title: AmeriCorps

text: On September 12, 2014, President Barack Obama launched the "Employers of National Service" initiative at the 20th Anniversary of AmeriCorps event on the South Lawn of the White House. Employers participating in the initiative connect to the talent pipeline of AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and other service year alumni, by indicating in their hiring processes that they view national service experience as a plus. The initiative is a collaboration between AmeriCorps with the Peace Corps, Service Year Alliance, AmeriCorps Alums, and the National Peace Corps Association. To date, over 500 employers have joined the initiative.


title: AmeriCorps

text: The Commission on National and Community Service was a new, independent federal agency created as a consequence of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.


title: AmeriCorps

text: The Commission was intentioned to mean to bring about a renewed focus on encouraging volunteering in the United States and was charged with supporting four streams of service:


title: AmeriCorps

text: In 1993 the Corporation for National and Community Service was created by merging another agency, ACTION, and the Commission on National and Community Service together, thus ending the Commission.


title: AmeriCorps

text: 1990: President George H. W. Bush signs the National and Community Service Act of 1990 into law, ushering in a renewed federal focus on encouraging volunteering in the U.S. This legislation created the new independent federal agency called the Commission on National and Community Service.


title: AmeriCorps

text: 1992: Enacted as part of the 1993 National Defense Authorization Act, the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) is created as a demonstration program to explore the possibility of using post-Cold War military resources to help solve problems here at home. It is modeled on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and the United States military.


title: AmeriCorps

text: 1993: President Bill Clinton signs into passage The National and Community Service Trust Act, formally merging the federal offices of ACTION and the Commission on National and Community Service, including Serve America and NCCC, to form the Corporation for National and Community Service, along with the addition of the new AmeriCorps program.


title: AmeriCorps

text: While discussion has occurred about the range and efficacy of evaluating the successes of AmeriCorps State and National, VISTA, and NCCC programs, there has been a variety of documentation supporting the programs. AmeriCorps provided fiscal resources and personnel to support the start-up of national programs, including Public Allies and Teach For America. It also brought vital resources to established programs, including City Year, Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters, JusticeCorps and the American Red Cross.


title: AmeriCorps

text: AmeriCorps is reported to increase the effectiveness of community service. Successes for individual AmeriCorps State and National, VISTA, and NCCC members include increasing their commitment to community service, increasing community-based activism, connection to their communities, knowledge of community problems, engagement in the political process, and voting participation.


title: AmeriCorps

text: Additionally, according to a 2007 study released by AmeriCorps, a majority of AmeriCorps State and National, VISTA, and NCCC alumni within the study period claimed they had gained life and job skills, such as leadership, teamwork, time-management, and hands-on experience in a field of interest. The study further reported that 71% of alumni were incentivized to join by the prospect of earning a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award; 41% of members went on to receive a four-year college degree within three years of entering AmeriCorps.


title: AmeriCorps

text: AmeriCorps programs have been criticized as being exploitive of their volunteers, being "voluntourism," and serving to privatize or de-professionalize public services.


title: AmeriCorps

text: In 2018, a A CBS News Radio did an investigation into years of complaints about AmeriCorps programs which found multiple allegations of sexual harassment, abusive behavior and mismanagement since 2013.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Jennifer Kent (born 5 March 1969) is an Australian actress, writer and director, best known for her directorial debut, the horror film "The Babadook" (2014). Her second film, "The Nightingale" (2018), premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival and was released in the United States on 2 August 2019.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She says that she put on her first play when she was seven and also wrote stories. In her late teens, she chose acting as she "wasn't really aware at that stage that women could direct films". She graduated in 1991 from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Performing Arts (Acting). In a promotional interview for Kent's 2014 film, "The Babadook", lead actress, Essie Davis, explained that Kent was in the year above her at NIDA and was "[an] eerily phenomenal actress ... the girl that was obviously the best girl at the whole school."


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent began her career as an actress, working primarily in television. She was a main cast member of "Murder Call", from creator Hal McElroy, playing Constable, Dee Suzeraine, in all 31 episodes of the series. She also appeared in several episodes of other Australian TV series such as "All Saints", "Police Rescue" and "Above the Law". Kent also had a small role in "" and "The New Adventures of Black Beauty". She has also been an acting teacher for 13 years at major institutions such as NIDA and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).


title: Jennifer Kent

text: After losing interest in acting, Kent was inspired after seeing "Dancer in the Dark" to pursue a career as a filmmaker. She wrote to director Lars von Trier, asking to study under him and explaining that she found the idea of film school repellent. In 2002 von Trier allowed her to assist him as part of a directing attachment on the set of his film "Dogville" (2003) starring Nicole Kidman. In 2006 Kent directed an episode of "Two Twisted", an Australian series following in the tradition of "The Twilight Zone".


title: Jennifer Kent

text: In 2005 Kent directed her short film "Monster", which was screened at over 50 festivals around the world, including Telluride, Montreal World, and Slamdance film festivals, SXSW, and Aspen Shortsfest. In 2014 she adapted her short into a feature-length film "The Babadook" starring Essie Davis whom Kent had known through drama school. The film tells the story of a single mother played by Davis who must confront a sinister presence in her home while dealing with the death of her husband. Kent Explains "[she] was always quite fascinated by people who could suppress really dark, deep, painful experiences and [she] wanted to explore the idea that perhaps pushing down on those terrible experiences is harder than facing them,"."The Babadook" premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in the prestigious Midnight section. The film was quickly picked up for distribution in the U.S. by IFC Films. Kent did five drafts of the feature script, received most of her funding from the Australian government (South Audstralian Film Corporation), then conducted a Kickstarter campaign to help raise US$30,000 to pay for set construction. "The Babadook" received widespread critical acclaim, with "The Exorcist" director William Friedkin tweeting that he'd never seen a more terrifying film, and doubled its budget with $4.9 million in worldwide box office. "The Babadook" script won the Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting at the 2015 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. The Film won other awards including: New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film (2014), Empire Award for Best Horror (2015), AACTA Award for Best Film (2015), AACTA Award for Best Direction (2015), AACTA Award for Best Original Screenplay (2015), and the AACTA Byron Kennedy Award (2020).


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent has been vocal in the press about the lack of female directors in horror cinema. "It will shift, as the world shifts. Women do love watching scary films. It's been proven, and they’ve done all the tests. The demographics are half men, half women. And we know fear. It's not like we can't explore the subject."


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent met with executives at Warner Bros. in late 2014 to talk about possibly directing the Wonder Woman film, a job which eventually went to Patty Jenkins.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent's first feature-length film "The Babadook" (2014) was a success at the Sundance Film Festival. The work brings up everyday issues that many women face, like the journey of motherhood, and raising a child as a widow. Kent said "Now, it's not just female filmmakers making romantic comedies, but there are female filmmakers across the board. It's no longer a realm for women that's impossible."


title: Jennifer Kent

text: In late 2014, Kent announced that, due to popular demand, a limited edition of the "Mister Babadook" pop-up book featured in her film "The Babadook" would be published in 2015. Kent wrote the book in collaboration with illustrator Alex Juhasz, who had created the prop book used in the film. The book sold out its run of 6,200 copies.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Her second film, "The Nightingale", deals with murder and revenge in 1825 Tasmania. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film garnered an approval rating of 86%, based on 234 reviews.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: When asked whether she would be doing a sequel to "The Babadook", Kent said that she "will never allow any sequel to be made, because it's not that kind of film. I don't care how much I'm offered, it's just not going to happen."


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent has at least two feature films currently in various states of development. One of her scripts, "Grace", won the Prix Du Scenario for unproduced scripts at the Cinéma des Antipodes festival at Saint Tropez, which presents films from Australia and New Zealand, but Kent said in October 2014, "The story of "Grace" was very much what I ended up making with "The Babadook"." Kent said a project, a "surreal drama" about death and letting go set in Australia, has some funding for development. She told "The Guardian" in May 2014 that HBO was courting her for a TV series.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: In June 2015, it is reported that nonfiction book "Alice + Freda Forever" is being adapted into a film which Kent would write and direct. The book tells the real-life story of Alice Mitchell and her lover Freda Ward whom she killed in 1892. The film's producer Sarah Schechter stated that she is "thrilled Kent shares the same passion for telling this powerful, intense and unfortunately still timely story"


title: Jennifer Kent

text: "The Babadook" has more of an emphasis on narrative than many horror films: It tells the relationship between the monster and the family and how they, in the end, learn to live with not only their "inner demons" but the Babadook himself.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: The film strays from the typical approach to the genre of horror by using a mix of psychological drama and horror, and focusing on the imagination of children slowly turning into a reality. Kent does this by using horror elements in the layout and camerawork. The film uses German expressionist techniques. Many of the scenes are disorienting and dark; artistic flare is used in the lighting, characters' emotions, and sets to add to the overall mood of the film


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent uses different approaches to the horror genre compared to classic horror film directors. As "The Babadook" progresses, for example, the Victorian style house which is the main set mimics the mother's mental state. As the mother's mind slowly turns erratic, the home follows.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent brought together a team of people she felt could bring her idea to the screen. Radek Ladczuk was the film's cinematographer and helped bring her ideas to life. Kent was influenced by old movies, and even wanted to film the movie in black and white but later changed to colour. Kent used many different techniques to embody a terrifying set, using colours like "muted grey-and-blue and hints of red as the story became more suspenseful". Throughout the film, she pushed to colour grade certain scenes to stay within the colour scheme, by altering and enhancing the colour of the scene either chemically or digitally.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Ladczuk states that there were five aspects to this film, all shown with different camera movements. The film is split into five different emotions: anxiety, fear, terror, possession and courage. By shooting with a 32mm lens they were able to capture the mother's feelings and later changed to a 14mm lens. They also used a Steadicam and static camera to help develop the film's layers. Fast and slow motion effects were also added throughout the film, as well as stop motion, and they even mounted a camera vertically on the wall to help with certain shots. A lot of the shots were done in camera because Kent felt that it made the film scarier and more realistic than adding stuff in with CGI later.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Jennifer Kent's work falls under the category of fiction, horror, and trauma. Her work isn't necessarily based on specific real events. Kent's filmmaking process starts off with a central idea which leads her to think about a film's other components. Kent focuses on the themes of mise-en-scène, from the style of editing, to the usage of sound, lighting, visuals, locations, but most importantly, the performance and camera angles. She explains that within her filmmaking style, each actor is approached with different techniques, games, and tricks to attain the best possible natural expressions and acting.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: Kent was recently asked if Amelia wrote the Babadook to which she replied "It was intended but never said right out. When it turns out that The Babadook is really Amelia, or that Amelia has become possessed by him, it also seems plausible that Amelia is his creator as well as his puppet." Blogger Lynn Cinnamon points out that Amelia used to write children's books, so it makes sense that she used her book-making skills to create the mysterious, haunted object that infiltrates their life. If that's the case, the second book depicting herself as the monster was also made by her, possibly in an insomniac trance.


title: Jennifer Kent

text: "The Babadook" is presented from the mother's perspective; the struggle of motherhood is a major component of the film's story. According to Clarke, many scenes in the film are relatable because they show everyday struggles for mothers. Clarke argues that Kent touches on not only parenting, but dealing with gossipy friends and sexuality, shown in a scene where the mother is masturbating. These everyday themes are interspersed with moments of terror and suspense; techniques of classic horror. The film ends with the female lead taming the beast by defending her child, and keeping it in the basement, furthering the theme of motherhood. She takes on the role of a mother to the monster, shown when she collects worms with her son to bring it to the basement to feed him. Kent's ending is very unorthodox for the horror film genre. This metaphor of when her son grows older, maybe one day she'd show him the monster in the basement in a literal and figurative sense.


title: Steve Valentine

text: Stephen John Valentine (born 26 October 1966) is a Scottish actor and magician. He is known for his roles as Nigel Townsend on NBC's crime drama series "Crossing Jordan", the voice of Harry Flynn in the video game "", and the voice of Alistair in the "Dragon Age" video game franchise.


title: Steve Valentine

text: Valentine started his career as a magician; on the audio commentary for "Spider-Man 3", actress Bryce Dallas Howard revealed that he performed magic at her seventh birthday party. He has been seen in films such as "Mars Attacks!", "Teen Beach Movie", and "Avalon High". He was a main cast member on "Crossing Jordan" and has guest starred on such shows as "House", "Monk", "Just Shoot Me", "Will and Grace", "Dharma & Greg", Psych, and "Charmed". Valentine hosted Syfy's reality show "Estate of Panic". He voiced Alistair in the "" video game franchise and Harry Flynn in the video game "". He is also an accomplished magician, using this skill to portray magicians occasionally. He starred as Derek Jupiter in the Disney XD sitcom "I'm in the Band".


title: Smokepurpp

text: Omar Jeffery Pineiro (born May 15, 1997), known professionally as Smokepurpp, is an American rapper. Originally a record producer, Pineiro later found success on the audio distribution platform SoundCloud in 2017 from his surge in popularity due to his track "Audi".


title: Smokepurpp

text: Pineiro released his debut commercial mixtape "Deadstar" on September 29, 2017, and the mixtape peaked at number 42 on the "Billboard" 200 albums chart.


title: Smokepurpp

text: Smokepurpp was born on May 15, 1997, in Chicago, Illinois. He and his family moved to Miami, Florida when he was three years old. Speaking on his upbringing, Pineiro described himself during high school as a calm individual who surrounded himself with diverse groups of people.


title: Smokepurpp

text: Pineiro began his music career as a producer, a hobby he picked up due to boredom. While doing this, he had a major influence in getting his friend Lil Pump into rapping as well. He began to rap when no one bought his produced instrumentals and due to the success of several tracks on the audio distribution platform SoundCloud, Pineiro dropped out of high school in his senior year.


title: Smokepurpp

text: Pineiro originally started to pursue music in high school, starting as a producer, as many others, Pineiro started publishing his art on SoundCloud. Pineiro began to rap due to the lack of people actually buying his produced instrumentals. Pineiro's first song was released on SoundCloud in 2015, but he quickly deleted it due to its lack of quality, soon uploading his second song, "Live Off a Lick" featuring Florida native rapper XXXTentacion. Pineiro eventually dropped out of high school due to his budding music career. Pineiro later released his first music video on September 23, 2014, titled "It's Nothin" with rapper Lil Ominous, who is also Pineiro's cousin.


title: Smokepurpp

text: In March 2017, Pineiro signed a joint venture record deal with Alamo Records (now part of Sony Music) and Interscope Records. Following this, he announced his debut commercial mixtape on March 9, 2017, on Twitter. Several days later on March 14, 2017, Pineiro announced that the mixtape would be titled "Deadstar".


title: Smokepurpp

text: Pineiro released his commercial debut single, "Audi", in May 2017. The single soon became his biggest song with over 25 million plays on SoundCloud and 122 million streams on Spotify as of October 2017. In September 2017, Pineiro announced that the release date for "Deadstar" was September 22, releasing the single "Bless Yo Trap" following the announcement. Pineiro announced later on that "Deadstar" would be delayed, stating no expected release date.


title: Smokepurpp

text: On September 28, 2017, Pineiro released "Deadstar". The mixtape includes features from artists such as Chief Keef, Juicy J and Travis Scott. The mixtape debuted at number 42 on the "Billboard" 200 albums chart. Following the release of the mixtape, on November 8, 2017, Pineiro was on the MTV show "TRL", where he announced that he had a collaboration mixtape coming soon with Murda Beatz titled "Bless Yo Trap". He later released two singles from the mixtape called "123" and "Do Not Disturb", the latter which features Lil Yachty and Offset from rap group Migos. The mixtape was released on April 13, 2018.


title: Smokepurpp

text: On March 20, 2018, while Pineiro was at SXSW, he did an interview with Nardwuar the Human Serviette, and in that interview, Nardwuar exposed that he had a project coming in 2018 called "Sound of Space", along with his "Deadstar 2" project.


title: Smokepurpp

text: On April 19, 2019, Pineiro released his EP "Lost Planet" via Alamo Records. The EP includes guest appearances from fellow rappers Gunna, Lil Pump, and NLE Choppa. On December 13, he released his debut studio album, "Deadstar 2", after many delays. Although it did not perform as commercially well as his previous projects, it did peak at number 86 on the Canadian Albums chart.


title: Meme Man

text: Meme Man, sometimes also referred to as Mr. Succ and the Stonks guy, is a character often featured in internet memes. He is depicted as a 3D render of a smooth, bald, and often disembodied blue-eyed male head. He was popularized in the mid-2010s by the artist "Special meme fresh", and became a common character in many surreal memes, a genre of internet humor inspired by surrealism. During the 2021 GameStop short squeeze, Meme Man was popularized by users of the subreddit r/wallstreetbets as the face of the "stonks" meme.


title: Meme Man

text: The first usage of him as a recurring character was on the Facebook page of the artist "Special meme fresh" and soon spread to become "one of the only consistent stylistic elements" of the surreal memes aesthetic. On June 5, 2017, the artist uploaded an image of Meme Man overlaid on top of a stock photo of a man in a business suit with arms crossed and a chart pointing upwards behind him, and the caption "Stonks", a deliberate misspelling of the word "stocks". The meme went viral and became a common reaction image on Reddit and Twitter.


title: Meme Man

text: On February 1, 2019, Elon Musk bought the domain name "stankmemes.com" according to his tweet. In June 2020, when Tesla Inc. shares soared he tweeted "stonks" and the website featured this meme.


title: Meme Man

text: On August 27, 2020, a tweet by user @trentandrewrld comparing Meme Man to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos went viral, accumulating over 400,000 likes as of July 30, 2021.


title: Meme Man

text: Elon Musk has used both Meme Man and the "stonks" meme as a reaction on Twitter, and on January 26, 2021, he tweeted the word "Gamestonk!!" with an attached link to r/wallstreetbets. Immediately afterwards, shares in GameStop rose 157 percent in extended-hours trading, which some linked with Musk's tweet.


title: Meme Man

text: In 2021, the multiplayer video game Fortnite released the playable character "Diamond Hanz", based on the design of Meme Man, as a joke for April Fools Day.


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult International Business School (also known as Hult Business School or Hult) is a private business school with campuses in Cambridge, London, San Francisco, Dubai, New York City, and Shanghai. Hult is named for the school's benefactor Bertil Hult.


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult offers undergraduate, master's, and MBA degree programs, as well as executive education through Ashridge Executive Education, housed on the Ashridge Estate campus.


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult is the successor of the Arthur D. Little School of Management, founded in 1964 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and of the Ashridge Business School, founded in 1959 in Ashridge, England.


title: Hult International Business School

text: The "Arthur D. Little School of Management" was founded in 1964 by Arthur Dehon Little in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Originally developed as an executive management education program, the school began to grant degrees after receiving full accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in 1976. In 1996, the Arthur D. Little School of Management formed a partnership with Boston College's Carroll School of Management in order to share access to faculty and facilities.


title: Hult International Business School

text: In 1921, future British Prime Minister Bonar Law acquired Ashridge House, in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, through a trust, with the intent to establish a college at the estate.


title: Hult International Business School

text: In 1929, Ashridge was formally established as the "College of Citizenship" with the backing of the Conservative Party, under the academic advisory of Arthur Bryant, famed English economic historian. In 1959, the college was re-established as a school of management under the name "Ashridge Business School".


title: Hult International Business School

text: In 2002, Swedish billionaire Bertil Hult purchased the Arthur D. Little School of Management, which resulted in the school's reorganization and reestablishment as Hult International Business School in 2003. Under its restructuring, Hult established a new curriculum oriented on international business, which led to the establishment of Hult's global campuses in Dubai (2008), San Francisco (2010), Shanghai (2011), and New York (2014).


title: Hult International Business School

text: In 2007, Hult acquired Huron University in London, a private American university located in London's Bloomsbury neighborhood, which subsequently was reestablished as Hult International Business School's London campus.


title: Hult International Business School

text: In 2014, Hult International Business School acquired and merged with Ashridge Business School, creating one of the largest business schools in the world. After 2015, the two schools began operating as a singular entity, with the establishment of Ashridge Executive Education as Hult's executive program.


title: Hult International Business School

text: The Economist Intelligence Unit, supported by Hult International Business School, launched the Business Professor of the Year Award in 2012.


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult maintains 7 campuses across 6 countries and serves approximately 3,000 students: two undergraduate and postgraduate campuses (London and Boston), three postgraduate campuses that serve as summer rotational campuses (San Francisco, Shanghai and Dubai) one solely postgraduate campuses (New York City), and one executive education campus (Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom). Students are encouraged to rotate between campuses during their programs.


title: Hult International Business School

text: The Hult London Undergraduate Campus, built by British firm Sergison Bates Architects, won the Royal Institute of British Architects National Award in 2015.


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult's degrees are accredited under the British Accreditation Council of Higher Education and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult International Business School has an acceptance rate of 28%. It has over 19,000 alumni in over 156 countries.


title: Hult International Business School

text: The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education classifies Hult as a "More Selective Institution".


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult's Master of International Business program was ranked #17 in The Economist's ranking of Masters in Management programs worldwide in 2019.


title: Hult International Business School

text: In 2020, Hult's Ashridge Executive Education was ranked #16 in the Financial Times Executive Education Top 50 Schools list.


title: Hult International Business School

text: On 1 July 2020, Hult and Ernst & Young (EY) announced the EY Tech MBA by Hult, consisting of online learning, practical experiences, insight papers and a capstone project. This MBA is now offered by EY free to all its people, regardless of rank or location and can be done over any duration. The curriculum is updated every four months.


title: Hult International Business School

text: Hult International Business School is the lead sponsor of the Hult Prize (formerly Hult Global Case Challenge), an annual international case competition launched in 2010 that asks students to find solutions to global social challenges. The Prize is a partnership between Hult International Business School, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the United Nations Foundation.


title: Hult International Business School

text: The best teams from each regional event advance to a global final, at which a single winning team is chosen. Bertil Hult provides a $1 million cash grant to help fund the winning solution.


title: Amaranth grain

text: Species belonging to the genus Amaranthus have been cultivated for their grains for 8,000 years. Amaranth plants are classified as pseudocereals that are grown for their edible starchy seeds, but they are not in the same botanical family as true cereals, such as wheat and rice. Amaranth species that are still used as a grain are "Amaranthus caudatus" L., "Amaranthus cruentus" L., and "Amaranthus hypochondriacus" L"." The yield of grain amaranth is comparable to rice or maize.


title: Amaranth grain

text: The grain was a staple food of the Aztecs and an integral part of Aztec religious ceremonies. The cultivation of amaranth was banned by the conquistadores upon their conquest of the Aztec nation. However, the plant has grown as a weed since then, so its genetic base has been largely maintained. Research on grain amaranth began in the United States in the 1970s. By the end of the 1970s, a few thousand acres were being cultivated there, and continue to be cultivated.


title: Amaranth grain

text: Much of the amaranth grain currently grown is sold in health food shops. Grain amaranth is also grown as a food crop in limited areas of Mexico, where it is used to make a candy called "alegría" (Spanish for "joy") at festival times. In other preparations, the grain can be popped like popcorn and then either mixed with honey, or served with milk, dried fruit and nuts like a cold breakfast cereal. Amaranth grain can also be used to extract amaranth oil, a pressed seed oil with commercial uses.


title: Amaranth grain

text: Raw amaranth grain is inedible to humans and cannot be digested because it blocks the absorption of nutrients. Thus it has to be prepared and cooked like other grains. In a amount, cooked amaranth provides of food energy and is a moderately rich source of dietary minerals, including phosphorus, manganese, and iron. Cooked amaranth is 75% water, 19% carbohydrates, 4% protein, and 2% fat (table).


title: Amaranth grain

text: According to Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), amaranth leaves are nutritious, and "amounts of


title: Amaranth grain

text: vitamin C, iron, beta carotene, calcium, folic acid and protein are especially high," however, amaranth leaves contain anti-nutritional factors, including oxalates, nitrates, saponins, and phenolic compounds. Cooking methods such as boiling the leaves in water and then discarding the water may reduce toxic effects. The report also cites a study indicating that "research has shown that consumption of 200 grams of cooked amaranth poses no health problems."


title: Amaranth grain

text: Amaranth grain is high in protein and lysine, an amino acid found in low quantities in other grains. According to the FAO, amaranth grain as a source of protein is "superior in content and quality to traditional cereals." Amaranth grain is deficient in essential amino acids such as leucine and threonine – both of which are present in wheat germ. Amaranth grain is free of gluten, which makes it a viable grain for people with gluten intolerance.


title: Amaranth grain

text: The table below presents nutritional values of cooked, edible form of amaranth grain to cooked, edible form of wheat grain.


title: Amaranth grain

text: There are about 75 species in the genus "Amaranthus". Many species of amaranth grain are hardy plants, showing resistance to changes in pH, salt content, environment, temperature, and drought. Amaranth grains have genetic diversity and adaptive ability.


title: Amaranth grain

text: Some examples of Amaranth species are "Amaranthus albus, Amaranthus blitoides, Amaranthus hybridus, Amaranthus palmeri, Amaranthus powellii, Amaranthus retroflexus, Amaranthus spinosus, Amaranthus tuberculatus," and "Amaranthus viridis". "Amaranthus retroflexus," "pigweed," is a wild amaranth species native to the United States and is considered a weed in the Northeast, Nebraska and Great Plains, South, and West. The name derives from the plant's tendency to sprout where hogs are pasture-fed. Although both its leaves and its seeds are edible, pigweed amaranth has not been cultivated as a food crop.


title: Amaranth grain

text: The Aztecs cultivated amaranth as a staple grain crop in what is now Mexico during the pre-Columbian period. Amaranth was used by the Aztecs for tamales, tortillas, and atole (hot cereal). In addition they formed shaped images of their gods with amaranth, agave, and maize during the sacred month of Huitzilopochtli. At the end of the month, the statues were eaten by the families to "take the god into them". When the Spanish prohibited religious acts like this, and imposed the religion of their God who was worshiped through wheat, amaranth cultivation decreased. In current Mexican culture on the Day of the Dead, amaranth seeds are offered as snack foods for the spirits. Edible skulls were historically made with amaranth seeds, although today they are made out of sugar.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: Picnic at Hanging Rock is an Australian historical fiction novel by Joan Lindsay. The novel, set in 1900, is about a group of female students at an Australian girls' boarding school who vanish at Hanging Rock while on a Valentine's Day picnic, and the effects the disappearances have on the school and local community. The novel was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was reprinted by Penguin in 1975. It is widely considered by critics to be one of the greatest Australian novels. In 2022, it was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: Although the events depicted in the novel are entirely fictional, it is framed as though it were a true story, corroborated by ambiguous pseudohistorical references. Its unresolved conclusion has sparked significant public, critical, and scholarly analysis, and the narrative has become a part of Australia's national folklore as a result. Lindsay claimed to have written the novel over two weeks at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, after having successive dreams of the narrated events.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: An excised final chapter of the novel was published posthumously as part of a book entitled "The Secret of Hanging Rock", which also included critical commentary and theories about the novel. Another book, titled "The Murders at Hanging Rock", was published in 1980, proposing varying other interpretations. The novel has been adapted into other media, most famously in the 1975 critically well-received film of the same name by director Peter Weir.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The novel begins with a brief foreword stating that whether the novel "is fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves" and implying that the events occurred.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: At Appleyard College, a private boarding school for upper-class girls near Mount Macedon, Victoria, a picnic is being planned for the students under the supervision of Mrs. Appleyard, the school's headmistress. The picnic entails a day trip to Hanging Rock, on St. Valentine's Day in 1900. One of the students, Sara, who is in trouble with Mrs. Appleyard, is not allowed to go. Sara's close friend Miranda goes without her. When they arrive, the students relax, and eat lunch. Afterward, Miranda goes to climb the monolith with classmates Edith, Irma, and Marion despite being forbidden to do so. The girls' mathematics teacher, Greta McCraw, follows behind them separately. Miranda, Marion, and Irma climb still higher in a trance-like state while Edith flees in terror; she returns to the picnic in hysterics, disoriented and with no memory of what occurred. Miss McCraw is also nowhere to be accounted for except for being seen by Edith who passed her ascending the rock in her underwear. The school scours the rock in search of the three girls and their teacher, but they are not found.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The disappearances provoke much local concern and international sensation with rape, abduction, and murder being assumed as probable explanations. Several organized searches of the picnic grounds and the area surrounding the rock itself turn up nothing. Meanwhile, the students, teachers and staff of the college, as well as members of the community, grapple with the riddle-like events. Mike Fitzhubert, an Englishman who was picnicking at the grounds the same day, embarks on a private search of the rock and discovers Irma, unconscious and on the verge of death. When he fails to return from his search, he is found in an unexplained daze, sitting at the rock with Irma, by his friend and uncle's coachman, Albert Crundall.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: Concerned parents begin withdrawing their daughters from the prestigious college, prompting various staff to leave; the college's handyman and maid quit their jobs, and the French instructor, Mlle. Dianne de Poitiers, announces that she will be getting married and leaving the college as well. A junior governess at the college, Dora Lumley, also leaves with her brother Reg, only for both to be killed in a hotel fire. Amidst the unrest both in and around the college, Sara vanishes, only to be found days later, having apparently committed suicide (her body was found directly beneath the school's tower, with her head "crushed beyond recognition"). Mrs. Appleyard, distraught over the events that have occurred, kills herself by jumping from a peak on Hanging Rock.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: In a pseudo-historical afterword purportedly extracted from a 1913 Melbourne newspaper article, it is written that both the college and the Woodend Police Station, where records of the investigation were kept, were destroyed by a bush fire in the summer of 1901. In 1903, rabbit hunters came across a lone piece of frilled calico at the rock, believed to have been part of the dress of the governess, Miss Greta McCraw, but neither she nor the girls was ever found.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: According to her editor Sandra Forbes, Lindsay's original draft of the novel included a final chapter in which the mystery was resolved. At her editor's suggestion, Lindsay removed it prior to publication. Chapter Eighteen, as it is known, was published posthumously as a standalone book in 1987 as The Secret of Hanging Rock by Angus & Robertson Publishing.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The chapter opens with Edith fleeing back to the picnic area while Miranda, Irma, and Marion push on. Each girl begins to experience dizziness and feel as if she is "being pulled from the inside out." A woman suddenly appears climbing the rock in her underwear, shouting "Through!", and then faints. This woman is not referenced by name and is apparently a stranger to the girls, yet the narration suggests she is Miss McCraw. Miranda loosens the woman's corset to help revive her. Afterwards, the girls remove their own corsets and throw them off the cliff. The recovered woman points out that the corsets appear to hover in mid-air as if stuck in time, and that they cast no shadows. She and the girls continue together. The girls then encounter what is described as "a hole in space", by which they physically enter a crack in the rock following a lizard; the unnamed woman transforms into a crab and disappears into the rock. Marion follows her, then Miranda, but when Irma's turn comes, a balanced boulder (the hanging rock) slowly tilts and blocks the way. The chapter ends with Irma "tearing and beating at the gritty face on the boulder with her bare hands."


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The missing material amounts to about 12 pages; the remainder of the publication "The Secret at Hanging Rock" contains discussion by other authors, including John Taylor and Yvonne Rousseau. The suspension of the corsets and description of the hole in space suggest that the girls have encountered some sort of time warp, which is compatible with Lindsay's fascination with and emphasis on clocks and time in the novel.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: Lindsay claimed to have written the novel based on an idea she had in a dream. In a 2017 article in "The Age", it was noted: "The dream had centred on a summer picnic at a place called Hanging Rock, which Joan knew well from her childhood holidays. Joan told Rae [her housekeeper] that the dream had felt so real that when she awoke at 7.30am, she could still feel the hot summer breeze blowing through the gum trees and she could still hear the peals of laughter and conversation of the people she'd imagined, and their gaiety and lightness of spirit as they set out on their joyful picnic expedition."


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: According to her housekeeper at the time, the events of the novel were dreamt by Lindsay successively. Several years after the publication of the novel, Lindsay would recount the experience of writing it as such: ""Picnic at Hanging Rock" really was an experience to write, because I was just impossible when I was writing it. I just sort of thought about it all night and in the morning I would go straight up and sit on the floor, papers all around me, and just write like a demon!"


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The novel was written over a total of two weeks at Lindsay's home in Mulberry Hill. In thinking of a title, Lindsay recalled the painting "At the Hanging Rock" by William Ford, which had hung in her husband Daryl's office at the National Gallery of Victoria, and chose to incorporate it into the title as it was "simple and pretty, and belied the horrors hidden within." In an interview after Lindsay's death, academic Terrence O'Neill, who had befriended Lindsay, remarked the supernatural elements of the novel: "It was clear that [Joan] was interested in Spiritualism, and longed for some spiritual dimension in her life, but she didn't feel safe bringing that side of her out in front of her husband. So I think she channelled it into her writing. I know she was very interested in Arthur Conan Doyle and his belief in and theories about Spiritualism, nature and the existence of spirits."


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The novel was imported for sale in the United States, and would receive its first publication there in 2014 by Penguin Random House. In the United Kingdom, the novel was printed in several editions by Vintage, in 1998 and 2013.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is written in the form of a true story, and even begins and ends with a pseudohistorical prologue and epilogue, reinforcing the mystery that has generated significant critical and public interest since its publication in 1967. However, while the geological feature, Hanging Rock, and the several towns mentioned are actual places near Mount Macedon, the story itself is entirely fictitious. Lindsay had done little to dispel the myth that the story is based on truth, in many interviews either refusing to confirm it was entirely fiction, or hinting that parts of the book were fictitious and that others were not. The dates named in the novel do not correspond to actual dates in the 1900 calendar. For instance, Valentine's Day, 14 February 1900, occurred on a Wednesday, not a Saturday; similarly, Easter Sunday fell on 15 April in 1900, not on 29 March.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: Appleyard College was to some extent based on Clyde Girls' Grammar School at St Kilda East, Victoria, which Joan Lindsay attended as a day-girl while in her teens. Incidentally, in 1919 this school was transferred to the town of Woodend, Victoria, about 8 km southwest of Hanging Rock. The fictional site of the college was described in the book as having an eastward view of Mount Macedon on the Bendigo Road. This would place it roughly 3.6 mi. (5.8 km) south of Woodend. The total trip to Hanging Rock was about 7.5 mi. (12 km.).


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: When asked in a 1974 interview about whether or not the novel was based in truth, Lindsay responded: "Well, it was written as a mystery and it remains a mystery. If you can draw your own conclusions, that's fine, but I don't think that it matters. I wrote that book as a sort of atmosphere of a place, and it was like dropping a stone into the water. I felt that story, if you call it a story—that the thing that happened on St. Valentine's Day went on spreading, out and out and out, in circles." The unresolved mystery of the disappearances in the novel aroused so much lasting public interest that in 1980 a book of hypothetical solutions (by Yvonne Rousseau) was published, called "The Murders at Hanging Rock".


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The novel was first published on 1 November 1967 by F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne, under the aegis of Andrew Fabinyi, with an acclaimed "dream-like" cover design by Alison Forbes. It was reprinted in paperback by Penguin Books' Australian division in 1975, printed in conjunction with the release of the film adaptation. A hardback illustrated edition was also printed in Australia in 1987, also by Penguin. It would receive another reprinting by Penguin Books Australia in 2013 as part of the "Penguin Australian Classics" series.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: Much of the critical and scholarly interest in the novel has centered on its mysterious conclusion, as well as its depiction of Australia's natural environment in contrast with the Victorian population of the British colony established in 1851. In 1987, literary scholar Donald Bartlett drew comparisons between Lindsay's treatment of the rock and that of the fictitious Marabar Caves in E. M. Forster's "A Passage to India", which has been interpreted as a metaphor for Pan, the Greek god of the wild: "There is more, of course, to "A Passage to India" than Pan motifs, for example symbols such as the snake, the wasp and the undying worm, not to mention the vast panorama of India's religions. But I believe it probable that Joan Lindsay consciously borrowed the elements [from "A Passage to India"]."


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: Literary scholar Kathleen Steele argues in her essay "Fear and Loathing in the Australian Bush: Gothic Landscapes in "Bush Studies" and "Picnic at Hanging Rock"" that the novel's treatment of landscape and its missing characters is reflective of Australia's national history and the relationship between the rock and the Aboriginal population: "The silence surrounding Aborigines, and the manner in which Europeans foregrounded 'geographical, historical and cultural difference and discontinuity,' yet denied Aborigines either presence or history, created a gothic consciousness of 'something deeply unknowable and terrifying in the Australian landscape.'" ... "Lindsay provokes a reflection on the understanding of Australia as an un-peopled land where nothing of consequence occurred until the British gave it a history."


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The first film adaptation of the book was a short by Tony Ingram, a fourteen-year-old filmmaker, who got permission from Joan Lindsay to adapt her book as "The Day of Saint Valentine." However, only about ten minutes of footage was filmed before the rights were optioned to Peter Weir for his more famous feature-length version, and the production was permanently shelved. The completed footage is included on some DVD releases of Weir's film.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: The feature film version of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" premiered at the Hindley Cinema Complex in Adelaide on 8 August 1975. It became an early film of the Australian New Wave and is arguably Australia's first international hit film.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: "Picnic at Hanging Rock" was adapted by playwright Laura Annawyn Shamas in 1987 and published by Dramatic Publishing Company. Subsequently, it has had many productions in the US, Canada, and Australia. There have also been musical adaptations of the novel.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: A stage-musical adaptation, with book, music, and lyrics by Daniel Zaitchik, was scheduled to open in New York City in the fall of 2012. The musical received a 2007 staged reading at New York's Lincoln Center, and further workshop development at the 2009 O'Neill Theater Center National Music Theater Conference. The musical had its world premiere on 28 February 2014 at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah under the direction of Jim Christian.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: In 2016, the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne showed a stage adaptation dramatized by Tom Wright and directed by Matthew Lutton. The production was later staged at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland in January 2017. The overseas production worked alongside the original Australian theatre makers Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne as well as Black Swan State Theatre Company. The Malthouse Theatre presented an encore season of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" in early 2018.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: An abridged form of the book was read by New Zealand actress Lisa Harrow on BBC Radio Four in 1996 in its Book at Bedtime slot. In 2010, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio adaptation. The cast included Simon Burke, Penny Downie, Anna Skellern and Andi Snelling.


title: Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)

text: On 6 September 2016, it was announced that Fremantle Media and pay-TV broadcaster Foxtel were producing a six-part miniseries, to be broadcast in 2017. The miniseries became available on Amazon Prime streaming on 25 May 2018.


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: The Cult of the Supreme Being () was a form of deism established in France by Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution. It was intended to become the state religion of the new French Republic and a replacement for Roman Catholicism and its rival, the Cult of Reason. It went unsupported after the fall of Robespierre and was officially proscribed by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: The French Revolution had occasioned many radical changes in France, but one of the most fundamental for the hitherto Catholic nation was the official rejection of religion. The first new major organized school of thought emerged under the umbrella name of the Cult of Reason. Advocated by radicals like Jacques Hébert and Antoine-François Momoro, the Cult of Reason distilled a mixture of largely atheistic views into an anthropocentric philosophy. No gods at all were worshipped in the Cult of Reason—the guiding principle was devotion to the abstract concept of Reason itself.


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: This rejection of all godhead appalled Maximilien Robespierre. Though he was no admirer of Catholicism, he had a special dislike for atheism. He thought that belief in a supreme being was important for social order, and he liked to quote Voltaire: "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him". To him, the Cult of Reason's philosophical offenses were compounded by the "scandalous scenes" and "wild masquerades" attributed to its practice. In late 1793, Robespierre delivered a fiery denunciation of the Cult of Reason and of its proponents and proceeded to give his own vision of proper Revolutionary religion. Devised almost entirely by Robespierre, the Cult of the Supreme Being was authorized by the National Convention on 7 May 1794 as the civic religion of France.


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: Robespierre believed that reason is only a means to an end, and the singular end is virtue. He sought to move beyond simple deism (often described as Voltairean by its adherents) to a new and, in his view, more rational devotion to the godhead. The primary principles of the Cult of the Supreme Being were a belief in the existence of a god and the immortality of the human soul. Though not inconsistent with Christian doctrine, these beliefs were put to the service of Robespierre's fuller meaning, which was of a type of civic-minded, public virtue he attributed to the Greeks and Romans. This type of virtue could only be attained through active fidelity to liberty and democracy. Belief in a living god and a higher moral code, he said, were "constant reminders of justice" and thus essential to a republican society.


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: On 7 May 1794, the National Convention established the Worship of the Supreme Being; the opening clauses of the "Decree Establishing the Worship of the Supreme Being" of the 18th Floréal of the Year II declared:


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: Robespierre used the religious issue to publicly denounce the motives of many radicals not in his camp, and it led, directly or indirectly, to the executions of Revolutionary de-Christianisers like Hébert, Momoro, and Anacharsis Cloots. The establishment of the Cult of the Supreme Being represented the beginning of the reversal of the wholesale de-Christianization process that had been looked upon previously with official favour. Simultaneously it marked the apogee of Robespierre's power. Though in theory he was just an equal member of the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre at this point possessed an unrivalled national prominence.


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: To inaugurate the new state religion, Robespierre declared that 20 Prairial Year II (8 June 1794) would be the first day of national celebration of the Supreme Being, and future republican holidays were to be held every tenth day—the days of rest ("décadi") in the new French Republican Calendar. Every locality was mandated to hold a commemorative event, but the event in Paris was designed on a massive scale. The festival was organized by the artist Jacques-Louis David and took place around a man-made mountain on the Champ de Mars. Robespierre assumed full leadership of the event, forcefully—and, to many, ostentatiously—declaring the truth and "social utility" of his new religion. While earlier Revolutionary festivals were more spontaneous, the Festival of the Supreme Being was meticulously planned. Historian Mona Ozouf has noted how the "creaking stiffness" of the event has been seen by some to foreshadow "the sclerosis of the Revolution."


title: Cult of the Supreme Being

text: The Cult of the Supreme Being and its festival may have contributed to the Thermidorian Reaction and the downfall of Robespierre. According to Madame de Staël, it was from that time he was lost. With his death at the guillotine on 28 July 1794, the cult lost all official sanction and disappeared from public view. It was officially banned by Napoleon Bonaparte on 8 April 1802 with his "Law on Cults of 18 Germinal, Year X".


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The Daihatsu Mira (also known as the Cuore, Domino, and more recently Charade) is a kei car and city car built by Japanese car maker Daihatsu. It has a variety of options and chassis variations, with the latest variant having four models: Mira, Mira AVY, Mira Gino, and Mira VAN. The Mira is the latest successor to the line of cars begun with the Daihatsu Fellow of 1966, and was originally introduced as the commercial version of the Cuore. Outside of Japan, the Mira has also been offered with larger 850 or 1000-cc engines. In Australia, the two-seater version was marketed as the Daihatsu Handivan and later as the Daihatsu Handi. The term "mira" is Latin meaning "goal" or "purpose".


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The Daihatsu Mira and Cuore replaced the Daihatsu Max Cuore in July 1980. This was replaced by the second generation (L70) of the Mira/Cuore, which was introduced in 1985. For most generations, two engine sizes were available, one smaller version, to suit Japanese domestic regulations of either 550 or 660 cc, and a bigger-engined version for export markets. The L200 variant (1990–94), for instance, came with a three-cylinder 660-cc engine with in Japan, while other parts of the world received a stronger variant with an 847- or 1000-cc engine. The L500 Mira was the first kei car from Daihatsu to offer a four-cylinder (660-cc) engine.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In July 1980,<ref name="xs4all.nl/~mjs/daihatsuk.html"></ref> the Daihatsu Mira and Cuore arrived to replace the Daihatsu Max Cuore. A certain amount of confusion arises from the fact that this, the L55-series, was the first-generation Daihatsu Mira, but is usually considered the second generation of the Cuore – and that the Mira was originally marketed as the "Mira Cuore". The range was facelifted lightly in May 1982, when the Mira dropped the "Cuore" portion of its name. Also new was the sporty five-speed MGX (three-door only), fitted with radial tires. The autoclutch "Daimatic" transmission was replaced by a fully automatic two-speed unit at the same time. In October 1983, turbocharged and four-wheel drive versions of the Mira van were made available (not in conjunction, however).


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The L55 series was sold with two main engines - the two-cylinder AB10 unit of 547 cc, and the slightly larger 617-cc AD unit, which was installed in the export-only L60 Cuore. They both featured twin balancing shafts, producing a smoothness and silent operations on par with a traditional four-cylinder engine. In tests, the 617-cc version of the car received plaudits for its refinement and its "lively" character and "enthusiastic" performance when compared to European competitors such as the Fiat Panda 30 and the Citroën Visa Club, both also with two-cylinder engines. The main issue was cost; the balance shaft-equipped two-cylinder supposedly cost as much to build as a conventional four-cylinder engine. The car was also commended by "Quattroruote" for its agile city driving characteristics, although it could hardly be considered fully fit for the "autostrada". The "big" version has a top speed of .


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The bigger engine was introduced in the second half of 1982, as part of a push by Daihatsu to push its European exports. In some markets, the two engines were both available. In Belgium, for instance, they were sold as the Cuore 550 for the small version and as the Cuore 623/625, depending on which bodywork was fitted. The Cuore sold well in both Argentina and Chile in 1980 (4,300 cars shipped), but economic hardship there led to a cancellation of exports by 1982.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In 1983, the Mira Turbo appeared. Only available in the Japanese market, and only as a commercial vehicle, it had a carburetted and turbocharged version of the little two-cylinder engine. This was enough for and a resulting top speed of . In February 1985, the first Mira Parco special edition arrived, heralding a long relationship between Daihatsu and the Parco clothing chain. It received 10-inch alloy wheels, front disc brakes, air conditioning, radial tires, and a special Parco interior, and was sold directly through 11 Parco stores nationwide. Parco also advertised the car through their own publications.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Giovanni Michelotti used this generation Cuore as the basis for the "Michelotti PAC" prototype (Personal Automotive Commuter) shown at Geneva in 1985.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The second-generation (L70) Mira/Cuore was released in August 1985. It had a longer wheelbase and a new generation of three-cylinder engines replacing the previous two-cylinder (AB) versions. Displacement of the new EB engines remained exactly the same, at 547 cc. For the L80 export versions, an 847-cc three-cylinder was developed, called ED-10. In September 1986, a special version for the Swiss market appeared, with a narrower bore version displacing 796 cc (called ED-10A). Unlike the fractionally larger standard version, this one suited the four tax horsepower category in certain cantons, while other cantons had prominent tax limits at 800 cc.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: For the domestic Japanese market versions, commercial versions (Mira) were sold alongside passenger-car versions (Cuore). The commercials had temporary rear seats that fold completely flat, and are easily recognized by luggage rails in the rear side windows. For the previous generation, a version with switchable four-wheel drive was available for the "Van" version (chassis code L71V). The engines were originally carburetted, and either naturally aspirated or turbocharged (with intercooler). These offered and , respectively. The turbo version was originally only available as a Mira (three-door commercial), and was introduced two months after the regular version. Transmissions were either four- or five-speed manuals, with a two-speed automatic also available for the nonturbo versions.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In January 1986, a five-door "Van" (Mira) version was added. A "Walk-through Van" version, using the regular bonnet combined with near square rear bodywork, appeared two months later. Folding doors (optional at the rear) made access possible even in the tightest streets. In August 1987, the Mira/Cuore received a minor facelift with a new grille and bonnet, as well as some other detail changes, all making for a smoother appearance overall. Two months later, a all-wheel drive version was made available in the turbocharged version. In February 1988, another Mira Parco special edition arrived. It was only available in black and with a bright, pop-colored interior, and was aimed at 20-something buyers. This model sold out rapidly, and for the summer, a second Parco edition (now with a bright-blue interior) arrived, followed by the third Mira Parco in February 1989. This version received a turbocharged engine and four-wheel drive.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: After having undergone another minor change in October 1988, a 50-PS turbocharged Mira Sedan TR/CR series for passenger use was also made available – as a five-door version, as well. A limited edition of 500 Mira Sedan TR-XX Limited was also sold. Japanese production of the L70 series ended when the new 660-cc L200 version was introduced in March 1990 in response to new regulations for the kei class. This also marked the end of the division of the line into Mira and Cuore, as the Cuore nameplate was retired in Japan with the introduction of the new model.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Daihatsu's Thai arm carried on producing the L70 series after it was replaced in Japan, beginning in the second half of 1990. These were built by Daihatsu Phra Nakhon Motor, a joint venture between Daihatsu, Phra Nakhon Automobile, and the C. Itoh trading company. In addition to assembling the regular version, they also developed a ute version for the pickup-hungry Thai domestic market called the Mira P1, which was built from 1990 to 1995. This featured a pickup bed, tailgate, and redesigned taillights. The Mira pickup was extremely popular, with Daihatsu's Thai sales jumping by 50% as a result. Coming full circle, and mirroring the development of the SUV, Daihatsu Phra Nakhon also developed the Mira P4 - a roofed four-seater wagon version of this micro-ute. Some P4s retained the pickup's fold-down tailgate, adding a top-hinged glass, while some had a top-hinged one-piece tailgate. Later, an extended-cab 2+2-seater ute ("Daihatsu Miracab") and a hatchback with an enlarged rear end, called the "Mint", were offered.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: While originally using the smaller engines as per the original Japanese specifications, these were too long to be classified as true kei cars. Later cars have the 850-cc engine as used in many other export markets. Nonetheless, the 1997 Asian financial crisis marked the end for Daihatsu in Thailand, as sales plummeted from 4,000 in 1995 to 160 in 1997. Production ended in February 1998, and by March 1998, Daihatsu no longer offered cars in the Thai market.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In 2004, Norkis, a Philippine company (known as the former assembler and distributor of Yamaha motorcycles in the country), revived the Mira Pickup, built locally and sold as the Legacy. A panel van version is also available, as is a four-door double cab with a very short bed. Unlike the original L70 Mira, they have the later 659-cc EF engine, which is also available to run on LPG. It is longer and heavier than the original, with the original two-seat pickup weighing in at and long.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The L200/201 was the third and thus far most popular generation of the vehicle, offered in a large number of variants. The Cuore name was dropped in the Japanese domestic market, as the differences between passenger and commercial versions were narrowed. The L200 (front-wheel drive) was produced with the Mira badge from the spring of 1990 until at least 1998, but the platform has lived on under other names. L201 was the chassis code used on export market cars, usually labelled Cuore.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: As with most kei cars, the 200-series was built in two primary variants: The "V" Series is a windowed van style intended for light commercial use. This variant featured a fold-down rear bench seat without seat belts. The "S" series, intended for private use, is largely similar, but the larger, more comfortable rear seats are equipped with belts and are further to the rear of the vehicle with more leg room. While the seats still fold down, unlike the "V", the "S" does not offer a flat loading floor. These characteristics are due to Japanese tax preferences for commercial vehicles, which only allow for temporary accommodation in the rear and demand a flat loading floor. The top-of-the-line, turbocharged TR-XX model was available both as a passenger car version and as a van, with slightly higher equipment levels for the passenger version, which was fitted with a fuel-injected, 12-valve, turbocharged, and intercooled engine (EF-JL) producing . The TR-XX van, meanwhile, had less stringent emissions requirements and received a carburetted, six-valve version of the same intercooled turbo engine (EF-XL), producing without the passenger version's three-way catalyst.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The range received a very subtle facelift of a more rounded overall appearance for 1993; it included altered front and rear lights, bumpers, and a new bonnet and front seats. This version was available to Japanese customers from August 1992, and also incorporated some changes to the lineup. Turbocharged automatics now received a four-speed transmission. Shortly thereafter, the new RV-4 model appeared. This version, with its crossover pretensions, latched onto the wave of so-called "RVs" (recreational vehicles) that became popular in Japan in the early 1990s. The RV-4 received distinct cladding, somewhat raised suspension, a roofrack and bullbar, as well as a protective plate for the engine.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The Mira could either be equipped with a three-speed automatic, or four- or five-speed manual transmission. A part-time four-wheel drive variant known as the L210 was also available in V or S models, only with the five-speed manual. Also, a version with mechanical four-wheel steering (the L220), so far was the only kei car to feature this option. In November 1990, a version with all-wheel drive (permanent four-wheel drive) appeared, called the X-4. This had the same fuel-injected, turbocharged engine as the front-wheel drive-only TR-XX, and shared much of that car's equipment. Sales targets were about 700 cars per month for this version. Along with the August 1992 facelift, the X-4 was incorporated into the TR-XX series, while the TR-XX van was discontinued, reflecting changing tax conditions.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The TR-XX's electronically fuel-injected, SOHC, 12-valve (four per cylinder) turbo was the range topper, whereas the normally aspirated base versions made do with a single-barrel carburetor. To break the stranglehold of the Suzuki Alto Works on the All-Japan Rally Championship, the Mira X4R was developed in 1991. It had a strengthened engine with a forged crankshaft and flywheel and other detail improvements, a close-ratio gearbox, and various chassis improvements. Equipment was stripped, with a minimal interior and diagonal tires since all such parts would be replaced by competitors. The Group A X4R was sold at a rate of about 10 units per month at a price about twenty percent higher than the regular X-4. Noriyuki Hotta won the class championship in 1992.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: A taller, highly customizable, two-seat step-van variant (Walk-through Van) with folding side doors on the passenger side and a regular driver's side door was also produced, solely for the Japanese market. This reached the maximum height allowed for kei cars, .


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The L201 was sold outside Japan, primarily in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The three- or five-door L201 retained the larger-displacement engine of 847 cc (ED10K) and a choice of four- or five-speed manual transmissions, or a three-speed automatic option. This carburetted engine produced (ECE) at 5500 rpm. Van versions were also available in Australia, called Handivan (later shortened to Handi). The van, sometimes with filled-in rear windows, was also marketed in certain other markets, such as the Netherlands, where the tax structure favoured it.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The L200/L201 had a myriad of market and model differences. Most European-bound models were badged as Cuore, but the name Domino was retained in Belgium and Luxembourg. And despite the Mira badge mostly being used in right-hand drive markets, left-hand drive Mira-badged L201s were sold in the Dominican Republic.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Left-hand drive European-spec L201s received a fog lamp on the left side. When sold in the United Kingdom (where Japan-specification Miras were also available), they had a rear fog lamp mounted on the right side. L200 Miras produced for Japan had no rear fog lamps. Later models of the Mira had fog lamps on both sides. The L201 also had two license-plate lamps, while the L200 had only one.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: This generation of the Mira was chosen by Malaysia's Perodua to be rebadged as its first product. The L200 went on sale in Malaysia as the Perodua Kancil in 1994. After several facelifts, production of the Kancil finally came to an end in July 2009. The Malaysian-built Kancil was marketed as the Daihatsu Ceria in Indonesia between 2001 and 2006.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Production of the L500 Miras started in September 1994. The design of the car was slightly altered throughout, but retained a look similar to that of the L200. The L500 Mira was badged outside Japan primarily as the L501 Cuore. The 200 series Mira ceased sales in Japan, but continued in some other markets, where it received the same engine updates as did the export L500.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In the Japanese market, the Mira Moderno, a separate range of cars (noncommercials), was added in October 1995. This range received a minor facelift in May 1996, which was extended to the rest of the range in May 1997. In August 1997, the Mira Classic was added, a retro-look version. The Classic was available with naturally aspirated engines ( as a front-wheel drive, with 4WD) or a turbocharged option with . The Classic was succeeded by the equally retro-designed Mira Gino, which was based on the fifth generation (L700). In January 1998, in cooperation with Sanrio, a "Hello Kitty" version of the Mira Moderno appeared. This was available in pastel colors and received various Hello Kitty details throughout the car, such as a Hello Kitty ignition key.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The L500 was Daihatsu's first kei-class vehicle to feature a four-cylinder engine, with the option of the new JB-series engine. When equipped with this engine, the model code became L502. The range of models available in the 200 platform more or less carried over to the 500 series. One change was that the export versions received fuel injection as standard, which brought the output of the 847 cc engine up by one, to . This engine was called the ED-20. The four-speed manual was no longer available, but a four-speed automatic joined the existing three-speed version in the domestic Japanese market. In November 1996 a twin-cam, 12-valve version of the 847 cc three-cylinder was also made available. This, the ED-DE, produced at 5,500 rpm.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In Australia, the L500 Mira was sold as the Daihatsu Charade Centro. The model remained in production in Pakistan, as the Daihatsu Cuore. The L500 was produced by Toyota Indus Motor Company between March 2000 and 2012, with the 847-cc, carburetted engine (ED-10), which has been used in export models since 1986. The Pakistani Cuores have and were only built with the five-door hatchback bodywork. In all, 2440 cars were built in 2001, although annual capacity was about four times higher.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The fifth-generation Cuore received the chassis code L700, with L710 being used for four-wheel drive versions. The new model appeared in the fall of 1998. While the engines of cars sold in the domestic Japanese market had to stay beneath the 659-cc threshold, export versions (L701/711) received a new engine: the 659-cc JB-EL was a 12-valve, DOHC, three-cylinder, producing at 5200 rpm. Also new for export models was the availability of a three-speed automatic. After a facelift in 2001, the car was equipped with a new, more powerful engine code EJ-VE engine with and VVT-i. For some markets, the previous 659-cc JB-DE engine was retained.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Production of the L700 Mira was picked up in Malaysia in 2001, where it was sold alongside the Perodua Kancil as the Perodua Kelisa with the familiar Daihatsu J-series engines of 660 and 1,000 cc. Perodua ended production of the model in 2007.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: A retro version of the Daihatsu Mira based on the L700 platform began production in 1999, replacing the preceding Mira Classic. The Mira Gino received features and options similar to those of the regular variant, but was styled with a retro look. The Mira Gino was originally only offered with a 659-cc engine in Japan, but the 1-litre JB-VE engine (as for the export market L700s) was briefly available in Japan as the Mira Gino 1000. A car based on the succeeding, second-generation Gino (which was a stand-alone lineup with its own model code of L650/L660) with a 1.0-L engine continued to be sold in export markets.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: The L250/L260 Mira, unrelated to the earlier 200-series, is the sixth generation of the car. It is produced as the Mira in Japan. The L250 was labeled Daihatsu Charade in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Elsewhere, this was badged and sold as the Cuore. Export versions, equipped with the 1.0-L EJ engine as first seen in the previous generation, are L251, while L260 is used on four-wheel drive versions (for the Japanese domestic market only). After the sixth-generation Mira was replaced in late 2006, the production line was shifted to Malaysia, where production of this car as the Perodua Viva commenced in May 2007.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In Japan, a sportier Mira Avy version also is available. The range underwent a very minor facelift in August 2005. A special needs-friendly (Mira Friend-Matic) version appeared in November 2006. This car could be driven directly from a special self-powered wheelchair (the Mira Self-Matic), with a driver's door that could open at 90° and a fully automated entry and exit system. Buyers of the Self-Matic would receive government assistance. The Friend-Matic version continued to be produced until August 2009.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: In December 2006, the L275, the seventh-generation Mira, was presented. Initially only available as a passenger version, the van derivative appeared in early 2007. As usual four-wheel drive versions received a different model code (L285). Two Topaz Neo KF engines are available: a 658-cc KF-VE twin-cam, DVVT, three-cylinder engine of , and the KF-DET turbo engine of same displacement that produces . The naturally aspirated engine is available with five-speed manual transmission, three- or four-speed automatic transmission or continuously variable transmission. Export models (L276) first appeared in September 2007 and receive the very light Toyota KR engine, an inline-three of 1.0 litre displacement.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Under the Japanese 10–15 test cycle, fuel economy varies from for three-speed automatic transmissions to for continuously variable transmissions. For cars with the "Smart Drive package", which come with a new idle start-stop system, fuel economy increases to .


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Inside, the gear shift has been moved from between the front seats to centre dash. An optional sliding rear seat, with a range of 255 mm, allows for more luggage room or extra knee room.


title: Daihatsu Mira

text: Sales of the export 1.0 litre model in South Africa (as Daihatsu Charade) ended in 2011, followed by the European version (Daihatsu Cuore) in 2013.


title: Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba

text: María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba GE (28 March 1926 – 20 November 2014) was one of the most senior aristocrats in Spain, as well as the most titled aristocrat in the world, a distinction now held by the Princess Victoria of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 20th Duchess of Medinaceli.


text: Born in Liria Palace in Madrid on 28 March 1926, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart was the only child of the 17th Duke of Alba (a prominent Spanish politician and diplomat during the 1930s and 1940s) and his wife, María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, 9th Marchioness of San Vicente del Barco. She was the eight-greats granddaughter of James II. Her godmother was Queen Victoria Eugenie, the wife of King Alfonso XIII of Spain.


text: As a socialite, the Duchess met famous VIPs from Spain and abroad. Jackie Kennedy visited her Seville palace, as did Wallis Simpson, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco. In 1959, the Duchess, together with designer Yves Saint Laurent, hosted a Dior show for charitable purposes in her Liria Palace, Madrid, a palace which movie stars Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and Raf Vallone visited. In her youth the Duchess posed for Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton and she appeared on the cover of "Time" and "Harper's Bazaar".


text: On 12 October 1947, the Duchess married "Don" Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz (1919–1972), younger son of the and his wife Ana María de Artázcoz y Labayen (1892–1930), court lady of Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain. The wedding in Spain, two years after the end of World War II, resisted the decline in frequency of very extravagant European weddings among high nobility and attracted the attention of the international media. "The New York Times" called it "the most expensive wedding of the world." It was reported that 20 million pesetas (equivalent to $10,000,000 rounded in 2015) was spent.


text: Widowed in 1972, the Duchess remarried first on 16 March 1978 Jesús Aguirre y Ortiz de Zárate (1934–2001), a Doctor of Theology and a former Jesuit priest. The wedding caused shock; Aguirre was illegitimate, which carried a stigma among the wealthy and devout in 1970s Spain. Eight years younger than the Duchess, he maintained a good relationship with her children. During their marriage he administered, with his stepson Carlos, the Alba estates. Aguirre died in 2001.


text: The re-widowed Duchess expressed her wish to marry Alfonso Díez Carabantes in the 2000s, a civil servant who separately had a public relations business, 24 years her junior. It was reported objections came from her children and from King Juan Carlos. The House of Alba in 2008 issued a statement saying that the relationship "was based on a long friendship and there are no plans to marry". The duchess decided to proceed and gave her children their inheritance which included majestic palaces in Spain, paintings by old and modern masters (from Fra Angelico, Titian and Goya to Renoir and Marc Chagall), a first-edition copy of Cervantes's "Don Quixote", letters written by Christopher Columbus, and substantial land; her wealth was estimated at between €600 million and €3.5 billion. Díez formally renounced any claim to her wealth. They married on 5 October 2011 at the Palacio de las Dueñas in Seville. The Duchess, whose passions included flamenco, performed a quick few steps of the dance in front of the crowds that had gathered outside the palace on the day of the wedding.


text: The Duchess died in the Palacio de las Dueñas on 20 November 2014, at the age of 88. She was succeeded by her son Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 14th Duke of Huéscar, who thus became the 19th Duke of Alba. At the time of her death, her net worth was estimated to be $5 billion.


text: The Duchess' body was laid in repose at the Town Hall, where thousands of civilians paid their last respects. Pictures of the Duchess with her family were placed at her coffin. The King of Spain telephoned her son to pay his respects and sent two flower crowns to Seville. The Lord Mayor said that the flags of the city would be lowered in mourning. Msgrs. Juan José Asenjo and Curro Romero, and Mr. Rajoy, Spain's prime minister, also formally paid their respects. Her funeral was held at Seville Cathedral by Msgr. Carlos Amigo Vallejo, where the Royal Family was represented by the Infanta Elena.


text: As head of the dynasty, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart was styled by her most senior title of "Duchess of Alba", whilst holding over 40 other hereditary titles. According to "Guinness World Records", she was the most titled aristocrat in the world.


title: For Want of a Nail

text: "For Want of a Nail" is a proverb, having numerous variations over several centuries, reminding that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences.


title: For Want of a Nail

text: The proverb has come down in many variations over the centuries. It describes a situation where there is a failure to predict or correct a minor issue; the minor issue escalates and compounds itself into a major issue. The rhyme's implied small difference in initial conditions is the lack of a spare horseshoe nail, relative to a condition of its availability. At a more literal level, it expresses the importance of military logistics in warfare.


title: For Want of a Nail

text: Related sayings are "A stitch, in time, saves nine" and "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". A somewhat similar idea is referred to in the metaphor known as the camel's nose.


title: For Want of a Nail

text: Along with the long history of the proverb listed above, it has continued to be referenced in some form or another since the mid 20th century in modern culture. The examples below show how the proverb has had profound implications into a variety of issues and commentary in modern culture.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Cattle mutilation (also known as bovine excision and unexplained livestock death, or animal mutilation) is the killing and mutilation of cattle under unusual, usually bloodless circumstances. This phenomenon has been observed among wild animals as well. Worldwide, sheep, horses, goats, pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, bison, deer and elk have been reported mutilated with similar bloodless excisions; often an ear, eyeball, jaw flesh, tongue, lymph nodes, genitals and rectum are removed.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Since the first reports of animal mutilations, various explanations have been offered, ranging from natural decomposition and normal predation to cults and secretive governmental and military agencies, to a range of speculations, including cryptid predators (like the "chupacabra") and extraterrestrials. Mutilations have been the subject of two independent federal investigations in the United States.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: The earliest known documented outbreak of unexplained livestock deaths occurred in early 1606 "...about the city of London and some of the shires adjoining. Whole slaughters of sheep have been made, in some places to number 100, in others less, where nothing is taken from the sheep but their tallow and some inward parts, the whole carcasses, and fleece remaining still behind. Of this sundry conjectures, but most agree that it tendeth towards some fireworks." The outbreak was noted in the official records of the Court of James I of England. Charles Fort collected many accounts of cattle mutilations that occurred in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: John Keel mentioned investigating animal mutilation cases in 1966 (while with Ivan T. Sanderson) that were being reported in the Upper Ohio River Valley, around Gallipolis, Ohio.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Animal mutilation was relatively unknown until 1967, when the "Pueblo Chieftain" published a story about a horse called "Snippy" that was mysteriously killed and mutilated in Alamosa, Colorado.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: On September 9, 1967, Agnes King and her son Harry reportedly found the dead body of their three-year-old horse. The horse's head and neck had been skinned and defleshed, and the body displayed cuts that, to King, looked very precise. No blood was at the scene, according to Harry, and a strong medicinal odor was in the air.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: The story was republished by the wider press and distributed nationwide; this case was the first to feature speculation that extraterrestrial beings and unidentified flying objects were associated with mutilation. A subsequent investigation by Wadsworth Ayer for the Condon Committee concluded that "There was no evidence to support the assertion that the horse's death was associated in any way to abnormal causes".


title: Cattle mutilation

text: When the Lewises phoned Alamosa County Sheriff Ben Phillips, he told them that the death was probably due to "a lightning strike" and never bothered to visit the site. Early press coverage of the case misnamed Lady as Snippy. Snippy was Lady's sire and belonged to Nellie's husband, Berle Lewis. Later press coverage mentions that the horse had been shot "in the rump". However, two students from Alamosa State College confessed to sneaking out into the pasture and shooting the horse several weeks after the case was publicized.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: On December 4, 1973, law enforcement reported a wave of cattle mutilations in seven counties across Kansas and Nebraska. Sexual organs were reported having been removed. Weeks later, it was reported 38 mysterious cattle deaths has occurred across 11 counties. Multiple lab tests suggested many of the animals had died from "blackleg", a cattle disease.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: By June 1974, mutilations were reported to have spread to Lancaster County, Nebraska. On August 20, 1974, the Lincoln Journal Star reported strange, unidentified helicopters shining spotlights into fields that would soon become mutilation sites. One investigator claimed helicopter sightings had become a nightly occurrence, with both the FAA and the National Guard reportedly being unaware of any helicopter activity.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: After ranchers began forming night vigils, the National Guard warned its helicopter pilots to fly at higher than normal altitude to avoid fire from "jittery farmers". State leaders called for an investigation.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: By October 1974, it was reported that UFO conspiracy theorists considered cattle mutilations might be related to flying saucers.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Senator Floyd K. Haskell contacted the FBI asking for help in 1975 due to public concern regarding the issue. He claimed there had been 130 mutilations in Colorado alone, and further reports across nine states. A 1979 FBI report indicated that, according to investigations by the New Mexico State Police, there had been an estimated 8,000 mutilations in Colorado, causing approximately $1,000,000 damage.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Many cases of mutilation have been reported worldwide since the 1967 Snippy incident, chiefly in the Americas and Australia. In South America, an estimated 3,500 incidents have occurred since 2002, when around 400 cases were reported. Mutilation investigators assert that a large number of cases are never reported to authorities, perhaps no more than one in ten.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: In the summer of 2019, five bulls were mutilated at the Silvies Valley Ranch in Oregon. It is estimated that each 2,000 pound bull was worth US$6,000. The FBI has made no comment on whether or not there is an investigation on this particular event but the Silvies Valley Ranch offered a $25,000 reward for information on the topic.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: In most cases, mutilation wounds appear to be clean and carried out surgically. Mutilated animals are sometimes reported to have been drained of blood and show no sign of blood in the immediate area or around their wounds.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: According to Howard Burgess, nearly 90 percent of mutilated cattle are between four and five years old.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: In some cases, strange marks or imprints near the site have been found. In the famous "Snippy" case, there was an absolute absence of tracks in a 100 ft (30 m) radius of the carcass (even the horse's own tracks disappeared within 100 ft (30 m) of the body.) But within this radius, several small holes were found seemingly "punched" in the ground and two bushes were absolutely flattened. In Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, June 1976, a "trail of suction cup-like impressions" was found leading from a mutilated three-year-old cow. The indentations were in a tripod form, 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter, 28 inches (70 cm) apart, and disappeared 500 feet (150 m) from the dead cow. Similar incidents were reported in the area in 1978.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Laboratory reports carried out on some mutilated animals have shown unusually high or low levels of vitamins or minerals in tissue samples, and the presence of chemicals not normally found in animals. However, not all mutilated animals display these anomalies, and those that do have slightly different anomalies from one another. On account of the time between death and necropsy, and a lack of background information on specific cattle, investigators have often found it impossible to determine if these variations are connected to the animals' deaths or not.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: In one case documented by New Mexico police and the FBI, an 11-month-old cross Hereford-Charolais bull, belonging to a Mr. Manuel Gomez of Dulce, New Mexico, was found mutilated on March 24, 1978. It displayed "classic" mutilation signs, including the removal of the rectum and sex organs with what appeared to be “a sharp and precise instrument” and its internal organs were found to be inconsistent with a normal case of death followed by predation.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: The animal's heart as well as bone and muscle samples were sent to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory for microscopic and bacteriological studies, while samples from the animal's liver were sent to two separate private laboratories.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Los Alamos detected the presence of naturally occurring Clostridium bacteria in the heart, but was unable to reach any conclusions because of the possibility that the bacteria represented postmortem contamination. No microscopic changes of pathological significance were found in the heart tissue.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Samples from the animal's liver were found to be completely devoid of copper and to contain 4 times the normal level of zinc, potassium and phosphorus. The scientists performing the analysis were unable to explain these anomalies.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Blood samples taken at the scene were reported to be "light pink in color" and “Did not clot after several days” while the animal's hide was found to be unusually brittle for a fresh death (the animal was estimated to have been dead for 5 hours) and the flesh underneath was found to be discolored.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: None of the laboratories were able to report any firm conclusions on the cause of the blood or tissue damage. At the time, it was suggested that a burst of radiation may have been used to kill the animal, blowing apart its red blood cells in the process. This hypothesis was later discarded as subsequent reports from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory later confirmed the presence of anti-coagulants in samples taken from other cows mutilated in the region.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: As with most disputed phenomena, there are a number of potential explanations for the causes of cattle mutilations, ranging from death by natural causes to purposeful acts by unknown individuals.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: After coming under increasing public pressure, Federal authorities launched a comprehensive investigation of the mutilation phenomenon.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: In May 1979, the case was passed on to the FBI, which granted jurisdiction under Title 18. The investigation was dubbed "Operation Animal Mutilation".


title: Cattle mutilation

text: The investigation was funded by a $44,170 grant () from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and was headed by FBI agent Kenneth Rommel. It had five key objectives:


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Rommel's final report, released in June 1980, was 297 pages long; in the report's introduction, Rommel stated: "According to some estimates, by 1979 10,000 head of cattle have been mysteriously mutilated". However, the report concluded that the mutilations were predominantly the result of natural predation, but that some cases contained anomalies that could not be accounted for by conventional wisdom. The FBI was unable to identify any individuals responsible for the mutilations. Details of the investigation are now available under the Freedom of Information Act. The released material includes correspondence from Rommel where he states that "most credible sources have attributed this damage to normal predator and scavenger activity".


title: Cattle mutilation

text: New Mexico State patrolman Gabe Valdez, who by the time of the Rommel report had investigated dozens of mutilation cases, told investigator Christopher O'Brien that "during the six to eight months when Rommel was actively investigating the mutilations in New Mexico, the state (especially the northern tier) became suddenly quiet with very few (if any) true mutilations being reported to officials". Valdez was convinced that Rommel never was able to investigate a single high-strange case, because the mutilators moved their operations to other parts of the west. Rommel (a former FBI bank robbery expert) was disgusted by dead necrotic cows and chose to let others do the actual investigations while he waited upwind in the car.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Western Canada, during this period, was especially hard hit. During the six to eight months of Rommel's investigation, RCMP investigator Corporal Lyn Lauber of the Calgary detachment (who was in charge of the Canadian mutilation probe) investigated numerous high-strange cases. When Rommel's final report was released to the public. Lauber answered an inquiry by investigator Tommy Bland: "I find it difficult to understand how Rommel could make a statement such as this, without ever having personally witnessed a [real] mutilation firsthand". He also stated that "I would like to see Rommel write off our confirmed cases as due to predators".


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Both federal investigations were preceded (and followed, to some extent) by a state-level investigation carried out by law enforcement officials in New Mexico. This investigation reported finding evidence that some mutilated animals had been tranquilized and treated with an anti-coagulant prior to their mutilation. It also contended that alleged surgical techniques performed during mutilations had become "more professional" over time. However, officers in charge were unable to determine responsibility or motive.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: The ATF investigation was headed by ATF Agent Donald Flickinger. The New Mexico investigation was headed by Officer Gabe Veldez of the New Mexico State Patrol, with the assistance of Cattle Inspector Jim Dyad and Officer Howard Johnston of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: While many unconventional explanations have been put forward to explain cattle mutilations, a variety of scientists, veterinary workers, and knowledgeable observers (including farmers and other agricultural workers) have suggested more conventional ideas, most of which revolve around the hypothesis that "mutilated" animals died of natural causes and were subjected to known terrestrial phenomena – including the action of predators, parasites, and scavengers.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: The hypothesis that natural phenomena account for most mutilation characteristics has been validated by a number of experiments, including one cited by long-time scientific skeptic Robert T. Carroll, conducted by Washington County (Arkansas) Sheriff's Department. In the experiment, the body of a recently deceased cow was left in a field and observed for 48 hours. During the 48 hours, postmortem bloating was reported to have caused incision-like tears in the cow's skin that matched the "surgical" cuts reported on mutilated cows, while the action of blowflies and maggots reportedly matched the soft tissue damage observed on mutilated cows.


title: Cattle mutilation

text: Experiments have also been conducted to compare the different reactions of surgically cut hide/flesh and predated hide/flesh to natural exposure. They demonstrated pronounced differences between surgical cuts and non surgical cuts over time.