title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: "Grace of Monaco" is focused on former Hollywood star Grace Kelly's crisis of marriage and identity, during a dispute between Monaco's Prince Rainier III and France's Charles de Gaulle in 1962, as well as her considering a return to Hollywood to film Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie".


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: In 1962, several years after her departure from Hollywood in 1956, Hitchcock visits Princess Grace in Monaco with an invitation to return to Hollywood to star in his new film "Marnie". The offer comes with a lucrative incentive of a million-dollar contract if she accepts his offer for the starring role. Princess Grace is intrigued by the offer. Her role as the wife of a head of state has been limited in scope and dealing mostly with charity work for hospitals and humanitarian efforts. She asks her husband for permission and he initially appears to be agreeable to her taking the role if she wants the part.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: In the meantime, tensions between France and Monaco are growing due to the dependence which France associates with the trade favors it has been offering to Monaco throughout the 20th century. France initiates diplomatic measures to get Monaco to accept a position of being a province within France, in the hope that Prince Rainier will give up his sovereign control over Monaco. The Prince is reticent to accept any such offer. This, in turn, provokes France to begin initial steps toward a trade embargo against Monaco. The French government also initiates clandestine contact with close members of the prince's family, namely his sister and her husband, to help expedite the prince's capitulation to French demands in exchange for favors. The tensions also created differences in opinions of the prince and his wife, which cause the prince to wish to take back his offer to allow Grace to accept the film offer from Hitchcock. The princess appears to need to take stock of her responsibilities and re-evaluate her priorities.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: She decides to increase her concern for her participation in the improvement of local hospitals and Red Cross aid throughout Europe, and she organizes a charity ball to take place in October for the purposes of fund raising and improving the prestige of Monaco in the process. Unexpectedly, she receives a report presenting photographic evidence that the prince's sister has been covertly negotiating with France and de Gaulle against the interests of the prince, which she promptly reports to the prince. The prince denounces his sister's conduct and takes steps to have her exiled from Monaco by due process of law. Princess Grace decides that the Hollywood offer is no longer a part of her life and no longer a viable option to her given her new diplomatic and political responsibilities in Monaco. Her international charity ball for the Red Cross is a grand success and Monaco gains significant international political capital from the event, which allows the prince and princess to preserve the sovereignty of Monaco.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: The script, written by Arash Amel, was listed in the 2011 Hollywood Black List of the most liked screenplays written in that year and sold to French-based producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam in a competitive bid.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Principal photography began in September 2012 in Paris and Menton, France. In October 2012, the production moved to Italy, first to Grimaldi, the village near Ventimiglia, which bears the name of the royal house of Monaco, then in Mortola, near Ventimiglia at Villa Hanbury. The production was granted permission to close Monaco's main square for 24 hours between October 29–30, 2012, and during this time the cast were seen filming outside and around the Monte Carlo Casino. In November 2012 and, again, in January 2013, the production was in Genoa, Italy, on the housed set in the Royal Palace in Via Balbi, where the Hall of Mirrors replicates the residence of the royal court of Monaco. Interiors were shot in Belgium (Belgian parliament in Brussels, the city of Ghent and television studios in Lint.)


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: On January 16, 2013, shortly after filming ended, Prince Albert II, Princess Caroline and Princess Stéphanie (Kelly's children) criticized the subject matter of the approved script, describing it as "needlessly glamorized and historically inaccurate," and said that "numerous requests for changes" had been ignored, which "had caused much astonishment." The statement continued, "Therefore, the Royal Family wishes to stress that this film in no way constitutes a biopic. It recounts one rewritten, needlessly glamorized page in the history of Monaco and its family with both major historical inaccuracies and a series of purely fictional scenes."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: In response to these criticisms, Melvyn Stokes from University College London said, "[T]he fact that their statement was issued before the film was even edited, let alone released, suggests that they may be opposed to "any" film about their mother". According to biographer Jeffrey Robinson, Princess Caroline was shown a script before filming, thought it was meant to be a comedy, then realized it was simply fiction. She went through the script with a red pen to correct things that were blatantly wrong, but Dahan was no longer interested and refused to make any changes.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Reviewing the film for "History Extra", the official website of "BBC History Magazine", Stokes said the film contains a number of historical inaccuracies, such as the suggestion that Grace's speech to the Red Cross Ball in Monaco on October 9, 1962, "defused the [tax] crisis". In reality, he points out, "its removal was the result of a compromise tax deal signed between France and Monaco that made French citizens who had lived in Monaco for less than five years, or companies doing more than a quarter of their business outside the principality, subject to French taxation." Stokes awarded the film one star for historical accuracy.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: In an interview with French newspaper "Le Figaro" in December 2012, the film's star, Nicole Kidman, hinted that the film would be a character study, stating, "This is not a biopic or a fictionalized documentary of Grace Kelly, but only a small part of her life where she reveals her great humanity as well as her fears and weaknesses."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: The production had previously asserted that the film does not purport to cover Grace Kelly's life, but a specific moment in her existence, and was filmed in Monaco with the support of the principality.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: On January 19, 2013, director Olivier Dahan responded to the royal press release by stating, "I am not a journalist or historian. I am an artist. I have not made a biopic. I hate biopics in general. I have done, in any subjectivity, a human portrait of a modern woman who wants to reconcile her family, her husband, her career. But who will give up her career and invent another role. And it will be painful." He also stated, "I understand their point of view. After all, it is their mother. I do not want to provoke anyone. Only to say that it's cinema."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: On May 2, 2014, the royal family released an official statement saying: "The Prince's Palace would like to reiterate that this feature film cannot under any circumstances be classified as a biopic."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Dahan has been vocal on the final cut disagreements he has with the film's US distributor Harvey Weinstein. He told "Libération", "It's right to struggle, but when you confront an American distributor like Weinstein, not to name names, there is not much you can do. Either you say, 'Go figure it out with your pile of shit' or you brace yourself so the blackmail isn't as violent … If I don't sign, that's where the out-and-out blackmail starts, but I could go that far. There are two versions of the film for now: mine and his … which I find catastrophic."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: In April 2014, only two weeks before its opening night premiere at Cannes, "Variety" reported that Weinstein was considering dropping the film for US distribution. It was reported several weeks later that Weinstein had decided to keep the film. Weinstein said that the cut shown at Cannes was missing a key scene that would address the 'legitimate concerns' raised by the royal family over the depiction in Dahan's movie. Though Amel never publicly took a side in the long-running feud over final cut, he refused to attend the film's official photo call and press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for the director's cut being screened. According to Amel, the version that aired on Lifetime was a third edit.


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, notable absences at the press conference and official photo-call were Weinstein and the film's screenwriter Amel. Weinstein cited charitable work in Syria as the reason for his absence, while Amel told "The Hollywood Reporter" that "he doesn't want his 'big first Cannes moment' undermined by the controversy surrounding the dueling cuts."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: The film was overwhelmingly panned by critics. , the film holds a 9% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 3.26/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Beautifully shot but utterly vapid, "Grace of Monaco" fails to honor either its subject or its audience." Metacritic reports an aggregated score of 21 out of 100 based on ten reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Film critic Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" called it "a film so awe-inspiringly wooden that it is basically a fire-risk". Stephen Dalton, writing for "The Hollywood Reporter", opined that "The "Shrek" movies deconstruct fairy tale conventions with much more depth and wit than this dreary parade of lifeless celebrity waxworks". Screen Daily's Fionnuala Halligan described the film as "puzzlingly misjudged... a minor royal Euro-pudding which lands awkwardly in sub-"Roman Holiday" territory".


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Both Dahan's direction and Amel's script were heavily criticized. Guy Lodge of HitFix wrote, "If [Dahan] instructed [Kidman] at all, it was with sporadic, barking interjections from the spoken-word breakdown of "Vogue"". Scott Foundas of "Variety" wrote, "Amel's script is agonizingly airless and contrived." Robbie Collin of "The Daily Telegraph" referred to it as "thoroughly awful." Mark Kermode in "The Guardian" wrote, "The biggest problem is Arash Amel's script, which asks us to side with tax evaders and gamblers (Monaco did indeed incur a French blockade for tax-sheltering their billionaires), and to imagine that there is something beautiful and noble about allowing companies to shirk their revenue responsibilities. (Presumably the forthcoming DVD will be heavily promoted on Amazon?)". Kermode's review of Dahan's film was directly rebutted in a long defense of the movie by critic Brad Stevens in the British Film Institute's film magazine Sight & Sound, stating "The critical condescension that met Olivier Dahan's Grace of Monaco biopic shows tastemakers still struggling with ‘feminine’ cinema."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Kidman's performance as Kelly received mixed reviews. Geoffrey MacNab of "The Independent" wrote that "Kidman excels in a role in which she is called on to project glamour and suffering in equal measure – and is never allowed to be seen in the same outfit twice." Allan Hunter of the "Daily Express" also praised Kidman: "It is Nicole Kidman who dominates and the camera positively sighs with pleasure every moment she is on screen."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Scout Foundas of "Variety", on the other hand, criticized Kidman's performance, summarizing that "the actress never appears to fully connect with the character, delivering a series of doleful little-girl-lost poses — and, later, pantomimed iron-jawed determination." Dave Calhoun of "Time Out London" shared the same sentiments saying, "Kidman's breathless, blank performance does little to add life or credibility to a script that, looking on the bright side, might have audiences giggling for years to come."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: Roth's performance was mostly criticized. Stephen Dalton of "The Hollywood Reporter" said, "Tim Roth never convinces as Rainier, chain-smoking through every scene with a pained frown suggesting mild constipation."


title: Grace of Monaco (film)

text: In January 2015, Harvey Weinstein clarified the events leading to the conflict between himself and the director. He indicated that the US release will be a "Writer's Cut", restoring the movie to the spirit of the screenplay The Weinstein Company signed on for, which he compared to "The King's Speech". He said, "The writer, Arash Amel, called me and said, what happened to my script. It’s like welcome to Hollywood. Writers don’t have any say, but we decided to pair him up with a team of people and see what he could do about restoring the movie to the way it looked when he wrote it. He did a wonderful job."


title: Big West Conference

text: The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and in 1988 was renamed the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring college football after the 2000 season.


title: Big West Conference

text: Among the conference's 11 member institutions, 10 are located in California (with 9 located in Southern California alone) and one is located in Hawaii. All of the schools are public universities, with the California schools evenly split between the California State University and the University of California systems. In addition, one affiliate member plays two sports in the BWC not sponsored by its home conference.


title: Big West Conference

text: The Big West Conference was formed in June 1968 as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. The five original charter members were Fresno State, San Jose State, UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State, and Long Beach State. Two other schools, Cal State Los Angeles and the University of the Pacific, were also considered but they declined at that time to pursue membership. The newly formed conference had a number of meetings to set up its governance, which was confirmed in October 1968 on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. Before the league started play, Cal State Los Angeles joined as a full member and the University of the Pacific joined for football only, becoming a full member itself two years later. The conference itself lists July 1, 1969, as its founding date, with the seven institutions beginning conference play that fall.


title: Big West Conference

text: Since its inception as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association, the conference has seen many changes. Utah State was the first institution outside of California to join the conference in 1978. This opened the floodgates for many other schools to affiliate with the PCAA; notable schools include UNLV, Nevada, Louisiana Tech, Boise State, and football-only members, such as Southwestern Louisiana and Arkansas State.


title: Big West Conference

text: In 1983, the PCAA became the first western conference to introduce women's athletic programs, allowing its female student-athletes to compete at the same level as their male counterparts. This proved vital for Hawaiʻi as their only participation in the conference was for their women's sports.


title: Big West Conference

text: However, many universities left to join conferences that were perceived as more well-known, such as the Western Athletic Conference or the Mountain West Conference, while others did not see the benefit of travel since historically many of the teams have been California-based.


title: Big West Conference

text: From the departures of Idaho and Utah State in 2005 until the arrival of Hawaii in 2012, all members were based in California, reducing the cost and travel time between the universities. When Hawaii joined, it agreed to help defray a portion of travel costs to that state for the league's California members.


title: Big West Conference

text: There have been no fewer than 25 full and associate members in the conference's history, while only two of the original seven charter members remain (Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara, with only Long Beach State's membership being continuous).


title: Big West Conference

text: Effective July 1, 1988, the Pacific Coast Athletic Association changed its name to the Big West Conference. With such schools as Utah State, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico State, and Hawaii now in the fold, the name change was more representative of its member institutions. In addition, the conference had signed a contract with ESPN to have its men's basketball games telecast as the third game of a triple header known as "Big Monday" - the other conferences being featured were the Big East and the Big Ten so the name Big West fit the theme.


title: Big West Conference

text: Many of the former members of the Big West are now members of the Western Athletic Conference or the Mountain West Conference. Of the nine schools that were in the WAC before its early-2010s realignment, only Hawaii had not spent some time in the Big West as a football participant – it was a Big West member only in women's sports. Of the former members, Cal State Los Angeles is the only team that reverted to Division II level.


title: Big West Conference

text: School names and nicknames reflect those used by the institutions when they were Big West members. One school has changed its name (Southwestern Louisiana, now branded athletically as Louisiana and also known as Louisiana–Lafayette) and one its nickname (Arkansas State, from Indians to Red Wolves).


title: Big West Conference

text: The Big West Conference currently sponsors 18 NCAA sports, with men's volleyball the newest addition for the 2017–18 school year.


title: Big West Conference

text: In baseball, Cal State Fullerton has won four College World Series titles with national championships in 1979, 1984, 1995, and 2004. In addition, Long Beach State and UC Irvine have made multiple appearances in the College World Series. Fullerton also has a national championship in softball, winning in 1984. Long Beach State has won three NCAA women's volleyball titles, as a part of Big West Conference women's volleyball, with national championships in 1989, 1993, and 1998. Misty May-Treanor led the 49ers (now known as Beach) to a 36–0 record en route to the program's most recent title. UC Santa Barbara was the NCAA men's soccer runner-up in 2004, losing the national championship match to Indiana on penalty kicks. The Gauchos returned to the College Cup in 2006 and won the national championship.


title: Big West Conference

text: Former Big West members UNLV and Pacific won national championships while part of the conference. The UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team won the 1990 NCAA tournament championship after routing Duke 103-73 in the national title game. UNLV was undefeated during the 1991 NCAA men's basketball season before falling to Duke in the final four. The Runnin' Rebels during this era are widely considered one of the best college basketball teams of all time. The Pacific Tigers women's volleyball team won back-to-back national championships in 1985 and 1986.


title: Big West Conference

text: The Big West did not sponsor men's volleyball or men's water polo, but it was the primary conference affiliation of several schools that compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for these sports, respectively. In NCAA men's volleyball, UC Irvine has established itself as one of the nation's most elite programs, winning four national championships in 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2013. Long Beach State also won men's national volleyball titles in 1991, 2018 and 2019. In NCAA men's water polo, UC Irvine won three national championships in 1970, 1982, and 1989. UC Santa Barbara also won a men's water polo title in 1979.


title: Big West Conference

text: On May 31, 2016, the Big West announced the conference would sponsor men's volleyball as its 18th sport, with five Big West schools leaving the MPSF to establish the new men's volleyball league. Men's volleyball is the third of four sports in which the MPSF has recently seen a mass exodus of teams to join an existing conference in a newly sponsored sport, with men's soccer, men's water polo, and women's lacrosse as the others. The men's volleyball membership includes core Big West members Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, Hawaii, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara. UC San Diego joined as an affiliate to bring the league to the NCAA minimum requirement of 6 teams to receive an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.


title: Big West Conference

text: Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell explained that adding UC San Diego was not an indicator UC San Diego would be added to the Big West Conference as a full member. UC San Diego had recently passed a bill to move all their sports to Division I and was looking for an invite from the Big West Conference. UC San Diego has long competed at the Division I level in men's volleyball; the NCAA conducts a single national championship open to all Division I and II members, and scholarship limits in the sport are the same in both divisions. The Big West regular season for men's volleyball will be double round-robin, each team playing the others once at home and once on the road. The Big West Tournament will have all six teams participate in single-elimination rounds with the top two teams receiving semifinal byes.


title: Big West Conference

text: The Big West is the first Division I all-sports conference (defined as a league that sponsors men's and women's basketball) ever to sponsor men's volleyball, and the second NCAA all-sports conference overall to sponsor men's volleyball as a scholarship sport (the first was the Division II Conference Carolinas).


title: Big West Conference

text: On November 26, 2017 the Big West announced that it would add UC San Diego along with Cal State Bakersfield as its 10th and 11th members starting on July 1, 2020. Cal State Bakersfield, which was already a full Division I member competing in the Western Athletic Conference, became a full member effective July 1, 2020. UC San Diego, which had failed to move up from Division II in failed bids to the Big West in 2011 and April 2017, has begun the four-year transition process to Division I and will become a full member effective July 1, 2024. UC San Diego's men's volleyball joined the Big West in 2017, in advance of that sport's 2018 season, and women's water polo joined in 2019. Because the NCAA does not sponsor a Division II championship in either men's volleyball or women's water polo, UCSD was eligible for conference championships in both sports upon joining the Big West, and will remain eligible for such during the D-I transition.


title: Big West Conference

text: UC San Diego and Cal State Bakersfield officially joined the conference on July 1, 2020 and Dan Butterly became the new commissioner following the retirement of Dennis Farrell.


title: Big West Conference

text: An asterisk denotes the participant in the bowls that invited the Big West champion: Pasadena (1969–70), California (1981–91), Las Vegas (1992–96), and Humanitarian (1997–2000)


title: Big West Conference

text: Started during the Big West Conference's 1998–99 season, the Commissioner's Cup is awarded yearly to the most outstanding program over the course of the season in the conference's sponsored sports. The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the most successful team to date having won 10 total trophies.


title: Big West Conference

text: Since 2021, the Big West Conference has served as host of the So Cal Challenge, an eight-team men's basketball tournament held during Monday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. One Big West team represents the conference in the field of each tournament. Cal Poly and participated in 2021 and 2022, respectively.


title: Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt

text: The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XIX), also known as the Ramessid dynasty, is classified as the second Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC. The 19th Dynasty and the 20th Dynasty furthermore together constitute an era known as the "Ramesside period". This Dynasty was founded by Vizier Ramesses I, whom Pharaoh Horemheb chose as his successor to the throne.


title: Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt

text: The warrior kings of the early 18th Dynasty had encountered only little resistance from neighbouring kingdoms, allowing them to expand their realm of influence easily, but the international situation had changed radically towards the end of the dynasty. The Hittites had gradually extended their influence into Syria and Canaan to become a major power in international politics, a power that both Seti I and his son Ramesses II would confront in the future.


title: Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt

text: The New Kingdom of Egypt reached the zenith of its power under Seti I and Ramesses II ("The Great"), who campaigned vigorously against the Libyans and the Hittites. The city of Kadesh was first captured by Seti I, who decided to concede it to Muwatalli of Hatti in an informal peace treaty between Egypt and Hatti. Ramesses II later attempted unsuccessfully to alter this situation in his fifth regnal year by launching an attack on Kadesh in his Second Syrian campaign in 1274 BC; he was caught in history's first recorded military ambush, but thanks to the arrival of the Ne'arin (a force allied with Egypt), Ramesses was able to rally his troops and turn the tide of battle against the Hittites. Ramesses II later profited from the Hittites' internal difficulties, during his eighth and ninth regnal years, when he campaigned against their Syrian possessions, capturing Kadesh and portions of Southern Syria, and advancing as far north as Tunip, where no Egyptian soldier had been seen for 120 years. He ultimately accepted that a campaign against the Hittites was an unsupportable drain on Egypt's treasury and military. In his 21st regnal year, Ramesses signed the earliest recorded peace treaty with Urhi-Teshub's successor, Hattusili III, and with that act Egypt-Hittite relations improved significantly. Ramesses II even married two Hittite princesses, the first after his second Sed Festival.


title: Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt

text: This dynasty declined as infighting for the throne between the heirs of Merneptah increased. Amenmesse apparently usurped the throne from Merneptah's son and successor, Seti II, but he ruled Egypt for only four years. After his death, Seti regained power and destroyed most of Amenmesse's monuments. Seti was served at court by Chancellor Bay, who was originally just a 'royal scribe' but quickly became one of the most powerful men in Egypt, gaining the unprecedented privilege of constructing his own tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV13). Both Bay and Seti's chief wife, Twosret, had a sinister reputation in Ancient Egyptian folklore. After Siptah's death, Twosret ruled Egypt for two more years, but she proved unable to maintain her hold on power amid the conspiracies and powerplays being hatched at the royal court. She was likely ousted in a revolt led by Setnakhte, founder of the 20th Dynasty.


title: Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt

text: The pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty ruled for approximately 110 years: from c. 1292 to 1187 BC. Many of the pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings in Thebes (designated KV). More information can be found on the Theban Mapping Project website.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: A class-D amplifier or switching amplifier is an electronic amplifier in which the amplifying devices (transistors, usually MOSFETs) operate as electronic switches, and not as linear gain devices as in other amplifiers. They operate by rapidly switching back and forth between the supply rails, being fed by a modulator using pulse width, pulse density, or related techniques to encode the audio input into a pulse train. The audio passes through a simple low-pass filter into the loudspeaker. The high-frequency pulses are blocked. Since the pairs of output transistors are never conducting at the same time, there is no other path for current flow apart from the low-pass filter/loudspeaker. For this reason, efficiency can exceed 90%.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The first Class-D amplifier was invented by British scientist Alec Reeves in the 1950s and was first called by that name in 1955. The first commercial product was a kit module called the X-10 released by Sinclair Radionics in 1964. However, it had an output power of only 2.5 watts. The Sinclair X-20 in 1966 produced 20 watts, but suffered from the inconsistencies and limitations of the germanium-based BJT (bipolar junction transistor) transistors available at the time. As a result, these early class-D amplifiers were impractical and unsuccessful. Practical class-D amplifiers were later enabled by the development of silicon-based MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) technology. In 1978, Sony introduced the TA-N88, the first class-D unit to employ power MOSFETs and a switched-mode power supply. There were subsequently rapid developments in VDMOS (vertical DMOS) technology between 1979 and 1985. The availability of low-cost, fast-switching MOSFETs led to Class-D amplifiers becoming successful in the mid-1980s. The first class-D amplifier based integrated circuit was released by Tripath in 1996, and it saw widespread use.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: Class-D amplifiers work by generating a train of rectangular pulses of fixed amplitude but varying width and separation, or varying number per unit time, representing the amplitude variations of the analog audio input signal. The modulator clock can synchronize with an incoming digital audio signal, thus removing the necessity to convert the signal to analog. The output of the modulator is then used to gate the output transistors on and off alternately. Great care is taken to ensure that the pair of transistors are never allowed to conduct together, as this would cause a short circuit between the supply rails through the transistors. Since the transistors are either fully "on" or fully "off", they spend very little time in the linear region and dissipate very little power. This is the main reason for their high efficiency. A simple low-pass filter consisting of an inductor and a capacitor provides a path for the low frequencies of the audio signal, leaving the high-frequency pulses behind. In cost-sensitive applications the output filter is sometimes omitted. The circuit then relies on the inductance of the loudspeaker to keep the HF component from heating up the voice coil.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The structure of a class-D power stage is somewhat comparable to that of a synchronously rectified buck converter (a type of non-isolated switched-mode power supply (SMPS)), but works backward. Whereas buck converters usually function as voltage regulators, delivering a constant DC voltage into a variable load, and can only source current (one-quadrant operation), a class-D amplifier delivers a constantly changing voltage into a fixed load, where current and voltage can independently change sign (four-quadrant operation). A switching amplifier must not be confused with linear amplifiers that use an SMPS as their source of DC power. A switching amplifier may use any type of power supply (e.g., a car battery or an internal SMPS), but the defining characteristic is that the amplification process itself operates by switching. Unlike an SMPS, the amplifier has a much more critical job to do, to keep unwanted artifacts out of the output. Feedback is almost always used, for the same reasons as in traditional analog amplifiers, to reduce noise and distortion.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: Theoretical power efficiency of class-D amplifiers is 100%. That is to say, all of the power supplied to it is delivered to the load, none is turned to heat. This is because an ideal switch in its “on” state would conduct all the current but have no voltage loss across it, hence no heat would be dissipated. And when it is off, it would have the full supply voltage across it but no leak current flowing through it, and again no heat would be dissipated. Real-world power MOSFETs are not ideal switches, but practical efficiencies well over 90% are common. By contrast, linear AB-class amplifiers are always operated with both current flowing through and voltage standing across the power devices. An ideal class-B amplifier has a theoretical maximum efficiency of 78%. Class A amplifiers (purely linear, with the devices always "on") have a theoretical maximum efficiency of 50% and some versions have efficiencies below 20%.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The term "class D" is sometimes misunderstood as meaning a "digital" amplifier. While some class-D amplifiers may indeed be controlled by digital circuits or include digital signal processing devices, the power stage deals with voltage and current as a function of non-quantized time. The smallest amount of noise, timing uncertainty, voltage ripple or any other non-ideality immediately results in an irreversible change of the output signal. The same errors in a digital system will only lead to incorrect results when they become so large that a signal representing a digit is distorted beyond recognition. Up to that point, non-idealities have no impact on the transmitted signal. Generally, digital signals are quantized in both amplitude and wavelength, while analog signals are quantized in one (e.g. PWM) or (usually) neither quantity.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The 2-level waveform is derived using pulse-width modulation (PWM), pulse-density modulation (sometimes referred to as pulse frequency modulation), sliding mode control (more commonly called "self-oscillating modulation" in the trade.) or discrete-time forms of modulation such as delta-sigma modulation.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The most basic way of creating the PWM signal is to use a high-speed comparator ("C" in the block diagram above) that compares a high-frequency triangular wave with the audio input. This generates a series of pulses of which the duty cycle is directly proportional with the instantaneous value of the audio signal. The comparator then drives a MOS gate driver which in turn drives a pair of high-power switches (usually MOSFETs). This produces an amplified replica of the comparator's PWM signal. The output filter removes the high-frequency switching components of the PWM signal and recovers the audio information that the speaker can use.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: DSP-based amplifiers which generate a PWM signal directly from a digital audio signal (e. g. SPDIF) either use a counter to time the pulse length or implement a digital equivalent of a triangle-based modulator. In either case, the time resolution afforded by practical clock frequencies is only a few hundredths of a switching period, which is not enough to ensure low noise. In effect, the pulse length gets quantized, resulting in quantization distortion. In both cases, negative feedback is applied inside the digital domain, forming a noise shaper which has lower noise in the audible frequency range.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: Two significant design challenges for MOSFET driver circuits in class-D amplifiers are keeping dead times and linear mode operation as short as possible. "Dead time" is the period during a switching transition when both output MOSFETs are driven into cut-off mode and both are "off". Dead times need to be as short as possible to maintain an accurate low-distortion output signal, but dead times that are too short cause the MOSFET that is switching on to start conducting before the MOSFET that is switching off has stopped conducting. The MOSFETs effectively short the output power supply through themselves in a condition known as "shoot-through". Meanwhile, the MOSFET drivers also need to drive the MOSFETs between switching states as fast as possible to minimize the amount of time a MOSFET is in linear mode—the state between cut-off mode and saturation mode where the MOSFET is neither fully on nor fully off and conducts current with a significant resistance, creating significant heat. Driver failures that allow shoot-through and/or too much linear mode operation result in excessive losses and sometimes catastrophic failure of the MOSFETs. There are also problems with using (fixed-frequency) PWM for the modulator; as the (peak) output voltage approaches either of the supply rails, the pulse width can get so narrow as to challenge the ability of the driver circuit and the MOSFET to respond. These pulses can get down to just a few nanoseconds and can result in the above undesired conditions of shoot-through and/or linear mode. This is why other modulation techniques such as pulse-density modulation can achieve higher peak output voltages, as well as greater efficiency compared to PWM.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The switching power stage generates both high dV/dt and dI/dt, which give rise to radiated emission whenever any part of the circuit is large enough to act as an antenna. In practice, this means the connecting wires and cables will be the most efficient radiators so most effort should go into preventing high-frequency signals reaching those:


title: Class-D amplifier

text: Class-D amplifiers place an additional requirement on their power supply, namely that it be able to sink energy returning from the load. Reactive (capacitive or inductive) loads store energy during part of a cycle and release some of this energy back later. Linear amplifiers will dissipate this energy, class-D amplifiers return it to the power supply which should somehow be able to store it. In addition, half-bridge class D amplifiers transfer energy from one supply rail (e.g. the positive rail) to the other (e.g. the negative) depending on the sign of the output current. This happens regardless of whether the load is resistive or not. The supply should either have enough capacitive storage on both rails, or be able to transfer this energy back.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The active devices in a Class D amplifier need only act as controlled switches, and need not have particularly linear response to the control input. Bipolar transistors or field-effect transistors are usually used. Vacuum tubes can be used as power switching devices in Class-D power audio amplifiers.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The actual output of the amplifier is not just dependent on the content of the modulated PWM signal. The power supply voltage directly amplitude-modulates the output voltage, dead time errors make the output impedance non-linear and the output filter has a strongly load-dependent frequency response.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: An effective way to combat errors, regardless of their source, is negative feedback. A feedback loop including the output stage can be made using a simple integrator. To include the output filter, a PID controller is used, sometimes with additional integrating terms. The need to feed the actual output signal back into the modulator makes the direct generation of PWM from a SPDIF source unattractive. Mitigating the same issues in an amplifier without feedback requires addressing each separately at the source. Power supply modulation can be partially canceled by measuring the supply voltage to adjust signal gain before calculating the PWM and distortion can be reduced by switching faster. The output impedance cannot be controlled other than through feedback.


title: Class-D amplifier

text: The major advantage of a class-D amplifier is that it can be more efficient than a linear amplifier, with less power dissipated as heat in the active devices. Given that large heat sinks are not required, Class-D amplifiers are much lighter weight than class A, B, or AB amplifiers, an important consideration with portable sound reinforcement system equipment and bass amplifiers. Output stages such as those used in pulse generators are examples of class-D amplifiers. However, the term mostly applies to power amplifiers intended to reproduce audio signals with a bandwidth well below the switching frequency.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. "Apocalypse" () is a Greek word meaning "revelation", "an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known and which could not be known apart from the unveiling".


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: As a genre, apocalyptic literature details the authors' visions of the end times/end of the age as revealed by an angel or other heavenly messenger. The apocalyptic literature of Judaism and Christianity embraces a considerable period, from the centuries following the Babylonian exile down to the close of the Middle Ages.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Apocalyptic elements can be detected in the prophetic books of Joel and Zechariah, while Isaiah chapters 24–27 and 33 present well-developed apocalypses. The second half of the Book of Daniel (chs. 7-12) offers a fully matured and classic example of this genre of literature.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: The non-fulfillment of prophecies served to popularize the methods of apocalyptic in comparison with the non-fulfillment of the advent of the Messianic kingdom. Thus, though Jeremiah had promised that after seventy years Israelites should be restored to their own land, and then enjoy the blessings of the Messianic kingdom under the Messianic king, this period passed by and things remained as of old. Some believe that the Messianic kingdom was not necessarily predicted to occur at the end of the seventy years of the Babylonian exile, but at some unspecified time in the future. The only thing for certain that was predicted was the return of the Jews to their land, which occurred when Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon in circa 539 BC. Thus, the fulfillment of the Messianic kingdom remained in the future for the Jews.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Haggai and Zechariah explained the delay by the failure of Judah to rebuild the temple, and so hope of the kingdom persisted, until in the first half of the 2nd century the delay is explained in the Books of Daniel and Enoch as due not to man's shortcomings but to the counsels of God. Regarding the 70 years of exile predicted in Jeremiah 29:10, the Jews were first exiled in 605 BC in the reign of king Jehoiakim and were allowed to return to their land in c. 536 BC when King Cyrus conquered Babylon. This period was approximately 70 years, as prophesied by Jeremiah. Others connect the 70 years of Jeremiah with the 70 weeks of years mentioned by the angel in Daniel 9. Enoch 85 interprets the 70 years of Jeremiah as the 70 successive reigns of the 70 angelic patrons of the nations, which are to come to a close in his own generation. The Book of Enoch, however, was not considered inspired Scripture by the Jews, so that any failed prophecy in it is of no consequence to the Jewish faith.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: The Greek empire of the East was overthrown by Rome, and prompted a new interpretation of Daniel. The fourth and last empire was declared to be Roman by the Apocalypse of Baruch chapters 36–40 and 4 Ezra 10:60–12:35. Again, these two books were not considered inspired Scripture by the Jews, and thus were not authoritative on matters of prophecy. In addition, earlier in Daniel chapter 7 and also in chapter 2, the fourth world empire is considered to be Rome since Babylon, Medo-Persia (Achaemenid Empire), Greece, and Rome were world empires which all clearly arrived in succession.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Such ideas as those of "the day of Yahweh" and the "new heavens and a new earth" were re-interpreted by the Jewish people with fresh nuances in conformity with their new settings. Thus the inner development of Jewish apocalyptic was conditioned by the historical experiences of the nation.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Another source of apocalyptic thought was primitive mythological and cosmological traditions, in which the eye of the seer could see the secrets of the future. Thus the six days of the world's creation, followed by a seventh of rest, were regarded as at once a history of the past and a forecasting of the future. As the world was made in six days its history would be accomplished in six thousand years, since each day with God was as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day; and as the six days of creation were followed by one of rest, so the six thousand years of the world's history would be followed by a rest of a thousand years.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: The object of this literature in general was to reconcile the righteousness of God with the suffering condition of His righteous servants on earth. Early Old Testament prophecy taught the need of personal and national righteousness, and foretold the ultimate blessedness of the righteous nation on the present earth. Its views were not systematic and comprehensive in regard to the nations in general. Regarding the individual, it held that God's service here was its own and adequate reward, and saw no need of postulating another world to set right the evils of this one.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: But later, with the growing claims of the individual and the acknowledgment of these in the religious and intellectual life, both problems, and especially the latter, pressed themselves irresistibly on the notice of religious thinkers, and made it impossible for any conception of the divine rule and righteousness to gain acceptance, which did not render adequate satisfaction to the claims of both problems. To render such satisfaction was the task undertaken by apocalyptic, as well as to vindicate the righteousness of God alike in respect of the individual and of the nation. Later prophecy incorporated an idea of future vindication of present evils, often including the idea of an afterlife.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Apocalyptic prophets sketched in outline the history of the world and mankind, the origin of evil and its course, and the final consummation of all things. The righteous as a nation should yet possess the earth, either via an eternal Messianic kingdom on earth, or else in temporary blessedness here and eternal blessedness hereafter. Though the individual might perish amid the disorders of this world, apocalyptic prophets taught that the righteous person would not fail to attain through resurrection the recompense that was due in the Messianic kingdom or, alternatively, in heaven itself.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Some may distinguish between the messages of the prophets and the messages of proto-apocalyptic and apocalyptic literature by saying that the message of the prophets was primarily a preaching of repentance and righteousness needed for the nation to escape judgment; the message of the apocalyptic writers was of patience and trust for that deliverance and reward were sure to come. Neither the prophets nor the apocalyptic authors are without conflict between their messages, however, and there are significant similarities between prophecy and apocalyptic writings.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Apocalyptic literature shares with prophecy revelation through the use of visions and dreams, and these often combine reality and fantasy. In both cases, a heavenly interpreter is often provided to the receiver so that he may understand the many complexities of what he has seen. The oracles in Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah, and Jeremiah give a clear sense of how messages of imminent punishment develop into the later proto-apocalyptic literature, and eventually into the thoroughly apocalyptic literature of Daniel 7–12. The fully apocalyptic visions in Daniel 7–12, as well as those in the New Testament's Revelation, can trace their roots to the pre-exilic latter biblical prophets; the sixth century BCE prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah 40–55 and 56–66, Haggai 2, and Zechariah 1–8 show a transition phase between prophecy and apocalyptic literature.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Prophecy believes that this world is God's world and that in this world His goodness and truth will yet be vindicated. Hence the prophet prophesies of a definite future arising out of and organically connected with the present. The apocalyptic writer despairs of the present and directs his hopes to the future, to a new world standing in essential opposition to the present. This becomes a dualistic principle, which, though it can largely be accounted for by the interaction of certain inner tendencies and outward sorrowful experience on the part of Judaism, may ultimately be derived from Mazdean influences. This principle, which shows itself in the conception that the various nations are under angelic rulers, who are in a greater or less degree in rebellion against God, as in Daniel and Enoch, grows in strength with each succeeding age, till at last Satan is conceived as "the ruler of this world" or "the god of this age."


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Apocalyptic writing took a wider view of the world's history than did prophecy. Whereas prophecy had to deal with governments of other nations, apocalyptic writings arose at a time when Israel had been subject for generations to the sway of one or other of the great world-powers. Hence to harmonize Israel's difficulties with belief in God's righteousness, apocalyptic writing had to encompass such events in the counsels of God, the rise, duration and the downfall of each empire in turn, until, finally the lordship of the world passed into the hands of Israel, or the final judgment arrived. These events belonged in the main to the past, but the writer represented them as still in the future, arranged under certain artificial categories of time definitely determined from the beginning in the counsels of God and revealed by Him to His servants, the prophets. Determinism thus became a leading characteristic of Jewish apocalyptic, and its conception of history became mechanical.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: The revelations from heavenly messengers about the end times came in the form of angels or from people who were taken up to heaven and returned to earth with messages. The descriptions not only tell of the end times, but also describe both past and present events and their significance, often in heavily coded language. When speaking of the end times, apocalyptic literature generally includes chronologies of events that are to occur, and frequently places them in the near future, which gives a sense of urgency to the prophet's broader message. Though the understanding of the present is bleak, the visions of the future are far more positive, and include divinely delivered victory and a complete reformation of absolutely everything. Many visions of these end times mirror creation mythologies, invoke the triumph of God over the primordial forces of chaos, and provide clear distinctions between light and dark, good and evil. In such revelations, humankind is typically divided into a small group that experiences salvation, while the wicked majority is destroyed. Since the apocalyptic genre developed during the Persian period, this dualism may have developed under the influence of Persian thought. The imagery in apocalyptic literature is not realistic or reflective of the physical world as it was, but is rather surreal and fantastic, invoking a sense of wonder at the complete newness of the new order to come.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: Some are possibly falsely attributed works (pseudepigraphic) except for the passages from Ezekiel and Joel. Of the remaining passages and books, some consider large sections of Daniel attributable to the Maccabean period, with the rest possibly to the same period. Some consider Isaiah 33 to be written about 163 BCE; Zechariah 12–14 about 160 BCE; Isaiah 24–27 about 128 BCE; and Isaiah 34–35 sometime in the reign of John Hyrcanus. Jeremiah 33:14–26 is assigned by Marti to Maccabean times, but this is disputed.


title: Apocalyptic literature

text: In the transition from Jewish literature to that of early Christianity, there is a continuation of the tradition of apocalyptic prophecy. Christianity preserved the Jewish apocalyptic tradition (as Judaism developed into Rabbinism) and gave it a Christian character by a systematic process of interpolation. Christianity cultivated this form of literature and made it the vehicle of its own ideas. Christianity saw itself as the spiritual representative of what was true in prophecy and apocalyptic.


title: Sled dog

text: A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow.


title: Sled dog

text: Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transportation in Arctic areas until the introduction of semi-trailer trucks, snowmobiles and airplanes in the 20th century, hauling supplies in areas that were inaccessible by other methods. They were used with varying success in the explorations of both poles, as well as during the Alaskan gold rush. Sled dog teams delivered mail to rural communities in Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Sled dogs today are still used by some rural communities, especially in areas of Russia, Canada, and Alaska as well as much of Greenland. They are used for recreational purposes and racing events, such as the Iditarod Trail and the Yukon Quest.


title: Sled dog

text: Sled dogs are used in countries such as Canada, Greenland, Siberia, Chukotka, Norway, Sweden, and Alaska.


title: Sled dog

text: Sled dogs and husky safaris are not native to Sápmi (Lapland) and Finland and are considered a major nuisance by reindeer herders as they directly impact their livelihoods. These and glass-domed "iglus" have been appropriated from other cultures by the tourist industry in the 1980s and falsely portrayed as being part of the Sámi and Finnish cultures.


title: Sled dog

text: A 2017 study showed that 9,000 years ago, the domestic dog was present at what is now Zhokhov Island, northeastern Siberia, which at that time was connected to the mainland. The dogs were selectively bred as either sled dogs or hunting dogs, implying that a sled dog standard and a hunting dog standard co-existed. The optimal maximum size for a sled dog is based on thermo-regulation, and the ancient sled dogs were between . The same standard has been found in the remains of sled dogs from this region 2,000 years ago and in the modern Siberian Husky breed standard. Other dogs were more massive at and appear to be dogs that had been crossed with wolves and used for polar bear hunting. At death, the heads of the dogs had been carefully separated from their bodies by humans and was thought to be for ceremonial reasons.


title: Sled dog

text: The Kungur Chronicle and the Remezov Chronicle, created at the end of the 16th century and 1703 respectively, tells about the people living along Siberian rivers, whose primary means of transport was riding on reindeer or dogs. In these documents, the rivers Olenyok, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma were called “dog rivers”, as they were rich in fish for the dogs to eat. Rivers with no fish or not enough to feed the dogs were called "deer rivers", as reindeer where then used for transportation.


title: Sled dog

text: From the 1940s to the 1990s, Russian dog sled numbers were in decline. Breed population reached an all-time low of 3000 in 1998 before revival efforts took off. Reasons for their decline include


title: Sled dog

text: The Greenlandic Inuit have a very long history of using sled dogs and they are still widely used today. As of 2010, some 18,000 Greenland dogs were kept in western Greenland north of the Arctic Circle and in eastern Greenland (because of the effort of maintaining the purity of this culturally important breed, they are the only dogs allowed in these regions) and about half of these were in active use as sled dogs by hunters and fishers. As a result of reduced sea ice (limiting their area of use), increasing use of snowmobiles, increasing dog food prices and disease among some local dog populations, the number has been gradually falling in decades and by 2016 there were 15,000 Greenland dogs. A number of projects have been initiated in an attempt of ensuring that Greenland's dog sledding culture, knowledge and use are not lost.


title: Sled dog

text: The Sirius Patrol, a special forces unit in the Danish military, enforces the sovereignty of the remote unpopulated northeast (essentially equalling the Northeast Greenland National Park) and conduct long-range dog sled patrolling, which also record all sighted wildlife. The patrols averaged per year during 1978–1998. By 2011, the Greenland wolf had re-populated eastern Greenland from the National Park in the northeast through following these dog-sled patrols over distances of up to .


title: Sled dog

text: In 2019, a study found that those dogs brought initially into the North American Arctic from northeastern Siberia were later replaced by dogs accompanying the Inuit during their expansion beginning 2,000 years ago. These Inuit dogs were more genetically diverse and more morphologically divergent when compared with the earlier dogs. Today, Arctic sledge dogs are the last descendants in the Americas of this pre-European dog lineage.


title: Sled dog

text: Historical references of the dogs and dog harnesses that were used by Native American cultures date back to before European contact. The use of dogs as draft animals was widespread in North America. There were two main kinds of sled dogs; one kind was kept by coastal cultures, and the other kind was kept by interior cultures such as the Athabascan Indians. These interior dogs formed the basis of the Alaskan husky. Russian traders following the Yukon River inland in the mid-1800s acquired sled dogs from the interior villages along the river. The dogs of this area were reputed to be stronger and better at hauling heavy loads than the native Russian sled dogs.


title: Sled dog

text: The Alaskan Gold Rush brought renewed interest in the use of sled dogs as transportation. Most gold camps were accessible only by dogsled in the winter. "Everything that moved during the frozen season moved by dog team; prospectors, trappers, doctors, mail, commerce, trade, freighting of supplies … if it needed to move in winter, it was moved by sled dogs." This, along with the dogs' use in the exploration of the poles, led to the late 1800s and early 1900s being nicknamed the "Era of the Sled Dog".


title: Sled dog

text: Sled dogs were used to deliver the mail in Alaska during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Alaskan Malamutes were the favored breed, with teams averaging eight to 10 dogs. Dogs were capable of delivering mail in conditions that would stop boats, trains, and horses. Each team hauled between of mail. The mail was stored in waterproofed bags to protect it from the snow. By 1901, dog trails had been established along the entirety of the Yukon River. Mail delivery by dog sled came to an end in 1963 when the last mail carrier to use a dog sled, Chester Noongwook of Savoonga, retired. He was honored by the US Postal Service in a ceremony on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea.


title: Sled dog

text: Airplanes took over Alaskan mail delivery in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1924, Carl Ben Eielson flew the first Alaskan airmail delivery. Dog sleds were used to patrol western Alaska during World War II. Highways and trucking in the 40s and 50s, and the snowmobile in the 50s and 60s, contributed to the decline of the working sled dog.


title: Sled dog

text: Recreational mushing came into place to maintain the tradition of dog mushing. The desire for larger, stronger, load-pulling dogs changed to one for faster dogs with high endurance used in racing, which caused the dogs to become lighter than they were historically. Americans and others living in Alaska then began to import sled dogs from the native tribes of Siberia (which would later evolve and become the Siberian Husky breed) to increase the speed of their own dogs, presenting "a direct contrast to the idea that Russian traders sought heavier draft-type sled dogs from the Interior regions of Alaska and the Yukon less than a century earlier to increase the hauling capacity of their lighter sled dogs."


title: Sled dog

text: In 1925, a massive diphtheria outbreak crippled Nome, Alaska. There was no serum in Nome to treat the people infected by the disease. There was serum in Nenana, but the town was more than away, and inaccessible except by dog sled. A dog sled relay was set up by the villages between Nenana and Nome, and 20 teams worked together to relay the serum to Nome. The serum reached Nome in six days.


title: Sled dog

text: The Iditarod Trail was established on the path between these two towns. It was known as the Iditarod Trail because, at the time, Iditarod was the largest town on the trail. During the 1940s, the trail fell into disuse. However, in 1967, Dorothy Page, who was conducting Alaska's centennial celebration, ordered of the trail to be cleared for a dog sled race. In 1972, the US Army performed a survey of the trail, and in 1973 the Iditarod was established by Joe Redington, Sr. The race was won by Dick Wilmarth, who took three weeks to complete the race.


title: Sled dog

text: The modern Iditarod is a endurance sled dog race. It usually lasts for ten to eleven days, weather permitting. It begins with a ceremonial start in Anchorage, Alaska on the morning of the first Saturday in March, with mushers running to Eagle River along the Alaskan Highway, giving spectators a chance to see the dogs and the mushers. The teams are then loaded onto trucks and driven to Wasilla for the official race start in the afternoon. The race ends when the last musher either drops out of the race or crosses the finish line in Nome. The winner of the race receives a prize of US$50,000. It has been billed as the "World Series of mushing events" and "The Last Great Race on Earth".


title: Sled dog

text: The first Arctic explorers were men with sled dogs. Due to the success of using sled dogs in the Arctic, it was thought they would be helpful in the Antarctic exploration as well, and many explorers made attempts to use them. Sled dogs were used until 1992, when they were banned from Antarctica by the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty over concerns that the dogs might transfer diseases such as canine distemper to the seal population.


title: Sled dog

text: Carsten Borchgrevink used sled dogs (Samoyeds) in Antarctica during his Southern Cross Expedition (1898–1900), but it was much colder than expected at Cape Adare. The dogs were used to working on snow, not on ice, in much milder temperatures. The dogs were also inadequately fed, and eventually all of the dogs died.


title: Sled dog

text: Erich von Drygalski used sled dogs in his 1901–1903 expedition, and fared much better because his dogs were used to the cold and he hired an experienced dog handler. His dogs were allowed to breed freely and many had to be shot because there was no room on the ship to take them home. Many that were not shot were left behind on the Kerguelen Islands.


title: Sled dog

text: Otto Nordenskjöld intended to use sled dogs in his 1901–1904 expedition, but all but four of his huskies died on the journey south. He picked up more dogs in the Falklands, but after his arrival in the Antarctic, these were all hunted down and killed by his four surviving huskies hunting as a pack because of dog handler Ole Jonassen's failure to tether the dogs. These huskies were later able to pull over in three and a half hours.


title: Sled dog

text: Robert Falcon Scott brought twenty Samoyeds with him. The dogs struggled under the conditions Scott placed them in, with four dogs pulling heavily loaded sleds through snow with bleeding feet. Scott blamed their failure on rotten dried fish.


title: Sled dog

text: Douglas Mawson and Xavier Mertz were part of the Far Eastern Party, a three-man sledging team with Lieutenant B.E.S. Ninnis, to survey King George V Land, Antarctica. On 14 December 1912 Ninnis fell through a snow-covered crevasse along with most of the party's rations, and was never seen again. Their meagre provisions forced them to eat their remaining dogs on their return journey. Their meat was tough, stringy and without a vestige of fat. Each animal yielded very little, and the major part was fed to the surviving dogs, which ate the meat, skin and bones until nothing remained.


title: Sled dog

text: The men also ate the dog's brains and livers. Unfortunately eating the liver of sled dogs produces the condition hypervitaminosis A because canines have a much higher tolerance for vitamin A than humans do. Mertz suffered a quick deterioration. He developed stomach pains and became incapacitated and incoherent. On 7 January 1913, Mertz died. Mawson continued alone, eventually making it back to camp alive.


title: Sled dog

text: Roald Amundsen's expedition was planned around 97 sled dogs. On his first try, two of his dogs froze to death in the temperatures. He tried a second time and was successful. Amundsen was covering a day, with stops every to build a cairn to mark the trail. He had 55 dogs with him, which he culled until he had 14 left when he returned from the pole. On the return trip, a man skied ahead of the dogs and hid meat in the cairns to encourage them to run.


title: Sled dog

text: The original sled dogs were chosen for size, strength and stamina, but modern dogs are bred for speed and endurance Most sled dogs weigh around , but they can weigh as little as , and can exceed . Sled dogs have a very efficient gait, and "mushers strive for a well balanced dog team that matches all dogs for both size (approximately the same) and gait (the walking, trotting or running speeds of the dogs as well as the 'transition speed' where a dog will switch from one gait to another) so that the entire dog team moves in a similar fashion which increases overall team efficiency." They can run up to . Because of this, sled dogs have very tough, webbed feet with closely spaced toes. Their webbed feet act as snow shoes.


title: Sled dog

text: A dog's fur depends on its use. Freight dogs should have dense, warm coats to hold heat in, and sprint dogs have short coats that let heat out. Most sled dogs have a double coat, with the outer coat keeping snow away from the body, and a waterproof inner coat for insulation. In warm weather, dogs may have problems regulating their body temperature and may overheat. Their tails serve to protect their nose and feet from freezing when the dog is curled up to sleep. They also have a unique arrangement of blood vessels in their legs to help protect against frostbite.


title: Sled dog

text: Appetite is a big part of choosing sled dogs; picky dogs off trail may be pickier on the trail. They are fed high-fat diets, and on the trail may eat oily salmon or blubbery sea mammals. Sled dogs also must not be overly aggressive with other dogs. They also need a lot of exercise.


title: Sled dog

text: The most commonly used dog in dog sled racing, the Alaskan husky is a mongrel bred specifically for its performance as a sled dog.


title: Sled dog

text: The first dogs arrived in the Americas 12,000 years ago; however, people and their dogs did not settle in the Arctic until the Paleo-Eskimo people 4,500 years ago and then the Thule people 1,000 years ago, both originating from Siberia.


title: Sled dog

text: The word "husky" originated from the word referring to aboriginal Arctic people, in general, Eskimo, "...known as 'huskies', a contraction of 'Huskimos', the pronunciation given to the word 'Eskimos' by the English sailors of trading vessels." The use of "husky" is recorded from 1852 for dogs kept by Inuit.


title: Sled dog

text: In 2015, a study using a number of genetic markers indicated that the Alaskan husky, the Siberian Husky and the Alaskan Malamute share a close genetic relationship between each other and were related to Chukotka sled dogs from Siberia. They were separate from the two Inuit dogs, the Canadian Eskimo Dog and the Greenland dog. In North America, the Siberian Husky and the Alaskan Malamute both had maintained their Siberian lineage and had contributed significantly to the Alaskan husky, which showed evidence of crossing with European dog breeds that was consistent with this breed being created in post-colonial North America. The modern Alaskan husky reflects 100 years or more of crossbreeding with English Pointers, German Shepherd Dogs and Salukis to improve its performance. Occasionally, Alaskan huskies are referred to as "Indian Dogs", because the best ones supposedly come from Native American villages in the Alaskan and Canadian interiors. They typically weigh between and may have dense or sleek fur. Alaskan huskies bear little resemblance to the typical husky breeds they originated from, or to each other.


title: Sled dog

text: There are two genetically distinct varieties of the Alaskan husky: a sprinting group and a long-distance group. Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies contributed the most genetically to the long-distance group, while English Pointers and Salukis contributed the most to the sprinting group. Anatolian Shepherd Dogs contributed a strong work ethic to both varieties. There are many Alaskan huskies that are part Greyhound, which improves their speed. Further crossbreeding of Alaskan huskies with German Shorthaired Pointers has given way to another emerging mongrel sled dog known as the Eurohound.


title: Sled dog

text: Alaskan Malamutes are large, strong freight dogs. They weigh between and have round faces with soft features. Freight dogs are a class of dogs that includes both pedigree and non-pedigree dogs. Alaskan Malamutes are thought to be one of the first domesticated breeds of dogs, originating in the Kotzebue Sound region of Alaska. These dogs are known for their broad chests, thick coats, and tough feet. Speed has little to no value for these dogs - instead, the emphasis is on pulling strength. They are used in expedition and long adventure trips, and for hauling heavy loads. Alaskan Malamutes were the dog of choice for hauling and messenger work in World War II.


title: Sled dog

text: The Canadian Eskimo Dog or Canadian Inuit Dog, also known as the Exquimaux Husky, Esquimaux Dog, and "Qimmiq" (an Inuit language word for dog), has its origins in the aboriginal sled dogs used by the Thule people of Arctic Canada. The breed as it exists today was primarily developed through the work of the Canadian government. It is capable of pulling between per dog for distances between . The Canadian Eskimo Dog was also used as a hunting dog, helping Inuit hunters to catch seals, muskoxen, and polar bears. On May 1, 2000, the Canadian territory of Nunavut officially adopted the "Canadian Inuit Dog" as the animal symbol of the territory. They are considered genetically to be the same breed as the Greenland Dog, as research shows they have not yet diverged enough genetically to be considered separate breeds.


title: Sled dog

text: The Chinook is a rare breed of sled dog developed in New Hampshire in the early 1900s by Arthur Walden, a gold rush adventurer and dog driver, and is a blend of English Mastiff, Greenland Dog, German Shepherd Dog, and Belgian Shepherd. It is the state dog of New Hampshire and was recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC) in the Working Group in 2013. They are described as athletic and "hard bodied" with a "tireless gait". Their coat color is always tawny, ranging from a pale honey color to reddish-gold.


title: Sled dog

text: The Chukotka Sled Dog (чукотская ездовая) is the aboriginal spitz breed of dog indigenous to the Chukchi people of Russia. Chukotka sled dog teams have been used since prehistoric times to pull sleds in harsh conditions, such as hunting sea mammals on oceanic pack ice. Chukotka sled dogs are most famous as the progenitor of the Siberian husky.


title: Sled dog

text: Greenland Dogs are heavy dogs with high endurance but little speed. They are frequently used by people offering dog sled adventures and long expeditions. As of 2016, there were about 15,000 Greenland Dogs living in Greenland, but decades ago the number was significantly higher and projects have been initiated to ensure the survival of the breed. In many regions north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland, they are a primary mode of transportation in the winter. Most hunters in Greenland favor dog sled teams over snowmobiles, as the dog sled teams are more reliable. They are considered genetically to be the same breed as the Canadian Eskimo Dog, as research shows they have not yet diverged enough genetically to be considered separate breeds.


title: Sled dog

text: The Labrador Husky originated in the Labrador portion of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The breed probably arrived in the area with the Inuit who came to Canada around 1300 AD. Despite the name, Labrador huskies are not related to the Labrador retriever, but in fact most closely related the Canadian Eskimo Dog. There are estimated to be 50-60 Labrador huskies in the world.


title: Sled dog

text: The term Mackenzie River husky describes several overlapping local populations of Arctic and sub-Arctic sled dog-type dogs, none of which constitutes a breed. Dogs from Yukon were crossed with large European breeds such as St. Bernards and Newfoundlands to create a powerful freighting dog capable of surviving harsh Arctic conditions.


title: Sled dog

text: The Samoyed is a laika developed by the Samoyede people of Siberia, who used them to herd reindeer and hunt, in addition to hauling sleds. These dogs were so prized, and the people who owned them so dependent upon them for survival, that the dogs were allowed to sleep in the tents with their owners. Samoyeds weigh about pounds for males and for females and stands from at the shoulder.


title: Sled dog

text: The Sakhalin Husky, also known as the Karafuto Ken (樺太犬), is a breed of sled dog developed on the island of Sakhalin. Sakhalin huskies are prized for their hardiness, great temperaments and easy trainability, even being the preferred dog used by the Soviet army for hauling gear in harsh condition prior to World War II. Unfortunately with the advent of mechanized travel, Soviet officials determined that the cost of maintaining Sakhalins was wasteful and exterminated them, with only a handful residing in Japan surviving. As of 2015, there were only seven of these dogs left on their native island of Sakhalin.


title: Sled dog

text: Smaller than the similar-appearing Alaskan Malamute, the Siberian Husky pulls more, pound for pound, than a Malamute. Descendants of the sled dogs bred and used by the native Chukchi people of Siberia which were imported to Alaska in the early 1900s, they were used as working dogs and racing sled dogs in Nome, Alaska throughout the 1910s, often dominating the All-Alaska Sweepstakes. They later became widely bred by recreational mushers and show-dog fanciers in the United States and Canada as the Siberian Husky, after the popularity garnered from the 1925 serum run to Nome. Siberians stand , weigh between ( for females, for males), and have been selectively bred for both appearance and pulling ability. They are still used regularly today as sled dogs by competitive, recreational, and tour-guide mushers.


title: Sled dog

text: The Yakutian Laika (Russian: Якутская лайка) is an ancient working dog breed that originated in the Arctic seashore of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. In terms of functionality, Yakutian Laikas are a sled laika, being able to herd, hunt, and as well as haul freight. The Yakutian Laika is recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) and the AKC's Foundation Stock Service. The Yakutian Laika is a medium size, strong and compact dog, with powerful muscles and thick double coat to handle bitter Arctic temperatures. They were the preferred dog of Russian polar explorer Georgy Ushakov, who prized them for their hardiness and versatility, being able to hunt seals and polar bears as well as haul sleds for thousands of miles.


title: Sled dog

text: Numerous non-sled dog breeds have been used as sled dogs. Poodles, Irish Setters, German Shorthaired Pointers, Labrador Retrievers, golden retriever, Newfoundlands, Chow Chows and St. Bernards have all been used to pull sleds in the past.


title: Sled dog

text: FSS held the first World Championships in Saint Moritz, Switzerland in 1990 with classes in only Sled Sprint (10-Dog, 8-Dog, and 6-Dog) and Skidog Pulka for men and women. 113 competitors arrived in the starting chutes to mark the momentous occasion. At first World Championships were held each year, but after the 1995 events, it was decided to hold them every two years, which facilitated the bidding process and enabled the host organization more time for preparation.


title: Sled dog

text: Balto was the lead dog of the sled dog team that carried the diphtheria serum on the last leg of the relay to Nome during the 1925 diphtheria epidemic. He was driven by musher Gunnar Kaasen, who worked for Leonhard Seppala. Seppala had also bred Balto.


title: Sled dog

text: In 1925, 10 months after Balto completed his run, a bronze statue was erected in his honour in Central Park near the Tisch Children's Zoo. The statue was sculpted by Frederick George Richard Roth. Children frequently climb the statue to pretend to ride on the dog. The plaque at the base of the statue reads "Endurance · Fidelity · Intelligence". Balto's body was stuffed following his death in 1933, and is on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.


title: Sled dog

text: In 1995, a Universal Pictures animated movie based loosely on him, "Balto", was released. Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars.


title: Sled dog

text: Togo was the lead sled dog of Leonhard Seppala and his dog sled team in the 1925 serum run to Nome across central and northern Alaska. Seppala considered Togo to be the greatest sled dog and lead dog of his mushing career, and of that age in Alaska, stating in 1960: "I never had a better dog than Togo. His stamina, loyalty and intelligence could not be improved upon. Togo was the best dog that ever traveled the Alaska trail."


title: Sled dog

text: Katy Steinmetz in Time Magazine named Togo the most heroic animal of all time, writing that “the dog that often gets credit for eventually saving the town is Balto, but he just happened to run the last, 55-mile leg in the race. The sled dog who did the lion's share of the work was Togo. His journey, fraught with white-out storms, was the longest by 200 miles and included a traverse across perilous Norton Sound — where he saved his team and driver in a courageous swim through ice floes.”


title: Sled dog

text: Togo would go on to become one of the foundation dogs for lines of Siberian sled dogs, and including eventually the Siberian Husky registered breed.


title: Sled dog

text: In 1958, an ill-fated Japanese research expedition to Antarctica made an emergency evacuation, leaving behind 15 sled dogs. The researchers believed that a relief team would arrive within a few days, so they left the dogs chained up outside with a small supply of food; however, the weather turned bad and the team never made it to the outpost. One year later, a new expedition arrived and discovered that two of the dogs, Taro and Jiro, had survived. The breed spiked in popularity upon the release of the 1983 film "Nankyoku Monogatari". A second film from 2006, "Eight Below", provided a fictional version of the occurrence, but did not reference the breed. Instead, the film features only eight dogs: two Alaskan Malamutes, and six Siberian Huskies.


title: Sled dog

text: Anna was a small sled dog who ran on Pam Flower's team during her expedition to become the first woman to cross the Arctic alone. She was noted for being the smallest dog to run on the team, and a picture book was created about her journey in the Arctic.


title: Sled dog

text: There are numerous stories of blind sled dogs that continue to run, either on their own or with assistance from other dogs on the team.


title: Wild Fields

text: The Wild Fields (, , , , or , also translated as "the wilderness") is a historical term used in the Polish–Lithuanian documents of the 16th to 18th centuries to refer to the Pontic steppe in the territory of present-day Eastern and Southern Ukraine and Western Russia, north of the Black Sea and Azov Sea. According to Ukrainian historian Vitaliy Shcherbak the term appeared sometime in the 15th century for territory between the Dniester and mid-Volga when colonization of the region by Zaporozhian Cossacks started. Shcherbak notes that the term's contemporaries, such as Michalo Lituanus, Blaise de Vigenère, and Józef Wereszczyński, wrote about the great natural riches of the steppes and the Dnieper basin.


title: Wild Fields

text: For centuries, the region was only sparsely populated by various nomadic groups such as Scythians, Alans, Huns, Bulgars, Pechenegs, Kipchaks, Turco-Mongols, Tatars and Nogais. After the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus', the territory was ruled by the Golden Horde until the Battle of Blue Waters (1362), which allowed Algirdas to claim it for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As a result of the Battle of the Vorskla River in 1399, his successor Vytautas lost the territory to Temür Qutlugh, the khan of the Golden Horde. In 1441, the western section of the Wild Fields, Yedisan, came to be dominated by the Crimean Khanate, a political entity controlled by the expanding Ottoman Empire from the 16th century onward. The Wild Fields were also partly inhabited by the Zaporizhian Cossacks, as reflected in works of the Polish theologian and Catholic bishop of Kyiv Józef Wereszczyński, who settled there under the condition that they would fight off expansion by the Nogai Horde.


title: Wild Fields

text: The Wild Fields were traversed by the Muravsky Trail and Izyumsky Trail, important warpaths used by the Crimean Tatars to invade and pillage the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The Crimean-Nogai Raids, a long period of raids and fighting between the Crimean Tatars and Nogai Horde on one side and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow on the other side, caused considerable devastation and depopulation in the area before the rise of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who periodically sailed down the Dnieper in dugouts from their base at Khortytsia and raided the coast of the Black Sea. The Turks built several fortress towns to defend the littoral, including Kara Kerman and Khadjibey.


title: Wild Fields

text: By the 17th century, the east part of the Wild Fields had been settled by runaway peasants and serfs who made up the core of the Cossackdom. During the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Uprising the north part of this area was settled by Cossacks from the Dnieper basin and came to be known as Sloboda Ukraine. After a series of Russo-Turkish wars waged by Catherine the Great, the area formerly controlled by the Ottomans and the Crimean Tatars was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 1780s. The Russian Empire built many of the cities in the Wild Fields, including Odessa, Sevastopol, Yekaterinoslav, and Mykolaiv. Most of Kyiv was also built during this time. The area was filled with Russian and Ukrainian settlers and the name "Wild Fields" became outdated; it was instead referred as New Russia (Novorossiya). According to the "Historical Dictionary of Ukraine", "The population consisted of military colonists from hussar and lancer regiments, Ukrainian and Russian peasants, Cossacks, Serbs, Montenegrins, Hungarians, and other foreigners who received land subsidies for settling in the area."


title: Wild Fields

text: In the 20th century, after the collapse of the USSR, the region was divided among Ukraine, Moldova, and Russia.


title: Avu-chan

text: Expressing interest in music since middle school and inspired by the Japanese pop/electronic group Perfume, Avu-chan formed the band Queen Bee in 2009 with classmates in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. They started performing at their school's cultural festivals and gained considerable popularity doing so, after which Queen Bee went on to perform at live houses in the Kansai region. The band made their first major concert appearance at the Fuji Rock Festival in July 2010, where they performed as a part of the very selective "Rookie a Go-Go" section, sometimes called the "road to success" for new artists. Having released their debut album "Witch Hunt" independently in March 2011, the band signed to Sony Music Associated Records, and in September of the same year released their second album "Peacock". The band was called the "Japanese "Hedwig"" during their debut, as the gender identities of the members remain a secret. Not long after signing a contract with Sony Music, Queen Bee found early success with their song "Desco", which was featured in the romantic comedy film "Moteki" (2011), where the band had also made a cameo.


title: Avu-chan

text: In 2013, Avu-chan had to pause all band activities, explaining the decision with burnout and technical inexperience. Unsure whether to return home or stay in Tokyo, Avu-chan decided to continue perusing music after being encouraged by a staff member at Avu-chan's record label, who insisted that Queen Bee's signing was not a fluke. Around this time, Avu-chan asked an acquaintance, a former Blankey Jet City drummer Tatsuya Nakamura, if the two could create something together, to which he immediately agreed and introduced Avu-chan to bassist of the band Rize. After spending some time in the studio, the three were later joined by guitarist Ryosuke Nagaoka from Tokyo Jihen, whose presence Avu-chan described as "essential", as it gave a sense of unpredictability to the group. The newly formed supergroup, now known as Gokumontō Ikka, made their debut performance at the Rising Sun Rock Festival in August 2013. Only touring and releasing demos online at first, the band then released their first extended play "Jitsuroku! Gokumontō Ikka" during their November 2015 tour. During the hiatus, Avu-chan also collaborated with singer Mariko Gotō for "" in 2014, performing a cover of "Ai no Senshi".


title: Avu-chan

text: Queen Bee reformed in February 2014 after a one-year hiatus. The band's comeback single, "Venus", was used as the theme song for the drama "Spooky Romantics" (2015), which preceded their fourth album "Kirei" (2015). In the same year, Avu-chan collaborated with a South Korean boyband Supernova, writing and performing on the leading track "Jesus", from their sub-unit Funky Galaxy's debut extended play. In 2016, Queen Bee and Gokumontō Ikka released a split single, "Kinsei" / "Shibō Yūgi". The packaging for the limited edition of the split single was styled to resemble PlayStation fighting games, with the cover art illustrated by Kinu Nishimura, whose work on the "Darkstalkers" series has been considered a longtime favorite by Avu-chan.


title: Avu-chan

text: In 2017, Avu-chan debuted as a stage actress with a production of "The Rocky Horror Show", in the role of Columbia. The production toured Japan in late 2017.


title: Avu-chan

text: Queen Bee's sixth album "Ten" (2019) was released to commemorate the band's ten-year anniversary, and was also their first album to ever reach the top 10 on the Oricon charts in Japan. It featured several tracks used as theme songs for anime, such as "Half" in "Tokyo Ghoul:re", and "Fire" in "Dororo". In 2019, Avu-chan returned to the stage, now in the role of Yitzhak in a Japanese production of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". In late 2020, Avu-chan produced the song "" for an anonymous boyband called Honey Bee, who were later revealed to be Hey! Say! JUMP, and in 2021, collaborated with the singer LiSA on the song "GL", from her 10th anniversary mini-album "".


title: Avu-chan

text: In 2022, Avu-chan will star in the Masaaki Yuasa-directed animated film "Inu-Oh" as the title character.


title: Avu-chan

text: Avu-chan identifies with gender aspects of both men and women. In school, Avu-chan related to characters who had non-traditional experiences of gender in films, such as Hedwig from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" (2001) and the character of Angel in "Rent" (2005). Avu-chan does not like people who categorize others by gender and racial labels. Avu-chan's official website biography written in 2012 used she/her pronouns, as well as an article with MTV from 2015, however as of 2019 the biography was updated to no longer use pronouns. Often, Japanese language sources will use the Japanese pronoun (the equivalent of she/her).


title: Avu-chan

text: Avu-chan based the Queen Bee song "Half" (the ending theme song for the anime "" (2018)) on childhood experiences in Japan, when people questioned Avu-chan's ethnic background. As a child, Avu-chan wondered why people felt the need to ask about heritage and identity, and did not like the word "hāfu" ("half" the Japanese term for mixed race children), as Avu-chan did not feel like "half" of something.


title: Mystery to Me

text: Mystery to Me is the eighth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 15 October 1973. This was their last album to feature Bob Weston. Most of the songs were penned by guitarist/singer Bob Welch and keyboardist/singer Christine McVie, who were instrumental in steering the band toward the radio-friendly pop rock that would make them successful a few years later.


title: Mystery to Me

text: "Mystery to Me" sold moderately well, peaking at number 67 on the US "Billboard" 200 chart dated 22 December 1973. Despite not being a hit single, the song "Hypnotized" became an American FM radio staple for many years. In the wake of the Buckingham/Nicks-led line-up's success a few years later, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1976.


title: Mystery to Me

text: "Mystery to Me" was Fleetwood Mac's last album recorded in England, the last to have two guitarists in the line-up until "Behind the Mask" and the last to be co-produced and/or engineered by Martin Birch. As with the preceding "Penguin", the group recorded the album at Benifold, their communal house in Hampshire, with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Dave Walker was asked to leave during the sessions and did not feature in any capacity on the final release.


title: Mystery to Me

text: The album's name comes from a line in the chorus of "Emerald Eyes". "Hypnotized" was a minor US radio hit. "Forever" is one of only two Fleetwood Mac tracks to feature Bob Weston as a composer and one of only a small handful to feature John McVie in this capacity. "Keep On Going" was written by Bob Welch, but sung by Christine McVie because Welch decided her voice was better suited to the song than his. This was one of very few occasions when a member of Fleetwood Mac composed a song which was sung by another member.


title: Mystery to Me

text: "For Your Love" was originally recorded by The Yardbirds, and Fleetwood Mac's cover version replaced a Bob Welch song, "Good Things (Come to Those Who Wait)", on the album at a very late stage in production. Some albums came with a lyric inner sheet and outer sleeve still showing "Good Things" instead of "For Your Love". The song was also released as a single. Although Fleetwood Mac's version of "Good Things" would not see release until 2020, it was later re-recorded by Welch with different lyrics and released as "Don't Wait Too Long" on his solo album "Three Hearts".


title: Mystery to Me

text: Select tunes have been included in subsequent tours. Both "Why" and "Hypnotized" were played on the band's eponymous tour in 1975. "Just Crazy Love" was performed by Christine McVie on her solo tour in 1984. Early shows of the 2018–19 An Evening with Fleetwood Mac tour also featured "Hypnotized".


title: Mystery to Me

text: Bob Welch would rerecord five of his contributions to the album – "Emerald Eyes", "Hypnotized" and "Miles Away" for His Fleetwood Mac Years & Beyond in 2003 and "The City" and "Somebody" for its follow-up volume in 2006 although the latter only featured on the digital edition.


title: Mystery to Me

text: During the band's 1973 American tour, they appeared on the "Midnight Special", but during the venture, it became clear that Bob Weston was having an affair with Mick Fleetwood's wife Jenny. Although Fleetwood tried to carry on playing with Weston, regardless of the extramarital issues, it soon became clear that something had to give and after a gig in Lincoln, Nebraska, Fleetwood told the McVies and Welch that he could no longer play with Weston in the line-up. John Courage, the band's road manager, fired Weston and put him on a plane back to the UK. With the tour cut short, the band also went back to England to break the news to their manager Clifford Davis, who was so angry that he sent another group of musicians on the road as Fleetwood Mac, claiming that he owned the name.


title: Mystery to Me

text: "Mystery to Me" debuted at number 156 on US "Billboard 200" chart dated 17 November 1973. The album reached its peak at number 67 on the chart dated 22 December 1973, after being on the chart for six weeks. The album ultimately spent a total of 26 weeks on the chart. On 9 November 1976, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: Norway is not a member state of the European Union (EU). However, it is associated with the Union through its membership of the European Economic Area (EEA), signed in 1992 and established in 1994. Norway was a founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1960, which was originally set up as an alternative to the European Economic Community (EEC), the main predecessor of the EU. Norway had considered joining both the EEC and the European Union, but opted to decline following referendums in 1972 and 1994. According to the European Social Survey conducted in 2018, 73.6% of Norwegians would vote 'No' in a Referendum to join the European Union. Norway has two land borders with EU member states: Finland and Sweden.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: Norway's trade is dominated by the EU, and Norway is the EU's fifth most important import partner. Norway to EU trade amounted to €91.85 billion in 2008, primarily energy supplies (only 14.1% is manufactured products). The EU's exports to Norway amounted to €43.58 billion, primarily manufactured products.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: The EEA agreement grants Norway access to the EU's single market. From the 23,000 EU laws currently in force, the EEA has incorporated around 5,000 (in force) meaning that Norway is subject to roughly 21% of EU laws. According to Norway's Foreign Affairs (NOU 2012:2 p. 790, 795), from the legislative acts implemented from 1994 to 2010, 70% of EU directives and 17% of EU regulations in force in the EU in 2008 were in force in Norway in 2010. Overall, this means that about 28% of EU legislation in force of these two types in 2008 were in force in Norway in 2010. While the Norwegian parliament has to approve all new legislation which has "significant new obligations", this has been widely supported and usually uncontested; between 1992 and 2011, 92% of EU laws were approved unanimously, and most of the rest by a broad majority.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: This arrangement facilitates free movement of goods, capital, services and people between the EU and EFTA members including Norway. Free movement of goods means freedom from customs fees, where however food and beverage is excluded (because those are subsidised by the EU). Fishing and agriculture incur over €100 million of tariffs annually due to customs fees. Joining the European Union as a full member would eliminate these fees and lead to lower food prices in Norway. This is opposed by farmers and the fishing industry as it would create additional competition for domestic producers.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: Free movement of people means freedom of movement for workers between Norway and EU, and that Norway is a part of the Schengen Area.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: Norway has been granted participation rights (save voting rights) in several of the Union's programmes, bodies and initiatives. These include security and defence areas like the European Defence Agency, the Nordic Battle Group, Frontex, Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Whether or not the country should apply for full membership has been one of the most dominant and divisive issues in modern Norwegian political debate.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: Norway's total financial contribution linked to the EEA agreement consists of contributions related to the participation in these projects, and part made available to development projects for reducing social and economic disparities in the EU (EEA and Norway Grants). EEA EFTA states fund their participation in programmes and agencies by an amount corresponding to the relative size of their gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the GDP of the whole EEA. The EEA EFTA participation is hence on an equal footing with EU member states. The total EEA EFTA commitment amounts to 2.4% of the overall EU programme budget. In 2008 Norway's contribution was €188 million. Throughout the programme period 2007–2013, the Norwegian contribution will increase substantially in parallel with the development of the EU programme budget, from €130 million in 2007 to €290 million in 2013. For the EEA and Norway Grants from 2004 to 2009, Norway provided almost €1.3 billion.


title: Norway–European Union relations

text: In 1962, Norway applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) with fellow EFTA members Ireland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom having applied to join the previous year. When France rebuffed the United Kingdom's application the following year, accession negotiations with Norway and the other countries were also suspended because of the strong economic ties between them. This happened again in 1967.