title: Rolex Daytona

text: The final price of $17,752,500 for the "Paul Newman" Daytona Ref. 6239 was the sum of the winning auction bid ($15.5 million) and a buyer's premium of 12.5%. The model was sold by Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo in New York City, as part of the "WINNING ICONS: Milestone Watches of the 20th Century" auction. The watch, called the "Holy Grail" or "Amber Room" of watches and long presumed lost, had been "found" earlier in 2017. Aurel Bacs, the auctioneer, remarked "The first question you ask when you get interested in vintage watches is, 'Where is Paul Newman's Paul Newman [Daytona]?' Everyone knows that by the mid-'80s Newman is no longer wearing it, and nobody knows where it is. There is hardly a dinner with collectors where the conversation does not turn to this watch. Where is it, and how much will it make if it ever comes to market?" Bacs himself was initially skeptical, but was humbled "to discover that a collector had told the owners that there was only one person, and one auction house that could do the job properly" of auctioning the rare watch, leading James Cox to hire Bacs.


title: Rolex Daytona

text: Bidding opened at $1 million, but as the commission bid was being announced, it was interrupted by a $10 M bid, which was raised in increments of $500,000 until it was finally sold at the winning $15.5 M bid. The price of US$17.75 M makes it the most expensive wristwatch ever sold. In 1984, when Newman gave the watch to James Cox, the watch was selling for about $200. Cox announced his plans to donate a significant portion of the proceeds to the Nell Newman Foundation and Newman's Own Foundation.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structure gauges, and lighter rails, they can be less costly to build, equip, and operate than standard- or broad-gauge railways (particularly in mountainous or difficult terrain). Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often used in mountainous terrain, where engineering savings can be substantial. Lower-cost narrow-gauge railways are often built to serve industries as well as sparsely populated communities where the traffic potential would not justify the cost of a standard- or broad-gauge line. Narrow-gauge railways have specialised use in mines and other environments where a small structure gauge necessitates a small loading gauge.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard; Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Australian states of Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania have a gauge, whereas Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand have metre-gauge railways. Narrow-gauge trams, particularly metre-gauge, are common in Europe. Non-industrial, narrow-gauge mountain railways are (or were) common in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and the Pacific Cordillera of Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, and Costa Rica.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: A narrow-gauge railway is one where the distance between the inside edges of the rails is less than . Historically, the term was sometimes used to refer to standard-gauge railways, to distinguish them from broad-gauge railways, but this use no longer applies.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: The earliest recorded railway appears in Georgius Agricola's 1556 "De re metallica", which shows a mine in Bohemia with a railway of about gauge. During the 16th century, railways were primarily restricted to hand-pushed, narrow-gauge lines in mines throughout Europe. In the 17th century, mine railways were extended to provide transportation above ground. These lines were industrial, connecting mines with nearby transportation points (usually canals or other waterways). These railways were usually built to the same narrow gauge as the mine railways from which they developed.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: The world's first steam locomotive, built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick for the Coalbrookdale Company, ran on a plateway. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray's Salamanca built in 1812 for the Middleton Railway in Leeds. Salamanca was also the first rack-and-pinion locomotive. During the 1820s and 1830s, a number of industrial narrow-gauge railways in the United Kingdom used steam locomotives. In 1842, the first narrow-gauge steam locomotive outside the UK was built for the -gauge Antwerp-Ghent Railway in Belgium. The first use of steam locomotives on a public, passenger-carrying narrow-gauge railway was in 1865, when the Ffestiniog Railway introduced passenger service after receiving its first locomotives two years earlier.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Many narrow-gauge railways were part of industrial enterprises and served primarily as industrial railways, rather than general carriers. Common uses for these industrial narrow-gauge railways included mining, logging, construction, tunnelling, quarrying, and conveying agricultural products. Extensive narrow-gauge networks were constructed in many parts of the world; 19th-century mountain logging operations often used narrow-gauge railways to transport logs from mill to market. Significant sugarcane railways still operate in Cuba, Fiji, Java, the Philippines, and Queensland, and narrow-gauge railway equipment remains in common use for building tunnels.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: In 1897, a manganese mine in the Lahn valley in Germany was using two benzine-fueled locomotives with single cylinder internal combustion engines on the 500mm gauge tracks of their mine railway; these locomotives were made by the Deutz Gas Engine Company ("Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz"), now Deutz AG. Another early use of internal combustion was to power a narrow-gauge locomotive was in 1902. F. C. Blake built a 7 hp petrol locomotive for the Richmond Main Sewerage Board sewage plant at Mortlake. This gauge locomotive was probably the third petrol-engined locomotive built.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Extensive narrow-gauge rail systems served the front-line trenches of both sides in World War I. They were a short-lived military application, and after the war the surplus equipment created a small boom in European narrow-gauge railway building.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: The heavy-duty narrow-gauge railways in Queensland, South Africa, Japan, and New Zealand demonstrate that if track is built to a heavy-duty standard, performance almost as good as a standard-gauge line is possible.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Two-hundred-car trains operate on the Sishen–Saldanha railway line in South Africa, and high-speed Tilt Trains run in Queensland. In South Africa and New Zealand, the loading gauge is similar to the restricted British loading gauge; in New Zealand, some British Rail Mark 2 carriages have been rebuilt with new bogies for use by Tranz Scenic (Wellington-Palmerston North service), Tranz Metro (Wellington-Masterton service), and Auckland One Rail (Auckland suburban services).


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Another example of a heavy-duty narrow-gauge line is Brazil's EFVM. gauge, it has over-100-pound rail () and a loading gauge almost as large as US non-excess-height lines. The line has a number of locomotives and 200-plus-car trains.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Narrow gauge's reduced stability means that its trains cannot run at speeds as high as on broader gauges. For example, if a curve with standard-gauge rail (1435 mm) can allow speed up to , the same curve with narrow-gauge rail (1067mm) can only allow speed up to .


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: In Japan and Queensland, recent permanent-way improvements have allowed trains on gauge tracks to exceed . Queensland Rail's Electric Tilt Train, the fastest train in Australia and the fastest gauge train in the world, set a record of . The speed record for narrow-gauge rail is , set in South Africa in 1978.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Curve radius is also important for high speeds: narrow-gauge railways allow sharper curves, but these limit a vehicle's safe speed.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Many narrow gauges, from gauge and gauge, are in present or former use. They fall into several broad categories:


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: track gauge (also known as Scotch gauge) was adopted by early 19th-century railways, primarily in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland. lines were also constructed, and both were eventually converted to standard gauge.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: between the inside of the rail heads, its name and classification vary worldwide and it has about of track.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: According to Italian law, track gauges in Italy were defined from the centre of each rail rather than the inside edges of the rails. This gauge, measured between the edges of the rails, is known as Italian metre gauge.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: There were a number of large railroad systems in North America; notable examples include the Denver & Rio Grande and Rio Grande Southern in Colorado and the South Pacific Coast, White Pass and Yukon Route and West Side Lumber Co of California. was also a common track gauge in South America, Ireland and on the Isle of Man. was a common gauge in Europe. Swedish three-foot-gauge railways () are unique to that country.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: A few railways and tramways were built to gauge, including Nankai Main Line (later converted to ), Ocean Pier Railway at Atlantic City, Seaton Tramway (converted from ) and Waiorongomai Tramway.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: gauge railways are commonly used for rack railways. Imperial gauge railways were generally constructed in the former British colonies. Bosnian gauge and railways are predominantly found in Russia and Eastern Europe.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Gauges such as , and were used in parts of the UK, particularly for railways in Wales and the borders, with some industrial use in the coal industry. Some sugar cane lines in Cuba were . The rapid transit Line 15 of the São Paulo Metro uses a gauge.


title: Narrow-gauge railway

text: Gauges below were rare. Arthur Percival Heywood developed gauge estate railways in Britain and Decauville produced a range of industrial railways running on and tracks, most commonly in restricted environments such as underground mine railways, parks and farms, in France. Several gauge railways were built in Britain to serve ammunition depots and other military facilities, particularly during World War I.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: Arsinoë IV (; between 68 and 63 BC – 41 BC) was the fourth of six children and the youngest daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes. Queen and co-ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt with her brother Ptolemy XIII from 48 BC – 47 BC, she was one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt. Arsinoë IV was also the half sister of Cleopatra VII. For her role in conducting the siege of Alexandria (47 BC) against her sister Cleopatra, Arsinoë was taken as a prisoner of war to Rome by the Roman triumvir Julius Caesar following the defeat of Ptolemy XIII in the Battle of the Nile. Arsinoë was then exiled to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Roman Anatolia, but she was executed there by orders of triumvir Mark Antony in 41 BC at the behest of his lover Cleopatra VII.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: Arsinoë was the third, possibly fourth daughter of Ptolemy XII by an unknown woman (presumably since Cleopatra VII's probable mother Cleopatra V had died or been repudiated not long after Cleopatra VII was born.) When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, he left his eldest son and daughter, Ptolemy and Cleopatra, as joint rulers of Egypt, but Ptolemy soon dethroned Cleopatra and forced her to flee from Alexandria. Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria in 48 BC pursuing his rival, Pompey, whom he had defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus. When he arrived in Alexandria, he was presented with Pompey's head. The execution of his longterm rival ended the possibility of an alliance between Caesar and Ptolemy, and he sided with Cleopatra's faction. He declared that in accordance with Ptolemy XII's will, Cleopatra and Ptolemy would rule Egypt jointly, and in a similar motion restored Cyprus, which had been annexed by Rome in 58 BC, to Egypt's rule and gave it to Arsinoë and her youngest brother, Ptolemy XIV.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: However, Arsinoë then escaped from the capital with her mentor, the eunuch Ganymedes, and took command of the Egyptian army. She also proclaimed herself Queen as Arsinoë IV, executed Achillas, and placed Ganymedes second in command of the army immediately below herself. Under Arsinoë's leadership, the Egyptians enjoyed some success against the Romans. The Egyptians trapped Caesar in a section of the city by building walls to close off the streets. Then Arsinoë directed Ganymedes to pour seawater into the canals that supplied Caesar's cisterns which caused panic among Caesar's troops. Caesar countered this measure by digging wells into the porous limestone beneath the city that contained fresh water. This only partially alleviated the situation, so he then sent ships out along the coast to search for more fresh water there. Caesar realized that he would need to break out of the city and hoped to do so by gaining control of the harbor. He launched an attack to seize control of the Lighthouse of Alexandria but Arsinoë's forces drove him back. Recognizing his imminent defeat, Caesar removed his armor and purple cloak so that he could swim to the safety of a nearby Roman ship.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: The leading Egyptian officers, having become disappointed with Ganymedes, and under a pretext of wanting peace, negotiated with Caesar to exchange Arsinoë for Ptolemy XIII. After Ptolemy was released he continued the war until the Romans received reinforcements and inflicted a decisive defeat upon the Egyptians. Arsinoë, now in Roman captivity, was transported to Rome, where in 46 BC she was forced to appear in Caesar's triumph and was paraded behind a burning effigy of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which had been the scene of her victory over him. Arsinoe, along with Juba II, elicited empathy from the crowd. Despite the custom of strangling prominent prisoners in triumphs when the festivities concluded, Caesar was pressured to spare Arsinoë and granted her sanctuary at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Arsinoë lived in the temple for a few years, always keeping a watchful eye on her sister Cleopatra, who perceived Arsinoë as a threat to her power. In 41 BC, at Cleopatra's instigation, Mark Antony ordered Arsinoë's execution on the steps of the temple. Her murder was a gross violation of the temple sanctuary and an act that scandalised Rome. The eunuch priest ("Megabyzos") who had welcomed Arsinoë on her arrival at the temple as "queen" was only pardoned when an embassy from Ephesus made a petition to Cleopatra.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: Arsinoë's year of birth is generally regarded as being between 68 and 63 BC: The "Encyclopædia Britannica" cites 63 BC, making her 15 at the time of her uprising and defeat against Julius Caesar and 22 at her death, while the researcher Alissa Lyon cites 68 BC making her 27 at her death. Joyce Tyldesley places her birth date as between 68 and 65 BC. An alternate hypothesis was in the docudrama "Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer", in which it was alleged a headless skeleton of a female child between the ages of 15 and 18 may be Arsinoë.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: Her actions in the brief war against Caesar naturally suggest that she was older than that and thus, would make it impossible for her to be the headless female child buried in the tomb. Perhaps the strongest evidence that she was in fact exercising her own authority is that Caesar, after the Pharos debacle, was prepared to release Ptolemy XIII — a male, who continued the war against Caesar — just to get his hands on her. Stacy Schiff, who places Arsinoë's age at around seventeen during the events of 48-47 BC, notes that Arsinoë "burned with ambition" and was "not the kind of girl who inspired complacency," writing that once Arsinoë escaped the royal palace she became more vocal against her half-sister and that she assumed her position as head of the army alongside anti-Caesar courtier Achillas.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: In the 1990s an octagonal monument situated in the centre of Ephesus was hypothesized by Hilke Thür of the Austrian Academy of Sciences to be the tomb of Arsinoë. Although no inscription remains on the tomb, it was dated to between 50 and 20 BC. In 1926 the skeleton of a female estimated to be between the ages of 15 and 18 years at the time of her death was found in the burial chamber. Thür's identification of the skeleton was based on the shape of the tomb, which was octagonal, like the second tier of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the carbon dating of the bones (between 200 and 20 BC), the gender of the skeleton, and the age of the child at death. It was also claimed that the tomb boasts Egyptian motifs, such as "papyri-bundle" columns.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: A DNA test was also attempted to determine the identity of the child. However, it was impossible to get an accurate reading since the bones had been handled too many times, and the skull had been lost in Germany during World War II. Hilke Thür examined the old notes and photographs of the now-missing skull, which was reconstructed using computer technology by forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson to show what the woman may have looked like. Thür alleged that it shows signs of African ancestry mixed with classical Grecian features – despite the fact that Boas, Gravlee, Bernard and Leonard, and others have demonstrated that skull measurements are not a reliable indicator of race, and the measurements were jotted down in 1920 before modern forensic science took hold. Furthermore, Arsinoë and Cleopatra, shared the same father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) but had different mothers, with Thür claiming the alleged African ancestry came from the skeleton's mother.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: Mary Beard wrote a dissenting essay criticizing the findings, pointing out that, first, there is no surviving name on the tomb and that the claim the tomb is alleged to invoke the shape of the Pharos Lighthouse "doesn't add up"; second, the skull doesn't survive intact and the age of the skeleton is too young to be Arsinoë's (the bones said to be that of a 15-18 year old, with Arsinoë being around her mid twenties at her death); and third, since Cleopatra and Arsinoë were not known to have the same mother, "the ethnic argument goes largely out of the window." Furthermore, craniometry as used by Thür to determine race is based in scientific racism that is now generally considered a pseudoscience that supported exploitation of groups of people to perpetuate racial oppression and distorted future views of the biological basis of race.


title: Arsinoe IV

text: A writer from "The Times" described the identification of the skeleton as "a triumph of conjecture over certainty". If the monument is the tomb of Arsinoë, she would be the only member of the Ptolemaic dynasty whose remains have been recovered. It has never been definitively proven the skeleton is that of Arsinoë IV.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The first generation Premacy was built in Japan and exported to Europe and Asia. A rebadged version was sold by Ford in a few Asian markets (including Japan) as the Ford Ixion or Ixion MAV.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The second generation onward is sold outside Japan as the Mazda5. Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan, which assembles Mazda5 for the local market, adapted a re-badged version as the Ford i-Max from 2007 until 2011.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The first generation Premacy was a two- or three-row, five- or seven-passenger vehicle, while the second generation adds a third row of seats for up to six passengers in American form, and seven passengers outside the United States. Both generations feature near-flat floors, folding or removable second row, and fold-flat rear seats.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The first generation Mazda Premacy was unveiled on 9 March 1999 at the Geneva Motor Show. When released in April 1999, the Mazda Premacy was one of the least expensive seven-seaters available on the market. It was available with either front or all-wheel drive and was equipped with four-speed automatic transmission. The second and third row seats could be folded and removed as on many other minivans.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: This generation Premacy was also sold in some Asian markets as the Ford Ixion, from 1999 until 2003. The Taiwanese Ixion (later the Ixion MAV) was built until 2005. The first generation Premacy was also manufactured by China's FAW Haima Automobile where it is called the Haima Freema until it was replaced by the second generation Freema based on the same platform.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Ford Ixion is a redesign of the first generation Premacy/Mazda5, designed by Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan. Due to the fact that Mazda was controlled by Ford Lio Ho from 1998, Ford models were able to be launched at an earlier date before equivalent Mazda models were launched, and at a more competitive price with better specifications. The Taiwanese market Ford Ixion MAV features exclusively designed front and rear with Ford's design identity and was launched in Taiwan in 1999. It arrived two weeks before the local launch of the first generation Mazda Premacy. The Halo Gold color of the Premacy in the Japanese market at the time was reserved exclusively for the Ford Ixion MAV in the Taiwanese market, and features such as the Panasonic AV800 audio system, satellite navigation system, and optional reverse cameras were only offered on the Ford. However, sales of the Ford Ixion in the Taiwanese market dropped behind the Mazda Premacy starting from the second month, and sales was mediocre until discontinuation in 2005.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Ford Ixion MAV in Taiwan is only available with a 1.8-liter 16 valve DOHC engine producing 135 hp/6200rpm and 16.5 kg-m/4500rpm mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission shared with the Ford Tierra. The MAV name means Multiple activity vehicle and is exclusive to the Taiwanese model. The Ford Ixion MAV was sold in two trim level priced at NTD 659,000 yuan and NTD 699,000 yuan.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The international version of the Ford Ixion was fitted with different grilles, bumpers and rear lights, and the styling adapted to Ford’s New Edge design theme. The model gave Ford an entry into the compact minivan market in Asia. It was built in Japan and exported to parts of Asia, and was essentially a re-badged version of the Premacy with only minor differences. It was built alongside the Premacy and was identical mechanically while sold in a few Asian markets including Japan and China. The international version of the Ford Ixion shares the two Mazda Premacy home-market engines. In 2001 the model received minor changes, with the two-row models discontinued. The whole product line was discontinued in 2003 as Ford started the global one Ford policy and ended production of its re-badged cars in Japan.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The second generation went on sale in 7 February 2005 in Japan and mid-2005 in export markets and was bigger than the first generation in all aspects. It was now sold as the Mazda5 in all markets except Japan. While classified by Mazda as a mid-sized wagon, it competes with other vehicles classed as Compact MPVs in Europe, and is viewed as a mini-minivan in the United States. It is based on Ford's global C1 platform, meaning it shares many parts with the Mazda3. The Mazda5 replaced the Mazda MPV as Mazda's minivan offering in most export markets.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Mazda5's was rebranded in Asia as the Ford I-Max. This version of the vehicle was also introduced for sale in the United States, making it the first compact minivan in that market since the 1994 Mitsubishi Expo (in the United States) and 1995 Nissan Axxess (in Canada). The Mazda5 is marginally larger than the 1984–1989 Toyota Van. Competition joined the North American minivan market in 2006 with Mercedes-Benz's B200 (in Canada and Mexico) and in 2007 Kia Motors followed suit with the 2007 Kia Rondo (in the United States and Canada).


title: Mazda Premacy

text: In North America, due to safety regulations, the Mazda5 fits six passengers using three rows of seats, with two seats per row. Elsewhere, it is sold as a seven-seater using Mazda's "Karakuri Seating System", which means the car has three rows of two seats, with the seventh seat a fold away jump seat in the centre of the middle row. The Mazda5 has three-point seat belts on all seven seats.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The middle row of seats recline and slide front-to-rear, and fold flat. The rear row also folds flat.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The wheelbase is with an overall length of . For the Japanese domestic market it is C model/F model – / S model – .


title: Mazda Premacy

text: Mazda was forced to recall the Mazda5 in the United States shortly after production began due to a risk of exhaust system fires. Owners that were not made aware of the manual shifting mode ("sport mode") of the 4-speed automatic transmission would mistakenly leave the shifter in that position, resulting in high temperatures as the car would remain in second gear. Mazda's solution was to add a heat shield around the muffler and to alter the vehicle's software to not allow excessively high engine speeds beyond a short period of time when in "sport mode". Although the five-speed manual transmission equipped cars would seemingly not need to be recalled, Mazda chose to retrofit all Mazda5 versions with the new parts and software. The company also gave customers US$500 (for Canadian owners, it is C$500) plus a loaner car while the problem was mitigated. 2,700 vehicles were affected.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: For the 2006 model year, Mazda offered fewer Mazda5 options than in other markets. The North American version lacked the front-to-back roof rails that were included as standard in other markets. Other notable Mazda5 options not offered in North America included a back-up camera, power-assist side doors and even a choice of engine (2.3 L only). A second-row DVD entertainment system was eventually offered as a dealer installed add-on. Mazda produced a limited number of Mazda5 units featuring all-wheel-drive but this version was not made available outside Japan for the 2006 model year.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid was a version of Mazda Premacy with a two-rotor Wankel engine supporting hydrogen or gasoline fuel. The hydrogen tank with at stores up to of hydrogen and is in addition to the gasoline tank.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Mazda5 was named "Best New Multipurpose Family Vehicle" in the 2006 Canadian Car of the Year awards. "Consumer Reports" ranked the Mazda5 as the best "tall wagon" in their test, though the car failed to gain a "recommended" rating due to unknown reliability.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: In April 2006, the Japan New Car Assessment Program (J-NCAP) awarded the Mazda5 a maximum six-star rating for front-occupant crash worthiness. In Europe, the Mazda5 was awarded a maximum five-star "adult occupant" safety rating in September 2005 by the Euro-NCAP.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: For 2008, the Mazda Premacy/Mazda5 received a mid-cycle refresh with updated front bumper, wheels and rear LED lights for Touring and Grand Touring trim levels. The automatic gearbox was updated to five-speed. The interior received a few changes to the dash including luminescent gauges, an updated radio control layout with auxiliary input, a rear A/C vent, center console, and a full set of armrests for the first and second seating rows on North American models. Mazda first released the 2008 Mazda Premacy in Japan, with other markets to follow.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: For 2010, Mazda added electronic stability control and traction control to the Mazda5, safety features that were formerly cited as oversights on the vehicle.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Ford i-Max was developed by Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan to replace the Ford Ixion MAV that had been discontinued in 2005. Ford Lio Ho applied Ford's "Kinetic design" design language with styling changes including a redesigned front end, horizontal tail lamps, and the addition of Ford S-MAX inspired side air-vents.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Ford i-Max is powered by Duratec-HE 2.0 liter inline-4 gasoline engine producing 148hp/6000rpm and 19.2kgm/4500rpm mated to a sequential sport shift 4-speed automatic gearbox. The i-Max debuted in July 2007. There are four trim levels including the 5-seater GLX, 7-seater Ghia, the 7-seater Ghia-X, and the 6-seater Ghia-Limited.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: A facelift was introduced in 2010 featuring an additional rear fog lamp, smoked headlamps, and red tail lamp lens.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The third generation was the first car to use Mazda's new Nagare design language, with the curve of the front fender flowing past the wheel well and onto the car's flank. "Nagare" means flow and was first developed for the eponymous show car of 2006.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: In Europe, the new Mazda5 is offered with a 1.6-liter turbo-diesel, a 1.8-liter four-cylinder or a 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine with direct-injection and Mazda’s i-stop start/stop technology, which will reduce emissions by 15 percent. All engines include a six-speed manual transmission as standard, as well as new environmental friendly features.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: For 2012, the US Mazda5 comes with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. A six-speed manual transmission is standard in the base model, with a five-speed automatic optional while both the Touring and the Grand Touring come with a five-speed automatic with manual mode. The third generation began production on 13 May 2010 and began sales in Japan on 1 July 2010. The Mazda5 comes in three grades: 20CS, 20E and 20S. The base model CS does not include i-stop.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: In the United States, 2015 is the last Mazda5 model year, as Mazda stopped importing the vehicle due to sluggish sales volumes. Mazda shifted its focus to crossover vehicles growing in popularity. The Mazda5 is also discontinued of European market in the same year. However, the Mazda5 continued to be sold in Canada for 2016 and 2017 model years.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: Changes to Mazda Premacy include the introduction of Skyactiv-G 2.0L engine and 6-speed Skyactiv-Drive automatic transmission. The Skyactiv variant of the Premacy will have a fuel economy of 16.2 km/L based on Japan's JC08 mode.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: Japanese market models went on sale in January 2013. Early models include 20C-Skyactiv, 20S-Skyactiv, 20S-Skyactiv L-package, 20CS, 20C, 20S.


title: Mazda Premacy

text: The Nissan Lafesta Highway Star is a rebranded version of the Premacy supplied to Nissan on an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) basis. It features a restyled front end. Unlike the Premacy, the new Nissan Lafesta Highway Star had flatter door panels.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor of Junnar after defeating the Bahmani army led by general Jahangir Khan on 28 May 1490 declared independence and established the Nizam Shahi dynasty rule over the sultanate of Ahmednagar. Initially his capital was in the town of Junnar with its fort, later renamed Shivneri. In 1494, the foundation was laid for the new capital Ahmadnagar. In 1636 Aurangzeb, then Mugal viceroy of Deccan, finally annexed the sultanate to the Mughal Empire.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: Ahmednagar sultanate was dependent on Koli chieftains for military or soldiers. Koli chieftains of provided the cavalry and infantry for Sultans of Ahmednagar during wartimes.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I was the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri, originally a Hindu Brahmin from Beejanuggar (or Bijanagar) originally named Timapa. Ahmed's father was made "Malik Na'ib" on the death of Mahmud Gavan and was appointed Prime Minister by Mahmood Shah Bahmani II. Soon after, he appointed Ahmed governor of Beed and other districts in the vicinity of Dowlutabad. After the death of his father, Ahmed assumed the titles of Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri from his father, the last signifying a falcon as Hasan had been falconer to the Sultan. Malik Ahmad the Bahmani governor of Junnar defended his province against incursions from the Sultan, successfully defeating a much larger army led by Sheikh Mowullid Arab in a night attack , an army of 18,000 led by Azmut ul-Mulk and an army led by bahmani general Jahangir Khan on 28 May 1490 declared independence and established the Nizam Shahi dynasty rule over the sultanate of Ahmednagar. Initially his capital was in the town of Junnar with its fort, later renamed Shivneri. In 1494, the foundation was laid for the new capital Ahmadnagar. After several attempts, he secured the great fortress of Daulatabad in 1499.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: After the death of Malik Ahmad in 1510, his son Burhan Nizam Shah I, a boy of seven was, installed in his place. In the initial days of his reign, the control of the kingdom was in the hands of Mukammal Khan, an Ahmadnagar official and his son. Burhan converted to Shi'i Islam under the tutelage of Shah Tahir Husaini. Burhan died in Ahmadnagar in 1553. He left six sons, of whom Hussain Nizam Shah I succeeded him. Aliya Rama Raya emperor of vijayanagara made a series of aggressive efforts to maintain hold over Kalyan and diplomatic dealings with the Sultanates laden with insulting gestures, the four Muslim Sultanates – Hussain Nizam Shah I and Ali Adil Shah I of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur to the west, Ali Barid Shah I of Bidar in the center, and Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali of Golkonda to the east – united in the wake of shrewd marital diplomacy and convened to attack Aliya Rama Raya, in late January 1565 at talikota. Hussain was a leading figurehead of the Deccan Sultanates during the Battle of Talikota.after the battle Rama Raya was beheaded by Sultan Nizam Hussain himself.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: After the death of Hussain in 1565, his minor son Murtaza Nizam Shah I ascended the throne. During his minority, his mother Khanzada Humayun Sultana ruled as a regent for several years. Murtaza Shah annexed Berar in 1572. On his death in 1588, his son Miran Hussain ascended the throne. But his reign could last only a little more than ten months as he was poisoned to death. Ismail, a cousin of Miran Hussain was raised to the throne, but the actual power was in the hands of Jamal Khan, the leader of the Deccani/Habshi group in the court. Jamal Khan was killed in the battle of Rohankhed in 1591 and soon Ismail Shah was also captured and confined by his father Burhan, who ascended the throne as Burhan Nizam Shah II. But his sister Chand Bibi fought him. Winning the kingdom, Chand Bibi ascended the throne as regent for the new infant sultan, Bahadur Nizam Shah. She repulsed an invasion by the Mughal Empire with the reinforcements from the Bijapur and Golconda Sultanates. After the death of Chand Bibi in July 1600, Ahmadnagar was conquered by the Mughals and the Sultan was imprisoned.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: Although, Ahmadnagar city and its adjoining areas were occupied by the Mughals, an extensive part of the kingdom still remained in possession of the influential officials of the Nizam Shahi dynasty. Malik Ambar and other Ahmadnagar officials defied the Mughals and declared Murtaza Nizam Shah II as sultan in 1600 at a new capital Paranda. Malik Ambar became prime minister and "Vakil-us-Saltanat" of Ahmadnagar. Later, the capital was shifted first to Junnar and then to a new city Khadki (later Aurangabad).


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: After the death of Malik Ambar in May 1626, his son Fath Khan surrendered to the Mughals in 1633 and handed over the young Nizam Shahi ruler Hussain Shah, who was sent as a prisoner to the fort of Gwalior. But soon, Shahaji with the assistance of Bijapur, placed an infant scion of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, Murtaza Nizam Shah III on the throne and he became the regent. In 1636 Aurangzeb, then Mughal viceroy of Deccan finally annexed the sultanate to the Mughal empire after defeating Shahaji.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: The revenue system introduced by Malik Ambar was based on the revenue system introduced in Northern India and some parts of Gujarat and Khandesh subahs by Raja Todarmal. Lands were classified as good or bad according to their fertility and he took a number of years to ascertain accurately the average yield of lands. He abolished the revenue farming. At first, revenue was fixed as two-fifths of the actual produce in kind, but later the cultivators were allowed to pay in cash equivalent to approximately one-third of the yield. Although an average rent was fixed for each plot of land but actual collections depended on the conditions of crops and they varied from year to year.


title: Ahmadnagar Sultanate

text: Under the reigns of successive rulers of the dynasty, architecture and art flourished in the kingdom. The earliest extant school of painting in the Deccan sultanates is from Ahmadnagar. Several palaces, such as the Farah Bakhsh Bagh, the Hasht Bihisht Bagh, Lakkad Mahal were built, as were tombs, mosques and other buildings. Many forts of the Deccan, such as the fort of Junnar (later renamed Shivneri), Paranda, Ausa, Dharur, Lohagad, etc. were greatly improved under their reign. Daulatabad, which was their secondary capital, was also heavily fortified and constructed in their reign. Literature was heavily patronised in the kingdom, as seen through manuscripts such as the "Tarif-i Husain Shah Badshah-i Dakan". Sanskrit scholarship was also given a boost under their rule, as demonstrated by the works of Sabaji Pratap and Bhanudatta. The city of Ahmadnagar, founded by the Nizam Shahs, was described as being comparable to Cairo and Baghdad, within a few years of its construction. It was modelled along the great cities of the Persianate world, given the Shi'i leanings of the dynasty.


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette is a live comedy performance written and performed by Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, which debuted in 2017. The work includes social commentary (especially about LGBTQ and women's perspectives, and mental illness), evocative speech punctuated by comedy and emotive narration of Gadsby's life, lessons and what her story offers to the world. In June 2018, Netflix released a video of Gadsby's performance of the work at the Sydney Opera House, directed by Madeleine Parry and John Olb. The special was well-received by critics, winning a Peabody Award as well as Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special at the 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: Gadsby created the stand-up show she named "Nanette" partly as a response to the public debate which took place in Australia before the law was changed to allow same-sex marriage, and soon after her diagnosis of ADHD and autism.


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: The show was originally named after a woman Gadsby had met, who she thought could be turned into an hour's worth of material. During the writing process, she realized this wasn't the case, but the name had already been chosen. She ended up ignoring this inconsistency and wrote an hour of material unrelated to Nanette. The initial shows were more combative with the audience, and made Gadsby feel victimised, so to get the audience more on her side, she added more jokes and relieved more tension throughout the show's run.


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: Gadsby uses "Nanette" to deconstruct the nature of comedy and its conventions by having her audience undergo the same tension in which marginalised people suffer on a daily basis. She shares personal anecdotes related to her experiences as a lesbian and gender-nonconforming woman, explaining how her comedic style is influenced by her identity. Due to Gadsby's upbringing in conservative Tasmania, she was raised surrounded by people who believed they had licence to hate others, which induced her at a young age to accept prejudiced views towards queer people. To deal with the social inequality she faced, Gadsby says that she turned to self-deprecating humour. She realised that the self-deprecating humour common to standup comedy is doubly painful for marginalised people because it adds another voice to the chorus of people who already insult and belittle them. This led her to conclude that she can no longer do standup comedy and so she structures the piece around claiming she is giving up comedy.


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: In addition to the stories she shares about her lesbian and gender-nonconforming experiences, Gadsby relates personal stories about her comedy career, family, and university experiences among other things. Gadsby expresses the need to use stories in her comedy because she is frustrated with the form of standup comedy. She does not feel as if her story, because her identity and victimisation do not fit comfortably into society's narrative, is being listened to properly. The representation of her story through "Nanette" affords Gadsby hope that her experiences will be "felt and understood by individuals with minds of their own," and that her story will finally be heard.


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: Gadsby discusses the mental health of Vincent van Gogh. Later, she talks about Pablo Picasso's contributions to Cubism and how she regards him as a misogynist artist.


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: Gadsby has performed "Nanette" throughout Australia, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and in the United States. Her 2018 performances in New York City received positive reviews. The show was performed for the final time on 27 July 2018, in Montreal. On 20 June 2018, Netflix released a film of Gadsby's performance of the work at the Sydney Opera House under the title "Hannah Gadsby: Nanette".


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads: ""Hannah Gadsby: Nanette" brilliantly moves modern comedy into nakedly honest new territory, pivoting from dry humor to raw, powerful storytelling." The performance has been described as a "game changer" for what comedy can achieve and has been called a form of "post comedy."


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: Daniel Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" stated "Hannah Gadsby's "Nanette" stands alone...It's a detailed summation of joke construction that could be a textbook on its own. It's an art history lesson. It's hilarious, because Gadsby's timing and perspective fuel every sentence. It's painful, because Gadsby's emotions and perspective fuel every sentence." Ashley Hoffman in "Time" listed "Nanette" as the Best Stand Up Comedy Special of 2018, and added ""Nanette" kickstarted a global conversation, ensuring that her underrepresented perspective was finally seen and heard—and when Gadsby wrenches out her pain on stage, she reveals her strength, rage, and yes, winning humor." Anna Leszkiewicz in the "New Statesman" voiced praise for "Nanette": "Gadsby's show is a tricksy, self-conscious beast, full of sleight of hand... It is a strange, rare thing: a comedy show that hopes you don't leave laughing." Brian Logan of "The Guardian" helps to explain the significance and allure of "Nanette" by reporting, "Her show is about the power of stories and how, if the stories we tell ourselves are simplified or smoothed over, we leave unchallenged the wider stories society tells itself (in this case, about gender, sexuality and power)." Helen Razer, writing in "The Saturday Paper", wrote that "Nanette" "is very good...It is a worthy and well-paced specimen of a long-established form." However, Razer also added that she believed some American reviewers of "Nanette" had overpraised the show, saying "We cannot say that Gadsby’s "Nanette" definitively prescribes a style or ethics of remembering trauma. We can say that it’s pretty good."


title: Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

text: By contrast, in "The Outline" magazine, P.E. Moskowitz gave "Nanette" a negative review, arguing that the special "makes for boring, trite, and even dangerous art: in order to convey her trauma, Gadsby dismisses all of comedy, the uses of queer anger, and the entire premise of self-deprecation as inadequate". Soraya Roberts was also critical of "Nanette" in "The Baffler" magazine. Roberts stated "In terms of overall quality, "Nanette" is mediocre." Roberts took issue with Gadsby's rejection of comedy in the show, saying "Gadsby doesn't bend the medium, she abandons it." Roberts added that other female comedians, such as Mo’Nique and Maria Bamford, had made comedy specials about women's oppression without rejecting the act of telling jokes in the process.


title: Mike Brown (American football executive)

text: Michael Brown (born August 10, 1935) is an American football executive who is the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL). The son of Bengals co-founder Paul Brown, he joined the Bengals upon their founding in 1968 and assumed ownership after his father's death in 1991. His ownership has been criticized for a lack of on-field success, his refusal to cede football operations to a general manager, and the team's relationship with Hamilton County before and after a voter-approved tax increase to fund Paul Brown Stadium.


text: Brown is the only living son of Paul Brown. His brother, Pete, was the Senior Vice-president of Bengals' player personnel until his death in 2017. His older brother, Robin, died of cancer in 1978.


text: Brown graduated from Dartmouth College in 1957, where he played quarterback for their football team, and from Harvard Law School in 1960. In an unusual meeting between future sports owners, eventual New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner hired him to a summer job as a deck hand for Kinsman Marine Transit Company.


text: Brown eventually followed his father into football management. Paul Brown founded the Bengals, then an American Football League team, in 1968. (This was several years after Paul Brown was dismissed as Cleveland Browns head coach in a well-publicized falling out with Art Modell.) He began his executive duties with the Bengals as assistant general manager. Along with personnel decisions, he was a spokesman for the team on issues of league rules and team policy.


text: Brown assumed ownership responsibilities upon his father's death in August 1991 and has remained in the ownership position since. His first significant move as owner was to fire popular coach Sam Wyche after the 1991 season (although he originally claimed that Wyche resigned). Days later, Brown hired Dave Shula to be head coach, making Shula (at the time) the second youngest NFL head coach in history and making Dave and Don Shula the first father-son to lead different NFL teams in the same year. Going into 1993, Brown sought to negotiate a new lease with Cincinnati to keep the Bengals in the city.


text: Initially, Brown rejected advances from other cities to discuss moving the team. By 1995, he argued that Riverfront Stadium's small seating capacity and lack of luxury boxes was hindering the Bengals' success.


text: In 1995, he announced that Cincinnati had breached its lease agreement when it was late by one week in paying $167,000 in concession receipts. He threatened to move the team to Baltimore if Cincinnati or Hamilton County would not fund a new stadium. The leverage of this threat proved successful as Cincinnati's City Council and the Hamilton County Commissioners opted to fund the new Paul Brown Stadium with a proposed county sales tax increase, which needed voter approval. (Modell eventually, and controversially, moved the Browns to Baltimore and renamed it to the Ravens, but a new Cleveland team resumed the Browns' history.) In 1996, Hamilton County voters passed a one-half percent sales tax increase to fund the building of a new facility for the Bengals "and" a second new facility for the Major League Baseball Cincinnati Reds. The Bengals filed suit against the county for the right to manage it in 2000. County commissioners agreed to let a Bengals' subsidiary run the stadium, and it opened later that year.


text: In 2007, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune (a former Cincinnati City Council member, though not Commissioner at the time the parties executed the lease), filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the NFL, the Bengals and the other 31 NFL teams. Portune felt, among other things, that published revenues from 1995 to 1999 contradicted Brown's claims of financial distress. The Hamilton County Board of Commissioners eventually was substituted as the plaintiff in the case. Fans supporting Portune cited what they felt was the broken promise that the Bengals would "be more competitive" with a new stadium. The Bengals have had only eight winning seasons out of 22 since the stadium opened, with five of those seasons occurring from 2011 to 2015.


text: Rick Eckstein, co-author of "Public Dollars, Private Stadiums," described the Hamilton County arrangement as "the single most lopsided stadium deal since 1993" and questioned Bob Bedinghaus' role with the team after having been County Commissioner when the deal was reached. A 2008 Forbes survey suggested the team's rankings in direct revenues had dropped since the stadium's construction (placing the team 21st in total value at the time at $941 million).


text: The organization's lease is due to expire in 2026. In 2020, Hamilton County and the Bengals agreed to split costs on an architectural needs assessment of the stadium.


text: Since Brown became owner, the team has eight winning seasons out of 30, a winning percentage of .418 (199-278-4) in the regular season, and no playoff wins in seven appearances from 1991 to 2020. In 2008, the Bengals set a record for the most games needed under one specific owner to attain 100 wins (288). In 2010, the team set a record for the fewest games needed to lose 200 (both considering and not considering playoffs) under one specific owner (314).


text: The Bengals hold a number of distinctions for the time frame of Brown's ownership: It is the only team with three nine-game-or-more losing streaks. It also holds six of the twenty-five 0-6 starts (24%) and four of the thirteen 0-8 starts (31%) in that time. The Bengals have gone winless in October nine different times in twenty-two years under five different head coaches (Sam Wyche, the first under his ownership, was originally hired by his father).


text: The franchise's winless playoff record from 1991 to 2020 was the longest active drought in the four major North American sports. One of the few successful coaches during Brown's tenure was Marvin Lewis, who was his first to have winning seasons, playoff appearances, division titles, and an overall winning record at 131-129-3 (.504). All seven of the Bengals postseason appearances with Lewis, however, ended in first-round losses.


text: Zac Taylor, Lewis' successor, was the first head coach under Brown to win a playoff game, which he achieved in 2021. The team also won the franchise's first road playoff game and advanced to Super Bowl LVI, although they lost to the Los Angeles Rams.


text: In 2009, Yahoo sports ranked Brown as the second worst owner in the NFL. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Mike Brown as the 9th worst sports owner.


text: In addition to being majority owner, Brown is considered the Bengals' de facto general manager as well. He is one of two NFL owners who have either the title or powers of general manager, the other being Dallas' Jerry Jones. In 2009, "The Cincinnati Enquirer" publicized details of testimony in a Hamilton County Probate Court trial over the $300 million estate of Austin Knowlton. Brown testified that he received a general manager bonus every year since he took over the team in 1991.


text: During Marvin Lewis' tenure as head coach, Brown began to cede more of the day-to-day control over football matters to a committee composed of Lewis, executive vice president Katie Blackburn (Brown's daughter), and several other members of the Brown family. This preceded a five-year run of playoff appearances (2011–2015).


text: In the mid-to-late 2000s, the Bengals were involved in a series of disciplinary measures with a variety of players. In 2005, the Bengals drafted Chris Henry and Odell Thurman, each considered exceptionally talented but possible disciplinary hazards during their college careers. The following year, they were among nine Bengals players arrested for various offenses. Brown cut several "problem players" in 2008 including Henry and Thurman, but re-signed Henry later that year. This came after five arrests of Henry and Brown's statement earlier in the year that Henry's "conduct could no longer be tolerated." One fan protested by purchasing an electronic billboard along the Cincinnati interstate reading "CHRIS HENRY AGAIN? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Henry died during a domestic dispute on December 17, 2009. Commenting on his death, Brown defended his decision to re-sign Henry, noting that "We knew him in a different way than his public persona." Posthumously, it was discovered that Chris Henry was suffering from a progressive degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. According to a West Virginia University research study, the CTE may have contributed to Chris Henry's troubled behavior and, ultimately, his death.


text: Later in 2008, the Bengals signed running back Cedric Benson, whom the Chicago Bears had waived, in part, due to his off-field activities. In 2009, the team added Larry Johnson to provide depth for the position after the Kansas City Chiefs released him for "detrimental conduct." Johnson had also experienced recent legal difficulties. Benson was among 2009's leading NFL rushers, while Johnson saw limited action.


text: In recent years, Brown claims to have rethought this approach. Talking about the team's second appearance on "Hard Knocks", Brown stated, "We have a different team now than we had a few years ago. We want the public to see them. We think they're good people. We think the public will be taken by them, will like them. It gives us a boost."


text: Brown has commented that the league's current attitude towards discipline is a change from a past "boys will be boys" attitude. Brown's father welcomed tailback Stanley Wilson back to the Bengals in 1988 after two drug suspensions. Wilson relapsed the night before Super Bowl XXIII and his absence in short-yardage situations affected the Bengals' efforts in one of the tightest Super Bowl games in NFL history that Cincinnati ultimately lost.


text: Brown is historically reluctant to fire personnel after multiple losing seasons. His first hire as head coach, David Shula, lost fifty games faster than any NFL coach in history (69 games); Shula was hired over Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Bill Cowher, presumably due to Brown seeing similarities with himself and Shula in the same manner that their respective fathers (Don Shula and Paul Brown) overshadow them in many aspects. Cowher would take the head coaching position with the rival Pittsburgh Steelers that same offseason and would go on to have a 22–9 career record against the Bengals, the most wins he would have against any team as a head coach, including an 8–1 record against Shula. Cowher also beat the Bengals in the 2006 wild card game as well and went on to win a Super Bowl title that year. Shula's successor, Bruce Coslet, resigned with a 21–39 record in 2000; Brown had yet to fire him.


text: Cincinnati's first winning seasons and postseason appearances during Brown's ownership came under head coach Marvin Lewis, who obtained a 131-122-3 regular season record with the team and helped the Bengals return to competitiveness. However, Brown was criticized for continuing to retain Lewis after the Bengals lost all seven of the playoff games they appeared in during Lewis' tenure. Following five consecutive opening-round postseason losses from 2011 to 2015, an NFL first, and back-to-back losing seasons in 2016 and 2017, Lewis received a two-year contract extension, which received harsh criticism from the media and fans. When Brown and Lewis mutually parted ways in 2018, Lewis' 16-year tenure became the most of an NFL head coach to not win a playoff game as well as the most playoff losses without a win in NFL history.


text: Brown also values his family's connection with the franchise; evident in his choosing to name Paul Brown Stadium after his father rather than to sell corporate naming rights for it. Daughter Katie Blackburn is the executive president of the team and her husband Troy is a VP with additional family members among the front office staff. From 1994 to 2000, the Bengals paid out over $50 million to the Brown family members of Bengals staff in salaries.


text: Former Bengals receiver Cris Collinsworth argues Brown's loyalty played a role in a decision to not persuade Boomer Esiason out of retiring despite a productive 1997 season. Esiason became a color analyst on ABC's "Monday Night Football". Collinsworth suggested Brown "thought he was doing the right thing by Boomer" and did not want to cost him the "MNF" job. Collinsworth contrasted this attitude to other NFL owners, like the Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones, whom Collinsworth felt "would have flown Boomer down to the Bahamas on his personal jet, offered to kiss his ring and signed him right there."


text: Brown employs a very small scouting staff. A 2008 comparison between the Bengals' scouting department and five AFC teams with a .540+ winning percentage since 1991 showed the winning teams employing five or more scouts whereas the Bengals employed only one. Since then, the Bengals have added two additional scouts (Marvin Lewis originally claimed when hired that Brown assured him of a retooled scouting staff).


text: Brown has publicized his belief that a "bell cow" quarterback is a necessity in turning a team into a winner. In a 1999 interview, he remarked "If you don't have a productive quarterback, you won't go anywhere...I know it doesn't seem that simple, but it is." Comparing quarterbacks to other positions on a football team, Brown has said "He's the hub of the wheel...like a queen on a chessboard. These other guys are like rooks or bishops or other pieces that are not quite as valuable. Some are more valuable than others. That's just a fact."


text: Brown turned down then-Saints coach Mike Ditka's offer of nine draft picks for one in the 1999 NFL draft against then-coach Coslet's advice. Coslet wanted as many draft picks as possible to help the Bengals' defense. Instead, Brown overruled Coslet and selected University of Oregon quarterback Akili Smith. Smith only played 22 games in his NFL career and is generally regarded as a draft bust. Coslet later regretted that he "didn't insist hard enough" in trying to persuade Brown to accept the Saints' offer.


text: Before the 1992 Draft, press reports stressed the Bengals' need for either a cornerback or defensive lineman. Brown himself had been quoted the day before the draft as stating "we would dearly love to get a top defensive lineman, they're at a premium, and it's less true of other positions." Instead, the Bengals selected Houston quarterback David Klingler. Then Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason and strong-safety David Fulcher both openly questioned the move the next day, arguing the team needed help on defense. Klingler later became regarded as a bust. Esiason has since revealed that he had actually demanded a trade at the end of the 1991 season, which may have influenced Brown to select Klingler (Esiason was traded to the New York Jets in 1993).


text: Brown placed a great deal of responsibility on Carson Palmer, calling him the Bengals' "lead dog" and stating "as he goes, we go." Palmer holds a number of team records and three Pro Bowl selections. The Bengals were 46-51 (.474) with Palmer as starter. Palmer threatened retirement from football if the Bengals did not trade him during the 2011 offseason. Brown insisted that he wouldn't "reward" Palmer's demands, arguing that Palmer made a commitment to the organization when he received a contract extension. Brown released Carson's younger brother, Jordan from the team on August 27, 2011. On October 18, 2011, the Bengals finally traded Carson Palmer to the Oakland Raiders for a 2012 first round draft pick and a conditional second round 2013 pick if Oakland made it to the AFC Championship game in 2011 or 2012 (which they did not). Palmer later said in the NFL Network documentary series A Football Life that after the 2010 season, he told Brown that the Bengals needed to modernize and hire a general manager and that he and Brown got into a heated argument over it. He said that Brown 'is a very, very, very stubborn man'.


text: Andy Dalton was taken in the 2011 NFL Draft and became the first QB in franchise history to lead the team to the playoffs five years in a row, although the Bengals were eliminated in the first round each year. Dalton did not play in what became the fifth consecutive loss due to injury.


text: In 1998, the Bengals cut punter Lee Johnson. Brown attempted to fine Johnson after cutting him for "conduct detrimental to the team" in relation to comments Johnson had made about the organization and the 1998 season. A reporter asked Johnson after a Bengals loss "if you were a fan, would you have come here today?" to which Johnson replied "No, no way...why would you? You're saying (losing) is OK. I guess if you've got nothing else to do. I'd sell my tickets." This fine resulted in a dispute with the NFL players union, whose counsel remarked "A fine is a disciplinary measure, you discipline someone to try and make sure they're a better employee in the future. How can you do that if you've fired them?"


text: In 2000, the Bengals instituted a "loyalty clause," which allows the Bengals to deny various bonuses to players depending on the remarks they make about the Bengals. The ability to enact such a clause appears justified under the collective bargaining agreement which states an NFL team can fine a player one week's salary and suspend him without pay for up to four weeks for any action the club considers detrimental to the team. Brown responded that the clause would only be enacted under extreme circumstances. He wrote an editorial for the "Cincinnati Enquirer", citing team cohesion as his main motivation for the clause.


text: It is often dubbed the "Carl Pickens Clause," stemming from the 2000 offseason. Brown renewed Bruce Coslet's contract despite his 21–36 Bengals record. Pickens responded, "I don't understand it. We're trying to win; we're trying to turn this thing around out there. And they bring (Coslet) back." Pickens finished his career with the Tennessee Titans.


text: Over the years since the clause, Bengals players have commented on a negative atmosphere within the organization, notably Takeo Spikes, Jeff Blake, and Jon Kitna.


text: The most vocal critic of the Bengals since the clause was instituted was Corey Dillon. In 2001, after becoming the sixth player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards or more in five consecutive seasons, he remarked "at the end of the season, what do I have to feel good about? Nothing at all. It's not cool." After a fifth losing season with the team in 2002, he remarked ""I'm tired of it, six years of this B.S. I ain't lying to you. I'm sick of this crap, period." Dillon demanded a trade at the end of the 2003 season after throwing most of his gear to the fans during the last home game of the season. He went on to win a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in the following season.


text: In 1994, agent Leigh Steinberg described Brown as "in a lonely fight for economic rationality in the NFL" and "a Don Quixote-type figure pushing back the forces of salary madness." In the 2000s, Brown proved reluctant to finish free agent signings or trades. Warren Sapp (in 2004), Shaun Rogers (in 2008), and Johnathan Joseph (in 2011) being notable examples.


text: Agent Drew Rosenhaus described it as a "matter of hours" before the Bengals would sign Sapp, only a day before the Raiders signed him. Sapp accused the Bengals of "playing with the money" on the original deal they offered him, deferring more money to incentives rather than in guarantees. The Associated Press reported a completed trade between Cincinnati and the Detroit Lions on February 29, 2008, for Rogers. However, the trade fell through and the next day, it was confirmed that the Lions instead traded Rogers to the Cleveland Browns.


text: Former Bengals players and beat writers have also remarked on other spendthrift aspects of the organization as compared to other NFL franchises, such as not supplying sports drinks and providing undersized towels or used equipment for the players.


text: Organizers from MikeBrownSucks organized a boycott of a December 2001 regular season game and fans visiting this site as well as another site, SaveTheBengals.com, paid for planes to fly a banner in the Cincinnati area calling for Brown's resignation.


text: Who Dey Revolution (WDR) has staged "Project Mayhem" since 2008 in an effort to persuade Brown to make changes to the Bengals. These steps ranged from calling the Bengals "JERK line" to report Brown's behavior as abusive to purchasing billboards displaying a request for a General Manager to merchandise and ticket donations/boycotts and letter-writing campaigns. The website's purchase and distribution of 1000 urinal cakes at a Bengals' home game advertised Brown's lifetime regular season record of 98–186–1 to that point.


text: WDR published a comic strip titled "The Lost Generation", presenting Mike Brown in a Charlie Brownesque caricature, presumably to correlate Brown's track record to the famous cartoon character's history of hard luck and failure.


text: "All My Bengals" was a popular satirical radio skit, hosted by 700 WLW Radio personality Gary Burbank.


text: Despite these protests, the Bengals have remained popular within Cincinnati. A November 21, 2010 game vs. the Buffalo Bills marked the first time since November 2003 that network affiliates and DirectTV were legally obliged to "black out" the Bengals game within a 75-mile radius of Paul Brown Stadium for lack of ticket sales. The remaining home games against the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, and San Diego Chargers were also blacked out. Prior to this, the team sold out 57 straight games, a club record.


text: Several people cast Brown sympathetically in response to fan and media criticism. After a surprising upset of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2003, Marvin Lewis tearfully awarded the game ball to Brown and told his players "he has put up with so much for you guys." Some former Bengals dismiss notions that Brown is unconcerned with winning. Boomer Esiason, now a CBS analyst, refers to Brown as a "nice man" who is simply over his head running the team. In 1998 interviews, Cris Collinsworth and Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham also rejected notions that Brown did not care about winning. Collinsworth remarked "I don't think anybody could be suffering more over this than Mike is."


text: In 2008, Brown and the Bengals donated $250,000 to assist the Cincinnati Park Board in paying for Cincinnati Riverfront Park. He has contributed to a number of Republican campaigns, including several Presidential bids.


text: Brown admitted to an affinity for Ohio State football players. His father Paul coached the Buckeyes to their first national championship in 1942.


text: In 2017, Brown and his family received the Pillar Award for Community Service's Kent Clapp CEO Leadership Award. The award recognizes a top executive for his or her passion toward philanthropy and honors the late Kent Clapp, CEO of Medical Mutual, who died in a 2008 plane crash.


text: Brown's daughter Katie Blackburn serves as the Bengals' executive vice president. She is also the first woman to be a chief contract negotiator in the NFL.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Steampunk fashion is a subgenre of the steampunk movement in science fiction. It is a mixture of the Victorian era's romantic view of science in literature and elements from the Industrial Revolution in Europe during the 1800s. The fashion is designed with a post-apocalyptic era in mind. Steampunk fashion consists of clothing, hairstyling, jewellery, body modification and make-up.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: More modern ideals of steampunk can include t-shirts with a variety of designs or the humble jeans being accessorised with belts and gun holsters.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Steampunk fashion is a subgenre of the steampunk movement in science fiction. It is a mixture of the Victorian era's romantic view of science in literature and the industrialisation in most parts of Europe. The aesthetics of the fashion are designed with a post-apocalyptic era in mind. At the first steampunk convention, "SalonCon", in 2006, steampunk enthusiasts dressed up in costumes reflecting that era. The costumes included clothing, hairstyling, jewellery, body modification and make-up. Steampunk fashion has later gone on to include gadgets and contrasting accoutrements.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Initially, the clothes such as bustiers, bodices, jackets and other items were mostly handmade and customized, but as the steampunk movement grew, entrepreneurs and companies became interested and started to mass-produce steampunk clothing to be sold both online and in stores.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Since the genre emerged, the aesthetic of steampunk fashion has remained constant. New ideas in literature, and advancements in science and technology have resulted in subtle changes. Even though the genre did not become widely known until the late 20th century, steampunk and its fashion is said to have existed earlier.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: During the 1980s and 1990s, steampunk fashion grew along with the goth and punk movements in fashion. Cyberpunk and dieselpunk fashion are variants of the steampunk fashion of the 1980s.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Works of writers from the end of the 19th century, such as those of Robert Louis Stevenson, G. K. Chesterton and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are among the most influential for steampunk fashion. Those works attempted to domesticate Charles Dickens's London (from his industrial age novels). Sci-fi critics John Clute and Peter Nicholls have noted that steampunk is also inspired by a "strain of nostalgia". However, modern steampunk literature, which began only in the 1980s, has also influenced the steampunk fashion during the 2010s. Steampunk writers from that period are credited with creating fantasy tales set in cultures with style borrowed from the Victorian, with stories that includes giddy action scenes and elaborate baroque expeditions.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Kevin Jeter's 1979 novel "Morlock Night" is held to be the first steampunk novel, and the beginning of steampunk fashion.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Just like its counterparts in other art forms, primarily literature, steampunk fashion is based on the aesthetic of an alternate history. Even though critics disagree about it being rooted in fantasy literature, there are elements that suggests that some part of its aesthetic is conceived from books and films that showcase alternate history using fantasy. Interest in steampunk aesthetics may also be due to an increased interest from the fashion industry in Victorian spiritualism, during the 2010s.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Within the steampunk fashion, there are a number of personas, or archetypes, such as the valiant explorer with pith helmet, brass telescope and binoculars; the debonair aviator with birdlike gadgets and devices, leather helmet, brass goggles and canvas coat; and the gentleman, with a lab coat over formal clothes and belts for all sorts of implements and instruments.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Steampunk fashion is a mixture of fashion trends from different historical periods. Steampunk clothing adds the looks of characters from the 19th century, explorers, soldiers, lords, countesses and harlots, to the punk, contemporary street fashion, burlesque, goth, fetishism, vampire and frills among others. Related to steampunk fashion is the Lolita fashion, which strand stands for a youthful expression of girlishness. Though they both take inspiration from the Victorian era, Lolita is more modest and focused on purchasing clothing from commercial vendors, as opposed to steampunk clothing, which is traditionally created from things bought in thrift stores.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: The base of steampunk fashion is primarily influenced by the fashion of the mid-19th century. For women this fashion was often dominated by long, flowing dresses and regal jacket bodices. The latter extended over the hips and matched the skirt fabric only occasionally. In the beginning of the 1860s, the bodice ended at the waist. New styles emerged and the Garibaldi blouse, made its appearance. During the early 1860s, the hoops of the skirts were also taking on an elliptical shape, with a much fuller back and a narrower front silhouette. The ensuing conical shaped skirts have also inspired the steampunk fashion. At the beginning of the 20th century, skirts that were flared at the hem became popular. Dresses for women were sometimes masculine tailored and made to look intimidating. Evening wear for women were decorated with sparkling beads, bangles and gaudy embroideries. The hobble skirt was also introduced at that time.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Steampunk fashion did originally not include much jewelry, but a few accoutrements have made their way into the style during the 2010s.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: In steampunk fashion, corsets are more of a clothing item than an undergarment. Being rather conspicuous, they have more or less become synonymous with the genre. Corsets in brocade or leather, with steel-boning are a form of steampunk clothing inspired by the Victorian era.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Brass goggles have become a trademark for steampunk fashion. Brass items are also a kind of official, standard steampunk accessory. Goggles with intricate patterns on large, round frames are the most commonly used ones. Hats in steampunk fashion may include all kinds of headgear like flight helmets, bowler hats, pith helmets and pirates' bandanas. The headgear in steampunk fashion is also inspired by Victorian era fashion styles.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Many of the skirt and dress styles worn in Steampunk fashion are derivative of Victorian era silhouettes (bell skirts, trumpet skirts, bustled skirts, etc.), but with a sexier, modern twist.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: In 2005, Kate Lambert, known professionally as "Kato", founded the first steampunk clothing company, "Steampunk Couture", mixing Victorian, post-apocalyptic and tribal influences as well as sci-fi, shabby chic and Harajuku/Mori girl elements. As early as 2010, high fashion lines such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Chanel and Christian Dior began introducing steampunk and neo-Victorian-inspired styles on the fashion runways. And in episode 7 of "Lifetime"'s "Project Runway: Under the Gunn" reality series, contestants were challenged to create "avant-garde" "steampunk chic" looks. Steampunk masks made by Ukrainian design studio Bob Basset, named by William Gibson as "Probably the single best steampunk object I've seen", using by music band members: Sid Wilson from Slipknot and Zac Baird from Korn.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Since the early 2000s, steampunk fashion has been used frequently in films, photography and on television. Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" and "Warehouse 13" are examples of this. Films like "The Golden Compass", "Van Helsing", '' and "The Three Musketeers" also include elements of steampunk ideas and steampunk fashion. Steampunk fashion has also been showing up in music, such as in Lindsay Stirling's music video "Roundtable Rival". Members of the alternative band Abney Park perform in steampunk attire.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: The crime show Castle had a steampunk-themed episode in which the title character is shown wearing a complete steampunk outfit after meeting with a steampunk society.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: America's Next Top Model tackled Steampunk fashion in a 2012 episode where models competed in a Steampunk themed photo shoot, posing in front of a steam train while holding a live owl.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Becky Lynch, a wrestler currently employed by WWE, uses ring attire influenced by steampunk fashion. Most notable being her goggles she wears in her entrance.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: Steampunk fashion has evolved into a culture of imaginative dressing, inspired by the aesthetics of the past. Modern-day fashion critics have actively sought to deconstruct steampunk as a term and as a philosophy in the context of fashion. Modern trends in steampunk fashion are grouped into historical recreationists and sci-fi cosplayers. Since the first steampunk convention in 2006, SalonCon, there have been a number of similar conventions where enthusiasts dress up as characters from steampunk culture. Modern steampunk clothing is based more on leather and metal as opposed to cotton or natural fabrics. More recently, steampunk has also been linked to fetishism, the genderqueer community and modern paganism.


title: Steampunk fashion

text: In 2010, steampunk fashion entered the high-end market of fashion as designer John Galliano brought elements from the style to his spring haute couture show for Christian Dior. Another designer associated with the steampunk style is Jean Paul Gaultier, who frequently shows corsets in different material in his collections. , steampunk fashion started to influence the more mainstream fashion trends.


title: Cryptomeria

text: Cryptomeria (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae, formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. It includes only one species, Cryptomeria japonica (syn. "Cupressus japonica" L.f.). It used to be considered by some to be endemic to Japan (see remark below under 'Endemism'), where it is known as . The tree is called Japanese cedar or Japanese redwood in English. It has been extensively introduced and cultivated for wood production on the Azores.


title: Cryptomeria

text: "Cryptomeria" is a very large evergreen tree, reaching up to tall and trunk diameter, with red-brown bark which peels in vertical strips. The leaves are arranged spirally, needle-like, long; and the seed cones globular, diameter with about 20–40 scales. It is superficially similar to the related giant sequoia ("Sequoiadendron giganteum"), from which it can be differentiated by the longer leaves (under in the giant sequoia) and smaller cones ( in the giant sequoia), and the harder bark on the trunk (thick, soft and spongy in giant sequoia).


title: Cryptomeria

text: Sugi has been cultivated in China for so long that it is frequently thought to be native there. Forms selected for ornament and timber production long ago in China have been described as a distinct variety "Cryptomeria japonica" var. "sinensis" (or even a distinct species, "Cryptomeria fortunei"), but they do not differ from the full range of variation found in the wild in Japan, and there is no definite evidence the species ever occurred wild in China. Genetic analysis of the most famous Chinese population, on Tianmu Mountain, containing trees estimated to be nearly 1000 years old, supports the hypothesis that the population originates from an introduction.


title: Cryptomeria

text: Outside of its native range, "Cryptomeria" was also introduced to the Azores in the mid 19th century for wood production. It is currently the most cultivated species in the archipelago, occupying over 12,698 hectares, 60% of the production forest and about 1/5 of the region's total land area.


title: Cryptomeria

text: "Cryptomeria" grows in forests on deep, well-drained soils subject to warm, moist conditions, and it is fast-growing under these conditions. It is intolerant of poor soils and cold, drier climates.


title: Cryptomeria

text: It is used as a food plant by the larvae of some moths of the genus "Endoclita" including "E. auratus", "E. punctimargo" and "E. undulifer". Sugi (and hinoki) pollen is a major cause of hay fever in Japan.


title: Cryptomeria

text: The earliest fossil record of "Cryptomeria" are descriptions based on vegetative organs of †"Cryptomeria kamtschatica" of the Late Eocene from Kamchatka, Russia and †"Cryptomeria protojaponica" and †"Cryptomeria sichotensis" from the Oligocene of Primorye, Russia.


title: Cryptomeria

text: Several fossil leafy shots of †"Cryptomeria yunnanensis" have been described from Rupelian stage strata of the Lühe Basin in Yunnan, China.


title: Cryptomeria

text: For the Neogene, "Cryptomeria" is well represented as seed cones, leafy shoots and wood in the fossil records of Europe and Japan. †"Cryptomeria rhenana" was described from the early Late Miocene to the Late Miocene of Rhein in Morsbach, Germany, from the Early and Middle Pliocene of Northern Italy, to the Middle Pliocene of Dunarobba, Italy and to the Early Pleistocene of Umbria, Italy. † "Cryptomeria anglica" was described from the Late Miocene of La Cerdana, Spain, to the Late Middle Miocene of Brjánslækur, Iceland and from the Late Miocene to the early Pliocene Brassington Formation of Derbyshire, England. †"Cryptomeria miyataensis" was described from the Late Miocene of Akita, Japan. "Cryptomeria japonica" was described from the Late Miocene of Georgia and from the Pliocene of Duab, Abkhazia. It has also been described from the Pliocene of Honshu, Japan, Late Pliocene of Osaka, Japan and from the Pleistocene of Kyushu, Japan.


title: Cryptomeria

text: "Cryptomeria japonica" timber is extremely fragrant, weather and insect resistant, soft, and with a low density. The timber is used for the making of staves, tubs, casks, furniture and other indoor applications. Easy to saw and season, it is favoured for light construction, boxes, veneers and plywood. Wood that has been buried turns dark green and is much valued. Resin from the tree contains cryptopimaric and phenolic acid.


title: Cryptomeria

text: The wood is pleasantly scented, reddish-pink in colour, lightweight but strong, waterproof and resistant to decay. It is favoured in Japan for all types of construction work as well as interior panelling, etc. In Darjeeling district and Sikkim in India, where it is one of the most widely growing trees, "C. japonica" is called "Dhuppi" and is favoured for its light wood, extensively used in house building.


title: Cryptomeria

text: In dry air conditions, the initial density of Japanese cedar timber has been determined to be about 300–420 kg/m.


title: Cryptomeria

text: It displays a Young's modulus of 8017 MPa, 753 MPa and 275 MPa in the longitudinal, radial and tangential direction in relation to the wood fibers.


title: Cryptomeria

text: "Cryptomeria japonica" is extensively used in forestry plantations in Japan, China and the Azores islands, and is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree in other temperate areas, including Britain, Europe, North America and eastern Himalaya regions of Nepal and India.


title: Cryptomeria

text: The cultivar 'Elegans' is notable for retaining juvenile foliage throughout its life, instead of developing normal adult foliage when one year old (see the picture with different shoots). It makes a small, shrubby tree tall. There are numerous dwarf cultivars that are widely used in rock gardens and for bonsai, including 'Tansu', 'Koshyi', 'Little Diamond', 'Yokohama' and 'Kilmacurragh.'


title: Cryptomeria

text: The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):


title: Cryptomeria

text: Sugi is commonly planted around temples and shrines, with many hugely impressive trees planted centuries ago. Sargent (1894; "The Forest Flora of Japan") recorded the instance of a "daimyō" (feudal lord) who was too poor to donate a stone lantern at the funeral of the "shōgun" Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) at Nikkō Tōshō-gū, but requested instead to be allowed to plant an avenue of sugi, so that "future visitors might be protected from the heat of the sun". The offer was accepted; the Cedar Avenue of Nikkō, which still exists, is over long, and "has not its equal in stately grandeur".


title: Cryptomeria

text: Cryptomeria are often described and referred to in Japanese literature. For instance, cryptomeria forests and their workers, located on the mountains north of Kyoto, are featured in Yasunari Kawabata's famous book "The Old Capital".


title: Yvette Wilson

text: Yvette Reneé Wilson (March 6, 1964 – June 14, 2012) was an American comedian and actress. She was known for her role as Andell Wilkerson, the shopkeeper of the local hangout on the UPN sitcoms "Moesha" (1996–2001); and restaurant owner and Nikki's (played by Mo'Nique) best friend on its spinoff "The Parkers" (1999–2004). She had appeared in many comedy films such as "House Party 3", ""Friday"", and on Russell Simmons' "Def Comedy Jam". She was also known for her role as Rita in the 1995 F. Gary Gray film "Friday". Wilson died from cervical cancer at the age of 48.


title: Yvette Wilson

text: Before she started her career in the entertainment business, Wilson attended San Jose State University and majored in communications. In 1991 she was a contestant on the game show Supermarket Sweep.


title: Yvette Wilson

text: Wilson first entered comedy when she lost a bet and had to perform as a stand-up comedian at a friend's club. She decided to make a living off comedy and never turned back.


title: Yvette Wilson

text: Her big break came with "Thea", a short-lived sitcom from 1993 to 1994. "Thea" was cancelled after 19 episodes but the show helped her get a role in "House Party 3". In addition, Wilson also had a minor role in the 1995 comedy movie "Friday" as Smokey's blind date and appeared in films such as "Poetic Justice", starring Janet Jackson, and the film parody "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood".


title: Yvette Wilson

text: In 1995, she got the most important role of her career: Andell Wilkerson, a supporting character on the sitcom "Moesha", which starred one of her castmates from "Thea", R&B singer Brandy Norwood. Wilson's Andell character was the owner of The Den, a local teen hot spot on the show. In 2000, she left "Moesha" for its spin-off "The Parkers", where she also played Andell Wilkerson, who was the best friend of Mo'Nique's character Nikki Parker. After "The Parkers" ended, she went on to appear in shows like HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" and Fox Network shows. Wilson final acting role was in 2005's "Ganked". She started her own company by the name Tigobitties Inc.


title: Yvette Wilson

text: Wilson was married to record producer Jerome Harry from 2001 until her death in 2012. Wilson suffered from kidney disease, having survived a kidney transplant and regular dialysis, but eventually lost a battle with cervical cancer, which metastasized throughout her entire body. A friend, Jeffrey Pittle, created a website for people to donate money to help with her medical bills and help with transportation costs.


title: Mother Night

text: Mother Night is a novel by American author Kurt Vonnegut, first published in February 1962. The title of the book is taken from Goethe's "Faust" (and ultimately from the Egyptian Goddess Nuit, mother of Osiris, Horus, Isis, Set, and Nephthys, and her counterparts in European religions, such as Skaði).


title: Mother Night

text: The novel takes the form of the fictional memoirs of Howard W. Campbell Jr., an American, who moved to Germany in 1923 at age 11, and later became a well-known playwright and Nazi propagandist. The story of the novel is narrated (through the use of metafiction) by Campbell himself, writing his memoirs while awaiting trial for war crimes in an Israeli prison. Howard W. Campbell also appears briefly in Vonnegut's later novel "Slaughterhouse-Five".


title: Mother Night

text: The novel is framed as the memoir of Howard W. Campbell, Jr. He is writing it while imprisoned and waiting for his war crimes trial for his actions as a Nazi propagandist. Campbell, an American who moved to Germany with his parents at age 11, recounts his childhood as the Nazi Party is consolidating its power. Instead of leaving the country with his parents, Campbell continues his career as a playwright, his only social contacts being Nazis. Being of sufficiently ″Aryan″ heritage, Campbell becomes a member of the party in name only. He is politically apathetic, caring only for his art and his wife Helga, who is also the starring actress in all of his plays.


title: Mother Night

text: Campbell encounters Frank Wirtanen, an agent of the U.S. War Department. Wirtanen wants Campbell to spy as a double agent for the United States in the impending world war. Campbell rejects the offer, but Wirtanen quickly adds that he wants Campbell to think about it. Once the war starts, Campbell begins to make his way up through Joseph Goebbels' propaganda organization, eventually becoming the "voice" of broadcasts aimed at converting Americans to the Nazi cause (a parallel to the real broadcaster, Dr. Edward Vieth Sittler). Unbeknownst to the Nazis, all of the idiosyncrasies of Campbell's speeches – deliberate pauses, coughing, etc. – are part of the coded information he is passing to the American Office of Strategic Services. Campbell never discovers, nor is he ever told, the information that he is sending.


title: Mother Night

text: About halfway through the war, Helga goes to the Eastern Front to entertain German troops. Campbell is extremely distraught when he hears that the camp Helga visited in Crimea has been overrun by Soviet troops and she is presumed dead. In early 1945, just before the Red Army invades Berlin, Campbell visits his in-laws one last time. During the visit, he has a conversation with Helga's younger sister, Resi, that resonates with him for years afterward. After Campbell is captured by American forces, Wirtanen works out a deal in which he is set free and given passage to New York City.


title: Mother Night

text: Fifteen years later, Campbell lives an anonymous life, sustained only by memories of his wife and an indifferent curiosity about his eventual fate. His only friend is George Kraft, a likewise lonely neighbor—who, through an extraordinary coincidence, also happens to be a Soviet intelligence agent. He tries to trick Campbell into fleeing to Moscow by publicizing his identity and location. A white supremacist organization makes Campbell a "cause célèbre", inviting him to speak to new recruits. The group's leader, a dentist named Lionel Jones, shows up at Campbell's apartment with a surprise: a woman claiming to be Helga, alive and well and professing her undying love. Campbell's will to live returns, and remains even after he finds out that she is not Helga, but rather Resi. They plan to escape to Mexico City after attending one of Jones' fascist meetings.


title: Mother Night

text: There, Wirtanen makes an appearance to warn Campbell of Kraft's plot and Resi's complicity. Heartbroken, Campbell decides to go along with the charade. He confronts Kraft and Resi, the latter swearing her feelings for him are genuine. The FBI then raids the meeting and takes Campbell into custody, while Resi commits suicide by taking a cyanide capsule. As before, Wirtanen uses his influence to have Campbell set free. Once Campbell returns to his apartment, however, he realizes that he has no real reason to continue living, and decides to turn himself in to the Israelis to stand trial.


title: Mother Night

text: While imprisoned in Israel, Campbell meets Adolf Eichmann and gives him advice on how to write an autobiography. At the very end of the book, he inserts a letter that he has just received from Wirtanen. The corroborating evidence that he was indeed an American spy has finally arrived, and Wirtanen writes that he will testify to Campbell's true loyalties in court. Rather than being relieved, Campbell feels disgusted by the idea that he will be saved from death and granted freedom only when he is no longer able to enjoy anything that life has to offer (too old and physically worn out). In the last lines, Campbell tells the reader that he will hang himself not for crimes against humanity, but rather for "crimes against himself." Campbell then realizes that he is alone in the world.


title: Mother Night

text: Throughout the novel Vonnegut uses metafiction devices to call attention to the text itself. Most notable is Vonnegut's framing of the novel as a historical document. The editor's note at the beginning of the novel suggests Campbell's writings, the text of the novel itself, are a manuscript that Vonnegut received and is editing for public view.


title: Mother Night

text: These devices of meta-fiction can also be expanded to include Vonnegut's approach to character introductions, and character development. Vonnegut uses Campbell's distance in time to observe characters from an almost omniscient perspective; for example, "His name is Andor Gutman. Andor is a sleepy, not very bright Estonian Jew. He spent two years in the extermination camp at Auschwitz. According to his own reluctant account, he came this close to going up a smokestack of a crematorium there." This allows any perceived information over the course of the novel to be distilled and relayed in a more clipped, passive manner that uses a greater control of first-person narration.


title: Mother Night

text: While this style of character deconstructionism is less prevalent in "Mother Night" than it is in "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater", or "Breakfast of Champions", the pervading-style of prose throughout the book is largely intertwined with meta-fiction techniques. Vonnegut's innovative literary omniscience is one of the techniques through which Vonnegut's trademark "so it goes..." attitude achieves a certain degree of meta-morality by virtue of its omniscient, dissociative and detached tone within the prose.


title: Mother Night

text: Vonnegut also addresses the story's "moral" several times. He writes, "This is the only story of mine whose moral I know. I don't think it's a marvelous moral, I just happen to know what it is..." The phrase "The moral of the story" appears and again; some examples include "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be," "When you're dead, you're dead," and "Make love when you can. It's good for you."


title: Mother Night

text: A film adaptation was released in 1996, starring Nick Nolte as Campbell, Sheryl Lee as Helga/Resi, Alan Arkin as Kraft and John Goodman as Wirtanen.


title: Mother Night

text: In 2009, Audible.com produced an audio version of "Mother Night", narrated by Victor Bevine, as part of its "Modern Vanguard" line of audiobooks.


title: Mother Night

text: A theatrical version, adapted and directed by Brian Katz, was premiered at the Custom Made Theater Company in San Francisco in 2017. A revival, also directed by Katz, was presented at 59E59 Theatres in New York in October of 2018.


title: Champ de Mars

text: The Champ de Mars (; ) is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh "arrondissement", between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after the Campus Martius ("Mars Field") in Rome, a tribute to the Roman god of war. The name alludes to the fact that the lawns here were formerly used as drilling and marching grounds by the French military.


title: Champ de Mars

text: The nearest Métro stations are La Motte-Picquet–Grenelle, École Militaire, and Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel, an RER suburban-commuter-railway station. A disused station, Champ de Mars, is also nearby.


title: Champ de Mars

text: Originally, the Champ de Mars was part of a large flat open area called Grenelle, which was reserved for market gardening. Citizens would claim small plots and exploit them by growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers for the local market. However, the plain of Grenelle was not an especially fertile place for farming.


title: Champ de Mars

text: The construction, in 1765, of the "École Militaire" designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, was the first step toward the Champ de Mars in its present form. Grounds for military drills were originally planned for an area south of the school, the current location of the "place de Fontenoy". The choice to build an esplanade to the north of the school led to the erection of the noble facade which today encloses the Champ de Mars. The planners leveled the ground, surrounded it with a large ditch and a long avenue of elms, and, as a final touch, the esplanade was enclosed by a fine grille-work fence.


title: Champ de Mars

text: The Isle of Swans, formerly a riverine islet at the location of the northeastern foot of the Eiffel Tower, was, for the sake of symmetry and pleasing perspectives, attached to the shore. (Note that the Isle of Swans discussed here should not be confused with the Isle of Swans that sits in the middle of the Seine downstream and around the next bend in the river, between the fifteenth and sixteenth arrondissements.)


title: Champ de Mars

text: Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers launched the world's first hydrogen-filled balloon from the Champ-de-Mars on 27 August 1783.


title: Champ de Mars

text: This place witnessed the spectacle and pageantry of some of the best-remembered festivals of the French Revolution. On 14 July 1790 the first "Federation Day" celebration ("fête de la Fédération"), now known as Bastille Day, was held on the Champ de Mars, exactly one year after the storming of the prison. The following year, on 17 July 1791, the massacre on the Champ de Mars took place. Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first mayor of Paris, became a victim of his own revolution and was guillotined there on 12 November 1793.