title: William Kemmler

text: William Kemmler was a vegetable peddler in the slums of Buffalo, New York. An alcoholic, on March 29, 1889, he was recovering from a drinking binge the night before when he became enraged with his girlfriend [elsewhere referred to as his common-law wife] Tillie Ziegler. He accused her of stealing from him and preparing to run away with a friend of his. When the argument reached a peak, Kemmler calmly went to the barn, grabbed a hatchet, and returned to the house. He struck Tillie repeatedly, killing her. He then went to a neighbor's house and announced he had just murdered his girlfriend.


title: William Kemmler

text: The same day, Kemmler was accused of the murder of Matilda "Tillie" Ziegler, his common-law wife, who had been killed with a hatchet.


title: William Kemmler

text: Kemmler's resulting murder trial proceeded quickly. He was convicted of first-degree murder on May 10. Three days later he was sentenced to death, destined to be the first person executed in an electric chair under New York's new execution law replacing hanging with electrocution. A chair was ready at the Auburn state prison. However, the leading developers of electrical power, including George Westinghouse, did not want to see their new product used in this manner. A lawyer filed an appeal claiming the electric chair violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.


title: William Kemmler

text: On January 1, 1888, New York had instituted death by electrocution, the first such law ever. After Kemmler's conviction, it was determined that his sentence was to be carried out at New York's Auburn Prison via the new electric chair, a device invented in 1881 by Buffalo, New York dentist Alfred Southwick. After nine years of development and legislation, the chair was considered ready for use. Kemmler's lawyers appealed, arguing that electrocution was a cruel and unusual punishment.


title: William Kemmler

text: The plan to carry out Kemmler's execution via electric chair drew the situation into the AC/DC "war of the currents" between George Westinghouse, the largest supplier of alternating current equipment, and Thomas Edison, whose company ran its equipment on direct current. The alternating current that powered the electric chair (a current standard adopted by a committee after a demonstration performed at Edison's laboratory by anti-AC activist Harold P. Brown showing AC's lethality) was supplied by a Westinghouse generator surreptitiously acquired by Brown. This led to Westinghouse trying to stop what seemed to be Brown and Edison's attempt to try to portray the AC used in Westinghouse electrical system as the deadly "executioners' current", supporting Kemmler's appeal by hiring lawyer W. Bourke Cockran to represent him. The appeal failed on October 9, 1889, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the case, titled "In re Kemmler", on the grounds that there was no cruel and unusual punishment in death by electrocution.


title: William Kemmler

text: On the morning of his execution, August 6, 1890, Kemmler was awakened at 5:00 a.m. He dressed quickly and put on a suit, necktie, and white shirt. After breakfast and some prayer, the top of his head was shaved. At 6:38 a.m., Kemmler entered the execution room and warden Charles Durston presented Kemmler to the 17 witnesses in attendance. Kemmler looked at the chair and said: "Gentlemen, I wish you all good luck. I believe I am going to a good place, and I am ready to go."


title: William Kemmler

text: Witnesses remarked that Kemmler was composed at his execution; he did not scream, cry, or resist in any way. He sat down on the chair, but was ordered to get up by the warden so a hole could be cut in his suit through which a second electrical lead could be attached. This was done and Kemmler sat down again. He was strapped to the chair, his face was covered and the metal restraint put on his bare head. He said, "Take it easy and do it properly, I'm in no hurry." Durston replied, "Goodbye, William" and ordered the switch thrown.


title: William Kemmler

text: The generator was charged with 1,000 volts, which was thought to be adequate to induce quick unconsciousness and cardiac arrest. The chair had already been tested; a horse had been electrocuted the day before. Current passed through Kemmler for 17 seconds. The power was turned off and Kemmler was declared dead by Edward Charles Spitzka. Witnesses noticed Kemmler was still breathing. The attending physicians, Spitzka and Carlos Frederick MacDonald, came forward to examine Kemmler. After confirming he was still alive, Spitzka reportedly called out, "Have the current turned on again, quick—no delay."


title: William Kemmler

text: In the second attempt, Kemmler was shocked with 2,000 volts. Blood vessels under his skin ruptured and bled, and some witnesses claimed his body caught fire. "The New York Times" reported instead that "an awful odor began to permeate the death chamber, and then, as though to cap the climax of this fearful sight, it was seen that the hair under and around the electrode on the head and the flesh under and around the electrode at the base of the spine was singeing. The stench was unbearable." Upon autopsy, doctors had found the blood vessels under the cap of his skull had carbonized and the top of the brain had hardened"." Witnesses reported the smell of burning flesh and several nauseated spectators tried to leave the room.


title: William Kemmler

text: The execution took approximately eight minutes. The competitive newspaper reporters covering the Kemmler execution jumped on the abnormalities as each newspaper source tried to outdo each other with sensational headlines and reports. The New York Times ran the headline: "Far Worse Than Hanging". Westinghouse later commented "They would have done better using an axe".


title: William Kemmler

text: William Kemmler was shown as a wax figure seated in the electric chair in the 1953 movie "House of Wax" starring Vincent Price. Price's character does say they did not match Kemmler's face, but instead resembled co-star Charles Bronson.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Rachel Jackson ("née" Donelson; June 15, 1767 – December 22, 1828) was the wife of Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States. She lived with him at their home at The Hermitage, where she died just days after his election and before his inauguration in 1829—therefore she never served as First Lady, a role assumed by her niece, Emily Donelson.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Rachel Jackson was married at first to Lewis Robards in Nashville. In about 1791, she eloped with Andrew Jackson, believing that Robards had secured the couple a divorce. It was later revealed that he had not, meaning that her marriage to Jackson was inadvertently bigamous. They were forced to remarry in 1794 after the divorce had been finalized.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: She had a close relationship with her husband, and was usually anxious while he was away tending to military or political affairs. A Presbyterian, Rachel was noted for her deep religious piety. During the deeply personal prelude to the 1828 election, she was the subject of extremely negative attacks from the supporters of Andrew Jackson's opponent, John Quincy Adams. Jackson believed that these attacks had hastened her death, and thus blamed his political enemies.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Rachel Donelson was born near the Banister River, about ten miles from Chatham, Virginia, in Pittsylvania County on June 15, 1767. Her father was Colonel John Donelson (1718–1785), co-founder of Nashville, Tennessee, and her mother was Rachel Stockley Donelson (1730–1801). Her great-grandfather, Patrick Donelson, was born in Scotland about 1670. She had seven brothers and three sisters:


title: Rachel Jackson

text: From about 1770 to 1779, her father operated the Washington Iron Furnace at Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia. With her family, she moved to Tennessee at the age of 12. Her father led about 600 people from Fort Patrick Henry to Fort Nashborough, down the Cumberland River. The Donelson family were among the first white settlers in Tennessee.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Rachel attracted much attention from suitors because she was very beautiful as a young woman, described by a contemporary as having "lustrous black eyes, dark glossy hair, full red lips, brunette complexion, though of brilliant coloring, [and] a sweet oval face rippling with smiles and dimples." Later in life, her country manners and full figure were severely in contrast with Jackson's tall, spindly form and developed genteel manners. However, her love for her husband was unmistakable: she languished when he was away for politics, fretted when he was away at war, and doted on him when he was at home. Unlike Jackson, Rachel never liked being in the spotlight of events. She would consistently warn her husband not to let his political accomplishments rule him; for example, after Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans, she warned Jackson that his subsequent popularity (on the scope of George Washington) would tempt him to value his glory over his own family.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: She was a Presbyterian. She was also an avid reader of the Bible and religious works as well as poetry.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Her first marriage to Captain Lewis Robards of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a landowner and speculator, was not happy, and the two separated in 1790. According to Marcia Mullins of The Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee there were rumors that Lewis Robards was cruel and jealous. Believing that her husband would file a petition for divorce, she returned to the Donelson family home.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: When Andrew Jackson migrated to Nashville, Tennessee in 1788, he boarded with Rachel Stockley Donelson, the mother of Rachel Donelson Robards. The two became close, and shortly after, they married in Natchez, Mississippi. Rachel believed that her husband had obtained a divorce, but as it had never been completed, her marriage to Jackson was inadvertently bigamous and therefore invalid.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Rachel's marital status was complicated by the distances involved and the changing governmental authorities. During the process of Rachel and Robards's divorce, Kentucky became a state instead of a territory of Virginia, and North Carolina turned over management of the territory including Tennessee to the Federal Government. These complicating factors were understood by locals and the unusual circumstances of the Jackson marriage were not greatly discussed in Nashville society.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: In 1793, Andrew and Rachel Jackson learned that although Lewis Robards had filed for divorce, the divorce had never been granted. This made Rachel a bigamist and an adulterer. On the grounds of Rachel's abandonment and adultery, Lewis Robards was granted a divorce in 1794. At about the same time, the legitimacy of the Jackson marriage was questioned because they were married in then-Spanish-controlled Natchez, Mississippi. The Jacksons were Protestants, and only Catholic marriages were recognized as legal unions in that territory. After the divorce was finally legalized in 1794, Andrew and Rachel wed again in a quiet ceremony at the Donelson home.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Although the Jacksons never had biological children, they adopted her nephew in 1809 and named him Andrew Jackson Jr. When his father became President, Andrew Jr. assumed management of the Hermitage farm. He married Sarah Yorke of Philadelphia on November 24, 1831.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: In 1813, the Jacksons adopted a Creek orphan boy who was found on the battlefield of Tallushatchee with his dead mother. They named him Lyncoya. Lyncoya was educated along with Andrew Jr., and Jackson had aspirations of sending him to West Point, as well. Political circumstances made that impossible, and he instead trained as a saddle maker in Nashville. He died of tuberculosis on June 1, 1828.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Around 1817 the Jacksons adopted Andrew Jackson Hutchings who was the grandson of Rachel's sister and the son of a former business partner of Jackson's. He attended school with Andrew Jr. and Lyncoya. He then attended colleges in Washington and Virginia while Jackson was president. In 1833, he married Mary Coffee, daughter of Jackson's friend John Coffee, and moved to Alabama. Hutchings died in 1841.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Andrew Jackson served as the guardian for the children of Captain Edward Butler, Adjutant General and Inspector General of the United States Army from July 1793 until May 1794, and the children of Rachel's brother Samuel Donelson's son. These children did not live with the Jacksons full time. Andrew Jackson Donelson, son of Rachel's brother Samuel, became Jackson's protégé, and served as personal secretary to Jackson during his presidency.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: According to Ann Toplovich, executive director of the Tennessee Historical Society, John Quincy Adams' presidential campaigns targeted Jackson's "passion and lack of self-control" in both 1824 and 1828, "making it central to the argument that he would devastate the integrity of the Republic and its institutions." One newspaper ran an article asking, "'Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramour husband to be placed in the highest offices of this free and Christian land?'"


title: Rachel Jackson

text: The publicity surrounding her and the public knowledge of what was considered a very private matter caused Rachel to sink into depression. She reputedly told a friend "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than live in that palace in Washington." Adding to her stress, in 1828, Lyncoya Jackson died at the Hermitage. Between the scandal, her son's death, and a heart condition she spent much of the campaign depressed and crying.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: She died suddenly on December 22, 1828, of a heart attack, given her symptoms according to Jackson: "excruciating pain in the left shoulder, arm, and breast." That her death came immediately before Jackson left for Washington was more than an inconvenience; it was crippling. He held her body tightly until he was pulled away, and he lingered at the Hermitage until the latest possible date.


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Even though her maladies began as early as 1825, Jackson always blamed his political enemies for her death. "May God Almighty forgive her murderers," Jackson swore at her funeral, "I never can."


title: Rachel Jackson

text: She was buried on the grounds at The Hermitage wearing the white dress and shoes she had bought for the Inaugural Ball. Her epitaph reads: "A being so gentle and so virtuous slander might wound, but could not dishonor."


title: Rachel Jackson

text: Rachel Jackson was the title character of a 1951 historical novel by Irving Stone, "The President's Lady", which told the story of her life with Andrew Jackson. In 1953, the novel was made into a film of the same name starring Susan Hayward and Charlton Heston as the Jacksons. In the 1936 film "The Gorgeous Hussy" (a fictionalized biography of Peggy Eaton), Rachel Jackson was portrayed by Beulah Bondi, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is thickening of the heart muscle of the left ventricle of the heart, that is, left-sided ventricular hypertrophy and resulting increased left ventricular mass.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: While ventricular hypertrophy occurs naturally as a reaction to aerobic exercise and strength training, it is most frequently referred to as a pathological reaction to cardiovascular disease, or high blood pressure. It is one aspect of ventricular remodeling.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: While LVH itself is not a disease, it is usually a marker for disease involving the heart. Disease processes that can cause LVH include any disease that increases the afterload that the heart has to contract against, and some primary diseases of the muscle of the heart.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: Causes of increased afterload that can cause LVH include aortic stenosis, aortic insufficiency and hypertension. Primary disease of the muscle of the heart that cause LVH are known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, which can lead into heart failure.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: The commonly used method to diagnose LVH is echocardiography, with which the thickness of the muscle of the heart can be measured. The electrocardiogram (ECG) often shows signs of increased voltage from the heart in individuals with LVH, so this is often used as a screening test to determine who should undergo further testing.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: Two dimensional echocardiography can produce images of the left ventricle. The thickness of the left ventricle as visualized on echocardiography correlates with its actual mass. Left ventricular mass can be further estimated based on geometric assumptions of ventricular shape using the measured wall thickness and internal diameter. Average thickness of the left ventricle, with numbers given as 95% prediction interval for the short axis images at the mid-cavity level are:


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: CT and MRI-based measurement can be used to measure the left ventricle in three dimensions and calculate left ventricular mass directly. MRI based measurement is considered the “gold standard” for left ventricular mass, though is usually not readily available for common practice. In older individuals, age related remodeling of the left ventricle's geometry can lead to a discordancy between CT and echocardiographic based measurements of left ventricular mass.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: There are several sets of criteria used to diagnose LVH via electrocardiography. None of them are perfect, though by using multiple criteria sets, the sensitivity and specificity are increased.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: The Cornell voltage criteria for the ECG diagnosis of LVH involve measurement of the sum of the R wave in lead aVL and the S wave in lead V. The Cornell criteria for LVH are:


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: Treatment is typically focused on resolving the cause of the LVH with the enlargement not permanent in all cases. In some cases the growth can regress with the reduction of blood pressure.


title: Left ventricular hypertrophy

text: LVH may be a factor in determining treatment or diagnosis for other conditions, for example, LVH is used in the staging and risk stratification of Non-ischemic cardiomyopathies such as Fabry's Disease. Patients with LVH may have to participate in more complicated and precise diagnostic procedures, such as Echocardiography or Cardiac MRI.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Hippolytus of Rome (, ; c. 170 – c. 235 AD) was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestine, Egypt, Anatolia and other regions of the Middle East. The best historians of literature in the ancient church, including Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome, openly confess they cannot name where Hippolytus the biblical commentator and theologian served in leadership. They had read his works but did not possess evidence of his community. Photios I of Constantinople describes him in his "Bibliotheca" (cod. 121) as a disciple of Irenaeus, who was said to be a disciple of Polycarp, and from the context of this passage it is supposed that he suggested that Hippolytus so styled himself. This assertion is doubtful. One older theory asserts he came into conflict with the popes of his time and seems to have headed a schismatic group as a rival to the bishop of Rome, thus becoming an antipope. In this view, he opposed the Roman Popes who softened the penitential system to accommodate the large number of new pagan converts. However, he was reconciled to the Church before he died as a martyr.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Starting in the fourth century, various legends arose about him, identifying him as a priest of the Novatianist schism or as a soldier converted by Saint Lawrence. He has also been confused with another martyr of the same name. Pope Pius IV identifies him as "Saint Hippolytus, Bishop of Pontus" who was martyred in the reign of Severus Alexander through his inscription on a statue found at the Church of Saint Lawrence in Rome and kept at the Vatican as photographed and published in Bunsen.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Little is known for certain about his community of origin. One Victorian theory suggested that as a presbyter of the church at Rome under Pope Zephyrinus (199–217 AD), Hippolytus was distinguished for his learning and eloquence. It was at this time that Origen, then a young man, heard him preach.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: In this view, Hippolytus accused Pope Zephyrinus of modalism, the heresy which held that the names Father and Son are simply different names for the same subject. Hippolytus championed the Logos doctrine of the Greek apologists, most notably Justin Martyr, which distinguished the Father from the Logos ("Word"). An ethical conservative, he was scandalized when Pope Callixtus I (217–222 AD) extended absolution to Christians who had committed grave sins, such as adultery.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Some suggest Hippolytus himself advocated a pronounced rigorism. At this time, he seems to have allowed himself to be elected as a rival Bishop of Rome, and continued to attack Pope Urban I (222–230 AD) and Pope Pontian (230–235 AD). G. Salmon suggests that Hippolytus was the leader of the Greek-speaking Christians of Rome. Allen Brent sees the development of Roman house-churches into something akin to Greek philosophical schools gathered around a compelling teacher.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Also under this view: during the persecution at the time of Emperor Maximinus Thrax, Hippolytus and Pontian were exiled together in 235 to Sardinia, likely dying in the mines. It is quite probable that, before his death there, he was reconciled to the other party at Rome, for, under Pope Fabian (236–250 AD), his body and that of Pontian were brought to Rome. The so-called "Chronography of 354" (more precisely, the "Liberian Catalogue") reports that on August 13, probably in 236, the two bodies were interred in Rome, that of Hippolytus in a cemetery on the Via Tiburtina, his funeral being conducted by Justin the Confessor. This document indicates that, by about 255, Hippolytus was considered a martyr and gives him the rank of a priest, not of a bishop, an indication that before his death the schismatic was received again into the Church.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: The name Hippolytus appears in various hagiographical and martyrological sources of the early Church. The facts about the life of the writer Hippolytus, as opposed to other celebrated Christians who bore the name Hippolytus, were eventually lost in the West, perhaps partly because he wrote in Hellenic Greek. Pope Damasus I dedicated to a Hippolytus one of his famous epigrams, referring to a priest of the Novatianist schism, a view later forwarded by Prudentius in the 5th century in his "Passion of St Hippolytus". In the Passionals of the 7th and 8th centuries he is represented as a soldier converted by Saint Lawrence, a legend that long survived in the Roman Breviary. He was also confused with a martyr of the same name who was buried in Portus, of which city he was believed to have been a bishop, who was put to death by drowning in a deep well.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: According to Prudentius' account, a martyr Hippolytus was dragged to death by wild horses, a striking parallel to the story of the mythological Hippolytus, who was dragged to death by wild horses at Athens. He described the subterranean tomb of the saint and states that he saw there a picture representing Hippolytus' execution. He also confirms August 13 as the date on which a Hippolytus was celebrated but this again refers to the convert of Lawrence, as preserved in the Menaion of the Eastern Orthodox Church.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: The latter account led to a Hippolytus being considered the patron saint of horses. During the Middle Ages, sick horses were brought to St Ippolyts, Hertfordshire, England, where a church is dedicated to him.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Controversy surrounds the corpus of the writer Hippolytus. In the Victorian Era, scholars claimed his principal work to be the "Refutation of all Heresies". Of its ten books, Book I was the most important. It was long known and was printed (with the title "Philosophumena") among the works of Origen. Books II and III are lost, and Books IV–X were found, without the name of the author, in a monastery of Mount Athos in 1842. E. Miller published them in 1851 under the title "Philosophumena", attributing them to Origen of Alexandria. Recent scholarship prefers to treat the text as the work of an unknown author, perhaps of Roman origin.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: In 1551 a marble statue of a seated figure (originally female, perhaps personifying one of the sciences) was purportedly found in the cemetery of the Via Tiburtina and was heavily restored. On the sides of the seat was carved a paschal cycle, and on the back the titles of numerous writings by Hippolytus. Many other works are listed by Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome. The research of Guarducci showed the original statue was a representation of a female figure, reopening the question of its original purpose. Allen Brent analyzed the title list of the statue, questioning Hippolytan authorship of some works.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Hippolytus' voluminous writings, which for variety of subject can be compared with those of Origen, embrace the spheres of exegesis, homiletics, apologetics and polemic, chronography, and ecclesiastical law. The Apostolic Tradition, if it is the work of Hippolytus, recorded the first liturgical reference to the Virgin Mary, as part of the ordination rite of a bishop.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Of exegetical works attributed to Hippolytus, the best preserved are the "Commentary on the Prophet Daniel" and the "Commentary on the Song of Songs". This is the earliest attested Christian interpretation of the Song, covering only the first three chapters to Song 3:7.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: The commentary on the Song of Songs survives in two Georgian manuscripts, a Greek epitome, a Paleo-Slavonic florilegium, and fragments in Armenian and Syriac as well as in many patristic quotations, especially in Ambrose of Milan's "Exposition on Psalm 118 (119)". It is generally regarded as an instruction relating to a post-Baptismal rite of anointing with oil as a symbol of receiving the Holy Spirit. The commentary was originally written as part of a mystagogy, an instruction for new Christians. Scholars have usually assumed the "Commentary On the Song of Songs" was originally composed for use during Easter, a season favored in the West for Baptism. Hippolytus supplied his commentary with a fully developed introduction known as the "schema isagogicum", indicating his knowledge of the rhetorical conventions for teachers discussing classical works. He employs a common rhetorical trope, ekphrasis, using images on the walls or floors of Greco-Roman homes, and in the catacombs as paintings or mosaics. Origen felt that the Song should be reserved for the spiritually mature and that studying it might be harmful for the novice.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Scholars generally ascribe to Hippolytus a work now entitled the "Apostolic Tradition", which contains the earliest known ritual of ordination. The influence of Hippolytus was felt chiefly through his works on chronography and ecclesiastical law. His chronicle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole period from the creation of the world up to the year 234, formed a basis for many chronographical works both in the East and West. It is from the "Apostolic Tradition" that the current words of episcopal ordination in the Catholic Church come from, as updated by Pope Paul VI.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: In the great compilations of ecclesiastical law that arose in the East since the 3rd century, the Church Orders many canons were attributed to Hippolytus, for example in the Canons of Hippolytus or the Constitutions through Hippolytus. How much of this material is genuinely his, how much of it worked over, and how much of it wrongly attributed to him, can no longer be determined beyond dispute, however a great deal was incorporated into the "Fetha Negest", which once served as the constitutional basis of law in Ethiopia — where he is still remembered as Abulides. During the early 20th century the work known as "The Egyptian Church Order" was identified as the Apostolic Tradition and attributed to Hippolytus; at present this attribution is hotly contested.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Differences in style and theology lead some scholars to conclude that some of the works attributed to Hippolytus actually derive from a second author.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Two small but potentially important works, "On the Twelve Apostles of Christ" and "On the Seventy Apostles of Christ," are often neglected because the manuscripts were lost during most of the church age and then found in Greece in the 19th century. . The two are included in an appendix to the works of Hippolytus in the voluminous collection of Early Church Fathers. The work on the 70 apostles is noteworthy as a (potentially) early source.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: A consensus of scholarship agrees on a core of authentic texts composed by the second-third century writer Hippolytus, regardless of disputes concerning his community, or the exact dates of his biography: these are the biblical commentaries, including On Daniel, On David and Goliath, On the Song of Songs (partially extant), On the Blessings of Isaac and Jacob, and On the Antichrist. These form a sound basis for exploring and understanding his theology and biblical doctrines.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Hippolytus is an important figure in the development of Christian eschatology. In his biblical compendium and topical study "On Christ and the Antichrist" and in his "Commentary on the Prophet Daniel" Hippolytus gave his interpretation of the second advent of Christ.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: With the onset of persecutions during the reign of Septimius Severus, many early Christian writers treated topics of apocalyptic eschatology. "On Christ and the Antichrist" is one of the earliest works. It is thought Hippolytus was generally influenced by Irenaeus. However, unlike Irenaeus, Hippolytus focuses on the meaning of prophecy for the Church in his own time. Of the dogmatic works, "On Christ and the Antichrist" survives in a complete state and was probably written about 202.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Hippolytus follows the long-established usage in interpreting Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks to be weeks of literal years. Hippolytus gave an explanation of Daniel's paralleling prophecies of chapters 2 and 7, which he, as with the other fathers, specifically relates to the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. His interpretation of events and their significance is Christological.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Hippolytus did not subscribe to the belief that the Second Coming was imminent. In his commentary on Daniel he criticizes those who predict the Second Coming in the near future, and then says that six thousand years must pass from Creation before the Second Coming. He also says that Christ was born 5500 years after Adam, so 500 years have to pass from the birth of Christ "to the consummation of the six thousand years, and in this way the end will be".


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the feast day of St Hippolytus falls on August 13, which is also the Apodosis of the Feast of the Transfiguration. Because on the Apodosis the hymns of the Transfiguration are to be repeated, the feast of St. Hippolytus may be transferred to the day before or to some other convenient day. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates the feast of ""St Hippolytus Pope of Rome"" on January 30, who may or may not be the same individual.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: The Roman Catholic Church celebrates St Hippolytus jointly with St Pontian on August 13. The feast of Saint Hippolytus formerly celebrated on 22 August as one of the companions of Saint Timotheus was a duplicate of his 13 August feast and for that reason was deleted when the General Roman Calendar was revised in 1969. Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology referred to the 22 August Hippolytus as Bishop of Porto. The Catholic Encyclopedia sees this as "connected with the confusion regarding the Roman presbyter resulting from the Acts of the Martyrs of Porto. It has not been ascertained whether the memory of the latter was localized at Porto merely in connection with the legend in Prudentius, without further foundation, or whether a person named Hippolytus was really martyred at Porto, and afterwards confounded in legend with Hippolytus of Rome." This opinion is shared by a Benedictine source.


title: Hippolytus of Rome

text: Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology also mentioned on 30 January a Hippolytus venerated at Antioch, but the details were borrowed from the story of Hippolytus of Rome. Modern editions of the Martyrology omit mention of this supposed Saint Hippolytus of Antioch.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Sacramento County is the central county of the Greater Sacramento metropolitan area. The county covers about in the northern portion of the Central Valley, on into Gold Country. Sacramento County extends from the low delta lands between the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, including Suisun Bay, north to about ten miles (16 km) beyond the State Capitol and east into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The southernmost portion of Sacramento County has direct access to San Francisco Bay. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California have further strained Sacramento County's water security.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Sacramento County was one of the original counties of California, which were created in 1850 at the time of statehood. The county was named after the Sacramento River, which forms its western border. The river was named by Spanish cavalry officer Gabriel Moraga for the "Santisimo Sacramento" (Most Holy Sacrament), referring to the Catholic Eucharist.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Alexander Hamilton Willard, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is buried in the old Franklin Cemetery.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.0%) is water. Most of the county is at an elevation close to sea level, with some areas below sea level. The highest point in the county is Carpenter Hill at 828 feet (252 m), in the southeast part of Folsom. Major watercourses in the county include the American River, Sacramento River, Cosumnes River, a tributary of the Mokelumne River, and Dry Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: "Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race."


title: Sacramento County, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Sacramento County had a population of 1,418,788. The racial makeup of Sacramento County was 815,151 (57.5%) White, 200,228 (15.4%) African American, 14,308 (1.0%) Native American, 203,211 (14.3%) Asian, 13,858 (1.0%) Pacific Islander, 131,691 (9.3%) from other races, and 93,511 (6.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 306,196 persons (21.6%).


title: Sacramento County, California

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 1,223,499 people, 453,602 households, and 297,562 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 474,814 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 64.0% White, 10.6% Black or African American, 1.09% Native American, 13.5% Asian, 0.6% Pacific Islander, 7.5% from other races, and 5.8% from two or more races. 19.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 10.2% were of German, 7.0% English, 6.7% Irish and 5.1% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 75.7% spoke only English at home; 10.0% spoke Spanish, 1.5% Hmong, 1.4% Chinese or Mandarin, 1.3% Vietnamese, 1.2% Tagalog and 1.2% Russian.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: There were 453,602 households, out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.4% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 26.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.24.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.5 males.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: The median income for a household in the county was $43,816, and the median income for a family was $50,717. Males had a median income of $39,482 versus $31,569 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,142. About 10.3% of families and 14.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.2% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: The Government of Sacramento County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law, and the Charter of the County of Sacramento. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments such as the Government of Sacramento County, while municipalities such as the city of Sacramento and Folsom provide additional, often non-essential services.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: It is composed of the elected five-member Board of Supervisors, several other elected offices including the Sheriff, District Attorney, and Assessor, and numerous county departments and entities under the supervision of the County Executive Officer. In addition, several entities of the government of California have jurisdiction conterminous with Sacramento County, such as the Sacramento County Superior Court.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Under its foundational Charter, the five-member elected Sacramento County Board of Supervisors (BOS) is the county legislature. The board operates in a legislative, executive, and quasi-judicial capacity. The current members are:


title: Sacramento County, California

text: The Sacramento County Code is the codified law of Sacramento County in the form of local ordinances passed by the Board of Supervisors.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: The Sacramento County Sheriff provides court protection and jail management for the entire county. It provides patrol and detective services for the unincorporated areas of the county. Incorporated municipalities within the county that have their own municipal police departments or contract with the Sacramento County sheriff for their policing are: Elk Grove, 170,000, municipal department; Citrus Heights, 88,000, municipal department; Folsom, 78,000, municipal department; Isleton, sheriff contract; Rancho Cordova, 73,000, sheriff contract; Galt, population 26,000, municipal department.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Sacramento County was politically competitive in most presidential elections between 1976 and 2004, but now votes significantly in favor of the Democratic candidates. Candidates from the Democratic Party have carried the county in the past eight presidential elections, and have won a majority of the county's votes four times during that time (in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020). The city of Sacramento is strongly Democratic, while rural areas are strongly Republican; suburban areas are more divided. This pattern is also present in congressional and state legislative elections. The last Republican presidential candidate to win a majority in the county was George H. W. Bush in 1988.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: In gubernatorial elections, Sacramento County is typically a bellwether, having voted for the winner every time since 1962 with the exception of 1970 and 2002.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: In the House of Representatives, all of California's 7th congressional district and portions of its 3rd, 6th, and 9th districts are in the county.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: In the State Assembly, all of the 7th and 8th districts and parts of the 6th, 9th, and 11th districts are in the county.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: According to the California Secretary of State, as of October 22, 2012, Sacramento County has 698,899 registered voters, out of 944,243 eligible (74%). Of those, 306,960 (44%) are registered Democrats, 225,688 (32%) are registered Republicans, and 134,677 (19%) have declined to state a political party.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Sacramento Regional Transit District, also known as Sacramento RT, provides public transit throughout the county. It operates bus services, as well as light rail services on the Blue, Green, and Gold lines. In addition, the Yolobus provides Sacramento County with service connecting to destinations in neighboring Yolo County, such as Davis. Sacramento RT and Yolobus both provide bus services connecting Sacramento with Sacramento International Airport.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Amtrak and its Amtrak California subsidiary operate passenger rail service from the Sacramento Valley station. This station is served by the Coast Starlight, the California Zephyr, the Capitol Corridor, and the San Joaquins, which link the region with destinations across California and the United States.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: Sacramento International Airport is a major, full-service airport with passenger flights. It is owned by the County of Sacramento. The county also owns Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova and Sacramento Executive Airport, both of which are general aviation airports. Sacramento McClellan Airport, formerly McClellan Air Force Base, is a privately owned airport between North Highlands and Rio Linda. There are also privately owned public use airports located in Elk Grove and Rio Linda.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: The Sacramento County Department of Transportation (SACDOT) maintains approximately 2200 miles of roadway within the unincorporated area. The roads range from six lane thoroughfares to rural roads.


title: Sacramento County, California

text: In February 1851, the county was divided into eight civil townships: the seven marked by asterisks below, plus Sacramento township. In July of that year, American township was divided off from Sacramento township. In 1856, the Board of Supervisors realigned the divisions into the 14 civil townships below, plus the city of Sacramento.


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger Charlery (21 February 1963 – 26 March 2019), known professionally as Ranking Roger, was a British musician. He was a vocalist in the 1980s ska band the Beat (known in North America as the English Beat) and later new wave band General Public. He subsequently was the frontman for a reformed Beat lineup.


title: Ranking Roger

text: The "Ranking" moniker is short for "top-ranking" or "high-ranking", and was a titular boast common amongst reggae music MCs.


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger Charlery was born in Birmingham, England, and grew up in the Small Heath area of the city. The son of Jean Baptiste Charlery and his wife Anne Marie, he was of West Indian descent; his mother and father were from Saint Lucia. He attended Archbishop Williams school, and while still at school began deejaying with reggae sound systems before becoming a drummer with the Dum Dum Boys in 1978.


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger became a punk rock fan as a teenager and was the drummer in the Dum Dum Boys before joining ska revival pioneers the Beat in the late 1970s. The Dum Dum Boys' first gig was with the Beat and his burgeoning friendship with them meant he began to gatecrash their gigs, take the mic, and start toasting. He had appeared on stage, toasting and singing with them, many times before officially joining the band. His energetic style and Jamaican-influenced vocals, paired with Dave Wakeling, were crucial in distinguishing the band from the other second-wave ska bands. The Beat released three albums: the critically acclaimed and seminal "I Just Can't Stop It" (1980), "Wha'ppen?" (1981) and "Special Beat Service" (1982).


title: Ranking Roger

text: Music journalist Richard Grabel wrote in 1985: "In the Beat, his role was mainly to 'toast' — Jamaican slang for the rhythmic raps that Roger would interject into the middle of the Beat's songs. But those toasts often contained the songs' most important emotional messages. Beyond that, Roger was the one whose looseness and humor, great dancing and general presence made the Beat happen on stage."


title: Ranking Roger

text: In 1981, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of the Clash invited him to sing on a version of "Rock the Casbah" which was later released in 2015.


title: Ranking Roger

text: After the Beat's 1983 break-up, Roger and Wakeling formed General Public with former members of Dexys Midnight Runners and Horace Panter of the Specials. Roger took more of a leading role with vocals in this group. They released the album "All the Rage" (1984), aided by the single "Tenderness". Three years later, they released "Hand to Mouth" (1986), which was less successful, and the band broke up.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In 1995, Roger and Wakeling reformed General Public with a new supporting band, and released the album "Rub It Better". The duo also worked on various projects and reunited for the 1994 "Threesome" soundtrack, recording a cover of "I'll Take You There".


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger released "Radical Departure", his first solo album, in 1988 which included band members Panter and Fuzz Townshend. The single "So Excited" peaked at No. 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. On 2001's "Inside My Head", Roger pursued a more dance/electronic sound.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In the early 1990s, Roger joined members of the Specials to form the new band Special Beat which released two live albums. In 1996, he sang back-up and toasting on the new version of the Police's "The Bed's Too Big Without You" on Sting's "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" CD-Maxi single. The American rock band Smash Mouth featured Roger on the song "You Are My Number One" from their album "Get the Picture?" (2003).


title: Ranking Roger

text: He collaborated with Pato Banton in 1995 on "Bubbling Hot", which peaked at No. 15 on the UK single charts.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In 2005, the Beat re-formed, with Roger and Everett Morton of the original line-up, with Roger's son, Ranking Junior also on vocals. Performing some new material, the Beat performed at Glastonbury the same year, where Roger was joined by Ranking Junior.


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger sang on "Roxanne" onstage with the Police on their 2007 reunion tour. He was a guest performer on Big Audio Dynamite's seventh album "Higher Power" in 1994 when the band were known as simply 'Big Audio'. He later became a member of Big Audio Dynamite for their final studio album "Entering a New Ride" (1997).


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger contributed to "Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge", written by Daniel Rachel and published in 2016.


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger collaborated with Welsh ragga-metal band Dub War on a cover of the Upsetters' "War Ina Babylon" in what is claimed to be his last recording before his death, which will be included on their 2022 album "Westgate Under Fire".


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger continued to lead the Beat and tours throughout Europe as well as works on solo projects. In his last years he released a series of new albums. 2013 saw the release of "Retrospective", an album of solo work recorded over the 25 years since the break-up of General Public, featuring various artists and producers including Sly and Robbie, and songs such as "Bubbling Hot" (the 1994 hit collaboration with Pato Banton) and a cover of "The Bed's Too Big Without You" (first recorded with Sting for the 1996 film "The Truth About Cats & Dogs").


title: Ranking Roger

text: "Live in London" was released in 2013 – a live recording of the Beat playing at 229 The Venue, featuring some of their greatest hits as well as new tracks by Roger and Ranking Junior.


title: Ranking Roger

text: 2014's "Pop Off the Head Top" consisted of entirely new compositions, including additional vocals and song writing from Ranking Junior. They recorded tracks for this project with Hugh Harris from London, Dopegrinders from Brighton and Mr. Anonymous from Colorado. Other key tracks involved the Italian producer AleXannA whose version of "Sixteen Tons" features vocals by Roger, Ranking Junior, and Roger's daughter Saffren Murphy.


title: Ranking Roger

text: "Rock the Casbah", released in 2015 in collaboration with the charity Strummerville (founded by the friends and family of Joe Strummer to support aspiring musicians and projects that create social mobility through music) is a five-track EP which features a previously unheard version of "Rock the Casbah", which Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of the Clash had asked Roger to sing on back in 1981, re-recorded by the Brighton producers Dopegrinders, and using the original stems donated by Mick Jones. The EP features new tracks by Roger, Ranking Junior and Hugh Harris as well as a re-working of "Muscle Ska", co-written by Roger and Neville Staple from the Specials.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In September 2016, DMF released "Bounce"; the first new album by the Beat in 30 years. Written by Ranking Roger, Mick Lister and Ranking Junior, it was produced by Mick Lister and mixed by Tim Hamill and Mick Lister, with the exception of "Side to Side" and "My Dream", which were mixed by Dennis Bovell. The album was recorded in Roger's 'eco-friendly hideaway' – a round recording studio in his back garden, which he called The Pod. The album received generally positive reviews with reviewers typically praising the band's 'passionately political edge' and pointing to how the album 'encompasses every aspect of one of the most musically diverse bands to come out of the multi-racial, multi-cultural explosion that made British pop music what it was in the 80's'.


title: Ranking Roger

text: The band continues to tour, as of 2020, and currently features Roger's son Ranking Junior (real name Matthew Murphy), with drummers Oscar Harrison of Ocean Colour Scene and Fuzz Townshend of Pop Will Eat Itself. The line-up is completed by Chiko Hamilton on sax, bass guitarist Andy Pearson, former Bad Manners and Specialbeat guitarist Andy Perriss and Bobby Bird of Higher Intelligence Agency.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In 2017, the Beat joined fellow two-tone band the Selecter for a co-headline UK tour, Owing to demand, the tour was extended to cover other countries.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In early August 2018, Ranking Roger was hospitalised with a suspected mini-stroke. He recuperated at home, but cancelled planned live shows in the United Kingdom and United States. The band had just finished recording an album and Roger had written his autobiography, "I Just Can't Stop It", published June 2019.


title: Ranking Roger

text: Roger had five children, including son Ranking Junior (Matthew Murphy) and daughter Saffren who both featured with their father in a Beat revival band.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In January 2019, it was announced that Roger had undergone surgery for two brain tumours, and was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. He died at his home in Birmingham on 26 March 2019 at the age of 56.


title: Ranking Roger

text: In 2021, Ranking Junior teamed up with indie rock band the Ordinary Boys to record a tribute single to his father called "Legacy".


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: The concept of Self-replicating spacecraft, as envisioned by mathematician John von Neumann, has been described by futurists including physicist Michio Kaku and discussed across a wide breadth of hard science fiction novels and stories. Self-replicating probes are sometimes referred to as von Neumann probes. Self-replicating spacecraft would in some ways either mimic or echo the features of living organisms or viruses.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Von Neumann proved that the most effective way of performing large-scale mining operations such as mining an entire moon or asteroid belt would be by self-replicating spacecraft, taking advantage of their exponential growth. In theory, a self-replicating spacecraft could be sent to a neighbouring planetary system, where it would seek out raw materials (extracted from asteroids, moons, gas giants, etc.) to create replicas of itself. These replicas would then be sent out to other planetary systems. The original "parent" probe could then pursue its primary purpose within the star system. This mission varies widely depending on the variant of self-replicating starship proposed.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Given this pattern, and its similarity to the reproduction patterns of bacteria, it has been pointed out that von Neumann machines might be considered a form of life. In his short story "Lungfish" (see Self-replicating machines in fiction), David Brin touches on this idea, pointing out that self-replicating machines launched by different species might actually compete with one another (in a Darwinistic fashion) for raw material, or even have conflicting missions. Given enough variety of "species" they might even form a type of ecology, or – should they also have a form of artificial intelligence – a society. They may even mutate with untold thousands of "generations".


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: The first quantitative engineering analysis of such a spacecraft was published in 1980 by Robert Freitas, in which the non-replicating Project Daedalus design was modified to include all subsystems necessary for self-replication. The design's strategy was to use the probe to deliver a "seed" factory with a mass of about 443 tons to a distant site, have the seed factory produce many copies of itself there to increase its total manufacturing capacity over a 500-year period, and then use the resulting automated industrial complex to construct more probes with a single seed factory on board each.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: It has been theorized that a self-replicating starship utilizing relatively conventional theoretical methods of interstellar travel (i.e., no exotic faster-than-light propulsion, and speeds limited to an "average cruising speed" of 0.1c.) could spread throughout a galaxy the size of the Milky Way in as little as half a million years.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: In 1981, Frank Tipler put forth an argument that extraterrestrial intelligences do not exist, based on the fact that von Neumann probes have not been observed. Given even a moderate rate of replication and the history of the galaxy, such probes should already be common throughout space and thus, we should have already encountered them. Because we have not, this shows that extraterrestrial intelligences do not exist. This is thus a resolution to the Fermi paradox – that is, the question of why we have not "already" encountered extraterrestrial intelligence if it is common throughout the universe.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: A response came from Carl Sagan and William Newman. Now known as "Sagan's Response", it pointed out that in fact Tipler had underestimated the rate of replication, and that von Neumann probes should have already started to consume most of the mass in the galaxy. Any intelligent race would therefore, Sagan and Newman reasoned, not design von Neumann probes in the first place, and would try to destroy any von Neumann probes found as soon as they were detected. As Robert Freitas has pointed out, the assumed capacity of von Neumann probes described by both sides of the debate is unlikely in reality, and more modestly reproducing systems are unlikely to be observable in their effects on our solar system or the galaxy as a whole.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Another objection to the prevalence of von Neumann probes is that civilizations of the type that could potentially create such devices may have inherently short lifetimes, and self-destruct before so advanced a stage is reached, through such events as biological or nuclear warfare, nanoterrorism, resource exhaustion, ecological catastrophe, or pandemics.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Simple workarounds exist to avoid the over-replication scenario. Radio transmitters, or other means of wireless communication, could be used by probes programmed not to replicate beyond a certain density (such as five probes per cubic parsec) or arbitrary limit (such as ten million within one century), analogous to the Hayflick limit in cell reproduction. One problem with this defence against uncontrolled replication is that it would only require a single probe to malfunction and begin unrestricted reproduction for the entire approach to fail – essentially a technological cancer – unless each probe also has the ability to detect such malfunction in its neighbours and implements a seek and destroy protocol (which in turn could lead to probe-on-probe space wars if faulty probes first managed to multiply to high numbers before they were found by sound ones, which could then well have programming to replicate to matching numbers so as to manage the infestation). Another workaround is based on the need for spacecraft heating during long interstellar travel. The use of plutonium as a thermal source would limit the ability to self-replicate. The spacecraft would have no programming to make more plutonium even if it found the required raw materials. Another is to program the spacecraft with a clear understanding of the dangers of uncontrolled replication.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: The details of the mission of self-replicating starships can vary widely from proposal to proposal, and the only common trait is the self-replicating nature.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: A von Neumann probe is a spacecraft capable of replicating itself. It is a concatenation of two concepts: a "Von Neumann universal constructor" (self-replicating machine) and a probe (an instrument to explore or examine something). The concept is named after Hungarian American mathematician and physicist John von Neumann, who rigorously studied the concept of self-replicating machines that he called "Universal Assemblers" and which are often referred to as "von Neumann machines". Such constructs could be theorised to comprise five basic components (variations of this template could create other machines such as Bracewell probes):


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Andreas Hein and science fiction author Stephen Baxter proposed different types of von Neumann probes, termed "Philosopher" and "Founder", where the purpose of the former is exploration and for the latter preparing future settlement.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: A near-term concept of a self-replicating probe has been proposed by the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, achieving about 70% self-replication, based on current and near-term technologies.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: If a self-replicating probe finds evidence of primitive life (or a primitive, low-level culture) it might be programmed to lie dormant, silently observe, attempt to make contact (this variant is known as a Bracewell probe), or even interfere with or guide the evolution of life in some way.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Physicist Paul Davies of Arizona State University has raised the possibility of a probe resting on our own Moon, having arrived at some point in Earth's ancient prehistory and remained to monitor Earth, which is reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel" and the Stanley Kubrick that was based on Clarke's story.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: A variant idea on the interstellar von Neumann probe idea is that of the "Astrochicken", proposed by Freeman Dyson. While it has the common traits of self-replication, exploration, and communication with its "home base", Dyson conceived the Astrochicken to explore and operate within our own planetary system, and not explore interstellar space.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Anders Sandberg and Stuart Armstrong argued that launching the colonization of the entire reachable universe through self-replicating probes is well within the capabilities of a star-spanning civilization, and proposed a theoretical approach for achieving it in 32 years, by mining planet Mercury for resources and constructing a Dyson Swarm around the Sun.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: A variant of the self-replicating starship is the "Berserker". Unlike the benign probe concept, Berserkers are programmed to seek out and exterminate lifeforms and life-bearing exoplanets whenever they are encountered.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: The name is derived from the "Berserker" series of novels by Fred Saberhagen which describes a war between humanity and such machines. Saberhagen points out (through one of his characters) that the Berserker warships in his novels are not von Neumann machines themselves, but the larger complex of Berserker machines – including automated shipyards – "do" constitute a von Neumann machine. This again brings up the concept of an ecology of von Neumann machines, or even a von Neumann hive entity.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: It is speculated in fiction that Berserkers could be created and launched by a xenophobic civilization (see "Anvil of Stars", by Greg Bear, in the section In fiction below) or could theoretically "mutate" from a more benign probe. For instance, a von Neumann ship designed for terraforming processes – mining a planet's surface and adjusting its atmosphere to more human-friendly conditions – could be interpreted as attacking previously-inhabited planets, killing their inhabitants in the process of changing the planetary environment, and then self-replicating to dispatch more ships to 'attack' other planets.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Yet another variant on the idea of the self-replicating starship is that of the seeder ship. Such starships might store the genetic patterns of lifeforms from their home world, perhaps even of the species which created it. Upon finding a habitable exoplanet, or even one that might be terraformed, it would try to replicate such lifeforms – either from stored embryos or from stored information using molecular nanotechnology to build zygotes with varying genetic information from local raw materials.


title: Self-replicating spacecraft

text: Such ships might be terraforming vessels, preparing colony worlds for later colonization by other vessels, or – should they be programmed to recreate, raise, and educate individuals of the species that created it – self-replicating colonizers themselves. Seeder ships would be a suitable alternative to generation ships as a way to colonize worlds too distant to travel to in one lifetime.


title: Fan (person)

text: A fan or fanatic, sometimes also termed an aficionado or enthusiast, is a person who exhibits strong interest or admiration for something or somebody, such as a celebrity, a sport, a sports team, a genre, a politician, a book, a movie, a video game or an entertainer. Collectively, the fans of a particular object or person constitute its fanbase or fandom. They may show their enthusiasm in a variety of ways, such as by promoting the object of their interest, being members of a related fan club, holding or participating in fan conventions or writing fan mail. They may also engage in creative activities ("fan labor") such as creating fanzines, writing fan fiction, making memes or drawing fan art.


title: Fan (person)

text: Merriam-Webster, the Oxford dictionary and other sources define "fan" as a shortened version of the word "fanatic". "Fanatic" itself, introduced into English around 1550, means "marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion". It comes from the Modern Latin "fanaticus", meaning "insanely but divinely inspired". The word originally pertained to a temple or sacred place [Latin "fanum", poetic English "fane"]. The modern sense of "extremely zealous" dates from around 1647; the use of "fanatic" as a noun dates from 1650. However, the term "fancy" for an intense liking of something (a usage attested by 1545), while being of a different etymology, coincidentally carries a less intense but somewhat similar connotation to "fanatic". Use of "the fancy" to mean avid sports enthusiasts emerged as an Americanism in the mid-19th century. "The Dickson Baseball Dictionary" cites William Henry Nugent's work asserting that it was derived from "the fancy", a term referring to the fans of a specific hobby or sport from the early 18th century to the 19th, especially to the followers of boxing. According to that theory, it was originally shortened to "fance" then just to the homonym "fans". "The Great American Baseball Scrapbook" attributes the term to Chris Von der Ahe, owner of the Saint Louis Brown Stockings in 1882. Von der Ahe sold tickets for 25 cents, hoping the many patrons would purchase his beer; the low ticket price helped him lead the stats in attendance. He called the fanatics filling his stands "fans".


title: Fan (person)

text: "Supporter" is a synonym to "fan" that predates the latter term and is still commonly used in British English, especially to denote fans of sports teams. However, the term "fan" has become popular throughout the English-speaking world, including the United Kingdom. The term "supporter" is also used in a political sense in the United States, to a fan of a politician, a political party, and a controversial issue.


title: Fan (person)

text: Fans usually have a strong enough interest that some changes in their lifestyles are made to accommodate devotion to the focal object. Fans have a desire for external involvement – they are motivated to demonstrate their involvement with the area of interest through certain behaviors (attending conventions, posting online, displaying team banners outside their homes, etc.). Fans often have a "wish to acquire" material objects related to the area of interest, such as a baseball hit by a famous slugger or a used guitar pick from their musical hero. As well, some fans have a desire for social interaction with other fans. This again may take many forms, from casual conversation, e-mail, chat rooms, and electronic mailing lists to regular face-to-face meetings such as fan club meetings and organized conventions.


title: Fan (person)

text: There are several groups of fans that can be differentiated by the intensity level of their level of involvement or interest in the hobby (level of fanaticism) The likelihood for a subject of interest to be elevated to the level of fandom appears to be dictated by its complexity. Complexity allows further involvement of fans for a longer period of time because of the time needed to work the subject of interest 'out.' It also contributes to a greater sense of belonging because of the mental effort invested in the subject.


title: Fan (person)

text: These fans will often hold a crush on a major movie star, pop star, athlete or celebrity (see teen idol). The groupie is an example, a fan of a particular band or musician, who will follow them on concert tours. The degree of devotion to celebrities can range from a simple crush to the deluded belief that they have a special relationship with the star which does not exist. In extreme cases, this can lead to celebrity worship syndrome, stalking behavior. This can easily switch to hatred of the previously loved celebrity, and result in attempts at violent attacks, one notable incident being the death of Rebecca Schaeffer by a stalking fan in 1989.


title: Fan (person)

text: This is somewhat related to the concept of parasocial interaction where audiences develop one-sided relationships with media characters and celebrities.


title: Fan (person)

text: Not all fans have a crush on their idols. There are also fans who want to become their friends or respect an idol's relationship. In fact, there are fans who idolize their celebrity couples.


title: Fan (person)

text: Gaming fans, or "gamers", are fans focused on playing non-sport games, usually role-playing games, board games, miniature wargames, collectible card games or video games.


title: Fan (person)

text: Music fans can differ somewhat from fans of particular musicians, in that they may focus on a genre of music. Many of the trade journals around music, such as "Rolling Stone", were created by music fans. A notable music fan was groupie Cynthia Plaster Caster, famous for making numerous plaster casts of rock stars' penises. Another was Pamela Des Barres, author of the book "". Fans who are not groupies prefer the term "supporter". In the 1960s, the extreme frenzy of music fans surrounding the Beatles became known as Beatlemania. In 2019, "Billboard" observed that popular musicians such as Tyler, the Creator had leveraged the power of fans to drive digital downloads using merchandise bundles. Similarly, "GQ" recognized Vampire Weekend for their commitment to extensive band merchandising for dedicated fans.


title: Fan (person)

text: Popular musicals have their own particular sets of fans. "Rent" has boasted a sizable number of 'Rentheads' since its Broadway debut. Similarly, fans devoted to "The Phantom of the Opera" have been dubbed 'Phans'. In 2018, "Playbill" included "The Phantom of the Opera" in its list of the "Top 10 Musical Fandoms" of the year.


title: Fan (person)

text: "Otaku" is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests. In Japan, the term is normally derogatory, a connotation lacking in English, where it generally refers to people in the anime and manga fandom.


title: Fan (person)

text: People who approve of or associate themselves with certain politicians or political groups are generally called "supporters" rather than "fans", although there are politicians with official or unofficial "fan clubs". Intense and organized support for a politician may be referred to as a personality cult, particularly in authoritarian or totalitarian regimes.


title: Fan (person)

text: Fans of professional wrestling can be divided into two groups: marks and smarks. Derived from the same term for the prey of conmen, a mark is a fan who believes that everything associated with professional wrestling is real. In contrast, a "smark" is a fan who recognizes that they are witnessing a stage-managed work ("kayfabe"), but appreciates it nonetheless, including its backstage aspects.


title: Fan (person)

text: Since the 1920s, an increasingly elaborate sub-culture of organized science fiction fandom has arisen, initially among correspondents to the letter columns of science fiction magazines. This non-centralized movement has given birth to science fiction fanzines (and amateur press associations), science fiction conventions, the Hugo Awards (and various imitators/derivatives), filk music, "fan funds" such as the Trans Atlantic Fan Fund, and a variety of other institutions, jargon and customs. It has nurtured writers and artists such as Ray Bradbury, Roger Ebert, Lenny Kaye, Michael Moorcock and Trina Robbins; and has generated such spin-offs as comic book fandom, media fandom, the Society for Creative Anachronism, gaming fandom, and furry fandom, sometimes collectively referred to as "fringe fandoms".


title: Fan (person)

text: Science fiction fandom developed its own slang, known as fanspeak after the "Newspeak" of the novel "Nineteen Eighty-four". Fanspeak is made up of acronyms, blended words, obscure in-jokes, puns, coinages from science fiction novels or films, and archaic or standard English words used in specific ways relevant or amusing to the science fiction community. Some fanspeak terms, like fanzine have become standard English. Some fanspeak terms relate to fans themselves:


title: Fan (person)

text: A sports fan can be an enthusiast for a particular athlete, team, sport, or all of organized sports as a whole. Sports fans often attend sporting events in stadiums, in sports bars, or watch them at home on television, and follow news through newspapers, websites, and social media.


title: Fan (person)

text: The mentality of the sports fan is often such that they will experience a game, or event while living vicariously through players or teams whom the fan favors. This behavior manifests itself in a number of different ways, depending on the venue. At a stadium or arena, sports fans will voice their pleasure with a particular incident, player, or team by cheering, which consists of clapping, fist-pumping, or shouting positive exclamations toward the field of play and ultimately, the favorable object. Likewise, displeasure toward a particular incident, player, or team may be met by fans with booing, shouting of expletives, and sometimes throwing of objects onto the field. This violent type of fan reaction is often called hooliganism.


title: Fan (person)

text: Lighter, more harmless objects are also occasionally thrown onto certain fields of play as a form of celebration of a favorable sports feat. This is most common when a member of the home team scores a hat trick in hockey. Other, more mild forms of displeasure shown by sports fans at sporting events involve simple groans of disappointment, and silence. These actions often denote that the favored home team is being outperformed by, or has lost to the much less-favored road team.


title: Fan (person)

text: In North America, extremely enthusiastic fans are often called "superfans": fans who dress up in outrageous and ostentatious costumes or outfits showing their devotion. Fanbases well known for their tenacious love and undying support are called "rabid fans" or fanatics. These fans often congregate hours before kickoff in what is known as a tailgation or tailgating.


title: Fan (person)

text: At sports bars, sports fans will gather together, often while consuming food and alcoholic beverages, with the purpose of following a particular sporting event on television as a group. Sports bars often advertise in hopes of drawing fans of a particular player or team to watch together to increase bonds between fans and prevent fights. This can create the sense of unity in a sports bar as all cheers and boos will appear to be synchronized due to similar feelings and reactions by nearly all fans at the fortunes and misfortunes of the favored team or athlete. Due to the level of devotion and intensity of feeling towards the favored team or athlete by sports bar patrons, as well as partially due to the alcohol being served, behavior that would be seen as unruly or fanatical outside a sports bar is generally more common inside of one. The intensity of cheering and jeering at a sports bar by sports fans can often range from equal to stronger than that of fans actually at the sporting event for particularly significant games and matches.


title: Fan (person)

text: At home, sports fans may have few fellow fans but also more freedom. This is sometimes where the most intense cheering or jeering will take place. In the fan's own home, unbridled and lengthy screaming, crying, acts of destruction to household objects, and other manifestations of joy or anguish, are perhaps seen as most acceptable in comparison to the sports bar or sporting venue simply because such acts taken to such an extreme can be seen as disruptive to a large number of fellow fans even if they share the same sentiment if it is of less intensity. The greatest variables of the reaction of a sports fan in their own home are the intensity of the fan's desire to see their team win or perform well, and the presence of another: often a wife, children, or friends who may be significantly less ardent sports fans or not sports fans at all, which may significantly temper the fan's reaction to a highly positive or negative moment due to the fear of causing a scene or scaring those close to the fan, or alienating themselves from said others. Often sports fans will invite other fans of relatively similar rooting intensity over to their house to experience a sporting event together so that all involved can voice pleasure or displeasure to their heart's content and increase shared bonds in the process. It is becoming common for this type of bonding to take place over sports-related social networks.


title: Fan (person)

text: The drivers that make people fans, and in particular sports fans, have been studied by psychologists, such as Dan Wann at Murray State University, and communication scholars, such as Adam Earnheardt at Youngstown State University.


title: Fan (person)

text: They attribute people becoming fans to the following factors: One element is entertainment, because sports spectatorship is a form of leisure. Sports is also a form of escapism, and being a fan gives one an excuse to yell at something, an activity that may be constrained in other areas of one's life. Fan activities give participants a combination of euphoria and stress (about the potential for their team to lose) for which they coin the name "eustress". Fans experience euphoria during moments when play is going well for their team, and stress when play is going against their team. This tension between the two emotions generates an unusual sense of pleasure or heightened sensations.


title: Fan (person)

text: Aesthetics are another draw for some fans, who appreciate the precision or skill of play, or of the coordinated movement of the players during a pre-planned "play". Family bonding is a reason for some fan activities. Some families watch televised sports on a regular basis and go to sports games as a family outing to watch events and form a psychological bond with one another and as a family. Others with no biological relations may view the team and fanbase as their family as Arsenal fan Maria Petri stated. Going to sports events can create a borrowed sense of self-esteem if fans identify with their teams to the extent that they consider themselves to be successful when their teams have been successful (e.g., as seen in the phrase "we have won"). If a fan identifies strongly with a favorite team, they will respond to the performance of the team as if team success were a personal success and team failure a personal failure.


title: Fan (person)

text: Fan loyalty is the loyalty felt and expressed by a fan towards the object of their fanaticism. Allegiances can be strong or weak. The loyalties of sports fans have been studied by psychologists and have often been reviewed.


title: Fan (person)

text: Fangirls and fanboys in fandoms sometimes, with various meanings, consider their fandom to be their "family," and feel very loyal to it, usually.


title: Fan (person)

text: According to a study by psychologists from Cambridge University, the more that people publicly express admiration for a public figure, the more likely it is that the fans' faith in the public figure will remain unaffected following "moral violations" by the adored person.


title: Fan (person)

text: A stan is an excessively avid fan and supporter of a celebrity, TV show, group, musical artist, film or film series. The object of the stan's affection is often called "bias" (or "fave", although that is an outdated term). Based on the 2000 song "Stan" by American rapper Eminem, the term has frequently been used to describe artist devotees whose fanaticism matches the severity of the obsessive character in the song. The word has been described as a portmanteau of "stalker" and "fan". A website known as "Stan Wars" or "stanipedia" sprouted up to host discussions and flame wars between rival fanbases. The Korean equivalent for a stan is a sasaeng. Stan culture has been criticized for being toxic.


title: Fan (person)

text: Colloquially, the term can be used as both a noun or a verb. Stans of a particular artist are often given more detailed names, such as "Arianators" for fans of Ariana Grande and "Directioner" for fans of One Direction. Some artists, however, do not have specific titles attributed to their stans; fans of Kylie Minogue have been called Kylie Stans. Even for fandoms with specific titles, the "artist stan" formula still applies.


title: Fan (person)

text: Some of these monikers are almost universally known and used by fans of the artists as well as outsiders. Other nicknames are not commonly used, neither by outsiders nor by the concerning fan-base, such as Kylie Minogue's "Kylie Stans", Madonna's "Madonna Fans", Maroon 5's "Maroon 5 Stans" or Nick Jonas's so called "Nick Jonas Fans", usually appearing on social media networks such as Twitter and Tumblr, The term "stan" is also used to describe fans of K-pop. The term is not to be confused with Sasaeng fans, which are overly obsessed fans who stalk and sometimes bring harm to idols.


title: Fan (person)

text: Celebrities have positively reacted to their "stan" followings. Notably, English singer-songwriter Jessie J had this to say about her stans, "They support me and buy my albums and singles, and they stand outside hotels, and they come to shows, and they get tattoos of my lyrics and they cut their hair like me. You have to love your fans. That's why I call them my Heartbeats, because without them I wouldn't be here". In 2012, after Jessie J broke her own leg, a stan broke her own leg to emulate the injury. The fan tracked down Jessie J's personal address and sent her a photograph of the self-inflicted injury. The singer was horrified and decided to increase her security.


title: Fan (person)

text: Singer-songwriter Lorde has a different opinion on the matter of giving her followers a nickname. She discouraged it by saying "I find it grating to lump everyone into a really awkward, pun-centric name" and affirmed she will never name her fanbase.


title: Fan (person)

text: Women tend to be "more restricted in their leisure choices and opportunities than men," and their experiences within fandoms are typically demeaned to a more sexualized, emotional, or bodily experience, as opposed to intellectual interests. For example, in music, women are more predominant, and accepted, within pop music fandoms, which Diane Railton describes as evoking an emotional and physical response, in contrast with the 'masculine' rock music, which is defined as 'serious' music with a 'meaning', focusing on political, cultural, and psychological discussion. Due to this, women are rarely given space or voice within the intellectual realm of music. According to Frank Zappa, "men come to hear the music and chicks come for the sex thrills," implying that women's involvement in fan communities is purely sexual, and that they are incapable of displaying intellectual or artistic interest in the music itself. Those who do manage to become involved within the world of 'serious' music are often relegated to the realm of a 'groupie'. A groupie, according to Cheryl Cline, is


title: Fan (person)

text: [A] person (a woman, usually), who 'chases after' rock stars, as my mother would say. But 'groupie' is also used more or less synonymously with 'girl Rock fan', 'female journalist', and 'woman Rock musician'; it's used to mean anyone working in the music field who isn't actually a Rock musician; it's used as an all-purpose insult and a slut on one's professionalism; it's used as a cute term for 'hero worship'; and it's used interchangeably with 'fan'.


title: Fan (person)

text: In other words, the term 'groupie' (used synonymously with the term 'fan' or 'fangirl') is frequently used to shame women involved within the music community, restricting their involvement to sexual relations with band members or worshipping male rock stars.


title: Fan (person)

text: This trend can also be observed within other fan communities, such as comic book fandoms, where women are frequently portrayed as "Fake Geek Girls", only interested in comic books to impress guys or to view the attractive men present within their content, or sports communities, where women are often made uncomfortable at live sporting events due to the overt sexism and aggressive masculinity displayed by male spectators, and then labelled as 'inauthentic' for viewing the games via television instead. Within hockey, female fans are often called "Puck Bunnies", defined as,


title: Fan (person)

text: [S]omeone who hangs around the players, always on the lookout for the chance to get that autograph / photograph / quick pint [drink] / quick knee trem-bler round the back of the Arena from the player or players (or even coach) of their choice, heck let's face it even the water carrier is in with a chance here.


title: Fan (person)

text: Such discrimination against female fans can become violent at times in an effort to police "authenticity". The recent events known as GamerGate provide a good example of such attacks, whereby multiple women working within the gaming industry were victims of sexual harassment and violent threats, some even forced to leave their homes for fear of a physical confrontation.


title: Fan (person)

text: The fangirls', often stereotyped as female, so-called 'hysteria' is described as the product of sexual repression. However, while it is expected for women to be involved in certain fandoms for physical or sexual reasons, this is also viewed as undesirable and driven by hormonal changes.


title: Fan (person)

text: These acts of adoration are societally limited to adolescent youth, or menopausal women, in both instances blaming "these two periods of hormonal lunacy" on the irrational, overtly sexual behaviour. For instance, Cheryl Cline, in her text entitled "Essays from Bitch: The Women's Rock Newsletter with Bite", discusses how women need to keep their interests hidden once they pass adolescence. In her own words, "[i]t's a sign of maturity to pack up all the posters, photos, magazines, scrapbooks, and unauthorized biographies you so lovingly collected and shove them in the back of the closet.


title: Fan (person)

text: These conflicting accounts of fangirl behaviour are due to the belief that women are not supposed to express such sexual fantasies unless influenced by some hormonal induced craziness, while for men it is normal to be sexual regardless of age. As Cheryl Cline summarizes,


title: Fan (person)

text: It's much easier for a man to be indulgent about the crushes of teenage girls than it is for him to be fair-minded about the sexual fantasies of the woman he loves when they're about someone else. And the same guy who'll leave "Penthouse" in the bathroom will yell, 'No woman of mine is gonna hang a poster of Prince naked to the waist on the inside of the closet of the spare room where no one will see it!' […] [U]ntil you reach the age when everybody thinks you're crazy anyway, so why not admit to an intense hankering to run your fingers through Willie Nelson's whiskers?


title: Fan (person)

text: According to Jackson Katz in the documentary "Tough Guise 2", boys are taught early on that to be "real men" they need to be tough and not to show their feelings.


title: Fan (person)

text: [Men] can't show any emotion except anger. We can't think too much or seem too intellectual. We can't back down when someone disrespects us. We have to show we're tough enough to inflict physical pain and take it in turn. We're supposed to be sexually aggressive with women. And then we're taught that if we step out of this box, we risk being seen as soft, weak, feminine, or gay.


title: Fan (person)

text: Qualities like compassion, caring, empathy, intellectual curiosity, fear, vulnerability, even love – basic human qualities that boys have inside them every bit as much as girls do – get methodically driven out of them by a sexist and homophobic culture that labels these things as 'unmanly,' 'feminine,' 'womanly,' and 'gay,' and teaches boys to avoid them at all costs.


title: Fan (person)

text: And, most importantly, they're taught that real men turn to violence not as a last resort, but as the go-to method of resolving disputes – and also as a primary means of winning respect and establishing masculine credibility.


title: Fan (person)

text: In the predecessor to this documentary, "Tough Guise", Katz also addresses the issue of body image, using multiple movies, such as "Terminator" and "Rambo", as well as action figures like G.I. Joe, to illustrate how 'real men' are defined as big, strong, and muscular.


title: Fan (person)

text: Fanboy portrayals, by definition, do not fit into this mold of a 'real man', with the exception of sports fans. In a study by Gerard Jones on comic book fans, he described the comic book fanboys as "small, anxious, withdrawn, and terrified of the opposite sex." Quite the opposite of the 'real man' previously described by Katz. Their interests may also be considered as a deviation from societal gender roles, according to Noah Berlastsky, such as playing "Dungeons and Dragons" instead of football. This lack of traditional masculine traits warrants them much teasing from peers, parental figures, coaches, or older male role models for not conforming to these ideas of masculinity. A popular example of such treatment in mainstream media is shown on the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory", where, multiple times throughout the show's run, the four main characters, portrayed as 'nerdy fanboys', are humiliated by larger 'real men'. For instance, in the show pilot, the two main characters, Leonard and Sheldon, get their pants taken by the main female character's ex-boyfriend, who is portrayed as big, strong, tough, confident, and successful with women.


title: Fan (person)

text: Furthermore, fanboys also deal with issues of gender discrimination in relation to their fandom interests. For example, Bronies, a group of young men enthralled by the TV show "", a show typically geared towards young girls, are often the target of ridicule. Their interest in a 'feminine' media item can be the cause of great shame, causing many to become 'private' bronies, enjoying the show in secret out of fear.


title: Fan (person)

text: Fangirls are often portrayed as teenagers obsessed with something to a frightening degree. The term is often used in a demeaning, derogatory fashion and is said to describe the fans that give "normal" fans a bad name. In fact, the term "fangirling" is used to describe anyone who obsessively follows a certain fandom to the point where it interferes with their daily lives. Such a trend of 'authentic' versus 'inauthentic' fan is common within fan communities, and is particularly pertinent to gender discrimination and misogynistic ideals. However, on the other hand of the spectrum, some fangirls have embraced the title, considering it a compliment rather than a derogatory term.


title: Fan (person)

text: In terms of their involvement within fandoms, fangirls are typically portrayed as losing all control, fainting, sobbing, and dashing about in mobs. For instance, while describing the phenomenon of Beatlemania, fan activity is described by stating that:


title: Fan (person)

text: The appropriate reaction to contact with [the Beatles] – such as occupying the same auditorium or city block – was to sob uncontrollably while screaming, 'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die,' or, more optimistically, the name of a favorite Beatle, until the onset of either unconsciousness or laryngitis. Girls peed in their pants, fainted, or simply collapsed from the emotional strain.


title: Fan (person)

text: Furthermore, while discussing Beatlemania and the crazed Beatles fangirl behaviour, Barbara Ehrenreich, Elizabeth Heiss, and Gloria Jacobs mention how the 'only cure' for what was at the time considered an affliction was age, and that similarly to "the girls who had screamed for Frank Sinatra," the Beatles fangirls would "[grow] up to be responsible, settled " individuals.


title: Fan (person)

text: Fanboys are frequently portrayed as "angry nerds", over-aggressive, derogatory, and protective of the object of their obsession, or as bespectacled, geekoid, obsessive fans. The term nerd, defined as "[an] insignificant, foolish, or socially inept person; a person who is boringly conventional or studious; a person who pursues an unfashionable or highly technical interest with obsessive or exclusive dedication," as well as the term geek, defined as "[a] person […] who is regarded as foolish, offensive, worthless; an overly diligent, unsociable student; any unsociable person obsessively devoted to a particular pursuit," are often used to describe stereotypical fanboys. In regards to chosen fandoms, they are typically associated with comic books, video games, science fiction movies or television series, or technology (such as computer or smartphone brands).


title: Fan (person)

text: An exception to this portrayal is the sports fan, who is expected to be overtly sexual, and aggressive. This portrayal is particularly dominant within the sports arena, which provides a legitimate site for people to act in hyper masculinized ways. According to Williams, "Many [men] want to be overtly sexist and racist. They need to have this exaggerated sense of their sexuality to defend themselves from potential accusations that they are not real men."


title: Fan (person)

text: Fanboys are often portrayed as quite angry, violent, and offensive while defending the objects of their affection, such as the smartphone fanboys who frequently verbally attack anybody saying anything the slightest bit offensive about their chosen technological product through online anonymous sites. In fact, the term 'fanboy' is often used as an insult towards other fans, deemed unreasonable, arrogant, or overly loyal to their chosen token of affection.


title: Fan (person)

text: Such defensiveness is particularly prominent against women who are interested in their chosen fandoms or who pose a "threat" to their community. For example, in 2012, male gamers created a Flash game in which players could physically assault Anita Sarkeesian, a woman who launched a Kickstarter to create a series of documentaries on women tropes in video games.


title: Fan (person)

text: These violent acts against Sarkeesian continued in 2014, during the controversial event or movement known as GamerGate, during which Sarkeesian received numerous threats by fanboys due to her Tropes vs Women series on YouTube, where she analyzes the alleged limited and sexist female roles available in video games. These threats escalated dangerously, requiring her to leave her home in fear for her safety, as well as cancel a speaking engagement at Utah State University after there were threats of a mass shooting on campus due to her presence. Such discriminatory acts of violence towards women are not isolated cases. For instance, male comic book fans frequently harass women frequenting comic book shops, either by demeaning them or by hitting on them, causing them to feel uncomfortable and excluded from the fan community.


title: F for Fake

text: F for Fake (, "Truths and lies") is a 1973 docudrama film co-written, directed by, and starring Orson Welles who worked on the film alongside François Reichenbach, Oja Kodar, and Gary Graver. Initially released in 1974, it focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career as a professional art forger; de Hory's story serves as the backdrop for a meandering investigation of the natures of authorship and authenticity, as well as the basis of the value of art. Far from serving as a traditional documentary on de Hory, the film also incorporates Welles's companion Oja Kodar, hoax biographer Clifford Irving, and Orson Welles as himself. "F for Fake" is sometimes considered an example of a film essay.


title: F for Fake

text: In addition to the 88-minute film, in 1976 Welles also shot and edited a self-contained 9-minute short film as a "trailer", almost entirely composed of original material not found in the main film itself.