title: Jade Empire

text: The musical score of "Jade Empire" was composed by Jack Wall, who had previously worked on "" and . Wall was first approached by an audio manager at BioWare, with Wall later sending a demo tape, then later created a piece used in the game's first trailer. Wall decided to pursue the job because of his liking for BioWare's previous games, and accredited the trailer music with successfully getting the job of composer. Wall worked on the game from January 2004 to February 2005, coming in during the game's early development. From an early stage, Wall decided to create an orchestral rather than synthetic soundtrack, aiming for an "East meets West" aesthetic. A key member of staff whom Wall hired early on was Zhiming Han, a Chinese music consultant who was instrumental in maintaining the authentic sound of the score. Zhiming brought in several native Chinese musicians to perform the score, and helped by translating Wall's score into Chinese musical notation for the performers. The score was intended to feel generally Asian, incorporating traditional Chinese and Japanese percussion and wind instruments. Wall estimated that he composed over 90 minutes of music, ranging from environmental to cutscene-specific tracks, not including additional arrangements for shorter cutscenes by BioWare staff. A soundtrack album was released in 2005.


title: Jade Empire

text: Every line of dialogue in the game, both English and Tho Fan, was fully voiced; Zeschuk and Martens estimated in different interviews that the recorded script came to over 320,000 words. The character of Dawn Star had 20,000 lines dedicated to her. One of the notable cast members was Nathan Fillion, whose role as Gao the Lesser was one of his earliest video game acting jobs. According to him, the script was written in a style he compared to broken English. When he talked with other actors on the project after the game was completed, he realized that they had rewritten the script into conventional English. He stated in 2017 that he would enjoy redoing those lines so they were easier to understand. Another notable cast member was British actor John Cleese, who voiced Sir Roderick Ponce Von Fontlebottom. Cleese became involved due to him and his agent being in Canada at the time voice recording was taking place. Upon being approached, Cleese was willing, and recorded all the character's lines during a single afternoon.


title: Jade Empire

text: First hinted at in 2002 when BioWare announced a further partnership with Microsoft Game Studios following "Knights of the Old Republic", the game was officially announced in September 2003, with further information being revealed at that year's Tokyo Game Show. Originally scheduled for release in March 2005, the game was pushed forward to April of that year. Along with the standard edition, a limited edition was produced that included an additional male playable character with unique combat abilities, and a special DVD detailing the production of multiple Xbox titles including "Jade Empire". The limited edition was designed as a gift for those who pre-ordered the game, and was developed in parallel to the standard game. By February, the game had entered the final stages of production, with staff focusing on polishing work. The game released on April 12, 2005, two days prior to its announced release date. The game was later released in Europe on April 22, and in Australia on June 30. The limited edition, exclusive to North America and Europe, released alongside the standard edition. In Japan, the game was released on June 16 under the title "Jade Empire: Hisui no Teikoku".


title: Jade Empire

text: A version for Microsoft Windows personal computers (PC) began development at BioWare due to demand from their strong PC-based community. While developing the port, BioWare upgraded hundreds of different textures by hand; additional content including new fighting styles, new enemies, and the seventh character previously available in the Limited Edition of the Xbox version; refined the enemy and followers' artificial intelligence and reworked the controls for a keyboard and mouse. While the team had the option of publishing the title through Microsoft Game Studio, Microsoft were focused on developing games for Windows Vista alone, which clashed with BioWare's wishes to make the game available to a wide audience. For this reason, the team developed the PC version themselves and sought out a different publisher.


title: Jade Empire

text: The PC version was first announced at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Unlike the Xbox version, the PC version was published by 2K Games. The game went gold in February 2007, shortly before its North American release. The game released on February 27, 2007 in North America. It later released on March 2 in Europe and Australia. The downloadable version was released through Steam and BioWare's online store on February 28. It later released through GOG.com on June 11, 2013. A port of "Special Edition" for macOS was developed and published by TransGaming on August 18, 2008. Later ports for iOS and Android were developed and published by Aspyr respectively on October 6 and November 15, 2016.


title: Jade Empire

text: "Computer and Video Games" spoke highly of the game, saying that the game's accessibility would attract those introduced to BioWare's "Knights of the Old Republic", calling "Jade Empire" "imaginative, accessible, beautiful to look at and incredibly immersive to play". Rob Fahey of Eurogamer praised the aesthetics and replay value, but noted that the combat's lack of depth and limited customization options would be negatively viewed by some players.GameSpot's Greg Kasavin was positive overall, his only complaints being issues with combat balance and the game's short length. Will Tuttle of GameSpy lauded every aspect of the game, calling it "the best [RPG] to ever hit the Xbox". IGN's David Clayman was again highly positive, noting only camera difficulties that distracted from the flow of combat. Luke van Leuveran of "PALGN" called "Jade Empire" "an amazing action RPG", praising its story and combat system. Reviews of the Xbox version were positive overall, with the graphics and storyline coming in for the majority of praise. While the gameplay was seen as solid, its simplicity was frequently criticized.


title: Jade Empire

text: Suzy Wallace of "Computer and Video Games" felt that the "Special Edition" managed to reach beyond its roots on the Xbox to become a good-quality RPG for PCs, despite dated graphics and gameplay pacing issues. Fahay, returning to review the PC port, was disappointed at the lack of graphical polish and technical upgrades over its console counterpart. GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd shared points of praise and criticism with the Xbox review, while also noting that the PC version had few noticeable enhancements over the Xbox version. GameSpy's Allen Rausch enjoyed the storyline and gameplay, but noted the game's "grainy" cutscenes and some technical issues. Steve Butts, writing for IGN, generally enjoyed the game but found the combat repetitive and noted a lack of new content. Niel Booth, reviewing for "PALGN", said that the game was enjoyable despite graphical and technical issues he raised. While sentiments towards the story and gameplay remained unchanged for the PC version, people noted that the original gameplay faults were heightened by the PC controls and that the graphics looked dated by modern gaming standards.


title: Jade Empire

text: Later responses have continued to be positive. In 2010, the game was included in the book "1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die". In a 2015 article, Mike Williams of USgamer said, ""Jade Empire" was such a unique game for BioWare, but it's one the studio never followed up on."


title: Jade Empire

text: Upon its release, "Jade Empire" debuted at #3 on The NPD Group's video game sales chart for the month of April 2005. Writing for GameSpot, Tor Thorsen noted that its third-place finish came "despite [its] being released in the middle of April". It also secured second place on that month's Xbox chart, behind the debut of "Doom 3" on the platform. In May, the game fell to last place on NPD's multiplatform top 20, and to seventh in the Xbox rankings. It was absent from both lists by the following month. According to NPD, the game's North American sales surpassed 385,000 units by May 2006.


title: Jade Empire

text: In the United Kingdom, "Jade Empire" debuted at #7 on Chart-Track's multiplatform sales list for the week ending April 23. David Jenkins of Gamasutra called this "an unremarkable opening", and suggested that its sales had been damaged by competition from the newly released "". It fell to 12th place in its second week, and to 20th in its third. IGN's staff wrote of this decline, "The Bioware-developed game has been well reviewed over the past month, but that hasn't helped it from rapidly dropping down the charts." It was absent from Chart-Track's multiplatform top 40 by its fourth week of release. Conversely, on the firm's sales list for Xbox games, "Jade Empire" opened in first place and held the position for its debut 14 days. It fell to #5 in its third week, but remained in the top 10 until the week ending June 18. By the end of 2005, "Jade Empire"s sales totaled 45,000 copies in the United Kingdom, a performance characterized as substandard by Eurogamer's Kristan Reed.


title: Jade Empire

text: As of July 2005, sales of "Jade Empire" had reached 500,000 units. BioWare's Greg Zeschuk later lamented the decision to release the game for Xbox, rather than as an Xbox 360 launch title. Speaking in 2013, he noted that "game sales are down [right now] because people are waiting for new consoles, and we released "Jade Empire" into that kind of window." Zeschuck concluded that "it would've been great to put off a bit and polish the game a bit more."


title: Jade Empire

text: The decision to focus on both "Jade Empire" and their fantasy-themed "" resulted in BioWare passing over developing a sequel to "Knights of the Old Republic". The sequel, titled "", was given to Obsidian Entertainment. Alongside his work on "Jade Empire", Wikeley also created four different constructed languages for the "Dragon Age" series. Wall would also work with BioWare again on "Mass Effect" and its sequel.


title: Jade Empire

text: In January 2007, BioWare staff announced there were no plans to develop "Jade Empire 2". However, BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk stated in September 2011: "It's an IP, it's a setting that we were really passionate about, and we still are. Both Greg and I were big believers in the IP... We're just looking for the right way to deploy it." In 2009, GamesRadar included "Jade Empire" among the games "with untapped franchise potential", commenting: "The original game had all the trappings of franchise material with engrossing characters, magnificent settings, and a unique take on martial arts-fueled RPG combat. But until hard evidence of a sequel's existence materializes, we'll continue yearning for BioWare's one-off hit to attain franchise status."


title: Jade Empire

text: Dakota Grabowski of GameZone listed Silk Fox and Death's Hand as #10 and #8 on their list of top ten BioWare created squadmates respectively. Kimberley Wallace of "Game Informer" included Wild Flower in her list of best BioWare characters; she called her unique among Jade Empire's cast of interesting characters and said "part of what makes her such a delight is seeing this child's interpretation and perspective on all the complex issues you face and what the spirits are telling her to say. As the journey goes on, it becomes a game of the two disparate perspectives talking through her, but part of the fight is trying to give Wild Flower the freedom and life she deserves." Jason MacIsaac from "EP Daily" also rated Wild Flower as among nine of the best BioWare characters.


title: Nefopam

text: Nefopam, sold under the brand name Acupan among others, is a centrally acting, non-opioid painkilling medication, that is primarily used to treat moderate to severe pain.


title: Nefopam

text: Nefopam acts in the brain and spinal cord to relieve pain via novel mechanisms: antinociceptive effects from triple monoamine reuptake inhibition, and antihyperalgesic activity through modulation of glutamatergic transmission.


title: Nefopam

text: Nefopam is effective for prevention of shivering during surgery or recovery from surgery. Nefopam was significantly more effective than aspirin as an analgesic in one clinical trial, although with a greater incidence of side effects such as sweating, dizziness and nausea, especially at higher doses. The estimated relative potency of nefopam to morphine indicates that 20 mg of nefopam HCl is the approximate analgesic equal of 12 mg of morphine with comparable analgesic efficacy to morphine, or oxycodone, while nefopam tends to produce fewer side effects, does not produce respiratory depression, and has much less abuse potential, and so is useful either as an alternative to opioid analgesics, or as an adjunctive treatment for use alongside opioids or other types of analgesics. Nefopam is also used to treat severe hiccups.


title: Nefopam

text: Nefopam is contraindicated in people with convulsive disorders, those that have received treatment with irreversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors such as phenelzine, tranylcypromine or isocarboxazid within the past 30 days and those with myocardial infarction pain, mostly due to a lack of safety data in these conditions.


title: Nefopam

text: Common side effects include nausea, nervousness, dry mouth, light-headedness and urinary retention. Less common side effects include vomiting, blurred vision, drowsiness, sweating, insomnia, headache, confusion, hallucinations, tachycardia, aggravation of angina and rarely a temporary and benign pink discolouration of the skin or erythema multiforme.


title: Nefopam

text: Overdose and death have been reported with nefopam. Overdose usually manifests with convulsions, hallucinations, tachycardia, and hyperdynamic circulation. Treatment is usually supportive, managing cardiovascular complications with beta blockers and limiting absorption with activated charcoal.


title: Nefopam

text: It has additive anticholinergic and sympathomimetic effects with other agents with these properties. Its use should be avoided in people receiving some types of antidepressants (tricyclic antidepressants or monoamine oxidase inhibitors) as there is the potential for serotonin syndrome or hypertensive crises to result.


title: Nefopam

text: The mechanism of action of nefopam and its analgesic effects are not well understood, although inhibition of the reuptake of serotonin, norepinephrine, and to a lesser extent dopamine (that is, acting as an ) is thought to be involved. It also reduces glutamate signaling via modulating sodium and calcium channels.


title: Nefopam

text: The absolute bioavailability of nefopam is low. It is reported to achieve therapeutic plasma concentrations between 49 and 183 nM. The drug is approximately 73% protein-bound across a plasma range of 7 to 226 ng/mL (28–892 nM). The metabolism of nefopam is hepatic, by "N"-demethylation and via other routes. Its terminal half-life is 3 to 8 hours, while that of its active metabolite, desmethylnefopam, is 10 to 15 hours. It is eliminated mostly in urine, and to a lesser extent in feces.


title: Nefopam

text: Nefopam is a cyclized analogue of orphenadrine, diphenhydramine, and tofenacin, with each of these compounds different from one another only by the presence of one or two carbons. The ring system of nefopam is a benzoxazocine system.


title: Nefopam

text: Recreational use of nefopam has rarely been reported, and is far less common than with opioid analgesics.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: The Nepal national cricket team () nicknamed The Rhinos and Gorkhalis, represents the country of Nepal in International cricket and is governed by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). They have been an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1996. Nepal were awarded Twenty20 International (T20I) status by the ICC in June 2014 until the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. On 15 March 2018, Nepal gained One Day International (ODI) status for the first time (and regained Twenty20 International status), after winning the first playoff match in the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal made their maiden appearance in the ICC global event at the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. They have been participating in international matches since 1996, including every ACC Trophy tournaments except 2015 ACC Twenty20 Cup in UAE, where they didn't participate. Nepal also participated in ICC World Cup Qualifier in 2001 2014 and 2018, ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in 2012, 2013 and 2015, ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004 and 2005, ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament in 2004, 2005 and 2006, ACC Twenty20 Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013, Asian Games in 2010 and 2014 and ACC Premier League in 2014.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Unlike some other smaller cricketing nations, where teams are largely made up of expatriates, Nepal's national team comprises indigenous players who have usually come through the ranks playing age-group cricket.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: On 15 March 2018 Nepal claimed One Day International (ODI) status for the first time with a win over Papua New Guinea in the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier 9th place play off encounter. In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Nepal and other ICC members after 1 January 2019 became full T20I matches.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Over time, cricket came to be considered a gentleman's sport, and involvement was limited mainly to the ruling Rana family and other members of the Nepali elite.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: In 1946, the Cricket Association of Nepal was formed to promote cricket amongst the aristocracy. After the introduction of democracy through the Revolution of 1951, cricket began to spread to the rest of the population. In 1961, in an effort to promote cricket to the whole of Nepal, the Cricket Association of Nepal became part of the National Sports Council. Nevertheless, the National games tended to be limited to Kathmandu until the 1980s.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Improvements to communications and transport infrastructure in Nepal allowed the game to expand outside Kathmandu in the 1980s and Nepal became an Affiliate Member of the International Cricket Council in 1988. A major development program was begun in the early 1990s, which saw regional and district tournaments being established and the increased promotion of cricket in schools.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: The local population's interest in cricket increased quickly, and the demand to play was such that restrictions had to be placed on the number teams in several tournaments until more facilities could be built in the mid-1990s. Nepal became an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council on February 02, 1996, which was the year the national side played for the first time in the 1996 ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur. Nepal finished fourth out of six teams in their first round group, beating Brunei and Japan.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: By 1998, the facilities in Nepal had improved sufficiently to allow them to host that year's ACC Trophy at grounds in Lalitpur and Kirtipur (at TU Cricket Ground) and Kathmandu. Nepal themselves were unsuccessful in the tournament, going without a win.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Currently, the country has one of the best fan followings among ICC Associate Members. It lost its governing body, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) which was suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to unnecessary government interference in 2016, but it was reinstated in October 2019.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: On 28 June 2014, the ICC awarded T20I status to Nepal, who took part and performed exceptionally well in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Nepal had already played three T20I matches before gaining the status, as the ICC had earlier announced that all matches at the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 would have T20I status.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal played their first ever Twenty20 International series against Hong Kong in November 2014 in Sri Lanka. Initially the series was scheduled for three matches but only one match was played because of continuous rain and poor ground conditions. Nepal lost the match but Sompal Kami put in impressive performance by scoring 40 off 31 balls, coming in at No. 10. This was the world-record for the highest score made by a batsman at that position.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal played their second Twenty20 International series against the Netherlands from 30 June to 3 July 2015. Nepal lost the 4 match series 3–1. Paras Khadka was named the player of the series.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: In 2000, Nepal's youth development policy began to pay off when the Nepal national under-19 cricket team finished eighth in the Under-19 World Cup. The senior side had their best performance to date later in the year when they reached the semi-finals of the 2000 ACC Trophy before losing to Hong Kong at Sharjah. They competed in the ICC Trophy for the first time the following year. In the tournament in Ontario, they beat Germany and Gibraltar, but a loss to eventual runners-up Namibia prevented them from progressing past the first round.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal were runners-up to the UAE in the 2002 ACC Trophy in Singapore and they hosted the ACC Emerging Nations Tournament in 2003, winning easily against Bhutan and the Maldives. They won so comprehensively that they were not invited back to the tournament the next time it was played in 2005. Raju Khadka became the first Nepalese cricketer to score an international century, when he slammed an unbeaten 105 off just 50 balls against Bhutan in the tournament.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal played first-class cricket for the first time in 2004, playing in the ICC Intercontinental Cup against the UAE and Malaysia. They beat Malaysia, but drew with the UAE, failing to reach the semi-final stage. Nepal finished third in the 2004 ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament, which qualified them for the 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup, and finished 5th in the 2004 ACC Trophy, which qualified them for the repêchage tournament of the 2005 ICC Trophy. They finished third in this tournament after beating Qatar in a play-off, meaning that they did not qualify for the 2005 ICC Trophy. Shakti Gauchan scored a century against Italy and stayed unbeaten on 106 off 103 balls in the tournament. They beat the UAE and drew with Hong Kong in the 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup, but missed out on qualification for the semi-finals by half a point. They were runners-up to the UAE in the 2005 ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: In March 2006, Nepal played Namibia in Windhoek in a play-off match to decide the final team in the 2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Nepal needed to win outright to qualify for the main tournament, but the match was drawn after there was no play on the first day. Later in the year, they toured Pakistan, playing against the Pakistan Cricket Academy before playing in the 2006 ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: In the 2006 ACC Trophy, Nepal bowled Myanmar out for just 10 off 12.1 overs after Nepal won the toss and sent Myanmar in; no batsman scored more than one, the innings included five ducks, and extras top scored with five (three leg byes and two wides). Mehboob Alam and Binod Das picked up seven wickets and three wickets respectively. In reply, Nepal hit three off the first ball, followed by three wides that went for five, and then hit another three from the second legitimate delivery to win by ten wickets. Some critics called it the greatest mismatch in the history of international cricket and the score of 10 is the lowest in any level of men's international cricket. They finished fourth in the tournament after losing to Afghanistan in a play-off. They won the ACC Premier League in 2006.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: They played in the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait, where they finished fourth in their first round group.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: In May 2008, Nepal traveled to Jersey to play in 2008 ICC World Cricket League Division Five of the World Cricket League. Mehboob Alam set the world record by taking all ten wickets in the match against Mozambique. He got his name in the Guinness World Records for becoming the first bowler to take all 10 wickets in an ICC international cricket match with limited overs. Nepal topped Group A after the group qualifying matches but lost to Afghanistan in the semi-final and finished third overall after defeating the USA in the playoff for third place. With only the top two from this tournament qualifying for 2008 ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Tanzania later in the year, Nepal missed out on the chance to take their 2011 World Cup dream any further. Later, Nepal appeared in the 2008 ACC Trophy Elite and finished fourth after losing to the UAE in the semi-final and to Afghanistan in the playoff for third place.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal finished fifth in the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup after beating Singapore by 9 wickets in the playoff for fifth place. In a group match against Kuwait, Nepal needed 7 runs off the last ball to win. Binod Bhandari, making his debut for the national team, hit a last-ball six to tie the match. Eventually Nepal won the match in bowl-out.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal won their first major tournament, beating USA in the final of 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Five held at Kathmandu in February 2010. Sharad Vesawkar scored a century and stayed unbeaten on 105 off 134 balls against Fiji in the tournament. Nepal played very well in 2010 ACC Trophy Elite, winning all the matches in group stage and beating Malaysia in the semi-final by 8 runs but lost the final against an ODI team Afghanistan by 95 runs and finished runners-up. Nepal came third in 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four, thus remaining in Division Four for 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Four. In November, Nepal appeared in 2010 Asian Games and lost against Sri Lanka in the quarter-final. It was the first match Nepal had played against a Full Member nation.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: In December 2011, Nepal hosted the 2011 ACC Twenty20 Cup and finished fourth, thereby qualifying for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal finished seventh in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier after defeating Kenya and Papua New Guinea in play-offs. Shakti Gauchan took the first international hat-trick for Nepal against Denmark in the tournament. In September 2012, Nepal appeared in 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Four, where Subash Khakurel and Anil Mandal both scored century. Subash Khakurel scored 115 off 142 balls against United States and Anil Mandal scored 113 off 134 balls against Denmark. In a match against Malaysia, Shakti Gauchan set up Nepal's convincing victory with a new record. The left-arm orthodox spinner's figures of 10–8–2–3 is the best economical bowling spell ever in limited over encounters. Nepal won all the six matches of the tournament and progressed to 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three. Nepalese players won man of the match awards in all the six matches Nepal played and Basanta Regmi won the player of the tournament award after taking a total of 21 wickets in the tournament. In October, Nepal competed in 2012 ACC Trophy Elite and had to share the trophy with the UAE after a thrilling tied final in Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE on 12 October 2012. UAE posted 241, a target that looked in Nepal's sight after their 94-run opening stand. However, they lost wickets consistently, and eventually needed 12 off the last over with just two wickets in hand. Shakti Gauchan smacked Shadeep Silva's left-arm for a six, but could manage only one run off the last ball, hence ending a splendid final match in a tie. Skipper Paras Khadka scored an unbeaten 106 off just 77 balls against Kuwait, his maiden century for Nepal, in the tournament.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal competed in 2013 ACC Twenty20 Cup held at home grounds in Kirtipur and Lalitpur. Nepal easily marched towards the final of the tournament with high class performance from their captain, Paras Khadka, and the team thrashed the UAE by 6 wickets. Nepal had earlier qualified for 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, reaching the semi-final of the tournament. Nepal had to be satisfied with runners-up status after losing to an ODI team Afghanistan by 7 wickets. The Nepalese team was supported by a huge fan following throughout this tournament with an average turnout of 15,000 – 20,000 (about 25,000 in the semi-final and final) during their matches while hundreds of thousands watched live on television – undoubtedly the largest public support outside the Test-playing nations. Nepal won the 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three held in Bermuda and qualified for the 2014 World Cup Qualifier. Nepal also played in 2013 ACC Emerging Teams Cup, where under-23 age level teams of the four Test nations – Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka took part along with the UAE, Afghanistan and the hosts Singapore. Nepal finished third in 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier held in UAE and qualified for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, defeating Hong Kong off the last ball of the thrilling quarter-final.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal missed out on qualification for the 2015 World Cup, finishing ninth in the 2014 World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand in January. Nepal were the best of the three associate teams on display in Group A of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. They comprehensively beat Hong Kong, held their own with the bat against Bangladesh and pulled off a strong win against Afghanistan, their first since 2004 in any format against their old rivals. Nepal's bowlers did not bowl a single wide or no ball throughout the tournament. Nepal were also the only team to not concede 140 in an innings in the tournament. Nepal finished third in the 2014 ACC Premier League, where they beat ODI teams UAE and Hong Kong, and qualified for the 2014 ACC Championship. In September, Nepal participated in the 2014 Asian Games but failed to qualify beyond quarter-finals. Nepal won the 2014 ICC World Cricket League Division Three held in Malaysia and qualified for the 2015 ICC World Cricket League Division Two. Gyanendra Malla scored his maiden century, 114 off 125 balls, against Singapore in the tournament. In November, Nepal toured Sri Lanka, as Sri Lanka Cricket approved a request from the Asian Cricket Council to support the region's Non-Test playing countries, where they played two three-day matches against Sri Lanka Cricket Combined XI. and a Twenty20 International series against Hong Kong.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal finished fourth in the 2015 ICC World Cricket League Division Two in Namibia and qualified for the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship. But Nepal failed to secure promotion to Division One and qualification to 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup after finishing third in the round-robin stage. Basanta Regmi became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in the World Cricket League. He achieved this feat after taking 2 wickets against Netherlands in the tournament. On 11 April 2015, Nepal hosted a 63-over (31.3 overs per side) tribute match in honour of the Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes who was batting on 63 when he was struck by a bouncer. The match was played at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur between Team Red, combined of players of Nepal and Australia and Team Blue, composed of all Nepalese players. In June, Nepal toured Netherlands to play a Twenty20 International series against the home team. Then Nepal appeared in the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier held in Ireland and Scotland, where the team finished seventh in the Group A, thus failing to qualify for the second consecutive ICC World Twenty20.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal finished second in 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two to earn a place in the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. On 15 March, Nepal claimed One Day International (ODI) status for the first time with their win over Papua New Guinea in the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier 9th place play off encounter. Due to gaining ODI status, Nepal also regained Twenty20 International (T20I) status. After gaining ODI status, Nepal's captain at the Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Paras Khadka, said that they want to gain Test status, which he believes will take between eight and ten years to achieve.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal played their first 3 match ODI series against UAE and won 2–1, their first ODI series win. Paras Khadka became the first batsman to score an ODI century for Nepal. Sundeep Jora became the world's youngest player to score a half-century in T20I format, at the age of 17 years and 103 days. In October 2019, the Cricket Association of Nepal, which was suspended in 2016, was readmitted as an ICC member.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal hosted United States and Oman in the fifth round of the 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 in February 2020. In the last match of the series, Nepal bowled out the United States for the joint-lowest total of 35 in ODI cricket. Kushal Malla (Nep) made his ODI debut, and at the age of 15 years and 340 days, he became the youngest male cricketer to score an international half-century while playing against the USA on February 8, 2020.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Nepal hosted the Netherlands and Malaysia in the 2020–21 Nepal Tri-Nation Series in April 2021. Nepal finished top in the points table winning three out of four group matches and qualified for the final, where they played against the Netherlands. Nepal comprehensively beat the Netherlands by 142 runs and won the series. Kushal Bhurtel, making his debut for Nepal, scored 278 runs in the series at an average of 69.50 and a strike rate of 140.40 and won the Player of the series award.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, Kathmandu and Pokhara Rangashala in Pokhara are the only venues to have hosted an international match so far. Mulpani Cricket Stadium in Kathmandu and Fapla Cricket Ground in Dhangadhi have also been used for some domestic matches. Gautam Buddha International Cricket Stadium is being built by the Dhurmus Suntali Foundation in Bharatpur, which is set to become the largest cricketing venue in the country.


title: Nepal national cricket team

text: "The following is a list of players were named in the most recent ODI or T20I squad. Uncapped players are listed in "italics". "Updated 8 December 2022"


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: The Zombie is a Tiki cocktail made of fruit juices, liqueurs, and various rums. It first appeared in late 1934, invented by Donn Beach at his Hollywood "Don the Beachcomber" restaurant. It was popularized on the East coast soon afterwards at the 1939 New York World's Fair.


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: Legend has it that Donn Beach originally concocted the Zombie to help a hung-over customer get through a business meeting. The customer returned several days later to complain that he had been turned into a zombie for his entire trip. Its smooth, fruity taste works to conceal its extremely high alcoholic content. "Don the Beachcomber" restaurants limit their customers to two Zombies apiece because of their potency, which Beach said could make one "like the walking dead."


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: According to the original recipe, the Zombie cocktail included three different kinds of rum, lime juice, falernum, Angostura bitters, Pernod, grenadine, and "Don's Mix", a combination of cinnamon syrup and grapefruit juice.


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: Beach was very cautious with the recipes of his original cocktails. His instructions for his bartenders contained coded references to ingredients, the contents of which were only known to him. Beach had reason to worry; a copy of the Zombie was served at the 1939 New York World's Fair by a man trying to take credit for it named Monte Proser (later of the mob-tied Copacabana).


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: Beach's original recipes for the Zombie and other Tiki drinks have been published in "Sippin' Safari" by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry. Berry researched the origins of many Tiki cocktails, interviewing bartenders from Don the Beachcomber's and other original Tiki places and digging up other original sources. "Sippin' Safari" details Beach's development of the Zombie with three different recipes dating from 1934 to 1956.


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: The Zombie was occasionally served heated (a drink more commonly known today as the I.B.A. Hot Zombie), as outlined by the Catering Industry Employee (CIE) journal: "Juice of 1 lime, unsweetened pineapple juice, bitters, 1 ounce heavily bodied rum, 2 ounces of Gold Label rum, 1 ounce of White Label rum, 1 ounce of apricot-flavored brandy, 1 ounce of papaya juice"


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: The cocktail is named in the lyrics for the song "Haitian Divorce" on the 1976 album "The Royal Scam by Steely Dan.


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: Due to the popularity of the cocktail during the Tiki craze and the fact that Beach kept his recipe secret and occasionally altered it, there are many variations of the Zombie served at other restaurants and bars (some tasting nothing like the original cocktail). The word "zombie" also began to be used at other tiki themed establishments, such as at the Zombie Hut and "Zombie Village".


title: Zombie (cocktail)

text: Trader Vic also listed a recipe for the Zombie in his 1947 "Bartender's Guide". Other competitors created drinks linked to the zombie. At Stephen Crane's Chicago Kon-Tiki Ports restaurant they featured a drink on the menu called "The Walking Dead": "Makes the dead walk and talk. For those who want immediate action - meet the first cousin to the famous 'Zombie'. Demerara 151 rum. 90¢."


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" is a song by new wave band Talking Heads. The closing track of its fifth studio album "Speaking in Tongues", it was released in November 1983 as the second and final studio single from the album; a live version would be released as a single in 1986. The lyrics were written by frontman David Byrne, and the music was written by Byrne and the other members of the band, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison.


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: Byrne intended the song to be a love song without the clichés of the genre. The parenthesized title refers to the simple ("naïve") construction of the song, which is framed on a sparse ostinato that lasts for the song's duration. This simplicity marked a departure for Talking Heads, which was known for its complex African-inspired polyrhythms and funk.


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: "Speaking in Tongues", Talking Heads' fifth album, was released on June 1, 1983 by Sire Records. It was produced by the band themselves after the group had parted ways with longtime producer Brian Eno.


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: In the "Self Interview" on the DVD of the concert film "Stop Making Sense", Byrne states that it is a love song, a topic he tends to avoid because it is "kinda big." He also said of the song:


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: According to the "Stop Making Sense" commentary track, the title "Naive Melody" refers to the music. On the recording, the guitar and bass each repeat an ostinato for the entire song. According to David Byrne, many professional musicians would not play a song written in that fashion, and that is what makes the melody naive. Byrne played the lead keyboard solo.


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: Bassist Tina Weymouth stated in the liner notes of "" that the song was created through "truly naive" experimentation with different instruments and jamming. Weymouth played guitar, guitarist Jerry Harrison played a Prophet synthesiser (including the bassline) Wally Badarou used the same synthesizer to add the stabs, and Byrne switched between guitar and another Prophet synthesizer, the latter of which he played using the pitch modulation wheel and "campy" piano glissandos.


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: "Pitchfork" later described the song as "an aberration for the Talking Heads. It was more of an exercise in understated musical hypnosis than polyrhythmic, Kuti-quoting funk, well-compressed instead of bursting at the seams, and (in its abashed way) it was a full-blown love song. [..] With "This Must Be the Place", the band simplified their sound dramatically, condensing their sonic palette to the level of small EKG blips (having switched instruments for a lark, this was nearly all they were able to reliably deliver chops-wise) and wringing out only a few chords."


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: The song is featured in "Stop Making Sense" (1984), a concert film featuring Talking Heads and directed by Jonathan Demme. Throughout the "Stop Making Sense" version, Byrne and his bandmates perform by a standard lamp, while close-up images of various body parts are projected onto a screen behind them. As revealed on the commentary to the film, the body parts belong to Byrne and his girlfriend (later wife) Adelle Lutz who was also known as Bonnie. When the song reaches a bridge, the musicians step back and Byrne dances with the lamp, a reference to Fred Astaire's similar dance with a coat-rack in the film "Royal Wedding". During the song, Weymouth is seen playing a rare Fender Swinger electric guitar, instead of her usual bass.


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: The "Stop Making Sense" version was released as a single in 1986, peaking at #100 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: In 2014, "Pitchfork" ranked the song at number 22 in their list of "The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s," with Winston Cook-Wilson of the website saying: "In the process of stripping down, Talking Heads showcased something at the root of their art: David Byrne’s inimitable gift for melody, and his unique ability to make every musical figure seem both familiar and tied directly to the lyrical thought (see 'I feel numb...born with a weak heart/ I guess I must be having fun'). Is there a better moment of catharsis in a pop then the song's final eureka realization, after Byrne gets whacked with the monolithic spiritual hammer and awakes from a life-encompassing daze into unexpected stability? There’s nothing to narrow his eyes at anymore: 'Cover up the blank spots, hit me on the head/ Aaoooh, aaooh, aaooh, aaoooh.' For a band rarely given to addressing issues of the heart head-on, 'Naive Melody' remains an unexpected and peerless achievement." In 2021, it was listed at No. 123 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".


title: This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

text: The official music video for This Must Be the Place depicts the extended band, for the 1983-84 time period including the Stop Making Sense film, watching light-hearted home movies, before going down into the basement to play their instruments.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: The 2021 season was the 90th season for the Washington Football Team and their second under head coach Ron Rivera. Some additions and changes include the team hiring Martin Mayhew as general manager and Marty Hurney as another high-ranking executive. With the hiring of Mayhew, who is black, Washington became the first team in NFL history to concurrently have a minority general manager, head coach, and team president. Ryan Kerrigan, the franchise's all-time sack leader, became a free agent in the offseason and played the year with division rival Philadelphia Eagles.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: Washington failed to improve upon their 7–9 record from the previous season, failed to repeat as division champions, and missed the playoffs for the fifth time in their past six seasons after a Week 17 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Washington was also the first team since the 1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to have their final five games of the season be within the division. This season was also the last under the transitional "Football Team" moniker as they rebranded as the Commanders in 2022.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: Washington started the season with a frustrating loss at home. The Chargers scored a TD with a 3 yard Austin Ekeler run on the first drive of the game. The rest of the scoring in the first half was an exchange of field goals which gave the Chargers a 13-9 lead. To mirror the start of the first half Washington scored a TD on the first drive of the half, with an 11 yard pass from Taylor Heinicke to Logan Thomas. Washington got the ball back in their own redzone thanks to a dubious call ruling Herbert had fumbled into the end zone under pressure from Montez Sweat. Hopkins then missed a field goal before the decisive moment came at the start of the 4th quarter. William Jackson intercepted Herbert in the Washington redzone but on the subsequent play Antonio Gibson fumbled the ball on the Washington 5 yard which was recovered by the Charger who then scored the game winning TD with a 3 yard pass to Mike Williams. This would be QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s last game, as he suffered a season ending injury in the second quarter and would promptly retire after the season.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: A back and forth shootout, Washington capitalized on a late opportunity to escape with a 30-29 win. After Washington took a 14-10 lead into halftime, the Giants scored on their first 4 possessions of the second half to take a 26-20 lead. Washington answered back with a touchdown from Heinicke to Ricky Seals-Jones to take a 27-26 lead, but the Giants capitalized on a late Heinicke interception to take a 29-27 lead. After Washington got into field goal range, Dustin Hopkins missed a 48-yard field goal to win the game. However, the Giants were offside, which nullified the miss and gave Washington one untimed down, since a game cannot end on a defensive penalty. Hopkins made his second attempt from 43 yards to give Washington the win. This was Washington's first win over the Giants since Week 8 of the 2018 season, and improved their record to 1-1 on the season.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: Buffalo got out to a 21-0 lead early, and Washington was never able to fully recover in a 43-21 loss. Josh Allen threw for 358 yards and four touchdowns, and ran for another in the fourth to give Buffalo a 43-14 lead. The 43 points allowed were the most points Washington has allowed under Ron Rivera, and were the most points they had allowed since week 17 of the 2019 season against the Dallas Cowboys (until Week 16 of this season). Washington dropped to 1-2 on the season.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: Washington was able to recover from an early 10-0 deficit to defeat the Falcons 34-30 behind 290 yards and 3 touchdowns from Taylor Heinicke. After the 10-0 deficit, Washington scored two touchdowns in the second to take a 13-10 lead. After the Falcons took a 17-13 lead into half, DeAndre Carter returned the second half kickoff 101 yards to give the lead back to Washington. The Falcons took back the lead and then extended it to 30-22 early in the fourth, but Heinicke threw two touchdowns in the final four minutes to give Washington the win. The win improved Washington to 2-2 on the season, and 2-0 in the conference. It was their first win over the Falcons since 2003.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: In a rematch of their Wild Card matchup from the previous season, Washington upset the Buccaneers 29-19 to end their four-game losing streak. Tom Brady threw two interceptions in the first quarter, which Washington turned into 10 points to take a 13-0 lead early in the second. Tampa cut the lead to 23-19 early in the fourth, but Washington sealed the game with a 10 minute, 19-play touchdown drive. With the win, Washington improved to 3-6 on the season.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: This was head coach Ron Rivera's first return to Charlotte since his dismissal from the Panthers on December 1, 2019. Rivera previously served as the Panthers head coach from 2011–2019, led the team to a franchise-best 15-1 record en route to Super Bowl 50 in the 2015 season, and is the franchise's winningest head coach, having won 76 games with the team. Both teams traded a pair of touchdowns in the first half, with Newton throwing for a touchdown while rushing for another while Taylor Heinicke threw for two touchdowns. Washington took their first lead in the third quarter with Heinicke's throwing a touchdown to DeAndre Carter. After the Panthers tied it early in the fourth quarter, Washington got back-to-back field goals from Joey Slye. The Panthers' last shot to win the game was denied when Cam Newton got sacked on fourth down. With the win, Washington won back-to-back games for the first time in the season and improved to 4-6.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: Washington hosted the 3–7 Seahawks with both teams needing a win to stay relevant in the NFC playoff picture. Washington kicker Joey Slye was injured on a blocked extra point that was returned for a defensive 2-point conversion by Seahawks defensive tackle Rasheem Green. A touchdown pass late in the 4th quarter on 4th and goal from Heinicke to Logan Thomas was overturned, giving Seattle a chance down 8; while Wilson hit Freddie Swain for a score with 15 seconds left, Kendall Fuller intercepted the 2-point pass to keep Washington with a 17–15 lead. Initially, Seattle appeared to recover an onside kick, but the play was called back due to an illegal formation, and Washington was able to recover the subsequent onside kick attempt to seal the victory and improve to 5–6. It was their first Monday Night Football victory since 2014.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: Washington allowed their most points to the Cowboys in franchise history in giving up 56. The loss dropped Washington to 6–9.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: For the first time since 2019 and fourth time in five seasons, Washington was swept by the Eagles. Despite leading through three quarters, Washington could not withstand a second-half rally by Philadelphia, and a late rally of their own was snuffed out by a game ending interception. Washington was eliminated from playoff contention with the 20–16 loss.


title: 2021 Washington Football Team season

text: The game was the final for the team to be played as the Washington Football Team, as they rebranded as the Commanders in 2022. With the win, Washington swept the Giants for the first time since 2011. Their defense allowed 167 total yards in the win.


title: Amblin Television

text: Amblin Television is the television production division of Amblin Partners. It was established in 1984 by Amblin Entertainment as a small-screen production arm for Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" anthology series for NBC. The company has produced television series including "Tiny Toon Adventures", "Animaniacs", "SeaQuest DSV", "ER", "Falling Skies", and "The Americans".


title: Amblin Television

text: In 2012, DreamWorks Television, producer of such series as "Spin City", "Taken", "Band of Brothers", "The Pacific", "United States of Tara", "Smash", and the HBO film "All the Way", was merged into Amblin Television. Since then, the combined company has produced television shows including "The Borgias", "Under the Dome", "The Haunting" and "Roswell, New Mexico".


title: Amblin Television

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, Amblin Television produced television series, specials, made-for-TV and cable films, and animated children's programming such as "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Animaniacs", along with television series adaptations based around Amblin's popular feature films such as "Back to the Future", "An American Tail", "Casper", and "". In the 1990s, they also ventured into live-action series production with "Harry and the Hendersons", "seaQuest DSV" and "Earth 2". The long-running cornerstone television series "ER", produced by Amblin Television and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, first aired in 1994 and ran for 15 seasons until 2009. The company also entered the streaming television market with specials and series including the documentary "Five Came Back" and "The Haunting", both for Netflix.


title: Amblin Television

text: In 2012, DreamWorks Television was merged into Amblin Television, the former having been founded by Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks SKG partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen in 1996. Soon after the DreamWorks merger, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey were named co-presidents of Amblin Television. Under their leadership, the company would develop and produce several series including "The Americans", "The Haunting", and "Smash".


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The circumcision of Jesus is an event from the life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, which states: And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child, his name was called Jesus, the name called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. The eight days after his birth is traditionally observed January 1. This is in keeping with the Jewish law which holds that males should be circumcised eight days after birth during a Brit milah ceremony, at which they are also given their name. The circumcision of Christ became a very common subject in Christian art from the 10th century onwards, one of numerous events in the "Life of Christ" to be frequently depicted by artists. It was initially seen only as a scene in larger cycles, but by the Renaissance might be treated as an individual subject for a painting, or form the main subject in an altarpiece.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The event is celebrated as the Feast of the Circumcision in the Eastern Orthodox Church on January 1 in whichever calendar is used, and is also celebrated on the same day by many Anglicans. It is celebrated by Roman Catholics as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, in recent years on January 3 as an Optional Memorial, though it was for long celebrated on January 1, as some other churches still do. A number of relics claiming to be the Holy Prepuce, the foreskin of Jesus, have surfaced.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: Luke's account of Jesus's circumcision is extremely short, particularly compared to Paul the Apostle's much fuller description of his own circumcision in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Philippians. This led theologians Friedrich Schleiermacher and David Strauss to speculate that the author of the Gospel of Luke might have assumed the circumcision to be historical fact, or might have been relating it as recalled by someone else.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: In addition to the canonical account in the Gospel of Luke, the apocryphal Arabic Infancy Gospel contains the first reference to the survival of Christ's severed foreskin. The second chapter has the following story: "And when the time of his circumcision was come, namely, the eighth day, on which the law commanded the child to be circumcised, they circumcised him in a cave. And the old Hebrew woman took the foreskin (others say she took the navel-string), and preserved it in an alabaster-box of old oil of spikenard. And she had a son who was a druggist, to whom she said, "Take heed thou sell not this alabaster box of spikenard-ointment, although thou shouldst be offered three hundred pence for it. Now this is that alabaster-box which Mary the sinner procured, and poured forth the ointment out of it upon the head and feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wiped it off with the hairs of her head".


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The circumcision controversy in early Christianity was resolved in the 1st century, so that non-Jewish Christians were not obliged to be circumcised. Saint Paul, the leading proponent of this position, discouraged circumcision as a qualification for conversion to Christianity. Circumcision soon became rare in most of the Christian world, except the Coptic Church of Egypt (where circumcision was a tradition dating to pre-Christian times) and for Judeo-Christians. Perhaps for this reason, the subject of the circumcision of Christ was extremely rare in Christian art of the 1st millennium, and there appear to be no surviving examples until the very end of the period, although literary references suggest it was sometimes depicted.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: One of the earliest depictions to survive is a miniature in an important Byzantine illuminated manuscript of 979–984, the "Menologion of Basil II" in the Vatican Library. This has a scene which shows Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus outside a building, probably the Temple of Jerusalem, as a priest comes towards them with a small knife. This is typical of the early depictions, which avoid showing the operation itself. At the period of Jesus's birth, the actual Jewish practice was for the operation to be performed at home, usually by the father, and Joseph is shown using the knife in an enamelled plaque from the Klosterneuburg Altar (1181) by Nicolas of Verdun, where it is next to plaques showing the very rare scenes (in Christian art) of the circumcisions of Isaac and Samson. Like most later depictions these are shown taking place in a large building, probably representing the Temple, though in fact the ceremony was never performed there. Medieval pilgrims to the Holy Land were told Jesus had been circumcised in the church at Bethlehem.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The scene gradually became increasingly common in the art of the Western church, and increasingly rare in Orthodox art. Various themes in theological exegesis of the event influenced the treatment in art. As the first drawing of Christ's blood, it was also seen as a forerunner of, or even the first scene of, the Passion of Christ, and was one of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Other interpretations developed based on it as the naming ceremony equivalent to Christian baptism, the aspect which was eventually to become most prominent in Catholic thinking. Both in this respect and in terms of finding a place in a pictorial cycle, consideration of the circumcision put it in a kind of competition with the much better established Presentation of Jesus; eventually the two scenes were to be conflated in some paintings.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: An influential book by Leo Steinberg, "The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion" (1983, 2nd edition 1996), explores the explicit depiction of Christ's penis in art, which he argues became a new focus of attention in late medieval art, initially covered only by a transparent veil in the early 14th century, and by the second half of the century completely uncovered, and often being the subject of the gaze or gestures of other figures in the scene. This emphasis is, among other things, a demonstration of Christ's humanity when it appears in depictions of the "Madonna and Child" and other scenes of Christ's childhood, and also a foreshadowing of Christ's Passion to come in the context of the "Circumcision".


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: Having borrowed the large architectural setting in the Temple of the "Presentation", later scenes may show the high priest alone holding the baby, as he or a "mohel" performs the operation, as in the St Wolfgang altarpiece by Michael Pacher (1481), or Dürer's painting (right) and his influential woodcut from his series on the "Life of the Virgin". This reflected what had by then become, and remains, standard Jewish practice, where the ceremony is performed in the synagogue and the baby is held by the seated rabbi as the "mohel" performs the operation. Such an arrangement is seen in a miniature from a German Pentateuch in Hebrew from about 1300, showing the "Circumcision of Isaac". Other depictions show the baby held by Mary or Joseph, or both. Many show another baby in the background, presumably the next in the queue.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: Other late medieval and Renaissance depictions of circumcision in general show antipathy towards Judaism; caricatures show the procedure as being grotesquely cruel and the "mohel" as a threatening figure; Martin Luther's anti-Judaic treatise of 1543, "On the Jews and Their Lies", devotes many pages to circumcision. Some late-medieval German depictions depict the "Circumcision of Christ" in a similar vein, with the baby not held by his parents and the officiating Jewish officials given stereotypic features. In at least one manuscript miniature women are shown performing the rite, which has been interpreted as a misogynistic trope, with circumcision represented as a form of emasculation.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: By the 15th century the scene was often prominent in large polyptych altarpieces with many scenes in Northern Europe, and began to be the main scene on the central panel in some cases, usually when commissioned by lay confraternities dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, which were found in many cities. These often included donor portraits of members, though none are obvious in Luca Signorelli's "Circumcision of Christ" commissioned by the confraternity at Volterra. The devotion to the Holy Name was a strong feature of the theatrical and extremely popular preaching of Saint Bernardino of Siena, who adopted Christ's IHS monogram as his personal emblem, which was also used by the Jesuits; this often appears in paintings, as may a scroll held by an angel reading "Vocatum est nomen eius Jesum".


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: A smaller composition in a horizontal format originated with the Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini in about 1500 and was extremely popular, with at least 34 copies or versions being produced over the following decades; the nearest to a prime version is in the National Gallery, London, though attributed to his workshop. These appear to have been commissioned for homes, possibly as votive offerings for the safe birth of an eldest son, although the reason for their popularity remains unclear. They followed some other depictions in showing Simeon, the prophet of the Presentation, regarded by then as a High Priest of the Temple, performing the operation on Jesus held by Mary. In other depictions he is a figure in the background, sometimes holding up his hands and looking to heaven, as in the Signorelli. An altarpiece of 1500 by another Venetian painter, Marco Marziale (National Gallery, London), is a thoroughgoing conflation of the Circumcision and Presentation, with the text of Simeon's prophecy, the Nunc dimittis, shown as if in mosaic on the vaults of the temple setting. There were a number of comparable works, some commissioned in circumstances where it is clear that the iconography would have had to pass learned scrutiny, so the conflation was evidently capable of theological approval, although some complaints are also recorded.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The scene was often included in Protestant art, where this included narrative scenes. It appears on baptismal fonts because of the connection made by theologians with baptism. A painting (1661, National Gallery of Art, Washington) and an etching (1654) by Rembrandt are both unusual in showing the ceremony taking place in a stable. By this period large depictions were rarer in Catholic art, not least because the interpretation of the decrees of the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563 discouraged nudity in religious art, even that of the infant Jesus, which made depicting the scene difficult. Even before this, 16th-century depictions like those of Bellini, Dürer and Signorelli tended to discreetly hide Jesus's penis from view, in contrast to earlier compositions, where this evidence of his humanity is clearly displayed.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: Poems on the subject included John Milton's "Upon the Circumcision" and his contemporary Richard Crashaw's "Our Lord in His Circumcision to His Father", which both expounded the traditional symbolism.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The circumcision of Jesus has traditionally been seen, as explained in the popular 14th-century work the "Golden Legend", as the first time the blood of Christ was shed, and thus the beginning of the process of the redemption of man, and a demonstration that Christ was fully human, and of his obedience to Biblical law. Medieval and Renaissance theologians repeatedly stressed this, also drawing attention to the suffering of Jesus as a demonstration of his humanity and a foreshadowing of his Passion. These themes were continued by Protestant theologians like Jeremy Taylor, who in a treatise of 1657 argued that Jesus's circumcision proved his human nature while fulfilling the law of Moses. Taylor also notes that had Jesus been uncircumcised, it would have made Jews substantially less receptive to his Evangelism.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The "Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord" is a Christian celebration of the circumcision, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth, the occasion on which the child was formally given his name, Jesus, a name derived from Hebrew meaning "salvation" or "saviour". It is first recorded from a church council held at Tours in 567, although it was clearly already long-established.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: The feast day appears on 1 January in the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It also appears in the pre-1960 General Roman Calendar and is celebrated by churches of the Anglican Communion (though in many revised Anglican calendars, such as the 1979 calendar of the Episcopal Church, there is a tendency toward associating the day more with the Holy Name of Jesus) and virtually all Lutheran churches. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote several cantatas for this Feast, "Beschneidung des Herrn" ("Circumcision of the Lord"), including "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190", for 1 January 1724 in Leipzig.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: It finds no place in the present Roman Calendar of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite, replaced on January 1 by the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, but is still celebrated by Old Catholics and also by traditionalist Catholics who worship according to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite (that follows the General Roman Calendar promulgated in 1962). It was for many centuries combined on January 1 with the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, before the two were separated, and now that the Feast of the Circumcision has disappeared as such from the official Catholic calendar, the other feast may be regarded as celebrating this too.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: At various points in history, relics purporting to be the holy prepuce, the foreskin of Christ, have surfaced and various miraculous powers have been ascribed to it. A number of churches in Europe have claimed to possess Jesus' foreskin, sometimes at the same time. The best known was in the Lateran Basilica in Rome, whose authenticity was confirmed by a vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden. In its gold reliquary, it was looted in the Sack of Rome in 1527, but eventually recovered.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: Most of the Holy Prepuces were lost or destroyed during the Reformation and the French Revolution. The Prepuce of Calcata is noteworthy, as the reliquary containing the Holy Foreskin was paraded through the streets of this Italian village as recently as 1983 on the Feast of the Circumcision, which was formerly marked by the Roman Catholic Church around the world on January 1 each year, and is now renamed as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The practice ended, however, when thieves stole the jewel-encrusted case, contents and all. Following this theft, it is unclear whether any purported Holy Prepuces still exist.


title: Circumcision of Jesus

text: Other philosophers contended that with the Ascension of Jesus, all of his body parts – even those no longer attached – ascended as well. One, Leo Allatius, reportedly went so far as to contend that the foreskin became the rings of Saturn; however, this reference is unverifiable.


title: China National Space Administration

text: China National Space Administration (CNSA; ) is the government agency of the People's Republic of China that is responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation, including organizing or leading foreign exchanges and cooperation in the aerospace field. An administrative agency under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, its headquarters are located in Haidian, Beijing.


title: China National Space Administration

text: Founded in 1993, CNSA has pioneered a number of achievements in space for China despite its relatively short history, including becoming the first space agency to land on the far side of the Moon with Chang'e 4, bringing material back from the Moon with Chang'e 5, and being the second agency who successfully landed a rover on Mars with Tianwen-1.


title: China National Space Administration

text: As the governing body of civil space activities, China National Space Administration does not execute any space program. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation executes China's state space programs instead. The China Manned Space Program is operated by China Manned Space Agency, instead of the CNSA.


title: China National Space Administration

text: CNSA is an agency created in 1993 when the Ministry of Aerospace Industry was split into CNSA and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The former was to be responsible for policy, while the latter was to be responsible for execution. This arrangement proved somewhat unsatisfactory, as these two agencies were, in effect, one large agency, sharing both personnel and management.


title: China National Space Administration

text: As part of a massive restructuring in 1998, CASC was split into a number of smaller state-owned companies. The intention appeared to have been to create a system similar to that characteristic of Western defense procurement in which entities which are government agencies, setting operational policy, would then contract out their operational requirements to entities which were government-owned, but not government-managed.


title: China National Space Administration

text: Since the passage of the Wolf Amendment in 2011, NASA has been forced by Congress to implement a long-standing exclusion policy with CNSA ever since, though this has been periodically overcome.


title: China National Space Administration

text: CNSA was established as a government institution to develop and fulfill China's due international obligations, with the approval by the 8th National People's Congress of China (NPC). The 9th NPC assigned CNSA as an internal structure of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND).


title: China National Space Administration

text: CNSA assumes the following main responsibilities: signing governmental agreements in the space area on behalf of organizations, inter-governmental scientific and technical exchanges; and also being in charge of the enforcement of national space policies and managing the national space science, technology and industry.


title: China National Space Administration

text: China has signed governmental space cooperation agreements with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, India, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and some other countries. Significant achievements have been scored in the bilateral and multilateral and technology exchanges and cooperation.


title: China National Space Administration

text: The most recent administrator is Zhang Kejian. Wu Yanhua is vice-administrator and Tian Yulong is secretary general.


title: China National Space Administration

text: CNSA's logo is a similar design to that of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The arrow in the middle is similar to the Chinese character 人 which means 'human' or 'people', to state that humans are the center of all space exploration. The three concentric ellipses stand for three types of escape velocity (minimum speed needed to reach sustainable orbits, to escape the earth system, and to escape the solar system) which are milestones of space exploration. The second ring is drawn with a bold line, to state that China has passed the first stage of exploration (Earth system) and is undergoing the second stage exploration (within the solar system). The 人 character stands above the three rings to emphasize humanity's capability to escape and explore. Olive branches were added to state that China's space exploration is peaceful in nature.


title: Lethal White

text: Lethal White is the fourth novel in the "Cormoran Strike" series, written by J. K. Rowling and published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The novel was released on 18 September 2018.


title: Lethal White

text: "Lethal White" is preceded by "The Cuckoo's Calling", "The Silkworm", and "Career of Evil"; there are tentative plans to follow it with at least five more stories. Rowling announced the completion of the manuscript on 23 March 2018, after approximately two years of writing, and the book was released on 18 September 2018. "Lethal White" follows the private detective Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott. The story begins with a prologue following immediately after the conclusion of "Career of Evil" detailing events taking place at Robin's wedding reception.


title: Lethal White

text: At Robin Ellacott's marriage to Matthew Cunliffe, Cormoran Strike's capture of the Shacklewell Ripper the night before is already widely known, except by Robin. When Strike tells her that he had been trying to contact her during the week, she realises that Matthew had deleted Strike's messages, which results in a serious row between the new spouses. Before Strike leaves, Robin accepts his offer of working as a salaried partner in the detective agency.


title: Lethal White

text: One year later, Strike has grown his detective agency to the point where he needs to hire more investigators. He receives an unsolicited visit from Billy Knight, a young man with a history of mental illness who claims to have witnessed a child's murder and the burial of the body in woodland some years before, but is unable to provide any details before he runs out of Strike's office. While trying to establish Billy's identity, Strike meets Billy's older brother Jimmy and Jimmy's girlfriend Flick, radical left-wing activists who claim that Billy is unstable and unreliable.


title: Lethal White

text: Strike's meeting with Jimmy draws the attention of Jasper Chiswell, the Minister for Culture, whom Strike knew of from investigating the combat death of his son Freddie. Chiswell has been blackmailed by Jimmy and hires Strike to investigate; he identifies Geraint Winn, the husband of a political enemy, as Jimmy's likely partner. Chiswell does not reveal what he is accused of, but claims that what he did was legal "at the time". Robin Ellacott then goes undercover in Chiswell's office to carry out surveillance on Winn, who has a neighbouring office, and whose wife is a government minister. The undercover assignment places more strain on Robin's marriage. She meets Chiswell's daughter Izzy, who manages his office, his illegitimate son Raphael, who also works there, and his second wife Kinvara. By bugging Winn's office, Robin discovers that Winn has been embezzling money from his and his wife's charity, and Chiswell uses this knowledge to stop Winn's blackmail.


title: Lethal White

text: Chiswell summons Strike and Robin to a house that he keeps in the city for business, perhaps intending to fire them, but on arrival, they find Chiswell's body, apparently dead from suffocation and an overdose of anti-depressants. The Metropolitan Police rule his death a suicide, but Izzy is convinced that Kinvara is responsible, again hiring Strike to investigate. Strike believes that the mysterious blackmail is connected to Chiswell's death and eventually learns that Chiswell and Jack Knight, Jimmy and Billy's late father, built gallows for export before the European Union banned the export of torture and execution equipment from member states. Two sets of these gallows were sold to Zimbabwe, where one set was stolen by rebels and used in the murder of a British student. The gallows could be traced to Chiswell because Billy had carved the nearby White Horse of Uffington into it.


title: Lethal White

text: Meanwhile, Robin continues to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder a year after her encounter with the Shacklewell Ripper, while Matthew continues to interfere with her work. But Robin separates from Matthew and moves out when she finds proof that he has been having an affair with Sarah Shadlock — the same woman he cheated on Robin with at university. Strike's ex-girlfriend Charlotte Ross, now married and pregnant, reappears and unsuccessfully pursues Strike.


title: Lethal White

text: Strike learns that Chiswell had transferred title of his property to his grandson before his death. However, he wrote Kinvara could keep anything in their country house in a document accompanying his will and live on the family estate for the rest of her life. Strike and Robin notice the country house contains a painting titled "Mare Mourning" and realize that it may be a lost George Stubbs artwork depicting a mare mourning a foal that died of lethal white syndrome. If its provenance were to be established, it would probably be worth over £20 million. Strike can then identify Chiswell's killer: Raphael, who had never been accepted by the family but had worked for an art dealer. Raphael had tipped off Flick about a cleaning job at Chiswell's, expecting that she would find out about the gallows sales and tell Jimmy, who then demanded 50 per cent of the profits. Raphael also seduced and conspired with Kinvara to kill Chiswell, intending to persuade Kinvara to make him the beneficiary of the wealth she'd receive from the painting.


title: Lethal White

text: Kinvara confesses on being interrogated by police, but Raphael sends Robin texts purporting to be from Matthew, luring her into a trap. He keeps her alive to interrogate her about the investigation; Robin stalls for time by outlining everything in detail and Raphael realizes that there is too much evidence against him. Strike realises Raphael's duplicity when he notices that the text messages to Robin came from a phone number similar to the burner phone numbers used in the blackmail case. He learns from Izzy that Raphael had a girlfriend with a houseboat and manages to arrive at the houseboat with police just as Raphaal is about to kill Robin and then himself.


title: Lethal White

text: In the aftermath, Strike, Robin and Izzy meet Billy to discuss the "murder" he witnessed as a child. Izzy reveals that Billy actually saw Freddie choke a young Raphael until he passed out, followed by the burial of a small horse that Freddie had killed in a separate act of cruelty. Strike and Robin then leave together.


title: Lethal White

text: "Lethal White" was adapted as part of the television series starring Tom Burke as Cormoran Strike and Holliday Grainger as Robin Ellacott. Filming began in September 2019. The first episode was broadcast on 30th August 2020.


title: Type IV hypersensitivity

text: Type IV hypersensitivity, often called delayed-type hypersensitivity, is a type of hypersensitivity reaction that can take a day or more to develop. Unlike the other types, it is not humoral (not antibody-mediated) but rather is a type of cell-mediated response. This response involves the interaction of T cells, monocytes, and macrophages.


title: Type IV hypersensitivity

text: This reaction is caused when CD4 T1 cells recognize foreign antigen in a complex with the MHC class II on the surface of antigen-presenting cells. These can be macrophages that secrete IL-12, which stimulates the proliferation of further CD4 T1 cells. CD4 T cells secrete IL-2 and interferon gamma (IFNγ), inducing the further release of other T1 cytokines, thus mediating the immune response. Activated CD8 T cells destroy target cells on contact, whereas activated macrophages produce hydrolytic enzymes and, on presentation with certain intracellular pathogens, transform into multinucleated giant cells.


title: Type IV hypersensitivity

text: The overreaction of the helper T cells and overproduction of cytokines damage tissues, cause inflammation, and cell death. Type IV hypersensitivity can usually be resolved with topical corticosteroids and trigger avoidance.


title: Type IV hypersensitivity

text: An example of a tuberculosis (TB) infection that comes under control: "M. tuberculosis" cells are engulfed by macrophages after being identified as foreign, but due to an immuno-escape mechanism peculiar to mycobacteria, TB bacteria are able to block the fusion of their enclosing phagosome with lysosomes which would destroy the bacteria. Thereby TB can continue to replicate within macrophages. After several weeks, the immune system somehow [mechanism as yet unexplained] ramps up and, on stimulation with IFN-gamma, the macrophages become capable of killing "M. tuberculosis" by forming phagolysosomes and nitric oxide radicals. The hyper-activated macrophages secrete TNF-α which recruits multiple monocytes to the site of infection. These cells differentiate into epithelioid cells which wall off the infected cells, but results in significant inflammation and local damage.


title: Notice period

text: A notice period or "period of notice" within a contract may by defined within the contract itself, or subject to a condition of reasonableness. In an employment contract, a notice period is a period of time between the receipt of the letter of dismissal and the end of the last working day. This time period has to be given to an employee by their employer before their employment ends. The term also refers to the period between a termination date or resignation date and the last working day in the company when an employee leaves or when a contract ends.


title: Notice period

text: These statutory periods constitute the minimum notice period to be given by the employer; however, some employers may opt to give employees longer notice periods, in order to give the employees a better opportunity to find alternative employment.


title: Notice period

text: In Poland the same notice period applies regardless of which party (employer or employee) withdraws the contract. The statutory periods apply, unless both parties agree on other terms:


title: Notice period

text: The week-measured period ends on Saturday. The month-measured period ends on the last day of calendar month—for instance, if 1-month period applies, a resignation or dismissal produced between 1st and 30 April results in contract termination on 31 May.


title: Notice period

text: Because most employment in the U.S. is at-will, no notice period is required. In practice, most employees provide two weeks' notice.


title: Notice period

text: Notice periods for white collar workers are defined in the Danish Law on Salaried Employees or "Funktionærloven", which are:


title: Notice period

text: Notice periods in Switzerland are governed by the Code of Obligations, which sets the default time scales. The notice period depends on the employee’s length of service within the company as follows:


title: Notice period

text: The default trial period is the first month of employment, but may be extended up to three months. After the trial period, the notice period may be amended by a written contract, but not under one month, unless set by a collective labor agreement and only for the first year of employment.


title: Yue Fei

text: Yue Fei (; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general who lived during the Southern Song dynasty and a national hero of China, known for leading Southern Song forces in the wars in the 12th century between Southern Song and the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty in northern China. Because of his warlike-stance, he was put to death by the Southern Song government in 1142 under a concocted charge, after a negotiated peace was achieved with the Jurchens. Yue Fei is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (, Table of Peerless Heroes) by Jin Guliang.


title: Yue Fei

text: Yue Fei's ancestral home was in Xiaoti, Yonghe Village, Tangyin, Xiangzhou, Henan (in present-day Tangyin County, Anyang, Henan). He was granted the posthumous name Wumu () by Emperor Xiaozong in 1169, and later granted the noble title King of È () posthumously by the Emperor Ningzong in 1211. Widely seen as a patriot and national folk hero in China, since his death Yue Fei has evolved into a paragon of loyalty in Chinese culture.


title: Yue Fei

text: A biography of Yue Fei, the "Eguo Jintuo Zubian" (), was written 60 years after his death by his grandson, the poet and historian Yue Ke () (1183post 1240). In 1346 it was incorporated into the "History of Song", a 496-chapter record of historical events and biographies of noted Song dynasty individuals, compiled by Yuan dynasty prime minister Toqto'a and others. Yue Fei's biography is found in the 365th chapter of the book and is numbered biography 124. Some later historians including Deng Guangming (1907–1998) now doubt the veracity of many of Yue Ke's claims about his grandfather.


title: Yue Fei

text: According to the "History of Song", Yue Fei was named "Fei", meaning to fly, because at the time he was born, "a large bird like a swan landed on the roof of his house".


title: Yue Fei

text: Several sources state that Yue was born into a poor tenant farmer's family in Tangyin County, Anyang prefecture, Henan province. According to the "Shuo Yue Quanzhuan", the immortal Chen Tuan, disguised as a wandering priest, warned Yue Fei's father, Yue He (), to put his wife and child inside a clay jar if the infant Yue Fei began to cry. A few days later, a young child squeezed Yue Fei's hand too hard and he began to cry. Soon, it began to rain and the Yellow River flooded, wiping out the village. Yue Fei's father held onto the clay jar as it was swept down the river, but eventually drowned. Although the much older "Biography of Yue Fei" also mentions the flood, it states Yue Huo survived. It reads,


title: Yue Fei

text: After [the death of his teacher Zhou Tong], [Yue Fei] would offer sacrifices at his tomb. His father praised him for his faithfulness and asked him, "When you are employed to cope with the affairs of the time, will you then not have to sacrifice yourself for the empire and die for your duty?" ()


title: Yue Fei

text: Yue Fei's father used his family's plot of land for humanitarian efforts, but after it was destroyed in the flood, the young Yue Fei was forced to help his father toil in the fields to survive. Yue received most of his primary education from his father. In 1122 Yue joined the army, but had to return home later that year after the death of his father. In ancient China, a person was required by law to temporarily resign from their job when their parents died so they could observe the customary period of mourning. For instance, Yue would have had to mourn his father's death for three years, but in all actually only 27 months. During this time, he would wear coarse mourning robes, caps, and slippers, while abstaining from silken garments. When his mother died in 1136, he retired from a decisive battle against the Jin dynasty for the mourning period, but he was forced to cut the bereavement short because his generals begged him to come back.


title: Yue Fei

text: "Shuo Yue Quanzhuan" gives a very detailed fictional account of Yue's early life. The novel states after being swept from Henan to Hubei, Yue and his mother are saved by the country squire Wang Ming () and are permitted to stay in Wang's manor as domestic helpers. The young Yue Fei later becomes the adopted son and student of the Wang family's teacher, Zhou Tong, a famous master of military skills. (Zhou Tong is not to be confused with the similarly named "Little Tyrant" in "Water Margin".) Zhou teaches Yue and his three sworn brothers – Wang Gui (), Tang Huai () and Zhang Xian () – literary lessons on odd days and military lessons, involving archery and the eighteen weapons of war, on even days.


title: Yue Fei

text: After years of practice, Zhou Tong enters his students into the Tangyin County military examination, in which Yue Fei wins first place by shooting a succession of nine arrows through the bullseye of a target 240 paces away. After this display of archery, Yue is asked to marry the daughter of Li Chun (), an old friend of Zhou and the county magistrate who presided over the military examination. However, Zhou soon dies of an illness and Yue lives by his grave through the winter until the second month of the new year when his sworn brothers come and tear it down, forcing him to return home and take care of his mother.


title: Yue Fei

text: Yue eventually marries and later participates in the imperial military examination in the Song capital of Kaifeng. There, he defeats all competitors and even turns down an offer from Cai Gui (), the Prince of Liang, to be richly rewarded if he forfeits his chance for the military degree. This angers the prince and both agree to fight a private duel in which Yue kills the prince and is forced to flee the city for fear of being executed. Shortly thereafter, he joins the Song army to fight the invading armies of the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty.


title: Yue Fei

text: When [Yue] was born, a Peng flew crowing over the house, so his father named the child Fei" [(飛 – "flight")]". Before [Yue] was even a month old, the Yellow River flooded, so his mother got inside of the center of a clay jar and held on to baby Yue. The violent waves pushed the jar down river, where they landed ashore ... Despite his family's poverty, [Yue Fei] was studious, and particularly favored the "Zuo Zhuan" edition of the "Spring and Autumn Annals" and the strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi. ()


title: Yue Fei

text: According to a book by martial arts master Liang Shouyu, "[A] Dapeng is a great bird that lived in ancient China. Legend has it, that Dapeng Jinchi Mingwang was the guardian that stayed above the head of Gautama Buddha. Dapeng could get rid of all evil in any area. Even the Monkey King was no match for it. During the Song dynasty the government was corrupt and foreigners were constantly invading China. Sakyamuni sent Dapeng down to earth to protect China. Dapeng descended to Earth and was born as Yue Fei."


title: Yue Fei

text: The "Biography of Yue Fei" states, "Yue Fei possessed supernatural power and before his adulthood, he was able to draw a bow of 300 catties () and a crossbow of eight stone (960 catties, ). Yue Fei learned archery from Zhou Tong. He learned everything and could shoot with his left and right hands." "Shuo Yue Quanzhuan" states Zhou teaches Yue and his sworn brothers archery and all of the eighteen weapons of war. This novel also says Yue was Zhou's third student after Lin Chong and Lu Junyi of the 108 outlaws in "Water Margin". The "E Wang Shi" records, "When Yue Fei reached adulthood, his maternal grandfather, Yao Daweng (), hired a spear expert, Chen Guang, to teach Yue Fei spear fighting."


title: Yue Fei

text: Both the "Biography of Yue Fei" and "E Wang Shi" mention Yue learning from Zhou and Chen at or before his adulthood. The Chinese character representing "adulthood" in these sources is "ji guan" (), an ancient Chinese term that means "20 years old" where a young man was able to wear a formal headdress as a social status of adulthood. So he gained all of his martial arts knowledge by the time he joined the army at the age of 19.


title: Yue Fei

text: These chronicles do not mention Yue's masters teaching him martial arts style; just archery, spearplay and military tactics. However non-historical or scholarly sources state, in addition to those already mentioned, Zhou Tong taught Yue other skills such as hand-to-hand combat and horseback riding. Yet again, these do not mention any specific martial arts style. One legend says Zhou took young Yue to an unspecified place to meet a Buddhist hermit who taught him the Emei Dapeng qigong () style. This is supposedly the source of his legendary strength and martial arts abilities. According to thirteenth generation lineage "Tai He" ("Great Harmony") Wudangquan master "Fan Keping" (), Zhou Tong was a master of various "hard qigong" exercises.


title: Yue Fei

text: According to historical records and legend, Yue had the four Chinese characters "jin zhong bao guo" () tattooed across his back. The "Biography of Yue Fei" says after Qin Hui sent agents to arrest Yue and his son, he was taken before the court and charged with treason, but


title: Yue Fei

text: Yue ripped his jacket to reveal the four tattooed characters of "serve the country with the utmost loyalty" on his back. This proved that he was clearly innocent of the charges.


title: Yue Fei

text: Later fictionalizations of Yue's biography would build upon the tattoo. For instance, one of his earliest Ming era novels titled "The Story of King Yue Who Restored the Song dynasty" () states that after the Jurchen armies invaded China, young heroes in Yue's village suggest that they join the bandits in the mountains. However, Yue objects and has one of them tattoo the aforementioned characters on his back. Whenever others want to join the bandits, he flashes them the tattoo to change their minds.


title: Yue Fei

text: The common legend of Yue receiving the tattoo from his mother first appeared in "Shuo Yue Quanzhuan," a historical novel. In chapter 21 titled "By a pretext Wang Zuo swore brotherhood, by tattoos Lady Yue instructed her son", Yue denounces the pirate chief Yang Yao () and passes on a chance to become a general in his army. Yue Fei's mother then tells her son, "I, your mother, saw that you did not accept recruitment of the rebellious traitor, and that you willingly endure poverty and are not tempted by wealth and status ... But I fear that after my death, there may be some unworthy creature who will entice you ... For these reason ... I want to tattoo on your back the four characters 'Utmost', 'Loyalty', 'Serve' and 'Nation' ... The Lady picked up the brush and wrote out on his spine the four characters for 'serving the nation with the utmost loyalty' ... [So] she bit her teeth, and started pricking. Having finished, she painted the characters with ink mixed with vinegar so that the colour would never fade."


title: Yue Fei

text: However, the truthfulness of this legend is disputed by modern historians. Documentation before the Qing dynasty record that Yue Fei had hired a tattoo artist to tattoo the four characters on his back. Such documentations appeared in Wumu Jingzhong Zhuan, a novel published in the Ming dynasty, while Shuo Yue Quanzhuan (General Yue Fei) was published in the Qing dyansty.


title: Yue Fei

text: The Kaifeng Jews, one of many pockets of Chinese Jews living in ancient China, refer to this tattoo in two of their three stele monuments created in 1489, 1512, and 1663. The first mention appeared in a section of the 1489 stele referring to the Jews' "Boundless loyalty to the country and Prince". The second appeared in a section of the 1512 stele about how Jewish soldiers and officers in the Chinese armies were "boundlessly loyal to the country".


title: Yue Fei

text: Southern Song era artist Liu Songnian () (1174–1224), who was best known for his realistic works, painted a picture, "Four Generals of Zhongxing" (). The group portrait shows eight people – four generals and four attendants. Starting from the left: attendant, Yue Fei, attendant, Zhang Jun (), Han Shizhong (), attendant, Liu Guangshi (), and attendant.


title: Yue Fei

text: According to history professor He Zongli of Zhejiang University, the painting shows Yue was more of a scholarly-looking general with a shorter stature and chubbier build than the statue of him currently displayed in his tomb in Hangzhou, which portrays him as being tall and skinny. Shen Lixin, an official with the Yue Fei Temple Administration, holds the portrait of Yue Fei from the "Four Generals of Zhongxing" to be the most accurate likeness of the general in existence.


title: Yue Fei

text: In his "From Myth to Myth: The Case of Yüeh Fei's Biography", noted Sinologist Hellmut Wilhelm concluded that Yue Fei purposely patterned his life after famous Chinese heroes from dynasties past and that this ultimately led to his martyrdom. Apart from studying literature under his father Yue He (), Yue Fei loved to read military classics. He favored the "Zuo Zhuan" commentary on the "Spring and Autumn Annals" and the strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi. Although his literacy afforded him the chance to become a scholar, which was a position held in much higher regard than the common soldiery during the Song dynasty, Yue chose the military path because there had never been any tradition of civil service in his family. Therefore he had no reason to study Confucian classics in order to surpass the accomplishments of his ancestors or to raise his family's social status to the next level. His fourth generation ancestor, Yue Huan (), had served as a "lingshi" () (essentially a low-level functionary), but he was never a full-fledged member of the civil service rank. A second theory is that he joined the military in the hopes of emulating his favorite heroes.