title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 26 August 2009, Nakamori released her twenty-third studio album, "Diva". It was her first studio album in three years since "Destination". The album had ten newly recorded songs. In this album, she collaborated with various producers from overseas such as Rodney Alejandro, Matt Tishler, and Jeniffer Karr. One of the album tracks was written by Nakamori under her pseudonym Miran:Miran. The album was released in regular and limited editions: the limited edition included a bonus disc with remixes of the tracks "Diva" and "Heartache". The album debuted at number 29 on the Oricon Weekly Album Charts and charted for three weeks.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 23 September 2009, Nakamori released a special single titled "Diva Single Version" with a new intro arrangement with two B-side tracks, the original version of "Heartache", which was previously released only as a single and a re-recorded album track, "I hope so", from the album of the same name. The single debuted at number 50 on the Oricon Weekly Single Charts.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 13 July 2010, Nakamori wrote and released a digital single, "Crazy Love". The single was released via the streaming services Chaku-Uta and Recochoku. It was used as background music for pachinko slot parlors. For players who won the full combination of points, a short music video clip of Crazy Love was shown.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 28 October 2010, Nakamori's staff announced her indefinite hiatus from music activities due to fatigue and health problems.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 22 December 2010, a 6-DVD set box "Nakamori Akina in Hit Studio" and on 15 December 2011, a 5-DVD set box "The Best Ten Nakamori Akina Premium Box" were released.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 4 August 2014, Universal Music released two best albums on the same day: "" and "". "All Time Best: Original" consisted of Nakamori's biggest hits from between 1982 and 2009, her previously released digital single, and a new song "Sweet Rain". The "All Time Best: Original" album was released in regular and limited editions; the limited edition included live footage from "Akina Nakamori 2000: 21 Seiki he". The album debuted at number 3 on the Oricon Weekly Album Charts. It was recognized by RIAJ. "All Time Best: Utahime Cover" consisted of cover songs that Nakamori released between 1994 and 2009. The album was released in regular and limited editions; the limited edition included live footage from "Songs: Nakamori Akina Utahime Special". The album debuted at number 7 on the Oricon Weekly Album Charts.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 31 December 2014, Nakamori made a stage appearance for the first time in several years, appearing in that year's Kōhaku Uta Gassen, broadcast from her recording studio in New York. In the broadcast, she performed her new song "Rojo (Tierra)". With this comeback, she also announced her complete return to the music industry.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 20 January 2015, Nakamori released a new cover album, "". It was her first cover album in 6 years and the first new addition to the Utahime album series in 11 years. Unlike the previous cover album, this album featured J-pop songs released during the '90s–'00s.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 21 January 2015, Nakamori wrote and released her 49th single "Rojo-Tierra". It was her first single released in five years. The single was released in regular and limited editions: the limited edition included a making-of video clip of Rojo-Tierra. The single debuted at number 8 on the Oricon Weekly Single Charts and charted for eight weeks. The single was awarded by the Japan Gold Disc Award as the "Best Enka/Kayokuyoku Artist".


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 30 September 2015, Nakamori released her 50th single "Unfixable", written by Hilde Wahl, Anita Lipsky, Tommy Berre and Marietta Constantinou. For the first time in 28 years, Nakamori released an original song in English. The single was released in regular and limited editions: the limited edition included image footage of "Unfixable". The single debuted at number 20 on the Oricon Single Weekly Charts and debuted at number 3 on the Recochoku Single Weekly Charts.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 30 December 2015, Nakamori released her 24th studio album, "Fixer". It was her first studio album since her hiatus. The album consists of two previously released singles from 2015, both in original and album re-arranged versions, which are listed as bonus tracks. The album version of "Fixer: While the Women are Sleeping" was chosen as a movie theme song for the movie "Onna ga Nemuru Toki". It was her first movie theme song in 24 years. The album was released in regular and limited editions; the limited edition included a DVD music video clip of "Fixer: While the Women are Sleeping". The album debuted at number 7 on the Oricon Weekly Album Charts and debuted at number 8 on the Recochoku Weekly Album Charts.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 24 February 2016, Nakamori released the single "Fixer (While the Women Are Sleeping)", written by Nakamori herself for the film "While the Women Are Sleeping". The CD doesn't start with the lead song, but instead the B-side track, "Hirari (Sakura)", written by Kouhei Munemoto and a member of the band Porno Graffitti, Haruichi Shindō. It was her first original song about cherry blossoms. The single debuted at number 32 on the Oricon Weekly Single Chart.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 30 November 2016, Nakamori released a jazz cover album titled "Belie". The album consists of songs from various periods with jazz arrangements and a rhythmic feeling. The album was released in regular and limited editions: the limited edition includes a DVD of music video clips of all the cover songs. The album debuted at number 8 on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart and debuted at number 5 on the Recochoku Weekly Album Chart. On 21 December 2016, a renewed version of the cover album titled "Belie+Vampire" was released. "Vampire" consists of 6 cover tracks as part of the upcoming celebration of her 35th debut anniversary.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: On 8 November 2017, Nakamori released both a eurobeat cover album "Cage" and her twenty-fifth original studio album, "Akina". "Cage" featured Eurobeat and disco songs, which were first recorded in the '80s. Expect one track, the rest of the album's songs were performed in English. The main album arranger was Kengo Sasaki. The album was released in regular and limited editions; the limited edition consists of six minutes of footage from Nakamori's 35th-anniversary celebration. The album debuted at number 8 on the Oricon Weekly Chart. "Akina" was released in regular and limited editions; the limited edition included a booklet-sized 2018 calendar. The album debuted at number 9 on Oricon and debuted at number 10 on Recochoku.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: Nakamori was honored by the Japanese Music Critics as the 5th best voice in the country's recording history, even ahead of her rival, Matsuda Seiko, who was honored at 7th place. According to the Oricon Charts, she is one of a handful of singers who managed to have albums in the Top 10 in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.


title: Akina Nakamori

text: After a five-year hiatus, Nakamori opened a new Twitter account and official website on 30 August 2022. She announced that she transferred her management from Faith to a new label called HZ Village, and that her new fan club would open in December 22; she also stated that her physical condition is not ideal yet.


title: John C. Aquilino

text: John Christopher Aquilino (born 1961) is an admiral in the United States Navy, serving as the commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command since April 30, 2021. He previously served as the commander of the United States Pacific Fleet and before that, commander of the United States Fifth Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces.


title: John C. Aquilino

text: Aquilino graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1984, earning a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He subsequently entered flight training and earned his wings in August 1986. Aquilino graduated from the Navy Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun), the Joint Forces Staff College and completed Harvard Kennedy School's Executive Education Program in National and International Security.


title: John C. Aquilino

text: Aquilino's operational assignments include numerous fighter squadrons flying the F-14 A/B Tomcat and the F-18 C/E/F Hornet. His fleet assignments include the Ghost Riders of Fighter Squadron (VF) 142 and the Black Aces of VF-41. He commanded the Red Rippers of VF-11, Carrier Air Wing 2 and Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 2/"George H.W. Bush" Strike Group. He has made several extended deployments in support of Operations Deny Flight, Deliberate Force, Southern Watch, Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.


title: John C. Aquilino

text: Aquilino's shore tour assignments include duties as an adversary instructor pilot flying the A-4, F-5 and F-16N aircraft for the Challengers of VF-43; operations officer of Strike Weapons and Tactics School, Atlantic; flag aide to the vice chief of naval operations; special assistant for weapons systems and advanced development in the Office of the Legislative Affairs for the Secretary of Defense; director of air wing readiness and training, for Commander, Naval Air Forces, Atlantic Fleet; and executive assistant to the commander, United States Fleet Forces Command.


title: John C. Aquilino

text: Aquilino's flag assignments include director of strategy and policy (J5), United States Joint Forces Command; deputy director, joint force coordinator (J31), the Joint Staff; commander, CSG-2, director of maritime operations, United States Pacific Fleet (N04); deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategy (N3/N5); and as commander, United States Naval Forces Central Command, United States 5th Fleet, Combined Maritime Forces.


title: John C. Aquilino

text: Aquilino assumed duties as commander, United States Pacific Fleet, on May 17, 2018. He is the 36th commander since the fleet's Pearl Harbor headquarters was established in February 1941. He was relieved of the same duties on the morning of April 30, 2021 by Samuel J. Paparo before relieving Philip S. Davidson as commander of Indo-Pacific Command later that day.


title: The Brave (TV series)

text: The Brave is an American military action drama series which depicted the missions of an elite covert operations team of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Defense Clandestine Service. It stars Anne Heche and Mike Vogel, and was created by Dean Georgaris. The series premiered on September 25, 2017, on NBC and was canceled on May 11, 2018 after one season.


title: The Brave (TV series)

text: The series revolves around the professional and personal sacrifices that the military has to face in war missions in similar to that of


title: The Brave (TV series)

text: CIA's Special Operations Group. Patricia Campbell (Anne Heche), deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and her team of analysts have the most advanced surveillance technology in their hand. Captain Adam Dalton (Mike Vogel), a former Delta Force operator, communications director for the team, has the mission of finding an American doctor who was kidnapped and must make the mission safe and sound. Thus, his highly qualified squad must save innocent people's lives and face the most dangerous missions in the world.


title: The Brave (TV series)

text: NBC ordered the pilot to series on May 4, 2017 together with "Rise", making both series the first regular series orders for the 2017–18 United States network television schedule. In May 2017 NBC announced that Matt Corman and Chris Ord would be the series' showrunners.


title: The Brave (TV series)

text: In a letter published by the 'Renew The Brave' campaign, guest star Naren Weiss wrote about the series as well as his reasoning for taking on one of the series' antagonist roles, stressing the importance of Hadi Tabbal's portrayal and character (Amir Al-Raisani) in terms of the political and entertainment landscapes of the time. Despite this and several other fan campaigns, the series was not renewed for a second season.


title: The Brave (TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 38% approval rating, with an average rating of 5.75/10 based on 21 reviews. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 54 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Ford Models

text: Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford.


title: Ford Models

text: Ford Models was started in 1946 by Eileen and Gerard W. "Jerry" Ford. Ford was the first company to advance their models' money-owed by jobs that had been completed but not yet paid. The Ford family had the tradition of allowing teenage models who originated far from New York City to stay in their home.


title: Ford Models

text: The company was the pre-eminent New York agency until John Casablancas of Elite Model Management opened up in the city, leading to the "model wars" of the 1980s. Ford, like many of the original agencies of the 1970s, now has to compete with a broad field of contenders, such as Women, IMG and DNA.


title: Ford Models

text: The agency has represented a diverse list of models and celebrities. In 1980, the company established the Ford Supermodel of the World Contest, which attracted more than 60,000 hopefuls annually from around the world. Today, the contest lives on in the form of the annual V/VMan Ford Model Search run in conjunction with the two Visionaire publications.


title: Ford Models

text: Eileen and Jerry began the business in their home. Their daughter Katie Ford took over in 1995 after working in the agency for 16 years.


title: Ford Models

text: In December 2000 Magnum Sports and Entertainment signed a letter of intent to acquire Ford, but the transaction fell through. The Fords sold a stake of their agency in December 2007 to private equity firm Stone Tower Equity Partners. The firm was renamed Altpoint Capital Partners in 2009. Altpoint is operated by managing partner Gerald Banks, also known as Guerman Aliev, and owned and funded by Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin through his holding company Interros. In January 2011 Altpoint increased its stake in Ford Models to 93%. In May 2020 Ford Models Brasil purchased Ford Models from Altpoint amidst uncertainty related to covid-accelerated industry digitalization and the lack of a CEO at Ford Models for a number of months.


title: Ford Models

text: In the 2000s, the company diversified through Ford Artists to represent talent in the hair, makeup and wardrobe industries. It has also promoted itself through its social media platform, which includes the Ford Models Blog, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Ford Models has also lent its name to an imprint of Random House books, which created a series of teen novels that served to try and glamorize working with the agency.


title: Ford Models

text: The company also diversified into the art gallery business under the leadership of chairman Guerman Aliev in 2011.


title: Ford Models

text: In 2019 Ford Models sued a former executive, claiming she invented a story about her husband having a terminal illness in order to have the company agree to render null the non-compete clause of her employment contract. Ford Models charged that among other things the executive was liable to forfeiture of her compensation back to the company, inasmuch as she had been a "faithless servant."


title: Ford Models

text: In September 2019, the executive filed a countersuit against Ford Models, claiming that the chairman Gerald Banks (Guerman Aliev) had been spending company funds inappropriately for years, and that by July 2019, Ford had over $8 million in debt. She further claimed that she had quit when she realized Banks and Ford Models owner Vladimir Potanin had close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.


title: Ford Models

text: In May 2020, Ford Models Brasil acquired Ford Models, with Decio Restelli Ribeiro set to be the CEO of the talent management agency.


title: Ford Models

text: In recent years the company has diversified into other professions related to the fashion industry through Ford Artists. They represent hair stylists, makeup artists, manicurists, stylists, set designers, prop stylists, art directors, and photographers. Ford Artists locations include Chicago and Los Angeles.


title: Ford Models

text: In addition to the New York City headquarters, Ford Models has offices in Paris, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago.


title: Japchae

text: Japchae () is a savory and slightly sweet dish of stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables that is popular in Korean cuisine. "Japchae" is typically prepared with "dangmyeon" (당면, 唐麵), a type of cellophane noodles made from sweet potato starch; the noodles are mixed with assorted vegetables, meat, and mushrooms, and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil.


title: Japchae

text: Once a royal dish, japchae is now one of the most popular traditional celebration dishes, often served on special occasions, such as weddings, birthdays (especially "dol", the first birthday, and "hwangap", the sixtieth), and holidays. It is also popular at banquets, parties, and potlucks, due to the ease of bulk preparation and flexible serving: "japchae" can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold from the refrigerator, and can be eaten freshly made or the day after.


title: Japchae

text: "Japchae" is commonly served as a "banchan" (side dish), though it may also be eaten as a main dish. It is sometimes served on a bed of rice: with rice, it is known as "japchae-bap" ().


title: Japchae

text: The Sino-Korean word "japchae" (; ) consists of two syllables, "jap" (; ) meaning "mixed" and "chae" (; ) meaning "vegetable".


title: Japchae

text: According to "Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty", the name originally referred to a stir-fried vegetable and mushroom dish, first made in the early 17th century by Yi Chung (1568‒1619) for King Gwanghaegun's palace banquet, related to the Fujianese dish of cha̍p-chhài (雜菜), of which the Indonesian Cap Cai is a variant. The king liked the dish so much that he rewarded Yi by promoting him to a high-ranking position, equivalent to the position of Secretary of the Treasury, and "japchae" became a fixture of Korean royal court cuisine. Cooked without noodles or meat at the time, "japchae" was considered a luxurious and elegant dish served to the royal family and high-level officials. Cucumbers, radishes, and shiitake mushrooms were among the vegetables used in this period.


title: Japchae

text: "Japchae", like other royal dishes, was eventually adopted into the cuisine of common people. Its popularity increased later in the 20th century when cellophane noodles made from sweet potato starch were introduced to Korea from China. The noodles have since become an integral and primary ingredient of "japchae". Beef and other meats have been added to the noodle dish, while experimentation and adaptations have led to many noodle-less variations made with seafood, herbs, peppers, bean sprouts, and other ingredients.


title: Japchae

text: "Dangmyeon" are pale grey, semi-transparent, chewy and elastic noodles made from sweet potato starch. They are also known as "glass noodles", "cellophane noodles", or "sweet potato vermicelli". The noodles may be soaked in water before cooking. Noodles are sometimes soaked in hot water and then stir-fried. The assortment of vegetables in "japchae" may vary, with typical ingredients including mushrooms, carrots, spinach, onions, egg and scallions. Commonly used mushrooms are wood ear, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms. Both beef and pork are commonly used for "japchae". Each ingredient is stir-fried separately before being mixed with boiled and drained noodles, and seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, chopped garlic and sesame oil. The dish is usually garnished with toasted sesame seeds and chili threads, and served hot or cold.


title: Detritus

text: In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decompose (i.e. remineralize) it. In terrestrial ecosystems it is present as leaf litter and other organic matter that is intermixed with soil, which is denominated "soil organic matter". The detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic material that is suspended in the water and accumulates in depositions on the floor of the body of water; when this floor is a seabed, such a deposition is denominated "marine snow".


title: Detritus

text: The corpses of dead plants or animals, material derived from animal tissues (e.g. molted skin), and fecal matter gradually lose their form due to physical processes and the action of decomposers, including grazers, bacteria, and fungi. Decomposition, the process by which organic matter is decomposed, occurs in several phases. Micro- and macro-organisms that feed on it rapidly consume and absorb materials such as proteins, lipids, and sugars that are low in molecular weight, while other compounds such as complex carbohydrates are decomposed more slowly. The decomposing microorganisms degrade the organic materials so as to gain the resources they require for their survival and reproduction. Accordingly, simultaneous to microorganisms' decomposition of the materials of dead plants and animals is their assimilation of decomposed compounds to construct more of their biomass (i.e. to grow their own bodies). When microorganisms die, fine organic particles are produced, and if small animals that feed on microorganisms eat these particles they collect inside the intestines of the consumers, and change shape into large pellets of dung. As a result of this process, most of the materials of dead organisms disappear and are not visible and recognizable in any form, but are present in the form of a combination of fine organic particles and the organisms that used them as nutrients. This combination is detritus.


title: Detritus

text: In ecosystems on land, detritus is deposited on the surface of the ground, taking forms such as the humic soil beneath a layer of fallen leaves. In aquatic ecosystems, most detritus is suspended in water, and gradually settles. In particular, many different types of material are collected together by currents, and much material settles in slowly flowing areas.


title: Detritus

text: A large amount of detritus is used as a source of nutrition for animals. In particular, many bottom feeding animals (benthos) living in mud flats feed in this way. In particular, since excreta are materials which other animals do not need, whatever energy value they might have, they are often unbalanced as a source of nutrients, and are not suitable as a source of nutrition on their own. However, there are many microorganisms which multiply in natural environments. These microorganisms do not simply absorb nutrients from these particles, but also shape their own bodies so that they can take the resources they lack from the area around them, and this allows them to make use of excreta as a source of nutrients. In practical terms, the most important constituents of detritus are complex carbohydrates, which are persistent (difficult to break down), and the microorganisms which multiply using these absorb carbon from the detritus, and materials such as nitrogen and phosphorus from the water in their environment to synthesise the components of their own cells.


title: Detritus

text: A characteristic type of food chain called the detritus cycle takes place involving detritus feeders (detritivores), detritus and the microorganisms that multiply on it. For example, mud flats are inhabited by many univalves which are detritus feeders. When these detritus feeders take in detritus with microorganisms multiplying on it, they mainly break down and absorb the microorganisms, which are rich in proteins, and excrete the detritus, which is mostly complex carbohydrates, having hardly broken it down at all. At first this dung is a poor source of nutrition, and so univalves pay no attention to it, but after several days, microorganisms begin to multiply on it again, its nutritional balance improves, and so they eat it again. Through this process of eating the detritus many times over and harvesting the microorganisms from it, the detritus thins out, becomes fractured and becomes easier for the microorganisms to use, and so the complex carbohydrates are also steadily broken down and disappear over time.


title: Detritus

text: What is left behind by the detritivores is then further broken down and recycled by decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi.


title: Detritus

text: This detritus cycle plays a large part in the so-called purification process, whereby organic materials carried in by rivers is broken down and disappears, and an extremely important part in the breeding and growth of marine resources. In ecosystems on land, far more essential material is broken down as dead material passing through the detritus chain than is broken down by being eaten by animals in a living state. In both land and aquatic ecosystems, the role played by detritus is too large to ignore.


title: Detritus

text: In contrast to land ecosystems, dead materials and excreta in aquatic ecosystems are typically transported by water flow; finer particles tend to be transported farther or suspended longer. In freshwater bodies organic material from plants can form a silt known as "mulm" or humus on the bottom. This material, some called "undissolved organic carbon" breaks down into dissolved organic carbon and can bond to heavy metal ions via chelation. It can also break down into colored dissolved organic matter such as tannin, a specific form of tannic acid.


title: Detritus

text: In saltwater bodies, organic material breaks down and forms a marine snow. This example of detritus commonly consists of organic materials such as dead phytoplankton and zooplankton, the outer walls of diatoms and coccolithophores, dead skin and scales of fish, and fecal pellets. This material will slowly sink to the seafloor, where it makes up the majority of sediment in some areas. Once settled, the material will not only contribute to sediments but will help to feed different species of detritivore, organisms which feed on detritus, such as annelid worms and sea cucumbers, to name a few. The exact composition of this detritus varies based on location and time of year, as it is very closely tied to primary production.


title: Detritus

text: Detritus occurs in a variety of terrestrial habitats including forest, chaparral and grassland. In forests the detritus is typically dominated by leaf, twig, and bacteria litter as measured by biomass dominance. This plant litter provides important cover for seedling protection as well as cover for a variety of arthropods, reptiles and amphibians. Some insect larvae feed on the detritus. Fungi and bacteria continue the decomposition process after grazers have consumed larger elements of the organic materials, and animal trampling has assisted in mechanically breaking down organic matter. At the later stages of decomposition, mesophilic micro-organisms decompose residual detritus, generating heat from exothermic processes; such heat generation is associated with the well known phenomenon of the elevated temperature of composting.


title: Detritus

text: There is an extremely large number of detritus feeders in water. After all, a large quantity of material is carried in by water currents. Even if an organism stays in a fixed position, as long as it has a system for filtering water, it will be able to obtain enough food to get by. Many immobile organisms survive in this way, using developed gills or tentacles to filter the water to take in food, a process known as filter feeding.


title: Detritus

text: Another more widely used method of feeding, which also incorporates filter feeding, is a system where an organism secretes mucus to catch the detritus in lumps, and then carries these to its mouth using an area of cilia. This is called mucus feeding.


title: Detritus

text: Many organisms, including sea slugs and serpent's starfish, scoop up the detritus which has settled on the water bed. Bivalves which live inside the water bed do not simply suck in water through their tubes, but also extend them to fish for detritus on the surface of the bed.


title: Detritus

text: In contrast, from the point of view of organisms using photosynthesis such as plants and plankton, detritus reduces the transparency of the water and gets in the way of this process. Given that these organisms also require a supply of nutrient salts, in other words fertilizer, for photosynthesis, their relationship with detritus is a complex one.


title: Detritus

text: In land ecosystems, the waste products of plants and animals collect mainly on the ground (or on the surfaces of trees), and as decomposition proceeds, plants are supplied with fertilizer in the form of inorganic salts. In water ecosystems, relatively little waste collects on the water bed, and so the progress of decomposition in water takes a more important role. Investigating the level of inorganic salts in sea ecosystems shows that unless there is an especially large supply, the quantity increases from winter to spring—but is normally extremely low in summer. As such, the quantity of seaweed present reaches a peak in early summer and then decreases. The thinking is that organisms like plants grow quickly in warm periods and thus the quantity of inorganic salts is not enough to keep up with the demand. In other words, during winter, plant-like organisms are inactive and collect fertilizer, but if the temperature rises to some extent they will use this up in a very short period.


title: Detritus

text: It is not entirely true that their productivity falls during the warmest periods. Organisms such as dinoflagellate have mobility, the ability to take in solid food, and the ability to photosynthesise. This type of micro-organism can take in substances such as detritus to grow, without waiting for it to be broken down into fertilizer.


title: Detritus

text: In recent years, the word detritus has also come to be used in relation to aquariums (the word "aquarium" is a general term for any installation for keeping aquatic animals).


title: Detritus

text: When animals such as fish are kept in an aquarium, substances such as excreta, mucus and dead skin cast off during moulting are produced by the animals and, naturally, generate detritus, and are continually broken down by micro-organisms.


title: Detritus

text: Modern sealife aquariums often use the Berlin Method, which employs a piece of equipment called a protein skimmer, which produces air bubbles which the detritus adheres to, and forces it outside the tank before it decomposes, and also a highly porous type of natural rock called live rock where many bentos and bacteria live (hermatype which has been dead for some time is often used), which causes the detritus-feeding bentos and micro-organisms to undergo a detritus cycle. The Monaco system, where an anaerobic layer is created in the tank, to denitrify the organic compounds in the tank, and also the other nitrogen compounds, so that the decomposition process continues until the stage where water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen are produced, has also been implemented.


title: Detritus

text: Initially, the filtration systems in water tanks often worked as the name suggests, using a physical filter to remove foreign substances in the water. Following this, the standard method for maintaining the water quality was to convert ammonium or nitrates in excreta, which have a high degree of neurotoxicity, but the combination of detritus feeders, detritus and micro-organisms has now brought aquarium technology to a still higher level.


title: Islamic rulers in the Indian subcontinent

text: Muslim rule in the Indian subcontinent began in the course of a gradual Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent, beginning mainly after the conquest of Sindh and Multan led by Muhammad ibn al-Qasim. Following the perfunctory rule by the Ghaznavids in Punjab, Sultan Muhammad of Ghor is generally credited with laying the foundation of Muslim rule in Northern India.


text: From the late 12th century onwards, Turko-Mongol Muslim empires began to establish themselves throughout the subcontinent including the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal India, who adopted local culture and intermarried with natives. Various other Muslim kingdoms, which ruled most of South Asia during the mid-14th to late 18th centuries, including the Bahmani Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate,


text: Deccan Sultanates, Gujarat Sultanate and Mysore Sultanate were native in origin. Sharia was used as the primary basis for the legal system in the Delhi Sultanate, most notably during the rule of Firuz Shah Tughlaq and Alauddin Khilji, who repelled the Mongol invasions of India. On the other hand, rulers such as Akbar adopted a secular legal system and enforced religious neutrality.


text: Muslim rule in India saw a major shift in the cultural, linguistic, and religious makeup of the subcontinent. Persian and Arabic vocabulary began to enter local languages, giving way to modern Punjabi, Bengali, and Gujarati, while creating new languages including Urdu and Deccani, used as official languages under Muslim dynasties. This period also saw the birth of Hindustani music, Qawwali and the further development of dance forms such as Kathak. Religions such as Sikhism and Din-e-Ilahi were born out of a fusion of Hindu and Muslim religious traditions as well.


text: The height of Islamic rule was marked during the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, during which the Fatawa Alamgiri was compiled, which briefly served as the legal system of Mughal India. Additional Islamic policies were re-introduced in South India by Mysore's de facto King Tipu Sultan.


text: The eventual end of the period of Muslim rule of modern India is mainly marked with the beginning of British rule, although its aspects persisted in Hyderabad State, Junagadh State, Jammu and Kashmir State and other minor princely states until the mid of the 20th century. Today's modern Bangladesh, Maldives and Pakistan are the Muslim majority nations in the Indian subcontinent while India has the largest Muslim minority population in the world numbering over 180 million.


text: Local kings who converted to Islam existed in places such as Western Coastal Plains as early as in the 7th century. Islamic rule in India prior to the advent of the Mamluk dynasty (Delhi) include those of Arab Caliphate's Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, Ghaznavids and Ghurids.


text: During the last quarter of the 12th century, Muhammad of Ghor invaded the Indo-Gangetic plain, conquering in succession Ghazni, Multan, Sindh, Lahore, and Delhi. Qutb-ud-din Aybak, one of his generals proclaimed himself Sultan of Delhi. In Bengal and Bihar, the reign of general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji was established, where the missionaries of the Islamic faith accomplished their biggest success in terms of dawah and number of converts to Islam. In the 13th century, Shamsuddīn Iltutmish (1211–1236), established a Turkic kingdom in Delhi, which enabled future sultans to push in every direction; within the next 100 years, the Delhi Sultanate extended its way east to Bengal and south to the Deccan, while the sultanate itself experienced repeated threats from the northwest and internal revolts from displeased, independent-minded nobles. The sultanate was in constant flux as five dynasties, all of either Turkic or Afghan origin, rose and fell: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90), Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1413), Sayyid dynasty (1414–51), and Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). The Khalji dynasty, under 'Alā'uddīn (1296–1316), succeeded in bringing the northern half of South India under its control for a time before the conquered areas broke away within the next decade. Power in Delhi was often gained by violence—nineteen of the thirty-five sultans were assassinated—and was legitimized by reward for tribal loyalty. Factional rivalries and court intrigues were as numerous as they were treacherous; territories controlled by the sultan expanded and shrank depending on his personality and fortunes.


text: Both the Qur'an and sharia (Islamic law) provided the basis for enforcing Islamic administration over the independent Hindu rulers, but the sultanate made only fitful progress in the beginning when many campaigns were undertaken for plunder and temporary reduction of fortresses. The effective rule of a sultan depended largely on his ability to control the strategic places that dominated the military highways and trade routes, extract the annual land tax, and maintain personal authority over military and provincial governors. Sultan 'Ala ud-Din made an attempt to reassess, systematize, and unify land revenues and urban taxes and to institute a highly centralized system of administration over his realm, but his efforts were abortive. Although agriculture in North India improved as a result of new canal construction and irrigation methods, including what came to be known as the Persian wheel, prolonged political instability and parasitic methods of tax collection brutalized the peasantry. Yet trade and a market economy, encouraged by the free-spending habits of the aristocracy, acquired new impetus both in and overseas. Experts in metalwork, stonework and textile manufacture responded to the new patronage with enthusiasm. In this period Persian language and many Persian cultural aspects became dominant in the centers of power in Meric'a, as the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate (who, though being Turkish or Afghan, had been thoroughly Persianized since the era of the Ghaznavids) patronized aspects of the foreign culture and language from their seat of power in India.


text: In northern India, the Multan-based Langah Sultanate and the Kashmir Sultanate were established during the 14th century.


text: Nobles in the court of the Delhi Sultanate founded other Islamic dynasties elsewhere in India: the Bengal Sultanate, Khandesh Sultanate and the southern Madurai Sultanate.


text: In 1339, the Bengal region became independent from the Delhi Sultanate and consisted of numerous Islamic city-states. The Bengal Sultanate was formed in 1352 after Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, ruler of Satgaon, defeated Alauddin Ali Shah of Lakhnauti and Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah of Sonargaon; ultimately unifying Bengal into one single independent Sultanate. At its greatest extent, the Bengal Sultanate's realm and protectorates stretched from Jaunpur in the west, Tripura and Arakan in the east, Kamrup and Kamata in the north and Puri in the south.


text: Although a Sunni Muslim monarchy ruled by Turco-Persians, Bengalis, Habshis and Pashtuns, they still employed many non-Muslims in the administration and promoted a form of religious pluralism. It was known as one of the major trading nations of the medieval world, attracting immigrants and traders from different parts of the world. Bengali ships and merchants traded across the region, including in Malacca, China, Africa, Europe and the Maldives through maritime links and overland trade routes. Contemporary European and Chinese visitors described Bengal as the "richest country to trade with" due to the abundance of goods in Bengal. In 1500, the royal capital of Gaur was the fifth-most populous city in the world with 200,000 residents.


text: Persian was used as a diplomatic and commercial language. Arabic was the liturgical language of the clergy, and the Bengali language became a court language. Bengali was patronised by the Sultans and saved it from being corrupted by the Brahmins wishing to Sanskritise it. Sultan Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah sponsored the construction of madrasas in Makkah and Madinah. The schools became known as the Ghiyasia Banjalia Madrasas. Taqi al-Din al-Fasi, a contemporary Arab scholar, was a teacher at the madrasa in Makkah. The madrasa in Madinah was built at a place called Husn al-Atiq near the Prophet's Mosque. Several other Bengali Sultans also sponsored madrasas in the Hejaz.


text: The Karrani dynasty was the last ruling dynasty of the sultanate. The Mughals became determined to bring an end to the independent kingdom. Mughal rule formally began with the Battle of Rajmahal in 1576, when the last Sultan Daud Khan Karrani was defeated by the forces of Emperor Akbar, and the establishment of the Bengal Subah. The eastern deltaic Bhati region remained outside of Mughal control until being absorbed in the early 17th century. The delta was controlled by a confederation of aristocrats of the Sultanate, who became known as the Baro-Bhuiyans. The Mughal government eventually suppressed the remnants of the Sultanate and brought all of Bengal under full Mughal control.


text: The Mughal Empire ruled most of the Indian subcontinent between 1526 and 1857. The empire was founded by the Turco-Mongol leader Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last Pashtun ruler of the Delhi Sultanate at the First Battle of Panipat. The word "Mughal" is the Persian version of Mongol. Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb are known as the six great Mughal Emperors.


text: Many of Tughlaq's governors became rulers of powerful kingdoms in central India during the 16th century, namely the Gujarat Sultanate, Malwa Sultanate and the Bahmani Sultanate.


text: The sultans' failure to hold securely the Deccan and South India resulted in the rise of competing for Southern dynasties: the Muslim Bahmani Sultanate (1347–1527) and the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire (1336–1565). Zafar Khan, a former provincial governor under the Tughluqs, revolted against his Turkic overlord and proclaimed himself sultan, taking the title Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah in 1347. The Bahmani Sultanate, located in the northern Deccan, lasted for almost two centuries, until it fragmented into five smaller states, known as the Deccan sultanates (Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar, Berar, and Bidar) in 1527. The Bahmani Sultanate adopted the patterns established by the Delhi overlords in tax collection and administration, but its downfall was caused in large measure by the competition and hatred between Deccani (domiciled Muslim immigrants and local converts) and paradesi (foreigners or officials in temporary service). The Bahmani Sultanate initiated a process of cultural synthesis visible in Hyderabad where cultural flowering is still expressed in vigorous schools of Deccani architecture and painting. Madurai Sultanate was established after gaining independence from the Delhi Sultanate.


text: When the rulers of the five Deccan sultanates combined their forces and attacked the Vijayanagara empire in 1565, the empire crumbled at the Battle of Talikot.


text: The Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad remained semi-independent rulers of modern-day West Bengal and Bangladesh.


text: Nizam, a shortened version of Nizam-ul-Mulk, meaning "Administrator of the Realm", was the title of the native sovereigns of Hyderabad state, India, since 1719, belonging to the Asaf Jahi dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Mir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi, a viceroy of the Deccan under the Mughal emperors from 1713 to 1721 who intermittently ruled under the title "Asaf Jah" in 1924. After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, the Mughal Empire crumbled, and the viceroy in Hyderabad, the young Asaf Jah, declared himself independent.The dynasty ruled for 7 generations, with the last Nizam - Mir Osman Ali Khan showing an enormous contributions on the field of education, construction of major public buildings across the kingdom, setting up of Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway(NSGR), donations to Universities, temples and donating of land from his personal estate to Vinobha Bhave's Bhoodan movement.


text: Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan held power in the proto-industrialised Mysore Sultanate. They made huge economic contributions, made alliances with France and fought the Anglo-Mysore Wars predominantly against the British.


text: Other southern states include the Arakkal Kingdom of modern-day Kerala and Carnatic Sultanate in which modern-day Madras (Chennai) was situated and was bounded on the West by Dindigul and Mysore kingdom.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and community service. Missionaries of the LDS Church may be male or female ("Sister Missionaries") and may serve on a full- or part-time basis, depending on the assignment. Missionaries are organized geographically into missions, which could be any one of the 411 missions organized worldwide.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The LDS Church is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, reporting that it had more than 54,000 full-time missionaries and 36,000 service missionaries worldwide at the end of 2021. Most full-time LDS missionaries are single young men and women in their late teens and early twenties and older couples no longer with children in their home. Missionaries are often assigned to serve far from their homes, including in other countries. Many missionaries learn a new language at a missionary training center as part of their assignment. Missions typically last two years for males, 18 months for females, and one to three years for older couples. The LDS Church strongly encourages, but does not require, missionary service for young men. All Mormon missionaries serve voluntarily and do not receive a salary for their work; they typically finance missions themselves or with assistance from family or other church members. Many Latter-day Saints save money during their teenage years to cover their mission expenses.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Completing a mission is often described as a rite of passage for a young Latter-day Saint. However, serving a mission is not necessary for continuance in church membership.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Young men between the ages of 18 and 25 who meet standards of worthiness are strongly encouraged to consider a two-year, full-time proselytizing mission. This expectation is based in part on the New Testament passage "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (). The minimum age had previously been age 19 in most countries until October 6, 2012, when Church President Thomas S. Monson announced that all male missionaries, regardless of nation, could serve from age 18. Prior to the announcement, members from some countries were allowed to serve from the younger age to avoid conflict with educational or military requirements. It was also announced that young women may serve beginning at age 19 instead of 21. In 2007, approximately 30% of all 19-year-old LDS men became Mormon missionaries; from LDS families that are active in the church, approximately 80–90% of 19-year-old men serve a mission.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries can be sent home for violating mission rules, and occasionally missionaries choose to go home for health or various other reasons. However, the vast majority of missionaries serve the whole two-year (men) or eighteen-month (women) terms.


title: Mormon missionary

text: As of 2007, 80% of all Mormon missionaries were young, single men, 13% were young single women and 7% retired couples. Women who would like to serve a mission must meet the same standards of worthiness and be at least 19 years old. Women generally serve as missionaries for 18 months. Married retired couples, on the other hand, are encouraged to serve missions, but their length of service may vary from six to 36 months depending on their circumstances and means. Any single retired person may also be called to serve in what is known as "senior missionary service". In the last two decades, the LDS Church has stepped up its call for senior couple missionaries.


title: Mormon missionary

text: All missionaries must meet certain minimum standards of worthiness. Among the standards that a prospective missionary must demonstrate adherence to are: regular attendance at church meetings, regular personal prayer, regular study of the scriptures, adherence to the law of chastity (sexual purity), adherence to the Word of Wisdom (code of health and nutrition), payment of tithing, spiritual diligence and testimony of God.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In addition to spiritual preparedness, church bishops are instructed to ensure that prospective missionaries are physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of full-time missionary work. In the same speech where he called for "every young man" to fill a mission, Kimball added, "we realize that while all men definitely should, all men are not prepared to teach the gospel abroad." Apart from general issues of worthiness and ability, there are a number of specific situations that will disqualify a person from becoming a full-time missionary for the LDS Church. Those excluded include those who would have to leave dependent children in the care of someone else; young couples who are still of childbearing age; those who are in debt and have not made arrangements to meet these obligations; those who are on legal probation or parole; couples with serious unresolved marital problems; those who are HIV-positive; and those who have been convicted of sexual abuse. Additionally, members who have submitted to, performed, encouraged, paid for, or arranged for an abortion (except in the case of rape, incest, or the mother's life is in danger) are usually excluded from missionary service, as are members who have fathered or borne a child out of wedlock; men under 26 and women under 40 who have been divorced; and anyone who has participated in homosexual activity after age 16.


title: Mormon missionary

text: From the beginnings of the LDS Church, people of black African descent could be members of the church, but up until 1978 the LDS Church did not call men of black African descent to serve on missions, due to the ban on blacks holding the priesthood. The priesthood ban was lifted during Kimball's presidency and since 1978 there have been no restrictions to missionary service that are based on race or ethnicity.


title: Mormon missionary

text: After application to the church and the requisite approval, prospective missionaries receive a "call to serve"—an official notification of their location assignment—from the President of the Church. The mission call also informs the prospective missionary what language he or she will be expected to use during their mission. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are responsible for assigning missionaries to a particular mission. A prospective missionary receiving the call to serve is generally considered to be a major event in LDS culture; family members, friends, and members of the prospective missionary's congregation often gather together when a call arrives, which the prospective missionary opens and reads aloud to the group. Until 2018, mission calls were mailed to prospective missionaries. In the summer of 2018, the church announced they would begin emailing mission calls to prospective missionaries. The church began emailing calls to prospective missionaries residing in Utah and Idaho in the summer of 2018, with the goal of expanding to the rest of the United States and all countries with reliable internet by the beginning of 2019.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Before beginning their mission, prospective male missionaries are usually ordained to the office of an elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood (if they do not hold this office already). All missionaries are set apart by the laying on of hands to preach the gospel; this is usually performed by the missionary's stake president. Prospective missionaries also usually attend the temple for the first time to receive their endowment if they have not already done so.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Newly called missionaries attend a short training period at one of 10 church Missionary Training Centers (MTCs) worldwide. The largest MTC is located in Provo, Utah, adjacent to Brigham Young University. Missionaries who will not be learning a language in order to serve their missions spend three weeks at an MTC where they practice using proselytizing materials, learn expected conduct, and study the scriptures. Missionaries bound for foreign-language missions spend six to nine weeks at an MTC, depending on the language to be learned. During this period, they are encouraged not to speak in their native tongue but rather to immerse themselves in the new language.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The basic standards of missionary service and conduct were previously contained in the "Missionary Handbook". The previous "Missionary Handbook" was commonly and informally referred to as "the white handbook" or "the white bible". As of November 2019, this handbook has been replaced by two new handbooks, "Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ" and "Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ: Supplemental Information". Missionaries are instructed that following these standards will protect them both physically and spiritually. Mission presidents have discretion to adjust some of the standards according to local circumstances.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Full-time LDS missionaries are required to adhere to a dress code. Previously for men, this included conservative, dark trousers and suit coats, white dress shirts, and conservative ties. For women, modest and professional dresses or blouses and mid-calf length skirts were worn.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In 2013, the LDS Church updated their grooming standards. Young men were no longer required to wear dark suits or a full suit during regular everyday proselytizing activities. They must, however, remain in professional, conservative attire including a white shirt and tie. For instance, a light colored suit is acceptable. They are also allowed to wear a sweater or suit vest over their dress shirt and are encouraged to wear colored ties.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Sister (female) missionaries may wear skirts and dresses that cover their knees. Young women are encouraged to dress in colors and patterns, and they may wear appropriate jewelry and accessories. In 2018 it was announced that female missionaries could wear dress slacks if they wanted, except when attending the temple and during Sunday worship services, baptismal services, and mission leadership and zone conferences.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In some areas these standards are altered slightly according to the discretion of the mission president. For example, in hot, humid climates, suit coats are not required, and dress shirts may be short-sleeved. Casual clothes may be worn only in limited circumstances, such as when missionaries provide manual labor or exercise.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In 2016, the dress guidelines were updated to allow for "simple and conservative" sunglasses and "wide-brimmed hats" as part of a missionary's attire to provide missionaries protection from excessive heat. Subsequently, in 2020, church leaders also announced approved adjustments and exceptions to the dress standards for young male missionaries, which allowed for the usage of blue shirts, along with foregoing the usage of ties, with the approval of the area presidency, although standard missionary attire for young males remains the status quo in specific circumstances (mission or zone conferences, weekly worship services, and in attending the temple).


title: Mormon missionary

text: All full-time missionaries wear a name tag that gives their surname with the appropriate title ("Elder" or "Sister" in English-speaking areas, or their equivalent titles in other languages). The name tag also bears the church's name, unless the mission president considers this inadvisable due to circumstances in the area (e.g., adverse political conditions). Missionaries are required to wear the tag at all times in public.


title: Mormon missionary

text: A "missionary companionship", consisting of two (or occasionally, three) missionaries, is the smallest organizational unit of a mission. Every missionary is assigned by the mission president to be another missionary's "companion". Missionary companionships are generally maintained for months at a time and most missionaries will have served with multiple companions by the end of their mission. These companions very rarely have prior acquaintance outside of the mission. Companionships are always of the same gender.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionary companions are instructed to stay together at all times and not to go out of the hearing of their companion's voice or out of sight. Privacy is allowed only for personal care such as showering and a visit to the toilet. One of the intentions of this strict policy of staying together is to discourage missionaries from breaking any mission rules. Companions share the same living quarters and the same bedroom, but not the same bed.


title: Mormon missionary

text: When companions have conflicting personalities or interests, they are encouraged to try to resolve them themselves. If a missionary's companion is having difficulty with the work or with personal problems, missionaries are instructed to give criticism constructively, in private and with respect. In dealing with a problem, missionaries are first to raise the issue with their companion and if it is not resolved, to raise it with the mission president. "A missionary's first priority is to the Lord, then to the mission president and finally to their companion", as the missionary handbook states. High value is placed on the spiritual commitment to the virtues of humility and love. Missionaries are urged to treat the companionship as a relationship that must succeed in being cooperative and selfless, thus improving the spirituality, character and social skills of each individual missionary.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Senior couples serve as a companionship for the entirety of their mission and have more relaxed rules. Unlike single missionaries, they share the same bed and are able to travel outside of the mission boundaries.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Couples are not expected to follow the same proselyting schedule of younger missionaries. Some mission rules established for younger missionaries may not apply to them. However, they should still set standards and goals and follow the same dress and grooming standards listed for younger missionaries. The mission president may assign them responsibilities other than those they received with their call.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries are encouraged to write a letter to their parents weekly. Since almost all of their time is otherwise occupied, other communication is limited. However, a missionary may use preparation day to correspond with any person that is resident outside of the boundaries of the mission. Missionaries do not go on vacation and, prior to February 2019, were permitted to telephone their parents only on Christmas Day, and one other day of the year, usually Mother's Day. Missionaries are provided with a free, filtered church e-mail account to correspond with their parents on preparation day only by using a computer in a public location, such as a public library or internet café. In the event of an emergency, family members of a missionary may contact him or her via the mission president's office. In February 2019, the church announced that missionaries could communicate with their families weekly via phone call, text, or video chat, in addition to letters and email; though the missionaries themselves must initiate the conversation.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Single missionaries are prohibited from dating or courting while serving missions. The policy of companionships staying together at all times serves to discourage these activities. While missionaries may interact with members of the opposite sex, they may never be alone with them or engage in any kind of intimate physical or emotional activity (e.g., kissing, hugging, holding hands, flirting). They may not telephone, write, e-mail, or accept letters from members of the opposite sex that live in the area where they are assigned to proselytize. Missionary companionships are also asked not to visit with members of the opposite sex unless at least one person of the missionaries' same sex is present to chaperone. Alternatively, those contacts may be referred to a companionship of the same gender as the contact or to married couple missionaries, when available.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In the early days of the Church, men were called to serve missions regardless of marital status. Today, however, married young men are not expected to serve missions, unless called to oversee a mission as a mission president. A call to be a mission president is typically extended to the married couple, and in turn, the entire family of the chosen mission president. Older retired couples also may serve as missionaries, but do not take their families with them.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Generally, missionaries wake up at 6:30 am. After praying, exercising (30 minutes), and eating breakfast, they spend two hours studying the scriptures and other materials. If they are teaching in a foreign language, they'll spend another 30 minutes to an hour studying the language. Missionaries leave their place of residence at 10 am to proselytize (or 10:30 am or 11 am if teaching in a foreign language). They have an hour for lunch and dinner, and return to their apartment by 9 pm, or 9:30 if they are in the process of teaching a lesson at the end of the day. They plan for the next day's activities, pray, and are encouraged to write in their personal journal, but are not required to. Missionaries then retire to bed at 10:30 pm.


title: Mormon missionary

text: On January 25, 2017, the church announced that schedules can be modified depending on the area in which missionaries serve.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries are admonished to "avoid all forms of worldly entertainment." Generally, they are not permitted to watch television, listen to the radio, watch or go to movies, or use the Internet (except to use email, and social media for their work, see Personal relationships above). They are not permitted to listen to music that has romantic lyrics or overtones, or merely entertains. The general interpretation of this guideline is to listen to only religious music, such as that performed by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, though the rule's application has been variable in some missions. They are permitted to read only books, magazines, or other materials authorized by the church.


title: Mormon missionary

text: These guidelines were updated in October 2017, when the church announced that in some missions, missionaries would be issued smartphones and be permitted to use technology on a wider scale. This is intended to enable the missionaries to more easily find "religiously minded people."


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries are instructed to avoid slang and casual language including when they are alone in their apartment and in their letters to family. They are also instructed to refer to missionary leaders by only their correct titles. However, as with the members of any organization, some missionaries use certain missionary-specific jargon when communicating with one another. Some words and expressions are mission- or language-specific, while others are universal, such as calling the halfway point of a mission the "hump" or hump day, or describing a missionary who is excited about returning home as "trunky" as he has already packed his trunk. Foreign-language missionaries often develop a "mission language", distinct from but combining aspects of their first and acquired languages, that they use when communicating with each other; the senkyoshigo of Japan is an example.


title: Mormon missionary

text: As of the end of 2021, there were 54,539 full-time missionaries of the Church serving in 407 church missions throughout the world. Their work, often in cooperation with local members, resulted in 168,283 convert baptisms in 2021. Author David Stewart points out that the number of convert baptisms per missionary per year has fallen from a high of 8.03 in 1989 to just 4.67 in 2005. He argues that the number of converts would increase if missionaries made greater efforts in meeting new people; he points out that the average pair of missionaries spends only four or five hours per week attempting to meet new people.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The most visible and most common type of missionaries are typically those who proselytize door-to-door and ride bicycles for transportation. For many years, missionaries used structured lessons called "missionary discussions" (formally called "The Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel") to teach interested non-members and recent converts about the doctrines of the LDS Church and to commit them on the steps to take to become a member of the church. Missionaries were often instructed to adhere very closely to the six lessons, and they frequently quoted segments word-for-word (an especially helpful practice when learning a foreign language). The training materials also instructed missionaries to freely change the order of the lessons segments according to the needs and questions of the learners.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The missionary discussions were replaced beginning in October 2004 by a guide called "Preach My Gospel" which places emphasis on "teaching by the Spirit". According to members of the church, "teaching by the Spirit" means seeking guidance from the Holy Ghost to teach; the idea is that the teachings will be catered to each person who is seeking the truth through divine guidance. According to "Preach My Gospel", God knows each person and can guide the missionaries to say and teach what is best for each individual.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Despite the latitude given to missionaries, the guide still contains material which should be actively taught. Chapter 3 of "Preach My Gospel" concisely describes all of the doctrine that the missionaries are to teach to those learning about the church. The missionaries are responsible for knowing the doctrine and continually preparing to teach it. They can choose the order that this material is taught to serve the needs of each individual. This is a change from the missionary discussions which were usually taught in order to each investigator.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The book, now published in many languages, is meant to be used by the general church membership. This sets it apart from the previous missionary discussions, which were used primarily by full-time missionaries, members with church callings related to missionary work, and those preparing to serve missions.


title: Mormon missionary

text: According to "The Huffington Post", the church has online missionaries, who work at a Referral Center Mission in Provo, Utah. These missionaries use the "Chat with a Mormon" homepage to talk with potential converts. The "Salt Lake Tribune" reported that these missionaries are more successful than traditional proselytizers. Furthermore, "The Huffington Post" also reported that it is now permissible for missionaries to use SMS, blogs and Facebook. The church also maintains a visitor site for people not of the faith at ComeUntoChrist.org.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries with special needs or health considerations may be called as full-time or part-time service missionaries. Many fully able missionaries are called to do genealogical research or act as tour guides or hosts at Temple Square or Family History libraries and other church sites. In many areas, even proselytizing missionaries spend most of their day responding to incoming phone calls and queries, delivering requested media from the church's television and radio commercials. Missionaries may use public transportation, walk, bicycle, or in some areas drive automobiles owned by the church, or occasionally ride within a private automobile with a church member who is accompanying them to a teaching appointment, proselytizing, or fellowshipping activity. At the end of 2019, there were 31,333 church-service missionaries.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The LDS Church also has a strong welfare and humanitarian missionary program. These humanitarian missionaries typically serve in impoverished areas of the world and do not actively proselytize. Humanitarian missionaries comply with any local laws regarding teaching or displaying religious symbols, including the identifying name tags. This allows them to provide services and aid in countries where activities by religious organizations are typically restricted or forbidden, such as in predominantly Muslim countries or in Southeast Asia. Regular proselytizing missionaries are asked to engage in welfare activities and community service, limited to four hours a week on days other than weekends or preparation day.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Building missionaries were called by the president of the Tongan Mission in the early 1950s. Among their major successes was building Liahona High School. From 1955 on, Wendell B. Mendenhall institutionalized building missionaries on a larger scale with skilled tradesmen called as supervisors of the missionaries. Most of the supervisors were Americans, while most of the workers were young men indigenous to the areas of the South Pacific and Latin America where the work was carried out. However, at times the situation was more complex. One example is Jose Alvarez, who was a native of Argentina, but had lived in the United States for three years when he was called to go with his family to Chile, where he served as a building missionary supervisor. Often, trainee or assistant building supervisors would work under the leadership of an experienced supervisor in preparation for an assignment as a fully-fledged supervisor of some project or group of missionaries.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Every part of the world is assigned to be within a "mission" of the church, whether or not LDS missionaries are active in the area. An adult male mission president presides over the missionaries in the mission.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Most missions are divided into several "zones", a zone being a geographic area specified by the mission president (though these are often the same area as the LDS ecclesiastical unit known as a "stake"). A zone encompasses several more organizational units called "districts". Each zone and district is presided over by leaders drawn from male missionaries serving in that area. Zone and district leaders are responsible for gathering weekly statistics, assisting missionaries in their areas of responsibility, and general accountability to the mission president for the well-being and progress of the missionaries under their stewardship. A district typically encompasses four to eight missionaries, and may or may not comprise more than one proselytizing area. An "area" is typically a portion of the LDS ecclesiastical unit known as a ward (or congregation), one ward, or multiple wards.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In addition to the leaders mentioned above, the mission president has two or more assistants. Assistants to the President (APs) are typically missionaries who have previously served as district and/or zone leaders. They serve as the president's executive assistants, administering policies and helping missionaries throughout the mission.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The number of missions in the church typically varies from one year to the next. The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles determine when new missions are created, consolidated, or discontinued. In October 2017, the church announced that, in an effort to increase missionary safety, the number of missions would be consolidated. The extent of those consolidation plans is yet to be announced.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries are expected to pay their own expenses while on the mission, often with assistance from family. In the past, each missionary paid his or her actual living expenses, but this approach created a disproportionate burden on missionaries who were assigned to more expensive areas of the world. In 1990, a new program was introduced to equalize the financial responsibility for each missionary and his or her family. Now, all young missionaries pay a flat monthly rate which is then redistributed according to regional costs of living. The cost of a mission varies based on the country of origin of the missionary; for missionaries from the United States, the cost is US$400 per month. The cost can vary dramatically based on the country of origin. For instance, in Oceania, missionaries from Australia pay AU$395 and missionaries from New Zealand pay NZ$400, while missionaries from American Samoa pay US$85 and missionaries from Kiribati pay AU$20. Missionaries from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu are exempt from making any payment. The monthly rate helps to cover food, lodging, transportation, and other mission related expenses. Missionaries are asked to bring extra personal money for any personal items they would like to purchase. Once the money is received by the church it is then redistributed to the missionaries in amounts proportionate to the cost of living within the assigned mission area. As families now contribute to a general fund for missionary expenses, the sum is deductible under many nations' tax policies regarding charitable gifts.


title: Mormon missionary

text: For health care, the church provides missionaries with limited medical care. A missionary will be required to pay for any medical treatment that is considered non-essential or that is considered to be associated with a preexisting condition. The local mission office will often help missionaries find Mormon doctors or dentists who can offer their services to missionaries for a small fee or for free.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Young people in the church are encouraged to save money throughout their childhood and teenage years to pay for as much of their mission as they can, although many receive assistance from parents, family, or friends. Missionaries who cannot save the required funds may obtain assistance from their home congregation or from a general missionary fund operated by the church and contributed to by Latter-day Saints around the world. Married couple missionaries are expected to pay their own costs, but in 2011 the church began paying for missionary couples' housing expenses that exceed US$1400 per month. In many areas, church members often invite locally assigned missionaries over for meals to help reduce the overall expenditures of the missionary program.


title: Mormon missionary

text: A returned missionary (often abbreviated "RM") is a term used by members of the LDS Church to refer to men and women who have previously served as Mormon missionaries. Once they return home, RMs are generally encouraged to begin dating seriously and to seek marriage. Those who learned to speak a foreign language must readjust, sometimes with difficulty, to speaking their first language.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In Latter-day Saint culture, stereotypes and jokes abound regarding newly returned missionaries, most dealing with their difficulties in handling the reverse culture shock. Other stereotypes revolve around the fact that as missionaries, they lived highly structured, disciplined lives and avoided contact with members of the opposite sex, so many RMs have difficulty readjusting to social life and dating. Other stereotypes include the supposed rush of many RMs to get married as soon as possible. Many families whose daughters are old enough to marry encourage them to date RMs.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Returned missionaries are frequently called to assist in the local missionary effort and are encouraged to stay active within the LDS Church through callings and service. RMs who served in the same mission frequently stay in touch and often gather for mission reunions in Utah to coincide with the semiannual LDS General Conference.


title: Mormon missionary

text: The notion of the Mormon mission as a crucible is a common one, and the benefits gained from going through it have been used to help explain the prominence of LDS Church members in business and civic life. Mission experience has also helped prepare RMs for later engaging and prospering in non-Mormon environments.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Prominent individuals who have served LDS missions include Aaron Eckhart (Switzerland/France), Shawn Bradley (Australia), Orson Scott Card (Brazil), Stephen Covey (England), Jon Heder (Japan), Ken Jennings (Spain), Elizabeth Smart (France), Lindsey Stirling (NYC), Elaine Bradley (Germany), Shannon Hale (Paraguay), Jon Huntsman Jr. (Taiwan), Brandon Sanderson (Korea), Mitt Romney (France), Paul Alan Cox (Samoa), Shay Carl (West Indies), Chad Lewis (Taiwan), Dale Murphy (Boston), and David Archuleta (Chile).


title: Mormon missionary

text: The LDS Church regards Samuel H. Smith, the younger brother of church founder Joseph Smith, as the church's first full-time missionary. Smith traveled from city to city, covering more than 4,000 miles, trying to sell copies of the Book of Mormon. The book was presented as evidence of Joseph Smith's prophetic calling. Phineas Young received a Book of Mormon from Samuel Smith and became an early member of the church. (Phineas' younger brother Brigham would later be baptized and become the 2nd president of the LDS Church.)


title: Mormon missionary

text: During the 1850s missionaries were sent to Chile, France, Germany, Hawaii, India, Italy, Scandinavia, Switzerland and a number of other countries.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In 1898, the church began allowing single women to be called as missionaries. The first two single female missionaries were Jennie Brimhall and Inez Knight, who were called to serve as companions in England.


title: Mormon missionary

text: As more members became aware of Joseph Smith's First Vision during the late 1800s and early 1900s, it began to take on a prominent role in the conversion narrative. The story of the First Vision was first published in a missionary tract in 1910.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Each mission was responsible for individually developing lessons until 1952 when, under the direction of Gordon B. Hinckley, the church published "A Systematic Program for Teaching the Gospel". In 1961, towards the beginning of the church's correlation effort, "A Uniform System for Teaching Investigators" was made mandatory church-wide. The missionary lessons, or "discussions", continued to be updated with major revisions approximately every decade up until the publication of "Preach My Gospel" in 2004. Early missionaries, like Samuel Smith, relied primarily on the story of the Book of Mormon to attract converts to the church. By the late 19th century, the story of Joseph Smith's first vision had gained prominence and was given an important role in the official missionary lessons.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In the early 1950s, Henry D. Moyle had responsibility over the missionary department. Moyle encouraged missionaries to use a tactic that later became known as "baseball baptism". Missionaries


title: Mormon missionary

text: would encourage young men to join church-sponsored sports leagues and baptism was imposed as a prerequisite. The use of this tactic created a large number of converts, especially in England, but very few of the young men ever had any interest in the spiritual aspects of the church. Moyle introduced baptism goals, missionary incentives and other salesmanship techniques into the church missionary department. David O. McKay eventually removed Moyle from his responsibilities over the missionary program but many of the changes introduced during this time remain even today.


title: Mormon missionary

text: During the 1960s, missionaries whose area of service required them to learn a new language were first sent to the Language Training Mission on the BYU campus. This later became the Missionary Training Center in 1978 where all new missionaries were sent for training not just the ones learning a language.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Starting during Spencer W. Kimball's administration, it was emphasized that "every able, worthy young man" had a duty to serve a mission. Prior to this, missionary service for men was not viewed as obligatory. This resulted in an increase in the number of young men choosing to serve missions.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Before 1978, the church did not permit people of African descent to hold the priesthood, and they were not actively proselytized. Missionary work in places such as Brazil may have increased pressure to change the policy due to the difficulty of verifying lack of African descent in these populations. When the policy was eliminated by Kimball, additional areas of the world were opened up to missionary work.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Church researchers discovered that in addition to the content of the lessons, the way in which the material was presented had a major impact on conversion. In 1984, the Missionary Department codified the "commitment pattern" as the proper way for missionaries to teach the lessons. This involves the missionaries making specific invitations to act in response to the lessons. Gospel students would be encouraged to make personal commitments to attend church, to read the Book of Mormon and to be baptized.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In 2002, apostle M. Russell Ballard delivered a General Conference address stating that the bar to qualify for missionary service had been raised and that "the day of the 'repent and go' missionary is over".


title: Mormon missionary

text: During the church's October 2012 General Conference, church president Thomas S. Monson announced that the minimum age for missionary service for young men had been lowered from 19 to 18 and that the minimum age for young women had been lowered from 21 to 19. Immediately following the announcement, the church experienced an unprecedented influx of new missionaries. The rate of new missionaries swelled "by 471 percent, from about 700 new applications per week to about 4,000 each week, with young women comprising more than half of the new applicants." In 2013, the number of missionaries peaked at 89,000 and had dropped to 65,137 by the end of 2018. Throughout the history of the church, over one million missionaries have been sent on missions.


title: Mormon missionary

text: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many missionaries were transferred to different areas or returned home. In February 2020, there were 68,000 and within several months that number dropped to 42,000. In 200 of 407 mission areas, missionary work was performed mainly from their apartments using technology.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Although rare, missionaries have been the victims of violence. In 1974, two young-adult male missionaries were murdered in Austin, Texas, by Robert Elmer Kleason. In 1977, the case of a Mormon missionary who said he was abducted and raped by a woman was covered extensively by newspapers in Britain, being dubbed the Mormon sex in chains case. In 1979, two senior sister missionaries were murdered in Berkeley County, South Carolina and one was raped. In 1989, the Zarate Willka Armed Forces of Liberation killed two American missionaries in Bolivia. From 1999 to 2006, three LDS missionaries were murdered worldwide, while 22 died in accidents of some sort. In 2008, three men from Port Shepstone, South Africa were convicted of raping and robbing two female LDS missionaries in June 2006.


title: Mormon missionary

text: A few cases of kidnapping have also occurred, one being in 1998, when two male missionaries were abducted while working in the Samara region of Russia. The kidnappers demanded US$300,000 for their return. The missionaries were released unharmed a few days later without payment of the ransom.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Mormon missionaries have been portrayed in various popular culture media. Missionaries are the main focus of Mormon cinema films "God's Army" (1999), "The Other Side of Heaven" (2001), "The Best Two Years" (2003), "The R.M." (2003), "God's Army 2: States of Grace" (2005), "The Errand of Angels" (2008), and "The Saratov Approach" (2013). The musical "Saturday's Warrior" (1973) features missionaries and was made into a film in 1989. The DVD series "Liken the Scriptures" occasionally shows missionaries.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Missionaries were featured in the PBS documentary "Get the Fire" (2003), as well as in the Tony Award-winning satirical Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon". Hollywood portrayed missionaries in "Yes Man" (2008) starring Jim Carrey, and British film "Millions" also mentioned missionaries.


title: Mormon missionary

text: Films portraying missionaries gone astray include "Trapped by the Mormons" (1922), "Orgazmo" (1997), and "Latter Days" (2003). Mormon missionaries appeared at the end of the American horror film "The Strangers" (2008); the missionaries were depicted as children as opposed to young men.


title: Mormon missionary

text: In 2008, former missionary Chad Hardy was subjected to church discipline after releasing a pin-up calendar titled "Men on a Mission", which consisted of pictures of scantily clad returned missionaries.


title: Vera Drake

text: Vera Drake is a 2004 British period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Daniel Mays and Eddie Marsan. It tells the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and it was nominated for three Academy Awards and won three BAFTAs.


title: Vera Drake

text: Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) is devoted to her family, looking after her husband and children, her elderly mother, and a sick neighbour. Her shy daughter, Ethel (Alex Kelly), works in a lightbulb factory, and her son, Sid (Daniel Mays), tailors men's suits. Her husband, Stanley (Phil Davis), is a car mechanic. Although Vera and her family are poor, their strong family bonds hold them together. During her working day as a house cleaner, Vera performs constant small acts of kindness for the many people she encounters.


title: Vera Drake

text: She is a kindly person who is eager to help others. Unknown to her family, she also works secretly, providing abortions for young women. She receives no money for providing this service because she believes that her help is an act of charity to women in trouble. However, her partner Lily (Ruth Sheen), who also carries on a black-market trade in scarce postwar foodstuffs, charges two guineas (two pounds and two shillings: ) for arranging the abortions, without Vera's knowledge.


title: Vera Drake

text: The film also contains a subplot about an upper-class young woman, Susan (Sally Hawkins), the daughter of one of Vera's employers. Susan is raped by a suitor, becomes pregnant, and asks a friend to put her in contact with a doctor, through whom she can obtain an abortion. The doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who prompts her to answer questions in a certain way, so that he can legally recommend an abortion on therapeutic psychiatric grounds: that she has a family history of mental illness and that she may commit suicide if not allowed to terminate the pregnancy. The abortion costs her a hundred guineas.


title: Vera Drake

text: After one of her patients nearly dies, Vera is arrested by the police and taken into custody for questioning. She is held overnight and appears before a magistrate the next morning. Sid is shocked by his mother's secret activities and tells his father that he does not think that he can forgive her. However, in a later conversation with Vera, he expresses fear for what could happen to her in prison, before finally telling Vera that he loves her.


title: Vera Drake

text: Vera is bailed to appear at the Old Bailey. None of Vera's employers will give her a character reference. Her solicitor thinks she will receive the minimum sentence of 18 months in jail; the judge sentences her to two and a half years imprisonment "as a deterrent to others." This affects all the people who previously depended on Vera's kindness.


title: Vera Drake

text: While in prison, Vera meets others who have been convicted of performing illegal abortions. They discuss their sentences, explaining that it's not their first time in prison for performing illegal abortions, and that she'll probably only serve half her sentence. Vera tearfully leaves to go to her cell.


title: Vera Drake

text: In "Vera Drake", Leigh incorporated elements of his own childhood. He grew up in north Salford, Lancashire, and experienced a very ordinary but socio-economically mixed life as the son of a doctor and a midwife. In the book "The Cinema of Mike Leigh: A Sense of the Real", Leigh said, "I lived in this particular kind of working-class district with some relations living in slightly leafier districts up the road. So there was always a tension, or at least a duality: those two worlds were forever colliding. So you constantly get the one world and its relationship with the other going on in my films."


title: Vera Drake

text: Mike Leigh is known to use unusual methods to achieve realism in his films. "Leigh's actors literally have to find their characters through improvisation and research the ways people in specific communities speak and behave. Leigh and his cast immerse themselves in the local life before creating the story" (1994: 7: Watson 29). Critic Roger Ebert explains:


title: Vera Drake

text: Leigh often uses improvisation to capture his actors' unscripted emotions. When filming "Vera Drake", only Imelda Staunton knew ahead of time that the subject of the film was abortion. None of the cast members playing the family members, including Staunton, knew that Vera was to be arrested until the moment the actors playing the police knocked on the door of the house they were using for rehearsals. Their genuine reactions of shock and confusion provided the raw material for their dialogue and actions.


title: Vera Drake

text: In addition to these methods utilised by Mike Leigh, the director is also admired for his preference of English actors to Hollywood stars. This has led to criticism of Leigh as being a patroniser of the working class. However, using Dickens in his defence, he rebuts these accusations outright proclaiming that the last thing he seeks in his actors is a stereotype. This stereotype was fiercely criticised in the film, "Vera Drake":


title: Vera Drake

text: These abiding quibbles aside, Vera Drake is a compelling and complex film. Though much has been made of the controversial subject matter – back street abortion – its main theme is the buried family secret, the ticking time bomb that can lurk underneath even the most stable marriage. Much of the film's cumulative power lies in its delineation of a rock solid family suddenly rocked to the core by a revelation that is literally beyond their comprehension: the fact that their beloved, and loving, mother is an abortionist. Why, I ask Leigh, does she keep her secret for so long?Leigh wanted to shoot in 35mm but, after being denied by the producers, the film was shot on 16mm film stock.


title: Vera Drake

text: As of 9 April 2006, "Vera Drake" had grossed $12,941,817 at the box office worldwide, including over $3.7 million in the US.


title: Vera Drake

text: The film has attracted some criticism from those who worked in midwifery during the 1950s. The chief concern is the method of abortion used by Vera Drake in the film. This involves using a Higginson bulb, which is a type of enema syringe, to introduce a warm, dilute solution of carbolic soap and an unspecified liquid disinfectant into the woman's uterus. This method is claimed by Jennifer Worth, a nurse and midwife in the 1950s and 1960s and author of the book "Call the Midwife", to be invariably fatal. She called the film itself "dangerous", as it could be shown in countries where abortion is illegal and the method depicted copied by desperate women.


title: Vera Drake

text: The website Metacritic, which compiles and averages reviews from leading film critics, gave it a score of 83 out of 100 from 40 reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 92% based on 160 reviews, with a rating average of 7.9/10. The site's consensus is that, "with a piercingly powerful performance by Imelda Staunton, "Vera Drake" brings teeming humanity to the controversial subject of abortion."


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Bernd Schuster (born 22 December 1959) is a German former professional footballer of the late 1970s through early 1990s, who won club titles playing for the Spanish sides FC Barcelona (1980–1987) and Real Madrid (1988–1990). He played as a midfielder and was nicknamed "der Blonde Engel" (the Blond Angel). After retiring as a player, he managed a number of European clubs, including Real Madrid, taking them to the league title in the 2007–08 season.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster started his professional career with 1. FC Köln at age 18 in 1978 after a number of promising performances with the West German Under-18 National team. Schuster left Köln after the 1980 European campaign to sign with Spain's FC Barcelona, where he flourished. During his career, he played for clubs Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen. At his final team, the Mexican side Pumas de la UNAM he appeared in ten matches in spring 1997.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster was an important part of the FC Barcelona team during the 1980s, leading the game from midfield and scoring many goals. His club president Josep Lluís Núñez and some trainers like Helenio Herrera, Udo Lattek, Terry Venables and Luis Aragonés had difficult relations with him. He won, however, the European Silver Ball in 1980 and Bronze Ball in 1981 and 1985. At age 21, in 1981, he received a bad injury on his right knee by Athletic Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster's move to Real Madrid was controversial due to the strong rivalry between Barcelona and Madrid. His style complemented the group of home-grown Madrid players known as la Quinta del Buitre who led the team to a dominance of the Spanish Championship through the 1980s.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster signed with Atlético Madrid in autumn 1990 and helped improve the performance of Atletico's traditional games based on backpasses. His long precise passes helped restore Atlético Madrid as a prominent club.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: In 1993, Schuster returned home to Germany to play for three seasons with Bayer Leverkusen. Despite his contributions, the club was unable to capture Bundesliga and German Cup titles but his performances inspired much of the country to push for a place for him in the 1994 World Cup squad. In the national TV-Station ARD "Goal of the year" election Schuster won the first three places in 1994. In the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll to name the finest European players of the last five decades, Schuster finished 40th.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster was part of the West Germany national team that won the 1980 UEFA European Football Championship in Italy, appearing in two of Germany's four matches. His performances there helped him earn the Silver Ball Trophy honour as the Europe's second best player in 1980 behind Golden Ball winner, and Germany team-mate Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. His refusal to take part in a match against Albania to be home for the birth of his second son David caused a sporting scandal at the time. Schuster retired from the German national team at the age of 24, due to his repeated disagreements with the German Football Association, then national team manager Jupp Derwall, and teammates including Paul Breitner. According to Schuster, it was due to a major disagreement with the managements of both Barcelona and the German national team on either side of a friendly match against Brazil. Overall Schuster won 21 caps for the West German national team


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster was coach of 1. FC Köln from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999. Schuster was unable to get the club promoted. In 2000, he applied for the manager job at Scottish club Dundee FC, but the Dundee chairman rejected his application.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster became coach of Xerez on 26 June 2001. Schuster coached the team successfully for two seasons. The second and third best seasons in the history of the club. However, he could not get the club promoted to La Liga.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: In June 2003, he accepted a deal to coach Shakhtar Donetsk starting on 1 July 2003. Schuster established a club record number of consecutive victories. However, the team did not win the championship and did not reach the final round of the Champions League with a match against Lokomotiv Moscow. Schuster was sacked on 5 May 2004, one week before his team played and won the Ukrainian Cup final in 2004.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster returned to Spain in summer 2004 to coach Levante. Schuster was sacked on 1 May 2005. The sacking came with a 5-point advantage over the relegation zone with five matches remaining. However, Levante could not win a game and fell to the Segunda División again.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster moved to Getafe in the summer of 2005. Schuster led them to their best season in team history under his guidance. Schuster coached Getafe in their second successful season and the team did even better, seventh in La Liga. Getafe also secured entry to the 2007–08 UEFA Cup as a result of reaching the final of the Copa del Rey after overcoming a 5–2 first leg semi-final defeat against Barcelona, beating them 4–0 in the second leg.


title: Bernd Schuster

text: Schuster was appointed coach of Real Madrid on 9 July 2007. As manager, he made a successful start with Real Madrid, taking them to top of the La Liga standings. Attacking football returned again to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium with Madrid having the strongest offence, not beaten at home from the start of the league and defeating their arch rival Barcelona at their home ground Camp Nou, increasing their lead to seven points between them and second place (Barcelona).