title: Interstate 5

text: An extensive section of this highway (over ), from approximately Stockton, California, to Portland, Oregon, follows the track of the Siskiyou Trail. This trail was based on an older network of Native American footpaths connecting the Pacific Northwest with California's Central Valley. By the 1820s, trappers from the Hudson's Bay Company were the first non-Native Americans to use the route of today's I-5 to move between today's Washington state and California. During the second half of the 19th century, mule trains, stagecoaches, and the Central Pacific railroad also followed the route of the Siskiyou Trail. By the early 20th century, pioneering automobile roads were built along the path of the Siskiyou Trail, notably the Pacific Highway. The Pacific Highway ran from British Columbia to San Diego, California, and was the immediate predecessor of much of US 99. The route of US 99 was in turn used as a basis for much of the route of today's I-5.


title: Interstate 5

text: A major deviation from the old US 99 route is the Westside Freeway portion of I-5 in California's Central Valley. To provide a faster and more direct north–south route through the state, the decision was made to build a new freeway to the west and bypass Fresno, Bakersfield, and the rest of population centers in the area instead of upgrading the existing highway (which was re-designated as part of SR 99).


title: Interstate 5

text: This re-route through California's Central Valley was the last section of I-5 to be constructed, with the final segment dedicated and opened to traffic near Stockton, California, on October 12, 1979. Representatives from both Canada and Mexico attended the dedication to commemorate the first contiguous freeway connecting the North American countries. It cost an estimated $2.3 billion in 1979 dollars (equivalent to $ in dollars) to construct all of I-5.


title: Interstate 5

text: This direct route also bypasses San Francisco and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area. Original plans called for a loop Interstate with a directional suffix, I-5W. This route now roughly corresponds to I-580 from I-5 south of Tracy to Oakland, I-80 from Oakland to Vacaville, and I-505 from Vacaville to I-5 near Dunnigan. I-5W and most of the other Interstates around the country with directional suffixes were eventually renumbered or eliminated. Nevertheless, San Francisco is still listed as a control city on northbound I-5 between SR 99 and I-580.


title: Interstate 5

text: On May 23, 2013, a portion of a bridge on I-5 collapsed in Washington (near Mount Vernon, between Seattle and the Canada–US border at mile marker 228.3), sending two cars into the water and requiring traffic in both directions to bypass the crossing. The Washington State Department of Transportation used a temporary structure to restore access across the river while a permanent bridge replacement was built. That process was completed September 15, 2013.


title: Interstate 5

text: On December 18, 2017, an Amtrak train derailed on an overpass crossing I-5 near Tacoma, Washington, and blocked several lanes of traffic.


title: Interstate 5

text: The I-5 corridor forms part of the West Coast Electric Highway, a partnership between the states of California, Oregon, and Washington to build and maintain a network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The pact was formed in 2009 and the first charging stations—spaced apart—opened in 2011. In 2019, the three states also broke ground on a similar charging network for electric trucks along I-5 called the West Coast Clean Transit Corridor Initiative. The program is a collaboration of nine utilities and two agencies representing municipal utilities, and aims to enable electric freight and delivery trucks to operate along the entire West Coast corridor.


title: Interstate 5

text: I-5 will have a complete set of auxiliary routes (i.e. 105, 205, 305, 405, 505, 605, 705, 805, 905), with the completion of I-905 in San Diego County. Currently, I-80 and I-90 are the only two Interstates to have complete sets of auxiliary routes.


title: Interstate 5

text: Several routes, including I-305 and I-505 in Oregon, were planned but left unbuilt due to local opposition.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Andreas Vesalius (Latinized from Andries van Wezel) () was a 16th-century anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, "De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem" ("On the fabric of the human body" "in seven books"). Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. He was born in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. He was a professor at the University of Padua (1537–1542) and later became Imperial physician at the court of Emperor Charles V.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: "Andreas Vesalius" is the Latinized form of the Dutch name Andries van Wesel. It was a common practice among European scholars in his time to Latinize their names. His name is also given as "Andrea Vesalius", "André Vésale", "Andrea Vesalio", "Andreas Vesal", "Andrés Vesalio" and "Andre Vesale".


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Vesalius was born as Andries van Wesel to his father Anders van Wesel and mother Isabel Crabbe on 31 December 1514 in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. His great-grandfather, Jan van Wesel, probably born in Wesel, received a medical degree from the University of Pavia and taught medicine at the University of Leuven. His grandfather, Everard van Wesel, was the Royal Physician of Emperor Maximilian, whilst his father, Anders van Wesel, served as apothecary to Maximilian and later valet de chambre to his successor, Charles V. Anders encouraged his son to continue in the family tradition and enrolled him in the Brethren of the Common Life in Brussels to learn Greek and Latin prior to learning medicine, according to standards of the era.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1528 Vesalius entered the University of Leuven ("Pedagogium Castrense") taking arts, but when his father was appointed as the Valet de Chambre in 1532 he decided instead to pursue a career in the military at the University of Paris, where he moved in 1533. There he studied the theories of Galen under the auspices of Johann Winter von Andernach, Jacques Dubois (Jacobus Sylvius) and Jean Fernel. It was during that time that he developed an interest in anatomy and was often found examining excavated bones in the charnel houses at the Cemetery of the Innocents.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Vesalius was forced to leave Paris in 1536 owing to the opening of hostilities between the Holy Roman Empire and France and returned to the University of Leuven. He completed his studies there and graduated the following year. His doctoral thesis, "Paraphrasis in nonum librum Rhazae medici Arabis clarissimi ad regem Almansorem, de affectuum singularum corporis partium curatione", was a commentary on the ninth book of Rhazes.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: On the day of his graduation he was immediately offered the chair of surgery and anatomy ("explicator chirurgiae") at the University of Padua. He also guest-lectured at the University of Bologna and the University of Pisa. Prior to taking up his position in Padua, Vesalius traveled through Italy and assisted the future Pope Paul IV and Ignatius of Loyola to heal those afflicted by leprosy. In Venice in 1542 he met the illustrator Johan van Calcar, a student of Titian. It was with van Calcar that Vesalius published his first anatomical text, "Tabulae Anatomicae Sex", in 1538. Previously these topics had been taught primarily from reading classical texts, mainly Galen, followed by an animal dissection by a barber–surgeon whose work was directed by the lecturer. No attempt was made to confirm Galen's claims, which were considered unassailable. Vesalius, in contrast, performed dissection as the primary teaching tool, handling the actual work himself and urging students to perform dissection themselves. He considered hands-on direct observation to be the only reliable resource.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Vesalius created detailed illustrations of anatomy for students in the form of six large woodcut posters. When he found that some of them were being widely copied, he published them all in 1538 under the title "Tabulae anatomicae sex". He followed this in 1539 with an updated version of Winter's anatomical handbook, "Institutiones anatomicae."


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1539 he also published his "Venesection Epistle" on bloodletting. This was a popular treatment for almost any illness, but there was some debate about where to take the blood from. The classical Greek procedure, advocated by Galen, was to collect blood from a site near the location of the illness. However the Muslim and medieval practice was to draw a smaller amount of blood from a distant location. Vesalius' pamphlet generally supported Galen's view but with qualifications that rejected the infiltration of Galen.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1541, while in Bologna, Vesalius discovered that all of Galen's research was restricted to animals, since dissection had been banned in ancient Rome. Galen had dissected Barbary macaques instead, which he considered structurally closest to man. Even though Galen produced many errors owing to the anatomical material available to him, he was a qualified examiner, but his research was weakened by stating his findings philosophically, so his findings were based on religious precepts rather than science. Vesalius contributed to the new Giunta edition of Galen's collected works and began to write his own anatomical text based on his own research. Until Vesalius pointed out Galen's substitution of animal for human anatomy, it had gone unnoticed and had long been the basis of studying human anatomy. However some people still chose to follow Galen and resented Vesalius for calling attention to the difference.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Galen had assumed that arteries carried the purest blood to higher organs such as the brain and lungs from the left ventricle of the heart, while veins carried blood to the lesser organs such as the stomach from the right ventricle. In order for this theory to be correct, some kind of opening was needed to interconnect the ventricles, and Galen claimed to have found them. So paramount was Galen's authority that for 1400 years a succession of anatomists had claimed to find these holes, until Vesalius admitted he could not find them. Nonetheless, he did not venture to dispute Galen on the distribution of blood, being unable to offer any other solution, and so supposed that it diffused through the unbroken partition between the ventricles.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Other famous examples of Vesalius disproving Galen's assertions were his discoveries that the lower jaw (mandible) was composed of only one bone, not two (which Galen had assumed based on animal dissection) and that humans lack the rete mirabile, a network of blood vessels at the base of the brain that is found in sheep and other ungulates.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1543, Vesalius conducted a public dissection of the body of Jakob Karrer von Gebweiler, a notorious felon from the city of Basel, Switzerland. He assembled and articulated the bones, finally donating the skeleton to the University of Basel. This preparation ("The Basel Skeleton") is Vesalius' only well-preserved skeletal preparation, and also the world's oldest surviving anatomical preparation. It is still displayed at the Anatomical Museum of the University of Basel.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In the same year Vesalius took residence in Basel to help Johannes Oporinus publish the seven-volume "De humani corporis fabrica" ("On the fabric of the human body"), a groundbreaking work of human anatomy that he dedicated to Charles V. Many believe it was illustrated by Titian's pupil Jan Stephen van Calcar, but evidence is lacking, and it is unlikely that a single artist created all 273 illustrations in a period of time so short. At about the same time he published an abridged edition for students, "Andrea Vesalii suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome", and dedicated it to Philip II of Spain, the son of the Emperor. That work, now collectively referred to as the Fabrica of Vesalius, was groundbreaking in the history of medical publishing and is considered to be a major step in the development of scientific medicine. Because of this, it marks the establishment of anatomy as a modern descriptive science.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Though Vesalius' work was not the first such work based on actual dissection, nor even the first work of this era, the production quality, highly detailed and intricate plates, and the likelihood that the artists who produced it were clearly present in person at the dissections made it an instant classic. Pirated editions were available almost immediately, an event Vesalius acknowledged in a printer's note would happen. Vesalius was 28 years old when the first edition of "Fabrica" was published.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Soon after publication, Vesalius was invited to become imperial physician to the court of Emperor Charles V. He informed the Venetian Senate that he would leave his post at Padua, which prompted Duke Cosimo I de' Medici to invite him to move to the expanding university in Pisa, which he declined. Vesalius took up the offered position in the imperial court, where he had to deal with other physicians who mocked him for being a mere barber surgeon instead of an academic working on the respected basis of theory.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In the 1540s, shortly after entering in service of the emperor, Vesalius married Anne van Hamme, from Vilvorde, Belgium. They had one daughter, named Anne, who died in 1588.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Over the next eleven years Vesalius traveled with the court, treating injuries caused in battle or tournaments, performing postmortems, administering medication, and writing private letters addressing specific medical questions. During these years he also wrote "the Epistle on the China root", a short text on the properties of a medical plant whose efficacy he doubted, as well as a defense of his anatomical findings. This elicited a new round of attacks on his work that called for him to be punished by the emperor. In 1551, Charles V commissioned an inquiry in Salamanca to investigate the religious implications of his methods. Although Vesalius' work was cleared by the board, the attacks continued. Four years later one of his main detractors and one-time professors, Jacobus Sylvius, published an article that claimed that the human body itself had changed since Galen had studied it.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1555, Vesalius became physician to Philip II, and in the same year he published a revised edition of "De humani corporis fabrica".


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1564 Vesalius went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, some said, in penance after being accused of dissecting a living body. He sailed with the Venetian fleet under via Cyprus. When he reached Jerusalem he received a message from the Venetian senate requesting him again to accept the Paduan professorship, which had become vacant on the death of his friend and pupil Fallopius.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: After struggling for many days with adverse winds in the Ionian Sea, he was shipwrecked on the island of Zakynthos. Here he soon died, in such debt that a benefactor kindly paid for his funeral. At the time of his death he was 49 years old. He was buried somewhere on the island of Zakynthos (Zante).


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: For some time, it was assumed that Vesalius's pilgrimage was due to the pressures imposed on him by the Inquisition. Today, this assumption is generally considered to be without foundation and is dismissed by modern biographers. It appears the story was spread by Hubert Languet, a diplomat under Emperor Charles V and then under the Prince of Orange, who claimed in 1565 that Vesalius had performed an autopsy on an aristocrat in Spain while the heart was still beating, leading to the Inquisition's condemning him to death. The story went on to claim that Philip II had the sentence commuted to a pilgrimage. That story re-surfaced several times, until it was more recently revised.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: The decision to undertake the pilgrimage was likely just a pretext to leave the Spanish court. Its lifestyle did not please him and he longed to continue his research. Given that he could not get rid of his royal service by resignation, he managed to escape asking for the permission to go to Jerusalem.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1543, Vesalius asked Johannes Oporinus to publish the book "De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem" ("On the fabric of the human body" "in seven books"), a groundbreaking work of human anatomy he dedicated to Charles V and which many believe was illustrated by Titian's pupil Jan Stephen van Calcar.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: About the same time he published another version of his great work, entitled "De Humani Corporis Fabrica Librorum Epitome" ("Abridgement of the On the fabric of the human body") more commonly known as the "Epitome", with a stronger focus on illustrations than on text, so as to help readers, including medical students, to easily understand his findings. The actual text of the "Epitome" was an abridged form of his work in the "Fabrica", and the organization of the two books was quite varied. He dedicated it to Philip II of Spain, son of the Emperor.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: The "Fabrica" emphasized the priority of dissection and what has come to be called the "anatomical" view of the body, seeing human internal functioning as a result of an essentially corporeal structure filled with organs arranged in three-dimensional space. His book contains drawings of several organs on two leaves. This allows for the creation of three-dimensional diagrams by cutting out the organs and pasting them on flayed figures. This was in stark contrast to many of the anatomical models used previously, which had strong Galenic/Aristotelean elements, as well as elements of astrology. Although modern anatomical texts had been published by Mondino and Berenger, much of their work was clouded by reverence for Galen and Arabian doctrines.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: Besides the first good description of the sphenoid bone, he showed that the sternum consists of three portions and the sacrum of five or six, and described accurately the vestibule in the interior of the temporal bone. He not only verified Estienne's observations on the valves of the hepatic veins, but also described the vena azygos, and discovered the canal which passes in the fetus between the umbilical vein and the vena cava, since named the ductus venosus. He described the omentum and its connections with the stomach, the spleen and the colon; gave the first correct views of the structure of the pylorus; observed the small size of the caecal appendix in man; gave the first good account of the mediastinum and pleura and the fullest description of the anatomy of the brain up to that time. He did not understand the inferior recesses, and his account of the nerves is confused by regarding the optic as the first pair, the third as the fifth, and the fifth as the seventh.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In this work, Vesalius also becomes the first person to describe mechanical ventilation. It is largely this achievement that has resulted in Vesalius being incorporated into the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists college arms and crest.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: When I undertake the dissection of a human pelvis I pass a stout rope tied like a noose beneath the lower jaw and through the zygomas up to the top of the head... The lower end of the noose I run through a pulley fixed to a beam in the room so that I may raise or lower the cadaver as it hangs there or turn around in any direction to suit my purpose; ... You must take care not to put the noose around the neck, unless some of the muscles connected to the occipital bone have already been cut away.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1538, Vesalius wrote "Epistola, docens venam axillarem dextri cubiti in dolore laterali secandam" ("A letter, teaching that in cases of pain in the side, the axillary vein of the right elbow be cut"), commonly known as the Venesection Letter, which demonstrated a revived venesection, a classical procedure in which blood was drawn near the site of the ailment. He sought to locate the precise site for venesection in pleurisy within the framework of the classical method. The real significance of the book is his attempt to support his arguments by the location and continuity of the venous system from his observations rather than appeal to earlier published works. With this novel approach to the problem of venesection, Vesalius posed the then striking hypothesis that anatomical dissection might be used to test speculation.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1546, three years after the "Fabrica", he wrote his "Epistola rationem modumque propinandi radicis Chynae decocti", commonly known as the Epistle on the China Root. Ostensibly an appraisal of a popular but ineffective treatment for gout, syphilis, and stones, this work is especially important as a continued polemic against Galenism and a reply to critics in the camp of his former professor Jacobus Sylvius, now an obsessive detractor.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In February 1561, Vesalius was given a copy of Gabriele Fallopio's "Observationes anatomicae", friendly additions and corrections to the Fabrica. Before the end of the year Vesalius composed a cordial reply, "Anatomicarum Gabrielis Fallopii observationum examen", generally referred to as the "Examen". In this work he recognizes in Fallopio a true equal in the science of dissection he had done so much to create. Vesalius' reply to Fallopio was published in May 1564, a month after Vesalius' death on the Greek island of Zante (now called Zakynthos).


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: The influence of Vesalius' plates representing the partial dissections of the human figure posing in a landscape setting is apparent in the anatomical plates prepared by the Baroque painter Pietro da Cortona (1596–1669), who executed anatomical plates with figures in dramatic poses, most of them with architectural or landscape backdrops.


title: Andreas Vesalius

text: In 1844, botanists Martin Martens and Henri Guillaume Galeotti published "Vesalea", which is a plant genus in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae and it was named in Vesalius's honour.


title: Five Point Someone

text: Five Point Someone: What not to do at IIT is a 2004 novel written by Indian author Chetan Bhagat. The book sold over a million copies worldwide. The films "3 Idiots" and "Nanban" are based on the book. It was also adapted into a play by the theatre company Evam.


title: Five Point Someone

text: The book is narrated by Hari, with some small passages by his friends Ryan and Alok, as well as a letter by Hari's girlfriend Neha Cherian. It deals with the lives of 3 friends, whose elation on making it to one of the best engineering colleges in India is quickly deflated by the rigor and monotony of the academic work. Most of the book deals with two plot lines. One is the numerous attempts by the trio to cope with and/or beat the system. The other being Hari's fling with Neha, who just happens to be the daughter of Prof. Cherian (the domineering head of the Mechanical Engineering department of their college). It occasionally takes some dark turns, especially as it pertains to the families of the protagonists. Most of the action, however, takes place inside the campus. The characters, led by the ever-creative Ryan, frequently lament over how the internationally lauded IIT system has stifled their creativity by forcing them to value grades more than anything else. Uninspiring teaching and numerous assignments add to their woes, though the boys do find a sympathizer in Prof Veera.


title: Five Point Someone

text: The book has been translated into Hindi and was published by Prabhat Prakash Advaniji, who has released two novels: "Five Point Someone" and "One Night at the Call Centre". The former set a record by being purchased by 30,000 people in one month and has gone on to become a top seller in Hindi.


title: Five Point Someone

text: Amit Mishra, writer for "The Last Critic", thought the book was "bereaved of all the literary juice", but "unlike his other publications like "Half Girlfriend" and "One Indian Girl", this novel is almost flawless."


title: Five Point Someone

text: This book was made into two films, "3 Idiots" in Hindi and "Nanban" in Tamil. The names of the characters and their attributes were changed. Also, both the films were not full adaptations of the books, as many of the scenes from the book, including the climax, were changed in the films.


title: Five Point Someone

text: Following the success of", 3 Idiots" in East Asian markets such as China and Hong Kong, the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra has announced that Hong Kong film star Stephen Chow (known for comedy films such as "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu Hustle") will be producing a Chinese remake of the film. Chopra also announced that there are plans for a Hollywood remake, and is in talks with three different American studios interested in remaking the film. Chopra stated that there is an Italian film studio also interested in remaking the film.


title: Five Point Someone

text: "Five Point Someone" was Bhagat's first book, written under very peculiar circumstances. Around the year 2000, he was denied a promotion at Goldman Sachs, the Hong-Kong based bank where he was working. Bhagat was very depressed. Under a wave of nostalgia, as he remembered his earlier carefree times, he jotted down a few of his experiences at his college. As he added more and more experiences, the collected writings took the shape of a book.


title: Five Point Someone

text: Before the release of the film, director Rajkumar Hirani commented on the relationship between "Five Point Someone" and "3 Idiots," stating:


title: Five Point Someone

text: A controversy developed a few days after the release; however, over the fact that Chetan's credit, "Based on the novel "Five Point Someone" by Chetan Bhagat" appeared in the closing credits rather than in the opening ones. At that time, Bhagat stated that he "was expecting an opening credit and I was quite surprised on not seeing it. They had bought the rights, made the payment, and committed to a credit in the contract. It’s there, but it’s not about it being there, it’s about the placement and the prominence." In a 31 December 2009 blog post on his website, Bhagat stated that he was told the movie was only 2–5% based on the book, but when he saw it, he felt that it was 70% of the book. He also argued that he was misled by the makers of the film, though he noted, that "this has nothing to do with Mr. Aamir Khan [...] I am a big fan of Aamir and he has made my story reach people. However, he was told by the makers not to read the book, and he hasn’t. Thus, he cannot comment on the issue in a meaningful manner"


title: Five Point Someone

text: A few people responded to Chetan's statements. According to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), during a press conference with reporters producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra "clarified that in the agreement between the producer and Bhagat, it was mentioned that the author’s name would be put in the closing credits." IANS also reported that Chopra "lost his cool" and "asked a reporter to shut up after being questioned whether his hit "3 Idiots" was lifted from author Chetan Bhagat’s book "Five Point Someone."" Chopra later apologized, stating: "I really think I’m silly. I was provoked, but I shouldn’t have done this. I saw myself on TV and saw how I was shouting ‘shut up, shut up' like an animal. I told myself — ‘what nonsensical behavior’." Aamir Khan also responded to these claims. Rajkumar Hirani stated that "We have officially bought the rights for the film. We drew a contract with him and it clearly mentions the position of his credit. With open eyes, he had seen the contract, consulted his lawyer, and signed the agreement [...] In the contract, we have said that the title would be given in the rolling credits. We haven't changed the font size. We haven't increased the speed of the title. It's exactly there where it was agreed to be." Legal documents concerning the relationship between Bhagat and the filmmakers have been added to the Vinod Chopra Productions website as well.


title: Anal eroticism

text: Anal eroticism, in psychoanalysis, is sensuous pleasure derived from anal sensations. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, hypothesized that the anal stage of childhood psychosexual development was marked by the predominance of anal eroticism.


title: Anal eroticism

text: The English sex manual "The Joy of Sex" talked about the erogenous sensitivity of the anus, and its role in sexual pleasure. Its author, Alex Comfort, stated that anal intercourse was part of many heterosexual as well as homosexual relationships (as indeed had Freud at the start of that century). Comfort also stressed the importance (in the French tradition) of postillionage or anal fingering prior to orgasm.


title: Anal eroticism

text: In 1973, the psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott spoke of "the tremendous pleasure that belongs to the doing of a motion just exactly when the impulse comes...another little orgy that enriches the life of the infant".


title: Anal eroticism

text: Freud, in his 1908 article "Character and Anal Erotism" argued that, through reaction formations and sublimation, anal eroticism could turn in later life into character traits such as obstinacy, orderliness and meanness. The psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi extended his findings in 1974 to cover the sublimation of anal eroticism into aesthetic experiences such as painting and sculpture, as well as into an interest in money. In 1946, the psychoanalyst Otto Fenichel linked anal eroticism to feelings of disgust, to masochism, and to pornography.


title: Anal eroticism

text: The psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva would subsequently explore anal eroticism in connection with her concept of abjection.


title: Loro Piana

text: Loro Piana is an Italian company specialized in clothing and textile products. It is considered the largest cashmere manufacturer and the world's leading artisan company processing luxury fibers.


title: Loro Piana

text: The company has three divisions, namely the textile division – producing high quality textiles using noble fibers such as cashmere and baby cashmere, vicuña wool, linen, and the merino wool - the fashion luxury goods division – producing and distributing menswear, womenswear, shoes and accessories -, and the interior division – producing and distributing interior products.


title: Loro Piana

text: Originally from Trivero, the Loro Piana family started as merchants of wool at the beginning of the 19th century. In the second half of this century, the family moved its activity to Valsesia and founded the wool spinning mill Fratelli Lora e Compagnia, followed by the wool spinning mill Zignone & C. in Quarona at the beginning of the 20th century.


title: Loro Piana

text: After taking the lead of the company in the 1960’s, Franco Loro Piana, grandson of Pietro, started to export high quality fabrics in Europe, America and Japan.


title: Loro Piana

text: In the 1970s, the company was directed by Francos’ sons, Sergio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana, whose focus was on top quality fabrics development, including cashmere and extra fine wools. Sergio and Pier research gave birth to the Tasmanian fabric.


title: Loro Piana

text: In 1980s Sergio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana started to diversify the business, therefore launching their first ready to wear collection and creating the luxury good division. The interior division was then launched in 2006.


title: Loro Piana

text: In 2013, LVMH Group acquired an 80% stake in Loro Piana, becoming the major shareholder. Sergio Loro Piana died the same year. In 2017, LVMH acquired another 5% stake in the company.


title: Loro Piana

text: Since 2022, Loro Piana has established its headquarters at Cortile della Seta in Milan's Brera district.


title: Loro Piana

text: As July 2022, Loro Piana distributes its products in Europe, North America, Middle East, China, South Korea and Japan and has a total of which 136 are directly operated.


title: Loro Piana

text: Loro Piana is vertically integrated, and it handles all stages of production according to exacting standards, from the harvesting of natural fibers to the delivery of the finished product to stores.


title: Loro Piana

text: In 2012, turnover reached €700 million and net income represented 20% of sales. In December 2013, LVMH announced that Antoine Arnault would become chairperson of Loro Piana. The company reached the 1 billion euro sales mark in 2019.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The culture of Canada embodies the artistic, culinary, literary, humour, musical, political and social elements that are representative of Canadians. Throughout Canada's history, its culture has been influenced by European culture and traditions, mostly by the British and French, and by its own indigenous cultures. Over time, elements of the cultures of Canada's immigrant populations have become incorporated to form a Canadian cultural mosaic. Certain segments of Canada's population have, to varying extents, also been influenced by American culture due to shared language (in English-speaking Canada), significant media penetration and geographic proximity.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada is often characterized as being "very progressive, diverse, and multicultural". Canada's federal government has often been described as the instigator of multicultural ideology because of its public emphasis on the social importance of immigration. Canada's culture draws from its broad range of constituent nationalities, and policies that promote a just society are constitutionally protected. Canadian Government policies—such as publicly funded health care; higher and more progressive taxation; outlawing capital punishment; strong efforts to eliminate poverty; an emphasis on cultural diversity; strict gun control; the legalization of same-sex marriage, pregnancy terminations, euthanasia and cannabis — are social indicators of the country's political and cultural values. Canadians identify with the country's institutions of health care, military peacekeeping, the national park system and the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms".


title: Culture of Canada

text: The Canadian government has influenced culture with programs, laws and institutions. It has created crown corporations to promote Canadian culture through media, such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and promotes many events which it considers to promote Canadian traditions. It has also tried to protect Canadian culture by setting legal minimums on Canadian content in many media using bodies like the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).


title: Culture of Canada

text: For thousands of years, Canada has been inhabited by indigenous peoples from a variety of different cultures and of several major linguistic groupings. Although not without conflict and bloodshed, early European interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations in what is now Canada were arguably peaceful. First Nations and Métis peoples played a critical part in the development of European colonies in Canada, particularly for their role in assisting European coureur des bois and voyageurs in the exploration of the continent during the North American fur trade. Combined with late economic development in many regions, this comparably nonbelligerent early history allowed indigenous Canadians to have a lasting influence on the national culture (see: The Canadian Crown and Aboriginal peoples). Over the course of three centuries, countless North American Indigenous words, inventions, concepts, and games have become an everyday part of Canadian language and use. Many places in Canada, both natural features and human habitations, use indigenous names. The name "Canada" itself derives from the St. Lawrence Huron-Iroquoian word "Kanata" meaning "village" or "settlement".The name of Canada's capital city Ottawa comes from the Algonquin language term "adawe" meaning "to trade".


title: Culture of Canada

text: In the 17th-century, French colonials settled New France in Acadia, in the present-day Maritimes, and in "Canada", along the Saint Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario. These regions were under French control from 1534 to 1763. However, the British conquered Acadia in 1710 and conquered "Canada" in 1760. The British were able to deport most of the Acadians, but they were unable to deport the Canadiens of "Canada" because they severely outnumbered the British forces. The British therefore had to make deals with Canadiens and hope they would one day become assimilated. The American Revolution, from 1775 to 1783, provoked the migration of 40,000 to 50,000 United Empire Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies to the newly conquered British lands, which brought American influences to Canada for the first time. Following the War of 1812, many Scottish and English people settled in Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Many Irish people fleeing the Great Famine also arrived between 1845 and 1852.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The Canadian Forces and overall civilian participation in the First World War and Second World War helped to foster Canadian nationalism; however, in 1917 and 1944, conscription crises highlighted the considerable rift along ethnic lines between Anglophones and Francophones. As a result of the First and Second World Wars, the Government of Canada became more assertive and less deferential to British authority. Canada, until the 1940s, was often described as "binational", with the 2 components being the cultural, linguistic and political identities of English Canadians and of French Canadians.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Legislative restrictions on immigration (such as the Continuous journey regulation and "Chinese Immigration Act") that had favoured British, American and other European immigrants (such as Dutch, German, Italian, Polish, Swedish and Ukrainian) were amended during the 1960s, resulting in an influx of people of many different ethnicities. By the end of the 20th century, immigrants were increasingly Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Jamaican, Filipino, Lebanese, Pakistani and Haitian. By the 21st century Canada had thirty four ethnic groups with at least one hundred thousand members each, of which eleven have over 1,000,000 people and numerous others are represented in smaller numbers. , 16.2% of the population self-identify as a visible minority.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Themes and symbols of pioneers, trappers, and traders played an important part in the early development of Canadian culture. Modern Canadian culture as it is understood today can be traced to its time period of westward expansion and nation building. Contributing factors include Canada's unique geography, climate, and cultural makeup. Being a cold country with long winter nights for most of the year, certain unique leisure activities developed in Canada during this period including ice hockey and embracement of the summer indigenous game of lacrosse.


title: Culture of Canada

text: By the 19th century, Canadians came to believe themselves possessed of a unique "northern character," due to the long, harsh winters that only those of hardy body and mind could survive. This hardiness was claimed as a Canadian trait, and sports that reflected this, such as snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, were asserted as characteristically Canadian. During this period, the churches tried to influence leisure activities by preaching against drinking, and scheduling annual revivals and weekly club activities. In a society in which most middle-class families now owned a harmonium or piano, and standard education included at least the rudiments of music, the result was often an original song. Such stirrings frequently occurred in response to noteworthy events, and few local or national excitements were allowed to pass without some musical comment.


title: Culture of Canada

text: By the 1930s, radio played a major role in uniting Canadians behind their local or regional teams. Rural areas were especially influenced by sports coverage and the propagation of national myths. Outside the sports and music arena, Canadians expressed a national character of being hard working, peaceful, orderly and polite.


title: Culture of Canada

text: French Canada's early development was relatively cohesive during the 17th and 18th centuries, and this was preserved by the "Quebec Act" of 1774, which allowed Roman Catholics to hold offices and practice their faith. In 1867, the "Constitution Act" was thought to meet the growing calls for Canadian autonomy while avoiding the overly strong decentralization that contributed to the Civil War in the United States. The compromises reached during this time between the English- and French-speaking Fathers of Confederation set Canada on a path to bilingualism which in turn contributed to an acceptance of diversity. The English and French languages have had limited constitutional protection since 1867 and full official status since 1969. Section 133 of the Constitution Act of 1867 (BNA Act) guarantees that both languages may be used in the Parliament of Canada. Canada adopted its "first Official Languages Act" in 1969, giving English and French equal status in the government of Canada. Doing so makes them "official" languages, having preferred status in law over all other languages used in Canada.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Prior to the advent of the "Canadian Bill of Rights" in 1960 and its successor the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms" in 1982, the laws of Canada did not provide much in the way of civil rights and this issue was typically of limited concern to the courts. Canada since the 1960s has placed emphasis on equality and inclusiveness for all people. Multiculturalism in Canada was adopted as the official policy of the Canadian government and is enshrined in Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in "Egan v. Canada" that sexual orientation should be "read in" to Section Fifteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a part of the Constitution of Canada guaranteeing equal rights to all Canadians. Following a series of decisions by provincial courts and the Supreme Court of Canada, on July 20, 2005, the "Civil Marriage Act" (Bill C-38) received Royal Assent, legalizing same-sex marriage in Canada. Furthermore, sexual orientation was included as a protected status in the human-rights laws of the federal government and of all provinces and territories.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canadian governments at the federal level have a tradition of liberalism, and govern with a moderate, centrist political ideology. Canada's egalitarian approach to governance emphasizing social justice and multiculturalism, is based on selective immigration, social integration, and suppression of far-right politics that has wide public and political support. Peace, order, and good government are constitutional goals of the Canadian government.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada has a multi-party system in which many of its legislative customs derive from the unwritten conventions of and precedents set by the Westminster parliament of the United Kingdom. The country has been dominated by two parties, the centre-left Liberal Party of Canada and the centre-right Conservative Party of Canada. The historically predominant Liberals position themselves at the centre of the political scale, with the Conservatives sitting on the right and the New Democratic Party occupying the left. Smaller parties like the Quebec nationalist Bloc Québécois and the Green Party of Canada have also been able to exert their influence over the political process by representation at the federal level.


title: Culture of Canada

text: In general, Canadian nationalists are concerned about the protection of Canadian sovereignty and loyalty to the Canadian State, placing them in the civic nationalist category. It has likewise often been suggested that anti-Americanism plays a prominent role in Canadian nationalist ideologies. A unified, bi-cultural, tolerant and sovereign Canada remains an ideological inspiration to many Canadian nationalists. Alternatively Quebecois nationalism and support for maintaining French Canadian culture many of whom were supporters of the Quebec sovereignty movement during the late-20th century.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Cultural protectionism in Canada has, since the mid-20th century, taken the form of conscious, interventionist attempts on the part of various Canadian governments to promote Canadian cultural production. Sharing a large border, a common language (for the majority), and being exposed to massive diffusions of American media makes it difficult for Canada to preserve its own culture versus being assimilated to American culture. While Canada tries to maintain its cultural differences, it also must balance this with responsibility in trade arrangements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canadian values are the perceived commonly shared ethical and human values of Canadians. The major political parties have claimed explicitly that they uphold Canadian values, but use generalities to specify them. Historian Ian MacKay argues that, thanks to the long-term political impact of "Rebels, Reds, and Radicals", and allied leftist political elements, "egalitarianism, social equality, and peace... are now often simply referred to...as 'Canadian values.'" Canada ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, education, and gender equality.


title: Culture of Canada

text: A 2013 Statistics Canada survey found that an "overwhelming majority" of Canadians shared the values of human rights (with 92% of respondents agreeing that they are a shared Canadian value), respect for the law (92%) and gender equality (91%). Universal access to publicly funded health services "is often considered by Canadians as a fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country."


title: Culture of Canada

text: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was intended to be a source for Canadian values and national unity. The 15th Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau wrote in his "Memoirs" that:


title: Culture of Canada

text: Numerous scholars, beginning in the 1940s with American sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset; have tried to identify, measure and compare them with other countries, especially the United States. However, there are critics who say that such a task is practically impossible.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Denis Stairs a professor of political Science at Dalhousie University; links the concept of Canadian values with nationalism. [Canadians typically]...believe, in particular, that they subscribe to a distinctive set of values - "Canadian" values - and that those values are special in the sense of being unusually virtuous.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada's large geographic size, the presence of a significant number of indigenous peoples, the conquest of one European linguistic population by another and relatively open immigration policy have led to an extremely diverse society. As a result, the issue of Canadian identity remains under scrutiny.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada has constitutional protection for policies that promote multiculturalism rather than cultural assimilation or a single national myth. In Quebec, cultural identity is strong, and many commentators speak of a French Canadian culture as distinguished from English Canadian culture. However, as a whole, Canada is in theory, a cultural mosaic—a collection of several regional, and ethnic subcultures. Political philosopher Charles Blattberg suggests that Canada is a "multinational country"; as all Canadians are members of Canada as a civic or political community, a community of citizens, and this is a community that contains many other kinds within it. These include not only communities of ethnic, regional, religious, and civic (the provincial and municipal governments) sorts, but also national communities, which often include or overlap with many of the other kinds.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Journalist and author Richard Gwyn has suggested that "tolerance" has replaced "loyalty" as the touchstone of Canadian identity. Journalist and professor Andrew Cohen wrote in 2007:


title: Culture of Canada

text: The question of Canadian identity was traditionally dominated by three fundamental themes: first, the often conflicted relations between English Canadians and French Canadians stemming from the French Canadian imperative for cultural and linguistic survival; secondly, the generally close ties between English Canadians and the British Empire, resulting in a gradual political process towards complete independence from the imperial power; and finally, the close proximity of English-speaking Canadians to the United States. Much of the debate over contemporary Canadian identity is argued in political terms, and defines Canada as a country defined by its government policies, which are thought to reflect deeper cultural values.


title: Culture of Canada

text: In 2013, more than 90% of Canadians believed that the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms" and the national flag were the top symbols of Canadian identity. Next highest were the national anthem, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and hockey.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Western alienation is the notion that the western provinces have historically been alienated, and in extreme cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in favour of Eastern Canada or more specifically the central provinces. Western alienation claims that these latter two are politically represented, and economically favoured, more significantly than the former, which has given rise to the sentiment of alienation among many western Canadians. Likewise; the Quebec sovereignty movement that lead to the Québécois nation and the province of Quebec being recognized as a "distinct society" within Canada, highlights the sharp divisions between the Anglo and Francophone population.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Though more than half of Canadians live in just two provinces (Ontario and Quebec), each province is largely self-contained due to provincial economic self-sufficiency. Only 15 percent of Canadians live in a different province from where they were born, and only 10 percent go to another province for university. Canada has always been like this, and stands in sharp contrast to the United States' internal mobility which is much higher. For example 30 percent live in a different state from where they were born, and 30 percent go away for university. Scott Gilmore in "Maclean's" argues that "Canada is a nation of strangers", in the sense that for most individuals, the rest of Canada outside their province is little-known. Another factor is the cost of internal travel. Intra-Canadian airfares are high—it is cheaper and more common to visit the United States than to visit another province. Gilmore argues that the mutual isolation makes it difficult to muster national responses to major national issues.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canadian humour is an integral part of the Canadian Identity. There are several traditions in Canadian humour in both English and French. While these traditions are distinct and at times very different, there are common themes that relate to Canadians' shared history and geopolitical situation in the Western Hemisphere and the world. Various trends can be noted in Canadian comedy. One trend is the portrayal of a "typical" Canadian family in an ongoing radio or television series. Other trends include outright absurdity, and political and cultural satire. Irony, parody, satire, and self-deprecation are arguably the primary characteristics of Canadian humour.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The beginnings of Canadian national radio comedy date to the late 1930s with the debut of "The Happy Gang", a long-running weekly variety show that was regularly sprinkled with corny jokes in between tunes. Canadian television comedy begins with Wayne and Shuster, a sketch comedy duo who performed as a comedy team during the Second World War, and moved their act to radio in 1946 before moving on to television. "Second City Television", otherwise known as "SCTV", "Royal Canadian Air Farce", "This Hour Has 22 Minutes", "The Kids in the Hall", "Trailer Park Boys", "Corner gas" and more recently "Schitt's Creek" are regarded as television shows which were very influential on the development of Canadian humour. Canadian comedians have had great success in the film industry and are amongst the most recognized in the world.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Humber College in Toronto and the École nationale de l'humour in Montreal offer post-secondary programmes in comedy writing and performance. Montreal is also home to the bilingual (English and French) Just for Laughs festival and to the Just for Laughs Museum, a bilingual, international museum of comedy. Canada has a national television channel, The Comedy Network, devoted to comedy. Many Canadian cities feature comedy clubs and showcases, most notable, The Second City branch in Toronto (originally housed at The Old Fire Hall) and the Yuk Yuk's national chain. The Canadian Comedy Awards were founded in 1999 by the Canadian Comedy Foundation for Excellence, a not-for-profit organization.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Predominant symbols of Canada include the maple leaf, beaver, and the Canadian horse. Many official symbols of the country such as the Flag of Canada have been changed or modified over the past few decades to Canadianize them and de-emphasise or remove references to the United Kingdom. Other prominent symbols include the sports of hockey and lacrosse, the Canada Goose, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Rockies, and more recently the totem pole and Inuksuk; material items such as Canadian beer, maple syrup, tuques, canoes, nanaimo bars, butter tarts and the Quebec dish of poutine have also been defined as uniquely Canadian. Symbols of the Canadian monarchy continue to be featured in, for example, the Arms of Canada, the armed forces, and the prefix Her Majesty's Canadian Ship. The designation "Royal" remains for institutions as varied as the Royal Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Indigenous artists were producing art in the territory that is now called Canada for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settler colonists and the eventual establishment of Canada as a nation state. Like the peoples that produced them, indigenous art traditions spanned territories that extended across the current national boundaries between Canada and the United States. The majority of indigenous artworks preserved in museum collections date from the period after European contact and show evidence of the creative adoption and adaptation of European trade goods such as metal and glass beads. Canadian sculpture has been enriched by the walrus ivory, muskox horn and caribou antler and soapstone carvings by the Inuit artists. These carvings show objects and activities from the daily life, myths and legends of the Inuit. Inuit art since the 1950s has been the traditional gift given to foreign dignitaries by the Canadian government.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The works of most early Canadian painters followed European trends. During the mid-19th century, Cornelius Krieghoff, a Dutch-born artist in Quebec, painted scenes of the life of the "habitants" (French-Canadian farmers). At about the same time, the Canadian artist Paul Kane painted pictures of indigenous life in western Canada. A group of landscape painters called the Group of Seven developed the first distinctly Canadian style of painting. All these artists painted large, brilliantly coloured scenes of the Canadian wilderness.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Since the 1930s, Canadian painters have developed a wide range of highly individual styles. Emily Carr became famous for her paintings of totem poles in British Columbia. Other noted painters have included the landscape artist David Milne, the painters Jean-Paul Riopelle, Harold Town and Charles Carson and multi-media artist Michael Snow. The abstract art group Painters Eleven, particularly the artists William Ronald and Jack Bush, also had an important impact on modern art in Canada. Government support has played a vital role in their development enabling visual exposure through publications and periodicals featuring Canadian art, as has the establishment of numerous art schools and colleges across the country.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canadian literature is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in the literary traditions of France and Britain, respectively. Canada's early literature, whether written in English or French, often reflects the Canadian perspective on nature, frontier life, and Canada's position in the world, for example the poetry of Bliss Carman or the memoirs of Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill. These themes, and Canada's literary history, inform the writing of successive generations of Canadian authors, from Leonard Cohen to Margaret Atwood.


title: Culture of Canada

text: By the mid-20th century, Canadian writers were exploring national themes for Canadian readers. Authors were trying to find a distinctly Canadian voice, rather than merely emulating British or American writers. Canadian identity is closely tied to its literature. The question of national identity recurs as a theme in much of Canada's literature, from Hugh MacLennan's "Two Solitudes" (1945) to Alistair MacLeod's "No Great Mischief" (1999). Canadian literature is often categorized by region or province; by the socio-cultural origins of the author (for example, Acadians, indigenous peoples, LGBT, and Irish Canadians); and by literary period, such as "Canadian postmoderns" or "Canadian Poets Between the Wars".


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canadian authors have accumulated numerous international awards. In 1992, Michael Ondaatje became the first Canadian to win the Booker Prize for "The English Patient". Margaret Atwood won the Booker in 2000 for "The Blind Assassin" and Yann Martel won it in 2002 for the "Life of Pi". Carol Shields's "The Stone Diaries" won the Governor General's Awards in Canada in 1993, the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2013, Alice Munro was the first Canadian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for her work as "master of the modern short story". Munro is also a recipient of the Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work, and three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada has had a thriving stage theatre scene since the late 1800s. Theatre festivals draw many tourists in the summer months, especially the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, and the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The Famous People Players are only one of many touring companies that have also developed an international reputation. Canada also hosts one of the largest fringe festivals, the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada's largest cities host a variety of modern and historical venues. The Toronto Theatre District is Canada's largest, as well as being the third largest English-speaking theatre district in the world. In addition to original Canadian works, shows from the West End and Broadway frequently tour in Toronto. Toronto's Theatre District includes the venerable Roy Thomson Hall; the Princess of Wales Theatre; the Tim Sims Playhouse; The Second City; the Canon Theatre; the Panasonic Theatre; the Royal Alexandra Theatre; historic Massey Hall; and the city's new opera house, the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Toronto's Theatre District also includes the Theatre Museum Canada.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Montreal's theatre district ("Quartier des Spectacles") is the scene of performances that are mainly French-language, although the city also boasts a lively anglophone theatre scene, such as the Centaur Theatre. Large French theatres in the city include Théâtre Saint-Denis and Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Vancouver is host to, among others, the Vancouver Fringe Festival, the Arts Club Theatre Company, Carousel Theatre, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Under the Stars and Studio 58.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Calgary is home to Theatre Calgary, a mainstream regional theatre; Alberta Theatre Projects, a major centre for new play development in Canada; the Calgary Animated Objects Society; and One Yellow Rabbit, a touring company.


title: Culture of Canada

text: There are three major theatre venues in Ottawa; the Ottawa Little Theatre, originally called the Ottawa Drama League at its inception in 1913, is the longest-running community theatre company in Ottawa. Since 1969, Ottawa has been the home of the National Arts Centre, a major performing-arts venue that houses four stages and is home to the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and Opera Lyra Ottawa. Established in 1975, the Great Canadian Theatre Company specializes in the production of Canadian plays at a local level.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canadian television, especially supported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is the home of a variety of locally produced shows. French-language television, like French Canadian film, is buffered from excessive American influence by the fact of language, and likewise supports a host of home-grown productions. The success of French-language domestic television in Canada often exceeds that of its English-language counterpart. In recent years nationalism has been used to prompt products on television. The "I Am Canadian" campaign by Molson beer, most notably the commercial featuring Joe Canadian, infused domestically brewed beer and nationalism.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada's television industry is in full expansion as a site for Hollywood productions. Since the 1980s, Canada, and Vancouver in particular, has become known as Hollywood North. The American TV series "Queer as Folk" was filmed in Toronto. Canadian producers have been very successful in the field of science fiction since the mid-1990s, with such shows as "The X-Files", "Stargate SG-1", "", the new "Battlestar Galactica", "My Babysitter's A Vampire", "Smallville", and "The Outer Limits" all filmed in Vancouver.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The CRTC's Canadian content regulations dictate that a certain percentage of a domestic broadcaster's transmission time must include content that is produced by Canadians, or covers Canadian subjects. These regulations also apply to US cable television channels such as MTV and the Discovery Channel, which have local versions of their channels available on Canadian cable networks. Similarly, BBC Canada, while showing primarily BBC shows from the United Kingdom, also carries Canadian output.


title: Culture of Canada

text: A number of Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood significantly contributed to the creation of the motion picture industry in the early days of the 20th century. Over the years, many Canadians have made enormous contributions to the American entertainment industry, although they are frequently not recognized as Canadians.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada has developed a vigorous film industry that has produced a variety of well-known films and actors. In fact, this eclipsing may sometimes be creditable for the bizarre and innovative directions of some works, such as auteurs Atom Egoyan ("The Sweet Hereafter", 1997) and David Cronenberg ("The Fly", "Naked Lunch", "A History of Violence") and the "avant-garde" work of Michael Snow and Jack Chambers. Also, the distinct French-Canadian society permits the work of directors such as Denys Arcand and Denis Villeneuve, while First Nations cinema includes the likes of "". At the 76th Academy Awards, Arcand's "The Barbarian Invasions" became Canada's first film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The National Film Board of Canada is a public agency that produces and distributes films and other audiovisual works which reflect Canada to Canadians and the rest of the world'. Canada has produced many popular documentaries such as "The Corporation", "Nanook of the North", "Final Offer", and "". The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is considered by many to be one of the most prevalent film festivals for Western cinema. It is the première film festival in North America from which the Oscars race begins.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The music of Canada has reflected the multi-cultural influences that have shaped the country. Indigenous, the French, and the British have all made historical contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The country has produced its own composers, musicians and ensembles since the mid-1600s. From the 17th century onward, Canada has developed a music infrastructure that includes church halls; chamber halls; conservatories; academies; performing arts centres; record companys; radio stations, and television music-video channels. The music has subsequently been heavily influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between the two countries. Canadian rock has had a considerable impact on the development of modern popular music and the development of the most popular subgenres.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Patriotic music in Canada dates back over 200 years as a distinct category from British patriotism, preceding the first legal steps to independence by over 50 years. The earliest known song, "The Bold Canadian", was written in 1812. The national anthem of Canada, "O Canada" adopted in 1980, was originally commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, the Honourable Théodore Robitaille, for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony. Calixa Lavallée wrote the music, which was a setting of a patriotic poem composed by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The text was originally only in French, before English lyrics were written in 1906.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Music broadcasting in the country is regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents Canada's music industry awards, the Juno Awards, which were first awarded in a ceremony during the summer of 1970.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output—particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines—is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. Television, magazines, and newspapers are primarily for-profit corporations based on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. Nevertheless, both the television broadcasting and publications sectors require a number of government interventions to remain profitable, ranging from regulation that bars foreign companies in the broadcasting industry to tax laws that limit foreign competition in magazine advertising.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The promotion of multicultural media in Canada began in the late 1980s as the multicultural policy was legislated in 1988. In the "Multiculturalism Act", the federal government proclaimed the recognition of the diversity of Canadian culture. Thus, multicultural media became an integral part of Canadian media overall. Upon numerous government reports showing lack of minority representation or minority misrepresentation, the Canadian government stressed separate provision be made to allow minorities and ethnicities of Canada to have their own voice in the media.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Sports in Canada consists of a variety of games. Although there are many contests that Canadians value, the most common are ice hockey, box lacrosse, Canadian football, basketball, soccer, curling, baseball and ringette. All but curling and soccer are considered domestic sports as they were either invented by Canadians or trace their roots to Canada.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Ice hockey, referred to as simply "hockey", is Canada's most prevalent winter sport, its most popular spectator sport, and its most successful sport in international competition. It is Canada's official national winter sport. Lacrosse, a sport with indigenous origins, is Canada's oldest and official summer sport. Canadian football is Canada's second most popular spectator sport, and the Canadian Football League's annual championship, the Grey Cup, is the country's largest annual sports event.


title: Culture of Canada

text: While other sports have a larger spectator base, association football, known in Canada as "soccer" in both English and French, has the most registered players of any team sport in Canada, and is the most played sport with all demographics, including ethnic origin, ages and genders. Professional teams exist in many cities in Canada – with a trio of teams in North America's top pro league, Major League Soccer – and international soccer competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro and the UEFA Champions League attract some of the biggest audiences in Canada. Other popular team sports include curling, street hockey, cricket, rugby league, rugby union, softball and Ultimate frisbee. Popular individual sports include auto racing, boxing, karate, kickboxing, hunting, sport shooting, fishing, cycling, golf, hiking, horse racing, ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, swimming, triathlon, disc golf, water sports, and several forms of wrestling.


title: Culture of Canada

text: As a country with a generally cool climate, Canada has enjoyed greater success at the Winter Olympics than at the Summer Olympics, although significant regional variations in climate allow for a wide variety of both team and individual sports. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.


title: Culture of Canada

text: Canadian cuisine varies widely depending on the region. The former Canadian prime minister Joe Clark has been paraphrased to have noted: "Canada has a cuisine of cuisines. Not a stew pot, but a smorgasbord." There are considerable overlaps between Canadian food and the rest of the cuisine in North America, many unique dishes (or versions of certain dishes) are found and available only in the country. Common contenders for the Canadian national food include the Quebec-made poutine and the French-Canadian butter tarts. Other popular Canadian made foods include indigenous fried bread bannock, French tourtière, Kraft Dinner, ketchup chips, date squares, nanaimo bars, back bacon, the caesar cocktail and many many more. The Canadian province of Quebec is the birthplace and world's largest producer of maple syrup, The Montreal-style bagel and Montreal-style smoked meat are both food items originally developed by Jewish communities living in Quebec


title: Culture of Canada

text: The three earliest cuisines of Canada have First Nations, English, and French roots. The indigenous population of Canada often have their own traditional cuisine. The cuisines of English Canada are closely related to British and American cuisine. Finally, the traditional cuisines of French Canada have evolved from 16th-century French cuisine because of the tough conditions of colonial life and the winter provisions of Coureur des bois. With subsequent waves of immigration in the 18th and 19th century from Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe, and then from Asia, Africa and Caribbean, the regional cuisines were subsequently affected.


title: Culture of Canada

text: In a 2002 interview with the "Globe and Mail", Aga Khan, the 49th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims, described Canada as "the most successful pluralist society on the face of our globe", citing it as "a model for the world". A 2007 poll ranked Canada as the country with the most positive influence in the world. 28,000 people in 27 countries were asked to rate 12 countries as either having a positive or negative worldwide influence. Canada's overall influence rating topped the list with 54 per cent of respondents rating it mostly positive and only 14 per cent mostly negative. A global opinion poll for the BBC saw Canada ranked the second most positively viewed nation in the world (behind Germany) in 2013 and 2014.


title: Culture of Canada

text: The United States is home to a number of perceptions about Canadian culture, due to the countries' partially shared heritage and the relatively large number of cultural features common to both the US and Canada. For example, the average Canadian may be perceived as more reserved than his or her American counterpart. Canada and the United States are often inevitably compared as sibling countries, and the perceptions that arise from this oft-held contrast have gone to shape the advertised worldwide identities of both nations: the United States is seen as the rebellious child of the British Crown, forged in the fires of violent revolution; Canada is the calmer offspring of the United Kingdom, known for a more relaxed national demeanour.


title: Chris Griffin

text: Christopher “Chris” Cross Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series, "Family Guy". He is the second of three children of Peter and Lois Griffin and is also the older brother of Stewie Griffin and the younger brother of Meg Griffin. He is voiced by the American actor, producer and writer, Seth Green, and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the Griffin family, in a 15-minute short on December 20, 1998.


title: Chris Griffin

text: Chris Griffin was created and designed by the American actor and animator, Seth MacFarlane, who was asked to pitch a pilot to the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series pilot episode was based on "The Life of Larry" and "Larry & Steve". It was composed of two shorts made by MacFarlane which featured a middle-aged man named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. After the pilot was given the green light, the Griffin family appeared in the episode "Death Has a Shadow".


title: Chris Griffin

text: Originally designed as a somewhat gregarious, yet unintelligent teenager, Chris has become more awkward and idiotic over the course of the show. Running gags in the series involving Chris include the existence of an 'Evil Monkey' in his closet (though it is later revealed that the monkey is not evil), his frequent masturbation, and his perverted admirer, the elderly Herbert who lusts after and repeatedly tries to prey on him throughout the show's run.


title: Chris Griffin

text: The character of Chris Griffin resembles that of Milt's, the son of the main character Larry Cummings in "The Life of Larry." The animated short film was created by Seth MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995 which later led to the development of "Family Guy", which aired three years later.


title: Chris Griffin

text: Seth Green has stated that his main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how the Buffalo Bill character from the thriller film "The Silence of the Lambs" would sound if he were speaking through a PA system at a McDonald's.


title: Chris Griffin

text: Similar to his sister Meg, Chris is a typical adolescent, albeit one who comes off as being good-natured and easy-going. As such, he tends to take things in stride, not worrying about much, seemingly enjoying his position in life. On the Volume 1 DVD Boxset TV guides special "Family Guy" edition, it is stated that Chris "wouldn't hurt a fly, unless it landed on his hot dog".


title: Chris Griffin

text: Chris is repeatedly willing to take drastic measures to get what he wants or needs, particularly when it comes to keeping up with his below-average grades in school. In one episode, he believes that he received a bad grade on his geometry test when he tickled his brain by sticking a plastic army man's rifle into his nose and accidentally puncturing a lobe.


title: Chris Griffin

text: Despite frequently displaying Peter's characteristic stupidity, Chris is usually a faster learner than Peter, and has a variety of talents, such as filmmaking, video editing, etc. In "Patriot Games", when the family moves to London, Chris is the only member of the family who learns how to speak cockney English in a matter of seconds. Conversely, however, when his brother Stewie tries to help him prepare for a history exam in "Stewie, Chris, & Brian's Excellent Adventure", he seems to show great difficulty in grasping new ideas.


title: Chris Griffin

text: He also shares his father's lack of common sense, tends to be absent-minded, gets confused easily, and appears to be extremely naïve; in "Lethal Weapons", when Peter and Lois are having a fist fight, Chris cheers for the former, telling him to "kick her ass!". Earlier in the episode, after Chris breaks a vase with his basketball and Lois tells Peter to punish him with a spanking, Peter tells him to "punish [himself]" and subsequently spanks himself. In "", when the children watch Lois and Peter trying to make love, Chris mistakes it for a fight and says, "Meg, why do you think they're fighting?", but Meg angrily whispers to him "They're not." In the episode "Trading Places", after Chris accidentally damages Peter's dirt bike, Peter "punishes" him by making him start smoking.


title: Chris Griffin

text: Though Meg is humiliated or embarrassed by his actions like she is with Peter's actions, Chris usually loves and cares for her deeply, and the two are frequently shown to get along very well. Up until sometime during the sixth season, Chris is more socially active at school than Meg, having various friends, including several girls, while attending Buddy Cianci Junior High School, and later at James Woods Regional High School (now called Adam West High School).


title: Chris Griffin

text: As the series progresses and Meg is seen more often with her group of friends, Chris' social status is reduced to the point of being unpopular and virtually friendless at James Woods Regional High School. While just as socially looked down upon as Meg (though to a lesser extent of being bullied), he is outwardly confident and spirited, mostly when dealing with the ups and downs of being a teenager, such as running for Homecoming King, standing up to bullies, lashing out against his date, and frequently acting out against Peter's hurtful ways.


title: Chris Griffin

text: In "Stew-Roids", Chris' popularity increases drastically when the school's queen bee, Connie D'Amico, dates him. At first, she does this to be more popular because of "dating a loser", but she begins to see Chris as he really is after he says he likes her. Later in the episode, however, Chris' popularity turns him mean and shallow, and he dumps Connie after making out with two other girls at a house party. Connie and Meg then briefly team up to humiliate Chris by having Neil Goldman show the school a video of him re-enacting a scene from "The Silence of the Lambs" in which Buffalo Bill dances nude in front of a mirror, which results in Connie regaining her popularity, while Chris is socially demoted back to being an outcast.


title: Chris Griffin

text: In "Once Bitten", Chris befriends Neil Goldman, the Jewish resident "nerd/geek" and Meg's self-proclaimed love interest. Although their friendship was initially a ploy for Neil to get closer to Meg, Neil feels bad for using Chris and returns to him to resume their friendship.


title: Chris Griffin

text: As a running gag, starting in the episode "Dammit Janet!", Chris is regularly tormented by the Evil Monkey, who lives in his closet, though whenever he complains about it to anyone, they often laugh along with him instead thinking it is a joke, after which the monkey appears with a malevolent grimace and points at Chris in a threatening and intimidating manner. In "Hannah Banana", Chris proves the monkey's existence to the family, though ends up becoming friends with him after the monkey (who appears not to be evil at all, but just a poor creature who was depressed after his ex-wife cheated on him with another monkey) helps him write out a book report and subsequently pass.


title: Chris Griffin

text: The simian explains his frightening mannerisms as a result of various conditions and unintended actions. Chris introduces him to his friends, they hang out with each other in "fun" places, and the monkey helps Chris in his studies in school, which Peter does not do. This, however, causes a rift between Chris and Peter when the former realizes that the monkey cares more for him than his father. Eventually, the Evil Monkey helps the two characters to patch things up, especially after Peter saves the monkey from Miley Cyrus (who is depicted as an android) who had kidnapped him à la "King Kong". After that, the monkey happily moves out of Chris' closet to live in the closet of Tom Tucker's son, Jake, where the cycle will start in anew, as Jake himself experiences difficulty with his father.


title: Chris Griffin

text: In a 2003 interview, Seth MacFarlane stated that the writers thought it would be funny to give Chris a childhood fear that is actually real, since he has "a childlike mind". The monkey's trademark grimace and pointing was the idea of writer Mike Barker.


title: Chris Griffin

text: Another running gag, starting in the "Star Wars" remake episode "Blue Harvest", has Chris defending the overall career of voice actor Seth Green, along with "Robot Chicken", an Adult Swim show he co-created as an in-joke where Green and Seth MacFarlane are jokingly 'bitter competitors' in the field of adult animation.


title: Chris Griffin

text: When Peter (MacFarlane) methodically denigrates "Robot Chicken" in "Blue Harvest", Chris loses his temper and storms off. Carried on in "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", though Chris attempts to maintain a cool head, he storms off again when Peter offers to tell the story of "Without a Paddle", a critically panned film that featured Green. Both these scenes happen in the framing device of the episode and not in the interior "Star Wars" narrative, in which Green portrays Chris as "Star Wars" hero Luke Skywalker.


title: Chris Griffin

text: In the final "Star Wars" parody, "It's a Trap!", mocking Green's career provokes further dismay in Chris, who tries to defend Green by citing "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as an example of a success in Green's career, but Carter Pewterschmidt argues that the popularity of "Buffy" was largely over-stated by coverage of the show by "Entertainment Weekly". These taunts give Chris—in character as Skywalker—the conviction to fight back against Stewie/Darth Vader and Carter/Darth Sidious (both played by MacFarlane). In the closing scenes of the episode's framing device, Chris gets to reverse the joke by poking fun at MacFarlane's career, going so far as to suggest that "Family Guy" is a rip-off of "The Simpsons"; MacFarlane is then defended by the characters whom he voices (Peter, Brian and Stewie).


title: Chris Griffin

text: Outside of the "Star Wars"-themed episodes, "Road to the Multiverse" plays on the running gag, but with Stewie provoking the "Robot Chicken" universe counterpart of Chris by asking "How does it feel to be on a major network for thirty seconds?", which prompts Chris to scream "Fuck you!"


title: Mahar

text: Mahar, meaning "original inhabitants of Maharashtra" (in various languages), is an Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in the middle of the 20th century. As of 2017 the Mahar caste was designated as a Scheduled Caste in 16 Indian states.


title: Mahar

text: Historically Mahar had the role of defending village borders from outsiders, invading tribes and protecting villagers from criminals and thieves. They were also responsible for maintaining "law and order" throughout the villages in the capacity of administrators From the time of early Islamic rule, villages in Maharashtra were part of the Baluta system. In that system, different castes were assigned different roles, each with its own tasks and rights. In the Baluta system, apart from many traditional duties, the Mahar were assigned work of removing dead cows from the village. The community also started eating flesh of cows that had died naturally, and the eating of beef formed the basis for the caste being treated as untouchables. The Mahar community defends consumption of beef by saying the famines were the reason they started eating the beef. However, they were socio-economically well above most other untouchable groups because their traditional role had been important in the village administrative system, had necessitated that they had at least a rudimentary education, and frequently brought them into contact with upper-caste Hindus.


title: Mahar

text: The Mahars are considered original inhabitants of Maharashtra. The community is also known as "Kathiwale" (Men with sticks), Bumiputera (Sons of the Soil), and Mirasi (Landlords). The "Kathiwale" name represents their former duty as Administrators. They lived in village land they once ruled to the east, but in separate settlements. Historically Mahar were Landlords or Vatandar, and over a period of time they turned into Balutedar, whose duties in the Baluta system included those of village watchmen, trackers of thieves, messengers, wall menders, adjudicators of boundary disputes, and suppliers of coarse cloth to the village. In return for these services, the village granted them a watan, or rights to small piece of land to do their own cultivation. The watan also included a share of village produce. They also worked at times as agricultural labourers.


title: Mahar

text: Under Islamic rule, Mahar served as soldiers in various armies of the Deccan Sultanates, Bahmani Sultanate, and the Mughals.


title: Mahar

text: In 14th century, Mahar Bhakti saint Chokhamela, and many of his family members such as Karmamela, Banka, Nirmala, and Soyarabai became popular for their religious poetry called abhang.


title: Mahar

text: Mahar served in various armies over several centuries. The Maratha king Shivaji Maharaj recruited a number of them into his army in the 17th century due to their loyalty and bravery. They served as guards in hill forts and as soldiers. The Mahar along with the Koli and Marathas defended the fort of Purandar from Dilirkhan's Moghul army in 1665. Later during Peshwa rule Shidnak mahar saved the life of his commander Parshurambhau Patwardhan during the Battle of Kharda in 1795.


title: Mahar

text: The Mahar were subjected to degradation during the rule of the Peshwas, who treated them as untouchables. Anthropologist Traude Pillai-Vetschera at the University of Vienna states that during the Peshwa rule in the capital city Poona they were subjected to extreme restrictions such as wearing an earthen pot to prevent defilement of the ground due their spit, as well as restrictions due to defilement by their shadow and footprints.


title: Mahar

text: Under British rule, the Mahars became aware of the scope for social and political advancement. Their traditional role had been low-status but important in the village system.


title: Mahar

text: In the mid-20th century, the Mahar gave up their traditional jobs to a large extent in rural Maharashtra, and took employment in the urban mills, docks, construction sites and railways. They created a receptive body of urban workers who were ready to join a political movement for higher status and equality.


title: Mahar

text: During the colonial period, large numbers of Mahars and dhors were recruited for military duties by the East India Company and the British Raj. The Battle of Koregaon (1 January 1818) is commemorated by an obelisk known as the Koregaon pillarwhich was erected at the site of the battleand by a medal issued in 1851. The pillar featured on the Mahar Regiment crest until the Independence of India; it is inscribed with the names of 22 Mahars killed at the battle. The victory pillar serves as focal point of Mahar heroism.


title: Mahar

text: The Mahar began their service to the East India company around 1750. 20-25% of the British Bombay Army was Mahar. Their conduct as soldiers was praised by many British officers. Mahars were a vital component of the British Marine Battalion. In the East India Company Army they participated in various wars including Second Anglo-Maratha War, Third Anglo-Maratha War, Second Anglo-Sikh War and Second Afghan War.


title: Mahar

text: After the 1857 mutiny, the British decided to change their military recruitment policy One report "emphasized that we cannot practically ignore it (the caste system), so long as the natives socially maintain it". This led to the discrimination against the Mahars, other low-caste and some unreliable Brahmin castes.


title: Mahar

text: Mahar recruitment reached its nadir in the early 1890s (sources differ as to exact year) when British in favour of "martial races," specially north-western communities halted recruitment of Mahars. The Mahar community attempted to confront this block with a petition circulated among the Mahar, Chamar, and Mang former soldiersall Marathi-speaking lower castesbut the movement was unable to organise and submit their petition. The attempt at a challenge had been spearheaded by Gopal Baba Walangkar, himself a Mahar, dhor and former soldier, but he found that Mahar military pensioners were unwilling to sign because they feared that they might lose their pensions. Thus, by the beginning of World War I, there were few Mahars left in the Army.


title: Mahar

text: A Mahar regiment was created during World War I but only for a few years and because of British desperation for additional troops. In 1941, the Mahar Regiment proper was created.


title: Mahar

text: In 1873, Jyotirao Phule, the founder of Satyashodhak Samajwhich aimed to abolish religious slaveryorganised Mahars. At that time, Mahars were not allowed to enter Hindu temples and were considered unclean. Even their entry into the shrines of Hindu gods was restricted. Their first conference was held in Mumbai in 1903.


title: Mahar

text: Shahu, the ruler of the princely state of Kolhapur, abolished Mahar watan in 1918 and freed the Mahars in his territory from the slavery imposed by the society of the day. He also gave them all the human rights and equality that others enjoy.


title: Mahar

text: In 1969, the Mahars constituted about 70% of the total Scheduled Caste population and also represented about 9% of population of the state of Maharashtra.


title: Mahar

text: Mahar is numerically the largest Scheduled Caste in Maharashtra, according to the 2001 Census of India.


title: Mahar

text: , the Mahar community was designated as a Scheduled Caste (SC) in 16 Indian states, being: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh Assam, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, West Bengal and Haryana.


title: Mahar

text: Historically Mahar had "12 and half" endogamous subcastes, major subcastes include Somavanshi, Ladvanshi (derived from "Lata Pradesh" current Gujarat), Andhavanshi, Tilvanshi, Bawane (Bhavani Mahar),Gondvanshi, Suryavanshi, Kadvanshi and Kosare etc. These subcaste names are not totemistic.


title: Mahar

text: Some of the subcaste names represent the territory they controlled or occupied and other subcaste names represent the acts their founders did. The Somavanshi Mahar trace their descent (bloodline) from Mahabharata's Pandava. The Somavanshi Mahar claim to have taken part in Mahabharata war and subsequently settled in Maharashtra. Before converting to Buddhism these subcastes would not marry and eat with one another.


title: Mahar

text: The Mahars of the Deccan speak a non-standard version of Marathi. When a Mahar meets a man of his own caste a he says "Namastu", and when he meets anyone other than a Mahar he says "Johar", said to be from the Sanskrit "Yoddhar "("Warrior"). The Mahars belonging to different regions can't intermarry unless there is some family connection can be traced between them. The Mahars are divided into number of exogamous "groups" or "clans" or "kuls". There are enough evidences found to conclude that each of the exogamous group historically owned and worshipped "Devak" or "Totem" and it is brought into prominence at the time of marriage ceremony. Members of families with a common "Devak" cannot intermarry.


title: Mahar

text: In most of the cases Devak became obsolete and it is replaced with composite Devak called Panchpalvi composed of the leaves, of five trees.


title: Mahar

text: According to Eleanor Zelliot, Dalit literature originated in Marathi-speaking areas of Maharashtra. She credits Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, a Mahar himself, for inspiring many Dalit writers. Baburao Bagul (1930–2008), Shankarrao Kharat, and Bandhu Madhav were early Marathi writers from the Mahar community. The Mahar writer Namdeo Dhasal (who founded Dalit Panther) was significant in the Dalit movement. Other notable Mahar authors writing in Marathi include Shantabai Kamble, Urmila Pawar, Raja Dhale, Daya Pawar, and Narendra Jadhav.


title: Mahar

text: Before their conversion to Buddhism, the important deities of Mahar were Shiva, Khandoba, Vithoba and the varkari saints, Chokhamela, and Dnyaneshwar. Family deities of Mahars are typically Shiva, Maridevi, Bhumidevi, Navanathas and Bhavani. The Nag or king cobra was particularly revered by the community.


title: Mahar

text: In the late 19th century, Otto Weishaupt's attempts to evangelise in the Sangamner area of Ahmadnagar district met with little success with communities such as the Brahmins, Muslims and Bhils, but his efforts to promote Christianity did appeal to the Mahars there. There were also some Mahar converts to Christianity in other areas of Ahmednagar district around the early 20th century.


title: Mahar

text: The Christian conversion movement became overshadowed by the emergence of B. R. Ambedkar's Buddhist equivalent. When he converted to Buddhism at Nagpur in 1956, many Mahars were among those of his followers who chose to do the same. As Buddhists, they gave up their traditional Hindu occupations and sought to redefine their social status. Ambedkar died about two months after this mass conversion. At the same spot, after his cremation, more Mahars were converted to Buddhism. Now, this community is the third most populous in Mumbai.


title: Mahar

text: Some Buddhist leaders among the population prefer that the term "Mahar" no longer be applied to these converts. Buddhism appealed to the sense of equality for the Mahars; an intellectual of Mahar origin said, "I have accepted Buddhist doctrine. I am Buddhist now. I am not Mahar now, not untouchable nor even Hindu. I have become a human being".


title: Mahar

text: In a 1996 book, authors De and Shastree claimed that it has been difficult for the Neo-buddhists to totally abandon the rituals, practices, and festivals of their old Hindu religion. Although one of the early buddhist convert, V R Ranpise had written a book in Marathi called Boudha Samskar Path in 1962 as a guide to his fellow converts, very few had read the book.


title: Kevin Malone

text: Kevin Malone is a fictional character in the American television series "The Office". He is portrayed by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK TV series is Keith Bishop, who shares Kevin's lack of communication skills, musical interest, and obesity. In the series Kevin is a part of the accounting department at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin.


title: Kevin Malone

text: "Slate" magazine named the character as one of the reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in late 2007.


title: Kevin Malone

text: Kevin is one of the more prominent supporting characters throughout the first season. In the episode "Basketball", while making a basketball team for a game against the warehouse employees, Michael ignores Kevin's plea to join the team. It is later revealed that Kevin is an excellent basketball player.


title: Kevin Malone

text: In season two, Kevin begins a relationship with Stacey, whom he later proposes to. Kevin is despondent on Valentine's Day when he doesn't know where she is, though in a deleted scene, he becomes very happy when she calls and states she's back in town. In "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", Kevin brings Stacey's daughter Abby to the office, where she quickly becomes pals with Jim.


title: Kevin Malone

text: In "Michael's Birthday", Kevin gets tested for skin cancer, which takes the mood away from party festivities, much to Michael's dismay. The results end up negative, though Michael mistakenly believes 'negative' means that his test revealed cancer. Later in the season, Jim and Pam encounter Kevin's The Police tribute band Scrantonicity, while searching for bands for Pam and Roy's wedding; Roy asks Kevin to play for the wedding, which Kevin initially accepts.


title: Kevin Malone

text: In "Cocktails", Kevin is asked if he and Stacy have set a date for their wedding. Kevin says they have, but it is very complicated, hinting that they may have separated.