title: Mirkwood

text: Near the end of the Third Age – the period in which "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" are set – the expansive forest of "Greenwood the Great" was renamed "Mirkwood", supposedly a translation of an unknown Westron name. The forest plays little part in "The Lord of the Rings", but is important in "The Hobbit" for both atmosphere and plot. It was renamed when "the shadow of Dol Guldur", namely the power of Sauron, fell upon the forest, and people began to call it "Taur-nu-Fuin" (Sindarin: "forest under deadly nightshade" or "forest under night", i.e. "mirk wood") and "Taur-e-Ndaedelos" (Sindarin: "forest of great fear").


title: Mirkwood

text: In "The Hobbit", Bilbo Baggins, with Thorin Oakenshield and his band of Dwarves, attempt to cross Mirkwood during their quest to regain their mountain Erebor and its treasure from Smaug the dragon. One of the Dwarves, the fat Bombur, falls into the Enchanted River and has to be carried, unconscious, for the following days. Losing the Elf-path, the party becomes lost in the forest and is captured by giant spiders. They escape, only to be taken prisoner by King Thranduil's Wood-Elves. The White Council flushes Sauron out of his forest tower at Dol Guldur, and as he flees to Mordor his influence in Mirkwood diminishes.


title: Mirkwood

text: Years later, Gollum, after his release from Mordor, is captured by Aragorn and brought as a prisoner to Thranduil's realm. Out of pity, they allow him to roam the forest under close guard, but he escapes during an Orc raid. After the downfall of Sauron, Mirkwood is cleansed by the elf-queen Galadriel and renamed "Eryn Lasgalen", Sindarin for "Wood of Greenleaves". Thranduil's son, Legolas, leaves Mirkwood for Ithilien. The wizard Radagast lived at Rhosgobel on the western eaves of Mirkwood, as depicted in the film "".


title: Mirkwood

text: Dol Guldur (Sindarin: "Hill of Sorcery") was Sauron's stronghold in Mirkwood, before he moved to Barad-dûr in Mordor. It is first mentioned (as "the dungeons of the Necromancer") in "The Hobbit". The hill itself, rocky and barren, was the highest point in the southwestern part of the forest. Before Sauron's occupation, it was called Amon Lanc ("Naked Hill"). It lay near the western edge of the forest, across the Anduin from Lothlórien. Tolkien suggests that Sauron settled on Dol Guldur as the focus for his rise during the period before the War of the Ring in part so that he could search for the One Ring in the Gladden Fields just up the river.


title: Mirkwood

text: Dol Guldur has been featured in many game adaptations of "The Lord of the Rings", including the Iron Crown Enterprises portrayal, which contains scenarios and adventures for the Middle-earth Role Playing game In the strategy battle game "", Dol Guldur appears as an iconic building. The campaign-scenario called "Assault on Dol Guldur" appears as the final part of the good campaign. Several portrayals of Dol Guldur are included in the Games Workshop game "The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game", appearing prominently in the "Fall of the Necromancer". A number of enemies are listed, including Spider Queens, Castellans of Dol Guldur, Sauron the Necromancer, Wild Warg Chieftain, and their respective armies. Giant Bats are also included in the game.


title: Mirkwood

text: The Canadian artist John Howe has portrayed Dol Guldur in sketches and drawings. Howe drew these for Electronic Arts. In "Myth and Magic: The Art of John Howe", Howe includes Dol Guldur among Middle-earth fortresses. Howe created many drawings for Peter Jackson during the filming of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, worked for Tolkien Enterprises, and drew for Iron Crown Enterprises' collectable Middle-earth card game, which mentions Dol Guldur on Gandalf's card. Mirkwood was added to the MMORPG "" in the 2009 expansion pack "Siege of Mirkwood". The storyline depicts a small Elven assault upon Dol Guldur.


title: Mirkwood

text: In Peter Jackson's 2012-2014 film trilogy adaptation of "The Hobbit", Dol Guldur is depicted as a massive overgrown castle in ruins. According to Alan Lee and John Howe, the conceptual designers, this was used to give the impression that the fortress had been built by Númenóreans during the Second Age, only to fall into ruin when Númenór's power waned. Adrián Maldonado of AlmostArchaeology speculates that the derelict castle could be interpreted by viewers as the ruins of Oropher's halls, erected during the Second Age when he ruled Greenwood the Great from Amon Lanc.


title: Mirkwood

text: 19th-century writers interested in philology, including the folklorist Jacob Grimm and the artist and fantasy writer William Morris, speculated romantically about the wild, primitive Northern forest, the "Myrkviðr inn ókunni" ("the pathless Mirkwood") and the secret roads across it, in the hope of reconstructing supposed ancient cultures. Grimm proposed that the name "Myrkviðr" derived from Old Norse "mark" (boundary) and "mǫrk" (forest), both, he supposed, from an older word for wood, perhaps at the dangerous and disputed boundary of the kingdoms of the Huns and the Goths.


title: Mirkwood

text: Morris's Mirkwood is named in his 1899 fantasy novel "House of the Wolfings", and a similar large dark forest is the setting in "The Roots of the Mountains", again marking a dark and dangerous forest. Tolkien had access to more modern philology than Grimm, with proto-Indo-European "mer-" (to flicker [dimly]) and "*merg-" (mark, boundary), and places the early origins of both the Men of Rohan and the hobbits in his Mirkwood. The "Tolkien Encyclopedia" remarks also that the Old English "Beowulf" mentions that the path between the worlds of men and monsters, from Hrothgar's hall to Grendel's lair, runs "ofer myrcan mor" (across a gloomy moor) and "wynleasne wudu" (a joyless wood).


title: Mirkwood

text: A Mirkwood is mentioned in multiple Norse texts including "Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum", "Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and II", "Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa", and "Völundarkviða"; these mentions may have denoted different forests. The Goths had lived in the Ukraine until the attack by the Huns in the 370s, when they moved southwest and with the permission of the Emperor Valens settled in the Roman Empire. The scholar Omeljan Pritsak identifies the Mirkwood of "Hlöðskviða" in "Hervarar saga" with what would later be called the "dark blue forest" ("Goluboj lěsь") and the "black forest" ("Černyj lěsь") north of the Ukrainian steppe.


title: Mirkwood

text: Tom Shippey noted that Norse legend yields two placenames which would place the "Myrkviðr" in the borderlands between the Goths and the Huns of the 4th century. The "Atlakviða" ("The Lay of Atli", in the Elder Edda) and the "Hlöðskviða" ("The Battle of the Goths and Huns", in "Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks") both mention that the Mirkwood was beside the "Danpar", the River Dnieper, which runs through Ukraine to the Black Sea. The "Hlöðskviða" states explicitly in the same passage that the Mirkwood was in Gothland. The "Hervarar saga" also mentions "Harvaða fjöllum", "the Harvad fells", which by Grimm's Law would be "*Karpat", the Carpathian Mountains, an identification on which most scholars have long agreed.


title: Mirkwood

text: Tolkien's estate disputed the right of the novelist Steve Hillard "to use the name and personality of J. R. R. Tolkien in the novel" "Mirkwood: A Novel About J. R. R. Tolkien". The dispute was settled in May 2011, requiring the printing of a disclaimer.


title: Mirkwood

text: A rock music group named Mirkwood was formed in 1971; their first album in 1973 had the same name. A band in California used the same name in 2005.


title: Mirkwood

text: Tolkien's forests were the subject of a programme on BBC Radio 3, with Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough and the folk singer Mark Atherton.


title: Mirkwood

text: Literary holidays in the Forest of Dean have been sold on the basis that the area inspired Tolkien, who often went there, to create Mirkwood and other forests in his books.


title: Swami Rama

text: Swami Rama (; 1925 – 13 November 1996) was an Indian yoga guru. He moved to America in 1969, initially teaching yoga at the YMCA, and founding the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Illinois in 1971; its headquarters moved to its current location in Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 1977. He became famous for his ability to control his body in yoga nidra, writing many books including the autobiographical "Living with Himalayan Masters". From the 1970s onwards, there were persistent allegations of sexual abuse of his followers; in 1997 a woman won a lawsuit against him for multiple sexual assaults.


title: Swami Rama

text: Swami Rama was born Brij Kiśore Dhasmana or Brij Kiśore Kumar, to a northern Indian Brahmin family in the village of Toli in the Garhwal Himalayas. He claimed that he was raised somewhere in the monasteries and holy caves of the Himalayas by his personal guru or master Sri Madhavananda Bharati. He further claimed to have gained degree-level qualifications from an Indian school of homeopathic medicine, the University of Hamburg, Utrecht University, and finally the University of Oxford. The official biography states that when he was 28 he became the Shankaracharya or spiritual leader at Karvirpitham, part of Sringeri Sharada Peetham in Karnataka, South India, demonstrating extensive knowledge of ancient texts to qualify, and holding the position from 1949 to 1952. However, in 1987 two of his closest followers left his Himalayan Institute when they learnt that part of his official biography had been "fabricated"; further, Vanessa Webber of the Cult Awareness Network has stated that his academic background could not be verified.


title: Swami Rama

text: In 1969 he went to the United States, where he gave lectures in temples and churches, and taught Hatha yoga in YMCAs and in private homes. Concerned that the YMCA had presented yoga as one of its physical fitness programs, he included some philosophy and meditation in his classes.


title: Swami Rama

text: In 1966, he founded the original Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Kanpur, India; this was followed by an institute in Glenview, Illinois in 1971; it is now headquartered in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, purchased in 1977. The institute has branches in the United States, Europe, and India. Swami Rama founded other teaching and service organizations, including a large medical facility, in Dehradun in Uttarakhand in the north of India, to serve millions of poor people in the nearby mountains who had little access to health care.


title: Swami Rama

text: Swami Rama's abilities in yoga nidra, a guided meditation whose name means "yogic sleep", were measured experimentally at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas in 1971. He was seen to be able to produce different brain waves at will. As he relaxed, he created alpha waves by "imagining an empty blue sky with drifting clouds". He then produced the longer theta waves of dreaming sleep, and finally the slow delta waves of deep sleep, staying aware throughout and able to describe accurately what had happened in the laboratory although he had been lying in the laboratory "snoring".


title: Swami Rama

text: In another experiment at the Menninger Foundation, he voluntarily stopped his heart from pumping blood for 17 seconds. He did this by increasing his heart rate to 300 beats per minute so that the ventricles stopped pumping and the atria just fluttered. He was further seen to create a temperature differential of 5 degrees Celsius between two areas on the palm of his right hand.


title: Swami Rama

text: Widely reported in the mainstream media, he acquired a reputation for achieving remarkable psychosomatic states; the "New York Times" journalist and author William J. Broad described him as "the star of autonomic control". The result was a sharp increase of interest in his teachings. All the same,


title: Swami Rama

text: he was critical of the tendency for yogis to use supernatural feats to demonstrate their enlightenment, arguing that these only demonstrated the ability to perform a feat.


title: Swami Rama

text: Swami Rama authored dozens of books, published in India and America, which describe the path he took to become a yogi. He discusses the philosophy, practice and benefits of yoga and meditation. In an early co-authored book, "Yoga and Psychotherapy" (1976), he presented Hatha Yoga with reference to western psychology. His best known work is "Living With Himalayan Masters"; the cultural historian Alistair Shearer calls it "an influential autobiography".


title: Swami Rama

text: Swami Rama has been accused and convicted of sexual abuse. Abuses alleged to have taken place against former students of Swami Rama in Chicago, in Minneapolis, in New York, and in India in the 1970s were documented by Patricia Ann Darling in a chapter of her 1987 University of Minnesota PhD thesis. The journalist Katharine Webster stated in "Yoga Journal" in 1990 that women had since the early 1970s made claims of sexual abuse against him, and that since the matter had never been investigated, she had spent two years researching it. She heard "numerous former students say they left the [Himalayan] Institute because they were sexually exploited by Swami Rama or knew someone who was". She wrote that their statements, two of which were on file with the Cult Awareness Network in New York, fitted a pattern of what she called "sex in the forbidden zone", with a guru, "coupled with institutional mechanisms of defense and denial".


title: Swami Rama

text: In 1997, a woman won a lawsuit, first filed in 1994, regarding multiple sexual assault by Swami Rama while she was attending the Himalayan Institute in 1993; she was awarded $1.9 million in damages. This was one of the first convictions of a yoga guru for unlawful sexual activity with a devotee.


title: American Progress

text: American Progress is an 1872 painting by John Gast, a Prussian-born painter, printer, and lithographer who lived and worked most of his life during 1870's Brooklyn, New York. "American Progress", an allegory of Manifest Destiny, was widely disseminated in chromolithographic prints. It is now held by the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, California.


title: American Progress

text: "American Progress" has become a seminal example of American Western art. The painting serves as an allegory for Manifest Destiny and American westward expansion. The painting was commissioned in 1872 by George Crofutt, a publisher of American Western travel guides, and has since been frequently reproduced. The woman in the center is Columbia, the personification of the United States, and on her head is what Crofutt calls "The Star of the Empire." Columbia moves from the light-skied east to the dark and treacherous West, leading settlers who follow her either on foot or by stagecoach, horseback, Conestoga wagon, wagon train, or riding steam trains. Progress lays a telegraph wire with one hand and carries a school book in the other. On the right side of the painting, in the East, New York City can be seen in the background, while farmers that have already settled in the Midwest are featured in the foreground. As Lady Columbia moves westward, indigenous people and a herd of buffalo flee from her and the settlers who follow.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: Siemens Healthineers AG (formerly Siemens Healthcare, Siemens Medical Solutions, Siemens Medical Systems) is a German medical device company. It is the parent company for several medical technology companies and is headquartered in Erlangen, Germany. The company dates its early beginnings in 1847 to a small family business in Berlin, co-founded by Werner von Siemens. Siemens Healthineers is connected to the larger corporation, Siemens AG. The name Siemens Medical Solutions was adopted in 2001, and the change to Siemens Healthcare was made in 2008. In 2015, Siemens named Bernd Montag as its new global CEO. In May 2016, the business operations of Siemens Healthcare GmbH were rebranded "Siemens Healthineers."


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: The history of Siemens Healthineers started in Berlin in the mid-19th century as a part of what is now known as Siemens AG. Siemens & Halske was founded by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske on 12 October 1847. The company formed around an invention created by Siemens called the pointer telegraph. Based on the telegraph, Werner von Siemens' new invention used a needle to point to the sequence of letters, instead of using Morse code. The company, then called Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske, opened its first workshop on 12 October. Eventually, the new company included electrometrical equipment and specialized in medical technology.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: Three years previously, in 1844, Werner von Siemens put one of his inventions to use for medical purposes for the first time, using electricity to treat his brother Friedrich for tooth pain. After teaming up with Halske, the new company's products included electromedical equipment. In Erlangen, Erwin Moritz Reiniger laid the cornerstone for Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall, a company specializing in medical technology.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In 1896, only one year after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X-ray, Siemens produced the first industrially manufactured X-ray tubes for medical diagnostics.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In Aschaffenburg, Germany, X-ray pioneer Friedrich Dessauer founded his own company, which later came to prominence under the name Veifa-Werke. The companies maintained close ties with each other, finally merging in 1932 to form Siemens-Reiniger-Werke (SRW). The company soon came to be viewed as the world's largest specialized electromedical company. Later, in 1933, Siemens introduced rotating anode tubes for X-rays that could withstand much greater electrical loads, laying the foundation for the development of modern X-ray tubes.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: Supported by Siemens in Erlangen, Inge Edler, a Swedish physician, and physicist Carl Hellmuth Hertz were intrigued by the idea of using ultrasound technology to achieve more precise heart diagnoses. In 1953, they became the first to use the ultrasound technique for echocardiography. Today, this powerful ultrasound process is a standard component of all cardiovascular examinations.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In 1958, Elema-Schönander AB (subsequently Siemens-Elema AB) developed the first cardiac pacemaker implanted in a critically ill heart patient by surgeon Åke Senning.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: Siemens engineer Ralph Soldner developed the world's first "real-time" ultrasound unit, the Vidoson, in the 1960s. With this technology, technicians could view movements inside the body on a screen right while they were taking place, a feature that became especially important in obstetrics and pediatrics.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: The company released its first computed tomography scanner, the Siretom, in 1975, a year after it exhibited its first tomographic image of a human head at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago. A typical examination took less than six minutes. The skull is scanned from various directions by an X-ray tube and a detector unit, and an image of absorption distribution in the brain is generated in the computer.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: The first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, Siemens' MAGNETOM system, came to the market in 1983. With the aid of powerful magnetic fields, MRI scanners produce high-quality cross-sectional images without exposing patients to ionizing radiation.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In 1998, Siemens introduced the first track-based laboratory automation system, the ADVIA LabCell Automation Solution, allowing for increased efficiency and reduced costs.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: Siemens imaging devices use the syngo image processing software developed by the company in 1999. The software provides a single user interface for a large number of imaging systems, integrating patient-specific physiological and imaging data into clinical workflows.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: Siemens was the first to combine positron emission tomography (PET) with computed tomography (CT). By creating this hybrid imaging system, Siemens combined the PET scanner's ability to visualize biological processes of life with a CT system's anatomical image of tissues and organs. In doing so, the combination system allows a simultaneous display of anatomy and biological function. "Time" magazine named the Siemens Biograph, the world's first commercial PET-CT scanner, the "Innovation of the Year" in 2000.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In a similar fashion, Siemens launched the Biograph mMR in 2010, the first scanner to completely combine MRI and PET technologies. Like PET-CT, PET-MR hybrid systems combine multiple technologies to provide a better image of the body, enabling for better diagnoses, research and treatment plans for patients. It combines precise images of the body tissues from MRI with metabolic cell activity from PET.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In 2011, Siemens discontinued its linear accelerators for the treatment of cancer, citing cost pressures and a decision to focus on diagnostic imaging in cancer.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In May 2016, Siemens AG rebranded the healthcare division from Siemens Healthcare to Siemens Healthineers. The change reflected part of the Siemens AG Vision 2020 strategy announced nearly two years previously that its healthcare business would be separately managed as a company within the company with a new organizational setup. CEO Bernd Montag introduced the name along with a five-minute dance routine celebration outside the Healthineers headquarters in Erlangen. The routine was met with ridicule; the "Financial Times" called it a "Writhing spandex clad horror." Multiple outlets called the new logo similar to that of Fitbit and called the rebranding a failure at large. The name also led some people to believe that it was an article from "The Onion". Montag later admitted that the dance routine was a mistake.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In November 2017 the company announced its intention to become publicly-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March 2018. A minority stake of up to 25% was expected to be sold at part of the IPO, which would be Germany's largest listing since the IPO of Deutsche Telekom in 1996. The first day of trading was 16 March 2018, with a 15% stake sold at an initial share price of €28.00.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: Siemens Healthineers has supported charitable giving around the world. The company has supported such programs such as the American Society for Clinical Pathology's (ASCP) laboratory student scholarships, the PATH Ingenuity Fellows mentorship program, and others.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: The company has also contributed to disaster relief efforts. In response to hurricane Katrina in 2005, Siemens Healthineers donated heart monitors and imaging equipment to Houston-area hospitals while parent company, Siemens AG, matched 100% of U.S. employee donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Siemens Healthineers donated medical equipment to aid healthcare workers in their efforts to help victims. The company responded similarly in 2015 when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. Siemens Healthineers provided the relief efforts with a magnetic resonance imaging machine in addition to the funds donated by Siemens AG.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In 2005, Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. acquired CTI Molecular Imaging for $1 billion (€750 million, $20.50 per share) incorporating it into its Advanced Imaging business.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In 2006, the business announced it would acquire Diagnostics Products Corporation for around $1.9 billion (€1.5 billion). Established in 1971, Diagnostics Products Corporation produced immunodiagnostics and supplies for fertility diagnosis and in-vitro allergy testing, with the business being incorporated into the Laboratory Diagnostics division post-deal. In the same year the company announced it would acquire Bayer's Diagnostics division, for €4.2 billion, boosting the business's offerings in a range of services for in-vitro diagnosis.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In November 2007, Siemens announced it would further expand its laboratory diagnostics range, via the acquisition of Dade Behring, producer of clinical laboratory equipment and products for routine chemistry testing, immunodiagnostics (including infectious disease testing), hemostasis testing, and microbiology.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In November 2011 the business acquired MobileMD, later divesting the business in 2014 to Cerner for $1.3 billion (€970 million).


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In September 2012 the company announced it would acquire Penrith Corporation, manufacturer of ultrasound imaging systems.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In November 2016, Siemens Healthineers (via Siemens Healthcare GmbH) acquired Conworx Technology GmbH, a Berlin-based developer of point-of-care device interfaces and data management solutions.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In May 2016, Siemens Healthineers expanded its molecular diagnostics portfolio with the acquisition of NEO New Oncology AG.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In April 2017, Siemens Healthineers expanded into radiological information systems with the acquisition of Medicalis Corporation.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In 2019, the business announced the acquisition of vascular robotics start-up, Corindus, for $1.1 billion (€980 million).


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: In August 2020, the business announced it would acquire Varian Medical Systems, for $16.4 billion (€13.9 billion), representing a return to radiation therapy after the discontinuation of Siemens' own linear accelerators in 2011.


title: Siemens Healthineers

text: After the merger Varian will continue to operate as an independent company and will retain its headquarters along with its 10,000 employees.


title: Blake Leibel

text: Blake Leibel (born May 8, 1981) is a Canadian convicted murderer. He had previously been a comic book creator, graphic novelist, screenwriter, and a fledgling animated film director, residing in Los Angeles. In June 2018, he was convicted of first-degree murder of his fiancée, Iana Kasian.


title: Blake Leibel

text: In 2010, Archaia published the graphic novel "Syndrome", which was a joint venture with Leibel's company Fantasy Prone. The story revolved around a sadistic doctor and a serial killer he was studying. Leibel described the book thus: ""Syndrome" is a story about obsession, on a number of levels, as experienced by four characters who all come from different worlds and yet find themselves embroiled in this giant, impeccably simulated environment," said creator Blake Leibel. "It's the ultimate 'backstage' story, in that sense."


title: Blake Leibel

text: After suddenly breaking up with his wife Amanda Braun in 2015, he became engaged to a Ukrainian immigrant, Iana Kasian, with whom he fathered a child. Shortly after becoming engaged, Olga (Lana's Mother) went looking for Iana on May 24, 2016, after being unable to contact her, even making more than ten calls. The day before, Iana had gone shopping for strollers for the baby. It was the last time Olga would see her daughter alive. When Olga finally got the police involved, two LASD officers attempted to conduct a search of her apartment. They knocked on the door leaving after no one answered. On another occasion, Olga went to the apartment alone and stood across the street, yelling at Leibel to open the door. She would testify that she "saw him approach the window, only to close it and disappear inside." She was murdered after eight hours of unspeakable torture. he finally was arrested after barricading himself in his West Hollywood apartment, the police found Kasian's body lying on the bed in the master bedroom, with Blake at her side. Prosecutors said there were indications that he had been lying next to her body, which had been cleaned, for some time before police arrived. Other details revealed that Leibel ordered food delivery from Postmates while his victim was dying and demanded that the order be left outside the door. Leibel was arrested and was taken into police custody following their discovery of the corpse of his fiancée, 30-year-old Ukrainian former tax office prosecutor and fledgling model Iana Kasian. Kasian was found mutilated, drained of blood and lying in their bed. Their infant daughter was in the care of Kasian's mother who was visiting from Ukraine and staying in a nearby apartment. Leibel was subsequently charged with murder, torture, mayhem and aggravated mayhem, to which he pleaded not guilty.


title: Blake Leibel

text: An autopsy report was released on September 20, 2017, listing Kasian's causes of death as exsanguination and head trauma. His brother Cody was the only family member who attended the trial, attending every day, his ex-wife Amanda Braun also attended, through a statement from her lawyer Amanda expressed her dismay at the crime and that "there will be no more comments".


title: Blake Leibel

text: A civil lawsuit filed by the victim's mother, Olga Kasian, included transcripts of Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. James Ribe's deposition, which stated:


title: Blake Leibel

text: In June 2018, Leibel was convicted of first-degree murder, with supplemental charges of torture and mayhem. He was given a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. Before the verdict, her mother exposed a photo of Iana in life and another of her unrecognizable face. Leibel is currently serving his sentence at the California Correctional Institution.


title: Blake Leibel

text: Blake Leibel was born to two notable Canadian families. His father, Lorne Leibel, is of Jewish descent and is a prominent Toronto real estate mogul and Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee. Additionally, Leibel sailed for Canada in the 1976 Summer Olympics. His mother was Alros Products heiress Eleanor Chitel Leibel, whose father, Paul Chitel, held several patents. He has a brother named Cody.


title: Nabemono

text: Nabemono (鍋物, なべ物, "nabe" "cooking pot" + "mono" "thing"), or simply nabe, is a variety of Japanese hot pot dishes, also known as one pot dishes and "things in a pot".


title: Nabemono

text: Nabemono are stews and soups containing many types of ingredients that are served while still boiling. Because of that, Nabe is typically enjoyed in cold days or the winter. In modern Japan, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stoves. The dish is frequently cooked at the table, and the diners can pick the cooked ingredients they want from the pot. It is either eaten with the broth or with a dip. Further ingredients can also be successively added to the pot.


title: Nabemono

text: There are two types of nabemono in Japan: lightly flavored stock (mostly with kombu) types such as "yudōfu" (湯豆腐) and "mizutaki" (水炊き), eaten with a dipping sauce ("tare") to enjoy the taste of the ingredients themselves; and strongly flavored stock, typically with miso, soy sauce, dashi, and/or sweet soy types such as "yosenabe" (寄鍋), "oden" (おでん), and "sukiyaki" (すき焼き), eaten without further flavoring.


title: Nabemono

text: The pots are traditionally made of clay (土鍋, "donabe") or thick cast iron (鉄鍋, "tetsunabe"). Clay pots can keep warm for a while after being taken off the fire, while cast iron pots evenly distribute heat and are preferable for "sukiyaki". Pots are usually placed in the center of dining tables and are shared by multiple people. This is considered the most sociable way to eat with friends and family.


title: Nabemono

text: There are wide varieties of regional nabemono in Japan, which contain regional specialty foods such as salmon in Hokkaidō and oyster in Hiroshima. Here are a few examples:


title: Nabemono

text: Nabemono are usually eaten with a sauce sometimes called "tare", literally "dipping". Several kinds of sauce can be used with additional spices, called yakumi. Typical yakumi include grated garlic, butter, red pepper, a mixture of red pepper and other spices, roasted sesame, or "momiji oroshi" (a mixture of grated daikon radish and red pepper).


title: Kim Jong-min

text: Kim Jong-min (; born September 24, 1979) is a South Korean singer, dancer and television personality. He has been a member of the K-pop group Koyote since 2000 and a cast member of the variety show "2 Days & 1 Night" since 2007.


title: Kim Jong-min

text: Kim has won numerous prizes including the Grand Prize (Daesang) at the 2016 KBS Entertainment Awards for his work on "2 Days & 1 Night".


title: Kim Jong-min

text: Before debuting as a member of Koyote, Kim worked as a backup dancer for Uhm Jung-hwa, Lee Jung Hyun, Kim Wan-sun, R.E.F and many other artists. He was on the dance team "Friends" for five years.


title: Kim Jong-min

text: Kim is known for being a mainstay of many Korean variety shows (such as KBS' "Heroine 6" and Choi Hong Man Strong Friends and formerly SBS' Real Romance "Love Letter"), as he has become a goofy, naïve on-screen character known for silly comments and actions. He was also an assistant soccer coach on KBS' "FC Shoot Dori and" has also made appearances on MBC's "King Saturday Driving School" and "Happy Shares Company", SBS' "Love Choice" (Selection Couple), "X-Man", and "Ya Shim Man Man", and KBS' "Star Golden Bell" and "Happy Together Friends".


title: Kim Jong-min

text: In 2007, Kim became a cast member of KBS' "Happy Sunday" lineup as part of "1 Night 2 Days" and has been with the program to date, being the only pioneer member who witnessed "1 Night 2 Days" from Season 1 till Season 4. From November 2007 until December 2009, he served his mandatory military service as a public service worker. He was initially due to enlist in March but received a six-month postponement as his medical examination revealed a herniated disc, leading to him being assigned as a public service worker rather than in an army unit.


title: Kim Jong-min

text: Post-military, he was invited to many programs as a guest and also became a regular guest and permanent member on SBS' "Star King" and KBS2's "Sweet Night".


title: Kim Jong-min

text: On December 30, 2013, he won the Best Entertainer Award at the 2013 SBS Entertainment Awards for "Star King".


title: Kim Jong-min

text: On December 26, 2015, he won the Top Excellence Award at the 2015 KBS Entertainment Awards for "1 Night 2 Days."


title: Kim Jong-min

text: On December 24, 2016, he was awarded with the Grand Prize Award (Daesang) for his commitment and loyalty with KBS "1 Night 2 Days" at the 2016 KBS Entertainment Awards.


title: Kim Jong-min

text: In September 2017, it was confirmed that Kim would be a fixed cast member in Netflix's variety show "Busted!".


title: Kim Jong-min

text: In the first quarter of 2011, he released his very first single entitled "Oppa Find Strength". His promotional clip from the MV depicted the negative comments that he received after his return from military service.


title: Kim Jong-min

text: He made his solo comeback on September 3, 2014 as he released his third single, "Sali Go Dali Go", an electronic dance music composed by DanDi. The music video of featured Chun Myung-hoon (NRG) and comedian Ahn Young-mi. His new track peaked at ranking number eight on China's popular music video sharing site, Yinyuetai.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Eniola Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a British-Nigerian football executive, commentator, and former professional player. She is the first Sporting Director for Angel City FC of the American National women's soccer league and formerly held the position of Sporting Director at Aston Villa W.F.C. from January 2020 to June 2021.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Born in Nigeria, Aluko made 102 appearances for the England national team from 2004 to 2016 and competed at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China, 2009 UEFA Women's Euro, 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany, 2013 UEFA Women's Euro, and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she represented Great Britain.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko previously played for Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic, and Chelsea in England's FA Women's Premier League. She played for Saint Louis Athletica, Atlanta Beat, and Sky Blue FC in the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) from 2009 to 2011. After a short stint with Birmingham City in England's new top-division league, FA WSL, she signed with Chelsea, where she played from 2012 to 2018.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Before retiring from professional football in January 2020, Aluko last played as a forward for Juventus. Since 2014 she has also provided television commentary on football, including FIFA men's and women's World Cups.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Born in Lagos, Nigeria, to Gbenga and Sileola, Aluko moved with her family to Birmingham in the West Midlands region of England at the age of six months. She grew up playing football with her brother Sone Aluko and his friends. She also played other sports, including tennis. Growing up, Aluko supported Manchester United.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko started her career at Leafield Athletic Ladies and subsequently played for Birmingham City Ladies' youth team under manager Marcus Bignot with future England teammate, Karen Carney. She scored on her Birmingham team debut against Leeds United, aged 14.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: On 7 April 2002, 15-year-old Aluko played for Birmingham in the FA Women's Premier League Cup Final at Adams Park, as the young Birmingham team lost 7–1 to professional Fulham. City did win promotion as Northern Division champions to the Premier League National Division in 2001–02. Her goalscoring during the following 2002–03 Premier League season led Bignot to declare her "the Wayne Rooney of women's football".


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko left Birmingham to join Charlton Athletic in January 2004. She helped Charlton defeat Fulham 1–0 to win the FA Women's Premier League Cup at Underhill Stadium in March 2004.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: During the 2003–04 season, Aluko appeared as a second-half substitute when Charlton lost the FA Women's Cup final to Arsenal, 3–0 at Loftus Road in May. Charlton also lost the Premier League National Division title to Arsenal on the last day of the season, having led the way for most of the season.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko lifted the FA Women's Community Shield with Charlton in August 2004 after helping the team win. Her 41st minute set-up for Ann-Marie Heatherson provided the winner in a 1–0 victory over Arsenal at Broadhall Way.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Pace was considered one of her attributes and this was evident when she sprinted onto a through ball from Emma Coss to score the winning goal in the 2005 FA Women's Cup Final at Upton Park. Charlton beat Everton 1–0 in the Final. Aluko scored two goals in the first half of Charlton's 2–1 victory over Arsenal in the 2006 FA Women's Premier League Cup Final at Adams Park.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko also played in the 2005 FA Women's Community Shield (4–0 defeat at the National Hockey Stadium), the 2005 FA Women's Premier League Cup Final (3–0 defeat at Griffin Park), and the 2007 FA Women's Cup Final (4–1 defeat at the City Ground), All three defeats were inflicted by Arsenal. Her assist to Katie Holtham in the second minute of the match gave Charlton the lead in the 2007 FA Women's Cup Final. She also won the London FA Women's Cup with Charlton twice, in 2005 and 2006.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Following the withdrawal of support for the Charlton women's team by the parent club, Aluko joined Chelsea Ladies in July 2007.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In October 2008, Aluko's playing rights were obtained by St. Louis Athletica who named her as a post-draft discovery player. She was the team's leading goal scorer during the league's inaugural season with six goals, and also led in assists with four, making her one of the main reasons Athletica was able to climb from a last place in the first two months of the season to a commanding second by the end. She missed the playoffs and the All-Star match due to national team duty.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: When Saint Louis Athletica folded part way through the 2010 season, Aluko signed with Atlanta Beat. She was later traded to Sky Blue FC in December 2010.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: When the WPS went into abeyance for the 2012 season, Aluko had already decided to return to England. She signed for Birmingham City, describing them as "more stable".


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In 2012, Aluko registered five goals and two assists in 17 FA WSL League and Cup appearances, as Birmingham City finished runners up to Arsenal in both competitions. City lost the 2012 FA WSL Cup Final to Arsenal 1–0 at Underhill Stadium on 10 October 2012. Birmingham did defeat Chelsea 3–2 on penalties, after it was 2–2 at the end of extra time, in the 2012 FA Women's Cup Final on 26 May 2012 at Ashton Gate to win the club's first major honour in its 44-year history. Aluko was introduced as a 63rd-minute substitute.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: After a single season at Birmingham, she re-signed for Chelsea in December 2012. In her first season with the club, Aluko contributed six goals and three assists in 17 FA WSL League and Cup matches. Having had a poor season domestically, Chelsea reached the final of the invitational 2013 International Women's Club Championship, but lost 4–2 to INAC Kobe Leonessa. Aluko registered an assist in the Final and scored in the semi-final win against Sydney FC.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In 2014, Aluko scored seven times and provided one assist in 20 FA WSL League and Cup appearances. Aluko's Chelsea began the last day of the 2014 FA WSL season top of the league, two points ahead of Birmingham City and three points ahead of Liverpool, but a 2–1 defeat at Manchester City cost Chelsea the Super League title on goal difference.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko was one of six nominations for the 2014–15 PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year, but lost out to her Chelsea teammate Ji So-yun. She did win Chelsea Ladies' Player of the Year for 2014–15 and was selected in the 2015 PFA WSL Team of the Year.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In 2015, Aluko played in the first FA Women's Cup Final held at Wembley Stadium on 1 August 2015 in front of a record attendance of 30,710. Her Chelsea team defeated Notts County 1–0 to win the club's first major trophy in its history. Individually, Aluko was at the heart of Chelsea's win as she put in a Player-of-the-Match performance and provided the assist for Ji So-yun's 39th-minute winner.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: After Chelsea signed Fran Kirby and Ramona Bachmann, Aluko's role in the team diminished. It was announced on 16 May 2018 that Aluko would receive a free transfer from Chelsea when the 2017–18 season ended four days later. She marked her final appearance by scoring and had made occasional appearances, predominantly as a late substitute, in the side which remained unbeaten throughout the whole league season.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko signed for Serie A club Juventus on 6 June 2018. However, in 2019 she spoke about negative experiences in the city, calling it "decades behind" and saying she had been made to feel like Pablo Escobar on occasions at Turin airport.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In November 2019, Aluko announced that she would be leaving Juventus after 18 months at the club, stating her time at the club had been one of "great success and lots of learning." She returned to Britain in December having won Serie A, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana, as well as being Juventus' top scorer for last season. On 15 January 2020, Aluko announced her retirement from professional football.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko was called into the England set-up as a 14-year-old. She chose to remain loyal to the English coaches who had given her the opportunity to play international football, but said: "The main thing for me is for people to understand that choosing to play for England doesn't mean that I don't support Nigeria. I'm as much Nigerian as I'm British. Of course Nigeria means a lot to me, it's part of me, but I've been brought up by English coaches."


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Having represented England at Under-17 level, Aluko scored on her debut at Under-19 level and appeared in the UEFA Under-19 European Championship Finals in Germany in July 2003 while aged only 16 years. She later played at Under-21 level, before making her senior debut, aged 17, against the Netherlands in September 2004. Her first senior goal came against the Czech Republic at Walsall in May 2005, and she added two more in the 13–0 away win against Hungary that October.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko played in UEFA Women's Euro 2005, despite a clash with her A-Level studies. She sat a history exam on the morning of England's 2–1 defeat to Denmark. In the final group game against Sweden Aluko almost scored a bizarre equaliser, but was left disappointed as hosts England lost 1–0 and exited the competition.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: At the FIFA Women's World Cup 2007, Aluko featured in group matches against Japan and Argentina, as well as the 3–0 quarter-final defeat by the United States. After the tournament, she was critical of The Football Association and the level of financial support provided to England's top female players. Aluko featured much more prominently at UEFA Women's Euro 2009, scoring in the group match win over Russia and adding two more in the quarter-final victory over hosts Finland. She also provided an assist for Kelly Smith's opening goal in the semi-final against the Netherlands. In the final Aluko played the left-wing as England were mauled 6–2 by Germany in Helsinki.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko netted against Switzerland in September 2010 as England qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011. During the final tournament, Aluko responded angrily to public criticism of her performance in the 1–1 draw with Mexico, in which she wasted multiple goalscoring opportunities. She was substituted at half–time in the following group match against New Zealand, and dropped to the bench for the final group match with Japan, playing the last half an hour of England's 2–0 win. Aluko was an unused substitute as England were eliminated by France at the quarter final stage.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: As England qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Aluko finished as the joint-top scorer in qualifying with 13 goals, which included her first hat-trick in a 10–0 thumping of Montenegro, and braces against Turkey and Ukraine. At the Finals tournament, Aluko started both of England's first two group matches, a 1–0 defeat by France and a 2–1 win over Mexico. Having missed the last group match and the knockout stages, Aluko reappeared as a 61st-minute substitute in the third-place play-off with Germany. England defeated Germany for the very first time, 1–0 after extra time to win bronze medals.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko was not called up to the national team after May 2016. She was paid around £80,000 by the Football Association. The Football Association later publicly apologised to Aluko at the select committee hearing of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (with some DCMS MPs calling for relevant FA officials to resign over their handling of the case) after the same barrister found racist remarks were made to her and teammate Drew Spence, following a third investigation. At UEFA Women's Euro 2017, Aluko worked as a pundit for Channel 4.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: When England's entire team—led by black forward Nikita Parris—pointedly ran to celebrate with coach Sampson after scoring in their next match against Russia, Aluko publicly criticised her former team-mates, accusing them of selfishness, lacking respect and requiring diversity training. Parris later apologised to Aluko in an open letter in June 2020 admitting that the celebration with coach Sampson was a "thoughtless action" that showed a lack of empathy, understanding and ignorance given that Sampson was under investigation for making racially discriminatory remarks to Aluko and fellow player Drew Spence of which he was found guilty and for which the FA later apologised.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In an interview with "The Daily Telegraph", England right-back Lucy Bronze questioned whether Aluko was now good enough to be in England's squad. Aluko remained surprised and disappointed at a perceived lack of support for her position from England's current players. The FA investigation had received evidence of Aluko's own "negative" behaviour, which included an alleged assault on an unnamed team-mate. Sampson's successor as England coach, Phil Neville, did not select Aluko either.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In June 2012, Aluko was named in the 18-player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics. She made her Great Britain debut, in its first ever official fixture, in a friendly goalless draw with Sweden at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough on 20 July 2012, starting and playing the entire match.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: At the Olympic football tournament, Aluko started all three groups matches, which included wins over New Zealand, Cameroon and in front of over 70,000 at Wembley, twice Olympic silver-medalists Brazil. Aluko won a penalty in the Brazil match, which Kelly Smith missed. Britain advanced to the quarter-finals as group winners. Aluko also started as Britain lost 2–0 to Canada in the quarter-finals, courtesy of two early goals, and ended hopes of at least reaching a match for an opportunity at a medal.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Despite England's third-place finish at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, which Aluko was a part of, earning Great Britain one of the three available European slots for the 2016 Rio Olympics, it was already decided Great Britain would not send a women's team to the event. It meant Aluko did not add to her tally of five Great Britain caps, with participation at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics the next earliest available opportunity.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In in January 2020, a week after retiring from professional football, Aluko was announced as the director of women's football at Aston Villa.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In May 2021, Aluko became the sporting director of Los Angeles-based Angel City FC ahead of their inaugural season in the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In August 2022, she transitioned to the director of recruitment role as Angela Hucles became the club's general manager.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: While playing for England during Women's Euro 2005, Aluko took her A levels at Cadbury College, Birmingham. She subsequently went to study law at Brunel University, where she graduated with a first class degree in 2008. In July 2009 it was announced that Aluko would spend the 2009–10 US off-season studying for the New York bar exam before taking a similar exam in England, her aim being to have an entertainment law practice in both England and the United States.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: While completing an accelerated Legal Practice Course at the University of Law, Aluko had traineeships at Lee & Thompson LLP and Onside Law. She announced her intention to "step back" from her legal career in March 2015 to focus on playing professional football. In 2016 The Football Association informed Aluko that her paid consultancy role with a sports agency breached their rules and was under investigation by the Association's integrity unit. She began working as an associate consultant for Slaughter and May, before resigning when she moved to Italy with Juventus.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Her younger brother Sone plays for Ipswich Town and was an England youth international, but in May 2009 accepted a call-up to represent Nigeria. Aluko helped her brother during the financial problems experienced by Rangers in 2012. Her father is a former MP in Nigeria, while Bolaji Aluko, a chemical engineering professor, is her uncle.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko voted for the Conservative Party in the 2019 general elections. Her Christianity was strengthened under the influence of born again former journeyman footballer Linvoy Primus. Aluko was also listed in the 2020 "Powerlist", recognition as being one of the 100 most influential Black Britons.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In May 2020, Aluko published a series of tweets that appeared to criticise people placed on the UK government's furlough scheme introduced in response to the pandemic of COVID-19, subsequently deleting most of the messages, apologising and stating her support for the furlough scheme.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In September 2014, Aluko appeared on the BBC's football programme "Match of the Day", the first woman to appear as a pundit on the show. She provided commentary for ITV's coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and for Fox Sports' coverage of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: She was featured along with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series starting in "FIFA 16", the first time women players were included in the game.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: In August 2016, she signed a multi-year endorsement deal with Under Armour, the first UK woman athlete to do so. In January 2020 Aluko became an Adidas ambassador.


title: Eniola Aluko

text: Aluko released her autobiography "They don't teach this" - Lessons in the game of life" in August 2019.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (; Persian: , 23 May 1844 – 28 November 1921), born ʻAbbás (), was the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and served as head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1892 until 1921. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was later canonized as the last of three "central figures" of the religion, along with Baháʼu'lláh and the Báb, and his writings and authenticated talks are regarded as sources of Baháʼí sacred literature.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: He was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family. At the age of eight his father was imprisoned during a government crackdown on the Bábí Faith and the family's possessions were looted, leaving them in virtual poverty. His father was exiled from their native Iran, and the family went to live in Baghdad, where they stayed for nine years. They were later called by the Ottoman state to Istanbul before going into another period of confinement in Edirne and finally the prison-city of ʻAkká (Acre). ʻAbdu'l-Bahá remained a political prisoner there until the Young Turk Revolution freed him in 1908 at the age of 64. He then made several journeys to the West to spread the Baháʼí message beyond its middle-eastern roots, but the onset of World War I left him largely confined to Haifa from 1914 to 1918. The war replaced the openly hostile Ottoman authorities with the British Mandate, who appointed him a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his help in averting famine following the war.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: In 1892, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Baháʼí Faith. He faced opposition from virtually all his family members, but held the loyalty of the great majority of Baháʼís around the world. His "Tablets of the Divine Plan" helped galvanize Baháʼís in North America into spreading the Baháʼí teachings to new territories, and his Will and Testament laid the foundation for the current Baháʼí administrative order. Many of his writings, prayers and letters are extant, and his discourses with the Western Baháʼís emphasize the growth of the religion by the late 1890s.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's given name was ʻAbbás. Depending on context, he would have gone by either Mírzá ʻAbbás (Persian) or ʻAbbás Effendi (Turkish), both of which are equivalent to the English Sir ʻAbbás. He preferred the title of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá ("servant of Bahá", a reference to his father). He is commonly referred to in Baháʼí texts as "The Master".


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran, Persia (now Iran) on 23 May 1844 (5th of Jamadiyu'l-Avval, 1260 AH), the eldest son of Baháʼu'lláh and Navváb. He was born on the very same night on which the Báb declared his mission. Born with the given name of ʻAbbás, he was named after his grandfather Mírzá ʻAbbás Núrí, a prominent and powerful nobleman. As a child, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was shaped by his father's position as a prominent Bábí. He recalled how he met the Bábí Táhirih and how she would take "me on to her knee, caress me, and talk to me. I admired her most deeply". ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had a happy and carefree childhood. The family's Tehran home and country houses were comfortable and beautifully decorated. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá enjoyed playing in the gardens with his younger sister with whom he was very close. Along with his younger siblings – a sister, Bahíyyih, and a brother, Mihdí – the three lived in an environment of privilege, happiness and comfort. During his young childhood ʻAbdu'l-Bahá witnessed his parents' various charitable endeavours, which included converting part of the home to a hospital ward for women and children.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: With most of his life was spent in exile and prison, there was little chance for normal schooling. Even when younger, it was customary not to send children of nobility to schools. Most noblemen were educated at home briefly in scripture, rhetoric, calligraphy and basic mathematics. Many were educated to prepare themselves for life in the royal court. Despite a brief spell at a traditional preparatory school at the age of seven for one year, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá received no formal education. As he grew he was educated by his mother, and uncle. Most of his education however, came from his father. Years later in 1890 Edward Granville Browne described how ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was "one more eloquent of speech, more ready of argument, more apt of illustration, more intimately acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muhammadans...scarcely be found even amongst the eloquent."


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: According to contemporary accounts, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was an eloquent and charming child. When ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was seven, he contracted tuberculosis and was expected to die. Though the malady faded away, he would be plagued with bouts of illness for the rest of his life.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: One event that affected ʻAbdu'l-Bahá greatly during his childhood was the imprisonment of his father when ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was eight years old; the imprisonment led to his family being reduced to poverty and being attacked in the streets by other children. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá accompanied his mother to visit Baháʼu'lláh who was then imprisoned in the infamous subterranean dungeon the Síyáh-Chál. He described how "I saw a dark, steep place. We entered a small, narrow doorway, and went down two steps, but beyond those one could see nothing. In the middle of the stairway, all of a sudden we heard His [Baháʼu'lláh's]…voice: 'Do not bring him in here', and so they took me back".


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Baháʼu'lláh was eventually released from prison, but ordered into exile, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then eight years old, joined his father on the journey to Baghdad in the winter (January to April) of 1853. During the journey ʻAbdu'l-Bahá suffered from frost-bite. After a year of difficulties Baháʼu'lláh absented himself rather than continue to face the conflict with Mirza Yahya and secretly secluded himself in the mountains of Sulaymaniyah in April 1854 a month before ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's tenth birthday. Mutual sorrow resulted in him, his mother and sister becoming constant companions. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was particularly close to both, and his mother took active participation in his education and upbringing. During the two-year absence of his father ʻAbdu'l-Bahá took up the duty of managing the affairs of the family, before his age of maturity (14 in middle-eastern society) and was known to be occupied with reading and, at a time of hand-copied scriptures being the primary means of publishing, was also engaged in copying the writings of the Báb. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also took an interest in the art of horse riding and, as he grew, became a renowned rider.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: In 1856, news of an ascetic carrying on discourses with local Súfí leaders that seemed to possibly be Baháʼu'lláh reached the family and friends. Immediately, family members and friends went to search for the elusive dervish – and in March brought Baháʼu'lláh back to Baghdad. On seeing his father, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá fell to his knees and wept loudly "Why did you leave us?", and this followed with his mother and sister doing the same. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá soon became his father's secretary and shield. During the sojourn in the city ʻAbdu'l-Bahá grew from a boy into a young man. He was noted as a "remarkably fine looking youth", and remembered for his charity. Having passed the age of maturity ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was regularly seen in the mosques of Baghdad discussing religious topics and the scripture as a young man. Whilst in Baghdad, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá composed a commentary at the request of his father on the Muslim tradition of "I was a Hidden Treasure" for a Súfí leader named ʻAlí Shawkat Páshá. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was fifteen or sixteen at the time and ʻAlí Shawkat Páshá regarded the more than 11,000-word essay as a remarkable feat for somebody of his age. In 1863, in what became known as the Garden of Ridván, his father Baháʼu'lláh announced to a few that he was the manifestation of God and He whom God shall make manifest whose coming had been foretold by the Báb. On day eight of the twelve days, it is believed ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was the first person Baháʼu'lláh revealed his claim to.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: In 1863, Baháʼu'lláh was summoned to Istanbul, and thus his family, including ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then eighteen, accompanied him on his 110-day journey. The journey to Constantinople was another wearisome journey, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá helped feed the exiles. It was here that his position became more prominent amongst the Baháʼís. This was further solidified by Baháʼu'lláh's tablet of the Branch in which he constantly exalts his son's virtues and station. The family were soon exiled to Adrianople and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá went with the family. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá again suffered from frostbite.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: In Adrianople ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was regarded as the sole comforter of his family – in particular to his mother. At this point ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was known by the Baháʼís as "the Master", and by non-Baháʼís as ʻAbbás Effendi ("Effendi" signifies "Sir"). It was in Adrianople that Baháʼu'lláh referred to his son as "the Mystery of God". The title of "Mystery of God" symbolises, according to Baháʼís, that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá is not a manifestation of God but how a "person of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized". Baháʼu'lláh gave his son many other titles such as "G͟husn-i-Aʻzam" (meaning "Mightiest Branch" or "Mightier Branch"), the "Branch of Holiness", "the Center of the Covenant" and the apple of his eye. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá ("the Master") was devastated when hearing the news that he and his family were to be exiled separately from Baháʼu'lláh. It was, according to Baháʼís, through his intercession that the idea was reverted and the family were allowed to be exiled together.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: At the age of 24, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was clearly chief-steward to his father and an outstanding member of the Baháʼí community. Baháʼu'lláh and his family were – in 1868 – exiled to the penal colony of Acre, Palestine where it was expected that the family would perish. Arrival in ʻAkká was distressing for the family and exiles. They were greeted in a hostile manner by the surrounding population and his sister and father fell dangerously ill. When told that the women were to sit on the shoulders of the men to reach the shore, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá took a chair and carried the women to the bay of ʻAkká. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was able to procure some anesthetic and nursed the sick. The Baháʼís were imprisoned under horrendous conditions in a cluster of cells covered in excrement and dirt. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá himself fell dangerously ill with dysentery, however a sympathetic soldier permitted a physician to help cure him. The population shunned them, the soldiers treated them the same, and the behaviour of Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahani (an Azali) did not help matters. Morale was further destroyed with the accidental death of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's youngest brother Mírzá Mihdí at the age of 22. The grieving ʻAbdu'l-Bahá kept a night-long vigil beside his brother's body.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Over time, he gradually took over responsibility for the relationships between the small Baháʼí exile community and the outside world. It was through his interaction with the people of ʻAkká (Acre) that, according to the Baháʼís, they recognized the innocence of the Baháʼís, and thus the conditions of imprisonment were eased. Four months after the death of Mihdí the family moved from the prison to the House of ʻAbbúd. The people of ʻAkká started to respect the Baháʼís and in particular, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was able to arrange for houses to be rented for the family, the family later moved to the Mansion of Bahjí around 1879 when an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá soon became very popular in the penal colony and Myron Henry Phelps a wealthy New York lawyer described how "a crowd of human beings...Syrians, Arabs, Ethiopians, and many others", all waited to talk and receive ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. He undertook a history of the Bábí religion through publication of A Traveller's Narrative (Makála-i-Shakhsí Sayyáh) in 1886, later translated and published in translation in 1891 through Cambridge University by the agency of Edward Granville Browne.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: When ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was a young man, speculation was rife amongst the Baháʼís to whom he would marry. Several young girls were seen as marriage prospects but ʻAbdu'l-Bahá seemed disinclined to marriage. On 8 March 1873, at the urging of his father, the twenty-eight-year-old ʻAbdu'l-Bahá married Fátimih Nahrí of Isfahán (1847–1938) a twenty-five-year-old from an upper-class family of the city. Her father was Mírzá Muḥammad ʻAlí Nahrí of Isfahan an eminent Baháʼí with prominent connections. Fátimih was brought from Persia to ʻAkká after both Baháʼu'lláh and his wife Navváb expressed an interest in her to marry ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. After a wearisome journey from Isfahán to Akka she finally arrived accompanied by her brother in 1872. The young couple were betrothed for about five months before the marriage itself commenced. In the meantime, Fátimih lived in the home of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's uncle Mírzá Músá. According to her later memoirs, Fátimih fell in love with ʻAbdu'l-Bahá on seeing him. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá himself had showed little inkling to marriage until meeting Fátimih; who was entitled Munírih by Baháʼu'lláh. Munírih is a title meaning "Luminous".


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The marriage resulted in nine children. The first born was a son Mihdí Effendi who died aged about 3. He was followed by Ḍíyáʼíyyih K͟hánum, Fuʼádíyyih K͟hánum (d. few years old), Rúhangíz Khánum (d. 1893), Túbá Khánum, Husayn Effendi (d.1887 aged 5), Túbá K͟hánum, Rúhá K͟hánum (mother of Munib Shahid), and Munnavar K͟hánum. The death of his children caused ʻAbdu'l-Bahá immense grief – in particular the death of his son Husayn Effendi came at a difficult time following the death of his mother and uncle. The surviving children (all daughters) were; Ḍíyáʼíyyih K͟hánum (mother of Shoghi Effendi) (d. 1951) Túbá K͟hánum (1880–1959) Rúḥá K͟hánum and Munavvar K͟hánum (d. 1971). Baháʼu'lláh wished that the Baháʼís follow the example of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and gradually move away from polygamy. The marriage of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to one woman and his choice to remain monogamous, from advice of his father and his own wish, legitimised the practice of monogamy to a people who hitherto had regarded polygamy as a righteous way of life.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: After Baháʼu'lláh died on 29 May 1892, the Will and Testament of Baháʼu'lláh named ʻAbdu'l-Bahá as Centre of the Covenant, successor and interpreter of Baháʼu'lláh's writings.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: This translation of the "Kitáb-i-ʻAhd" is based on a solecism, however, as the terms "Akbar" and "Aʻzam" do not mean, respectively, 'Greater' and 'Most Great'. Not only do the two words derive from entirely separate triconsonantal roots ("Akbar" from "k-b-r" and "Aʻzam" from "ʻ-z-m"), but the Arabic language possesses the elative, a stage of gradation, with no clear distinction between the comparative and superlative. In the Will and Testament ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's half-brother, Muhammad ʻAlí, was mentioned by name as being subordinate to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. Muhammad ʻAlí became jealous of his half-brother and set out to establish authority for himself as an alternative leader with the support of his brothers Badiʻu'llah and Ḍíyáʼu'llah. He began correspondence with Baháʼís in Iran, initially in secret, casting doubts in others' minds about ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. While most Baháʼís followed ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, a handful followed Muhammad ʻAlí including such leaders as Mirza Javad and Ibrahim George Kheiralla, an early Baháʼí missionary to America.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Muhammad ʻAlí and Mirza Javad began to openly accuse ʻAbdu'l-Bahá of taking on too much authority, suggesting that he believed himself to be a Manifestation of God, equal in status to Baháʼu'lláh. It was at this time that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, to provide proof of the falsity of the accusations leveled against him, in tablets to the West, stated that he was to be known as "ʻAbdu'l-Bahá" an Arabic phrase meaning the Servant of Bahá to make it clear that he was not a Manifestation of God, and that his station was only servitude. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá left a Will and Testament that set up the framework of administration. The two highest institutions were the Universal House of Justice, and the Guardianship, for which he appointed Shoghi Effendi as the Guardian. With the exception of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, Muhammad ʻAlí was supported by all of the remaining male relatives of Baháʼu'lláh, including Shoghi Effendi's father, Mírzá Hádí Shírází. However Muhammad ʻAlí's and his families statements had very little effect on the Baháʼís in general – in the ʻAkká area, the followers of Muhammad ʻAlí represented six families at most, they had no common religious activities, and were almost wholly assimilated into Muslim society.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: By the end of 1898, Western pilgrims started coming to Akka on pilgrimage to visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá; this group of pilgrims, including Phoebe Hearst, was the first time that Baháʼís raised up in the West had met ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. The first group arrived in 1898 and throughout late 1898 to early 1899 Western Baháʼís sporadically visited ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. The group was relatively young containing mainly women from high American society in their 20s. The group of Westerners aroused suspicion for the authorities, and consequently ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's confinement was tightened. During the next decade ʻAbdu'l-Bahá would be in constant communication with Baháʼís around the world, helping them to teach the religion; the group included May Ellis Bolles in Paris, Englishman Thomas Breakwell, American Herbert Hopper, French , Susan Moody, Lua Getsinger, and American Laura Clifford Barney. It was Laura Clifford Barney who, by asking questions of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá over many years and many visits to Haifa, compiled what later became the book Some Answered Questions.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: During the final years of the 19th century, while ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was still officially a prisoner and confined to ʻAkka, he organized the transfer of the remains of the Báb from Iran to Palestine. He then organized the purchase of land on Mount Carmel that Baháʼu'lláh had instructed should be used to lay the remains of the Báb, and organized for the construction of the Shrine of the Báb. This process took another 10 years. With the increase of pilgrims visiting ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Muhammad ʻAlí worked with the Ottoman authorities to re-introduce stricter terms on ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's imprisonment in August 1901. By 1902, however, due to the Governor of ʻAkka being supportive of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the situation was greatly eased; while pilgrims were able to once again visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, he was confined to the city. In February 1903, two followers of Muhammad ʻAlí, including Badiʻu'llah and Siyyid ʻAliy-i-Afnan, broke with Muhammad ʻAli and wrote books and letters giving details of Muhammad ʻAli's plots and noting that what was circulating about ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was fabrication.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: From 1902 to 1904, in addition to the building of the Shrine of the Báb that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was directing, he started to put into execution two different projects; the restoration of the House of the Báb in Shiraz, Iran and the construction of the first Baháʼí House of Worship in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá asked Aqa Mirza Aqa to coordinate the work so that the house of the Báb would be restored to the state that it was at the time of the Báb's declaration to Mulla Husayn in 1844; he also entrusted the work on the House of Worship to Vakil-u'd-Dawlih.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: During this period, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá communicated with a number of Young Turks, opposed to the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, including Namık Kemal, Ziya Pasha and Midhat Pasha, in an attempt to disseminate Baháʼí thought into their political ideology. He emphasized Baháʼís "seek freedom and love liberty, hope for equality, are well-wishers of humanity and ready to sacrifice their lives to unite humanity" but on a more broad approach than the Young Turks. Abdullah Cevdet, one of the founders of the Committee of Union and Progress who considered the Baháʼí Faith an intermediary step between Islam and the ultimate abandonment of religious belief, would go on trial for defense of Baháʼís in a periodical he founded.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ‛Abdu'l-Bahá also had contact with military leaders as well, including such individuals as Bursalı Mehmet Tahir Bey and Hasan Bedreddin. The latter, who was involved in the overthrow of Sultan Abdülaziz, is commonly known as Bedri Paşa or Bedri Pasha and is referred to in Persian Baháʼí sources as Bedri Bey (Badri Beg). He was a Baháʼí who translated ‛Abdu'l-Baha's works into French.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also met Muhammad Abduh, one of the key figures of Islamic Modernism and the Salafi movement, in Beirut, at a time when the two men were both opposed to the Ottoman "ulama" and shared similar goals of religious reform. Rashid Rida asserts that during his visits to Beirut, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá would attend Abduh's study sessions. Regarding the meetings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Muhammad ʻAbduh, Shoghi Effendi asserts that "His several interviews with the well-known Shaykh Muhammad ʻAbdu served to enhance immensely the growing prestige of the community and spread abroad the fame of its most distinguished member."


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Due to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's political activities and alleged accusation against him by Muhammad ʻAli, a Commission of Inquiry interviewed ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1905, with the result that he was almost exiled to Fezzan. In response, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote the sultan a letter protesting that his followers refrain from involvement in partisan politics and that his "tariqa" had guided many Americans to Islam. The next few years in ʻAkka were relatively free of pressures and pilgrims were able to come and visit ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. By 1909 the mausoleum of the Shrine of the Báb was completed.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The 1908 Young Turks revolution freed all political prisoners in the Ottoman Empire, and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was freed from imprisonment. His first action after his freedom was to visit the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh in Bahji. While ʻAbdu'l-Bahá continued to live in ʻAkka immediately following the revolution, he soon moved to live in Haifa near the Shrine of the Báb. In 1910, with the freedom to leave the country, he embarked on a three-year journey to Egypt, Europe, and North America, spreading the Baháʼí message.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: From August to December 1911, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá visited cities in Europe, including London, Bristol, and Paris. The purpose of these trips was to support the Baháʼí communities in the west and to further spread his father's teachings.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: In the following year, he undertook a much more extensive journey to the United States and Canada to once again spread his father's teachings. He arrived in New York City on 11 April 1912, after declining an offer of passage on the RMS "Titanic", telling the Baháʼí believers, instead, to "Donate this to charity." He instead travelled on a slower craft, the RMS "Cedric", and cited preference of a longer sea journey as the reason. After hearing of the Titanic's sinking on 16 April he was quoted as saying "I was asked to sail upon the Titanic, but my heart did not prompt me to do so." While he spent most of his time in New York, he visited Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia. In August of the same year he started a more extensive journey to places including New Hampshire, the Green Acre school in Maine, and Montreal (his only visit to Canada). He then travelled west to Minneapolis, San Francisco, Stanford, and Los Angeles before starting to return east at the end of October. On 5 December 1912 he set sail back to Europe.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: During his visit to North America he visited many missions, churches, and groups, as well as having scores of meetings in Baháʼís' homes, and offering innumerable personal meetings with hundreds of people. During his talks he proclaimed Baháʼí principles such as the unity of God, unity of the religions, oneness of humanity, equality of women and men, world peace and economic justice. He also insisted that all his meetings be open to all races.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: His visit and talks were the subject of hundreds of newspaper articles. In Boston newspaper reporters asked ʻAbdu'l-Bahá why he had come to America, and he stated that he had come to participate in conferences on peace and that just giving warning messages is not enough. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's visit to Montreal provided notable newspaper coverage; on the night of his arrival the editor of the "Montreal Daily Star" met with him and that newspaper along with The Montreal Gazette, "Montreal Standard", Le Devoir and La Presse among others reported on ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's activities. The headlines in those papers included "Persian Teacher to Preach Peace", "Racialism Wrong, Says Eastern Sage, Strife and War Caused by Religious and National Prejudices", and "Apostle of Peace Meets Socialists, Abdul Baha's Novel Scheme for Distribution of Surplus Wealth." The "Montreal Standard", which was distributed across Canada, took so much interest that it republished the articles a week later; the Gazette published six articles and Montreal's largest French language newspaper published two articles about him. His 1912 visit to Montreal also inspired humourist Stephen Leacock to parody him in his bestselling 1914 book "Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich". In Chicago one newspaper headline included "His Holiness Visits Us, Not Pius X but A. Baha," and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's visit to California was reported in the "Palo Altan".


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Back in Europe, he visited London, Edinburgh, Paris (where he stayed for two months), Stuttgart, Budapest, and Vienna. Finally, on 12 June 1913, he returned to Egypt, where he stayed for six months before returning to Haifa.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: On 23 February 1914, at the eve of World War I, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá hosted Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild banking family who was a leading advocate and financier of the Zionist movement, during one of his early trips to Palestine.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: During World War I (1914–1918) ʻAbdu'l-Bahá stayed in Palestine and was unable to travel. He carried on a limited correspondence, which included the "Tablets of the Divine Plan", a collection of 14 letters addressed to the Baháʼís of North America, later described as one of three "charters" of the Baháʼí Faith. The letters assign a leadership role for the North American Baháʼís in spreading the religion around the planet.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Haifa was under real threat of Allied bombardment, enough that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and other Baháʼís temporarily retreated to the hills east of ʻAkka.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was also under threats from Cemal Paşa, the Ottoman military chief who at one point expressed his desire to crucify him and destroy Baháʼí properties in Palestine. The surprisingly swift Megiddo offensive of the British General Allenby swept away the Turkish forces in Palestine before harm was done to the Baháʼís, and the war was over less than two months later.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The conclusion of World War I led to the openly hostile Ottoman authorities being replaced by the more friendly British Mandate, allowing for a renewal of correspondence, pilgrims, and development of the Baháʼí World Centre properties. It was during this revival of activity that the Baháʼí Faith saw an expansion and consolidation in places like Egypt, the Caucasus, Iran, Turkmenistan, North America and South Asia under the leadership of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The end of the war brought about several political developments that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá commented on. The League of Nations formed in January 1920, representing the first instance of collective security through a worldwide organization. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had written in 1875 for the need to establish a "Union of the nations of the world", and he praised the attempt through the League of Nations as an important step towards the goal. He also said that it was "incapable of establishing Universal Peace" because it did not represent all nations and had only trivial power over its member states. Around the same time, the British Mandate supported the ongoing immigration of Jews to Palestine. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá mentioned the immigration as a fulfillment of prophecy, and encouraged the Zionists to develop the land and "elevate the country for all its inhabitants... They must not work to separate the Jews from the other Palestinians."


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The war also left the region in famine. In 1901, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá had purchased about 1704 acres of scrubland near the Jordan river and by 1907 many Baháʼís from Iran had begun sharecropping on the land. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá received between 20 and 33% of their harvest (or cash equivalent), which was shipped to Haifa. With the war still raging in 1917, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá received a large amount of wheat from the crops, and also bought other available wheat and shipped it all back to Haifa. The wheat arrived just after the British captured Palestine, and as such was allowed to be widely distributed to allay the famine. For this service in averting a famine in Northern Palestine he received the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony held in his honor at the home of the British Governor on 27 April 1920. He was later visited by General Allenby, King Faisal (later King of Iraq), Herbert Samuel (High Commissioner for Palestine), and Ronald Storrs (Military Governor of Jerusalem).


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá died on Monday, 28 November 1921, sometime after 1:15 a.m. (27th of Rabi' al-awwal, 1340 AH).


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Then Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill telegraphed the High Commissioner for Palestine, "convey to the Baháʼí Community, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, their sympathy and condolescence." Similar messages came from Viscount Allenby, the Council of Ministers of Iraq, and others.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Among the talks delivered at the funeral, Shoghi Effendi records Stewart Symes giving the following tribute:


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: He was buried in the front room of the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel. His interment there is meant to be temporary, until his own mausoleum can be built in the vicinity of Riḍván Garden, known as the Shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá left a "Will and Testament" that was originally written between 1901 and 1908 and addressed to Shoghi Effendi, who at that time was only 4–11 years old. The will appoints Shoghi Effendi as the first in a line of Guardians of the religion, a hereditary executive role that may provide authoritative interpretations of scripture. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá directed all Baháʼís to turn to him and obey him, and assured him of divine protection and guidance. The will also provided a formal reiteration of his teachings, such as the instructions to teach, manifest spiritual qualities, associate with all people, and shun Covenant-breakers. Many obligations of the Universal House of Justice and the Hands of the Cause were also elaborated. Shoghi Effendi later described the document as one of three "charters" of the Baháʼí Faith.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The authenticity and provisions of the will were almost universally accepted by Baháʼís around the world, with the exception of Ruth White and a few other Americans who tried to protest Shoghi Effendi's leadership.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: In volumes of "The Baháʼí World" published in 1930 and 1933, Shoghi Effendi named nineteen Baháʼís as disciples of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and heralds of the Covenant, including Thornton Chase, , John Esslemont, Lua Getsinger, and Robert Turner. No other statements about them have been found in Shoghi Effendi's writings.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: During his lifetime there was some ambiguity among Baháʼís as to his station relative to Baháʼu'lláh, and later to Shoghi Effendi. Some American newspapers reported him to be a Baháʼí prophet or the return of Christ. Shoghi Effendi later formalized his legacy as the last of three "Central Figures" of the Baháʼí Faith and the "Perfect exemplar" of the teachings, also claiming that holding him on an equal status to Baháʼu'lláh or Jesus was heretical. Shoghi Effendi also wrote that during the anticipated Baháʼí dispensation of 1000 years there will be no equal to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was described as handsome, and bore striking resemblance to his mother. As an adult he reached medium height but he gave the impression of being taller. He had dark hair that flowed to his shoulders, grey coloured eyes, a fair complexion and an aquiline nose. In 1890, Orientalist Edward Granville Browne met him and wrote:


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: After the death of Bahá’u’lláh, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá began to visibly age. By the late 1890s his hair had turned snow-white and deep lines set on his face. As a young man he was athletic and enjoyed archery, horseback riding and swimming. Even later in his life ʻAbdu'l-Bahá remained active going for long walks in Haifa and Acre.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was a major presence for the Bahá’ís during his lifetime, and he continues to influence the Bahá’í community today. Bahá’ís regard ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the perfect example of the teachings of his father and therefore strive to emulate him. Anecdotes about him are frequently used to illustrate particular points about morality and interpersonal relations. He was remembered for his charisma, compassion, philanthropy and strength in the face of suffering. John Esslemont reflected that "[‘Abdu’l-Bahá] showed that it is still possible, amid the whirl and rush of modern life, amid the self-love and struggle for material prosperity that everywhere prevail, to live the life of entire devotion to God and to the service of one's fellows."


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: Even ardent enemies of the Bahá’í Faith were on occasion taken by meeting him. Mírzá 'Abdu'l-Muḥammad Írání Mu'addibu's-Sulṭán, an Iranian, and Shaykh 'Alí Yúsuf, an Arab, were both newspaper editors in Egypt who had published harsh attacks on the Bahá’í Faith in their papers. They called on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá when he was in Egypt and their attitude changed. Similarly, a Christian clergyman, Rev. J.T. Bixby, who was the author of a hostile article on the Bahá’í Faith in the United States, felt compelled to witness Abdu'l-Bahá's personal qualities. The effect of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on those who were already committed Bahá’ís was greater still.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was widely known for his encounters with the poor and dying. His generosity resulted in his own family complaining that they were left with nothing. He was sensitive to people’s feelings, and later expressed his wish to be a beloved figure of the Bahá’ís saying “I am your father...and you must be glad and rejoice, for I love you exceedingly.” According to historical accounts, he had a keen sense of humour and was relaxed and informal. He was open about personal tragedies such as the loss of his children and the sufferings he'd endured as a prisoner, further enhancing his popularity.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá directed the affairs of the Bahá’í community with care. He was inclined to allow a large range of personal interpretations of the Bahá’í teachings as long as these did not obviously contradict fundamental principles. He did, however, expel members of the religion he felt were challenging his leadership and deliberately causing disunity in the community. Outbreaks of persecution of the Bahá’ís affected him deeply. He wrote personally to the families of those who had been martyred.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The total estimated number of tablets that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote are over 27,000 of which only a fraction have been translated into English. His works fall into two groups including first his direct writings and second his lectures and speeches as noted by others. The first group includes "The Secret of Divine Civilization" written before 1875, "A Traveller's Narrative" written around 1886, the Resāla-ye sīāsīya or "Sermon on the Art of Governance" written in 1893, the "Memorials of the Faithful", and a large number of tablets written to various people; including various Western intellectuals such as Auguste Forel which has been translated and published as the "Tablet to Auguste-Henri Forel". The "Secret of Divine Civilization" and the "Sermon on the Art of Governance" were widely circulated anonymously.


title: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

text: The second group includes "Some Answered Questions", which is an English translation of a series of table talks with Laura Barney, and "Paris Talks", "ʻAbdu'l-Baha in London" and "Promulgation of Universal Peace" which are respectively addresses given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in Paris, London and the United States.


title: Thulasi Nair

text: Thulasi Nair is a former Indian actress who has appeared in two Tamil language films. She made her debut in Mani Ratnam's 2013 drama film "Kadal".


title: Thulasi Nair

text: At age 14, Thulasi Nair was first considered for a role in director Mani Ratnam's "Kadal" after being recommended by actress Suhasini to audition for the lead role in November 2011. She was initially rejected with the director noting she was "too young for the role", before the team chose to sign her following Samantha's exit from the project. She would feature alongside fellow debutant Gautham Karthik in the leading roles, coincidentally 32 years after her mother and Gautham's father had also debuted together in Bharathiraja's "Alaigal Oivathillai" (1981). Nair lost twelve kilograms for the film and she went through a series of pre-production workshops conducted by actress Kalairani before the first schedule. Portraying the role of Beatrice, a young nurse with a child like personality, Nair worked alongside an ensemble cast including Arvind Swamy and Arjun and shot scenes across coastal Tamil Nadu. Her appearance was kept away from the media prior to release, with a clause in her contract preventing her from partaking in media interaction.


title: Thulasi Nair

text: After the release of first theatrical trailer of the film, a kissing scene by her generated controversy as she was a minor. The film opened in February 2013 to mixed reviews and the film became a commercial failure at the box office. Nair's performance won positive reviews from critics, with Rediff.com noting that "when the script demands that she come to life at the end she manages to do it well." Similarly, another reviewer added "Thulasi, is natural and has lent an air of grace to her role", while Sify.com wrote "though she has a very little screen space, she has tried her best to do a fair job of the young, chirpy girl." Her performance fetched nominations for Best Female Debut Actress at the Vijay Awards and the South Indian International Movie Awards in 2014.


title: Thulasi Nair

text: Before the release of "Kadal", cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran signed on Nair to appear in a leading role in his maiden directorial venture, "Yaan" (2014). In "Yaan", Nair played Srila, daughter of a retired defence officer, who lives in Chennai. Featuring alongside Jiiva, the film was shot extensively in Morocco and released in October 2014 to negative reviews and became a surprise failure at the box office. She received mostly negative reviews for her portrayal with Behindwoods.com noting "she gets a better outing this time, and has some range of expressions in her bag". In comparison, Rediff.com wrote that she is "barely recognisable", and that "there is barely any chemistry between the lead pair", while describing the film as a "terrible bore". She has not acted in any further film since.


title: Thulasi Nair

text: Thulasi Nair was born in a Malayali family to businessman Rajasekaran Nair and Radha, a leading actress in Tamil and Telugu films during the 1980s. Her elder sister Karthika is also an actress who appeared in Indian films, while she also has an elder brother, Vignesh Nair. Her maternal aunt Ambika was also a contemporary of Radha's, and Thulasi has revealed she often seeks advice on acting from her mother and sister.


title: Thulasi Nair

text: She has juggled between completing her acting commitments and attending Podar International School in Mumbai.


title: Thulasi Nair

text: She completed her undergraduate in Business Administration from Russel square international affiliated with Royal Holloway London. She then continued to pursue her Master in International Management from King's College London and graduated in 2020.


title: Cape Romano Dome House

text: The Cape Romano Dome House was an abandoned house consisting of six dome-shaped modules on stilts, located approximately offshore from Cape Romano Island, south of Marco Island, in the Ten Thousand Islands of Collier County, Florida. Cape Romano Dome house was built in 1982 by retired independent oil producer Bob Lee. The home changed ownership several times, with the most recent ownership by the state of Florida since 2018. On September 28, 2022, the structures became submerged underwater due to Hurricane Ian.


title: Cape Romano Dome House

text: Bob Lee, a retired oil producer, spent much of the years 1978 and 1979 surveying and purchasing land on Morgan Island in hopes of constructing a vacation home. He eventually purchased four adjacent plots of land for his project.


title: Cape Romano Dome House

text: In 1980, Lee began constructing the home, a white-painted concrete structure. He purchased a barge to transport supplies for the building. The house consisted of six stout, interconnected dome structures, which made up the rooms of the house, and some of which had two levels. It was and featured three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Lee's daughter Jane Maples recalled the construction:


title: Cape Romano Dome House

text: Building it was the fun part for my dad, but he also loved the seclusion of living on the island; fishing, shelling and watching the weather. He loved inventing things. He invented a heat source for under the floors of our house and had an invention that would bring logs in and drop them on the fireplace that came through the wall of our den. Kids loved him. He was just fun to be around; a really adventurous guy way before his time.


title: Cape Romano Dome House

text: My dad thought the corners of rooms were wasted space as were the corners of the ceiling. He thought the dome ceiling gave the feeling of openness. He was right. The rooms felt very large and open.


title: Cape Romano Dome House

text: Before erecting the Cape Romano structure, he built a full-scale model on land he owned in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The Tennessee dome house is still standing. Lee was known for engaging in his own projects, and designed the house to run on solar power and be self-sustaining. The concrete walls were made out of sand from the island. Gutters were installed which drained rainwater into a large tank, which purified the water, and then pumped it into all the home's sinks, baths and showers, and water-consuming appliances. The house's domes were not only aesthetic but practical as well; their sturdy concrete walls and rounded tops providing superior hurricane protection. The house was completed in 1982 The floors were tile and carpet, the walls painted white, and the rooms had large windows on all sides. Mike Morgan, Bob Lee's grandson, said about the house's sustainability:


title: Cape Romano Dome House

text: My grandfather designed it so that when the rain would hit the domes, all the rainwater and the morning dew would wash down into a gutter system that he built around the domes. That would all lead into a 23,000 gallon cistern under the center dome. The water would run through filters and that's what we would use for showers and dishwashing; things like that. The house was totally self-sustaining. He had several solar panels for power along with backup generators if it was cloudy for several days. The solar systems were installed by Dell Jones, a solar contractor in Fort Myers. The Amcor Solon 120 liter thermosyphon solar water heater provided the hot water, the photovoltaic system was a hybrid system with a gasoline generator, a large 24 volt lead acid battery with hydro caps (catalytic converters) and Arco solar modules. The refrigerator was a SunFrost high efficiency refrigerator run by the 24 volt battery bank. The inverter was a combination of the older Vanner and a new Trace Engineering inverter installed by Dell. In addition upgrading the appliance loads, Dell installed the new lighting, which at the time was state-of-the-art, compact fluorescent lamps.