title: High fidelity

text: This modularity allows the enthusiast to spend as little or as much as they want on a component that suits their specific needs and add components as need arises and funds are available. In a system built from separates, sometimes a failure on one component still allows partial use of the rest of the system. The entire system is unusable while an integrated system is being repaired. A modular system introduces the complexity of having multiple components with cabling and connectivity, and different remote controls for each unit.


title: High fidelity

text: Some modern hi-fi equipment can be digitally connected using fibre optic TOSLINK cables, USB ports (including one to play digital audio files), or Wi-Fi support.


title: High fidelity

text: Another modern component is the "music server" consisting of one or more computer hard drives that hold music in the form of computer files. When the music is stored in an audio file format that is lossless such as FLAC, Monkey's Audio or WMA Lossless, the computer playback of recorded audio can serve as an audiophile-quality source for a hi-fi system. There is now a push from certain streaming services to offer hi-fi services.


title: High fidelity

text: Streaming services typically have a modified dynamic range and possibly bit rates lower than audiophiles would be happy with. Tidal has launched a hi-fi tier that includes access to FLAC and Master Quality Authenticated studio masters for many tracks through the desktop version of the player. This integration is also available for high-end audio systems.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Windows 1.0 is the first major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft. It was first released to manufacturing in the United States on November 20, 1985, while the European version was released as Windows 1.02 in May 1986.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Its development began after the Microsoft co-founder and spearhead of Windows 1.0, Bill Gates, saw a demonstration of a similar software suite, Visi On, at COMDEX in 1982. The operating environment was showcased to the public in November 1983, although it ended up being released two years later. Windows 1.0 runs on MS-DOS, as a 16-bit shell program known as MS-DOS Executive, and it provides an environment which can run graphical programs designed for Windows, as well as existing MS-DOS software. It introduced multitasking and the use of the mouse, and various built-in programs such as Calculator, Paint, and Notepad. The operating environment does not allow its windows to overlap, and instead, the windows are tiled. Windows 1.0 also contains four releases, which contain minor updates to the system.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: The system received lukewarm reviews; critics raised concerns about not fulfilling expectations, its compatibility with very little software, and its performance issues, while it has also received positive responses to Microsoft's early presentations and support from a number of hardware- and software-makers. Its last release was 1.04, and it was succeeded by Windows 2.0, which was released in December 1987. Microsoft ended its support for Windows 1.0 on December 31, 2001, making it the longest-supported out of all versions of Windows.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Microsoft showed its desire to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) as early as 1981. The development of Windows began after Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the lead developer of Windows, saw a demonstration at COMDEX 1982 of VisiCorp's Visi On, a GUI software suite for IBM PC compatible computers. A year later, Microsoft learned that Apple's own GUI software—also bit-mapped, and based in part on research from Xerox PARC—was much more advanced; Microsoft decided they needed to differentiate their own offering. In August 1983, Gates recruited Scott A. McGregor, one of the key developers behind PARC's original windowing system, to be the developer team lead for Windows 1.0.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Microsoft first presented Windows to the public on November 10, 1983. Initially requiring 192 KB of RAM and two floppy disk drives, Microsoft described the software as a device driver for MS-DOS 2.0. By supporting cooperative multitasking in tiled windows when using well-behaved applications that only used DOS system calls and permitting non-well-behaved applications to run in a full screen, Windows differed from both Visi On and Apple Computer's Lisa by immediately offering many applications. Unlike Visi On, Windows developers did not need to use Unix to develop IBM PC applications; Microsoft planned to encourage other companies, including competitors, to develop programs for Windows by not requiring a Microsoft user interface in their applications.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Manufacturers of MS-DOS computers such as Compaq, Zenith, and DEC promised to provide support, as did software companies such as Ashton-Tate and Lotus. After previewing Windows, "BYTE" magazine stated in December 1983 that it "seems to offer remarkable openness, reconfigurability, and transportability as well as modest hardware requirements and pricing … Barring a surprise product introduction from another company, Microsoft Windows will be the first large-scale test of the desktop metaphor in the hands of its intended users." From early in Windows's history, Gates viewed it as Microsoft's future. He told "InfoWorld" magazine in April 1984 that "our strategies and energies as a company are totally committed to Windows, in the same way that we're committed to operating-system kernels like MS-DOS and Xenix. We're also saying that only applications that take advantage of Windows will be competitive in the long run." IBM was notably absent from Microsoft's announcement, and the corporation rejected Windows in favor of creating its own product called TopView. By late 1984, the press reported a "War of the Windows" between Windows, IBM's TopView, and Digital Research's Graphics Environment Manager (GEM). Steve Ballmer replaced McGregor after he left the team in January 1985.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Microsoft had promised in November 1983 to ship Windows by April 1984, although, due to various design modifications, its release date was delayed. During its development and before its windowing system was developed, it was briefly referred to by the codename "Interface Manager". De-emphasizing multitasking, the company stated that Windows' purpose, unlike that of TopView, was to "turn the computer into a graphics-rich environment" while using less memory. After Microsoft persuaded IBM that the latter needed a GUI, the two companies announced in April 1987 the introduction of OS/2 and its graphical OS/2 Presentation Manager, which were supposed to ultimately replace both MS-DOS and Windows.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: The first retail release, Windows 1.01, was released on November 20, 1985, to the United States, at the cost of $99. The following release, 1.02, was published in May 1986 mainly for the European market, and it had also introduced non-English versions of Windows 1.0. Windows version 1.03, released in August 1986, included enhancements that made it consistent with the international release like drivers for non-U.S. keyboards and additional screen and printer drivers, and superseded both version 1.01 in the US and version 1.02 in Europe. Windows version 1.04, released in April 1987, added support for the new IBM PS/2 computers, although no support for PS/2 mice or new VGA graphics modes was provided. However, on May 27, 1987, an OEM version was released by IBM, which added VGA support, PS/2 mouse support, MCGA support, and support for the 8514/A display driver. IBM released this version on three 3.5-inch 720k floppies and offered it as part of their "Personal Publishing System" and "Collegiate Kit" bundles. Microsoft ended its support for Windows 1.0 on December 31, 2001, making it the longest-supported one out of all versions of Windows.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Windows 1.0 was built on the MS-DOS kernel. It also runs on MS-DOS as a 16-bit shell program known as the MS-DOS Executive, and it offers limited multitasking of existing MS-DOS programs and concentrates on creating an interaction paradigm (cf. message loop), an execution model and a stable API for native programs for the future. Compared to MS-DOS, the operating environment also utilizes mice, which allow users to perform click-and-drag operations, although the mouse was not required. Contradictory to modern Windows operating systems, the mouse button had to be kept pressed to display the selected menu.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: In the MS-DOS Executive, .exe files were used as programs that would open an application window. Windows 1.0 came in with a few programs, such as the Calculator, Paint, Notepad, Write, Terminal, Clock, and utilities such as Clipboard and Print Spooler. Paint only supports monochrome graphics. The operating environment also has the Cardfile manager, a Clipboard, and a Print Spooler program. Initially, "Puzzle" and "Chess" were supposed to appear as playable video games, although Microsoft scrapped the idea; instead, it introduced "Reversi" as a commercially published video game, which is based on the eponymous strategy game. It was included in Windows 1.0 as a built-in application, and it relies on mouse control. The operating environment also introduced the Control Panel, which was used to configure the features of Windows 1.0. The operating environment does not allow overlapping windows, and instead, the windows are tiled. When a program gets minimized, its icon would appear on a horizontal line at the bottom of the screen, which resembles the modern-day Windows taskbar.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Windows 1.0 implemented the use of code segment swapping. It also consists of three dynamic-link libraries, which are located as files in the system under the names KERNEL.EXE, USER.EXE, and GDI.EXE. It includes kernels, such as task handling, memory management, and input and output of files, while the two other dynamic-link libraries are the user interface and Graphics Device Interface. The operating environment is capable of memory management; in the memory, it could move program code and data segments, in order to allow programs to share code and data that are located in dynamic-link libraries.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Version 1.02 introduced drivers for European keyboards, as well as screen and print drivers. The last Windows 1.0 release, 1.04, introduced support for IBM PS/2 computers. Due to Microsoft's extensive support for backward compatibility, it is not only possible to execute Windows 1.0 binary programs on current versions of Windows to a large extent but also to recompile their source code into an equally functional "modern" application with just limited modifications.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: In March 2022, it was discovered that the operating environment also includes an easter egg that lists the developers who worked on the operating environment along with a message that says "Congrats!".


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Besides the minimum system requirements, Microsoft has also published a note in which it recommended additional memory when using multiple applications or DOS 3.3.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: Windows 1.0 was released to lukewarm and mixed reviews. Critics considered the platform to have future potential but felt that Windows 1.0 had not fulfilled expectations and that it could not compete with Apple's GUI operating system. It was also criticized for its slowness and compatibility with very little software. Reviews criticized its demanding system requirements, especially noting the poor performance experienced when running multiple applications at once, and that Windows encouraged the use of a mouse for navigation, a relatively new concept at the time. "The New York Times" compared the performance of Windows on a system with 512 KB of RAM to "pouring molasses in the Arctic" and that its design was inflexible for keyboard users due to its dependency on a mouse-oriented interface. In conclusion, the "Times" felt that the poor performance, lack of dedicated software, uncertain compatibility with DOS programs, and the lack of tutorials for new users made DOS-based software such as Borland Sidekick (which could provide a similar assortment of accessories and multitasking functionality) more desirable for most PC users.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: According to the "Computerworld" magazine, Windows 1.0 received 500,000 sales from its release in 1985 up to April 1987. In retrospect, Windows 1.0 was regarded as a flop by contemporary technology publications, who, however, still acknowledged its overall importance to the history of the Windows line. Nathaniel Borenstein (who went on to develop the MIME standards) and his IT team at Carnegie Mellon University were also critical of Windows when it was first presented to them by a group of Microsoft representatives. Underestimating the future impact of the platform, he believed that in comparison to an in-house window manager, "these guys came in with this pathetic and naïve system. We just knew they were never going to accomplish anything." "The Verge" considered the poor reception towards the release of Windows 8 in 2012 as a parallel to Microsoft's struggles with early versions of Windows. In a similar fashion to Windows 1.0 running atop MS-DOS as a layer, Windows 8 offered a new type of interface and software geared towards an emerging form of human interface device on PCs, in this case, a touchscreen, running atop the legacy Windows shell used by previous versions.


title: Windows 1.0x

text: A mock version of Windows 1.0 was created by Microsoft as an app for Windows 10 as part of a tie-in with the Netflix show, "Stranger Things", aligned with the release of the show's third season, which takes place during 1985.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: "Investiturstreit"; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monasteries and the pope himself. A series of popes in the 11th and 12th centuries undercut the power of the Holy Roman Emperor and other European monarchies, and the controversy led to nearly 50 years of conflict.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: It began as a power struggle between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV (then King, later Holy Roman Emperor) in 1076. The conflict ended in 1122, when Pope Callixtus II and Emperor Henry V agreed on the Concordat of Worms. The agreement required bishops to swear an oath of fealty to the secular monarch, who held authority "by the lance" but left selection to the church. It affirmed the right of the church to invest bishops with sacred authority, symbolized by a ring and staff. In Germany (but not Italy and Burgundy), the Emperor also retained the right to preside over elections of abbots and bishops by church authorities, and to arbitrate disputes. Holy Roman Emperors renounced the right to choose the pope.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: In the meantime, there was also a brief but significant investiture struggle between Pope Paschal II and King Henry I of England from 1103 to 1107. The earlier resolution to that conflict, the Concordat of London, was very similar to the Concordat of Worms.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: After the decline of the Western Roman Empire, investiture was performed by members of the ruling nobility (and was known as lay investure) despite theoretically being a task of the church. Many bishops and abbots were themselves part of the ruling nobility. Given that most members of the European nobility practiced primogeniture, and willed their titles of nobility to the eldest surviving male heir, surplus male siblings often sought careers in the upper levels of the church hierarchy. This was particularly true where the family may have established a proprietary church or abbey on their estate. Since a substantial amount of wealth and land was usually associated with the office of a bishop or abbot, the sale of church offices—a practice known as "simony"—was an important source of income for leaders among the nobility, who themselves owned the land and by charity allowed the building of churches. Emperors had been heavily relying on bishops for their secular administration, as they were not hereditary or quasi-hereditary nobility with family interests. They justified their power by the theory of the divine right of kings.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Many of the papal selections before 1059 were influenced politically and militarily by European powers, often with a king or emperor announcing a choice which would be rubber-stamped by church electors. The Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian dynasty believed they should have the power to appoint the pope. Since the ascendance of the first of that line, Otto the Great (936–72), the bishops had been princes of the empire, had secured many privileges, and had become to a great extent feudal lords over great districts of the imperial territory. The control of these great units of economic and military power was for the king a question of primary importance due to its effect on imperial authority. It was essential for a ruler or nobleman to appoint (or sell the office to) someone who would remain loyal.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Problems with simony became particularly unpopular as Pope Benedict IX was accused of selling the papacy in 1045. Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, reigning from 1046 to 1056, settled the papal schism and named several popes, the last emperor to successfully dominate the selection process. Six-year-old Henry IV became King of the Germans in 1056.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Benedict X was elected under the influence of the Count of Tusculum, allegedly by bribing the electors. Dissenting cardinals elected Pope Nicholas II in 1058 at Siena. Nicholas II successfully waged war against Benedict X and regained control of the Vatican. Nicholas II convened a synod in the Lateran on Easter in 1059. The results were codified in the papal bull "In nomine Domini". It declared that leaders of the nobility would have no part in the selection of popes (though the Holy Roman Emperor might confirm the choice) and that electors would be cardinals (which would later evolve into the College of Cardinals) assembled in Rome. The bull also banned lay investiture. In response, all the bishops in Germany (who supported the Emperor) assembled in 1061 and declared all the decrees of Nicholas II null and void. Nevertheless, the elections of Pope Alexander II and Pope Gregory VII proceeded according to church rules, without the involvement of the Emperor.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: In 1075, Pope Gregory VII composed the "Dictatus papae", though this was not published at the time, cataloging principles of his Gregorian Reforms. One clause asserted that the pope held the exclusive power to depose an emperor. It declared that the Roman church was founded by God alone—that the papal power (the "auctoritas" of Pope Gelasius) was the sole universal power; in particular, a council held in the Lateran Palace from 24 to 28 February the same year decreed that the pope alone could appoint or depose churchmen or move them from see to see. By this time, Henry IV was no longer a child, and he continued to appoint his own bishops. He reacted to this declaration by sending Gregory VII a letter in which he withdrew his imperial support of Gregory as pope in no uncertain terms: the letter was headed "Henry, king not through usurpation but through the holy ordination of God, to Hildebrand, at present not pope but false monk". It called for the election of a new pope. His letter ends, "I, Henry, king by the grace of God, with all of my Bishops, say to you, come down, come down!", and is often quoted with "and to be damned throughout the ages", which is a later addition.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The situation was made even more dire when Henry IV installed his chaplain, Tedald, a Milanese priest, as Bishop of Milan, when another priest of Milan, Atto, had already been chosen in Rome by the pope. In 1076 Gregory responded by excommunicating Henry, and deposed him as German king, releasing all Christians from their oath of allegiance.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Enforcing these declarations was a different matter, but the advantage gradually came to be on the side of Gregory VII. German princes and the aristocracy were happy to hear of the king's deposition. They used religious reasons to continue the rebellion started at the First Battle of Langensalza in 1075, and to seize royal holdings. Aristocrats claimed local lordships over peasants and property, built forts, which had previously been outlawed, and built up localized fiefdoms to secure their autonomy from the empire.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: This combination of factors forced Henry IV to back down, as he needed time to marshal his forces to fight the rebellion. In 1077, he traveled to Canossa in northern Italy, where the Pope was staying in the castle of Countess Matilda, to apologize in person. The pope was suspicious of Henry's motives, and did not believe he was truly repentant. As penance for his sins, and echoing his own punishment of the Saxons after the First Battle of Langensalza, he wore a hair shirt and stood barefoot in the snow in what has become known as the Walk to Canossa. Gregory lifted the excommunication, but the German aristocrats, whose rebellion became known as the Great Saxon Revolt, were not as willing to give up their opportunity and elected a rival king, Rudolf von Rheinfeld. Three years later, Pope Gregory declared his support for von Rheinfeld and then on the Lenten synod of 7 March 1080 excommunicated Henry IV again. In turn, Henry called a council of bishops at Brixen that proclaimed Gregory illegitimate. The internal revolt against Henry effectively ended that same year, however, when Rudolf von Rheinfeld died.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Henry IV named Guibert of Ravenna (who he had invested as bishop of Ravenna) to be pope, referring to Clement III (known by the Catholic Church as Antipope Clement III) as "our pope". In October 1080, troops raised by the pro-Imperial bishops of Northern Italy clashed with the pro-papal forces of Countess Matilda in the battle of Volta Mantovana. The pro-Imperial forces were victorious, and in March 1081 Henry IV marched from the Brenner Pass into the March of Verona unopposed, entering Milan in April that year. He then attacked Rome and besieged the city with the intent of forcibly removing Gregory VII and installing Clement III. The city of Rome withstood the siege, but the Vatican and St. Peter's fell in 1083. On the outskirts of the city, Henry gained thirteen cardinals who became loyal to his cause. The next year the city of Rome surrendered and Henry triumphantly entered the city. On Palm Sunday, 1084, Henry IV solemnly enthroned Clement at St. Peter's Basilica; on Easter Day, Clement returned the favour and crowned Henry IV as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Gregory VII was meanwhile still resisting a few hundred yards away from the basilica in the Castel Sant'Angelo, then known as the house of Cencius. Gregory called on his allies for help, and Robert Guiscard (the Norman ruler of Sicily, Apulia, and Calabria) responded, entering Rome on 27 May 1084. The Normans came in force and attacked with such strength that Henry and his army fled. Gregory VII was rescued, but Rome was plundered in the process, for which the citizens of Rome blamed him. As a result, Gregory VII was forced to leave Rome under the protection of the Normans, fleeing to Salerno, where he grew ill and died on 25 May 1085. The last words he uttered were, "I have loved justice and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile."


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Upon the death of Gregory, the cardinals elected a new pope, Pope Victor III. He owed his elevation to the influence of the Normans. Antipope Clement III still occupied St. Peter's. When Victor III died, the cardinals elected Pope Urban II (1088–99). He was one of three men Gregory VII suggested as his successor. Urban II preached the First Crusade, which united Western Europe, and more importantly, reconciled the majority of bishops who had abandoned Gregory VII.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The reign of Henry IV showed the weakness of the German monarchy. The ruler was dependent upon the good will of the great men, the nobility of his land. These were technically royal officials and hereditary princes. He was also dependent on the resources of the churches. Henry IV alienated the Church of Rome and many of the magnates in his own kingdom. Many of these spent years in open or subversive rebellion. Henry failed to create a proper bureaucracy to replace his disobedient vassals. The magnates became increasingly independent, and the Church withdrew support. Henry IV spent the last years of his life desperately grasping to keep his throne. It was a greatly diminished kingdom.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The Investiture Controversy continued for several decades as each successive pope tried to diminish imperial power by stirring up revolt in Germany. These revolts were gradually successful. The reign of Henry IV ended with a diminished kingdom and waning power. Many of his underlords had been in constant or desultory revolt for years. Henry IV's insistence that Antipope Clement III was the real pope had initially been popular with some of the nobles, and even many of the bishops of Germany. But as years passed, this support was slowly withdrawn. The idea that the German king could and should name the pope was increasingly discredited and viewed as an anachronism from a by-gone era. The Empire of the Ottos was virtually lost because of Henry IV.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: On 31 December 1105, Henry IV was forced to abdicate and was succeeded by his son Henry V, who had rebelled against his father in favor of the papacy, and made his father renounce the legality of his antipopes before he died. Nevertheless, Henry V chose another antipope, Gregory VIII.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Henry V realised swift action and a change in his father's policy was necessary. Pope Paschal II rebuked Henry V for appointing bishops in Germany. The king crossed the Alps with an army in 1111. The pope, who was weak and had few supporters was forced to suggest a compromise, the abortive Concordat of 1111. Its simple and radical solution of the Investiture Controversy between the prerogatives of "regnum" and "sacerdotium" proposed that German churchmen would surrender their lands and secular offices to the emperor and constitute a purely spiritual church. Henry gained greater control over the lands of his kingdom, especially those that had been in the hands of the church, but of contested title. He would not interfere with ecclesiastical affairs and churchmen would avoid secular services. The church would be given autonomy and to Henry V would be restored large parts of his empire that his father had lost. And finally, Henry V would be crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor by Paschal. When the concessions of land were read in St. Peter's, however, the crowd erupted in anger. Henry took the pope and cardinals hostage until the pope granted Henry V the right of investiture. Then he returned to Germany—crowned emperor and apparent victor over the papacy.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Henry's victory was, however, as short-lived as that of his father, Henry IV over Gregory VII. The clergy urged Paschal to rescind his agreement, which he did in 1112. The quarrel followed the predictable course: Henry V rebelled and was excommunicated. Riots broke out in Germany, a new Antipope Gregory VIII was appointed by the German king, and nobles loyal to Rome seceded from Henry. The unrest and conflict in Germany continued, just as under Henry IV. And the controversy with respect to investiture dragged on for another ten years. Like his father before him, Henry V was faced with waning power. Ultimately, he had no choice but to give up investiture and the old right of naming the pope. The Concordat of Worms in 1122 was the result. After the Concordat, the German kings never had the same control over the Church as had existed in the time of the Ottonian dynasty. Henry V was received back into communion and recognized as legitimate emperor as a result.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Henry V died without heirs in 1125, three years after the Concordat. He had designated his nephew, Frederick von Staufen duke of Swabia, also known as Frederick II, Duke of Swabia as his successor. Instead, churchmen elected Lothair III. A long civil war erupted between the Staufen, also known as Hohenstaufen, and the heirs of Lothar III, paving the way for the rise to power of the Hohenstaufen Frederick I (1152–1190).


title: Investiture Controversy

text: At the time of Henry IV's death, Henry I of England and the Gregorian papacy were also embroiled in a controversy over investiture, and its solution provided a model for the eventual solution of the issue in the empire.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: William the Conqueror had accepted a papal banner and the distant blessing of Pope Alexander II upon his invasion, but had successfully rebuffed the pope's assertion after the successful outcome, that he should come to Rome and pay homage for his fief, under the general provisions of the Donation of Constantine.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The ban on lay investiture in "Dictatus papae" did not shake the loyalty of William's bishops and abbots. In the reign of Henry I, the heat of exchanges between Westminster and Rome induced Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, to give up mediating and retire to an abbey. Robert of Meulan, one of Henry's chief advisors, was excommunicated, but the threat of excommunicating the king remained unplayed. The papacy needed the support of English Henry while German Henry was still unbroken. A projected crusade also required English support.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Henry I commissioned the Archbishop of York to collect and present all the relevant traditions of anointed kingship. On this topic, the historian Norman Cantor would note: "The resulting 'Anonymous of York' treatises are a delight to students of early-medieval political theory, but they in no way typify the outlook of the Anglo-Norman monarchy, which had substituted the secure foundation of administrative and legal bureaucracy for outmoded religious ideology."


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The Concordat of London, agreed in 1107, was a forerunner of a compromise that was later taken up in the Concordat of Worms. In England, as in Germany, the king's chancery started to distinguish between the secular and ecclesiastical powers of the prelates. Bowing to political reality and employing this distinction, Henry I of England gave up his right to invest his bishops and abbots while reserving the custom of requiring them to swear homage for the "temporalities" (the landed properties tied to the episcopate) directly from his hand, after the bishop had sworn homage and feudal vassalage in the commendation ceremony ("commendatio"), like any secular vassal. The system of vassalage was not divided among great local lords in England as it was in France, since the king was in control by right of the conquest.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Henry I of England perceived a danger in placing monastic scholars in his chancery and turned increasingly to secular clerks, some of whom held minor positions in the Church. He often rewarded these men with the titles of bishop and abbot. Henry I expanded the system of scutage to reduce the monarchy's dependence on knights supplied from church lands. Unlike the situation in Germany, Henry I of England used the Investiture Controversy to strengthen the secular power of the king. It would continue to boil under the surface. The controversy would surface in the Thomas Becket affair under Henry II of England, the , the Statutes of Mortmain and the battles over "Cestui que use" under Henry VII of England, and finally come to a head under Henry VIII of England.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The European mainland experienced about 50 years of fighting, with efforts by Lamberto Scannabecchi, the future Pope Honorius II, and the 1121 Diet of Würzburg to end the conflict. On 23 September 1122, near the German city of Worms, Pope Callixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V entered into an agreement, now known as the Concordat of Worms, that effectively ended the Investiture Controversy. It eliminated lay investiture, while allowing secular leaders some room for unofficial but significant influence in the appointment process.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: By the terms of the agreement, the election of bishops and abbots in Germany was to take place in the emperor's presence (or his legate's) as judge ("without violence") between potentially disputing parties, free of bribes, thus retaining to the emperor a crucial role in choosing these great territorial magnates of the Empire. But absent a dispute, the canons of the cathedral were to elect the bishop, monks were to choose the abbot. Beyond the borders of Germany, in Burgundy and Italy, the election would be handled by the church without imperial interference.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Callixtus' reference to the feudal homage due the emperor on appointment is guarded: "shall do unto thee for these what he rightfully should" was the wording of the "privilegium" granted by Callixtus. The emperor's right to a substantial imbursement (payment) on the election of a bishop or abbot was specifically denied.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The emperor renounced the right to invest ecclesiastics with ring and crosier, the symbols of their spiritual power, and guaranteed election by the canons of cathedral or abbey and free consecration. To make up for this and symbolise the "worldly" authority of the bishop which the pope had always recognised to derive from the Emperor, another symbol, the scepter, was invented, which would be handed over by the king (or his legate).


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The two ended by promising mutual aid when requested and by granting one another peace. The Concordat was confirmed by the First Council of the Lateran in 1123.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: In modern terminology, a concordat is an international convention, specifically one concluded between the Holy See and the civil power of a country to define the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters in which both are concerned. Concordats began during the First Crusade's end in 1098.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The Concordat of Worms () is sometimes called the Pactum Callixtinum by papal historians, since the term "concordat" was not in use until Nicolas of Cusa's "De concordantia catholica" of 1434.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: In the long term, the decline of imperial power would divide Germany until the 19th century. Similarly, in Italy, the investiture controversy weakened the emperor's authority and strengthened local separatists.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: While the monarchy was embroiled in the dispute with the Church, its power declined, and the localized rights of lordship over peasants increased, which eventually led to:


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The papacy grew stronger, and the laity became engaged in religious affairs, increasing its piety and setting the stage for the Crusades and the great religious vitality of the 12th century.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: German kings still had "de facto" influence over the selection of German bishops, though over time, German princes gained influence among church electors. The bishop-elect would then be invested by the Emperor (or representative) with the scepter and, sometime afterwards, by his ecclesial superior with ring and staff. The resolution of the Controversy produced a significant improvement in the character of men raised to the episcopacy. Kings no longer interfered so frequently in their election, and when they did, they generally nominated more worthy candidates for the office.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The Concordat of Worms did not end the interference of European monarchs in the selection of the pope. Practically speaking, the German kings retained a decisive voice in the selection of the hierarchy. All kings supported King John of England's defiance of Pope Innocent III ninety years after the Concordat of Worms in the matter concerning Stephen Langton. In theory, the pope named his bishops and cardinals. In reality, more often than not, Rome consecrated the clergy once it was notified by the kings who the incumbent would be. Recalcitrance by Rome would lead to problems in the kingdom. For the most part it was a no-win situation for Rome. In this, the Concordat of Worms changed little. The growth of canon law in the Ecclesiastical Courts was based on the underlying Roman law and increased the strength of the Roman Pontiff.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Disputes between popes and Holy Roman Emperors continued until northern Italy was lost to the empire entirely, after the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Emperor Otto IV marched on Rome and commanded Pope Innocent III to annul the Concordat of Worms and to recognise the imperial crown's right to make nominations to all vacant benefices. The church would crusade against the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick II. As historian Norman Cantor put it, the controversy "shattered the early-medieval equilibrium and ended the interpenetration of "ecclesia" and "mundus"". Indeed, medieval emperors, which were "largely the creation of ecclesiastical ideals and personnel", were forced to develop a secular bureaucratic state, whose essential components persisted in the Anglo-Norman monarchy.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Kings continued to attempt to control either the direct leadership of the church, or indirectly through political means for centuries. This is seen most clearly in the Avignon Papacy when the popes moved from Rome to Avignon. The conflict in Germany and northern Italy arguably left the culture ripe for various Protestant sects, such as the Cathars, the Waldensians and ultimately Jan Hus and Martin Luther.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Though the Holy Roman Emperor retained some power over imperial churches, his power was damaged irreparably because he lost the religious authority that previously belonged to the office of the king. In France, England, and the Christian state in Spain, the king could overcome rebellions of his magnates and establish the power of his royal demesne because he could rely on the Church, which, for several centuries, had given him a mystical authority. From time to time, rebellious and recalcitrant monarchs might run afoul of the Church. These could be excommunicated, and after an appropriate time and public penance, be received back into the communion and good graces of the Church.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Of the three reforms Gregory VII and his predecessors and successor popes had attempted, the most successful had been that in regard to celibacy of the clergy. Simony had been partially checked. Against lay investiture they won only a limited success, and one that seemed less impressive as the years passed. During the time following the Concordat of Worms, the Church gained in both stature and power.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The wording of the Concordat of Worms was ambiguous, skirted some issues and avoided others altogether. This has caused some scholars to conclude that the settlement turned its back on Gregory VII's and Urban II's genuine hopes for reform. The emperor's influence in episcopal matters was preserved, and he could decide disputed elections. If the compromise was a rebuke to the most radical vision of the liberty of the Church, on at least one point its implication was firm and unmistakable: the king, even an emperor, was a layman, and his power at least morally limited (hence, totalitarianism was unacceptable). According to the opinion of W. Jordan, the divine right of kings was dealt a blow from which it never completely recovered, yet unfettered authority and Caesaropapism was not something the later Mediaevals and Early Moderns understood by the phrase "by the grace of God" (which many of them ardently defended). If anything, a blow was dealt to subconsciously remaining pre-Christian Germanic feelings of "royal hail".


title: Investiture Controversy

text: It was the consequence of this lengthy episode that a whole generation grew up in Germany and Northern Italy in an atmosphere of war, doubt and scepticism. The papal backers had been busy propounding arguments to show that royal power was not of divine origin. They had been so successful that the moral authority of the Emperor had been undermined in the minds of many of his subjects. Serious divisions existed from this battle over the Investiture Controversy, which fractured large portions of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany and Italy. Davis argues these rifts were so deep and lasting that neither Germany nor Italy were able to form a cohesive nation-state until the 19th century. A similar situation arose from the French revolution, which caused fractures in France that still exist. The effect of Henry IV's excommunication, and his subsequent refusal to repent left a turbulence in central Europe that lasted throughout the Middle Ages. It may have been emblematic of certain German attitudes toward religion in general, and the perceived relevance of the German Emperor in the universal scheme of things.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The catastrophic political consequences of the struggle between pope and emperor also led to a cultural disaster. Germany lost intellectual leadership in western Europe. In 1050, German monasteries were great centres of learning and art and German schools of theology and canon law were unsurpassed and probably unmatched anywhere in Europe. The long war over investiture sapped the energy of both German churchmen and intellectuals. They fell behind advances in philosophy, law, literature and art taking place in France and Italy. In many ways, Germany never caught up during the rest of the Middle Ages. Universities were established in France, Italy, Spain and England by the early 13th century. Notable are the University of Bologna, 1088, Oxford University, 1096, the University of Salamanca, 1134, the University of Paris, 1150, and the University of Cambridge, 1207. The first German university, the Heidelberg University, was not established until 1386. It was immediately steeped in mediaeval nominalism and early Protestantism.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: The political scientist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita argues that the Concordat of Worms contained within itself the germ of nation-based sovereignty that would one day be confirmed in the Peace of Westphalia (1648). The Concordat of Worms created an incentive structure for the rulers of the Catholic parts of Europe such that in the northern regions, local rulers were motivated to raise the prosperity and liberty of their subjects because such reforms helped those rulers assert their independence from the pope.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: With the Concordat of Worms, the pope became the "de facto" selector of bishops, as his recommendations all but guaranteed a candidate's nomination. Instead of myriad local customs, it all came down to negotiations between the pope and the local secular ruler. Therefore, the influence of the pope in the region became the common deciding factor across the Catholic parts of Europe.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: As a consequence of the Concordat, if the local ruler rejected the pope's nominee for bishop, the ruler could keep the revenue of the diocese for himself, but the pope could retaliate in various ways, such as: ordering the local priests to not perform certain sacraments such as marriages, which would annoy the ruler's subjects; forgiving oaths made by the vassals to the ruler; and even excommunicating the ruler, thereby undermining his moral legitimacy. Eventually, the ruler would have to give in to the pope and accept a bishop. The longer a local ruler could hold out against the pope, the more leverage the ruler had to demand a bishop who suited his interests.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: In a region where the pope's influence was weak, the local priests might have performed sacraments anyway, having calculated that defying the pope was not as dangerous as angering their parishioners; the ruler's vassals might have honored their oaths anyway because the pope could not protect them from their lord's wrath; and the subjects might still have respected their ruler despite excommunication.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: If the pope's influence in a diocese was weak, the local ruler could force the pope to choose between getting the tax revenue and appointing a loyal bishop. If said diocese was relatively poor, the pope would stubbornly hold out until the local ruler accepted the pope's choice of bishop. During this standoff, the pope would not get any money from the diocese, but this was fine with him because the diocese didn't yield much money anyway. But if said diocese was prosperous, the pope wanted to resolve the dispute more quickly so that he could sooner get that ample revenue flowing into his coffers, and so he was more inclined to let the local ruler pick the bishop.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: A local secular ruler could stimulate the economy of his domain, and thereby collect more tax revenue, by giving his subjects more liberty and more participation in politics. The local ruler was required to raise enough tax revenue so that he could provide sufficient rewards to his essential supporters in order to secure their loyalty. But liberalization and democratization would also make his subjects more assertive, which in itself made the ruler's hold on power less secure. Generally, a shrewd ruler would permit his people just enough liberty that he could raise sufficient tax revenue to provide his essential supporters with just enough rewards to keep them loyal (see "selectorate theory" for a thorough explanation of these trade-offs). In this specific context, the ruler of a diocese also had to consider whether to raise additional money, by risking liberalization, to convince the pope to compromise on the choice of bishop.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Under this incentive structure, if the pope's influence in a region was strong, the local ruler would see little point in liberalizing his state. He would raise more tax revenue, but it would not be enough to get out from under the pope's thumb which was just too strong. Liberalization would make his people more assertive and the pope would incite them to revolt. The pope would get both the money and his choice of bishop. Thus, the local ruler decided that oppressing his people was the sounder strategy for political survival.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: On the other hand, if the pope's influence in the region was weak, the local ruler calculated that liberalizing his state, thereby making it more prosperous, could give him enough leverage to get his choice of bishop. The pope would try to incite the people to revolt, but to weak effect. Thus, the local ruler could hold out for longer against the pope, and the pope would concede. The local ruler would get his preferred bishop, and the pope would get the money.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: In the Catholic regions of Europe, the pope's influence was weaker the further away a region was from Rome because in general it is difficult to project power over long distances and across difficult terrain such as mountains. This, Bueno de Mesquita argues, is why the northern regions of Europe, such as England and the Netherlands, became more prosperous and free than the southern regions. He further argues that this dynamic is what enabled the Protestant Reformation, which mostly happened in northern Europe. The northern parts of Europe were so prosperous and the influence of the pope there was so weak, their local rulers could reject the pope's bishops indefinitely.


title: Investiture Controversy

text: Science fiction writer Poul Anderson's novel "The Shield of Time" (1980) depicts two alternate history scenarios. In one, the imperial power completely and utterly defeated the Papacy, and in the other, the Papacy emerged victorious with the imperial power humbled and marginalized. Both end with a highly authoritarian and repressive 20th century that is completely devoid of democracy or civil rights. The conclusion stated by a protagonist is that the outcome in actual history (neither power gained a clear victory, with both continuing to counterbalance each other) was the best from the point of view of human liberty.


title: Mercedes-Benz OM651 engine

text: The OM651 is a family of inline-four cylinder automobile diesel engines introduced by Mercedes-Benz in 2008.


title: Mercedes-Benz OM651 engine

text: The main goal was to create a common engine design that maximized the parts commonality between the engines manufactured by parent company, Daimler.


title: Mercedes-Benz OM651 engine

text: One requirement of the design was the ability of the engine to be mounted both longitudinally and transversely. Improved fuel efficiency and compliance with Euro 5 emission standards were also design objectives, by 2010 being updated to the Euro 6 standard; four piezo-electric injectors fed with very high pressure fuel from a common rail inject fuel directly into the combustion chambers to improve combustion compared to previous Mercedes Diesel engines and recirculated exhaust gas reduces the oxygen in the cylinders to "starve" any reactions that would produce NO(x).


title: Mercedes-Benz OM651 engine

text: There are 6 variants in all. Of these 4 variants of the engine have the same swept volume, tuned to different power outputs


title: Mercedes-Benz OM651 engine

text: There are also 2 shorter stroke "square" variants of this engine with 1.8 litre displacement (badged A/B180) (badged A/B200 and used only in smaller front wheel drive models like the A-Bclass). These two variants differ only in electronic tune, and have a single turbocharger.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, with partial American and British roots. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (top 10 following its merger with Shire). The company has over 49,578 employees worldwide and achieved US$19.299 billion in revenue during the 2018 fiscal year. The company is focused on oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, gastroenterology, plasma-derived therapies and vaccines. Its headquarters is located in Chuo-ku, Osaka, and it has an office in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo. In January 2012, Fortune Magazine ranked the Takeda Oncology Company as one of the 100 best companies to work for in the United States. As of 2015, Christophe Weber was appointed as the CEO and president of Takeda.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: One of the firm's mainstay drugs is Actos (pioglitazone), a compound in the thiazolidinedione class of drugs used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. It was launched in 1999.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In February 2005, Takeda acquired San Diego, California, based Syrrx, a company specializing in high-throughput X-ray crystallography, for US$270 million.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In February 2008, Takeda acquired the Japanese operations of Amgen and rights to a dozen of the California biotechnology company's pipeline candidates for the Japanese market. In April, Takeda acquired Millennium Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a company specializing in cancer drug research, for US$8.8 billion. The acquisition brought in Velcade, a drug indicated for hematological malignancies, as well as a portfolio of pipeline candidates in the oncology, inflammation, and cardiovascular therapeutic areas. Millennium now operates as an independent subsidiary. In May, the company licensed non-exclusively the RNAi technology platform developed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, creating a potentially long-term partnership between the companies.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In May 2012, Takeda purchased Brazilian pharmaceutical company Multilab for R$540 million. In June, Takeda announced it would acquire URL Pharma, then run by the founder's son Richard Roberts, for US$800 million.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In September 2014, Takeda announced it would team up with BioMotiv to identify and develop new compounds over a five-year period, worth approximately US$25 million. On 30 September 2014, Takeda announced it would expand a collaboration with MacroGenics, valued up to US$1.6 billion. The collaboration focused on the co-development of the preclinical autoimmune compound MGD010. MGD010 is a therapy which targets the B-cell surface proteins CD32B and CD79B, and is indicated for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In 2015, Takeda sold its respiratory drugs business to AstraZeneca for $575 million (about £383 million), which included roflumilast and ciclesonide. On November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ixazomib developed by Takeda for use in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of multiple myeloma after at least one prior therapy.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In December 2016, the company spun out its neuroscience research division into Cerevance, a joint venture along with Lightstone Ventures.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In February 2017, Takeda acquired Ariad Pharmaceuticals for $5.2 billion, expanding the company's oncology and hematology divisions.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In January 2018, the company acquired stem cell therapy developer TiGenix for up to €520 million ($632 million).


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In January 2019, Takeda acquired Shire for more than . In October, Takeda announced it had sold a portfolio of over-the-counter and prescription medicines in the Middle East and Africa to Swiss pharmaceuticals company Acino International for more than $200 million.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In January 2020, Takeda announced a research partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to advance discoveries in artificial intelligence and health. The MIT-Takeda Program is housed in the MIT Jameel Clinic, and is led by Professor James J. Collins, with a steering committee led by Professor Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of the MIT School of Engineering, and Anne Heatherington, senior vice president and head of Data Sciences Institute (DSI) at Takeda. In March 2020, Takeda announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement to divest a portfolio of non-core products in Latin America to Hypera S.A. for a total value of $825 million.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In March 2021, the company announced it would acquire Maverick Therapeutics, Inc. and its two major programs TAK-186 (MVC-101) in trials for the treatment of EGFR-expressing tumours and TAK-280 (MVC-280) for use in the treatment of patients with B7H3-expressing tumors. In October, they acquired GammaDelta Therapeutics and its gamma delta (γδ) T cell immunotherapy programme.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In January 2022, Takeda announced it would exercise its option to acquire Adaptate Biotherapeutics and its antibody-based γδ T cell technology, reuniting Adaptate and its former parent company, GammaDelta Therapeutics, in a single organisation. In December of the same year, the company announced it would acquire Nimbus Lakshmi, Inc. and its lead compound NDI-034858 which is an allosteric TYK2 inhibitor, from Nimbus Therapeutics, LLC for up to $6 billion.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In 1977, Takeda first entered the U.S. pharmaceutical market by developing a joint venture with Abbott Laboratories called TAP Pharmaceuticals. Through TAP Pharmaceuticals Takeda and Abbott launched blockbuster drugs Lupron (leuprorelin), in 1985, then Prevacid (lansoprazole), in 1995.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In 2001, TAP's illegal marketing of Lupron resulted in both civil and criminal charges by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Illinois attorney general for federal and state medicare fraud. TAP was fined $875 million, then reported as the largest pharmaceutical settlement in history.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In March 2008, Takeda and Abbott Laboratories announced plans to conclude their 30-year-old joint venture, TAP Pharmaceuticals. The split resulted in Abbott acquiring U.S. rights to Lupron and the drug's support staff. Takeda received rights to Prevacid and TAP's pipeline candidates. The move also increased Takeda's headcount by 3,000 employees.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In May 2019, Takeda sold its Xiidra dry-eye drug business to Novartis for $5.3 billion, $3.4 billion upfront and up-to $1.9 billion in sales milestones.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In November 2019, Takeda entered an agreement to sell its over-the-counter and prescription drugs businesses in Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to Stada Arzneimittel for $660 million.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In June 2020, Takeda announced that it was divesting 18 over-the-counter and prescription drugs marketed in the Asia-Pacific region to South Korea's Celltrion in a deal worth $278 million.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: Takeda operates two primary bases in Japan in Osaka and Tokyo. Its United States subsidiary is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and all Global Operations outside Japan and the U.K. are based in Opfikon (Zurich), Switzerland.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: The company maintains research and development sites in Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore, with manufacturing facilities across the globe.


title: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

text: In April 2015 Takeda agreed to pay a settlement of $2.37 billion to an estimated 9,000 people who submitted claims alleging that pioglitazone was responsible for giving them bladder cancer. The company said the decision is expected to resolve the “vast majority” of these cases. Takeda will put the money into a settlement fund if 95 percent of plaintiffs agree to the accord, according to which each claimant would get an average $267,000. However, the exact amount for each plaintiff will be evaluated based on cumulative dosage, extent of injuries and history of smoking. In 2014, a plaintiff was awarded $9 billion in punitive damages after a federal court found Takeda hid the cancer risks of their diabetes medicine, but the amount was later reduced to $26 million by a judge who deemed the charge excessive.


title: Widespread Panic

text: Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring. The band's original guitarist and sometime songwriter, Michael Houser, died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, and the original drummer, Todd Nance, left in 2016 and died in 2020.


title: Widespread Panic

text: The band was formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1986, and is influenced by the Southern rock, blues-rock, progressive rock, funk and hard rock genres. They have been compared to other jam bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish. Widely renowned for their live performances, as of 2018, they hold the record for number of sold-out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Morrison, Colorado) at 66 and State Farm Arena (Atlanta) at 20.


title: Widespread Panic

text: John Bell and Michael Houser met in 1981 in their dorm at the University of Georgia. Bell had been playing guitar as a solo act, and invited his new friend Houser, also a guitarist, to join him. They began living together and collaborating on music in that year, writing still-popular songs such as "Driving Song" and "Chilly Water" together. Bassist Dave Schools met Bell and Houser in 1984 and first played with them on February 24, 1985, at the A-Frame house on Weymanda Court in Athens. On February 6, 1986, Houser called childhood friend and drummer Todd Nance to sit in with Houser, Bell, and Schools for a charity event in Athens; it was their first show as "Widespread Panic." The band was named for Houser's once-frequent panic attacks. Texan percussionist Domingo S. Ortiz ("Sunny") began sitting in with the band regularly later that year.


title: Widespread Panic

text: The band played in fraternities and bars regularly before Panic signed a contract with Landslide Records in 1987. In February 1987 the band played the now-legendary series of one dollar Monday night shows at the Uptown Lounge in Athens and the crucial local press began to take notice—FLAGPOLE & Athens Observer art columnist Shan Clark emphasized Widespread Panic's musical virtuosity, songwriting and professionalism. In September of the same year, they recorded their first album, "Space Wrangler", at John Keane's studio in Athens. Col. Bruce Hampton is rumored to have delivered the first pressing to the band. Songs on the album included "Chilly Water", "Travelin' Light", "Space Wrangler", "Coconut", "The Take Out", "Porch Song", "Stop-Go" and "Driving Song." After "Space Wrangler", touring expanded to include additional northeastern dates, along with Texas, Colorado, the west coast, and internationally to Vancouver, Canada. It was also around this time (late 1988 or early 1989) that Domingo Ortiz joined the band full-time. They played their first show in Colorado in March 1990, opening for Jerry Joseph's band Little Women.


title: Widespread Panic

text: Widespread Panic signed with Capricorn Records in January 1991. Later that year, they released their major label debut, "Widespread Panic" (a.k.a. Mom's Kitchen). That same year Billy Bob Thornton directed the movie "Widespread Panic: Live from the Georgia Theatre" which was recorded over two nights in Athens, Georgia.


title: Widespread Panic

text: As the band began to tour more, John Hermann ("JoJo") joined the band as a keyboardist in March 1992 replacing Dixie Dregs keyboardist T. Lavitz who joined the band a year earlier. The band continued to tour throughout the entire US in 1992 joining the famous H.O.R.D.E. tour with Blues Traveler, Phish, and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, among others. They released "Everyday" in March 1993 and "Ain't Life Grand" in September 1994. Panic marked their rise by playing on network television for the first time in November 1994.


title: Widespread Panic

text: On April 18, 1998, to celebrate the release of their first live album, "Light Fuse, Get Away", Widespread Panic offered a free "CD release party" concert in Athens Georgia. An estimated 80,000–100,000 fans descended on the town, transforming it into one of the largest CD release parties in history.


title: Widespread Panic

text: In 2002, the band received gold certification for their concert DVD "Live at Oak Mountain". They also headlined two nights of the first annual Bonnaroo Music Festival which drew a crowd upwards of 70,000 people.


title: Widespread Panic

text: In early 2002, guitarist Michael Houser was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Houser continued to perform with the band into the middle of that year, but following a performance on July 2, 2002 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa he left the tour because of his declining health. Guitarist George McConnell, a former bandmate of JoJo Hermann's in Beanland, took over as lead guitarist for the remainder of the band's scheduled dates. Michael Houser died on August 10, 2002.


title: Widespread Panic

text: In 2003, the band released "Ball", the first studio album with McConnell as the guitarist. The album was unique among the band's offerings in that none of the songs included had been performed live by the band prior to the recording. All of the material included was written specifically for the album with the exception of "Time Waits", a song which John Bell had performed in solo appearances, and "Don't Wanna Lose You", a song John Hermann had performed with his side-project Smiling Assassins. Late in 2003, the band announced that they would be taking a hiatus from both recording and performing in 2004. However, 2004 did see the release of three live albums, engineered by Billy Field: "Night of Joy" and "Über Cobra"—both of which were recorded during a November 2003 three-night run of shows at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina—as well as "Jackassolantern", a compilation of cover songs performed during the band's Halloween shows over the years. A third release from the Myrtle Beach shows, "Live at Myrtle Beach" was released in early 2005.


title: Widespread Panic

text: In January 2006, the band recorded their 9th studio album, "Earth to America, "in Nassau, Bahamas at Compass Point Studios, with Terry Manning producing. It was released June 13, 2006. Their May 9 show at Atlanta's Fox Theatre was simulcast in LIVE HD, via satellite, in select movie theatres nationwide. Over 60,000 fans across the country watched it live in the theatres. This show was also released in DVD format on November 14, 2006, entitled "Earth to Atlanta".


title: Widespread Panic

text: On August 2, 2006, nearing the end of the summer tour, the band announced that George McConnell had left the band, making July 30, 2006 at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, his last show. Producer John Keane and former guitar technician Sam Holt filled in on guitar for the remaining two weeks of the tour.


title: Widespread Panic

text: In late 2006, Fayetteville, North Carolina native Jimmy Herring joined the band in the role of lead guitarist. His first shows started their fall tour with three nights at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.


title: Widespread Panic

text: Panic's 7th annual New Year's shows on December 30 and 31, 2007, marked their 15th and 16th sellout performance at Philips Arena.


title: Widespread Panic

text: The band released their 10th album, "Free Somehow", on February 12, 2008. It, too, was recorded with producer Terry Manning at Compass Point Studios.


title: Widespread Panic

text: Following the release of the new studio album, Widespread Panic began to release vintage concert performances from the Widespread Panic Archives. "Carbondale 2000" was released on June 10, 2008, followed by "Valdosta 1989" released on February 24, 2009, and "Huntsville 1996" released on June 23, 2009. The band will continue to dig into their show archives, which encompasses the past 25 years, and release these shows as multi-track recordings.


title: Widespread Panic

text: June 27, 2008, marked the band's 32nd sold-out show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. This was more than any other band in the venue's history. Mayor John Hickenlooper proclaimed Friday, June 27 "Widespread Panic Day" in the City and County of Denver.


title: Widespread Panic

text: The band continued to tour throughout the rest of 2008 and the spring of 2009. In the summer of 2009, Widespread Panic teamed up with fellow southern rockers, The Allman Brothers to do a summer and fall co-headlining tour.


title: Widespread Panic

text: In March 2010, it was announced that Widespread Panic would be releasing a new album entitled "Dirty Side Down" on May 25, 2010. 2010 would also see the release of "Live in the Classic City II", containing music from its 2000 shows.


title: Widespread Panic

text: On September 29, 2010, Widespread keyboardist Jojo Herman announced that the band would be going on hiatus in 2012. In an interview with "The Vanderbilt Hustler", Herman explained, "Next year will be our 25th anniversary. After that, we're probably going to call it (quits) for awhile. So we're looking forward to next year and going out on a high note."


title: Widespread Panic

text: The band went on to tour steadily throughout 2011, ending the year with their first show at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. In early 2012, the band played a limited number of shows. From January to February the band embarked on their first ever tour billed as completely acoustic. Dubbed the Wood Tour, it started in January at the Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland and ended at The Belly Up in Aspen, Colorado. Two recordings from the Wood Tour were released in 2012, a special Record Store Day-only vinyl record entitled "Live Wood" in April and later "Wood", on October 16.


title: Widespread Panic

text: The rest of 2012 saw the band on hiatus but band members were active with other projects. Dave Schools toured with the Mickey Hart Band, Jimmy Herring recorded a new album and toured with his own band, and Jojo Hermann played shows with the Missing Cats, occasionally opening and sitting in with the North Mississippi Allstars. On August 17, the band announced their first scheduled shows after hiatus, including two nights in Charlotte, North Carolina and a 4-night run in the Dominican Republic.


title: Widespread Panic

text: Between the two short legs that made up the 2012 Wood Tour, the band played a four night run in Mexico, marking their first shows in the country, and beginning what would become an annual tradition called Panic en la Playa. The first Panic En La Playa was held on the beach at the Now Sapphire Resort in Puerto Morelos, Mexico in 2012. For 2013 and 2014, The concert was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with the 2014 shows pushed back until March 17–20.


title: Widespread Panic

text: The band returned to regular touring in the spring of 2013 with a run of Mid-West and Southern shows beginning in April. During these shows, the band introduced new innovations in the audio broadcast of their live performance. Previously, Panic had allowed tapers to use audience recording devices to simulcast live shows to fans via the internet. The first live taper stream was at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona on 11/04/2009 by Coloartist and was continued by all the WP tapers through the Spring 2013 tour when the band took over streaming duties and started broadcasting live soundboard recordings of the show via Mixlr.com and the Mixlr smartphone app. On December 31, 2013 the band returned to Philips Arena in Atlanta.


title: Widespread Panic

text: 2014 saw a return of Wood Tour, with the band playing six all acoustic theater shows, as well as a special Wood performance held 333 feet underground in the Volcano Room at Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, Tennessee for a taping of an episode of PBS' Bluegrass Underground. The band played an extensive 2014 tour, with three-night stands at Red Rocks, The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, The Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, and 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado, where they played their well-known Halloween shows.


title: Widespread Panic

text: The band closed out 2014 with two shows in Charlotte, North Carolina: the annual Tunes for Tots benefit performance at The Fillmore in Charlotte, North Carolina on 12/30, followed by their annual New Year's Eve show, held this particular year at the TWC Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.


title: Widespread Panic

text: On October 2, 2014, the band announced that Duane Trucks would join the band for 2014 fall tour. Trucks temporarily filled in for Todd Nance, who was taking time to attend to personal matters. Nance reunited with the band for four shows in Mexico in early February 2016. However, on February 9, 2016, the band announced that Todd Nance was leaving the band and that, "Duane [Trucks] will be the drummer for Widespread Panic moving forward." Trucks is the current drummer for Hard Working Americans.


title: Widespread Panic

text: On September 25, 2015, "Street Dogs", their 13th studio album, was released through Vanguard Records. "Street Dogs" was recorded by John Keane at Echo Mountain Recording Studio in Asheville, North Carolina. The album is composed of seven originals and three covers: Alan Price's "Sell Sell", Murray McLauchlan's "Honky Red" and "Tail Dragger", a Willie Dixon tune popularized by Howlin' Wolf.


title: Widespread Panic

text: In April 2016, keyboardist John Hermann announced that the band will stop touring extensively at the end of the year. However, he said that the band is not breaking up and will continue to make festival appearances and perform shows at select venues such as Red Rocks.


title: Widespread Panic

text: Nance died on August 19, 2020, in Athens, Georgia. He was 57; his death was first announced on Facebook by collaborator Cody Dickinson and was later confirmed by Relix. Details on the chronic illness that led to his death have not been disclosed.


title: Widespread Panic

text: Known for never playing the same show twice, the band has a show-to-show ritual of choosing the night's setlist. At the beginning of each tour, a member of the band's road crew makes a master list of all the songs the band performs and laminates it. Each night before the show he marks the last three nights' set lists in different colors. The band can see what has been played recently and then decide what songs to play during the first set. They return to the list during setbreak to pick songs for the second set, and likewise, return after the second set for any additional sets if playing more than two, or the encore. This process is explained by the late Garrie Vereen in the DVD "The Earth Will Swallow You".


title: Widespread Panic

text: Widespread Panic has the policy of allowing any of their fans to tape, trade, and to a limited extent freely distribute their shows. However, anonymous distribution such as P2P and commercial distribution is not permitted. Fans have been taping and trading shows since before they gained national prominence, allowing them to gain their strong national following.


title: Widespread Panic

text: A fan was detained by police while experiencing the effects of LSD after leaving a concert in Southaven, Mississippi. He was then restrained and taken to a local hospital emergency room where he later died. He was still in police custody at the time. On November 18, 2015 autopsy findings stated that 'hogtying' contributed to the death of the fan.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: The Fiat Multipla (Type 186) is a six-seater car produced by Italian automaker Fiat from 1998 to 2010. Based on the Bravo/Brava, the Multipla was shorter and wider than its rivals. It had two rows of three seats, where its compact MPV competitors had two across front seating. The Multipla is shorter than the three-door Bravo/Brava on which it was based, yet it offered increased seating and cargo volume. Sales commenced in Italy in November 1998.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: In common with a number of other modern Fiats, the Multipla reused the name of an earlier vehicle, in this case the "Multipla" variant of the Fiat 600 produced during the 1950s and 1960s.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: The Multipla was assembled and marketed in China from 2008 to 2013 under license by Zotye Auto as the Zotye M300 Langyue, using knock-down kits from Italy. Zotye also sold a total of 220 all-electric versions of the M300.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: The exterior and interior design of the Multipla were displayed at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York during its "Different Roads – Automobiles for the Next Century" exhibition in 1999.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: It won the "Top Gear" "Car of the Year" (2000), as well as the "More beautiful Car in the world" in the same programme's awards. It was also voted "Top Gear Magazine" "Family Car of the Year" for four years in a row, from 2001 to 2004. In July 2000, in the series finale of "Clarkson's Car Years", it was awarded "Family Car of the Moment".


title: Fiat Multipla

text: Multipla sales began in Italy in November 1998, with most other markets receiving it a year later. The Multipla sold well with Italian buyers, but sales elsewhere were less successful.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: The Multipla underwent a major facelift in March 2004, in an attempt to shed its original styling for a more restrained look. This was with the intention of attracting more buyers, but failed to garner critical acclaim. Upon the subsequent restyling, "The Telegraph" reported designers were "desperately sad that the new Multipla no longer resembles a psychotic cartoon duck," and "while passengers loved the adaptability of the clever interior, they were less keen on the sarcastic sneers and derisive laughter of their neighbours, friends and schoolmates; children can be cruel."


title: Fiat Multipla

text: "The Daily Telegraph" placed it #2 on its list of the "100 Ugliest Cars" in August 2008, saying "Derided for the blandness of its output during the 1980s and early 1990s, Fiat dared to start thinking outside the box. In this case, however, it simply added wheels to the box." The Multipla was also named the ugliest car of all time by readers of "Car Throttle" in January 2014. In February 2018, "The Sunday Times" named it on a list of ugliest cars, saying "The tragedy of the Multipla is that its Elephant Man esque exterior enclosed a genuinely clever and spacious interior, and it wasn’t bad to drive, either. It’s a shame, then, that you’d rather walk than be seen in it."


title: Fiat Multipla

text: A 1.6 engine, that could be powered on either methane or standard petrol, was offered in certain markets.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: In June 2004, when the Multipla received its facelift, these trim levels were later replaced with "Dynamic", "Dynamic Family", "Dynamic Plus".


title: Fiat Multipla

text: The new generation Multipla was praised by journalists at its launch for its flexibility. The Multipla’s three abreast seating configuration allows for adjustment of the front seats, and the removal and relocation of the rear seats into many formats. It also affords a big of luggage space, which can increase to of flat floor load space, with the rear three seats removed from the vehicle.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: From December 2008 to September 2010, Zotye Auto had assembled Multipla 2 from KD kits, in its factory in Changshan, and marketed it in China as the Zotye Multiplan. In October 2010, Zotye started to build a version of Multipla 2, employing more locally made parts in order to reduce costs; the new version is called "Langyue" in China. There are 2 types: M300 (Engine powered) and M300 EV (see below) which is electric.


title: Fiat Multipla

text: In 2020, Pierre Chabrier and Silvain Levy, two french YouTubers from channel , announced the project to upgrade a current Fiat Multipla JTD into a super car. They launched a crownfunding campaign to finance the project, that projected to achieve . Instead, the fund skyrocketed to over a million euros. In 2022, the Multipla project, renamed "1000tipla" (thousand being pronounced "mille" in French, creating the contraction "milletipla") was revealed at the 2022 Paris Motor Show. In October 2022, retired WRC World champion Ari Vatanen showed interest into driving the 1000tipla.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Discharge are an English hardcore punk band formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The band is known for influencing several sub-genres of extreme music and their songs have been covered by some of the biggest names in heavy metal and other genres. The musical sub-genre of D-beat is named after Discharge and the band's distinctive drumbeat.


title: Discharge (band)

text: The band is characterized by a minimalistic approach to music and lyrics, using a heavy, distorted and grinding guitar-driven sound and raw, shouted vocals similar to a political speech, with lyrics on anarchist and pacifist themes, over intense drone-like rhythms. The band's sound has been called a "grave-black aural acid assault." Discharge "paved the way for an astounding array of politically motivated, musically intense and deeply confrontational bands". Discharge was "explicitly political" and used a "revolutionary/activist" attitude that moved hardcore away from its pub rock origins and towards a "dangerous and provocative" territory.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Discharge paved the way for various extreme metal styles such as thrash metal, black metal, crust punk and grindcore. The band's "brutal, extremist approach" and "extreme thrash noise" style of playing eventually led to the thrash genre. "Discharge's influence on heavy metal is incalculable and metal superstars such as Metallica, Anthrax, Machine Head, Sepultura, Soulfly, Prong and Arch Enemy have covered Discharge's songs in tribute." Discharge was a major influence on at least two generations of metal.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Discharge was formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent by Terence "Tezz" Roberts (vocals) and Royston "Rainy" Wainwright (guitar). They soon recruited Roberts's younger brother Anthony "Bones" Roberts on lead guitar, Nigel Bamford on bass and Anthony "Akko" Axon (Allmusic gives the alternate nickname "Hacko") on drums. The musical style of the band was initially influenced by 1977-era punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Damned and the Clash. Engaging Tanya Rich as their manager, the band recorded their first demo, supported bands such as The Ruts, The Clash and The Damned at the Victoria Hall, Hanley, and began touring.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Axon left later that year, followed by Bamford, and the band recruited their roadie Kelvin "Cal" Morris as vocalist, moving Tezz Roberts to drums and Wainwright to bass. With Morris's addition, the group abandoned their previous Sex Pistols-influenced material and developed a new set of songs with a retooled sound. Anthony Roberts played guitar with a heavy, distorted and grinding style and Morris shouted or screamed vocals without melody. The bassist played with an "immense gurgling over-driven" bass tone. The tempo of the band's songs also steadily increased over the next year or so.


title: Discharge (band)

text: The new, harder-edged style also tended to use much darker, more nihilistic and violent lyrics, focusing on anarchist and pacifist themes while emphasizing the grisly effects of nuclear warfare and the social ills caused by capitalism. Like Crass, Discharge supported anarchism and displayed the anarchist symbol. The band also expressed its political and social themes in its albums' artwork, which depicted the horrors of war using an iconic black-and-white photography style. One of the notable images is the "Impaled Dove" artwork from a 1930s John Heartfield anti-war poster, which depicts a dove impaled on a bayonet. The first gig with this new line-up and new sound was at Northwood Parish Hall. Among the audience was local record shop owner Mike Stone, who ran the Clay Records punk record label.


title: Discharge (band)

text: In 1980, Discharge signed with Clay Records and recorded their first single "Realities of War" in February 1980, which made the UK Indie Chart when it was released in April, after being played on BBC1 DJ John Peel's show, peaking at number 5 and spending 44 weeks in the chart. The band also performed their first shows outside of Stoke-on-Trent in 1980, playing in Leicester, Preston and Glasgow. After two further EP releases in that same year, founding member Tezz Roberts departed, to be replaced by Dave "Bambi" Ellesmere (formerly of The Insane) before the "Why" EP was recorded. Ellesmere did not stay long and the band replaced him with Garry Maloney of The Varukers on drums. "Why" gave the band their first UK indie number one. "Why" had cover photos showing the corpses of dead civilians. The song "Visions of War" had an "unrepentantly angry and punishing attack" and it became a signature song for the group. The songs "Maimed and Slaughtered," "Does This System Work?" and "Mania for Conquest" set out the song and sound template for crust bands. At the same time, the record showed that it was possible for a hardcore band to incorporate the sonic power of "heavy metal without sacrificing ideology or anger".


title: Discharge (band)

text: The Punknews.org reviewer argues that the early 1981 EP "Why" "...revolutionized everything...[paving the] way for the atonal shredding of hardcore punk, thrash, death metal, and grind, but also the dead-serious political ideals and brutal backing of crust hardcore". Ian Glasper described the EP as "one of the most potent anti-war records ever made". Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost credited Discharge as "a revolution, much like Venom", saying, "When I heard the first two Discharge records, I was blown away. I was just starting to play an instrument and I had no idea you could go so far. And to me, they were unlike other punk bands--they sounded more like metal."


title: Discharge (band)

text: Discharge recorded their first full length album, 1982's "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" (HNSNSN), which was the number one punk album of all time in a poll by "Terrorizer" magazine. The album reached number two on the indie album chart and number 40 in the UK Album Chart. In David Konow's history of heavy metal, he calls the album the band's "...crowning achievement, a mercilessly brutal masterpiece." "Treble" zine states that the music on HNSNSN was "much, much heavier" than previous punk and states that it influenced "punk rock, [and]... metal circles" with its "raw and intense" sound. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian stated in 2015 that "You put on... Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing album now, and it's still as heavy and brutal as anything out there."


title: Discharge (band)

text: The group played regularly throughout the UK, often appearing with bands such as GBH and The Exploited, and the success of the debut album also saw them touring Canada, the United States, Italy, Yugoslavia, Holland, Finland and Sweden. The band had trouble getting into Canada at the border crossing at Buffalo, New York, as border guards thought the band looked like "animals".


title: Discharge (band)

text: In 1982, Anthony "Bones" Roberts left the group, later to form Broken Bones with his brother Tezz later joining him. He was replaced by Peter "Pooch" Purtill who brought significant heavy metal influences. Purtill used a rock and metal style of guitar playing, including rock-oriented guitar solos. The "" EP shows drastic stylistic differences, with Morris changing his angry shouts to a mix of regular singing and football chants. Morris began to use a heavy metal, Ozzy Osbourne-influenced vocal style. As well, the band used significantly slower tempos and their D-beat punk style was replaced with metal-oriented beats.


title: Discharge (band)

text: With the release of "Ignorance", Purtill and Maloney left the band to form the punk/metal crossover band HellsBelles, to be replaced by guitarists Les "The Mole" Hunt and drummer Michael "Micky" Gibson. Following the later addition of second guitarist Stephen "Fish" Brooks, they released 1986's "Grave New World", a mainstream metal album with a glam sound from Morris's high-pitched singing style. The album reached the indie top 10, but the band struggled with personnel problems as Morris departed and was briefly replaced by ex-Wrathchild frontman Rob "Rocky Shades" Berkeley the following year. The group disbanded shortly thereafter.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Morris formed a new version of the band in 1990 with Andrew "Andy" Green on guitar, Anthony Morgan on bass and Mika Karppinen initially playing drums, only to be replaced by the returning Maloney. The "Live At The City Garden, New Jersey" album on Clay Records followed. In 1991 they released "Massacre Divine", which retained the metal sound, though with a noticeably harder edge than on "Grave New World". Morris again changed his vocal style, this time to rougher growling, similar to Brian Johnson of AC/DC. They toured widely in support of the record, including their only visit to Japan, but the tour was negatively received. In 1993 they released "Shootin' Up the World", which continued Cal's new vocal style, but the songs were significantly heavier than on "Massacre Divine". The album retains the metal direction, although experiments with strange lyrics and song structures, coming close to thrash metal at times. Morris assembled further versions of the group, but they again disbanded in 1999.


title: Discharge (band)

text: In 2001, the classic line-up of Morris, Roberts and Wainright reunited after meeting at a party held by original bassist Bamford, and in 2002 they released their self-titled album "Discharge", a return to their early 1980s style featuring political commentary and aggressive playing. As well, they brought back their intense D-beat drumming style, although combined with the remaining metal influence, it gave the album a speed metal influence with its thrashy riffs.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Morris would not commit to touring to promote the album and left the band, to be replaced by Anthony "Rat" Martin of The Varukers. The single "The Beginning of the End" was released in 2006, which marked a further step towards a return to the punk sound. Dave "Proper" Caution replaced Terence Roberts after his second departure this same year and the group released the "Disensitise" album in 2008. In 2011 the band released an EP titled "Propaganda Feeds". In 2012 they released a split single with American band Off with Their Heads, released on Drunken Sailor Records. In 2014, Rat played his last show with the band in Ireland, then it was announced by the band that Rat would no longer be their singer.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Shortly after Rat's firing, it was announced that Jeff "JJ" Janiak would be taking over on vocal duties whilst Tezz Roberts would also return to the band, except this time on rhythm guitar rather than drums making Discharge a five-piece for the first time. On 3 June 2015, the group premiered a new song called "New World Order". An EP containing the song and a live recording of "Ain't No Feeble Bastard" was released on 16 January 2016, entitled "New World Order". On 10 February 2016, the band announced that their seventh studio album, titled "End of Days", was to be released sometime in April. It would be Discharge's first album with Janiak and their first album as a five-piece band. On 3 March 2016, the Nuclear Blast YouTube channel uploaded a new song, "Hatebomb", which would later on be available through other streaming services. The same day, the band released the track listing for "End of Days".


title: Discharge (band)

text: "End of Days", Discharge's seventh studio album, was released on 29 April through Nuclear Blast Records and entered the Official UK rock charts at No. 10 and on the indie charts at No. 23. The success of the album saw the band touring Europe and the US. MetalBlast gave the album a positive review, stating that it "...showcases everything about the band that has earned them their legendary status. The guitar work is fast and brutal, that famous D-beat drumming pattern is in full effect, and the vocals are a gruff, angry bark." The review states that the "songs are short, violent bursts of punk rock fury, brimming with an energy" with "a real sense of menace and sincerity in the tone" and it is "[r]elentless from start to finish". The production was praised as clear and "live"-sounding; the only negative comment was the lack of melody on the record.


title: Discharge (band)

text: On 30 December 2017, the group played a support slot for the original Misfits reunion at the LA Forum in Los Angeles, California. The 17,000 capacity venue sold out in less than one minute.


title: Discharge (band)

text: As well as bringing the D-beat subgenre into existence, Discharge influenced bands operating within other types of extreme music. "Decibel" magazine states that there are "...few bands who have had more influence over so many different scenes than Discharge", including the first generation of thrash bands, grind and hardcore groups.


title: Discharge (band)

text: James Hetfield of Metallica nominated Cal Morris for "Rolling Stone"s 100 Greatest Singers poll. Morris was No. 17 on a list of 20 singers whom James nominated.


title: Discharge (band)

text: Discharge's wide influence can also be seen in the range of cover versions recorded by hardcore punk and metal groups. The Scottish anarcho-punk band Oi Polloi covered the song "State Violence, State Control". During the same period, the Swedish hardcore punk band Mob 47 covered "Never Again" on their "Ultimate Attack" recording. New York City anarchist crust band Nausea, recorded "Ain't No Feeble Bastard" along with "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing", on "The Punk Terrorist Anthology, Vol. 1". Swedish grindcore band Nasum covered "Visions of War" for a tribute compilation. D-beat/hardcore punk band From Ashes Rise recorded the nuclear war-themed "Hell on Earth". In 2003, US hardcore band Ensign covered "Protest and Survive" on their album of covers "Love the Music, Hate the Kids".


title: American Born Chinese

text: American Born Chinese is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Released in 2006 by First Second Books, it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Awards in the category of Young People's Literature. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, the "Publishers Weekly" Comics Week Best Comic of the Year, the "San Francisco Chronicle" Best Book of the Year, the 2006/2007 Best Book Award from The Chinese American Librarians Association, and Amazon.com Best Graphic Novel/Comic of the Year. It also made the "Booklist" Top Ten Graphic Novel for Youth, the NPR Holiday Pick, and "Time" Top Ten Comic of the Year. It was colored by cartoonist Lark Pien, who received the 2007 Harvey Award for Best Colorist for her work on the book.


title: American Born Chinese

text: The story of "American Born Chinese" consists of three seemingly separate tales, which are tied together at the end of the book.


title: American Born Chinese

text: The first story line is Yang's contemporary rendition of the Chinese story of a Kung Fu practicing Monkey King of Flower-Fruit Mountain, The Monkey King, a character from the classic 16th century Chinese novel "Journey to the West". Yang replaces the Buddha from the original story with a Christian influenced deity Tze-Yo-Tzuh. Throughout the story, The Monkey King is unhappy with himself as a monkey and continually tries to become another version of himself. The Monkey King grows larger, taking a more human form. Tze-Yo-Tzuh tries to help The Monkey King accept himself, but when The Monkey King refuses Tze-Yo-Tzuh imprisons him under a mountain of rocks. A monk named Wong Lai-Tsao is sent by Tze-Yo-Tzuh on a mission to carry three packages to the west and is to pick up his disciple, The Monkey King, on his journey. He finds The Monkey King imprisoned under the mountain of rocks and frees him from the mountain by convincing The Monkey King to return to his original form.


title: American Born Chinese

text: The second story line follows a child of Chinese immigrants named Jin Wang. His story links the other two narratives, and fits the form of an ethnic coming-of-age. His family moves from San Francisco's Chinatown to a suburb where he goes to school with only two other Asian students. Jin struggles with his Chinese identity and begins to reject it when he meets a new Asian student, Wei-Chen. Wei-Chen is a Taiwanese immigrant who just came to the United States, and he and Jin become best friends. Jin begins dating Amelia Harris, a Caucasian girl in his class, but her friend Greg asks Jin not to ask her out any more because he felt she needed to protect her image. Jin perceives this as a personal attack on him because of his race and becomes angry. Angry and confused, he kisses Wei-Chen's girlfriend and they have a falling-out. That evening, Jin recalls the fight he had with Wei-Chen and convinces himself that Wei-Chen deserved it. That night, Jin has a dream about a Chinese woman he had met when he was younger. She had told him that he could be anything he wanted if he was willing to give up his soul. He awakens the next morning and looks in the mirror to see himself as a Caucasian boy and he changes his name to Danny.


title: American Born Chinese

text: The third story line follows Danny, an "all-American boy" and his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee, who comes to visit every year. Danny is embarrassed by Chin-Kee, who is depicted as racist stereotype, in traditional queue with buck teeth, speaking in pidgin English. At the end of this narrative, it is revealed that Chin-Kee is actually The Monkey King. Danny is actually Jin Wang, who "transformed" into a White boy after being prevented from pursuing the girl of his dreams because he was Chinese. The Monkey King tells Danny that his son Wei-Chen was sent to live among the mortals without sin for forty years but that he had changed and no longer wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father. That is when The Monkey King decided to visit Danny. Danny realized that the reason Wei-Chen fell into sin was his fault and as he realizes this, he turns back into Jin Wang and embraces his Chinese identity, while also reconciling with Wei-Chen, the Monkey King's son.