title: Acting

text: Depending on what an actor is doing, his or her heart rate will vary. This is the body's way of responding to stress. Prior to a show one will see an increase in heart rate due to anxiety. While performing an actor has an increased sense of exposure which will increase performance anxiety and the associated physiological arousal, such as heart rate. Heart rates increases more during shows compared to rehearsals because of the increased pressure, which is due to the fact that a performance has a potentially greater impact on an actors career. After the show a decrease in the heart rate due to the conclusion of the stress inducing activity can be seen. Often the heart rate will return to normal after the show or performance is done; however, during the applause after the performance there is a rapid spike in heart rate. This can be seen not only in actors but also with public speaking and musicians.


title: Acting

text: There is a correlation between heart-rate and stress when actors' are performing in front of an audience. Actors claim that having an audience has no change in their stress level, but as soon as they come on stage their heart-rate rises quickly. A 2017 study done in an American University looking at actors' stress by measuring heart-rate showed individual heart-rates rose right before the performance began for those actors opening. There are many factors that can add to an actors' stress. For example, length of monologues, experience level, and actions done on stage including moving the set. Throughout the performance heart-rate rises the most before an actor is speaking. The stress and thus heart-rate of the actor then drops significantly at the end of a monologue, big action scene, or performance.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards in Panavision. It is the second installment in "The Pink Panther" film series, with Peter Sellers reprising his role as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: Clouseau's blundering personality is unchanged, but it was in this film that Sellers began to give him the idiosyncratically exaggerated French accent that was to later become a hallmark of the character. The film also marks the first appearances of Herbert Lom as his long-suffering boss, Commissioner Dreyfus, as well as André Maranne as Dreyfus's assistant François and Burt Kwouk as Clouseau's stalwart manservant Cato, all three of whom would become series regulars. Elke Sommer portrays the murder suspect, Maria Gambrelli. The character of Gambrelli would return in "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993), this time played by Claudia Cardinale, who appeared as Princess Dala in "The Pink Panther" (1963). Graham Stark, who portrays police officer Hercule Lajoy, would reprise this role eighteen years later, in "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982).


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: The film was not originally written to include Clouseau, but was an adaptation of a stage play by Harry Kurnitz adapted from a French play "L'Idiote" by Marcel Achard. The film was released only a year after the first Clouseau film, "The Pink Panther", the biggest difference being that, without David Niven, Clouseau is the main character and not Niven's foil.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: Late at night at the country home of millionaire Benjamin Ballon, several of its occupants are moving about rooms, hiding and spying on others. The household consists of: Ballon's wife Dominique; Henri Lafarge, the head butler, and his wife Madame Lafarge, the cook; Miguel Ostos, the head chauffeur; Pierre, the second chauffeur, and his wife Dudu, the head maid; Georges the gardener, and his wife Simone, the second maid; Maria Gambrelli, the third maid; and Maurice, the second butler. The night's events soon end with gunshots in the room of Maria, and Miguel found murdered. Inspector Clouseau of the Sûreté, a bumbling and incompetent detective, is called out to the scene, accompanied by his assistant Hercule Lajoy. Suspicion is cast upon Maria, as she was found by Maurice clutching the gun that killed the victim. Before Clouseau can investigate further, his superior Commissioner Dreyfus removes him from the investigation out of fear he will bungle a high-profile case.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: The following day, while training with his manservant Cato under a strict unplanned arrangement between them, Closeau finds himself returned to the investigation after Dreyfus is ordered by his superiors to do so, through Ballon's political influence. In discussion with Hercule about the murder, Clouseau asserts that Maria is innocent despite the evidence against her, but believes she is protecting the real killer whom he suspects might be Ballon himself. To keep her under surveillance during the investigation he arranges for her release from prison. However, two more murders occur - George in the Ballon's greenhouse; and Dudu at a nudist camp - with the evidence pointing towards Maria in each case. Despite the facts, Clouseau continues to believe she is innocent, which leaves Dreyfus dismayed at his incompetence in the case and the scandals he causes. After the body of Henri is found in the closet of Maria's bedroom, Clouseau is once more removed from the case.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: Although Dreyfus begins to suspect Ballon is trying to cover up facts about the murder, assuming that he is shielding someone with Maria's help, Clouseau's theory about her innocence leaves him worried that he could be undone. When he is forced to put him back on the case, he eventually suffers a nervous breakdown upon hearing of him going out for the evening with Maria. That night, several attempts are made on Clouseau's life at various establishments, including his apartment, but all of these fail while resulting in the death of several innocent bystanders. The increased notoriety of the case as a result of the incidents, coupled with proving Clouseau's theory correct, slowly cause Dreyfus to become unhinged.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: Clouseau finally decides to confront the Ballon household over the murders, hoping to trick the murderer into unmasking themselves. However, his plan unexpectedly proves Maria innocent in all three murders - Dominique reveals she killed Miguel by mistake, believing he was her husband whom she thought was having an affair; Madame LaFarge murdered George because he was about to break up with her; Simone killed Dudu in order to maintain her affair with Pierre; and Ballon murdered Henri because he was having an affair with his wife. In the chaos that ensues, Clouseau's plan comes to its climax when Hercule cuts the lights, forcing the guilty parties to flee and attempt to escape in Clouseau's car, unaware that Dreyfus had planted a bomb in it, intending to kill Clouseau. The bomb explodes killing all the guilty parties. Believing everyone was innocent, despite what they had confessed to, Dreyfus loses his sanity and is dragged away by Hercule. Clouseau, embracing Maria, finally declares her innocent, but a passionate kiss between the two is swiftly interrupted when Cato makes a sneak attack on them.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: Sellers was attached to star in the adaptation of Harry Kurnitz's Broadway hit before the release and success of "The Pink Panther", but was not pleased with the script by Alec Coppel and Norman Krasna. Walter Mirisch approached Blake Edwards and asked him to take over as director of "A Shot in the Dark" from Anatole Litvak. Edwards declined initially, but eventually relented under pressure on the condition he could rewrite the script and substitute Inspector Clouseau for the lead character and choreograph comic scenes on the fly as he and Sellers had successfully done for their previous film. The relationship between Edwards and Sellers deteriorated to such a point that at the conclusion of the film they vowed never to work together again. They eventually reconciled to collaborate successfully four years later on "The Party", and on three more "Pink Panther" films in the 1970s.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: Taking inspiration from his teacher Ed Parker in martial arts, Edwards created the new character Cato Fong using the American Kenpo style. Parker briefly worked alongside Edwards learning more about cinematography and suggested that he implement slow motions at certain fight scenes in order to increase the dramatic effect and make the moves more noticeable for audiences. Following a favorable response from viewers, Edwards continued to use this effect in following Pink Panther films.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: As with most of the other Clouseau films, "A Shot in the Dark" features an animated opening titles sequence produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises utilizing an animated version of Inspector Clouseau. This film and "Inspector Clouseau" are the only Clouseau films not to feature the Pink Panther character in the opening titles. Henry Mancini's theme for this film serves as opening theme and incidental music in "The Inspector" cartoon shorts made by DePatie-Freleng from 1965 to 1969.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: The title song 'The Shadows of Paris' was written by Henry Mancini. The singer is not credited but contemporary trade reports confirm it was Decca Records recording artist Gina Carroll.


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" wrote, "It is mad, but the wonderful dexterity and the air of perpetually buttressed dignity with which Mr. Sellers plays his role make what could quickly be monotonous enjoyable to the end." "Variety" wrote: "Wisdom remains to be seen of projecting a second appearance of the hilariously inept detective so soon after the still-current firstrun showing of 'Panther,' since some of the spontaneous novelty may have worn off, but the laughs are still there abundantly through imaginative bits of business and a few strike belly proportions." Philip K. Scheuer of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that the film "is all variations of falling down and going boom ... I won't say 'ad nauseum' [sic] because Sellers is a clever comedian and never that painful to take. But enough is enough already." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" called it "a hardworking comedy," adding "While the lines are bright and sometimes blue, the real fun comes from sight gags, an old if neglected film ingredient." "The Monthly Film Bulletin" wrote, "Where "The Pink Panther" had style and a certain subtlety, its successor ... can substitute only slapstick of the crudest kind. As the bumbling inspector, Sellers is this time absolutely out of hand, his principal—and endlessly repeated—gag being to fall with a resounding splash into large quantities of water." John McCarten of "The New Yorker" wrote, "'A Shot in the Dark' as done on Broadway was a mediocre comedy, but Blake Edwards, who directed the film and collaborated on the script with William Peter Blatty, had the good sense to toss the foundation stock out the window and let Mr. Sellers run amok ... All in all, extremely jolly."


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: The film was well received by critics. , it has 94% favourable reviews on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes out of 32 reviews counted. The average rating given by critics is 8.1 out of 10. The critical consensus reads: ""A Shot in the Dark" is often regarded as the best of the "Pink Panther" sequels, and Peter Sellers gives a top-notch performance that makes slapstick buffoonery memorable."


title: A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)

text: In 2006, the film was voted the 38th greatest comedy film of all time in Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Films


title: Muthu (film)

text: Muthu () is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar, and produced by Kavithalayaa Productions. The film stars Rajinikanth, Meena and Sarath Babu; with Radha Ravi, Senthil, Vadivelu, Jayabharathi, Subhashri and Ponnambalam all acting in supporting roles. It is a remake of the Malayalam film "Thenmavin Kombath" (1994). The film revolves around a zamindar and his worker falling in love with the same woman who, unknown to the zamindar, loves the worker exclusively.


title: Muthu (film)

text: After Rajinikanth narrated the outline of "Thenmavin Kombath", he told Ravikumar to develop the screenplay of the remake without watching the original film. Although largely written to suit the tastes of Tamil-speaking audiences, the remake retains the core premise of the original, while adding new plot details and characters. Ashok Rajan acted as the film's cinematographer. Principal photography began in June 1995 and took place in Mysore, Madras and Kerala. The film was edited by K. Thanikachalam and the music composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics written by Vairamuthu.


title: Muthu (film)

text: "Muthu" was released on 23 October 1995, during the Diwali holiday period. It became a silver jubilee hit. Rajinikanth won various awards for his performance, including the Tamil Nadu State Film Award and the Cinema Express Award, both for Best Actor. A dubbed Japanese version titled "Muthu Odoru Maharaja" () was released in 1998 and became the highest-grossing Indian film in Japan, sparking a short-lived boom of Indian films released in Japan and helping Rajinikanth gain a large fan following there. The film was remade in Kannada as "Sahukara" in 2004.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Muthu is a charioteer working for zamindar Raja Malayasimman. While watching a play, Raja falls in love with an actress, Ranganayaki, when the garland she throws inadvertently falls on him. When Raja sees another of her plays and witnesses her being harassed by a local village chief, he tells Muthu to rescue her. Muthu fights the village chief's goons and rescues Ranganayaki. When more goons appear, Raja advises Muthu to take Ranganayaki safely away in their two-horse chariot while he manages the goons. Muthu agrees and escapes with her.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Ranganayaki dislikes Muthu's company but is forced to continue accompanying him. They both become tired and leave the horses to seek their own route, landing in Kerala. Muthu, not knowing Malayalam, gets into trouble for asking passersby for a kiss as wrongly tutored by Ranganayaki. Finally, she comes to his rescue. After learning what she had meant, Muthu surprises Ranganayaki by kissing her. They fall in love and return to Raja's palace.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Ranganayaki is secretly escaping her abusive brother-in-law, Pratap Rayudu, who killed her sister and is now searching for her. So, she requests to continue staying at the palace. Her associates also join. Raja's maternal uncle Ambalathar, keen to take control of Raja's wealth, plans to get his daughter Padmini married to Raja. Raja's mother Sivakamiyammal keeps requesting her son to marry, referring to Padmini. But Raja, dreaming of marrying Ranganayaki, nods his head, and Sivakami sends word to her brother Ambalathar. When Ambalathar arrives and speaks of marriage, Raja reveals his intention to marry Ranganayaki. Angered, Ambalathar brings Rayudu to the palace, who forcibly tries to take Ranganayaki until Muthu subdues him and sends him away.


title: Muthu (film)

text: To remove Ranganayaki and Muthu from the palace and get his daughter married, Ambalathar provokes Raja, through his informer Kaali at the palace, by alleging that Muthu is romancing Ranganayaki. Kaali deliberately misinterprets the discussions between Muthu and Ranganayaki (who are at a distance) as Muthu compelling Ranganayaki to marry him. Believing Kaali's words and what he had seen, an enraged Raja throws Muthu out of the palace after having him beaten up by Kaali. Muthu, who is in shock, does not fight back. Sivakami, who had gone to a temple with Ranganayaki, returns and is shocked on learning what happened. She berates Raja, revealing the fact that Ranganayaki loves Muthu (not Raja) as well as the truth about Muthu's past.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Years ago, Muthu's father was the zamindar of the estate. Since he was childless, he named Raja, the son of his cousin Rajasekhar, his successor. Soon after, his wife conceived and died while giving birth to Muthu. At Ambalathar's instigation, Rajasekhar fraudulently obtained the zamindar's signature on blank papers and forced all of the property to be transferred to his name. Oblivious, the zamindar donated land to the villagers who returned to complain that the lands were not in his name. The zamindar realised what happened, but instead of punishing Rajasekhar, handed over the entire property to him and decided to leave the palace with his infant son Muthu. Sivakami pleaded that she be given the responsibility of raising Muthu. The zamindar agreed but said that his son must be raised as a commoner. After the zamindar left, a remorseful Rajasekhar committed suicide, and Sivakami moved to another village.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Sivakami says she had lied to the public that the zamindar's son had died, and that the zamindar currently lives nearby as a mystic nomad. Raja, realising his mistake, decides to go meet the zamindar and bring him back. Kaali, having overheard this conversation, reports to Ambalathar, who decides to murder Raja and frame Muthu so that he can take over the property. Kaali beats Raja, throws him into a waterfall and informs everyone that Muthu killed Raja. Muthu beats Kaali and makes him reveal that Ambalathar asked him to kill Raja. The villagers chase Ambalathar until Raja arrives with his bride Padmini. Raja was rescued by the zamindar and decided to marry Padmini. He forgives Ambalathar. Raja tells Muthu of his true identity, and Muthu rushes to meet his father, only to find that he has already left the place. Muthu becomes the new zamindar but prefers to identify as a worker.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Rajinikanth wanted K. S. Ravikumar to direct a film for him, and Ravikumar agreed to do so once he finished work on "Periya Kudumbam" (1995). After buying the rights to remake the 1994 Malayalam film "Thenmavin Kombath", Rajinikanth narrated the outline of that film and so told Ravikumar to develop a screenplay of the remake, but he did not let Ravikumar watch the film. The project did not initially have a producer, so Rajinikanth offered to take care of financial matters, but Ravikumar refused. Ravikumar developed the screenplay at the Woodlands Hotel with help from his assistant directors including Ramesh Khanna, while occasionally going to Rajinikanth's office. The film was initially titled "Velan" before being retitled "Muthu". This also marks Rajinikanth’s first collaboration with the director. Although Ravikumar was the primary dialogue writer, Rajinikanth wrote certain "punch" dialogues like "Kedaikkaradhu kedaikkama irukkadhu. Kedaikkama irukardhu kedaikadhu" ().


title: Muthu (film)

text: After completing three-fourths of the script, Ravikumar got permission to watch "Thenmavin Kombath" and was shocked to see the film's lack of resemblance to his screenplay. Rajinikanth told Ravikumar he did not want him to watch the film to avoid getting "inspired". Though Ravikumar took enough liberties to suit the tastes of Tamil-speaking audiences, the remake retained the original's core premise of a boss and his worker falling in love with the same woman and several other plot points such as the worker and his lover losing their way and ending up in a new land. New plot details and characters were added, including the protagonist's zamindar father and flashback scenes revolving around him. According to Kalaipuli S. Thanu, he was originally going to produce the film, but could not due to "various reasons". It was soon picked up by K. Balachander's Kavithalayaa Productions, and produced by Rajam Balachander and Pushpa Kandaswamy. The cinematography was handled by Ashok Rajan, and editing was handled by K. Thanikachalam.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Rajinikanth played two roles: Muthu and his unnamed father. Meena was Ravikumar's first choice for the role of Ranganayaki. Though her mother was concerned about the amount of screen time Meena would receive when compared to Subhashri (who was cast as Padmini), Meena took the role. According to Madhuvanti Arun, Rajinikanth offered her to do the role, but she was not selected because she was considered too young. Arvind Swamy was initially approached to portray Raja Malayasimman but was hesitant to act the scene where his character would slap Muthu. He was a fan of Rajinikanth and felt slapping the actor would anger his fans. Jayaram was later approached for the role but hesitated for the same reason. Though Jayaram suggested making changes to the scene, Ravikumar refused to do so. Sarath Babu was finally cast for the role, at Rajinikanth's suggestion. Vadivelu and Radha Ravi were cast as Valayapathy and Ambalathar, characters not present in the Malayalam original but created by Ravikumar. Radha Ravi was not initially interested in playing Ambalathar since he had grown weary of playing negative roles, but Rajinikanth's insisted. Rajinikanth wanted Ravikumar to make a cameo appearance as a Tamil-speaking Malayali. Ravikumar agreed after initial reluctance and dyed his hair white to portray the character.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Principal photography began on 1 June 1995. The first shooting schedule took place in Mysore. While filming the introductory song "Oruvan Oruvan", the team brought two horses via lorry to each place where the film was to be shot. Ravikumar did not want to allocate four or five days for filming the song; instead he "used up about 2030 minutes every day at all the locations we shot at. That way, [he] had a very colourful introduction song". After filming the opening scenes of the song, the team shot the climax scene involving a crowd of more than 5,000 people. Following this, scenes including Muthu's father were shot at the Lalitha Mahal. The rest of the film was shot at Travancore Palace in Madras (renamed Chennai in 1996), and Kerala. A blue skirt Meena had worn while shooting some scenes had faded as a result of her sitting under the "scorching" sunlight for so long, so an identical skirt was prepared before she began filming the "Kuluvalile" song sequence.


title: Muthu (film)

text: The song "Thillana Thillana" was shot at AVM Studios, during the final shooting schedule which took place alongside post-production. According to Ravikumar, the song's dance choreographer, B. H. Tharun Kumar, told him "he just needed one set on a single floor in AVM and that he'd change the colour of the set to suit the mood of the song. Everything – from the costumes of Rajini and Meena and dancers to the background – were matching". He added, "We'd pack up by night and the technicians would change the colour of the entire set overnight, and be ready for shoot at 7 am again. The top lights had already been fixed, so they'd do the other small lights and we will go for take by 9 am. We'll wrap up by 6 pm, and then, the technicians would start work on the colour of the set again". The introductory "Super Star" title card first used in "Annaamalai" (1992) was also used here.


title: Muthu (film)

text: "Muthu" soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics written by Vairamuthu. It is the first film where Rahman, Rajinikanth and Ravikumar worked together. A Hindi version of the soundtrack, titled "Muthu Maharaja," features lyrics by P. K. Mishra, whereas the Telugu soundtrack contains lyrics written by Bhuvana Chandra. The songs were recorded at the Panchathan Record Inn in Madras. The soundtrack was released on 8 October 1995 under the Pyramid label. The audio launch was held at Kalaivanar Arangam in Madras, where Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan along with Ravikumar, Rahman and Vairamuthu unveiled the audio cassettes to the public. The songs from "Muthu" were later retained in its Kannada remake in 2004, "Sahukara", though Rajesh Ramanath was credited for its music.


title: Muthu (film)

text: Some critics have felt that the dialogue "Naan eppo varuven, epdi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu. Aana vara vendiya nerathula correcta vandhuduven" () hinted at Rajinikanth's political aspirations. Writing for "PopMatters", Ranjani Krishnakumar felt that Muthu singing "Katchiyellam ippo namakkedhukku, kaalathin kaiyyil adhu irukku" () also underlined Rajinikanth's political manoeuvres, while critic Naman Ramachandran feels Rajinikanth was actually dispelling rumours of him joining politics through those lyrics. Writing for "Mint", Shoba Narayan said that Rajinikanth's heroines play to every traditional stereotype and cited Ranganayaki's name as an example, adding, "the names set the tone for the character."


title: Muthu (film)

text: "Muthu" was released on 23 October 1995, during the Diwali holiday frame, and began screening during the openings of "Kuruthipunal" and "Chandralekha". In Madras, the film was distributed by Sivasakthi Pandian through Sivasakthi Movie Makers, and in Coimbatore by Tirupur Subramaniam. Though Ravikumar initially feared the film would fail since screenings were declining during the third week of its run at Udhayam Theatre, Rajinikanth was confident it would succeed; it ultimately ran there for over 88 days at full capacity and became a silver jubilee hit. The film was dubbed into Telugu under the same title and Rajinikanth's voice was dubbed by Mano. It was also dubbed in Hindi as "Muthu Maharaja".


title: Muthu (film)

text: Writing for "INDOlink", Anand Kannan rated the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying, "What makes the movie charming is the clean, [simple-hearted] humour, and of course the unfailing Rajnikanth formula – dances, punch lines, fights, comedy, and restrained doses of preaching. And add some political undercurrent in the dialogue/lyrics, you have a jubilee film". He praised the performances of the main cast, especially Rajinikanth, but felt he was not convincing when playing Muthu's father. He also did not like how Senthil and Vadivelu were underutilised. "Ananda Vikatan" gave the film a rating of 42 out of 100, wrote that the film was consistent and described it as an engaging masala entertainer. They also praised the song sequences for their vibrancy. R. P. R. of "Kalki" felt the film was not as fast-paced as most Rajinikanth films, unsure whether this was the editor's fault or the writer's. He said the film put more emphasis on the songs than the dialogues.


title: Muthu (film)

text: In 1996, Japanese film critic Jun Edoki discovered the film at a video shop in Little India, Singapore. He said, "["Muthu"] was absolutely fascinating—even without subtitles". Edoki then approached several Japanese distributors, wanting release the film in Japan. Eventually, agreed to release it. In 1998, they dubbed the film in Japanese. It was given the Japanese title , meaning "Muthu – The Dancing Maharaja".


title: Muthu (film)

text: "Muthu Odoru Maharaja" initially had a limited release, starting on 13 June 1998 at Cinema Rise in Tokyo's Shibuya district, where it completed a 23-week run. It sold 127,000 tickets and grossed (), becoming the theatre's highest-grossing film of 1998, with distributor Atsushi Ichikawa describing it as "the "Titanic" of the art theaters". It then received a nationwide release across 100 theatres, drawing nearly 250,000 in audiences and grossing ().


title: Muthu (film)

text: Prior to "Muthu", the previous highest-grossing Indian film in Japan was the Bollywood film "Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman" from 1992, which was released there in 1997. "Muthu" surpassed it and became the most successful Indian film in Japan, as well as 1998's top film in the category of independent "first-run show" theatres. The success of "Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman" and "Muthu" sparked a short-lived boom of Indian films released in Japan, ending in 1999. "Muthu" was also the second highest-grossing 1995 Indian film overseas, behind only another Bollywood film, "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge". As of November 2018, "Muthu" remains the highest-grossing Indian film in Japan.


title: Muthu (film)

text: On 14 December 2006, the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, made a special note about the reach of the film in Japan during his speech at the National Diet of Japan. A 4K remaster of the film was released in Japan on 23 November 2018.


title: Muthu (film)

text: "Muthu" helped Rajinikanth and Meena gain a large fan following in Japan. The video for "Thillana Thillana" became famous for Meena's belly dance, which features many closeup shots of her navel. Meena danced to the song on an episode of the talk show "Simply Kushboo". The film itself has been frequently aired on Sun TV and recorded large viewership there. As well, many dialogues attained popularity such as "Kedaikkaradhu kedaikkama irukkadhu. Kedaikkama irukardhu kedaikadhu", "Naan eppo varuven, epdi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu. Aana vara vendiya nerathula correcta vandhuduven", and the Malayalam dialogue "Eruki anachu oru umma tharum" (Hug me tight, and kiss me). Sivasakthi Pandian used the profits he made from distributing "Muthu" to finance his first film as a producer, "Vaanmathi" (1996).


title: Muthu (film)

text: The attire worn by Rajinikanth in "Kuluvalile" – a white shirt and lungi – became popular. A 100-second fight sequence from "Muthu" was used in the French film "I Do" (2006) with permission from Kavithalayaa Productions. In 2017, artist Rajesh Arachi released an English-language comic book adaptation of "Muthu". It was published by Chelvam Comics. In the same year, a film tribute to Rajinikanth titled "12-12-1950" was released. The main characters are named after Rajinikanth's films, one of them being Muthu. In 2018, GRT Hotels in Chennai started creating dishes named after Rajinikanth's films, with one being named "Muthu", consisting of "gun powder arancini in the shape of pearls". In early 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in India, a song spreading awareness about COVID-19, titled "Corona Corona" and set the tune of "Thillana Thillana", became viral.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: "Madrigal" is the second episode of the fifth season of the American television crime drama series "Breaking Bad", and the 48th episode overall. Written by the series creator Vince Gilligan and directed by Michelle MacLaren, it originally aired on AMC in the United States on July 22, 2012.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: "Madrigal" was seen by an estimated 2.29 million American household viewers. It received highly positive reviews from critics, with one citing it as an example of great artistic directing in a television series.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: In Hanover, Germany, Peter Schuler, an executive for Madrigal Electromotive GmbH, the parent company of Los Pollos Hermanos, kills himself with a portable defibrillator after police arrive to question him about his longstanding ties to Gus Fring. Back in Albuquerque, Jesse Pinkman panics over the missing ricin cigarette, worried that someone will find it and get poisoned. Walter White hides the vial of ricin behind an electrical outlet cover in his house and creates a fake one, planting it in Jesse's Roomba when he helps search Jesse's house. Jesse finds it and tearfully laments what he believes is his own stupidity, apologizing to Walt for suspecting him of poisoning Brock Cantillo.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: Walt and Jesse offer Mike Ehrmantraut an equal, three-way partnership in a new meth operation. Mike refuses, explaining that Walt is a dangerous "time bomb" and he has no intention of waiting until Walt blows everything around him to pieces. Saul Goodman suggests that with Gus eliminated, Walt can safely and cleanly quit the drug trade. However, Walt justifies rebooting the meth business by claiming that it is a golden opportunity that he cannot afford to leave behind since he is actually $40,000 in debt to Jesse after Skyler White gave over $600,000 to Ted Beneke, and paid for Hank Schrader's physical therapy. But the main obstacle to Walt and Jesse's comeback plan is the need for a new source of methylamine, the precursor to their premium-grade version of meth.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: Meanwhile, Hank takes part in a meeting between the DEA and Madrigal's CEO, who claims Schuler was a lone criminal within the company and promises full cooperation. Hank's boss, ASAC George Merkert, reveals that he is being forced out of his job as punishment by his superiors for failing to heed Hank's warnings about Gus. Merkert reflects on his friendship with Gus and wonders aloud who else might be leading a double life, which seems to suddenly strike a chord with a pensive-looking Hank.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: A Houston-based Madrigal executive named Lydia Rodarte-Quayle asks Mike to kill eleven men from Gus's operation in order to tie up loose ends. Mike refuses, as Gus paid them enough to keep quiet. However, when he is called in to meet with Hank and Steve Gomez, Mike learns the authorities have seized all of the offshore accounts Gus had set up for key underlings in his meth operation. Mike is affected as well since his account (set up in his 10-year-old granddaughter's name) was worth $2 million. On Mike's way into his interview at the DEA offices, he runs into a visibly scared Duane Chow—Gus' methylamine supplier—who was just leaving his own DEA interview.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: Later, Chow invites Mike to his home to discuss their shared problem with the police. Mike correctly suspects that it is a setup and gets the jump on Chris, one of his former men, who has already killed Chow. Chris explains that Lydia had contracted him to kill everyone after Mike refused, as he needs the money. Mike kills Chris and later breaks into Lydia's house in Houston. As he is about to execute her, Lydia's panicked pleas about her daughter affect him. He decides to spare Lydia in exchange for her becoming Walt's new methylamine supplier. Mike calls Walt and accepts a partnership in the new meth operation.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: Skyler has become paralyzed by feelings of overwhelming fear and helplessness at the type of person Walt has become. Walt joins Skyler in bed for the night, gently explaining why it's for the best that she accepts the new phase their lives have entered, and again hints at remorse for what happened to Ted. Even though her back is still facing him, Walt continues to reassure Skyler on how things are much better than she thinks they are, and begins making unsolicited sexual advances towards Skyler, who remains completely quiet.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: "Breaking Bad" creator and episode writer Vince Gilligan spoke about opening the episode at Madrigal: "We always like to surprise our viewers, and the idea of suddenly opening in Germany seemed like fun. We also wanted to start showing you the business of Madrigal, the company that financed Gus Fring. Is Madrigal all corrupt? Or was it just a couple of executives?" However, all actors speaking German in the opening scene display a strong English accent, implying none of them are native speakers. He also spoke about Jonathan Banks, who was the main focus of the episode, and Mike's evolving over the series: "It’s a testament to the great actors on this show – Aaron Paul, Dean Norris who plays Hank – that those characters became more important over time. Jonathan Banks is just fantastic in the role." When asked if Mike was watching "The Caine Mutiny" in the episode, Vince stated: "That is "The Caine Mutiny", one of my very favorite movies. I was very lucky with that, actually, because it can be very expensive to use clips of movies, which is why you don't see too many clips on the show. But "Caine Mutiny" is owned by Sony/Columbia, our parent company. And yes, it may have some connection to where Walt is at this point." The episode marks the first appearance of Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, portrayed by Laura Fraser.


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: Several fake restaurant chain names were made for the headquarters of Madrigal. One of these, "Burger Matic", was actually taken from Gilligan's previous work, "Home Fries".


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: The episode was watched by approximately 2.29 million American viewers on its original broadcast, down from its series-high ratings of 2.93 million viewers the previous week. This viewer count was later matched by "'Fifty-One".


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: The episode received critical acclaim with many critics considering it a step up from the season premiere and praising Jonathan Banks' performance. Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" called "Madrigal" "terrific", stating: "One of the methods to "Breaking Bad"s endless fascination is the way it unfurls maps of inter-dependence. Certain characters may like to see themselves as independent agents, as lone wolves, but everyone is dependent upon someone else – someone else's errors, or rare twinge of good conscience – and thus must remain part of a group. It's a braided metaphor for the reasons we form societies." He did, however, wish the episode ended "more forcefully" with Mike making the reluctant phone call to Walt, rather than ending with the Walt/Skyler bedroom scene. "TV Fanatic"s Matt Richenthal gave the episode 4.8 out of 5 stars, commenting: "Through its attention to detail, direction and dialogue, "Breaking Bad" possesses an uncanny ability to enrapture and enthrall. You can't help but be invested in every moment." He also commented on Jonathan Banks' performance: "Overall, just a terrific showcase this week for Jonathan Banks. His portrayal of Mike paints the picture of an exasperated career criminal who excels at the game ... and is resigned to his fate. He's funny ... and he somehow manages to be the moral center of this operation, despite his willingness to kill and kill and kill."


title: Madrigal (Breaking Bad)

text: Matt Zoller Seitz of "Vulture" cited the episode as an example of great directing in television, stating that it "contained not a single dull shot" and is stylistically reminiscent of Alan J. Pakula's thriller films through Michelle MacLaren's "sense of space, light, and pacing".


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr.. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, the younger Thaw is most notable for murdering the renowned architect Stanford White in front of hundreds of witnesses at the rooftop theatre of New York City's Madison Square Garden on June 25, 1906.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw had harbored an obsessive hatred of White, believing he had blocked Thaw's access to the social elite of New York. White had also had a previous relationship with Thaw's wife, the model/chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit, when she was age 16 or 17, which had allegedly begun with White plying Nesbit with alcohol (and possibly drugs) and raping her while she was unconscious. In Thaw's mind, the relationship had "ruined" her. Thaw's trial for murder was heavily publicized in the press, to the extent that it was called the "trial of the century". After one hung jury, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Plagued by mental illness throughout his life that was evident even in his childhood, Thaw spent money lavishly to fund his obsessive partying, drug addiction, abusive behavior toward those around him, and gratification of his sexual appetites. The Thaw family's wealth allowed them to buy the silence of anyone who threatened to make public the worst of Thaw's reckless behavior and licentious transgressions. However, he had several additional serious confrontations with the criminal justice system, one of which resulted in seven years' confinement in a mental institution.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Harry Thaw was born on February 12, 1871, to Pittsburgh coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr., and his second wife, Mary Sibbet (Copley) Thaw. The elder Thaw fathered eleven children from his two marriages. Thaw had five siblings, Margaret (born 1877), Alice Cornelia (born 1880), Edward (born 1873) and Josiah (born 1874). A brother, born a year before Harry, died an accidental death in infancy, smothered by his mother's breast while he lay in her bed. Thaw's mother herself was known for her abuse of the family's servants, as well as episodes of ungovernable temper.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: In childhood, Thaw was subject to bouts of insomnia, temper tantrums, incoherent babbling and, notably, baby talk, a form of expression which he retained in adulthood. His chosen form of amusement was hurling heavy household objects at the heads of servants. The misfortune of others triggered fits of giggling. Thaw spent his childhood bouncing among private schools in Pittsburgh, never doing well and described by teachers as unintelligent and a troublemaker. A teacher at the Wooster Prep School described the 16-year-old Thaw as having an "erratic kind of zig-zag" walk, "which seemed to involuntarily mimic his brain patterns." As the son of William Thaw, he was granted admission to the University of Pittsburgh, where he was to study law, though he apparently did little studying. After a few years, he used his name and social status to transfer to Harvard College.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw later bragged that he had studied poker at Harvard. He reportedly lit cigars with hundred dollar bills, went on long drinking binges, attended cockfights, and spent much of his time romancing young women. In 1894, he chased a cab driver down on a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a shotgun, believing he had been cheated out of ten cents change. He claimed the shotgun was unloaded. Thaw was ultimately expelled from Harvard for "immoral practices", as well as intimidating and threatening students and teachers. His expulsion was immediate; he was given three hours to pack up and move out.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw's father, in an attempt to curb his son's narcissistic excesses, limited his monthly allowance to $2,500. This was a great deal of money in an era when the average working man earned $500 a year and a lavish dinner at Delmonico's restaurant cost $1.50. The elder Thaw died in 1893, leaving his 22-year-old son $3 million in his will. Upon the death of her husband, Thaw's mother increased his allowance to $8,000, enabling him to indulge his every whim and gratify his sadistic sexual impulses. Thaw was the beneficiary of this monthly income for the next eighteen years. He was heir to a fortune estimated at some $40 million.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Early on and for years into the future, Thaw's mother and a cadre of lawyers dedicated themselves to shielding him from any public scandal that would dishonor the family name. Monetary pay-offs became the customary method of assuring silence. One notorious example occurred in Thaw's hotel room in London, where he purportedly devised a lure for an unsuspecting bellboy, whom Thaw proceeded to restrain naked in a bathtub, brutalizing him with beatings from a riding crop. Thaw paid $5,000 to keep the incident quiet.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: With an enormous amount of cash at his disposal, and reserves of energy to match, Thaw repeatedly tore through Europe at a frenetic pace, frequenting bordellos where his pleasure involved restraining his partners with handcuffs and other devices of bondage. In Paris in 1895, Thaw threw an extravagant party, reputedly costing $50,000, which drew wide publicity. The attendees were Thaw himself and 25 of the most beautiful showgirls/prostitutes he could assemble. A military band was hired to provide musical entertainment. For Thaw, John Philip Sousa's marches were the favored party music as "they lifted the roof off the place." Each of the Parisian beauties found a unique party favor at the end of the meal. The dessert course was a $1,000 piece of jewelry wrapped around the stem of a liqueur glass.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Exhibiting the classic characteristics of the skilled, manipulative sociopath, Thaw kept the more sinister side of his personality in check when it suited his purposes and advanced his agenda. He had the faculty, when required, to impress upon others that he was a gentle, caring soul. The term "playboy" entered the popular vernacular, it is alleged, inspired by Thaw himself—a vivid encapsulation of the lifestyle he so vigorously pursued.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: After his expulsion from Harvard, Thaw's sphere of activity alternated between Pennsylvania and New York City. In New York, he was determined to place himself amongst those privileged to occupy the summit of social prominence. His applications for membership in the city's elite men's clubs – the Metropolitan Club, the Century Club, the Knickerbocker Club, the Players' Club – were all rejected. His membership in the Union League Club was summarily revoked when he rode a horse up the steps into the club's entrance way, a "behavior unbefitting a gentleman".


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: All these snubs, Thaw was convinced, were directly or indirectly due to the intervention of the city's social lion, lauded architect Stanford White, who would not countenance Thaw's entry into these exclusive clubs. Thaw's narcissism rebelled at such a state of affairs and ignited a virulent animosity towards White. This was the first identifiable incident in a long line of perceived indignities heaped on Thaw, who maintained the unshakable certainty that his victimization was all orchestrated by White.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: A second incident furthered Thaw's paranoid obsession with White. A disgruntled showgirl whom Thaw had publicly insulted reaped revenge when she sabotaged a lavish party he had planned by hijacking all the female invitees and transplanting the festivities to White's infamous Tower Room at Madison Square Garden. Thaw, stubbornly ignorant of the real cause of the chain of events, once again blamed White for single-handedly destroying his revelries. His social humiliation was completed when the episode was reported in the gossip columns. Thaw was left with a stag group of guests, and a glaring absence of "doe-eyed girlies".


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: The reality was that Thaw both admired and resented White's social stature. More significantly, he recognized that he and White shared a passion for similar lifestyles. White, unlike Thaw, could carry on without censure, and seemingly with impunity.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Various sources document Thaw's drug addiction, which became habitual after his expulsion from Harvard. He reportedly injected large amounts of cocaine and morphine, occasionally mixing the two drugs into one injection known as a speedball. He was also known to use laudanum; on at least one occasion he drank a full bottle in a single swallow. Thaw's drug addiction was verified when his wife, Evelyn Nesbit, found confirmation upon opening a bureau drawer. In her own words she related, "One day...I found a little silver box oblong in shape, about two and one half inches in length, containing a hypodermic syringe...I asked Thaw what it was for, and he stated to me that he had been ill, and had to make some excuse. He said he had been compelled to take cocaine."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw had been in the audience of "The Wild Rose", a show in which Nesbit, a popular artist's model and chorus girl, was a featured player. The smitten Thaw attended some forty performances over the better part of a year. Through an intermediary, he ultimately arranged a meeting with Nesbit, introducing himself as "Mr. Munroe". Thaw maintained this subterfuge, with the help of confederates, while showering Nesbit with gifts and money before he felt the time was right to reveal his true identity. The day came when he confronted Nesbit and announced with self-important brio, "I am not Munroe...I am Henry Kendall Thaw, of Pittsburgh!"


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Candid about his dislike of Thaw, White warned Nesbit to stay away from him. However, his cautions were generalizations, lacking the sordid specifics that would have alerted Nesbit to Thaw's aberrant proclivities. A bout of presumed appendicitis put Nesbit in the hospital and provided Thaw with an opportunity to insert himself emphatically into her life. He came in bearing gifts and praise, managing to impress both Nesbit's mother and the headmistress at the boarding school she attended. Later, under White's orders, Nesbit was moved to a sanatorium in upstate New York, where both White and Thaw visited often, but never at the same time.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Nesbit had undergone an emergency appendectomy, at which time the kind-hearted side of Thaw came into play. He solicitously promoted a European trip, convincing mother and daughter that such a pleasure excursion would hasten Nesbit's recovery from surgery. However, the trip proved to be anything but recuperative. Thaw's usual hectic mode of travel escalated into a non-stop itinerary, calculated to weaken Nesbit's emotional resilience, compound her physical frailty, and unnerve and exhaust her mother. As tensions mounted, mother and daughter began to bicker and quarrel, leading to Mrs. Nesbit's insistence on returning to the U.S. Having effectively alienated Nesbit from her mother, Thaw then took her to Paris, leaving Mrs. Nesbit in London.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: In Paris, Thaw continued to press Nesbit to become his wife; she again refused. Aware of Thaw's obsession with female chastity, she could not in good conscience accept his marriage proposal without revealing to him the truth of her relationship with White. What transpired next, according to Nesbit, was a marathon session of inquisition, during which time Thaw managed to extract every detail of that night: how—when plied with champagne—Nesbit lay intoxicated and unconscious, and White had "had his way with her". Throughout the grueling ordeal, Nesbit was tearful and hysterical; Thaw by turns was agitated and gratified by her responses. He further drove the wedge between mother and daughter, condemning Mrs. Nesbit as an unfit parent. Nesbit blamed the outcome of events on her own willful defiance of her mother's cautionary advice and defended her mother as naïve and unwitting.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw and Nesbit traveled through Europe. Thaw, as guide, chose a bizarre agenda, a tour of sites devoted to the cult of virgin martyrdom. In Domrémy, France, the birthplace of Joan of Arc, Thaw left a telling inscription in the visitor's book: "she would not have been a virgin if Stanford White had been around."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw took Nesbit to Katzenstein Castle in Austria-Hungary (now Italy), a forbidding, gothic structure sitting near a high mountaintop. He segregated the three servants in residence—butler, cook and maid—in one end of the castle; himself and Nesbit in the opposite end. This was where Nesbit claimed to have been locked in her room by Thaw, whose persona took on a dimension she had never before seen. Manic and violent, he beat her with a whip and sexually assaulted her over a two-week period. After his reign of terror had been expended, he was apologetic, and incongruously, after what had just transpired, was in an upbeat mood.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw had pursued Nesbit obsessively for nearly four years, continuously pressing her for marriage. Craving financial stability in her life, and in doing so denying Thaw's tenuous grasp on reality, Nesbit finally consented to become his wife. They were wed on April 4, 1905. Thaw himself chose the wedding dress. Eschewing the traditional white gown, he dressed her in a black traveling suit decorated with brown trim.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: The couple took up residence in the Thaw family mansion in Pittsburgh. In later years Nesbit took measure of life in the Thaw household; the Thaws were anything but intellectuals, and their value system was shallow and self-serving, "the plane of materialism which finds joy in the little things that do not matter—the "appearance" of ...[things]".


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Envisioning a life of travel and entertainment, Nesbit was rudely awakened to a reality markedly different; a household ruled over by the sanctimonious propriety of "Mother Thaw". Thaw himself entered into his mother's sphere of influence, seemingly without protest, taking on the pose of pious son and husband. It was at this time that Thaw instituted a zealous campaign to expose White, corresponding with the reformer Anthony Comstock, an infamous crusader for moral probity and the expulsion of vice. Because of this activity, Thaw became convinced that he was being stalked by members of the notorious Monk Eastman Gang, hired by White to kill him. Thaw started to carry a gun. Nesbit later corroborated his mind-set: "[Thaw] imagined his life was in danger because of the work he was doing in connection with the vigilance societies and the exposures he had made to those societies of the happenings in White's flat."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: It is conjectured that White was unaware of Thaw's long-standing vendetta against him. White considered Thaw a poseur of little consequence, categorized him as a clown, and most tellingly, called him the "Pennsylvania pug"—a reference to Thaw's baby-faced features.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: On June 25, 1906, Thaw and Nesbit were stopping in New York briefly before boarding a luxury liner bound for a European holiday. Thaw had purchased tickets for himself, his wife and two of his male friends for the show "Mam'zelle Champagne", playing on the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden. Despite suffocating heat, which did not abate as night fell, Thaw inappropriately wore over his tuxedo a long black overcoat, which he refused to take off throughout the entire evening.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: At 11:00p.m., as the show was coming to a close, White appeared, taking his place at the table that was customarily reserved for him. Thaw had been agitated all evening, and abruptly bounced back and forth from his own table throughout the performance. Spotting White's arrival, he tentatively approached him several times, each time withdrawing in hesitation. During the finale, "I Could Love a Million Girls", Thaw produced a pistol and, standing some two feet from his target, fired three shots at White, killing him instantly. Part of White's blood-covered face was torn away and the rest of his features were unrecognizable, blackened by gunpowder. Thaw remained standing over White's body, displaying the gun aloft in the air, resoundingly proclaiming, according to witness reports, "I did it because he ruined my wife! He had it coming to him! He took advantage of the girl and then abandoned her!" (The key witness allowed that he wasn't completely sure he heard Thaw correctly – that he might have said "he ruined my life" rather than "he ruined my wife".)


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: The crowd initially suspected the shooting might be part of the show, as elaborate practical jokes were popular in high society at the time. Soon, however, it became apparent that White was dead. Thaw, still brandishing the gun high above his head, walked through the crowd and met Nesbit at the elevator. When she asked what he had done, Thaw purportedly replied, "It's all right, I probably saved your life."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw was charged with first-degree murder and denied bail. A newspaper photo shows Thaw in The Tombs prison seated at a formal table setting, dining on a meal catered for him by Delmonico's restaurant. In the background is further evidence of the preferential treatment provided to him. Conspicuously absent is the standard issue jail cell cot; during his confinement Thaw slept in a brass bed. Exempted from wearing prisoner's garb, he was allowed to wear his own custom-tailored clothes. The jail's doctor was induced to allow Thaw a daily ration of champagne and wine. In his jail cell, it was reported that Thaw heard the heavenly voices of young girls calling to him, which he interpreted as a sign of divine approval. He was in a euphoric mood, unshakable in his belief that the public would applaud the man who had rid the world of the menace of Stanford White.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: As early as the morning following the shooting, news coverage became both chaotic and single-minded, and ground forward with unrelenting momentum. Any person, place or event, no matter how peripheral to the incident, was seized on by reporters and hyped as newsworthy copy. Facts were thin but sensationalist reportage was plentiful in this, the heyday of yellow journalism. The hard-boiled news reporters were bolstered by a contingent of counterparts, christened "Sob Sisters", whose stock-in-trade was the human interest piece, heavy on sentimental tropes and melodrama, crafted to pull on the emotions and punch them up to fever pitch.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: The rampant interest in the White murder and its key players were used by both the defense and prosecution to feed malleable reporters any "scoops" that would give their respective sides an advantage in the public forum. Thaw's mother, as was her custom, primed her own publicity machine through monetary pay-offs. The district attorney's office took on the services of a Pittsburgh public relations firm, McChesney and Carson, backing a print smear campaign aimed at discrediting Thaw and Nesbit. Pittsburgh newspapers displayed lurid headlines, a sample of which blared, "Woman Whose Beauty Spelled Death and Ruin".


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: The main issue in the case was the question of premeditation. At the outset, the formidable District Attorney, William Travers Jerome, preferred not to take the case to trial by having Thaw declared legally insane. This was to serve a two-fold purpose. The approach would save time and money, and of equal if not greater consideration, it would avoid the unfavorable publicity that would no doubt be generated from disclosures made during testimony on the witness stand—revelations that threatened to discredit many of high social standing. Thaw's first defense attorney, Lewis Delafield, concurred with the prosecutorial position, seeing that an insanity plea was the only way to avoid a death sentence for their client. Thaw dismissed Delafield, who he was convinced wanted to "railroad [him] to Matteawan as the half-crazy tool of a dissolute woman".


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw's mother, however, was adamant that her son not be stigmatized by clinical insanity. She pressed for the defense to follow a compromise strategy; one of temporary insanity, or what in that era was referred to as a "brainstorm". Acutely conscious of the insanity in her side of the family, and after years of protecting her son's hidden life, she feared her son's past would be dragged out into the open, ripe for public scrutiny. Protecting the Thaw family reputation had become nothing less than a vigilant crusade for Thaw's mother. She proceeded to hire a team of doctors, at a cost of half a million dollars, to substantiate that her son's act of murder constituted a single aberrant act.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Possibly concocted by the yellow press in concert with Thaw's attorneys, the temporary insanity defense, in Thaw's case, was dramatized as a uniquely American phenomenon. Branded "dementia Americana", this catch phrase encompassed the male prerogative to revenge any woman whose sacred chastity had been violated. In essence, murder motivated by such a circumstance was the act of a man justifiably unbalanced.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw was tried twice for the murder of White. Due to the unusual amount of publicity the case had received, it was ordered that the jury members be sequestered—the first time in the history of American jurisprudence that such a restriction was ordered. The trial proceedings began on January 23, 1907, and the jury went into deliberation on April 11. After forty-seven hours, the twelve jurors emerged deadlocked. Seven had voted guilty, and five voted not guilty. Thaw was outraged that the trial had not vindicated the murder, that the jurors had not recognized it as the act of a chivalrous man defending innocent womanhood. He went into fits of physical flailing and crying when he considered the very real possibility that he would be labeled a madman and imprisoned in an asylum. The second trial took place from January 1908 through February 1, 1908.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: At the second trial, Thaw pleaded temporary insanity. This legal strategy was developed by Thaw's new chief defense counsel, Martin W. Littleton, whom Thaw and his mother had retained for $25,000 (). Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sentenced to incarceration for life at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Fishkill, New York. His wealth allowed him to arrange accommodations for his comfort and be granted privileges not given to the general Matteawan population.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Nesbit had testified at both trials. It is conjectured that the Thaws promised her a comfortable financial future if she provided testimony favorable to Thaw's case. It was a conditional agreement; if the outcome proved negative, she would receive nothing. The rumored amount of money the Thaws pledged for her cooperation ranged from $25,000 to $1 million. Throughout the prolonged court proceedings, Nesbit had received inconsistent financial support from the Thaws, made to her through their attorneys. After the close of the second trial, the Thaws virtually abandoned Nesbit, cutting off all funds. However, in an interview Nesbit's grandson, Russell Thaw, gave to the "Los Angeles Times" in 2005, it was his belief that Nesbit received $25,000 from the family after the end of the second trial. Nesbit and Thaw divorced in 1915.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Immediately after his commitment to Matteawan, Thaw marshaled the forces of a legal team charged with the mission of having him declared sane. The legal process was protracted.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: In July 1909, Thaw's lawyers attempted to have their client released on a writ of "habeas corpus". Two key witnesses for the state gave testimony at the hearing detrimental to the defense. Landlady Susan "Susie" Merrill recounted a chronology of Thaw's activities during the period of 1902 through 1905, in which he rented apartments at two separate locations from Merrill, brought girls into the premises, and physically and emotionally abused them. Newspaper reports speculated on an item brought into evidence by Merrill, a "jeweled whip" which graphically suggested the scenarios played out in Thaw's rooms. Money was paid to keep the women silent. A Thaw attorney, Clifford Hartridge, corroborated Merrill's story, identifying himself as the intermediary who handled the monetary payoffs, some $30,000, between Merrill, the various women and Thaw. On August 12, 1910, the court dismissed the petition and Thaw was returned to Matteawan. The presiding judge wrote: "...the petitioner would be dangerous to public safety and was afflicted with chronic delusion insanity."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Determined to escape confinement, in 1913 Thaw walked out of Matteawan and was driven over the Canadian border to Sherbrooke, Quebec. It is believed Thaw's mother, who had years of practice extricating her son from dire situations, orchestrated and financed her son's escape. His attorney, William Lewis Shurtleff, fought extradition to the U.S.; among Shurtleff's legal team was future Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. Thaw was taken to Mt. Madison House in Gorham, New Hampshire, for the summer and kept under the watch of Sheriff Holman Drew, but in December 1914 he was extradited to New York and was able to secure a trial to establish whether he should still be considered insane. On July 16, 1915, the jury determined Thaw to be no longer insane and set him free.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Throughout the two murder trials, as well as after Thaw's escape from Matteawan, a contingent of the public, seduced by the resulting exaggeration of the press, had become defenders of what they deemed Thaw's justifiable murder of White. Letters were written in support of Thaw, lauding him as a defender of "American womanhood". Sheet music was published for a musical piece titled: "For My Wife and Home". Soon after Thaw's release, "The Sun", in July 1915, weighed in with its own estimation of the justice system in the Thaw matter: "In all this nauseous business, we don't know which makes the gorge rise more, the pervert buying his way out, or the perverted idiots that hail him with huzzas."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: After Thaw's escape from Matteawan, Nesbit had expressed her own feelings about her husband's most recent imbroglio: "He hid behind my skirts through two trials and I won't stand for it again. I won't let lawyers throw any more mud at me."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: In 1916, Thaw was charged with the kidnapping, beating, and sexual assault of nineteen-year-old Frederick Gump of Kansas City, Missouri. His acquaintance with Gump dated to December 1915, and Thaw had worked to gain the trust of the Gump family. Thaw had enticed Gump to come to New York under the pretense of underwriting the teenager's enrollment at Carnegie Institute, and reserved rooms for him at the Hotel McAlpin. "The New York Times" later reported that, upon his arrival, Gump was confronted by "Thaw, armed with a short, stocky whip rushing for him." After the assault, Thaw fled to Philadelphia with the police in pursuit. When apprehended, he was found to have attempted suicide by slashing his throat.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Initially, Thaw tried to bribe the Gump family, offering to pay them a half million dollars if they would drop all criminal charges against him. Ultimately, he was arrested, jailed and tried. Found insane, he was confined to Kirkbride Asylum in Philadelphia, where he was held under tight security. He was ultimately judged sane and regained his freedom in April 1924. Thaw's obituary, printed in the "Times" the day after his death in 1947, implies that Thaw's mother and the Gump family arrived at a monetary settlement.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Evelyn Nesbit gave birth to a son, Russell William Thaw, on October 25, 1910, in Berlin. Nesbit always maintained he was Thaw's biological child, conceived during a conjugal visit to Thaw while he was confined at Matteawan. Thaw, throughout his life, denied paternity.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: In 1924, Thaw purchased a historic home, known as Kenilworth, in Clearbrook, Virginia. While living there, he ingratiated himself with the locals, joined the Rouss Fire Company, and even marched in a few local parades in his fireman's uniform. He was regarded as an eccentric by the citizens of Clearbrook, but does not seem to have run into a great deal of additional legal trouble while living there. In 1926, he published a book of memoirs titled "The Traitor", written to vindicate his murder of White. Thaw never regretted what he had done. Twenty years after having taken White's life, he said: "Under the same circumstances, I'd kill him tomorrow."


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: During the late 1920s, Thaw went into the film production business, based on Long Island in New York. His initial plan was to make short comedies and stories about bogus spiritualists. In 1927, he contracted with John S. Lopez and detective-story author Arthur B. Reeve for a batch of scenarios focused on the theme of fraudulent spiritualism. This association generated a lawsuit against Thaw, who refused to pay his collaborators for the script work they had done. Thaw, rejecting the original concept, now conceived of a project to film the story of his own life. He asserted, therefore, the original agreement was no longer valid and he had no financial obligation to his partners. Ultimately, in 1935, a legal judgment ruled in Lopez' favor in the amount of $35,000.


title: Harry Kendall Thaw

text: Thaw died of a heart attack in Miami, Florida, on February 22, 1947, ten days after his 76th birthday. At his death Thaw left an estate with an estimated value of $1 million (equivalent to $ million as of ). In his will, he left Nesbit a bequest of $10,000 ($,000 as of ), about 1% of his net worth. He was buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.


title: George Chuvalo

text: George Louis Chuvalo, CM (born September 12, 1937 as Jure Čuvalo) is a Canadian former professional boxer who was a five-time Canadian heavyweight champion and two-time world heavyweight title challenger. He is known for having never been knocked down in his 93 bout professional career including fights against Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman. Chuvalo unsuccessfully challenged Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship in 1966. Chuvalo was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.


title: George Chuvalo

text: Chuvalo was born on September 12, 1937 to Croat immigrants Stipan and Katica from Ljubuški in the Herzegovina region of what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina. Chuvalo became the Canadian amateur heavyweight champion in May 1955, defeating Winnipeg's Peter Piper with a first-round knockout (KO) in a tournament final in Regina, Saskatchewan. Chuvalo finished his amateur career with a 16–0 record, all by KO within four rounds. Nicknamed "Boom Boom", Chuvalo turned professional in 1956, knocking out four opponents in one night to win a heavyweight tournament held by former world champion Jack Dempsey at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on April 26, 1956.


title: George Chuvalo

text: George Chuvalo's rankings as a heavyweight were: number 9 in 1963, number 5 in 1964, number 3 in 1965, number 8 in 1966, number 4 in 1968 and number 7 in 1970.


title: George Chuvalo

text: Chuvalo is best known for his two fights against Muhammad Ali. He went the distance both times, in each case losing the decision by a wide margin on the scorecards. The first fight, on March 29, 1966, at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, was for Ali's world heavyweight title. "He's the toughest guy I ever fought", said Ali of Chuvalo after the fight.


title: George Chuvalo

text: George also had some losses against famous fighters other than his two losses to Ali. In 1957, George lost to Bob Baker, who was ranked as high as number two contender in 1955. This was his thirteenth fight and second professional loss. He also lost to Zora Folley, who was once ranked as the top contender. Among his victories was a win against Doug Jones, who gave Muhammad Ali a closely contested bout in 1963.


title: George Chuvalo

text: On August 14, 2008, Chuvalo's kitchen was the featured renovation project on the Canadian TV series "Holmes on Homes" in an episode titled "Kitchen Knockout".


title: George Chuvalo

text: During April 2010, Chuvalo was a special guest at the BC Golden Gloves tournament held at the Eagle Ridge Community Centre in Langford, British Columbia.


title: George Chuvalo

text: On December 17, 2011, he travelled to Sarajevo to attend the unveiling of a statue in his honor in Ljubuški on December 18, 2011.


title: George Chuvalo

text: On May 11, 2019, the George Chuvalo Community Centre in Toronto, Ontario, opened which provide a variety of recreational programs for children as well as LGBTQ youth.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: Pinus sylvestris, the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orange-red bark.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: "Pinus sylvestris" is an evergreen coniferous tree growing up to in height and in trunk diameter when mature, exceptionally over tall and in trunk diameter on very productive sites. The tallest on record is a tree over 210 years old tree growing in Estonia which stands at . The lifespan is normally 150–300 years, with the oldest recorded specimens in Lapland, Northern Finland over 760 years.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The bark is thick, flaky and orange-red when young to scaly and gray-brown in maturity, sometimes retaining the former on the upper portion. The habit of the mature tree is distinctive due to its long, bare and straight trunk topped by a rounded or flat-topped mass of foliage.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The shoots are light brown, with a spirally arranged scale-like pattern. On mature trees the leaves ('needles') are a glaucous blue-green, often darker green to dark yellow-green in winter, long and broad, produced in fascicles of two with a persistent gray basal sheath. On vigorous young trees the leaves can be twice as long, and occasionally occur in fascicles of three or four on the tips of strong shoots. Leaf persistence varies from two to four years in warmer climates, and up to nine years in subarctic regions. Seedlings up to one year old bear juvenile leaves; these are single (not in pairs), long, flattened, with a serrated margin.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The seed cones are red at pollination, then pale brown, globose and in diameter in their first year, expanding to full size in their second year, pointed ovoid-conic, green, then gray-green to yellow-brown at maturity, long. The cone scales have a flat to pyramidal apophysis (the external part of the cone scale), with a small prickle on the umbo (central boss or protuberance). The seeds are blackish, in length with a pale brown wing and are released when the cones open in spring 22–24 months after pollination. The pollen cones are yellow, occasionally pink, long; pollen release is in mid to late spring.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: Over 100 "Pinus sylvestris" varieties have been described in the botanical literature, but only three or four are now accepted. They differ only minimally in morphology, but with more pronounced differences in genetic analysis and resin composition. Populations in westernmost Scotland are genetically distinct from those in the rest of Scotland and northern Europe, but not sufficiently to have been distinguished as separate botanical varieties. Trees in the far north of the range were formerly sometimes treated as var. "lapponica", but the differences are clinal and it is not genetically distinct.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: Before the 18th century, the species was more often known as Scots fir or Scotch fir. Another, less common name is European redwood.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The timber from it is also called red deal or yellow deal, the name "deal" being adopted from an archaic unit of volume used to measure wood.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: "Pinus sylvestris" is the only pine native to northern Europe, ranging from Western Europe to Eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains and Anatolia, and north to well inside the Arctic Circle in Fennoscandia. In the north of its range, it occurs from sea level to , while in the south of its range it is a mountain tree, growing at altitude.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The species is mainly found on poorer, sandy soils, rocky outcrops, peat bogs or close to the forest limit. On fertile sites, the pine is out-competed by other tree species, usually spruce or broad-leaved trees.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The tree spread across Britain and Ireland after the Last Glacial Maximum. Pollen records show that pine was present locally in southern England by 9,000 years ago having entered from northeast France and that it had spread as far north as the Lake District and North Pennines 500 years later.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: It was present in Ireland over 8,800 years ago but absent from Wales at that time which suggests that the pine in Ireland had a separate Iberian origin or contained surviving populations, although evidence towards its survival is lacking. Pine expanded into Scotland between 8,000 and 8,500 years ago either from an independent refuge, from Scandinavia (via Doggerland) or from Ireland. As the climate warmed it became extinct from most of the Britain and Ireland around 5,500 years ago except in Scotland, Kielder in England and The Burren in County Clare, Ireland.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The Irish and western Scottish populations went through a massive decline around 4,000 years ago which ultimately led to the practical extinction of the Irish population between 2,000 and 1,000 years ago. It was replaced by large areas of blanket bog in western Scotland and Ireland though the reasons for its decline and extinction in England are not clear, but it may have been influenced by human activities.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: In Britain it now occurs naturally only in Scotland. Historical and archaeological records indicate that it also occurred in Wales and England until about 300–400 years ago, becoming extinct there due to over-exploitation and grazing; it has been re-introduced in these countries. Similar historical extinction and re-introduction applies to Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands. Whether it truly became extinct in England is unknown. It has been speculated that it may have survived wild long enough for trees used in cultivation in England to derive from native (rather than imported) sources. Shakespeare (in "Richard II") was familiar with the species in the 1590s, as was Evelyn in the early 1660s ("Sylva"), both around the time when the pine was thought to become extinct in England, but when landowners were also beginning ornamental and forestry planting.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The pine formed much of the Caledonian Forest, which once covered much of the Scottish Highlands. Overcutting for timber demand, fire, overgrazing by sheep and deer, and even deliberate clearance to deter wolves have all been factors in the decline of this once great pine and birch forest. Only comparatively small areas, only just over 1% of the estimated original of this ancient forest remain, the main surviving remnants being at Abernethy Forest, Glen Affric, Rothiemurchus Forest, and the Black Wood of Rannoch. Plans are currently in progress to restore at least some areas and work has started at key sites.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: It forms either pure forests or mixes with Norway spruce, common juniper, silver birch, European rowan, Eurasian aspen and other hardwood species. In central and southern Europe, it occurs with numerous additional species, including European black pine, mountain pine, Macedonian pine, and Swiss pine. In the eastern part of its range, it occurs with Siberian pine, among others.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: "Pinus sylvestris" is an important tree in forestry. The wood is used for pulp and sawn timber products. A seedling stand can be created by planting, sowing, or natural regeneration. Commercial plantation rotations vary between 50 and 120 years, with longer rotations in northeastern areas where growth is slower.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: In Scandinavian countries, the pine was used for making tar in the preindustrial age. Some active tar producers still exist, but that industry has almost ceased. The pine has also been used as a source of rosin and turpentine.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The wood is pale brown to red-brown, and used for general construction work. It has a dry density around 470 kg/m (varying with growth conditions), an open porosity of 60%, a fibre saturation point of 0.25 kg/kg, and a saturation moisture content of 1.60 kg/kg. The pine fibres are used to make the textile known as vegetable flannel, which has a hemp-like appearance, but with a tighter, softer texture.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The pine has also been widely planted in New Zealand and much of the colder regions of North America; it was one of the first trees introduced to North America, in about 1600. It is listed as an invasive species in some areas there, including Ontario, Michigan. It has been widely used in the United States for the Christmas tree trade, and was one of the most popular Christmas trees from the 1950s through the 1980s. It remains popular for that usage, though it has been eclipsed in popularity, by such species as Fraser fir, Douglas-fir, and others. Despite its invasiveness in parts of eastern North America, the pine does not often grow well there, partly due to climate and soil differences between its native habitat and that of North America, and partly due to damage by pests and diseases; the tree often grows in a twisted, haphazard manner if not tended to (as they are in the Christmas tree trade). The pines may be killed by the pine wood nematode, which causes pine wilt disease. The nematode most often attacks trees that are at least ten years old and often kills trees it infects within a few weeks.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: The pine was grown and used extensively in the coal mining regions of Flanders, Belgium. It was used to fortify the tunnelling and preferred for its cracking sound when in need of replacing. Large patches of forest, mostly containing the species, are still scattered over the countryside.


title: Pinus sylvestris

text: Several cultivars are grown for ornamental purposes in parks and large gardens, of which 'Aurea', 'Beuvronensis', 'Frensham', and 'Gold Coin' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


title: Devraha Baba

text: Devraha Baba (died 19 June 1990), was an Indian Siddha Yogi saint who lived beside the Yamuna river in Mathura. He was known as "ageless Yogi".


title: Devraha Baba

text: Little is known about the early life of Devraha Baba, beyond that in the first half of the 20th century he visited Maiel, a town 20 km south west of Salempur, Uttar Pradesh. Here he started living atop a "machan", a high platform made of wooden logs, situated 3 km from the town on the banks of Sarayu river. The place was near chilma Bazar Basti District, thus local people started calling him Devraha Baba, with "Baba" being an honorific for saints or old men. Thereafter he shifted to Vrindavan, where again he lived atop a machan on the banks of Yamuna river for the rest of his years. He visited many places in India and known in different names in different states. At Purneswari Maa Tara Tarini shakti Peetha


title: Devraha Baba

text: in Ganjam (Odisha), locals addressed him by the name of Chamatkari Baba. Even today, the priests of Maa Tara Tarini Shakti Peetha remember his miracles during his visit to Maa's Peetha. Once Devraha Baba also attested to it in an Interview with All India Radio.


title: Devraha Baba

text: Devraha Baba was a hermit from Vrindavan. He was considered to be a "spiritual guide to everyone from a pauper to the most powerful ... above narrow confines of caste and community." Village people as well as important personalities waited for hours to have a glimpse or "darshan" of him. He received visits from politicians seeking his blessings at the time of general elections, including Indira Gandhi, Buta Singh, and Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi visited his ashram on the eve of the 1989 elections. He used to bless the devotees with his feet.


title: Devraha Baba

text: He lived on a wooden platform near the river and wore a small deerskin. A barricade of wooden planks hid his semi-naked body from his devotees, and he came down only to bathe in the river.


title: Centaurus

text: Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. In Greek mythology, Centaurus represents a centaur; a creature that is half human, half horse (another constellation named after a centaur is one from the zodiac: Sagittarius). Notable stars include Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to the Solar System, its neighbour in the sky Beta Centauri, and V766 Centauri, one of the largest stars yet discovered. The constellation also contains Omega Centauri, the brightest globular cluster as visible from Earth and the largest identified in the Milky Way, possibly a remnant of a dwarf galaxy.


title: Centaurus

text: Centaurus contains several very bright stars. Its alpha and beta stars are used as "pointer stars" to help observers find the constellation Crux. Centaurus has 281 stars above magnitude 6.5, meaning that they are visible to the unaided eye, the most of any constellation. Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun, has a high proper motion; it will be a mere half-degree from Beta Centauri in approximately 4000 years.


title: Centaurus

text: Alpha Centauri is a triple star system composed of a binary system orbited by Proxima Centauri, currently the nearest star to the Sun. Traditionally called Rigil Kentaurus (from Arabic رجل قنطورس, meaning "foot of the centaur") or Toliman (from Arabic الظليمين meaning "two male ostriches"), the system has an overall magnitude of −0.28 and is 4.4 light-years from Earth. The primary and secondary are both yellow-hued stars; the first is of magnitude −0.01 and the second: 1.35. Proxima, the tertiary star, is a red dwarf of magnitude 11.0; it appears almost 2 degrees away from the close pairing of Alpha and has a period of approximately one million years. Also a flare star, Proxima has minutes-long outbursts where it brightens by over a magnitude. The Alpha couple revolve in 80-year periodicity and will next appear closest as seen from Earth's telescopes in 2037 and 2038, together as they appear to the naked eye they present the third-brightest "star" in the night sky.


title: Centaurus

text: One other first magnitude star Beta Centauri is in the constellation in a position beyond Proxima and toward the narrow axis of Crux, thus with Alpha forming a far-south limb of the constellation. Also called Hadar and Agena, it is a double star; the primary is a blue-hued giant star of magnitude 0.6, 525 light-years from Earth. The secondary is of magnitude 4.0 and has a modest separation, appearing only under intense magnification due to its distance.


title: Centaurus

text: The northerly star Theta Centauri, officially named Menkent, is an orange giant star of magnitude 2.06. It is the only bright star of Centaurus that is easily visible from mid-northern latitudes.


title: Centaurus

text: The next bright object is Gamma Centauri, a binary star which appears to the naked eye at magnitude 2.2. The primary and secondary are both blue-white hued stars of magnitude 2.9; their period is 84 years.


title: Centaurus

text: Centaurus also has many dimmer double stars and binary stars. 3 Centauri is a double star with a blue-white hued primary of magnitude 4.5 and a secondary of magnitude 6.0. The primary is 344 light-years away.


title: Centaurus

text: Centaurus is home to many variable stars. R Centauri is a Mira variable star with a minimum magnitude of 11.8 and a maximum magnitude of 5.3; it is about 1,250 light-years from Earth and has a period of 18 months. V810 Centauri is a semiregular variable.


title: Centaurus

text: BPM 37093 is a white dwarf star whose carbon atoms are thought to have formed a crystalline structure. Since diamond also consists of carbon arranged in a crystalline lattice (though of a different configuration), scientists have nicknamed this star "Lucy" after the Beatles song ""Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"."


title: Centaurus

text: PDS 70, (V1032 Centauri) a low mass T Tauri star is found in the constellation Centaurus. In July 2018 astronomers captured the first conclusive image of a protoplanetary disk containing a nascent exoplanet, named PDS 70b.


title: Centaurus

text: ω Centauri (NGC 5139), despite being listed as the constellation's "omega" star, is in fact a naked-eye globular cluster, 17,000 light-years away with a diameter of 150 light-years. It is the largest and brightest globular cluster in the Milky Way; at ten times the size of the next-largest cluster, it has a magnitude of 3.7. It is also the most luminous globular cluster in the Milky Way, at over one million solar luminosities. Omega Centauri is classified as a Shapley class VIII cluster, which means that its center is loosely concentrated. It is also the only globular cluster to be designated with a Bayer letter; the globular cluster 47 Tucanae is the only one designated with a Flamsteed number. It contains several million stars, most of which are yellow dwarf stars, but also possesses red giants and blue-white stars; the stars have an average age of 12 billion years. This has prompted suspicion that Omega Centauri was the core of a dwarf galaxy that had been absorbed by the Milky Way. Omega Centauri was determined to be nonstellar in 1677 by the English astronomer Edmond Halley, though it was visible as a star to the ancients. Its status as a globular cluster was determined by James Dunlop in 1827. To the unaided eye, Omega Centauri appears fuzzy and is obviously non-circular; it is approximately half a degree in diameter, the same size as the full Moon.


title: Centaurus

text: Centaurus is also home to open clusters. NGC 3766 is an open cluster 6,300 light-years from Earth that is visible to the unaided eye. It contains approximately 100 stars, the brightest of which are 7th magnitude. NGC 5460 is another naked-eye open cluster, 2,300 light-years from Earth, that has an overall magnitude of 6 and contains approximately 40 stars.


title: Centaurus

text: There is one bright planetary nebula in Centaurus, NGC 3918, also known as the Blue Planetary. It has an overall magnitude of 8.0 and a central star of magnitude 11.0; it is 2600 light-years from Earth. The Blue Planetary was discovered by John Herschel and named for its color's similarity to Uranus, though the nebula is apparently three times larger than the planet.


title: Centaurus

text: Centaurus is rich in galaxies as well. NGC 4622 is a face-on spiral galaxy located 200 million light-years from Earth (redshift 0.0146). Its spiral arms wind in both directions, which makes it nearly impossible for astronomers to determine the rotation of the galaxy. Astronomers theorize that a collision with a smaller companion galaxy near the core of the main galaxy could have led to the unusual spiral structure. NGC 5253, a peculiar irregular galaxy, is located near the border with Hydra and M83, with which it likely had a close gravitational interaction 1–2 billion years ago. This may have sparked the galaxy's high rate of star formation, which continues today and contributes to its high surface brightness. NGC 5253 includes a large nebula and at least 12 large star clusters. In the eyepiece, it is a small galaxy of magnitude 10 with dimensions of 5 arcminutes by 2 arcminutes and a bright nucleus. NGC 4945 is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on from Earth, 13 million light-years away. It is visible with any amateur telescope, as well as binoculars under good conditions; it has been described as "shaped like a candle flame", being long and thin (16' by 3'). In the eyepiece of a large telescope, its southeastern dust lane becomes visible. Another galaxy is NGC 5102, found by star-hopping from Iota Centauri. In the eyepiece, it appears as an elliptical object 9 arcminutes by 2.5 arcminutes tilted on a southwest-northeast axis.


title: Centaurus

text: One of the closest active galaxies to Earth is the Centaurus A galaxy, NGC 5128, at 11 million light-years away (redshift 0.00183). It has a supermassive black hole at its core, which expels massive jets of matter that emit radio waves due to synchrotron radiation. Astronomers posit that its dust lanes, not common in elliptical galaxies, are due to a previous merger with another galaxy, probably a spiral galaxy. NGC 5128 appears in the optical spectrum as a fairly large elliptical galaxy with a prominent dust lane. Its overall magnitude is 7.0 and it has been seen under perfect conditions with the naked eye, making it one of the most distant objects visible to the unaided observer. In equatorial and southern latitudes, it is easily found by star hopping from Omega Centauri. In small telescopes, the dust lane is not visible; it begins to appear with about 4 inches of aperture under good conditions. In large amateur instruments, above about 12 inches in aperture, the dust lane's west-northwest to east-southeast direction is easily discerned. Another dim dust lane on the east side of the 12-arcminute-by-15-arcminute galaxy is also visible. ESO 270-17, also called the Fourcade-Figueroa Object, is a low-surface brightness object believed to be the remnants of a galaxy; it does not have a core and is very difficult to observe with an amateur telescope. It measures 7 arcminutes by 1 arcminute. It likely originated as a spiral galaxy and underwent a catastrophic gravitational interaction with Centaurus A around 500 million years ago, stopping its rotation and destroying its structure.


title: Centaurus

text: NGC 4650A is a polar-ring galaxy 136 million light-years from Earth (redshift 0.01). It has a central core made of older stars that resembles an elliptical galaxy, and an outer ring of young stars that orbits around the core. The plane of the outer ring is distorted, which suggests that NGC 4650A is the result of a galaxy collision about a billion years ago. This galaxy has also been cited in studies of dark matter, because the stars in the outer ring orbit too quickly for their collective mass. This suggests that the galaxy is surrounded by a dark matter halo, which provides the necessary mass.


title: Centaurus

text: One of the closest galaxy clusters to Earth is the Centaurus Cluster at 160 million light-years away, having redshift 0.0114. It has a cooler, denser central region of gas and a hotter, more diffuse outer region. The intracluster medium in the Centaurus Cluster has a high concentration of metals (elements heavier than helium) due to a large number of supernovae. This cluster also possesses a plume of gas whose origin is unknown.


title: Centaurus

text: While Centaurus now has a high southern latitude, at the dawn of civilization it was an equatorial constellation. Precession has been slowly shifting it southward for millennia, and it is now close to its maximal southern declination. In a little over 7000 years it will be at maximum visibility for those in the northern hemisphere, visible at times in the year up to quite a high northern latitude.


title: Centaurus

text: The figure of Centaurus can be traced back to a Babylonian constellation known as the Bison-man (MUL.GUD.ALIM). This being was depicted in two major forms: firstly, as a 4-legged bison with a human head, and secondly, as a being with a man's head and torso attached to the rear legs and tail of a bull or bison. It has been closely associated with the Sun god Utu-Shamash from very early times.


title: Centaurus

text: The Greeks depicted the constellation as a centaur and gave it its current name. It was mentioned by Eudoxus in the 4th century BC and Aratus in the 3rd century BC. In the 2nd century AD, Claudius Ptolemy catalogued 37 stars in Centaurus, including Alpha Centauri. Large as it is now, in earlier times it was even larger, as the constellation Lupus was treated as an asterism within Centaurus, portrayed in illustrations as an unspecified animal either in the centaur's grasp or impaled on its spear. The Southern Cross, which is now regarded as a separate constellation, was treated by the ancients as a mere asterism formed of the stars composing the centaur's legs. Additionally, what is now the minor constellation Circinus was treated as undefined stars under the centaur's front hooves.


title: Centaurus

text: According to the Roman poet Ovid ("Fasti" v.379), the constellation honors the centaur Chiron, who was tutor to many of the earlier Greek heroes including Heracles (Hercules), Theseus, and Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. It is not to be confused with the more warlike centaur represented by the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius. The legend associated with Chiron says that he was accidentally poisoned with an arrow shot by Hercules, and was subsequently placed in the heavens.


title: Centaurus

text: In Chinese astronomy, the stars of Centaurus are found in three areas: the Azure Dragon of the East (東方青龍, "Dōng Fāng Qīng Lóng"), the Vermillion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, "Nán Fāng Zhū Què"), and the Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, "Jìnnánjíxīngōu"). Not all of the stars of Centaurus can be seen from China, and the unseen stars were classified among the Southern Asterisms by Xu Guangqi, based on his study of western star charts. However, most of the brightest stars of Centaurus, including α Centauri, θ Centauri (or Menkent), ε Centauri and η Centauri, can be seen in the Chinese sky.


title: Centaurus

text: Some Polynesian peoples considered the stars of Centaurus to be a constellation as well. On Pukapuka, Centaurus had two names: "Na Mata-o-te-tokolua" and "Na Lua-mata-o-Wua-ma-Velo". In Tonga, the constellation was called by four names: "O-nga-tangata", "Tautanga-ufi", "Mamangi-Halahu", and "Mau-kuo-mau". Alpha and Beta Centauri were not named specifically by the people of Pukapuka or Tonga, but they were named by the people of Hawaii and the Tuamotus. In Hawaii, the name for Alpha Centauri was either "Melemele" or "Ka Maile-hope" and the name for Beta Centauri was either "Polapola" or "Ka Maile-mua". In the Tuamotu islands, Alpha was called "Na Kuhi" and Beta was called "Tere".


title: Centaurus

text: The Pointer (α Centauri and β Centauri) is one of the asterisms used by Bugis sailors for navigation, called "bintoéng balué", meaning "the widowed-before-marriage". It is also called "bintoéng sallatang" meaning "southern star".


title: Youtiao

text: Youtiao (), known in Southern China as Yu Char Kway is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough of Chinese origin and (by a variety of other names) also popular in other East and Southeast Asian cuisines.


title: Youtiao

text: Conventionally, "youtiao" are lightly salted and made so they can be torn lengthwise in two. "Youtiao" are normally eaten at breakfast as an accompaniment for rice congee, soy milk or regular milk blended with sugar. Youtiao may also be known as a Chinese cruller, Chinese oil stick, Chinese donut [sticks], Chinese breadstick, and fried breadstick.


title: Youtiao

text: In other Asian countries, they may also be called "bicho, you char kway, cakwe, cakoi, kueh, kuay, shakoy" or "pathongko", among others.