title: Settlement of Iceland

text: A cabin in Hafnir was abandoned between 770 and 880 CE, showing that it was built well before the traditional settlement date of 874. It is thought to have been an outpost only inhabited part of the year, but it is not known whether it was built by people from Scandinavia, Ireland or Scotland.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: Written sources consider the age of settlement in Iceland to have begun with settlement by Ingólfr Arnarson around 874, for he was the first to sail to Iceland with the purpose of settling the land. Archaeological evidence shows that extensive human settlement of the island indeed began at this time, and "that the whole country was occupied within a couple of decades towards the end of the 9th century." Estimates of the number of people who migrated to the country during the Age of Settlement range between 4,300 and 24,000, with estimates of the number of initial settlers ranging between 311 and 436.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: While the written sources emphasise settlement from Norway, genetic evidence shows that the founder population of Iceland came from Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia: studies of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomes indicate that 62% of Icelanders' matrilineal ancestry derives from Scotland and Ireland (with most of the rest being from Scandinavia), while 75% of their patrilineal ancestry derives from Scandinavia (with most of the rest being from the Irish and British Isles). Archaeogenetic evidence suggests that the actual founding population included a higher proportion again of settlers from the Irish and British Isles: one study found that the mean Norse ancestry among Iceland's settlers was 56%, whereas in the current population the figure was 70%. It is thought likely that most of the settlers from Ireland and Scotland came as slaves, and therefore reproduced less successfully than higher-status settlers from Scandinavia, making them ancestors of a smaller proportion of the modern population.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: Though the notion that population pressure drove migration to Iceland remains unsupported in the academic literature, a number of reasons have been offered for the settlement of Iceland:


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: Written sources say some settlers took land freely, others bought lands from earlier settlers, some were gifted land by earlier settlers, and that some settlers took lands from others through the use of force or threat of force. Lands were likely not rented during the Age of settlement. Medievalist Hans Kuhn argued that lands were given away or taken freely because earlier settlers had no need for such extensive lands. Historian Gunnar Karlsson notes that it could be rational for earlier settlers to encourage new settlers to settle lands nearby so as to ease maintenance of cattle and slaves, and as insurance in times of crisis.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: Ari Thorgilsson claims in "Íslendingabók" that the country had been "fully settled" by 930. Correspondingly, "Landnámabók" suggests that within about sixty years, all the usable land had been taken; it mentions 1,500 farm and place names, and more than 3,500 people, arranged in a geographical fashion.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: In the periodisation of Icelandic history, therefore, the age of settlement is considered to have ended in the year 930 with the establishment of Alþingi; at this point the Icelandic Commonwealth period is considered to begin. Archeological evidence shows, however, "that immigrants continued to arrive in Iceland throughout the 10th century". The authors of one study speculate that "continued immigration may have been needed to sustain the population".


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: "Landnámabók" claims that the first Norseman to rest his feet on Icelandic soil was a viking by the name of Naddoddr. Naddoddr stayed for only a short period of time, but gave the country a name: "Snæland" (Land of Snow). He was followed by the Swede Garðar Svavarsson, who was the first to stay over winter. At some time around 860, a storm pushed his ship far to the north until he reached the eastern coast of Iceland. Garðar approached the island from the east, sailed westward along the coast and then up north, building a house in Húsavík. He completed a full circle, circumnavigating the island and establishing that the landmass in question was indeed an island. He departed the following summer, never to return but not before giving the island a new name -- "Garðarshólmur" (literally, Garðar's Island). One of his men, Náttfari, decided to stay behind with two slaves. Náttfari settled in what is now known as Náttfaravík, close to Skjálfandi. Landnámabók maintains that Náttfari was not a permanent settler.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: The second Norseman to arrive in Iceland was named Flóki Vilgerðarson, but the year of his arrival is not clear. According to the story told in Landnámabók, he took three ravens to help him find his way. Thus, he was nicknamed Raven-Flóki (Icelandic: "Hrafna-Flóki"). Flóki set his ravens free near the Faroe Islands. The first raven flew back to the Faroes. The second flew up in the air and then returned to the ship. However, the third flew in front of the ship and they followed its direction to Iceland.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: He landed in Vatnsfjörður in the Westfjords after passing what is now Reykjavík. One of his men, Faxi, remarked that they seemed to have found great land—the bay facing Reykjavík is therefore known as Faxaflói. A harsh winter caused all of Flóki's cattle to die—he cursed this cold country, and when he spotted a drift ice in the fjord he decided to name it "Ísland" (Iceland). Despite difficulties in finding food, he and his men stayed another year, this time in Borgarfjörður, but they headed back to Norway the following summer. Flóki would return much later and settle in what is now known as Flókadalur.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: Another Norseman, by the name of Ingólfur Arnarson, had instigated a blood feud in his homeland, Norway. He and his foster-brother Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson went on an exploratory expedition to Iceland, and stayed over winter in what is now Álftafjörður. A few years later they returned to settle the land with their men. When they approached the island, Ingólfur cast his high seat pillars overboard and swore that he would settle where they drifted to shore. He then sent his slaves Vífill and Karli to search for the pillars. They found his foster-brother Hjörleifur murdered, and all his men gone. Ingólfur gave his foster-brother a heathen funeral in the Norse style and slew the murderers, who had fled to the Westman Islands.


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: As winter approached, Ingólfur's slaves found the pillars by Arnarhvoll . When summer came, he built a farmstead in Reykjavík and claimed all the land west of the rivers of Ölfusá, Öxará and Brynjudalsá . His slave Karli did not care for the location, and said to Ingólfur: "How ill that we should pass good land, to settle in this remote peninsula."


title: Settlement of Iceland

text: Scholars have argued that the settlers caused soil erosion through extensive deforestation and overgrazing. One study suggests that the primary motive for the deforestation was "clearance for pastures and home-fields", not the "settlers’ requirements for fuel and building material".


title: Paper recycling

text: The recycling of paper is the process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products. It has a number of important benefits: It saves waste paper from occupying homes of people and producing methane as it breaks down. Because paper fibre contains carbon (originally absorbed by the tree from which it was produced), recycling keeps the carbon locked up for longer and out of the atmosphere. Around two-thirds of all paper products in the US are now recovered and recycled, although it does not all become new paper. After repeated processing the fibres become too short for the production of new paper, which is why virgin fibre (from sustainably farmed trees) is frequently added to the pulp recipe.


title: Paper recycling

text: There are three categories of paper that can be used as feedstocks for making "recycled paper": mill broke, pre-consumer waste, and post-consumer waste. "Mill broke" is paper trimmings and other paper scrap from the manufacture of paper, and is recycled in a paper mill. "Pre-consumer waste" is a material which left the paper mill but was discarded before it was ready for consumer use. "Post-consumer" waste is material discarded after consumer use, such as old corrugated containers (OCC), old magazines, and newspapers. Paper suitable for recycling is called "scrap paper", often used to produce moulded pulp packaging. The industrial process of removing printing ink from paper fibres of recycled paper to make deinked pulp is called deinking, an invention of the German jurist Justus Claproth.


title: Paper recycling

text: The process of waste paper recycling most often involves mixing used/old paper with water and chemicals to break it down. It is then chopped up and heated, which breaks it down further into strands of cellulose, a type of organic plant material; this resulting mixture is called pulp, or slurry. It is strained through screens, which remove plastic (especially from plastic-coated paper) that may still be in the mixture then cleaned, de-inked (ink is removed), bleached, and mixed with water. Then it can be made into new recycled paper.


title: Paper recycling

text: Industrialized paper making has an effect on the environment both upstream (where raw materials are acquired and processed) and downstream (waste-disposal impacts).


title: Paper recycling

text: Today, 40% of paper pulp is created from wood (in most modern mills only 9–16% of pulp is made from pulp logs; the rest comes from waste wood that was traditionally burnt). Paper production accounts for about 35% of felled trees, and represents 1.2% of the world's total economic output. Recycling one ton of newsprint saves about 1 ton of wood while recycling 1 ton of printing or copier paper saves slightly more than 2 tons of wood. This is because kraft pulping requires twice as much wood since it removes lignin to produce higher quality fibres than mechanical pulping processes. Relating tons of paper recycled to the number of trees not cut is meaningless, since tree size varies tremendously and is the major factor in how much paper can be made from how many trees. In addition, trees raised specifically for pulp production account for 16% of world pulp production, old growth forests 9% and second- and third- and more generation forests account for the balance. Most pulp mill operators practice reforestation to ensure a continuing supply of trees. The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certify paper made from trees harvested according to guidelines meant to ensure good forestry practices.


title: Paper recycling

text: Energy consumption is reduced by recycling, although there is debate concerning the actual energy savings realized. The Energy Information Administration claims a 40% reduction in energy when paper is recycled versus paper made with unrecycled pulp, while the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) claims a 64% reduction. Some calculations show that recycling one ton of newspaper saves about of electricity, although this may be too high (see comments below on unrecycled pulp). This is enough electricity to power a 3-bedroom European house for an entire year, or enough energy to heat and air-condition the average North American home for almost six months. Recycling paper to make pulp actually consumes more fossil fuels than making new pulp via the kraft process; these mills generate most of their energy from burning waste wood (bark, roots, sawmill waste) and byproduct lignin (black liquor). Pulp mills producing new mechanical pulp use large amounts of energy; a very rough estimate of the electrical energy needed is 10 gigajoules per tonne of pulp (2500 kW·h per short ton).


title: Paper recycling

text: About 35% of municipal solid waste (before recycling) in the United States by weight is paper and paper products. 42.4% of that is recycled.


title: Paper recycling

text: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that recycling causes 35% less water pollution and 74% less air pollution than making virgin paper. Pulp mills can be sources of both air and water pollution, especially if they are producing bleached pulp. Modern mills produce considerably less pollution than those of a few decades ago. Recycling paper provides an alternative fibre for papermaking. Recycled pulp can be bleached with the same chemicals used to bleach virgin pulp, but hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydrosulfite are the most common bleaching agents. Recycled pulp, or paper made from it, is known as PCF (process chlorine free) if no chlorine-containing compounds were used in the recycling process.


title: Paper recycling

text: Studies on paper and cardboard production estimate the emissions of recycling paper to be 0.2 to 1.5 kg CO₂-equivalent/kg material. This is about 70% of the CO₂ emissions connected with production of virgin material.


title: Paper recycling

text: In the mid-19th century, there was an increased demand for books and writing material. Up to that time, paper manufacturers had used discarded linen rags for paper, but supply could not keep up with the increased demand. Books were bought at auctions for the purpose of recycling fiber content into new paper, at least in the United Kingdom, by the beginning of the 19th century.


title: Paper recycling

text: Internationally, about half of all recovered paper comes from converting losses (pre-consumer recycling), such as shavings and unsold periodicals; approximately one third comes from household or post-consumer waste.


title: Paper recycling

text: Paper recycling in Europe has a long history. The industry self-initiative European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC) was set up in 2000 to monitor progress towards meeting the paper recycling targets set out in the 2000 European Declaration on Paper Recycling. Since then, the commitments in the Declaration have been renewed every five years. In 2011, the ERPC committed itself to meeting and maintaining both a voluntary recycling rate target of 70% in the then E-27, plus Switzerland and Norway by 2015, as well as qualitative targets in areas such as waste prevention, ecodesign and research and development. In 2014, the paper recycling rate in Europe was 71.7%, as stated in the 2014 Monitoring Report.


title: Paper recycling

text: Municipal collections of paper for recycling are in place. However, according to the "Yomiuri Shimbun", in 2008, eight paper manufacturers in Japan have admitted to intentionally mislabeling recycled paper products, exaggerating the amount of recycled paper used.


title: Paper recycling

text: Recycling has long been practiced in the United States. In 2012, paper and paperboard accounted for 68 million tons of municipal solid waste generated in the U.S., down from more than 87 million tons in 2000, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While paper is the most commonly recycled material—64.6 percent was recovered in 2012—it is being used less overall than at the turn of the century. Paper accounts for more than a half of all recyclables collected in the US, by weight.


title: Paper recycling

text: Today, over half of all paper used in the United States is collected and recycled. Paper products are still the largest component of municipal solid waste, making up more than 40% of the composition of landfills. In 2006, a record 53.4% of the paper used in the US (53.5 million tons) was recovered for recycling, up from a 1990 recovery rate of 33.5%.


title: Paper recycling

text: The US paper industry set a goal of recovering 55 percent of all paper used in the US by 2012. Paper products used by the packaging industry were responsible for about 77% of packaging materials recycled, with more than 24 million pounds recovered in 2005.


title: Paper recycling

text: By 1998, some 9,000 curbside recycling programs and 12,000 recyclable drop-off centers existed nationwide. As of 1999, 480 materials recovery facilities had been established to process the collected materials. Recently, junk mail has become a larger part of the overall recycling stream, compared to newspapers or personal letters. However, the increase in junk mail is still smaller compared to the declining use of paper from those sources.


title: Paper recycling

text: In 2008, the global financial crisis caused the price of old newspapers to drop in the U.S. from $130 to $40 per short ton ($140/t to $45/t) in October.


title: Paper recycling

text: The environmental impact due to excessive use of paper has negative effects on trees and forest. Paper production utilizes nearly 40% of world's commercially cut timber. Millions of acres of forests are destroyed leading to deforestation disturbing the ecological balance. Many initiatives are being taken in India for recycling paper and reducing the hazards associated with it. Shree Aniruddha Upasana Foundation (Mumbai, India) is one such organization which undertakes used paper recycling projects. The foundation encourages using paper bags instead of plastic ones which again are a serious hazard to environment. They accept old newspapers, notebooks and so on and recycle the same into paper bags, teaching aids and toys for children.


title: Paper recycling

text: The foundation also makes eco-friendly Lord Ganesh (a Hindu Deity) idols from paper pulp which are worshiped in Indian homes every year during Ganesh Chaturthi Festival (a Hindu Festival celebrated on birthday of Lord Ganesh). These paper recycling activities are carried out throughout the year by the volunteers of the foundation converting waste paper into "No Waste"


title: Paper recycling

text: In recent years, paper recycling has increased and Indian imports of waste paper have increased following stringent restrictions by China on waste imports. However, only 25-28 percent of local waste paper is recycled


title: Paper recycling

text: In Mexico, recycled paper, rather than wood pulp, is the principal feedstock in papermills accounting for about 75% of raw materials.


title: Paper recycling

text: In 2018, South Africa recovered 1.285 million tonnes of recyclable paper products, putting the country's paper recovery rate at 71.7%. More than 90% of this recovered paper is used for the local beneficiation of new paper packaging and tissue.


title: Paper recycling

text: Along with fibres, paper can contain a variety of inorganic and organic constituents, including up to 10,000 different chemicals, which can potentially contaminate the newly manufactured paper products. As an example, bisphenol A (a chemical commonly found in thermal paper) has been verified as a contaminant in a variety of paper products resulting from paper recycling. Furthermore, groups of chemicals as phthalates, phenols, mineral oils, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and toxic metals have all been identified in paper material. Although several measures might reduce the chemical load in paper recycling (e.g., improved decontamination, optimized collection of paper for recycling), even completely terminating the use of a particular chemical (phase-out) might still result in its circulation in the paper cycle for decades.


title: Joel Garner

text: Joel Garner (born 16 December 1952) is a former West Indian cricketer, and a member of the highly regarded late 1970s and early 1980s West Indies cricket teams. Garner is the highest ranked One Day International bowler according to the ICC best-ever bowling ratings, and is 37th in Tests.


title: Joel Garner

text: In conjunction with fellow fast bowlers Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft, and later Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, the West Indies reached unprecedented heights in the Test and one-day cricket arenas, not losing a Test series in 15 years.


title: Joel Garner

text: Joel Garner was born in Enterprise, Christ Church, Barbados. Enterprise was a "scattering of houses among fields of sugar cane". Garner was the oldest of two boys. When he and his brother were very young, his parents migrated to Canada and the United States and they were left in the care of their grandparents. Cricket was popular and Garner played it as a child. He first attended St Christopher's boys primary school which was held in the local Anglican Church. He attended secondary school at Foundation Boys and played cricket for the school where he played as an all rounder. When selected for a school team coached by Seymour Nurse, He was told by Seymour Nurse "What's a big fellow like you doing batting or trying to bat? You're much too big to be a batsman...with your height, son, you should be bowling, fast". Seymour Nurse spent time coaching Garner on how to take full advantage of his height when bowling. He then attended coaching sessions organized by Charlie Griffith and Gary Sobers. Griffith taught Garner to bowl a yorker that swung in the air and how to use a bouncer effectively.


title: Joel Garner

text: Garner first came to the attention of Somerset whilst playing for Littleborough in the Central Lancashire League. He replaced Sir Garry Sobers as the club's paid man for the 1976 season, continuing in the role for the 1977 and 1978 seasons. During his three-year stay at Littleborough he amassed over 1500 runs with the bat and took 334 wickets at 9.34 runs apiece.


title: Joel Garner

text: Joel Garner signed for Somerset for the start of the 1977 season. Brian Rose, who captained Garner at Somerset thought that when Garner bowled, his bounce was "always too steep to drive, often to even play forward". He took 338 First Class wickets at an average of 18.10 during his time at Somerset and was considered the best fast bowler to play for the county. Garner said of Somerset “The people are relaxed and I found people friendlier here. They never hassled you, you could go about your business and I just fit in”.


title: Joel Garner

text: He was at Somerset in the most successful time in the county's history in winning five trophies. In the 1979 Gillette Cup final at Lords, Garner took six wickets for 29 runs to help defeat Northamptonshire and in the 1981 Benson & Hedges Cup final at Lords, Garner took five wickets for 14 runs to help defeat Surrey.


title: Joel Garner

text: Garner appeared in 58 test matches for the West Indies between 1977 and 1987 and took 259 wickets at an average of barely above 20, making him statistically one of the most effective bowlers of all time. He made his test debut against Pakistan in 1977 and took 25 wickets in his debut series.


title: Joel Garner

text: Garner took seven five wicket bags in test cricket but never took ten wickets in a test match. As he shared the bowling duties with Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft, and later Malcolm Marshall, competition to take wickets was plentiful.


title: Joel Garner

text: At 6 feet 8 inches (an inch taller than Jason Holder, who stands at 6 feet 7 inches), he was, at the time, the tallest fast bowler to play test cricket.


title: Joel Garner

text: Garner was dropped for the final test of the Indian tour of the West Indies in 1983 and again for the West Indies tour of India later that year. Battling injuries, he spent the time building his fitness and returned for the 1983-84 one day series in Australia. Garner missed six one day games due to a knee injury but was able to return for the final few games where his form and fitness had returned. In the following Australian tour of the West Indies, Garner took 31 wickets in the test matches. He described himself as "probably the most happiest man on the team. Dropped from the side the previous season, called washed-up even by friends I hoped hadn't meant it, plagued by recurring injuries to knees and shoulder, I still bowled 208 overs in the tests".


title: Joel Garner

text: However, it was in limited overs cricket that Garner put his height to use with devastating effect: in 98 matches he took 146 wickets. He had the ability to unleash a devastating yorker, as well as generate more bounce. As of January 2020, he is one of only two players with more than 100 ODI wickets at an average of under 20 runs per wicket, while his economy rate of 3.09 runs per over is the best ever for any bowler who bowled at least 1000 balls. He is the all-time highest ranked ODI bowler.


title: Joel Garner

text: His 5 for 39 in the 1979 Cricket World Cup final against England remains the best ever performance by a bowler in a final; it included a spell of 5 wickets for 4 runs, and he was on a hat-trick twice.


title: Joel Garner

text: He was also the part of the West Indian team which was runner-up in 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup. In the first league match with India, he, along with Sir Andy Roberts, set the highest ever 10th wicket partnership in World Cup history (71), but chasing 262, West Indies were reduced to 157-9 but Garner and Roberts added 71 runs to make 228 and West Indies lost by 34 runs.


title: Joel Garner

text: Garner played for Barbados in the West Indies, for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield and alongside Viv Richards and Ian Botham for Somerset in the English County Championship.


title: Joel Garner

text: In Barbados, his club team was YMPC. During his time playing for Barbados, he was captain in 1986. He revealed his tactics to Derek Pringle as “It’s quite simple. Me and Macko [Malcolm Marshall] open the bowling and nip out the top order. We have a rest and the other bowlers come on and keep it tight. Then me and Macko come on and blast out the tail. We have a bat, get a hundred lead and bowl them out again.”


title: Joel Garner

text: Until the appearance of the tall Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Irfan in 2010, Garner, former Australian pace bowler Bruce Reid and Irish fast bowler Boyd Rankin were the equal-tallest players ever to play international cricket.


title: Joel Garner

text: Geoff Boycott said of Joel Garner "They should cut Joel Garner off at the knees to make him bowl at a normal height".


title: Joel Garner

text: In October 2010 Garner was named interim manager of the West Indies for the tour of Sri Lanka. He was one of the new faces in the team including captain Darren Sammy.


title: Joel Garner

text: In the 2013 election he was the BCA candidate for vice-president of the West Indies Cricket Board, losing to Dave Cameron's running mate, Emmanuel Nanthan of Dominica, 8–4. he continues as Barbados Cricket Association president, spearheads West Indies' drive in Masters Cricket, has served as a West Indies selector, and fulfils various other duties.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-Independence Indian literature. At the age of 20, as a chemistry undergraduate, he won the prize for the best short story in Malayalam at World Short Story Competition conducted by "The New York Herald Tribune". His first major novel "Naalukettu" ("Ancestral Home"- translated to English as "The Legacy"), written at the age of 23, won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1958. His other novels include "Manju" ("Mist"), "Kaalam" ("Time"), "Asuravithu" ("The Prodigal Son" - translated to English as "The Demon Seed") and "Randamoozham" ("The Second Turn"). The deep emotional experiences of his early days have gone into the making of MT's novels. Most of his works are oriented towards the basic Malayalam family structure and culture and many of them were path-breaking in the history of Malayalam literature. His three seminal novels on life in the matriarchal family in Kerala are "Naalukettu", "Asuravithu", and "Kaalam". "Randamoozham", which retells the story of the "Mahabharatha" from the point of view of Bhimasena, is widely credited as his masterpiece.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: M. T. Vasudevan Nair is a script writer and director of Malayalam films. He has directed seven films and written the screenplay for around 54 films. He won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay four times for: "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha" (1989), "Kadavu" (1991), "Sadayam" (1992), and "Parinayam" (1994), which is the most by anyone in the screenplay category. He was awarded the highest literary award in India, Jnanpith, in 1995 for his overall contribution to Malayalam literature. In 2005, India's third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan was awarded to him. He has won numerous other awards and recognition including Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Vayalar Award, Vallathol Award, Ezhuthachan Award, Mathrubhumi Literary Award and O. N. V. Literary Award. He was awarded the J.C. Daniel Award for lifetime achievement in Malayalam cinema for the year 2013. He served as the editor of "Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly" for several years. In 2022, he was honoured with the maiden Kerala Jyothi Award, the highest civilian award given by the Kerala Government.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: Vasudevan was born in 1933 at Kudallur, a small village in Anakkara panchayat in Pattambi Taluk at northwestern tip of Palakkad district, which shares boundary with Malappuram district on three sides. His native place fell under Malabar District in erstwhile Madras Presidency of the British Raj. He was the youngest of four children born to T. Narayanan Nair and Ammalu Amma. His father was in Ceylon and he spent his early days in Kudallur and in his father's house in Punnayurkulam, a village in the present day Thrissur district. He completed his schooling from Malamakkavu Elementary School and Kumaranelloor High School. He had to break education after high school, and when he joined college in 1949, he was advised to opt for the science stream as it was felt that a degree in science secured a job faster than any other degree. He obtained a degree in chemistry from Victoria College, Palakkad in 1953. He taught mathematics in Pattambi Board High School and Chavakkad Board High School for over a year and worked in M.B. Tutorial College, Palakkad during 1955–56. He also worked as a gramasevakan at a block development office in Taliparamba, Kannur for a few weeks before joining "Mathrubhumi Weekly" as subeditor in 1957.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT has been married twice. He married writer and translator Prameela in 1965. They separated after 11 years of marriage. He has a daughter from this marriage, Sithara, who works as a business executive in the United States. In 1977 he married dance artist Kalamandalam Saraswathy with whom he has a daughter, dancer Aswathy Nair. MT resides in "Sithara", Kottaram Road, Kozhikode, named after his eldest daughter.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT began writing at a very young age, inspired by his elder brothers who wrote time and again in several literary journals and poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri who was his senior at high school. He initially wrote poems but soon changed to prose writing. His first published work was an essay on the diamond industry of ancient India, titled "Pracheenabharathathile Vaira Vyavasayam", which appeared in "Keralakshemam", a biweekly published by C. G. Nair from Guruvayoor. His first story "Vishuvaghosham" was published in Madras-based "Chitrakeralam" magazine in 1948. The story which explores the feelings of a boy too poor to have crackers of his own, as he stands listening to the sounds of crackers coming from the houses of the rich celebrating the new year festival of Vishu: an overwhelming sense of loss, the painful realization that this is the way things are and the way they're likely to stay. His first book, "Raktham Puranda Manaltharikal" was published in 1952.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT's first literary prize came to him while he was a student at Victoria College, Palakkad - his short story "Valarthumrigangal" (Pet Animals) won first prize in the World Short Story Competition conducted by "The New York Herald Tribune", "Hindustan Times" and "Mathrubhumi" in 1954. It was a short story delineating the pathetic plight of circus artistes. The numerous stories that followed dealt with themes culled from widely different milieus and contexts but were uniformly successful and popular.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: The noted collections of his stories are "Iruttinte Athmavu, Olavum Theeravum, Bandhanam, Varikkuzhi, Dare-e-Salam, Swargam Thurakkunna Samayam, Vaanaprastham" and "Sherlock". "Iruttinte Athmavu" ("Soul of Darkness"), one of the most celebrated among his short stories, is the heart wrenching story of a 21-year-old man, regarded as a lunatic by everyone and treated abominably. The story reveals the insanity behind the civilised and supposedly sane world. The story "Sherlock" moves between the rural milieu familiar to MT's readers and the sophisticated world of Indian immigrants in the US, highlighting the contrast between them with subtle irony. MT wrote passionately of the cruelty hidden at the heart of a seemingly idyllic rural life ("Kurukkante Kalyanam" or "The Jackal's Wedding" and "Shilalikhithangal" or "Stone Inscriptions") and of the privations endured by those dependent on the agricultural cycle ("Karkitakom" and "Pallivalum Kalchilambum" or "Sacred Sword and Anklets"). In the story "Vanaprastham", he studies the delicately balanced relationship between a teacher and a student that has miraculously survived the years.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: M. T. Vasudevan Nair is of the opinion that short story is a genre in which a writer can achieve near perfection. He, along with T. Padmanabhan, serve as bridges between the early modern short story writers in Malayalam, of the so-called renaissance, and the new short story of the late fifties and sixties.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT's debut novel "Pathiravum Pakalvelichavum" ("Midnight and Daylight") was serialised in "Mathrubhumi Weekly" in 1957. His first major work "Naalukettu" ("The Legacy"; 1958) is a veritable depiction of the situation which prevailed in a typical joint family when its fortunes is on a steady decline. The title attributes to Nālukettu, a traditional ancestral home ("Taravad") of a Nair joint family. The novel remains a classic in Malayalam fiction. It contributed to the renewal of a literary tradition initiated by S. K. Pottekkatt, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer and Uroob in the 1950s. It was given the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1959. It has had 23 reprints and was translated into 14 languages and had a record sale of a half a million copies (as of 2008) and still features in the best-seller lists. MT himself adapted the novel into a television film for Doordarshan in 1995. It won the Kerala State Television Award for the year 1996.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: "Asuravithu" ("The Demon Seed"; 1972) which is set in a fictional Valluvanadan village named Kizhakkemuri can be considered almost as a sequel to "Naalukettu". It has the same geophysical and socio-cultural setting. The novel describes the plight of the protagonist Govindankutty, the youngest son of a proud Nair tharavadu, as he is trapped between the social scenario, social injustice and his own inner consciousness. In "Asuravithu" there are clear indications of the damaging impact of an alien culture in the pollution of the indigenous culture and the disintegration of the family and the community. These two early novels—"Naalukettu" and "Asuravithu"—depict a phase in which the economic and cultural scenario of Kerala manifested symptoms which were to develop into dangerous ecocidal tendencies at a later stage.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: His later novels, such as "Manju" ("Mist"; 1964) and "Kaalam" ("Time"; 1969), are characterised by profuse lyricism which cannot to be found in "Naalukettu" or "Asuravithu". The eco-feminist theme of patriarchal domination and exploitation gains more prominence in "Manju", MT's only novel with a female protagonist (Vimala). Set in the splendid landscape of Nainital, it stands apart as set in a milieu different from the usual one, the Valluvanadan village. The plot of the novel is allegedly similar to a Hindi story "Parinde" (Birds, 1956), by Nirmal Verma. However, both MT and Verma have rejected these claims.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: In the novel "Kaalam", MT returns to his favourite milieu, the dilapidated joint-family Nair tarwad set against the wider backdrop of the Valluvanadan village in the backdrop of the crumbling matrilineal order of Kerala in a newly independent India. Sethu, the protagonist, is toppled over by the eddies of social, cultural and economic transformation. "Kaalam", though not strictly autobiographical, has a strong autobiographical element in it. "Manju" had a film adaptation in 1983, written and directed by MT himself. The novel also had a Hindi-language film adaptation titled "Sarath Sandhya".


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: "Randamoozham" ("The Second Turn"; 1984), retells the story of the "Mahabharatha" from the point of view of Bhimasena, supposed to be the son of Vayu; this is demystified or demythified in the novel. In this novel, Bhima gains, through the author's ironic undertones, a new psychological depth. "I have not changed the framework of the story by the first Vyasa, Krishna-Dwaipayana. I have read between his lines and expanded on his pregnant silences," says the author.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT's latest novel is "Varanasi" (2002) which is an emotional journey to Varanasi, a pilgrim centre in North India. "Varanasi" opens with Professor Srinivasan's letter to Sudhakaran, the protagonist, referring to his unfinished thesis among his old books. The professor invites him to his home in Varanasi. Sudharkaran, in his sixties, and recovering from a prostrate procedure, decides to take the professor by surprise. He realises on arrival that the professor has recently died. The story evolves with a series of reminiscences, like a REM stream, in time transitions. The narration involves the third, first, and second person. In the train to Varanasi, Sudhakaran fishes out the book "Kashi: The Eternal City" by Sumita Nagpal, in which he is also acknowledged. By the time Sudhakaran finishes the book, he has traversed his life, his women, seen the demise of his well-wishers, moved through Varanasi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Paris, and Madras. He sees no need to complete his thesis — 'about the possibilities of Caliban' as once suggested by his professor for a scholarship at the university — and lets it go into the Ganga. He does the professor's last rites as also his own "Atma Pindom" (One's own funeral rites in anticipation of death). At the Dashashwamedh Ghat, Sumita, now an elderly woman, merely passes him by, not even recognising him. With no intricate plot, the novel is an experiment. It was well received in the literary circles but received criticism from critic and painter M. V. Devan.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT wrote the novel "Arabi Ponnu" ("The Gold of Arabia") along with N. P. Mohammed. MT and Mohamed stayed in a rented house in Karuvarakkundu village, Malappuram for a period of two weeks to complete this work.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT has authored two books on the craft of writing—"Kaathikante Panippura" and "Kaathikante Kala"—and his anecdotal columns articles on various topics and speeches on different occasions have been compiled under the titles "Kilivaathililude, Kannanthalippookkalude Kaalam, Vakkukalude Vismayam" and "Eekakikalude Sabdam". "Manushyar Nizhalukal" and "Aalkkoottathil Thaniye" are his travelogues.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: He occupied and continues to occupy many important and powerful positions in various literary bodies including the presidency of Kerala Sahitya Akademi and the chairmanship of "Tunchan Memorial Trust". He was an Executive Member of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi. The Library of Congress has in its collection sixty-two books, mostly by MT and some on him. Also, some of them are translations of his works into English. MT joined the Mathrubhumi Group of Publications in 1956. When he retired from there in 1998, he was their editor of periodicals and Chief Editor of "Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly". On 2 June 1996, he was bestowed with honorary D.Lit degree by the Calicut University.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: M. T. Vasudevan Nair is one of the most distinguished and well accepted script writers and directors in Malayalam cinema. He has directed seven films and written the screenplay for around 54 films. He won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay four times for: "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha" (1989), "Kadavu" (1991), "Sadayam" (1992), and "Parinayam" (1994), which is the most by anyone in the screenplay category.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT wrote his first screenplay, in 1965 for "Murappennu", at the behest of producer Shobhana Parameswaran Nair. The film was an adaptation of his story "Snehathinte Mukhangal". "The Hindu" described it as "a well-made film with a compelling plot" and as "one of the most significant films in the history of Malayalam cinema".


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT was the first and foremost script writer in Malayalam who wrote screenplays after having learnt cinema as a distinctive visual art which has its own language, grammar and structure. It was only after he began writing screenplays the Malayali viewers began to consider film script as a distinctive genre which has its own genuine features. Also, it was M.T who elevated this medium of writing as a literary from.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT's screenplays have won social attention for the portrayal of the social and cultural crisis in the contemporary life of Kerala. The


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: disintegration of human values and relationship which creates identity crisis, sense of loss, dehumanisation, alienation from one's own surroundings, etc. have been presented in its depth by MT more than any other writers. The best examples are "Kanyakumari", "Varikkuzhi", "Vilkkanundu Swapnangal", Sadayam, Asuravithu, "Edavazhiyile Poocha Mindappoocha", "Akshrangal", "Aalkkoottathil Thaniye", "Aaroodam" etc. A salient aspect of MT's screenplays is the effective presentation of the ecological or geographical factors and elements making use of the visual possibilities of their portrayal. Another unique feature is the language employed in them. Some of his screenplays are known for giving new interpretations to historical characters and historical stories. For instance, he gives the legends woven around the popular story of Perumthachan a new interpretation in his screenplay, based on his own assessment of Perumthachan's character. According to the folklore Vadakkanpattu (Northern Ballads), Chandu is said to have betrayed his cousin because he was jealous of Aaromal's popularity and abilities. But MT's "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha" presents an alternative version of the same legend, as it presents the incident from Chandu's perspective, suggesting that grave injustice has been done to Chandu by wrongly accusing him of replacing the rivets.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: In 1973, M. T. Vasudevan Nair made his directorial debut with "Nirmalyam" which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. The film is about a village oracle whose services are no longer needed by the community and whose family begins to fall apart. MT scripted and directed many more films including the award-winning "Bandhanam", "Kadavu" and "Oru Cheru Punchiri". "Kadavu" won awards at the Singapore International Film Festival and Tokyo International Film Festival. His cinema work also includes three documentaries and one TV series. He has written songs for the 1981 film "Valarthumrugangal" which were set to tune by M. B. Sreenivasan.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: M. T. Vasudevan Nair was the chairman of Indian Panorama of the 46th National Film Awards (1998). He has also been a member of Film Finance Corporation, National Film Development Corporation and Film Censoring Committee. He has also served as a faculty in the Film and Television Institute, Pune.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: MT was born and brought up in a sylvan village on the banks of Nila. The writer has so often acknowledged his indebtedness to the ethos of his village and to Nila which has ever been the mainspring of his creative inspiration. Nila occurs and re-occurs in MT's


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: fiction, as a presence and as a symbol, endorsing this view. The staple locale of his fiction is the Valluvanadan village. The landscape and ethos of the Valluvanad region and the transformations undergone by them in the course of the century, involving relics of the tarawad and the communal tensions provide a challenging theme for the highly evocative style of Vasudevan Nair's narrative art. The temporal milieu of MT's fiction stretches over the second half of the twentieth century, a period of tremendous social, cultural and economic changes.


title: M. T. Vasudevan Nair

text: It was in the sixties that MT rose to prominence as a writer. The phase of social realism had come to an end. In his opinion, class-war the ideal which had inspired the writers belonging to the preceding generation had almost lost its relevance by the time he entered the literary career. The prominent Malayalam writers of the pre-independence phase—Thakazhi, Vallathol and Kesavadev—were all stimulated by the progressive leftist ideals. They focussed their attention on social conflict as the theme for their writings—Conflict between capital and labour, between the landlord and the tenant, between the oppressor and the oppressed. MT felt that this theme of conflict was an outdated phenomenon in the context of present Kerala. The protagonists of MT are men out of society and at war with themselves, a sharp contrast to the heroes of Kesavadev or Thakazhi who fight a losing war against the hostile forces in the society. MT, in spite of his broad and deep sympathy for the marginalized, doesn't identify himself with any particular political ideology or movement.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Mason Walker Crosby (born September 3, 1984) is an American football placekicker for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Colorado, and earned unanimous All-American honors. The Packers chose him in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He was a member of the Packers' Super Bowl XLV championship team against the Pittsburgh Steelers.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby attended and played high school football at Georgetown High School. Crosby also attended Werner Elementary in Fort Collins, Colorado.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where he played on the Colorado Buffaloes football team from 2003 to 2006. While enrolled at Colorado, he displayed extraordinary leg strength, making a school-record 60-yard field goal against Iowa State in 2004. Crosby's 58-yard field goal against Miami in 2005 was the longest ever kicked in NCAA Division I-A football at sea-level without a tee. In all, Crosby holds 31 school records. Crosby connected on 66 of 88 field goals in total during his college career, and 30 of 34 inside 40 yards.


title: Mason Crosby

text: He developed a reputation for kicking in the clutch, making 12 of 13 field goals in the fourth quarter, and a perfect 10/10 in the final 8½ minutes of games. This bent was most evident when Crosby played rival Colorado State University, against which Crosby made kicks of 55 (2004), 48, and 47 yards (2005) in consecutive years to win the Rocky Mountain Showdown.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby also served as the Buffaloes' kickoff specialist, where his knack for forcing touchbacks after touchdowns made him a fan favorite. Overall, 138 of Crosby's 203 career kickoffs were touchbacks, including an 87-yard kickoff touchback from the 20-yard line against Iowa State in 2004. The Sporting News named Crosby to its All-Decade team for the first nine years of the 2000s (decade).


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Following his junior season in 2005, he was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from the Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, "The Sporting News", and Walter Camp Football Foundation. As a senior, he was again selected as a first-team All-American by "Pro Football Weekly" and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. He was the runner-up for the Lou Groza Award, despite being heavily favored to win. During his senior season, he became the first player in Big 12 Conference history to be named player of the week eight times, and became Colorado's all-time leading scorer, with 308 career points.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby was chosen by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round (193rd overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft, the last of three consecutive picks for the Packers, and the third kicker overall. Crosby entered training camp in a battle with incumbent placekicker Dave Rayner. During Green Bay's first pre-season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Crosby kicked a 52-yard field goal, the longest field goal in the history of Heinz Field. Crosby won the starting job during the final roster cut. In his first regular season game, Crosby converted all three field goals he attempted, including a 53-yarder and a 42-yard kick with two seconds left on the clock to help the Packers defeat the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. The kick was the first game-winner by a rookie on opening weekend since 1979 (when Matt Bahr achieved the same feat). Crosby was the first player in NFL history to kick a 50-yard field goal and a game-winning field goal with under a minute remaining in his NFL debut. Crosby was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week (the first rookie kicker to receive this honor on opening weekend).


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby was awarded the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November 2007. He led all NFL kickers with 54 points and tied for the lead with 12 field goals as the Packers posted a 4-1 mark. Crosby converted 12 of 15 field goals during November and was a perfect 18-for-18 on PATs. He had at least one field goal in every game, including four in the Week 9 win at Kansas City. His longest field goal of the month was a 52-yarder in the Week 13 contest at Dallas. For the 2007 season, Crosby led the NFL with 130 points scored and his 24 field goals ranked first in the NFC. Crosby finished second for most points scored in a season by a rookie (Kevin Butler had 144 points for Chicago in 1985). Crosby finished 2007 with the highest-scoring season by a kicker in franchise history and third-highest season point total by any Packers player.


title: Mason Crosby

text: In the first game of the 2010 regular season against the Eagles, Crosby kicked a field goal from 56 yards in the last seconds of the first half, his then career long and a franchise record.


title: Mason Crosby

text: At the end of the 2010 season, Crosby and the Packers appeared in Super Bowl XLV against the Steelers. In the 31–25 victory, he converted all four extra point attempts and his only field goal attempt.


title: Mason Crosby

text: On July 27, 2011, the Packers re-signed Crosby to a 5-year, $14 million deal. Crosby kicked four field goals in a game on three occasions, which were October 9, 2011 (Atlanta Falcons), October 23, 2011 (Minnesota Vikings), and December 11, 2011 (Oakland Raiders). On October 2, 2011, Crosby kicked a season-high 7 PATs against the Denver Broncos. On October 23, 2011, Crosby set the franchise record when he made a 58-yard field goal in the third quarter as part of a four-field-goal game. He also was good from 39, 45, and 24 yards and made all 15 of his field goals through week 9. He equaled his then record distance on a 56-yard field goal on October 9, 2011, in the third quarter against the Atlanta Falcons. He finished the 2011 season converting 68-of-69 extra point attempts and 24-of 28 field goal attempts. The Packers' season ended in the Divisional Round against the New York Giants. In the 37–20 loss, he converted both extra point attempts and both field goal attempts.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby kicked three field goals a game at the most all season, on 3 occasions, September 13, 2012 (Chicago Bears), October 21, 2012 (St. Louis Rams), and December 2, 2012 (Minnesota Vikings). On December 23, 2012, Crosby kicked a season-high 7 PATs against the Tennessee Titans. On September 14, 2012, Crosby kicked a season-long 54-yard field goal against the Chicago Bears.


title: Mason Crosby

text: In 2012, he finished with a 63.6 field-goal percentage. This was the lowest field goal percentage for any active kicker in the league in the 2012 season.


title: Mason Crosby

text: On September 15, 2013, Crosby kicked a season-high five PATs against the Washington Redskins. On October 27, 2013, Crosby tied his season-high 5 PATs against the Minnesota Vikings as well. On October 6, 2013, Crosby kicked a season-high 5 field goals against the Detroit Lions. On November 17, 2013, Crosby kicked a season-long 57-yard field goal against the New York Giants. On December 15, 2013, Crosby tied his season-long 57-yard field goal against the Dallas Cowboys. Crosby kicked 33 field goals in the 2013 season, tying the franchise single-season record with Ryan Longwell and Chester Marcol.


title: Mason Crosby

text: On September 14, 2014, Crosby kicked a season-long 55-yard field goal against the New York Jets. On November 9, 2014, Crosby kicked a season-high 7 PATs against the Chicago Bears. Crosby kicked 27 field goals in the 2014 season, which is the 5th most in franchise history. On January 18, 2015, in the NFC Championship game, Crosby kicked a season-high 5 field goals against the Seattle Seahawks, including a 48 yarder to force overtime. However, Seattle scored a touchdown which ended the Packers season.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby scored his 1,000th point in his 124th career game, the Packers' Week 13 game against the New England Patriots, making him the third-fastest player to 1,000 points (after the Patriots' Stephen Gostkowski and Gino Cappelletti).


title: Mason Crosby

text: On September 20, 2015, Crosby broke Ryan Longwell's team career scoring record of 1,054 with his fourth field goal of the game against the Seattle Seahawks. He is now the all-time leading scorer in Packers' history.


title: Mason Crosby

text: On September 28, 2015, Crosby kicked a season-high five PATs against the Kansas City Chiefs. On November 1, 2015, Crosby kicked a season-long 56-yard field goal against the Denver Broncos. On November 22, 2015, Crosby kicked a season-high 5 field goals against the Minnesota Vikings. On January 3, 2016, Crosby recorded a forced fumble against the Minnesota Vikings.


title: Mason Crosby

text: On January 15, 2017, Crosby kicked three field goals, of 56 and two of 51 yards (one of which did not count), in the final two minutes of the Packers' 34–31-second-round NFC divisional playoff win against the Dallas Cowboys. The first 51 yarder was invalidated due to a Cowboys timeout called in a process called icing the kicker. Crosby kicked the second 51-yard attempt for the win as time expired, marking the first time a kicker made two 50+ yard field goals in the final two minutes of a postseason game. He also converted his 20th consecutive field goal in the post season, surpassing David Akers's previous record of 19.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby completed the 2017 season with the Packers, maintaining a 78.9% field goal completion percentage, his lowest since 2010. Crosby also accomplished a 94.3% extra point completion percentage, the second lowest of his career. The Packers had been suffering difficulties with the longsnapper position and holder responsibilities changed hands several times throughout the year. The search for a longsnapper and reliable holder led to several missed field goals and two missed extra points.


title: Mason Crosby

text: During a Week 10 matchup against the Chicago Bears, Crosby missed a 35-yard field goal off of an off-line snap that was then mishandled by rookie holder and punter Justin Vogel. After that game, Crosby only missed one more kick for the rest of the season, a would-be record at Heinz Field of 57 yards.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Due to the Packers' loss of Aaron Rodgers for most of the season, defensive difficulties, and special teams miscues, 2017 would be only the second year Crosby had not played in a playoff game in his 10-year NFL career.


title: Mason Crosby

text: In a Week 2 tie against the Minnesota Vikings, Crosby made what appeared to be the game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. However, the Vikings called a timeout just before the attempt to "ice the kicker", and Crosby missed the second attempt sending the game into overtime and an eventual tie. In Week 5, Crosby was 1–5 on field goals and also missed his only extra point attempt, becoming the first player since Kris Brown in 2001 to miss 4 field goals in a single game and just the fourth player in NFL history to miss 4+ field goals and an extra point in a game. Crosby bounced back the following week, converting all three extra point attempts and all four field goal attempts, including a 27-yard game winner as time expired in a 33–30 win over the San Francisco 49ers, earning him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. He finished the 2018 season converting 34 of 36 extra point attempts and 30 of 37 field goal attempts.


title: Mason Crosby

text: On October 14, 2019, Crosby kicked 3 field goals, including the game-winner, in a Week 6 victory over the Detroit Lions; he performed a Lambeau Leap to celebrate the victory. He kicked another game-winning field goal during a Week 17 rematch against the Lions on December 29.


title: Mason Crosby

text: On February 24, 2020, Crosby signed a three-year, $12.9 million contract extension with the Packers. On July 30, the Packers placed Crosby on the reserve/COVID-19 list. He was activated on August 15, 2020. Crosby would end up having a perfect regular season for the first time in his career, making 16 of 16 field goals. The 16 field goals he attempted were a career low, as the Packers offense had a record-setting year—Crosby had fewer field goals than wide receiver Davante Adams had touchdowns (18).


title: Mason Crosby

text: On March 23, 2021, the Green Bay Packers restructured Crosby's contract by converting part of his base salary into a salary bonus, as well as his $1.25M roster bonus to a signing bonus. Part of this restructure was also included extending his contract with 3 void years. In a Week 3 win against the San Francisco 49ers, Crosby made all 3 of his field goal attempts, including the 51-yard game-winner as time expired, earning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Against the Cincinnati Bengals, Crosby missed three straight field goals that could've won the game for the Packers, but ended up making a game winning field goal in overtime to help the Packers win 25–22. In what had been an up and down year, the special teams unit was ranked dead last in efficiency by DVOA. This in part was due to the myriad of miscues and miss-kicks. In the divisional round of the 2022 NFL Playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers, Crosby had a kick blocked by Jimmie Ward at the end of the first half. This blocked kick would come back to haunt the Packers as they went on to lose by a score of 13–10.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby graduated in December 2006 from the University of Colorado, majoring in communication. He attended Georgetown High School in Texas, where he played football and soccer. He is a Houston Astros fan and an avid golfer. Mason's father, Jim, was a running back in college for the UTEP Miners and graduated from Texas Tech. Crosby married Molly (née Ackerman) on June 28, 2008. They have three children.


title: Mason Crosby

text: Crosby is a Christian, who has spoken about his faith by saying, "I think He helps me knowing that kicking is what I do, not who I am. It's not everything that I am. I can escape knowing that my relationship with Christ is what carries me. I'm always reading in the Proverbs and Psalms to relax my mind before we play. I know that God cares for me all the time regardless of any outcome here."


title: Jim Rice

text: James Edward Rice (born March 8, 1953), nicknamed "Jim Ed", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder and designated hitter. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, 2009, as the 103rd member voted in by the BBWAA. Rice played his entire 16-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox.


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice was an eight-time American League (AL) All-Star and was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in after becoming the first major league player in 19 years to hit for 400 total bases. He went on to become the ninth player to lead the major leagues in total bases in consecutive seasons. He joined Ty Cobb as one of two players to lead the AL in total bases three years in a row. He batted .300 seven times, collected 100 runs batted in (RBI) eight times and 200 hits four times, and had 11 seasons with 20 home runs. He also led the league in home runs three times, RBIs and slugging percentage twice each.


title: Jim Rice

text: From 1975 through 1980 he was part of one of the sport's great outfields along with Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans (who was his teammate for his entire career); Rice continued the tradition of his predecessors Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as a power-hitting left fielder who played his entire career for the Red Sox. He ended his career with a .502 slugging percentage, and then ranked tenth in AL history with 382 home runs; his career marks in homers, hits (2,452), RBI (1,451) and total bases (4,129) remain Red Sox records for a right-handed hitter, with Evans eventually surpassing his Boston records for career runs scored, at bats and extra base hits by a right-handed hitter. When Rice retired, his 1,503 career games in left field ranked seventh in AL history.


title: Jim Rice

text: In the minor leagues, Rice's three-run home run was the key blow in helping the Pawtucket Red Sox (International League) defeat the Tulsa Oilers (American Association) in a 5–2 win in the 1973 Junior World Series. After he was AAA's International League Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and Triple Crown winner in 1974, he and fellow rookie teammate Fred Lynn were brought up to the Red Sox at the same time, and were known as the "Gold Dust Twins". He was promoted in the Red Sox organization to be a full-time player in 1975, and finished in second place for the American League's Rookie of the Year honors, and third in the Most Valuable Player voting, after he finished the season with 174 base hits, 102 runs batted in, a .309 batting average and 22 home runs; Lynn won both awards. The Red Sox won the AL's East Division, but Rice did not play in either the League Championship Series or World Series because of a wrist injury sustained during the last week of the regular season when he was hit by a pitch. The Red Sox went on to lose the World Series 4 games to 3 to the Cincinnati Reds of the National League (NL).


title: Jim Rice

text: In 1978, Rice won the Most Valuable Player award in a campaign where he hit .315 (third in the league) and led the league in home runs (46), RBI (139), hits (213), triples (15), total bases (406, a Red Sox record) and slugging percentage (.600). He is one of only two AL players ever to lead his league in both triples and home runs in the same season, and he remains the only player ever to lead the major leagues in triples, home runs and RBIs in the same season. His 406 total bases that year were the most in the AL since Joe DiMaggio had 418 in 1937, and it made Rice the first major leaguer with 400 or more total bases since Hank Aaron's 400 in 1959. This feat was not repeated until 1997, when Larry Walker had 409 in the NL. No AL player has done it since Rice in 1978, and his total remains the third highest by an AL right-handed hitter, behind DiMaggio and Jimmie Foxx (438 in ).


title: Jim Rice

text: In 1986, Rice had 200 hits, batted .324, and had 110 RBIs. The Red Sox made it to the World Series for the second time during his career. This time, Rice played in all 14 postseason games, where he collected 14 hits, including two home runs. He also scored 14 runs and drove in six. The 14 runs Rice scored is the fifth most recorded by an individual during a single year's postseason play. The Red Sox went on to lose the World Series to the New York Mets, 4 games to 3, the fourth consecutive Series appearance by Boston which they lost in seven games.


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice led the AL in home runs three times (1977, 1978, 1983), in RBI twice (1978, 1983), in slugging percentage twice (1977, 1978), and in total bases four times (1977–1979, 1983). He also picked up Silver Slugger Awards in 1983 and 1984 (the award was created in 1980). Rice hit at least 39 home runs in a season four times, had eight 100-RBI seasons and four seasons with 200+ hits, and batted over .300 seven times. He finished his 16-year career with a .298 batting average, 373 doubles, 79 triples, 382 home runs, 1,451 RBIs, 1,249 runs scored, 2,452 hits, 670 walks and 4,129 total bases. He was an American League All-Star eight times (1977–1980, 1983–1986). In addition to winning the American League MVP award in 1978, he finished in the top five in MVP voting five other times (1975, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1986).


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice is the only player in history to lead the league in home runs, RBIs, and triples in the same year. He is also the only player in major league history to record over 200 hits while hitting 39 or more home runs for three consecutive years. He is tied for the AL record of leading the league in total bases for three straight seasons, and was one of three AL players to have three straight seasons of hitting at least 39 home runs while batting .315 or higher. From 1975 to 1986, Rice led the AL in total games played, at bats, runs scored, hits, homers, RBIs, slugging percentage, total bases, extra base hits, go-ahead RBIs, multi-hit games, and outfield assists. Among all major league players during that time, Rice was the leader in five of these categories (Mike Schmidt is next, having led in four).


title: Jim Rice

text: In 1984 he set a major league single-season record by hitting into 36 double plays. His 315 career times grounding into double plays ranks him eighth in major league history; he did break Brooks Robinson's AL record for a right-handed hitter (297) in 1988. Cal Ripken Jr. eventually surpassed this mark in 1999. Rice did led the league in this category for four seasons (1982–1985), which tied the major league record that had been previously set by Ernie Lombardi. In 2009 Miguel Tejada recorded his fifth season leading his league in this category and now holds this record. During the time Rice was the annual GDP leader he also had averaged 112 RBI's per season which is ten more than Albert Pujols' mark of 102 following his four-year GDP leadership. The on-base prowess of Rice's teammates placed him in a double play situation over 2,000 times during his career. Rice posted a batting average of .310 and slugging percentage of .515 in those situations which is better than his overall career marks in those categories.


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice could hit for both power and average, and currently only 12 other retired players rank ahead of him in both career home runs and batting average: Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Mike Piazza, and Larry Walker. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time".


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice was an accomplished left fielder, finishing his career with a fielding percentage of .980 and had 137 outfield assists (comparable to Ted Williams' figures of .974 and 140). Although never possessing great speed, he had a strong throwing arm and was able to master the various caroms that balls took from the Green Monster (in left field) in Fenway Park. His 21 assists in 1983 remains the most by a Red Sox outfielder since 1944, when Bob Johnson had 23. Aside from playing 1543 games as an outfielder during his career, Rice also appeared as a designated hitter in 530 games.


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice was associated with a variety of charitable organizations during his career, primarily on behalf of children, some of which have carried on into his retirement. He was named an honorary chairman of The Jimmy Fund, the fundraising arm of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, in 1979, and in 1992 was awarded that organization's "Jimmy Award", which honors individuals who have demonstrated their dedication to cancer research. Rice is also active in his support of the Neurofibromatosis Foundation of New England. Rice's involvement with Major League Baseball's RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) resulted in the naming of a new youth baseball facility in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in his honor in 1999. A youth recreation center in Rice's hometown of Anderson, South Carolina, is also named in his honor.


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice is also remembered for his actions during a nationally televised game (against the Chicago White Sox) on August 7, 1982, when he rushed into the stands to help a young boy who had been struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Dave Stapleton. As other players and spectators watched, Rice left the dugout and entered the stands to help four-year-old Jonathan Keane, who was bleeding heavily. Rice carried the boy onto the field, through the Red Sox dugout and into the clubhouse, where the young boy was immediately treated by the team's medical staff. Rice's swift response saved Keane's life, as paramedics would likely not have arrived in time. Rice also paid the hospital bill, and Keane made a full recovery from the injury.


title: Jim Rice

text: In 1990, Rice agreed to play with the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association. Afterwards, Rice has served as a roving batting coach (1992–1994) and hitting instructor (1995–2000), and remains an instructional batting coach (2001–present) with the Red Sox organization. While the Red Sox hitting coach, the team led the league in hitting in 1997 and players won two batting titles. Rice was the hitting coach for the American League in the 1997 and 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, both under the same manager, the New York Yankees' Joe Torre. Since 2003, he's also been employed as a commentator for the New England Sports Network (NESN), where he contributes to the Red Sox pre-game and post-game shows. He had a cameo appearance in the NESN movie "Wait Till This Year" and in the film "Fever Pitch". The former slugger has been known to pass his wisdom on to the current Sox players and stars from time to time. Rice was elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame when it first opened in 1995, and he is the 40th member of Ted Williams' Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, having been inducted along with Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount in 2001. On November 29, 2008, the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) announced that Rice would be the recipient of the Emil Fuchs Award for long and meritorious service to baseball.


title: Jim Rice

text: During his Hall of Fame acceptance speech Rice revealed that he is a devoted fan of "The Young and the Restless", noting that he was watching the show when he was informed of his acceptance.


title: Jim Rice

text: While Rice was generally regarded as one of the better hitters of his era based upon the statistics traditionally used by the BBWAA to evaluate players' Hall of Fame qualifications, he was not elected until his 15th and final year of eligibility, netting 76.4% of the votes, in 2009. Over the years he was on the BBWAA ballot, he received 3,974 total votes, the most ever collected by any player that was voted on for baseball's highest honor. In 2006 and 2007, he received over 63% of votes cast. Rice just missed being elected in 2008 when the count found him on 72.2% of the ballots, only 2.8% short of the required 75%. Rice became the third enshrinee to get into the shrine on his last chance on the ballot, and the first since Ralph Kiner (1975).


title: Jim Rice

text: Rice's delay in being elected to the Hall of Fame stemmed in part from more current statistical analysis of player performance. This analysis suggested that Rice's HOF credentials might have been more questionable than they were considered during his career. The delay may also have been related to his often difficult relationship with the media during his playing career, many of whom are still voting members of the BBWAA, and his career fading relatively early – he last played in the major leagues at the age of 36. Some writers, such as the "Boston Herald"'s Sean McAdam, said that Rice's chances improved with the exposure of the "Steroids Era" in baseball. In the same article, McAdam expanded this subject by adding: "In an era when power numbers are properly viewed with a healthy dose of suspicion, Rice's production over the course of his 16 years gains additional stature." As such, he has received increasingly more votes each year since the 2003 ballot, improving his vote totals by 133 votes over the last five years on the ballot. However, from several sabermetric standpoints it can be argued that Rice falls short of his peers in the Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, several commentators have noted that the continued criticism of Rice's statistics not meeting sabermetric standards is unfair given that several other Hall of Fame players, notably Andre Dawson and Tony Pérez, fare even worse against such standards.


title: Jim Rice

text: During the 2007 season, the Pawtucket Red Sox started a campaign to get Rice inducted which included having fans sign "the World's Largest Jim Rice Jersey."


title: Jim Rice

text: Although other players have compiled career statistics more similar to Rice's, most notably 1999 Hall inductee Orlando Cepeda, perhaps the most similar player to Rice was 1968 inductee Joe Medwick. Both were power-hitting left fielders who batted right-handed and played their home games in stadiums which favored hitters, and both had a period of a few years in which they enjoyed a remarkable burst of offense, each winning an MVP award at age 25 – Rice after collecting 400 total bases, and Medwick after becoming the last NL player to win the Triple Crown. Both retired at age 36 due to the cumulative effect of various minor injuries. Their career totals in games, at bats, runs, hits, RBI, steals, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, extra base hits and total bases are all fairly similar, with notable differences only in batting average and home runs; Medwick's higher average (.324 to .298) can be partially attributed to the higher emphasis on batting average in the 1930s, while Rice's advantage in home runs (382 to 205) is largely the result of a dramatic increase in homers over the 40 years between their careers (Rice ranked 10th in AL history upon his retirement, while Medwick ranked 11th in NL history upon his). Medwick was elected to the Hall in his final season of eligibility in 1968, which Rice also duplicated.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: The Zapotecs (Valley Zapotec: "Bën za") are an indigenous people of Mexico. The population is concentrated in the southern state of Oaxaca, but Zapotec communities also exist in neighboring states. The present-day population is estimated at approximately 400,000 to 650,000 persons, many of whom are monolingual in one of the native Zapotec languages and dialects. In pre-Columbian times, the Zapotec civilization was one of the highly developed cultures of Mesoamerica, which, among other things, included a system of writing. Many people of Zapotec ancestry have emigrated to the United States over several decades, and they maintain their own social organizations in the Los Angeles and Central Valley areas of California.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: There are four basic groups of Zapotecs: the ', who live in the southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the ', who live in the northern mountains of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, the southern Zapotecs, who live in the southern mountains of the Sierra Sur, and the Central Valley Zapotecs, who live in and around the Valley of Oaxaca.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: For decades it was believed that the exonym name "Zapotec" came from the Nahuatl ' (singular '), which means "inhabitants of the place of sapote". Recent studies carried out by UNAM indicate that it is actually a hybrid word and should be written Zapochteca or Zaapochteca and comes from “za / zaa” (cloud) and “pochteca” (merchant).


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Although several theories of the origin of the Zapotec peoples exist, including some possibly influenced in the post-conquest period, scholars largely agree the Zapotecs inhabited the Central Valley of Oaxaca as early as 500–300 BCE, during what is considered the Monte Alban I period. During this period, the Zapotecs established a significant system of governance over the population of the region. The Monte Alban periods, of which five have been categorized, lasted from 500 BCE to the time of conquest in 1521 AD. Yet archaeological evidence from the site of Monte Alban, "the first city in ancient Mesoamerica" has revealed settlement of the region as far back as 1150 BCE. Scholars have been able to correlate with the Formative, Classic, and post-Classic periods of civilization in the region within the greater Mesoamerican history through these discoveries. The Formative stage, from about 500 BCE to 200 AD of which the periods of Monte Alban I and II are attributed to, is characterized by a shift to sedentary settlements and the practice of agriculture for subsistence. From 200 to 900 AD in the Monte Alban III period, the Classic stage witnessed the rise of social and political structures in the Zapotec civilization. This period also saw a surge in religious activity within the state leadership of the society. Later, during the "Militaristic stage" of Monte Alban IV–V from around 900–1521 AD, a rise in military influence common among Mesoamerican societies led states to become mired in warfare and "cults of war".


title: Zapotec peoples

text: The Zapotecan language group is composed of over 60 variants of Zapotecan, as well as the closely related Chatino language. The major variant is Isthmus Zapotec, which is spoken on the Pacific coastal plain of Southern Oaxaca's Isthmus of Tehuantepec.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Though the Zapotecs are now largely Catholics, some of their ancient beliefs and practices, such as the burial of the dead with valuables, still survive. Some images of local Catholic saints resemble the old gods of the Zapotecs. One example is of San Pedro who resembles the Zapotec rain god Cocijo. The first missionaries among the Zapotecs were Bartolomé de Olmeda, a Mercedarian, and Juan Díaz, a secular priest, who was killed by the natives in Quechula near Tepeaca for having "overthrown their idols".


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Notably, while the Virgen de Guadalupe is a notable Catholic figure in most of Mexico and Latin America, the Virgen de Juquila is a Catholic Marian devotion founded in the town of Santa Catarina Juquila, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Many Zapotec Catholic people participate in an annual pilgrimage to visit the statue during festivities lasting from December 7 to December 9.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: At the time of the Spanish conquest of the New World, church and state were not separate in Zapotec society. In fact, the Zapotec lord was trained in religious practice as a requirement prior to taking power. There were large temples built called "yo hopèe," the house of the vital force, in which the priests performed religious rites. In the spiritual realm the "pè", or life force, lived within various natural elements including wind, breath and was believed to be the spirit, or vital force, of all beings. The priests, known as "Copa pitào," who were mostly selected from the nobility, were provided their religious training before taking a position among the religious hierarchy. Commoners were also selected and trained to join the priesthood, but they were only allowed to join the lower ranks. The highest position was held by the "ouija-tào," great seer, who was likened to the Pope in the Catholic church by Spanish accounts of the sixteenth century. However, the ouija-tào did not live in Monte Alban, but rather in one of the other urban centers of the Zapotecs in the sub-valley area of Mitla. As a polytheistic religion, the Zapotecs attributed several elements of the natural world to their gods. In the religious practice of the Valley Zapotecs, the primary god was "Pitao Cozobi" who was associated with maize and agriculture. Other gods include, "Cocijo" the god of rain and lightning (similar to the Toltec god, Tlaloc); "Pitao Cozaana" the creator of man, animals and the god of ancestors; "Pitao Hichaana" the goddess of man and animals as well as children, also considered the Mother goddess; "Pitao Pezelao" god of the underworld, death, and the earth; "Copijcha" the Sun god and god of war; "Pitao Xicala" god of love, dreams, and excess.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Zapotec women in the Mexican state of Oaxaca play a variety of social roles in their families and communities. As is true for many other cultures, Zapotec women have historically had a different place in society than men. These roles are in the context of marriage, childbearing, and work. Within them, they make up a vital part of the fabric that is Zapotec Oaxaca.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Much of Zapotec social life is strongly segregated by sex. Men and women often work separately, coming together to eat in the morning and evening, and during ritual occasions, they remain separate except when dancing." The purity of women is highly valued and their sexual and social autonomy can be hindered as a result. "Most women in the community, whether old or young, are concerned with protecting their sexual reputations. Many girls are still strictly watched and not allowed to walk the streets alone after the age of ten or eleven." Though this is seen as a way to protect the women, it ultimately restricts their behavior.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Women are generally free to choose romantic partners; monogamy is valued, but having multiple sexual partners is not. However, for men and women this differs slightly; again for women virginity is regarded as important, even to the extent of publicly displaying the bloody sheet from the wedding night for some, an ancient Mediterranean custom brought by the Spaniards, while unmarried men are encouraged to experiment before they marry. Within marriage, the degree to which women are able to exercise agency depends on the husband. Some women are very free and have the ability to do as they wish, while others may have very controlling husbands; either way, however, women's freedom is determined by their spouse. "While some men jealously guarded their wives (even insisting on driving them to the marketplace), others [allow] their wives and daughters considerable independence." The issue of domestic violence is not necessarily commonplace.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: In addition to playing an important role in the family as wives and daughters, another important role for the Zapotec women is that of the mother. Childbearing and rearing are female duties. It is the women's job to take on the responsibility of the children, while she is also expected to be the one to take care of the household in terms of the cooking, cleaning, "et cetera". In addition to all of this, many poor women are also expected to work to help support the family. "Women, therefore, must work to contribute to their family income, in addition to attending to their traditional household tasks of child care and food."


title: Zapotec peoples

text: In Zapotec Oaxaca, the gendered implications of labor give different tasks to men and women. Because women are also responsible for caring for the children and the home, the outside work they do must revolve around those duties.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: However, with the onset of globalized industry and Mexico's transition from an agricultural economy to one revolving around services and manufacturing, the ideas about women and work have been shifting dramatically. Women now see a way that they can participate in the market economy to make extra money for their families, and still are able to maintain the additional work they do at home which has no monetary value. As men are migrating for other, mostly industrial, work opportunities and agrarian work is decreasing, women have come to dominate the textile industry, which caters mainly to tourists. Weaving and factory life has become a way of life for many Zapotec women in Oaxaca.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: The industry has had a significant impact on the wage-earning opportunity of Zapotec women. Workers in Teotitlan's textile industry employ a variety of strategies and systems of production [from] piecework production...increased direct control over production and distribution...weaving cooperatives...establishment of households and small businesses in Oaxaca... [to] subcontracting of weaving in Teotitlan and surrounding communities."


title: Zapotec peoples

text: As women are increasingly working and involved in the market because of their contribution to the industry, the role they have in society is changing in relation to other aspects of their lives.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: The merchant has come to symbolize a higher class status than the worker because they are the individuals who essentially control the market.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: For Zapotec communities, occupations are divided by gender. While men have a place in the industry as overseers, it is still primarily considered to be 'women's work'. Furthermore, even though the manufacturing industry has been thriving on a global scale, because of the gender separation of labor, there is a lower value placed on the work. Local industry is not seen as a glorious business in the Zapotec community because it is essentially controlled by women.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Teotiteco industrial exports, such as textiles, clothing and manufactured goods such as electronics and white goods, are being absorbed into the U.S. consumer market and shifting the local economy of Oaxaca from a small community of workers and merchants and blending them into the global marketplace. The women are producing goods which are being bought and sold not only in Mexico, but also in the United States and the rest of the world.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: In the central valleys of Oaxaca, the Zapotec villages often have a specific craft associated with them. In those villages, most of the people of that village will be makers of that particular product. In San Bartolo Coyotepec, they are known for their black pottery. San Martín Tilcajete people are known for their carved and brightly painted wooden figures.


title: Zapotec peoples

text: Although there are very specifically defined gender roles regarding industrial production, it varies by city and by technique. In larger cities, such as Oaxaca, where the industry is based around more expensive goods, such as automotive production or electronics manufacturing, men typically command factories and are engineers and directors, while women are usually in the lower positions of line workers and assistants. In villages such as San Bartolo Yautepec, where back-strap weaving is done, the weaving is done by women. These are usually lightweight fabrics used for table runners, purses and smaller items. In Teotitlán, Santa Ana del Valle and Villa Díaz Ordaz for example, rug weaving on floor looms is done primarily by men, though women also weave rugs. Women's contributions are becoming greater and many women have a certain degree of independence and autonomy through their income from weaving. But feeding, clothing and taking care of the family is usually their primary responsibility. In Mitla, fly shuttle weaving, of light-weight, but large-scale, fabrics are also more often done by men than by women, probably because of the physical effort required.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: Ficus benghalensis, commonly known as the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan, is a tree native to the Indian Subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It also known as the "strangler fig" because it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up suffocating.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: "Ficus benghalensis" is an evergreen, fast-growing tree found mainly in monsoon and rainforests, that can reach a height of up to 30 meters. It is resistant to drought and mild frost. It produces propagating roots which grow downwards as aerial roots on the branches that grow downward like lianas. Once these roots reach the ground, they take root and become woody trunks and supportive.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: The figs produced by the tree are eaten by birds such as the Indian myna. Fig seeds that pass through the digestive system of birds are more likely to germinate and sprout earlier.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: Banyan trees reproduce easily by seed or by stake, and they often spread from the original place by means of aerial roots that anchor in the ground and begin to grow and thicken to the point that they "become independent" from the original trunk, thus managing to "emigrate" sometimes at great distances. The figs are eaten by all kinds of frugivorous birds such as the coppersmith barbet and the common myna. Seeds that have passed through the digestive system of birds are more likely to germinate and grow faster.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: Banyan seeds can fall and grow near a tree, sometimes from the very tree from which they come, and they also usually bear fruit in a hollow in a trunk or in a wall or rock. Gradually they begin to grow as they have plenty of support as epiphytes on any object they can use to climb in search of sunlight. Under normal conditions, the tree grows until it reaches a level where it gets the most sunlight, so its height can vary considerably. For this reason, where this tree predominates in a place, rather than growing in height, they spread on the surface, looking for the gaps that are left without vegetation. In general, the crown of this tree extends over a diameter well above its height.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: The tree is considered sacred in India, and temples are often built nearby. Due to the large size of the tree's canopy, it provides useful shade in hot climates.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: In Theravada Buddhism, this tree is said to have been used as the tree for achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi by the twenty fourth buddha called "Kassapa - කස්සප". The sacred plant is known as "Nuga - නුග" or "Maha nuga - මහ නුග" in Sri Lanka.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: It is the tree under which Lord Adhinath the first Jain Tirthankara attained Kewal Gyan or spiritual enlightenment.


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: The giant banyans of India are the largest trees in the world by area of canopy coverage. Notable trees include:


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: The largest known specimen of tree in the world in terms of the two dimensional area covered by its canopy is Thimmamma Marrimanu in Andhra Pradesh, India, which covers . This tree is also the largest known specimen of tree in the world in terms of the length of its perimeter, which measures .


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: Nearchus, an admiral of Alexander the Great, described a large specimen on the banks of the Narmada River in contemporary Bharuch, Gujarat, India; he may have described the specimen presently named "Kabirvad". The canopy of the specimen which Nearchus described was so extensive that it sheltered 7,000 men. James Forbes later described it in his "Oriental Memoirs" (1813-5) as almost in circumference and having more than 3,000 trunks. Currently the area of its canopy is with a perimeter of .


title: Ficus benghalensis

text: Other notable Indian specimens include The Great Banyan in the Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanic Garden in Shibpur, Howrah, which has a canopy area of and is about 250 years old, and Dodda Aladha Mara in Kettohalli, Karnataka, which has a canopy area of and is about 400 years old.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: Pizza arrived in the United States in the early 20th century along with waves of Italian immigrants who settled primarily in the large cities of the Northeast. It got a boost both in popularity and regional spread after soldiers stationed in Italy returned from World War II.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: During the latter half of the 20th century, pizza became an iconic dish of considerable acceptance in the United States. Numerous regional variations have evolved, with many bearing only a casual resemblance to the Italian original. It is a popular fast food item produced by several pizza chains. The United States pizza restaurant industry was worth $37 billion in 2015.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: The first pizzeria in the U.S., Lombardi's, opened in New York City's Little Italy in 1905, producing a Neapolitan-style pizza.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: Distinct regional types developed in the 20th century, including Buffalo, California, Chicago, Detroit, Greek, New Haven, New York, and St. Louis styles. These regional variations include deep-dish, stuffed, pockets, turnovers, rolls, and pizza-on-a-stick, each with several combinations of sauce and toppings.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: Thirteen percent of the United States population consumes pizza on any given day. Tens of thousands of pizzerias, food stands, chains such as Domino's, Pizza Hut, and Papa John's, pies from take and bake shops, and chilled or frozen pizzas from supermarkets make pizza readily available both to diners and at-home consumers nationwide.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: Common toppings for pizza in the United States include pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers, sausage, ground beef, bacon, chicken, ham, pineapple, salami, spinach, tomatoes, and anchovies.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: American pizza (particularly thin-crust) is made with a very high-gluten flour (often 13–14% protein content) of the type also used to make bagels; this allows the dough to be stretched thinly and thrown vigorously without tearing. Unlike Italian pizza, American pizza often has vegetable oil or shortening mixed into the dough. This can range from a small amount in relatively lean doughs, such as New York style, to a very large amount in some recipes for Chicago-style deep-dish dough.


title: Pizza in the United States

text: While tomato sauce is virtually ubiquitous, variations such as white pizza omit it while others replace it with garlic and olive oil or sauces made from other vegetables such as pesto.


title: Letter to You

text: Letter to You is the twentieth studio album by Bruce Springsteen. Released in October 2020, it was Springsteen's first new studio album with the E Street Band to be released since 2014's "High Hopes". "Letter to You" was met with widespread critical acclaim; critics responded favorably to the album's treatment of issues of aging and death. The album was a commercial success, topping several international sales charts and was Springsteen's 21st top-10 album in the United States. Since touring was not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the album was promoted with an online radio station, music videos, and a custom Twitter emoji.


title: Letter to You

text: Springsteen assembled the E Street Band at his home studio for five days of recording in November 2019 but finished after just four. The recordings were produced by Ron Aniello and Springsteen. The recording of "Letter to You" occurred after a period of writer's block that Springsteen experienced; the writer's block was dispelled over the course of a week-and-a-half of intense songwriting in April 2019 that was inspired in part by the death of Springsteen's former bandmate, George Theiss. The lyrics discuss themes of regret, aging and dying. The album was recorded live in studio with no demos and only minimal overdubs (such as guitar solos, handclaps and backing vocals). It features three tracks originally written prior to Springsteen's 1973 debut album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N. J.": "If I Was the Priest," "Janey Needs a Shooter" and "Song for Orphans." Springsteen came across earlier recordings of these songs with John Hammond while assembling a compilation album. "If I Was the Priest" has not previously been released by Springsteen, but was covered by Allan Clarke in the 1970s. Warren Zevon reworked "Janey Needs a Shooter" for his 1980 album "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School".


title: Letter to You

text: Photography for the cover and liner notes was captured by Danny Clinch in late 2018 as Springsteen was in New York City for his stage show "Springsteen on Broadway".


title: Letter to You

text: The band had planned to tour in support of the album starting in early 2021 but those plans were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; by the time of the release, Springsteen estimated that the earliest they could perform live would be 2022. EStreet drummer Max Weinberg continued touring with his group Max Weinberg's Jukebox and used those dates to promote "Letter to You". Springsteen considers the decision to not tour "very painful," as he looks forward to presenting the new material in a live context but he made promotional appearances on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and "The Late Late Show" to introduce the music to new audiences.


title: Letter to You

text: The release was announced on September 10, with a music video for lead single "Letter to You" published simultaneously. Streaming audio and a music video for "Ghosts" followed on September24. A documentary on making the album directed by Thom Zimny came out via Apple TV+ on October 23.