title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: In the Pauline epistles, the oldest texts in the New Testament, eternal life becomes possible in the person of Christ, where by the grace of God and through faith in Christ humans can receive the gift of eternal life. For Paul (as in ) future eternal life arrives as a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit during the present life. Paul views sin as an obstacle to attaining eternal life, as in .


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: For Paul eternal life is a future possession and "the eschatological goal towards which believers strive." Paul emphasizes that eternal life is not merely something to be earned, but a gift from God, as in : "wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 thus also counter-positions sin and eternal life: while sin results in death, those who are "in Christ" will reap eternal life.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Paul also discusses the relationship of eternal life to the Holy Spirit, stating that to be with the Spirit and to think with the Spirit leads to eternal life, e.g. : :"he who sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life." For Paul future eternal life arrives as a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit during the present life, and the inter-related statements about the present life, the Spirit and future life form a key element of the teachings on the topic in Galatians.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: The New Testament includes fifteen occurrences of the word life, eight of these including the adjective eternal.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: There are parallels in how the synoptics refer to "being saved" and John refers to eternal life, as in the table below:


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: In the Gospel of Luke, the Parable of the Good Samaritan begins with a question about eternal life in when a lawyer asks Jesus what he needs to do to "inherit eternal life".


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: The Gospel of Matthew includes references to eternal life, in , and . The reference in Matthew 19:16 is within the parable of Jesus and the rich young man which also appears in Mark 10:17–31 and Luke 18:18–30. This parable relates the term "eternal life" to entry into the Kingdom of God. The parable starts by a question to Jesus from the young man: "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" and Jesus advises him to keep the commandments, and then refers to entry into the "Kingdom of God" in the same context.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: The Johannine concept of eternal life differs from the synoptic view. Johannine writings specifically present the view of eternal life as not simply futuristic, but also pertaining to the present, so those who hear the words of Jesus and trust in Yaweh can possess life "here and now" as well as in eternity, for they have "passed from death to life", as in . Overall, the New Testament balances the present and future with respect to eternal life: the believer has passed from death to eternal life, but this remains to be totally realized in the future.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: There are about 37 uses of the word life in the Gospel of John, of which about half refer to eternal life. There are six appearances in 1 John. The concept so permeates Johannine writings that in many cases one may just read "life" as "eternal life".


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Reformed evangelical theologian D. A. Carson sees as giving the "strongest affirmation of inaugurated eschatology in the Fourth Gospel": it is not necessary for the believer to "wait until the last day to experience something of resurrection life." George Eldon Ladd points out that, like the Kingdom of God, eternal life is "not only an eschatological gift belonging to the Age to Come; it is also a gift to be received in the old aeon". In this context, the gift of eternal life in the old aeon in which sin and death are still present is contrasted with eternal life in the new aeon of life and righteousness, the World to Come to which the faithful will belong.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: However, although as in God has provided the gift of eternal life to believers, the possibility of perishing ("απόληται") remains if one rejects Jesus. According to , "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Towards the end of the Gospel of John (), the purpose of writing the Fourth Gospel is stated as: "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name". This is often correlated to : "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: John's Gospel positions "eternal life" around the person of "Jesus", the Christ. In the Johannine view Christ can reveal life to humans because he is life himself. : "proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us" is compared to : "and the Word was with God", referring to the pre-existence of Christ.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: The term is used in the Gospel of John in the context of the "Water of Life" and states: "the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life."


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: In Jesus states that: "he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." This has been transposed, not only into a relationship with Jesus in common with Christian Theology but also into the Eucharist as an element of obtaining eternal life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (item 1212) teaches that Christians are born through the sacrament of Baptism and receive the "food of eternal life" in the Eucharist.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: In Jesus states that: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish." This refers to the personal, heart to heart relationship the Christian is expected to have with Jesus.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Another use is in : "And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, Jesus Christ", this usage relating to the "theme of life" in the Book of Revelation.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Catholic Christians teach that there is a supernatural realm called Purgatory where souls who have died in a state of grace but have yet to expiate venial sins or temporal punishments due to past sins are cleansed before they are admitted into Heaven.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Seventh-day Adventists believe that only God has immortality, and when a person dies, death is a state of unconscious sleep until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as Ecclesiastes 9:5 which states "the dead know nothing", and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: The text of Genesis 2:7 clearly states that God breathed into the formed man the "breath of life" and man became a living soul. He did not receive a living soul; he became one. The New King James Bible states that "man became a living being". According to the Scriptures, only man received life in this way from God. Because of this man is the only living creature to have a soul.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Of the many references to soul and spirit in the Bible, never once is either the soul or the spirit declared to be immortal, imperishable or eternal. Indeed, only God has immortality (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16). Adventists teach that the resurrection of the righteous will take place at the second coming of Jesus, at which time they will be restored to life and taken to reside in Heaven.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Jehovah's Witnesses believe the word soul ("nephesh" or "psykhe") as used in the Bible is a person, an animal, or the life a person or animal enjoys. Hence, the soul is not part of man, but is the whole man—man as a living being. Hence, when a person or animal dies, the soul dies, and death is a state of non-existence, based on Psalms 146:4, Ezekiel 18:4, and other passages. Hell (Hades) is not a place of fiery torment, but rather the common grave of humankind, a place of unconsciousness.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: One group, referenced as "the little flock" of 144,000 people, will receive immortality and go to heaven to rule as Kings and Priests with Christ during the thousand years. As for the rest of humankind, after the final judgment, it is expected that the righteous will receive eternal life and live forever on an Earth turned into a paradise.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Those granted immortality in heaven are absolutely immortal and "cannot" die by any cause. Even God himself wouldn't be able to kill them. They teach that Jesus was the first to be rewarded with heavenly immortality, but that Revelation 7:4 and Revelation 14:1, 3 refer to a literal number (144,000) of additional people who will become "self-sustaining", that is, not needing anything outside themselves (food, sunlight, etc.) to maintain their own life.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: They make a distinction between immortality and eternal life in that humans who have passed the final judgement and were rewarded "eternal life" "can" still technically lose that life and die if they were ever hypothetically sin at some future point in time, though they do not succumb to disease or old age, due to their living forever still being subject to obedience. They also still continue to be dependent on food, water, air, and such to maintain life. Nevertheless, those who pass that final test are "guaranteed" to remain faithful throughout all eternity due to the test being perfect and designed to eliminate those who would ever misuse their free will.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: In Latter-day Saint (Mormonism) theology, the spirit and the body constitute the human soul. Whereas the human body is subject to death on earth, they believe that the spirit never ceases to exist and that one day the spirits and bodies of all mankind will be reunited again. This doctrine stems from their belief that the resurrection of Jesus Christ grants the universal gift of immortality to every human being.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, provided a description of the afterlife based upon a vision he received, which is recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. According to the 76th section of the LDS scripture, the afterlife consists of three degrees or kingdoms of glory, called the Celestial Kingdom, the Terrestrial Kingdom, and the Telestial Kingdom. Other Biblical scriptures speak of varying degrees of glory, such as : "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory."


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: The few who do not inherit any degree of glory (though they are resurrected) reside in a state called outer darkness, which, though not a degree of glory, is often discussed in this context. Only those known as the "Sons of Perdition" are condemned to this state.


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: The doctrine of conditional immortality states the human soul is naturally mortal, and that immortality is granted by God as a gift. The doctrine is a "significant minority evangelical view" that has "grown within evangelicalism in recent years".


title: Eternal life (Christianity)

text: Some sects who hold to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration also believe in a third realm called Limbo, which is the final destination of souls who have not been baptised, but who have been innocent of mortal sin. Souls in Limbo include unbaptised infants and those who lived virtuously but were never exposed to Christianity in their lifetimes. Christian Scientists believe that sin brought death, and that death will be overcome with the overcoming of sin.


title: Miriam McDonald

text: Miriam Katherine McDonald (born July 26, 1987) is a Canadian actress best known for playing the lead role Emma Nelson on the television series "".


title: Miriam McDonald

text: McDonald focused on acting, playing a role in the series, "System Crash", in 1999. McDonald found a job as a voiceover actress, after she was cast in 2001 in John Kricfalusi's series "The Ripping Friends". She has done a total of 39 characters.


title: Miriam McDonald

text: In 2001, she was cast as Emma Nelson in the CTV/The N drama "", a spin-off of the successful "Degrassi" series. She starred for all nine seasons that bore the title.


title: Miriam McDonald

text: In 2004, she played Dawn Gensler in the made-for-television movie "She's Too Young". She also had a guest role on the Family Channel show "Naturally, Sadie" as Heidi.


title: Miriam McDonald

text: In 2018, McDonald appeared in Drake's music video for "I'm Upset", which took place during a Degrassi reunion.


The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is a multiple choice test, administered by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command, used to determine qualification for enlistment in the United States Armed Forces. It is often offered to U.S. high school students when they are in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade, though anyone eligible for enlistment may take it.


title: Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery

text: The ASVAB was first introduced in 1968 and was adopted by all branches of the military in 1976. It underwent a major revision in 2002. In 2004, the test's percentile rank scoring system was renormalized, to ensure that a score of 50% really did represent doing better than exactly 50% of the test takers.


text: The ASVAB contains nine sections and takes three hours to complete. The duration of each section varies between 7 and 39 minutes, the longest being for Arithmetic Reasoning. The test is typically administered in a computerized format at Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) or in a written format at satellite locations called Military Entrance Test (MET) sites. Testing procedures vary depending on the mode of administration.


text: An "Armed Forces Qualification Test" (AFQT) score is used to determine basic qualifications for enlistment.


text: - The VE (verbal) score is determined by adding the raw scores from the PC and WK tests and using a table to get the VE score from that combined PC and WK raw score.


text: - AFQT scores are not raw scores, but rather percentile scores indicating how each examinee performed compared with the base youth population. Thus, someone who receives an AFQT of 55 scored better than 55 percent of all other members of the base youth population. The highest possible percentile is 99.


text: - The minimum score for enlistment varies according to branch of service and whether the enlistee has a high school diploma.


text: GED holders who earn 15 college credits 100 level or greater are considered equivalent to those holding high school diplomas so they need only the Tier I score to enlist. Eligibility is not determined by the score alone. Certain recruiting goal practices may require an applicant to achieve a higher score than the required minimum AFQT score in order to be considered for enlistment. Rules and regulations are subject to change; applicants should call their local recruiting center for up-to-date qualification information.


text: Law prohibits applicants in Category V from enlisting. In addition, there are constraints placed on Category IV recruits; recruits in Category IV must be high school diploma graduates but cannot be denied enlistment solely on this criteria if the recruit is needed to satisfy established strength requirements. Furthermore, the law constrains the percentage of accessions who can fall between Categories IV-V (currently, the limit is 20% of all persons originally enlisted in a given armed force in a given fiscal year).


text: In addition to the ASVAB's AFQT, each branch has military occupational specialty, or MOS, scores. Combinations of scores from the nine tests are used to determine qualification for a MOS. These combinations are called "aptitude area scores", "composite scores", or "line scores". Each of the five armed services has its own aptitude area scores and sets its own minimum composite scores for each MOS.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Just Cause 2 is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Avalanche Studios and published by Square Enix's European Subsidiary. The sequel to 2006's "Just Cause", it was powered by Avalanche Studios' Avalanche 2.0 Engine. It features Rico Rodriguez, a major operative of the fictional Agency who arrives at Panau (a fictional island nation in Maritime Southeast Asia) to overthrow dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay and confront former mentor Tom Sheldon. The gameplay involves Rico fighting hostile militants with guns and a grappling hook, enabling players to tether objects to each other and slingshot into the air with a parachute. "Just Cause 2" introduces the Chaos System, in which players must complete missions and destroy government property on Panau for Chaos points. These points are essential for story progression.


title: Just Cause 2

text: The game was developed as an improvement of "Just Cause"; its team saw missed opportunities in the first game, analyzing and refining it. As a result, mission design, artificial intelligence and most core gameplay mechanics were overhauled. Panau, inspired by Southeast Asia, was considered by the team a good location for an action game. Avalanche Studios worked with Square Enix London Studios while developing "Just Cause 2". It was announced in 2007 with a demo attracting two million players.


title: Just Cause 2

text: The game was released in March 2010 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. "Just Cause 2" received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay, open-ended nature, stunts, world design, and graphics while criticizing its story, gunplay, and mission design. Sales of six million copies worldwide exceeded original projections. The game was supported with downloadable content at release, and a multiplayer fan project was eventually approved as an add-on. A sequel, "Just Cause 3", was released in late 2015.


title: Just Cause 2

text: "Just Cause 2" is a third-person action-adventure game in which players control Rico Rodriguez, field operative of the Agency, in an effort to overthrow the island dictatorship of Panau: an open world for players to explore. The game has three types of missions. Agency missions advance the story and are the game's main campaign; faction missions task players to assist the game's three factions, and stronghold missions task players to infiltrate government bases and liberate them for the factions. To advance through the campaign missions a player must earn chaos points, a progression system introduced in the game. Players earn chaos points for completing missions and destroying designated government property. As the number of chaos points increases, the factions gain influence and the government begins to collapse. In addition to typical missions, "Just Cause 2" has race challenges which give players cash.


title: Just Cause 2

text: The game's open world is free for players to explore when they are not on missions. Panau is described as an area of about . There are a variety of landscapes, including deserts, mountains and jungles, and over three hundred settlements. The settlements contain government properties, which can be destroyed, and unlockables such as cash stashes and weapon, vehicle and armor parts. Finding all the collectibles and destroying all the government properties will help players liberate a settlement and receive chaos points. When players create chaos or enter restricted areas, they generate heat noticed by hostile government militants; the heat decreases when the player evades them. The map is Rico's PDA, with points of interest including mission locations, settlements, military outposts, race challenges and the player's progress. Waypoints may be set on the PDA.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Players can use a variety of weapons to fight enemies. The game features a large arsenal of weapons, from two-handed pistols to rocket launchers, and a variety of sea, land and air vehicles. Players can drive them, jump on top of them or hide in front of them while they are moving and hijack enemy vehicles, triggering a series of quick-time events. Initially, the player must acquire weapons and vehicles in the field. Early in the game, they encounter a black market supplier from whom weapons and vehicles can be purchased (with optional delivery to the player's location by helicopter). As more chaos points are gained, additional weapons, vehicles and an extraction option become available on the black market. All black-market weapons and vehicles can be upgraded in steps with weapon and vehicle components in the game world; over 2,000 parts may be acquired. Players use a beacon to access the market.


title: Just Cause 2

text: "Just Cause 2" includes a grappling hook enabling players to tether objects together. In a high-speed vehicle chase a player can use the grappling hook to attach the pursuit vehicle to the ground, forcing it to stop and often damaging it by flipping. Players can also tether two enemies together. The grappling hook allows a player to pull himself, hold onto objects such as walls or helicopters and pull enemies towards Rico. The player has a parachute, which cam be instantly deployed and repacked. This can be combined with the grappling hook as quick transport, with players "slingshotting" themselves into the air.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Four years after "Just Cause", Rico Rodriguez is dropped into Panau to find his former handler Tom Sheldon, who is suspected of going rogue and aligning himself with the country's dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay. With the aid of intelligence asset Karl Blaine and a weapons dealer only known as the Sloth Demon, Rico allies with the island's three dominant criminal gangs and factions: the Roaches, an organized crime syndicate; the Reapers, an insurgent socialist militia; and the Ular Boys, an ultranationalist rebel group which espouses traditionalism and opposes foreign influence.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Rico gathers enough information to track down Sheldon, who reveals that he has been the Sloth Demon while he was investigating a greater conspiracy behind Panay's rise to power. Rico determines that Sheldon has not gone rogue, and Sheldon tells him to continue causing chaos on Panau while he explains the situation to the Agency.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Sheldon then tells Rico to hurry to his hideout, where Rico learns that intelligence asset Jade Tan has been captured in Panay's military base and will be tortured and possibly summarily executed. Although Rico rescues her and destroys the base, Jade is bundled into a truck and a fleet of gunmen try to escape along a frozen lake. A nuclear submarine emerges from the ice, but Rico hijacks the truck and they are airlifted to safety by Kane (Sheldon and Rico's mission handler). Jade later explains that the Roaches, Reapers, and Ular Boys are secretly backed by Russia, China, and Japan, respectively, to bring down Baby Panay, but Rico and Sheldon wonder what the small island has which is so attractive to superpowers. They track down and assassinate the foreign intelligence officers liaising with the factions.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Soon afterwards, the island is engulfed in so much chaos that Panay leaves the capital for his fortified military base. Rico assaults the base with the aid of a faction of his choosing. Panay is apparently killed during the assault by Karl Blaine in a murder-suicide, but not before Panay explains that the three nations, along with the United States, have been interested in Panau for its oil reserves, supposedly the largest in the world.


title: Just Cause 2

text: With Panay dead, the situation in Panau becomes a free-for-all as foreign nations scramble to claim the oil. Russia, China and Japan send a fleet of supertankers to Panau, and the U.S. begins scrambling its military forces to defend the island. Rico is tasked with holding off the supertankers until reinforcements arrive, but a nuclear submarine suddenly surfaces. Rico investigates the submarine and finds Panay, alive but injured. Although Panay fires nuclear missiles at Russia, China, Japan and the U.S., his clothing snags on one of the missiles and he goes up with it. In pursuit, Rico grapples onto the missile; the men battle in midair as he disarms each missile.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Finally, Rico pins Panay to the exposed core of the U.S.-bound missile, and reprograms the targeting computer before jumping to safety. The missile changes course and explodes over Panau's oilfields, killing Panay and destroying the island's oil reserves. Rico rejoins Sheldon, Kane and Jade, who are dismayed at the loss of billions of dollars' worth of oil. Rico explains that oil is not worth dying for; with its oil gone, interest in Panau will be lost, the superpowers will not go to war and the island's residents will be spared. Sheldon agrees, assuring Rico that a president friendly to the U.S. will be installed on Panau and the island will be closely monitored; the group raise their glasses, toasting friendship and a job well done.


title: Just Cause 2

text: "Just Cause 2" was developed by the Swedish Avalanche Studios, with Square Enix London Studios providing additional support. The game's predecessor, "Just Cause", was a moderate commercial success and received mixed reviews from critics. The team thought that although it had potential, it was an opportunity missed and described "Just Cause 2" as a "sequel waiting to be made". Shortly after the start of development, the team begin analyzing the first game's strengths and weaknesses with the intention of improving it. They wanted to use the large open world to create rewarding quests and missions, dropping the first game's side missions in favor of faction missions, stronghold takeovers and race challenges to increase gameplay density (keeping players occupied, even when simply exploring the world). This density increased the connectivity between the faction and Agency missions. Another goal was to improve the game's combat and artificial intelligence, so action stunts would be easier to perform and the game's tactical element would increase. The team overhauled the artificial intelligence, improving enemy characters' reaction to player action and their environment. The game features a Hybrid Locking System, which make aiming easier, and a real-time destruction system. The team refined the game's driving mechanics to make them feel more realistic.


title: Just Cause 2

text: They said that its "over-the-top" action and emphasis on player freedom would distinguish "Just Cause 2" from other open world games. According to Peter Johansson, many gameplay mechanics were so "crazy" that they hesitated when testing the game; they were included in the final product because it was thought that they would make the game fun to play, meeting the franchise's main goal of performing many stunts in a massive open world. Since "Just Cause" grappling hook was praised, the team made it more accessible and easier to use as an essential part of the sequel's combat system. The team also refined the parachute, making it more realistic and giving players more control of its movement. They added the Chaos system, enhancing player freedom by allowing them to progress through the game in a number of ways instead of completing missions.


title: Just Cause 2

text: The game is set in Panau, described as an island with a variety of landscapes and cultures (including Japan, Thailand and the Malay Archipelago). The team chose the setting because they considered that its exoticism suited an action game. Hawaii and New Zealand also inspired the game world. Although the game's plot was unconnected to "Just Cause", it featured a more-experienced Rico as the protagonist. According to game director Magnus Nedfors, the team retained the first game's "campy" tone. The narrative remained light and the game was made into something intentionally "silly"; the team "don't take ourselves or our game too seriously". Plot was not the primary focus of "Just Cause 2", and the team took three to five months to create the story. The game runs on Avalanche Software's upgraded Avalanche Engine. Unlike "Just Cause", it was released only for seventh-generation consoles and its graphics were not limited by the restrictions of older consoles. Since it is set in an open world, Avalanche co-founder Linus Bloomberg thought a long draw distance was essential to motivate players to explore the game world and the engine was modified to accommodate that feature. The PC version runs on DirectX 10 hardware, and is incompatible with Windows XP. The PlayStation 3 version allows the user to capture gameplay video and export it to the XMB or upload it to YouTube. However, most content is identical across all platforms.


title: Just Cause 2

text: The game was announced in January 2007 by publisher Eidos Interactive, and a year later a Christmas 2008 release was planned. Its release was later postponed to the third quarter of 2009. A demo for the game, released on 4 March 2010, attracted more than two million players. According to studio founder Christofer Sundberg, the demo was envisioned as a smaller version of the game so players could fully experience its open-ended gameplay. After Japanese publisher Square Enix acquired Eidos Interactive, it announced that the game would be released in North America on 23 March 2010 and in Europe on 26 March. Pre-orders received a map of Panau and access to the Black Market Chaos Pack. An Ultimate Edition, with the game and the Black Market Aerial and Boom Packs, was released on 20 December 2011 for the PlayStation Network.


title: Just Cause 2

text: According to designer Peter Johansson, the game would support a variety of downloadable content and DLC was released on PlayStation Store, Steam and Xbox Live Marketplace after the game's release. The Black Market Aerial Pack included an F-33 Dragonfly jet fighter, dual parachute thrusters and a multi-lock missile launcher. The Black Market Boom Pack included a quad rocket launcher, a cluster bomb launcher and an air-propulsion gun. The Black Market Chaos Pack included Rico's signature gun, an Agency hovercraft, a Chevalier Classic, a bull's-eye assault rifle and Tuk Tuk Boom Boom. Although the pack is no longer available, its contents may be downloaded separately. Avalanche also released several pieces of free DLC, including a Chevalier Icebreaker (an ice-cream truck with bullbars), Tuk Tuk Boom Boom (introducing a tuk tuk with a "roof-mounted weapon of mass destruction") and a Chaos Parachute pack.


title: Just Cause 2

text: "Just Cause 2: Multiplayer Mod" originated as a fan project by two modders, Jaxm and Trix, who were impressed with the game's scale after playing its demo. They stopped modding "" and "", and began developing a multiplayer mod for "Just Cause 2"; the team eventually expanded to six. The mod was later recognized by the game's developers as an add-on. It supports achievements and adds multiplayer capability, allowing hundreds to thousands of players to interact in the game's map of Panau. After several years in the making, the mod became available as free downloadable content on Steam on 17 December 2013.


title: Just Cause 2

text: "Just Cause 2" received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics praising its gameplay, graphics and open world; the game was widely regarded as a significant improvement to its predecessor. It was nominated for Best Action Game at the 28th Golden Joystick Awards, losing to "Assassin’s Creed II".


title: Just Cause 2

text: Eric Neigher of 1UP.com praised the game's texture, draw distance, depth of field and variety, writing that such details made the game feel more alive. The explosions were praised for their visual effects. According to Neigher, the varied landscape and the grappling hook made "Just Cause 2" game world superior to those of "Grand Theft Auto" and "Infamous". "Eurogamer" Simon Parkin commended Avalanche Studios for developing a "picture-postcard amalgam of Pacific landscapes" without significant technical difficulties, such as framework instability. However, Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot and Ryan Clements of IGN noted a number of gameplay problems, such as loose shooting mechanic and technical glitches. Jeff Marchiafava of "Game Informer" considered its world one of the most enjoyable and entertaining sandboxes for players to explore, overshadowing other open-world games with urban settings.


title: Just Cause 2

text: "Just Cause 2" action elements were widely praised. Ryan Davis of Giant Bomb praised the game for its defiance of physics, increasing player enjoyment. The combined grappling hook and parachute was praised for facilitating and enhancing traversal and exploration. "Eurogamer" Parkin agreed, adding that the tool was a mix of "Spider-Man" and "Bionic Commando", but "Game Informer" Marchiafava thought that the mechanic and its precision exceeded both. He praised the action stunts, especially skydiving (which he called "thrilling"). VanOrd described the stunts as "satisfying", "silly", "fun" and "crazy", and stated that travelling between locations was so enjoyable that players would rarely use the black marketeer. Clements praised Avalanche Studios for providing action only found in a "top-dollar Hollywood production" with the game's stunts. Parkin and Neigher commended its potential, with Parkin writing that players use their imagination to experiment with the grappling hook (making the game addictive). However, its gunplay (particularly the aiming system) was criticized. The game's difficulty and artificial intelligence were criticized as frustrating, as they sometimes spawned in front of the player. According to Clements and Marchiafava, its controls had a steep learning curve.


title: Just Cause 2

text: The game's mission design and progression system received mixed reviews. According to Parkin, the chaos system did not make sense; Rico sometimes destroys properties which help local citizens. He called most missions repetitive and a "grind", losing their appeal as players progress (although he praised some side missions). Parkin and VanOrd criticized the stronghold-takeover missions. Parkin added that most players probably would not have the patience to complete the settlements, since the island's appeal wanes after hours of play. Marchiafava praised the game's side activities, saying that the diversions increased its replayability. Davis criticized the missions' repetition, but liked their quantity.


title: Just Cause 2

text: "Just Cause 2" story also received mixed reviews, with Neigher criticizing its mediocre voice acting and lack of logic. Clements thought the presentation of its cutscenes were not on par with the game world, and Parkin described the plot as a "low-rent thriller". Marchiafava called its story the game's weakest part, with its "unscripted" moments the high points. Most critics agreed that the strong gameplay mechanics overshadowed design and narrative flaws, and that narrative was not the game's focus.


title: Just Cause 2

text: It was the best-selling retail game in the UK when it was released, outselling "Pokémon HeartGold" and "SoulSilver" (released the same week). Although the initial sales projection was 2.2 million, sales exceeded expectations. In February 2014, describing its sales as "slow", studio founder Christofer Sundberg said that "Just Cause 2" had sold more than six million copies.


title: Just Cause 2

text: Purchasers of "Just Cause 2" and another Square Enix game, "Sleeping Dogs", received an exclusive Rico Rodriguez outfit and the ability to perform "stunt-style takeovers" while hijacking vehicles as Officer Shen. After the game's release, the Swedish team developed "Mad Max". A studio based in New York City was established to develop a new game, set in the "Just Cause" universe. "Just Cause 3" was "Game Informer"s November 2014 cover game, and it was released on 1 December 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Purchasers of "Just Cause 3" for the Xbox One would also receive "Just Cause 2" via backward compatibility.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the seventh entry in the "Tony Hawk's" series and was released initially for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2005 in North America on October 18 and October 28 in Europe, with several ports for other systems released later.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: "American Wasteland" is the first "Tony Hawk's" game to support Xbox Live; online play was previously limited to the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. The Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions released as "Tony Hawk's American Sk8land" on the same day as the console versions. The DS version features Wi-Fi capabilities, and was the first third-party DS game to have online support.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: "American Wasteland" is the first game in the "Tony Hawk's" franchise that advertised and allowed the possibility for players to play in one vast level via story mode, which actually seamlessly connects a number of levels without loading times in between, along with also being the first game in the series that allows to freely commandeer stray bicycles and perform freestyle BMX techniques similar to skateboarding. A new maneuver, the Bert Slide, was added to skateboarding controls. In the September 2005 edition of "Game Informer", a map was shown displaying "American Wasteland"s Los Angeles with an insert of an overhead view of the Boston stage from "Underground 2" for comparison. The Boston level appeared to be about three quarters the size of one "American Wasteland" area, with the exception of the "Vans Skatepark" and "Casino" areas.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: The game begins with the protagonist, a male skater, boarding a bus to Los Angeles to leave his delinquent past. Upon arriving in Hollywood, a group of skateboarding punks, led by Joe, punch the player character and steal his bag. The protagonist meets Mindy, a local artist, who helps him fit in through wardrobe changes and a series of skating challenges led by her friends. After, the player confronts Joe and challenges him to a skating contest for his bag, which the player wins.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: The protagonist observes Mindy drawing a skatepark in her sketchpad; she reveals that it is the "Skate Ranch"; an actual "locals-only" park. After the protagonist stops a local protest, Mindy decides to take the player to Beverly Hills, where he uses his skate skills to impress the inhabitants of the ranch led by Iggy VanZandt. They agree to let him in to the skatepark, and allow him to stay after he gathers wood for a half-pipe. While the player character watches Iggy skate, the group reveals that he was previously a professional skateboarder, but he couldn't handle the publicity and dropped out of the public eye. Mindy suggests that the protagonist obtain pieces for the skate ranch, which he gets throughout the game.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: The player character participates in the Tony Hawk AmJam in downtown Los Angeles. The protagonist wins and is interviewed by Tony Hawk. After the player publicly reveals his association with the presumed-dead Iggy, the LAPD arrests VanZandt for a string of past minor offenses. Seeking amends for landing Iggy in jail, the player character requests help from VanZandt's old friends: the Z-Boys, including Tony Alva. They agree to do so if he prove his old-school skating skills. After he does so, the Z-Boys show an old photo of "Green Pipes Point": a legendary skate run that the protagonist recognizes as now being the Skate Ranch. The player character decides to have it dug again to make up for getting Iggy arrested. To that effect, the protagonist meets Alva's oil rig worker friend Mega, who decides to help the player after the protagonist completes a series of errands for him.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: While Mega works on digging up the Green Pipes Point, the player learns from Mindy that Skate Ranch member Boone has been kidnapped by the "Black Widowz", his old street gang, and needs rescuing from East Los Angeles. However, the Black Widowz own the only tunnel leading to the area, leading the protagonist to join the gang to be allowed entry. After he passes the initiation tests, he enters East LA and rescues Boone.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: After Mega finishes digging up the Green Pipes Point, the protagonist gets a call from Iggy in jail, stating that his bail was posted and he will be leaving shortly. When the player character mentions his restoration of Green Pipes Point, Iggy is furious; he explains that he doesn't own the land that it is on, nor does he have the money to buy it. By the time Iggy leaves jail, the actual owner of the Point sells the land, prompting Iggy to punch the protagonist and snap at Mindy for her and the player character attempting to improve the ranch.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: The group informs the player character that Tony Hawk is in the area with the belief that if he and other local pros were convinced to record a "Save Green Pipes Point" video and post it online, they could use the proceeds to save the ranch from the auction block. The player rounds up the skaters, and begin recording the video, and Iggy apologizes for his past behavior. After trashing a local vacant casino as their finale to the video, the group is met by the police due to trespassing and vandalism. In order to distract the police so the rest of the gang can escape and purchase Green Pipes Point, the player character evades the cops by skating all through LA to get back to the ranch.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: The player succeeds in distracting the police. Iggy arrives at Green Pipes Point and reveals that he was able to purchase the land. To celebrate, he throws a party, and the protagonist apologies to Mindy for angering VanZandt. Mindy accepts the apology, and she shows that she has just published the first issue of her dream magazine, American Wasteland, which Iggy reveals was funded by the proceeds from the video. The protagonist and Mindy kiss.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: "American Wasteland" was also released on the Xbox 360 in 2005 on November 22 in North America and December 2 in Europe as a launch title and a Microsoft Windows port was issued by Aspyr in 2006 on February 6 in North America and April 7 in Europe. An additional 'Collector's Edition' was also released for the PlayStation 2, which added two exclusive characters and two exclusive levels, including a documentary titled "Making of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland".


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: The "American Wasteland" soundtrack features a lineup of punk-based bands, each covering a song from a classic punk rock or hardcore punk group, the album features all 14 previously-unreleased covers that were recorded for the game. The soundtrack reached number 148 on The Billboard Top 200, number 4 on Billboard Top Soundtracks, and number 10 on Billboard Top Independent Albums. The cover art is a homage to the cover of the 1979 album "London Calling" by The Clash which, in turn, is a homage to the cover of Elvis Presley's first album. The back cover art is a homage to the back cover art of self-titled album of The Clash. IGN gave the soundtrack a 4.1/10, stating that the soundtrack is aimed towards emo-lovers instead of punk, given that most of the participating bands play in the genre.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: The game received generally positive reviews, with the general consensus being that the advertisement of Los Angeles being "one big level" as opposed to the previous games' series of levels was false, since the "one level" was a series of levels accessible from one another via bland corridors that simply masked the necessary loading times. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot took note of how "shockingly easy" the game was compared to previous entries in the series, and how "most of the game feels like a tutorial", adding that "the game really seems bent on holding your hand every step of the way", although others have viewed this in a light that showcased the game's hefty amount of possibilities, tricks, and techniques that the player character can perform in comparison to previous games. Many critics also noted the general lack of evolution in the series, although many saw this as a good thing since the original gameplay was so popular to begin with and didn't need unnecessary tampering.


title: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

text: Many critics praised the game on its story. Chris Roper of IGN praised Neversoft's decision to "go back to its roots and make a game about skating" as opposed to "the chaos and destruction of the Underground games". Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot wrote that "the saving grace of the story mode is that the story it tells is actually pretty good. It follows the standard 'ragtag group of misfits' struggles to save the place they call home from evil real estate moguls' plot that drove such classic films as "". Adding that "along the way, the characters become a little endearing".


title: Shark Tank (season 13)

text: This is a list of episodes from the thirteenth season of "Shark Tank". The season premiered on October 8, 2021, on ABC.


title: Shark Tank (season 13)

text: Guest sharks this season include Emma Grede, CEO and co-founder of and founding partner of Skims; actor and comedian Kevin Hart; Peter Jones, dragon on "Dragons' Den"; Daniel Lubetzky, founder and executive chairman of Kind; and Nirav Tolia, co-founder of Nextdoor.


title: Iván Córdoba

text: Iván Ramiro Córdoba Sepúlveda (, born 11 August 1976) is a retired Colombian footballer, who played as a defender. He began his career in Colombia with Deportivo Rionegro and Atlético Nacional, before moving to Argentine club San Lorenzo. In 2000, he joined Italian side Internazionale, where he spent most of his career, remaining with the club until his retirement in 2012. At international level, Córdoba played for the Colombia national team, and represented his nation at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, and four editions of the Copa América, winning the tournament in 2001, where he scored the winning goal in the final. He was the vice-captain of Internazionale and has also served as captain for his country's national team.


title: Iván Córdoba

text: Córdoba made his debut with the Colombian Serie B team Deportivo Rionegro in 1993, his subsequent performances earned him a transfer to Colombian heavyweights Atlético Nacional in 1996. He made his name playing for San Lorenzo in Argentina from 1998 but signed for Italian side Inter Milan the winter transfer window, January 2000, costing the club €16 million, rejecting another offer from Real Madrid in doing so. He has become a mainstay of the Internazionale defence for several years, forming a highly effective partnership in central defence with Marco Materazzi. His long career at Inter led him to be named the club's vice-captain behind Javier Zanetti; because of this, he had the honour of lifting the Coppa Italia in 2005 when Zanetti was absent due to his involvement in the Confederations Cup with Argentina.


title: Iván Córdoba

text: On 19 February 2008, Córdoba injured his left anterior cruciate ligament during the Champions League round of 16 fixture against Liverpool, resulting in having to sit out the rest of the season as Inter won the league title for the third consecutive year. On 9 June 2008 he renewed his contract until 30 June 2012 with Inter, ensuring that he would effectively finish his career with Inter.


title: Iván Córdoba

text: On 5 May 2012 Córdoba announced that he would leave Inter at the end of the season. A day later, Córdoba was brought on in the 84th minute of the Derby della Madonnina, making his last competitive appearance in an Inter shirt after 13 years in the San Siro; during the match (the club's last home game of the 2011–12 season), Inter's players wore the Córdoba #2 shirt while warming up before the kick-off. In May, he traveled with 18 other Inter players (with Dellafiore an exception) to Indonesia for a friendly tour, before ending his career.


title: Iván Córdoba

text: In total, he won 5 Serie A championships, 4 Coppa Italia titles, 3 Supercoppa Italiana titles, 1 UEFA Champions League, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup with Inter.


title: Iván Córdoba

text: Córdoba captained Colombia to win the 2001 Copa América competition, scoring the only goal in the final. Córdoba also was called up for his country at the 1998 World Cup (taking shirt number 2 from Andrés Escobar who was murdered in the previous tournament) without appearing in a match, the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup (where they finished in fourth place), and in three other editions of the Copa América (1997, 1999, and 2007).


title: Iván Córdoba

text: On 10 February 2021, Córdoba was announced as the new sporting director of Italian Serie B club Venezia.


title: Iván Córdoba

text: Usually a central defender, Córdoba was an experienced and extremely fast, energetic, versatile, and athletic defender, who relied mostly on his pace, stamina, man-marking ability and timing, which made him difficult to beat in one on one situations; due to his characteristics, he was also capable of playing as a full back or wing-back on the right flank, and even as a left-back on occasion. Despite being only 173 centimeters tall, he was also a good jumper and an accurate header of the ball, and had a penchant for scoring goals with his head. Throughout his career, Córdoba also stood out for his leadership in addition to his ability as a footballer.


title: VTB United League

text: VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian professional club basketball. Therefore, the highest placed Russian team in the league is also named Russian national champions. The league is sponsored by Russian state-owned VTB Bank. In 2008 CSKA Moscow won VTB United League Promo-Cup, but this competition does not count as official VTB title.


title: VTB United League

text: The current champions are Zenit Saint Petersburg, who secured their 1st ever title after defeating former champions CSKA Moscow 4–3 in the 2022 Finals. CSKA have dominated the league, having won all but two title in its existence. The VTB United League also holds a youth competition, the VTB United Youth League.


title: VTB United League

text: In its inaugural 2009–10 season, the VTB United League featured clubs from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine. For the 2010–11 season, teams from Belarus, Finland, and Poland were added to the league. The 2011–12 season featured 18 teams, with new teams being added from the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. In the 2012–13 season, the number of teams increased to 20. The number of teams decreased to 16 for the 2014–15 season, and the teams from Lithuania and Ukraine dropped out of the league.


title: VTB United League

text: During the 2021–22 season, ten teams were left to compete after the Polish and Estonian clubs withdrew from the league in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: VTB United League

text: The first step in the creation of the league was a competition named the VTB United League Promo-Cup held in Moscow in December 2008. The final of the Promo-Cup was played on December 22, 2008, and was won by CSKA Moscow, who defeated Khimki 70–66. Kyiv ended third.


title: VTB United League

text: In May 2012, all the PBL clubs gathered to decide which format would be used for the next season, and some club's directors raised the possibility of uniting with the VTB United League, to produce greater competition between the Russian basketball clubs. They suggested that the new league be named the Eastern European Professional Basketball League.


title: VTB United League

text: In July 2012, the Council of VTB United League decided that the PBL league would continue for one more year, with some games of the VTB United League that took place between two Russian clubs being counted as PBL games. The first tier Russian clubs then replaced the PBL with the VTB United League as their new national domestic league, starting with the 2013-14 season.


title: VTB United League

text: The VTB United League was recognized by FIBA Europe in September 2013. The league was then officially recognized by FIBA World in October 2014. The league needed to be recognized by both bodies, because it contains clubs that come from countries that are part of both the European and Asian FIBA zones.


title: VTB United League

text: The honorary head of the league is Sergei Ivanov and its official sponsor is Pavel Vrublevsky of ChronoPay.


title: VTB United League

text: In order for clubs to play in the VTB United League, they must have a home arena that has a seating capacity of at least 3,000 seats.


title: VTB United League

text: Although during 2014 Andrey Kostin's VTB Bank contributed 150 million rubles to VTB Union League which was third to its 4.5 billion rubles contributed to FC Dynamo Moscow and 750 million rubles contributed to support HC Dynamo Moscow, his VTB bank recorded very large losses of 5 billion rubles in March 2015 connected to its sponsorships and contributions to charities of over a total of 15.5 billion rubles that had 10 billion rubles given to undisclosed recipients. This led to the Bank of Moscow giving VTB Bank an 8 billion rubles loan at 0.51% per year with maturity in 2021. Of VTB Bank money given away during 2014, 80% of the total of 17.5 billion rubles were given away in the fourth quarter.


title: Richard Dysart

text: Richard Allen Dysart (March 30, 1929 – April 5, 2015) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Leland McKenzie in the television series "L.A. Law" (1986–1994), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award from four consecutive nominations. In film, he held supporting roles in "Being There" (1979), "The Thing" (1982), "Mask" (1985), "Pale Rider" (1985) and "Wall Street" (1987).


title: Richard Dysart

text: Richard Dysart was born to Alice (née Hennigar) and Douglas Dysart, a podiatrist, near Boston, Massachusetts, on March 30, 1929. Dysart was raised in Skowhegan, Maine and Augusta, Maine. He attended Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine. At the encouragement of his mother, Dysart performed in summer stock at the Lakewood Theater near Skowhegan. He also worked at a local radio station.


title: Richard Dysart

text: He earned both bachelor's (1956) and master's (1981) in speech communication from Emerson College in Boston, although his undergraduate education was interrupted due to his service for four years in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. At Emerson he performed on stage, and he was a class officer and student government vice-president. He was a brother of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity. He also studied at George Washington University. He returned for his master's degree later, completing it in 1981.


title: Richard Dysart

text: Dysart's acting career began on the stage. He was a founding member of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California, which began in 1960. He performed on Broadway in "All in Good Time" (1965), "A Place Without Doors" (1970-1971), and in the revival of Horace Giddens "The Little Foxes" (1967–1968), alongside Ann Bancroft, and "That Championship Season" (1972–1974). Dysart played the role of Coach in the original Broadway production of Jason Miller's Pulitzer Prize winning play, "That Championship Season", alongside Charles Durning in 1973.


title: Richard Dysart

text: In 1979, Dysart portrayed a good-hearted physician in the film "Being There", starring Peter Sellers and Melvyn Douglas. In 1980, he played Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in the television film "The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd". He voiced the kindly miner Uncle Pom in the Disney English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 adventure classic "Castle in the Sky" and the character of Cogliostro on "Todd McFarlane's Spawn: The Animated Series", which aired on HBO.


title: Richard Dysart

text: His other movie credits included roles in "The Hindenburg", "An Enemy of the People", "Prophecy", "The Thing" directed by John Carpenter, "Pale Rider" directed by Clint Eastwood, and "Day One" (with "L.A. Law" co-star Michael Tucker). He appeared in an episode of the 1976 CBS television series "Sara".


title: Richard Dysart

text: Dysard was nominated four years in a row for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series between 1989 to 1992, for his role as Leland McKenzie on L.A. Law, winning just the once in 1992.


title: Richard Dysart

text: Dysart was married three times. The first two marriages resulted in divorce. He and his third wife, artist Kathryn Jacobi, were married from 1987 until his death. He had no children of his own, but had a stepson from his third wife and two step-grandchildren.


title: Richard Dysart

text: Dysart died at home in Santa Monica, California on April 5, 2015, after a long battle with cancer. He was 86 years old.


title: Accredited investor

text: An accredited or sophisticated investor is an investor with a special status under financial regulation laws. The definition of an accredited investor (if any), and the consequences of being classified as such, vary between countries. Generally, accredited investors include high-net-worth individuals, banks, financial institutions, and other large corporations, who have access to complex and higher-risk investments such as venture capital, hedge funds, and angel investments.


title: Accredited investor

text: s 708(8) of the Corporations Act 2001 is found in Chapter 6D (Fundraising). It defines "sophisticated investor" so as to exclude them from certain disclosure requirements.


title: Accredited investor

text: That section provides for an accountant to issue a certificate stating that an individual meets the criteria prescribed in the "Corporations Regulations 2001", namely net assets of at least $2.5 million, or a gross income for each of the last two financial years of at least $250,000.


title: Accredited investor

text: There is a second definition of "sophisticated investor" in s 761GA of the Corporations Act 2001 in Chapter 7 (Financial services and markets). It defines sophisticated investors so that they can be treated as wholesale (rather than retail) clients.


title: Accredited investor

text: According to ASIC, a person with a sophisticated investor certificate is a sophisticated investor for the purpose of Chapter 6D, and a wholesale client for the purpose of Chapter 7.


title: Accredited investor

text: On December 17, 2014, CVM issued the Instructions No. 554 and No. 555, which became effective from July 1, 2015 according to Mondaq.


title: Accredited investor

text: The definition of accredited investors under the United States SEC’s Regulation D are analogous in Brazil to the combination of two categories of investors, classified by the "Comissão de Valores Mobiliários" (CVM) as ""investidor profissional"" (professional investor) and ""investidor qualificado"" (qualified investor) under Instruction 539, articles 9-A and 9-B.


title: Accredited investor

text: Note that as of 2016, many provinces in Canada now allow non-accredited investors to invest in private markets – under specified limits.


title: Accredited investor

text: Retail clients requesting treatment as 'elective' professional clients (as defined by Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)) must satisfy at least two of the following "quantitative" criteria in assessing the client's expertise, experience and knowledge:


title: Accredited investor

text: s 5 of the Securities Act (1978) defines a sophisticated investor in New Zealand for the purposes of subsection (2CC)(a), a person is wealthy if an independent chartered accountant certifies, no more than 12 months before the offer is made, that the chartered accountant is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the person


title: Accredited investor

text: There is a further section that follows stating that an eligible investor (experienced or sophisticated) is one who has satisfied a financial investor that they meet certain criteria.


title: Accredited investor

text: In Singapore, Accredited Investor is defined in Section 4A(1)(a) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA), Chapter 289.


title: Accredited investor

text: In the United States, to be considered an accredited investor, a natural person must have a net worth of at least $1,000,000, excluding the value of one's primary residence, or have income at least $200,000 each year for the last two years (or $300,000 combined income if married) and have the expectation to make the same amount this year, or must otherwise be a holder of a specific license in good standing.


title: Accredited investor

text: More broadly, the term "accredited investor" is defined in Rule 501 of Regulation D of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as:


title: Accredited investor

text: Accredited investors have the legal right to buy securities that are not registered with regulatory bodies such as the SEC. Accredited investors also have privileged access to venture capital, hedge funds and transactions involving complex and riskier investments and instruments.


title: John Joel Glanton

text: John Joel Glanton (1819 – 23 April 1850) was an early settler of Arkansas, a Texas Ranger and noted soldier in the Mexican–American War, and the leader of a notorious gang of scalp-hunters in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States during the mid-19th century. Contemporary sources also describe him as a murderous outlaw and prominent participant in the Texas Revolution. He appears as a violent figure in the works of the prominent Western writers Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy.


title: John Joel Glanton

text: John Joel Glanton was born with his twin Julian in Edgefield County, South Carolina, in 1819. His father Charles William Glanton (17891826) died while he was young and his mother Margaret Hill Glanton (d.8 Aug. 1883) relocated her four sons to Louisiana. In 1832, she remarried to MajorJohn Roddy (1784 11 July 1847), a weathy South Carolinian veteran of the War of 1812, eventually bearing him 2 children. In 1835 she followed him to Jackson County in the Arkansas Territory, where the family established Walnut Woods, a plantation with more than 20 slaves near what is now Augusta.


title: John Joel Glanton

text: Little is certain about Glanton's youth, but he apparently developed a reputation for explosive violence. He appears in few records until his 1841 arrest in Louisiana but later authors state he fled Tennessee as an outlaw before settling in Gonzales, Texas, and taking part in the first battle of the 1835 Texian Revolution against Mexico's Centralist Republic. A fiancée was abducted, scalped, and killed by Lipan Apaches before or during his time with Stephen F. Austin at the siege of De Cos's forces in San Antonio. He was said to have been a scout under Col.James Fannin, commissioned as a captain of the Texas Rangers while still 16, and to have narrowly escaped De La Portilla's 27 March 1836 massacre of Fannin's men at Goliad. After the Battle of San Jacinto, President Sam Houston supposedly banished Glanton from Texas, although this was never enforced and no record of such an order survives. He was later said to have wounded or killed the best men on both sides of the Regulator–Moderator War without supporting either side himself.


title: John Joel Glanton

text: Glanton was arrested in New Orleans on 11 March 1841 for assault, having tried to shoot a police officer with his pistol in the American Theatre, but he was dismissed with little or no punishment since no one was hurt. In early 1843, Glanton applied for a 320 acre grant of land in Jackson County, Arkansas. He improved the land but, receiving no certificate of purchase, he transferred his claim to his brother Benjamin in 1845 and returned to Louisiana. He was still receiving his mail in New Orleans in September 1846 but had apparently already left for Texas.


title: John Joel Glanton

text: By the time of the Mexican–American War, he was part of Walter P. Lane's San Antonio company of Texas Rangers. Contemporary sources charged him with killing a Mexican civilian in Magdalena, New Mexico, while serving as a perimeter sentry in 1847. Glanton defended himself, saying the civilian had ignored his commands to halt. This event brought Walter P. Lanethen a major in the armyinto conflict with his general Zachary Taylor. Glanton evaded the military police sent to arrest him but then enlisted in John Coffee Hays's second regiment of the First Texas Mounted Rifles, also informally known as the Texan Rangers. He saw action as part of Gen.'s Mexico City campaign, during which Private Glanton was noted by Gen.Joseph Lane to have "attracted general notice for his extraordinary activity and daring throughout the actions both of the 23d and 24th" Nov. 1847 at Galaxara Pass in Puebla.


title: John Joel Glanton

text: After the summer of 1849, Glanton and his employees were hired by Mexican authorities to eliminate troublesome Apaches in northern Mexico and what is now part of the Southwestern United States. For increased income, their organization scalped peaceful agricultural American Indians and Mexicans to claim the bounty for scalps. The soldier and memoirist Samuel Chamberlain claimed he worked as a member of the organization. According to Chamberlain, Glanton's second-in-command was a Texian known as Judge Holden. Reneging on their contracts, the state of Chihuahua put a bounty on the heads of the organization, declaring them outlaws on December, 1849. Chihuahuan authorities drove them out to Sonora. Eventually, they wore out their Sonaran welcome, then moved north into the Arizona territory.


title: John Joel Glanton

text: In Arizona, the Glanton organization became partners in a ferry at the Yuma Crossing of the Colorado River, a popular crossing for settlers and prospectors traveling to and from California during the California Gold Rush. According to claims from competing ferry operators, the Glantons sometimes killed Mexican and American passengers returning from the gold-fields to take their money and goods. Other highly-sensationalized accounts claim they destroyed a boat and killed some Quechans operating a rival ferry near Pilot Knob. At dawn on April 23, 1850, a band of Quechans led by "Caballo en Pelo" killed and scalped most of the Glanton organization to establish the tribe's ferry monopoly. Hearing of the massacre, California officials recruited a militia in the ill-fated Gila Expedition against the Quechan tribe.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Inspector Gadget 2 (sometimes called Inspector 2 Gadget and IG2) is a 2003 American superhero comedy film released direct-to-video on VHS and DVD on March 11, 2003. The film is based on the 1983 cartoon series created by DIC Entertainment and is a sequel to the 1999 film, "Inspector Gadget". This was made three years after Disney lost the rights to DIC Entertainment, as Disney currently owns the live-action film rights to "Inspector Gadget".


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Unlike the first film (which has a serious and darker tone and received a PG rating), "Inspector Gadget 2" received a G rating and is considered a more faithful adaptation of the original animated series; the characters' personalities were altered to be more in line with their cartoon counterparts and Doctor Claw's face is never shown. Gadget and Claw are never referred to as "John Brown" and "Sanford Scolex", their respective civilian names from the first film (though Claw's communicator is still labeled as "Scolex Industries"; Claw also reveals to his minions that all his assets, including his "multi-million-dollar high-rise evil headquarters", were confiscated by the police following his arrest in the previous film). The film received mixed reviews, although its reception slightly improved over its predecessor.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: With the exception of D. L. Hughley, who returned as the voice of the Gadgetmobile, none of the actors from the 1999 film reprised their roles.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Sometime after the events of the first film, Inspector Gadget and his Gadgetmobile are having problems in their line of work, mostly because of Gadget's overzealous nature and his paranoia about minor crimes committed by citizens. Gadget is put on probation by an angry Chief Quimby after charging Quimby's mother for going slightly above the speed limit on a mostly-deserted highway. At this time, Dr. Claw escapes from prison, seeking revenge on Gadget for putting him in prison and to restart his multi-million-dollar empire. Mayor Wilson takes this opportunity to create G2, a female Gadget-type robot that can function normally compared to the original Gadget, who not only was born a human but has recently been malfunctioning. Gadget begins to fall in love with G2, though G2 does not reciprocate as she prefers to work alone, viewing him as a nuisance but at the same time appreciating his determination to fight crime.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Dr. Claw begins a new plan to steal gold from the Federal Reserve. Gadget makes repeated attempts to stop Claw, but is continually foiled by his own bumbling and gadgetry glitches; his antics also prevent G2 from stopping Claw. Gadget's bumbling allows Dr. Claw's men to steal components for Claw's latest scheme and get away with it. Chief Quimby becomes increasingly frustrated and eventually relieves Gadget of duty after an incident at a science convention involving Claw's men putting an override chip on Gadget, allowing Claw to control Gadget like a puppet and cause significant damage. Penny offers to help, but Gadget tells her that she is still too young and to not get involved. Meanwhile, Dr. Claw's henchmen are now free to steal the rest of the components for Claw's scheme.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Penny decides to examine the evidence on her own and eventually finds Claw's hideout at an abandoned bowling factory in the outskirts of the city. She infiltrates the hideout, but Claw and his men capture her. After a series of unsuccessful jobs, Gadget gets a job as a parking valet. At Mayor Wilson's fundraiser, Claw infiltrates the event and activates a bowling pin containing laughing gas to keep the people busy as he steals a 50,000-karat ruby, though G2 is immune to the gas. In order to stop the robot, Claw uses a magnet to trap G2. Afterwards, Claw and his minions escape, but Gadget fails to recognize them. After G2's failure, Quimby is ordered by Mayor Wilson to deactivate the robot and terminate the Gadget program.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Feeling that G2 was scapegoated, and still in love with her, Gadget goes to Baxter's laboratory to reactivate G2, which makes G2 realize that Gadget cares for her. Brain (voiced by Jeff Glenn Bennett), having escaped Claw's men, tells them through Baxter's bark translating device that Claw has kidnapped Penny and has used the three stolen supplies (ionic fuel cells, a protoid laser, and a ruby) to build a super-weapon. Upon realizing that Claw is based in the bowling factory, Gadget finally connects the evidence Penny previously presented to him. Gadget asks G2 to help him save Penny and foil Claw's scheme, and G2 agrees.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: The next day, Claw activates his machine. The weapon is a laser that freezes time in Riverton, allowing Claw and his minions to easily rob the Federal Reserve. Claw has plans to not only use the laser against Riverton, but also the entire world, so he can rob Fort Knox and a variety of other places. Both Gadgets manage to avoid the weapon's blast, and confront Claw and his minions at the Federal Reserve. Claw orders his minions to attack Gadget and G2 so he can get away. Gadget and G2 decide to switch chips in order to make Gadget work perfectly, leaving G2 to deal with the glitches but to still successfully capture Claw's hired goons. Gadget chases after Claw but Claw drops Penny off the truck with explosives attached to her. After saving Penny, Gadget and Penny reunite with G2 and the Gadgetmobile. At a bridge, Gadget stops Claw's truck with a puddle of bubble gum. Claw's minions try to escape, but get stuck in the bubble gum and are arrested. When Gadget orders Claw to put his hand (and claw) up, Claw gets away in a rocket-like escape pod. After Claw escapes, Gadget, Penny and G2 go to Claw's laser to unfreeze Riverton.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Both Gadget and G2 are congratulated by Mayor Wilson and Chief Quimby (who happily reinstates Gadget) for their heroic efforts, with Gadget also giving credit to Penny, admitting he is proud to have her as a partner and awarding her a Junior Inspector Medal for her meritorious conduct. After the meeting, Gadget and G2 share a kiss outside the city hall. In the process, fireworks emerge from Gadget's hat. A firecracker lands right near Quimby and Wilson and the fuse burns out. After a few seconds, it explodes, causing both Wilson and Quimby to angrily yell out to Gadget.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: The film was shot entirely in and around Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Filming locations included the Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point Campus, Queensland Parliament House, University of Queensland St. Lucia Campus, South Bank Parklands Beach, Toowong Village, Anglican Church Grammar School and the William Jolly Bridge.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: "Inspector Gadget 2" was released on DVD and VHS on March 11, 2003, four years after its predecessor was released.


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: The film received mixed reviews but more favorable than its predecessor. Rotten Tomatoes reported that of critics have given the film a positive review based on reviews, with an average rating of .


title: Inspector Gadget 2

text: Joe Leydon of "Variety" gave the film a negative review. "Radio Times" gave the film a two out of five stars. Common Sense Media gave the film a three out of five stars, writing that the film has cartoonish violence.


title: Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet

text: Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT), is the title of the United States Navy officer who commands the United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT). Originally established in 1907 as a two-star rear admiral's billet, the position has been held by a four-star admiral since March 19, 1915.


title: Sisterhood of Dune

text: Sisterhood of Dune is a 2012 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the "Dune" universe created by Frank Herbert. It is the first book in their "Great Schools of Dune" prequel trilogy, which itself is a sequel to their "Legends of Dune" trilogy. The book is set eighty years after the events of 2004's "", in which the human military finally defeat the thinking machine armies of Omnius. Now, the fledgling Bene Gesserit, Mentat and Suk Schools, as well as the Spacing Guild, are threatened by the independent anti-technology forces gaining power in the aftermath of the Butlerian Jihad. The "Great Schools of Dune" trilogy, first mentioned by Anderson in a 2010 blog post, will chronicle the early years of these organizations, which figure prominently in the original "Dune" novels.<ref name="7/15/2010 blog"></ref>


title: Sisterhood of Dune

text: By the time of the novel, the Butler family, under the name "Corrino", has consolidated a tenuous hold on the human-occupied universe. The head of the Corrino family, Emperor Salvador, lives in splendor on the planet Salusa Secundus with his brother and trusted advisor, Roderick, but their control of the Imperium is threatened by Manford Torondo, popular leader of the anti-technology Butlerian movement. The demagogue Torondo, deprived of both legs in a bomb blast decades previously, leads Swordmaster Anari Idaho and millions of people across the Imperium to cleanse humanity of its reliance on convenient technologies, often exploiting religious paranoia to advance his agendas. In opposition to the popular movement is the unscrupulous businessman Josef Venport, who holds a near-monopoly on space travel. Advised by his wife Cioba and great-grandmother Norma Cenva, who discovered the secret to creating space-folding "Navigators", Josef plots against his few remaining competitors and funds a secret group of scientific researchers who hold personal grudges against the Butlerians and are willing to salvage and optimize old cymek technology to satisfy their vendettas with Torondo.


title: Sisterhood of Dune

text: Meanwhile, on the planet Kepler, war hero Vorian Atreides attempts to keep his neighbors free from the threat of slavers. An attempt to obtain Imperial protection for his planet is successful, but Vorian is sent even deeper into exile by Salvador and Roderick, who are concerned that the Jihad hero may, through his celebrity, incite a rebellion against their authority. On the planet Lankiveil, the Harkonnen family ekes out a lean existence, far from the glory enjoyed by their ancestors after Vorian Atreides disowned the disgraced Abulurd Harkonnen. While the parents have decided to surrender ambition for survival and a humble existence, the two oldest children, Griffin and Valya, seek to rebuild their family fortunes through service to the Landsraad and the Sisterhood on Rossak, respectively.


title: Sisterhood of Dune

text: Vorian's granddaughter Raquella Berto-Anirul, who survived a poisoning that provided her with the memories and mental presences of her female ancestors, leads the Sisterhood. She thwarts Butlerian sympathizers within her own ranks, who correctly suspect that Raquella and her inner circle are using computers to manage their breeding index, which comprises an immense amount of family data from across the Imperium. Raquella is aided in these efforts by Sister Valya Harkonnen, who finds her efforts to rebuild her family's glory impeded when the spoiled Princess Anna Corrino (sister to Emperor Salvador and Roderick) is sent to Rossak. Anna, viewed as an embarrassment by the royal family, is meant to learn important skills with the Sisters, but instead follows her own childish ambitions and takes a drug designed to induce the near-death transformation that gave Raquella her abilities. Through the new director of the Suk Institute (and former Rossak Sister) Dr. Ori Zhoma, the Sisterhood also plots against Salvador, who it fears may be the ancestor of a potentially disastrous tyrant.


title: Sisterhood of Dune

text: The Mentat Gilbertus Albans attempts to maintain order in his Mentat school on the planet Lampadas and hide the existence of his old mentor, the robot Erasmus. However, Gilbertus is dragged into the Butlerian movement's anti-technology campaign by the fanaticism of his most vocal students, and the furor of Torondo, who coerces Gilbertus to serve as his special advisor. Gilbertus finds himself forced into a confrontation with his best student and friend, Draigo, who is in the service of Josef Venport's VenHold shipping conglomerate. Meanwhile, on the planet Arrakis, the Free Men of Dune, who have abandoned the easier life of the Arrakeen villages, continue to thrive in the desert, encountering various enemies and allies during the course of their existence.


title: Sisterhood of Dune

text: "Sisterhood of Dune" debuted at #23 on "The New York Times" Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List. "Publishers Weekly" called it a "shallow but fun blend of space opera and dynastic soap opera."


title: The Jerky Boys

text: The Jerky Boys are an American comedy act from Queens, New York City, New York, whose routine consists of prank telephone calls and other related skits. The duo was founded in 1989 by childhood friends Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed. After Ahmed left the act in 2000, the Jerky Boys continued on as a solo act featuring only Brennan, before going on a 19-year hiatus after the 2001 release of the franchise's penultimate album, "The Jerky Tapes". Brennan released a follow-up album of new material in November 2020.


title: The Jerky Boys

text: The phone calls were made by calling unsuspecting recipients, or in response to classified advertisements placed in local New York-based newspapers. Each call was made in character, usually with over-the-top voices influenced by the duo's family members. Many compilations of the group's work have been released onto albums. According to the act's current record label, Laugh.com, the Jerky Boys have sold over 8,000,000 albums since their 1993 debut.


title: The Jerky Boys

text: Brennan began making and recording prank telephone calls in the 1970s, and teamed up with Ahmed, in the late 1980s/early 1990s in their Queens neighborhood. The duo made a number of bootleg tapes of their recorded phone calls that eventually were obtained by New York-based radio personality Howard Stern, who played the duo's tracks on the air.


title: The Jerky Boys

text: The pair gained notoriety from their exposure on the popular "The Howard Stern Show", and released their first album, "The Jerky Boys", in 1993. The album topped the Billboard charts and was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.


title: The Jerky Boys

text: The duo released the double platinum, "The Jerky Boys 2" in 1994, followed by "The Jerky Boys 3" in 1996, "The Jerky Boys 4" in 1997, "Stop Staring at Me!" in 1999, and "The Jerky Tapes" in 2001.


title: The Jerky Boys

text: In 1995, the duo starred in Touchstone Pictures' "". The movie was filmed in 1993–94, and it was almost universally panned by critics. Kamal decided to become an independent filmmaker in 1997.


title: The Jerky Boys

text: In 2000, tension between the two developed. The duo appeared in the Psychopathic Records film "Big Money Hustlas", but because Brennan and Ahmed were unable to get along with each other, they did not share any scenes in the film; Brennan played a supporting role as the police chief, and Ahmed appeared in a cameo as Frank Kissel, an audience member at the strip club. By the end of the year, Ahmed passed a note down to the manager, who passed it to Brennan: Ahmed had decided to quit the group.


title: The Jerky Boys

text: On March 20, 2007, Brennan, who is now the only constant member of the group, kept the Jerky Boys name and released a solo album, "Sol's Rusty Trombone", a collection of mostly ring tones and skits. As of 2016, the "About" page on the Jerky Boys website does not mention Kamal in discussing the history of the group and its recordings. On March 5, 2010, Brennan, in conjunction with Inner Four, released two apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch platform: The Jerky Boys Prank Caller, and The Jerky Boys Pinball. In late 2011, Brennan started a weekly podcast titled "The Jerky Boys Show with Johnny Brennan" in which he discussed the history of the calls, how the characters came about, and other hijinks. The podcast also gave the opportunity to fans to speak to Brennan directly. The podcast ran for 17 episodes and then abruptly ended in November 2012. Brennan announced a subscription for new calls being regularly released each month but this never occurred. He was later quoted as saying he stopped the podcast because "there was no money in it".


title: The Jerky Boys

text: "Rolling Stone" cited Paul Feig, Amy Schumer and Seth MacFarlane as examples of comedy influenced by the Jerky Boys.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: The States General of the Netherlands ( ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: The States General originated in the 15th century as an assembly of all the provincial states of the Burgundian Netherlands. In 1579, during the Dutch Revolt, the States General split as the northern provinces openly rebelled against Philip II, and the northern States General replaced Philip II as the supreme authority of the Dutch Republic in 1581. The States General were replaced by the National Assembly after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, only to be restored in 1814, when the country had regained its sovereignty. The States General was divided into a Senate and a House of Representatives in 1815, with the establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. After the constitutional amendment of 1848, members of the House of Representatives were directly elected, and the rights of the States General were vastly extended, practically establishing parliamentary democracy in the Netherlands.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: Since 1918, the members of the House of Representatives are elected for four years using party-list proportional representation, while the 75 members of the Senate are elected by the States-Provincial every four years. On exceptional occasions as stipulated by the Constitution or the Charter for the Kingdom, the two houses form a joint session known as the United Assembly ("verenigde vergadering)". The President of the Senate serves as President of the States General during a United Assembly. Jan Anthonie Bruijn (VVD) has been President of the Senate since 2019.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes ("estates", or in Dutch) in which medieval European societies were stratified; the clergy, the nobility and the commons. The word eventually came to mean the "political body" in which the respective estates were represented. Each province in the Habsburg Netherlands had its own "staten". These representative bodies (and not their constituent estates) in turn were represented in the assembly that came to be known as (a plurale tantum), or (General States). The English word "states" may have a similar meaning as the Dutch word "staten", as in e.g. States of Jersey. The English phrases "States General" is probably a literal translation of the Dutch word. Historically, the same term was used for the name of other national legislatures as, for example, the Catalan and Valencian Generalitat and the Estates General of France during the Ancien Régime.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: Several geographic place names are derived from the States General. In 1609, Henry Hudson established Dutch trade in Staten Island, New York City and named the island after the States General. Isla de los Estados, now an Argentine island, was also named after this institution, the Spanish name being a translation of the Dutch name. Abel Tasman originally gave the name Staten Landt to what would become New Zealand. Staaten River is a river in the Cape York Peninsula, Australia.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: Historically, the convocation of the States General consisted of delegates from the States of the several provinces, like the States of Brabant, and dated from about the middle of the 15th century, under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy. The first important session was the Estates General of 1464 that met on 9 January 1464 in Bruges, Flanders, on the initiative of the States of Holland, the States of Flanders, and the States of Brabant, with the initially reluctant agreement of Philip the Good. Later, regular sessions were held at Coudenberg in Brussels, Brabant. The next important event was the convocation of the States General by the ducal Council for 3 February 1477 after the death of Charles the Bold. In this session the States General forced the grant of the Great Privilege by Mary of Burgundy in which the right of the States General to convene on their own initiative was recognised. The main function of the States General in these early years was to form a platform for the central government to discuss matters of general importance with the States of the provinces, especially the special subsidies known as "beden" or "aides". Legislative and executive functions were still reserved for the Sovereign in these years


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: At the start of the Dutch Revolt the States General (who were then not continually in session) remained loyal to the overlord of the Habsburg Netherlands, Philip II of Spain (who did not have the title of King in the Netherlands, but held the title of duke and count in the several provinces, and was just a Lord of the Netherlands). In 1576 the States General as a whole, however, openly rebelled against the Spanish crown. In 1579 the States General split as a number of southern provinces, united in the Union of Arras returned to obedience, while other provinces, united in the Union of Utrecht continued the rebellion. After the Act of Abjuration in 1581 the northern States General replaced Philip II as the supreme authority of the northern Netherlands, which then became known as the United Provinces.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: This was a confederation in which most government functions remained with the provincial States (and local authorities, like the Vroedschappen). These delegated representatives to the States General as a kind of ambassadors acting with a mandate limited by instruction and obligatory consultation (). The States General, in which the voting was by province, each of the seven provinces having one vote, took on many executive functions after the Council of State of the Netherlands had temporarily come under English influence, due to the Treaty of Nonsuch. The States General for this reason since 1593 remained continually in session until their dissolution in 1795. The presidency rotated weekly among the senior representatives of the provinces. Under the Union of Utrecht treaty the States General formally was the sovereign power, representing the Republic in foreign affairs and making treaties with foreign monarchs. As such the honorific title of the States General collectively was (mightiest, or very mighty, lords).


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: Due to the vagaries of the Eighty Years' War in which territories were lost and (partially) reconquered, not all territories that had originally signed up for the Union of Utrecht remained represented in the States General. The States of Brabant and of Flanders lost their representation after 1587 as most of their territory had been conquered by the Army of Flanders, and it was not restored after part of that territory (together with parts of the Duchy of Limburg) was reconquered by the Dutch Republic. The Drenthe territory was never directly represented in the States General.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: Twenty per cent of the new Republic's territory, known as the Generality Lands, was so under the direct rule of the "Generality" (). The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company were also under its "general" supervision; for this reason Staten Island in New York City (originally New Amsterdam) and Staten Island, Argentina (Discovered by Dutchman Jacob le Maire), are among places named after the .


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: The "southern" States General after 1579 were a continuation of the States General as they had been under the Habsburg Netherlands. After the (re)conquest of most of the territory of the States of Brabant and of Flanders these States again sent representatives to these States General for the Southern Netherlands, together with the "obedient" provinces of the Union of Arras. The southern States General only occasionally came in session, however. The last regular session was in 1634, when Philip IV of Spain dissolved them.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: The States General in both The Hague and Brussels came to an end after 1795; the South was annexed by France, and the North saw the proclamation of the Batavian Republic and the subsequent convocation of the National Assembly (1 March 1796).


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: The name was resurrected in the title of subsequent Dutch parliaments in and after 1814, after the end of the annexation to the First French Empire by Napoleon I of France in 1813. These had, however, little resemblance to the States General under the Republic. Beginning with the Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands the States General was a unicameral legislature, without executive functions, in which the 55 representatives no longer represented the States-Provincial (though those newly constituted entities elected them, now acting as electoral colleges), but the entire people of the Netherlands and without (the Netherlands had become a unitary state under the Batavian Republic and the federal structure of the Dutch Republic was not restored). The States General became a bicameral legislature under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, in which the 50 members of the Senate were appointed for life by the new King from the resurrected , representative bodies of the aristocracy, and the 110 members of the House of Representatives (55 for the North and 55 for the South) were elected by the States-Provincial (in their new form).


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: After the Belgian Revolution of 1830 under the Kingdom of the Netherlands the States General remained bicameral, but after the revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands in 1848, the (now 39) members of the Senate were elected by the States-Provincial, and the members of the House of Representatives were directly elected in electoral districts (one for every 45,000 electors, so the number of members of that House became variable for a while). The House of Representatives became more powerful at the same time, as it received the important rights of inquiry and amendment, while its budgetary rights were strengthened. Formally, the position of the States General was strengthened, because henceforth the ministers of the Crown became politically accountable to them, making the role of the King largely ceremonial.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: With the constitutional revision of 1888 the number of members of the House of Representatives was fixed at 100, while the Senate was enlarged to 50 members. The suffrage was enlarged at the same time, but still limited to male citizens possessing a certain wealth. Universal male suffrage would be granted in 1917 and women would receive suffrage in 1919. At this occasion, the electoral system was changed to proportional representation. The States General were suspended from 1940 to 1945, during the German occupation. In 1956 the number of members of the Senate was enlarged to 75, and that of the House of Representatives to 150.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: The States General meets in joint session at least once a year, at the opening of the parliamentary year, when the king gives his Speech from the Throne on Prince's Day. On special occasions, such as when a States Generate vote on a marriage of a member of the royal house, an inauguration of the monarch, or the death of a member of the royal house, both houses also meet in a joint session (), with the President of the Senate presiding. They take place in the Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights) in the Binnenhof, except for the inauguration of the monarch, which occurs in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. The rest of the time, the two chambers sit separately.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: Constitutionally, all functions of the parliament are given to both houses, except for the rights of initiative and amendment, which only the has. The Joint Session also appoints the monarch if there is no heir to the throne and the regent is unable to exercise his or her powers.


title: States General of the Netherlands

text: An important question is whether the relationship between cabinet and parliament should be dualistic or monistic. That is, whether ministers and leaders of governing parliamentary parties should prepare important political decisions. According to the dualistic position, members of parliament of governing parties should remain independent of the cabinet. The term 'monism' is used to refer to a stance that important decisions should be prepared by the people of the governing coalition in order to promote political stability.


title: President of Romania

text: The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An individual may serve two terms. During their term in office, the president may not be a formal member of a political party.


title: President of Romania

text: The office of president was created in 1974, when Communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu elevated the presidency of the State Council to a fully fledged executive presidency. It took its current form in stages after the Romanian Revolution—Ion Iliescu deposed Ceaușescu, resulting in the adoption of Romania's current constitution in 1991.


title: President of Romania

text: Klaus Iohannis is the incumbent president since his inauguration on 21 December 2014. Iohannis is of full Transylvanian Saxon descent, making him the first president from Romania's German minority.