title: Carlos Beltrán

text: When the scandal broke, Beltrán publicly denied that the Astros had stolen signs illegally. However, MLB later confirmed that the Astros had stolen signs illegally and handed out punishments to the team; Beltrán was the only player named in the commissioner's report. Beltrán then apologized for his role in the scandal.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: In 2,586 games over 20 seasons, Beltrán posted a .279 batting average (2,725-for-9,768) with 1,582 runs, 565 doubles, 78 triples, 435 home runs, 1,587 RBI, 312 stolen bases, 1,084 bases on balls, .350 on-base percentage and .486 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .986 fielding percentage playing primarily at center and right field. In 65 postseason games, Beltrán batted .307 (66-for-215) with 45 runs, 15 doubles, 16 home runs, 42 RBI, 11 stolen bases and 37 walks. He broke the 1.000 OPS mark in four different playoff series. Beltrán also had a 100% stolen base percentage (11-for-11) during the playoffs, which are the most stolen bases without being caught.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: Beltrán has appeared in the four editions of the World Baseball Classic (2006, 2009, 2013, 2017) for Team Puerto Rico. In the 2017 World Baseball Classic, he batted 4th in the lineup as their designated hitter. Following the conclusion of the tournament, which was won by United States upon beating Puerto Rico in the final, Beltrán was named to the 2017 All-World Baseball Classic team.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: Following the 2017 season, the New York Yankees' managerial position became available, for which Beltrán interviewed. The Yankees eventually selected Aaron Boone to be the manager. In December 2018, the Yankees hired Beltrán as a special adviser to general manager Brian Cashman.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: On November 1, 2019, the Mets hired Beltrán as their manager to replace Mickey Callaway, signing him to a three-year contract with a club option for a fourth year. However, on January 16, 2020, before Beltrán ever managed a game, he and the Mets mutually agreed to part ways after he was the only player implicated by name for his role in the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: Beltrán and his wife Jessica have two daughters and one son. They reside in New York City. Beltrán's cousin Rey Fuentes is also a baseball player and also played for the Royals. A nephew, Matthew Lugo, was drafted by the Red Sox in 2019.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: Beltrán is a Christian. While sliding into second base for his 300th steal, joining the 300–300 club on June 15, 2012, a cross necklace popped out of his jersey, and after the game, he told a reporter that "all the glory" was God's. In 2004, Beltrán was one of 24 athletes who endorsed George W. Bush's reelection campaign.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: Since establishing his foundation, Beltrán began a fund with part of his salary, intending to establish a high school focused on developing young athletes. Construction of the Carlos Beltrán Baseball Academy began in 2009, in the municipality of Florida, Puerto Rico. Beltrán donated over $4 million to the academy, built on of land donated by the local government. The school opened in 2011 and graduated its first class in June 2013. It accepts students between the ages of 14 to 18 years, with a curriculum that includes instruction by MLB players.


title: Carlos Beltrán

text: In 2017, Beltrán was named winner of "Sports Illustrated"'s inaugural Hope Award for his work in assisting Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: Gillian Taylforth (born 14 August 1955) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Kathy Beale on the BBC soap opera "EastEnders", and has also appeared as Jackie Pascoe/Webb on ITV's "Footballers' Wives" (2002–2006), and as Sgt. Nikki Wright in ITV's "The Bill" (2006–2008). She has also appeared in film during her early career, has presented on ITV's "Loose Women" and appeared as a celebrity contestant on "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2008.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: In January 2013, she was a contestant in "Celebrity Big Brother". From May 2013 she played Sandy Roscoe on Channel 4 soap opera "Hollyoaks", but left in Summer 2014, and returned in December to again leave with Joe Roscoe in January 2015. Despite her "EastEnders" character being presumed dead after being killed off-screen in 2006, Taylforth made a shock return to the show in February 2015 as part of the 30th anniversary episode. The BBC later confirmed that she would reprise the role of Kathy permanently later in the year and she appeared again regularly from August 2015.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: Taylforth attended William Tyndale Junior School, Barnsbury Secondary School for Girls, Kingsway College of Further Education and the Anna Scher Theatre School in London. She started her acting career in the 1970s and before securing her big break she worked as a secretary between minor roles. Early television appearances include roles in the BBC comedy "Hi-de-Hi!", "Shelley", "Play for Today", "On Safari", "Minder", "Sink or Swim" and "The Rag Trade". She played the role of Sherry in the 1980 gangster film "The Long Good Friday".


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: On 19 February 1985, Taylforth appeared as Kathy Beale in the first episode of the BBC's new soap opera "EastEnders". This role earned her huge popularity and public recognition on British television. Taylforth was in the show until 1998, when she opted to leave. During her time on the show, Taylforth’s character covered an array of serious issues including rape, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, divorce, alcoholism and meningitis.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: Kathy is one of the longest running characters to feature in the soap. She made a brief return in 1999 for the storyline to aid the departure of her brother-in-law Grant, played by actor Ross Kemp. Kathy left Albert Square again on 6 January 2000.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: In 2005, press rumours suggested that Taylforth was returning to the show. However, this did not occur and the character of Kathy died off-screen in February 2006 in a car crash in South Africa. Taylforth later commented: "I was a bit upset at first because it was 13 years of my life and I didn't like the thought of being killed off. I thought she might come back to see Ian (her on-screen son) and have some illness. But that's the way it goes."


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: In 2013, Taylforth said it was a mistake to 'kill off' her character and expressed an interest in coming ‘back from the dead’. She also revealed that former producers had wanted Kathy back in "EastEnders". At the time, an "EastEnders" spokesman said that producers had no plans to bring back Kathy Beale. However on 14 November 2014, Taylforth reprised the role of Kathy for a Children In Need special in which Ian knocks his head and sees visions of the deceased women in his life.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: On 19 February 2015, Taylforth made a surprise appearance as Kathy Beale in a live segment of the 30th anniversary episode. It was revealed that she had not died but instead faked her own death in South Africa in 2006. The BBC then confirmed Taylforth would be reprising the role of Kathy permanently. Kathy then made another guest appearance in May before returning in August on a regular basis. The BBC revealed the screen age of the character Kathy Beale, as 70 years old, in a 2020 Eastenders episode.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: After leaving "EastEnders" in 1998, Taylforth was cast as Jackie Pascoe-Webb in ITV's television drama, "Footballers' Wives". In a Channel 4 poll for the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments, a time where she ends up having sex on top of a snooker table with Cristian Solimeno was placed at number 49. She played the role for all five series, which made her the only cast member to appear in every series without taking a break. (Zöe Lucker also appeared in all five series, but left midway through the 4th series before returning towards the end of the final one.) She also appeared on "Lily Savage's Blankety Blank" in 2001.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: In 2006, she played the role of Mandy Searle in the comedy/drama "Jane Hall" and she also has appeared as a recurring panellist on ITV's topical chat-show "Loose Women" (2000, 2006 and 2008). She had a regular part in ITV's police drama "The Bill" playing Sergeant Nikki Wright, and made her first screen appearance on 8 November 2006. Taylforth left the role in 2008. In 2010, Taylforth took over in the theatre tour of "Mum's The Word" from Bernie Nolan after she left when her cancer was diagnosed for a second time. The tour also starred "Coronation Street" actresses Tracy Shaw and Sally Ann Matthews and was directed by Taylforth's EastEnders colleague Andrew Lynford. She also made several pantomime appearances around this time.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: In January 2013, she became a housemate on the eleventh series of "Celebrity Big Brother". She was the fourth person to be evicted from the house after fifteen days.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: In February 2013, it was announced that she had joined the cast of British soap opera, "Hollyoaks", as matriarch of the Roscoe family, Sandy Roscoe. After just over a year in the role, Taylforth announced her decision to leave the role of Sandy to spend more time with her family. She departed on-screen on 22 August 2014. Taylforth briefly reprised the role of Sandy in December 2014, but she departed again shortly afterwards.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: Taylforth was partnered with Anton Du Beke in the sixth series of "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2008, but was voted off in Week 2 after a dance-off with Jodie Kidd. It later emerged that Taylforth had suffered torn knee ligaments whilst in training for the live shows, but chose to dance regardless.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: Taylforth is the sister of actress Kim Taylforth. During her time in "EastEnders", she dated her fellow castmate Nick Berry, who played Simon Wicks. She began a relationship with Geoff Knights in the late 1980s. The couple lived in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire and later in Arrington, Cambridgeshire. She gave birth to their daughter in 1992. In 1996 she suffered a miscarriage, and less than a year later doctors told her that the baby she was carrying had severe abnormalities and she was advised to terminate the pregnancy." In 1999, she became a mother for a second time.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: Knights and Taylforth had an extensive tabloid media history. In January 1994, Taylforth was involved in a high-profile court case when she sued "The Sun" newspaper for libel after they ran a story claiming she and Knights had performed sexual acts on a slip road on the A1 in their Range Rover. Taylforth claimed that her partner had suffered an acute attack of pancreatitis and she was merely massaging his stomach to soothe his abdominal pain; however, a police officer claimed that she was performing fellatio instead. During the court case, "The Sun"'s defence counsel, George Carman QC, entered into evidence a 35-minute home video of Taylforth "suggestively posing with a large sausage [...] graphically simulating masturbation with a wine bottle" and boasting to the camera, "I give very good head". The jury returned a 10-2 majority verdict in favour of "The Sun", after which Taylforth collapsed and was taken away by an ambulance.


title: Gillian Taylforth

text: In 1995, Taylforth wrote an autobiography entitled "Kathy and Me" in which she describes her childhood, her teenage years, her first forays into acting and her lifestyle.


title: Humber College

text: The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North campus and the Lakeshore campus.


title: Humber College

text: Humber offers more than 150 programs including bachelor’s degree, diploma, certificate, post-graduate certificate and apprenticeship programs, across 40 fields of study.


title: Humber College

text: Beyond this, Humber College also provides Bridging (or Bridge Training) Programs for internationally trained professionals in the fields of engineering and information technology.


title: Humber College

text: Humber was established in 1967 under its founding President, Gordon Wragg. The first new section of Humber College opened on Monday September 11, 1967 at James S. Bell Elementary School, a public school on Lake Shore Boulevard West. The Lakeshore Campus began with the addition of the manpower retraining programs on Queen Elizabeth Way in Etobicoke. In November 1968, North Campus was officially opened by Mayor Edward A. Horton of Etobicoke and Mayor Jack Moulton of York. In the early 1970s, student enrollment was rapidly increasing which led Humber to expand its business and technology programs at both the North and Lakeshore Campuses. Humber College had the largest group of business students in the province. Three year co-op programs were developed in the early 1970s in a range of technology and business programs. Humber became Canada's largest college with over 27,000 full-time and 50,000 part-time learners.


title: Humber College

text: By the early 1980s Humber was developing programs to respond to business and industry demands by focusing on flexibility in class schedules, including a weekend College. Its skill-based training courses included self-paced programming and, along with Holland College in Prince Edward Island, became one of the National Centers for industry driven DACUM curriculum. Humber introduced flexible manufacturing and was a pioneer in introducing computer applications in technology programs. Lakeshore Campus, at its new permanent location on the lakeshore, was the first college to introduce a solar technology program to respond to the needs of that growing industry of the time. Humber had a large international outreach program, working in over 20 countries. With the assistance of ADB, the Government of Canada (CIDA), it developed the largest international program of all of the Canadian colleges by 1987, introducing the concept of responsive tertiary education to countries throughout Africa and Asia.


title: Humber College

text: In 1983 the campus was used for filming of the first "Police Academy" film, which was released the following year.


title: Humber College

text: After the mid-1980s, the college concentrated more on arts and applied arts programs and refocused its energy on internal processes rather than program innovation and on local rather than national or international activities. It is an Ontario Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.


title: Humber College

text: Located in northwest Toronto (formerly Etobicoke) adjacent to the Humber River, the Humber North Campus has approximately 20,000 full-time and 57,000 part-time students, 1,000 of them living in residence. The campus offers full-time and part-time programs in various fields including Business, Applied Technology, Health Sciences, Media Studies, Liberal Arts, Hospitality and Tourism. In addition to that, the campus also has an indoor pool and sauna, athletics facilities and a fully functioning spa. North Campus is home to the Funeral Service Education program, one of only two FSE programs offered in the province.


title: Humber College

text: On April 18, 2015, Humber College opened Humber Learning Resource Commons (LRC) which serves as the new main entrance for the campus. The 264,000-square-foot building has six floors and features a student gallery and commons, a new library, enhanced student services, the Registrar’s Office, Student Recruitment, Student Success & Engagement, the International Centre, the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences and administrative offices. The building was designed by B+H Architects and it cost $79 million to build, $74.5 million of which were funded by Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.


title: Humber College

text: The Donor Wall, located in the North Campus, was installed to acknowledge individuals and organizations whose cumulative contributions have reached or exceeded $10,000. The wall comprises a series of individual hexagonal tiles with four donor levels and integrated touch screens that provide a flexible, interactive component to student and teachers. As of March 2019, the wall displays more than 350 supporters who have donated to Humber since its opening in 1967.


title: Humber College

text: The campus also includes University of Guelph-Humber, with a collaborative university-college partnership between the University of Guelph and Humber College.


title: Humber College

text: The Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation, located at Humber's North Campus, is home to many applied research projects with diverse partners across multiple sectors. It builds on Humber’s expertise in areas such as automation, robotics, systems integration, user experience testing, applied research and work-integrated learning. Some of the key features include interactive technology zones, digital media studios, cutting-edge prototyping and makerspaces, open concept gathering spaces and demonstration areas for new products and technologies. The 93,000 sq. ft. centre cost about $27 million, $10 million of which were funded by The Barrett Family Foundation. The Government of Canada provided additional funding of $15.5 million from the Post-Secondary Strategic Investment Fund, and the Government of Ontario provided $1.55 million from the College Equipment and Renewal Fund for the purchase of key equipment within the building.


title: Humber College

text: Located along the shores of Lake Ontario, at Kipling and Lake Shore Blvd. W, Humber's Lakeshore Campus located in New Toronto has approximately 7,200 full-time students, with 400 living in residence. The Lakeshore Campus sits on the large grounds of the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital and Lakeshore Teachers College, in the west-end New Toronto neighborhood of Toronto (formerly Etobicoke). When leased by Humber College, the college vowed to keep the historical site in good condition and enhance its park-like setting as an asset to the Southern Etobicoke community. The campus now consists of a number of cottage buildings and the more modern and now renovated Lakeshore Teachers College facilities that were extensively re-worked in the early 1980s. The L-Building was opened in 2011 at the Lakeshore Campus, as an addition to the cottages located around it. In May 2013, artist Harley Valentine's sculpture "Persephone", after the mythic Greek queen of the underworld, was installed in the front plaza of the L-Building. The Lakeshore Campus was used as the location of the Police Academy in the 'Police Academy' film series.


title: Humber College

text: Located behind Humber College's North Campus, the Humber Arboretum consists of botanical gardens and natural areas surrounding the Humber River. This unique site is home to the Carolinian bioregion, the most diverse ecosystem in Canada, and boasts over 1,700 species of plants and animals. The Humber Arboretum covers approximately of the West Humber River Valley between Highway 27 and the 427, and is easily accessed from Humber College Blvd.


title: Humber College

text: In 1968, Humber College opened Queensway 1 Campus which was located at 56 Queen Elizabeth Blvd; however, it was later renamed Lakeshore 2 Campus in 1975. It was home to Funeral Service Education Program which was launched for the first time in 1968/69 academic year. The campus closed its doors in 1989 and the program was moved to the North campus as part of the Health Sciences Division.


title: Humber College

text: On September 25, 2019, Humber College announced the decision to close its Orangeville campus at the end of June 2021 and launch a new International Graduate School in downtown Toronto.


title: Humber College

text: The Humber Centre for Skilled Trades and Technology and the Humber Transportation Training Centre each operate from facilities near but separated from the North Campus, offering applied training in subjects such as construction trades and truck driving respectively.


title: Humber College

text: In 1968 Humber formally joined the Ontario College Athletic Association (OCAA). Humber started with just four varsity programs and endured the growing pains of a young athletic program. Since then the department has blossomed into one of the most dominant, not only in Ontario but in the nation. Humber has grown from four to twenty varsity teams, competing in every sport that the OCAA offers. The Hawks now have a men's and women's team in basketball, volleyball, outdoor soccer, indoor soccer, rugby, baseball/softball, golf, badminton, cross country and curling.


title: Humber College

text: In the Fall of 2016, Humber Athletics became the first program to win 500 OCAA medals. Two years later, the Hawks captured their 50th Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) national championship, becoming the first institution to reach the milestone.


title: Humber College

text: Humber also contains one of the college system's campus recreation programs. Campus Rec, as it is widely known, offers intramural and extramural teams as well as a number of off-campus events. Intramurals are on-campus leagues where students of various skill levels compete in sports ranging from soccer to ice hockey. Extramurals are competitive club teams formed at each college that compete against each other in a tournament league format. Campus Rec has recently introduced off-campus events where students can participate in leisurely excursions. These include mountain biking, skiing, curling, horseback riding, rock climbing, beach volleyball and the Time for War fitness course.


title: Humber College

text: The fitness programs at Humber's North and Lakeshore Campuses offer students, faculty and community members a number of ways to stay fit and lead an active and healthy lifestyle. After a major renovation in 2010, the North Campus fitness area has become one of the area's finest. The facility has an aerobic studio, weight and cardio rooms, saunas, ping pong tables, showers, lockers and washrooms. Certified personal trainers are available to build programs, give guidance throughout workouts and help build nutritional guides. There are over 16 different classes offered ranging from extremely strenuous to light stretching depending on personal fitness level.


title: Humber College

text: Ignite, previously known as the Humber Students' Federation club (HSF), is a sanctioned group of active and enthusiastic students who want to engage and share their passion or hobby with the students of Humber and Guelph-Humber. Clubs must be social, cultural or interest-based. Some of the clubs that were sanctioned for the 2013-2014 school year included Beyond the Rainbow, Dance Company, Liberals Club, Good Deeds Club, Embassy Christian Community, Table Tops Gaming Club, Ministry of Magic Club, and the Vietnamese Students' Association.


title: Humber College

text: The overall purpose of Ignite is to meet new people who share the same interests and to enrich the post-secondary experience of Humber and Guelph-Humber students.


title: Humber College

text: Humber College offers residences for students at the North and Lakeshore Campuses. The North Residence is located by the Humber Arboretum and features three interlinked buildings with both single and suite-style rooms. The Lakeshore Residence is located west of downtown Toronto and offers suite-style rooms. Both residences offer themed floors which include extended quiet floors, single gender floors and Living and Learning Communities. Additional amenities include study rooms, a community kitchen that can be used for group cooking, exercise room (North only), recreational space and laundry facilities.


title: Humber College

text: Humber's Residence Department also provides students with access to an online database of off-campus rental accommodations near both the Lakeshore and North campuses.


title: Humber College

text: IGNITE, formerly the Humber Students' Federation, is the official student government representing the full-time students at Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber. The elected students of IGNITE are members of key Humber committees to ensure that students are properly represented during all major discussions and decisions.


title: Humber College

text: Humber College has recently received funding to build an outdoor learning lab and naturalized play environment at one of its campus child care centres. The living lab will provide students and faculty in programs such as Early Childhood Education, Health and Fitness, and Sustainable Technology, with the opportunity to engage in meaningful studies of children's play and learning in a naturalized environment.


title: Humber College

text: This centre is home to Humber TV, Radio Humber and all newspaper, magazine and web production. Humber is the only GTA College with a CRTC campus instructional license and fully operational radio station, 96.9 Radio Humber.


title: Humber College

text: The old Lakeshore Lions Arena at 300 Birmingham Street is now home to Humber's Arts and Media Studio, and opened in 2010. The site is part of the Lakeshore Campus site.


title: Humber College

text: The LEED gold certified building includes a green roof, passive solar heating and a biofilter system. It is the only Platinum EcoCentre in Ontario.


title: Humber College

text: On 25 January 2006, the French ambassador to Canada Daniel Jouanneau visited the North and Lakeshore campuses of Humber College. Jouanneau and school officials suggested the program might eventually be extended to the culinary arts and media-related programs, such as journalism.


title: Humber College

text: On February 2, 2009, Humber College students became the first to contact an astronaut in orbit using an apparatus they built and operated. They made contact with Sandra Magnus at the International Space Station from a lab room at the school's Rexdale campus.


title: Humber College

text: On January 10, 2018, Humber College’s Lakeshore Campus is the first college in Ontario to receive Fair Trade Campus designation from the Canadian Fair Trade Network (CFTN.) for its promotion of social and environmental sustainability and innovation. Recognized already as one of Canada's Greenest Employers, achieving the designation is part of Humber’s five-year plan to make its campuses more sustainable.


title: Humber College

text: On February 7, 2019, Humber College’s North Campus has received Fair Trade Campus designation from the Canadian Fair Trade Network for its promotion of social and environmental sustainability and innovation.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling families of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base by Napoleon and later served for a brief period as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The palazzo is now the largest museum complex in Florence. The principal palazzo block, often in a building of this design known as the corps de logis, is 32,000 square metres. It is divided into several principal galleries or museums detailed below.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The construction of this severe and forbidding building was commissioned in 1458 by the Florentine banker Luca Pitti (1398–1472), a principal supporter and friend of Cosimo de' Medici. The early history of the Palazzo Pitti is a mixture of fact and myth. Pitti is alleged to have instructed that the windows be larger than the entrance of the Palazzo Medici. The 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari proposed that Brunelleschi was the palazzo's architect, and that his pupil Luca Fancelli was merely his assistant in the task, but today it is Fancelli who is generally credited. Besides obvious differences from the elder architect's style, Brunelleschi died 12 years before construction of the palazzo began. The design and fenestration suggest that the unknown architect was more experienced in utilitarian domestic architecture than in the humanist rules defined by Alberti in his book "De Re Aedificatoria".


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: Though impressive, the original palazzo would have been no rival to the Florentine Medici residences in terms of either size or content. Whoever the architect of the Palazzo Pitti was, he was moving against the contemporary flow of fashion. The rusticated stonework gives the palazzo a severe and powerful atmosphere, reinforced by the three-times-repeated series of seven arch-headed apertures, reminiscent of a Roman aqueduct. The Roman-style architecture appealed to the Florentine love of the new style "all'antica". This original design has withstood the test of time: the repetitive formula of the façade was continued during the subsequent additions to the palazzo, and its influence can be seen in numerous 16th-century imitations and 19th-century revivals. Work stopped after Pitti suffered financial losses following the death of Cosimo de' Medici in 1464. Luca Pitti died in 1472 with the building unfinished.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The building was sold in 1549 to Eleonora di Toledo. Raised at the luxurious court of Naples, Eleonora was the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici of Tuscany, later the Grand Duke. On moving into the palace, Cosimo had Vasari enlarge the structure to fit his tastes; the palace was more than doubled by the addition of a new block along the rear. Vasari also built the Vasari Corridor, an above-ground walkway from Cosimo's old palace and the seat of government, the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi, above the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti. This enabled the Grand Duke and his family to move easily and safely from their official residence to the Palazzo Pitti. Initially the Palazzo Pitti was used mostly for lodging official guests and for occasional functions of the court, while the Medicis' principal residence remained the Palazzo Vecchio. It was not until the reign of Eleonora's son Francesco I and his wife Johanna of Austria that the palazzo was occupied on a permanent basis and became home to the Medicis' art collection.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: Land on the Boboli hill at the rear of the palazzo was acquired in order to create a large formal park and gardens, today known as the Boboli Gardens. The landscape architect employed for this was the Medici court artist Niccolò Tribolo, who died the following year; he was quickly succeeded by Bartolommeo Ammanati. The original design of the gardens centred on an amphitheatre, behind the "corps de logis" of the palazzo. The first play recorded as performed there was "Andria" by Terence in 1476. It was followed by many classically inspired plays of Florentine playwrights such as Giovan Battista Cini. Performed for the amusement of the cultivated Medici court, they featured elaborate sets designed by the court architect Baldassarre Lanci.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: With the garden project well in hand, Ammanati turned his attentions to creating a large courtyard immediately behind the principal façade, to link the palazzo to its new garden. This courtyard has heavy-banded channelled rustication that has been widely copied, notably for the Parisian "palais" of Maria de' Medici, the Luxembourg. In the principal façade Ammanati also created the "finestre inginocchiate" ("kneeling" windows, in reference to their imagined resemblance to a "prie-dieu", a device of Michelangelo's), replacing the entrance bays at each end. During the years 1558–70, Ammanati created a monumental staircase to lead with more pomp to the "piano nobile", and he extended the wings on the garden front that embraced a courtyard excavated into the steeply sloping hillside at the same level as the piazza in front, from which it was visible through the central arch of the basement. On the garden side of the courtyard Amannati constructed a grotto, called the "grotto of Moses" on account of the porphyry statue that inhabits it. On the terrace above it, level with the "piano nobile" windows, Ammanati constructed a fountain centered on the axis; it was later replaced by the "Fontana del Carciofo" ("Fountain of the Artichoke"), designed by Giambologna's former assistant, Francesco Susini, and completed in 1641.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: In 1616, a competition was held to design extensions to the principal urban façade by three bays at either end. Giulio Parigi won the commission; work on the north side began in 1618, and on the south side in 1631 by Alfonso Parigi. During the 18th century, two perpendicular wings were constructed by the architect Giuseppe Ruggeri to enhance and stress the widening of via Romana, which creates a piazza centered on the façade, the prototype of the "cour d'honneur" that was copied in France. Sporadic lesser additions and alterations were made for many years thereafter under other rulers and architects.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: To one side of the Gardens is the bizarre grotto designed by Bernardo Buontalenti. The lower façade was begun by Vasari but the architecture of the upper storey is subverted by "dripping" pumice stalactites with the Medici coat of arms at the centre. The interior is similarly poised between architecture and nature; the first chamber has copies of Michelangelo's four unfinished slaves emerging from the corners which seem to carry the vault with an open oculus at its centre and painted as a rustic bower with animals, figures and vegetation. Figures, animals and trees made of stucco and rough pumice adorn the lower walls. A short passage leads to a small second chamber and to a third which has a central fountain with Giambologna's Venus in the centre of the basin, peering fearfully over her shoulder at the four satyrs spitting jets of water at her from the edge.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The palazzo remained the principal Medici residence until the last male Medici heir died in 1737. It was then occupied briefly by his sister, the elderly Electress Palatine; on her death, the Medici dynasty became extinct and the palazzo passed to the new Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the Austrian House of Lorraine, in the person of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Austrian tenancy was briefly interrupted by Napoleon, who used the palazzo during his period of control over Italy.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: When Tuscany passed from the House of Lorraine to the House of Savoy in 1860, the Palazzo Pitti was included. After the Risorgimento, when Florence was briefly the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II resided in the palazzo until 1871. His grandson, Victor Emmanuel III, presented the palazzo to the nation in 1919. The palazzo and other buildings in the Boboli Gardens were then divided into five separate art galleries and a museum, housing not only many of its original contents, but priceless artefacts from many other collections acquired by the state. The 140 rooms open to the public are part of an interior, which is in large part a later product than the original portion of the structure, mostly created in two phases, one in the 17th century and the other in the early 18th century. Some earlier interiors remain, and there are still later additions such as the Throne Room. In 2005 the surprise discovery of forgotten 18th-century bathrooms in the palazzo revealed remarkable examples of contemporary plumbing very similar in style to the bathrooms of the 21st century.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The Palatine Gallery, the main gallery of Palazzo Pitti, contains a large ensemble of over 500 principally Renaissance paintings, which were once part of the Medicis' and their successors' private art collection. The gallery, which overflows into the royal apartments, contains works by Raphael, Titian, Perugino ("Lamentation over the Dead Christ"), Correggio, Peter Paul Rubens, and Pietro da Cortona. The character of the gallery is still that of a private collection, and the works of art are displayed and hung much as they would have been in the grand rooms for which they were intended rather than following a chronological sequence, or arranged according to school of art.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The finest rooms were decorated by Pietro da Cortona in the high baroque style. Initially Cortona frescoed a small room on the "piano nobile" called the Sala della Stufa with a series depicting the Four Ages of Man which were very well received; the "Age of Gold" and "Age of Silver" were painted in 1637, followed in 1641 by the "Age of Bronze" and "Age of Iron". They are regarded among his masterpieces. The artist was subsequently asked to fresco the grand ducal reception rooms; a suite of five rooms at the front of the palazzo. In these five Planetary Rooms, the hierarchical sequence of the deities is based on Ptolomeic cosmology; Venus, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter (the Medici Throne room) and Saturn, but minus Mercury and the Moon which should have come before Venus. These highly ornate ceilings with frescoes and elaborate stucco work essentially celebrate the Medici lineage and the bestowal of virtuous leadership. Cortona left Florence in 1647, and his pupil and collaborator, Ciro Ferri, completed the cycle by the 1660s. They were to inspire the later Planet Rooms at Louis XIV's Versailles, designed by Le Brun.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The collection was first opened to the public in the late 18th century, albeit rather reluctantly, by Grand Duke Leopold, Tuscany's first enlightened ruler, keen to obtain popularity after the demise of the Medici.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The Royal Apartments include 14 rooms. Their decoration has been changed to Empire style by the Savoy, but there are still some rooms maintaining decorations and furniture from the age of the Medici.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The Green Room, was frescoed by Castagnoli in early 19th Century. It exhibits an intarsia cabinet from the 17th century and a collection of gilded bronzes; the throne room was decorated for King Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy and is characterized by the red brocade on the walls and by the Japanese and Chinese vases (17th–18th century).


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The Blue Room contains collected furniture (17th–18th century) and the portraits of members of the Medici family painted by Sustermans (1597–1681).


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: This is a suite of 14 rooms, formerly used by the Medici family, and lived in by their successors. These rooms have been largely altered since the era of the Medici, most recently in the 19th century. They contain a collection of Medici portraits, many of them by the artist Giusto Sustermans. In contrast to the great salons containing the Palatine collection, some of these rooms are much smaller and more intimate, and, while still grand and gilded, are more suited to day-to-day living requirements. Period furnishings include four-poster beds and other necessary furnishings not found elsewhere in the palazzo. The Kings of Italy last used the Palazzo Pitti in the 1920s. By that time it had already been converted to a museum, but a suite of rooms in the Meridian wing (now the Gallery of Modern Art) was reserved for them when visiting Florence officially.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: This gallery originates from the remodeling of the Florentine academy in 1748, when a gallery of Modern Art was established. The gallery was intended to hold those art works which were prize-winners in the academy's competitions. The Palazzo Pitti was being redecorated on a grand scale at this time and the new works of art were being collected to adorn the newly decorated salons. By the mid-19th century so numerous were the Grand Ducal paintings of modern art that many were transferred to the , which became the first home of the newly formed "Modern Art Museum".


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: Following the Risorgimento and the expulsion of the Grand Ducal family from the palazzo, all the Grand Ducal modern art works were brought together under one roof in the newly titled "Modern gallery of the Academy". The collection continued to expand, particularly so under the patronage of Vittorio Emanuele II. However it was not until 1922 that this gallery was moved to the Palazzo Pitti where it was complemented by further modern works of art in the ownership of both the state and the municipality of Florence. The collection was housed in apartments recently vacated by members of the Italian Royal family. The gallery was first opened to public viewing in 1928.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: Today, further enlarged and spread over 30 rooms, this large collection includes works by artists of the Macchiaioli movement and other modern Italian schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The pictures by the Macchiaioli artists are of particular note, as this school of 19th-century Tuscan painters led by Giovanni Fattori were early pioneers and the founders of the impressionist movement. The title "gallery of modern art" to some may sound incorrect, as the art in the gallery covers the period from the 18th to the early 20th century. No examples of later art are included in the collection since In Italy, "modern art" refers to the period before World War II; what has followed is generally known as "contemporary art" ("arte contemporanea"). In Tuscany this art can be found at the Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci at Prato, a city about from Florence.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The Treasury of the Grand Dukes (Tesoro dei Granduchi), formerly called the Silver Museum (Museo degli Argenti), contains a collection of priceless silver, cameos, and works in semi-precious gemstones, many of the latter from the collection of Lorenzo de' Medici, including his collection of ancient vases, many with delicate silver gilt mounts added for display purposes in the 15th century. These rooms, formerly part of the private royal apartments, are decorated with 17th-century frescoes, the most splendid being by Giovanni da San Giovanni, from 1635 to 1636. The Silver Museum also contains a fine collection of German gold and silver artefacts purchased by Grand Duke Ferdinand III after his return from exile in 1815, following the French occupation.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: First opened in 1973, this museum is housed in the Casino del Cavaliere in the Boboli Gardens. The porcelain is from many of the most notable European porcelain factories, with Sèvres and Meissen near Dresden being well represented. Many items in the collection were gifts to the Florentine rulers from other European sovereigns, while other works were specially commissioned by the Grand Ducal court. Of particular note are several large dinner services by the Vincennes factory, later renamed Sèvres, and a collection of small biscuit figurines.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: Situated in a wing known as the "", this gallery contains a collection of theatrical costumes dating from the 16th century until the present. It is also the only museum in Italy detailing the history of Italian fashions. One of the newer collections to the palazzo, it was founded in 1983 by Kirsten Aschengreen Piacenti; a suite of fourteen rooms, the Meridiana apartments, were completed in 1858.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: In addition to theatrical costumes, the gallery displays garments worn between the 18th century and the present day. Some of the exhibits are unique to the Palazzo Pitti; these include the 16th-century funeral clothes of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, and his wife Eleonora of Toledo and their son Garzia, both of whom died of malaria. Their bodies would have been displayed in state wearing their finest clothes, before being reclad in plainer attire before interment. The gallery also exhibits a collection of mid-20th century costume jewellery. The "Sala Meridiana" originally sponsored a functional solar meridian instrument, built into the fresco decoration by Anton Domenico Gabbiani.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: This ground floor museum exhibits carriages and other conveyances used by the Grand Ducal court mainly in the late 18th and 19th century. The extent of the exhibition prompted one visitor in the 19th century to wonder, "In the name of all that is extraordinary, how can they find room for all these carriages and horses". Some of the carriages are highly decorative, being adorned not only by gilt but by painted landscapes on their panels. Those used on the grandest occasions, such as the "Carrozza d'Oro" (golden carriage), are surmounted by gilt crowns which would have indicated the rank and station of the carriage's occupants. Other carriages on view are those used by the King of the Two Sicilies, and Archbishops and other Florentine dignitaries.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: Today, transformed from royal palace to museum, the Palazzo is in the hands of the Italian state. Once under the "Polo Museale Fiorentino", an institution which administers twenty museums, from 2015 it is a department of the Uffizi Gallery, as a separate and independent structure within the Ministry of Cultural Properties and Activities, and has ultimate responsibility for 250,000 catalogued works of art. In spite of its metamorphosis from royal residence to a state-owned public building, the palazzo, sitting on its elevated site overlooking Florence, still retains the air and atmosphere of a private collection in a grand house. This is to a great extent due to the "Amici di Palazzo Pitti" (Friends of the Palazzo Pitti), an organisation of volunteers and patrons founded in 1996, which raises funds and makes suggestions for the ongoing maintenance of the palazzo and the collections, and for the continuing improvement of their visual display.


title: Palazzo Pitti

text: The Königsbau wing ('King's building / den') of the Munich Residenz, the former royal palace in the capital of Bavaria, was modelled after the Palazzo Pitti.


title: Jake Short

text: Jacob Patrick Short (born May 30, 1997 in Indianapolis, Indiana), known professionally as Jake Short, is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Fletcher Quimby in the Disney Channel comedy series "A.N.T. Farm" (2011–2014), Oliver in the Disney XD series "Mighty Med" (2013–2015) and "" (2016). Short currently plays Mattie Sullivan in the British sitcom "The First Team" (2020). Short is of English, German, Scottish, and Irish descent.


title: Jake Short

text: His first major role was Fletcher Quimby in Disney Channel's comedy series "A.N.T. Farm". He also starred as Nose Noseworthy in the 2009 film "Shorts", and has acted in numerous commercials.


title: Jake Short

text: In 2013, Short began co-starring as Oliver on the Disney XD original series "Mighty Med" and its spinoff "".


title: Jake Short

text: Since 2020, Short has starred as Mattie Sullivan in the British soccer-based sitcom "The First Team".


title: Cori cycle

text: The Cori cycle (also known as the lactic acid cycle), named after its discoverers, Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Cori, is a metabolic pathway in which lactate, produced by anaerobic glycolysis in muscles, is transported to the liver and converted to glucose, which then returns to the muscles and is cyclically metabolized back to lactate.


title: Cori cycle

text: Muscular activity requires ATP, which is provided by the breakdown of glycogen in the skeletal muscles. The breakdown of glycogen, known as glycogenolysis, releases glucose in the form of glucose 1-phosphate (G1P). The G1P is converted to G6P by phosphoglucomutase. G6P is readily fed into glycolysis, (or can go into the pentose phosphate pathway if G6P concentration is high) a process that provides ATP to the muscle cells as an energy source. During muscular activity, the store of ATP needs to be constantly replenished. When the supply of oxygen is sufficient, this energy comes from feeding pyruvate, one product of glycolysis, into the citric acid cycle, which ultimately generates ATP through oxygen-dependent oxidative phosphorylation.


title: Cori cycle

text: When oxygen supply is insufficient, typically during intense muscular activity, energy must be released through anaerobic metabolism. Lactic acid fermentation converts pyruvate to lactate by lactate dehydrogenase. Most importantly, fermentation regenerates NAD, maintaining its concentration so additional glycolysis reactions can occur. The fermentation step oxidizes the NADH produced by glycolysis back to NAD, transferring two electrons from NADH to reduce pyruvate into lactate. (Refer to the main articles on glycolysis and fermentation for the details.)


title: Cori cycle

text: Instead of accumulating inside the muscle cells, lactate produced by anaerobic fermentation is taken up by the liver. This initiates the other half of the Cori cycle. In the liver, gluconeogenesis occurs. From an intuitive perspective, gluconeogenesis reverses both glycolysis and fermentation by converting lactate first into pyruvate, and finally back to glucose. The glucose is then supplied to the muscles through the bloodstream; it is ready to be fed into further glycolysis reactions. If muscle activity has stopped, the glucose is used to replenish the supplies of glycogen through glycogenesis.


title: Cori cycle

text: Overall, the glycolysis steps of the cycle produce 2 ATP molecules at a cost of 6 ATP molecules consumed in the gluconeogenesis steps. Each iteration of the cycle must be maintained by a net consumption of 4 ATP molecules. As a result, the cycle cannot be sustained indefinitely. The intensive consumption of ATP molecules in the Cori cycle shifts the metabolic burden from the muscles to the liver.


title: Cori cycle

text: The cycle's importance is based on preventing lactic acidosis during anaerobic conditions in the muscle. However, normally, before this happens, the lactic acid is moved out of the muscles and into the liver.


title: Cori cycle

text: Additionally, this cycle is important in ATP production, an energy source, during muscle exertion. The end of muscle exertion allows the Cori cycle to function more effectively. This repays the oxygen debt so both the electron transport chain and citric acid cycle can produce energy at optimum effectiveness.


title: Cori cycle

text: The Cori cycle is a much more important source of substrate for gluconeogenesis than food. The contribution of Cori cycle lactate to overall glucose production increases with fasting duration before plateauing. Specifically, after 12, 20, and 40 hours of fasting by human volunteers, gluconeogenesis accounts for 41%, 71%, and 92% of glucose production, but the contribution of Cori cycle lactate to gluconeogenesis is 18%, 35%, and 36%, respectively. The remaining glucose production comes from protein breakdown, muscle glycogen, and glycerol from lipolysis.


title: Cori cycle

text: The drug metformin can cause lactic acidosis in patients with kidney failure because metformin inhibits the hepatic gluconeogenesis of the Cori cycle, particularly the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex 1. The buildup of lactate and its substrates for lactate production, pyruvate and alanine, lead to excess lactate. Normally, the excess acid that is the result of the inhibition of the mitochondrial chain complex would be cleared by the kidneys, but in patients with kidney failure, the kidneys cannot handle the excess acid.


title: Cori cycle

text: A common misconception posits that lactate is the agent responsible for the acidosis, but lactate is a conjugate base, being mostly ionised at physiologic pH, and serves as a marker of associated acid production rather than being its cause.


title: China–Russia border

text: The Chinese–Russian border or the Sino-Russian border is the international border between China and Russia. After the final demarcation carried out in the early 2000s, it measures , and is the world's sixth-longest international border.


title: China–Russia border

text: The China–Russian border consists of two non-contiguous sections separated: the long eastern section between Mongolia and North Korea and the much shorter western section between Kazakhstan and Mongolia.


title: China–Russia border

text: The eastern border section is over in length. According to a joint estimate published in 1999, it measured at . It starts at the eastern China–Mongolia–Russia tripoint (), marked by the border monument called Tarbagan-Dakh (Ta'erbagan Dahu, Tarvagan Dakh).


title: China–Russia border

text: From the tripoint, the border line runs north-east, until it reaches the Argun River. The border follows the Argun and Amur river to the confluence of the latter with the Ussuri River. It


title: China–Russia border

text: divides the Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island at the confluence of the two rivers, and then runs south along the Ussuri. The border crosses Lake Khanka, and finally runs to the south-west. The China–Russia border ends when it reaches the Tumen River, which is the northern border of North Korea. The end point of the China–Russia border, and the China–North Korea–Russia tripoint, at (), is located only a few kilometers before the river flows into the Pacific Ocean, the other end of the North Korea–Russia border.


title: China–Russia border

text: The much shorter (less than ) western border section is between Russia's Altai Republic and China's Xinjiang. It runs in the mostly snow-covered high elevation area of the Altai Mountains. Its western end point is the China–Kazakhstan–Russia tripoint, whose location is defined by the trilateral agreement as , elevation, 3327 m. Its eastern end is the western China–Mongolia–Russia tripoint, at the top of the peak Tavan Bogd Uul (Mt Kuitun), at the coordinates .


title: China–Russia border

text: Today's Sino-Russian border line is mostly inherited by Russia (with minor adjustments) from the Soviet Union, while the Sino-Soviet border line was essentially the same as the border between the Russian and Qing Empires, settled by a number of treaties from the 17th through to the 19th centuries. Border issues first became an issue following Russia's rapid expansion into Siberia in the 17th century, with intermittent skirmishes occurring between them and Qing China. Below is a list of important border treaties, along with the indication as to which section of today's Sino-Russian border were largely set by them:


title: China–Russia border

text: Following the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the later formation of the Soviet Union, there have been a number of issues along the border:


title: China–Russia border

text: Three countries bordered both China and the Soviet Union: Afghanistan, Mongolia and North Korea. Both the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and Mongolian People's Republic were pro-Soviet satellite states during the Cold War, while the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was neutral.


title: China–Russia border

text: The waning years of the Soviet Union saw a reduction of the tensions on the then heavily fortified Sino-Soviet border. In 1990–91, the two countries agreed to significantly reduce their military forces stationed along the border. To this day one can find numerous abandoned military facilities in Russia's border districts.


title: China–Russia border

text: Even though the Sino-Soviet border trade resumed as early as 1983–85, it accelerated in 1990–91; the rate of cross-border trade continue increasing as the USSR's former republics became separate states. To accommodate increasing volume of travel and private trade, a number of border crossings were re-opened. In early 1992, China announced border trade incentives and the creation of special economic zones (SEZs) along the Sino-Russian border, the largest of these being in Hunchun, Jilin.


title: China–Russia border

text: In 1991, China and USSR signed the 1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement, which was intended to start the process of resolving the border disputes held in abeyance since the 1960s. However, just a few months later the USSR was dissolved, and four former Soviet republics — Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan — inherited various sections of the former Sino–Soviet border.


title: China–Russia border

text: It took more than a decade for Russia and China to fully resolve the border issues and to demarcate the border. On May 29, 1994, during Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin's visit to Beijing, an "Agreement on the Sino-Russian Border Management System intended to facilitate border trade and hinder criminal activity" was signed. On September 3, a demarcation agreement was signed for the short () western section of the binational border; the demarcation of this section was completed in 1998.


title: China–Russia border

text: In November 1997, at a meeting in Beijing, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and General Secretary and Chinese President Jiang Zemin signed an agreement for the demarcation of the much longer (over ) eastern section of the border, in accordance with the provisions of the 1991 Sino-Soviet agreement.


title: China–Russia border

text: The last unresolved territorial issue between the two countries was settled by the 2004 Complementary Agreement between China and Russia on the Eastern Section of the China–Russia Boundary. Pursuant to that agreement, Russia transferred to China a part of Abagaitu Islet, the entire Yinlong (Tarabarov) Island, about half of Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island, and some adjacent river islets. The transfer has been ratified by both the Chinese National People's Congress and the Russian State Duma in 2005, thus ending the decades-long border dispute. The official transfer ceremony was held on-site on October 14, 2008.


title: China–Russia border

text: As with many other international borders, a bilateral treaty exists concerning the physical modalities of managing the China–Russia border. The currently valid agreement was signed in Beijing in 2006.


title: China–Russia border

text: The treaty requires the two states to clear trees in a -wide strip along the border (i.e. within from the border line on each side of it) (Article 6).


title: China–Russia border

text: Civil navigation is allowed on the border rivers and lakes, provided the vessels of each country stay on the appropriate side of the dividing line (Article 9); similar rules apply to fishing in these waters (Article 10).


title: China–Russia border

text: Each country's authorities will carry out appropriate measures to prevent grazing livestock from crossing into the other country and will endeavor to apprehend and return any livestock that wanders onto their territory from across the border (Article 17). Hunting using firearms is prohibited within from the borderline; hunters are prohibited from crossing the border in pursuit of a wounded animal (Article 19).


title: China–Russia border

text: Detained illegal border crossers are supposed to be normally returned to their country of origin within 7 days from their apprehension (Article 34).


title: China–Russia border

text: According to the Russia's border agency, as of October 1, 2013, there are 26 border crossings on the China–Russia border; all of them are located on the eastern section of the border. Twenty-five of them are provided for by the bilateral agreement of January 27, 1994, and one more is designated by an additional special order of the Russian government. The 25 crossing points established by the treaty include four railway crossings, eleven as highway crossings, one as river crossing, and nine as "mixed" (mostly ferry crossings).


title: China–Russia border

text: At present three railway lines cross the border. The two railway border crossings at Zabaikalsk/Manzhouli and Suifenhe/Grodekovo are over a century old, brought into existence by the original design of Russia's Transsiberian Railway that took a shortcut across Manchuria (the Chinese Eastern Railway). The third railway crossing, near Hunchun/Makhalino, operated between 2000 and 2004, was then closed for a few years, and only recently reopened. Construction was completed in 2022 of the Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge near Tongjiang/Nizhneleninskoye, which became the fourth railway border crossing.


title: China–Russia border

text: As of 2018, there were no border crossings of any kind on the two countries' short and remote western border section.


title: China–Russia border

text: According to Russian topographic maps, the lowest mountain passes on the western section of the border are the Betsu-Kanas Pass (перевал Бетсу-Канас), elevation and Kanas (перевал Канас), elevation . No roads suitable for wheeled vehicles exist over these two passes, although a difficult dirt road approaches from the Russian side to within from the Kanas Pass. Until the Soviet authorities closed the border in 1936, Kazakh nomads would occasionally use these passes.


title: China–Russia border

text: Proposals exist for the construction of a cross-border highway and the Altai gas pipeline from China to Russia, which would cross the western section of the Sino-Russian border.


title: China–Russia border

text: Historical maps of the border from west to east in the International Map of the World, mid-20th century:


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: Dequantes Lamar (born October 4, 1989), known professionally as Rich Homie Quan, is an American rapper. He was previously signed to labels T.I.G. Entertainment and Motown, and is an independent artist as of 2021. Quan experienced commercial success with the 2013 single "Type of Way" (which peaked at number 50 on the "Billboard" Hot 100), and the 2015 single "Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)" (peaking at number 26). In addition, Quan joined the Cash Money Records spin-off project, Rich Gang in 2014, which had successful singles such as "Lifestyle" and the mixtape "" (2014). Quan's debut studio album "Rich as in Spirit" was released on March 16, 2018, and debuted at number 32 on the US "Billboard" 200.


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: Dequantes Lamar was born on October 4, 1989 in Atlanta, Georgia. In school, Lamar had a particular interest in reading. Literature was his favorite subject and he enjoyed creative writing classes. He played baseball for over four years while he attended Atlanta, Georgia's Ronald McNair Sr. High School with the aspiration to play professionally. As center fielder and leadoff hitter, Lamar began playing at the varsity level during his freshman year and earned a scholarship offer from Fort Valley State University. While Lamar decided to focus his interests elsewhere, he began rapping and got a job at a nearby airport. When he lost his job, Lamar got involved in illegal activities, including burglary that eventually led to him serving 15 months in prison. "I never saw myself going this far with music. Music was just a hobby at first. I never saw myself being on stage and rocking out shows. After I got out of jail, I started to take it more serious and that's when my dream came true", he said in an interview with "XXL". Rich Homie Quan was influenced by dirty south music, including Jeezy, Gucci Mane, T.I., Lil Boosie, Lil Wayne, Kilo Ali, Outkast, and Goodie Mob.


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: In 2012, Lamar's song "Differences" was released as the first single from his mixtape "Still Going In". In 2013, he toured with Trinidad James. He was also featured on Gucci Mane's album "Trap House III" on songs such as "I Heard", "Can't Trust Her" and "Chasin' Paper", which also features Young Thug. Reviewing his single, "Type of Way", "The New York Times" wrote that he was "part of Atlanta's rising generation of rappers—think Future, Young Thug, Young Scooter—who deliver lines with melody and heart, like singers on the verge of a breakdown". The song peaked at number 50 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. "Still Goin' In (Reloaded)" would be named the tenth best mixtape of 2013 by "Rolling Stone".


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: In August 2013, "Type of Way" was released to the iTunes Store by Def Jam Recordings, suggesting that he had signed to the well-known hip hop-based record label Wash House Entertainment. However, Rich Homie Quan was still independent and was considering signing a deal with Cash Money Records. Quan was featured on the song "My Nigga" by YG also featuring Young Jeezy, which peaked at number 19 on the Hot 100. He was also featured on 2 Chainz' second studio album "", on the song "Extra". In September 2013, he confirmed that he was 30% done with his debut album. His mixtape, called "I Promise I'll Never Stop Going In" was released on November 26, 2013. It was supported by the single "Walk Thru" featuring Problem. The 2013 Michigan State Spartans football team adopted "Type of Way" as an anthem, and Quan joined them on the sidelines in a green jersey at the 100th Rose Bowl, while also participating in their post-game locker-room celebration singing "Type of Way". He was named to the 2014 "XXL" freshman class.


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: On May 6, 2014, Rich Homie Quan went home to Atlanta to shoot the video for his single "Walk Thru" with Los Angeles rapper Problem. Hours later, it was reported that he had two "seizures," falling and "cracking his head" on set, according to TMZ. Rich Homie Quan cleared up the rumors by sending Billboard a statement saying that he fainted and hit his head. In this statement, he also denied that the instance had anything to do with drugs. On September 29, 2014, he was part of the mixtape, called . His song "Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)" and its music video were released on April 1, 2015, on YouTube.


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: On March 16, 2017, Rich Homie Quan made his return to music by releasing his first single since 2015, "Replay". A mixtape, "Back to the Basics" followed on April 14, 2017. His debut album "Rich as in Spirit" was released on March 18, 2018. The album was supported by the two singles, "Changed" and "34".


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: In November 2016, Quan sued former label, "Think It's A Game" for 2 million dollars because of unpaid royalties. The label counter sued him for breach of contract. Both Quan and the label settled the issues outside of court.


title: Rich Homie Quan

text: On May 28, 2017, Quan was arrested with four others on felony drug charges after being stopped at a checkpoint on Highway 1 in Louisville, Georgia. Police claimed to have recovered heroin, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and weapons from the vehicle. Quan was charged with felony drug possession with an intent to distribute.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Cameron Tyler Jordan (born July 10, 1989) is an American football defensive end for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California, and was drafted by the Saints in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Jordan was born in Chandler, Arizona, the son of former Minnesota Vikings tight end Steve Jordan. He attended Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona, where he was a two-sport star in football and track for the Chandler Wolves. In football, he earned All-State honors his senior year after registering 85 tackles and 17.5 quarterback sacks. Regarded as a three-star recruit by "Rivals.com", Jordan was listed as the #37 strongside defensive end of the class of 2007.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Also an outstanding track & field athlete, Jordan was one of the state's top performers in the discus throw. He captured the state title in the discus at the 2007 5A I State Meet, recording a top-throw of 53.54 meters (175 ft 7 in), while also placing 10th in the shot put event, with a throw of 14.01 meters (45 ft, 11 in).


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Jordan primarily played defensive end for the University of California at Berkeley. He was coached by head coach Jeff Tedford and defensive coordinator Bob Gregory. He played in 50 of 51 possible games and made 32 starts at Cal from 2007–10. Jordan achieved honorable mention All-American (Pro Football Weekly) and first-team All-Pac-10 choice as a senior in 2010 after two consecutive honorable mention All-Pac-10 campaigns in 2008 and 2009.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: He finished his collegiate career with 175 tackles, while adding 34.0 tackles for loss (-122 yards) and 16.5 sacks (-89 yards) to rank just outside the school's all-time top 10 in each of the latter two categories. He also had one interception that he returned for three yards, five pass breakups, four forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries that he returned for a total of 41 yards and two touchdowns.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On January 29, 2011, Jordan played in the 2011 Senior Bowl and was part of Marvin Lewis's North team that lost 24–10 to the South. His overall performance during Senior Bowl practice helped his draft stock and made him a definitive first round pick in the upcoming draft. Jordan attended the NFL Scouting Combine and performed all of the combine and positional drills.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On March 9, 2011, he participated at Cal's pro day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only performed defensive end drills. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Jordan was projected to be a first round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the second best defensive end prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com and "Sports Illustrated" and was ranked the third best defensive end in the draft by NFL analysts Gil Brandt and Brian Billick.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: The New Orleans Saints selected Jordan in the first round (24th overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft. Jordan was the fifth defensive end drafted in 2011, behind J. J. Watt, Robert Quinn, Ryan Kerrigan, and Adrian Clayborn. He was mistakenly called by the Cleveland Browns after the draft ended, who meant to call USC tight-end Jordan Cameron for “Biographical Information”.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On August 2, 2011, the New Orleans Saints signed Jordan to a four-year, $7.73 million contract that includes $6.30 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $4.12 million.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Jordan entered training camp slated as a starter, but saw competition for his job after the Saints signed veteran free agent Turk McBride. Head coach Sean Payton named Jordan and McBride the starting defensive ends to begin the regular season after Will Smith was suspended for the first two games of the regular season.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: He made his professional regular season debut and first career start in the New Orleans Saints' season-opener at the Green Bay Packers and made three combined tackles in their 42–34 loss. Jordan made his first career tackle on running back Ryan Grant and ended a four-yard rush on the opening drive. On October 16, 2011, Jordan collected a season-high six combined tackles in the Saints' 26–20 loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6. On January 1, 2012, Jordan recorded three combined tackles and made his first career sack during a 45–17 win against the Carolina Panthers in Week 17. Jordan sacked quarterback Cam Newton for a five-yard loss in the second quarter, but was penalized for a horse collar tackle. Jordan finished his rookie season in 2011 with 31 combined tackles (18 solo), four pass deflections, and a sack in 16 games and 15 starts.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: The New Orleans Saints finished first in the NFC South with a 13–3 record and earned a playoff berth. On January 7, 2012, Jordan appeared in his first career playoff game and made one tackle in the Saints' 45–28 victory against the Detroit Lions in the . The following week, Jordan was credited with his first career playoff start. He made six solo tackles and a pass deflection during a 35–32 loss at the San Francisco 49ers.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was not re-signed after the 2011 season and was replaced by former St. Louis Rams' head coach Steve Spagnuolo. Spagnuolo retained Jordan and Will Smith as the starting defensive ends to begin the regular season. Jordan started in the New Orleans Saints' season-opener against the Washington Redskins and collected a season-high 11 combined tackles (six solo) in their 40–32 loss. In Week 9, Jordan made seven combined tackles and a season-high three sacks on quarterback Michael Vick during a 28–13 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. Jordan also forced a fumble while sacking Michael Vick for a 12-yard loss on the Eagles' opening drive. Jordan started in all 16 games in 2012 and had a career-high 67 combined tackles (41 solo), three pass deflections, eight sacks, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. The New Orleans Saints finished with a 7–9 record in 2012. Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire season due to the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On January 24, 2013, the New Orleans Saints fired defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo after the defense allowed an NFL record 7,042 total yards in 2012. Head coach Sean Payton also announced that the defense would transition to a base 3-4 defense. During the draft, NFL analyst Mike Mayock stated Jordan was better suited to play in a 3-4 defensive alignment. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan named Jordan and Akiem Hicks the starting defensive ends to begin the regular season, alongside nose tackle Brodrick Bunkley.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On September 15, 2013, he collected a season-high six combined tackles and a sack in the Saints' 16–14 win at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week 3, Jordan made four combined tackles and had two sacks on Cardinals' quarterback Carson Palmer during a 31–7 victory against the Arizona Cardinals. On November 21, 2013, Jordan tied his season-high of six combined tackles, had a season-high of 2.5 sacks, and deflected a pass in the Saints' 17–13 win at the Atlanta Falcons. On December 27, 2013, Jordan was selected to appear in the 2014 Pro Bowl, which became his first Pro Bowl selection. Jordan started in all 16 games in 2013 and made 47 combined tackles (29 solo), 12.5 sacks, four pass deflections, two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: The New Orleans Saints finished second in the NFC South with an 11–5 record and earned a Wild Card berth. On January 4, 2014, Jordan made four combined tackles and had 1.5 sacks on quarterback Nick Foles in the Saints' 26–24 victory at the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC . The following week, he made six combined tackles and sacked Seahawks' quarterback Russell Wilson during a 23–15 loss at the Seattle Seahawks in the . He was ranked 99th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Head coach Sean Payton retained Jordan, Akiem Hicks, and Brodrick Bunkley as the starting defensive line in 2014. In Week 8, Jordan recorded three combined tackles and made a season-high two sacks on quarterback Aaron Rodgers during a 44–23 win against the Green Bay Packers. On November 30, 2014, Jordan made a season-high six combined tackles, a pass deflection, a sack, and made his first career interception in the Saints' 35–32 victory at the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 13. Jordan intercepted a pass by Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, that was originally intended for wide receiver Markus Wheaton, and returned it for a six-yard gain in the third quarter. In Week 17, he collected a season-high six combined tackles and made 1.5 sacks on quarterback Josh McCown in the Saints' 23–20 victory at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He started all 16 games in 2014 and finished with 51 combined tackles (32 solo), 7.5 sacks, five passes defensed, and an interception.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On June 2, 2015, the Saints signed Jordan to a five-year, $55 million contract with $33.46 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $15 million. His contract also includes $22.69 million guaranteed at signing, performance incentives, and a potential opt-out in 2019.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: During training camp, the New Orleans Saints switched their base defense to a 4-3 defense. Head coach Sean Payton also labeled Jordan a "Jack linebacker" in his defensive end role. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan named Jordan and Akiem Hicks the starting defensive ends to start the 2015 regular season, along with defensive tackles John Jenkins and Kevin Williams. On November 16, 2015, the New Orleans Saints fired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and promoted defensive assistant Dennis Allen to defensive coordinator in his place. Ryan's defense allowed the fourth most points in 2014 and allowed an average of 31.5 points per a game in the Saints' first six games of 2015. On October 15, 2015, Jordan collected a season-high six combined tackles, forced a fumble, and made a season-high three sacks on quarterback Matt Ryan during a 31–21 victory against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6. The following week, he made two solo tackles and two sacks in the Saints' 27–21 win at the Indianapolis Colts in Week 7. Jordan started in 16 games in 2015 and finished the season with 45 combined tackles (32 solo), ten sacks, five pass deflections, two fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On January 26, 2016, the New Orleans Saints announced that Jordan had been selected to play in the 2016 Pro Bowl as an injury replacement for New England Patriots' defensive end Chandler Jones. He was ranked 99th on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016 and was named a 2015 Pro Football Focus second-team All-Pro.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Jordan retained his starting defensive end job along with a revamped defensive line that included, Paul Kruger and defensive tackles Tyeler Davison and Nick Fairley. In Week 10, Jordan collected a season-high nine combined tackles and a sack during a 25–23 loss to the Denver Broncos. He started in all 16 games and made 58 combined tackles (40 solo), 7.5 sacks, six pass deflections, and a forced fumble. Pro Football Focus gave Jordan an overall grade of 92.1 and ranked third among all edge rushers in 2016.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Head coach Sean Payton named Jordan and Alex Okafor the starting defensive ends to begin the regular season, along with defensive tackles Tyeler Davison and Sheldon Rankins.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On September 11, 2017, Jordan made four combined tackles, a pass deflection, and a sack in the Saints' 29–19 loss at the Minnesota Vikings. His sack brought his career total to 47.5 sacks, which was enough to surpass Charles Grant as eighth in franchise history. On October 15, 2017, Jordan made four combined tackles, two sacks, and made an interception for his first career touchdown during a 52–38 win against the Detroit Lions in Week 6. Jordan intercepted a pass by quarterback Matthew Stafford, that was originally intended for tight end Eric Ebron, and scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter. His performance against the Lions earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Week. On November 5, 2017, he collected a season-high seven combined tackles and 1.5 sacks during a 30–10 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He earned NFC Defensive Player of the Month for November. On December 19, 2017, Jordan was selected to the 2018 Pro Bowl, marking the third selection of his career. He started all 16 games and made 62 combined tackles (48 solo), a career-high 13 sacks, 11 pass deflections, two forced fumbles, an interception, and a touchdown. He was named to his third Pro Bowl. He earned First Team All-Pro honors for the first time. Jordan earned an overall grade of 96.2 from Pro Football Focus, which was the highest grade among all qualifying edge rushers in 2017. The Saints finished with a 11-5 record and won the NFC South. In the against the Carolina Panthers, he had three combined tackles and two passes defensed in the 31–26 victory. In the loss to the Minnesota Vikings, he had two combined tackles in the Minneapolis Miracle. He was ranked 26th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In week 2 against the Cleveland Browns, Jordan recorded his first two sacks of the season on Tyrod Taylor during the 21–18 win.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In the following week's game against the Atlanta Falcons, Jordan recorded another two sacks on Matt Ryan during the 43–37 overtime win.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In week 12 against the Falcons on Thanksgiving Day, Jordan recorded another two sacks on Matt Ryan during the 31–17 win.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In week 13 against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football, Jordan recorded a season high 7 tackles and sacked Dak Prescott twice. Jordan's second sack of the game was a strip sack which he recovered also late in the fourth quarter. Despite Jordan's stellar play, the Saints would go on to lose the game by a score of 13–10.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In the following week's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jordan sacked Jameis Winston twice during the 28–14 win. This was Jordan's third game in a row with two sacks.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In the 2018 season, Jordan had 12 sacks, 49 total tackles, 21 quarterback hits, six passes defensed, and one forced fumble. He earned his fourth career Pro Bowl nomination.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: The Saints finished with 13–3 record, won the division, and earned a first-round bye for the playoffs. In the win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Jordan recorded three combined tackles and one pass defensed during the 20–14 win. In the loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Jordan recorded three combined tackles and a quarterback hit during the 26–23 overtime loss. He was ranked 41st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2019.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On June 11, 2019, the Saints signed Jordan to a three-year, $52.5 million contract extension with $42 million guaranteed, keeping him under contract through the 2023 season.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In week 1 against the Houston Texans, Jordan recorded his first sack of the season on Deshaun Watson during the 30–28 win.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams, Jordan sacked and forced a fumble on Jared Goff in the 27–9 loss. In the second quarter, Jordan forced a fumble off Goff and returned it for a touchdown. The referees initially ruled the play an incomplete pass. However, video replay revealed that Jordan forced a fumble, but his return for a touchdown did not count since the play had already been blown dead. After the game, Jordan was furious and referred the referees as "foot locker." In week 6 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jordan sacked Gardner Minshew twice during the 13–6 win. A week later against the Chicago Bears, Jordan sacked Mitch Trubisky twice in the 36–25 win which was the Saints' sixth win of the season. In week 13 against the Atlanta Falcons on Thanksgiving Day, Jordan recorded a season high 6 tackles and sacked Matt Ryan 4 times in the 26–18 win. Jordan won the NFC Defensive Player of the Week award for his performance.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Jordan finished the season with 52 combined tackles (38 solo), a career high 15.5 sacks, one fumble recovery, and three pass deflections in 16 games started.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In the of the playoffs against the Minnesota Vikings, Jordan recorded three tackles and sacked Kirk Cousins once during the 26–20 overtime loss. For his efforts in the 2019 season, Jordan earned his fifth career Pro Bowl nomination. He was ranked 23rd by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Team All-Decade Team for the 2010s.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In Week 11 against the Atlanta Falcons, Jordan recorded three sacks on Matt Ryan during the 24–9 win.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In Week 12 against the Denver Broncos, Jordan recorded a sack on wide receiver Kendall Hinton during the 31–3 win.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In Week 15 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Jordan was ejected from the game after punching Chiefs' guard Andrew Wylie. He was named to the Pro Bowl for the sixth time. He was ranked 46th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2021.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In Week 15, Jordan had two sacks, five tackles, and a forced fumble in a 9–0 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week. In Week 17, had eight tackles, 3.5 sacks, and three tackles for loss in a 18–10 win over the Panthers, earning his second NFC Defensive Player of the Week honor of the season. He was named to his seventh Pro Bowl for his efforts in the 2021 season. He was ranked 69th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: On December 10, 2022, the NFL fined Cameron $50,000 for faking an injury in the Week 13 2022 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: Jordan's father, Steve, was a tight end and played 13 years in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings. His sister is married to Kasim Edebali.


title: Cameron Jordan

text: In 2017, Jordan went on a USO tour to visit with American soldiers at bases in the Middle East and southwest Asia.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Bratz (also known as Bratz: The Movie) is a 2007 American comedy film based on the fashion doll toyline of the same name from MGA Entertainment. The film is directed by Sean McNamara with a screenplay by Susan Estelle Jansen, from a story written by Adam de la Pena and David Eilenberg. It is the first live-action film based on the toyline after a series of direct-to-video animated films and a television series.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Nathalia Ramos, Skyler Shaye, Logan Browning, and Janel Parrish star as the member of the group, with Chelsea Staub, Lainie Kazan, and Jon Voight in supporting roles. The story revolves around a group of four teenage girls, the origin of their friendship and the social pyramid that tries to make the Bratz conform to archetypal high school cliques. Principal photography took place in Los Angeles between February and March 2007.


title: Bratz (film)

text: "Bratz" was released in the United States on August 3, 2007, by Lionsgate. The film was panned by critics and received five nominations at the 28th Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. It was also a commercial failure, grossing only $26 million worldwide against a $20 million budget, failing to break even.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Four teenage best friends, Cloe, Yasmin, Sasha and Jade, are about to start high school. Meredith, the extremely controlling student body president, wants everyone to belong to a clique, and goes about organizing students. She hates the independent spirit of the four girls and plots to destroy their friendship and make them conform to her pre-fabricated cliques.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Cloe is a soccer player. She meets Cameron and is instantly enamored, distancing herself from her friends. Sasha is recruited as a cheerleader. Jade joins the science club, then meets Dexter and discovers a passion for fashion design. Yasmin joins the journalism club, but later decides to focus on another passion: singing. Though the girls do try and make time for each other, they are all busy with their own respective cliques and new friends. Yasmin meets Dylan, a popular jock, who is deaf but can lip read, who misses being able to listen to music. The friends begin to drift apart as they are compelled to stay within their cliques due to Meredith's plans.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Two years later, when an accidental food fight causes them to get detention for breaking the Principal statue, they explain that they miss being BFF's and decide to be friends again. They also try to get the other schoolmates to socialize outside their cliques, but their attempts fail when Meredith's second "Super Sweet 16" party ends disastrously where she accidentally smothering by her own cake and falling into her own pool with her friends. Meredith tries blackmailing the girls by using an embarrassing photo to have them quit the talent show, which backfires as everyone shares their secrets.


title: Bratz (film)

text: The upcoming talent show and its scholarship prize gives them the idea to bring all the cliques together again with a musical number, but the chances are slim with Meredith's constant attempts to steal the spotlight. In the end, there is a tie. Meredith gets the trophy, but the girls also get the scholarship, which they give to Cloe instead. They are offered an appearance at a red carpet gala by an MTV vice president.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Paula Abdul was dropped from the production before completion while working on "American Idol". She was originally enlisted to provide wardrobe designs, choreograph the film, executive-produce, as well as hold a role in the film. This was revealed on "Hey Paula", her reality show on her personal life.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Susie Singer Carter also wrote and produced the film for Lionsgate but lost her credit in a Writers Guild arbitration, then her name appears as screenwriter on the final movie poster.


title: Bratz (film)

text: The film was shot from February to March 2007 at Santee Education Complex in South Los Angeles, California, while in session.


title: Bratz (film)

text: "Bratz" was universally panned by critics and fans alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, gives the film a rating of 10%, based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 3.40/10. The site's critical consensus, "Full of mixed messages and dubious role-models, "Bratz" is too shallow even for its intended audience." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 21 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Bratz (film)

text: "Bratz" grossed $10 million in North America and $16 million in other territories for a total gross of $26 million.


title: Bratz (film)

text: In its opening weekend, the film grossed $4.2 million, finishing in 10th at the box office, making it a box office bomb.


title: Bratz (film)

text: The film was released to DVD on November 27, 2007, and was released for free April 1, 2020 on YouTube Movies.


title: Bratz (film)

text: A film soundtrack entitled Bratz: Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on July 31, 2007, through Geffen Records. The soundtrack featured music from artists such as Ashlee Simpson, Dropping Daylight, and The Black Eyed Peas. Three singles were released prior to the album's release, "Rainy Day" by Janel Parrish, "Rockstar" by Prima J, and "Fearless" by Daechelle. The soundtrack was released in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as Australia, where it featured an additional musical track by the Australian singer and actress Stephanie McIntosh.


title: Bratz (film)

text: Sales for the soundtrack were good and the album remained on the "Billboard" 200 charts for three weeks, peaking during its second week at position 83. Common Sense Media gave the soundtrack three stars, writing that "With heavy-hitting help from the Black Eyed Peas, The Slumber Party Girls, Ashlee Simpson, Dropping Daylight, and Lifehouse, these young performers gamely negotiate some very ordinary-sounding, preachy material and make the songs sparkle anyway." The 9th track on the album “Out from Under” was later covered by Britney Spears on her 6th studio album "Circus".


title: Bratz (film)

text: A video game adaptation of the film entitled Bratz 4 Real was released to the Nintendo DS and Microsoft Windows on November 5, 2007. The game was published by THQ.


title: Bratz (film)

text: The game's plot mirrored that of the film and players are tasked with completing goals and errands in order to progress the story along. The DS version of the game also allowed users to design their own clothes patterns, care for a digital pet, and play various mini-games. The PC edition also utilized mini-games, but excluded the option for players to design clothing or raise a digital pet. In both games users could play as one of the four main characters and view clips from the film.


title: Bratz (film)

text: "Pocket Gamer" heavily criticized the game and stated that it felt that it was released too early and that "There are some nice ideas at play, in particular where it attempts to break down the social barriers that beset children in secondary education, but as a game it's far too vacuous to recommend." IGN shared similar sentiments, writing that ""Bratz 4 Real" does some work to recast the shallow, self-absorbed "Bratz" girls in a more redeeming light, using them and their friendship to tell a tale of unity and breaking down social barriers. But whereas that premise and the game's compelling customization options prove to be solid positive points for this package, "Bratz 4 Real" is still a game brought down by a variety of other oddities."


title: Phlogiston theory

text: The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek ("burning up"), from ("flame"). The idea was first proposed in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher and later put together more formally by Georg Ernst Stahl. Phlogiston theory attempted to explain chemical processes such as combustion and rusting, now collectively known as oxidation. It was challenged by the concomitant weight increase, and was abandoned before the end of the 18th century following experiments by Antoine Lavoisier and others. Phlogiston theory led to experiments which ultimately concluded with the discovery of oxygen.


title: Phlogiston theory

text: Phlogiston theory states that "phlogisticated" substances contain phlogiston and that they "dephlogisticate" when burned, releasing stored phlogiston which is absorbed by the air. Growing plants then absorb this phlogiston, which is why air does not spontaneously combust and also why plant matter burns as well as it does.


title: Phlogiston theory

text: Thus phlogiston accounted for combustion via a process that was opposite to that of the oxygen theory.


title: Phlogiston theory

text: In general, substances that burned in air were said to be rich in phlogiston; the fact that combustion soon ceased in an enclosed space was taken as clear-cut evidence that air had the capacity to absorb only a finite amount of phlogiston. When air had become completely phlogisticated it would no longer serve to support combustion of any material, nor would a metal heated in it yield a calx; nor could phlogisticated air support life. Breathing was thought to take phlogiston out of the body.


title: Phlogiston theory

text: Joseph Black's Scottish student Daniel Rutherford discovered nitrogen in 1772, and the pair used the theory to explain his results. The residue of air left after burning, in fact a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, was sometimes referred to as "phlogisticated air," having taken up all of the phlogiston. Conversely, when Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen, he believed it to be "dephlogisticated air," capable of combining with more phlogiston and thus supporting combustion for longer than ordinary air.


title: Phlogiston theory

text: Empedocles had formulated the classical theory that there were four elements—water, earth, fire and air—and Aristotle reinforced this idea by characterising them as moist, dry, hot and cold. Fire was thus thought of as a substance, and burning was seen as a process of decomposition which applied only to compounds. Experience had shown that burning was not always accompanied by a loss of material, and a better theory was needed to account for this.


title: Phlogiston theory

text: In 1667, Johann Joachim Becher published his book , which contained the first instance of what would become the phlogiston theory. In his book, Becher eliminated fire and air from the classical element model and replaced them with three forms of earth: , , and . was the element that imparted oily, sulphurous, or combustible properties. Becher believed that was a key feature of combustion and was released when combustible substances were burned. Becher did not have much to do with phlogiston theory as we know it now, but he had a large influence on his student Stahl. Becher's main contribution was the start of the theory itself, however much of it was changed after him. Becher's idea was that combustible substances contain an ignitable matter, the .


title: Phlogiston theory

text: In 1703 Georg Ernst Stahl, professor of medicine and chemistry at Halle, proposed a variant of the theory in which he renamed Becher's to "phlogiston", and it was in this form that the theory probably had its greatest influence. The term 'phlogiston' itself was not something that Stahl invented. There is evidence that the word was used as early as 1606, and in a way that was very similar to what Stahl was using it for. The term was derived from a Greek word meaning to inflame. The following paragraph describes Stahl's view of phlogiston:


title: Phlogiston theory

text: Stahl's first definition of phlogiston first appeared in his , published in 1697. His most quoted definition was found in the treatise on chemistry entitled in 1723. According to Stahl, phlogiston was a substance that was not able to be put into a bottle, but could be transferred nonetheless. To him, wood was just a combination of ash and phlogiston, and making a metal was as simple as getting a metal calx and adding phlogiston. Soot was almost pure phlogiston, which is why heating it with a metallic calx transforms the calx into the metal and Stahl attempted to prove that the phlogiston in soot and sulphur were identical by converting sulphates to liver of sulphur using charcoal. He did not account for the increase in weight on combustion of tin and lead that were known at the time.