title: Naayak

text: Subsequent to the marriage ceremony, Ram Charan resumed his work on "Naayak" in late June 2012, after shooting for a Tata DoCoMo commercial. The song "Subhalekha Raasukunna" was shot in Iceland on 22 August 2012. It was originally planned to be shot using Ram Charan and Kajal, but it was filmed using Amala Paul instead, as Kajal had a scheduling conflict. After the completion of that song, two more songs were shot using Ram Charan and Kajal. After returning from Iceland, filming continued in the Old City in Hyderabad. On 7 October 2012, scenes featuring Ram Charan and Amala Paul were shot at the Cineplanet Multiplex near Kompally.


title: Naayak

text: The next part of the schedule started in Kolkata from 12 October 2012. Some action episodes involving Ram Charan, Dev Gill, and others, and a few continuity scenes were shot. An entire day was spent shooting a few action episodes with Ram Charan at Chhotelal Ghat near the Mullickghat flower market, since Vinayak insisted on perfection. This portion of the schedule ended on 22 October 2012. The team returned to Hyderabad and filming continued in a set erected at Sarathi Studios. By mid November 2012, a majority of the filming was complete, with final completion expected in December 2012.


title: Naayak

text: The last portion of the schedule began on 4 December 2012, during which the remaining climax action episodes scenes and a song were planned to be shot until 18 December 2012. Amala Paul joined the filming of the climax on 7 December 2012, after returning from the sets of "Thalaivaa" (2013). The song "Nellorae" was shot using Ram Charan and Charmee at Ramoji Film City on 24 December 2012, and after its completion, filming came to an end on 29 December 2012. The filming phase lasted for approximately 9 months, and the film was the first Indian film to be shot in Slovenia. Ram Charan completed his part of dubbing in late December 2012.


title: Naayak

text: The film features a protagonist in a dual role, revolving around their lifestyles and the circumstances when they meet. A reviewer from Sify felt that the film's script was inspired from V. V. Vinayak's previous works like "Tagore" (2003), "Lakshmi" (2006), "Krishna" (2008) and "Adhurs" (2009), as well as from S. S. Rajamouli's past works like "Simhadri" (2003) and "Chhatrapati" (2005) and S. Shankar's Tamil film "Sivaji" (2007).


title: Naayak

text: Akula Siva said that the dialogue in the film had a philosophical touch despite being humorous and added, "The hero is elevated on par with divinity in the introduction; such glorification is imperative, if the hero doesn't have that power and courage he cannot fight so many people".


title: Naayak

text: S. Thaman composed the film's soundtrack and background music, marking his first collaboration with both V. V. Vinayak and Ram Charan. In April 2012, it was reported that Thaman was composing the film's songs with a focus on romantic songs featuring the two female leads. The song "Subhalekha Rasukunna", originally composed by Ilaiyaraaja for the soundtrack of the 1990 Telugu film "Kondaveeti Donga", was remixed for this film in mid-July 2012 without any alterations in the tune and lyrics written by Veturi. The lyrics of the remaining five songs were penned by Chandrabose, Bhaskarabhatla, and Sahithi. All the songs were arranged by Thaman and were recorded at Studio N.Y.S.A. in Mumbai and Studio T.A.A.L. in Hyderabad.


title: Naayak

text: Aditya Music acquired the audio rights for an undisclosed high price. The audio teasers were unveiled in mid-December 2012, and the official track list featuring six songs was unveiled on 14 December 2012. The film's soundtrack was launched on 17 December 2012, during a promotional event at Ramanaidu Studios. Pawan Kalyan attended the function as the chief guest along with the film's principal cast & crew. "Oneindia Entertainment" placed "Nellorae" in fourth place on the list of top 10 item numbers of the year in 2013.


title: Naayak

text: "Naayak" was planned to be released on 12 January 2013, coinciding with Sankranthi weekend. Later the film's release was rumoured to be delayed due to Danayya's financial hardships. There were reports that were rumoured with a new release date as 11 January 2013, It was later announced the new release date as 9 January 2013, denying the previous reports as rumours. The film was awarded an 'A' certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification on 4 January 2013. Six cuts were suggested by the board to delete politically charged dialogue, and few other lines that included the names of the Andhra Pradesh Governors, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The board also requested a few words being altered in the song "Nellorae", and the display of a statutory warning on drinking and smoking wherever they occur in the film.


title: Naayak

text: The film was shown on 110 screens in Hyderabad, breaking the previous records set by "Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu" (2012) and "Businessman" (2012), which were released in 105 and 103 theatres, respectively. Universal Media, in association with Praneeth Media, released the film on more than 100 screens in the United States, including 70 digital prints and sixteen 35 mm prints, which was a first for a Telugu film in an overseas market. The makers said that the film would be released in more than 1200 theatres in Andhra Pradesh.


title: Naayak

text: On the eve of Valentine's Day, first look stills of the film were released to the media. A few stills featuring Ram Charan were unveiled on 18 August 2012, which featured him sporting a new look. Two first look posters, confirming the film's title and its spelling, were unveiled on 26 November 2012. The film's first teaser was unveiled on 14 December 2012. Allu Arjun and S. S. Rajamouli unveiled the trailers at Shilpakala Vedika during the soundtrack launch.


title: Naayak

text: By early November 2012, the film's trade came to an end in all areas except Guntur. Bharath Pictures acquired the film's Nellore distribution rights, while Shobu acquired the rights for the Ceded (Rayalaseema) area. Shakti Films acquired the theatrical rights for the Krishna District, and Siri Media obtained the film's Nizam region rights. V. Rao, Challa Shankar Rao and Tulasi Films acquired the screening rights in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari district, and West Godavari district. Abhirami Movies acquired the film's Tamil Nadu distribution rights. Errabus acquired the screening rights for the United Kingdom and Europe.


title: Naayak

text: Gayathri Films bought the Karnataka distribution rights for 41 million, the highest price offered for any Telugu film in Karnataka up to that time. Universal Media distributed the film in the United States. Producer Dil Raju acquired the film's distribution rights in the Nizam region in mid-December 2012.


title: Naayak

text: The film was dubbed and released in Tamil and Malayalam under the same title and in Hindi as "Double Attack" (2014).


title: Naayak

text: The satellite rights for the Hindi dubbed version were sold for a record price of 3.5 crore. Gemini TV paid an advance of 2.6 crore for the satellite rights of the original version, and fully acquired them after the film's release for an additional 7.5 crore. The DVD and Blu-ray were marketed by Sri Balaji Videos and were released on 3 April 2013.


title: Naayak

text: "Naayak" grossed 34 crore at the worldwide box office on its opening day, and 26 crore on its second day, taking its two-day total to 60 crore. The film collected a total of 29.5 crore in its first week. As of late April 2014, the film stood in fifth place of the top 10 Telugu films with the highest first week gross. In its second week of release, the film's gross suffered due to the competition from the release of "Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu", slipping to the second spot in the charts. It witnessed more than a 50% drop in its business, collecting approximately 8 crore during the second weekend, and a total of 45 crore in 10 days. By the end of its second week, the film had added approximately 5.5 crore, for a 16-day total of 50.5 crore net. The film grossed 60 crore in its lifetime worldwide, and became the third most successful film of 2013, after "Attarintiki Daredi" and "Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu". Its distributor share of 46.5 crore made it Ram Charan's third film to cross the 40 crore mark. It was fifth on the list of top 10 all-time highest-grossing movies at the Andhra Pradesh box office, as of November 2013. It also ranked tenth on the list of top 20 hit Telugu movies of all time at the box office, as of May 2014.


title: Naayak

text: The film averaged 90% occupancy in both single screens and multiplexes in India on its opening day, collecting 8.55 crore at the Andhra Pradesh box office and 2.7 crore throughout the rest of India. With an average of 66% across the globe, it collected 13.49 crore at the Andhra Pradesh box office, and 3.55 crore in the rest of India on its second day. In six days, it collected a total 23.46 crore net at Andhra Pradesh box office, and 2.5 crore in the rest of India. The film completed a successful 50-day run in several centres across Andhra Pradesh on 27 February 2013. The film collected a distributor share of 38.95 crore net at Andhra Pradesh box office in its lifetime, placing it sixth on the list of all-time highest grossing Telugu films, as of November 2013.


title: Naayak

text: The film collected 45 lakh in overseas receipts on its opening day, which increased to 65 lakh on its second day. However, the film's trade was severely affected by "Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu", dropping 70% at the overseas box office, with a three-day total of 92 lakh, compared to "Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu" 3 day opening day total of 1.13 crore. The film collected 2.11 crore in six days at the overseas box office. The film did good business by the end of its second weekend at the USA box office, ranking third in the charts by collecting 2.53 crore, despite of the adverse effect of "Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu" which was in first place. "Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola" stood in second place, although its per screen average was lower than that of "Naayak". The film suffered a big setback after the release of "Race 2" and "Vishwaroopam", dropping to sixth place while collecting 2.65 crore in 23 days.


title: Naayak

text: Y. Sunita Chowdary of "The Hindu" wrote, "... the writing is humorous, lively and consistent. What more, the film works mainly on its dialogues and a brisk screenplay and has all the potential to rake in moolah at the box office," and added, "Vinayak, having read the pulse well, comes out with Naayak that is a throwback to many of his earlier films but with correct dose of humour added, to cover the flaws. By the time you sense something wrong, he cleverly comes up with another funny scene. This way the film progresses and winds up before it gets too heavy, and voila there are smiles everywhere". Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran of "Daily News and Analysis" wrote, "We’ll say that even if the film is about the age-old formula of the hero bashing the bad guys and coming up trumps, Naayak is an entertaining film that you won’t regret watching," and rated the film 3.5 out of 5. AS Sashidhar of "The Times of India" termed the film a "pot boiling paisa vasool entertainer" and rated the film 3.5 out of 5. "Oneindia Entertainment" stated, "V. V. Vinayak may not have given a great screenplay, but he has had a high entertainment quotient with his narration. His mass appearance has doubled up Ram Charan's performance. Naayak is a perfect Sankranthi entertainer," and rated the film 3 out of 5. Radhika Rajamani of "Rediff.com" wrote, "The first half of the film moves at a breezy pace while the interval brings in the twist. In the second half there's mostly stomach-churning violence which is pretty repulsive. Technically the film is top-notch. V V Vinayak delivers a hardcore commercial entertainer for the festival. If you can watch Naayak without analysing it, you will find it fun," and rated the film 3 out of 5. "IndiaGlitz" summarised, "Vinayak proves to be a director who knows how to play gimmicks with a formula story in hand and a narration baptized in masala. Naayak is for all those who love to watch an entertainer filled with doses of heroism and comedy, and also good music," and added that the film is "commercial to the hilt".


title: Naayak

text: In contrast, a reviewer from "Sify" stated, "Director V V Vinayak, has chosen a routine story which has nothing new to offer. He chose a simple story and weaved an entertaining screenplay around it. Vinayak concentrated more on the presentation of the movie rather than the subject. The story and screenplay is predictable after the interesting interval bang" and called the film "Average". Another reviewer from Sify rated the film 3 out of 5 and stated, "Nayak, a regular commercial potboiler, starts off as a regular mass movie and ends up the same way. Nayak team should have concentrated on the story more. A rehashed film that can be watched once". B. V. S. Prakash of "Deccan Chronicle" wrote, "Even though Ram Charan impresses in the role of a brooding young IT employee who is determined to smash evil forces, the final outcome is more comic than serious. Vinayak tends to repackage scenes from his earlier movies. Akula Siva pens strong punch lines to enthral Ram Charan fans".


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league, composed of 8 teams. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The league was founded by the American professional lacrosse player Paul Rabil and his brother Mike Rabil. Investors include The Chernin Group, The Raine Group and Joe Tsai.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: In September 2018, Bloomberg reported that Paul Rabil would be launching a new professional lacrosse league. The PLL would be a direct competitor to the more established Major League Lacrosse. The new league will provide professional lacrosse players with salaries, health care, and league equity.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: The league's media model radically differs from that of most North American professional sports leagues. A 2018 "Sports Illustrated" story on the then-prospective league pointed out that LeBron James' Instagram account "features virtually no clips of him playing basketball—those are the property of the NBA, meaning its owners." By contrast, the PLL open-sources its highlights, allowing players to freely use them to build their own personal brands. Additionally, PLL operates a full-time studio that produces other player-centered content.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: The PLL features eight teams, each with a 26-player roster. As opposed to tying teams to a specific market, the league tours 12 different "major market cities". The season includes 14 weeks, comprising 10 regular-season weekends, 1 all-star weekend, and 3 playoff weekends, running from June 1 through September 21, assuring there is no overlap with the NCAA Lacrosse or National Lacrosse League seasons.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: By October 2018, 140 players had been signed by the PLL. Of the 140 players are 86 All-Americans, 25 members of the U.S. national team, and 10 former Tewaaraton Award winners. By December the league had signed 17 additional players.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: For the League's inaugural season, the PLL had the 6 founding teams draft a player in each of the 4 rounds. For the first round there was a random draw and the reverse the order every round. Archers had the first draft pick in the newly formed league, taking Pat Spencer making him the first player ever drafted in the PLL.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: The league had an exclusive media rights agreement with NBC Sports Group, until 2022, when the league signed a new media rights deal with ESPN.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: The IMG Academy is the official Preseason Training Facility. Champion is the exclusive footwear and apparel brand. Capital One Bank will be the official bank sponsor for the entire PLL and the jersey patch sponsor for the Atlas LC. In February 2020, Ticketmaster signed a deal with the PLL to become the official ticket sales company of the league, as well as having their name added to the league's name, making it "Premier Lacrosse League Powered by Ticketmaster". The PLL has an exclusive partnership with DraftKings, covering betting on the league's matches. The league also partners with Gatorade, as the beverage company acts as one of the league's founding sponsors. On July 22, 2021, HEX Performance was named the 'official laundry partner' of the PLL.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: The addition of the Waterdogs Lacrosse Club, a seventh team for the 2020 season, allows for natural bye weeks to occur for each team throughout the season. Paul Rabil first hinted at expansion in a post game interview after the 2019 Championship game and on January 1, 2020 the Premier Lacrosse League announced the Waterdogs identity. An expansion draft took place on February 12 and an entry draft occurred on March 16 to build the new roster with veteran players.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: On December 16, 2020 it was announced that the PLL and MLL had merged under the banner of the PLL. The PLL would add the Boston Cannons for the 2021 season, rebranded as the Cannons Lacrosse Club, to bring the total PLL teams to eight. Small tweaks to the former Boston Cannons branding resulted in a PLL crest and logo reveal on January 12, 2021.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: In July of 2022, Ticketmaster tracked a 38% growth in tickets purchased and attendance. The PLL also announced the approved Series D round of funding for the league which was being led by return investor The Chernin Group (TCG). Other investors include Blue Pool Capitol, Brett Jefferson, WWE, 35V, Kevin Durant, Rich Klieman, Wheelhouse Entertainment, and Pomp Investments.


title: Premier Lacrosse League

text: On February 15, 2022, the Premier Lacrosse League announced the inaugural class of the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In order to be eligible for selection, a player must:


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Mark James Williams (born 21 March 1975) is a Welsh professional snooker player who is a three-time World Champion, winning in 2000, 2003 and 2018. Often noted for his single-ball long potting ability, Williams has earned the nickname "The Welsh Potting Machine".


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams turned professional in 1992 and has been ranked the world number one player three times (1999–00, 2000–01 and 2002–03). His most successful season to date was 2002–03, when he won the Triple Crown: the UK Championship, the Masters and the World Championship. In doing so, he became only the third player, after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, to win all three Triple Crown events in one season. He is the first player (and to date, the only player) to win all three versions of the professional World Championship: the World Snooker Championship, the Six-red World Championship and the World Seniors Championship.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: The first left-handed player to win the World Championship, Williams has won 24 ranking tournaments, including two UK Championships (1999 and 2002), making him fifth on the all-time list. He has also won the Masters on two occasions (1998 and 2003). His form began to decline after his second World Championship title in 2003; he then dropped out of the top 16 following the 2007–08 season, but he regained his place for 2009–10. Williams has compiled over 550 century breaks in professional competition, including three maximum breaks. He became the oldest player to make a maximum break in professional competition when he compiled a 147 at the 2022 English Open, aged 47 years and 270 days.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams was born in Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, in the Welsh county borough of Blaenau Gwent. He started playing snooker at an early age and won his first junior event when he was eleven years old; it was then that he realised that he wanted to pursue a career as a snooker player. He scored his first century break when he was thirteen, and had achieved his first 147 break by the time he was eighteen. As a schoolboy, he was also a promising amateur boxer, remaining undefeated in twelve fights. He was encouraged to play snooker by his father Dilwyn, who was a coal miner. At the age of fifteen, Mark did a 12-hour shift down the mines.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams finished his first season ranked 119th; three years later, he was ranked in the world's top 16 for the 1996–97 season. His first ranking tournament win came in January 1996, when he won the 1996 Welsh Open title, beating John Parrott 9–3 in the final. After failing to qualify for the 1996 World Championship, he won the first ranking event of the new season in October 1996, the Grand Prix, beating surprise finalist Euan Henderson 9–5. In April 1997, he went on to win the British Open, beating Stephen Hendry 9–2 in the final. He also beat Hendry in a "thrilling" final in February 1998, to take his first Masters title, winning 10–9 in a black-ball finish in the deciding frame, after recovering from 6–9 down. At the 1997 World Championship, he was drawn against his coach Terry Griffiths, who was making his last appearance at the Crucible as a player; Williams eventually beat Griffiths 10–9 on the black, but then lost 8–13 to Hendry in the last 16. He reached the semi-finals of the 1998 World Championship, losing 14–17 to Ken Doherty. The following year, at the 1999 World Championship, he made it through to the final and finished the tournament as runner-up to Hendry.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: The 1999–00 season was a very successful one for Williams who won the 1999 UK Championship and the World Championship. These results, along with another ranking title and three runner-up positions, allowed him to capture the world number one position for the first time. In the World Championship final he came from 7–13 behind his fellow countryman Matthew Stevens to eventually win 18–16. He also produced a notable comeback in his semi-final match against John Higgins, coming from 10 to 14 down to win 17–15. Williams won only one ranking event in the following season, the Grand Prix, with a 9–5 victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final, but he was a runner-up in two other ranking events, the 2000 UK Championship and the China Open. This was enough to retain his number one ranking, although his title defence at the World Championship fell in the second round with a 12–13 defeat to Joe Swail.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: In the 2001–02 season, Williams also only won one ranking tournament, as he struggled to find the form from the previous season, winning the China Open, where he defeated Anthony Hamilton 9–8 from 5–8 down in the final. However, he lost to the same player 9–13 in the second round of the World Championship and the number one ranking to Ronnie O'Sullivan.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Another strong performance came in the 2002–03 season when he won the 2002 UK Championship, Masters and World Championship titles. This made him only the fourth player after Hendry, Davis and John Higgins to hold these titles simultaneously, and only the third player after Davis and Hendry to have won them all in one season. These results enabled him to reclaim the number one spot at the end of the season. In the UK Championship final he beat Ken Doherty 10–9, and in the Masters he beat Hendry 10–4. Before the 2003 World Championship he had a scare with his cue when it was damaged and badly bent on his flight with Ryanair to play in the Irish Masters, but he had it repaired before the tournament.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: On his way to winning the 2003 World title, he had a relatively untroubled route to the final with wins over Stuart Pettman 10–2, Quinten Hann 13–2, Hendry 13–7 and Stephen Lee 17–8 before facing Doherty in the final. He led 10–2, and looked to be heading for an easy victory, before Doherty fought back to 16–16. Williams regained his composure under intense pressure to win the last two frames and lift the trophy for the second time.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: The following season, he lost in the first round of the 2003 UK Championship to Fergal O'Brien, a match which ended his record run of 48 tournaments in which he had won his first match. His defence at the 2004 World Championship started with a 10–7 win over Dominic Dale, but he lost 11–13 in the second round to Joe Perry, and he endured a run of poor form over the 2004–05 season, dropping to ninth in the world rankings for the 2005–06 season.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: On 20 April, in 2005 he became the first Welshman, and the fifth player in history, to score a maximum break at the Crucible Theatre in the World Championship. This came in the final frame of a 10–1 first round victory over Robert Milkins, but he lost in the second round to Ian McCulloch 12–13.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: On 26 March 2006, Williams won his 16th ranking event (and his first in two and a half years), the China Open in Beijing, beating Higgins 9–8 in the final. This helped him return to the top eight in the world rankings, after a dramatic fall in the provisional rankings which saw him facing a possible drop out of the top 16. He also showed good form in the 2006 World Championship, beating Anthony Hamilton 10–1 and Mark Selby 13–8 to set up a quarter-final clash with Ronnie O'Sullivan, the first time the two had met at the Crucible. The match was given extra tension considering they had been rivals (although O'Sullivan has since said that the former feud has been replaced by friendship and respect). In a close-fought match, O'Sullivan eventually won 13–11. It was revealed during that tournament that Williams had split with coach Terry Griffiths. The two remained very close friends, but Griffiths would no longer be coaching him. In late 2007, Williams returned to having Griffiths as his coach.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: On 2 September 2006, Williams won the Pot Black trophy, after compiling a century break (119) in the final against John Higgins. However, Williams had perhaps the worst season of his career in 2006–07, losing his first match in a string of tournaments (including the World Championship, for the first time ever), but he retained his top 16 place, mainly through the ranking points he had earned the previous season.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: His first win of the 2007–08 season came in the Grand Prix with a 4–3 win over Ian McCulloch, but he still failed to qualify for the last 16 of the event and was outside the top 32 on the provisional ranking list.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: In the 2007 UK Championship, he showed a return to some form. He beat Ricky Walden comfortably 9–3 in the last 32, and in the last 16 he faced Mark Allen who led 4–0 and 5–1. However, a cool comeback saw him win the remaining eight frames to win 9–5. In the quarter-finals, Stephen Maguire was too strong and beat him 9–5.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: After a 2–6 first round loss to Ken Doherty in the Masters, Williams revealed he was considering retirement from the game if he dropped out of the top 32 and was forced to play in all the qualifying competitions, although then only 32 years old. But he also claimed at the Welsh Open at Newport that this statement had been blown out of proportion, and that he would remain a professional. He began to show more consistency for the remainder of the season, reaching the last 16 of three ranking events and a run to the quarter-finals of the China Open, but he could not reach his first semi-final for two years, losing 3–5 to Ryan Day. At the World Championship he defeated Mark Davis; however, a 7–13 defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round forced him out of the top 16, pushing him into the qualifiers for 2008/2009. In that match he was on the receiving end of a 147 break from O'Sullivan. On 8 July 2008 it was announced that Williams had split from his management company 110 Sport, following O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: In the 2008–09 season, he reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters and UK Championship, but also suffered three qualifying defeats. The 2008 UK Championship particularly saw some return to form as he beat Mark Selby and Graeme Dott 9–7, before losing narrowly 8–9 to Ali Carter. He also qualified for the World Championship but lost 7–10 to Stephen Hendry after leading 7–5. During the end of the match he suffered some trouble with his tip. However, he had done enough to return to the top 16 at the end of the season.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: The 2009–10 season started badly when Williams broke his wrist in a fall at home, less than a month before the Shanghai Masters, the first ranking event of the season. He played in Shanghai despite the injury, but wore a cast on his wrist because its removal could have caused long-term damage. There he won his first round match against Joe Swail 5–3, but lost in the next round against John Higgins 1–5. In the Grand Prix he secured wins over Stuart Bingham, Stephen Hendry and Robert Milkins on his way to the semi-finals. Despite racking up a 142 (the highest break of the tournament) in the first frame against Ding Junhui, he lost 1–6.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: In the 2009 UK Championship he led Graeme Dott 6–2, before Dott retired due to illness and Williams thus won the match 9–2. After this he lost his next match against Peter Lines 8–9. At the Masters he won his wild card round match, beating Rory McLeod 6–2. Then he won his first round match against Ali Carter 6–3 to progress to the quarter-finals of the event, despite being involved in a traffic accident the day before his match against Carter. It was reported that a car drove into the back of the 4×4 that his sponsors had lent him, which was carrying Williams and Hendry to a restaurant. In the quarter-finals he defeated Shaun Murphy 6–4, but eventually lost a high-quality match in the semi-finals 5–6 against Ronnie O'Sullivan. In the Welsh Open, he reached the quarter-finals, beating Fergal O'Brien 5–2 and Andrew Higginson 5–0, before losing against Stephen Maguire 1–5.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: After these signs of form, in April 2010 he won his first ranking tournament in four years – the China Open. On his way he beat Jamie Cope 5–3, the then reigning world champion John Higgins 5–2, Marco Fu 5–1, and Ali Carter 6–4, setting up a clash with Ding Junhui in the final. Trailing 3–5 at one stage, Williams eventually won the match 10–6. This was his 17th ranking event win and his third China Open. After his victory, Williams said: "I'm over the moon to win again. It's been a long time coming but I've kept working hard and I felt that in the end the results would come."


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: In the World Snooker Championship, Williams defeated Marcus Campbell 10–5 in the first round, but lost his second-round match against O'Sullivan 10–13. He finished the season ranked eighth.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams opened the season by winning the first event of the Players Tour Championship by defeating Stephen Maguire 4–0 in the final, a new addition to the snooker calendar introduced by Barry Hearn, a series of events that Williams has supported. Williams finished 6th on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: In the Shanghai Masters Williams won his first round match against Ricky Walden 5–3, but lost narrowly in the second round against Graeme Dott 4–5. He then reached the semi-finals of the World Open, where he lost 2–3 against eventual winner Neil Robertson.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: He was selected to compete in the 2010 Premier League, due to his success from the previous season, the first time he has competed in the event for five years, but failed to reach the semi-finals. At the 2010 UK Championship he reached the final, his run including a 9–8 victory over Shaun Murphy after trailing 6–8, but lost against John Higgins 9–10 in the final, after leading 7–2, 8–4 and 9–5 at some points of the match, as well as leading the 17th frame by 29 points with only the colours remaining, meaning Higgins needed a snooker to stay in the match. Williams' next tournament was the Masters, where he lost 4–6 in the first round against Ding Junhui. Williams won the first ranking event of 2011, the German Masters, by defeating Mark Selby 9–7 in the final. At the China Open Williams lost in the first round 4–5 against Stephen Lee, despite making four centuries.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: At the 2011 World Snooker Championship, Williams defeated Ryan Day 10–5 in the first round, and Jamie Cope 13–4 in the second round. He then won his quarter-final against Mark Allen 13–5, and in doing so he reached the semi-final stage for the first time since 2003, but lost 14–17 against John Higgins. As a result of Selby's exit from the tournament Williams became the new world number one after the event.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: At the World Cup Williams was partnered with Matthew Stevens to represent Wales, and they reached the semi-finals, losing 1–4 against China. Williams then reached the final of the Australian Goldfields Open, but lost 8–9 against Stuart Bingham, after leading 8–5 at one point of the match. Williams also lost from a winning position in the final of the next major ranking event, the Shanghai Masters. His run included a 6–5 win over Neil Robertson in the semi-final, and he led Mark Selby 9–7 in the final, but lost the last three frames to lose 9–10. The defeat also meant that Selby took the world number one spot from Williams. He was beaten in the last 16 of the 2011 UK Championship by Ricky Walden and reached the quarter-finals in his defence of the German Masters, where he succumbed 3–5 to Stephen Lee. Williams suffered a 1–5 defeat to Mark King in the first round of the World Open and by the same scoreline to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round of the China Open.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams played in 11 of the 12 PTC events throughout the season, but could only reach the last 32 two times, in Event 10 and Event 11. He was ranked 82nd in the PTC Order of Merit, comfortably outside the top 24 who made the Finals.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams caused a degree of controversy ahead of the World Championship by stating on his Twitter page that he "hates" the tournament's venue, the Crucible Theatre, and hopes it will be played in China soon. He also swore when describing the Grade II listed building. A spokesman from the WPBSA confirmed a statement would be released regarding the matter. Williams was drawn to play Liu Chuang in the first round and won 10–6 to set up a second round clash with O'Sullivan which he lost 6–13. The result meant that Williams has failed to beat O'Sullivan in over 10 years in ranking events. Williams ended the season ranked world number 3. It was revealed by World Snooker that Williams had been fined a total of £4,000 for his comments made before the World Championship.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams first ranking event of the 2012–13 season was the Wuxi Classic, where he beat Tom Ford and Mark Allen, before losing 3–5 to Marcus Campbell in the quarter-finals.<ref name="2012/13"></ref> He went one better at the Shanghai Masters by seeing off Mark Davis, Ricky Walden and Joe Perry to face Judd Trump in the semi-finals. Trump was 5–1 up and on a break of 53 for the match, but Williams came back to trail 4–5 before losing the next frame to come up short of completing a comeback, and Trump beat Williams 6–4. Williams then suffered a huge dip in form as he lost in the first round of six successive ranking events; after his defeat to Mark King in the 2012 UK Championship he suggested that he was contemplating retirement. During his string of defeats he did beat Matthew Stevens in the non-ranking Masters from 1–4 down (Stevens also missed a pot for 5–1), but then lost 1–6 to eventual champion Mark Selby. At the China Open in March Williams won his first match in a ranking event since September with a 5–2 victory against Lü Haotian and continued his run by defeating Ali Carter 5–4, before losing 1–5 to Selby in the quarter-finals. At the World Championship he lost 6–10 to debuting compatriot Michael White in the first round and admitted afterwards that the season had been one he would be looking forward to forgetting, but he was committed to playing next year. His poor season saw him drop 12 places in the rankings to world number 15.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: In July 2013 he won the Rotterdam Open, defeating Mark Selby 4–3 in the final. This was Williams' second title in a Players Tour Championship event. However, he had a poor season in the ranking events as he failed to reach a single quarter-final for the first time since the 2006–07 season.<ref name="2013/14"></ref> He did earn an encouraging 4–3 win over world number one Neil Robertson at the Welsh Open; Williams said afterwards that he was glad he had ignored his friend Stephen Hendry's advice to retire and believed he still had ranking event titles left in him. He had chances to move 3–0 ahead in the last 16 against Marco Fu, but eventually lost 2–4; afterwards he said that the Williams who won two world titles over 10 years ago was "dead". In the qualifying rounds for the World Championship, Williams lost 8–10 to Alan McManus, meaning he was absent from the tournament for the first time since 1996. Williams finished the campaign as the world number 18, the first time he had ended the season outside the top 16 in six years.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams lost in the second round of his first two ranking events of the 2014–15 season.<ref name="2014/15"></ref> His first quarter-final of the campaign was at the International Championship and he trailed Ronnie O'Sullivan 0–3, before winning five successive frames with a high break of 120. The match went into a deciding frame, which Williams won to beat the five-time world champion for the first time in 12 years. His semi-final match against Mark Allen also went all the way, after Williams had been 4–7 down, and a miss on the final red proved crucial as he was defeated 8–9. He was beaten 2–6 by Stephen Maguire in the third round of the 2014 UK Championship.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: After knocking out Judd Trump 4–1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, Williams said that he no was longer expecting to win tournaments and was more concerned with improving his ranking. He then made two centuries in defeating Marco Fu 5–1 to play in the semi-finals of the event for the first time since 2003. Williams took advantage of Ben Woollaston missing chances to send their match into a deciding frame after he had been 3–5 behind, but lost it to just fall short of reaching the final in his home tournament. Williams won through to the final of the minor-ranking Gdynia Open, but was whitewashed 4–0 by Neil Robertson. Despite only being 39 years old, Williams took part in the World Seniors Championship as he would turn 40 before the end of the season and he won the title by beating Fergal O'Brien 2–1. Another ranking event semi-final followed at the Indian Open, where he lost 2–4 to Michael White.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: After defeating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the first round of the Players Championship Grand Final, Williams produced back-to-back comebacks from 1–3 down to knock out both Mark Selby and Matthew Selt 4–3. He then reached his first major ranking event final in over three years with a 4–2 win over Judd Trump and raced into a 3–0 lead against Joe Perry. However, his highest break in the next four frames was 14 as Perry fought back to triumph 4–3. In a rematch of the 2000 final, Williams played Matthew Stevens in the first round of the World Championship and was thrashed 10–2.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams lost 1–5 to Judd Trump in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters. He reached the final of the non-ranking General Cup, where he was defeated 3–7 by Marco Fu.<ref name="2015/16"></ref> He drew Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round of the Masters and was 4–2 ahead. However, the match went to a deciding frame in which Williams missed a risky plant and lost 5–6. He lost in the fourth round of the Welsh Open 2–4 to Mark Selby and in the first round of three other ranking events and in qualifying for the China Open. Williams saw off Graeme Dott 10–4 and Michael Holt 13–8 to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in five years. However, he was then thrashed 3–13 by Ding Junhui in the quarter-final, with a session to spare.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams won a trio of frames to force a decider in the semi-finals of the Riga Masters against Michael Holt, but missed the final brown to be defeated. He reached the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open by beating John Higgins 4–1, then lost 4–5 to Kyren Wilson. He recorded another quarter-final at the UK Championship, but was downed 2–6 by Ronnie O'Sullivan. In the third round of the China Open, Williams came from 1–4 down to eliminate Higgins 5–4 and then thrashed Shaun Murphy 5–1. Another comfortable win followed as he saw off Hossein Vafaei 6–1 to play Mark Selby in the final. Williams needed to win to break back into the top 16 and avoid having to qualify for the World Championship. He was 8–7 up, but lost the last three frames to be beaten 8–10, falling short of winning his first ranking event for six years. He made it through to the final World Championship qualifying round, before Stuart Carrington beat him 10–7. Williams was noticeably absent from the cast of players at the Crucible's 40th anniversary, O'Sullivan suggesting that he was bitter about not qualifying for the championship.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams won his first ranking title after a six-year drought, the Northern Ireland Open, defeating Chinese rising star Yan Bingtao 9–8 in the final; the victory was emotional for Williams, as he revealed that his wife had been suffering from ill health, and he had considered withdrawing from several tournaments. In the Masters, he faced Mark Selby in the first round, recovering from 3–5 behind to defeat the incumbent World Champion 6–5. He lost 1–6 to Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Having beaten Oliver Lines 5–1 and Matthew Stevens 5–3 to qualify for the 2018 German Masters, Williams lost the first two frames of his first-round match against Fergal O'Brien but went on to beat O'Brien 5–3, later overcoming Matthew Selt 5–2 and Jimmy Robertson 5–3 to reach the semi-finals. There, he recorded breaks of 109, 68 and 51 in defeating Judd Trump 6–1 to reach the final, where he would face Graeme Dott. In the final, Williams was dominant, making six breaks over 50 and one century, a 110 in the eighth frame. Dott won the third frame to trail 1–2, compiling a break of 64 after an earlier 56 by Williams, but did not win another, as Williams ran out a 9–1 victor.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams advanced to the semi-finals of the World Championship fairly comfortably, and before his match with Barry Hawkins in the semi-final said that he would do his press conference naked as the world champion if he won. Hawkins would prove to be Williams' most difficult opponent of the tournament: Williams levelled the match at 15–15 and secured the lengthy, hard-fought frames needed to win at the eleventh hour. Williams reached his first World Championship final since 2003 facing his fellow 'Class of '92' member, John Higgins. The match was described as one of the best finals in the history of the tournament, Williams winning 18–16 to claim his third World Championship making him (aged 43 at the time) the oldest winner since Reardon, who was 45 in 1978. (Ronnie O'Sullivan won his sixth world title in 2020, aged 44, meaning that Williams is now the third-oldest winner of a world title in the modern era.) It also marked 15 years since his last title, making it the largest time span between consecutive titles. Following victory, Williams thanked his late sponsor Ron Skinner, who had died two months earlier, his wife for convincing him not to retire, and coach Stephen Feeney for turning his game around so dramatically from a year ago. As promised, Williams appeared naked at his later press conference, much to the amusement of some news copywriters,


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: As world champion, Williams won the second event of the new season, the 2018 World Open. After recovering from 0–3 behind in his quarter-final against Jack Lisowski to win 5–3, he than came back from 2–5 down in his semi-final against Noppon Saengkham to win 6–5. In the final against David Gilbert, Williams again recovered from a sizeable deficit of 5–9 to win the match 10–9. At the 2019 World Championship, Williams' defence of his world title ended in the second round, with a 13–9 loss to Gilbert.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams began the 2019–20 season positioned third in the world rankings. In early September, he reached the semi-finals of the Six-red World Championship, where he lost 5–7 to John Higgins. He later reached the final of the China Championship; having been 5–9 behind to Shaun Murphy, Williams won four frames to force a deciding frame, which he lost.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: During the UK Championship, Williams commented on Twitter that he was not enjoying snooker, before losing 2–6 to Michael White in the second round. He decided not to travel to China to defend his World Open title, and also opted not to play in any of the Home Nations Series tournaments, but he still ended 2019 as world number two.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams has been described by some snooker pundits as one of the greatest long potters in the game. He has compiled more than 500 competitive centuries during his professional career, and is 10th on the all-time list of century makers; this is despite his tendency to play exhibition shots, or to miss on purpose, when he knows that the frame is won. He is also well known for his ability to win "scrappy" frames, using his tactical play and by picking out .


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: An unusual aspect of Williams' playing style is a tendency to position his cue directly underneath his body instead of using the rest, a technique that he often brings into play once a frame is secure. He is partially colour blind and has difficulty distinguishing between the red and brown balls; on one occasion, he potted a brown ball believing it to be red.


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Over the course of his career, Williams has earned the nicknames "Sprog", the "Welsh Potting Machine", and "The Welsh Wonder".


title: Mark Williams (snooker player)

text: Williams is also a keen poker player and golfer. He is proud of his Welsh heritage, and has a tattoo depicting the Welsh Dragon eating the English flag. He is a keen Manchester United supporter. Williams and his wife Joanne have three sons: Connor (born April 2004), Kian (born 2007) and Joel (born 2014). He is good friends with fellow snooker professionals Matthew Stevens, Jackson Page and Stephen Hendry, as well as boxer Joe Calzaghe. Williams was awarded an MBE in June 2004.


title: Glossary of basketball terms

text: This glossary of basketball terms is a list of definitions of terms used in the game of basketball. Like any other major sport, basketball features its own extensive vocabulary of unique words and phrases used by players, coaches, sports journalists, commentators, and fans.


title: Filter bubble

text: A filter bubble or ideological frame is a state of intellectual isolation that can result from personalized searches when a website algorithm selectively guesses what information a user would like to see based on information about the user, such as location, past click-behavior, and search history. As a result, users become separated from information that disagrees with their viewpoints, effectively isolating them in their own cultural or ideological bubbles. The choices made by these algorithms are only sometimes transparent. Prime examples include Google Personalized Search results and Facebook's personalized news-stream.


title: Filter bubble

text: The term "filter bubble" was coined by internet activist Eli Pariser circa 2010 and discussed in his 2011 book of the same name. The bubble effect may have negative implications for civic discourse, according to Pariser, but contrasting views regard the effect as minimal and addressable. The results of the U.S. presidential election in 2016 have been associated with the influence of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and as a result have called into question the effects of the "filter bubble" phenomenon on user exposure to fake news and echo chambers, spurring new interest in the term, with many concerned that the phenomenon may harm democracy and well-being by making the effects of misinformation worse.


title: Filter bubble

text: According to Pariser, users get less exposure to conflicting viewpoints and are isolated intellectually in their informational bubble. He related an example in which one user searched Google for "BP" and got investment news about British Petroleum, while another searcher got information about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and noted that the two search results pages were "strikingly different."


title: Filter bubble

text: Pariser defined his concept of a filter bubble in more formal terms as "that personal ecosystem of information that's been catered by these algorithms." An internet user's past browsing and search history is built up over time when they indicate interest in topics by "clicking links, viewing friends, putting movies in [their] queue, reading news stories," and so forth. An internet firm then uses this information to target advertising to the user, or make certain types of information appear more prominently in search results pages.


title: Filter bubble

text: This process is not random, as it operates under a three-step process, per Pariser, who states, "First, you figure out who people are and what they like. Then, you provide them with content and services that best fit them. Finally, you tune in to get the fit just right. Your identity shapes your media." Pariser also reports:


title: Filter bubble

text: Accessing the data of link clicks displayed through site traffic measurements determines that filter bubbles can be collective or individual.


title: Filter bubble

text: As of 2011, one engineer had told Pariser that Google looked at 57 different pieces of data to personally tailor a user's search results, including non-cookie data such as the type of computer being used and the user's physical location.


title: Filter bubble

text: Other terms have been used to describe this phenomenon, including "ideological frames" and "the figurative sphere surrounding you as you search the internet." A related term, "echo chamber," was originally applied to news media, but is now applied to social media as well.


title: Filter bubble

text: Pariser's idea of the filter bubble was popularized after the TED talk in May 2011, in which he gave examples of how filter bubbles work and where they can be seen. In a test seeking to demonstrate the filter bubble effect, Pariser asked several friends to search for the word "Egypt" on Google and send him the results. Comparing two of the friends' first pages of results, while there was overlap between them on topics like news and travel, one friend's results prominently included links to information on the then-ongoing Egyptian revolution of 2011, while the other friend's first page of results did not include such links.


title: Filter bubble

text: In "The Filter Bubble", Pariser warns that a potential downside to filtered searching is that it "closes us off to new ideas, subjects, and important information," and "creates the impression that our narrow self-interest is all that exists." In his view, filter bubbles are potentially harmful to both individuals and society. He criticized Google and Facebook for offering users "too much candy and not enough carrots." He warned that "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" may limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook. According to Pariser, the detrimental effects of filter bubbles include harm to the general society in the sense that they have the possibility of "undermining civic discourse" and making people more vulnerable to "propaganda and manipulation." He wrote:


title: Filter bubble

text: Many people are unaware that filter bubbles even exist. This can be seen in an article in The Guardian, which mentioned the fact that "more than 60% of Facebook users are entirely unaware of any curation on Facebook at all, believing instead that every single story from their friends and followed pages appeared in their news feed." A brief explanation for how Facebook decides what goes on a user's news feed is through an algorithm that takes into account "how you have interacted with similar posts in the past."


title: Filter bubble

text: A filter bubble has been described as exacerbating a phenomenon that called "splinternet" or "cyberbalkanization", which happens when the internet becomes divided into sub-groups of like-minded people who become insulated within their own online community and fail to get exposure to different views. This concern dates back to the early days of the publicly accessible internet, with the term "cyberbalkanization" being coined in 1996.


title: Filter bubble

text: In news media, an echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. By visiting an "echo chamber," people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views, potentially as an unconscious exercise of confirmation bias. This may increase political and social polarization and extremism. The term is a metaphor based on the acoustic echo chamber, where sounds reverberate in a hollow enclosure. "Echo chambers" reinforce an individual's beliefs without factual support. They are surrounded by those who acknowledge and follow the same viewpoints.


title: Filter bubble

text: Barack Obama's farewell address identified a similar concept to filter bubbles as a "threat to [Americans'] democracy," i.e., the "retreat into our own bubbles, ...especially our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions... And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accepting only information, whether it's true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there."


title: Filter bubble

text: There are conflicting reports about the extent to which personalized filtering happens and whether such activity is beneficial or harmful. Analyst Jacob Weisberg, writing in June 2011 for "Slate", did a small non-scientific experiment to test Pariser's theory which involved five associates with different ideological backgrounds conducting a series of searches, "John Boehner," "Barney Frank," "Ryan plan," and "Obamacare," and sending Weisberg screenshots of their results. The results varied only in minor respects from person to person, and any differences did not appear to be ideology-related, leading Weisberg to conclude that a filter bubble was not in effect, and to write that the idea that most internet users were "feeding at the trough of a "Daily Me"" was overblown. Weisberg asked Google to comment, and a spokesperson stated that algorithms were in place to deliberately "limit personalization and promote variety." Book reviewer Paul Boutin did a similar experiment to Weisberg's among people with differing search histories and again found that the different searchers received nearly identical search results. Interviewing programmers at Google, off the record, journalist found that user data used to play a bigger role in determining search results but that Google, through testing, found that the search query is by far the best determinator of what results to display.


title: Filter bubble

text: There are reports that Google and other sites maintain vast "dossiers" of information on their users, which might enable them to personalize individual internet experiences further if they choose to do so. For instance, the technology exists for Google to keep track of users' past histories even if they don't have a personal Google account or are not logged into one. One report stated that Google had collected "10 years' worth" of information amassed from varying sources, such as Gmail, Google Maps, and other services besides its search engine, although a contrary report was that trying to personalize the internet for each user, was technically challenging for an internet firm to achieve despite the huge amounts of available data. Analyst Doug Gross of CNN suggested that filtered searching seemed to be more helpful for consumers than for "citizens", and would help a consumer looking for "pizza" find local delivery options based on a personalized search and appropriately filter out distant pizza stores. Organizations such as the "Washington Post", "The New York Times", and others have experimented with creating new personalized information services, with the aim of tailoring search results to those that users are likely to like or agree with.


title: Filter bubble

text: A scientific study from Wharton that analyzed personalized recommendations also found that these filters can create commonality, not fragmentation, in online music taste. Consumers reportedly use the filters to expand their taste rather than to limit it. Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain disputed the extent to which personalization filters distort Google search results, saying that "the effects of search personalization have been light." Further, Google provides the ability for users to shut off personalization features if they choose by deleting Google's record of their search history and setting Google not to remember their search keywords and visited links in the future.


title: Filter bubble

text: A study from "Internet Policy Review" addressed the lack of a clear and testable definition for filter bubbles across disciplines; this often results in researchers defining and studying filter bubbles in different ways. Subsequently, the study explained a lack of empirical data for the existence of filter bubbles across disciplines and suggested that the effects attributed to them may stem more from preexisting ideological biases than from algorithms. Similar views can be found in other academic projects, which also address concerns with the definitions of filter bubbles and the relationships between ideological and technological factors associated with them. A critical review of filter bubbles suggested that "the filter bubble thesis often posits a special kind of political human who has opinions that are strong, but at the same time highly malleable" and that it is a "paradox that people have an active agency when they select content but are passive receivers once they are exposed to the algorithmically curated content recommended to them."


title: Filter bubble

text: A study by Oxford, Stanford, and Microsoft researchers examined the browsing histories of 1.2 million U.S. users of the Bing Toolbar add-on for Internet Explorer between March and May 2013. They selected 50,000 of those users who were active news consumers, then classified whether the news outlets they visited were left- or right-leaning, based on whether the majority of voters in the counties associated with user IP addresses voted for Obama or Romney in the 2012 presidential election. They then identified whether news stories were read after accessing the publisher's site directly, via the Google News aggregation service, web searches, or social media. The researchers found that while web searches and social media do contribute to ideological segregation, the vast majority of online news consumption consisted of users directly visiting left- or right-leaning mainstream news sites and consequently being exposed almost exclusively to views from a single side of the political spectrum. Limitations of the study included selection issues such as Internet Explorer users skewing higher in age than the general internet population; Bing Toolbar usage and the voluntary (or unknowing) sharing of browsing history selection for users who are less concerned about privacy; the assumption that all stories in left-leaning publications are left-leaning, and the same for right-leaning; and the possibility that users who are "not" active news consumers may get most of their news via social media, and thus experience stronger effects of social or algorithmic bias than those users who essentially self-select their bias through their choice of news publications (assuming they are aware of the publications' biases).


title: Filter bubble

text: A study by Princeton University and New York University researchers aimed to study the impact of filter bubble and algorithmic filtering on social media polarization. They used a mathematical model called the "stochastic block model" to test their hypothesis on the environments of Reddit and Twitter. The researchers gauged changes in polarization in regularized social media networks and non-regularized networks, specifically measuring the percent changes in polarization and disagreement on Reddit and Twitter. They found that polarization increased significantly at 400% in non-regularized networks, while polarization increased by 4% in regularized networks and disagreement by 5%.


title: Filter bubble

text: While algorithms do limit political diversity, some of the filter bubbles are the result of user choice. A study by data scientists at Facebook found that users have one friend with contrasting views for every four Facebook friends that share an ideology. No matter what Facebook's algorithm for its News Feed is, people are more likely to befriend/follow people who share similar beliefs. The nature of the algorithm is that it ranks stories based on a user's history, resulting in a reduction of the "politically cross-cutting content by 5 percent for conservatives and 8 percent for liberals." However, even when people are given the option to click on a link offering contrasting views, they still default to their most viewed sources. "[U]ser choice decreases the likelihood of clicking on a cross-cutting link by 17 percent for conservatives and 6 percent for liberals." A cross-cutting link is one that introduces a different point of view than the user's presumed point of view or what the website has pegged as the user's beliefs. A recent study from Levi Boxell, Matthew Gentzkow, and Jesse M. Shapiro suggest that online media isn't the driving force for political polarization. The paper argues that polarization has been driven by the demographic groups that spend the least time online. The greatest ideological divide is experienced amongst Americans older than 75, while only 20% reported using social media as of 2012. In contrast, 80% of Americans aged 18–39 reported using social media as of 2012. The data suggests that the younger demographic isn't any more polarized in 2012 than it had been when online media barely existed in 1996. The study highlights differences between age groups and how news consumption remains polarized as people seek information that appeals to their preconceptions. Older Americans usually remain stagnant in their political views as traditional media outlets continue to be a primary source of news, while online media is the leading source for the younger demographic. Although algorithms and filter bubbles weaken content diversity, this study reveals that political polarization trends are primarily driven by pre-existing views and failure to recognize outside sources. A 2020 study from Germany utilized the Big Five Psychology model to test the effects of individual personality, demographics, and ideologies on user news consumption. Basing their study on the notion that the number of news sources that users consume impacts their likelihood to be caught in a filter bubble—with higher media diversity lessening the chances—their results suggest that certain demographics (higher age and male) along with certain personality traits (high openness) correlate positively with number of news sources consumed by individuals. The study also found a negative ideological association between media diversity and the degree to which users align with right-wing authoritarianism. Beyond offering different individual user factors that may influence the role of user choice, this study also raises questions and associations between the likelihood of users being caught in filter bubbles and user voting behavior.


title: Filter bubble

text: The Facebook study found that it was "inconclusive" whether or not the algorithm played as big a role in filtering News Feeds as people assumed. The study also found that "individual choice," or confirmation bias, likewise affected what gets filtered out of News Feeds. Some social scientists criticized this conclusion because the point of protesting the filter bubble is that the algorithms and individual choice work together to filter out News Feeds. They also criticized Facebook's small sample size, which is about "9% of actual Facebook users," and the fact that the study results are "not reproducible" due to the fact that the study was conducted by "Facebook scientists" who had access to data that Facebook does not make available to outside researchers.


title: Filter bubble

text: Though the study found that only about 15–20% of the average user's Facebook friends subscribe to the opposite side of the political spectrum, Julia Kaman from Vox theorized that this could have potentially positive implications for viewpoint diversity. These "friends" are often acquaintances with whom we would not likely share our politics without the internet. Facebook may foster a unique environment where a user sees and possibly interacts with content posted or re-posted by these "second-tier" friends. The study found that "24 percent of the news items liberals saw were conservative-leaning and 38 percent of the news conservatives saw was liberal-leaning." "Liberals tend to be connected to fewer friends who share information from the other side, compared with their conservative counterparts." This interplay has the ability to provide diverse information and sources that could moderate users' views.


title: Filter bubble

text: Similarly, a study of Twitter's filter bubbles by New York University concluded that "Individuals now have access to a wider span of viewpoints about news events, and most of this information is not coming through the traditional channels, but either directly from political actors or through their friends and relatives. Furthermore, the interactive nature of social media creates opportunities for individuals to discuss political events with their peers, including those with whom they have weak social ties." According to these studies, social media may be diversifying information and opinions users come into contact with, though there is much speculation around filter bubbles and their ability to create deeper political polarization.


title: Filter bubble

text: One driver and possible solution to the problem is the role of emotions in online content. A 2018 study shows that different emotions of messages can lead to polarization or convergence: joy is prevalent in emotional polarization, while sadness and fear play significant roles in emotional convergence. Since it is relatively easy to detect the emotional content of messages, these findings can help to design more socially responsible algorithms by starting to focus on the emotional content of algorithmic recommendations.


title: Filter bubble

text: Social bots have been utilized by different researchers to test polarization and related effects that are attributed to filter bubbles and echo chambers. A 2018 study used social bots on Twitter to test deliberate user exposure to partisan viewpoints. The study claimed it demonstrated partisan differences between exposure to differing views, although it warned that the findings should be limited to party-registered American Twitter users. One of the main findings was that after exposure to differing views (provided by the bots), self-registered republicans became more conservative, whereas self-registered liberals showed less ideological change if none at all. A different study from The People's Republic of China utilized social bots on "Weibo"—the largest social media platform in China—to examine the structure of filter bubbles regarding to their effects on polarization. The study draws a distinction between two conceptions of polarization. One being where people with similar views form groups, share similar opinions, and block themselves from differing viewpoints (opinion polarization), and the other being where people do not access diverse content and sources of information (information polarization). By utilizing social bots instead of human volunteers and focusing more on information polarization rather than opinion-based, the researchers concluded that there are two essential elements of a filter bubble: a large concentration of users around a single topic and a uni-directional, star-like structure that impacts key information flows.


title: Filter bubble

text: In June 2018, the platform DuckDuckGo conducted a research study on the Google Web Browser Platform. For this study, 87 adults in various locations around the continental United States googled three keywords at the exact same time: immigration, gun control, and vaccinations. Even in private browsing mode, most people saw results unique to them. Google included certain links for some that it did not include for other participants, and the News and Videos infoboxes showed significant variation. Google publicly disputed these results saying that Search Engine Results Page (SERP) personalization is mostly a myth. Google Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, stated that “Over the years, a myth has developed that Google Search personalizes so much that for the same query, different people might get significantly different results from each other. This isn’t the case. Results can differ, but usually for non-personalized reasons.”


title: Filter bubble

text: When filter bubbles are in place, they can create specific moments that scientists call 'Whoa' moments. A 'Whoa' moment is when an article, ad, post, etc., appears on your computer that is in relation to a current action or current use of an object. Scientists discovered this term after a young woman was performing her daily routine, which included drinking coffee when she opened her computer and noticed an advertisement for the same brand of coffee that she was drinking. "Sat down and opened up Facebook this morning while having my coffee, and there they were two ads for Nespresso. Kind of a 'whoa' moment when the product you're drinking pops up on the screen in front of you." "Whoa" moments occur when people are "found." Which means advertisement algorithms target specific users based on their "click behavior" to increase their sale revenue.


title: Filter bubble

text: Several designers have developed tools to counteract the effects of filter bubbles (see ). Swiss radio station SRF voted the word "filterblase" (the German translation of filter bubble) word of the year 2016.


title: Filter bubble

text: In "The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You", internet activist Eli Pariser highlights how the increasing occurrence of filter bubbles further emphasizes the value of one's bridging social capital as defined by Robert Putman. Indeed, while bonding capital corresponds on the one hand to the establishment of strong ties between like-minded people, thus reinforcing some sense of social homogeneity, bridging social capital on the other hand represents the creation of weak ties between people with potentially diverging interests and viewpoints, hence introducing significantly more heterogeneity. In that sense, high bridging capital is much more likely to promote social inclusion by increasing our exposure to a space where we address the problems that transcend our niches and narrow self interests. Fostering one's bridging capital, such as by connecting with more people in an informal setting, can therefore be an effective way to reduce the influence of the filter bubble phenomenon.


title: Filter bubble

text: Users can in fact take many actions to burst through their filter bubbles, for example by making a conscious effort to evaluate what information they are exposing themselves to, and by thinking critically about whether they are engaging with a broad range of content. This view argues that users should change the psychology of how they approach media, rather than relying on technology to counteract their biases. Users can consciously avoid news sources that are unverifiable or weak. Chris Glushko, the VP of Marketing at IAB, advocates using fact-checking sites to identify fake news. Technology can also play a valuable role in combating filter bubbles.


title: Filter bubble

text: Some additional plug-ins, such as Media Bias Fact Check, aimed to help people step out of their filter bubbles and make them aware of their personal perspectives; thus, these media show content that contradicts with their beliefs and opinions. For instance, Escape Your Bubble asks users to indicate a specific political party they want to be more informed about. The plug-in will then suggest articles from well-established sources to read relating to that political party, encouraging users to become more educated about the other party. In addition to plug-ins, there are apps created with the mission of encouraging users to open their echo chambers. "UnFound.news" offers an AI (Artificial Intelligence) curated news app to readers presenting them news from diverse and distinct perspectives, helping them form rationale and informed opinion rather than succumbing to their own biases. It also nudges the readers to read different perspectives if their reading pattern is biased towards one side/ideology. "Read Across the Aisle" is a news app that reveals whether or not users are reading from diverse new sources that include multiple perspectives. Each source is color coordinated, representing the political leaning of each article. When users only read news from one perspective, the app communicates that to the user and encourages readers to explore other sources with opposing viewpoints. Although apps and plug-ins are tools humans can use, Eli Pariser stated "certainly, there is some individual responsibility here to really seek out new sources and people who aren't like you."


title: Filter bubble

text: Since web-based advertising can further the effect of the filter bubbles by exposing users to more of the same content, users can block much advertising by deleting their search history, turning off targeted ads, and downloading browser extensions. Extensions such as Escape your Bubble for Google Chrome aim to help curate content and prevent users from only being exposed to biased information, while Mozilla Firefox extensions such as Lightbeam and Self-Destructing Cookies enable users to visualize how their data is being tracked, and lets them remove some of the tracking cookies. Some use anonymous or non-personalized search engines such as YaCy, DuckDuckGo, Qwant, Startpage.com, Disconnect, and Searx in order to prevent companies from gathering their web-search data. Swiss daily "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" is beta-testing a personalized news engine app which uses machine learning to guess what content a user is interested in, while "always including an element of surprise"; the idea is to mix in stories which a user is unlikely to have followed in the past.


title: Filter bubble

text: The European Union is taking measures to lessen the effect of the filter bubble. The European Parliament is sponsoring inquiries into how filter bubbles affect people's ability to access diverse news. Additionally, it introduced a program aimed to educate citizens about social media. In the U.S., the CSCW panel suggests the use of news aggregator apps to broaden media consumers news intake. News aggregator apps scan all current news articles and direct you to different viewpoints regarding a certain topic. Users can also use a diversely-aware news balancer which visually shows the media consumer if they are leaning left or right when it comes to reading the news, indicating right-leaning with a bigger red bar or left-leaning with a bigger blue bar. A study evaluating this news balancer found "a small but noticeable change in reading behavior, toward more balanced exposure, among users seeing the feedback, as compared to a control group".


title: Filter bubble

text: In light of recent concerns about information filtering on social media, Facebook acknowledged the presence of filter bubbles and has taken strides toward removing them. In January 2017, Facebook removed personalization from its Trending Topics list in response to problems with some users not seeing highly talked-about events there. Facebook's strategy is to reverse the Related Articles feature that it had implemented in 2013, which would post related news stories after the user read a shared article. Now, the revamped strategy would flip this process and post articles from different perspectives on the same topic. Facebook is also attempting to go through a vetting process whereby only articles from reputable sources will be shown. Along with the founder of Craigslist and a few others, Facebook has invested $14 million into efforts "to increase trust in journalism around the world, and to better inform the public conversation". The idea is that even if people are only reading posts shared from their friends, at least these posts will be credible.


title: Filter bubble

text: Similarly, Google, as of January 30, 2018, has also acknowledged the existence of a filter bubble difficulties within its platform. Because current Google searches pull algorithmically ranked results based upon "authoritativeness" and "relevancy" which show and hide certain search results, Google is seeking to combat this. By training its search engine to recognize the intent of a search inquiry rather than the literal syntax of the question, Google is attempting to limit the size of filter bubbles. As of now, the initial phase of this training will be introduced in the second quarter of 2018. Questions that involve bias and/or controversial opinions will not be addressed until a later time, prompting a larger problem that exists still: whether the search engine acts either as an arbiter of truth or as a knowledgeable guide by which to make decisions by.


title: Filter bubble

text: In April 2017 news surfaced that Facebook, Mozilla, and Craigslist contributed to the majority of a $14M donation to CUNY's "News Integrity Initiative," poised at eliminating fake news and creating more honest news media.


title: Filter bubble

text: Later, in August, Mozilla, makers of the Firefox web browser, announced the formation of the Mozilla Information Trust Initiative (MITI). The +MITI would serve as a collective effort to develop products, research, and community-based solutions to combat the effects of filter bubbles and the proliferation of fake news. Mozilla's Open Innovation team leads the initiative, striving to combat misinformation, with a specific focus on the product with regards to literacy, research and creative interventions.


title: Filter bubble

text: As the popularity of cloud services increases, personalized algorithms used to construct filter bubbles are expected to become more widespread. Scholars have begun considering the effect of filter bubbles on the users of social media from an ethical standpoint, particularly concerning the areas of personal freedom, security, and information bias. Filter bubbles in popular social media and personalized search sites can determine the particular content seen by users, often without their direct consent or cognizance, due to the algorithms used to curate that content. Self-created content manifested from behavior patterns can lead to partial information blindness. Critics of the use of filter bubbles speculate that individuals may lose autonomy over their own social media experience and have their identities socially constructed as a result of the pervasiveness of filter bubbles.


title: Filter bubble

text: Technologists, social media engineers, and computer specialists have also examined the prevalence of filter bubbles. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and Eli Pariser, author of "The Filter Bubble", have expressed concerns regarding the risks of privacy and information polarization. The information of the users of personalized search engines and social media platforms is not private, though some people believe it should be. The concern over privacy has resulted in a debate as to whether or not it is moral for information technologists to take users' online activity and manipulate future exposure to related information.


title: Filter bubble

text: Some scholars have expressed concerns regarding the effects of filter bubbles on individual and social well-being, i.e. the dissemination of health information to the general public and the potential effects of internet search engines to alter health-related behavior. A 2019 multi-disciplinary book reported research and perspectives on the roles filter bubbles play in regards to health misinformation. Drawing from various fields such as journalism, law, medicine, and health psychology, the book addresses different controversial health beliefs (e.g. alternative medicine and pseudoscience) as well as potential remedies to the negative effects of filter bubbles and echo chambers on different topics in health discourse. A 2016 study on the potential effects of filter bubbles on search engine results related to suicide found that algorithms play an important role in whether or not helplines and similar search results are displayed to users and discussed the implications their research may have for health policies. Another 2016 study from the Croatian Medical journal proposed some strategies for mitigating the potentially harmful effects of filter bubbles on health information, such as: informing the public more about filter bubbles and their associated effects, users choosing to try alternative [to Google] search engines, and more explanation of the processes search engines use to determine their displayed results.


title: Filter bubble

text: Since the content seen by individual social media users is influenced by algorithms that produce filter bubbles, users of social media platforms are more susceptible to confirmation bias, and may be exposed to biased, misleading information. Social sorting and other unintentional discriminatory practices are also anticipated as a result of personalized filtering.


title: Filter bubble

text: In light of the 2016 U.S. presidential election scholars have likewise expressed concerns about the effect of filter bubbles on democracy and democratic processes, as well as the rise of "ideological media". These scholars fear that users will be unable to "[think] beyond [their] narrow self-interest" as filter bubbles create personalized social feeds, isolating them from diverse points of view and their surrounding communities. For this reason, an increasingly discussed possibility is to design social media with more serendipity, that is, to proactively recommend content that lies outside one's filter bubble, including challenging political information and, eventually, to provide empowering filters and tools to users. A related concern is in fact how filter bubbles contribute to the proliferation of "fake news" and how this may influence political leaning, including how users vote.


title: Filter bubble

text: Revelations in March 2018 of Cambridge Analytica's harvesting and use of user data for at least 87 million Facebook profiles during the 2016 presidential election highlight the ethical implications of filter bubbles. Co-Founder and whistleblower of Cambridge Analytica Christopher Wylie, detailed how the firm had the ability to develop "psychographic" profiles of those users and use the information to shape their voting behavior. Access to user data by third parties such as Cambridge Analytica can exasperate and amplify existing filter bubbles users have created, artificially increasing existing biases and further divide societies.


title: Filter bubble

text: Filter bubbles have stemmed from a surge in media personalization, which can trap users. The use of AI to personalize offerings can lead to users viewing only content that reinforces their own viewpoints without challenging them. Social media websites like Facebook may also present content in a way that makes it difficult for users to determine the source of the content, leading them to decide for themselves whether the source is reliable or fake. That can lead to people becoming used to hearing what they want to hear, which can cause them to react more radically when they see an opposing viewpoint. The filter bubble may cause the person to see any opposing viewpoints as incorrect and so could allow the media to force views onto consumers.


title: Filter bubble

text: Researches explain that the filter bubble reinforces what one is already thinking. This is why it is extremely important to utilize resources that offer various points of view.


title: Filter bubble

text: The concept of a filter bubble has been extended into other areas, to describe societies that self-segregate according political views but also economic, social, and cultural situations. That bubbling results in a loss of the broader community and creates the sense that for example, children do not belong at social events unless those events were especially planned to be appealing for children and unappealing for adults without children.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Dutch cuisine () is formed from the cooking traditions and practices of the Netherlands. The country's cuisine is shaped by its location in the fertile North Sea river delta of the European Plain, giving rise to fishing, farming (for crops and domesticated animals), and trading over sea, its former colonial empire and the spice trade.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Dutch cuisine is often seen as bland, due to a culture of frugality. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Dutch food became designed to be economical and filling rather than pleasing, with many vegetables and little meat: breakfast and lunch are typically bread with toppings like cheese, while dinner is , supplemented with seasonal vegetables. The diet contains many dairy products and is relatively high in carbohydrates and fat, reflecting the dietary needs of the laborers. Without many refinements, it is best described as "rustic", though many holidays are celebrated with special foods.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: During the 20th century, Dutch cuisine and diet changed. Influenced by the eating culture of its colonies (particularly the Dutch East Indies), it became more cosmopolitan and most international cuisines are represented in the major cities.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Little evidence is available about food and drink in the late medieval Low Countries. In the consumption of pottage, the Low Countries were not very different from other Western European countries during the Middle Ages. Half-liquid pottage consisted of milk, beer, water, root vegetable and peas or grain, sometimes enriched with a piece of meat. The content changed throughout the seasons.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Beer flavoured with gruit was produced until the 14th century at the monasteries. Gruit was replaced with hop, a tradition introduced from the German city of Bremen, and this started off a beer culture and the Low Counties as a major exporter of beer. Beer was in medieval times the common drink as water was of poor quality, and milk—coming from the low-lying grasslands of Holland and Friesland—was mainly used for the production of butter and cheese. Dutch butter and cheese became famous products at an early stage and continued to be so for centuries.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The sea and the rivers provided an abundance of fish. The process of gibbing was invented by Willem Beukelszoon, a 14th-century Zealand fisherman. The invention created an export industry for salt herring () that was monopolized by the Dutch. They began to build ships and eventually moved from trading in herring to colonizing and the Dutch Lowlands (the Netherlands as a country did not exist until 1581), ultimately leading to the Dutch becoming a seafaring power.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Herring is still very important to the Dutch who celebrate "Vlaggetjesdag" (Flag Day) each spring, as a tradition that dates back to the 14th century when fishermen went out to sea in their small boats to capture the annual catch (Hollandse Nieuwe), and to preserve and export their catch abroad.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Gardening was initially practiced by monasteries, but castles and country houses began also to develop gardens with herbs and vegetables and hunting grounds. The famous tourist attraction and flower park Keukenhof (literally "kitchen garden") is an example of a former 15th-century hunting ground and herbs garden for Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut's castle kitchen. Orchards for pears and apples connected to castles were later used for export and set off a Dutch horticulture tradition that remains to this day.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: During the 15th century haute cuisine began to emerge, largely limited to the aristocracy. Cookery books from this period are aimed at the upper class. The first Dutch-language cook book printed in Brussels is called "Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen" ("A notable book of cookery") from ca. 1510. It offers medieval recipes for festivities, such as sauces, game, jellies, fish, meat, pies, eggs, dairy products, candied quinces and ginger and contains one of the oldest known recipes for "appeltaerten", apple pie. The recipes come from various sources, 61 of them are translations of the French recipe book "Le Viandier".


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Historically, Dutch cuisine was closely related to northern French cuisine, since the two countries have nearby borders and the Low Countries and Northern France have been historically ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy. This is still visible in traditional Dutch restaurants and the Southern regional cuisine, that is still colloquially referred to as "Bourgondisch".


title: Dutch cuisine

text: As the Dutch Republic entered its Golden Age in the 17th century, dishes of this kind became available to the wealthy middle class as well, often consisting of a rich variety of fruits, cheeses, meat, wine, and nuts. The Dutch Empire enabled spices, sugar, and exotic fruits to be imported to the country.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The Dutch East India Company was the first to import coffee on a large scale to Europe. The Dutch later grew the crop in Java and Ceylon. The first exports of Indonesian coffee from Java to the Netherlands occurred in 1711. By the late 17th century, tea and coffee consumption were increasing and becoming part of everyday life. Tea was served with sweets, candy or marzipan and cookies. The availability of relatively cheaper spices resulted in a tradition of spiced cookies called "speculaas", the exact recipes of which were kept secret by bakers.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Vegetables, meat, poultry and salted, smoked or fresh fish and eggs were prepared in the Dutch kitchens of the time. The meal started with green salads and cold or warm cooked vegetables with dressing, vegetable dishes with butter, herbs or edible flowers and continued with numerous fish and meat dishes.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Exotic ingredients such as dates, rice, cinnamon, ginger and saffron were used. Savoury tarts and pastries followed. The meal ended with jellies, cheese, nuts and sweet pastries, washed down with sweet spiced wine. Of course, even in the Golden Age, not everyone could afford such luxuries and the everyday meal of the ordinary Dutchman was still a humble affair of grain or legume pottage served with rye.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: In the late 18th century the potato gained popularity, to become a staple food by 1800. In the early 19th century, while the rich could eat what they desired, the working population ate bread (rye bread in some areas) and potatoes, pancakes in some areas, occasionally fish and other seafood, fruit and vegetables, but usually little meat: "the diet of the Dutch in the nineteenth century consisted of some bread, and a great deal of potatoes". Their diet was frugal, composed of such simple dishes as bread and herring. Throughout the 19th century many people suffered from some form of malnutrition.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Potatoes, in fact, were often eaten at every meal, every day of the week. They were peeled and boiled for the main meal, lunch, and then warmed and mashed for dinner, with leftovers saved for breakfast. They were served with salt, sometimes vinegar, but without gravy or any other fat, making for a diet with "incredible monotony".


title: Dutch cuisine

text: During the 19th century, the poor people drank little else but water (of poor quality), sometimes watery coffee (or chicory) or tea. In some areas hot chocolate was consumed, but the most popular drinks (beside water) were beer and jenever. For most of the century beer was drunk in the southern part, where Catholicism dominated, and in Catholic enclaves in the other areas. Jenever consumption early in the 19th century was twice that of the equivalent consumption of distilled spirits in neighbouring countries.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The modest and plain look of what is nowadays considered the traditional Dutch cuisine, appears to be the result of a fairly recent development. In the twentieth century, the new availability of mass education meant that a great number of girls could be sent to a new school type, the "Huishoudschool" (housekeeping school), where young women were trained to become housewives and where lessons in cooking cheap and simple meals were a major part of the curriculum, often based on more traditional Dutch dishes, and leading to increased uniformity in the Dutch diet. Values taught in that school system included frugality, proper table manners, and healthy eating.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The regions in the north and east of the Netherlands, roughly the provinces of Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel and Gelderland north of the great rivers make up north eastern Dutch cuisine.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The region is the least populated area of the Netherlands. The late (18th century) introduction of large scale agriculture means that the cuisine is generally known for its many kinds of meats. The relative lack of farms allowed for an abundance of game and husbandry, though dishes near the coastal regions of Friesland, Groningen and the parts of Overijssel bordering the IJsselmeer also include a large amount of fish.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The various dried sausages, belonging to the "metworst"-family of Dutch sausages, are found throughout the region and are highly prized for their often very strong taste. Most towns and various villages have their own variety of this sausage. The region also produces the traditional smoked sausages, of which ("Gelderse") "rookworst" is the most renowned. These sausages traditionally have been smoked over wood chips, and are served after they have been boiled in water. The sausage contains a lot of fat and is very juicy. Larger sausages are often eaten alongside "stamppot", "hutspot" or "zuurkool" (sauerkraut); whereas smaller ones are often eaten as a street food. In Gelderland and Overijssel "" was a traditional food.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The provinces are also home to rye bread (a kind of Pumpernickel) and many kinds of pastries and cookies. In contrast to southern Dutch cuisine, which tends to be soft and moist, the northeastern rye bread and pastries generally are of a hard texture, and the pasties are heavily spiced with ginger or succade or contain small bits of meat. Various kinds of "Kruidkoek" (such as '), ' and " (small savory pancakes cooked in a waffle iron) are considered typical.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: Each of the provinces of Gelderland, Overijssel and Groningen has a long-standing rye bread tradition, but rye bread from Friesland became well known because of its taste. Notable characteristics of " (Frisian rye bread) is its long baking time (up to 20 hours), resulting in a sweet taste and a deep dark color.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: In terms of alcoholic beverages, the region is renowned for its many bitters (such as "Beerenburg") and other high-proof liquors rather than beer, which is, apart from "Jenever", typical for the rest of the country.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: As a coastal region, Friesland is home to low-lying grasslands, and thus has a cheese production in common with the Western cuisine. "Friese Nagelkaas" (Friesian Clove) is a notable example.


title: Dutch cuisine

text: The provinces of North Holland, South Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and the Gelderlandic region of Betuwe are the parts of the Netherlands which make up the region in which western Dutch cuisine is found.