title: Sex and drugs

text: While small doses of heroin may enhance sexual desire and performance, chronic opiate use, including methadone and buprenorphine, synthetic and semi-synthetic opiates prescribed for opiate addiction treatment, results in decreased sexual desire, response, and orgasms for both men and women, as well as erectile, ejaculatory dysfunction, and vaginismus.


title: Sex and drugs

text: A date rape drug is any drug that is an incapacitating agent which—when administered to another person—incapacitates the person and renders them vulnerable to a drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA), including rape. One of the most common types of DFSA are those in which a victim consumes a recreational drug such as alcohol that was administered surreptitiously. The other most common form of DFSA involves the non-surreptitiously-administered consumption of alcohol. Here, the victims in these cases are drinking voluntarily which then makes them unable to make informed decisions or give consent.


title: Sex and drugs

text: Party and play, or chemsex, is the consumption of drugs to facilitate sexual activity. Sociologically, both terms refer to a subculture of recreational drug users who engage in high-risk sexual activities under the influence of drugs within groups. The term PnP is commonly used by gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in North America, while chemsex is more associated with the gay scene in Europe. The drug of choice is typically methamphetamine, known as tina or T, but other drugs are also used, such as mephedrone, GHB, GBL and alkyl nitrites (known as poppers).


title: Sex and drugs

text: Drug-based contraception has been available since the development of the contraceptive pill. As well as their contraceptive effects, contraceptive drugs can also have adverse sexual and reproductive side-effects. Prior to the availability of effective contraceptives, some substances were also used as abortifacients to terminate pregnancy; medical abortion exists as a modern medical practice.


title: Mastika

text: Mastika or mastiha is a liqueur seasoned with mastic, a resin with a slightly pine or cedar-like flavor gathered from the mastic tree, a small evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean region. In Greece, mastiha () or mastichato () is a sweet liqueur produced with the mastika resin from the Greek island of Chios, which is distilled after hardening to crystals. Sugar is typically added. It is a sweet liqueur that is typically consumed at the end of a meal. It has a distinctive flavor, reminiscent of pine and herbs. It is claimed to have medicinal properties and to aid digestion.


title: Mastika

text: In August of 2012, wildfires spread across the island of Chios, scorching 31,480 acres of land, and destroying more than half of the island's mastic orchards. Because the product has a “protected designation of origin” from the European Union, the fire not only impacted local Chios farmers, who lost approximately 60 percent of their crops, but also derailed the global supply of the product.


title: Mastika

text: Chios Mastiha Liqueur (, ) is a liqueur flavoured with mastic distillate or mastic oil from the island of Chios. The name "Chios Mastiha" has protected designation of origin status in the European Union. Chios Mastiha liqueur is clear with a sweet aroma. It is traditionally served cold.


title: Mastika

text: The process is regulated by Greek law and includes the flavouring of alcohol with mastic oil by agitation or the distillation of mastic with alcohol. The solution is then diluted with water and sweetened with sugar. The final alcoholic strength by volume of Chios Mastiha must be at least 15%.


title: Mastika

text: The only flavouring agents used in Chios Mastiha liqueur are an alcoholic distillate of mastic or mastic oil made from Chios mastic. Mastic is the hardened sap harvested from the mastic tree, Pistacia lentiscus var chia, a small evergreen shrub that grows on rocky terrain on the southern part of the island. Chios mastic is certified by the Agricultural Products Certification and Supervision Organization as part of the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food. The island's mastic production is controlled by a co-operative of medieval villages, the Mastichochoria.


title: Mastika

text: Mastic has been harvested for at least 2,500 years since Greek antiquity. The first mention of actual mastic 'tears' was by Hippocrates. Hippocrates used mastic for the prevention of digestive problems, colds and as a breath freshener. Roman emperors used mastic along with honey, pepper, and egg in the spiced wine conditum paradoxum. Digestive liqueurs, similar to Mastiha but made with grapes, were known as the Greek elixirs before the French Revolution.


title: Mastika

text: Greek writer and journalist Zoe Rapti, released a novel titled ""Έρωτας με Λικέρ Μαστίχα" (Love with Mastic Liqueur)", in 2013. The book is in development to become a film. Attached composers are the (Areti & Ioanna Spanomarkou), whose paternal grandmother was born in Chios.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: The Bouvier des Flandres is a herding dog breed originating in Flanders, Belgium. They were originally used for general farm work including cattle droving, sheep herding, and cart pulling, and nowadays as guard dogs and police dogs, as well as being kept as pets. The French name of the breed means, literally, "Cow Herder of Flanders", referring to the Flemish origin of the breed. Other names for the breed are "Toucheur de Boeuf" (cattle driver), "Vlaamse Koehond" (Flemish cow dog), and "Vuilbaard" (dirty beard).


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: The monks at the Ter Duinen monastery were among the earliest known dog breeders in Flanders. The bouviers bred by them are recorded as having been bred from imports such as Irish wolfhounds and Scottish deerhounds with local farm dogs, until a breed considered to be the predecessor of the modern Bouvier des Flandres was obtained. This became a working dog able to perform tirelessly, herding and guarding cattle and even pulling cargo carts, thanks to its strength and temperament, and to withstand the local weather conditions due to its thick coat. The breed's practical use became antiquated after the invention of the automobile, when cattle were more practically transported by trucks.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: Historically, the ear cropping and tail docking could have been done for practical reasons, avoiding accidental amputations in the course of work, or to indicate the dog was working stock and not a pet subject to taxation.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: Up until the early 20th century, the breed was not completely defined, with three variants: Paret, Moerman or Roeselare, and Briard. Conflict between the proponents of these three variants held the breed's development back. In 1912 and 1913, several local kennel clubs recognized standards for Bouviers; however they usually had different standards for the Roeselare and other variants.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: World War I nearly caused the breed to disappear, due to the devastation that came over its region of origin and the fact that the dogs were used for military purposes. Indeed, Nic, a male trained as a trench dog who served during the war and was a perennial winner at dog shows after the war, is considered to be the founder of the early Bouvier des Flandres breed.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: A unified Bouvier des Flandres standard was created in 1936 by a joint French-Belgian committee. However, World War II again endangered the breed's existence. Due to these setbacks, progress was slowed, and it was not until 1965 that the "Fédération Cynologique Internationale" (FCI) breed standard, as agreed to by several minor kennel clubs, was adopted.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: The Bouvier is a powerfully built, compact, rough-coated dog of rugged appearance. It gives the impression of size and strength without clumsiness or heaviness. Perhaps its most notable feature is the impressive head which is accentuated by a heavy beard and mustache. Although the practice of cropping both ears and tail are now mostly cosmetic, tails were originally docked to prevent injuries caused by herding and cart-pulling. The practice of cosmetic docking is currently opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association. In the area of origin (Flanders, Belgium) cropping was made illegal in 2006. The weight of males ranges from 80 to 120 pounds or 36 to 54 kilograms, slightly smaller for females. They are powerfully built, with a thick double coat, which can be fawn, black, grey brindle, or "pepper and salt" in color. Bouviers are sometimes considered non-shedding, but in fact do lose hair, like all dogs. Most of the hair that they lose is caught within the double coat which results in matting. They require weekly brushing and combing to maintain the coat. In addition to weekly brushing, the coat should be trimmed approximately every 3–5 weeks if it is to be a show dog. Trimming requires practice to achieve the proper look.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: Bouviers des Flandres are rational, gentle, loyal, and protective by nature. The breed's particular blend of characteristics makes them good family pets, as well as keen guard dogs. Unlike some animals bred for aggressive nature and power, the Bouvier possesses sophisticated traits, such as complex control, intelligence, and accountability.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: The Bouvier des Flandres is an obedient dog with a pleasant nature. They look intimidating, but are actually calm and gentle. They are enthusiastic, responsible, even-tempered, and fearless, and are excellent guard and watchdogs that are easy to train. This breed learns commands relatively fast. However, Bouviers get bored easily and learn best when repetition is limited.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: They require well-balanced training that remains consistent in nature. Without being harsh, it is important to consistently make the dog aware that the owner will remain the boss. This breed needs an experienced owner to prevent dominance and over-protectiveness problems. These dogs poorly trained can become inappropriately dominant towards humans. An un-socialized Bouvier can become fearful and pose a problem when introduced to new situations in which they do not feel comfortable.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: Bouviers should be socialized well, preferably starting at an early age, to avoid shyness, suspiciousness, and being overly reserved with strangers (although the breed is naturally aloof with strangers). Protection of the family when danger is present is not something that needs to be taught, nor is it something one can train out of them. The dog will rise to the occasion if needed. A good family dog, the Bouvier likes, and is excellent with, children. The Bouvier is very adaptable and goes about its business quietly and calmly. Obedience training starts when they are young. Their behavior depends on the owner's ability to communicate what is expected, and on the individual dominance level of the dog. They are usually good with other dogs if they are raised with them from puppyhood. Dominant individuals can be dog-aggressive if the owners are not assertive and do not communicate to the dog that fighting is unwanted. Slow to mature both in body and mind, the Bouvier does not fully mature until the age of 2–3 years.


title: Bouvier des Flandres

text: Bouviers des Flandres can compete in dog agility trials, carting, obedience, dog showmanship, Schutzhund, tracking, and herding events. Herding instincts and trainability can be measured at noncompetitive herding tests. Bouviers exhibiting basic herding instincts can then be trained to compete in herding trials.


title: BLT

text: A BLT is a type of sandwich, named for the initials of its primary ingredients, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. It can be made with varying recipes according to personal preference. Simple variants include using different types of lettuce, toasting or not, or adding mayonnaise. More pronounced variants can include using turkey bacon or tofu in place of bacon, or removing the lettuce entirely.


title: BLT

text: Although the ingredients of the BLT have existed for many years, there is little evidence of BLT sandwich recipes prior to 1900. In the "1903 Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book", a recipe for a club sandwich included bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and a slice of turkey sandwiched between two slices of bread. While the 1928 book "Seven Hundred Sandwiches" by Florence A. Cowles does include a section on bacon sandwiches, the recipes often include pickles and none contain tomato.


title: BLT

text: The BLT became popular after World War II because of the rapid expansion of supermarkets, which allowed ingredients to be available year-round. The initials, representing "bacon, lettuce, tomato", likely began in the U.S. restaurant industry as shorthand for the sandwich, but it is unclear when this transferred to the public consciousness. For example, a 1951 edition of the "Saturday Evening Post" makes reference to the sandwich, although it does not use its initials, describing a scene in which: "On the tray, invariably, are a bowl of soup, a toasted sandwich of bacon, lettuce and tomato, and a chocolate milk shake."


title: BLT

text: A 1954 issue of "Modern Hospital" contains a meal suggestion that includes: "Bean Soup, Toasted Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich, Pickles, Jellied Banana Salad, Cream Dressing, and Pound Cake." By 1958, Hellmann's Mayonnaise advertised their product as "traditional on bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches", suggesting that the combination had been around for some time. However, there are several references to a "B.L.T." in the early 1970s, including in one review of Bruce Jay Friedman's play entitled "Steambath" titled: "A B.L.T. for God – hold the mayo." The abbreviation used in title references a line of dialogue in the play in which God yells, "Send up a bacon and lettuce and tomato sandwich, hold the mayo. You burn the toast, I'll smite you down with my terrible swift sword."


title: BLT

text: As the sixth-most popular sandwich in the United States it falls behind the ham sandwich, the roast beef sandwich, turkey sandwich, grilled chicken sandwich, and the grilled cheese sandwich. A poll by OnePoll in 2008 showed that the BLT was the "nation's favourite" sandwich in the UK. BLT sandwiches are popular especially in the summer, following the tomato harvest. In the United States, the BLT-season is associated with an increase in the price of pork-bellies, which are processed into bacon.


title: BLT

text: While there are variations on the BLT, the essential ingredients are bacon, lettuce, and tomato, between two slices of bread, often toasted. The quantity and quality of the ingredients are matters of personal preference. The bacon can be well cooked or tender, but as it "carries" the other flavours, chefs recommend using higher quality meat; in particular, chef Edward Lee states "Your general supermarket bacon is not going to cut the mustard."


title: BLT

text: Iceberg lettuce is a common choice because it does not add too much flavour while adding crunch. Food writer Ed Levine has suggested that BLT does not require lettuce at all, as it is "superfluous", a suggestion that Jon Bonné, lifestyle editor at MSNBC, described as "shocking". Michele Anna Jordan, author of "The BLT Cookbook", believes the tomato is the key ingredient and recommends the use of the beefsteak tomato as it has more flesh and fewer seeds. Similarly, chef and food writer J. Kenji Lopez-Alt believes that a BLT is not a bacon sandwich with additional ingredients, but rather, a tomato sandwich seasoned with bacon. For that reason, Lopez-Alt argues that the BLT is a seasonal sandwich best made with high-quality summer tomatoes.


title: BLT

text: The sandwich is sometimes served with dressings, like mayonnaise. The bread can be of any variety, white or wholemeal, toasted or not, depending on personal preference.


title: BLT

text: The sandwich has a high sodium and fat content, and has been specifically targeted by UK café chains in an effort to reduce salt and fat. Due to this, low-fat mayonnaise is a common substitute along with low salt bread and less fatty bacon. A more visible solution is to use turkey bacon in lieu of normal bacon. One of the variations on the BLT is the club sandwich, a two-layered sandwich in which one layer is a BLT. The other layer can be almost any sort of sliced meat, normally chicken or turkey.


title: BLT

text: In 1963, pop art sculptor Claes Oldenburg created "Giant BLT", a soft sculpture representing the sandwich, now in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. It measures and uses vinyl, kapok and wood, painted in acrylic. Every time it is moved, it must be restacked, which means it varies between exhibits. The artist has said that he has not set it up personally since its creation in 1963.


title: BLT

text: In 2003, a record for the world's largest BLT was created by Michele Anna Jordan, measuring in length. It was prepared at a 2003 tomato festival in Sonoma County, California and had a total area of . In 2008, Marie Ganister and Glenda Castelli created a BLT – a sandwich which was originally planned with Jordan. The record was broken again by the Iron Barley restaurant in St. Louis, Missouri, with a BLT measuring , and is currently held by Bentley Dining Services for their 2009 attempt, measuring .


title: BLT

text: In 2004, the "New Statesman" reported that the sandwich chosen by a politician as his "favourite" is loaded with political symbolism. For example, it suggested that a chicken tikka sandwich would be a "gentle nod to an imperial past and a firm statement of a multicultural present and future". The article went on to explain that the then Leader of the Opposition William Hague had accused the then Prime Minister Tony Blair of being a hypocrite with regards to food, telling one portion of society that his favourite meal was fish and chips and another that it was a fresh fettuccine dish. The conclusion of the article was that Blair chose the BLT as his favourite sandwich, which appeals to all classes.


title: OpenCV

text: OpenCV ("Open Source Computer Vision Library") is a library of programming functions mainly aimed at real-time computer vision. Originally developed by Intel, it was later supported by Willow Garage then Itseez (which was later acquired by Intel). The library is cross-platform and free for use under the open-source Apache 2 License. Starting with 2011, OpenCV features GPU acceleration for real-time operations.


title: OpenCV

text: Officially launched in 1999 the OpenCV project was initially an Intel Research initiative to advance CPU-intensive applications, part of a series of projects including real-time ray tracing and 3D display walls. The main contributors to the project included a number of optimization experts in Intel Russia, as well as Intel's Performance Library Team. In the early days of OpenCV, the goals of the project were described as:


title: OpenCV

text: The first alpha version of OpenCV was released to the public at the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition in 2000, and five betas were released between 2001 and 2005. The first 1.0 version was released in 2006. A version 1.1 "pre-release" was released in October 2008.


title: OpenCV

text: The second major release of the OpenCV was in October 2009. OpenCV 2 includes major changes to the C++ interface, aiming at easier, more type-safe patterns, new functions, and better implementations for existing ones in terms of performance (especially on multi-core systems). Official releases now occur every six months and development is now done by an independent Russian team supported by commercial corporations.


title: OpenCV

text: In August 2012, support for OpenCV was taken over by a non-profit foundation OpenCV.org, which maintains a developer and user site.


title: OpenCV

text: In July 2020, OpenCV announced and began a Kickstarter campaign for the OpenCV AI Kit, a series of hardware modules and additions to OpenCV supporting Spatial AI.


title: OpenCV

text: To support some of the above areas, OpenCV includes a statistical machine learning library that contains:


title: OpenCV

text: OpenCV is written in C++ and its primary interface is in C++, but it still retains a less comprehensive though extensive older C interface. All of the new developments and algorithms appear in the C++ interface. There are bindings in Python, Java and MATLAB/OCTAVE. The API for these interfaces can be found in the online documentation. Wrappers in several programming languages have been developed to encourage adoption by a wider audience. In version 3.4, JavaScript bindings for a selected subset of OpenCV functions was released as OpenCV.js, to be used for web platforms.


title: OpenCV

text: If the library finds Intel's Integrated Performance Primitives on the system, it will use these proprietary optimized routines to accelerate itself.


title: OpenCV

text: An OpenCL-based GPU interface has been in progress since October 2012, documentation for version 2.4.13.3 can be found at docs.opencv.org.


title: OpenCV

text: OpenCV runs on the following desktop operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD. OpenCV runs on the following mobile operating systems: Android, iOS, Maemo, BlackBerry 10. The user can get official releases from SourceForge or take the latest sources from GitHub. OpenCV uses CMake.


title: Alpine ibex

text: The Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), also known as the steinbock, bouquetin, or simply ibex, is a species of wild goat that lives in the mountains of the European Alps. It is a sexually dimorphic species: males are larger and carry longer, curved horns than females. Its coat colour is typically brownish grey. Alpine ibex tend to live in steep, rough terrain near the snow line. They are also social, although adult males and females segregate for most of the year, coming together only to mate. Four distinct groups exist; adult male groups, female-offspring groups, groups of young individuals, and mixed-sex groups.


title: Alpine ibex

text: During the breeding season, males fight for access to females, and use their long horns in agonistic behaviour. After being extirpated from most areas by the 19th century, the Alpine ibex was successfully reintroduced to parts of its historical range. All individuals living today descend from the stock in Gran Paradiso National Park in Aosta Valley and Piemonte (Italy), a national park created to help the ibex thrive. The ibex is the emblem of both the Gran Paradiso National Park, and the contiguous Vanoise National Park across the French border. The species is currently listed as of least concern by the IUCN, but went through a population bottleneck of fewer than 100 individuals during its near-extinction event. This has led to very low genetic diversity across populations.


title: Alpine ibex

text: The Alpine ibex was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is classified in the genus "Capra" (Latin for "goat") with at least seven other species of wild goats. Both "Capra" and "Ovis" (sheep) descended from a goral-like animal from the Miocene and early Pliocene, whose fossils are found in Kenya, China, and Slovenia. The genus "Tossunnoria" appears in China during the late Miocene and appears to have been intermediate between gorals and goats. Fossils of Alpine ibex date back to the late Pleistocene, when the Spanish ibex and it probably evolved from the extinct Pleistocene species "Capra camburgensis". The Nubian ("C. nubiana"), walia ("C. walie"), and Siberian ibexes ("C. sibirica") were previously considered to be subspecies of the Alpine ibex, giving populations in the Alps the trinomial of "C. i. ibex".


title: Alpine ibex

text: Compared with other members of its genus, the Alpine ibex has a short, broad head and a duller coat. It has brownish-grey hair over most of the body, a pale abdomen, and slightly darker markings on the chin and throat and in a stripe along the back. They moult twice a year, firstly in April or May, and then again in September, when they replace the short summer coat with thicker hair and a woolly undercoat.


title: Alpine ibex

text: Males commonly grow to a height of at the withers, with a body length of and weigh from . Females are noticeably smaller, with a shoulder height of , a body length of , and a weight of . Both male and female Alpine ibex have large, backwards-curving horns with numerous ridges along their length. At , those of the males are substantially larger than those of females, which reach only in length.


title: Alpine ibex

text: During the Last Glacial Period the species range was reaching as far south as Greece, where it disappeared in the Holocene, after 5,600 BC due to hunting, with the last known remains being found on mountains surrounding Thessaly. The Alpine ibex was, at one point, restricted only to the Gran Paradiso National Park in northern Italy, and the contiguous Maurienne Valley in the French Alps but it was reintroduced to most of the Alps. Reintroductions started in 1906 into Switzerland. Alpine ibex are now found in most or all of the Italian and French alpine ranges, southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It has also been introduced to Bulgaria and Slovenia.


title: Alpine ibex

text: An excellent climber, its preferred habitat is the rocky region along the snow line above alpine forests, where it occupies steep, rough terrain at elevations of . Alpine ibex are typically absent from woodland areas, although adult males in densely populated areas may stay in larch and mixed larch-spruce woodland if no snow has fallen. Males spend the winter in coniferous forests. For most of the year, males and females occupy different habitats. Females rely on steep terrain more so than males. Males use lowland meadows during the spring, which is when snow melts and green grass appears. They then climb to alpine meadows during the summer. When winter arrives, both sexes move to steep, rocky slopes that amass little snow. They prefer slopes of 30–45° and use small caves and overhangs for shelter. Home ranges are highly variable, depending on the availability of resources, and vary in size throughout the year. Figures from have been recorded. Home ranges tend to be largest during summer and autumn, smallest in winter, and intermediate in spring. Female home ranges are usually smaller than those of males. Alpine ibex appear to have a low rate of predation and in Gran Paradiso typically die of age, starvation, or disease.


title: Alpine ibex

text: Alpine ibex are strictly herbivorous, with over half of their diet consisting of grasses, and the remainder being a mixture of mosses, flowers, leaves, and twigs. If leaves and shoots are out of reach, they often stand on their rear legs to reach this food. Grass genera that are the most commonly eaten are "Agrostis", "Avena", "Calamagrostis", "Festuca", "Phleum", "Poa", "Sesleria", and "Trisetum". The climbing ability of the Alpine ibex is such that it has been observed standing on the sheer face of the Cingino Dam in Piedmont, Italy, where it licks the stonework to obtain mineral salts.


title: Alpine ibex

text: Although the Alpine ibex is a social species, they segregate sexually and spatially depending on the season. Four types of groups exist: Adult male groups, female-offspring groups, groups of young individuals 2–3 years old, and mixed-sex groups. Young groups are numerous at the beginning of summer, but are expelled by females at the end of their gestation period. Female and offspring groups occur year-round, at least in an area of the French Alps. Mixed-sex groups of adult males and females occur during breeding, which lasts from December to January. By April and May, the adults separate. The largest aggregations of either sex occur during June and July. Gatherings of males begin to decrease during October and November, and are lowest from the rut from December to March. The males then leave their separate wintering areas and gather again.


title: Alpine ibex

text: A linear dominance hierarchy exists among males. In small populations, which are more cohesive, males know their place in the hierarchy based on memories of past encounters, while in mobile and large groups, where encounters with strangers are common, rank is based on horn size. Antagonistic behavior in males can come in the form of "direct" or "indirect" aggression. With direct aggression, one male bumps another with his horns or places himself in front of his opponent. He stands on his hind legs and comes down on his opponent with his horns. This may signal that he is ready to clash or may be attempting a real clash. Indirect aggression is mostly intimidation displays.


title: Alpine ibex

text: The breeding season starts in December, and typically lasts around six weeks. During this time, male herds break up into smaller groups that search for females. The rut takes place in two phases. In the first phase, the male groups interact with the females that are all in oestrous. The higher the male's rank, the closer he can get to a female. Males perform courtship displays. In the second phase of the rut, one male separates from his group to follow an individual female. He displays to her and guards her from other males. Before copulation, the female moves her tail and courtship becomes more intense. They copulate and then he rejoins his group and reverts to the first phase. Gestation lasts around 167 days, and results in the birth of one or two kids, with twins making up about 20% of births.


title: Alpine ibex

text: Alpine ibex reach sexual maturity at 18 months, but females do not reach their maximum body size for five to six years, and males not for 9–11 years. The horns grow throughout life, growing most rapidly during the second year of life, and thereafter by about a year, eventually slowing to half that rate once the animal reaches 10 years of age. Alpine ibex live for up to 19 years in the wild.


title: Alpine ibex

text: The Alpine ibex historically ranged through France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Bavaria, Austria and Slovenia. Starting in the early 16th century and with firearms becoming common, the overall population declined due to overexploitation and poaching. The ibex became extirpated in Switzerland and Germany by the 18th century, and was extirpated in Austria and northeastern Italy by the 19th century. They remained only in and around the adjacent Gran Paradiso and Vanoise Massifs, then both part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Located in the western Italian Alps and the Maurienne valley in the north eastern French alps, bordering the Vanoise and Gran Paradiso Massif, the park was declared a royal hunting reserve in 1854 with the name of "Royal hunting reserve of Gran Paradiso" by Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a united Italy.


title: Alpine ibex

text: Ibex were protected from poaching and their numbers increased, reaching 3,020 in 1914. The ibex enjoyed further protection when Gran Paradiso was made into a national park in 1922. Animals from this population naturally dispersed into surrounding regions. However, reintroductions have been the predominant source of new populations. Today, the total population of Alpine ibex is over 30,000 and is considered to be of Least Concern by the IUCN. However, Alpine ibex have low genetic diversity putting them at risk of inbreeding depression.


title: Night-watchman state

text: A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggression principle by providing citizens with the military, the police, and courts, thereby protecting them from aggression, theft, breach of contract, fraud, and enforcing property laws.


title: Night-watchman state

text: In the United States, this form of government is mainly associated with libertarian and Objectivist political philosophy. In other countries, minarchism is also advocated by some non-anarchist libertarian socialists and other left-libertarians. A night-watchman state has also been popularized by Robert Nozick in "Anarchy, State, and Utopia" (1974). The United Kingdom in the 19th century has been described by historian Charles Townshend as a standard-bearer for this form of government.


title: Night-watchman state

text: As a term, "night-watchman state" () was coined by German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin wherein he criticized the bourgeois-liberal limited government state, comparing it to a night-watchman whose sole duty was preventing theft, playing on the double meaning of the German term "" to mean someone who was incompetent or stupid. The phrase quickly caught on as a description of capitalist government, even as liberalism began to mean a more involved state, or a state with a larger sphere of responsibility. Ludwig von Mises later opined that Lassalle tried to make limited government look ridiculous though it was no more ridiculous than governments that concerned themselves with "the preparation of sauerkraut, with the manufacture of trouser buttons, or with the publication of newspapers".


title: Night-watchman state

text: Proponents of the night-watchman state are "minarchists", a portmanteau of "minimum" and "-archy". "Arche" (; ) is a Greek word which came to mean "first place, power", "method of government", "empire, realm", "authorities" (in plural: ), or "command". The term "minarchist" was coined by Samuel Edward Konkin III in 1980.


title: Night-watchman state

text: Right-libertarian minarchists generally justify the state as a logical consequence of the non-aggression principle. They argue that anarcho-capitalism is impractical because it is not sufficient to enforce the non-aggression principle, as the enforcement of laws under anarchy would be open to competition. Another common objection to anarchism is that private defense and court firms would tend to represent the interests of those who pay them enough.


title: Night-watchman state

text: Left-libertarian minarchists justify the state as a temporary measure on the grounds that social safety net benefits the working class. Some anarchists, such as Noam Chomsky, are in agreement with social democrats on the welfare state and welfare measures, but prefer using non-state authority. Left-libertarians such as Peter Hain are decentralists who do not advocate abolishing the state, but do wish to limit and devolve state power, stipulating that any measures favoring the wealthy be prioritized for repeal before those which benefit the poor.


title: Night-watchman state

text: Some minarchists argue that a state is inevitable because anarchy is futile. Robert Nozick, who publicized the idea of a minimal state in "Anarchy, State, and Utopia" (1974), argued that a night-watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights. It therefore morally justifies the existence of a state.


title: Bill Rancic

text: William Rancic (; born May 16, 1971) is an American entrepreneur who was the first candidate hired by The Trump Organization at the conclusion of the first season of Donald Trump's reality television show "The Apprentice". He is married to E! News host Giuliana Rancic and currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.


title: Bill Rancic

text: Rancic was born on May 16, 1971 in Chicago to Gail () and Edward Rancic, who died of cancer in 1999. Rancic has three sisters, Beth, Katie and Karen. He grew up in the suburb of Orland Park in a family of Croatian and Irish heritage. His paternal grandfather Nikola Rančić had immigrated to the United States from Split. Rancic attended St. Michael's School and graduated from Carl Sandburg High School. He earned a B.S. from Loyola University Chicago.


title: Bill Rancic

text: Rancic was one of the job applicants in the first season of "The Apprentice" during the spring of 2004, as one of 16 contestants. Rancic was hired at the conclusion of the 14-week job interview after Donald Trump selected him over finalist Kwame Jackson.


title: Bill Rancic

text: For the final challenge against competitor Kwame Jackson, Trump gave Rancic the task of running a celebrity golf outing at Trump National Golf Club Westchester in Briarcliff Manor, New York, while Jackson was tasked to manage a Jessica Simpson concert. At the final board meeting, Jackson remarked that running a golf outing was the easier of the two tasks, which brought a disagreement from Trump VP Carolyn Kepcher, who was managing a golf course when Trump hired her. Trump hired Rancic.


title: Bill Rancic

text: Rancic was elected to take charge of the construction of the Trump Tower Chicago in his native Chicago, on the site of the demolished "Chicago Sun-Times" building. His other option was to oversee and manage a new Trump National Golf Course and resort in Los Angeles.


title: Bill Rancic

text: Originally, Rancic said that after his one-year contract as Trump's Apprentice expired, he would leave the job and start his own company. He instead opted to remain part of the Trump Organization, and in some seasons filled in as a judge when regular judge George H. Ross was away on business.


title: Bill Rancic

text: In September 2007, Rancic co-hosted iVillage's "In the Loop with iVillage," a TV show and webcast produced by NBC Universal. NBC commissioned a set at the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. In September 2008, Rancic began as host for the A&E reality show "We Mean Business," in which small business owners undergo business make-overs.


title: Bill Rancic

text: In 2008, Rancic and his wife, TV host Giuliana Rancic (née DePandi), started a joint television production company, You and I Productions, which produces reality and scripted programming for television. In 2009, they started their own reality-television show "Giuliana and Bill" which aired on the E! network. In 2010, Rancic started hosting a news program called "America Now," which is broadcast across the United States on stations owned by Raycom Media. The following year, "America Now" was brought back for a second season, with Leeza Gibbons joining Bill Rancic. Originally, the show was on every weekend, but when Leeza Gibbons joined the show, it moved to a Monday through Friday timeslot.


title: Bill Rancic

text: In 2012, Rancic became a television spokesperson for the product Rogaine, appearing in national commercials detailing his experience with hair loss. In April 2014, Rancic began hosting the Food Network competitive cooking series "Kitchen Casino", where chefs participate in three casino-themed challenges in an attempt to win up to $30,000.


title: Bill Rancic

text: In 2009, Rancic sold a century-old Gold Coast row house he had bought in 2007, after extensive renovations. In 2011, Rancic sold a condo on the 50th floor of the Park Tower building, on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, less than 20 months after purchasing the unit.


title: Bill Rancic

text: Rancic owned a home in Hinsdale, Illinois, which was prominently featured on his reality show. He sold it in February 2011 after extensive renovations.


title: Bill Rancic

text: In 2013, Rancic and his wife purchased a 19th-century house on Bellevue Place, which they rehabbed and sold in 2019.


title: Bill Rancic

text: In August 2011, Rancic and his wife entered into a partnership with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises to open an Italian restaurant in Chicago. The restaurant was named "RPM Italian", and it opened in February 2012 in Chicago's River North District. They opened several more restaurants, including "RPM Steak" in Chicago, another "RPM Italian" in Washington, D.C., and a planned "RPM On the Water" opening in 2019 in Chicago. The restaurants have been popular with celebrities, including Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.


title: Bill Rancic

text: In December 2006, he became engaged to Giuliana DePandi, and the couple wed in September 2007 in Chiesa di Santa Sofia, Capri.


title: Bill Rancic

text: On April 23, 2012, Giuliana and Rancic announced on "The Today Show" that they were expecting their first child via gestational carrier. In August 2012, the couple had a son in Denver, Colorado.


title: Kids in America

text: "Kids in America" is a song recorded by English pop singer Kim Wilde. It was released in the United Kingdom as her debut single in January 1981, and in the United States in spring 1982, later appearing on her self-titled debut studio album. Largely inspired by the synth-pop style of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and Gary Numan, the song reached number two on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks and number one in Finland and South Africa, and charted in the top 10 of many European charts as well as Australia and New Zealand. In North America, the song reached the top 40 in Canada and the United States. It was certified gold in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and Sweden; and has sold over three million copies worldwide. The song has been covered by many artists from different genres.


title: Kids in America

text: RAK Records boss Mickie Most heard Wilde singing on a backing track to another song recorded by her brother Ricky Wilde, an aspiring young songwriter and producer who had some fame as a child singer in the style of Donny Osmond in the early 1970s.


title: Kids in America

text: Most liked Kim's voice and looks and expressed an interest in working with her. Eager to grab the opportunity, Ricky went home and wrote "Kids in America" that same day with his father Marty. Marty Wilde, also a former singer, had been a teen idol and actor in the UK in the late 1950s and early 1960s.


title: Kids in America

text: They wrote the song using a WASP synthesizer owned by Ricky. He has said that its main synth line was influenced by that of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "Messages". Kim has stated that her brother "kind of nicked" the line. The eighth note synth bassline, which forms the intro, was inspired by Gary Numan (as was the vocal melody in the opening lines).


title: Kids in America

text: They went into the studio with everything except the words to the chorus, which Marty Wilde, who was responsible for writing the lyrics to the song, came up with at the last minute. The line "Whoah-oh!", which is sung after the song's title lyrics, was originally meant to be a guitar lick or a brass stab, but sounded much better sung by the male backing vocals, according to Marty.


title: Kids in America

text: After hearing the track for the first time, Most declared it would be a smash hit; but it needed remixing, which he did together with Marty at RAK Studios. The song was shelved for a year before being released as Kim Wilde's first single in January 1981.


title: Kids in America

text: "Kids in America 1994" was released in May 1994 in order to help promote Wilde's compilation album "The Remix Collection" (1993). Although it was intended to be released in the UK, for unknown reasons these plans were cancelled at the last minute. However, the track was released in other countries in several remixed forms using Wilde's original vocals from 1981.


title: Kids in America

text: Among some of her other classic hits, Wilde recorded a new version of the song for her 2006 comeback album "Never Say Never", featuring English singer Charlotte Hatherley. This version, like the rest of the album, was produced by German producer Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, with whom she had previously worked in 2002 for German singer Nena's 20th anniversary album "Nena feat. Nena" on the track "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime", a new version of her 1984 hit single.


title: Kids in America

text: "Kids in America" signalled the start of Wilde's career. It sold so well in its first week, foul play was suspected and it was not included in that week's chart. In its first eight weeks of release, the single sold more than half a million copies in the UK alone. The song peaked at number two in the UK in 1981 and became the 23rd best-selling single that year. The following year in 1982, it reached No. 25 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 for over a month and ranked as the 91st most successful song of 1982 on the Hot 100 year-end chart. Though it only hit No. 25, it received heavy airplay on radio stations and MTV. Elsewhere, the record peaked atop the charts of Finland and South Africa. In Europe and Australia, the song was also a major top 10 hit. After "Kids in America", Wilde's father and brother continued to write songs for her (with the latter also given production credits). In later years, she chiefly co-wrote with her brother.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including "The African Queen" (1951), "Moulin Rouge" (1952), "The Kidnappers" (1953), "The Enemy Below" (1957), "I Want to Live!" (1958), "My Fair Lady" (1964), "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" (1966), and "200 Motels" (1971). For his portrayal of Sheriff Max Muller in "The Defiant Ones" (1958), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: He made his stage debut in "Tevye the Milkman" in Tel Aviv, Israel, when he was in his teens. He later studied acting at Britain's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and made his London stage debut in 1948 and in New York in 1955. He was also a widely recognized and recorded folk singer and guitarist. In 1959, he co-founded the Newport Folk Festival, and created the role of Captain von Trapp opposite Mary Martin as Maria in the original Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music". In 1969, Bikel began acting and singing on stage as Tevye in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof", a role he performed more often than any other actor to date. The production won nine Tony Awards, and was one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel was president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America until 2014, and was president of Actors' Equity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He served as the chairman of the board of directors of Partners for Progressive Israel, where he also lectured.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Theodore Bikel was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, the son of Miriam (née Riegler) and Josef Bikel, from Bukovina. As an active Zionist, his father named him after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. Following the German annexation of Austria in 1938, Bikel's family fled to Mandatory Palestine, where his father's contacts helped the family obtain British passports. Bikel studied at the Mikve Yisrael agricultural school and joined Kibbutz Kfar HaMaccabi.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel started acting while in his teens. He performed with Habimah Theatre in 1943, and was one of the founding members of the Cameri Theatre, which became a leading Israeli theatre company. He described his acting experience there as similar to, if not better than, the method acting techniques taught at the Actors Studio in New York. "The Habimah people were much closer to the Method, indeed, than Lee Strasberg was, because they were direct disciples of Stanislavski."


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In 1945, he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Finding work almost immediately, from the mid 40s to the late 50s, Bikel appeared in a slew of British B-movies, and the occasional 'A' film too, usually playing heavies and crooks of various European nationalities despite having perfected his English accent. He played the lead role in 1956 English film drama, 'Flight from Vienna'. Despite his success in the UK, the ever-ambitious Bikel travelled to the States in 1954 to pursue his career in the more lucrative Hollywood movie industry and on Broadway, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1961.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel did not return to live in Israel, nor did he take part in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Bikel wrote in his autobiography, "Theo": "A few of my contemporaries regarded [not returning to Israel] as a character flaw, if not a downright act of desertion. In me there remains a small, still voice that asks whether I can ever fully acquit myself in my own mind."


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In 1948, Michael Redgrave recommended Bikel to his friend Laurence Olivier as understudy for the parts of both Stanley Kowalski and Harold "Mitch" Mitchell in the West End premiere of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire". Aside from being an understudy, Bikel's main role in the production was the relatively minor part of Pablo Gonzales. He graduated from supporting actor and understudy, though, to star opposite the director's wife, Vivien Leigh, with a sudden, unplanned performance when a co-star, playing the role of Mitch, came down with a case of flu. Bikel showed up backstage and went directly to Leigh's dressing room to ask if she wanted to rehearse with him, to make sure he was right for the role. She replied that she did not need to: "Go and do it," she said. "You are a professional, and Larry gave you this job because he trusted you to do it well." After the show, Leigh told him, "Well done."


title: Theodore Bikel

text: For most of his acting career, he was known for his versatility in playing characters of different nationalities; he claimed he took on those different personalities so his acting would "never get stale." On television, he played an Armenian merchant on "Ironside", a Polish professor on "Charlie's Angels", an American professor on "The Paper Chase", a Bulgarian villain on "Falcon Crest", a Belarusian on "", and an Italian on "Murder, She Wrote".


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In movies, he played a German officer in "The African Queen" (1951) and "The Enemy Below" (1957), a Southern sheriff in "The Defiant Ones", and a Russian submarine captain in the comedy "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" (1966). He also portrayed the sadistic General Jouvet in "The Pride and the Passion" (1957), and was screen tested for the role of Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film "Goldfinger" (1964), though the part ultimately fell to German actor Gert Fröbe. In "My Fair Lady" (1964), he played the overbearing Hungarian linguist Zoltan Karpathy.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: He made his Broadway debut in 1955 in "Tonight in Samarkand", and in 1958 was nominated for a Tony for "The Rope Dancers". In 1959, he created the role of Captain von Trapp in the original production of "The Sound of Music", which earned him a second Tony nomination. Bikel did not like his role because his ability to sing was underused; neither did he like performing the same role of the captain repeatedly. When the composers, Rodgers and Hammerstein, realized Bikel was an accomplished folksinger, they wrote the song "Edelweiss" specifically for him to sing and accompany himself on the guitar.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In 1964, he played Zoltan Karpathy, the dialect expert, in the film version of "My Fair Lady". Since his first appearance as Tevye in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" (1967), Bikel had performed the role more often than any other actor (more than 2,000 times). When an injury required 74-year-old fellow Israeli performer Chaim Topol (veteran of many productions of the stage show and star of the motion picture "Fiddler on the Roof") to withdraw from a high-budget, much-promoted 2009 North American tour of the musical, Bikel substituted for him in several appearances in 2010.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel was a guest star on many popular television series. He appeared in an episode of the 1954 NBC legal drama "Justice" based on cases from the Legal Aid Society of New York. He also appeared in the episode entitled "The Faithful Pilgrimage" of CBS's "Appointment with Adventure" anthology series. The particular episode was written by Rod Serling. He also appeared in a second episode of "Appointment with Adventure" entitled "Return of the Stranger". Bikel also appeared in an acting role in Frank Zappa's experimental film "200 Motels" (1971).


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel later guest-starred on Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" (episode "Four O'Clock" as Oliver Crangle). He appeared on episodes of "Wagon Train", "Combat!" in the season-three episode "Mountain Man" as Francois Perrault, "Hawaii Five-O", "Columbo" (1977, "The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case"), "Charlie's Angels", "The San Pedro Beach Bums", "Cannon", "Little House on the Prairie", "", "Gunsmoke", "Dynasty", "All in the Family", "Knight Rider", "Murder, She Wrote", "Fantasy Island", "Law & Order", and "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" (episode "Elegy for a Tramp" as Gerringer that aired on January 28, 1987).


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In the early 1990s, he appeared on "", in the episode "", playing Sergey Rozhenko, Worf's Belarusian-born adoptive father. Bikel performed two roles in the "Babylon 5" universe, in 1994 as Rabbi Koslov in the first-season episode "TKO" and in 1998, as Ranger leader Lenonn in the TV movie "".


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel was nominated for the Drama Desk Award in 2010 for outstanding solo performance for "Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears", an off-Broadway play that he also wrote. In 2012, Bikel played the title role in "Visiting Mr. Green" with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company in Toronto, Ontario. In 2013, Bikel starred in "Journey 4 Artists", a documentary that celebrates the power of music and religious diversity.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In 1955, at the suggestion of Jac Holzman of Elektra Records, Bikel began recording songs, including several albums of Jewish folk songs and songs from Russia and other countries, making over 20 contemporary and folk music albums during his career. For those, he played acoustic guitar alone or accompanied by other musicians. He was able to sing in 21 different languages, including Yiddish, Hebrew, German, Russian, Hungarian, Romanian, French, medieval Spanish, Zulu, and English. His early albums included "Israeli Folk Songs" (1955) and "Songs of Russian Old & New" (1960). Bikel's live performances were issued on two albums: "Bravo Bikel" (1959), and "Bikel on Tour" (1963).


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In 1959, Bikel co-founded the Newport Folk Festival (together with Pete Seeger, Harold Leventhal, Oscar Brand, and George Wein). He performed a number of recorded duets with Judy Collins at various festivals and on television. During an interview, when asked what inspired him to become involved in organizing a folk festival, he said that music was "one of the few answers to the chaos that we have," one of the only recourses to avoid social strife, and a means of giving youth hope for a better world.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel viewed then 21-year-old Bob Dylan as one of those young performers expressing emotional and social messages through song. In 1963, Bikel joined Dylan, Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Joan Baez for the festival grand finale as they sang "Blowin' in the Wind" and "We Shall Overcome". Following the festival, Bikel, Seeger, and Dylan traveled to a planned rally in Greenwood, Mississippi, to perform Dylan's newly written song, "Only a Pawn in Their Game", about the man who murdered Medgar Evers. Originally, only Bikel and Seeger were scheduled to perform, but Bikel wanted Dylan to go with them. He told Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, "I'll tell you what. Buy him a ticket. Don't tell him where it came from. Tell him it's time to go down and experience the South."


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel's close friendship with Seeger was sometimes tested as a result of the Newport festival's choice of performers. On one occasion, Seeger became infuriated during Bob Dylan's legendary 1965 performance accompanied by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Seeger expected Bikel to support him: "Theo, for Chrissake—tell them. Set them straight!" Bikel stepped forward and told Seeger, "Peter, this band, these rebels—they are us. They are what we were 20 years ago. Remember?" Seeger stared at him "like a trauma victim", as Bikel succeeded in calming Seeger down enough to let the group finish their songs. In 1965, Bikel, as well as Seeger, was shocked when Bob Dylan turned electric at the festival, an event some call "Dylan's declaration of musical independence."


title: Theodore Bikel

text: In 1962, Bikel became the first singer besides Dylan to perform "Blowin' in the Wind" in public. His album "A Folksinger's Choice" (1964) featured Jim McGuinn (as he was then known) on banjo. Bikel (with business partner Herb Cohen) opened the first folk music coffee house in Los Angeles, The Unicorn. Its popularity led to the two opening a second club, Cosmo Alley, which, in addition to folk music, presented poets such as Maya Angelou and comics including Lenny Bruce. Bikel became increasingly involved with civil-rights issues and progressive causes, and was a Eugene McCarthy delegate to the 1968 Democratic Convention.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel was married four times. He married Ofra Ichilov in 1942. They divorced the following year. His second marriage was in 1967 to Rita Weinberg Call, with whom he had two children. They divorced in 2008. He married conductor Tamara Brooks later that year. She died in 2012. He married journalist and foreign correspondent Aimee Ginsburg on December 29, 2013.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel was a longtime activist in the civil-rights and human-rights movements, participating as a fundraiser with performances. He co-founded the Actors Federal Credit Union in 1962, and in 1968, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He was president of Actors' Equity from 1977 to 1982, in which office he supported human-rights causes. Since 1988, he had been president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Upon hearing of his death, Actors’ Equity wrote: "From the time he joined Equity in 1954, Bikel has been an advocate for the members of our union and his extraordinary achievements paved the way for so many. No one loved theater more, his union better, or cherished actors like Theo did. He has left an indelible mark on generations of members past and generations of members to come. We thank you, Theo, for all you have done."


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel was an active supporter and campaigner for John F. Kennedy. He did some of his campaigning during the run of "The Sound of Music", which got him into trouble with the producers, who did not think it was becoming for an actor. He recalls, "I would go out sometimes between matinee and evening performances, go to a rally and speak from a flat-bed truck, and then come back to the theater." The producers stopped complaining, however, when after one show he was picked up backstage by a limousine carrying Eleanor Roosevelt, and he accompanied her to a Democratic rally as her special guest.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: At the 1977 AFL–CIO Convention, Bikel welcomed Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky upon his release from the Soviet Union. He was arrested in front of the Soviet Embassy in Washington in 1986 while protesting the plight of Soviet Jews.


title: Theodore Bikel

text: President Jimmy Carter appointed him to serve on the National Council for the Arts in 1977 for a six-year term. In 2007, he served as chair of the Board of Directors of Meretz USA (now Partners for Progressive Israel).


title: Theodore Bikel

text: Bikel died on July 21, 2015, at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles of natural causes, according to publicist Harlan Boll, survived by Ms. Ginsburg, his sons from his second marriage, Robert and Daniel, and three grandchildren. He was buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Joelle Hannah Fletcher (born November 1, 1990) is an American real estate developer and television personality. She was a contestant on the twentieth season of ABC's "The Bachelor" and the lead on the twelfth season of "The Bachelorette".


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Fletcher was born in Dallas, Texas, the child of physician parents. Her mother is from Iran and her father was raised in Tennessee. Prior to going into real estate, Fletcher was a pre-med major at Baylor University. She is married to Jordan Rodgers. After a four year engagement, the couple planned to wed on June 13, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, they postponed their wedding. They were married on May 14, 2022.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Fletcher appeared in the first episode of "Ready for Love", on which her half-brother, Ben Patton, was starring.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Fletcher was a contestant on Ben Higgins' season of "The Bachelor". Higgins confessed love for both her and Lauren Bushnell, but ultimately chose Bushnell in finale.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Fletcher was announced as the Bachelorette on March 14, 2016, during "After the Final Rose". In the end, Fletcher chose former pro-quarterback Jordan Rodgers over runner-up Robby Hayes. The couple currently resides in Dallas.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Fletcher appeared in one episode of "The Bachelor Winter Games" where she judged a kissing contest along with Rachel Lindsay and Arie Luyendyk.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: In April 2018, Fletcher started working with Marcus by Goldman Sachs as a new ambassador for home improvement loans. Fletcher's appearances included interviews as a home-renovation expert.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: In September 2018, it was announced that Fletcher and her fiancé, Jordan Rodgers, would appear in a Kin web series "Engaged with JoJo and Jordan", described as a combination of reality TV and DIY home decor.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Beginning in July 2019, Fletcher and Rodgers hosted the CNBC reality show "Cash Pad". A combination of house flipping and investment shows, the hosts partner with homeowners hoping to turn their properties into ideal short-term rentals.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: In September 2019, Fletcher and Rodgers announced they would be hosting "Battle of the Fittest Couples" for Paramount Network where “ripped couples” compete against each other to win the title "Fittest Couple" and a $100,000 cash prize. The show premiered October 15, 2019.


title: JoJo Fletcher

text: Fletcher and Rodgers hosted "The Big D", a dating reality show for TBS that was set to premiere on July 7, 2022. However, the show was canceled on June 16, three weeks before the premiere. Ten episodes were produced.


title: Motocross

text: Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom.


title: Motocross

text: Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competitions, such as the Auto-Cycle Clubs's first quarterly trial in 1909 and the Scottish Six Days Trial that began in 1912. When organisers dispensed with delicate balancing and strict scoring of trials in favour of a race to become the fastest rider to the finish, the activity became known as "hare scrambles", said to have originated in the phrase, "a rare old scramble" describing one such early race. Though known as scrambles racing (or just scrambles) in the United Kingdom, the sport grew in popularity and the competitions became known internationally as "motocross racing", by combining the French word for motorcycle, "motocyclette", or "moto" for short, into a portmanteau with "cross country".


title: Motocross

text: The first known scramble race took place at Camberley, Surrey in 1924. During the 1930s the sport grew in popularity, especially in Britain where teams from the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA), Norton, Matchless, Rudge, and AJS competed in the events. The first motocross race held on an artificial track inside a stadium took place on August 28, 1948, at Buffalo Stadium in the Paris suburb of Montrouge. The event was the forerunner to supercross competitions. Off-road motorcycles from that era differed little from those used on the street. The intense competition over rugged terrain led to technical improvements in motorcycles. Rigid frames gave way to suspensions by the early 1930s, and swinging fork rear suspension appeared by the early 1950s, several years before manufacturers incorporated it in the majority of production street bikes. The period after World War II was dominated by BSA, which had become the largest motorcycle company in the world. BSA riders dominated international competitions throughout the 1940s.


title: Motocross

text: In 1952 the FIM, motorcycling's international governing body, set up an individual European Championship using a 500 cc engine displacement formula. In 1957 it was upgraded to World Championship status. In 1962 a 250 cc world championship was established. In the smaller 250 cc category companies with two-stroke motorcycles came into their own. Companies such as Husqvarna from Sweden, CZ from the former Czechoslovakia, Bultaco from Spain and Greeves from England became popular due to their lightness and agility. Stars of the day included BSA-works riders Jeff Smith and Arthur Lampkin, with Dave Bickers, Joe Johnson and Norman Brown on Greeves.


title: Motocross

text: By the 1960s, advances in two-stroke engine technology meant that the heavier, four-stroke machines were relegated to niche competitions. Riders from Belgium and Sweden began to dominate the sport during this period.


title: Motocross

text: Motocross arrived in the United States in 1966 when Swedish champion, Torsten Hallman rode an exhibition event against the top American TT riders at the Corriganville Movie Ranch also known as Hopetown in Simi Valley, California. The following year Hallman was joined by other motocross stars including Roger DeCoster, Joël Robert, and Dave Bickers. They dominated the event, placing their lightweight two-strokes into the top six finishing positions. A motorcycle sales boom in the United States fueled by the Baby Boomer generation, helped to spark a growth in the popularity of motocross among young Americans.


title: Motocross

text: Japanese motorcycle manufacturers began challenging the European factories for supremacy in the motocross world by the late 1960s. Suzuki claimed the first world championship for a Japanese factory when Joël Robert won the 1970 250 cc crown. In 1972, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) inaugurated the AMA Motocross Championships and, held its first stadium race at the Los Angeles Coliseum, promoted by Mike Goodwin and Terry Tiernan, then-president of the AMA. The stadium event, won by 16-year-old Marty Tripes, paved the way for constructed, stadium-based motocross events known as supercross.


title: Motocross

text: In 1975, the FIM introduced a 125 cc world championship. European riders continued to dominate international motocross competitions throughout the 1970s with Belgian or Swedish riders winning ten Motocross des Nations (MXDN) events between 1969 and 1980 but, by the 1980s, American riders had caught up with American teams winning a string of 13 consecutive MXDN victories between 1981 and 1993. Brad Lackey became the first individual American motocross world champion in 1982 after an 11 year pursuit of the title.


title: Motocross

text: From the late 1970s to early 1990s, Japanese motorcycle manufacturers presided over a boom period in motocross technology. The typical air-cooled two-strokes with twin-shock rear suspension and telescopic front forks gave way to water-cooled engines and single-shock absorber rear suspension and "upside-down" (or inverted) front forks. Although the advancement of two-stroke engine technology was the primary focus of the major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers well into the mid 1990s, a rekindled interest in engineering a competitive, lightweight four-stroke motocross race bike was expressed among several brands, including Yamaha Motor Corporation and Husqvarna.


title: Motocross

text: Facing tightening federal emissions regulations in the United States, the AMA increased the allowable displacement capacity for four-stroke engines in 1997, in an effort to encourage manufacturers to develop environmentally friendlier four-stroke machines. Due to the low relative power output of a four-stroke engine compared to the then-dominating two-stroke design, the displacement limit of a four-stroke power motocross bike was raised to 250cc in the 125 class and 550cc in the 250 class.


title: Motocross

text: The new regulations resulted in competitors aboard four-strokes made by smaller European manufacturers, with Husqvarna, Husaberg, and KTM winning world championships on four-stroke machinery. In 1997, Yamaha unveiled a prototype 400cc four-stroke motorcycle, the YZM 400, which was debuted in the FIM Motocross World Championship. The motorcycle made its U.S. debut in 1997, where Yamaha Factory Racing rider Doug Henry led every lap of the main event at the 1997 AMA Supercross Finale and became the first person to win an AMA Supercross race on a four-stroke powered motorcycle. Following Yamaha's release of the production model in 1998, Henry won the 250 AMA Motocross Championship and became the first person to win a major AMA Motocross title on a four-stroke powered motorcycle. This success motivated the remaining major manufacturers, Honda, Kawasaki, and Suzuki, to develop their own four-stroke motocross race bikes. By 2006, every manufacturer had begun competing with four-stroke machines in the AMA 125 (FIM MX2) and 250 (MX1) classes.


title: Motocross

text: The sport has further evolved into a sub-discipline similar to supercross known as arenacross, which is held in small indoor arenas. Classes were also formed for all-terrain vehicles. Freestyle motocross (FMX) events where riders are judged on their jumping and aerial acrobatic skills have gained popularity, as has supermoto, where motocross machines race both on tarmac and off-road. Vintage motocross (VMX) events take place – usually for motorcycles predating the 1975 model year.


title: Motocross

text: Many VMX races also include a "Post Vintage" portion, which usually includes bikes dating until 1983.


title: Motocross

text: The FIM Grand Prix Motocross World Championship is predominantly held in Europe, but also includes events in North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. It is the major Motocross series worldwide. There are three classes: MXGP for 450cc machines, MX2 for 250cc machines, and Women's MX. Competitions consist of two races which are called "motos" with a duration of 30 minutes plus two laps.


title: Motocross

text: The AMA Motocross Championship begins in mid May and continues until late August. The championship consists of twelve rounds at twelve major tracks all over the continental United States. There are three classes: the 250cc Motocross Class for 150–250 cc 4-stroke machines, the 450cc Motocross Class for 251–450 cc 4-stroke machines and a 250cc Women's Class, using the same rules as men's 250cc. Race events take place over two motos of 30 minutes plus two laps each.


title: Motocross

text: The annual Motocross des Nations is held at the end of the year when National and World Championship series have ended. The competition involves teams of three riders representing their nations. Each rider competes in a different class (MX1, MX2, and "Open"). There are three motos with two classes competing per moto. The location of the event changes from year to year. The United States, Belgium and Great Britain have had the greatest success.


title: Motocross

text: Th British Motocross Championship is the main UK off-road competition and organised into classes of MX1 and MX2. MX1 is for 250  cc to 450 cc (fourstroke) and MX2 for 175 cc to 250 cc fourstroke motorcycles. In 2007 an additional youth class, the MXY2 class, was added to the programme at selected rounds.


title: Motocross

text: A "Veterans" series was introduced in 2009 with just two rounds but the demand for places was so high that from 2011 the Veterans series will have three rounds, held over six races.


title: Motocross

text: Supercross is a cycle racing sport involving specialized high-performance off-road motorcycles on constructed dirt tracks with steep jumps and obstacles. Compared to regular motocross, supercross tracks generally have much shorter straights and tighter turns. Professional supercross races, held as the AMA Supercross Championship in the United States, are held almost exclusively in professional baseball and football stadiums.


title: Motocross

text: The supercross season takes place during the winter and spring months, with races in a different city every weekend. There are 17 races in the AMA Supercross Championship schedule, normally beginning in Anaheim, California, and ending in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 250 cc class is split into two series, east and west. The 450 cc class has one large series with events across the US and Canada.


title: Motocross

text: In 2022, the World Supercross Championship was demerged from the AMA Supercross Championship, to be held as a standalone series once more. The series previously ran from 2003 to 2008. Supercross events are also held in Australia, known as the Australian Supercross Championship promoted by Motorcycling Australia. Along with the SX Open held in Auckland, New Zealand, the country's biggest event the Aus X-Open forms part of the Oceania Supercross Championship.


title: Motocross

text: Freestyle Motocross (FMX), a relatively new variation of supercross started by the South African champion, Marco Urzi, does not involve racing and instead it concentrates on performing acrobatic stunts while jumping motocross bikes. The winner is chosen by a group of judges. The riders are scored on style, level of trick difficulty, best use of the course, and frequently, crowd reactions. FMX was introduced to the X Games and mainstream audiences in 1999.


title: Motocross

text: Supermoto uses motocross bikes converted for racing on tracks consisting of three sections: flat dirt, dirt obstacles, and paved road. The bikes have special road-racing tires with grooved tread to grip both the pavement and dirt. Some tracks for these race events have jumps, berms, and whoops like motocross tracks. For special events, the Supermoto track may incorporate metal ramps for jumps that can be disassembled and taken to other locations. Supermoto races may take place at modified go-kart tracks, road racing tracks, or even street racing tracks. There are also classes for children, such as the 85 cc class.


title: Motocross

text: Supermoto began in the US the late 1970s when TV journalist Gavin Trippe envisioned a racing event that would prove who the best motorcycle racer was. From 1980 to 1985, he organized a yearly event called "The Superbikers", which pitted the top riders from three disciplines, flat track, road racing, and motocross against one another on modified bikes raced on special tracks on the television show. Its first exposure to a wide audience came on the American television program ABC's "Wide World of Sports" in 1979. After 1985, the sport declined and received little exposure in the US, but in Europe, it started gaining popularity, and in 2003 it was revived in the US, when the name became Supermoto.


title: Motocross

text: Throughout the United States and the United Kingdom there are many quad racing clubs with enduro and quadcross sections. GNCC Racing began around 1980 and includes hare scramble and enduro type races. To date, events are mainly held in the eastern part of the United States. GNCC racing features many types of obstacles such as, hill climbing, creek and log crossings, dirt roads and wooded trails.


title: Motocross

text: The ATV National Motocross Championship was formed around 1985. ATVMX events are hosted at motocross racetracks throughout the United States. ATVMX consists of several groups, including the Pro (AMA Pro) and Amateur (ATVA) series. Championship mud racing (CMR) saw its infancy in 2006 as leaders of the ATV industry recognized a need for uniformity of classes and rules of various local mud bog events. Providing standardized rules created the need for a governing body that both racers and event promoters could turn to and CMR was born. Once unified, a true points series was established and lead to a national championship for what was once nothing more than a hobby for most. In 2007 the finalized board of directors was established and the first races were held in 2008. Currently, the CMR schedule includes eight competition dates spanning from March to November. Points are awarded throughout the season in several different competition classes of ATV and SxS Mud Racing. The 2008 year included Mud Bog and Mudda-Cross competitions, but the 2009 and future seasons will only have Mudda-Cross competitions. Classes range from 0 to 499 cc, to a Super-Modified class which will allow any size ATV in competition.


title: Motocross

text: Sidecar racing, known as Sidecarcross has been around since the 1950s but has declined in popularity since the mid‑1980s. This variant is common in Europe, with a few followers in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. The premier competition, the Sidecarcross World Championship, is contested on European tracks only and almost exclusively by Europeans.


title: Motocross

text: Motocross sidecars are purpose built frames that resemble an ordinary motocross-cycle with a flat platform to stand on attached to either side and a handlebar at waist height to hold on to. The side of the "chair" (slang for the platform) usually follows the side of the road the nation in question drives upon, but not always. The passenger balances the bike by being a counterweight, especially in corners and on jumps. It is driven on ordinary crosstracks.


title: Motocross

text: It is very physically demanding, especially for the passenger. This is reflected in most in the Swedish term for passenger, "burkslav", roughly translated as trunk/barrel-slave. This name comes from the early sidecars which resembled road motorcycle sidecars and not today's platform.


title: Motocross

text: The major frame builders today are VMC, BSU, AYR, EML and Woodenleg. Ordinary engines can be used, but size matters and two engines purpose built for sidecars exist, Zabel (Germany) and MTH (Austria) are most common. Four-strokes are becoming more common, usually KTM (Austria).


title: Motocross

text: Pit bikes are small motorbikes that participants in powersports events use to ride around the pits, which are the staging areas where team support vehicles are located. More recently, they have been used in races held on either supercross or motocross tracks. Numerous performance and aesthetic upgrades are often applied to pit bikes.


title: Motocross

text: Originally, there was only one way to acquire a pit bike. A rider would buy a child's minibike, usually a Honda CRF110 or Kawasaki KLX110, and apply all the necessary upgrades and modifications to build a competitive pit bike. Of course, a rider could also buy a used bike. Since 2004, manufacturers like Thumpstar have begun designing, manufacturing, importing, and selling already complete pit bikes. These bikes are less expensive, and require less time to complete.


title: Motocross

text: Pit bikes are powered by 4-stroke, horizontal, single-cylinder engines ranging anywhere in displacement from 49 cc to 195 cc. A typical pit bike is usually a small dirt bike, but it has become common to be able to buy pit bikes with street-style wheels and tires. Pit bikes with street tires, as opposed to knobby tires, are used in Mini Supermoto Racing.


title: Motocross

text: Pit bikes are frequently heavily customized with decorative add-ons and performance-enhancing parts. Many riders and mechanics bore-out or replace engines in order to increase displacement and therefore power output. Heavy duty suspension systems are often a necessary addition, since the stock mini-bike suspension was designed for a small child. Wheel, brake, and tire upgrades are sometimes performed to improve handling.


title: Motocross

text: Pit bikes also have their own separate competitions held with classes generally corresponding to wheel size. This is a notable difference from Motocross and Supercross competition, where classes are separated by engine displacement. Pit bike racing is a relatively new niche of motocross, and as such, there is no official governing body similar to the AMA.


title: Motocross

text: Motocross is governed worldwide by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), with federations in many nations.


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: Sengupta was a finalist of the 1999 Gladrags Manhunt Contest in which John Abraham was the winner. He modelled for designer Rohit Bal and worked for choreographers Marc Robinson and Achala Sachdev. He also appeared in commercials for the Tata Indigo Marina car, VIP Frenchie and Aquafina.


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: Later, he transitioned into music videos, including those for Falguni Pathak's "Pal pal tere yaad sataye" and Jagjit Singh; one for the south Indian singer Yesudas's Hindi album; and a remix of the old film song ""Koi diya jale kahin (rum pum bum)"", sung by Asha Bhosle from the movie "Bees Saal Baad". He also appeared in a television show on STAR Plus, "Pyaar ke do naam...Ek Radha Ek Shyaam".


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: In 2004, he starred in the film "" which also starred Aftab Shivdasani, Shriya Saran and Anupam Kher. He was to act in the movie "Dus" but the project got shelved.


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: In 2008, he played the negative role of Mohan Kanta, a British Indian army man who betrays his revolting pro-independence military regiment in the horror film "1920", written and directed by Vikram Bhatt. He also starred as Tushaar in the Zee TV serial "Banoo Main Teri Dulhan."


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: He starred in Bollywood movies "Mumbai Salsa" and "Kahaani". He has also done a few Bengali films. In 2008, he starred in "Janala", also starring Swastika Mukherjee and directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta.


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: At the beginning of 2009, he starred opposite Indrani Haldar in "Angshumaner Chhobi", which was directed by first-time filmmaker, Atanu Ghosh. The film was the only Bengali entry in the competitive section of the Indian Panorama in Goa. In late 2009, he starred as a bisexual lover in Kaushik Ganguly's "Arekti Premer Golpo". His love interest in this film is director Rituparno Ghosh, and this was Rituparno's first movie as an actor.


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: In 2010, he did his first commercial Bengali film, "Jodi Ekdin", directed by Riingo. Indraneil received the Anandalok Fresh Face of the Year (male) award in 2009 for "Anshumaner Chobi".


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: Indraneil starred as a young aspiring director in the Bengali movie "Autograph" with Prasenjit Chatterjee and Nandana Sen. The movie is a tribute to both Satyajit Ray and to Uttam Kumar as it is on the lines of the film "Nayak".


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: In 2012 he acted in the Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury-directed Bengali movie "Aparajita Tumi", in which he played a young Bangladeshi professor. He played the role of a criminal in the Hindi film "Kahaani", directed by Sujoy Ghosh in the same year. In 2012 he also played a role in a Bangladeshi movie, "Chorabali".


title: Indraneil Sengupta

text: On 1 March 2008, Sengupta married Barkha Bisht Sengupta who was his co-star in "Doli Saja Ke" and "Pyaar ke do naam...Ek Radha Ek Shyaam". They have a daughter named Meira, who was born in October 2011.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Atmosphere is an American hip hop duo from Minneapolis, Minnesota, consisting of rapper Slug (Sean Daley) and DJ/producer Ant (Anthony Davis). Since its formation in 1996, the group has released twelve studio albums and ten extended plays.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: The duo is composed of rapper Slug (Sean Daley) and DJ/producer Ant (Anthony Davis). With the exception of a few tracks on the album "Lucy Ford", Ant has produced every Atmosphere record. A former member and co-founder Spawn (Derek Turner) left the group after the release of the group's first album "Overcast!". Mr. Dibbs, a DJ associated with the group, toured with Atmosphere before their "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having" tour, at which point Ant began touring.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Sean Daley and Derek Turner met while attending Washburn High School. The pair took the names Slug and D-Spawn, respectively, as rapper names. They initially performed under the name "Mental Subjects", before changing the name to "A Rhythmic Culture", and finally settling on "Urban Atmosphere". Originally, Spawn performed as the rapper, with Slug acting as DJ. Eventually Spawn convinced Slug to start rapping as well. Through the rapper Musab (then known as Beyond), Slug was introduced to the producer Ant after they went to his house to record a track. Slug saw an opportunity to work with Ant and convinced Spawn to record further with him. They soon started recording songs with Ant, learning how to structure songs properly and practicing vocal delivery. Eventually the group dropped the "Urban" from their name.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Atmosphere, as a group, joined with other rappers Musab, Phull Surkle, Black Hole, and The Abstract Pack to form a collective known as Headshots. This group later evolved into the record label Rhymesayers. Over time, a series of cassettes was released under the Headshots name which earned some local acclaim. By 1996, Slug, Stress and Musab were making national appearances such as on NPR's "All Things Considered". The start of Rhymesayers as a record label came when Siddiq, fed up with their treatment at a number of local studios, decided to buy his own.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Spawn left the group 3 years after their first album, "Overcast!", was released. "Overcast!" introduced Atmosphere to a wider audience, largely thanks to the airplay that the single "Scapegoat" received on college radio stations. Meanwhile, Slug improved his live performance skills at Minneapolis clubs such as The Front (Freeloaded), First Avenue and 7th Street Entry. In 1998, two albums recorded by underground rap supergroups involved Atmosphere. "The Dynospectrum" involved Atmosphere as well as Beyond (Musab), Swift (of Phull Surkle) and I Self Divine. "Deep Puddle Dynamics" released by the Oakland, California, based underground rap label Anticon, included Slug, Sole, Alias and Doseone rapping over beats by Jel.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: In 1998, Slug and Ant began to record the group's 2nd full-length album, "Headshots Se7en." At the time it was only released on cassette, and didn't see a full CD re-issue until 2005. However, it is still one of the group's most critically acclaimed albums.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Now touring nationally on a more regular basis (the twenty-one date Ford One Tour brought them to the East Coast for the first time), Slug was able to leave his job at a record store, as well as a second job working overnight shifts at a department store. In 1999, the Rhymesayers-owned record store, The Fifth Element, was opened in Minneapolis. In 2001, the two EPs, "Ford" and "Lucy", were combined and released as an LP titled "Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs". Originally intended as a tour-only release, it sold so well that it was later released as an official LP, making it the only Atmosphere album with producers other than Ant. In 2001, Atmosphere made three separate tours across North America and Europe. With "Lucy Ford", Atmosphere also finally achieved national distribution through the independent distributor Fat Beats.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Atmosphere planned to release their second studio album "God Loves Ugly" on June 11, 2002, but experienced delays in editing. The record had more straightforward, almost battle-centric, lyrics from Slug. It was distributed nationally, again through Fat Beats, and sold over 130,000 copies. The album generated two singles: "Modern Man's Hustle" and "GodLovesUgly". Atmosphere toured extensively in support of this record, going as far as Europe and Japan, playing sixty shows in seventy-one days. After the tour, Daley spent his holidays in the Australian outback. The success of the album and subsequent tours came to the attention of the major labels Interscope, Sony and Warner Brothers. Despite these overtures, Atmosphere decided to stay independent.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Atmosphere's third full-length studio album, "Seven's Travels", was released on September 23, 2003, through Rhymesayers and the punk label Epitaph. It contained two singles, "Trying To Find A Balance" and "National Disgrace", both of which had music videos that received airplay on MTV2 and other stations, attracting more attention and success for Atmosphere than previous releases. The album included a guest appearance from label mate Brother Ali and was entirely produced by Ant. Several songs on "Seven's Travels" contain lyrics pertaining to relationship problems, alcohol and depression. The single, "Trying To Find A Balance", was used on the video game "Tony Hawk's Underground 2".


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: The album cover for "Seven's Travels" was interpreted by some as an homage to The Beatles' "White Album". However, that was not the case; the original planned cover depicted a nude woman lying in snow.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Released in 2005, Atmosphere's fourth album "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having" was a departure from the sound of the previous two albums. Though production was once again entirely by Ant, the sound and lyrical content of the album had a more "raw" style than "Godlovesugly" and "Seven's Travels". Reviews were generally positive, with Stylust saying "The result may be, in a manner of speaking, the most consistent Atmosphere album to date." The opening track "The Arrival" appeared on EA Sports' "Fight Night Round 3".


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: While completing the LP "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold", Atmosphere released four EPs as continuations of the "Sad Clown Bad Dub" series. These were "Sad Clown Bad Summer 9", "Sad Clown Bad Fall 10", "Sad Clown Bad Winter 11" and "Sad Clown Bad Spring 12". The EPs were popular in the Minneapolis area due to many references to local places, such as songs named after streets in the area ("66th street", "Lyndale Avenue"). The song "Sunshine", from the "Bad Summer" EP, was released as a single. Despite not having a music video or any promotion, the song became popular among the band's core fan base, eventually becoming a staple in live shows. Later, in 2015, the group released a music video through Rhymesayers Entertainment.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: This album garnered much acclaim from local as well as international fans. Likely Atmosphere's most commonly known album of the 21st century, it has gained wide attention from a vast audience, featuring Slug's story-telling-rap style songs such as "Yesterday", a song symbolizing Slug's relationship with his father, and "The Waitress", which is interpreted differently throughout his fan-base.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: During the recording process of "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold", Slug was invited by Rick Rubin to Rubin's house to work through early demos of the album's tracks. No advance copies of the album were ever released online in attempts to build anticipation for the album's release.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Between the release of "When Life Gives You Lemons" and "To All My Friends", Atmosphere released another free EP in 2009 called "Leak at Will", with seven original tracks. Similar to "Strictly Leakage", the EP was intended to tide over fans until the release of their next album.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: A combination of EPs, the album "To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy: The Atmosphere EP's" was released in September 2010. The album reached #2 on iTunes top 10 album downloads during the week of September 11, 2010. The album was very favourably reviewed, with some reviews comparing it to the "Lucy Ford" LP. The seventh track of the album, "The Loser Wins," is on the soundtrack for EA Sports' "Fight Night Champion."


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: After 2010's double EP, Atmosphere returned with their first full-length album in three years. "The Family Sign" was released in 2011, and is Atmosphere's sixth studio album. Continuing the trend of preceding albums, "The Family Sign" has more instrumentation and is the first album to have actual band musicians. Keyboard player Erick Anderson and guitarist Nate Collis, part of the touring band for Atmosphere (who perform live renditions of songs that are normally sampler/drum machine produced), were brought in to help record the album, leading to a much different sound than previous albums. One of the songs, "Just For Show", was put on the sound track of "MLB 2K12".


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: On July 2, 2013, Atmosphere released a new single titled "Bob Seger". Earlier on in the year, Slug mentioned he was working on a new album. On March 10, 2014, Atmosphere released a video for a new single titled "Bitter". They also announced that their new album will be called "Southsiders", which was released on May 6, 2014.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: The album track "Kanye West" was released on April 8, 2014, to the group's YouTube channel followed by the official video on April 14.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: During span of 2015–2016, Atmosphere released seven new songs including "Finer Things" (feat. deM atlaS), "This Lonely Rose" (feat. Blueprint and Aesop Rock), "My Best Half", "Salma Hayek", "Trying to Fly" (feat. Eric Mayson), "Fireflies" (feat. Grieves) and "Windows "(feat. Prof). These eventually were put together and called "Frida Kahlo vs Ezra Pound". On June 22, 2016, the band announced the track list and release date for their upcoming album, "Fishing Blues". The first single, titled "Ringo," was posted on YouTube the same day. On July 29, 2016, they released a new single titled "No Biggie". The album included guest appearances by rappers Kool Keith, MF Doom, The Grouch, Aesop Rock, and deM atlaS, as well as artists Kim Manning and I.B.E. The album was released on August 12, 2016.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: In 2018, a promotional song named "Make It All Better Again" was released. Shortly after, a new album, "Mi Vida Local", was announced to be released in October 2018.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: On October 5, 2018, Atmosphere released their seventh album, "Mi Vida Local". The album features 12 tracks, including the pre-released single "Virgo" in September.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: On November 8, 2019, Atmosphere released a new single "Bde Maka Ska", along with tour dates for 2020.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: On December 12, 2019, Atmosphere released their eighth album, "Whenever". The album features 12 tracks, including the pre-released single "Bde Maka Ska".


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: On September 23, 2020, Atmosphere released a new single "Blotter Acid Reflux Syndrome" and announced a new album titled "The Day Before Halloween" to be released on the date referenced in-title. "The Day Before Halloween" includes 10 tracks and was released October 30, 2020.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Slug credits most of the group's success to the large amount of touring they do. In the early days, they once drove from Minneapolis to Dallas to play a show for $250.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: While touring around the years of the new millennium, Slug, Eyedea, and DJ Abilities would perform shows together as Atmosphere. Eyedea would support MC, perform his own songs, and freestyle with Slug and DJ Abilities would DJ. Soon after the release of God Loves Ugly, Mr. Dibbs would tour with Atmosphere instead of Eyedea & Abilities.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: During the "@ It Again" tour, Atmosphere was accompanied by a live band, with Nate Collis on guitar (2004-2012), Brett Johnson on bass guitar (2004-2008), Erick Anderson on keyboards (2004-2012) and Patrick Armitage on drums (2004-2005). Armitage was replaced in late 2005 by Brian McLeod (2005–2008) for the "Pour Me Another" tour. The live set-up brought a jazzy, more improvisational feel to Atmosphere's sound. Slug has said he wanted to play with a live band to add more of a challenge to performing live. Atmosphere has been playing with a live band since at least 2001.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: Since the Paint Your City Gold series of "release parties" in support of "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold", the live band has been re-rostered with Ant providing percussion as DJ, Nate Collis on guitar and back up vocals, Erick Anderson on keyboards and synthesizers and Mankwe Ndosi as the "human samples".


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: In spring 2009, Atmosphere embarked on the "When God Gives You Ugly" tour to celebrate the re-release of the 2002 album "God Loves Ugly" (which had been out of print) as well as their studio LP "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold". Slug and Ant were accompanied by Attracted To Gods, P.O.S, Brother Ali, Eyedea and Abilities during the tour.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: In late 2016, Atmosphere toured for their album "Fishing Blues". They started their forty show tour in Chicago in July and wrapped it up in Cleveland in November. Atmosphere had special guest as some of their shows, music groups like Lifter Puller, Brother Ali, deM atlaS, and Dilated Peoples.


title: Atmosphere (music group)

text: A prominent theme in Slug's lyrics is his allegorical usage of women, especially in his earlier work. A notable use of women by Slug is in the song "Woman with the Tattooed Hands", which he has said is "a metaphor for that same old shit that everybody has already made songs about. Just trying to find your place within a belief and faith as well as people that you want to have sex with." Further examples come in the song "Abusing of the Rib" from ";" it has been said that the "lover" Slug speaks of is actually an allegory for hip-hop itself. In the tour-only release "Sad Clown Bad Dub II", Slug used both symbolism and metaphor with references to nature and relationships throughout each song, culminating in the album's penultimate track "The River."