reality, saws date back to prehistory and most probably evolved from Neolithic stone or bone tools. "[T]he identities of the axe, adz, chisel, and saw were clearly established more than 4,000 years ago."


title: Saw

text: Once mankind had learned how to use iron, it became the preferred material for saw blades of all kinds; some cultures learned how to harden the surface ("case hardening" or "steeling"), prolonging the blade's life and sharpness.


title: Saw

text: Steel, made of iron with moderate carbon content and hardened by quenching hot steel in water, was used as early as 1200 BC. By the end of the 17th century European manufacture centred on Germany, (the Bergisches Land) in London, and the Midlands of England. Most blades were made of steel (iron carbonised and re-forged by different methods). In the mid 18th century a superior form of completely melted steel ("crucible cast") began to be made in Sheffield, England, and this rapidly became the preferred material, due to its hardness, ductility, springiness and ability to take a fine polish. A small saw industry survived in London and Birmingham, but by the 1820s the industry was growing rapidly and increasingly concentrated in Sheffield, which remained the largest centre of production, with over 50% of the nation's saw makers. The US industry began to overtake it in the last decades of the century, due to superior mechanisation, better marketing, a large domestic market, and the imposition of high tariffs on imports. Highly productive industries continued in Germany and France.


title: Saw

text: Early European saws were made from a heated sheet of iron or steel, produced by flattening by several men simultaneously hammering on an anvil. After cooling, the teeth were punched out one at a time with a die, the size varying with the size of the saw. The teeth were sharpened with a triangular file of appropriate size, and set with a hammer or a wrest. By the mid 18th century rolling the metal was usual, the power for the rolls being supplied first by water, and increasingly by the early 19th century by steam engines. The industry gradually mechanized all the processes, including the important grinding the saw plate "thin to the back" by a fraction of an inch, which helped the saw to pass through the kerf without binding. The use of steel added the need to harden and temper the saw plate, to grind it flat, to smith it by hand hammering and ensure the springiness and resistance to bending deformity, and finally to polish it. Most hand saws are today entirely made without human intervention, with the steel plate supplied ready rolled to thickness and tensioned before being cut to shape by laser. The teeth are shaped and sharpened by grinding and are flame hardened to obviate (and actually prevent) sharpening once they have become blunt. A large measure of hand finishing remains to this day for quality saws by the very few specialist makers reproducing the 19th century designs.


title: Saw

text: A pit saw was a two-man ripsaw. In parts of early colonial North America, it was one of the principal tools used in shipyards and other industries where water-powered sawmills were not available. It was so-named because it was typically operated over a saw pit, either at ground level or on trestles across which logs that were to be cut into boards. The pit saw was "a strong steel cutting-plate, of great breadth, with large teeth, highly polished and thoroughly wrought, some eight or ten feet in length" with either a handle on each end or a frame saw. A pit-saw was also sometimes known as a whipsaw. It took 2-4 people to operate. A "pit-man" stood in the pit, a "top-man" stood outside the pit, and they worked together to make cuts, guide the saw, and raise it. Pit-saw workers were among the most highly paid laborers in early colonial North America.


title: Saw

text: Hand saws typically have a relatively thick blade to make them stiff enough to cut through material. (The pull stroke also reduces the amount of stiffness required.) Thin-bladed handsaws are made stiff enough either by holding them in tension in a frame, or by backing them with a folded strip of steel (formerly iron) or brass (on account of which the latter are called "back saws.") Some examples of hand saws are:


title: Saw

text: "Back saws" which have a thin blade backed with steel or brass to maintain rigidity, are a subset of hand saws. Back saws have different names depending on the length of the blade; "tenon saw" (from use in making mortise and tenon joints) is often used as a generic name for all the sizes of woodworking backsaw. Some examples are:


title: Saw

text: A class of saws for cutting all types of material; they may be small or large and the frame may be wood or metal.


title: Saw

text: Most blade teeth are made either of tool steel or carbide. Carbide is harder and holds a sharp edge much longer.


title: Saw

text: Plainsawing: Lumber that will be used in structures is typically plainsawn (also called flatsawn), a method of dividing the log that produces the maximum yield of useful pieces and therefore the greatest economy.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The Watt steam engine design became synonymous with steam engines, and it was many years before significantly new designs began to replace the basic Watt design.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The first steam engines, introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, were of the "atmospheric" design. At the end of the power stroke, the weight of the object being moved by the engine pulled the piston to the top of the cylinder as steam was introduced. Then the cylinder was cooled by a spray of water, which caused the steam to condense, forming a partial vacuum in the cylinder. Atmospheric pressure on the top of the piston pushed it down, lifting the work object. James Watt noticed that it required significant amounts of heat to warm the cylinder back up to the point where steam could enter the cylinder without immediately condensing. When the cylinder was warm enough that it became filled with steam the next power stroke could commence.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Watt realised that the heat needed to warm the cylinder could be saved by adding a separate condensing cylinder. After the power cylinder was filled with steam, a valve was opened to the secondary cylinder, allowing the steam to flow into it and be condensed, which drew the steam from the main cylinder causing the power stroke. The condensing cylinder was water cooled to keep the steam condensing. At the end of the power stroke, the valve was closed so the power cylinder could be filled with steam as the piston moved to the top. The result was the same cycle as Newcomen's design, but without any cooling of the power cylinder which was immediately ready for another stroke.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Watt worked on the design over a period of several years, introducing the condenser, and introducing improvements to practically every part of the design. Notably, Watt performed a lengthy series of trials on ways to seal the piston in the cylinder, which considerably reduced leakage during the power stroke, preventing power loss. All of these changes produced a more reliable design which used half as much coal to produce the same amount of power.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The new design was introduced commercially in 1776, with the first example sold to the Carron Company ironworks. Watt continued working to improve the engine, and in 1781 introduced a system using a sun and planet gear to turn the linear motion of the engines into rotary motion. This made it useful not only in the original pumping role, but also as a direct replacement in roles where a water wheel would have been used previously. This was a key moment in the industrial revolution, since power sources could now be located anywhere instead of, as previously, needing a suitable water source and topography. Watt's partner Matthew Boulton began developing a multitude of machines that made use of this rotary power, developing the first modern industrialized factory, the Soho Foundry, which in turn produced new steam engine designs. Watt's early engines were like the original Newcomen designs in that they used low-pressure steam, and all of the power was produced by atmospheric pressure. When, in the early 1800s, other companies introduced high-pressure steam engines, Watt was reluctant to follow suit due to safety concerns. Wanting to improve on the performance of his engines, Watt began considering the use of higher-pressure steam, as well as designs using multiple cylinders in both the double-acting concept and the multiple-expansion concept. These double-acting engines required the invention of the parallel motion, which allowed the piston rods of the individual cylinders to move in straight lines, keeping the piston true in the cylinder, while the walking beam end moved through an arc, somewhat analogous to a crosshead in later steam engines.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In 1698, the English mechanical designer Thomas Savery invented a pumping appliance that used steam to draw water directly from a well by means of a vacuum created by condensing steam. The appliance was also proposed for draining mines, but it could only draw fluid up approximately 25 feet, meaning it had to be located within this distance of the mine floor being drained. As mines became deeper, this was often impractical. It also consumed a large amount of fuel compared with later engines.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The solution to draining deep mines was found by Thomas Newcomen who developed an "atmospheric" engine that also worked on the vacuum principle. It employed a cylinder containing a movable piston connected by a chain to one end of a rocking beam that worked a mechanical lift pump from its opposite end. At the bottom of each stroke, steam was allowed to enter the cylinder below the piston. As the piston rose within the cylinder, drawn upward by a counterbalance, it drew in steam at atmospheric pressure. At the top of the stroke the steam valve was closed, and cold water was briefly injected into the cylinder as a means of cooling the steam. This water condensed the steam and created a partial vacuum below the piston. The atmospheric pressure outside the engine was then greater than the pressure within the cylinder, thereby pushing the piston into the cylinder. The piston, attached to a chain and in turn attached to one end of the "rocking beam", pulled down the end of the beam, lifting the opposite end of the beam. Hence, the pump deep in the mine attached to opposite end of the beam via ropes and chains was driven. The pump pushed, rather than pulled the column of water upward, hence it could lift water any distance. Once the piston was at the bottom, the cycle repeated.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The Newcomen engine was more powerful than the Savery engine. For the first time water could be raised from a depth of over . The first example from 1712 was able to replace a team of 500 horses that had been used to pump out the mine. Seventy-five Newcomen pumping engines were installed at mines in Britain, France, Holland, Sweden and Russia. In the next fifty years only a few small changes were made to the engine design. It was a great advancement.


title: Watt steam engine

text: While Newcomen engines brought practical benefits, they were inefficient in terms of the use of energy to power them. The system of alternately sending jets of steam, then cold water into the cylinder meant that the walls of the cylinder were alternately heated, then cooled with each stroke. Each charge of steam introduced would continue condensing until the cylinder approached working temperature once again. So at each stroke part of the potential of the steam was lost.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In 1763, James Watt was working as instrument maker at the University of Glasgow when he was assigned the job of repairing a model Newcomen engine and noted how inefficient it was.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In 1765, Watt conceived the idea of equipping the engine with a separate condensation chamber, which he called a "condenser". Because the condenser and the working cylinder were separate, condensation occurred without significant loss of heat from the cylinder. The condenser remained cold and below atmospheric pressure at all times, while the cylinder remained hot at all times.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Steam was drawn from the boiler to the cylinder under the piston. When the piston reached the top of the cylinder, the steam inlet valve closed and the valve controlling the passage to the condenser opened. The condenser being at a lower pressure, drew the steam from the cylinder into the condenser where it cooled and condensed from water vapor to liquid water, maintaining a partial vacuum in the condenser that was communicated to the space of the cylinder by the connecting passage. External atmospheric pressure then pushed the piston down the cylinder.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The separation of the cylinder and condenser eliminated the loss of heat that occurred when steam was condensed in the working cylinder of a Newcomen engine. This gave the Watt engine greater efficiency than the Newcomen engine, reducing the amount of coal consumed while doing the same amount of work as a Newcomen engine.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In Watt's design, the cold water was injected only into the condensation chamber. This type of condenser is known as a "jet condenser". The condenser is located in a cold water bath below the cylinder. The volume of water entering the condenser as spray absorbed the latent heat of the steam, and was determined as seven times the volume of the condensed steam. The condensate and the injected water was then removed by the air pump, and the surrounding cold water served to absorb the remaining thermal energy to retain a condenser temperature of 30 °C to 45 °C and the equivalent pressure of 0.04 to 0.1 bar


title: Watt steam engine

text: At each stroke the warm condensate was drawn off from the condenser and sent to a hot well by a vacuum pump, which also helped to evacuate the steam from under the power cylinder. The still-warm condensate was recycled as feedwater for the boiler.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Watt's next improvement to the Newcomen design was to seal the top of the cylinder and surround the cylinder with a jacket. Steam was passed through the jacket before being admitted below the piston, keeping the piston and cylinder warm to prevent condensation within it. The second improvement was the utilisation of steam expansion against the vacuum on the other side of the piston. The steam supply was cut during the stroke, and the steam expanded against the vacuum on the other side. This increased the efficiency of the engine, but also created a variable torque on the shaft which was undesirable for many applications, in particular pumping. Watt therefore limited the expansion to a ratio of 1:2 (i.e. the steam supply was cut at half stroke). This increased the theoretical efficiency from 6.4% to 10.6%, with only a small variation in piston pressure. Watt did not use high pressure steam because of safety concerns.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The separate condenser showed dramatic potential for improvements on the Newcomen engine but Watt was still discouraged by seemingly insurmountable problems before a marketable engine could be perfected. It was only after entering into partnership with Matthew Boulton that such became reality. Watt told Boulton about his ideas on improving the engine, and Boulton, an avid entrepreneur, agreed to fund development of a test engine at Soho, near Birmingham. At last Watt had access to facilities and the practical experience of craftsmen who were soon able to get the first engine working. As fully developed, it used about 75% less fuel than a similar Newcomen one.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In 1775, Watt designed two large engines: one for the Bloomfield Colliery at Tipton, completed in March 1776, and one for John Wilkinson's ironworks at Broseley in Shropshire, which was at work the following month. A third engine, at Stratford-le-Bow in east London, was also working that summer.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Watt had tried unsuccessfully for several years to obtain an accurately bored cylinder for his steam engines, and was forced to use hammered iron, which was out of round and caused leakage past the piston. Joseph Wickham Roe stated in 1916: "When [John] Smeaton saw the first engine he reported to the Society of Engineers that 'Neither the tools nor the workmen existed who could manufacture such a complex machine with sufficient precision.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In 1774, John Wilkinson invented a boring machine in which the shaft that held the cutting tool was supported on both ends and extended through the cylinder, unlike the cantilevered borers then in use. Boulton wrote in 1776 that "Mr. Wilkinson has bored us several cylinders almost without error; that of 50 inches diameter, which we have put up at Tipton, does not err on the thickness of an old shilling in any part".


title: Watt steam engine

text: Boulton and Watt's practice was to help mine-owners and other customers to build engines, supplying men to erect them and some specialised parts. However, their main profit from their patent was derived from charging a licence fee to the engine owners, based on the cost of the fuel they saved. The greater fuel efficiency of their engines meant that they were most attractive in areas where fuel was expensive, particularly Cornwall, for which three engines were ordered in 1777, for the Wheal Busy, Ting Tang, and Chacewater mines.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The first Watt engines were atmospheric pressure engines, like the Newcomen engine but with the condensation taking place separate from the cylinder. Driving the engines using both low pressure steam and a partial vacuum raised the possibility of reciprocating engine development. An arrangement of valves could alternately admit low pressure steam to the cylinder and then connect with the condenser. Consequently, the direction of the power stroke might be reversed, making it easier to obtain rotary motion. Additional benefits of the double acting engine were increased efficiency, higher speed (greater power) and more regular motion.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Before the development of the double acting piston, the linkage to the beam and the piston rod had been by means of a chain, which meant that power could only be applied in one direction, by pulling. This was effective in engines that were used for pumping water, but the double action of the piston meant that it could push as well as pull. This was not possible as long as the beam and the rod were connected by a chain. Furthermore, it was not possible to connect the piston rod of the sealed cylinder "directly" to the beam, because while the rod moved vertically in a straight line, the beam was pivoted at its centre, with each side inscribing an arc. To bridge the conflicting actions of the beam and the piston, Watt developed his parallel motion. This device used a four bar linkage coupled with a pantograph to produce the required straight line motion much more cheaply than if he had used a slider type of linkage. He was very proud of his solution.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Having the beam connected to the piston shaft by a means that applied force alternately in both directions also meant that it was possible to use the motion of the beam to turn a wheel. The simplest solution to transforming the action of the beam into a rotating motion was to connect the beam to a wheel by a crank, but because another party had patent rights on the use of the crank, Watt was obliged to come up with another solution. He adopted the epicyclic sun and planet gear system suggested by an employee William Murdoch, only later reverting, once the patent rights had expired, to the more familiar crank seen on most engines today. The main wheel attached to the crank was large and heavy, serving as a flywheel which, once set in motion, by its momentum maintained a constant power and smoothed the action of the alternating strokes. To its rotating central shaft, belts and gears could be attached to drive a great variety of machinery.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Because factory machinery needed to operate at a constant speed, Watt linked a steam regulator valve to a centrifugal governor which he adapted from those used to automatically control the speed of windmills. The centrifugal was not a true speed controller because it could not hold a set speed in response to a change in load.


title: Watt steam engine

text: These improvements allowed the steam engine to replace the water wheel and horses as the main sources of power for British industry, thereby freeing it from geographical constraints and becoming one of the main drivers in the Industrial Revolution.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Watt was also concerned with fundamental research on the functioning of the steam engine. His most notable measuring device, still in use today, is the Watt indicator incorporating a manometer to measure steam pressure within the cylinder according to the position of the piston, enabling a diagram to be produced representing the pressure of the steam as a function of its volume throughout the cycle.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The oldest working engine in the world is the Smethwick Engine, brought into service in May 1779 and now at Thinktank in Birmingham (formerly at the now defunct Museum of Science and Industry, Birmingham).


title: Watt steam engine

text: The oldest still in its original engine house and still capable of doing the job for which it was installed is the 1812 Boulton and Watt engine at the Crofton Pumping Station in Wiltshire. This was used to pump water for the Kennet and Avon Canal; on certain weekends throughout the year the modern pumps are switched off and the two steam engines at Crofton still perform this function.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The oldest extant rotative steam engine, the Whitbread Engine (from 1785, the third rotative engine ever built), is located in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.


title: Watt steam engine

text: A Boulton-Watt engine of 1788 may be found in the Science Museum, London., while an 1817 blowing engine, formerly used at the Netherton ironworks of M W Grazebrook now decorates Dartmouth Circus, a traffic island at the start of the A38(M) motorway in Birmingham.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan houses a replica of a 1788 Watt rotative engine. It is a full-scale working model of a Boulton-Watt engine. The American industrialist Henry Ford commissioned the replica engine from the English manufacturer Charles Summerfield in 1932. The museum also holds an original Boulton and Watt atmospheric pump engine, originally used for canal pumping in Birmingham, illustrated below, and in use in situ at the Bowyer Street pumping station from 1796 until 1854, and afterwards removed to Dearborn in 1929.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In the 1880s, Hathorn Davey and Co / Leeds produced a 1 hp / 125 rpm atmospheric engine with external condenser but without steam expansion. It has been argued that this was probably the last commercial atmospheric engine to be manufactured. As an atmospheric engine, it did not have a pressurized boiler. It was intended for small businesses.


title: Watt steam engine

text: Watt's Expansion Engine is generally considered as of historic interest only. There are however some recent developments which may lead to a renaissance of the technology. Today, there is an enormous amount of waste steam and waste heat with temperatures between 100 and 150 °C generated by industry. In addition, solarthermal collectors, geothermal energy sources and biomass reactors produce heat in this temperature range. There are technologies to utilise this energy, in particular the Organic Rankine Cycle. In principle, these are steam turbines which do not use water but a fluid (a refrigerant) which evaporates at temperatures below 100 °C. Such systems are however fairly complex. They work with pressures of 6 to 20 bars, so that the whole system has to be completely sealed.


title: Watt steam engine

text: The Expansion Engine can offer significant advantages here, in particular for lower power ratings of 2 to 100 kW: with expansion ratios of 1:5, the theoretical efficiency reaches 15%, which is in the range of ORC systems. The Expansion Engine uses water as working fluid which is simple, cheap, non-toxic, non-flammable and non-corrosive. It works at pressure near and below atmospheric, so that sealing is not a problem. And it is a simple machine, implying cost effectiveness. Researchers from the University of Southampton / UK are currently developing a modern version of Watt's engine in order to generate energy from waste steam and waste heat. They improved the theory, demonstrating that theoretical efficiencies of up to 17.4% (and actual efficiencies of 11%) are possible.


title: Watt steam engine

text: In order to demonstrate the principle, a 25 watt experimental model engine was built and tested. The engine incorporates steam expansion as well as new features such as electronic control. The picture shows the model built and tested in 2016. Currently, a project to build and test a scaled-up 2 kW engine is under preparation.


title: Tucking

text: Tucking is a technique whereby an individual hides the crotch bulge of the penis and testicles so that they are not conspicuous through clothing.


title: Tucking

text: The practice is most commonly employed by transgender women, as well as non-binary people who were assigned male at birth and men who do drag, or otherwise desire a more androgynous appearance. There are fertility-related side-effects to tucking, such as a reduced sperm count. Some types of clothing, such as gaffs and bloxers are purposefully designed to conceal the crotch bulge.


title: Tucking

text: One method of tucking involves pulling the penis backwards in between the legs while simultaneously pushing the testicles up into the inguinal canal. In order to secure this position in place, some practitioners may use especially tight undergarments and a leotard that has a strap. Another practice is the flattening or binding by using tape to fasten the genitalia along the perineum and if possible in between the buttocks. There are also improvised or home-made contrivances whereby an elastic waistband is cut off from an existing garment and then a pouch placed along the middle to then be pulled up.


title: Tucking

text: Some people use purpose-made panty-like garments, often called gaffs, that serve to hide the genitalia and provide a feminine flat and smooth crotch area.


title: Tucking

text: The practice of tucking is also observed among cisgender men for reasons other than appearing female, done in different manners. Some cisgender men do it because they have dysmorphophobia with regards to their genital bulge. For other men it is due to feeling embarrassment, while others do it to hide an erection, to desexualize themselves out of a sense of prudishness or phallophobia or because the bulge is prominent at an inappropriate moment. Methods of tucking include placing the penis behind the waistband sometimes colloquially referred to as "uptuck" while some men may wear purposefully designed compressing underwear. Variations of tucking may be used by macrophallic men when they perceive their crotch bulge to have an obscene appearance. There are some types of boxer shorts and boxer briefs that are designed to conceal the male crotch bulge, such as bloxers.


title: Voter turnout

text: In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Michael McFaul, there is a consensus among political scientists that "democracies perform better when more people vote."


title: Voter turnout

text: Institutional factors drive the vast majority of differences in turnout rates. For example, simpler parliamentary democracies where voters get shorter ballots, fewer elections, and a multi-party system that makes accountability easier see much higher turnout than the systems of the United States, Japan, and Switzerland.


title: Voter turnout

text: Some parts of society are more likely to vote than others. As turnout approaches 90%, significant differences between voters and nonvoters lessen, but in lower turnout elections the differences between voters and nonvoters can be dramatic.


title: Voter turnout

text: More importantly than changes in specific election outcomes, voter turnout has seismic long-term implications on the abilities of democracies to function. For example, regulatory capture tends to afflict low-turnout democracies more, blocking popular democratic reforms like streamlining elections.


title: Voter turnout

text: Institutional factors have the most significant impact on voter turnout. Making voting compulsory has a direct and dramatic effect on turnout while adding barriers, such as a separate registration process or unnecessarily scheduling many elections, suppresses turnout. In addition, the closer democracies are to 'one person, one vote' increases turnout as voters see that their effort has an impact. This can be seen in the higher turnout rates of proportional parliamentary democracies.


title: Voter turnout

text: Voter fatigue can lower turnout. If there are many elections in close succession, voter turnout will decrease as the public tires of participating. In low-turnout Switzerland, the average voter is invited to go to the polls an average of seven times a year; the United States has frequent elections, with two votes per year on average, if one includes all levels of government as well as primaries. Holding multiple elections at the same time can increase turnout and large majorities of both Republicans and Democrats want to consolidate off-cycle elections. Another form of voter fatigue involves presenting voters with massive multipage ballots, as occurs in some parts of the United States.


title: Voter turnout

text: In the United States and most Latin American nations, voters must go through separate voter registration procedures before they are allowed to vote. This two-step process quite clearly decreases turnout. US states with no, or easier, registration requirements have larger turnouts.


title: Voter turnout

text: A country with a highly efficient registration process is France. At the age of eighteen, all youth are automatically registered. Only new residents and citizens who have moved are responsible for bearing the costs and inconvenience of updating their registration. Similarly, in Nordic countries, all citizens and residents are included in the official population register, which is simultaneously a tax list, voter registration, and membership in the universal health system. Residents are required by law to report any change of address to the register within a short time after moving. This is also the system in Germany (but without the membership in the health system).


title: Voter turnout

text: A strong factor affecting voter turnout is whether voting is compulsory, as countries with compulsory voting tend to have higher voter turnout rates. For example, in Australia, voter registration and attendance at a polling booth have been mandatory since the 1920s, with the 2016 federal election having turnout figures of 91% for the House of Representatives and 91.9% for the Senate. In Singapore, where voting is compulsory, turnout at the 2020 general election was 95.81%, the highest since 1997 where it was 95.91%. This was an increase from the record low of 93.06% at the 2011 general election.


title: Voter turnout

text: Penalties for failing to vote are not always strictly enforced, and sanctions for non-voters are often mild. For instance, while voting is nominally compulsory in Greece for adults up to 70 years of age, no one has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote, with voter turnout rates reaching as low as 57% in the September 2015 Greek legislative election. In Australia, people who do not vote are subject to a small fine, which is easily waived if an acceptable excuse for failing to vote is provided. In Bolivia, however, if a voter fails to participate in an election, they may be denied withdrawal of their salary from the bank for three months.


title: Voter turnout

text: Mark N. Franklin argues that salience, the perceived effect that an individual vote will have on how the country is run, has a significant effect on turnout. He presents Switzerland as an example of a nation with low salience. The nation's administration is highly decentralized, so that the federal government has limited powers. The government invariably consists of a coalition of parties, and the power wielded by a party is far more closely linked to its position relative to the coalition than to the number of votes it received. Important decisions are placed before the population in a referendum. Individual votes for the federal legislature are thus unlikely to have a significant effect on the nation, which probably explains the low average turnouts in that country. By contrast Malta, with one of the world's highest voter turnouts, has a single legislature that holds a near monopoly on political power. Malta has a two-party system in which a small swing in votes can completely alter the executive. On the other hand, countries with a two-party system can experience low turnout if large numbers of potential voters perceive little real difference between the main parties. Voters' perceptions of fairness also have an important effect on salience. If voters feel that the result of an election is more likely to be determined by fraud and corruption than by the will of the people, fewer people will vote.


title: Voter turnout

text: Another institutional factor that may have an important effect is proportionality, i.e., how closely the legislature reflects the views of the populace. Under a pure proportional representation system the composition of the legislature is fully proportional to the votes of the populace and a voter can be sure that of being represented in parliament, even if only from the opposition benches. (However many nations that use a form of proportional representation in elections depart from pure proportionality by stipulating that smaller parties are not supported by a certain threshold percentage of votes cast will be excluded from parliament.) By contrast, a voting system based on single seat constituencies (such as the plurality system used in North America, the UK and India) will tend to result in many non-competitive electoral districts, in which the outcome is seen by voters as a foregone conclusion.


title: Voter turnout

text: Proportional systems tend to produce multiparty coalition governments. This may reduce salience, if voters perceive that they have little influence over which parties are included in the coalition. For instance, after the 2005 German election, the creation of the executive not only expressed the will of the voters of the majority party but also was the result of political deal-making. Although there is no guarantee, this is lessened as the parties usually state with whom they will favour a coalition after the elections.


title: Voter turnout

text: Political scientists are divided on whether proportional representation increases voter turnout, though in countries with proportional representation voter turnout is higher. There are other systems that attempt to preserve both salience and proportionality, for example, the Mixed member proportional representation system in New Zealand (in operation since 1996), Germany, and several other countries. However, these tend to be complex electoral systems, and in some cases complexity appears to suppress voter turnout. The dual system in Germany, though, seems to have had no negative impact on voter turnout.


title: Voter turnout

text: Other methods of making voting easier to increase turnout include vote-by-mail, absentee polling and improved access to polls, such as increasing the number of possible voting locations, lowering the average time voters have to spend waiting in line, or requiring companies to give workers some time off on voting day. In some areas, generally those where some polling centres are relatively inaccessible, such as India, elections often take several days.


title: Voter turnout

text: Some countries like France and Switzerland use Internet voting. However, it has only been used sparingly by a few states in part because the US Department of Defense looked into making Internet voting secure, but could not find a way to do so. In terms of just improving turnout, the few experiments with Internet voting have produced mixed results.


title: Voter turnout

text: A 2017 study found that the opening and closing hours of polling places determines the age demographics of turnout: turnout among younger voters is higher the longer polling places are open and turnout among older voters decreases the later polling places open. A 2021 study that used an experiment in Philadelphia found that postcards by election officials encouraging registrants to vote by mail boosted turnout in the 2020 primary elections by 0.4 percentage points.


title: Voter turnout

text: Differing methods of measuring voter turnout can contribute to reported differences between nations. There are difficulties in measuring both the numerator, the number of voters who cast votes, and the denominator, the number of voters eligible to vote.


title: Voter turnout

text: For the numerator, it is often assumed that the number of voters who went to the polls should equal the number of ballots cast, which in turn should equal the number of votes counted, but this is not the case. Not all voters who arrive at the polls necessarily cast ballots. Some may be turned away because they are ineligible, some may be turned away improperly, and some who sign the voting register may not actually cast ballots. Furthermore, voters who do cast ballots may abstain, deliberately voting for nobody, or they may spoil their votes, either accidentally or as an act of protest.


title: Voter turnout

text: In the United Kingdom, the Electoral Commission distinguishes between "valid vote turnout", which excludes spoilt ballots, and "ballot box turnout", which does not.


title: Voter turnout

text: In the United States, it has been common to report turnout as the sum of votes for the top race on the ballot, because not all jurisdictions report the actual number of people who went to the polls nor the number of undervotes or overvotes. Overvote rates of around 0.3 percent are typical of well-run elections, but in Gadsden County Florida, the overvote rate was 11 percent in November 2000.


title: Voter turnout

text: For the denominator, it is often assumed that the number of eligible voters was well defined, but again, this is not the case. In the United States, for example, there is no accurate registry of exactly who is eligible to vote, since only about 70–75% of people choose to register themselves. Thus, turnout has to be calculated based on population estimates. Some political scientists have argued that these measures do not properly account for the large number of legal permanent residents (green card holders), illegal aliens, disenfranchised felons and persons who are considered 'mentally incompetent' in the United States, and that American voter turnout is higher than is normally reported. Even in countries with fewer restrictions on the franchise, VAP turnout can still be biased by large numbers of non-citizen residents, often under-reporting turnout by as much as 10 percentage points. Professor Michael P. McDonald constructed an estimation of the turnout against the 'voting eligible population' (VEP), instead of the 'voting age population' (VAP). For the American presidential elections of 2004, turnout could then be expressed as 60.32% of VEP, rather than 55.27% of VAP.


title: Voter turnout

text: In New Zealand, registration is supposed to be universal. This does not eliminate uncertainty in the eligible population because this system has been shown to be unreliable, with a large number of eligible but unregistered citizens creating inflated turnout figures.


title: Voter turnout

text: A second problem with turnout measurements lies in the way turnout is computed. One can count the number of voters, or one can count the number of ballots, and in a vote-for-one race, one can sum the number of votes for each candidate. These are not necessarily identical because not all voters who sign in at the polls necessarily cast ballots, although they ought to, and because voters may cast spoiled ballots.


title: Voter turnout

text: Since around 1985, there appears to be a gradual decrease in voter turnout globally when looking at the voting-age population. However, a 2001 article in the American Political Science Review, Michael McDonald and Samuel Popkin argued, that at least in the United States, voter turnout since 1972 has not actually declined when calculated for those eligible to vote, what they term the voting-eligible population. In 1972, noncitizens and ineligible felons (depending on state law) constituted about 2% of the voting-age population. By 2004, ineligible voters constituted nearly 10%. Ineligible voters are not evenly distributed across the country – 20% of California's voting-age population is ineligible to vote – which confounds comparisons of states. Furthermore, they argue that an examination of the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey shows that turnout is low but not declining among the youth, when the high youth turnout of 1972 (the first year 18- to 20-year-olds were eligible to vote in most states) is removed from the trendline.


title: Voter turnout

text: It has been a matter of concern and controversy among political scientists for several decades. During this same period, other forms of political participation have also declined, such as voluntary participation in political parties and the attendance of observers at town meetings. The decline in voting has also accompanied a general decline in civic participation, such as church attendance, membership in professional, fraternal, and student societies, youth groups, and parent-teacher associations. At the same time, some forms of participation have increased. People have become far more likely to participate in boycotts, demonstrations, and to donate to political campaigns.


title: Voter turnout

text: Many causes have been proposed for what some see as a decline in voter participation though all offered in this section are heavily disputed. When asked why they do not vote, many people report that they have too little free time. However, over the last several decades, studies have consistently shown that the amount of leisure time has not decreased. According to a study by the Heritage Foundation, Americans report on average an additional 7.9 hours of leisure time per week since 1965. Furthermore, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, increases in wages and employment actually decrease voter turnout in gubernatorial elections and do not affect national races. Potential voters' perception that they are busier is common and might be just as important as a real decrease in leisure time. Geographic mobility has increased over the last few decades. There are often barriers to voting in a district where one is a recent arrival, and a new arrival is likely to know little about the local candidate and local issues. Francis Fukuyama has blamed the welfare state, arguing that the decrease in turnout has come shortly after the government became far more involved in people's lives. He argues in "Trust: The Social Virtues and The Creation of Prosperity" that the social capital essential to high voter turnouts is easily dissipated by government actions. However, on an international level, those states with the most extensive social programs tend to be the ones with the highest turnouts. Some argue that technological developments in society such as "automobilization," suburban living, and "an explosive proliferation of home entertainment devices" have contributed to a loss of community, which in turn has weakened participation in civic life.


title: Voter turnout

text: It has been argued that democratic consolidation (the stabilization of new democracies) contributes to the decline in voter turnout. A 2017 study challenges this, however.


title: Voter turnout

text: Voter turnout varies considerably between nations. It tends to be lower in North America, Asia and Latin America than in most of Europe and Oceania. Based on all parliamentary elections between 1945 and 1997, Western Europe averages a 77% turnout, and South and Central America around 54%. The differences between nations tend to be greater than those between classes, ethnic groups, or regions within nations. Confusingly, some of the factors that cause internal differences do not seem to apply on a global level. For instance, nations with better-educated populaces do not have higher turnouts.


title: Voter turnout

text: There are two main commonly cited causes of these international differences: culture and institutions. However, there is much debate over the relative impact of the various factors.