title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: The leadership of the Khmer Rouge was largely unchanged between the 1960s and the mid-1990s. The Khmer Rouge leaders were mostly from middle-class families and had been educated at French universities.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: The Standing Committee of the Khmer Rouge's Central Committee (Party Center) during its period of power consisted of the following:


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: In power, the Khmer Rouge carried out a radical program that included isolating the country from foreign influence, closing schools, hospitals and factories, abolishing banking, finance and currency, outlawing all religions, confiscating all private property and relocating people from urban areas to collective farms where forced labor was widespread. The purpose of this policy was to reform professional and urban Cambodians, or "New People" through agricultural labor under the supervision of the untainted rural "Old People". The goal was develop an economy based on the export of rice in order to later develop industry. The party adopted the slogan: "If we have rice, we can have everything". These actions and policies resulted in massive deaths through executions, work exhaustion, illness and starvation.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: In Phnom Penh and other cities, the Khmer Rouge told residents that they would be moved only about "two or three kilometers" outside the city and would return in "two or three days". Some witnesses say they were told that the evacuation was because of the "threat of American bombing" and that they did not have to lock their houses since the Khmer Rouge would "take care of everything" until they returned. These were not the first evacuations of civilian populations by the Khmer Rouge. Similar evacuations of populations without possessions had been occurring on a smaller scale since the early 1970s.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: The Khmer Rouge attempted to turn Cambodia into a classless society by depopulating cities and forcing the urban population into agricultural communes through brutal totalitarian methods. The entire population was forced to become farmers in labour camps. During their four years in power, the Khmer Rouge overworked and starved the population while at the same time executing selected groups who had the potential to undermine the new state (including intellectuals) and killing many others for even minor breaches of rules.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: Through the 1970s and especially after mid-1975, the party became increasingly paranoid, blaming failures caused by its agricultural policies on external enemies (usually the CIA and Vietnam) and domestic traitors. The resultant purges reached a crest in 1977 and 1978 when thousands, including some important CPK leaders, were executed. The older generation of CPK members, suspected of having links with or sympathies for Vietnam, were targeted by the Pol Pot leadership.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: For roughly two years after the CPK took power, it referred to itself as the Angkar (, ALA-LC: ; meaning 'The Organization'). However, Pol Pot publicly declared on 29 September 1977 the existence of the CPK in a five-hour-long speech. He revealed the true character of the supreme authority in Cambodia, an obscure ruling body that had been kept in seclusion.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: The CPK had been extremely secretive throughout its existence. Before 1975, the secrecy was needed for the party's survival and Pol Pot and his closest associates had relied on continuing the extreme secrecy in order to consolidate their position against those they perceived as internal enemies during their first two years of power. The revelation of the CPK's existence shortly before Pol Pot was due to travel to Peking resulted from pressure from China on the Khmer Rouge leaders to acknowledge their true political identity at a time that they increasingly depended on China's assistance against the threats from Vietnam.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: Accordingly, Pol Pot in his speech claimed that the CPK's foundation had been in 1960 and emphasized its separate identity from the Communist Party of Vietnam. This secrecy continued even after the CPK took power. Unlike most totalitarian dictators, Pol Pot was not the object of an open personality cult. It was almost a year before it was confirmed that he was Saloth Sar, the man long cited as the CPK's general secretary.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: Because of several years of border conflict and the flood of refugees fleeing Cambodia, relations between Cambodia and Vietnam deteriorated by December 1978. Fearing a Vietnamese attack, Pol Pot ordered a pre-emptive invasion of Vietnam on 18 April 1978. His Cambodian forces crossed the border and looted nearby villages. Despite Chinese aid, these Cambodian forces were repulsed by the Vietnamese.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: In early 1979, a pro-Vietnamese group of CPK dissidents led by Pen Sovan held a congress (which they saw as the third party congress, therefore not recognizing the 1963, 1975 and 1978 party congresses as legitimate) near the Vietnamese border. Along with Heng Samrin, Pen Sovan was one of the foremost founding members of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS or FUNSK), after becoming disillusioned with the Khmer Rouge. Effectively, the CPK was then divided into two, with the Pen Sovan-led group constituting a separate party, the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (now the Cambodian People's Party).


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: The Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia along with the KUFNS, capturing Phnom Penh on 7 January 1979. The Pen Sovan-led party was installed as the governing party of the new People's Republic of Kampuchea. The CPK led by Pol Pot withdrew its forces westwards to an area near the Thai border. With unofficial protection from elements of the Thai Army, it began guerrilla warfare against the PRK government.


title: Communist Party of Kampuchea

text: The party founded the Patriotic and Democratic Front of the Great National Union of Kampuchea as a united front in September 1979 to fight the PRK and the Vietnamese. The front was led by Khieu Samphan. In December 1979, the armed forces under the command of the party, what remained of the erstwhile People's National Liberation Armed Forces of Kampuchea, were renamed National Army of Democratic Kampuchea. In 1981, the party was dissolved and substituted by the Party of Democratic Kampuchea.


title: BH90210

text: BH90210 is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on August 7, 2019, on Fox. It is the sixth series in the "Beverly Hills, 90210" franchise. Original series stars Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, and Tori Spelling return in the new series, playing themselves in a heightened version of reality that is inspired by their real lives and relationships, in which the actors deal with launching a reboot of the 1990s TV series, "Beverly Hills, 90210". In November 2019, Fox canceled the series after one season.


title: BH90210

text: The series focuses on the original cast members of "Beverly Hills, 90210" — Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, Tori Spelling, and Shannen Doherty — playing heightened, fictionalized versions of themselves. Having parted ways 19 years after the original series ended, they reunite to get a reboot up and running, and must reconcile their new lives with the complications of their histories together.


title: BH90210

text: The main cast is composed of actors from the original series portraying fictionalized versions of themselves. Their fictional characters and storylines are inspired by the actors' real lives.


title: BH90210

text: Archive footage of the late Luke Perry as Dylan McKay was used in the first episode, with the episode itself dedicated to Perry's memory.


title: BH90210

text: From 2008 to 2013, a sequel series entitled "90210" aired on The CW. Jennie Garth returned in a heavily recurring role, while Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty also made appearances and Jason Priestley directed an episode. In December 2013, Ian Ziering stated on "" that he had attempted to sell a "loosely scripted" reunion special in which the original cast members appeared as themselves at a dinner party at his house, with a target airdate of September 2, 2010 to commemorate the show's numerical title; however, he failed to find a network interested in buying the project. Ziering indicated that Hulu had expressed interest in a revival series with the original cast in August 2016.


title: BH90210

text: In March 2018, it was reported that Garth and Spelling had partnered with CBS Television Studios to produce a "90210"-related series in which they would play "exaggerated versions of themselves." The project came out of an initial meeting between Spelling and studio president David Stapf. That December, Garth and Spelling shopped project to several networks and streaming services, and "Deadline Hollywood" confirmed the return of Priestley, Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, and Brian Austin Green, as well as Mike Chessler and Chris Alberghini, who created Spelling's sitcom "So Notorious" and also wrote on the CW's "90210". That same day, CBS Television Studios confirmed the project was still in "early development" and called it "an untraditional take on a reboot with some of the original cast." In February 2019, "Deadline" reported that Fox, which aired the original series, was among the outlets bidding on the series, with ABC, CBS, and CBS All Access also reportedly interested. On February 27, Fox ordered the six-episode event series, then titled "90210". Its short order reflected a shift in the company's mandate away from a traditional 22-episode order following Disney's acquisition of 20th Television, which rendered Fox as a stand-alone network. According to Spelling, the creative team's intention was to do a continuing series, but the network opted for a limited episodic order so they could expedite production for a summer debut. Since then, both Garth and Spelling have stated they did not know about the shortened episode order until Fox formally announced the series. In April, the series was retitled "BH90210".


title: BH90210

text: Garth and Spelling, who spearheaded the project, were confirmed to play heightened versions of themselves on March 11, 2018. That December, Priestley, Ziering, Green, and Carteris were confirmed to have signed on, also playing fictionalized versions of themselves. On February 1, 2019, Spelling said that Luke Perry would return for "as many [episodes] as he can do," given his prior commitment to "Riverdale", and that there was "no status right now" as to whether Shannen Doherty would return. On March 4, Perry died after suffering a stroke, and had not officially signed on, although he had been involved creatively before his death. On April 26, Doherty's return was confirmed. Doherty has since stated she did not intend to join the show, but did so after Perry's death to honor him.


title: BH90210

text: On May 30, La La Anthony became the first non-alum actor to be cast in the recurring role of Shay, Green's fictionalized wife. The following day on May 31, Vanessa Lachey was cast as Camille, Jason Priestley's fictionalized wife, in a recurring role. On June 5, Ivan Sergei joined the supporting cast as Nate, Spelling's fictionalized husband. Sergei had previously starred with Spelling in the 1996 television film "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?". Christine Elise, who reoccurred on the original series as Emily Valentine, joined the cast on June 17. Upon the series' announcement, Elise reached out to Alberghini and Chessler about joining. On July 15, it was reported that Natalie Sharp has joined the cast as a new character named Anna. Sharp, who dyed her hair red for the role, was cast the day before she began filming. On July 30, Spelling announced that Denise Richards has joined the cast, also portraying a heightened version of herself. Richards had previously appeared on an episode of the original series as Robin McGill, Kelly's cousin. Carol Potter, who starred in the original series as Cindy Walsh, was also reported to be making an appearance.


title: BH90210

text: Garth and Spelling developed the idea alongside Alberghini and Chessler. According to Spelling, they wanted to avoid creating a traditional reboot in the vein of the CW series and create "something that would cause noise and be groundbreaking just like [the] original show was back in the ‘90s." Garth and Spelling then approached the original cast about appearing, leading to months of creative conversations to flesh out the concept and develop fictionalized versions of themselves. According to Carteris, some cast members initially disagreed with Garth and Spelling's meta pitch and pushed "for a pure reboot, but that majority, I think, of what brought [the cast] forward was the idea that it wasn't." Ziering noted that the cast left themselves "vulnerable" and open to mining their real lives for storylines, while Garth said the series would lean into the pre-existing perceptions people had about the cast, but "take back the power, spin it and use it to tell these stories was an interesting angle for everyone involved." Priestley noted that while the meta show within a show premise differentiates the series from other reboots, it will still follow some traditional conventions in the current trend of reviving older shows. While the writers looked to other shows with similar concepts, such as "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Episodes", as examples, Chessler considered this series more challenging because it featured an entire ensemble playing themselves rather than just one actor. The main cast remained creatively involved in the process and serve as executive producers, On May 16, Paul Sciarrotta was announced as the series' showrunner, replacing Patrick Sean Smith, who left the series alongside two unnamed writers. The writers' departures reportedly stemmed from disagreements with some of the actors and an executive overseeing the project.


title: BH90210

text: The writing staff had one week per episode to break the story and write the script. According to Garth, writing took place concurrently with filming, which allowed for their real life experience on-set to be incorporated into the show's storylines. Initially conceived as a half-hour comedy in the vein of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", the series was redeveloped into an hourlong format. Garth described the series as a "soapedy," giving its unique blend of comedy, drama, and soap opera elements. Garth stated the new series would ignore the CW revival, on which she was prominently featured, as they aimed "to move away from that sort of image and go back to the original concept." Sciarrotta said the writers were conscious not to make the dialog pertaining to television production "too inside baseball." Doherty stated Perry's death would be addressed in the first episode. According to Alberghini, the writers and cast scrapped various iterations of acknowledging Perry's passing in the show, before reaching what they felt was the most respectful approach.


title: BH90210

text: Filming took place in Vancouver, with production dates from May 21 to July 31, 2019. Principal photography with most of the cast began on May 27, whereas Doherty began filming on June 14. Spelling later confirmed filming would wrap on August 2. Spelling noted that they worked on an abbreviated schedule, with filming taking place as scripts were still being written. Scenes taking place at the fictional West Beverly Hills High School were filmed at Vancouver Technical Secondary School. Because of the show within a show premise, many of the production facilities were used on camera; according to Spelling, their makeup artists and trailers appeared in scenes in which the characters were getting their hair and makeup done. On set, the fictionalized characters were referred to by their initials to avoid confusion from the actors' speaking in the third person. Costume designer Mandi Line collaborated heavily with each actor to develop their wardrobe, which included recreations of specific outfits worn on the original series.


title: BH90210

text: Though "BH90210" was advertised as an event series, Garth and Spelling had indicated that future seasons are possible. They elaborated that future episodes or seasons would "delve into actual scenes" from the show within a show. Ziering revealed that the original pitch suggested 13 episodes, the final of which would have incorporated this concept and would have taken place entirely in the world of the original series. Spelling stated they decided to end the season finale with a cliffhanger, explaining: "In our minds, writing the last episode was foreshadowing another season. Going forward, the second season would be more laser-focused on the reboot."


title: BH90210

text: On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Fox had canceled the series after one season. Michael Thorn, the network's president of entertainment, stated, "To sustain something that meta and heightened in the long-term is incredibly hard. We always kind of envisioned it as an event… So we felt like to do it as a short-term event where you could just catch up with these actors that you love and do something that was wildly different was a great way to honor the legacy of the show." Carteris indicated that the series was being shopped elsewhere, Garth also stated they were working on finding a new network for the show, and added the confusion over its cancellation could help fuel future storylines. In December, Garth stated that discussions of where to take the series were still ongoing, noting that a different iteration of the show or a movie were both possibilities. In June 2020, Spelling reiterated that a second season was unlikely, but that she and Garth were in pre-production on a project to commemorate the original show's 30th anniversary in October. In March 2021, Garth and Spelling stated on their podcast, "9021OMG", that "it was supposed to be at Fox and taking it somewhere else felt[...] a little weird."


title: BH90210

text: On May 8, 2019, an announcement trailer was released, depicting the cast reuniting for a table read of the first script. TVLine called the teaser "nostalgia-drenched."


title: BH90210

text: On May 13, the official trailer premiered at the Fox network upfronts presentation, showcasing ""the actors themselves going about their daily lives, with Doherty practicing yoga, Spelling making coffee, Garth blow-drying her hair, and more — as the beloved theme song comes back into their lives in unexpected ways."" On May 16, Fox reported that the trailer had amassed 18 million views and 140,818 shares across social media platforms in under 69 hours, making it the most-watched and most-shared trailer among all new series for the 2019-20 broadcast television season.


title: BH90210

text: On June 6, another promo was released, depicting the cast playing with authentic dolls modeled after their characters.


title: BH90210

text: From August 1 to August 3, Fox and PopSugar opened a pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles, modeled after the Peach Pit diner from the original series. Due to high demand, the pop-up was extended through the end of September 2019.


title: BH90210

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 69% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.61/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though "BH90210" strange take on the "reboot" doesn't always hit its mark, it still proves an endearingly wild trip thanks to its committed cast's continued chemistry." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: BH90210

text: Several critics were given the first two episodes to review. Kristen Baldwin of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the series a 'B' grade in her review, calling "a poignant and funny meditation on midlife mortality. She also complimented Garth's performance, noting she delivered "comedic asides with unexpected precision." "Uproxx"'s Kimberly Ricci thought the series "presents an interesting (and refreshing) perspective because it kind of hates itself," and praised the performances for their "self-mockery." Judy Berman of "Time" gave a positive review and praised the series' novel premise, dubbing it "the audiovisual equivalent of a beach read that’s smarter than it needs to be." Anne Easton of "Forbes" gave the episodes a favorable review, complimenting the "witty, quippy, and snarky" writing and opining that Spelling "matured in her thespian abilities, showing more range in both her comedic, and, well, intentional overdramatic moments." Emily Nussbaum of "The New Yorker" called the series "just smart enough to feel clever, just silly enough to feel relaxing, a guilty pleasure by design," and praised the performances, particularly that of Carteris, whom Nussbaum identified as a breakout and called "oddly affecting." While Gwen Inhat of "The A.V. Club" addressed the unevenness of the storylines, she felt the six episodes "somehow[...] pulled off being both a valentine to fans and a send-up of the show they fell for in the first place.


title: BH90210

text: Kelly Lawler of "USA Today" wrote that although the series does not reach the heights of the original, "in a world in which revivals or remakes of popular stories is inevitable, at least this one is weirdly fun." In a separate review ranking "BH90210" among other television reboots, Lawler wrote, "it's just a middling soap opera about slightly washed-up celebrities trying to have one last ride," and placed it at number 14 out of 17 shows. Linda Holmes of "NPR" called the series "cute" and "strange," and wrote that she found it challenging "to give a proper critique of something [that's] more like a bonus feature on a DVD than anything else." Jen Chaney of "Vulture" appreciated how the meta take "both earnestly and cynically [takes] aim at your nostalgia pleasure centers," and anticipated the series could have strong binge-watching potential. In his review for "The Hollywood Reporter", Daniel Fienberg criticized the "flimsy" executive of the show's premise and the disjointed performances of the cast overall, although he highlighted Garth and Spelling's comedic chemistry, as well as Carteris and Green's performances. Though Willa Paskin of "Slate" gave the series an "A for effort," she criticized its "try-hard playfulness" and called it "not funny or smart" despite its clever premise. "TVLine"'s Andy Swift was more negative in his review, criticizing the low stakes of the storylines and opining the series "lacks the dramatic intrigue of the original series, but with scripts largely devoid of humor, it doesn’t quite work as a comedy, either." Matthew Gilbert of "The Boston Globe" felt that the series would be stronger as a half-hour sitcom, and criticized the storylines as "fairly dumb," opining that, "there was little to entice those who tuned in for the premiere, to get a glimpse at everyone, to return for more."


title: BH90210

text: Upon its initial broadcast, the premiere episode drew 3.86 million viewers and scored a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic, making it the second-most watched broadcast of the night, as well as the Fox network's most watched non-sports program of the summer. The premiere was also the summer's most-watched program, more than doubling the ratings of its closet competition, "Grand Hotel" on ABC.


title: BH90210

text: Subsequent episodes experienced ratings declines, with "TV Line" reporting that by the fifth episode, the series was performing at 50 percent of its premiere ratings. Overall, "BH90210" showed the biggest decline in ratings of all shows airing in the summer season.


title: BH90210

text: According to "The Hollywood Reporter", each episode's ratings tended to grow by about 75 percent, in both its demographic and overall viewership, after three days of delayed viewing, which Fox reportedly focuses on instead of live viewings.


title: South African energy crisis

text: The South African energy crisis, most notably manifesting in the form of successive rounds of "loadshedding", is an ongoing period of widespread national level rolling blackouts as electricity supply falls behind electricity demand, threatening to destabilize the national power grid. It began in the later months of 2007 and continues to the present. The South African government-owned national power utility and primary power generator, Eskom, and various parliamentarians attributed these rolling-blackouts to insufficient generation capacity. With a reserve margin estimated at 8% or below, such "load shedding" is implemented whenever generating units are taken offline for maintenance, repairs or re-fuelling (in the case of nuclear units). According to Eskom and government officials, the solution requires the construction of additional power stations and generators. Corruption and mismanagement of Eskom, most notably during the Jacob Zuma administration, have exacerbated the energy crisis; incompetence and neglect by Eskom staff in addition to multiple acts of sabotage has also contributed to ongoing power supply problems.


title: South African energy crisis

text: In a December 1998 report, analysts and leaders in Eskom and in the South African government predicted that Eskom would run out of electrical power reserves by 2007 unless action was taken to prevent it. To improve power supply and reliability, the 1998 report recommended restructuring Eskom into separate electricity generation and power transmission businesses. Despite the warnings of the 1998 report and requests by Eskom to be allowed to increase capacity, the national government took no action. At the time the Mbeki government was considering the privatisation of Eskom which was cited as a reason why the government took no action. This resulted in Eskom being unable to add additional generating capacity and thereby keep up with increasing national demand for electricity from 2002 onward. Government only granted Eskom permission to significantly expand energy production (by 70%) in 2004.


title: South African energy crisis

text: 15 power stations were commissioned between 1961 and 1996, adding a combined 35,804 MW of capacity. In the 21st century, only 9,564 MW of capacity has been added from the currently constructing power stations Medupi and Kusile. Many Eskom power stations are almost 50 years old and near decommissioning. Following the first period of load shedding in 2007 to 2008 Eskom commissioned the construction of the Medupi and Kusile coal fired power plants to expand energy production by 25%. The construction of these plants encountered numerous technical problems and cost overruns whilst the existing fleet of power plants were not replaced and continued to operate past their operational lifespan.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Since the year 2007 South Africa has experienced multiple periods of loadshedding as the country's demand for electricity exceeded its ability, notably Eskom's ability, to supply it. During these periods the power is rationed between different electrical grid areas cross the country and within municipal areas. With areas experiencing power outages typically lasting two to four hours. Although South Africa has a national grid some areas of the country experience more periods of loadshedding than other areas due to differences in local power generation capabilities and difficulties in electrical distribution.


title: South African energy crisis

text: As of December 2019, Eskom have published 8 stages of load shedding, each stage representing the removal of 1000 MW increments of demand by controlled shut down on sections of the supply grid based on a predetermined schedule. Schedules may vary by location. Stage 6 (6000 MW reduction) was implemented the first time on 9 December 2019.


title: South African energy crisis

text: After the 2 hour disconnect period there is typically an additional 30 minutes added to allow for switching on, not counted in the totals as mentioned above. Problems may arise during switch on that can cause an actual fault blackout in the area beyond the scheduled time.


title: South African energy crisis

text: The first period of chronic power shortages occurred in late 2007 and lasted until at least May 2008. Investigative television show "Carte Blanche" reported that part of the problem is related to the supply of coal to the coal-fired power plants. Several other causes have been postulated, including skills shortages and increasing demand for electricity around the country. Daily load shedding occurred for the first time for two weeks in January 2008.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Eskom was criticised for exporting electricity to neighbouring African states while not having the capacity to meet South Africa's demand. Eskom, however, announced on 20 January 2008 that it had ceased to export power. The government claimed the shortage had caught them by surprise since the South African economy had grown faster than expected; however, their target growth rate of 6% per year was not reached from 1996 to 2004. The average GDP growth rate during this period was 3.1%.


title: South African energy crisis

text: The Majuba power plant lost its capacity to generate power after a collapse of one of its coal storage silos on 1 November 2014. The Majuba power plant delivered approximately 10% of the country's entire capacity and the collapse halted the delivery of coal to the plant. A second silo developed a major crack on 20 November causing the shut down of the plant again, this after temporary measures were instituted to deliver coal to the plant.


title: South African energy crisis

text: On 5 December 2014, Eskom started major stage three load shedding in South Africa after the shut down of two power plants on 4 November (of said year) due to diesel shortages. It was also reported that the Palmiet and Drakensberg Pumped Storage Schemes were also experiencing difficulties due to a depletion of water reserve to the Hydro plants. Stage three was the highest degree of load shedding then.


title: South African energy crisis

text: On Thursday 4 November, Eskom fell short of the country's electricity demand of . The power utility has the ability to produce but could only supply due to "planned and unplanned" maintenance. One turbine at Eskom's Duvha Power Station is still out of commission due to an "unexplained incident" in March 2014. Load shedding was scheduled to resume in February 2015, due to industry start up, after the December holiday period.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Another period of load shedding began in February 2019 when Eskom announced level 4 load shedding due to the temporary loss of generating capacity. This necessitated the dropping of 4,000 MW of power consumption from the national grid. In mid-March of that year extensive ongoing power cuts were implemented across the country by Eskom as part of the level 4 load shedding.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Eskom implemented a further round of load shedding commencing in December 2019. South Africa is currently experiencing its worst energy crisis, when Load Shedding Stage 6 activated for the first time ever in December. Eskom stated that of its total nominal capacity of around 44,000 MW, it was unable to provide around 13,000 MW of total capacity, resulting in the nationwide blackouts.


title: South African energy crisis

text: A combination of factors were blamed for the fourth period of load shedding ranging from weather to allegations of sabotage and neglect. Unusually heavy rains in the highveld region of South Africa resulted in wet coal and flooding leading to a number of plants being unable to operate effectively, most notably at Medupi power station. President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that an additional reason for the load shedding was the loss of 2,000 MW due to alleged sabotage by an Eskom employee. Eskom chief operations officer, Jan Oberholzer, publicly stated that the primary reason for load shedding was due to a lack of maintenance and neglect over the preceding twelve years resulting in an unpredictable and unreliable system. South African opposition parties criticized the African National Congress and president Ramaphosa for the way in which they handled the crisis. An additional round of load shedding (stage 4) was initiated in March 2020 when the Koeberg Nuclear power station experienced a fault with one of the sea water cooling pumps.


title: South African energy crisis

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic slowdown load shedding was largely suspended due to reduced demand for electricity. This ended in March 2021, when Matimba, Tutuka, Majuba, Kusile, Duvha, Kriel, Kendal and Medupi power stations experienced breakdowns. In May 2021, stage 2 load-shedding was reimplemented following multiple power station breakdowns at Tutuka, Majuba, Kriel, Matla, Kusile, Medupi and the Duvha power stations. By 9 June 2021 level 4 load shedding was announced.


title: South African energy crisis

text: On 10 June 2021 President Ramaphosa announced that the Electricity Regulation Act would be amended to increase the threshold for exemption from applying for a license from national energy regulator Nersa to generate electricity, thereby increasing the exemption threshold from 1 megawatt to 100 megawatts. This would allow private power producers to more easily add power production capacity to the national grid.


title: South African energy crisis

text: After providing uninterrupted power for 77 days, Eskom announced on 7 October 2021 that stage 2 load shedding would resume due to planned and unplanned outages.


title: South African energy crisis

text: On 25 October 2021, Eskom announced that capacity would remain "constrained" through August 2022, with negative effects on the economy. Eskom also estimated that an additional 4000MW to 6000MW of generation capacity would be required to remove the risk of loadshedding. On 27 October 2021 Eskom announced that stage 4 load shedding would be implemented for three days due to problems with the Medupi, Kusile, Matla, Lethabo and Arnot power stations. That same day, the ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe raised concerns that the recent load shedding schedule may be politically motivated, given the upcoming 2021 municipal elections.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Following the 2021 municipal elections, stage 4 load shedding recommenced on 5 November due to problems at Kendal, Tutuka, Matimba, Majuba and Lethabo power stations. In a post-election address on 8 November, President Ramaphosa remarked that the continuing reliance on Eskom, as the sole national generator, was a central risk to the power supply system.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Eskom announced that level 2 load shedding would be re-implemented from 2 to 7 February 2022 due to the breakdown of two generating units at the Kusile and Kendal power stations. In early March 2022 level 4 load shedding was announced due to breakdowns taking 15,439MW out of the national grid. Stage 4 load shedding was extended over the 2022 Easter weekend when roughly half the national grid failed.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Load shedding increase to level 4 and then level 6 nationally in late June 2022 following unlawful strike action by NUMSA and NUM employees. The loss of generating capacity due to strike action was in addition to a loss of 2,766MW from planned maintenance and another 17,395MW from power station breakdowns. As the strike action continued Eskom warned that it might be necessary to implement stage 6 load shedding. On 28 June 2022, Eskom confirmed that stage six load shedding would be implemented that evening, only the second time since December 2019. By the end of June the strike was effectively ended when Eskom agreed to restart wage negotiations.


title: South African energy crisis

text: South Africa's energy grid experienced a notable collapse in generating capacity in mid-September 2022 that resulted in up to half of Eskom's generating capacity being lost. Eskom announced that due to fires and a broken coal conveyor belt at Kendal power station, and an electrical trip during testing at Koeberg Nuclear power station level 4 load shedding would be implemented; a week later level 5 load shedding was declared. The day after the implementation of level 5 loadshedding was announced generators at the Kusile and Kriel power stations tripped thereby forcing Eskom to implement level 6 loadshedding with the prospect of level 8 being implemented. By the end of September, 2022 had had more load shedding than all previous years combined.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Level 6 load shedding was reimposed starting on 7 December 2022 when over 20,000MW of was taken off line due to a high number of power station breakdowns. It was reported that level 7 load shedding might begin if planned maintenance that would take one of Koeberg's nuclear reactors offline was implemented.


title: South African energy crisis

text: On 19 November 2021, Eskom announced that sabotage of electrical infrastructure, as well as corruption, may be contributing to power supply problems. An initial forensic investigation found evidence that recent damage to a coal conveyor at Lethabo was the result of deliberate sabotage. Steel supports had been severed, causing a power supply pylon to collapse. In a media briefing, de Ruyter commented that the matter had been referred to the Hawks for further investigation. Despite investigations and disciplinary action, acts of sabotage continued into May 2022, when it was revealed that multiple incidents had occurred at several plants. In May 2022 the Minister for Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, reported to Parliament that additional incidents of cables being cut intentionally by saboteurs, rising theft at its power plants, and corruption around the supply of fuel oil, had greatly worsened the energy crisis and Eskom's ability to resolve it. South African journalist Kyle Cowan has speculated that the motivation for these acts of sabotage are politically motivated by unknown groups or individuals within Eskom involved in corruption.


title: South African energy crisis

text: In December 2022 President Ramaphosa's spokesperson announced that the South African National Defence Force would be deployed at four Eskom power stations "in response to the growing threat of sabotage, theft, vandalism and corruption" for an indeterminate length of time.


title: South African energy crisis

text: The energy crisis has had a number of negative impacts on South Africa. These range from reducing economic growth and making it more difficult to do business in the country to increasing crime rates and shaping South African politics. A study by the University of Johannesburg indicated that since level 6 load shedding was introduced the repeated periods of load shedding has significantly reduced "the overall happiness of South Africans."


title: South African energy crisis

text: In 2022 it was reported that long periods of loadshedding was resulting in increased incidents of crime. This included metal thieves using periods of when there is no power to steal equipment from power stations, sub-stations, and transmission lines thereby complicating Eskom's efforts to mitigate the energy crisis and costing the utility over R16.8 billion (US$93.7 million) whilst also causing additional difficulties for municipalities. Incidents of metal theft, house breaking and robberies due to a lack of security lighting had increased in some urban areas of South Africa during the period when level 6 loadshedding was implemented.


title: South African energy crisis

text: The energy crisis has significantly limited economic growth in South Africa thereby preventing the country from resolving high rates of unemployment. The power shortage is estimated to have reduced economic growth in 2021 by 3% thereby costing the country an estimated 350,000 potential new jobs for that year alone. In 2022 the insurance company Sanlam reported that the cost of replacing appliances due to power surges following loadshedding periods had exceeded the cost of replacing appliances due to burglaries.


title: South African energy crisis

text: In 2022 the business analysis firm Intellidex estimated that it would cost South Africa R500 billion (US$28 billion) to resolve the energy crisis within three years.


title: South African energy crisis

text: As of 2008 big companies with international investors were also affected by the electricity crisis and announced these effects to the international community, bringing the situation to the attention of potential foreign investors. Load shedding in the first six months of 2015 was estimated to have cost South African businesses R13.72 billion in lost revenue with an additional R716 million spent by businesses on backup generators.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Banks and telecommunications companies have generally continued to operate as usual thanks to existing backup systems. However, as of November 2021 load shedding has led to diminished mobile network coverage, as backup batteries have also been stolen and cellphone stations vandalised during power outages.


title: South African energy crisis

text: In 2019 small business owners said that load shedding was the number one challenge that they faced. In a small business sentiment report of 3984 small business owners 44% said that they had been severely affected by load shedding with 85% stating that it had reduced their revenue. As a result, 40% of small businesses lost revenue of 20% or more during the load shedding period while 20% of owners claimed that if load shedding were to continue at similar levels to Q1 of 2019, they would have to consider reducing their staffing levels or closing their business.


title: South African energy crisis

text: In January and February 2008 global platinum and palladium prices hit record highs as mines were first shut down and subsequently restricted in their electricity use. South Africa supplies 85% of the world's platinum and 30% of palladium. Mining companies estimate that hundreds of thousands of ounces of both gold and platinum production will be lost every year until the crisis passes. Due primarily to the impact on mining companies, economists in 2011 downgraded GDP growth forecasts significantly. The consensus hovered around 4% (well short of the 6% government target), with the caveat that growth could reduce by 20 basis points every month under certain circumstances.


title: South African energy crisis

text: As of February 2008 blackouts were temporarily halted due to reduced demand and maintenance stabilization. This drop in demand was caused by many of the country's mines shutting down or slowing to help alleviate the burden. However, regularly scheduled mandatory load shedding started in April 2008, to allow maintenance periods of power generators, and recovery of coal stockpiles before the winter, when electricity usage is expected to surge.


title: South African energy crisis

text: Expanding generating capacity will see an estimated spend of R280 billion over the next five years from 2015 on wards, with around 20 000 megawatts of additional capacity due to be online by 2025. However, neither short nor long term funding has yet been secured and the downgrading of Eskom's credit rating has ignited speculation of a capital injection by the government.


title: South African energy crisis

text: On 11 December 2014 it was announced that President Jacob Zuma had assigned Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to oversee the turnaround of three state owned companies namely "Eskom, the South African Airways, and the South African Post Office", all of which were in dire straits.


title: South African energy crisis

text: On 15 January 2015 Eskom's then CEO Tshediso Matona admitted that Eskom's policy to "Keep the Lights on" meant that power station maintenance was neglected for years, and that South Africans will have to get used to electricity blackouts for the next four to five years. In December that year an agreement between Eskom and Areva to replace steam generators at the Koeberg nuclear plant was judged "unlawful", by the Supreme Court of Appeal, bringing the utility company's tender process into question.


title: South African energy crisis

text: In late 2016, Standard & Poor's Global Ratings downgraded Eskom's credit rating further into sub-investment cutting its long-term credit rating to BB - two levels below the investment threshold. In the same year Matshela Koko, former head of generation for Eskom, was named as acting CEO. Eskom stated it intended to pursue a nuclear solution to current energy woes. According to projections from late 2016, the use of nuclear power would provide over 1000GW of power by 2050. In preparation, the company launched a training program for 100 technicians, engineers and artisans to certify them as nuclear operators. In January 2018 Eskom's acting Chief Financial Officer stated that the company could not afford a new build, following a 34% drop in interim profits due to declining sales and increasing financing costs. The government stated it would proceed with the plan but more slowly.


title: South African energy crisis

text: In 2018, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa denied an application by Eskom to increase electricity tariffs by a future 19.9% for the financial year 2018/19. The regulator instead granted a 5.2% increase and gave a list of reasons for the refusal to grant higher tariffs that the South African newspaper Business Day stated painted "a picture of inefficiency, inaccurate forecasting and cost overruns" at the power utility. Part of the refusal was the finding that Eskom had an additional 6,000 employees that were not needed, costing the company R3.8 billion annually. On 28 March 2018 Moody's Investors Service downgraded Eskom's credit rating to B2 from B1 stating that it was concerned with "the lack of any tangible financial support for the company in the February state budget".


title: South African energy crisis

text: On 24 November 2020, Moody's further downgraded Eskom's long-term credit rating to Caa1. This places Eskom's credit within the "speculative grade" of investment, with a "very high credit risk".


title: South African energy crisis

text: In an attempt to mitigate the impact of the energy crisis the City of Cape Town has adopted a range of local policies to even out local electricity demand on a daily basis as of 2022. This includes using the Steenbras Dam pumped water scheme to reduce the impact by up to two loadshedding levels.


title: Vaali (poet)

text: Tiruchirapalli Srinivasan Rangarajan, professionally credited by his pseudonym Vaali (born 29 October 1931 – 18 July 2013) was an Indian poet who is the highest songs wrote lyricist in cinema and whose works were in Tamil, had a five-decade long association with the Tamil film industry, wrote over 15,000 songs. He acted in a number of films, including "Sathya", "Hey Ram", "Paarthale Paravasam" and "Poikkal Kudhirai". He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 2007.


title: Vaali (poet)

text: Vaali was born in a Iyengar brahmin family as T. S. Rangarajan on 29 October 1931 to Srinivasan Iyengar and Ponnammal Iyengar. His native place is Thirupparaithurai, Tiruchirappalli district. Growing up, he studied at Higher Secondary School for Boys, Srirangam, Srirangam till he finished his SSLC. He went to Madras in the 1950 seeking an opportunity in Tamil film industry. In the 1960s and 1970s, he received patronage from actor M. G. Ramachandran and became a successful lyricist, in competition with poet Kannadasan, which he had chronicled in his autobiography "Naanum Indha Nootrandum". Vaali has also authored other books such as "Avathara Purushan", "Pandavar Bhoomi", "Ramanuja Kaviyam", "Krishna Vijayam", "Thamizh Kadavul", "Kalaignar Kaviyam", "Krishna Bhakthan" and "Vaaliba vaali". His song "Amma Endru Azhaikatha Uyir Illaiye" is carved in the stone in a temple in Trichy. He wrote songs for M. G. Ramachandran in 63 films and also for Sivaji Ganesan in 70 films. He has written more than 15000 songs in Tamil films.


title: HandBrake

text: HandBrake is a free and open-source transcoder for digital video files. It was originally developed in 2003 by Eric Petit to make ripping DVDs to a data storage device easier. HandBrake's backend contains comparatively little original code; the program is an integration of many third-party audio and video libraries, both codecs (such as FFmpeg, x264, and x265) and other components such as video deinterlacers (referred to as "filters"). These are collected in such a manner to make their use more effective and accessible (e.g., so that a user does not have to transcode a video's audio and visual components in separate steps, or with inaccessible command-line utilities).


title: HandBrake

text: HandBrake was originally developed by Eric Petit in 2003 as software for BeOS, before porting it to other systems. He continued to be the primary developer until April 2006, when the last official Subversion revision was committed. Petit continued to be active on the HandBrake forum for a brief period after. From May–June 2006, no one in the HandBrake community was successful in contacting Petit, and no further code changes were officially made.


title: HandBrake

text: In September 2006, Rodney Hester and Chris Long had been independently working to extract the H.264 video compression format from Apple's iPod firmware (1.2) through reverse engineering before meeting on the HandBrake forum. Since their work was complementary, they began working together to develop an unstable, but still compilable, release of HandBrake supporting the H.264 format. Hester and Long made progress in terms of stability, functionality, and look and feel, but it was not possible to submit their patch to the HandBrake subversion repository without authorisation from Petit.


title: HandBrake

text: Unable to submit their revisions as a successor to HandBrake, Hester created a subversion repository mirroring HandBrake's final subversion (0.7.1) on the HandBrake website and began development on top of that. Hester and Long named the new project MediaFork.


title: HandBrake

text: On 13 February 2007, Hester and Long were contacted by Petit who informed them of his support and encouraged them to continue development. Plans were then made to reintegrate MediaFork as a direct successor to HandBrake. The MediaFork website and forums were moved to HandBrake's, and the next release was officially named HandBrake. On 24 December 2016 after more than 13 years of development, HandBrake 1.0.0 was released.


title: HandBrake

text: Some GPUs (including GPUs physically integrated with CPUs, referred to by AMD as APUs) contain dedicated hardware for video encoding and decoding (Intel's Quick Sync Video, Nvidia's NVENC, or AMD's Video Coding Engine / Video Core Next). This hardware is usually provided for scenarios where quick and power-efficient compressed video is desired, such as videoconferencing and streaming video. It is less often used for transcoding like that performed by HandBrake because its compression efficiency can rarely match an optimized software encoder for the same codec, but HandBrake still provides the owners of compatible hardware (who are willing to accept the tradeoff) with the option of hardware encoding. Quick Sync was added in November 2014 with version 0.10.0, while NVENC and the VCE became supported in version 1.2.0, released December 2018. (HandBrake supports both the VCE and the newer VCN, but its interface only mentions the VCE by name, even if VCN hardware is present or a codec is being used that is too new to have VCE support.)


title: HandBrake

text: Users can customize the output by altering the bit rate, maximum file size or bit rate and sample rate via "constant quality". HandBrake supports adaptive deinterlacing, scaling, detelecine, and cropping, both automatic and manual.


title: HandBrake

text: HandBrake supports batch encoding through graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line interface (CLI). Third-party scripts and UIs exist specifically for this purpose, such as "HandBrake Batch Encoder", "VideoScripts", and "Batch HandBrake". All make use of the CLI to enable queueing of several files in a single directory.


title: HandBrake

text: Handbrake transcodes video and audio from nearly any format to a handful of modern ones, but it does not defeat or circumvent copy protection. One form of input is DVD-Video stored on a DVD, in an ISO image of a DVD, or on any data storage device as a VIDEO_TS folder. HandBrake's developers removed libdvdcss (the open-source library responsible for unscrambling DVDs encrypted with the Content Scramble System (CSS)) from the application in version 0.9.2. Removal of digital rights management (DRM) from DVDs using HandBrake was possible by installing VLC, a media player application that includes the libdvdcss library. Handbrake can remove DRM only if the user installs libdvdcss.


title: HandBrake

text: As with DVDs, HandBrake does not directly support the decryption of Blu-ray Discs. However, HandBrake can be used to transcode a Blu-ray Disc if DRM is first removed using a third-party application.


title: HandBrake

text: In 2011, Preston Gralla of PC World praised HandBrake for its feature set: "Advanced users will be pleased at the number of options." However, he criticized the usability for new users: "Note that HandBrake isn't necessarily the easiest program to use. It has a large number of options available, and there's no good explanation of what they do or how to use them. Beginners should stick with the defaults". He concluded by calling HandBrake a "solid choice" for people who are looking for a free video transcoder.


title: HandBrake

text: In 2013, Lifehacker.com visitors voted HandBrake as the most popular video converter over four other candidates by a wide margin.


title: Rib

text: In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the chest cavity. They serve to protect the lungs, heart, and other internal organs of the thorax. In some animals, especially snakes, ribs may provide support and protection for the entire body.


title: Rib

text: Human ribs are flat bones that form part of the rib cage to help protect internal organs. Humans usually have 24 ribs, in 12 pairs. 1 in 500 people have an extra rib known as a cervical rib. All are attached at the back to the thoracic vertebrae and are numbered from 1–12 according to the vertebrae to which they attach. The first rib is attached to thoracic vertebra 1 (T1). At the front of the body, most of the ribs are joined by costal cartilage to the sternum. Ribs connect to vertebrae at the costovertebral joints.


title: Rib

text: The head of the rib lies next to a vertebra. The ribs connect to the vertebrae with two costovertebral joints, one on the head and one on the neck. The head of the rib has a superior and an inferior articulating region, separated by a crest. These articulate with the superior and inferior costal facets on the connecting vertebrae. The crest gives attachment to the intra-articulate ligament that joins the rib to the vertebra of the same number, at the intervertebral disc. Another ligament, the radiate ligament joins the head of the rib to both the body of the upper vertebra and to the body of the lower vertebra. The smaller middle part of the ligament connects to the intervertebral disc. This plane joint is known as the articulation of the head of the rib.


title: Rib

text: The other costovertebral joint is that between the tubercle on the neck and the transverse process of the joining thoracic vertebra of the same rib number, and this is known as the costotransverse joint. The superior costotransverse ligament attaches from the non-articular facet of the tubercle to the transverse process of the vertebra.


title: Rib

text: The neck of the rib is a flattened part that extends laterally from the head. The neck is about 3 cm long. Its anterior surface is flat and smooth, whilst its posterior is perforated by numerous foramina and its surface rough, to give attachment to the ligament of the neck. Its upper border presents a rough crest ("crista colli costae") for the attachment of the anterior costotransverse ligament; its lower border is rounded.


title: Rib

text: A tubercle of rib on the posterior surface of the neck of the rib, has two facets (surfaces) one articulating and one non-articulating. The articular facet, is small and oval and is the lower and more medial of the two, and connects to the transverse costal facet on the thoracic vertebra of the same rib number. The transverse costal facet is on the end of the transverse process of the lower of the two vertebrae to which the head is connected. The non-articular portion is a rough elevation and affords attachment to the ligament of the tubercle. The tubercle is much more prominent in the upper ribs than in the lower ribs.


title: Rib

text: The first seven sets of ribs, known as "true ribs", are attached to the sternum by the costal cartilages. The first rib is unique and easier to distinguish than other ribs. It is a short, flat, C-shaped bone, and attaches to the manubrium. The vertebral attachment can be found just below the neck at the first thoracic vertebra, and the majority of this bone can be found above the level of the clavicle. Ribs 2 through 7 then become longer and less curved as they progress downwards. The following five sets are known as "false ribs", three of these sharing a common cartilaginous connection to the sternum, while the last two (eleventh and twelfth ribs) are termed floating ribs. They are attached to the vertebrae only, and not to the sternum or cartilage coming off of the sternum.


title: Rib

text: In general, human ribs increase in length from ribs 1 through 7 and decrease in length again through rib 12. Along with this change in size, the ribs become progressively oblique (slanted) from ribs 1 through 9, then less slanted through rib 12.


title: Rib

text: The rib cage is separated from the lower abdomen by the thoracic diaphragm which controls breathing. When the diaphragm contracts, the thoracic cavity is expanded, reducing intra-thoracic pressure and drawing air into the lungs. This happens through one of two actions (or a mix of the two): when the lower ribs the diaphragm connects to are stabilized by muscles and the central tendon is mobile, when the muscle contracts the central tendon is drawn down, compressing the cavity underneath and expanding the thoracic cavity downward. When the central tendon is stabilized and the lower ribs are mobile, a contraction of the diaphragm elevates the ribs, which works in conjunction with other muscles to expand the thoracic indent upward.


title: Rib

text: Early in the developing embryo, somites form and soon subdivide into three mesodermal components – the myotome, dermatome, and the sclerotome. The vertebrae and ribs develop from the sclerotomes.


title: Rib

text: During the fourth week (fertilization age) "costal processes" have formed on the vertebral bodies. These processes are small, lateral protrusions of mesenchyme that develop in association with the vertebral arches. During the fifth week the costal processes on the thoracic vertebrae become longer to form the ribs. In the sixth week, the costovertebral joints begin to develop and separate the ribs from the vertebrae. The first seven pairs of ribs, the true ribs join at the front to the sternal bars. By the fetal stage the sternal bars have completely fused.


title: Rib

text: The ribs begin as cartilage that later ossifies – a process called endochondral ossification. Primary ossification centers are located near the angle of each rib, and ossification continues in the direction away from the head and neck. During adolescence secondary ossification centers are formed in the tubercles and heads of the ribs.


title: Rib

text: In jawed fish, there are often two sets of ribs attached to the vertebral column. One set, the dorsal ribs, are found in the dividing septum between the upper and lower parts of the main muscle segments, projecting roughly sideways from the vertebral column. The second set, the ventral ribs arise from the vertebral column just below the dorsal ribs, and enclose the lower body, often joining at the tips. Not all species possess both types of rib, with the dorsal ribs being most commonly absent. Sharks, for example, have no dorsal ribs, and only very short ventral ribs. In some teleosts, there may be additional rib-like bones within the muscle mass.


title: Rib

text: Tetrapods, however, only ever have a single set of ribs which are probably homologous with the dorsal ribs of fishes. In the earlier choanates, every vertebra bore a pair of ribs, although those on the thoracic vertebrae are typically the longest. The sacral ribs were stout and short, since they formed part of the pelvis, connecting the backbone to the hip bones.


title: Rib

text: In most true tetrapods, many of these early ribs have been lost, and in living amphibians and reptiles, there is great variation in rib structure and number. For example, turtles have only eight pairs of ribs, which are developed into a bony or cartilaginous carapace and plastron, while snakes have numerous ribs running along the full length of their trunk. Frogs typically have no ribs, aside from a sacral pair, which form part of the pelvis.


title: Rib

text: In birds, ribs are present as distinct bones only on the thoracic region, although small fused ribs are present on the cervical vertebrae. The thoracic ribs of birds possess a wide projection to the rear; this uncinate process is an attachment for the shoulder muscles.


title: Rib

text: Mammals usually also only have distinct ribs on the thoracic vertebra, although fixed cervical ribs are also present in monotremes. In therian mammals, the cervical and lumbar ribs are found only as tiny remnants fused to the vertebrae, where they are referred to as transverse processes. In general, the structure and number of the true ribs in humans is similar to that in other mammals. Unlike reptiles, caudal ribs are never found in mammals.


title: Rib

text: Ribs as food are widely used from many animals, such as cows, pigs, hogs, sheep and pandas. The ribs are the less meaty part of the meat chop and they are often cooked as part of a slab; five or more is known as a "rack", as in a rack of lamb. Short ribs are ribs of beef either served singly or several as a "plate". A rib steak from beef is a popular choice used in many cuisines. Pork ribs, including spare ribs are popular in European and Asian cuisine.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: Jodi Chrissie Garcia Sta. Maria (born June 16, 1982) is a Filipino actress. Sta. Maria was recognized as one of the most sought-after actresses in the entertainment industry.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: She is best known for her iconic roles in ABS-CBN drama shows. One of which was her portrayal of Doc Jill Victorino in the 2022 drama series The Broken Marriage Vow were she popularized the taglines ""Papunta Palang Tayo sa Exciting Part"" and ""Your daughter is sleeping with my husband."" then it become hit online and received many praises for the fierce portrayal. In 2014, she bagged the "Favorite Foreign Actress" trophy at the Vietnam Green Star Awards. In 2016, she was nominated for "Best Performance by an Actress" at the 44th International Emmy Awards for her role as Amor Powers in Pangako Sa ’Yo. In 2022, Sta. Maria won "Best Drama Actress" at the Golden Laurel Batangas Province Media Awards and "Best Actress in a Leading Role" at the Asian Academy Creative Awards.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: Sta. Maria is the youngest child. She and her brother were raised by their single mother, Mercedita. She attended the Philippine Pasay Chung Hua Academy and was an honor student. In school, Sta. Maria was active in her school's extra-curricular activities, particularly the volleyball varsity team and the debating team.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: Sta. Maria was married to Panfilo "Pampi" Lacson Jr., the son of Senator Panfilo Lacson, from whom she is now separated. The two met during a taping of "Tabing Ilog" and married on Easter Sunday 2005 in Las Vegas. The two separated in March 2011 and thereafter Sta. Maria filed a petition for the declaration of nullity of marriage with the Regional Trial Court on grounds of psychological incapacity. The court declared their marriage "null and void" in 2014 but that decision was junked by the Court of Appeals in 2016 and affirmed in 2017.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: Sta. Maria and Lacson have a son born in 2005 named Panfilo "Thirdy" Lacson III. In a 2016 interview, Sta. Maria revealed that she was greatly affected by her separation from Lacson, which resulted in alcoholism and drug use. She quit smoking, alcohol, and drugs after the intervention of actress Coney Reyes and became a Born again Christian. The success of her TV series "Be Careful With My Heart" in 2012 also helped her recover from her addictions.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: Sta. Maria attended De La Salle University-Dasmariñas and studied Medical Biology as her prerequisite to studying Medicine. She left college after a year due to the sudden success of her series "Be Careful With My Heart", which was extended from its intended run of 3 months to 2 and 1/2 years. Sta. Maria finished her degree in Psychology at Southville International School and Colleges in 2020. She was a Dean's Lister during her last semester in 2019.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: A talent scout approached Sta. Maria and her friends to audition for commercials while at a fast-food chain. After numerous auditions and no offers, they gave up. A few weeks later, the talent scout approached Sta. María once again and encouraged her to audition for Star Magic. At 15, she was one of the youngest in their batch.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: After starring and appearing in teen-oriented shows and movies such as "Gimik", "Flames", and "Jologs", Sta. Maria landed a role in "Tabing Ilog" as the sassy tomboyish Georgina. The show was successful and ran for almost five years. She also became a host of Star Circle Quest alongside Luis Manzano.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: She was cast in the original version of "Pangako Sa 'Yo" (2000) as Lia Buenavista, and starred in the 2015 remake as Amor Powers.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: After playing teen roles, she played villainous characters in primetime shows such as "Walang Kapalit" and "Kampanerang Kuba". She transitioned to star in numerous independent films, which have been screened internationally. She has since received 2 Gawad Urian Award nominations.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: In 2010, she starred in "Noah" alongside Piolo Pascual, who has called her a 'thinking actress'. In 2011, she played Sophia in the critically acclaimed "100 Days to Heaven". In 2012, Jodi had a special participation as in the daytime drama series "Mundo Man ay Magunaw" until she rose up when she top-billed the sleeper hit "Be Careful With My Heart" as Maya dela Rosa along with Richard Yap who played her love interest, Richard Lim. The show became a success worldwide, spawning albums, worldwide tours, and concerts.


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: Her portrayal as Amor Powers in the 2015 remake of Pangako Sa ‘Yo earned her an International Emmy Award for Best Actress nomination, the second Filipina actress to earn such a distinction. Since then, she has starred in drama series, such as daytime drama "Sana Dalawa ang Puso", and primetime series, "Sino ang May Sala?" and "Ang sa Iyo ay Akin".


title: Jodi Sta. Maria

text: In 2022, she stars in the Philippine adaptation of "Doctor Foster", "The Broken Marriage Vow". On September 8, 2020, ABS-CBN announced that Sta. Maria will be one of the official cast for the upcoming Metro Manila Film Festival entry "Labyu with an Accent" , and she will be paired by Coco Martin.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Citizens ( ; ; ; ; shortened as Cs—C's until January 2017), officially Citizens–Party of the Citizenry ("Ciudadanos–Partido de la Ciudadanía"), is a liberal political party in Spain.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Founded in Catalonia in 2006, the party received 25.4% of votes and 36 deputies in the December 2017 Catalan regional election, making it the largest single party in the Parliament of Catalonia. Nevertheless, it has never taken power so its actual political stance remains a source of debate between supporters and adversaries, beyond a strong opposition to Catalan nationalism and the Catalan independence movement. The party used the phrase "Catalonia is my homeland, Spain is my country and Europe is our future" to outline the ideology which the party self-describes as postnationalist. In spite of that, it has been deemed by a variety of sources to profess a populist Spanish nationalist ideology. The party has also been described as populist, conservative-liberal and being in favour of integration with the European Union.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Citizens used to present itself as a centre-left party that offered social-democratic and progressive-liberal positions in its platform, but it dropped any mention of social democracy from its principles in February 2017 and by 2018 was judged by some to have experienced a further swing to the right, as it began to compete with the PP, and later also with Vox, to become the leading right-of-centre party in the country. It has recently been described by media and CIS (a Spanish public research institute) as right-oriented.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Their party popularity collapsed after a poor performance in the November 2019 Spanish general election, and further after a failed attempt in Murcia to overthrow the regional government via an unexpected no confidence vote, losing all its seats in the Assembly of Madrid and the Parliament of Andalusia, 30 of its 36 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia and all but one seat in the Cortes of Castile and León.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Citizens was formed in Catalonia in July 2006 in response to the call made in a manifesto by a group of well-known figures in Catalan civic society (among them Albert Boadella, Félix de Azúa, Francesc de Carreras and Arcadi Espada) in which they called for a new political force to "address the real problems faced by the general public". In this manifesto, they also warned that "the rhetoric of hatred promulgated by official Catalan government media against everything Spanish is more alarming than ever" and that "the (Catalan) nation, promoted as an homogenous entity, has taken over the space where an undeniably diverse society lived".


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In July 2005, this group of personalities, almost entirely based in Barcelona, formed a political platform called "Ciutadans de Catalunya", or Citizens of Catalonia. They organised several round tables and conferences and by 2006 they had announced the formation of a new political party. In their first conference of 2006, Albert Rivera, a young lawyer from Barcelona, was elected president.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In the 2006 elections for the Parliament of Catalonia, Cs won 3% of the votes and returned three MPs. In the 2010 elections, a similar result was achieved (3.4%, 3 MPs). Mainly as a counter to the growing public support for independence in Catalonia, Cs has since further grown substantially in support as one of the most outspoken opponents of this movement. In the 2012 snap elections, the number of votes more than doubled (7.6%, 9 MPs). All but one of these seats were in the Province of Barcelona. In the 2015 elections, Cs more than doubled its votes again (17.9%, 25 MPs), becoming the second largest faction in the Catalan parliament.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In 2013, the party started organising in the rest of Spain with a manifesto called "La conjura de Goya" ("Confederacy of Goya") that took place in the Congress Palace of Madrid. In the 2015 general elections, Cs entered parliament with 13.9% and 40 seats. As PP's Mariano Rajoy refused the mandate to form a government, Cs promised the second-largest party PSOE support in parliament in exchange for a number of political concessions. However, this pact would have needed the support of Podemos and finally did not gain a parliamentarian majority, paving the way for a repeat election. In the 2016 snap elections, Cs lost 0.8% of the popular vote and 8 seats due to Spain's electoral system. After these elections, Cs could strike a deal with the conservative PP in supporting its government in exchange for a number of political concessions. After a 10-month political deadlock, PP leader Mariano Rajoy was able to become Prime Minister thanks to Cs support and an abstention of PSOE.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In the 2014 European elections, the party received 3.16% of the national vote and elected two MEPs. Both MEPs joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group. In the 2019 European elections the party obtained 12% of the vote, and won a total of 7 MEPs (which, post-brexit, has become 8 MEPs).


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Rivera resigned as party president on 11 November 2019 after the party lost 80% of its seats in the November 2019 general election. He was succeeded by Inés Arrimadas.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In March 2021, Ciudadanos, together with Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, presented a surprise no confidence motion in the Region of Murcia against the regional coalition government of the People's Party and Ciudadanos. The motion failed due to defection of several Ciudadanos deputies, and triggered a "political earthquake" across the country, leading to a number of high-ranking members abandoning the party. In the aftermath, Cs also lost all its 26 deputies in Madrid in the 2021 Madrilenian regional election, and fell in country-wide polls from ~7% support (~10 deputies) down to ~3% (~1 deputy).


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: At first, Citizens branded itself as a centre-left party in its statement of principles ("ideario"). While Rivera refused to locate Citizens on the political spectrum for a time, he later placed Cs in the political centre. Although some observers agreed with the party's "ideario" by describing Cs as centre-left and others agree with Rivera's last definition by describing the party as centrist, the vast majority of them have positioned Citizens on the centre-right. In a 2014 interview, Congress spokesman Juan Carlos Girauta explicitly stated that he did not perceive any significant differences between Citizens, the centrist Union, Progress and Democracy and the far-right Spanish nationalist party Vox. Federico Finchelstein identifies Citizens with a light brand of "neo-liberal populism".


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Ideologically, Cs describes itself as a progressive, secular, constitutional, European federalist and postnationalist political party. Ciudadanos rejects the autonomous communities' right to self-determination outside of the Spanish state. As an originally Catalan party, it specifically opposes Catalan nationalism due to viewing it as an outdated, authoritarian and socially divisive ideology which fuels hatred among both Catalans and Spaniards. Rivera uses the phrase "Catalonia is my homeland, Spain is my country and Europe is our future" to describe the party's ideology.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: The party opposes separatist movements such as the Catalan independence movement and federating the autonomous communities. Even though Citizens is currently a supporter of European federalism, it ran in the 2009 European Parliament election in coalition with the pan-European, Eurosceptic party Libertas. Although reconsidering the current head of state is not a priority for the party, Rivera has said that Citizens is "a republican party which claims that Spanish citizens are who have to decide whether they prefer a once-modernized monarchy or a republic through a referendum in the context of a constitutional reform".


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Cs displays a political discourse mainly centered around opposition to Catalan nationalism, to the extent that it has been frequently criticised for being a single issue party, a label rejected by its members. In the 2006–2012 period, the number of Cs voters who had voted for centre-right parties in previous elections was similar to the number who had voted for centre-left parties, suggesting that the party's positions on general economic and social issues are not its main draw. Cs criticises any sort of nationalism, "including the Spanish nationalism that Mr. Ynestrillas defends".


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: One of the main issues raised by the party is the Catalan language policy which actively promotes the use of Catalan language as the sole working language of Catalan public administration. The party challenges this policy and defends equal treatment of the Spanish and Catalan languages. It also opposes the current language policy within the Catalan educational system in accordance with which all public schooling is delivered in Catalan. The party also supports strengthening the powers of the Spanish central institutions and curtailing the powers of regional administrations.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Other topics include a thorough reform of the electoral system with the aim of creating greater proportionality that would give less weight to single constituencies. They also support some changes in the 1978 Constitution, especially regarding regional organisation. Regarding the chartered autonomous communities' tax regimes, the party respects and does not want to remove the Basque Country's and Navarre's chartered regimes because it believes that "they aren't discriminatory in and of themselves". However, it criticises what it calls the miscalculation of the quota or contribution which is negotiated between governments and has been causing significant differences that they regard as having become outrageous. It proposes a review and a recalculation of the Basque and Navarrese Economic Agreements in order to stop the Basque Country and Navarre being "net beneficiaries". Among other policies, they also support legalisation of marijuana, euthanasia, and gestational surrogacy.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Prominent meetings of the party have been reportedly picketed by Catalan separatist groups on several occasions. Its leader Albert Rivera has received anonymous death threats urging him to quit politics. Two members of the ERC Youth were sentenced to prison for it. Members of Ciudadanos have repeatedly taken part in violent attacks on Catalan targets and far-right and ultranationalist groups are usually present in their demonstrations. In one instance, a Telemadrid cameraman was assaulted, allegedly because he was mistaken for a member of Catalan broadcaster TV3.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Although the party defines itself as postnationalist, it has been deemed by a variety of sources (including peer-reviewed expert texts) to profess a populist Spanish nationalist ideology. In a party conference held on 20 May 2018 to present its platform "España Ciudadana", Rivera said in a hall filled with Spanish flags:


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: I do not see reds and blues, I see Spaniards. I do not see, as they say, urban people and rural people, I see Spaniards. I do not see young or old, I see Spaniards. I do not see workers and entrepreneurs, I see Spaniards. I do not see believers or agnostics, I see Spaniards. [...] So, compatriots, with Citizens, let's go for that Spain, let's feel proud of being Spaniards again.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In 2006, the newspaper "El Periódico de Catalunya" revealed that Rivera was a card-carrying member of the conservative People's Party (PP) between 2002 and 2006 and that he had left the PP only three months before running for election for the Citizen's Party. This was corroborated by "El Mundo" and "El País". Despite these revelations, Rivera denied having been a full member of PP and implied that he had voted for the PSOE until recently. Past PP membership is common among Cs members. Former PSC activist Juan Carlos Girauta had joined the PP and became a prolific contributor to conservative journalism from his "Libertad Digital" column before becoming a Citizens member and candidate in the 2014 European election. During his long tenure as "Libertad Digital" columnist and COPE debater, Girauta expressed strong sympathies for right-wing Zionism (to the point of calling then-President Zapatero an antisemite) and lent credibility to the now discredited book by Victor Farías dismissing socialist politician Salvador Allende as a racist and a social Darwinist, without clarifying that the quotations about genetic determinism in Allende's doctoral dissertation were themselves quotations from other authors (mostly Cesare Lombroso) or the fact that Allende was highly critical of these conclusions in his thesis which was later published as a rebuttal to Farías' position. Farías was later sued for this, but Girauta never retracted his statements.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In 2015, a member of the Citizens electoral list for Gijón to the city council and regional elections posted pro-Falangist, pro-Blue Division and pro-Hitler Youth messages on Facebook. Those same elections carried news of at least five other former card-carrying Falange and/or España 2000 members.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: An altercation took place in Canet de Mar on 21 Ma, 2018 between pro-independence local residents, who had planted yellow crosses on the beach to honor imprisoned and fugitive politicians; and anti-independence individuals who decided to remove said crosses. The altercation left at least three people wounded, including an 82-year-old man and a local CUP councilor who explicitly accused Citizens and Falange militants from across the whole region to be among the provocateurs. Citizens Member of Parliament Carlos Carrizosa dismissed the claim that either "councillors or party activists" from the party were involved in the incidents. Four days later and despite admonishments and warnings by President of the Parliament Roger Torrent, Carrizosa himself removed a yellow ribbon from the seats reserved for absent Cabinet ministers, forcing the President to suspend the entire session.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: During the 2006 Catalan election campaign, the party's president Albert Rivera appeared completely naked in a poster in order to attract publicity to the party. In the beginning, the party frequently complained about an alleged boycott on the part of Catalan media. In their opinion, the party was given too little airtime to present its views on the Catalan public television.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In 2009, it was announced that Cs would run for the European election allied with the Libertas coalition. The party's association with Declan Ganley's Libertas platform raised some concern on account of the coalition formed by the latter with nationalist and ultranationalist parties in each of its local European chapters, seemingly at odds with the professed ideology of Cs.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Several intellectuals that had participated in the formation of "Ciutadans" later withdrew their support. For instance, Albert Boadella, became one of the co-founders of the Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) party led by former Basque Socialist politician Rosa Díez.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: According to some members of Cs, the negotiations prior to this electoral pact were led personally and secretly by the party leader Albert Rivera. This alienated the other two MPs (besides Rivera himself) and a significant part of the party from his leadership. In turn, the official stance of Cs is that the critics are using the dispute as a pretext to canvass support for the ideologically similar UPyD.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: On June 24, 2019, the party's economics spokesman, Toni Roldán, announced that he was leaving Citizens and renouncing his seat in the Spanish parliament in protest at the party’s drift to the right and its willingness to enter alliances with the far right after regional and municipal elections. Following Roldán's resignation, MEP Javier Nart and the Asturian leader Juan Vázquez stepped down as well, leaving their political offices in the party's committee and the Asturian Parliament, respectively.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Some days later, Francesc de Carreras, one of the party's founders, and Francisco de la Torre, MP and economist, also announced that they would leave the party due to its stances against the PSOE and in favor of alliances with the far-right.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: This crisis came after the President of France Emmanuel Macron's government sent a warning to Citizens, which his En Marche! party is in a group with in the EU Parliament, over far-right ties.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: A credit was requested for party funding in 2015 to Banco Popular Español, up to 2017 an IBEX 35 member.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: In 2017, the Court of Audit found irregularities in the accounting books of several political groups, Citizens among them. In respect of Citizens, the irregularities included illegal expenses for advertising on local television in 2015.


title: Citizens (Spanish political party)

text: Cs member Jorge Soler appeared in December 2017 on the TV3 debate Preguntes Freqüents, during which journalist addressed him about the 2.1 million euros spent by Cs in the 21-D Catalan election campaign—higher than the budget spent by any other party on that election. Talegón inquired about the sources of this funding. Soler replied that this ample budget could be ascribed to the austerity of their party.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: is a fictional character in the animated television series "The Simpsons" and a part of the Simpson family, notably the youngest member. She first appeared on television in the "Tracey Ullman Show" short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. She received her first name from Groening's youngest sister. After appearing on "The Tracey Ullman Show" for three years, the Simpson family was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company which debuted December 17, 1989.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Maggie is the youngest child of Homer and Marge, and the younger sister to Bart and Lisa. She is often seen sucking on her orange pacifier and, when she walks, she trips over her clothing and falls on her face (this running gag is used much more in earlier seasons). Being an infant, she has not yet learned how to talk. However, she did appear to talk in the first "Tracey Ullman Show" short.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Though she rarely talks, she frequently makes a characteristic sucking noise with her pacifier, which has become synonymous with the character. Her pacifier sucking noises are provided by the show's creator, Matt Groening, and early producer Gábor Csupó. Maggie's occasional speaking parts and other vocalizations are currently provided by Nancy Cartwright, but she has also been voiced by guest stars Carol Kane, James Earl Jones, Elizabeth Taylor and Jodie Foster, and by series regulars Yeardley Smith and Harry Shearer. Maggie has appeared in various media relating to "The Simpsons" – including video games, "The Simpsons Movie", "The Simpsons" Ride, commercials and comic books – and has inspired an entire line of merchandise.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: "The Simpsons" uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not physically age, and as such the show is assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Maggie is the youngest child of Marge and Homer, and sister to Bart and Lisa. When Marge became pregnant with Bart, she and Homer got married at a chapel in Las Vegas. To support his impending family, Homer all but demanded a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, impressing its owner, Mr. Burns with his aggressive submissiveness. When Marge became pregnant with Lisa, two years later, she and Homer bought their first house. Another six years later, Homer felt financially secure enough to finally quit his job at the Power Plant and take his dream job at Barney's Bowlarama. However, Marge became pregnant with Maggie, so Homer, once again unable to support his family, was forced to reapply for his old job. By the time Maggie was born, Homer had shown great signs of distress, but he managed to find motivation in the form of his newborn baby girl.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: During the earlier seasons of the show, Maggie's equivalent of a hallmark was to trip over her clothing and fall on her face while trying to walk, causing a loud thud on the floor, but this was toned down in the later seasons. She has a penchant for her pacifier, on which she is always seen sucking.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Maggie has performed a number of feats that for her age suggest she is highly intelligent, akin to her sister, and possibly a genius. She has spelled out E=MC² with her baby blocks, driven Homer's car, escaped from the Springfield daycare center, written her name on an Etch A Sketch, played Internet poker, spelled words with her baby blocks, shot Mr. Burns, played Lisa's saxophone, and treated her pacifier like a cigarette. However, the rest of the Simpsons family are unaware of Maggie's maturity and Marge carries Maggie wherever they go rather than letting her walk by herself. Maggie is keenly aware of her surroundings, and can usually be seen imitating the flow of action around her. She shows a high degree of dexterity, and she once hit Homer on the head with a mallet and shot a dart at a photograph of him in imitation of "Itchy and Scratchy". Despite her age, Maggie is a formidable marksman, as seen in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" where she shoots Mr. Burns with a handgun that falls into her hands, though whether or not it was intentional is not clear, and in a deliberate manner during "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" where she is able to non-fatally shoot a group of mobsters in rapid succession with a rifle that she apparently hides in her crib. Homer had previously left a rifle in her crib in "Mom and Pop Art". It is unclear whether the gun Maggie uses to shoot the mobsters is the same one.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Maggie is usually frightened and exasperated by Homer's attempts to bond with her, but has on several occasions stepped in to save Homer's life: once from drowning, once from being shot by mobsters, once from being kidnapped by a tow truck driver, and once from being shot by Russ Cargill, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Matt Groening first conceived Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for "The Tracey Ullman Show", and had intended to present an adaptation of his "Life in Hell" comic strip. When he realized that animating "Life in Hell" would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction, and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family. The baby of the family was named Maggie after Groening's youngest sister. Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons family on April 19, 1987, in the short "Good Night". In 1989, the shorts were adapted into "The Simpsons", a half-hour series that would air on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Maggie and the rest of the family remained the main characters on this new show.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings. Maggie's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Lisa shares her hairline. While designing Maggie and Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles". At the time, Groening was primarily drawing in black and white and when designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but was scripted to show any emotions that the scene required. Maggie's comedic hallmarks include her tendency to stumble and land on her face while attempting to walk, and a penchant for sucking on her pacifier, the sound of which has become the equivalent of her catchphrase and was originally created by Groening during the Tracey Ullman period. In the early seasons of the show, Maggie would suck her pacifier over other characters' dialogue, but this was discontinued because the producers found it too distracting.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: With few exceptions, Maggie never speaks but participates in the events around her, emoting with subtle gestures and facial expressions. Maggie's first lines were spoken in "Good Night", the first short to air on "The Tracey Ullman Show", after the family falls asleep. On this occasion, Liz Georges provided the voice of Maggie.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Rather than talking, Maggie is well known for producing a characteristic "sucking" sound from her pacifier. This sound effect was originally provided by the show's creator Matt Groening, for early episodes of "The Tracey Ullman Show", and also by Gabor Csupo (who was also the animation executive producer, for the first 60 episodes). The sucking noise is heard in all of Maggie's appearances to date, and is usually archive audio from either of Groening or Csupo's initial recordings (from the show's early episodes). Other than her sucking noise, Maggie has been known to make other noises, such as occasional squeals and babbling. In most instances, these vocalisations are provided by either Nancy Cartwright or Yeardley Smith.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Although she had previously spoken in fantasies and dream sequences, such as in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", in which she was voiced by an uncredited Carol Kane, Maggie's first word spoken in the normal continuity of the series occurred in "Lisa's First Word", when she was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor. Although it was only one word ("Daddy"), Taylor had to record the part numerous times before the producers were satisfied. James Earl Jones voiced Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V". Maggie would later have brief dialogue in "Treehouse of Horror IX", voiced by Harry Shearer, who used his Kang voice. In earlier episodes, Yeardley Smith did many of Maggie's squeaks, cries, laughs and occasional speaking parts, although in the later seasons her parts are done by Nancy Cartwright (including a single word spoken during the end credits of "The Simpsons Movie"). Jodie Foster voiced a Howard Roark-inspired Maggie in the season 20 episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure".


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Maggie has received both popular and critical acclaim. Nancy Basile at About.com said her favorite Maggie scenes on "The Simpsons" are the ones that show her acting more like an adult than a one-year-old. Some of her favorite Maggie scenes include scenes from "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" and "Lady Bouvier's Lover" where Maggie meets her unibrowed archenemy, Baby Gerald, and the one scene from "" in which Bart is supposed to babysit Maggie, but she escapes and takes Homer's car for a ride. Basile also added that "whether watching 'The Happy Elves' or falling down, Maggie is the cutest baby in the Simpson family". Comedian Ricky Gervais named "And Maggie Makes Three" his second favorite episode of the show and said that the scene in the end where Homer puts up pictures of Maggie over his desk gave him "a lump in the throat thinking about it". Todd Everett at "Variety" called the scene in "Lisa's First Word" where Maggie speaks her first word "quite a heart-melter".


title: Maggie Simpson

text: In 2006, Elizabeth Taylor was named thirteenth on IGN's "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances" list for her performance as Maggie in "Lisa's First Word". James Earl Jones, voice of Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V", was named the seventh greatest guest star on the show in the same list. In 2000, Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.


title: Maggie Simpson

text: Four children's books, written by Maggie Groening (after whom Maggie was named) and illustrated by Matt Groening, entitled "Maggie Simpson's Book of Animals", "Maggie Simpson's Counting Book", "Maggie Simpson's Book of Colors and Shapes" and "Maggie Simpson's Alphabet Book" were released on September 12, 1991. Other merchandise includes dolls, posters, figurines, jigsaw puzzles, and T-shirts. Maggie was made into an action figure as part of the "World of Springfield" toy line, and was released in the wave one playset "Living Room", featuring her and Marge in the living room of the Simpsons house. Maggie has appeared in commercials for Burger King, Butterfinger, C.C. Lemon, Domino's Pizza, Ramada Inn and Subway.