title: HMAS Melbourne (R21)

text: The carrier was initially sold for breaking up as scrap metal for A$1.7 million, although the sale fell through in June 1984. She was sold again in February 1985 to the China United Shipbuilding Company for A$1.4 million, with the intention that she be towed to China and broken up for scrap. Prior to the ship's departure for China, the RAN stripped "Melbourne" of all electronic equipment and weapons, and welded her rudders into a fixed position so that she could not be reactivated. Her steam catapult, arresting equipment and mirror landing system were not removed. At this time, few western experts expected that the Chinese government would attempt to develop aircraft carriers in the future. The carrier departed Sydney on 27 April 1985, heading for Guangzhou, under the tow of tug "De Ping". The journey was delayed when the towing line began to part, requiring the carrier and tug to shelter in Queensland's Moreton Bay, on 30 April. The towing gear broke a day later, requiring a second tug to secure the carrier while repairs were made to "De Ping". Three days later, "Melbourne" ran aground while still in Moreton Bay. "Melbourne" arrived in China on 13 June. The Australian government received a Telex on this day, reading:


title: HMAS Melbourne (R21)

text: The ship was not scrapped immediately; instead she was studied by Chinese naval architects and engineers as part of the nation's top-secret carrier development program. It is unclear whether the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) orchestrated the acquisition of "Melbourne" or simply took advantage of the situation; Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong, a staff member at the National Defence College, has stated that the Navy was unaware of the purchase until "Melbourne" first arrived at Guangzhou. "Melbourne" was the largest warship any of the Chinese experts had seen, and they were surprised by the amount of equipment which was still in place. The PLAN subsequently arranged for the ship's flight deck and all the equipment associated with flying operations to be removed so that they could be studied in depth. Reports have circulated that either a replica of the flight deck, or the deck itself, was used for clandestine training of PLANAF pilots in carrier flight operations. It has also been claimed that the Royal Australian Navy received and "politely rejected" a request from the PLAN for blueprints of the ship's steam catapult. The carrier was not dismantled for many years; according to some rumours she was not completely broken up until 2002. A 2012 article in "Jane's Navy International" stated that the large quantity of equipment recovered from "Melbourne" "undoubtedly helped" Admiral Liu Huaqing secure the Chinese government's support for his proposal to initiate an aircraft carrier development programme.


title: HMAS Melbourne (R21)

text: "Melbourne"s service is commemorated with a stained-glass window at the Garden Island Naval Chapel. One of the ship's anchors is incorporated into a memorial to naval aviation at Nowra, New South Wales. Another anchor and the starboard side ship's bell are on display at the RAN Heritage Centre at Garden Island. Memorabilia from "Melbourne"'s voyages with the Fleet Air Arm embarked, and examples of all the types of aircraft deployed on "Melbourne", are on permanent static display in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at HMAS "Albatross".


title: HMAS Melbourne (R21)

text: Following an overhaul of the RAN battle honours system completed in 2010, "Melbourne" was retroactively awarded the honour "Malaysia 1965–66" for her service during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Jennifer Natalya Pritzker (born James Nicholas Pritzker; August 13, 1950) is an American investor, philanthropist, and member of the Pritzker family. Pritzker retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Illinois Army National Guard (ILARNG) in 2001, and was later made an honorary Illinois colonel. Founder of the Tawani Foundation in 1995, Tawani Enterprises in 1996, and the Pritzker Military Library in 2003, Pritzker has been devoted to civic applications of inherited and accrued wealth, including significant donations to broaden understanding and support for "citizen soldiers."


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: In August 2013, Pritzker released a statement to employees at Tawani Enterprises and the Pritzker Military Library that subsequently received wide media coverage, indicating the change from "J. N." to "Jennifer Natalya" to reflect her status as a transgender woman, making her the first and only openly transgender billionaire.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Born James Nicholas Pritzker to Robert Pritzker and Audrey (née Gilbert) Pritzker in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up as a member of the Jewish Pritzker family as the granddaughter of family patriarch A.N. Pritzker. She has two siblings, Linda Pritzker (b. 1953) and Karen Pritzker Vlock (b. 1958). Her parents divorced in 1979, and she has two half-siblings, Matthew Pritzker and Liesel Pritzker Simmons, from the remarriage of her father, Robert, to Irene Dryburgh in 1980. (Her mother also remarried, to Albert B. Ratner in 1981).


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Pritzker says her most memorable experiences in life were in Israel in October 1973 when she witnessed events of the Yom Kippur War. Pritzker enlisted in the U.S. Army on February 8, 1974, and served with the HQ Troop, and with the B Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, rising to the rank of Sergeant. Pritzker's roles while enlisted included aviation repair parts clerk, rifleman, and fire team leader.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: After completing military service in February 1977, Pritzker enrolled at Loyola University of Chicago, majoring in history, and entered its Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. Pritzker graduated with a BA in History in May 1979, and received commission as an Army officer that same month.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Pritzker first served with the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with duty assignments that included leading rifle and TOW platoons, and time in the Commandant Division, and the Anti-Armor School. Pritzker served as a staff officer with the VII Corps at Kelley Barracks, in Germany, from 1984–1985. Her active duty ended in 1985. After 16 years in the Army Reserves and Illinois Army National Guard, Pritzker retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, in 2001. After retiring, Pritzker was made an honorary Illinois colonel.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: While serving, Pritzker was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Achievement Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Good Conduct Medal, the Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the National Defense Service Medal with Star, the Antarctic Service Medal, the Outstanding Military Volunteer Service Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with 20 year Device, the NCO Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, the Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, the State of Louisiana Legion of Merit, the State of Illinois Long and Honorable Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the State of Illinois Military Attendance Ribbon with Numeral 7, the U.S. Army Parachute Badge and the Air Assault Badge.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Pritzker earned airborne badges from Israel, Russia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Great Britain, as well as from Poland; according to Steven Mrozek, "Most memorable of these was a parachute jump at the North Pole with the Russians in 1993."


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Pritzker has founded or served with a number of business and philanthropic organizations. In 1996, she incorporated Tawani Enterprises, where she served as president and CEO, a business entity with current stated purpose as a "private wealth management company established to manage the personal wealth, philanthropic endeavors, and military interests ... " Interests of the company include significant Chicago real estate holdings. In 1995, Pritzker created the Tawani Foundation, and in 2003, she founded the Pritzker Military Library, both dedicated to the understanding and support of the "citizen soldier." In addition, Pritzker serves as Chairwoman of the Board of the Connecticut-based private equity firm Squadron Capital LLC, in which she has been identified a principal investor. Finally, Pritzker has served as Special Projects Director for the "National Strategy Forum", as Chairman of the Board and co-owner of "National Security Ltd." (1988–1995), and is active in number of further philanthropic enterprises.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: In 2016, Jennifer Pritzker was presented the Bonham Centre Award from The Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto, for her contributions to the advancement and education of issues around sexual identification.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Jennifer Pritzker's father Robert, and Robert's brothers Jay and Donald, built and diversified a Chicago-based family business, the Marmon Group, into a holding company of more than 60 diverse industrial corporations; they also created the Hyatt Hotel chain in 1957, and owned Braniff Airlines from 1983–1988. The family later began divesting of many of these assets. In 2006, the family sold Conwood, a smokeless tobacco company, for $3.5 billion to cigarette company Reynolds American Inc. In 2007, the family sold a 60% stake, and sold control of the Marmon Group to Berkshire Hathaway for $4.5 billion, a sale that it completed in 2013. In 2010, the family sold its majority stake in Transunion, the Chicago-based credit reporting company, to Chicago-based private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners for an undisclosed amount. As a member of the Robert's line of the Pritzker family, Jennifer Prizker has inherited and accumulated wealth that is estimated at US$1.7 billion.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Pritzker created the Tawani Foundation in 1995, which aims "to enhance the awareness and understanding of the importance of the Citizen Soldier; to preserve unique sites of significance to American and military history; to foster health and wellness projects for improved quality of life; and to honor the service of military personnel, past, present and future." In 2003, the Tawani Foundation made a $1.35 million donation to the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to study the feasibility of transgender people serving in the military and in the ranks of police and fire departments. In 2013, the Foundation donated $25 million to Norwich University, in Northfield, Vermont, the school credited with developing and establishing the first Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program in the country. So closely tied is this founder to the Foundation, that news reports of the Foundation's gifts refer to Jennifer Pritzker and the Foundation, interchangeably, as being the donor (e.g., in the Norwich gift). In 2016, through her Foundation, Pritzker gave a $2 million donation to create the world's first endowed academic chair of transgender studies, at the University of Victoria in British Columbia; Aaron Devor was chosen as the inaugural chair.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Pritzker was a Republican, and major donor to candidates and organizations such as the NRA, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. However, as of 2019, she is reevaluating her support, citing the Trump Administration's transgender military ban and other anti-LGBTQ policies: "When the GOP asks me to deliver six- or seven-figure contributions for the 2020 elections, my first response will be: why should I contribute to my own destruction?”.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: In October 2020, Pritzker donated $100,000 to the Lincoln Project, led by Republican Strategists, some of whom endorse Joe Biden to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: During the 3rd quarter of 2020, Pritzker was recognized as a member of the Chairman's Circle, signifying a $25,000 contribution to the Libertarian Party.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: Pritzker has a daughter, Tal Hava Pritzker, from a first marriage to Ayelet Pritzker, and two sons, Andrew (b. 1991) and William, from her marriage to Lisa I. Goren. , she was divorced.


title: Jennifer Pritzker

text: On August 16, 2013, a statement was released to employees at Tawani Enterprises and the Pritzker Military Library indicating Pritzker to be the world's first transgender billionaire; the announcement read:


title: African empires

text: African empires is an umbrella term used in African studies to refer to a number of pre-colonial African kingdoms in Africa with multinational structures incorporating various populations and polities into a single entity, usually through conquest.


title: African empires

text: The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of medieval empires centred on the Sahel, the area of grasslands south of the Sahara.


title: African empires

text: From the 15th century until the final Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century a number of empires were also established south of the Sahel, especially in West Africa.


title: African empires

text: The West African empires of this period peaked in power in the late 18th century, paralleling the peak of the Atlantic slave trade. These empires implemented a culture of permanent warfare in order to generate the required numbers of captives required to satisfy the demand for slaves by the European colonies. With the gradual abolition of slavery in the European colonial empires during the 19th century, slave trade again became less lucrative and the West African empires entered a period of decline, and mostly collapsed by the end of the 19th century.


title: African empires

text: The Mutapa Empire or Empire of Great Zimbabwe (1450–1629) was a medieval kingdom located between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers of Southern Africa in the modern states of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Remnants of the historical capital are found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe.


title: African empires

text: Vansina (1962) discusses the classification of Sub-Saharan African kingdoms, mostly of Central, South and East Africa, with some additional data on West African (Sahelian) kingdoms distinguishing five types, by decreasing centralization of power:


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu Ayegbeni (born 22 November 1982), known as Yakubu, is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a striker. His nickname is "The Yak".


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: His performances in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League for Maccabi Haifa earned a loan move to English club Portsmouth which became permanent as they were promoted to the Premier League in 2003. He has since appeared in over 250 Premier League matches for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, and Blackburn Rovers, and is the fourth highest African goalscorer in Premier League history with 96 goals. He is the third highest scorer in the history of the Nigeria national football team, and represented them at four African Cup of Nations finals, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 Summer Olympic.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu was born in Benin City, Edo State. He started his career with Julius Berger in Lagos as a teenager in the Nigerian Premier League. He was later loaned to Portuguese club Gil Vicente.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Israeli side Maccabi Haifa paid Julius Berger $300,000 for his signature. Yakubu's highest scoring season at Haifa was 2001–02, when he scored 13 times in 22 games (League season was 33 matches). He came to England and trained with Derby County but could not obtain a work permit at the time. He scored seven goals in eight European Cup appearances in the 2002–03 season UEFA Champions League, (including a hat-trick against Olympiakos and a penalty in the 3–0 win over Manchester United).


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu moved to English club Portsmouth of the First Division (now the Championship) on loan on 6 January 2003. Signed by Harry Redknapp, Yakubu helped Portsmouth win the 2002–03 First Division title, scoring at a rate of one goal in every two games (7 in 14 matches). He made his debut as a 57th-minute substitute for Vincent Péricard in a 1–1 away match versus Brighton & Hove Albion on 18 January. On 1 February he started for the first time and scored after 4 minutes at home to Grimsby Town. The match ended 3–0 with Yakubu substituted for Péricard after 89 minutes. Seven days later, Yakubu scored a goal in each half of a 6–2 victory over Derby County for his first brace in English football. He gained his second brace of the season with two first-half goals in a 5–0 away victory at Millwall on 1 March.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu made his loan spell at Portsmouth permanent in May 2003 for a fee of £4 million. He played 37 of Portsmouth's 38 Premier League matches in 2003–04, starting all but two. Yakubu's 16 goals made him the club's leading goal-scorer, and joint-sixth highest scorer in the entire league.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu scored his first Premier League goal in his second match, opening a 1–1 draw versus Manchester City on 23 August 2003. After eight consecutive league matches without a goal, he scored a brace in a League Cup match away to Nottingham Forest on 29 October, one of which was in extra time of the 4–2 win. Yakubu scored the final goal of a 6–1 home win over Leeds United on 8 November. On 3 January 2004, he scored an 89th-minute winner in the FA Cup third round match at home to Blackpool. Three days later he scored an equaliser in the Premier League as Portsmouth lost 2–1 away to Aston Villa. On 10 January he scored his first Premier League brace with two goals in the second half of a 4–2 home win over Manchester City. He played at the 2004 African Cup of Nations.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu ended the season with 11 goals in his last 10 Premier League matches, starting with one each in four straight games, the first being the only goal in the South Coast derby versus Southampton on 21 March. This was followed by a late winner against Blackburn Rovers in a 2–1 away victory, and an equaliser away to Charlton Athletic. On the final day of the season, he scored four goals as Portsmouth defeated Middlesbrough 5–1.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: In the 2004–05 season he scored 13 goals. His final goal for Portsmouth in May 2005 before he left the club – the equaliser in a 1–1 home draw to Bolton Wanderers in the penultimate league game of the season – was the goal that ensured Portsmouth would not be relegated from Premiership in the 2004–05 season.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu's 28 Premier League goals between his two seasons make him Portsmouth's highest ever scorer in the Premier League, with nine more than their second-highest scorer Benjani Mwaruwari.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: After the 2004–05 season, he transferred from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough for a £7.5 million record fee, the highest for a Nigerian ever. Yakubu scored the only goal of the game with a penalty in the first leg of the UEFA Cup last 16 round at home against Roma, giving Middlesbrough a 1–0 victory, who later went through on away goals. His performances were rewarded, as he helped Middlesbrough reach the 2006 UEFA Cup Final against Sevilla, in which they lost 4–0.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: His transfer from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough in July 2005 is one of those about which the Stevens inquiry report in June 2007 expressed concerns because of the lack of co-operation from agents Pinhas Zahavi and Barry Silkman.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu was transferred to Everton in August 2007 for a fee of £11.25 million on a five-year contract, which was at the time the most the club had ever paid for a player. Shunning the traditional centre-forwards' number 9, Yakubu asked to be assigned number 22, setting this number as a goal-scoring target for his first season, a feat he fell one goal short of achieving. He scored 11 minutes into his debut for the club, the first goal in a 2–1 win against Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium in September 2007. His first hat-trick for the club came against Fulham in a 3–0 home league win in December 2007.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu travelled to Ghana in early 2008 to compete in the Cup of Nations. Following Nigeria's exit from the competition, he was late in returning to his club, and as a result was dropped by manager David Moyes once back in England. His double against Newcastle United in a 3–1 win at Goodison Park on the last day of the 2007–08 season helped the "Toffees" clinch fifth place and a place in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup competition. He finished his first season with 15 Premier League goals to his name, and 21 goals in all competitions for Everton. Yakubu achieved his highest goal tally for a single season, and also became the first Everton player since Peter Beardsley to net 20 goals in a season.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu scored his 100th goal in English football in a league game at West Bromwich Albion early in the Premier League 2008–09 season. He scored a goal against Standard Liège in the UEFA Cup and got back on the scoresheet with a goal against Middlesbrough, his first goal in 10 games. He ruptured his achilles tendon in the 1–0 away win at Tottenham Hotspur on 30 November, ruling him out for the rest of the season. Yakubu played his first competitive game after the Achilles tendon injury against Burnley Reserves, and in his first start for the first team in almost a year, he scored within 11 minutes against Hull City in the League Cup. He came on for Jô in first-half injury time and scored an equaliser with his first touch to bring Everton level at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. He later scored the winning goal against Stoke.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu joined Leicester City on loan until the end of the season on 13 January 2011, with the possibility of a permanent transfer. He made his debut and scored in a 1–1 draw against Preston North End on 15 January 2011, followed by another goal in a 4–2 win over Millwall on 22 January.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: On 12 February 2011 he scored a left footed volley in their 2–0 win over local rivals Derby County. On 2 April 2011, he scored his first hat-trick against his former club Middlesbrough. He then scored a double in Leicester's 4–2 win over Watford.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: On 31 August 2011, Yakubu signed a three-year contract with Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee and was assigned the number 24 shirt by manager Steve Kean. He scored his first and second goals for Blackburn Rovers on 17 September on his Premier League debut against Arsenal in which Blackburn won 4–3. He was voted Man of the Match as he helped Blackburn to their first win of the season, with Blackburn fans chanting "Feed the Yak and he will score!" by the time the final whistle blew. He scored his third goal in the league in the 3–3 away draw against Norwich City. Yakubu's fourth and fifth goals of the league season came in an away 3–3 draw at Wigan Athletic on 19 November 2011. He opened the scoring from long range after 65 seconds and equalised with an injury-time penalty. He had earlier been behind an incident when Blackburn were 2–1 down, by dummying a short corner to allow team-mate Morten Gamst Pedersen to dribble the ball from the corner and cross for Junior Hoilett to equalise the game 2–2. At the end of the game, Yakubu admitted that he did not touch the ball and that the goal should not have stood.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: On 3 December 2011, Yakubu scored all four goals for Blackburn in a 4–2 home win over Swansea City. He scored two in each half, finishing with a penalty. It was his first Blackburn hat-trick and his first four-goal game since the last day of the 2003–04 season, for Portsmouth against Middlesbrough. He scored 2 goals, one being a penalty, in his side's shock 2–3 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 31 December 2011 which left him on 13 goals for the season in all competitions. On 15 January 2012, in a match against Fulham, Yakubu was sent off for the first time in the Premier League for a straight red. On his return from suspension, he scored against QPR. On 10 April 2012, Yakubu scored twice, while missing one penalty and scoring a second, in Blackburn's 2–3 loss at home to Liverpool. In his first season at Blackburn, he scored 18 goals, but the club were relegated to the Championship by the end of the season after a 1–0 home loss to in-form Wigan Athletic. After relegation was confirmed, Yakubu stated that he did not want to play Championship football and wanted to leave Blackburn.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu confirmed on 28 June 2012 that he had left Blackburn and had signed for Chinese side Guangzhou R&F, on an initial three-year contract. On 15 July, Yakubu made his Chinese Super League debut in a Guangzhou Derby match which Guangzhou R&F played against Guangzhou Evergrande at Tianhe Stadium. He scored the winning goal of the match in the 87th minute, ending Guangzhou Evergrande's 34-league-home-match unbeaten run.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: On 2 February 2015, Reading signed free agent Yakubu on a contract until the end of the 2014–15 season. On 14 February, Yakubu scored his first goal for the "Royals" with the winner in a 2–1 defeat of Derby County at Pride Park to put the club into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Yakubu was released by Reading on 21 May 2015.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: On 31 August 2015, Yakubu signed a one-year contract, with the option of an additional year, with Süper Lig side Kayserispor.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: On 13 February 2017, Yakubu signed for Coventry City until the end of the 2016–17 season. On 5 April 2017, having featured only three times due to suffering a hamstring injury, Yakubu's Coventry City contract was terminated by mutual consent. He announced his retirement from football on 22 November 2017.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu has scored 21 goals in his 57 appearances for Nigeria since his 2000 debut. He is currently the third highest ever international goalscorer for Nigeria.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: In September 2000, Yakubu featured in Nigeria's squad for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia. Nigeria were the holders for the tournament. Then of Maccabi Haifa, the 17-year-old Yakubu wore the number 9 shirt. He scored the injury-time equaliser in Nigeria's first match, a 3–3 draw with Honduras on 13 September in Adelaide. He also played against the hosts Australia on 16 September in Sydney as his side won 3–2 but did not play on 19 September as they drew with Italy in Adelaide. He featured in the quarter-finals as Nigeria lost 4–1 to Chile in Melbourne on 23 September.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu made his full international debut on 22 April 2000 in a 4–0 home win in Lagos against Eritrea in qualification for the 2002 African Cup of Nations. He scored his first international goal in an away win against Namibia on 16 June 2001 in the same qualification campaign. On 1 July 2001, he scored his first international brace, with the second and fourth goals in a 4–0 away win over Sudan in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification stage. He was named in the squad for the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali and was given the number 8 shirt by manager Shuaibu Amodu. On 9 February 2002, Yakubu scored the only goal of the third-place play-off against Mali after 29 minutes. However, Yakubu was not named later in the year in the squad selected by new manager Festus Onigbinde for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: On 7 June 2003, Yakubu scored Nigeria's first two goals as they came from behind to beat Malawi 4–1 in a qualifier for the 2004 African Cup of Nations. He retained the number 8 shirt in the squad named for the finals in Tunisia by manager Christian Chukwu but did not score. Alongside Celestine Babayaro and Victor Agali, he was sent home from the tournament for indiscipline. His then manager at Portsmouth, Harry Redknapp said he cared less about the tournament and was glad to have Yakubu back.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Yakubu scored the final goal in an away 3–0 victory over Zimbabwe and an equaliser in an away 1–1 draw against Gabon as Nigeria were beaten to the qualification place by Angola and missed the finals for the first time since 1994. Despite having a superior goal difference of +14 to +8, Nigeria did not qualify as the tie-breaker was head-to-head matches between Nigeria and Angola.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: Although Nigeria gained a place at the tournament due to their performance in World Cup qualification, Yakubu decided not to play at the 2006 African Cup of Nations to concentrate on his form at Middlesbrough instead. He was praised for his decision as the club defeated defending champions and league leaders Chelsea 3–0.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Yakubu notably missed an open goal from three yards against South Korea in the last Group game but later went on to score a penalty to tie the match. Yakubu's penalty made sure that Nigeria earned a result of 2–2 draw, but this was not enough for his side to progress out of the group stages.


title: Yakubu (footballer)

text: In 2008, Yakubu married Yvonne Lameen Ikhana, the daughter of former Nigerian international footballer Kadiri Ikhana, who is also the father-in-law to former Nigerian international footballer Patrick Ovie. Yakubu and Ikhana have two daughters. He used to play barefoot on the streets of Benin, Nigeria, until his brother gave him a pair of boots aged 12.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Sodium fluoride (NaF) is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is used in trace amounts in the fluoridation of drinking water, in toothpaste, in metallurgy, and as a flux. It is a colorless or white solid that is readily soluble in water. It is a common source of fluoride in the production of pharmaceuticals and is used to prevent dental cavities.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: In 2020, it was the 265th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 1million prescriptions.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Fluoride salts are often added to municipal drinking water (as well as to certain food products in some countries) for the purpose of maintaining dental health. The fluoride enhances the strength of teeth by the formation of fluorapatite, a naturally occurring component of tooth enamel. Although sodium fluoride is used to fluoridate water and is the standard by which other water-fluoridation compounds are gauged, hexafluorosilicic acid (HSiF) and its salt sodium hexafluorosilicate (NaSiF) are more commonly used additives in the United States.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Fluoride supplementation has been extensively studied for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. This supplementation does not appear to be effective; even though sodium fluoride increases bone density, it does not decrease the risk of fractures.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: In medical imaging, fluorine-18-labelled sodium fluoride (USP, sodium fluoride F18) is one of the oldest tracers used in positron emission tomography (PET), having been in use since the 1960s. Relative to conventional bone scintigraphy carried out with gamma cameras or SPECT systems, PET offers more sensitivity and spatial resolution. Fluorine-18 has a half-life of 110 min, which requires it to be used promptly once produced; this logistical limitation hampered its adoption in the face of the more convenient technetium-99m-labelled radiopharmaceuticals. However fluorine-18 is generally considered to be a superior radiopharmaceutical for skeletal imaging. In particular it has a high and rapid bone uptake accompanied by very rapid blood clearance, which results in a high bone-to-background ratio in a short time. Additionally the annihilation photons produced by decay of F have a high energy of 511 keV compared to the 140 keV photons of Tc.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Sodium fluoride has a variety of specialty chemical applications in synthesis and extractive metallurgy. It reacts with electrophilic chlorides including acyl chlorides, sulfur chlorides, and phosphorus chloride. Like other fluorides, sodium fluoride finds use in desilylation in organic synthesis. Sodium fluoride can be used to produce fluorocarbons via the Finkelstein reaction; this process has the advantage of being simple to perform on a small scale but is rarely used on an industrial scale due to the existence of more effective techniques (e.g. Electrofluorination, Fowler process).


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Over a century ago, sodium fluoride was used as a stomach poison for plant-feeding insects. Inorganic fluorides such as fluorosilicates and sodium fluoride complex magnesium ions as magnesium fluorophosphate. They inhibit enzymes such as enolase that require Mg as a prosthetic group. Thus, fluoride poisoning prevents phosphate transfer in oxidative metabolism.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Fluorides, particularly aqueous solutions of sodium fluoride, are rapidly and quite extensively absorbed by the human body.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Fluorides interfere with electron transport and calcium metabolism. Calcium is essential for maintaining cardiac membrane potentials and in regulating coagulation. High ingestion of fluoride salts or hydrofluoric acid may result in fatal arrhythmias due to profound hypocalcemia. Chronic over-absorption can cause hardening of bones, calcification of ligaments, and buildup on teeth. Fluoride can cause irritation or corrosion to eyes, skin, and nasal membranes.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Sodium fluoride is classed as toxic by both inhalation (of dusts or aerosols) and ingestion. In high enough doses, it has been shown to affect the heart and circulatory system. For occupational exposures, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have established occupational exposure limits at 2.5 mg/m over an eight-hour time-weighted average.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: In the higher doses used to treat osteoporosis, plain sodium fluoride can cause pain in the legs and incomplete stress fractures when the doses are too high; it also irritates the stomach, sometimes so severely as to cause peptic ulcer disease. Slow-release and enteric-coated versions of sodium fluoride do not have significant gastric side effects, and have milder and less frequent complications in the bones. In the lower doses used for water fluoridation, the only clear adverse effect is dental fluorosis, which can alter the appearance of children's teeth during tooth development; this is mostly mild and is unlikely to represent any real effect on aesthetic appearance or on public health. A chronic fluoride ingestion of 1 ppm of fluoride in drinking water can cause mottling of the teeth (fluorosis) and an exposure of 1.7 ppm will produce mottling in 30%–50% of patients.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: Sodium fluoride is an inorganic ionic compound, dissolving in water to give separated Na and F ions. Like sodium chloride, it crystallizes in a cubic motif where both Na and F occupy octahedral coordination sites; its lattice spacing, approximately 462 pm, is somewhat smaller than that of sodium chloride.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: The mineral form of NaF, villiaumite, is moderately rare. It is known from plutonic nepheline syenite rocks.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: NaF is prepared by neutralizing hydrofluoric acid or hexafluorosilicic acid (HSiF), both byproducts of the reaction of fluorapatite (Ca(PO)F) from phosphate rock during the production of superphosphate fertilizer. Neutralizing agents include sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate. Alcohols are sometimes used to precipitate the NaF:


title: Sodium fluoride

text: From solutions containing HF, sodium fluoride precipitates as the bifluoride salt sodium bifluoride (NaHF). Heating the latter releases HF and gives NaF.


title: Sodium fluoride

text: In a 1986 report, the annual worldwide consumption of NaF was estimated to be several million tonnes.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: Eleven Madison Park is a New American fine dining restaurant located inside the Metropolitan Life North Building at 11 Madison Avenue in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York City. It has retained 3 Michelin stars since 2012, and was ranked third among The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2016, and topped the list in 2017.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: The restaurant, initially designed by Bentel & Bentel, is located in the Metropolitan Life North Building, facing Madison Square, at the intersection of Madison Avenue and 24th Street. The restaurant originally opened in 1998 and was owned by restaurateur Danny Meyer. In 2006, Chef Daniel Humm and Will Guidara began working at Eleven Madison Park and in 2011 they purchased it from Meyer. The restaurant group's name is Make it Nice.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: Eleven Madison Park was closed for renovation between June 9 and October 11, 2017, and completely redesigned, in collaboration with Allied Works architectural firm.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: The restaurant closed again during the COVID-19 pandemic, converting into a commissary kitchen, to produce meals for the food-insecure in New York City, in cooperation with the non-profit Rethink Food. In October 2020, Eleven Madison Park began a To Go program, offering dinners for pickup for the first time in its history. Every dinner purchased provides 10 meals to New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity via the ongoing partnership with Rethink Food.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: In June 2022, "Business Insider" reported the restaurant struggled with high employee turnover due to low wages and difficult working conditions, including 80-hour weeks. Although workers started at $15 per hour, tipping was banned at the restaurant.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: Former employees told "Insider" that there was significant waste of produce that would be trashed if the wrong size or otherwise unused rather than donated or composted.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: Until the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, the restaurant offered guests a seasonal tasting menu that drew inspiration from local culture, history, and ingredients. The menu in the dining room consisted of 8–10 courses, and an abbreviated experience at the bar consisted of 5 courses. Both of these menus featured communal elements to enhance the experience. It was announced on May 3, 2021, that the restaurant would be eliminating all animal products, serving a strictly plant-based menu. The restaurant began serving this menu in June 2021, to mixed reviews.


title: Eleven Madison Park

text: The original Eleven Madison Park Cookbook was published in 2011; Humm and Guidara have released additional cookbooks including "I Love New York: Ingredients and Recipes", "The NoMad Cookbook", "Eleven Madison Park: The Next Chapter", and "Eleven Madison Park: The Next Chapter, Revised and Unlimited".


title: Neurotypical

text: Neurotypical (NT, an abbreviation of neurologically typical) is a neologism widely used in the neurodiversity movement as a label for non-neurodivergent people. That is, anyone who has a typical neurotype, so excluding autistic people, those with ADHD, dyslexia, and so on. The term has been adopted by both the neurodiversity movement and the scientific community. It is not to be confused with the term "allistic", which refers specifically to non-autistic people, who may or may not have a divergent neurotype.


title: Neurotypical

text: Early definitions described neurotypicals as "people who do not have autistic-type brains", clarifying that this would exclude "autistic cousins" who are recognizably “autistic-like” but not necessarily autistic. Early uses of "NT" were often satirical, as in the Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical, but with time it came to be widely used unironically.


title: Neurotypical

text: People with any form of neurocognitive or mental disorder, whether congenital or acquired, have also sometimes been excluded from the neurotypical label, particularly in academic studies for specific disorders that use neurotypical control groups. In this sense, the term is now contrasted to neurodivergent, an umbrella term inclusive of people with diverse mental and behavioral differences, such as mood, anxiety, dissociative, psychotic, personality, and eating disorders.


title: Neurotypical

text: The conditions themselves, following the neurodiversity and social construction of disability models and in distance from the hegemonic medical model of disability (otherwise known in the neurodiversity community as the "pathology paradigm"), are often referred to as neurodivergences—that is, neurotypes that are divergent from a given social and medical norm. Neurotypical is, in short, not having a developmental disorder; since most people with mental illnesses are born with no developmental disorders, they are considered predominantly neurotypical from birth. Mental illness could be triggered by environmental causes or traumatic events in one's lifetime, whereas developmental disorders are present at birth and continue into adulthood.


title: Neurotypical

text: The National Autistic Society of the United Kingdom says of the term "neurotypical": "neurotypical is mainly used by autistic people so may not be applicable in, for example, the popular press."


title: One on One (TV series)

text: One on One is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from September 3, 2001, to May 15, 2006. The series stars Flex Alexander as a single sportscaster, who becomes a full-time father when his ex-wife decides to accept a job out of the country and his teenage daughter Breanna (Kyla Pratt) moves in with him. The series was set in Baltimore for the first four seasons, before changing settings to Los Angeles for the final season. The series was a joint production of the Greenblatt/Janollari Studio and Daddy's Girl Productions in association with Paramount Network Television.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: The series featured guest appearances from numerous celebrities and athletes, including Lil' Zane, Chris Brown, Lil' Romeo, Eve, Lloyd, Floetry, Angie Stone, Mario, Omarion, Brandy, Solange Knowles, Raven-Symoné, Nina Sky, Marques Houston, Smokey Robinson, Kim Fields, Avant, Jennifer Freeman, Nate Dogg, Bobby V, Claudia Jordan, Ruben Studdard, and Lisa Leslie. The show was cancelled months before The WB and UPN merged to form The CW.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: The show would also have a spin-off series "Cuts", which follows Flex's younger stepbrother Kevin Barnes running the local barbershop/day spa with a spoiled brat named Tiffany Sherwood after her father Jack Sherwood purchased the shop. The show premiered as a mid-season replacement during the 2004–2005 television season. The show lasted for only two seasons and was also canceled when UPN and The WB merged to form The CW.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: The show focuses the lives of Flex Washington (Alexander) and his teenage daughter Breanna Barnes (Pratt). The series begins with Breanna wanting to stay with her father, Flex, whom Breanna used to see only two weeks a year. When he blew out his knee during an NBA game, Flex had his communications degree to fall back on (which he revealed in a later episode, he tried three times to get due to failing the class twice) and became a sportscaster. Flex works for the fictional WYNX-TV in Baltimore resides in the ultimate bachelor pad, and lives the life of luxury. He is a ladies' man who wants to be both a responsible parent and a best friend to Breanna. Flex is very protective of his daughter, especially with boys. He has only had a few serious relationships, one of which was Breanna's mother Nicole Barnes (Tichina Arnold), whom he impregnated at the age of 18. When Nicole takes a job in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Nicole allows Breanna to live with Flex.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: Flex's best friend and Breanna's godfather, Duane Odell Knox (Kelly Perine), is a used-car salesman who lives across the hall from Flex and Breanna and is a constant presence in their lives for better or worse. Duane's way with women is the exact opposite of Flex's, in which Duane usually repels women. The women he does date, however, are somewhat unusual. His only serious girlfriend during the series was Candy (Shondrella Avery), whom he dated for two years before getting engaged and later breaking up.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: Breanna's best friend is Spirit Jones (Sicily Sewell) with whom she creates some mischief. Her other best friend, Arnaz Ballard (Robert Ri'chard), is the object of her on-again, off-again affection. The two were just friends, but Breanna became jealous of Arnaz's old girlfriend, Ginger (Khanya Mkhize). Arnaz became jealous when, in season 2, Breanna began dating Josh (Josh Henderson). The two finally became a couple in the latter part of the series. They break up during the third season and move on to date other people, though they know they still love each other. The series ends with Arnaz chasing after Michelle (Brandy Norwood), D-Mack's sister, with whom he has fallen in love while Breanna is shown in bed with D-Mack (Ray J).


title: One on One (TV series)

text: The show's theme song "Living One on One", was written and performed by Shanice (wife of the show's star Flex Alexander) and Tonex with music composed by Jonathan Wolff and Becky Kneubuhl (who composed the scene-change music for the first season). The theme song was slightly shortened and remixed by Detail and Ray J for the show's fifth season. A truncated version of the theme, which had no lyrics except for the words "One on One", was used as a closing theme, heard only in syndicated airings.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: The opening titles for the first three seasons featured the cast playing basketball on an outdoor court (though it also showed some characters doing other things at that same setting, e.g., Spirit checking out a boy who walks past her, and Arnaz playing the guitar only to be interrupted by a basketball bouncing in his direction that fell out of Duane's hand and he chases him). The fourth-season opening titles featured the cast in a dressing room getting ready for a night on the town, the end of the sequence featuring a pan shot of the cast in the mirror wearing different outfits from what they were wearing at the beginning of the pan shot. The opening sequences for the first four seasons included a closeup shot of Flex, Breanna, and Arnaz before cutting back to a shot of the entire cast. The final season's opening titles featured the main cast (Breanna, Arnaz, and new characters D-Mack, Sara, Cash, and Lisa) at different places at the Venice Beach Boardwalk, before meeting back at the beach house to take a picture together.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: "One on One" began airing in syndication in September 2006. CBS Paramount Domestic Television also held the distribution rights to the series for the first year of its syndication run. CBS Media Ventures (formerly CBS Television Distribution) has been the series' distributor since September 2007.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: In the United States, "One on One" was broadcast on various local television stations (mostly Fox, The WB, and UPN) affiliates from September 2006 to September 2009. The series was rerun on Noggin's teen block, The N, from October 2006 onward. It continued to air when The N was spun off into a 24-hour channel on December 31, 2007 and ran until October 2008. It rejoined the channel's lineup on September 14, 2009, and was moved to the successor channel TeenNick on September 28, 2009. It aired in two-hour blocks in the morning and late-night hours before being removed from TeenNick's lineup in 2013. The series began airing on BET in 2009, airing in two one-hour blocks (one weekday mornings and one in the afternoon), as well as Saturday broadcasts.


title: One on One (TV series)

text: In overseas, "One on One" is broadcast in Canada on BET and local affiliates; on Nine Network in Australia; on SABC1 in South Africa and in the Middle East on the Paramount Comedy Channel in the Middle East (however, the fifth season has yet to be aired in its entirety on Paramount Comedy). The series is broadcast across the African continent on Sony Entertainment Channel via the South African cable network DSTV.


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: Charlotte Irene Caffey (born October 21, 1953) is an American guitarist, best known for her work in the rock band the Go-Go's in the 1980s, including writing "We Got the Beat".


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: Caffey began her musical career playing bass guitar in the early Los Angeles punk band The Eyes before joining the Go-Go's in 1978 and switching to guitar. She remained friends with fellow band member Belinda Carlisle after the initial breakup of the Go-Go's and wrote songs for Carlisle's solo albums.


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: From 1988 until 1992, she led her own band, The Graces, with Meredith Brooks and Gia Ciambotti, who released the album "Perfect View" in 1989. Caffey also co-wrote the theme song to the television series "Clueless" with Anna Waronker, and played piano on the album version of "Foolish Games" by Jewel, as well as co-writing the No. 1 U.S. country hit "But for the Grace of God" with Keith Urban.


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: Caffey wrote the book, music, and lyrics for "" with Anna Waronker. The rock musical debuted at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles in 2008. A new production of "Lovelace: A Rock Musical" made its United Kingdom debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2010. A number of her songs were featured in the 2018 debut of the Broadway musical "Head Over Heels", with a story suggested by Philip Sidney's "Arcadia" set to the songs of the Go-Go's and Belinda Carlisle.


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: The Go-Go's announced an 11-date reunion tour scheduled to begin in June 2020; however, in May 2020 the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021 it was announced that The Go-Go's would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: The band confirmed plans for a 2022 UK tour with Billy Idol that would start in June 2022. The band was forced to postpone a short West Coast tour scheduled for the first week of January 2022 due to a COVID-19 case involving someone on the tour. New rescheduled dates for the shows would be announced very soon.


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: She grew up in Glendale, California, and graduated from Immaculate Heart College. She is also in Ze Malibu Kids with her husband, the Redd Kross singer and guitarist Jeff McDonald. Their only child, a daughter named Astrid McDonald, was born in 1995 and is a singer and model.


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: She was the fourth of twelve children born to Ann (née Gorey) and Michael Caffey (died 2017), an American network television series episode director from the mid-1960s on into the 1990s (The Virginian, Dukes of Hazzard, Barnaby Jones, MacGyver, CHiPs, T.J. Hooker).


title: Charlotte Caffey

text: Charlotte semi-retired from regular performances in the late 1980s because of crippling carpal tunnel syndrome.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing, and First Nations exhibitions. In 2008, the Calgary Stampede was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The event's roots are traced to 1886 when the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair. In 1912, American promoter Guy Weadick organized his first rodeo and festival, known as the Stampede. He returned to Calgary in 1919 to organize the Victory Stampede in honour of soldiers returning from World War I. Weadick's festival became an annual event in 1923 when it merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition to create the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Organized by thousands of volunteers and supported by civic leaders, the Calgary Stampede has grown into one of the world's richest rodeos, one of Canada's largest festivals, and a significant tourist attraction for the city. Rodeo and chuckwagon racing events are televised across Canada. However, both have been the target of increasing international criticism by animal welfare groups and politicians concerned about particular events as well as animal rights organizations seeking to ban rodeo in general.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Calgary's national and international identity is tied to the event. It is known as the "Stampede City", carries the informal nickname of "Cowtown", and the local Canadian Football League team is called the Stampeders. The city takes on a party atmosphere during Stampede: office buildings and storefronts are painted in cowboy themes, residents don western wear, and events held across the city include hundreds of pancake breakfasts and barbecues.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Calgary and District Agricultural Society was formed in 1884 to promote the town and encourage farmers and ranchers from eastern Canada to move west. The society held its first fair two years later, attracting a quarter of the town's 2,000 residents. By 1889, it had acquired land on the banks of the Elbow River to host the exhibitions, but crop failures, poor weather, and a declining economy resulted in the society ceasing operations in 1895. The land passed briefly to future Prime Minister R. B. Bennett who sold it to the city. The area was called Victoria Park, after Queen Victoria, and the newly formed Western Pacific Exhibition Company hosted its first agricultural and industrial fair in 1899.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The exhibition grew annually, and in 1908 the Government of Canada announced that Calgary would host the federally funded Dominion Exhibition that year. Seeking to take advantage of the opportunity to promote itself, the city spent C$145,000 to build six new pavilions and a racetrack. It held a lavish parade as well as rodeo, horse racing, and trick roping competitions as part of the event. The exhibition was a success, drawing 100,000 people to the fairgrounds over seven days despite an economic recession that afflicted the city of 25,000.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Guy Weadick, an American trick roper who participated in the Dominion Exhibition as part of the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Real Wild West Show, returned to Calgary in 1912 in the hopes of establishing an event that more accurately represented the "wild west" than the shows he was a part of. He initially failed to sell civic leaders and the Calgary Industrial Exhibition on his plans, but with the assistance of local livestock agent H. C. McMullen, Weadick convinced businessmen Pat Burns, George Lane, A. J. McLean, and A. E. Cross to put up $100,000 to guarantee funding for the event. The Big Four, as they came to be known, viewed the project as a final celebration of their life as cattlemen. The city built a rodeo arena on the fairgrounds and over 100,000 people attended the six-day event in September 1912 to watch hundreds of cowboys from Western Canada, the United States, and Mexico compete for $20,000 in prizes. The event generated $120,000 in revenue and was hailed as a success.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Weadick set about planning the 1913 Stampede, promoting the event across North America. However, the Big Four were not interested in hosting another such event. Businessmen in Winnipeg convinced Weadick to host his second Stampede in their city, but the show failed financially. A third attempt held in New York State in 1916 suffered the same fate. Weadick returned to Calgary in 1919 where he gained the support of E. L. Richardson, the general manager of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. The two convinced numerous Calgarians, including the Big Four, to back the "Great Victory Stampede" in celebration of Canada's soldiers returning from World War I.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: While the 1919 Stampede was successful, it was again held as a one-time event. Richardson was convinced that it could be a profitable annual event but found little support for the concept within the board of directors of the Calgary Industrial Exhibition. However, declining attendance and mounting financial losses forced the exhibition board to reconsider Richardson's proposals at their 1922 annual meeting. Richardson proposed merging the two events on a trial basis. Weadick agreed, and the union created the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The combined event was first held in 1923. Weadick encouraged the city's residents to dress in western clothes and decorate their businesses in the spirit of the "wild west". Civic leaders truly supported the event for the first time: Mayor George Webster followed the costume suggestion and allowed downtown roads to be closed for two hours each morning of the six-day event to accommodate street parties. The new sport of chuckwagon racing was introduced and proved immediately popular. 138,950 people attended and the event earned a profit. Over 167,000 people attended in 1924 and the success guaranteed that the Stampede and Exhibition would be held together permanently.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Attendance grew annually throughout the 1920s, peaking at 258,496 in 1928, but the onset of the Great Depression resulted in attendance declines and financial losses. After consecutive years of losses in 1930 and 1931, the exhibition board was forced to make cutbacks, a decision that strained the relationship between the board and Weadick. Furthering the divide was Weadick's growing resentment of the board's control of what he considered his event. The issue came to a head in 1932 when Weadick and Richardson engaged in a loud argument over the situation, ending with Weadick's threat to quit entirely. One month later, the exhibition board announced that it had relieved him of his duties. Angered by the decision, Weadick sued the exhibition board for $100,000, citing breach of contract and unfair dismissal. His claim was upheld in courts, but he was awarded only $2,750 plus legal fees. Embittered by the events, Weadick remained at odds with the board for 20 years until he was invited to the 1952 Stampede as an honoured guest and parade marshal.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: At least seven movies were filmed at the Stampede by 1950. The most profitable, the 1925 silent film "The Calgary Stampede", used footage from the rodeo and exposed people across North America to the event. Hollywood stars and foreign dignitaries were attracted to the Stampede; Bob Hope and Bing Crosby each served as parade marshals during the 1950s, while Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip made their first of two visits to the event as part of their 1959 tour of Canada. The Queen also opened the 1973 Stampede.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The discovery of the Leduc No. 1 oil well in 1946 and major reserves in the Turner Valley area southwest of the city ushered in a period of growth and prosperity. Calgary was transformed from an agricultural community into the oil and gas capital of Canada. The city's population nearly doubled between 1949 and 1956, and Calgary's immigrant population not only embraced the Stampede, but encouraged friends and family in their home towns to do the same. The 1950s represented the golden age of the Calgary Stampede.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Attendance records were broken nearly every year in the 1950s and overall attendance increased by 200,000 from 1949 to 1959. The growth necessitated expansion of the exhibition grounds. The 7,500-seat Stampede Corral was completed in 1950 as the largest indoor arena in Western Canada. It housed the Calgary Stampeders hockey team, which was operated by the Board of Governors and won the Western Hockey League championship in 1954. Acts such as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and Louis Armstrong played the Corral, although the arena's poor acoustics were a frequent concern to organizers and patrons.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Improvements were made to the grandstand and the race track was rebuilt in 1954. The Big Four Building, named in honour of the Stampede's benefactors, opened in 1959 to serve as the city's largest exhibition hall in the summer, and was converted into a 24-sheet curling facility each winter. The improvements failed to alleviate all the pressures growth had caused: chronic parking shortages and inability to accommodate demand for tickets to the rodeo and grandstand shows continued.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Attendance continued to grow throughout the 1960s and 1970s, topping 500,000 for the first time in 1962 and reaching 654,000 in 1966. Organizers expanded the event from six days to nine in 1967 and then to ten the following year. The Stampede exceeded one million visitors for the first time in 1976. The park, meanwhile, continued to grow. The Round-Up Centre opened in 1979 as the new exhibition hall, and the Olympic Saddledome was completed in 1983. The Saddledome replaced the Corral as the city's top sporting arena, and both facilities hosted hockey and figure skating events at the 1988 Winter Olympics.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Maintaining the traditional focus on agriculture and western heritage remained a priority for the Calgary Stampede as the city grew into a major financial and oil hub in Western Canada. "Aggie Days", a program designed to introduce urban schoolchildren to agriculture was introduced in 1989 and proved immediately popular. A ten-year expansion plan called Horizon 2000 was released in 1990 detailing plans to grow Stampede Park into a year-round destination for Calgarians; an updated plan was released in 2004. The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede organization dropped the word "exhibition" from its title in 2007, and has since been known simply as the Calgary Stampede. Attendance has plateaued around 1.2 million since 2000, however the Stampede set an attendance record of 1,409,371 while celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2012.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Severe flooding in Calgary two weeks before the July 5 opening of the 2013 Stampede caused significant damage to the grounds. Stampede officials promised, however, that the event would be staged as planned. Some of the main events, and all concerts, scheduled for the Saddledome were cancelled due to flood damage to the facility, while other events were relocated to other locations.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: , the 2020 Stampede was cancelled for the first time in almost a century due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Community-oriented events held in compliance with Alberta public health orders were organized on the original dates of the Stampede, including pop-up drive-throughs offering pancakes and midway food staples, and maintaining the event's fireworks show. The cancellation made a significant economic impact, as recent editions had contributed $540 million to the province's economy.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: In April 2021, Alberta's chief medical officer of health Deena Hinshaw projected that the province could lift some of its restrictions on gatherings by late-June, while Premier Jason Kenney stated that the province could begin doing so once at least two thirds of its residents have been vaccinated. However, soon afterwards, the province began to enact stricter public health orders to control a major ongoing wave of infections. On May 14, the Stampede announced that it did plan to hold an in-person event for 2021, but that the structure of the event would have to be "very different" to comply with whatever public health orders will be in effect by then. On May 26, the Alberta government announced a revised "Open for Summer" plan for easing public health orders, which would allow the majority of restrictions to be lifted two weeks after 70% of eligible residents receive at least one vaccine dose (provided that hospitalizations continue to decline). It was later announced that restrictions would be fully lifted on July 1.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Despite the lifting of public health restrictions, measures such as social distancing would still be encouraged, and the capacity of Stampede Park would therefore be controlled. There would be pre-purchased entry to the grounds and reduced capacity for events. Citing that participants would not have enough time to prepare for the Stampede on short notice due to other chuckwagon racing events leading up to it being cancelled, the Rangeland Derby was cancelled for the second year in a row. Admission to Nashville North (which would be an open-air stage rather than a tent) required proof of vaccination or a negative rapid test. As the Mayor of Calgary did not issue a permit for it to occur on public streets, the Stampede parade was downsized and held as a broadcast-only event within Stampede Park, with no public spectators admitted. To compensate for the cancellation of the Rangeland Derby, bronc riding events were added to the rodeo's evening sessions.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The decision to go on with the Stampede was met with mixed reactions, including concerns that it could become a superspreading event because Alberta's reopening criteria were based only on the first vaccine dose and not being fully vaccinated. There was also criticism from the chuckwagon racing community over the cancellation of the Rangeland Derby. On July 27, Alberta Health Services stated that it had only officially attributed 71 cases of COVID-19 to the Stampede, out of a total attendance of 528,998.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The parade serves as the official opening of the Stampede and begins shortly before 9 a.m. on the first Friday of the event. Each year features a different parade marshal, chosen to reflect the public's interests at that time. Politicians, athletes, actors and other dignitaries have all served as marshals. The event features dozens of marching bands, over 150 floats and hundreds of horses with entrants from around the world, and combines western themes with modern ones. Cowboys, First Nations dancers and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in their red serges are joined by clowns, bands, politicians and business leaders. The first Stampede parade, held in 1912, was attended by 75,000 people, greater than the city's population at the time. As many as 350,000 people attended the parade in 2009, while the presence of Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at the 2011 parade as part of their tour of Canada increased attendance to a record estimate of 425,000.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The rodeo is the heart of the Calgary Stampede. It is one of the largest, and the most famous event of its kind in the world. With a prize of $100,000 to the winner of each major discipline and $1,000,000 total on championship day alone, it also offers the richest payout. Cowboys consider performing in front of over 20,000 fans daily to be the highlight of the rodeo season.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: There are six major disciplines – bull riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, tie down roping, saddle bronc and bareback riding – and four novice events – junior steer riding, novice bareback, novice saddle bronc and wild pony racing. Each event is organized as its own tournament, and the cowboys and girls are divided into two pools. The first pool competes each night for the first four nights, and the second each night for four nights following. The top four in each pool advance to the Sunday final, and the remainder compete on Saturday for a wild card spot in the final. The competitor with the best time or score on Sunday wins the $100,000 grand prize.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Most livestock for the rodeo events come from the Stampede Ranch located near the town of Hanna. The ranch was created in 1961 as a means of improving the quality of bucking horses and bulls and to guarantee supply. The first of its kind in North America, the Stampede Ranch operates a breeding program that produces some of the top rodeo stock in the world and supplies rodeos throughout southern Alberta, and as far south as Las Vegas.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Weadick is credited with inventing the sport of chuckwagon racing in 1923, inspired either by seeing a similar event in 1922 at the Gleichen Stampede or watching impromptu races as he grew up. He devised the sport to be a new and exciting event for the newly joined Exhibition and Stampede. Weadick invited ranchers to enter their wagons and crews to compete for a total of $275 in prize money.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Officially called the Rangeland Derby, and nicknamed the "half-mile of hell" or the "dash for cash", chuckwagon racing proved immediately popular and quickly became the event's largest attraction. While only six teams raced in 1923, today's Rangeland Derby consists of 36 teams competing for $1.15 million in prize money. Joe Carbury was the voice of the Rangeland Derby for 45 years, until 2008. His distinctive voice and signature phrase of "and they're offfffffff!" to announce the start of a race made him a local legend, and earned him induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The chuckwagon drivers auction advertising space on their wagons before each year's Stampede. The first advertisement on the tarp cover of a chuckwagon was made in 1941, and Lloyd Nelson was the last person to win the Rangeland Derby without a sponsored wagon, doing so in 1956. The current practice of selling advertising via a tarp auction began in 1979. The revenue generated by the auctions, a record $4 million for the 2012 Stampede, is considered an indicator of the strength of Calgary's economy.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: When the agricultural exhibition was first launched in 1886, Alberta was an overwhelmingly rural province. Today, agricultural producers make up less than two percent of the province's population, but the exhibition remains an integral part of the Calgary Stampede. Nearly 70% of all Stampede visitors visit the Agriculture Zone for the displays and demonstrations as well as western events. Numerous competitions are held as part of the exhibition. The American National Cutting Horse Association sanctions a World Series of Cutting event, and the World Championship Blacksmith Competition used to be held, attracting top blacksmiths from around the world. Farm and ranch demonstrations feature numerous breeds of livestock along with stock dog trials and team penning competitions.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Additionally, the exhibition serves to educate the public about Alberta's ranching and agricultural heritage along with modern food production displays through events like Ag-tivity in the City. The Stampede works with Alberta 4-H clubs to encourage youth participation in agricultural pursuits.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Calgary Stampede midway has been operated by North American Midway Entertainment, and its predecessor Conklin Shows, since 1976. The midway is the only part of the event operated on a for-profit basis. It is considered an essential component of the Stampede, but is separate from the predominantly western theme. The midway opens on the Thursday night before other events begin, known as "sneak-a-peek" night. In addition to the traditional rides and carnival games, the midway features four concert areas. Nashville North, a large party tent, made its debut in 1993 as a country music venue. It was followed one-year later by what is now known as the Coca-Cola Stage that offers family entertainment during the day and rock and pop acts during the evenings. The Saddledome hosts headlining acts, including Garth Brooks and The Beach Boys, who were booked for the Stampede's 100th anniversary in 2012. In 2018, the Stampede's newest concert venue, The Big Four Roadhouse, opened for Stampede-time and year-round events.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Stampede Market is located in the BMO Centre on the northwest corner of the park. It offers of retail space and in 2019 began highlighting local artisans. The Western Oasis, a subsection of the market, offers cowboy and western-themed artwork, bronze statues, craftwork, foods and wine. Lured by the opportunity to show their wares to the one million people who attend the Stampede, some vendors wait years before gaining admittance, and those that do consider it one of the prime events of the year.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Stampede Park is located southeast of Downtown Calgary in the Beltline District and is serviced by Calgary Transit's light rail system. Permanent structures at the site include the Saddledome and Corral, Big Four Building, BMO Centre – a convention and exhibition facility – a casino, the Stampede Grandstand, the agriculture building, and a number of facilities that support the exhibition and livestock shows.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The park remains at its original location, though attempts were made to relocate. In 1964, the Stampede Board made plans to purchase former military land in southwest Calgary near Glenmore Trail and 24 Street and relocate the park there. A fully developed plan was released in 1965, and while it had the support of the civic and federal governments, intense opposition from nearby residents quashed the proposal. Space concerns remained a constant issue, and a new plan to push northward into the Victoria Park community beginning in 1968 initiated a series of conflicts with the neighbourhood and city council that persisted for decades.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: While Victoria Park fell into steady decline, it was not until 2007 that the final buildings were removed, paving the way for both an expansion of Stampede Park and an urban renewal program for the area. With the land finally secured, the Stampede organization embarked on a $400-million expansion that is planned to feature a new retail and entertainment district, an urban park, a new agricultural arena and potentially a new hotel. The expansion was originally planned to be complete by 2011, but delays and an economic downturn have pushed the expected completion of the project back to 2014.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Stampede Park has long been a central gathering place for Calgarians and tourists. In addition to attendance at the Calgary Stampede, over 2.5 million people attend other sporting events, concerts, trade shows and meetings on a grounds that hosts over 1,000 events annually.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Each year, a queen and two princesses are selected as Stampede royalty. They are chosen via a contest open to any woman between the ages of 19 and 24 who resides in Alberta. An emphasis is placed on horsemanship skills and ability to serve as ambassadors for both the Stampede and the city. The first Stampede Queen, Patsy Rodgers, was selected in 1946 while the princesses were first chosen the following year. The royal trio serve one-year terms during which they will make hundreds of appearances throughout southern Alberta and across North America. They then become members of the Calgary Stampede Queens' Alumni Association, founded in 1971. The association organizes fundraisers and events in support of organizations that work with special needs children.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: During each Stampede, the five nations of the Treaty 7–the Tsuu T'ina, Piikani, Stoney, Kainai and Siksika–create a camp on the bank of the Elbow River in the southern section of Stampede Park, originally known as the Indian Village, but renamed Elbow River Camp in 2018. They erect tipis, organize pow wows, offer arts and crafts, and re-enact elements of their traditional lifestyle. Each year, an Indian Princess is selected from one of the five nations to represent the Treaty 7 as part of the Stampede's royalty. The village is among the Stampede's most popular attractions.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: First Nations people had been frequent participants in the city's exhibitions since they were first held in 1886, taking part in parades and sporting events and entertaining spectators with traditional dances. By 1912 however, pressure from agents of the Department of Indian Affairs to suppress their historic traditions and to keep them on their farms nearly ended native participation. Weadick hoped to include native people as a feature of his Stampede, but Indian Affairs opposed his efforts and asked the Duke of Connaught, Canada's Governor General, to support their position. The Duke refused, and after Weadick gained the support of political contacts in Ottawa, including future Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, the path was cleared.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Hundreds of Indigenous peoples, representing six tribes, participated at the 1912 Stampede. They camped in tipis and wore their finest traditional regalia, making them among the most popular participants in the parade. Tom Three Persons, of the Blood (Kainai) tribe, emerged as one of the Stampede's first heroes, amazing spectators with a winning performance in the saddle bronc competition. He was the only Canadian champion of the first Stampede and became the first person to successfully ride Cyclone, a notorious horse that had thrown over 100 riders during its career.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The federal government attempted to prevent a repeat occurrence, modifying the Indian Act in 1914 to make it illegal for Indigenous peoples to participate in fairs or parades without permission from the local Indian Agent. The new law ended native participation in the Calgary Exhibition, but when Weadick returned in 1919, he successfully fought for their return to the fairgrounds. Indian Affairs again sought to ban native participation in 1925 without success. While conflicts between the Stampede and Indian Affairs continued until 1932, the Indian Village has remained a staple on the grounds.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: First Nations members and the Stampede board have occasionally met with conflict. The original location of the Indian Village was on low-lying ground that frequently flooded, a problem that was not resolved until 1974 when the village was moved to its current location. Complaints about low appearance fees paid to tipi owners, lack of input on committees related to their participation and accusations that natives were being exploited have periodically been made throughout the years. The Stoneys famously boycotted the 1950 Stampede following a rule change that cancelled a policy giving any Indigenous person free admittance upon showing their treaty card. The event that year was marred by violent thunderstorms, which led to apocryphal stories that the band had performed a rain dance in an effort to ruin the fair.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Despite the conflicts, the native communities around Calgary have been enthusiastic supporters of the Stampede and the Indian Village. The tipi owners have been long-term participants – many are third or fourth generation – and the Stampede has helped preserve and display First Nations cultures to the public. The village again relocated in 2016, doubled in size and featured a new exhibit displaying the partnership between the city, local First Nations and the Stampede.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: During the 2018 Stampede, it was announced that the name of the area would be changed to reflect "reconciliation and increased understanding of Indigenous peoples as modern and strong and resilient"; after a voting process among the camps, it was announced on the final day of the Stampede that the Indian Village would be renamed "Elbow River Camp".


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Operation of the park throughout the year requires 300 full-time and 1,400 part-time employees. An additional 3,500 seasonal workers are hired for the Stampede itself. The seasonal positions are often filled by Calgary's youth, and for many, represents their first paying jobs.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The organization is maintained by a legion of volunteers, however. Over 2,000 volunteers sit on 50 committees responsible for all aspects of the Stampede's operation. Chief among them are the board of directors. The board is made up of 25 individuals; 20 elected from amongst the shareholders, three representing the city, one the province and the most recent president of the Stampede board. Nearly half of all volunteers have served for more than 10 years, and some as long as 60.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: When the Calgary Stampede brought in The Rockettes from New York City in 1964 as part of the grandstand show, they auditioned young local dancers to participate as the "Calgary Kidettes". The group was meant to be a one-time addition to the show, but proved popular with spectators, and returned for three subsequent years. By 1968, the Kidettes were renamed the Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede and remained part of the nightly grandstand show, growing into a headline act by the 1970s. The group was modeled on the American group Up with People but with a style reflecting the pioneer culture of Alberta and Western Canada. The Young Canadians made television and live appearances throughout North America and attracted large crowds every year at the Calgary Stampede. In 1982, the Stampede Foundation set up the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts to offer professional training to singers and dancers between the ages of 7 and 19, paid for by scholarships from the Stampede organization. Two of the founders of the Young Canadians were director Randy Avery and choreographer Margot McDermott who remained with the group throughout the 1970s and 80s.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Stampede Showband was created in 1971 to serve as the organization's musical ambassadors. The troupe features over 150 members between the ages of 16 and 21, and has been named the world champion of marching show bands six times, lastly being in July, 2019. The group has performed all over the world, in front of royalty and world leaders, and at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics. In 2019, the Showband performed the national anthem at the 107th Grey Cup accompanied by Young Canadians singer, Lindsey Kelly. The Showband performs year round, and make over 100 appearances during the Stampede alone. They performed in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California for the third time in 2012 as part of the Stampede's 100th anniversary celebrations. The Showband also performed "O Canada" every night during the chuckwagon races with the member of the Young Canadians singing the anthem in English and French. The Stampede Showriders were created in 1985 as a precision equestrian drill team and colour guard that accompanies the Showband.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Calgary Stampede Talent Search was created in 1981 as an annual competition for amateur artists (aged 13 to 21). Junior performers (aged 6 to 12) are showcased every evening as well. The competition takes place during the stampede and is intended to discover and develop talented young southern Albertans.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Stampede has attempted to balance rodeo tradition against the concerns of animal welfare groups who argue that the sport is inhumane. Officials defend the sport, calling the animals the "stars of the show" and stating that the Stampede is "passionate about the proper treatment of animals". The Calgary Humane Society has found itself at odds with other organizations by choosing to work with the Stampede to ensure that stress on the animals is kept to a minimum. It is one of two such groups, in addition to veterinarians, who are on hand to monitor the rodeo.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Chuckwagon racing is a particular source of controversy. Animal rights groups protest the event, arguing that the sport causes undue suffering for the horses. Racers admit the sport is dangerous, but defend their sport amidst the controversy, arguing that the animals are well cared for, and that allowing them to race saves many horses from prematurely going to slaughter.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Following a particularly deadly series of accidents in 1986 where nine horses were killed in chuckwagon racing incidents alone – including five horses in one spectacular crash – humane society officials, fans and even some drivers called for major changes to the races, while others called for the sport to be banned entirely. Numerous rule changes were announced prior to the 1987 event. The Calgary chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals accepted the changes, stating it would not call for the sport to be banned given that Stampede officials had moved to improve animal safety, further changes were announced in 2011.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Tie down roping is a particular focus of efforts to eliminate the event. The Stampede altered its policies in 2010 to enforce the rules of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. Additionally, the Stampede was the first rodeo to introduce a no-time penalty for competitors who make a dangerous tackle in the steer wrestling event. Several more changes were made in 2011, the rule changes were announced after six animals died at the 2010 Stampede and were met with mixed reactions from both cowboys and animal welfare groups.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Such changes have not completely eliminated all risks; periodic accidents have continued to result in the deaths of horses and livestock. One of the deadliest incidents in Stampede history occurred in 2005 when, late in a trail ride meant to help celebrate the province's centennial, a group of about 200 horses spooked and in the melee nine horses were killed after they were pushed off a city bridge into the Bow River. While similar trail rides had been completed without incident in the past, Stampede officials announced they would not attempt any further rides unless they could ensure the safety of the horses.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Animal welfare groups have called animal deaths "depressingly predictable" and seek a boycott of the rodeo. In the United Kingdom travel agencies have been asked to stop offering tourism packages to the Stampede, and in 2010, 92 members of the UK Parliament signed an Early Day Motion asking their Canadian counterparts to ban rodeo. Several groups petitioned the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to cancel their planned attendance in 2011. However, the couple attended and participated in a private demonstration of rodeo and chuckwagon events.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Live coverage of the rodeo and Rangeland Derby competitions were broadcast by the CBC Sports website and Sportsnet One. CBC Television carried daily, late-night highlight shows, and coverage on the weekend. Supplemental coverage was, until 2013, seen on CBC's former sister cable network Bold. In 2019, U.S. sports channel CBS Sports Network aired nightly half-hour recaps covering the Stampede's rodeo (under the "PBR Summer of Rodeo" banner), while CBS broadcast a one-hour highlight show of the championship on July 21. In 2021, rodeo coverage moved to Sportsnet in Canada and The Cowboy Channel in the United States.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The festival spirit during Stampede extends throughout the city. Parade day serves as an unofficial holiday as many companies give employees half or full days off to attend. People of all walks of life, from executives to students, discard formal attire for casual western dress, typically represented by Wrangler jeans and cowboy hats. Many Calgarians have reduced productivity during the event because they take a relaxed attitude towards their usual workplace and personal responsibilities. However, the community and corporate events held during the Stampede create social networking opportunities and help newcomers acclimatize to the city. The Stampede is an important stop for political leaders as part of their annual summer tours of the country, sometimes called the barbecue circuit.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The pancake breakfast is a local institution during Stampede. Dozens are held throughout the city each day, hosted by community groups, corporations, churches, politicians and the Stampede itself. The tradition of pancake breakfasts dates back to the 1923 Stampede when a chuckwagon driver by the name of Jack Morton invited passing citizens to join him for his morning meals.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The largest is the breakfast hosted at the Chinook Centre shopping mall. Four hundred volunteers are required to feed over 60,000 people who attend the one-day event that had its 50th anniversary in 2010. Other groups, such as the Calgary Stampede Caravan, feed as many as 120,000 people over ten days. The rising popularity of the barbecue grill in the 1960s and the city's population boom at the time brought with it the growth of community and company barbecues throughout the city during Stampede. Community booster groups have exported the tradition across the country as a symbol of Calgary's hospitality. Among them are the Calgary Grey Cup Committee, whose volunteers have hosted pancake breakfasts on the day of the Canadian Football League championship game for over three decades, sometimes in spite of poor weather conditions for the annual November contest.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The size and number of parties each year during Stampede is viewed as an indicator of Calgary's economic strength. Corporations and community groups hold lavish events throughout the city for their staff and clients, while bars and pubs erect party tents, the largest of which draws up to 20,000 people per day. Paul Vickers, who owns several establishments in the city, estimates that he makes up to 20 percent of his annual revenue during the ten days of Stampede alone. Some parties have become known for heavy drinking and relaxed morals, so much so that one hotel's satirical ad promising to safely store a patron's wedding ring during Stampede was widely viewed as a legitimate offer. The parties are not without consequences, as lawyers have noted a significant increase in divorce filings in the weeks following the Stampede, primarily on claims of infidelity. Clinics see an increase in people seeking testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and Calgary is said to experience an annual baby boom each April – nine months after the event.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Stampede has become inexorably linked to the city's identity. Calgary has long been called the "Stampede City", and carries the informal nickname of "Cowtown". The event's iconic status offers Calgary global publicity and plays a significant role in defining the city's image. Calgary's Canadian Football League team has been called the Stampeders since 1945, and it is a name shared by other teams in various sports throughout the city's history, including the Stampeders hockey team that operated in the years following World War II.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: The Stampede has strong polling support within the province. A 2006 Ipsos-Reid poll found that 86 percent of Albertans felt that it raised the civic quality of life and considered it one of the region's most important cultural events. Nearly three in four stated they look forward to the annual event. However, critics argue that it is not a reflection of Alberta's frontier history, but represents a mythical impression of western cowboy culture created by 19th-century wild west shows.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Part of the event's success can be attributed to the close relationship the Stampede has often shared with both the civic government and community leaders. Mayors of Calgary and city aldermen have sat on the Stampede Board of Governors at the same time they occupied public office, and the Stampede's ability to convince wealthy and influential citizens to volunteer their time has allowed the organization to gain a high-profile within the city. The Stampede operates on city-owned land, pays no property tax on its lease, and typically faces little to no political interference from City Hall. It operates as a non-profit entity with all income reinvested into the park. All improvements to the park would revert to city control if the lease were allowed to expire.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Likewise, the Stampede has support from the media, which has been accused of providing an inordinate amount of positive coverage to the event while trivializing negative aspects. The local media faced national scrutiny in 2009 when both major newspapers refused to run anti-rodeo ads sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society. While the "Calgary Herald" simply refused to run the ad, the "Calgary Sun" defended its position in an editorial. The "Sun" refuted charges it was kowtowing to the Stampede and justified its refusal by claiming "we are Calgarians and allowing a group of outsiders to come in and insult a proud Calgary tradition seemed just plain wrong." The "Herald" reversed its decision a year later, running a full-page ad sponsored by the Vancouver Humane Society.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: While 70 percent of Stampede attendees are from the Calgary region, officials work to promote the event across the globe. As such, the Calgary Stampede is known around the world. The Stampede draws foreign visitors primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and is experiencing growing attendance by tourists from Asia and South America.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: A 2019 Conference Board of Canada Report found the annual economic impact of the Calgary Stampede’s year-round activities generated $540.8 million across the province of Alberta. The 10-day event accounted for $282.5 million of that amount. In Calgary alone, the year-round activities of the Stampede accounted for $449.8 million. Of that, 227.4 million was generated by the 10-day Stampede.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Stampede officials estimated in 2009 that the city of Calgary had a gross economic impact of $172.4 million from the ten-day event alone, with a wider provincial total of $226.7 million. In terms of economic impact, the Stampede is the highest grossing festival in Canada, ahead of Ottawa's Winterlude, the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, and the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. Additionally, Stampede officials estimate that for every dollar spent at Stampede Park, tourists spend $2.65 in the rest of the city. A poll conducted in 2011 found that 40 percent of Calgarians who intended to attend the Stampede expected to spend $150–$400 over the course of the event, and 7 percent stated that they would spend more than that.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: Civic leaders have consistently noted the Stampede's impact on the city. Mayor Andrew Davison claimed in 1944 that the event "had done more to advertise Calgary than any single agency", an opinion that has been echoed by his successors. Stampede officials have made similar claims, arguing that the event is one of Canada's most important tourist attractions. The Canadian Tourism Commission placed the event in its Signature Experiences Collection, one of six such events or locations in Alberta.


title: Calgary Stampede

text: According to Ralph Klein, former mayor of Calgary and premier of Alberta, the Stampede symbolizes the province's spirit. He cited the friendly and welcoming attitude and festival spirit of the city's populace during the event, which community booster groups export around the world. Among examples cited was the infamous 1948 Grey Cup game in which two trains of Stampeder football fans descended on Toronto and launched an unprecedented series of celebrations before, during and after the game that included riding a horse into the lobby of the Royal York Hotel. The events helped turn the Grey Cup into a national festival and the largest single-day sporting event in the country.


title: Y'all

text: Y'all (pronounced ) is a contraction of "you" and "all", sometimes combined as "you-all". "Y'all" is the main second-person plural pronoun in Southern American English, with which it is most frequently associated, though it also appears in some other English varieties, including African-American English and South African Indian English. It is usually used as a plural second-person pronoun, but whether it is exclusively plural is a perennial subject of discussion.


title: Y'all

text: "Y'all" arose as a contraction of "you all". The term first appeared in print sporadically in the Southern United States in the early nineteenth century, though it seems to have remained uncommon throughout most of the South until several decades afterwards. The earliest attestation, with the spelling "you all" and in the specific second-person plural pronoun usage, is 1824. Earliest attestations with the actual spelling "y'all" are from 1856, however it was likely pronounced "y'all" much earlier. Another notable early attestation is in the "Southern Literary Messenger" (published in Richmond, Virginia) in April 1858. Its usage did not accelerate as a whole Southern regional phenomenon until the twentieth century.


title: Y'all

text: It is not certain whether its use began specifically with black or white residents of the South; one possibility is that the term was brought by Scots-Irish immigrants to the South, evolving from the earlier Ulster Scots term "ye aw". An alternative theory is that "y'all" is a calque of Gullah and Caribbean creole via earlier dialects of African-American English. However, most linguists agree that "y'all" is likely an original form, deriving from original processes of grammar and morphological change, rather than being directly transferred from any other English dialects.


title: Y'all

text: "Y'all" appeared at different times in different dialects of English, including Southern American English and South African Indian English, indicating it is likely a parallel but independent (unrelated) development in those two dialects. However, its emergence in both Southern and African-American Vernacular English indeed correlates in terms of the same basic time and place.


title: Y'all

text: The spelling "y'all" is the most prevalent in print, being ten times as common as "ya'll"; much less common spelling variants also exist, like "yall", "yawl", and "yo-all".