title: Chuck Norris facts

text: On October 23, 2006, Norris' first column for WorldNetDaily consisted of another response. It began similarly to the above statement from chucknorris.com, but then disclaimed his own prowess in favor of those of God and Jesus Christ.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: On November 29, 2007, Gotham Books, the adult division of Penguin USA, released a book entitled "The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human". Norris subsequently filed suit in December against Penguin USA claiming "trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights". Norris dropped the lawsuit in 2008.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: On October 7, 2009, Tyndale House Publishers issued "The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book", which was co-written and officially endorsed by Norris.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: Norris has stated that his personal favorite "fact" is that people wanted to add Norris to Mount Rushmore, but the granite was not tough enough for his beard.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In the March 20, 2006 issue, "Time" magazine interviewed Norris, calling him an "online cult hero". In the answer to their last question, he called the Chuck Norris Facts "weird but wildly popular sayings" and quoted one: "Chuck Norris "can" divide by zero."


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In 2011, a commercial for "World of Warcraft" featured Chuck Norris and included its own "Chuck Norris facts" in the dialogue.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In the 2012 movie "The Expendables 2", there is a wink at Chuck Norris facts when one is attributed to Norris' character Booker. In one scene Booker saves Barney Ross's (Sylvester Stallone) team in a firefight. After introductions all around, Ross says to Booker, "I heard another rumor. That you were bitten by a king cobra." "Yeah, I was.", Booker replies, adding, "But after five days of agonizing pain, "<pause>" the cobra died."


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In India, there exist similar jokes in the form of factoids and quotes about Indian film actor Rajinikanth. The factoids about Rajinikanth are inspired by Chuck Norris facts in that those follow the same pattern as Chuck Norris facts. While some Rajinikanth jokes are original, many of them are circulated with Norris' name replaced by Rajinikanth's. The beginning of 2013 saw similar cluster of jokes gaining trend in the country on Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja after Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni tweeted a few "facts" about him on his Twitter page.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: During the 2012 Armenian parliamentary election, some ballots with Norris's name written on them as a candidate were found.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In Egypt, and prior to the Egyptian presidential election, 2012, similar jokes were made upon Omar Suleiman, the ex-director of the General Intelligence Directorate in the same style of Chuck Norris facts, making fun of the powers and skills that his supporters claimed to be his to promote him before the elections.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In the episode "The Weird World of Wyrm" of the 2012 CGI series version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", a holographic Chris Bradford – a parody of Norris – delivers a "Norris Facts"-esque quotation: "Chris Bradford fact #48: Chris Bradford always carries around four weapons of mass destruction: His arms and his legs."


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: Buffalo Bills fans began promoting similar tall tales about former linebacker Kiko Alonso during the 2013 season, after Alonso joined the team as a rookie. The tall tales were collectively known as "The Legend of Kiko Alonso".


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: Makmende, a Kenyan male fictional hero, has been purported to perform locally related feats and more, including in Sheng.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In 2006, a naming poll was held to decide the name of a new bridge in Hungary. Since nominations were accepted from everyone, "Chuck Norris" soon became the top candidate for the bridge's name (beating the names of several historical figures along with candidates like David Hasselhoff and Eric Cartman), before being taken over by Stephen Colbert after he called his fans to vote. The bridge was eventually named Megyeri Bridge.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: WWE wrestler Brian Myers, known as Curt Hawkins, incorporated the Chuck Norris facts into his gimmick in August 2016, where he uses his name instead of Norris, e.g., "Children have to put sunscreen on at the beach to protect themselves from Curt Hawkins".


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In 2008, Gameloft produced "", a video game for mobile devices, based on the online Norris cult elicited by Chuck Norris facts. The player takes control of Norris in a side-scrolling beat 'em up. The game was well-reviewed.


title: Chuck Norris facts

text: In 2017, Flaregames produced the second such game, "Non Stop Chuck Norris", an isometric action-RPG game for mobile devices, also well reviewed.


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more properly known as the plagioclase feldspar series. This was first shown by the German mineralogist Johann Friedrich Christian Hessel (1796–1872) in 1826. The series ranges from albite to anorthite endmembers (with respective compositions NaAlSiO to CaAlSiO), where sodium and calcium atoms can substitute for each other in the mineral's crystal lattice structure. Plagioclase in hand samples is often identified by its polysynthetic crystal twinning or 'record-groove' effect.


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase is a major constituent mineral in the Earth's crust, and is consequently an important diagnostic tool in petrology for identifying the composition, origin and evolution of igneous rocks. Plagioclase is also a major constituent of rock in the highlands of the Moon. Analysis of thermal emission spectra from the surface of Mars suggests that plagioclase is the most abundant mineral in the crust of Mars.


title: Plagioclase

text: Its name comes from Ancient Greek ( 'oblique') + ( 'fracture'), in reference to its two cleavage angles.


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase is the most common and abundant mineral group in the Earth's crust. Part of the feldspar family of minerals, it is abundant in igneous and metamorphic rock, and it is also common as a detrital mineral in sedimentary rock. It is not a single mineral, but is a solid solution of two end members, albite or sodium feldspar () and anorthite or calcium feldspar (). These can be present in plagioclase in any proportion from pure anorthite to pure albite. The composition of plagioclase can thus be written as where "x" ranges from 0 for pure albite to 1 for pure anorthite. This solid solution series is known as the plagioclase series. The composition of a particular sample of plagioclase is customarily expressed as the mol% of anorthite in the sample. For example, plagioclase that is 40 mol% anorthite would be described as An40 plagioclase.


title: Plagioclase

text: The ability of albite and anorthite to form solid solutions in any proportions at elevated temperature reflects the ease with which calcium and aluminium can substitute for sodium and silicon in the plagioclase crystal structure. Although a calcium ion has a charge of +2, versus +1 for a sodium ion, the two ions have very nearly the same effective radius. The difference in charge is accommodated by the coupled substitution of aluminium (charge +3) for silicon (charge +4), both of which can occupy tetrahedral sites (surrounded by four oxygen ions). This contrasts with potassium, which has the same charge as sodium, but is a significantly larger ion. As a result of the size and charge difference between potassium and calcium, there is a very wide miscibility gap between anorthite and potassium feldspar, (), the third common rock-forming feldspar end member. Potassium feldspar does form a solid solution series with albite, due to the identical charges of sodium and potassium ions, which is known as the alkali feldspar series. Thus, almost all feldspar found on Earth is either plagioclase or alkali feldspar, with the two series overlapping for pure albite. When a plagioclase composition is described by its anorthite mol% (such as An40 in the previous example) it is assumed that the remainder is albite, with only a minor component of potassium feldspar.


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase of any composition shares many basic physical characteristics, while other characteristics vary smoothly with composition. The Mohs hardness of all plagioclase species is 6 to 6.5, and cleavage is perfect on [001] and good on [010], with the cleavage planes meeting at an angle of 93 to 94 degrees. It is from this slightly oblique cleavage angle that plagioclase gets its name, Ancient Greek ( 'oblique') + ( 'fracture'). The name was introduced by August Breithaupt in 1847. There is also a poor cleavage on [110] rarely seen in hand samples.


title: Plagioclase

text: The luster is vitreous to pearly and the diaphaneity is transparent to translucent. The tenacity is brittle, and the fracture is uneven or conchoidal, but the fracture is rarely observed due to the strong tendency of the mineral to cleave instead. At low temperature, the crystal structure belongs to the triclinic system, space group "P" Well-formed crystals are rare and are most commonly sodic in composition. Well-shaped samples are instead typically cleavage fragments. Well-formed crystals are typically bladed or tabular parallel to [010].


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase is usually white to greyish-white in color, with a slight tendency for more calcium-rich samples to be darker. Impurities can infrequently tint the mineral greenish, yellowish, or flesh-red. The specific gravity increases smoothly with calcium content, from 2.62 for pure albite to 2.76 for pure anorthite, and this can provide a useful estimate of composition if measured accurately. The index of refraction likewise varies smoothly from 1.53 to 1.58, and, if measured carefully, this also gives a useful composition estimate.


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase almost universally shows a characteristic polysynthetic twinning that produces twinning striations on [010]. These striations allow plagioclase to be distinguished from alkali feldspar. Plagioclase often also displays Carlsbad, Baveno, and Manebach Law twinning.


title: Plagioclase

text: The composition of a plagioclase feldspar is typically denoted by its overall fraction of anorthite (%An) or albite (%Ab). There are several named plagioclase feldspars that fall between albite and anorthite in the series. The following table shows their compositions in terms of constituent anorthite and albite percentages.


title: Plagioclase

text: The distinction between these minerals cannot easily be made in the field. The composition can be roughly determined by specific gravity, but accurate measurement requires chemical or optical tests. The composition in a crushed grain mount can be obtained by the Tsuboi method, which yields an accurate measurement of the minimum refractive index that in turn gives an accurate composition. In thin section, the composition can be determined by either the Michel Lévy or Carlsbad-albite methods. The former relies on accurate measure of minimum index of refraction, while the latter relies on measuring the "extinction angle" under a polarizing microscope. The extinction angle is an optical characteristic and varies with the albite fraction (%Ab).


title: Plagioclase

text: The intermediate members of the plagioclase group are very similar to each other and normally cannot be distinguished except by their optical properties. The specific gravity in each member (albite 2.62) increases 0.02 per 10% increase in anorthite (2.75).


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase is the primary aluminium-bearing mineral in mafic rocks formed at low pressure. It is normally the first and most abundant feldspar to crystallize from a cooling primitive magma. Anorthite has a much higher melting point than albite, and, as a result, calcium-rich plagioclase is the first to crystallize. The plagioclase becomes more enriched in sodium as the temperature drops, forming Bowen's continuous reaction series. However, the composition with which plagioclase crystallizes also depends on the other components of the melt, so it is not by itself a reliable thermometer.


title: Plagioclase

text: The liquidus of plagioclase (the temperature at which the plagioclase first begins to crystallize) is about for olivine basalt, with a composition of 50.5 wt% silica; in andesite with a silica content of 60.7 wt%; and in dacite with a silica content of 69.9 wt%. These values are for dry magma. The liquidus is greatly lowered by the addition of water, and much more for plagioclase than for mafic minerals. The eutectic (minimum melting mixture) for a mixture of anorthite and diopside shifts from 40 wt% anorthite to 78 wt% anorthite as the water vapor pressure goes from 1 bar to 10 kbar. The presence of water also shifts the composition of the crystallizing plagioclase towards anorthite. The eutectic for this wet mixture drops to about .


title: Plagioclase

text: Crystallizing plagioclase is always richer in anorthite than the melt from which it crystallizes. This "plagioclase effect" causes the residual melt to be enriched in sodium and silicon and depleted in aluminium and calcium. However, the simultaneous crystallization of mafic minerals not containing aluminium can partially offset the depletion in aluminium. In volcanic rock, the crystallized plagioclase incorporates most of the potassium in the melt as a trace element.


title: Plagioclase

text: New plagioclase crystals nucleate only with difficulty, and diffusion is very slow within the solid crystals. As a result, as a magma cools, increasingly sodium-rich plagioclase is usually crystallized onto the rims of existing plagioclase crystals, which retain their more calcium-rich cores. This results in compositional zoning of plagioclase in igneous rocks. In rare cases, plagioclase shows reverse zoning, with a more calcium-rich rim on a more sodium-rich core. Plagioclase also sometimes shows oscillatory zoning, with the zones fluctuating between sodium-rich and calcium-rich compositions, though this is usually superimposed on an overall normal zoning trend.


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase is very important for the classification of crystalline igneous rocks. Generally, the more silica is present in the rock, the fewer the mafic minerals, and the more sodium-rich the plagioclase. Alkali feldspar appears as the silica content becomes high. Under the QAPF classification, plagioclase is one of the three key minerals, along with quartz and alkali feldspar, used to make the initial classification of the rock type. Low-silica igneous rocks are further divided into dioritic rocks having sodium-rich plagioclase (An<50) and gabbroic rocks having calcium-rich plagioclase (An>50). Anorthosite is an intrusive rock composed of at least 90% plagioclase.


title: Plagioclase

text: Albite is an end member of both the alkali and plagioclase series. However, it is included in the alkali feldspar fraction of the rock in the QAPF classification.


title: Plagioclase

text: Plagioclase is also common in metamorphic rock. Plagioclase tends to be albite in low-grade metamorphic rock, while oligoclase to andesine are more common in medium- to high-grade metamorphic rock. Metacarbonate rock sometimes contains fairly pure anorthite.


title: Plagioclase

text: Feldspar makes up between 10 and 20 percent of the framework grains in typical sandstones. Alkali feldspar is usually more abundant than plagioclase in sandstone because Alkali feldspars are more resistant to chemical weathering and more stable, but sandstone derived from volcanic rock contains more plagioclase. Plagioclase weathers relatively rapidly to clay minerals such as smectite.


title: Plagioclase

text: The Mohorovičić discontinuity, which defines the boundary between the Earth's crust and the upper mantle, is thought to be the depth where feldspar disappears from the rock. While plagioclase is the most important aluminium-bearing mineral in the crust, it breaks down at the high pressure of the upper mantle, with the aluminium tending to be incorporated into clinopyroxene as "Tschermak's molecule" () or in jadeite . At still higher pressure, the aluminium is incorporated into garnet.


title: Plagioclase

text: At very high temperatures, plagioclase forms a solid solution with potassium feldspar, but this becomes highly unstable on cooling. The plagioclase separates from the potassium feldspar, a process called "exsolution". The resulting rock, in which fine streaks of plagioclase ("lamellae") are present in potassium feldspar, is called perthite.


title: Plagioclase

text: The solid solution between anorthite and albite remains stable to lower temperatures, but ultimately becomes unstable as the rock approaches ambient surface temperatures. The resulting exsolution results in very fine lamellar and other intergrowths, normally detected only by sophisticated means. However, exsolution in the andesite to labradorite compositional range sometimes produces lamellae with thicknesses comparable to the wavelength of visible light. This acts like a diffraction grating, causing the labradorite to show the beautiful play of colors known as "chatoyance".


title: Plagioclase

text: In addition to its importance to geologists in classifying igneous rocks, plagioclase finds practical use as construction aggregate, as dimension stone, and in powdered form as a filler in paint, plastics, and rubber. Sodium-rich plagioclase finds use in the manufacture of glass and ceramics.


title: Korean New Year

text: Seollal () is a festival and national holiday commemorating the first day of the Chinese lunisolar calendar. It is one of the most important traditional holidays in both North and South Korea. The celebration usually lasts three days: the day before New Year, New Year itself, and the day after New Year. During this time, many Koreans visit family, perform ancestral rites, wear the (한복, 韓服), eat Korean food, including Korean cuisine, and play folk games. Additionally, children often receive money called "Sebaetdon" (New Year’s money) as a Seollal gift in a form of "Bokjumeoni" (복주머니, lucky bags) from their elders after performing a formal bow.


title: Korean New Year

text: Seollal generally occurs in January or February on the second new moon after the winter solstice, unless there is an intercalary eleventh or twelfth month in the lead-up to the New Year. In such a case, the New Year falls on the third new moon after the solstice.


title: Korean New Year

text: While Korean New Year is generally referred to as , it has been called by many other names. They are listed in the table below.


title: Korean New Year

text: The prototype of Korean New Year is believed to be found in the 3rd century Chinese historical work, "Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, Volume 30." Worshipping events with the celebration of singing and dancing was held in Buyeo during the 12th month () of the Chinese calendar at that time.


title: Korean New Year

text: The earliest records of Korean New Year celebrations are included in the 7th century Chinese historical works, the "Book of Sui" and the "Old Book of Tang", containing excerpts of celebrations during at new year's day in the Silla Kingdom in the 7th century.


title: Korean New Year

text: Korea's own record of new year celebration is found in ("Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms"), compiled in the 13th century. Under the rule of 21st King of Silla, new year was celebrated in 488 AD. Then celebration of Korean New Year have continued to Goryeo and Joseon. By the 13th century, Korean New Year was one of the nine major Korean festivals that included ancestral rites, according to the Korean historical work, the .


title: Korean New Year

text: After Japan annexed Korea, celebration of was prohibited. The Japanese rulers set the official Korean New Year to the first day of Gregorian calendar, following the Japanese New Year. The day is called , and the old new year became .


title: Korean New Year

text: After the liberation of Korea in 1945, the South Korean government designated the period from January 1 to January 3 of the Gregorian calendar as a public new year holiday.


title: Korean New Year

text: In 1980s, the opinion that the old New Year should be designated as a holiday and respect its tradition was raised, and the government declared the first day of the Korean calendar as a folk day from 1985 to 1988.


title: Korean New Year

text: In 1989, the Roh Tae-woo administration accepted public opinion that the old New Year's Day should be re-vitalized, designating the old New Year as both the official Korean New Year and a national holiday.


title: Korean New Year

text: The Korean New Year is typically a family holiday. The three-day holiday is used by many to return to their hometowns to visit their parents and other relatives, where they perform an ancestral ritual called . The three days are the day of, the day before, and the day after. In 2016, 36 million South Koreans reportedly would be traveling to visit their families during the Korean New Year. Koreans not only travel within the country, but around the world, as well. Many Koreans travel from overseas to visit their families for this annual holiday. Since it is one of the few times families may be able to get together and catch up on one another's lives, it is considered respectful and important to attend the holiday. Often, the family members first visit the elders, and this includes the grandparents and the parents. It is also considered respectful for people to visit their mothers- and fathers-in-law during the Korean New Year.


title: Korean New Year

text: Including travel expense, preparation for this holiday is very costly. Gifts are usually given to family members and new clothes are worn during the holiday. Traditional food is prepared for many family members coming to visit for the holiday. Fruits are especially expensive. Due to the increased demand, food prices are inflated during the month of . As a result, some people have chosen to forgo some traditions because they have become too expensive. These families prepare a modest ancestral rite only with necessary foods for . The government has started taking certain measures to help stabilize and support ordinary people's livelihood for the New Year holiday period, raising the supply of agricultural, fishery, and livestock products. The government has also used rice reserves and pork imports to lower inflation. The government is also putting money into small and medium-sized companies to help with cash flow.


title: Korean New Year

text: Many preparations go into celebrating the Korean New Year. During the first morning, Koreans pay their respect towards their ancestors. Traditional foods are placed on a table as an offering to the ancestors, and a rite begins with deep bows from all family members. This is a sign of respect and a very important practice on the first day of the New Year in Korea. It is also where they pray for the well-being of all the family members. Many Koreans dress up in colourful traditional Korean clothing called , usually worn for special occasions such as weddings, Korean New Year, child's first birthday, amongst others. However, with modernization and evolving mores in the culture, more people tend to prefer westernized, modern clothing to the . After the rite, the members have a big feast.


title: Korean New Year

text: Additionally, Koreans follow a zodiac similar to the Chinese zodiac. 12 animals represent the 12 years in sequential order with the rat/mouse representing the first year. Buddha is believed to have invited animals from all over the world to visit, to which only 12 visited. In return, he honoured them by naming the years in the order that they arrived. Koreans believe that specific zodiac animals bring specific resources and qualities. For example, the year 2014 was the year of the horse, and it was considered a good year in the money and career aspect of life. It is said that a person born in a specific zodiacal year will carry that zodiac animal's characteristics. As a result, Koreans plan their year and activities around it to have a good, prosperous year. Parents may have even planned the birth year of their child, so the child may have a specific characteristic.


title: Korean New Year

text: Another custom observed is the lighting of a "moon house" built from burnable firewood and branches. This symbolizes the warding off of bad/evil spirits for the new year. Many also choose to add wishes they want to come true in the next year to the moon house.


title: Korean New Year

text: The main dish eaten on New Year’s Day in South Korea is tteokguk (Korean: 떡국; Pronunciation: /tiɑkɡək/), a traditional soup consisting of rice cakes (tteok) most commonly served in a beef based broth and typically garnished with thinly sliced egg, green onion, and meat. There are many other variations featuring soy sauce in the soup base, as well as the addition of korean dumplings known as mandu (만두). The tteok is made by steaming glutinous rice flour and shaping the dough into long ropes that signify “an expansion of good fortune in the new year.” The rice cake ropes are then sliced into thin, oval shapes thought to resemble “yeopjeon (엽전),” a traditional Korean currency. The white color of the rice cakes is also thought to represent “purity and cleanliness.” Korean people believe that eating tteokguk signifies adding another year to your life as well. Its origins can be traced back to the 19th century from the mention of tteokguk in the “Dongguk Sesigi”, a book on traditional Korean customs. The dish was said to be “prepared during ancestral rites on the first morning of Lunar New Year." Tteokguk carries heavy symbolic meaning as a Seollal dish representing good fortune, new beginnings, and the rich holiday traditions of Korea.


title: Korean New Year

text: Savory pancakes called jeon (Korean: 전; Pronunciation: /d͡ʒɛɑn/) are typically included in the Korean New Year's feast. Made with various fillings such as meat, seafood, and vegetables, the side dishes are a fried, flour-based side dish. Out of the many variations, shredded beef (yukjeon; 육전), oysters (guljeon; 굴전), kimchi (kimchijeon; 김치전), and green onion (pajeon; 파전) are the most popular fillings for the crispy pancakes. The jeon is often accompanied with a spicy, soy sauce and vinegar mixture flavored with Korean chili powder called gochugaru to enhance its taste. Traditionally, jeon is prepared for holidays and festive occasions like Lunar New Years, though they are presently regarded as a staple Korean side dish or appetizer in everyday meals.


title: Korean New Year

text: In addition to being served at birthday parties and weddings, japchae (Korean: 잡채; Pronunciation: /t͡ɕa̠p̚t͡ɕʰɛ/) is often served on holidays like Lunar new Years as well. Japchae is a noodle dish containing beef, vegetables such as spinach, carrots, mushrooms, and chili peppers, and clear cellophane noodles made from potato starch. The mixture is stir fried and tossed in a sauce made from soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Originally, japchae did not contain any noodles or meat at all when it was invented by a servant of King Gwangaegun, though it has evolved since then to become Korea’s well known noodle dish suitable for celebrations.


title: Korean New Year

text: Many traditional games are associated with the Korean New Year. The traditional family board game remains a popular game, especially during Korean New Year. It is played using a set of specially designed sticks and is considered appropriate for all ages and genders. Men and boys traditionally would also fly rectangle kites called (, see ), and also play , a game in which a light object is wrapped in paper or cloth, and then kicked in a footbag-like manner. Korean women and girls would have traditionally played , a game of jumping on a seesaw (), and , a game played with five little (originally a little stone, but today many buy manufactured in toy shops). Top ( () spinning is also a traditional game played by children. Recently, a few adults play Go-Stop instead of traditional .


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The DARPA Falcon Project (Force Application and Launch from Continental United States) is a two-part joint project between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF) and is part of Prompt Global Strike. One part of the program aims to develop a reusable, rapid-strike "Hypersonic Weapon System" (HWS), now retitled the "Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle" (HCV), and the other is for the development of a launch system capable of accelerating an HCV to cruise speeds, as well as launching small satellites into Earth orbit. This two-part program was announced in 2003 and continued into 2006.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: "Blackswift" was a project announced under the Falcon banner using a fighter-sized unmanned aircraft which would take off from a runway and accelerate to before completing its mission and landing again. The memo of understanding (MoU) between DARPA and the USAF on Blackswift—also known as the HTV-3X—was signed in September 2007. The Blackswift HTV-3X did not receive needed funding and was canceled in October 2008.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: Current research under FALCON program is centered on X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs. The prototype Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) first flew on 22 April 2010; the second test flew 11 August 2011 reaching Mach 20. Both flights ended prematurely.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The aim was always to be able to deploy a craft from the continental United States, which could reach anywhere on the planet within one to two hours. The X-20 Dyna-Soar in 1957 was the first publicly acknowledged program—although this would have been launched vertically on a rocket and then glided back to Earth, as the Space Shuttle did, rather than taking off from a runway. Originally, the Shuttle was envisaged as a part-USAF operation, and separate military launch facilities were built at Vandenberg AFB at great cost, though never used. After the open DynaSoar USAF program from 1957 to 1963, spaceplanes went black (became highly classified). In the mid-1960s, the CIA began work on a high-Mach spyplane called Project Isinglass. This developed into Rheinberry, a design for a Mach-17 air-launched reconnaissance aircraft, which was later canceled.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: According to Henry F. Cooper, who was the Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") under President Reagan, spaceplane projects consumed $4 billion of funding in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (excluding the Space Shuttle). This does not include the 1950 and 1960s budgets for the Dynasoar, ISINGLASS, Rheinberry, and any 21st-century spaceplane project which might emerge under Falcon. He told the United States Congress in 2001 that all the United States had in return for those billions of dollars was "one crashed vehicle, a hangar queen, some drop-test articles and static displays". Falcon was allocated US$170 million for budget year 2008.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The HyperSoar was an American hypersonic aircraft project developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). It was to be capable of flying at around Mach 12 (9,200 mph, 14,700 km/h), allowing it to transit between any two points on the globe in under two hours. The HyperSoar was predicted to be a passenger plane capable of skipping outside the atmosphere to prevent it from burning up in the atmosphere. A trip from Chicago to Tokyo (10,123 kilometers) would take 18 skips, or 72 minutes. It was planned to use hydrocarbon-based engines outside the atmosphere and experimental jet engine technology with testing to begin by 2010. Later, the Hypersoar concept was acquired from LLNL by DARPA, and in 2002 it was combined with the USAF X-41 Common Aero Vehicle to form the FALCON program.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The overall FALCON ("F"orce "A"pplication and "L"aunch from "CON"tinental United States) program announced in 2003 had two major components: a small launch vehicle for carrying payloads to orbit or launching the hypersonic weapons platform payload, and the hypersonic vehicle itself.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The DARPA FALCON solicitation in 2003 asked for bidders to do development work on proposed vehicles in a first phase of work, then one or more vendors would be selected to build and fly an actual launch vehicle. Companies which won first phase development contracts of $350,000 to $540,000 in November 2003 included:


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The first phase of the hypersonic weapon system development was won by three bidders in 2003, each receiving a $1.2 to $1.5 million contract for hypersonic vehicle development:


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: Lockheed Martin received the only Phase 2 HWS contract in 2004, to develop technologies further and reduce technology risk on the program.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: Following the Phase 2 contract, DARPA and the US Air Force continued to develop the hypersonic vehicle platform.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) would be able to fly 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) in 2 hours with a payload of 12,000 lb (5,500 kg). It would fly at a high altitude and achieve speeds of up to Mach 20.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The Blackswift was a proposed aircraft capable of hypersonic flight designed by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Boeing, and ATK.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The USAF states that the "Blackswift flight demonstration vehicle will be powered by a combination turbine engine and ramjet, an all-in-one power plant. The turbine engine accelerates the vehicle to around Mach 3 before the ramjet takes over and boosts the vehicle up to Mach 6." Dr. Steven Walker, the Deputy Director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (acting Director as of January, 2017), will be coordinating the project. He told the USAF website,


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The Falcon program has announced the hypersonic horizontal take-off Blackswift/HTV-3X. It is also launching the HTV-2 off the top of a rocket booster. Falcon seems to be converging from two directions, on the ultimate goal of producing a hypersonic aircraft which can take off and land from a runway in the US, and be anywhere in the world in an hour or two. Falcon is methodically proceeding toward a Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle. Dr. Walker stated,


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: In October 2008 it was announced that HTV-3X or Blackswift did not receive needed funding in the fiscal year 2009 defense budget and had been canceled. The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle program will continue with reduced funding.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: DARPA had two HTV-2s built for two flight tests in 2010 and 2011. The Minotaur IV light rocket is the booster for the HTV-2 with Vandenberg Space Force Base (known as Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1957-2021)serving as the launch site. DARPA planned the flights to demonstrate thermal protection systems and aerodynamic control features. Test flights were supported by NASA, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories and the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles Directorates.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: The first HTV-2 flight was launched on 22 April 2010. The HTV-2 glider was to fly across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20. The launch was successful, but the first mission was not completed as planned. Reports stated that contact had been lost with the vehicle nine minutes into the mission. In mid-November, DARPA revealed that the test flight had ended when the computer autopilot had "commanded flight termination". According to a DARPA spokesman, "When the onboard system detects [undesirable or unsafe flight] behavior, it forces itself into a controlled roll and pitchover to descend directly into the ocean." Reviews found that the craft had begun to roll violently.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: A second flight was launched on 11 August 2011. The unmanned Falcon HTV-2 successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission's glide phase, but again lost contact with control about nine minutes into its planned 30-minute Mach 20 glide flight. Initial reports indicated it purposely impacted the Pacific Ocean along its planned flight path as a safety precaution. Some analysts thought that the second failure would result in an overhaul of the Falcon program.


title: DARPA Falcon Project

text: In July 2013, DARPA decided it would not conduct a third flight test of the HTV-2 because enough data had been collected from the first two flights, and another test was not thought to provide any more usable data for the cost. The tests provided data on flight aerodynamics and high-temperature effects on the aeroshell. Work on the HTV-2 would continue to summer 2014 to provide more study on hypersonic flight. The HTV-2 was the last active part of the Falcon program. DARPA has now changed its focus for the program from global/strategic strike to high-speed tactical deployment to penetrate air defenses and hit targets quickly from a safe distance.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: A political scientist and Christian social activist, he entered politics in the 1920s and was elected to the Reichstag in 1924. In 1930, he was appointed interim chancellor, just as the Great Depression took hold. His austerity policies in response were unpopular, with most of the "Reichstag" opposed, so he governed by emergency decrees issued by President Paul von Hindenburg, overriding the "Reichstag". This lasted until May 1932, when his land distribution policy offended Hindenburg, who refused to issue any more decrees, and Brüning resigned.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: After Hitler took power, Brüning fled Germany in 1934. He eventually settled in the United States. From 1937 to 1952, he was a professor at Harvard University. He returned to Germany in 1951 to teach at the University of Cologne, but again moved to the United States in 1955 and lived out his days in retirement in Vermont.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Brüning remains a controversial figure in Germany's history, as historians debate whether he was the 'last bulwark of the Weimar Republic' or the 'Republic's undertaker', or both. Scholars are divided over how much room for manoeuvre he had during the depression and period of great political instability. While he intended to protect the Republic's government, his policies, notably his use of emergency powers, also contributed to the gradual demise of the Weimar Republic during his chancellorship.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Born in Münster in Westphalia, Brüning lost his father when he was one year old and thus his elder brother Hermann Joseph played a major part in his upbringing. Although brought up in a devoutly Roman Catholic family, Brüning was also influenced by Lutheranism's concept of duty, since the Münster region was home to both Catholics, who formed a majority, and Prussian-influenced Protestants.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: After graduating from Gymnasium Paulinum he first leaned towards the legal profession but then studied Philosophy, History, German, and Political Science at Strasbourg, the London School of Economics, and Bonn, where, in 1915, he received a doctorate for his thesis on the financial, economic, and legal implications of nationalizing the British railway system. Historian Friedrich Meinecke, one of his professors at Strasbourg, had a major influence on Brüning.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Volunteering for the infantry, he was accepted despite his shortsightedness and physical weakness, and served in World War I from 1915 to 1918. He rose to lieutenant in infantry regiment No. 30, "Graf Werder", and company commander by the end of the war. He was cited for bravery and awarded both the second and first class Iron Cross.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Despite having been elected to a soldiers' council after the armistice of 11 November 1918, Brüning did not approve of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 which ended with the establishment of the Weimar Republic.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Despite his reluctance to speak about his private life, it is assumed that his war experience and the war's aftermath persuaded him not to pursue his academic career, and he preferred to help former soldiers reintegrate into civilian life by assisting them finding employment or further their education.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: He collaborated with the social reformer Carl Sonnenschein and worked in the "Secretariat for social student work". After six months he entered the Prussian welfare department and became a close associate of Adam Stegerwald, the minister. Stegerwald, also the leader of the Christian trade unions, made him chief executive of the unions in 1920, a post Brüning retained until 1930.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: As the editor of the union newspaper "Der Deutsche" ("The German"), he advocated a "social popular state" and "Christian democracy," based on the ideas of Christian corporatism.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Brüning joined the Centre Party and in 1924 was elected to the "Reichstag", representing Breslau. In the "Reichstag", he quickly made a name for himself as a financial expert and managed to push through the so-called Brüning Law, which restricted the workers' share of income taxes to no more than .


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: From 1928 to 1930, he served as a member of the Landtag of Prussia. In 1929, after his election as leader of the Centre Party group in the "Reichstag", his party's agreement to the Young Plan was made conditional on paying for it through tax increases and budget cuts. This earned him President Paul von Hindenburg's attention.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: In March 1930, the grand coalition under the Social Democrat Hermann Müller collapsed. Hindenburg appointed Brüning chancellor on 29 March 1930. Brüning's financial and economic acumen combined with his openness to social questions made him a candidate for chancellor and his war service as a front-line officer made him acceptable to Hindenburg.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: The government faced the Great Depression. At the same time, the 1929 Young Plan had greatly reduced war reparations owed by Germany, but paying the remainder required severe austerity measures. Brüning disclosed to his associates in the German Labour Federation that his chief aim as chancellor would be to liberate the German economy from the burden of reparations and foreign debt. This would require tight credit and a deflationary rollback of all wage and salary increases (internal devaluation).


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: The "Reichstag" rejected Brüning's measures within a month. Hindenburg, already bent on reducing the influence of the "Reichstag", saw this event as the "failure of parliament", and with Brüning's consent he called new elections, to be held in December.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: In the meantime, Brüning's measures were implemented in the summer by presidential emergency decrees ("Notverordnung") under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The deflationary measures led to a trade surplus, bur increased unemployment and poverty. As unemployment continued to rise, Brüning's cuts in both wages and public assistance, combined with rising prices and taxes, increased misery among workers and the unemployed. This gave rise to the slogan ""Brüning verordnet Not!"" ("Brüning decrees hardship"), alluding to his measures being implemented by the "Notverordnung". He became extremely unpopular.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Hindenburg wished to base the government on the parties of the right, but the right-wing German National People's Party (DNVP) refused to support Brüning's government. To the president's dismay, Brüning had to rely on his own Centre Party, the only party that fully supported him, and on the toleration of the Social Democrats.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: In the December election, the parties of the grand coalition lost many seats, while the Communists and the National Socialists (Nazis) made major gains. This left Brüning without any hope of forming a "Reichstag" majority. Instead, he continued to govern by "Notverordnung". He coined the term "authoritative democracy" to describe this form of government, based on the cooperation of the president and parliament.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Brüning was somewhat ambivalent toward democracy. Soon after taking office, he sharply limited freedom of the press. By one estimate, 100 newspaper editions were banned every month.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Brüning's harsh economic policies undermined the tacit support of the Social Democrats for the government, while the liberal and conservative members of the cabinet favoured opening the government to the right. President Hindenburg, pushed by his camarilla and military chief Kurt von Schleicher, also advocated such a move and insisted on a cabinet reshuffle, especially the removal of ministers Joseph Wirth and Theodor von Guérard, both from the Centre Party.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: The president's wishes also hampered the government's resolution in combatting the extremist parties and their respective paramilitary organisations. The chancellor and president agreed that the brutality, intolerance, and demagogy of the Communists and Nazis rendered them unfit for government, and Brüning believed the government was strong enough to steer Germany through the crisis without the support of the Nazis.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Nonetheless, he negotiated with Hitler about toleration or a formal coalition, without yielding to the Nazis any position of power or full support by presidential decree. Because of these reservations the negotiations came to nothing and as street violence rose to new heights in April 1932, Brüning had both the Communist "Rotfrontkämpferbund" and the Nazi Sturmabteilung banned. The unfavourable reaction in right-wing circles further undermined Hindenburg's support for Brüning.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Brüning agonized over how to stem the growing Nazi tide, especially since Hindenburg could not be expected to survive another full term as president should he choose to run again. If Hindenburg were to die in office, Hitler would be a strong favorite to succeed him.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: In his posthumously published memoirs Brüning claims, without support of contemporaneous documents, that he hit upon a last-ditch solution to prevent Hitler from taking power: restoring the Hohenzollern monarchy. He planned to persuade the "Reichstag" to cancel the 1932 German presidential election and extend Hindenburg's term. He would have then had the "Reichstag" proclaim a monarchy, with Hindenburg as regent. Upon Hindenburg's death, one of Crown Prince Wilhelm's sons would have been invited to assume the throne. The restored monarchy would have been a British-style constitutional monarchy in which real power would have rested with the legislature.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: He managed to garner support from all of the major parties except the Nationalists, Communists, and Nazis, making it very likely that the plan would get the two-thirds majority required for passage. The plan foundered, however, when Hindenburg, an old-line monarchist, refused to support restoration of the monarchy unless Kaiser Wilhelm II was recalled from exile in the Netherlands. When Brüning tried to impress upon him that neither the Social Democrats nor the international community would accept any return of the deposed Kaiser, Hindenburg threw him out of his office.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Despite his policies of economic austerity, Bruning pursued a nationalist-right foreign policy. He wanted to build two battlecruisers for the Reichsmarine, and expanded German influence in central and eastern Europe, signing bilateral trade treaties with the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania. Brüning tried to alleviate the burden of reparation payments and to achieve German equality in the rearmament question. In 1930, he replied to Aristide Briand's initiative to form a "United States of Europe" by demanding full equality for Germany, refusing offers of French financial assistance to help Germany's deteriorating economy.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Bruning's nationalist foreign policy chilled investment in Germany and hindered his efforts to achieve foreign loans. In 1931 plans for a customs union between Weimar Germany and the First Austrian Republic were shattered by French opposition. Bruning responded by issuing an aggressive communique demanding the nullification of the Treaty of Versailles and announcing a unilateral moratorium on German reparations. The communique led to a financial panic which depleted the Reichsbank's reserves and led to banking crises at Danatbank and Dresdner Bank.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: US President Herbert Hoover tried to avert further political and economic crisis by negotiating the Hoover Moratorium, postponing reparations and repayment of inter-Allied debts. France disapproved of the moratorium and delayed ratification long enough to trigger a banking run which collapsed Danatbank. The Reichsbank was forced to close the financial system and withdraw the Reichsmark from the gold standard. It also established import controls and nationalized foreign currency holdings. Bruning's actions caused the Bank of England to abandon the gold peg of the pound sterling, which severely worsened the Great Depression. In summer 1932, after Brüning's resignation, his successors reaped the fruits of his policy at the Lausanne conference, which reduced reparations to a final payment of 3 billion marks.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Negotiations over rearmament failed at the 1932 Geneva Conference shortly before his resignation, but in December the "Five powers agreement" accepted Germany's military equality.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Hindenburg was not willing at first to stand for re-election as president, but subsequently changed his mind. In the 1932 presidential election, Brüning vigorously campaigned for Hindenburg along with virtually the entire German left and centre, calling him a "venerated historical personality" and "the keeper of the constitution". After two rounds of voting Hindenburg was re-elected with a substantial majority over his main opponent, Hitler. However, Hindenburg considered it shameful to have been elected with the votes of "Reds" and "Catholes", as he called Social Democrats and the mostly Catholic Centre Party. He realised he was considered the lesser of two evils by them, and he compensated for this "shame" by moving further to the right. His failing health increased the camarilla's influence.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: As Brüning gradually lost Hindenburg's support, the ban of the Nazi "SA" paramilitary organisation initiated by Minister Wilhelm Groener on 13 April 1932 sharpened the conflict and led to considerable ill-feeling between Hindenburg and his trusted friend Kurt von Schleicher. At the same time, he was viciously attacked by the Prussian Junkers, led by Elard von Oldenburg-Januschau, who opposed Brüning's policies of distributing land to unemployed workers in the course of the Eastern Aid ("Osthilfe") programme and denounced him as an "Agro-bolshevik" to Hindenburg.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: The president, having a personal conflict as owner of a highly indebted Junker estate, refused to sign any further emergency decrees. As a consequence, Brüning and his cabinet resigned on 30 May 1932, "100 metres before the finish", and he was relieved of his office in a brief and undignified ceremony by Hindenburg. He firmly rejected all suggestions of making the president's disloyal behaviour public because he considered such a move indecent, and still considered Hindenburg the "last bulwark" of the German people.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: After Brüning resigned as chancellor, Centre Party chairman Ludwig Kaas asked Brüning to replace him, but the former chancellor declined and asked Kaas to stay. Brüning supported his party's determined opposition to his successor, Franz von Papen. He also supported re-establishing a working "Reichstag" by cooperating with the Nazis, negotiating with Gregor Strasser.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: After Hitler became chancellor on 30 January 1933, Brüning vigorously campaigned against the new government in the March 1933 elections. Later that month, he vehemently opposed Hitler's Enabling Act, calling it the "most monstrous resolution ever demanded of a parliament." But having received assurances from Hitler that the Centre Party would not be banned, he yielded to party discipline and voted in favour of the bill. With the Communist deputies already banned from the "Reichstag", only the Social Democrats voted against the act.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Kaas, a priest, moved to Rome in 1933 to help the Vatican negotiate with Germany. So in May 1933 he resigned as party chairman, and Brüning was elected chairman on 6 May. Hoping to adapt to the post-Enabling Act order, the party adopted a watered-down version of the leadership principle; pro-Centre papers now declared that the party's members, or "retinue", would fully submit to Brüning. This only served to buy the party just a few more months of life. Prominent members were frequently arrested and beaten, pro-Centre civil servants were fired, and Nazi officials demanded that the party either dissolve or else it would be banned. Bowing to the inevitable, Brüning dissolved the Centre Party on 5 July.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: In 1934, Brüning was warned by friends of the imminent Night of the Long Knives. On 3 June, 27 days before the purge, he fled Germany via the Netherlands.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: After staying in Switzerland and the United Kingdom, he went to the United States in 1935. In 1937 he became a visiting professor at Harvard University, and he was the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Government at Harvard from 1939 to 1952. He became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1938. He warned the American public about Hitler's plans for war, and later about Soviet aggression and plans for expansion, but in both cases his advice went largely unheeded.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: In 1951, he returned to Germany, settling in Cologne in West Germany, where he taught as a professor of political science at the University of Cologne until he retired in 1953. Partly because of his dissatisfaction with chancellor Konrad Adenauer's policies, he returned to the U.S. in 1955. There he revised the manuscript of his "Memoirs 1918–1934", which was edited by his longtime assistant, Claire Nix.


title: Heinrich Brüning

text: Due to the memoirs' highly controversial content, they were not published until after his death in 1970. Parts of the memoirs are considered unreliable, not based on historical records, and a self-justification for his politics during the Weimar Republic.


title: Montverde Academy

text: The school was founded in 1912 as Montgomery Industrial School. The school president was Henry P. Carpenter. It underwent a major expansion in 1921, when two new buildings were built for a cost of almost $40,000, including a concrete block dormitory for 200 boys and a new dining hall. The expansion was funded by donations, including $11,000 from R. Jay Arnold of Groveland, Florida. This expansion brought the organization to a total of eight buildings on 200 acres and $150,000 worth of equipment. An observation tower above the new dormitory provided a view of Lake Apopka, Winter Garden, and Groveland. The dining facilities served 400 children. In the 1920s, sports teams were established. The teams were nicknamed "The Crackers". In 1930, a girls' dormitory was constructed with funds raised by the D.A.R.


title: Montverde Academy

text: There were 1,188 K-12 students enrolled in 2015–2016 as the information is not compiled for Pre-K students. The breakdown was:


title: Montverde Academy

text: Montverde's athletic programs compete on a national level, rather than as a member of the Florida State High School Athletic Association. Sports offered include baseball, basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, lacrosse, powerlifting, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.


title: Montverde Academy

text: In May 2017, "Essence" and Fox 35 Orlando published a story about Montverde Academy harassing a 16-year-old African-American student who was told that her natural hair was against dress code policy. The school's headmaster, Kasey Kesselring, promised that the "dread lock" line would be removed from the hair policy in the student handbook. In May 2019, clickorlando.com and Horowitz Law published a story accusing Montverde Academy Dean of Students, Jerry Matos, of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a female student. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Headmaster Kasey Kesselring violated the Horse Protection Act, which resulted in a temporary disqualification from participating in equine events and a fine of $2,500.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Peter Newton Ford (born February 5, 1945) is an American retired actor, singer and former President and Co-Founder of Blackoak Development Company.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Ford was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Canadian-American actor Glenn Ford and American actress-dancer Eleanor Powell. As a child Ford's interest in rock and roll music inadvertently contributed to "Rock Around the Clock" being chosen as the title track for "Blackboard Jungle". Ford graduated from Chadwick High School in Palos Verdes, California in 1962, received an Associate of Arts degree from Santa Monica College in 1966, and graduated, "cum laude", from the University of Southern California in 1968 with a B.A. degree in English. While attending the University of Southern California, Ford met his future wife, Lynda Gundersen. Peter was accepted to the University of Southern California School of Law, but chose instead to work as an actor and singer.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Originally under contract to Capitol Records, Peter was mentored by Nat "King" Cole. Later, recording for Philips Records the release of his singles, "Don't Keep It To Yourself"/"Blue Ribbons" which were noted in Billboard's Pop Spotlight's Top 60, resulting in the song's appearance on many teen music television shows of the era, including American Bandstand, Hullabaloo and Ninth Street West.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: He eventually formed his own group, The Creations, who appeared in various local clubs, as well as the Whiskey a Go-Go in San Francisco and the El Cortez Club in Las Vegas.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Ford also worked on nearly two dozen film projects as an actor and dialogue director. The first was "Gilda" where director Charles Vidor used Ford's photo to represent Johnny Farrell (Glenn's role in the film) as a child.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Ford's first speaking role was in "The Gazebo" in 1959, co-starring Debbie Reynolds. He also appeared in "Pocketful of Miracles", "Dear Heart", "Advance to the Rear", "Fate is the Hunter", and "The Rounders".


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: In the early 1970s Peter began working at Fox and was cast as a series regular and dialogue director for "Cade's County", which starred his father “Glenn Ford”, playing forensic lab deputy Pete Odom. After "Cade's County" ended, Ford joined the Photo Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as a Reserve Deputy, rising to the rank of Lieutenant before retiring in 1996.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Ford's first major home building commission was for producer Walter Coblenz, producer of "All the President's Men" and "The Onion Field". He took a partner into his company and formed Blackoak Development Company. Ford went on to build and remodel homes for many clients involved in the film and television industry: producer Steve Tisch, actress Mary Kay Place, producer Jerry Belson, super agent Jeff Berg, producer Don Simpson, writers Chuck Shyer and Nancy Meyers, actress Jo Beth Williams, health guru Richard Simmons, actress Sally Kellerman, and Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: In 1989 Ford took over the building company and operated it as a sole proprietorship until his retirement from building in 1996. Blackoak/Ford was a respected custom residential construction firm. His work has been published in architectural magazines throughout the world, most notably the Schnabel House, designed by architect Frank Gehry. It was noted by "Architectural Digest" as "one of the greatest houses of the 20th century".


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Ford and Lynda have three children: Aubrey Newton Ford (b. 1977), Ryan Welsie Ford (b. 1984) and Eleanor Powell Ford (b. 1988).


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Ford is a student and collector of Native American culture who harbors an interested in genealogical research, with membership in the Society of Mayflower Descendants, Society of Colonial Wars, Society of the Sons of the Revolution, The Baronial Order of the Magna Charta, the Order of the Crusades (with 11 Crusaders in his direct line), the Crown of Charlemagne (Charlemagne is Peter's 38th Great Grandfather) and The Order of Founders and Patriots of America.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: He also collects movie memorabilia from Hollywood's Golden Age, and maintains The Glenn Ford and Eleanor Powell Library and Archives and as a writer, he has published numerous articles. Peter's various interests led him to KIEV-AM 870 radio, where for nearly three years in the late 1990s he hosted a weekly nighttime political talk show in Los Angeles, The Peter Ford Show.


title: Peter Ford (actor)

text: Ford is also the author of "Glenn Ford: A Life", a biography of his father published by the University of Wisconsin Press.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: "Anaconda" is a song by rapper Nicki Minaj from her third studio album, "The Pinkprint" (2014). Released on August 4, 2014 by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Republic Records as the second single from the album, the song was produced by Polow da Don, DJ Spydr, and Da Internz, and prominently samples "Baby Got Back" (1992) by Sir Mix-a-Lot. The song peaked at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Minaj's highest charting single at the time. The song also peaked within the top ten in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, top forty in Austria, France and Portugal and top fifty in Czech Republic.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: Colin Tilley directed an accompanying video for the song, which was released on August 19, 2014. Following the video's release, it broke the 24-hour streaming record on Vevo by accumulating 19.6 million views in its first day of release. In 2021, Anaconda became first music video for a solo female rap song to hit 1 billion views. To further promote the song, Minaj performed it live at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and also performed it at Fashion Rocks and the iHeartRadio Music Festival. "Anaconda" was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 2015 Grammy Awards. The song was also nominated for two categories at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, Best Female Video and Best Hip-Hop Video, winning the latter.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: On August 5, 2014, producer Polow da Don claimed that the "Anaconda" instrumental was originally intended for rapper and musician Missy Elliott, but was scrapped and then re-recorded by Minaj. However, on August 24, 2014, Elliott contradicted Polow's recollections, saying she never received the instrumental. The cover art for the single went viral on the web after being revealed. On various digital music stores, the cover art is censored with the Parental Advisory label over Minaj's buttocks. The song heavily samples "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot, who also has vocals in the chorus of the song.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: The song has been viewed by some as a diss track, in answer to "Baby Got Back". Whereas Sir Mix-a-Lot focuses on a woman's body and the pleasure it gives him, Minaj raps from the perspective of the unnamed woman, and shows how she uses her body to profit and empower herself.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: According to Minaj's sound engineer Aubry "Big Juice" Delaine, "Anaconda" had 27 different versions at first. Production team Da Internz were then brought in to add drums to the song, whereafter it was sent for mixing and mastering, which made it "perfect".


title: Anaconda (song)

text: Musically, the song is a hip hop and pop-rap song. The song is written in the key of C minor with a tempo of 130 beats per minute.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: Carolyn Menyes from "Music Times" said it is a bit "raunchy" though this was "expected" and saying "Anaconda" continues Minaj's promise to move away from her poppier singles such as "Super Bass" and "Starships", and go back to her hardcore rap roots. Kory Grow from "Rolling Stone" praised the use of the "Baby Got Back" sample and said the song stayed true to the theme of the original. Kevin Goddard from "HotNewHipHop" said "Nicki's raunchy new version may be the next big thing to hit the industry." Dan Reilly from "Spin" said "Minaj takes the good Sir's '92 ode to protruding posteriors and adds a heavy dose of 2014 sex lingo." Amy Davidson from "Digital Spy" gave the song three stars out of five and said that "Nicki's breaking down barriers."


title: Anaconda (song)

text: Sir Mix-a-Lot said he had "a whole new level of respect for Minaj" after hearing the record and that he became a "fan for life".


title: Anaconda (song)

text: The song made Spin's end of year 'The 101 Best Songs of 2014' list. It ranked #3 on the list of 101 entries and Spin herald it "much more than just a song" but a "cultural movement." She was the only rapper to make the top ten of the list as a lead artist. "Anaconda" was also placed at number two on MTV's Best Songs of 2014.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: However, despite the positive reviews the song received negative reactions. The London Economic called it "one of the worst songs ever." Critics from "National Review" referred to the song as "degrading," adding that it promoted prostitution, drug abuse and immorality to young girls. A city in Israel banned the song and prohibited it from concerts and sports events. They claimed the record is "violations of women's dignity," encouraged "a culture of rape and humiliation of women," and that its lyrics were "full of racist words, insults, sexism and homophobia."


title: Anaconda (song)

text: In the United States, the song debuted at No. 3 on the Digital Songs chart selling 141,000 digital downloads in its first week. Additionally, as Minaj shares lead credit on "Bang Bang," which was No. 2 on that same chart in the same week, Minaj became the first lead act to have two concurrent songs in the top three of the chart since Taylor Swift did it on the list dated September 22, 2012. On the "Billboard" Hot 100, the song debuted at No. 19, marking Minaj's 51st Hot 100 entry and subsequently breaking out of a tie with Michael Jackson for overall career Hot 100 entries.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: For the week ending September 6, 2014, "Anaconda" jumped 39-2 on the Hot 100, blocked from the top spot by Swift's "Shake It Off". It became Minaj's highest charting single on that chart at the time. It marked her eleventh top ten single. Its leap into the runner-up position was brought on primarily by the release of its music video, which garnered 32.1 million domestic streams in its first week. That streaming total caused it to consequentially skyrocket 42-1 on "Billboard"s Streaming Songs chart. It is the largest one week streaming sum since Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" received 36.4 million streams for the week ending September 28, 2013. Additionally, the 39-2 ascent for "Anaconda" marks the second-biggest jump ever within the Hot 100's top 40. Only Black Eyed Peas made a bigger leap in the region when "Boom Boom Pow" blasted 39-1 on April 18, 2009. "Anaconda" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in November 2014 and has sold 1.3 million copies in the US as of December 2014.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: A music video for the track was shot in Los Angeles, California. It was directed by Colin Tilley and was released on August 19, 2014. The video features a cameo appearance by fellow rapper and labelmate Drake. The video broke the 24-hour streaming record on Vevo by accumulating 19.6 million views in its first day of release, beating the 19.3 million 24-hour record previously held by Miley Cyrus for the music video of her song, "Wrecking Ball", in 2013. On August 30, 2014, eleven days after the release of the music video, "Anaconda" was Vevo certified for receiving over 100 million views. In 2015 Taylor Swift surpassed Minaj's record with the video for her single "Bad Blood" which got 20.1 million views in 24 hours.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: In a review of Minaj's video, Lucas Villa of "AXS" wrote, "It's butts abound in her bananas clip for 'Anaconda." NBC host Al Roker called the music video "vile" and "desperate". Roker said, "It almost seems like Minaj has gotten desperate and needs to do something to get her crown back." Molly Lambert of Grantland was complimentary, writing "the video is about Nicki asserting her power, not as a sexual object but a sexual subject." It was named one of the sexiest videos of 2014 by VH1.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: As of April 3, 2021, the video has gained more than 1 billion views, being the first female rap solo song to do so. "Billboard" also named "Anaconda" the 13th greatest video of the decade.


title: Anaconda (song)

text: On 24 August 2014, Minaj first performed the song live at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. The performance followed Ariana Grande's individual performance of her single "Break Free" and was followed by a performance of Jessie J, Grande, and Minaj's joint single "Bang Bang." On September 9, 2014, Minaj performed the song live at Fashion Rocks. On September 19, 2014, Minaj performed the song at the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival. On November 9, 2014, Minaj performed "Anaconda" at the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards in a three-song medley including her other songs "Super Bass" and "Bed of Lies" featuring Skylar Grey. Minaj has performed the song on The Pinkprint Tour and The Nicki Wrld Tour.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: Tyler Alexander Boyd (born November 15, 1994) is an American football wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Pittsburgh, and was selected by the Bengals in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: Boyd attended Clairton High School in Clairton, Pennsylvania, where he finished his high school football career ranking among the most productive performers in Western Pennsylvania history. He set a WPIAL record with 117 career touchdowns and finished as the fifth-leading rusher in WPIAL annals with 5,755 yards. He played diverse roles (running back, wide receiver, quarterback, defensive back, and punt returner) for Clairton, which went 48–0 in his three years as a starter and 63–1 (.984) in his four varsity seasons and won four WPIAL and four PIAA Class A titles. As a senior, Boyd rushed for 2,584 yards and 43 touchdowns, had 295 yards receiving on just 13 catches and led the WPIAL in scoring with 51 total touchdowns and 345 points. Boyd was selected to play in the Big 33 Football Classic (Western Pennsylvania vs. Eastern Ohio) and was named the game's MVP after accounting for five touchdowns (91-yard kick return, 68-yard halfback option pass, four-yard run and scoring catches of 16 and five yards). Boyd also played basketball at Clairton, helping lead the Bears to the WPIAL Class A title game and the PIAA playoffs as a senior, and was a baseball letterman as well.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: Following his senior season, Boyd was selected to play in the 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio's Alamodome, where he announced his decision to attend the University of Pittsburgh during NBC's live telecast. He was named to the "Rivals" 250 (No. 103) and "ESPN" 300 (No. 165) national prospect lists. He was rated as the No. 6 overall prospect in the state of Pennsylvania by "Rivals.com" and No. 8 by "Scout.com", as well as the nation's No. 12 wide receiver according to both.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In 2013 as a true freshman, Boyd was the nation's most productive freshman receiver, setting Pitt freshman records for receptions with 85 and receiving yards with 1,174, both of which were previously held by Larry Fitzgerald (who had 69 catches for 1,005 yards in 2002). He had five 100-yard receiving games, topping Fitzgerald's freshman school-record total of four, and also set the ACC record for receptions as a freshman, topping the mark held by Clemson's Sammy Watkins (82 catches in 2011).


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: Boyd was named ACC Rookie of the Week, 247Sports National True Freshman of the Week, and Athlon Sports National Co-Freshman of the Week for his performance in Pitt's 58–55 win at Duke, where he had eight catches for 154 yards (19.3 avg.) and a career-high three touchdowns. In a 49–27 win against New Mexico, he compiled 134 receiving yards on six catches (22.3 avg.), including a dazzling 34-yard touchdown grab in the back of the end zone on the final play of the first half; he also rushed for a 33-yard score against the Lobos, earning ACC Receiver of the Week and 247Sports National True Freshman of the Week honors for his performance. Boyd was known for making several highlight reel plays because of his hands and awareness for the sideline that helped him being selected All-ACC by the league's media (second team) and coaches (third team) as well as a Freshman All-American by Athlon Sports, CollegeFootballNews.com, Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Phil Steele, Sporting News, 247Sports, and ECAC Offensive Rookie of the Year. Boyd capped the 2013 season with a magnificent performance in the 2013 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, compiling 242 all-purpose yards to help the Panthers defeat Bowling Green, 30–27; he had eight catches for a career-high 173 yards (21.6 avg.) and added a spectacular 54-yard punt return for a touchdown in the bowl victory. Boyd's receiving yardage against the Falcons set a Pitt bowl record, surpassing the 36-year-old mark of 163 set by Gordon Jones in the 1977 Gator Bowl against Clemson, while his punt return touchdown was Pitt's first since Darrelle Revis had a 73-yarder against West Virginia in 2006. Boyd's postseason performance earned him USA TODAY All-Bowl Team recognition.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In his second year at Pitt, Boyd made an impact as a wide receiver and return man. He finished the season with 78 catches for 1,261 yards (16.2 avg.) and eight touchdowns. Boyd's 78 catches rank third on Pitt's single-season list, while his 1,261 receiving yards rank fourth. He totaled six 100-yard receiving games on the year, ranked second in the ACC and 17th nationally with an average of 97.0 receiving yards per game and third in the ACC and 32nd nationally with an average of 6.0 receptions per game. As a return specialist, he led the ACC and ranked 10th nationally with a 27.6-yard kickoff return average (16 for 442 yards) and ranked second in the ACC and 21st nationally with a 10.1-yard punt return average (16 for 162 yards). He also ranked second in the ACC and 14th nationally in all-purpose yards per game with 148.3.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: Boyd had a season-high 10 receptions for 153 yards (15.3 avg.) against Iowa; with his performance, Boyd went over 100 career receptions, tying Larry Fitzgerald for fewest games needed to reach the century milestone for catches at Pitt (17 contests). He posted a season-high 160 receiving yards (second highest in his career) on five catches (32.0 avg.) with a 50-yard touchdown at North Carolina. Boyd received ACC Receiver of the Week honors for his outstanding performance in Pitt's 30–7 win over Syracuse, where he had seven receptions for 126 yards (18.0 avg.) against the Orange, including a 49-yard catch-and-run touchdown. He was honored as the ACC Specialist of the Week after compiling 262 all-purpose yards in a 35–23 win at Miami (FL) on November 29; in that game, Boyd totaled 190 yards on six kick returns (31.7 avg.) and added five receptions for 72 yards (14.4 avg.) with a 12-yard touchdown catch.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: Coming out of college, Boyd was projected to be a second round draft pick by the majority of NFL Draft analysts. He was ranked the fifth best wide receiver out of 414 available by NFLDraftScouts.com.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: The Cincinnati Bengals selected Boyd in the second round with the 55th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was the seventh wide receiver to be taken that year.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: On May 16, 2016, the Bengals signed Boyd to a four-year, $4.25 million contract that includes $1.94 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $1.29 million.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: Boyd entered the regular season as the third receiver on the depth chart behind veterans A. J. Green and Brandon LaFell. In the season opener against the New York Jets, he caught two passes from Andy Dalton for 24 yards. The following week, during a 16–24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, he made six receptions for 78 receiving yards. In Week 6, against the New England Patriots, Boyd recorded a career-high 79 yards on four receptions. On November 20, 2016, Boyd made six receptions for 54 receiving yards and caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Dalton for his first career touchdown in a 16–12 loss to the Buffalo Bills. He finished his rookie season with 54 receptions for 603 receiving yards and one touchdown.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In his first four games in the 2017 season, Boyd totaled six receptions for 43 yards. Against the Buffalo Bills, he suffered a knee injury and was forced to miss four games. In Week 12, against the Cleveland Browns, he had his first receiving touchdown of the season. In Week 17, Boyd caught his third career touchdown on 4th and 12 with 53 seconds, giving the Bengals a 31–27 lead over the Baltimore Ravens. That score would end up being the winning score, as the Bengals eliminated the Ravens from playoff contention for the 2017 season, and allowed the Buffalo Bills to clinch their first playoff berth since 1999.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In Week 2 of the 2018 season, Boyd recorded six receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens. In Week 3, he had six receptions for 132 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers. He recorded another great outing in the next game against the Atlanta Falcons with 11 receptions for 100 receiving yards in the 37–36 victory. In Week 6, he recorded seven receptions for 62 yards and two touchdowns against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He suffered an MCL sprain in Week 15 and was placed on injured reserve on December 28, 2018. He finished his breakout season as the Bengals leading receiver with 76 receptions for 1,028 yards and seven touchdowns.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: On July 23, 2019, Boyd signed a four-year, $43 million contract extension with the Bengals, keeping him under contract through the 2023 season. In Week 2 against the San Francisco 49ers, Boyd caught 10 passes for 122 yards as the Bengals lost 41–17. In Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals, Boyd caught ten passes for 123 yards and a touchdown in the 26–23 loss.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In Week 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Boyd caught five passes for 101 yards and a 47-yard touchdown in the 16–10 loss. During Week 16 against the Miami Dolphins, Boyd finished with nine catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns as the Bengals lost 35–38 in overtime. Overall, Boyd finished the 2019 season with 90 receptions for 1,046 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In Week 2 against the Cleveland Browns on "Thursday Night Football", Boyd caught seven passes for 72 yards and his first receiving touchdown of the season during the 35–30 loss. He had ten receptions for 125 yards in a Week 3 tie against the Philadelphia Eagles.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In Week 7 against the Cleveland Browns, Boyd recorded 11 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown during the 37–34 loss. In Week 13 against the Miami Dolphins, Boyd had one reception for a 72 yard touchdown. However, Boyd was ejected in the second quarter after he and cornerback Xavien Howard got into an altercation. Boyd finished the 2020 season with 79 receptions for 841 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In the 2021 season, Boyd was part of a receiving unit that contained Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. He finished the 2021 season with 67 receptions for 828 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In the against the Las Vegas Raiders, Boyd caught a touchdown on a controversial play where there was an inadvertent whistle. The Bengals went on to win 26–19. In the against the Kansas City Chiefs, Boyd had four receptions for 19 yards in the 27–24 overtime win, helping the Bengals advance to Super Bowl LVI, their first Super Bowl appearance since Super Bowl XXIII in 1988. In the Super Bowl, Boyd caught five passes for 48 yards, but dropped a crucial pass in the final minutes of the 4th quarter, his first drop of the season. The Bengals fell to the Rams 23–20.


title: Tyler Boyd (American football)

text: In Week 3, against the New York Jets, Boyd had four receptions for 105 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 27–12 victory. In Week 7, against the Atlanta Falcons, he had eight receptions for 155 receiving yards and one touchdown in the 35–17 victory.


title: Clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church

text: Clerical celibacy is the discipline within the Catholic Church by which only unmarried men are ordained to the episcopate, to the priesthood (with individual exceptions) in some autonomous particular Churches, and similarly to the diaconate (with exceptions for certain categories of people). In other autonomous particular churches, the discipline applies only to the episcopate.


text: The Catholic particular church which principally follows this discipline is the Latin Church, but among the Eastern Catholic Churches, at least the Ethiopic Catholic Church applies it also.


text: In this context, "celibacy" retains its original meaning of "unmarried". Though even the married may observe abstinence from sexual intercourse, the obligation to be celibate is seen as a consequence of the obligation to observe "perfect and perpetual" continence for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Advocates see clerical celibacy as "a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and can dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and their neighbour."


text: In February 2019, the Vatican acknowledged that the policy has not always been enforced and that rules had been secretly established by the Vatican to protect non-celibate clergy who violated their vows of celibacy. Some clergy have also been allowed to retain their clerical state after fathering children. Some Catholic clergy who violated their vows of celibacy also have maintained their clerical status after secretly marrying women. Prefect for the Congregation for Clergy Cardinal Beniamino Stella also acknowledged that child support and transfer have been two common ways for such clergy to maintain their clerical status.


text: The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, in general, rule out ordination of married men to the episcopate, and marriage after priestly ordination. Throughout the Catholic Church, East as well as West, a priest may not marry. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, a married priest is one who married before being ordained.


text: The Catholic Church considers the law of clerical celibacy to be not a "doctrine", but a "discipline". Exceptions are sometimes made, especially in the case of married male Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant clergy who convert to the Catholic Church, and the discipline could, in theory, be changed for all ordinations to the priesthood.


text: Theologically, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that priesthood is a ministry conformed to the life and work of Jesus Christ. Priests as sacramental ministers act "in persona Christi", that is in the mask of Christ. Thus the life of the priest conforms, the Church believes, to the chastity of Christ himself. The sacrifice of married life is for the "sake of the Kingdom" (, ), and to follow the example of Jesus Christ in being "married" to the Church, viewed by Catholicism and many Christian traditions as the "Bride of Christ" (following and , together with the spousal imagery at ; cf. ).


text: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) in "Salt of the Earth" saw this practice as based on Jesus' words in : "Some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." He linked this celibacy "because of the kingdom of heaven" with God's choice to confer the Old Testament priesthood on a specific tribe, that of Levi, which unlike the other tribes received no land from God, but which had "God himself as its inheritance" ().


text: Paul, within a context of having "no command from the Lord" (1 Cor 7:25), recommends celibacy, but acknowledges that it is not God's gift to all within the church: "For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am, ... I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife. There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction" (, ). Peter Brown and Bart D. Ehrman speculate that for early Christians celibacy had to do with the "imminent end of the age" ().


text: In the earliest years of the church, the clergy were largely married men. C. K. Barrett points to 1 Cor 9:5 as clearly indicating that "apostles, like other Christians, have a right to be (and many of them are) married" and the right for their wife to be "maintained by the communities in which they [the apostles] are working." However, Paul himself was celibate at the time of his ministry, and there is no consensus that inclusion among the requirements for candidacy to the office of "overseer" of being "the husband of one wife" meant that celibate Christians were excluded.


text: Studies by some Catholic scholars, such as the Ukrainian Roman Cholij and Christian Cochini, have argued for the theory that, in early Christian practice, married men who became priests—they were often older men, "elders"—were expected to live in complete continence, refraining permanently from sexual relations with their wives. When at a later stage it was clear that not all did refrain, the Western Church limited ordination to unmarried men and required a commitment to lifelong celibacy, while the Eastern Churches relaxed the rule, so that Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches now require their married clergy to abstain from sexual relations only for a limited period before celebrating the Eucharist. The Church in Persia, which in the fifth century became separated from the Church described as Orthodox or Catholic, decided at the end of that century to abolish the rule of continence and allow priests to marry, but recognized that it was abrogating an ancient tradition. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, whose separation, along with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, came slightly later, allows deacons (who are ordained when they are boys) to marry after ordination, but not priests: any future priests who wish to marry must do so before becoming priests. The Armenian Apostolic Church, which also belongs to Oriental Orthodoxy, while technically prohibiting, like the Eastern Orthodox Church, marriage after ordination to the sub-diaconate, has generally let this rule fall into disuse and allows deacons to marry up to the point of their priestly ordination, thus continuing to maintain the traditional exclusion of marriage by those who are priests. This theory would explain why all the ancient Christian Churches of both East and West, with the one exception mentioned, exclude marriage after priestly ordination, and why all reserve the episcopate (seen as a fuller form of priesthood than the presbyterate) for the celibate.


text: Some Catholic scholars, such as Jesuits Peter Fink and George T. Dennis of Catholic University of America, have argued that we cannot know if priests in early Christianity practised sexual abstinence. Dennis says "there is simply no clear evidence of a general tradition or practice, much less of an obligation, of priestly celibacy-continence before the beginning of the fourth century." Fink says that a primary book used to support apostolic origins of priestly celibacy "remains a work of interpretation. There are underlying premises that seem to hold firm in this book but which would not stand up so comfortably to historical scrutiny."


text: The earliest textual evidence of the forbidding of marriage to clerics and the duty of those already married to abstain from sexual contact with their wives is in the fourth-century decrees of the Synod of Elvira and the later Council of Carthage (390). According to some writers, this presumed a previous norm, which was being flouted in practice.


text: Among the early Church statements on the topic of sexual continence and celibacy are the "Directa" and "Cum in unum" decretals of Pope Siricius (c. 385), which asserted that clerical sexual abstinence was an apostolic practice that must be followed by ministers of the church.


text: The writings of Saint Ambrose (died 397) also show that the requirement that priests, whether married or celibate, should be continent was the established rule. To the married clergy who, "in some out-of-the-way places", claimed, on the model of the Old Testament priesthood, the right to father children, he recalled that in Old Testament times even lay people were obliged to observe continence on the days leading to a sacrifice, and commented: "If such regard was paid in what was only the figure, how much ought it to be shown in the reality!" Yet more sternly he wrote: "(Saint Paul) spoke of one who "has" children, not of one who "begets" children."


text: Beyond the fact that clerical celibacy functioned as a spiritual discipline, it also was guarantor of the independence of the Church and of its essential dimension as a spiritual institution ordered toward ends beyond the competence and authority of temporal rulers.


text: During the decline of the Roman Empire, Roman authority in western Europe completely collapsed. However, the city of Rome, under the guidance of the Catholic Church, still remained a centre of learning and did much to preserve classical Roman culture in Western Europe. The classical heritage flourished throughout the Middle Ages in both the Byzantine Greek East and the Latin West. Philosopher Will Durant argues that certain prominent features of Plato's ideal community were discernible in the organization, dogma and effectiveness of the medieval Church in Europe:


text: It is sometimes claimed that celibacy became mandatory for Latin Church priests only in the eleventh century; but others say, for instance: "(I)t may fairly be said that by the time of St. Leo the Great (440–61) the law of celibacy was generally recognized in the West," and that the eleventh-century regulations on this matter, as on simony, should obviously not be interpreted as meaning that either non-celibacy or simony were previously permitted. However there is abundant documentation that up to 12th century many priests in Europe were married and that their sons would often follow their path which made the reforms difficult to implement.


text: Celibacy as a requirement for ordination to the priesthood (in the Western Church) and to the episcopate (in East as well as in West) and declaring marriages of priests invalid (in both East and West) were important points of disagreement during the Protestant Reformation, with the Reformers arguing that these requirements were contrary to Biblical teaching in , , and , and implied a degradation of marriage, and were one reason for "many abominations" and for widespread sexual misconduct within the clergy at the time of the Reformation. The doctrinal view of the Reformers on this point was reflected in the marriages of Zwingli in 1522, Luther in 1525, and Calvin in 1539; in England, the married Thomas Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533. Both of these actions, marriage after ordination to the priesthood and consecration of a married man as a bishop, went against the long-standing tradition of the Church in the East as well as in the West. In the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran Church, the vow of clerical celibacy, along with vowing fidelity to a motherhouse and a life of poverty, was required of deaconesses until the 1960s; this vow of celibacy was made optional and deacons/deaconesses in the Church of Sweden may be married in present-day practice.


text: Following recommendations made at the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church now admits married men of mature age to ordination as deacons, to remain permanently as deacons and not as part of the process by which aspirants are temporarily deacons on their way to priestly ordination. The change was effected by Pope Paul VI's motu proprio "Sacrum diaconatus ordinem" of 18 June 1967. A candidate for ordination to the permanent diaconate must have reached the age of 25 if unmarried or the age of 35 if married (or higher if established by the Conference of Bishops), and must have the written consent of his wife.


text: Ordination even to the diaconate is an impediment to a later marriage (for example, if a man who was already married by the time of ordination to the diaconate subsequently becomes a widower), though special dispensation can be received for remarriage under extenuating circumstances.


text: Garry Wills, in his book "Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit", argued that the imposition of celibacy among Catholic priests played a pivotal role in the cultivation of the Church as one of the most influential institutions in the world. In his discussion concerning the origins of the said policy, Wills mentioned that the Church drew its inspiration from the ascetics, monks who devote themselves to meditation and total abstention from earthly wealth and pleasures in order to sustain their corporal and spiritual purity, after seeing that its initial efforts in propagating the faith were fruitless. The rationale behind such strict policy is that it significantly helps the priests perform well in their religious services while at the same time following the manner in which Jesus Christ lived his life. Moreover, the author also mentioned that although the said policy insists on helping priests focus more on ecclesiastical duties, it also enabled the Church to control the wealth amassed by the clerics through their various religious activities, hence contributing to the growing power of the institution.


text: First, many believe celibacy was not required of the apostles. Peter himself had a wife at some time, whose mother Jesus healed of a high fever. And 1 Corinthians 9:5 is commonly interpreted as saying that years later, Peter and other apostles were accompanied by their wives. However, on the basis especially of , others think the apostles left their wives, and that the women mentioned in 1 Corinthians as accompanying some apostles were "holy women, who, in accordance with Jewish custom, ministered to their teachers of their substance, as we read was the practice with even our Lord himself."


text: Second, this requirement excludes a great number of otherwise qualified men from the priesthood, qualifications which according to the defenders of celibacy should be determined not by merely human hermeneutics but by the hermeneutics of the divine. Supporters of clerical celibacy answer that God only calls men to the priesthood if they are capable. Those who are not called to the priesthood should seek other paths in life since they will be able to serve God better there. Therefore, to the supporters of celibacy no one who is called is excluded.


text: Third, some say that resisting the natural sexual impulse in this way is unrealistic and harmful for a healthy life. Sexual scandals among priests, especially homosexuality and pedophilia, the defenders say, are a breach of the Church's discipline, not a result of it, especially since only a small percentage of priests have been involved.