title: Ivory tower

text: In Randall Jarrell's essay "The End of the Line" (1942), Jarrell asserts that if modern poetry is to survive then poets must come down from the "Ivory Tower" of elitist composition. Jarrell's main thrust is that the rich poetry of the modernist period was over-dependent upon reference to other literary works. For Jarrell the Ivory Tower led modern poetry into obscurity.


title: Ivory tower

text: Writers for Philadelphia's other newspapers sarcastically referred to the former headquarters of the establishment "Philadelphia Inquirer", a white art deco tower called the Elverson Building, as the "Ivory Tower of Truth."


title: Ivory tower

text: The ivory tower is most often connected with the careers and lifestyles of academics in university and college systems. They have often garnered reputations as elite institutions by joining or creating associations with other universities. In many countries, these institutions aligned themselves with a specific mission or athletic ties. Some have criticized the elitism associated with these groups. Others have also noted that these terms bear little resemblance to the actual best universities in a country.


title: Ivory tower

text: In certain instances, these ivory-tower universities have received a disproportionate amount of regional and national funding. They also produce a higher proportion of a country's publications and citations. They tend to be overrepresented in top university rankings, such as "Academic Ranking of World Universities", "QS World University Rankings", the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings", and the "U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking".


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: The American Conservatory Theater was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by theatre and opera director William Ball in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Mellon University. Ball presented twenty-seven fully staged productions in rotating repertory, in two different theaters – the Geary Theater and the Marines Memorial Theatre – during the first 40-week season.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: A.C.T.'s original twenty-seven member acting company featured René Auberjonois, Peter Donat, Richard Dysart, Michael Learned, Ruth Kobart, Paul Shenar, Charles Siebert, Ken Ruta, and Kitty Winn among others. Ball's mid-1970s productions of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", starring Marc Singer, and Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac", starring Peter Donat and Marsha Mason, were televised by PBS.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: In the mid-1980s, Ball, suffering from exhaustion and under accusations of financial mismanagement, was forced to relinquish his post as artistic director. He was succeeded by A.C.T. founding member and stage director Edward Hastings, who revived the company's fortunes until the Geary Theater was severely damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The company continued performing in a number of San Francisco venues.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: Carey Perloff served as A.C.T.'s artistic director from 1992 to 2018. In 2007, A.C.T. released a cast album of Perloff's production of the Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill musical "Happy End", produced by LucasArts studios. It includes the full score and is the first English language recording of this musical. Pam MacKinnon was appointed to succeed Perloff as artistic director, effective with the end of the 2017–2018 season.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: A.C.T.'s primary home in San Francisco is the Geary Theater, located at 415 Geary Street near the corner of Mason Street in the Theatre District of San Francisco. Built in 1910 and designed by Walter D. Bliss and William B. Faville in the Classical Revival and Late Victorian styles, it was previously known as the Columbia Theater. The Geary Theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 27, 1975, and was designated an official San Francisco Landmark on July 11, 1976.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: In 2015, A.C.T. opened the Strand Theater at 1127 Market Street between 7th and 8th Streets, across from the U.N. Plaza in the Civic Center neighborhood of San Francisco. The building has a 283-seat theater as well as a 120-seat event and performance space. A.C.T. utilizes the theater to present educational workshops, cabaret performances and specially commissioned new works, as well as productions connected to their M.F.A. and Young Conservatory programs.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: A.C.T.'s conservatory is accredited to grant Master of Fine Arts degrees for actors. The current director of the conservatory MFA program is Danyon Davis.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: In addition to the MFA program, A.C.T. offers training through the Studio A.C.T., the Summer Training Congress, and Young Conservatory programs.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory is a theater training program for youth through the ages of 19. It was founded by Luanne and Ross Graham in 1971. Successive YC directors include Candace Birk, Sharon Newman, Linda Aldrich, and Susan Stauter. The program has been led since 1988 by Craig Slaight. The Young Conservatory is geared toward performing new works specifically for young actors, and has premiered plays and musicals by playwrights such as Horton Foote and Paul Zindel. The conservatory members are also offered roles in the main stage productions, most frequently "A Christmas Carol", which is performed every winter.


title: American Conservatory Theater

text: The first person to be given the title sound designer in regional theater was Dan Dugan at A.C.T. in the late 1960s. The term Sound Design was introduced to the film world when Francis Ford Coppola directed a production of "Private Lives" at A.C.T. which his father, Carmine Coppola, arranged the music and Charlie Richmond was the sound designer while the final cut of the film "The Godfather" was being edited in 1972.


California's 12th congressional district is a congressional district in northern California. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, has represented the district since January 2013. She has represented various congressional districts within the city of San Francisco since 1987. The district was also once represented by Richard Nixon, at a time when the district encompassed Pasadena, Pomona, and Whittier.


title: California's 12th congressional district

text: Currently, the 12th district is located in Alameda County and includes the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, Alameda, Albany, Piedmont, San Leandro and most of San Lorenzo. The 12th district is the most Democratic district in the United States, giving nearly 90% of its vote to Democrats in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.


text: Prior to redistricting in 2021, the 12th district was entirely within San Francisco, encompassing most of the city. The remainder of the city was included in the 14th district.


text: When the district was created after the 1930 census, it was located in Los Angeles County. As California's population grew, however, the district generally was moved northward, eventually to the San Francisco peninsula.


text: Richard Nixon, who would subsequently serve as the 37th president of the United States, represented this district from 1947 to 1951. Nancy Pelosi, the current speaker of the House, is the current representative of the district. She had previously served California's 8th congressional district from 1993 to 2013.


text: Due to the 2020 redistricting, California's 12th district has effectively been shifted to the former geography of the 13th district. It encompasses the coastal section of Alameda, and is anchored by Oakland. This district borders the 13th district, and Alameda County is partitioned between them by Grant Ave, Union Pacific, Lewelling Blvd, Wicks Blvd, Manor Blvd, Juniper St, Dayton Ave, Padre Ave, Fargo Ave, Edgemoor St, Trojan Ave, Beatty St, Fleming St, Highway 880, Floresta Blvd, Halcyon Dr, Hesperian Blvd, Thornally Dr, Highway 185, 150th Ave, Highway 580, Benedict Dr, San Leandro Creek, and Lake Chabot Regional Park. Alongside Oakland, the 12th district takes in the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont, and San Leandro.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler (Lillooet/Ucwalmícwts: Cwitima, ; Squamish/Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Sḵwiḵw, ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains, approximately north of Vancouver and south of Pemberton. It has a permanent population of approximately 13,982 (2021), as well as a larger but rotating population of seasonal workers.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Over two million people visit Whistler annually, primarily for alpine skiing and snowboarding and, in the summer, mountain biking at Whistler Blackcomb. Its pedestrian village has won numerous design awards, and Whistler has been voted among the top destinations in North America by major ski magazines since the mid-1990s. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Whistler hosted most of the alpine, Nordic, luge, skeleton, and bobsled events.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The Whistler Valley is located around the pass between the headwaters of the Green River and the upper-middle reaches of the Cheakamus. It is flanked by glaciated mountains on both sides; the Garibaldi Ranges on the side that contains the ski mountains, and a group of ranges with no collective name but that are part of the larger Pacific Ranges and are essentially fore-ranges of the Pemberton Icefield. Although there are a few other routes through the maze of mountains between the basin of the Lillooet River just east, the Cheakamus-Green divide is the lowest and most direct.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Before Whistler was founded, it was the shared ancestral territories of the indigenous Squamish people (Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh), known in English as the Squamish Nation, and L̓il̓wat7úl, known in English as Lil'wat First Nation (originally Srap7úl). Their history is tied to the rivers, lakes, and mountains that were used as reference for direction and travel. In the Late Pleistocene era, long before European settlement, Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh and L̓il̓wat7ú shared a village known as Spo7ez "at the confluence of Rubble Creek and the Cheakamus River at Function Junction in Whistler." This location represents the long-standing relationship of the two nations who used Spo7ez as a hub of trade and commerce between the two nations. Spo7ez was buried after Black Tusk Volcano erupted causing a massive rockslide that buried the ancient village under hundreds of metres of rubble. From this point forward both Nations continued to co-habitat within the region travelling to the area in the warmer months where they established seasonal camps for hunting and trapping. Prior to settlement of the first European fishing and trapping communities L̓il̓wat7ú Nation members lived in camps along green lake, but were rousted by police in order to make way for the rail way and other infrastructure around the lake. Evidence was found of an Istken pit-house on the land that became the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, which was used by the Wolf Clan (now known as the Wallace Family) as shelter.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The first British survey by the Royal Navy took place in the 1860s. These surveyors named the mountain London Mountain because of the heavy fog and cloud typically gathering around the mountain, but the area informally acquired the name "Whistler" due to the call of the hoary marmot. In the late 19th century, a trail was cut through the valley, linking Lillooet via Pemberton with Burrard Inlet via a pass from Squamish to the Seymour River. The trail was completed in 1877, but because of the difficult and unforgiving terrain, it was only used once for its intended purpose, which was to drive cattle. The area began to attract trappers and prospectors (such as John Millar and Henry Horstman) who established small camps in the area in the early 20th century. The area began to gain recognition with the arrival of Myrtle and Alex Philip, who in 1914 purchased of land on Alta Lake and established the Rainbow Lodge. The Philips had relocated from Maine to Vancouver in 1910 and had heard rumours of the natural beauty of the area from Pemberton pioneer John Millar. After an exploratory journey, the couple was convinced. Rainbow Lodge and other railway-dependent tourist resorts were collectively known as Alta Lake. Along with the rest of the valley bridging the Cheakamus and Green River basins, they became part of British Columbia's first Resort Municipality in 1975.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Completion of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in 1914 greatly reduced the travel time from three days, providing ease of access from Vancouver, and the Rainbow Lodge gained a reputation as the most popular vacation destination west of the Rockies. The lodge was primarily a summer destination, with boating, fishing and hiking among the most popular activities, and soon other lodges began to open not just on Alta Lake, but on other valley lakes as well.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Appreciation of the outdoors was not the only activity in the valley, however. Logging was a booming industry. During the first half of the 20th century, most of the lower slopes of the surrounding mountains were cleared of old-growth. At its peak, four mills were in operation, most located around Green Lake. Prospecting and trapping were pursued as well, though no claims of great value were ever staked.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Whistler had a population of 13,982 living in 5,597 of its 10,065 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 11,746. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler is known for its skiing and snowboarding in the winter and mountain biking and hiking in the summer. Other winter activities that are enjoyed in Whistler are cross country skiing, skate skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing, telemark skiing, and tobogganing. Summer activities enjoyed in Whistler include golfing, fishing, trail running, mountain biking, outdoor yoga, and hiking.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: For skiing, arguably the main attraction of Whistler, the different run difficulties (easiest to hardest) are green (circle), blue (square), black (diamond), and double black (diamond). Throughout the year each run's difficulty stays the same. There are many signs around the mountain that indicate the difficulty of the runs and there are "expert only" signs at the bottom of some chairlifts indicating that most of the runs accessible from that chair are black diamonds or double black diamonds.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Until the 1960s, this quiet area was without basic infrastructure. There were no sewage facilities, water, or electricity, and no road from Squamish or Vancouver. In 1962, four Vancouver businessmen began to explore the area with the intent of building a ski resort and bidding for the 1968 Winter Olympics. Garibaldi Lift Company was formed, shares were sold, and in 1966, Whistler Mountain opened to the public.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Later, the town, then still known as Alta Lake, was offered the 1976 Winter Olympics after the selected host city Denver declined the games due to funding issues. Alta Lake "Whistler" declined as well, after elections ushered in a local government less enthusiastic about the Olympics. The 1976 Winter Olympics were ultimately held in Innsbruck, Austria.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler was the Host Mountain Resort of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, the first time the International Olympic Committee has bestowed that designation on a community. Whistler hosted the alpine technical and speed events, the sliding events at Fitzsimmons Creek, the Nordic events in the nearby Callaghan Valley and all the Paralympic events except the opening ceremonies, sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village (commonly referred to as the Athlete's village) housed around 2,400 athletes, coaches, trainers and officials. Post-games, the site has been turned into a new residential neighbourhood, Cheakamus Crossing.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler is located on British Columbia Highway 99, also known as the "Sea to Sky Highway", approximately north of Squamish, and 125 km (76 mi) from Vancouver. The highway connects Whistler to the British Columbia Interior via Pemberton-Mount Currie to Lillooet and connections beyond to the Trans-Canada and Cariboo Highways.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Passenger rail service is only provided at the Whistler railway station between Vancouver and Jasper by the Rocky Mountaineer, using Canadian National Railway tracks from North Vancouver via Whistler and Prince George. The station for tour passengers embarking from Whistler is in the Southside area, between Nita and Alpha Lakes.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Local bus transit service is provided by the Whistler and Valley Express, which also provides service to Pemberton.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: A shuttle bus service from the Vancouver Airport and Downtown Vancouver is provided by the Whistler Shuttle and YVR Skylynx.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Vancouver International Airport is the main international airport for Whistler residents and tourists and is located south.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Pemberton Regional Airport is a public airport serving Pemberton and Whistler. It is the closest airport for fixed-wing non-amphibious aircraft and is 38 minutes north of Whistler. There are no scheduled flights but three charter services operate out of the airport.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler (Municipal) Heliport is a public heliport operated by the Whistler Heliport Society. Currently there are no scheduled flights but charter services to/from Vancouver International Airport, Vancouver/Harbour (Public) Heliport and Victoria Harbour (Camel Point) Heliport are available.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler/Green Lake Water Aerodrome is a public floatplane base owned and operated by Harbour Air Group and Whistler Air. Seasonal scheduled flights are provided by Harbour Air Seaplanes and West Coast Air to Victoria Inner Harbour Airport and Vancouver Harbour Water Airport. The seaplane base is located at the Nicklaus North subdivision on the South end of Green Lake.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler is located on the Sea to Sky Highway (Highway 99), which goes from the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Surrey, British Columbia to the Cariboo Highway (Highway 97) north of Cache Creek, British Columbia. North of Whistler is Pemberton, British Columbia, which is about north of the mountain village. Also north is Lillooet, British Columbia, which is north of Whistler. South of the village is Squamish, British Columbia, about a drive. Also located south is Vancouver, which is south of the village.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification "Dfb") or an oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb") depending on the isotherm used. It has cold wet winters, and drier, warm summers. On average Whistler receives approximately 11 days with temperatures over , and approximately 24 days on average with temperatures falling below .


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler is a collection of microclimates ranging from coniferous mixed forest on the valley floor, to slightly drier slopes, to Alpine tundra in the alpine.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The wet West Coast marine temperate climate in the valley floor is characterized by a coniferous mixed forest, with a preponderance of western red cedar—a continuation of the rainforest of the Pacific Northwest.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The slopes are slightly drier and are also coniferous mixed forest with western hemlock ("Tsuga heterophylla") and mountain hemlock ("Tsuga mertensiana"), Whistler hybrid spruce (Sitka spruce and Engelmann spruce). The last is "a hybrid spruce that is unique to Whistler, aptly dubbed the "Whistler Spruce." The Whistler spruce hybrid is indicative of Whistler's geographic position—we're not quite coastal, but not quite interior". A hybrid of the wetter West Coast Sitka spruce ("Picea sitchensis") – that ranges from Northern California to Alaska and the drier Interior Engelmann spruce ("Picea engelmannii"). Others include the Douglas fir ("Pseudotsuga menziesii"), lodgepole pine ("Pinus contorta"), endangered whitebark pine ("Pinus albicaulis").


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The higher slopes transition to many species of scrub juniper, Rocky Mountain Juniper ("Juniperus scopulorum"), and many species of scrub willow in the genus Salix at the tree line, and to Arctic tundra like conditions in the high alpine above the tree line.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Both the valley floor and the mountain sides are characterized as mixed forest, predominantly conifers, but with a peppering of a few deciduous trees like the Pacific dogwood "(Cornus nuttallii"), locally extinct Pacific crabapple ("Malus fusca") or "Pryus fusca", bitter cherry ("Prunus emarginata"), pin cherry ("Prunus pensylvanica"), choke cherry ("Prunus virginiana"), Red Alder ("Alnus rubra"), Sitka Alder ("Alnus sinuata"), Paper Birch ("Betula papyrifera"), big leaf maple ("Acer macrophyllum"), Douglas maple ("Acer glabrum")


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler was clear cut twice. The Oregon Grape "Mahonia aquifolium" (AKA hollyleaved barberry) USDA Plants Database and Highbush Cranberry "Viburnum opulus" were accidentally re-introduced as escaped landscaping plants, and may all be Oregonian subspecies. All the wild Pacific crabapples were dug up by Pemberton Pioneers for grafting Rootstock. It is unclear whether the Chickasaw Plum, "Prunus americana" was indigenous, or introduced by Indigenous Transcontinental Trade Networks or later Western Contact. All the wild Plums were dug up too by Pemberton Pioneers for fruit trees to transplant and as rootstock. Once abundant on the forest floor, Lingonberry "Vaccinium vitis-idaea" is no longer found because of the loss of habitat through the clear-cutting.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The School District 48 Sea to Sky operates public schools in Whistler. There are two elementary schools, Myrtle Phillip Elementary and Spring Creek Elementary. There is one high school in the community, it is named Whistler Secondary School.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The "Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique" operates one Francophone primary school in that city: the "école La Passerelle".


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler has one weekly newspaper, "Pique Newsmagazine", published every Thursday. The Whistler Answer was published intermittently from 1977 to the 1990s. The Lost Duck is a monthly events guide and calendar that lists what is happening in the resort. Other tourist-oriented, print media such as FAQ, Visitors Choice and Whistler Magazine are published from quarterly to once or twice a year.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: An internet radio site for the community exists It is designed to be a community radio station showcasing local music talent and interests of relative importance. History: 28 November 2003, "Feds shut down local pirate radio station... frequency 105.5 FM in the Whistler area, received a visit from Industry Canada and local RCMP officer", Federal Police. "Freeradio" Whistler still legally broadcasts over the Internet at freewhistler.com.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The incumbent cable television provider in Whistler is Shaw Cable. Additional service providers covering Whistler include Telus TV (Optik IPTV service and Telus Satellite TV), Shaw Direct (satellite), and Bell Satellite TV (satellite).


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Whistler was previously served by CBUWT-TV channel 13, a CBC Television repeater of CBUT-DT (Vancouver); that station shut down in 2012 due to budget cuts affecting the CBC.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The television show "Whistler" takes place in Whistler. "Whistler", the series is a Canadian television drama centering on the aftermath of the mysterious death of a local snowboard legend. The series was set in the ski resort of the same name and aired for two seasons from 2006 to 2008. It was created by Kelly Senecal and developed by Patrick Banister, John Barbisan, Mindy Heslin, and Susan James.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The television series "Peak Season" is filmed in Whistler and documents the lives of people that live there. Reality Show was filmed in Whistler. The community also appeared as the location for Shane and Carmen's wedding in The L Word (season 3, episode 12) Whistler was also featured on The Real Housewives of Orange County and ABC's Extreme Weight Loss.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels filmed some episodes in Whistler. It is an American reality television series that premiered on A&E on 7 August 2006. The show follows the life of Kiss bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons, his longtime partner and wife Shannon Tweed, and their two children, Nick and Sophie.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Sophie Tweed-Simmons has her own reality TV series spin off in production. Filming began December 2013, in Whistler, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Nashville. Sophie and her mother, model Shannon Tweed, will be the focus of the new show. Producers of the show are Force Four Entertainment, Vancouver. Eight -hour episodes are to be broadcast on W Network Canada in the spring of 2014.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Kansai TV Japan was produced in Whistler with a -hour TV special, "Race to the Canadian Northern Lights". Thirty minutes of footage on Whistler's winter activities, shopping, Village and spa. The show aired March 2001. It had a viewership of 3 million and had an estimated public relations value of $2 million.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Stewardess Cops Fuji Television AKA "Fuji Network", a popular Japanese drama, shot a two-hour special on location in Whistler during the fall of 2001. It was aired January 2002 and had an estimated audience of 22 million.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Besides the 2010 Winter Olympics broadcasters from the United States, Australia's Today Show, and Japan have done daily up to week long segments from Whistler.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: ESPN2 shows BMX Races from Whistler but they are really from nearby Pemberton's Green River BMX Track.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: Most videos of Whistler Backcountry skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling are filmed in the Pemberton Valley or area. The Whistler name has a much higher brand recognition.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: The Whistler Film Festival is produced by the Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS). It is held over five days from the first weekend of December.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: "The Crash Reel", a 2013 documentary and reality film, directed by Academy Award Nominee Lucy Walker, was filmed on location in Whistler. It features top-ranked American snowboarder Kevin Pearce, who because of injuries missed the 2010 Winter Olympics, dealing with his rival Shaun White. It was a selection for the Whistler Film Festival, the Montreal World Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: "Ski School", a 1991 comedy, with Dean Cameron, was filmed on location partially, in Whistler and on the mountain.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: "Why Did I Get Married?" (2008), which was directed, written and starred Tyler Perry, was shot on the slopes of Whistler Blackcomb ski resort.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: "" (1994) was directed by Ken Olin, and stars Scott Bairstow, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Lewis and Ethan Hawke. Whistler is the back drop for this Disney film.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: "The Grey" (2011), which was directed by Joe Carnahan. Liam Neeson sips cocktails in The Cure Bar at Whistler's Nita Lake Lodge.


title: Whistler, British Columbia

text: "" (2011) and "" (2012) were not filmed in Whistler proper, but north and south of town. The crew was housed in Squamish and later Pemberton, but the stars were housed in Whistler hotels, hence the reason for all the star sightings in the village.


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: "When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song written by Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright and first recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966 at Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. It made number one on both the "Billboard" Hot 100 and R&B singles charts. Country singer John Wesley Ryles had a minor hit with his version of the song in 1976 while singer and actress Bette Midler recorded the song 14 years later and had a Top 40 hit with her version in 1980. In 1991, Michael Bolton recorded the song and his version peaked at number one on both the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and the "Billboard" Adult Contemporary Singles chart.


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: According to Dan Penn the song was initially recorded by Percy Sledge at Rick Hall's FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals, before being re-recorded at the nearby Norala Studios owned by Quin Ivy. According to Quin Ivy, Percy Sledge was introduced to him by his friend Leroy Wright in Ivy's Tune Town record store. Wright convinced him to audition Sledge and his band the Esquires. The sidemen for the recording included Spooner Oldham, Farfisa organ; Marlin Greene, guitar; Albert "Junior" Lowe, electric bass and Roger Hawkins, drums. Also on the session were Jack Peck, trumpet, Billy Cofield and Don “Rim” Pollard, tenor sax, and Jerry Eddleman, Jeannie Greene, Sandy Posey and Hershel Wiggington, backing vocals. Andrew Wright and Calvin Lewis did not play on the record. Rick Hall arranged a distribution deal with Atlantic Records, but Jerry Wexler asked that the song be re-recorded because the horns were out of tune. According to musician David Hood, "They went back in the studio and changed the horns, got different horn players to play on it. But then the tapes got mixed up and Atlantic put out their original version. So that's the hit."


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: Released by Atlantic Records in April 1966, Sledge's recording reached number one on both the "Billboard" Hot 100 and R&B singles charts, becoming the first number 1 hit recorded in Muscle Shoals. It is also one of seven number 1 hits to debut on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 100. The single was also a top ten hit in the UK reaching number four on its initial release and ultimately peaking at number two in 1987 on the UK Singles Chart after it was featured in a Levi's Jeans commercial. The Percy Sledge version is listed 53rd in "Rolling Stone"'s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Also in 1987, it was reissued in the US to promote the soundtrack album for Oliver Stone's film "Platoon".


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright were members of the Esquires, a band in Sheffield, Alabama fronted by singer Percy Sledge. According to Wright, "We were set to play a Friday night dance, and we were practicing ... I was messing around on the organ when this riff came up out of nowhere. There was no one in the club but us. I told Calvin to go home and write some words." The next night, they rehearsed the emerging song with Sledge, changed it around, and soon afterwards auditioned the song for local businessman and radio DJ Quin Ivy. He liked the song but suggested that some of the words be changed to give a more positive message. Wright said, "We kept some of the phrases, worked on it for several weeks, and spent quite a bit of time in the studio."


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: Although the writing of the song is credited to Lewis and Wright, Sledge later said that he should have received a co-writing credit. In one story, Sledge said that one night he was upset over a broken relationship and asked Lewis and Wright to play a slow blues over which he improvised lyrics describing his emotions; Quin Ivy was at the show and asked the band to refine the lyrics so that it could be recorded. Sledge said that he allowed Lewis and Wright to take the writing credits because they gave him the opportunity "to sing his heart out".


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: In another interview, Sledge said:When I wrote the song at first, it was called "Why Did You Leave Me Baby". And I changed it from that to "When a Man Loves a Woman". I just reversed it. Quin told me that if I was to write some lyrics around that melody and the expression I'd put into "Why Did You Leave Me Baby", he believed it would've been a hit record. He was one of the top disc jockeys at that time. Sure enough, he asked me if I had any lyrics for that. He said, "That's it! Write a story around that title! What a song that would be with that feeling you had!" It was a song that was meant to be. It wasn't just what I had done; it was the musicians, the producer, the background singers, the right time.


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: "When a Man Loves a Woman" was covered by singer Michael Bolton for his seventh studio album, "Time, Love & Tenderness" (1991). His version of the song reached number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, becoming Bolton's second US number-one hit. Bolton also received a Grammy Award for this song. This version has the distinction of being the last number one song to chart on the old "Billboard" Hot 100 charting system that relied on sales and airplay reports before switching over to Nielsen SoundScan. With the Percy Sledge original having reached number one previously, Bolton's version made it the seventh song to top the Hot 100 as recorded by multiple artists.


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: American Country singer John Wesley Ryles covered the song for his 1977 self-titled studio album, which also included a cover of "Tell It Like It Is". Ryles's version was a minor hit, reaching Number 72 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: In 1979, American actress and singer Bette Midler covered the song for the soundtrack of "The Rose", which tells a fictionalized version of Janis Joplin's life story. Midler's version was released as a single the following year and peaked at Number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes released a version of "When a Man Loves a Woman" as the lead single from his 1988 live album "Barnestorming". Barnes' version peaked at number 3 on the ARIA Charts and number 11 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart's top singles list.


title: When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

text: English singer Joe Cocker covered the song for the 1989 live album "Soul Session Live", by "James Brown & Friends". Though not released as a single, Cocker's rendition was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1990.


title: JAXA

text: The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in many more advanced missions such as asteroid exploration and possible human exploration of the Moon. Its motto is "One JAXA" and its corporate slogan is "Explore to Realize" (formerly "Reaching for the skies, exploring space").


title: JAXA

text: On 1 October 2003, three organizations were merged to form the new JAXA: Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), and National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). JAXA was formed as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).


title: JAXA

text: Before the merger, ISAS was responsible for space and planetary research, while NAL was focused on aviation research. NASDA, which was founded on 1 October 1969, had developed rockets, satellites, and also built the Japanese Experiment Module. The old NASDA headquarters were located at the current site of the Tanegashima Space Center, on Tanegashima Island, 115 kilometers south of Kyūshū. NASDA also trained the Japanese astronauts who flew with the US Space Shuttles.


title: JAXA

text: The Basic Space Law was passed in 2008, and the jurisdictional authority of JAXA moved from MEXT to the Strategic Headquarters for Space Development (SHSD) in the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. In 2016, the National Space Policy Secretariat (NSPS) was set up the Cabinet.


title: JAXA

text: Planning interplanetary research missions can take up to seven years, such as the ASTRO-E. Due to the lag time between these interplanetary events and mission planning time, opportunities to gain new knowledge about the cosmos might be lost. To prevent this, JAXA plans on using smaller, faster missions from 2010 onward.


title: JAXA

text: In 2012, new legislation extended JAXA's remit from peaceful purposes only to include some military space development, such as missile early warning systems. Political control of JAXA passed from MEXT to the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office through a new Space Strategy Office.


title: JAXA

text: JAXA has research centres in many locations in Japan, and some offices overseas. Its headquarters are in Chōfu, Tokyo. It also has


title: JAXA

text: JAXA uses the H-IIA (H "two" A) rocket from the former NASDA body and its variant H-IIB to launch engineering test satellites, weather satellites, etc. For science missions like X-ray astronomy, JAXA uses the Epsilon rocket. For experiments in the upper atmosphere JAXA uses the SS-520, S-520, and S-310 sounding rockets.


title: JAXA

text: Previously, JAXA has worked closely with other DSN's in support of their deep space projects. Notably, in 2015 NASA's DSN provided communication and tracking services to the Venus Climate Orbiter mission (PLANET-C) (also known as Akatsuki) through its 34 meter antennas. In October 2021, JAXA provided NASA with data it had received at Misasa from Juno during its flyby of Jupiter's moon Europa.


title: JAXA

text: As part of on-going joint support of deep space missions JAXA, ESA, and NASA are engaged in an effort to improve the X/Ka celestial reference frame as well as a unified X/Ka terrestrial frame to be shared by the three agencies.


title: JAXA

text: The 54 meter dish at MDSS enhances X/Ka sensitivity from having an aperture area two and a half times larger than the equivalent antennas in the NASA and ESA network.


title: JAXA

text: MDSS improves the network geometry with the first direct north-south baseline (Japan-Australia) in the X/Ka VLBI network, thereby providing four new baselines which will provide optimal geometry for improving declinations.


title: JAXA

text: Prior to the establishment of JAXA, ISAS had been most successful in its space program in the field of X-ray astronomy during the 1980s and 1990s. Another successful area for Japan has been Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) with the HALCA mission. Additional success was achieved with solar observation and research of the magnetosphere, among other areas.


title: JAXA

text: NASDA was mostly active in the field of communication satellite technology. However, since the satellite market of Japan is completely open, the first time a Japanese company won a contract for a civilian communication satellite was in 2005. Another prime focus of the NASDA body is Earth climate observation.


title: JAXA

text: JAXA was awarded the Space Foundation's John L. "Jack" Swigert Jr., Award for Space Exploration in 2008.


title: JAXA

text: Japan launched its first satellite, Ohsumi, in 1970, using ISAS' L-4S rocket. Prior to the merger, ISAS used small solid-fueled launch vehicles, while NASDA developed larger liquid-fueled launchers. In the beginning, NASDA used licensed American models. The first model of liquid-fuelled launch vehicle indigenously developed in Japan was the H-II, introduced in 1994. However, at the end of the 1990s, with two H-II launch failures, Japanese rocket technology began to face criticism.


title: JAXA

text: Japan's first space mission under JAXA, an H-IIA rocket launch on 29 November 2003, ended in failure due to stress problems. After a 15-month hiatus, JAXA performed a successful launch of an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center, placing a satellite into orbit on 26 February 2005.


title: JAXA

text: On 10 September 2009, the first H-IIB rocket was successfully launched, delivering the HTV-1 freighter to resupply the International Space Station.


title: JAXA

text: To be able to launch smaller mission on JAXA developed a new solid-fueled rocket, the Epsilon as a replacement to the retired M-V. The maiden flight successfully happened in 2013. So far, the rocket has flown four times without any launch failures.


title: JAXA

text: In January 2017, JAXA attempted and failed to put a miniature satellite into orbit atop one of its SS520 series rockets. A second attempt on 2 February 2018 was successful, putting a four kilogram CubeSat into Earth orbit. The rocket, known as the SS-520-5, is the world's smallest orbital launcher.


title: JAXA

text: In January 2021, JAXA shipped an H3 rocket to Tanegashima Space Center to begin launch trials, in an effort to phase out and replace the H-IIA series.


title: JAXA

text: Japan's first missions beyond Earth orbit were the 1985 Halley's comet observation satellites Sakigake (MS-T5) and Suisei (PLANET-A). To prepare for future missions, ISAS tested Earth swing by orbits with the Hiten mission in 1990. The first Japanese interplanetary mission was the Mars Orbiter Nozomi (PLANET-B), which was launched in 1998. It passed Mars in 2003, but failed to reach Mars orbit due to maneuvering systems failures earlier in the mission. Currently interplanetary missions remain at the ISAS group under the JAXA umbrella. However, for FY 2008 JAXA is planning to set up an independent working group within the organization. New head for this group will be Hayabusa project manager Kawaguchi.


title: JAXA

text: On 9 May 2003, "Hayabusa" (meaning, Peregrine falcon), was launched from an M-V rocket. The goal of the mission was to collect samples from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa. The craft rendezvoused with the asteroid in September 2005. It was confirmed that the spacecraft successfully landed on the asteroid in November 2005, after some initial confusion regarding the incoming data. "Hayabusa" returned to Earth with samples from the asteroid on 13 June 2010.


title: JAXA

text: After Hiten in 1990, ISAS planned a lunar penetrator mission called LUNAR-A but after delays due to technical problems, the project was terminated in January 2007. The seismometer penetrator design for LUNAR-A may be reused in a future mission.


title: JAXA

text: On 14 September 2007, JAXA succeeded in launching the lunar orbit explorer "Kaguya", also known as SELENE (costing 55 billion yen including launch vehicle), the largest such mission since the Apollo program, on an H-2A rocket. Its mission is to gather data on the Moon's origin and evolution. It entered lunar orbit on 4 October 2007. After 1 year and 8 months it impacted the lunar surface on 10 June 2009 at 18:25 UTC.


title: JAXA

text: JAXA plans to launch its first lunar surface mission, SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) on an Epsilon rocket in fiscal year 2019.


title: JAXA

text: Japan's planetary missions have so far been limited to the inner Solar System, and emphasis has been put on magnetospheric and atmospheric research. The Mars explorer Nozomi (PLANET-B), which ISAS launched prior to the merger of the three aerospace institutes, became one of the earliest difficulties the newly formed JAXA faced. Nozomi ultimately passed 1,000 km from the surface of Mars. On 20 May 2010, the Venus Climate Orbiter "Akatsuki" (PLANET-C) and IKAROS solar sail demonstrator was launched by a H-2A launch vehicle.


title: JAXA

text: On 7 December 2010, Akatsuki was unable to complete its Venus orbit insertion maneuver. Akatsuki finally entered Venus orbit on 7 December 2015, making it the first Japanese spacecraft to orbit another planet, sixteen years after the originally planned orbital insertion of Nozomi. One of Akatsuki's main goal is to uncover the mechanism behind Venus atmosphere's super-rotation, a phenomenon in which the cloud top winds in the troposphere circulates around the planet faster than the speed that Venus itself rotates. A thorough explanation for this phenomenon has yet been found.


title: JAXA

text: JAXA/ISAS was part of the international Laplace Jupiter mission proposal from its foundation. A Japanese contribution was sought in the form of an independent orbiter to research Jupiter's magnetosphere, JMO (Jupiter Magnetospheric Orbiter). Although JMO never left the conception phase, ISAS scientists will see their instruments reaching Jupiter on the ESA-led JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer) mission. JUICE is a reformulation of the ESA Ganymede orbiter from the Laplace project. JAXA's contribution includes providing components of the RPWI (Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation), PEP (Particle Environment Package), GALA (GAnymede Laser Altimeter) instruments.


title: JAXA

text: JAXA is reviewing a new spacecraft mission to the Martian system; a sample return mission to Phobos called MMX (Martian Moons Explorer). First revealed on 9 June 2015, MMX's primary goal is to determine the origin of the Martian moons. Alongside collecting samples from Phobos, MMX will perform remote sensing of Deimos, and may also observe the atmosphere of Mars as well. As of January 2016, MMX is to be launched in fiscal year 2022.


title: JAXA

text: On 9 August 2004, ISAS successfully deployed two prototype solar sails from a sounding rocket. A clover-type sail was deployed at 122 km altitude and a fan type sail was deployed at 169 km altitude. Both sails used 7.5 micrometer-thick film.


title: JAXA

text: ISAS tested a solar sail again as a sub-payload to the Akari (ASTRO-F) mission on 22 February 2006. However the solar sail did not deploy fully. ISAS tested a solar sail again as a sub payload of the SOLAR-B launch at 23 September 2006, but contact with the probe was lost. The IKAROS solar sail was launched on 21 May 2010. The solar sail deployed successfully. The goal is to have a solar sail mission to Jupiter after 2020.


title: JAXA

text: The first Japanese astronomy mission was x-ray satellite Hakucho (Corsa-B), which was launched in 1979. Later ISAS moved into solar observation, radio astronomy through Space VLBI and infrared astronomy.


title: JAXA

text: Japan's first infrared astronomy mission was the 15-cm IRTS telescope which was part of the SFU multipurpose satellite in 1995. IRTS scanned during its one-month lifetime around 7% of the sky before SFU got brought back to Earth by the Space Shuttle. During the 1990s JAXA also gave ground support for the ESA Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) infrared mission.


title: JAXA

text: The next step for JAXA was the Akari spacecraft, with the pre-launch designation ASTRO-F. This satellite was launched on 21 February 2006. Its mission is infrared astronomy with a 68 cm telescope. This is the first all sky survey since the first infrared mission IRAS in 1983.


title: JAXA

text: JAXA is also doing further R&D for increasing the performance of its mechanical coolers for its future infrared mission, SPICA. This would enable a warm launch without liquid helium. SPICA has the same size as the ESA Herschel Space Observatory mission, but is planned to have a temperature of just 4.5 K and will be much colder. Unlike Akari, which had a geocentric orbit, SPICA will be located at Sun–Earth . The launch is expected in 2027 or 2028 on JAXA's new H3 Launch Vehicle, however the mission is not yet fully funded. ESA and NASA may also each contribute an instrument.


title: JAXA

text: Starting from 1979 with Hakucho (CORSA-b), for nearly two decades Japan had achieved continuous observation with its Hinotori, Tenma, Ginga and ASCA (ASTRO-A through D) x-ray observation satellites. However, in the year 2000 the launch of Japan's fifth x-ray observation satellite, ASTRO-E failed (as it failed at launch it never received a proper name).


title: JAXA

text: Then on 10 July 2005, JAXA was finally able to launch a new X-ray astronomy mission named Suzaku (ASTRO-EII). This launch was important for JAXA, because in the five years since the launch failure of the original ASTRO-E satellite, Japan was without an x-ray telescope. Three instruments were included in this satellite: an X-ray spectrometer (XRS), an X-ray imaging spectrometer (XIS), and a hard X-ray detector (HXD). However, the XRS was rendered inoperable due to a malfunction which caused the satellite to lose its supply of liquid helium.


title: JAXA

text: The next JAXA x-ray mission is the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). MAXI continuously monitors astronomical X-ray objects over a broad energy band (0.5 to 30 keV). MAXI is installed on the Japanese external module of the ISS. On 17 February 2016, Hitomi (ASTRO-H) was launched as the successor to Suzaku, which completed its mission a year before.


title: JAXA

text: Japan's solar astronomy started in the early 1980s with the launch of the "Hinotori" (ASTRO-A) x-ray mission. The Hinode (SOLAR-B) spacecraft, the follow-on to the joint Japan/US/UK Yohkoh (SOLAR-A) spacecraft, was launched on 23 September 2006. A SOLAR-C can be expected sometime after 2020. However no details are worked out yet other than it will not be launched with the former ISAS's Mu rockets. Instead a H-2A from Tanegashima could launch it. As H-2A is more powerful, SOLAR-C could either be heavier or be stationed at (Lagrange point 1).


title: JAXA

text: In 1998, Japan launched the HALCA (MUSES-B) Mission, the world's first spacecraft dedicated to conduct SPACE VLBI observations of pulsars, among others. To do so, ISAS set up a ground network around the world through international cooperation. The observation part of the mission lasted until 2003 and the satellite was retired at the end of 2005. In FY 2006, Japan funded the ASTRO-G as the succeeding mission.


title: JAXA

text: One of the primary duties of the former NASDA body was the testing of new space technologies, mostly in the field of communication. The first test satellite was ETS-I, launched in 1975. However, during the 1990s, NASDA was afflicted by problems surrounding the ETS-VI and COMETS missions.


title: JAXA

text: In February 2018, JAXA announced a research collaboration with Sony to test a laser communication system from the Kibo module in late 2018.


title: JAXA

text: Testing of communication technologies remains to be one of JAXA's key duties in cooperation with NICT.


title: JAXA

text: To upgrade Japan's communication technology the Japanese state launched the i-Space initiative with the ETS-VIII and WINDS missions.


title: JAXA

text: ETS-VIII was launched on 18 December 2006. The purpose of ETS-VIII is to test communication equipment with two very large antennas and an atomic clock test. On 26 December both antennas were successfully deployed. This was not unexpected, since JAXA tested the deployment mechanism before with the LDREX-2 Mission, which was launched on 14 October with the European Ariane 5. The test was successful.


title: JAXA

text: On 23 February 2008, JAXA launched the Wideband InterNetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite (WINDS), also called "KIZUNA". WINDS aimed to facilitate experiments with faster satellite Internet connections. The launch, using H-IIA launch vehicle 14, took place from Tanegashima Space Center. WINDS was decommissioned on 27 February 2019.


title: JAXA

text: On 11 September 2010, JAXA launched QZS-1 (Michibiki-1), the first satellite of the Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), a subsystem of the global positioning system (GPS). Three more followed in 2017, and a replacement for QZS-1 is scheduled to launch in late 2021. A next-generation set of three satellites, able to operate independent of GPS, is scheduled to begin launching in 2023.


title: JAXA

text: On 24 August 2005, JAXA launched the experimental satellites OICETS and INDEX on a Ukrainian Dnepr rocket. OICETS (Kirari) is a mission tasked with testing optical links with the European Space Agency (ESA) ARTEMIS satellite, which is around 40,000 km away from OICETS. The experiment was successful on 9 December, when the link could be established. In March 2006, JAXA could establish with OICETS the worldwide first optical links between a LEO satellite and a ground station first in Japan and in June 2006 with a mobile station in Germany.


title: JAXA

text: INDEX (Reimei) is a small 70 kg satellite for testing various equipment, and functions as an aurora observation mission as well. The Reimei satellite is currently in its extended mission phase.


title: JAXA

text: Japan's first Earth observation satellites were MOS-1a and MOS-1b launched in 1987 and 1990. During the 1990s, and the new millennium this program came under heavy fire, because both Adeos (Midori) and Adeos 2 (Midori 2) satellites failed after just ten months in orbit.


title: JAXA

text: In January 2006, JAXA successfully launched the Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS/Daichi). Communication between ALOS and the ground station in Japan will be done through the Kodama Data Relay Satellite, which was launched during 2002. This project is under intense pressure due to the shorter than expected lifetime of the ADEOS II (Midori) Earth Observation Mission. For missions following Daichi, JAXA opted to separate it into a radar satellite (ALOS-2) and an optical satellite (ALOS-3). ALOS 2 SAR was launched in May 2014.


title: JAXA

text: Since Japan is an island nation and gets struck by typhoons every year, research about the dynamics of the atmosphere is a very important issue. For this reason Japan launched in 1997 the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite in cooperation with NASA, to observe the tropical rainfall seasons. For further research NASDA had launched the ADEOS and ADEOS II missions in 1996 and 2003. However, due to various reasons, both satellites had a much shorter than expected life term.


title: JAXA

text: On 28 February 2014, a H-2A rocket launched the GPM Core Observatory, a satellite jointly developed by JAXA and NASA. The GPM mission is the successor to the TRMM mission, which by the time of the GPM launch had been noted as highly successful. JAXA provided the Global Precipitation Measurement/Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (GPM/DPR) Instrument for this mission. Global Precipitation Measurement itself is a satellite constellation, whilst the GPM Core Observatory provides a new calibration standard for other satellites in the constellation. Other countries/agencies like France, India, ESA, etc. provides the sub-satellites. The aim of GPM is to measure global rainfall with unprecedented detail.


title: JAXA

text: At the end of the 2008 fiscal year, JAXA launched the satellite GOSAT (Greenhouse Gas Observing SATellite) to help scientists determine and monitor the density distribution of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The satellite is being jointly developed by JAXA and Japan's Ministry of the Environment. JAXA is building the satellite while the Ministry is in charge of the data that will be collected. Since the number of ground-based carbon dioxide observatories cannot monitor enough of the world's atmosphere and are distributed unevenly throughout the globe, the GOSAT may be able to gather more accurate data and fill in the gaps on the globe where there are no observatories on the ground. Sensors for methane and other greenhouse gasses are also being considered for the satellite, although the plans are not yet finalized. The satellite weighs approximately 1650 kg and is expected to have a life span of five years.


title: JAXA

text: The next funded Earth-observation mission after GOSAT is the GCOM (Global Change Observation Mission) Earth-observation program as a successor to ADEOS II (Midori) and the Aqua mission. To reduce the risk and for a longer observation time the mission will be split into smaller satellites. Altogether GCOM will be a series of six satellites. The first satellite, GCOM-W (Shizuku), was launched on 17 May 2012 with the H-IIA. The second satellite, GCOM-C, was launched in 2017.


title: JAXA

text: For weather observation Japan launched in February 2005 the Multi-Functional Transport Satellite 1R (MTSAT-1R). The success of this launch was critical for Japan, since the original MTSAT-1 could not be put into orbit because of a launch failure with the H-2 rocket in 1999. Since then Japan relied for weather forecasting on an old satellite which was already beyond its useful life term and on American systems.


title: JAXA

text: On 18 February 2006, JAXA, as head of the H-IIA at this time, successfully launched the MTSAT-2 aboard a H-2A rocket. MTSAT-2 is the backup to the MTSAT-1R. The MTSAT-2 uses the DS-2000 satellite bus developed by Mitsubishi Electric. The DS-2000 is also used for the DRTS Kodama, ETS-VIII and the Superbird 7 communication satellite, making it the first commercial success for Japan.


title: JAXA

text: Ongoing joint missions with NASA are the Aqua Earth Observation Satellite, and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core satellite.JAXA also provided the Light Particle Telescope (LPT) for the 2008 Jason 2 satellite by the French CNES.


title: JAXA

text: On 11 May 2018, JAXA deployed the first satellite developed in Kenya from the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station. The satellite, 1KUNS-PF, was created by the University of Nairobi.


title: JAXA

text: For the 2023 EarthCARE mission with ESA, JAXA will provide the radar system on the satellite. JAXA will provide the Auroral Electron Sensor (AES) for the Taiwanese FORMOSAT-5.


title: JAXA

text: Japan has ten astronauts but has not yet developed its own crewed spacecraft and is not currently developing one officially. A potentially crewed spaceplane HOPE-X project launched by the conventional space launcher H-II was developed for several years (including test flights of HYFLEX/OREX prototypes) but was postponed. The simpler crewed capsule Fuji was proposed but not adopted. Projects for single-stage-to-orbit, horizontal takeoff reusable launch vehicle and landing ASSTS and the vertical takeoff and landing Kankoh-maru also exist but have not been adopted.


title: JAXA

text: The first Japanese citizen to fly in space was Toyohiro Akiyama, a journalist sponsored by TBS, who flew on the Soviet Soyuz TM-11 in December 1990. He spent more than seven days in space on the Mir space station, in what the Soviets called their first commercial spaceflight which allowed them to earn $14 million.


title: JAXA

text: Japan participates in US and international crewed space programs including flights of Japanese astronauts on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS. One Space Shuttle mission (STS-47) in September 1992 was partially funded by Japan. This flight included JAXA's first astronaut in space, Mamoru Mohri, as the Payload Specialist for the Spacelab-J, one of the European built Spacelab modules. This mission was also designated "Japan".


title: JAXA

text: Three other NASA Space Shuttle missions (STS-123, STS-124, STS-127) in 2008–2009 delivered parts of the Japanese built spacelab-module "Kibō" to ISS.


title: JAXA

text: Japanese plans for a crewed lunar landing were in development but were shelved in early 2010 due to budget constraints.


title: JAXA

text: In June 2014, Japan's science and technology ministry said it was considering a space mission to Mars. In a ministry paper it indicated uncrewed exploration, crewed missions to Mars and long-term settlement on the Moon were objectives, for which international cooperation and support was going to be sought.


title: JAXA

text: On 18 October 2017, JAXA discovered a "tunnel"-like lava tube under the surface of the Moon . The tunnel appears to be suitable as a location for a base of operations for peaceful crewed space missions, according to JAXA.


title: JAXA

text: Besides the H-IIA/B and Epsilon rockets, JAXA is also developing technology for a next-generation supersonic transport that could become the commercial replacement for the Concorde. The design goal of the project (working name Next Generation Supersonic Transport) is to develop a jet that can carry 300 passengers at Mach 2. A subscale model of the jet underwent aerodynamic testing in September and October 2005 in Australia.


title: JAXA

text: In 2015, JAXA performed tests aimed at reducing the effects of supersonic flight under the D-SEND program. The economic success of such a project is still unclear, and as a consequence the project has been met with limited interest from Japanese aerospace companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries so far.


title: JAXA

text: Until 2003, JAXA (ISAS) conducted research on a reusable launch vehicle under the Reusable Vehicle Testing (RVT) project.


title: Besim Sahatçiu

text: After finishing gymnasium in Pejë, Sahatçiu studied literature at the University of Belgrade. Following the interruption of his studies due to compulsory military service, he worked as a translator for the publisher, "Rilindja". He later studied at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, Croatia, and defended his thesis with staging Gogol's satirical play, "The Government Inspector", at People's Provincial Theatre in Pristina.


title: Besim Sahatçiu

text: Sahatçiu's ethnographic film, "117", won the Grand Prix at the Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival in 1978. The film was described as a “spiritual portrait of the nation.”


title: Besim Sahatçiu

text: In 2018, Kosovo's Ministry of Culture posthumously honored Sahatçiu with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematography. The same year, a street in Pristina was named after him. In 2021, Posta e Kosovës issued postage stamps in its 'Arti skenik – Besim Sahatçiu dhe Leze Qena' series, commemorating Sahatçiu and Leze Qena.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Marie Louise "Masha" Yovanovitch (born November 11, 1958) is a Canadian-American former diplomat and retired senior member of the United States Foreign Service. She served in multiple State Department posts, including Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2004–2005), U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan (2005–2008), U.S. Ambassador to Armenia (2008–2011), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (2012–2013), and Ambassador to Ukraine (2016–2019). Yovanovitch is a diplomat in residence at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. On January 31, 2020 it was reported that she had retired from the State Department.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: While ambassador to Ukraine, Yovanovitch was the target of a conspiracy-driven smear campaign, amplified by President Donald Trump and his allies. In May 2019, Trump abruptly recalled Yovanovitch from her post following claims by Trump surrogates that she was undermining Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival, former vice president and 2020 U.S. presidential election candidate Joe Biden. Yovanovitch's removal preceded a July 2019 phone call by Trump in which he attempted to pressure Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Biden. Following a whistleblower complaint about the phone call and attempts to cover it up, an impeachment inquiry against Trump was initiated by the U.S. House of Representatives. Yovanovitch testified in several House committee depositions in the inquiry.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Marie Yovanovitch is the daughter of Mikhail Yovanovitch and Nadia (Theokritoff) Yovanovitch, who fled the Soviet Union and later the Nazis. She was born in Canada, moved to Connecticut at age three, and became a naturalized American citizen at age eighteen. She grew up speaking Russian.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch graduated from Kent School in Connecticut in 1976; her parents were longtime foreign language teachers at the school. Yovanovitch earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and Russian studies from Princeton University in 1980. Her senior thesis was titled "The Excommunication of Tolstoy. A Personal and Political Event." She studied at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow (1980) and was awarded a Master of Science degree from the National Defense University's National War College in 2001.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch joined the United States Foreign Service in 1986. Her first foreign assignment, in Ottawa, was followed by overseas assignments including Moscow, London, and Mogadishu. From May 1998 to May 2000, she served as the Deputy Director of the Russia Desk in the U.S. Department of State.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: From August 2001 to June 2004, as a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. From August 2004 to May 2005, she was the senior advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Yovanovitch also served as International Advisor and Deputy Commandant at the National Defense University's Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy and as dean of the School of Language Studies within the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Service Institute.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch is "well known in diplomatic circles for her measured demeanor and diligence in representing both Republican and Democratic administrations." Yovanovitch was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan on November 20, 2004; she presented her credentials on February 4, 2005, and remained in this post until February 4, 2008. Her nomination as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan was confirmed by the Senate on a voice vote.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Armenia on August 4, 2008; she presented her credentials on September 22, 2008, and remained in this post until June 9, 2011. Her nomination as ambassador to Armenia was again confirmed by the Senate on a voice vote. During confirmation hearings, Yovanovitch acknowledged that Turks had committed mass killings, rapes, and expulsions of Armenians between 1915 and 1923, calling this "one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century," but, in line with U.S. policy, declined to use the phrase Armenian genocide, saying that the use of this politically sensitive phrase was a policy decision that could be made only by the highest-ranking U.S. officials, namely President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: While in Armenia, Yovanovitch oversaw a staff of almost 400 Americans and Armenians in one of the largest embassy compounds in the world. She pushed Armenian authorities to give fair treatment to Armenians arrested in post-election protests in 2008. Yovanovitch received the Secretary's Diplomacy in Human Rights Award, a department award honoring ambassadors who demonstrate "extraordinary commitment to defending human rights." She was also known for her work supporting democratic development and the advancement of women.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: After returning to Washington in 2012 and 2013, Yovanovitch served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. In that position, Yovanovitch was a key State Department headquarters contact for U.S. diplomats in Europe, working with, among others, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein, regarding issues such as U.S. missile defense in Poland. Yovanovitch received the department's Senior Foreign Service Performance Award six times and the Superior Honor Award five times. She was promoted to the rank of Career Minister in 2016.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch was announced as the nominee for U.S. ambassador to Ukraine on May 18, 2016, to replace Geoff Pyatt; the nomination was sent to the Senate the next day, and confirmed by voice vote of the Senate on July 14, 2016. Having been sworn in on August 12, Yovanovitch arrived in Ukraine on August 22 and presented her credentials on August 29, 2016.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch was respected within the national security community for her efforts to encourage Ukraine to tackle corruption and during her tenure sought to strengthen the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau, which had been created to bolster efforts to fight corruption in Ukraine; these efforts earned Yovanovitch some enemies within the country. In a March 2019 speech to the Ukraine Crisis Media Center, Yovanovitch said that the Ukrainian government was not making sufficient progress to combat corruption, saying: "It is increasingly clear that Ukraine's once-in-a-generation opportunity for change has not yet resulted in the anti-corruption or rule-of-law reforms that Ukrainians expect or deserve." On April 1, 2019, Yovanovitch spoke at an anti-corruption conference where she thanked Ukrainians for their courage and commitment to end corruption.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: As U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Yovanovitch was the target of a conspiracy-driven smear campaign. Allegations against her were then made by Trump's personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, as well as conservative commentator John Solomon of "The Hill" and Ukraine's then-top prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who accused her of being part of a conspiracy involving anti-corruption probes in Ukraine and efforts by the Trump administration to investigate ties between Ukrainian officials and the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. Lutsenko, who has been accused by Ukrainian civil society organizations of corruption, claimed that Yovanovitch, an Obama administration appointee, had interfered in Ukraine politics, had given him a "do-not-prosecute" list, and was interfering in his ability to combat corruption in Ukraine. The U.S. State Department said that Lutsenko's allegations against Yovanovitch were "an outright fabrication" and indicated that they were a "classic disinformation campaign." Lutsenko subsequently recanted his claims of a "do-not-prosecute" list. Solomon's stories were nonetheless amplified by President Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., Giuliani, Solomon, and conservative media outlets. Ukrainians who opposed Yovanovitch were also sources for Giuliani, who "was on a months-long search for political dirt in Ukraine to help President Trump." Giuliani confirmed in a November 2019 interview that he believed he "needed Yovanovitch out of the way" because she was going to make his investigations difficult.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: On April 24, 2019, after complaints from Giuliani and other Trump allies that Yovanovitch was undermining and obstructing Trump's efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate former vice president and 2020 presidential election candidate Joe Biden, Trump ordered Yovanovitch's recall. She returned to Washington, D.C. on April 25, with her recall becoming public knowledge on May 7, and her mission as ambassador being terminated on May 20, 2019. In a July 25, 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (the contents of which became public on September 25, 2019), Trump pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden and disparaged Yovanovitch to his foreign counterpart, calling her "bad news".


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Documents to the House Intelligence Committee provided by Lev Parnas, a former associate of Giuliani, outlined text exchanges in which Lutsenko pushed for the ouster of Yovanovitch and in return offered to provide damaging information on Joe Biden. In Russian-language messages, Lutsenko told Parnas that Yovanovitch (referred to as "madam") should be ousted before he would make helpful public statements; for example, in a March 22, 2019 WhatsApp message to Parnas, Lutsenko wrote, "It's just that if you don’t make a decision about Madam—you are calling into question all my declarations. Including about B." It is thought that Lutsenko targeted Yovanovitch due to her anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. One week before an April 1, 2019 conference on anti-corruption, Parnas exchanged encrypted WhatsApp text messages with Robert F. Hyde that indicated the ambassador was under surveillance and that her security was at risk. Hyde claimed he had merely forwarded messages received from a Belgian citizen named Anthony de Caluwe. After the House Intelligence Committee released the text messages, de Caluwe initially denied any involvement, but then reversed himself, saying that he had in fact sent the messages to Hyde but that the messages were a joke and "just a part of a ridiculous banter."


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: An audio tape from April 2018, recorded at a private dinner between Trump and top donors and made public by ABC News in January 2020, captures Trump demanding Yovanovitch's removal, saying: "Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it." The recording appeared to corroborate Parnas' account that he had told Trump that night that Yovanovitch was working against Trump.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch's abrupt ousting shocked and outraged career State Department diplomats. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker, the chief diplomat for U.S. policy for Europe, testified that he had urged top State Department officials David Hale and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl to issue a statement expressing strong support for Yovanovitch, but that top State Department leadership rejected this proposal. Former senior U.S. diplomats Philip Gordon and Daniel Fried, who served as assistant secretaries of state for European and Eurasian Affairs and as National Security Council staffers under presidents of both parties, praised Yovanovitch and condemned Trump's "egregious mistreatment of one of the country's most distinguished ambassadors," writing that this had demoralized the U.S. diplomatic corps and undermined U.S. foreign policy. The American Foreign Service Association and American Academy of Diplomacy, representing members of the U.S. diplomatic corps, expressed alarm at Trump's disparagement of Yovanovitch in his call with Zelensky. Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer who served as ambassador to four countries and had been chief adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, resigned in October 2019 in protest of Trump's attacks against Yovanovitch and "the State Department's unwillingness to protect career diplomats from politically motivated pressure." Yovanovitch's ouster became one of the issues explored in the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry against Trump; her recall was termed "a political hit job" by Democratic members of Congress. Trump subsequently said she was "no angel" and falsely claimed that Yovanovitch had refused to hang his portrait.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: In a January 2020 interview, Parnas apologized to Yovanovitch for his role in the smear campaign against her.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: On October 11, 2019, Yovanovitch gave closed-door deposition testimony before the House Oversight and Reform, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees. A transcript of Yovanovitch's full testimony was released to the public on November 5, 2019.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: The State Department sought to stop Yovanovitch from testifying before Congress, in line with Trump's policy of refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. The House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena, stating that "the illegitimate order from the Trump Administration not to cooperate has no force"—and Yovanovitch proceeded to give testimony.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: In her testimony, Yovanovitch testified that Trump had pressured the State Department to remove her, and that she was "incredulous" to be removed based on "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives." Yovanovitch stated that after her removal, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan had told her that she had done nothing wrong but that the State Department had been under political pressure from Trump to remove her since summer 2018. Sullivan, in his own testimony to Congress, corroborated Yovanovitch's testimony, confirmed that Yovanovitch was the target of a smear campaign, and publicly affirmed that Yovanovitch had served "admirably and capably" as ambassador.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch testified that her removal was the result of "significant tension between those who seek to transform the country and those who wish to continue profiting from the old ways," and that false narratives were pushed from an "unfortunate alliance between Ukrainians who continue to operate within a corrupt system, and Americans who either did not understand that corrupt system, or who may have chosen, for their own purposes, to ignore it." Yovanovitch described the State Department under Trump as "attacked and hollowed out from within," and warned that Russia and other U.S. rivals would benefit "when bad actors in countries beyond Ukraine see how easy it is to use fiction and innuendo to manipulate our system." Yovanovitch testified that when she sought advice from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland on how to respond to the smear campaign, Sondland recommended that she tweet praise for Trump.


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch also detailed attempts by Giuliani to interfere in the State Department's consular decisions, by attempting to override a U.S. visa denial for former Ukrainian official Viktor Shokin, who had been declared ineligible for travel in the United States based on his "known corrupt activities." Yovanovitch also said that she was "shocked" and felt threatened by Trump's statement, in a phone call with Zelensky, that "she's going to go through some things," testifying that she was very concerned "that the President would speak about me or any ambassador in that way to a foreign counterpart."


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: Yovanovitch testified to Congress “My parents fled Communist and Nazi regimes. Having seen, firsthand, the war and poverty and displacement common to totalitarian regimes, they valued the freedom and democracy the U.S. offers and that the United States represents. And they raised me to cherish those values.”


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: On November 15, 2019, Yovanovitch testified during the . In her testimony, Yovanovitch detailed how Giuliani and his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman worked with a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor to orchestrate a smear campaign against her, oust her from her post as ambassador, and "circumvent official channels" of Ukraine policy. Yovanovitch also testified, "Perhaps it was not surprising that when our anti-corruption efforts got in the way of the desire for profit or power, Ukrainians who preferred to play by the old, corrupt rules sought to remove me. What continues to amaze me is that they found Americans willing to partner with them and, working together, they apparently succeeded in orchestrating the removal of a U.S. ambassador. How could our system fail like this? How is it that foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government?" While Yovanovitch was testifying, Trump denigrated her on Twitter. When read what the president had written about her, Yovanovitch testified: "It's very intimidating. I can't speak to what the president is trying to do, but the effect is to be intimidating." House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff and other Democrats called Trump's conduct witness intimidation; Democratic Representative Jim Himes, a member of the Intelligence Committee, stated: "The president chose to respond to a patriotic and superb public servant with lies and intimidation. ...Her boss disparaged and intimidated her not after, but during her testimony." During questioning, the committee's Republicans avoided making personal attacks against Yovanovitch or seeking to undermine her credibility, but argued that Yovanovitch's removal and the events leading to it were not relevant to whether Trump had committed impeachable offenses and emphasized that Yovanovitch's removal occurred "before the main events under scrutiny took place."


title: Marie Yovanovitch

text: After being ousted as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Yovanovitch became a Senior State Department Fellow at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. On January 31, 2020, it was reported that she had retired from the Department of State. She is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Prostitution is illegal in the majority of African countries. HIV/AIDS infection rates are particularly high among African sex workers.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Nevertheless, it is common, driven by the widespread poverty in many sub-Saharan African countries, and is one of the drivers for the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Social breakdown and poverty caused by civil war in several African countries has caused further increases in the rate of prostitution in those countries. For these reasons, some African countries have also become destinations for sex tourism.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Long-distance truck drivers have been identified as a group with the high-risk behaviour of sleeping with prostitutes and a tendency to spread the infection along trade routes in the region. Infection rates of up to 33% were observed in this group in the late 1980s in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Legality of prostitution in the Americas varies by country. Most countries only legalized prostitution, with the act of exchanging money for sexual services legal. The level of enforcement varies by country. One country, the United States, is unique as legality of prostitution is not the responsibility of the federal government, but rather state, territorial, and federal district's responsibility.


title: Prostitution by region

text: In Asia, the main characteristic of the region is the very big discrepancy between the laws which exist on the books and what occurs in practice. For example, in Thailand prostitution is illegal, but in practice it is tolerated and partly regulated, and the country is a destination for sex tourism. Such situations are common in many Asian countries.


title: Prostitution by region

text: In Japan, prostitution is legal with the exception of heterosexual, vaginal intercourse. Advertisements that detail what each individual prostitute will do (oral sex, anal sex, etc.) are a common sight in the country, although many prostitutes disregard the law.


title: Prostitution by region

text: In India, prostitution is legal only if carried out in the private residence of a prostitute or others.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Child prostitution is a serious problem in this region. Past surveys indicate that 30 to 35 percent of all prostitutes in the Mekong sub-region of Southeast Asia are between 12 and 17 years of age.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Compared to other continents, Europe has very diverse laws when it comes to prostitution. The most common legal system in the European Union is that which allows prostitution itself (the exchange of sex for money) but prohibits associated activities (brothels, pimping, etc.). Prostitution remains illegal in most of the ex-communist countries of Eastern Europe.


title: Prostitution by region

text: In Belgium, sex work has been decriminalized since 1 June 2022. It is the first country in Europe and the second country in the world (after New Zealand) to decriminalize sex work.


title: Prostitution by region

text: In Sweden, Northern Ireland, Norway, Iceland, and France it is illegal to pay for sex (the client commits a crime, but not the prostitute).


title: Prostitution by region

text: In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to pay for sex with a prostitute who has been "subjected to force" and this is a strict liability offense (clients can be prosecuted even if they did not know the prostitute was forced), but prostitution itself is legal.


title: Prostitution by region

text: In Finland, Norway and Switzerland the right to sell sex is restricted based on citizenship. Aliens caught selling sex in Finland or Norway may be deported and of foreign citizens only EU citizens can get a Swiss prostitution license.


title: Prostitution by region

text: In Eastern Europe, prostitution was outlawed by the former communist regimes, and most of those countries chose to keep it illegal even after the fall of the Communists. It was only legalized by the former communist countries that joined the European Union (except for Lithuania and Croatia, where it remains illegal). It is even regulated in Hungary and Latvia.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Lithuania and Croatia remain the only countries in the European Union where women providing sexual services are punished. Croatia is the only one in which only a sex worker is criminalized, because Lithuania also criminalizes clients. In Sweden, France and Ireland only clients are punished, while in other countries both the sale and purchase of sexual services is legal.


title: Prostitution by region

text: Prostitution in Oceania varies greatly across the region. In American Samoa, prostitution is illegal, whereas in New Zealand most aspects of the trade are decriminalised.


title: The Tokens

text: The Tokens were an American doo-wop band and record production company group from Brooklyn, New York City. The group has had four top 40 hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100, all in the 1960s, their biggest being the chart-topping 1961 hit single, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" borrowed heavily from the 1939 song "Mbube" by South African singer Solomon Linda. They are also known for having included at first Neil Sedaka, who later pursued a solo career.


title: The Tokens

text: The band was formed in 1955 at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, and was known first as the Linc-Tones, a name inspired by the President of the United States' surname. Original members were Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin, however Rabkin was replaced in 1956 by Jay Siegel. In the same year the band recorded its first single, "While I Dream", with Sedaka on lead vocals: the song was a local hit in New York; Sedaka and Howard Greenfield wrote much of the group's early material. They were unusual among teen vocal bands of the time because they were not a cover one. In 1957, Zolotin left the band. Briefly recording as the Tokens and the Coins, Sedaka left the group in 1958 to launch his solo career. Siegel and Medress then recorded three singles under a side project for Roulette Records, Darrell & the Oxfords in 1959, with two other musicians who never joined the band. Finally establishing its most famous name and line-up, the group became known as the Tokens in 1960 after recruiting the 13-year-old multi-instrumentalist and first tenor Mitch Margo and his baritone brother Philip "Phil" Margo.


title: The Tokens

text: In early 1961, the Tokens released a single for Warwick Records titled "Tonight I Fell In Love", which scored No. 15 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and earned the group an opportunity to perform on the television program "American Bandstand". The popularity that the band garnered as a result of this performance brought it new recording opportunities, culminating in its cover of Solomon Linda's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for RCA Victor Records. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for three weeks. The same track peaked at No. 11 in the UK Singles Chart. Both "Tonight I Fell in Love" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" sold more than one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.


title: The Tokens

text: From 1962 to 1970, the group released nine more songs that scored the Top 100. Jay Siegel was the lead vocalist on all the Tokens' hits including "I Hear Trumpets Blow" (1966) and "Portrait of My Love" (1967). Beginning in 1963, the Tokens also began serving as record producers for other artists, such as the Chiffons, Randy & the Rainbows and the Happenings. Their production company was called "Bright Tunes" and they also created their own record company, B.T. (Bright Tunes) Puppy Records. In 1968, The Tokens released the experimental "Animal", intended to serve as lead single for a self-produced album entitled "Intercourse". However, Warner Bros. Records rejected the album due to its' uncommercial nature and sexual overtones, and so in 1971 the band privately pressed 200 copies of "Intercourse" themselves through B.T. Puppy. In 1972, Jay Siegel did background vocals for a re-recording of "the Lion Sleeps Tonight" with Robert John as the lead vocalist. This version hit No. 3 on the chart, and was awarded a Gold disc.


title: The Tokens

text: In 1970, Hank Medress began producing an act for Bell Records, Dawn, which featured the former teen-idol Tony Orlando. It was as a favor to Medress that Orlando sang lead on the first record, "Candida", which became a Top 3 hit. In 1973, Medress ended his relationship with the group and Siegel teamed with the Margo Brothers to form the group Cross Country, which would have some success with its cover version of "In the Midnight Hour". The Tokens reunited during 1975 for occasional weeks as singing regulars on the Adam Wade hosted game show "Musical Chairs" and in 1978 recorded a song for ABC's "Schoolhouse Rock": "A Victim of Gravity".


title: The Tokens

text: Brothers Mitch and Philip Margo continued to perform with new members Jay Leslie, Mike Johnson, and Noah Margo (one of Phil Margo's sons) playing drums. Mitch Margo's sons, Damien Margo and Ari Margo, also make occasional guest performances with the band, exemplifying Phil Margo's saying: "If you hang around long enough you can grow your own band". Siegel continues to perform with his own version of the Tokens. Until 2022 Siegel’s Tokens performed featuring bass singer Bill Reid, who had previously sang background with The Halos and had featured on some early '60's top hits including Curtis Lee's "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" as well as Barry Mann's "Who Put the Bomp". Siegel brought in John "Jay" Traynor, the original lead singer (before Jay Black) of Jay & the Americans and the Mystics who sang with Siegel's Tokens until 2014. Siegel's son was also part of the group as keyboardist and occasional vocalist. The current members of Jay Siegel's Tokens are Kurt Frenchie Yaghjian and Gabriel Dassa. Yaghjian appeared in the original Broadway cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and film version of "Hair". Dassa is an orthopedic surgeon and sings with the acapella group Classic Sounds.


title: The Tokens

text: Jay Siegel's Tokens and the Margo brothers reunited in 2000 to perform on the PBS special, "Doo Wop 51". At the time, Siegel's Tokens were Siegel, Reid and Eddy Rezzonico, who had replaced Richie Grasso during the 1990s.


title: The Tokens

text: Band member Hank Medress died of lung cancer on June 18, 2007, at his Manhattan home, aged 68. John "Jay" Traynor died of liver cancer on January 2, 2014, at a hospital in Tampa, Florida, aged 70. Mitch Margo died of natural causes on November 24, 2017, at Studio City, California, also aged 70. Philip Margo died of a stroke on November 13, 2021, at a hospital in Los Angeles, aged 79. Bass singer Bill Reid of Jay Siegel's Tokens suffered a heart attack on April 11, 2022, and died shortly afterwards.


title: The Tokens

text: Decades after not receiving any publishing credit for their specific original musical composition part of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", the band began a lawsuit in order to regain some of these publishing rights. The case was dismissed due to the statute of limitations. To this day, the Tokens claim that some of the original musical composition of the 1961 song was created by them, even though they have not been awarded this status by their record company.


title: The Tokens

text: On October 19, 2009, Phil and Mitch Margo filed suit in Manhattan for the rights to the "Tokens" name. They claim in their filing that Henry Medress suggested the name. In a competing suit filed in California by Siegel, he claims Siegel, Medress and Sedaka released an album named "Neil Sedaka and the Tokens" previously. On Sedaka's own website, there is a listing in his discography catalog for a 1958 release of "Neil Sedaka and the Tokens" as well as a second album, also during 1958, named "Neil Sedaka and the Tokens and Coins". Sedaka and Siegel have remained close friends since Sedaka left the group.


title: The Tokens

text: "As well as being performing and recording artists the Tokens were also record producers. Here are some of the records they produced:"


title: The Tokens

text: In 1998, the Tokens were mentioned by the Guinness World Records, for performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums in the United States and Canada.


title: Centre Party (Sweden)

text: The party's major issues are the national economy, the environment, political decentralisation and social integration. It is represented in all of the Riksdag's parliamentary committees, currently holding 31 seats. From 2019 to 2021, it provided confidence and supply to the Löfven II Cabinet.


title: Centre Party (Sweden)

text: Traditionally part of the Nordic agrarian party family, the Centre Party has increasingly shifted its focus towards economic liberalism, environmental protection, equality of the sexes and decentralisation of governmental authority. The party self-describes as liberal feminist, campaigning for policies which enhance gender equality on an individualist basis. Its environmental policies stress the importance of consent and voluntary action, including working with foresters and private landowners to promote biodiversity within a mutually agreeable framework.


title: Centre Party (Sweden)

text: The Centre Party has held the position of Prime Minister of Sweden three times, most recently Thorbjörn Fälldin from 1979 to 1982. It is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the Liberal International and Renew Europe. It was originally named Farmers' League ( ; B).


title: Centre Party (Sweden)

text: The party was founded in 1913 as the Farmers' League (, B). In 1922, it merged with the ( , JR) party adopted its current name in 1957. At that time, it had been the closest ally of the centre-left Swedish Social Democratic Party for twenty-five years and its coalition partners between 1936 and 1945 as well as between 1951 and 1957. However, it has since revised this strategy in order to establish a closer long-term alliance between the centre-right "borgerlig" ("bourgeois" or "nonsocialist") parties that achieved power between 1976 and 1982 and between 1991 and 1994.


title: Centre Party (Sweden)

text: Thorbjörn Fälldin was the leader of the Centre Party and Prime Minister from 1976 until 1982, except a short interregnum in 1978–1979 by the Liberal People's Party leader Ola Ullsten. The Centre Party again joined a centre-right government following the 1991 general election led by Moderate Party leader Carl Bildt. During the leaderships of Maud Olofsson and Annie Lööf in the 2000s, the party positioned itself clearly on the political right as a small business-friendly party, leaning towards neoliberal and right-libertarian policies and viewing the Social Democrats as its main opponent.


title: Centre Party (Sweden)

text: In 2005, the Centre Party sold its ownership of the newspaper group Centertidningar AB for 1.8 billion SEK, making it the richest political party in the world at the time. In 2022, Annie Lööf resigned as the leader of the Centre Party.