title: Tatiana Calderón

text: Calderón returned to Arden for the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship and became the first woman to drive in the series. The renamed Alfa Romeo Racing team retained her as its test driver for the year. She stated that her two Formula One test sessions assisted her acclimatisation to Formula 2. At the Baku feature race, Calderón became the first woman in history to lead a lap in Formula 2. Poor qualifying results from a lack of tyre preparation led her to employ different strategies to gain position in a feature race. She had two race engineers during the season. Calderón had a best finish of 11th at Circuit Paul Ricard and was 22nd in the drivers' standings with no points scored. Late in the year, she obtained sponsorship that allowed her to enter the season-ending Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez double header round of the Porsche Supercup in Team Project 1's No. 24 911 GT3 Cup car, retiring from the first race and finishing 25th and last in the second.


title: Tatiana Calderón

text: Following the purchase of Arden's Formula 2 entry for the 2020 season by HWA Racelab and the signing of drivers Giuliano Alesi and Artem Markelov, Calderón left the team and sought a career in either American or endurance racing. As a result she left Formula 2 to join the Super Formula Championship with Drago Corse with ThreeBond for the 2020 season. Team owner Ryo Michigami negotiated with her late in December 2019 and concluded with an agreement not long after. Michigami selected Calderón over Nobuharu Matsushita for the seat and she spoke to him regularly about the SF19 car. In addition to her Super Formula seat she remained at Alfa Romeo's Formula One team as a test driver. Calderón worked with the reserve driver Robert Kubica to develop its C39 car, and was appointed an ambassador for the team. She also entered three rounds of the 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship with Seven GP, taking six top-ten finishes for 31 points and 13th in the drivers' standings.


title: Tatiana Calderón

text: She entered the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona (part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) alongside Rahel Frey, Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen in the No. 19 GEAR Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. Calderón prepared for the race by increasing her fitness regime and sleeping less in case she was told to drive early in the morning. Multiple car issues relegated the team to a 16th-place finish in class. She shared a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Oreca 07-Gibson car in the European Le Mans Series with Sophia Flörsch on the all-female Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing team in 2020. Calderón finished the ELMS season with three top-tens for 11th in the Drivers' Championship with 19 points and was 23rd in the Super Formula Championship with zero points. In September, she made her 24 Hours of Le Mans debut alongside Flörsch and Beitske Visser, finishing ninth in LMP2 and 13th overall.


title: Tatiana Calderón

text: In 2021, Calderón raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in the No. 1 Richard Mille Racing-run Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 car with Flörsch and Visser and continued to drive for the single car Drago Corse team in the Super Formula Championship. She was also retained as Alfa Romeo's test and development driver. Calderón's WEC season saw her finish 17th in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 23 points with four top-ten finishes in the five races that she entered. She concluded the Super Formula season without scoring any points in the four races she drove for 24th in the championship standings. Calderón tested Sébastien Bourdais' No. 14 A. J. Foyt Enterprises-prepared Dallara-Chevrolet car for 87 laps during a single day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July 2021 through a sponsorship agreement. She prepared for two weeks learning the circuit and the car and received coaching and mentoring.


title: Tatiana Calderón

text: Calderón impressed A. J. Foyt Enterprises with her performance, and the team considered her a potential driver for the 2022 IndyCar Series. For 2022, she signed to drive the No. 11 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara-Chevrolet vehicle for the street and road course rounds of that year's IndyCar Series. Calderón struggled to acclimatise to the circuits she raced at owing to restrictions on testing that limited her to a single pre-season test session, her lack of IndyCar track knowledge as well as adapting to new tyres and a car requiring physical effort. After competing in seven races, she was sidelined due to repeated missed payments by her team's primary sponsor. She ended the season 29th in the drivers' standings with 58 points scored. In August, Calderón joined Charouz Racing System, replacing Cem Bölükbaşı for the concluding four rounds of the 2022 Formula 2 Championship. She injured her right hand in an accident with Olli Caldwell in the Monza sprint race and she spent the following two months recuperating with the help of therapy to regain her strength in her arm and injured hand. Calderón finished the year 28th in the Drivers' Championship and achieved no points-scoring finishes.


title: Tatiana Calderón

text: Calderón describes herself as a smooth driver; she feels she reacts better to more powerful cars and in wet weather. Since women on average have less muscle mass than men, she trains intensely to be able to handle a high-performance racing vehicle, and she said that she increased the thickness of her neck by while training to deal with the high amount of g-force that she feels in a Formula One car. Calderón's short stature of means she finds it difficult to locate the correct angle and get the most power for her arms. She could not have a rest inserted at the back of her helmet due to restrictions in the GP3 Series regulations. Additionally, Calderón spent half of the 2016 season locating her preferred seating position, during which she made contact with her legs in the act of steering and decided to adjust the position of her car pedals to increase her comfort.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Shoot 'Em Up is a 2007 American romantic action thriller film written and directed by Michael Davis. It stars Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci, and Stephen McHattie. The film follows Smith (Owen), a drifter who rescues a newborn from being killed by assassin Hertz (Giamatti) and his henchmen. Smith flees from the gang, enlisting the help of prostitute Donna Quintano (Bellucci) to keep the baby safe as he unravels the conspiracy.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: According to Davis, the idea for the film came about after he saw a gun-battle scene from John Woo's critically acclaimed "Hard Boiled" in which Chow Yun-fat rescues newborn babies from gangsters. Desiring to make an action film centering on guns, he expanded the idea into a screenplay in 2000, accompanied by an animated footage with 17,000 drawings for the action scenes. After a deal with New Line Cinema, filming began in Toronto. The film was photographed by Hong Kong cinematographer Peter Pau.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Before its September 2007 release, the film was previewed at that year's San Diego Comic-Con and received a positive response. Despite a mediocre commercial performance (recouping less than its budget), critical reception to the film was largely favorable.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: At a bus stop in a rough part of town, a carrot-eating drifter and military veteran named Smith sees a pregnant woman on the verge of giving birth while fleeing a hitman. Following them into a warehouse, Smith kills the hitman by stabbing him in the face with a carrot and retrieves the woman's pistol. As more thugs, led by a ruthless man named Hertz, arrive, the woman goes into labor and Smith delivers her baby boy during a shootout. Pursued by Hertz, the woman is shot dead; Smith narrowly escapes with the newborn. Leaving the baby in a park, Smith hopes someone will adopt the child, but a passing woman is killed with a shot from Hertz's sniper rifle. Realizing that Hertz is trying to kill the baby, Smith saves him and tries unsuccessfully to leave him with a prostitute named Donna Quintano.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Hertz soon arrives at the brothel and tortures Donna for information; Smith returns and kills Hertz's henchmen. After a brief confrontation, Smith shoots Hertz and leaves with Donna and the baby. Having secretly worn a bulletproof vest, however, Hertz is alive albeit wounded. Taking Donna to his hideout, Smith realizes that the baby (whom he names Oliver) stops crying when he hears heavy metal music; he concludes that Oliver's mother lived near a heavy metal club. Pursued by Hertz, Smith shoots his way out of the hideout, and he and Donna head to a nearby club. Above the club they discover an apartment with medical equipment and two dead, pregnant women; Smith concludes that the women were all impregnated with one man's sperm in order to give birth to matching bone marrow donors.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: While they are having a chat in a motel room, Smith and Donna are attacked by masked men, where he notices that his assailants' weapons are Hammerson models, unavailable to the public. Smith brings Donna and Oliver to a war museum and hides them in a M24 Chaffee tank for safekeeping. Smith infiltrates the Hammerson factory and hears Hertz and Hammerson saying that they do not want the next president to repeal the right to bear arms. He also notices that Hammerson owns a German Shepherd dog named Duchess. Smith booby-traps the facility with an array of firearms, allowing him to kill the thugs and escape. During a shootout, Hertz reveals that he had conducted an investigation about Smith's identity and it turned out Smith is a former Army Ranger whose wife and kid were killed in a shootout in a burger joint. Smith sees an article about Senator Rutledge, a Democratic presidential candidate who favors stricter gun laws. Smith deduces that Rutledge has cancer and requires a bone-marrow transplant.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Due to which, Rutledge had impregnated the woman with his sperm (and why Hertz and Hammerson want Oliver dead). If the infants die, the senator will not receive a transplant and would be unable to run for president. Smith tells Donna to leave town and contacts one of Rutledge's henchmen to request an appointment. Meeting on an airplane, the senator confirms Smith's suspicions and Smith notices dog hair on Rutledge's trousers. Deducing that the hair belongs to Duchess and that the senator made a deal with Hammerson, Smith takes Rutledge hostage. Hertz appears and reveals that he agreed to help Rutledge find a bone-marrow donor, on the condition that Rutledge protects Hertz's constitutional right to bear arms when elected president. Smith kills the senator, whose assassination he explains "will cause public outrage and trigger immense support" for his gun control proposals.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Smith parachutes from the airplane and kills several pursuing henchmen, but is himself shot and collapses after he lands, where he awakens in Hammerson's mansion; Hertz tortures him, breaking his fingers in an attempt to learn where Smith sent Donna and Oliver. As Hertz prepares to cut Smith's eyes, Smith breaks free and kills Hammerson and several thugs. Cornered and struggling to use his gun, Smith places live bullets between his broken fingers and detonates them with a fireplace, critically wounding Hertz. As they grab pistols and struggle, Smith fires first and kills Hertz. Smith boards a bus with Duchess and stops at an ice-cream parlor where Donna works as a waitress while watching Oliver. Surprised to see each other alive, he and Donna kiss passionately. A group of amateur armed robbers suddenly enters the parlor; his hands in bandages, Smith shoots them by using a carrot to pull the trigger.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: The protagonist, known only as Smith, is an homage to the Man with No Name of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns. Smith's misanthropy derived from writer-director Michael Davis' frustration when his 1989 script about Alfred Kinsey failed to materialize as a feature film. His research about Kinsey and human sexuality in general inspired the character of Donna Quintano, a gold-hearted prostitute and Smith's eventual love interest. Hertz, a former FBI profiler who lives a double life as an assassin and a family patriarch, pursues Smith. According to co-producer Susan Montford, the antagonist was modeled after the BTK Killer. Hertz's feud with Smith has been compared to that of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in "Looney Tunes" because Smith (like Bugs) spends considerable time eating carrots in the film. Davis acknowledged that the "Looney Tunes" reference was deliberate.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Davis had wanted to make an action film which focused on guns and was devoid of explosions. He conceived the film after seeing a scene from John Woo's critically acclaimed action film "Hard Boiled" (1992), in which star Chow Yun-fat rescues newborn babies from gangsters while engaged in a gunfight. Davis felt that the scene could be expanded into a feature-length film, a "gun-like" version of "Run Lola Run" (1998). By 2000, Davis had begun writing the screenplay; when the script was finished, however, studios refused to get it made after the Columbine High School massacre happened, causing him to shelve the project and return to making low-budget independent films.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: During his subsequent years as an independent filmmaker, Davis started putting together an animatic of the script's action scenes using a Wacom tablet and the iMovie app. The animatic, which he made originally as a hobby, became his pitch animation in finding a producer for the project. He sent the script to Don Murphy, a producer he went to film school with at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and Murphy as well as co-producers Susan Montford and Rick Benattar enjoyed it. Murphy, Montford and Benattar also saw the film's potential as a big-budget production, so they sent the animatic to major film studio New Line Cinema. New Line executives Jeff Katz and Cale Boyter liked it and they passed it on to Toby Emmerich, who greenlit the project at the behest of New Line founder Bob Shaye.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Davis's first choice to play Smith was Clive Owen, who signed as the lead because the script impressed him. The role of Donna went to Monica Bellucci, who liked the script and the character: an independent woman who "does dangerous, dark dirty things in a playful way". The multilingual Bellucci dubbed herself in the film's French and Italian versions. Davis cast Paul Giamatti, who usually played "nice guy" roles, against type to avoid the stereotype of a physically imposing villain, and because he believed Giamatti could deliver the duality of the role.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: "Shoot 'Em Up" was produced on a budget of $39 million. Principal photography took place in Toronto and lasted fifty-five days, with Hong Kong's Peter Pau serving as cinematographer. Before filming, Owen and Giamatti were trained in firearms. Although he found the stunts physically demanding, Owen resolved to perform most of them himself. In the skydiving scene, he was aided by a Cirque du Soleil safety harness. Eighty firearms were used during production, and $70,000 of the film's budget was allocated for 6,000 squibs.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: The score for "Shoot 'Em Up" was composed by Paul Haslinger and recorded at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California. It was released on CD and as a digital download on August 28, 2007, by Varèse Sarabande. A soundtrack album of nu metal and rock songs by various artists was made available on February 12, 2008.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: In July 2007, "Shoot 'Em Up" was publicized with a guerrilla marketing campaign by the London-based agency New Media Maze. The campaign included a viral video and a website selling bogus items ranging from bulletproof strollers to riot helmets for infants. A video was released on YouTube in which the company claimed to test the bulletproof stroller by shooting at it with a submachine gun while a baby was in it. The baby was then removed from the stroller unharmed. The hoax campaign was taken seriously by global media and the blogging community; "Aftonbladet", Sweden's largest evening tabloid, carried the story on its online edition for some time.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: In November 2007, two ads that showed Owen and Giamatti holding guns were banned in the United Kingdom by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on the grounds that they had "glamorized and glorified gun crime" and "were offensive and insensitive toward families directly affected by gun crime". At the time of the ruling, it was also reported that gun violence in the UK was on the rise.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Although "Variety" reported a planned release during the 2006 holiday season, "Shoot 'Em Up" was previewed in September of that year. The film was released in American theaters on September 7, 2007. It was released on the same day in Canada, opening on 235 screens against "". Audience response to a screening at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con was positive.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: "Shoot 'Em Up" opened in fourth place on its first weekend, earning $5,716,139 at 2,108 locations. Overall, the film grossed $12,807,139 over six weeks in North American theaters and $26,820,641 worldwide. It was regarded as a box-office failure, recouping less than its budget.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: The film's DVD and Blu-ray versions were released in January 2008 by New Line Home Entertainment with a behind-the-scenes featurette titled "Ballet of Bullets", 17 minutes of animatics and audio commentary from director Michael Davis, trailers and deleted scenes. New Line released another DVD and Blu-ray of the film in a two-disc version in August 2011.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 67%, with an average rating of 6.15/10, based on reviews from 161 critics. The website's "Critics Consensus" for the film reads, "As preposterous and over-the-top as "Shoot 'Em Up" may be, its humor and non-stop action make for a very enjoyable film." On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore during its opening weekend gave the film an average grade of "B−" on a scale ranging from A+ to F.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: Peter Travers rated the film 3 out of 4 stars for "Rolling Stone", calling it "eighty-two minutes of hardcore pow. [...] You'll be exhilarated – also exhausted." Roger Ebert for the "Chicago Sun-Times" scored the film 3 out of 4 stars, comparing it favorably with "Sin City" as "the most audacious, implausible, cheerfully offensive, hyperactive action picture [he had] seen". Frank Scheck in "The Hollywood Reporter" called it a "ramped-up action movie on steroids" that "makes "Hard Boiled" look restrained". Ebert extended his praise toward the film's acting, calling Owen's character sympathetic and Giamatti's "surprisingly, teeth-gnashingly evil". Scheck complimented Owen's "low-rent James Bond" performance, and was delighted to see Giamatti cast against his usual "nerdy" on-screen persona.


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: A. O. Scott gave the film a scathing review for "The New York Times", calling it "a worthless piece of garbage" and that it was one of several "witless, soulless, heartless movies that mistake noise for bravura and tastelessness for wit". Stephen Hunter in "The Washington Post" said the film "is just gunfights strung together, without a whisper of coherence or meaning. The fights are staged so that they all look the same, and the principle is always the same: The gunman's multiple antagonists never hit, and he never misses." James Berardinelli gave the film a mixed review, saying that while it delivered gunfights as advertised, he complained that it "pretty much consists of shoot-outs and chases overtaking each other like waves rolling onto a beach, each more over-the-top than its predecessor". Berardinelli scored the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing that he "like[d] the audacity and its willingness to push the envelope beyond the limits of good taste. In the end, it's a little too long and uneven to recommend outright, but [he] won't deny having enjoyed aspects of what Davis is offering."


title: Shoot 'Em Up (film)

text: In 2016, "Shoot 'Em Up" made the list of "25 great action films that are 90 minutes or under" compiled by Nick Horton of Den of Geek. Rotten Tomatoes ranked "Shoot 'Em Up" at  111 on its list of the "140 Essential Actions Movies To Watch".


title: White Friday (1916)

text: White Friday occurred during the Italian Front of World War I, when an avalanche struck Austro-Hungarian barracks on Mount Marmolada, killing 270 soldiers. Other avalanches the same day struck Italian and other Austro-Hungarian positions, killing hundreds. According to some reports both sides deliberately fired shells into the weakened snowpacks in an attempt to bury the other side.


title: White Friday (1916)

text: An accurate estimation of the number of casualties from the White Friday avalanches is not available. Historical documents suggest at least 2,000 victims among the soldiers and a few dozens among civilians.


title: White Friday (1916)

text: The date 13 December, marked Saint Lucia, a commemorative religious holiday practiced by the majority of Italian Catholics. Though the occurrence of avalanches in the Dolomites Mountains took place on a Wednesday in 1916, the term "White Friday" was used to coin the disastrous day.


title: White Friday (1916)

text: The Austro-Hungarian "Kaiserschützen" military barracks was built on the Gran Poz summit (approximately 11,000 ft, approximately 3.35km, above sea level) of Mount Marmolada. The wooden barracks was built in August of the summer of 1916, to house the men of the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Rifle Regiment Nr.III (1.Btl. KschRgt.III). The location of the barracks was planned to be well situated to protect it from Italian attack and provide a defense atop the contested Mount Marmolada. The barracks was placed along rock cliffs to protect it from direct enemy fire and the location was out of high-angle mortar range.


title: White Friday (1916)

text: During the winter of 1916, heavy snowfall and a sudden thaw in the Alps created conditions ripe for avalanches. From the beginning of December, the snow pile up was recorded at atop the summit. The Austro-Hungarian commander of the 1.Btl. KschRgt.III, Captain Rudolf Schmid, noticed the imminent danger his company faced. Out of fear his position would be soon untenable, Capt. Schmid wrote a request to his superior, Field Marshal Lieutenant Ludwig Goiginger of the 60th Infantry Division. The appeal was ultimately turned down to vacate the base atop Gran Poz summit. In the eight days before the avalanche, additional heavy snowfall disrupted telephone lines of communication and left each outpost stranded with a lack of supplies.


title: White Friday (1916)

text: On , at 5:30 a.m., over 200,000 tons (approx. 1 million cubic metres) of snow and ice plunged down the mountainside directly onto the barracks. The wooden buildings packed with soldiers, collapsed under the weight of the avalanche, crushing the occupants. Of the 321 troops present, 229 were "Kaiserschützen" mountain infantry and 102 were Bosnians from a support column. Only a few were pulled to safety while 270 were buried alive. Only 40 of the bodies were ever recovered from the pileup. Among those who survived was Captain Schmid along with his aide, who escaped slightly injured.


title: White Friday (1916)

text: On the night of 13 December, an avalanche struck an Italian division of the 7th Alpini, overrunning their mountain barracks. The Italians called the disastrous day "La Santa Lucia Nera" after Saint Lucia.


title: White Friday (1916)

text: In the aftermath of White Friday, 10,000 soldiers on all sides were killed in December from avalanches. Altogether, it constituted the greatest number of deaths caused by snow/ice debris from avalanches in history. When including all avalanche-related deaths (this includes mud and rock slides triggered subsequently by an avalanche), White Friday is the second-worst avalanche-related disaster recorded, after the 1970 Huascarán avalanche.


title: Bearskin

text: A bearskin is a tall fur cap, usually worn as part of a ceremonial military uniform. Traditionally, the bearskin was the headgear of grenadiers, and remains in use by grenadier and guards regiments in various armies.


title: Bearskin

text: Bearskins should not be confused with other types of fur military headdresses, notably the smaller busby.


title: Bearskin

text: The cloth caps worn by the original grenadiers in European armies during the seventeenth century were frequently trimmed with fur. The practice fell into disuse until the second half of the eighteenth century, when grenadiers in the British, Spanish, and French armies began wearing high fur hats with cloth tops, and, sometimes, ornamental front plates. Imitating their Prussian counterparts, French grenadiers are described as wearing bearskins as early as 1761. The purpose appears to have been to add to the apparent height and impressive appearance of these troops both on the parade ground and the battlefield.


title: Bearskin

text: During the nineteenth century, the expense of bearskin caps, and difficulty of maintaining them in good condition on active service led to this form of headdress becoming generally limited to guardsmen, bands, or other units having a ceremonial role. The British Foot Guards and Royal Scots Greys did however wear bearskins in battle during the Crimean War, and on peacetime manoeuvres until the introduction of khaki service dress in 1902.


title: Bearskin

text: Immediately prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, bearskins were still worn by guard, ceremonial palace, or other units in the British, Belgian, Danish, Dutch, Imperial German, Russian, and Swedish armies. The Italian Sardinian Grenadiers had discarded bearskins in the nineteenth century, but were to readopt them for limited ceremonial wear in modern times.


title: Bearskin

text: Presently, the Pipes and Drums Band of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment is authorised to wear a bearskin cap as a part of its ceremonial dress.


title: Bearskin

text: Two units in Belgium presently use the bearskin cap, the Belgian Royal Escort (since 1938), of the Belgian Federal Police; and the Regiment Carabiniers Prins Boudewijn – Grenadiers of the Belgian Armed Forces Land Component.


title: Bearskin

text: Until 1914, bearskins were worn in parade uniform by the 'Régiment des Grenadiers' of the Belgian Army. Bearskins were used in peacetime manoeuvres until around 1900, the bearskins were left in barracks upon mobilisation in August 1914, and German troops occupying Brussels reportedly took many as souvenirs. The Regiment of Grenadiers' modern successor, the "Regiment Carabiniers Prins Boudewijn – Grenadiers" has readopted this headdress for limited ceremonial purposes.


title: Bearskin

text: In addition to military units, the bearskin cap is also used by the Belgian Royal Escorts, a civilian police unit. Accompanying the monarch of ceremonial occasions, the duties of the escort unit were previously held by the Gendarmerie, a paramilitary unit of the Belgian Armed Forces that was disbanded in 1992. The present Royal Escort Unit wears the pre–1914 full dress uniform of the defunct Gendarmerie, including its bearskin cap.


title: Bearskin

text: The bearskin caps used by the Canadian Armed Forces are of black fur, and include a coloured plume on the side of the bearskin and a gold-coloured chin strap. The Canadian Forces Dress Instructions authorise the use of bearskins for all its foot guards and fusilier regiments.


title: Bearskin

text: In addition to foot guards and fusiliers, two line infantry regiments are also authorised to wear a bearskin cap with their ceremonial full-dress uniform: the Royal 22 Régiment (R22R) and the Royal Regiment of Canada (RRegtC). Usage of the bearskin cap by the R22R is attributed to its historical regimental alliance with the British Army's Royal Welch Fusiliers, while the use of bearskins by the RRegtC is attributed to the regiment's historical lineage from The Royal Grenadiers of the Canadian Militia.


title: Bearskin

text: Bearskins used by fusilier regiments and the R22R have their unit's cap badge at the front of the bearskin, while those of foot guards and the RRegtC do not have cap badges.


title: Bearskin

text: The following is a list of regiments whose members are authorised to wear a bearskin cap with their full dress uniform, along with the colour used on the unit's plume:


title: Bearskin

text: Additionally, the military band of a unit that is authorised to wear the bearskin cap are also allowed to wear it as a part of their ceremonial uniform. These bands include The Band of The Royal Regiment of Canada, La Musique du Royal 22 Régiment, and the Governor General's Foot Guards Band. In addition to these units, the drum major of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada Band are also authorised to wear the bearskin.


title: Bearskin

text: The full dress uniforms of the Royal Danish Army's Royal Life Guards includes the bearskin cap. The Royal Life Guards are foot guards whose duties includes providing the guard for the Danish monarchy. Bearskins were introduced to make guardsmen appear taller and more intimidating. The headgear was first adopted by the guard in 1805.


title: Bearskin

text: Two units within the Italian Army's "Granatieri di Sardegna" Mechanised Brigade use the bearskin cap as a part of its ceremonial uniform, the 1st "Granatieri di Sardegna" Regiment, and the 8th Cavalry Regiment "Lancieri di Montebello". As opposed to real bearskin, the bearskin caps of both regiments uses artificial fur.


title: Bearskin

text: Presently, one unit of the Royal Netherlands Army uses the bearskin cap as a part of its ceremonial uniform, the Grenadiers' and Rifles Guard Regiment.


title: Bearskin

text: One company of the 1st King's Immemorial Infantry Regiment, which during ceremonies, is authorised to wear grenadier uniforms of the Charles III period, uses bearskins.


title: Bearskin

text: Presently the military band of the Sri Lanka Artillery uses the bearskin cap as a part of its ceremonial uniform.


title: Bearskin

text: Presently, the grenadier company of the Swedish Army's Life Guards wears a bearskin cap as a part of its ceremonial uniform. The bearskin is made out of nylon as opposed to real bearskin.


title: Bearskin

text: Usage of the bearskin by the Life Guards originates with its predecessor unit, Svea Life Guards. The unit was eventually merged with the Swedish Life Guard Dragoons in 2000 to form the present Life Guards unit. Usage of the bearskin with the Svea Life Guards dates back to 1823, when Alexander I of Russia presented Charles XIV of Sweden a bearskin cap as a gift to be used by the Svea Life Guards.


title: Bearskin

text: In 1768, the long cloth caps worn by grenadiers were discontinued, and bearskin caps introduced. Following the Battle of Waterloo, all members of the newly named Grenadier Guards were permitted to wear the bearskin. This privilege had previously been restricted to the grenadier company of the regiment. In 1831, this distinction was extended to the other two regiments of foot guards (Coldstream and Scots) in existence at that date. Bearskins were subsequently adopted by the Irish Guards and the Welsh Guards when raised in 1900 and 1915 respectively. Members of the following units are currently authorised to wear the bearskin cap with their full dress:


title: Bearskin

text: Along with these units, officers of fusilier regiments are also authorised to wear the bearskin as part of their ceremonial uniform. Additionally the members of the regimental bands for the five regiments of foot guards, the Honourable Artillery Company, and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are also authorised to wear the headdress. The drum major of the band for the Royal Highland Fusiliers is also authorised to wear the bearskin.


title: Bearskin

text: The standard bearskin for the British foot guards is tall at the front, to the rear, weighs , and is made from the fur of the Canadian black bear. However, an officer's bearskin is made from the fur of the Canadian brown bear, as the female brown bear has thicker, fuller fur; officers' caps are dyed black. An entire skin is used for each head-dress. The British Army purchase the head-dresses, which are known as caps, from a British hatmaker which sources its pelts from an international auction. The hatmakers purchase between 50 and 100 black bear skins each year at a cost of about £650 each. If properly maintained, the caps last for decades.


title: Bearskin

text: On 3 August 1888, "The New York Times" reported that bearskin caps might be phased out because of a shortage of bear skins. The article stated that, at that time, bearskin hats cost £7–5s each (about 35 contemporary US dollars; £600 in 2007 pounds) and noted "it can readily be seen what a price has to be paid for keeping up a custom which is rather old, it is true, but is practically a useless one save for the purpose of military display."


title: Bearskin

text: In 1997, Minister for Defence Procurement Lord Gilbert said that he wanted to see bearskins phased out as soon as possible due to ethical concerns, but no replacement was available at that time.


title: Bearskin

text: In 2005, the Ministry of Defence began a two-year test of artificial fur for the hats. The army has already replaced beaverskin caps and leopard skins, worn by some of its soldiers, with artificial materials. In March 2005, Labour MP Chris Mullin called for an immediate ban on bearskins stating that they "have no military significance and involve unnecessary cruelty."


title: Bearskin

text: Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has protested against the continued use of real fur for the guards’ bearskin caps, alleging that the animals are killed cruelly. For several years, PETA members have held demonstrations, including one at St Peter's Hill, near St Paul's Cathedral, in 2006. PETA wants the fur caps to be replaced with synthetic materials, and claims that the Ministry of Defence has not done enough to find alternatives. In February 2011, Joss Stone appeared in a PETA advert targeting the Ministry of Defence, showing the 23-year-old soul singer holding a teddy bear that covers her naked body, and features the slogan 'Bear Hugs, Not Bear Caps'.


title: Bearskin

text: Presently one military unit in the United States uses a bearskin cap as a part of their ceremonial uniform, the Second Company Governor's Foot Guard of the Connecticut State Guard, a state defence force.


title: Bearskin

text: In addition to the Governor's Guard, bearskin caps are also worn by the drum majors of various United States Armed Forces military bands. Bands whose drum majors are authorised to wear the bearskin cap include the United States Air Force Band, the United States Army Band, United States Army Field Band, United States Coast Guard Band, United States Marine Band, the United States Navy Band, bands of the service academies, and a variety of other divisional and fleet bands.


title: Bearskin

text: In addition to military units, a number of civilian marching bands also adorn their drum majors with these headpieces as opposed to their synthetic counterparts. University marching bands which were established through military means typically follow this style of dress for their drum majors. There are also several secondary school bands that use real bearskin hats.


title: Bearskin

text: The Uruguayan Army's Company of Sappers of 1837 uses the bearskin cap as a part of its ceremonial uniform as the guard of honour company of the Uruguayan Supreme Court.


title: Bearskin

text: Select members of the Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City formerly wore a bearskin cap with a red plume as part of their ceremonial uniform. The ceremonial uniform for the unit was taken out of use in 1970, after Pope Paul VI demilitarised the gendarmerie, with law enforcement falling under the Central Security Office (later reverting its name to the Corps of Gendarmerie in 2002).


title: Bearskin

text: A busby is a military headdress made of fur that appears similar to a bearskin cap. Busbies are used by a variety of hussar and artillery units. Busbies are used by hussar regiments of the Royal Netherlands Army. Busbies are also used as the full-dress headgear for the British Army's Royal Horse Artillery and hussar regiments. Similarly, the Canadian Army uses the busby as its full-dress headgear for artillery, hussar and rifle regiments. In addition to hussar and artillery regiments, the First Company of the First Company Governor's Foot Guard of the Connecticut State Militia also include a bearskin (known as a "busby") as a part of their ceremonial uniform.


title: Bearskin

text: A sealskin cap is another furred cap similar to the bearskin cap, that is worn by the British Army's Royal Fusiliers.


title: Bearskin

text: A number of units within the King's Guard of the Royal Thai Armed Forces wear a pith helmet with heavy plumes, making it broadly resemble a bearskin cap. The pith helmets are used with the unit's ceremonial full dress uniform, for occasions including the Thai Royal Guards parade held every year in December, royal coronations, funerals, and anniversaries. The colours of the plumes vary from black to pink and blue, depending on the units of the wearers, similar to the uniform facings in the Commonwealth. The majority of the units entitled to wear these headdresses are from the Army and Air Force, with two Royal Thai Marine Corps battalions also maintaining this privilege. In addition, the Royal Security Command's two guards regiments wear the pith helmet with black plums in their full dress.


title: Vitriol

text: Vitriol is the general chemical name encompassing a class of chemical compound comprising sulfates of certain metalsoriginally, iron or copper. Those mineral substances were distinguished by their color, such as green vitriol for hydrated iron(II) sulfate and blue vitriol for hydrated copper(II) sulfate.


title: Vitriol

text: These materials were originally found as crystals formed by evaporation of groundwater that percolated through sulfide minerals and collected in pools on the floor of old mines. The word "vitriol" comes from the Latin word "vitriolus", meaning "small glass", as those crystals resembled pieces of colored glass.


title: Vitriol

text: Oil of vitriol was an old name for concentrated sulfuric acid, which was historically obtained through the dry distillation (pyrolysis) of vitriols. The name, shortened to vitriol, continued to be used for this viscous liquid long after the minerals came to be called "sulfates". The term "vitriolic" in the sense of "harshly condemnatory" is derived from the corrosive nature of this substance.


title: Vitriol

text: The study of vitriol began in ancient times. Sumerians had a list of types of vitriol that they classified according to the substances' color. Some of the earliest discussions on the origin and properties of vitriol is in the works of the Greek physician Dioscorides (first century AD) and the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD). Galen also discussed its medical use. Metallurgical uses for vitriolic substances were recorded in the Hellenistic alchemical works of Zosimos of Panopolis, in the treatise "Phisica et Mystica", and the Leyden papyrus X.


title: Vitriol

text: Medieval Islamic chemists like Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (died c. 806–816 AD, known in Latin as Geber), Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (865–925 AD, known in Latin as Rhazes), Ibn Sina (980–1037 AD, known in Latin as Avicenna), and Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Watwat (1234–1318 AD) included vitriol in their mineral classification lists.


title: Vitriol

text: Sulfuric acid was called "oil of vitriol" by medieval European alchemists because it was prepared by roasting "green vitriol" (iron(II) sulfate) in an iron retort. The first vague allusions to it appear in the works of Vincent of Beauvais, in the "Compositum de Compositis" ascribed to Saint Albertus Magnus, and in pseudo-Geber's "Summa perfectionis" (all thirteenth century AD).


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: The 1983 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1983, in New York City. A total of 226 players were selected over 10 rounds by the league's 23 teams.


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: The first overall pick of this draft was 7’4” center Ralph Sampson, predicted as an NBA superstar since high school. The three-time College Player of the Year had spent all four years of his college career at the University of Virginia, and was taken first by the Houston Rockets. Displaying his graceful above-the-rim game and ability to run the court like a guard, he got off to a certain Hall of Fame bound start as an NBA All-Star and NBA Rookie of the Year before injuries several seasons in derailed his career.


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: Sampson was joined in the Hall by University of Houston Cougars standout Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, taken number 14 by the Portland Trail Blazers.


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: Despite there being only 23 teams at the time of the draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers were awarded the 24th pick out of courtesy. Then-owner Ted Stepien was infamous for repeatedly trading first-round picks in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which, considering Cleveland's morose records in that time period, eventually culminated in the NBA creating a rule banning teams from dealing all of their first-round picks in consecutive years.


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: Four players from the 1983 draft later served or now serve as coaches—Doc Rivers for the Philadelphia 76ers, Randy Wittman for the Washington Wizards, Byron Scott for the Los Angeles Lakers from 2014 to 2016, and point guard of the 1983 NCAA championship North Carolina State Wolfpack Sidney Lowe.


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: While Scott won the Coach of the Year award in 2008, Rivers won an NBA Championship with the Celtics in that same year.


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: 7’7” Manute Bol was selected in the 5th round by the Clippers, but the NBA rejected the pick on technicalities. Manute had never filed draft paperwork, and his passport listed him at 19 (at the time, 19 years was too young to be drafted).


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: Florida State star Mitchell Wiggins, father of future No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins, was drafted 23rd by the Indiana Pacers.


title: 1983 NBA draft

text: These picks have played at least one game in the NBA but were not selected in the first or second rounds.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: Dijon Isaiah McFarlane (born June 5, 1990), known professionally as Mustard (also known as DJ Mustard), is an American record producer and beatmaker. He is a frequent collaborator of fellow California-bred artists YG and Ty Dolla Sign; among various other records for the hip hop and R&B genres since his entrance into mainstream music with Tyga's 2011 single, "Rack City".


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: Mustard's production style has been described as an up-tempo, club-oriented, catchy yet rudimentary melodic hip hop style. This style has developed into the contemporary production style of West Coast hip hop during the early 2010s, which he calls "ratchet music". Almost all of his productions begin or end with the tag "Mustard on the beat, ho!", a voice sample of YG, who says it at the end of "I'm Good", one of their early collaborations, as well as claps and repetition of the word "hey".


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: Mustard has since released three solo albums: "10 Summers" in August 2014, "Cold Summer" in September 2016, and "Perfect Ten" in June 2019.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: McFarlane was born in Los Angeles, California to Jamaican parents. In a 2013 interview with "The Fader" magazine, he stated that his father was deported to Jamaica when he was young, but that they do still keep in touch. When McFarlane was 11 years old, his uncle, who was both a parental figure and a DJ, let him DJ at a family party. He acquired his DJ name from the condiment dijon mustard because his first name is also Dijon. He began DJing more as he got older, and became much more skilled at the craft which led to him DJing at the local clubs.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: In an interview with Sway's Universe, DJ Mustard described his business relationship with West coast rapper YG. Since YG's second mixtape "The Real 4Fingaz", he has produced on all of his mixtapes. "I started making beats for YG; he was one [of] the first people to do my beats. I started with him, so for us to do a mixtape was easy. We created this dancing sound. I feel like we owed it to the streets and we're not stopping." DJ Mustard has produced singles by YG such as "Bitches Ain't Shit" featuring rappers Tyga and Nipsey Hussle, and "You Broke" also featuring Nipsey Hussle. During 2010, DJ Mustard released an unofficial compilation album with various artists through the label Thump Records that was called "Let's Jerk" named after the street dance called jerking in Los Angeles.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: During late 2011, DJ Mustard produced Tyga's third single "Rack City" from his second album "". The song was released in December 2011, and peaked at number 7 on the ""Billboard" Hot 100" chart, number 1 on the "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs" chart, and number 2 on the "Hot Rap Songs" chart. It was also certified 2× platinum by the RIAA. According to Mustard, the beat for the song was originally for YG. YG told Mustard that Tyga needed a beat, so he sent the beat to Tyga. DJ Mustard's career was given a huge blast from the song. He also produced two tracks from Tyga's mixtape "Well Done 3", the third installment of his "Well Done" series and his song "Hit Em Up" featuring rapper Jadakiss from his third album "Hotel California", released on April 9, 2013.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: During 2012, DJ Mustard produced Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz's song "I'm Different" that was released as the third single from his major debut album "Based on a T.R.U. Story" on November 8. The song charted at number 6 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and was certified gold by the RIAA, selling over 500,000 copies digitally. Also later in 2012, DJ Mustard produced the song R.I.P. by Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy that was released as the lead single from his twelfth mixtape "It's Tha World" on February 5, 2013. The song features 2 Chainz, making this the second time he has rapped over Mustard's beats since "I'm Different". The song charted at number 17 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Mustard has also produced tracks on rapper Bow Wow's seventh album "Underrated" such as "We In Da Club" which was released as the second single from that album. However, as stated by Bow Wow in 2012, the album has been indefinitely been delayed and he is no longer focusing on it.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: On June 3, 2013, DJ Mustard released his official debut mixtape "Ketchup". The mixtape contained guest appearances from artists such as Lil Snupe, YG, Ty$, Joe Moses, Kid Ink, Nipsey Hussle, Casey Veggies, Ca$h Out, Clyde Carson, Dorrough, Dom Kennedy, and Lil Jon. Later in June, Mustard produced Atlanta rapper B.o.B's song HeadBand featuring 2 Chainz, which was released as the second single from his third studio album "Underground Luxury". The song has charted at number 21 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. On September 17, DJ Mustard produced West coast rapper Kid Ink's song "Show Me" featuring Chris Brown, released as the first single from his upcoming second studio album "My Own Lane". The single peaked at number 1 on the U.S. Rhythmic Billboard Chart. On September 17, 2013, DJ Mustard produced YG's mega-anthem "My Nigga" for his debut studio album "My Krazy Life", which peaked at number 5 on the U.S. Rhythmic Billboard chart.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: On November 18, 2013, DJ Mustard announced that he had signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation as an artist, and revealed plans to release his own studio album. On December 18, 2013, he was named the runner-up for producer of the year by HipHopDX.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: On March 11, 2014, DJ Mustard produced Kid Ink's "Main Chick" also featuring Chris Brown for his second studio album "My Own Lane". It peaked at number 3 on the U.S. Rhythmic "Billboard" chart.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: In 2016, worked with Trea Fittz on his debut album, released October 11. He released "Don't Hurt Me" with Jeremih and Nicki Minaj on his album "Cold Summer". The album included long-time collaborators YG and Ty Dolla Sign. The album also included Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, K Camp, and more. It was released on September 30, 2016.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: On June 28, 2019, Mustard's third album, "Perfect Ten" was released, and spawned the Grammy-nominated single, "Ballin'".


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: Mustard's production style has been described as an up-tempo, radio-friendly, club-oriented, catchy hip hop style which he calls "ratchet music". Mustard's body of work has been recognized by critics as sonically cohesive and recognizable in that many of his tracks have recurring, identifiable motifs. Most apparent is his producer signature "Mustard on that beat, ho!" which prefaces the beat drop in many of his songs. This signature is often strategically placed to span the third and fourth counts of the measure preceding the song's drop to make it more catchy. On a compositional level, however, Mustard's motifs also include: an ambient chant of "Hey!" on the off-beats in the background of his music; the emphasized, minimalist bass synth opening to many songs (most notably on My Nigga, R.I.P., and Rack City), 808 kicks and the use of crisp hand-claps and snap-snares.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: Mustard uses the music production software Reason, first using 5, 6 and currently using 6.5. In an interview with The Fader magazine he stated, "With this ratchet music, I'm trying to create my own sound. I want to make this to where it can't leave, this is something that everybody's gonna get used to. Like how everybody got used to Lil Jon or Luke. I don't want it to be something that comes and goes, I want it to be something that's here forever like a real culture."


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: As a result of the recognizably and commonality between many of Mustard's chart-topping singles, a number of artists who employ production similar to DJ Mustard's have been criticized for lack of originality and plagiarism. In a July 2014 interview with Tim Westwood, the rapper YG, whose album My Krazy Life was mostly produced by Mustard, stated that Iggy Azalea's song "Fancy" "jocked" Mustard's style. Like many of Mustard's songs, the song includes a minimalist G-funk style synth and samples a layered "Hey" voice chant. He has been compared to rap producers like Dr Dre and many old rappers from the golden age of hip hop.


title: Mustard (record producer)

text: Mustard started dating model Chanel Thierry when he was 19; the couple got engaged in 2018 and married on October 10, 2020. They have three children.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Shigeru Miyamoto had desired to create a "Super Mario" game with cooperative multiplayer since the series' conception. After failed attempts to integrate it into "Super Mario 64" due to hardware limitations, he was able to fully explore the concept with the advent of the Wii and its more advanced hardware capabilities. Having developed "New Super Mario Bros." and feeling that it was not as challenging as he hoped, Miyamoto designed "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" with the intent of accessibility for players of all skill levels. Features such as Super Guide and the ability to enter a floating bubble on command and opt out of doing a certain part of a level was added to cater to beginners, whereas other details, such as an award for not prompting the Super Guide block to appear in any level, were added to provide a layer of difficulty. Shiho Fujii and Ryo Nagamatsu composed the game's soundtrack, whereas Koji Kondo, the series' regular composer, served as sound adviser.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The game was announced following a slight drop in profits, with Nintendo hoping its release would help to rejuvenate sales of the Wii. "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was both critically and commercially successful, receiving particular praise for its multiplayer aspect, although some critics were disappointed by the lack of innovation compared to previous "Super Mario" titles. It received several honors, including the Best Wii Game award from the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, IGN, and GameTrailers, and is the fourth-best-selling game for the Wii as of March 2021, having sold 30.32 million copies worldwide. It was followed by "New Super Mario Bros. 2" for the Nintendo 3DS in July 2012 and "New Super Mario Bros. U" for the Wii U in November 2012 and Nintendo Switch in January 2019.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" is a 2.5D side-scrolling platformer; although it plays out in 2D, most of the in-game characters and objects are 3D polygonal renderings on 2D backgrounds. In single-player mode, the player controls Mario and must complete various levels, which are filled with both helpful items and harmful obstacles. The player must maneuver him to a large flag pole at the end of each stage to progress. The game can be played with the Wii Remote held horizontally, or vertically with the Wii Nunchuk attached. Mario can run, jump, and perform additional moves returning from "New Super Mario Bros." such as wall kicks, ground pounds and double and triple jumps. "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" frequently makes use of the Wii Remote's motion control features; the player can shake the controller in order to perform various different actions, such as a short spin jump which kills enemies, a mid-air twirl that can be used to sustain air time, and the ability to pick up, carry and throw certain objects. Certain areas within levels, such as specific platforms, can be manipulated by standing over them and tilting the Wii Remote. Certain levels are set underwater, where the player must swim to traverse the level.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: In addition to gold coins, which the player can collect to earn extra lives, levels contain power-ups encased in floating blocks which aid Mario in his quest. For instance, the Super Mushroom makes Mario increase in size and allows him to take one extra hit; the Fire Flower lets Mario shoot fireballs at enemies; and the Super Star gives the player temporary invincibility and increases his running speed. The Mini Mushroom, which reappears from "New Super Mario Bros.", causes Mario to shrink in size, letting him jump higher, run on water and fit through small spaces, albeit while making him vulnerable to enemies and other obstacles. New power-ups include the Propeller Suit, which allows Mario to fly for a short time by shaking the Wii Remote; the Ice Flower, which gives Mario the ability to shoot balls of ice which freeze enemies into large ice blocks that can be lifted and thrown; and the Penguin Suit, which functions like the Ice Flower while also allowing the player to slide along the ground and across water, as well as giving them tighter control on ice and in water. Yoshi appears in certain levels and is able to eat, swallow and spit enemies and objects, and flutter for a period of time.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The game consists of eight worlds, with a secret ninth world accessible by beating the eight world and locating hidden Star Coins that serve as the main collectibles in each level. Levels are accessed via a 3D world map; completing a stage unlocks the next one, with multiple paths sometimes available after completing a stage. Each world contains two boss levels — a midway fortress and a castle at the end of the world — where the player battles one of the seven Koopalings. Certain worlds also contain an Airship stage in which the player battles against Bowser Jr.<ref name="man7/8">"New Super Mario Bros. Wii 'Here We Go'" Instruction Booklet, p.7-8</ref> In addition to levels, there are also "Toad Houses" located across the map in which the player can play a short minigame to earn extra lives or items that can be equipped from the map screen. Map screens often have enemies roaming them in certain dedicated areas which, when encountered, initiate a "mini-boss" fight that always awards the player three mushrooms. At certain points, a Toad will appear trapped in one of the previously completed levels, and the player can choose to rescue him from a block and carry him safely to the end of the stage in order to earn a reward.<ref name="man21/22">"New Super Mario Bros. Wii 'Here We Go'" Instruction Booklet, p.21-22</ref> Every course contains three Star Coins which are hidden in hard-to-reach areas. These can be spent on hint movies which show off tips and tricks for the game, including the locations of secrets and methods for earning extra lives.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The player begins the game with five lives, but more can be obtained through a plethora of ways including collecting items and playing minigames. Losing a life will return the player to the map, and losing all lives results in a game over, forcing the player to return from their last save point. Most levels contain a midway flag which acts as a save point for that level. Certain levels contain hidden alternative exits leading to a flag pole with a red flag. Reaching this goal opens up a path on the map that leads to a hidden area.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" features "Super Guide", a concept meant to help players that are having difficulty completing a certain level, and the first Nintendo game to include the concept. During single-player mode, if a player dies eight times in a row in any level, a green "!" Block appears, which can be hit to allow a computer-controlled Luigi to show the player a safe path through the level without revealing any Star Coin locations or secret exits. The player may interrupt the guide at any time and take control of Luigi from that point. After Luigi completes the course, the player has the option to try the level again, or skip it completely.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" is the first "Super Mario" game to feature simultaneous cooperative multiplayer gameplay. Up to four players, as either Mario, his brother Luigi, Blue Toad or Yellow Toad, can play through levels together. Stages are completed when one player touches the flag pole; other players have a limited amount of time to grab it in pursuit before the game stops any further input from the players and focuses on the “course clear” animation.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Players are able to interact with each other in several ways, which can be used to either help or compete with each other; for instance, players can jump on each other's heads in order to reach higher places. They can also pick up and throw each other, and eat and spit each other out while riding Yoshi. If a large distance forms between two or more characters, the game's camera will compensate by panning out to show all of them at once. If the players still do not catch up, they are then dragged by the edge of the screen until they move forward faster or lose a life via a passing obstacle. If one player enters a different area of a level, such as one enclosed via a warp pipe or a door, without the other players, they will warp to the same place after a short period of time.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The first player navigates the world map and selects stages. Players return to the map screen if they all die before anybody respawns in the stage. If all players run out of lives and get a game over, they must restart from their last save point. If a player dies, they re-emerge in the level encased in a bubble. They can resume play when another player breaks the bubble. A player can break the bubble by touching it, or by hitting it with a fireball, ice ball, a throwable projectile (shells, ice blocks, etc.), and Yoshi’s tongue. Players can also voluntarily encase themselves inside the bubble while a more skilled player traverses a difficult segment. If every character in a co-op session enters a bubble at the same time (whether through death or voluntarily), they will lose the level and must restart.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: In addition to the main story mode, which can be played in either single-player or multiplayer modes, there are two dedicated multiplayer modes; "Free-for-All Mode", in which players complete courses together and compete to get the highest rank, and "Coin Battle", where they compete to collect the highest number of coins.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: When Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad, and Blue Toad are celebrating Princess Peach's birthday in her castle, a large cake appears. Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings emerge from the cake and trap Peach inside. The cake is loaded onto Bowser's airship and it takes off, with Mario, Luigi, and the two Toads giving chase. The Toads in the castle grant them access to the new items, the Propeller Mushrooms and Penguin Suits.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: After traveling through several worlds fighting the Koopalings, Bowser Jr., and Kamek the Magikoopa, the Mario Bros. and the Toads arrive at Bowser's castle. Bowser is defeated but is revived by Kamek, who casts a magical spell that transforms him into a giant. Bowser chases after Mario and the others, destroying everything in his path, until Mario finds a large switch and triggers it, causing Bowser to fall through the ground and releasing Peach from her cage. Peach and Mario depart from the castle in a hot-air balloon, with Luigi and the Toads following behind.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The credits are shown as a minigame where the letters in the credits are written on blocks, which can be broken by the playable characters to get coins (all four characters appear, but only the ones controlled by players can get coins). After the credits, Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings help Bowser out of his unstable castle, which falls over.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was created out of a desire to recreate the "Super Mario" series' single-player gameplay experience for multiple players. Shigeru Miyamoto, the head game developer at Nintendo, had been interested in creating a "Super Mario" game with multiplayer features since the series' beginnings with the 1983 arcade game, "Mario Bros." Attempts to integrate cooperative multiplayer into "Super Mario 64", the first 3D game in the series, ultimately failed due to the hardware limitations of the Nintendo 64. With the faster CPU and enhanced graphical and memory capabilities of the Wii, Miyamoto and the rest of the development team were able to revisit this idea, as the hardware allowed the smooth display of enough enemies and items on the screen at once, and allowed a camera that could dynamically adapt to the players' movements, ensuring they constantly know what is the situation of their character. Miyamoto said that Princess Peach was not a playable character because of her dress, since making her skirt realistically move would require complex dedicated programming.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Miyamoto wanted the game to be accessible to all players, and thus tried to balance its difficulty via features catering both to casual and hardcore "Super Mario" fans. After the release of "New Super Mario Bros." for the Nintendo DS, which Miyamoto felt had not been hard enough in retrospect, he wanted to create a new "Super Mario" game which would provide a higher level of challenge for players who desired one. Simultaneously, the Super Guide feature, which would allow a player to watch a level get completed before trying again after failing a certain number of times, was included with the game in order to make the game accessible to unfamiliar players as well. The development team decided to include the feature as an option that would appear in a level after failing a certain number of times to prevent hindering the experience for more experienced players. As an extra incentive for advanced players, the team also added achievements that could be earned by completing the game without making the green block appear in any levels. The ability for a player to put themselves into a bubble and opt out of doing a level was devised so that both novice players and more experienced ones could play without interfering with each other. Miyamoto also hoped for the game to turn into a staple game for the Wii and achieve levels of success similar to that of "New Super Mario Bros.".


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was worked on by several developers, some of whom had varying understandings of the design principalities of "Super Mario" games. Miyamoto, who served as the game's producer, helped the directors out with creating a general understanding of the ground rules for the game's design, writing out specification documents explaining the "rules" of how the game would work. This led to discussions and decisions over what was considered "natural" and "unnatural" for a Mario game; for instance, with the advent of the Ice Flower's ability to freeze enemies, the developers decided that it would be logical for the ice blocks to melt when shot with fireballs, and to float to the surface when submerged in water.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The music for "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was composed and arranged by Shiho Fujii and Ryo Nagamatsu, with additional work provided by sound director Kenta Nagata. Series regular Koji Kondo was the sound advisor and did not write any new compositions, though some of his creations were re-arranged for the game. Charles Martinet returned to voice Mario and Luigi, along with Samantha Kelly as the Toads and Princess Peach, Kenny James as Bowser, and Caety Sagoian as Bowser Jr.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: While the game's playable Toads are unnamed, referred to simply as Blue Toad and Yellow Toad, the game's developers reportedly internally referred to the characters as Bucken-Berry and Ala-Gold, respectively.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: On May 30, 2009, the online version of the Japanese newspaper "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported that two new sequels would be released for the Wii: a sequel to "Wii Fit" titled "Wii Fit Plus", and a sequel to "New Super Mario Bros." tentatively called "New Super Mario Bros. Wii". The latter game was announced at E3 2009 and further shown off at Gamescom. To highlight the uniqueness of the game, Nintendo released the game in a red case instead of the traditional white box color that Wii games generally have. The game's announcement came following a standstill in Wii sales, which had led to a 52% drop in Nintendo's first-half earnings for 2009. Nintendo hoped that the game would help to increase sales of the Wii in the coming holiday season. In a Japanese retail briefing event prior to its release, Miyamoto expressed his faith that the game would retain strong sales stretching beyond its first year on the market.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was released in Australia on November 12, 2009, and in North America on November 15. It was later released in Europe and Japan on November 20 and December 3, respectively. On October 29, 2010, it was released as a pack-in game with a red Wii console, alongside "Wii Sports" and a built-in download of "Donkey Kong", which was released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "Super Mario Bros." It was also included as part of a bundle release with a black Wii Family Edition console alongside a soundtrack CD for "Super Mario Galaxy" on October 23, 2011.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: At E3 2011, a variation of "New Super Mario Bros. Wii", dubbed "New Super Mario Bros. Mii", was showcased as a playable demo for Nintendo's then new console, the Wii U, allowing players to play as their Mii characters. It was a prototype designed to showcase the technology of the system.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: An enhanced port of the game was released in China for the Nvidia Shield TV on December 5, 2017, alongside other Wii and GameCube ports such as "". This updated version of the game features high definition graphics in 1080p and a redesigned UI.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: In November 2009, 24-year-old Australian James Burt purchased a copy of "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" several days before its release, as the store had mistakenly sold the game before its release date, and ripped and uploaded the game disk online. Nintendo took down the game and sued Burt shortly afterwards, accusing him of violating copyright laws and depriving Nintendo of potential sales. The case was ultimately settled in January 2010, with Burt receiving a fine of AU$1.3 million as compensation for lost sales, as well as an additional fine of AU$100,000 as a part of Nintendo's legal fine. Burt was also forced to disclose the locations of all of his computers and electronic storage devices, as well as give access to his email, social networking and website accounts. Nintendo of Australia managing director Rose Lappin called the incident "a global issue", noting that thousands of copies of the game had been downloaded across the world before it was taken down. Burt later commented on the incident, calling his actions "very stupid" and asserting that the crime's repercussions were something that he would have to deal with for the rest of his life.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The game received praise for its multiplayer features following its showcase at E3, with critics praising its competitive aspects as well as its cooperative aspects, though the game's lack of online play was criticized as a missed opportunity. Many favorably compared the game to "", which similarly took its respective series' traditional gameplay and interlaced it with cooperative multiplayer. Chad Concelmo of Destructoid praised the game's "creative and giggle-inducing" levels and tighter control compared to "New Super Mario Bros.", while calling the multiplayer gameplay "unique, addictive, and gloriously entertaining" and giving the game a 9.5 score based on his initial impressions. Engadget's Andrew Yoon called the game "playable, addictive and fresh", and commended the game's camera system that could zoom out automatically to show off-screen players. Ars Technica praised the game as "insidiously fun" despite noting the simplicity of the game's graphics. Sophia Tong of GameSpot compared the game to "Super Mario Bros. 3" and called the new multiplayer feature "a blast to play and hilarious to watch". Eurogamer's Oli Welsh called the multiplayer "a simple stroke of genius". Chris Kohler of Wired praised the difficulty behind the multiplayer mode.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The game's presentation was another point of praise for some critics. CNET's Jeff Balakar called seeing a side-scrolling "Super Mario" game in widescreen "an eye-opening experience", and praised the worlds' attentions to detail. IGN's Craig Harris also praised the widescreen graphics, noting that the game looked smooth in progressive widescreen mode despite the version of the game being displayed being an incomplete build, while Matt Casamassina said that it looked "crisp, clean [and] colorful".


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Some reviewers were slightly critical of the game's multiplayer. Although CNET's three reviewers enjoyed the game, Balakar mused that the multiplayer gameplay was occasionally frustrating due to the chaos and tight screen space. CNET's Dan Ackerman, whilst praising "New Super Mario Bros. Wii"s overall enjoyability, noted its strong similarity to its side-scrolling predecessors, musing that it felt "firmly planted in the 2D era." MTV writer Russ Frushtick commented on the game's difficulty, comparing it to that of the NES game "Contra".


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu" called it a "masterpiece of 2D action" and gave it a perfect 40/40, making it only the 13th game and the fourth Wii game to receive this score in the publication's 23-year history. "Kotaku" highly praised the game, calling it a reason to buy a Wii. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com regarded it as the true spiritual successor to 1991's "Super Mario World".


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Critics continued to praise the game's multiplayer features, with several singling it out as one of the game's most potent and worthwhile features. Patrick Kolan of IGN Australia called it the funnest 4-player experience since "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", and stated that it exceeded their initial expectations despite strong suspicions. Matt Wales of IGN UK lamented that the game worked as both a single-player and a multiplayer experience, but stated that it was at its best when played with multiple people. Nick Chester of Destructoid called the cooperative mode fun despite occasional frustrations, and stated that players would likely have more fun playing alongside other friends. GameSpot's Randolph Ramsay called the multiplayer "initially great fun", but also admitted that they found it tedious at times due to the sheer chaos that it led to. Craig Harris of IGN US praised the bubble system, calling it a smart design choice; however, he criticized the game's lack of any online multiplayer features, highlighting it as a particular point of dissatisfaction. Kolan also saw this as a shortcoming, criticizing a lack of online leaderboard features for the competitive multiplayer modes. Conversely, Wales did not see this omission as a major issue, arguing that sociality was a primary aspect that made the multiplayer enjoyable and that it was wise not to include the feature because of Nintendo's poor-quality online service, though they noted that a leaderboard would have been an admirable addition. "GameSpy" also gave the game leeway for its lack of online play, arguing that the medium is a primarily competitive experience whereas "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" required a cooperative experience in order to be thoroughly enjoyed. Brett Elston of GamesRadar+, highly critical of the four-player multiplayer, called it frustrating and stated that it felt cramped due to the several characters and small screen size, while advising that the game was best experienced with only two players.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Gameplay and controls were praised for their reminiscence of older 2D "Super Mario" titles; many singled out the use of the Wii Remote held sideways as the best way to play the game and praised it for calling back to the layout of the rectangular-shaped controller of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Ramsay lamented that the game's lack of support for the Wii's Classic Controller was disappointing. Thoughts on the game's integration of motion controls were varied. Kolan praised them as being "easy, intuitive and unobtrusive – the three most critical aspects in any motion-controlled game", while Ramsay stated that they were occasionally intrusive on general gameplay. Chester mostly praised the motion controls for being natural, taking exception with the need to hold a button and shake in order to carry items. Elston stated that the game's handling was "compromised" by the motion-controlled spin jump, which they stated the review team kept repeatedly activating by accident while trying to play the game.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Some writers criticized "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" for feeling streamlined and banking off of the gameplay of its predecessors. Although Harris awarded the game an 8.9 out of 10 and deemed it a fun experience overall, he also was highly critical of it for "playing it safe", and, comparing it to "Super Mario Galaxy", called it a "missed opportunity" for Nintendo in terms of content. "Edge", while giving the game a positive score of 7/10, criticized it for having a lack of traditional "Mario" charm and low difficulty level. Elston argued that the game lacked the creativity of others in the series. "The A.V. Club" called the game "the least essential "Mario" title to date", stating that it lacks a strong concept and shows an underlying repetitiveness in "Mario" games. Conversely, "Nintendo Power" argued that the game works as a sequel because it maintains what made the original "Mario" games great while adding new features.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: Corbie Dillard of Nintendo Life pointed out the game's visual polish and smooth animations, but also stated that it did not hold the same level of splendor as other first party Wii releases. Ramsay also compared the game's graphics to other Nintendo-developed titles, stating that it lacked the level of polish that the previously-released "Super Mario Galaxy" had despite utilizing a bright and varied array of colors. Kolan praised the game's music as one of the best in the series, and lauded the game's sound design for calling back to previous "Super Mario" entries. Elston also shed praise on the game's soundtrack, as well as the enemy interaction with the in-game music.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" received the Best Wii Game award at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards. IGN gave it the 2009 Wii Game of the Year Award. GameTrailers awarded it Best Wii Game of 2009. It also received the Best Family Game of the Year award in Yahoo's 2009 Game Awards, and the Nintendo Power Award for 2009's "Wii Game of the Year". GamesRadar named the game the 13th best on the Wii in 2016. IGN listed it as #8 on their list of the top 25 Wii games in 2012, and also as #103 on their list of the top 125 Nintendo games of all time in 2014. Polygon placed it at the #10 spot in their ranking of every "Super Mario" game, stating that the game's single-player was "standard Mario fare" while singling out the multiplayer experience as an incredible inclusion.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was a commercial success, selling 936,734 units within four days of its release in Japan, the biggest debut for a Wii game in the region; its sales increased to 1,401,558 in the following week. Upon the game's release, sales for the Wii console increased by 128%, following a recent slowing in hardware sales for the system. "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" sold 3,002,753 units within seven weeks of its release in Japan, making it the fastest game in that country to sell 3 million. In North America, "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" sold 1,390,000 units in November 2009, making it the third-best-selling game of the month behind the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of "". Within 45 days, the game had sold 4.2 million copies in the US, surpassing "Super Mario Galaxy"s 4.1 million sales. In December 2009, the game sold units. By the end of 2009, "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" had sold units worldwide, making it the fastest selling single-system game in history, with 4.5 million units sold in the U.S., 3 million in Japan, and nearly 3 million in Europe.


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: In its first year of sales, "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" sold 4,001,276 units in Japan, making it the first Wii title with 4 million sales in the country. On November 19, 2014, Nintendo of America announced via Twitter that the game had surpassed sales of 10 million units in the United States alone. , the game has sold 30.32 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth-best-selling Wii game as well as the second-best-selling "Mario" game on the Wii console (behind "Mario Kart Wii").


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: In 2012, a sequel to "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" was released as a launch title for the Wii U, entitled "New Super Mario Bros. U". It was later re-released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019, titled "New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe".


title: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

text: is a 2011 Japan-only arcade game developed by Capcom. The gameplay features multiplayer like its console counterpart, and is based primarily on a slot-machine mechanic. The game features a variety of "event" elements, each based upon gameplay from "New Super Mario Bros. Wii". Winning various events and on the slot machine gives players opportunities to collect keys. Once five keys are collected, the player enters an event with Bowser to win a jackpot.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance of Russia over the Soviet Union or referring to Russia during the era of the Soviet Union), when referring to the foundations of the Soviet Union, "Soviet Russia" often specifically refers to brief period between the October Revolution of 1917 and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Before 1922, there were four independent Soviet Republics: the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian SSR, and Transcaucasian SFSR. These four became the first Union Republics of the Soviet Union, and was later joined by the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic and Khorezm People's Soviet Republic in 1924. During and immediately after World War II, various Soviet Republics annexed portions of countries in Eastern Europe, and the Russian SFSR annexed the Tuvan People's Republic, and from the Empire of Japan took South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The USSR also annexed three countries on the Baltic Sea wholesale, creating the Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Estonian SSR. Over time, national delimitation in the Soviet Union resulted in the creation of several new Union-level Republics along ethnic lines, as well as organization of autonomous ethnic regions within Russia.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The USSR gained and lost influence with other Communist countries over time. The occupying Soviet army facilitated the establishment of post-WWII Communist satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. These were organized into the Warsaw Pact, and included the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, People's Republic of Bulgaria, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, East Germany, Hungarian People's Republic, Polish People's Republic, and Socialist Republic of Romania. The 1960s saw the Soviet–Albanian split, Sino-Soviet split, and de-satellization of Communist Romania; the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia fractured the communist movement. The Revolutions of 1989 ended Communist rule in satellite countries.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Tensions with the central government led to constituent republics declaring independence starting in 1988, leading to the complete dissolution of the Soviet Union by 1991.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The original philosophy of the state was primarily based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In its essence, Marx's theory stated that economic and political systems went through an inevitable evolution in form, by which the current capitalist system would be replaced by a Socialist state before achieving international cooperation and peace in a "Workers' Paradise," creating a system directed by, what Marx called "pure communism".


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Displeased by the relatively few changes made by the Tsar after the Russian Revolution of 1905, Russia became a hotbed of anarchism, socialism and other radical political systems. The dominant socialist party, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), subscribed to Marxist ideology. Starting in 1903 a series of splits in the party between two main leaders was escalating: the Bolsheviks (meaning "majority") led by Vladimir Lenin, and the Mensheviks (meaning minority) led by Julius Martov. Up until 1912, both groups continued to stay united under the name "RSDLP," but significant differences between Lenin and Martov thought split the party for its final time. Not only did these groups fight with each other, but also had common enemies, notably, those trying to bring the Tsar back to power. Following the February Revolution, the Mensheviks gained control of Russia and established a provisional government, but this lasted only a few months until the Bolsheviks took power in the October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Under the control of the party, all politics and attitudes that were not strictly RCP (Russian Communist Party) were suppressed, under the premise that the RCP represented the proletariat and all activities contrary to the party's beliefs were "counterrevolutionary" or "anti-socialist." During the years of 1917 to 1924, the Soviet Union achieved peace with the Central Powers, their enemies in World War I, but also fought the Russian Civil War against the White Army and foreign armies from the United States, United Kingdom, and France, among others. This resulted in large territorial changes, albeit temporarily for some of these. Eventually crushing all opponents, the RCP spread Soviet style rule quickly and established itself through all of Russia. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the RCP, became Lenin's successor and continued as leader of the Soviet Union into the 1950s.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The history of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953 covers the period of the Second World War and of victory against Nazi Germany while the USSR remained under the control of Joseph Stalin. Stalin sought to destroy his political rivals while transforming Soviet society with central planning, in particular a collectivization of agriculture and a development of heavy industry. Stalin's power within the party and the state was established and eventually evolved into Stalin's cult of personality, Soviet secret-police and the mass-mobilization. The Communist Party was one of Stalin's major tools in molding the Soviet society. Stalin's methods in achieving his goals, which included party purges, political repression of the general population, and forced collectivization, led to millions of deaths: in Gulag labor camps, during the man-made famine, and during forced resettlements of population.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: World War II, known as "the Great Patriotic War" in the Soviet Union, devastated much of the USSR with about one out of every three World War II deaths representing a citizen of the Soviet Union. After World War II the Soviet Union's armies occupied Central and Eastern Europe, where socialist governments took power. By 1949 the Cold War had started between the Western Bloc and the Eastern (Soviet) Bloc, with the Warsaw Pact pitched against NATO in Europe. After 1945 Stalin did not directly engage in any wars. Stalin continued his totalitarian rule until his death in 1953.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: In the Soviet union, the eleven-year period from the death of Joseph Stalin (1953) to the political ouster of Nikita Khrushchev (1964), the national politics were dominated by the Cold War; the ideological U.S.–USSR struggle for the planetary domination of their respective socio–economic systems, and the defense of hegemonic spheres of influence. Nonetheless, since the mid-1950s, despite the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) having disowned Stalinism, the political culture of Stalinism—an omnipotent General Secretary, anti-Trotskyism, a five-year planned economy (post-New Economic Policy), and repudiation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact secret protocols—remained the character of Soviet society until the accession of Mikhail Gorbachev as leader of the CPSU in 1985.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The history of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, referred to as the Brezhnev Era, covers the period of Leonid Brezhnev's rule of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This period began with high economic growth and soaring prosperity, but ended with a much weaker Soviet Union facing social, political, and economic stagnation. The average annual income stagnated, because needed economic reforms were never fully carried out.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Nikita Khrushchev was ousted as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), as well as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, on 14 October 1964 due to his failed reforms and disregard for Party and Government institutions. Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin replaced him as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Anastas Mikoyan, and later Nikolai Podgorny, became Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Together with Andrei Kirilenko as organisational secretary, and Mikhail Suslov as chief ideologue, they made up a reinvigorated collective leadership, which contrasted in form with the autocracy that characterized Khrushchev's rule.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The collective leadership first set out to stabilize the Soviet Union and calm Soviet society, a task which they were able to accomplish. In addition, they attempted to speed up economic growth, which had slowed considerably during Khrushchev's last years in power. In 1965 Kosygin initiated several reforms to decentralize the Soviet economy. After initial success in creating economic growth, hard-liners within the Party halted the reforms, fearing that they would weaken the Party's prestige and power. No other radical economic reforms were carried out during the Brezhnev era, and economic growth began to stagnate in the early-to-mid-1970s. By Brezhnev's death in 1982, Soviet economic growth had, according to several historians, nearly come to a standstill.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The stabilization policy brought about after Khrushchev's removal established a ruling gerontocracy, and political corruption became a normal phenomenon. Brezhnev, however, never initiated any large-scale anti-corruption campaigns. Due to the large military buildup of the 1960s the Soviet Union was able to consolidate itself as a superpower during Brezhnev's rule. The era ended with Brezhnev's death on 10 November 1982.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: While all modernized economies were rapidly moving to computerization after 1965, the USSR fell further and further behind. Moscow's decision to copy the IBM/360 of 1965 proved a decisive mistake for it locked scientists into a system they were unable to improve so that it gradually became antiquated. They had enormous difficulties in manufacturing the necessary chips reliably and in quantity, in programming workable and efficient programs, in coordinating entirely separate operations, and in providing support to computer users.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: One of the greatest strengths of Soviet economy was its vast supplies of oil and gas; world oil prices quadrupled during the 1973-74 oil crisis, and rose again in 1979-1981, making the energy sector the chief driver of the Soviet economy, and was used to cover multiple weaknesses. At one point, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin told the head of oil and gas production, "things are bad with bread. Give me 3 million tons [of oil] over the plan." Former prime minister Yegor Gaidar, an economist looking back three decades, in 2007 wrote:


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991, spans the period from Leonid Brezhnev's death and funeral until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Failed attempts at reform, a standstill economy, and the success of the United States against the Soviet Union's forces in the war in Afghanistan led to a general feeling of discontent, especially in the Baltic republics and Eastern Europe.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Greater political and social freedoms, instituted by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, created an atmosphere of open criticism of the Soviet government. The dramatic drop of the price of oil in 1985 and 1986 profoundly influenced actions of the Soviet leadership.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Nikolai Tikhonov, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, was succeeded by Nikolai Ryzhkov, and Vasili Kuznetsov, the acting Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, was succeeded by Andrei Gromyko, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.


title: History of the Soviet Union

text: Several Soviet Socialist Republics began resisting central control, and increasing democratization led to a weakening of the central government. The USSR's trade gap progressively emptied the coffers of the union, leading to eventual bankruptcy. The Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991 when Boris Yeltsin seized power in the aftermath of a failed coup that had attempted to topple reform-minded Gorbachev.


title: Marble Arch

text: Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is today the three-bayed, central projection of the palace containing the well-known balcony. In 1851, on the initiative of architect and urban planner Decimus Burton, a one-time pupil of John Nash, it was relocated to its current site. Following the widening of Park Lane in the early 1960s, the site became a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane and Edgware Road, isolating the arch. Admiralty Arch, Holyhead in Wales is a similar arch, also cut off from public access, at the other end of the A5.


title: Marble Arch

text: Only members of the Royal Family and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery are said to be permitted to pass through the arch; this happens in ceremonial processions.


title: Marble Arch

text: The arch gives its name to the area surrounding it, particularly the southern portion of Edgware Road and also to the underground station. The arch is not part of the Royal Parks and is maintained by Westminster City Council.


title: Marble Arch

text: Nash's three-arch design is based on that of the Arch of Constantine in Rome and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris. The triumphal arch is faced with Carrara marble with embellishments of marble extracted from quarries near Seravezza in Tuscany, Italy.


title: Marble Arch

text: John Flaxman was chosen to make the commemorative sculpture. After his death in 1826, the commission was divided between Sir Richard Westmacott, Edward Hodges Baily and J. C. F. Rossi. In 1829, a bronze equestrian statue of George IV was commissioned from Sir Francis Chantrey, with the intention of placing it on top of the arch.


title: Marble Arch

text: Construction began in 1827, but was cut short in 1830, following the death of the spendthrift King George IV – the rising costs were unacceptable to the new king, William IV, who later tried to offload the uncompleted palace onto Parliament as a substitute for the recently destroyed Palace of Westminster.


title: Marble Arch

text: Work restarted in 1832, this time under the supervision of Edward Blore, who greatly reduced Nash's planned attic stage and omitted its sculpture, including the statue of George IV. The arch was completed in 1833.


title: Marble Arch

text: Some of the unused sculpture, including parts of Westmacott's frieze of Waterloo and the Nelson panels, were used at Buckingham Palace. His victory statues and Rossi's relief of Europe and Asia were used at the National Gallery. In 1843 the equestrian statue of George IV was installed on one of the pedestals in Trafalgar Square.


title: Marble Arch

text: The white marble soon lost its light colouring in the polluted London atmosphere. In 1847, "Sharpe's London Magazine" described it as "discoloured by smoke and damp, and in appearance resembling a huge sugar erection in a confectioner's shop window."


title: Marble Arch

text: Buckingham Palace remained unoccupied, and for the most part unfinished, until it was hurriedly completed upon the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Within a few years, the palace was found to be too small for the large court and the Queen's expanding family. The solution was to enlarge the palace by enclosing the cour d'honneur with a new east range. This façade is today the principal front and public face of the palace and shields the inner façades containing friezes and marbles matching and complementing those of the arch.


title: Marble Arch

text: When building work began in 1847, the arch was dismantled and rebuilt by Thomas Cubitt as a ceremonial entrance to the northeast corner of Hyde Park at Cumberland Gate. The reconstruction was completed in March 1851. A popular story says that the arch was moved because it was too narrow for the Queen's state coach to pass through, but, in fact, the Gold State Coach passed under it during Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.


title: Marble Arch

text: Three small rooms inside the rebuilt arch were used as a police station from 1851 until at least 1968 (John Betjeman made a programme inside it in 1968 and referred to it as a fully functional police station). It firstly housed the royal constables of the Park and later the Metropolitan Police. One policeman stationed there during the early 1860s was Samuel Parkes, who won the Victoria Cross in the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854, during the Crimean War.


title: Marble Arch

text: In 2005 it was speculated that the arch might be moved across the street to Hyde Park, or to a more accessible location than its current position on a large traffic island.


title: Marble Arch

text: Park Lane was widened as part of the Park Lane Improvement Scheme of the London County Council, and the Marble Arch became stranded on a traffic island. The scheme required an act of Parliament in 1958, and during the passage of the Park Lane Improvement Bill the possibility of providing an underpass instead of a roundabout was dismissed due to excessive cost and the need to demolish buildings on Edgware Road. As part of the scheme, gardens were laid out around the arch on the traffic island. The works took place between 1960 and 1964.