title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: As of 2009 and 2010, 37% of residents of Malden were born outside of the United States. This is twice the number in 1990, and an increase from the 26% of foreign-born residents in 2000. Malden's percentage of foreign-born residents was the second-highest in Massachusetts, after Chelsea.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: As of 2009 and 2010 immigrants originate from Brazil, China, Haiti, India, Morocco, and Pakistan. The Moroccan American Civic and Cultural Association is located in Malden.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Previous immigrants included Italians and Irish in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Malden also received Jews who arrived escaping Europe before and after World War II.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: In 1990 Malden had 2,805 Asian residents, making the city 5.2% Asian. In 2000 this increased to 7,882 Asians, or 14.5% of the city's population, making it one of ten Massachusetts cities with the largest Asian populations in the state. There were 4,504 ethnic Chinese people (57% of Malden's Asians), 876 ethnic Vietnamese, and 696 ethnic Indians. From 1990 to 2000 the Vietnamese population increased by 187% and the Indian population increased by 262%.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Institutions serving the Asian community in Malden include the Immigrant Learning Center, which offers English as a second language classes; the Malden Asian Pacific American Coalition; a satellite office of the Vietnamese American Civic Association; the nonprofit multiservice organization Great Wall Center; and the antipoverty agency Tri-City Community Action Program Inc. In the 2017, South Cove Community Health center began building a new site in Malden to serve the growing Asian American population.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Malden Public Schools is the school district. Malden has five public elementary and middle schools; one charter elementary, middle, and high school; one public high school; one Catholic high school, one Catholic Pre-K through 8 school, Cheverus Catholic School; and one public preschool. The elementary schools in Malden were replaced in the late 1990s with five new facilities: Beebe, Ferryway, Forestdale, Linden, and Salemwood. The city's three high schools are Malden High School, Malden Catholic High School and Mystic Valley Regional Charter High School. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2013, Malden High School was found to be the most diverse public high school in Massachusetts.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Like many communities in New England, many towns and neighborhoods are organized around squares, which are located at the crossroads and town commons dating back from the colonial times and the early 19th century. Many of the neighborhoods take their name and identity from the main square in their area.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Malden's squares include Malden Square (at Main and Pleasant streets), Converse Square (at Main, Salem, and Ferry streets) Oak Grove Square (at Oak Grove T Station), Bellrock Square (at the intersections of Cross, Main and Medford streets), Judson Square (near Ferryway School), former Suffolk Square (at Cross and Bryant streets), once the location of a thriving Jewish community, Maplewood Square (at Lebanon, Maplewood and Salem streets) and Linden Square.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Some of the neighborhoods in Malden include Faulkner (location of the former Suffolk Square), West End, Edgeworth, Linden, Ferryway, Forestdale, Maplewood, Bellrock, and Belmont Hill (located between Bellrock and Ferryway).


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Bellrock is the south central section of the city, bordered by Main Street on the east, Charles Street on the north, the Malden River on the west, and the Everett line on the south. It contains Bell Rock Memorial Park (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and Bell Rock Cemetery (also listed), which contains marked graves dating back to 1670. Bell Rock Cemetery was called Sandy Bank until the establishment of the Salem Street Cemetery in 1832; it was then known as the Old Burial Ground for half a century until it was renamed in 1882. Also located in this area are the headquarters for New England Coffee.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: The Edgeworth neighborhood is the southwest section of the city. It contains Devir Park, Pearl St. Park, and Callahan Park. The city's football stadium, Macdonald Stadium is in Edgeworth. A school in Edgeworth is the former Emerson grammar school. The Converse Rubber Factory and offices once operated in Edgeworth at the bottom of Pearl Street. This is the original home of the Converse "All-Star" Basketball Sneakers. Malden Catholic High School was originally located in Edgeworth on Highland Ave. The school's football team played their home games at Brother Gilbert Stadium, located at Commercial & Medford Streets in Edgeworth. Immaculate Conception Grammar School was located in Edgeworth on the corner of Charles St. and Highland Ave. Edgeworth touches Everett and Medford. Edgeworth is also home to St. Rocco's Feast, SunSetter Awnings and Pisa Pizza.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: In 1847, Joshua Webster, president of the Saugus Branch Railroad, purchased 200 acres in Malden along its projected route. Here, he planned a residential development with wide streets and ornamental trees. Due to the hundreds of maple trees Webster planted, the neighborhood became known as Maplewood.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: The city government of Malden includes a mayor and city council. The mayor is elected to a four-year term. As of May 2021, the mayor is Gary Christenson. Christensen was most recently elected to this position on November 5, 2019 and his current four-year term expires at the end of 2023.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: The Malden City Council has eleven elected members. Eight of these members are elected from the city's eight wards and are known as Ward Councillors. Three of the members, known as Councillors-at-Large, are elected city-wide. All eleven are elected to two-year terms. The city council elects from among its members an individual to serve as Council President.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: One limited access route, U.S. 1, runs through the city, connecting Boston to the North Shore suburbs. Additionally, Route 28, Route 60 and Route 99 run through Malden as arterial routes. Route 16 and Interstate 93 are a short distance outside the city’s borders.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: The city is served by the Orange Line subway that connects it to downtown Boston. The city's subway stops are Malden Center and Oak Grove. The MBTA's commuter rail also has one stop in the city (Malden Center) and can stop at Oak Grove if necessary. During the first few years of the 2000s, the MBTA updated signal systems and Orange Line service was replaced by shuttle buses at night. Since September 2007, such service interruptions have been limited to occasional weekends, while signal system repairs necessitated closing off the northern portion of the Orange Line and rerouting passengers via replacement bus service from either the Haymarket subway stop or Wellington Station.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: There is a sizable section of the old Boston and Maine Saugus Branch Railroad line running across the middle of Malden. This line is currently owned by the MBTA, but has been out of use since 1993 and has not seen passenger service since 1958. The Saugus Branch Railroad has now been converted into a 10-foot wide multi-use trail known as the Northern Strand Trail (aka Bike to the Sea Trail) which opened in December 2012. The paved section of Northern Strand trail currently extends from Wellington Street in Everett through Linden Square at the Malden/Revere. The unpaved section of the trail as of July 2019 runs through Revere and Saugus to Boston Street at the Lynn line. Trail extensions to the Mystic River / Encore Casino in Everett and paving the trail thru Revere, Saugus and to Western Avenue in Lynn will be built starting in Fall 2019. The City of Lynn and the Department of Conservation and Recreation will also be building a separated bicycle lane through Lynn Common, down Market Street and the Lynnway to Lynn and Nahant Beaches. The Malden section of the trail features the "ArtLine" a series of murals and sculptures created through the efforts of Malden Arts. Malden ArtLine


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Approximately 30 park sites throughout the city provide a variety of recreational facilities including tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, and ballfields. Other sites include a 400-meter synthetic running track at MacDonald Stadium; of the Middlesex Fells Reservation; the Fellsmere Pond; a DCR-owned-and-operated swimming pool; a 30,000 square feet (2,800 m) field house built under the new school rebuilding plan; the state-of-the-art Malden YMCA finished construction in early 2007; and Pine Banks Park, operated by a Board of Trustees with equal representation by the cities of Malden and Melrose. Waitt's Mountain is also in Malden.


title: Malden, Massachusetts

text: Other points of interest include the Converse Memorial Library and the Congregation Beth Israel. One of Malden's finest and most notable landmarks is the public library which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built in 1885. The initial construction of the library was funded by Malden's first mayor, Elisha S. Converse, who also funded its acquisition of an art collection.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Pelvic floor dysfunction is a term used for a variety of disorders that occur when pelvic floor muscles and ligaments are impaired. The condition affects up to 50 percent of women who have given birth. Although this condition predominantly affects women, up to 16 percent of men are affected as well. Symptoms can include pelvic pain, pressure, pain during sex, urinary incontinence (UI), overactive bladder, bowel incontinence, incomplete emptying of feces, constipation, myofascial pelvic pain and pelvic organ prolapse. When pelvic organ prolapse occurs, there may be visible organ protrusion or a lump felt in the vagina or anus.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Common treatments for pelvic floor dysfunction are surgery, medication, physical therapy and lifestyle modifications.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Pelvic floor dysfunction is defined as a herniation of the pelvic organs through the pelvic organ walls and pelvic floor. The condition is widespread, affecting up to 50 percent of women at some point in their lifetime. About 11 percent of women will undergo surgery for urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse by age 80. Women who experience pelvic floor dysfunction are more likely to report issues with arousal combined with dyspareunia. For women, there is a 20.5% risk for having a surgical intervention related to stress urinary incontinence. The literature suggests that white women are at increased risk for stress urinary incontinence.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Though pelvic floor dysfunction is thought to more commonly affect women, 16% of men have been identified with pelvic floor dysfunction. Pelvic floor dysfunction and its multiple consequences, including urinary incontinence, is a concerning health issue becoming more evident as the population of advancing age individuals rises.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Mechanistically, the causes of pelvic floor dysfunction are two-fold: widening of the pelvic floor hiatus and descent of pelvic floor below the pubococcygeal line, with specific organ prolapse, graded relative to the hiatus. People with an inherited deficiency in their collagen type may be more likely to develop pelvic floor dysfunction. Additionally, people with congenitally weak connective tissue and fascia are at an increased risk for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Recent literature demonstrates that defects in endopelvic fascia and compromised levator ani muscle function have been categorized as important etiologic factors in the development of pelvic floor dysfunction. Some circumstances are clearly associated with collagen defects. These include vaginally delivering a child, being post-menopausal, and being of advanced age.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Some lifestyle behaviors can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction. This includes avoiding urinating or bowel movements, obesity, use of muscle relaxants or narcotics, and use of antihistamines or anticholinergics. Using muscle relaxants or narcotics can lead to increased smooth and skeletal muscle relaxation, potentially related to urinary incontinence. Antihistamines and anticholinergics have additive effects that lead to urinary hesitancy and retention, ultimately leading to pelvic floor dysfunction. Urinary incontinence can also affect athletes, especially those in sports that require high impact such as jumping. Gymnasts, for example, report a high prevalence of urinary incontinence. Studies show that athletes in sports requiring high spinal stability may also have this condition, as the activation of abdominal wall muscles can cause urinary alterations during activities. In some cases, sexual abuse can also be associated with chronic pelvic pain and pelvic floor dysfunction.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Pelvic floor dysfunction can result after pelvic radiation, as well as other treatments for gynecological cancers.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Pelvic floor dysfunction can be assessed with a strong clinical history and physical exam, though imaging is often needed for diagnosis. As part of the clinical history, a healthcare provider may ask about obstetric history, including how many pregnancies and deliveries, what mode of delivery and if there were any complications during delivery. Providers will also ask about presence and severity of symptoms such as pelvic pain or pressure, problems with urination or defecation, painful sex, or sexual dysfunction. The physical exam may include both examination with a speculum to visualize the cervix and check for inflammation, as well as manual examination with the provider's fingers to assess for pain and strength of pelvic floor muscle contraction.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Imaging provides a more complete picture of the type and severity of pelvic floor dysfunction than history and physical exam alone. Historically, fluoroscopy with defecography and cystography were used. More recently, MRI has been used to complement and sometimes replace fluoroscopic assessment of the disorder. This technique is less invasive, and allows for less radiation exposure and increased patient comfort, though an enema is required the evening before the procedure. Both fluoroscopy and MRI assess the pelvic floor at rest and during maximum strain using coronal and sagittal views.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: When grading individual organ prolapse for severity, the rectum, bladder and uterus are individually assessed. Prolapse of the rectum is referred to as a rectocele, bladder prolapse through the anterior vaginal wall is called a cystocele, and prolapse of the small bowel is an enterocele. To assess the degree of dysfunction, three measurements are taken into account. First, an anatomic landmark known as the pubococcygeal line must be determined, which is a straight line connecting the inferior margin of the pubic symphysis at the midline with the junction of the first and second coccygeal elements on a sagittal image. After this, the location of the puborectalis muscle sling is assessed, and a perpendicular line between the pubococcygeal line and muscle sling is drawn. This line provides a reference point for the measurement of "pelvic floor descent." Descent greater than 2 cm below this line is considered mild and descent greater than 6 cm is considered severe. Lastly, a line from the pubic symphysis to the puborectalis muscle sling is drawn, which is a measurement of the pelvic floor hiatus. Measurements greater than 6 cm are considered mild, and greater than 10 cm severe. The degree of organ prolapse is assessed relative to the hiatus.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: The grading for "organ prolapse" relative to the hiatus is more strict. Any descent below the hiatus is considered abnormal, and descent greater than 4 cm is considered severe.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Ultrasound can also be used to diagnose pelvic floor dysfunction. Transabdominal, transvaginal, transperineal and endoanal ultrasound (EUS) are important tools for diagnosing pelvic floor dysfunction. For EUS, an ultrasound probe is inserted into the anal canal and can be used to visualize and assess the anatomy and function the pelvic floor. Ultrasound is easily accessible and noninvasive; however, it may compress certain structures, does not produce high-quality images and cannot be used to visualize the entire pelvic floor.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: There are several approaches to treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction, and often several approaches are used in combination.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Pelvic floor muscle (PFM) training is vital for treating different types of pelvic floor dysfunction. Two common problems are uterine prolapse and urinary incontinence both of which stem from muscle weakness. Pelvic floor muscle therapy is the first line of treatment for urinary incontinence and thus should be considered before more invasive procedures such as surgery. Being able to control the pelvic floor muscles is vital for a well functioning pelvic floor. Without the ability to control the pelvic floor muscles, pelvic floor training cannot be done successfully. Pelvic floor muscle therapy strengthens the muscles of the pelvic floor through repeated contractions of varying strength. Through vaginal palpation exams and the use of biofeedback, the tightening, lifting, and squeezing actions of these muscles can be determined. Biofeedback can be used to treat urinary incontinence as it records contractions of the pelvic floor muscles and can help patients become aware of the use of their muscles. PFM training can also increase female sexual satisfaction by improving sexual function and the ability to orgasm.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: In addition, abdominal muscle training has been shown to improve pelvic floor muscle function. By increasing abdominal muscle strength and control, a person may have an easier time activating the pelvic floor muscles in sync with the abdominal muscles. Many physiotherapists are specially trained to address the muscle weaknesses associated with pelvic floor dysfunction and can effectively treat pelvic floor dysfunction through strengthening exercises. Overall, physical therapy can significantly improve the quality of life of those with pelvic floor dysfunction by relieving symptoms.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Overactive bladder can be treated with medications, including those in the class of antimuscarinics and beta 3 agonists. Antimuscarinics are the most commonly used, however, beta 3 agonists can be used for those that are unable to take antimuscarinics due to side effects or other reasons.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: A pessary is a plastic or silicone device that may be used for women with pelvic organ prolapse. This treatment is useful for individuals who do not want to have surgery or are unable to have surgery due risk of the procedure. Some pessaries have a knob that can also treat urinary incontinence. To be effective, pessaries must be fit by a medical provider and the largest device that fits comfortably should be used.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Treatment for pelvic floor dysfunction, especially the symptom of urinary incontinence, is essential, but so is prevention. Patients are usually encouraged to change their lifestyles; interventions such as reducing body weight, limiting the use of stimulants, quitting smoking, limiting strenuous efforts, preventing constipation and increasing physical activity can help prevent pelvic floor dysfunction. For those that already have diagnosed pelvic floor dysfunction, symptoms can be eased by physical activity, especially abdominal exercises and pelvic floor exercises (Kegels) that strengthen the pelvic floor. Symptoms of urinary incontinence can also be reduced by making dietary changes such as limiting intake of acidic and spicy foods, alcohol and caffeine.


title: Pelvic floor dysfunction

text: Surgery is performed when desired by the patient or when less invasive treatments, such as lifestyle modification and physical therapy, are not effective. There are various procedures used to address prolapse. Cystoceles are treated with a surgical procedure known as a Burch colposuspension, with the goal of suspending the prolapsed urethra so that the urethrovesical junction and proximal urethra are replaced in the pelvic cavity. Uterine prolapse is treated with hysterectomy and uterosacral suspension. With enteroceles, the prolapsed small bowel is elevated into the pelvis cavity and the rectovaginal fascia is reapproximated. Rectoceles, in which the anterior wall of the rectum protrudes into the posterior wall of the vagina, require posterior colporrhaphy, also known as repair of the vaginal wall. Though pelvic floor dysfunction is more common in women, there are also proven methods to assist men. In severe cases of pelvic floor dysfunction causing urinary incontinence, a radical prostatectomy followed by postoperative pelvic floor muscle therapy is an option.


title: W48

text: The W48 was an American nuclear artillery shell, capable of being fired from any standard howitzer. A tactical nuclear weapon, it was manufactured starting in 1963, and all units were retired in 1992. It was known as the XM454 AFAP (artillery fired atomic projectile) in US service.


title: W48

text: The weapon was long and weighed , and was produced in two versions; the Mod 0 and Mod 1. The yield was thought to be making it one of the smallest nuclear weapons ever developed by the US.


title: W48

text: The history of the W48 began in April 1954 when the US Army expressed interest in a small low-yield nuclear projectile. The initial development was the W33 gun-type projectile but the Army was interested in an improved or an even smaller diameter weapon. A study was commissioned to explore the development of a small-diameter implosion type artillery shell. The technology at this time was not sufficiently advanced to develop such a weapon but significant progress was made by the University of California Radiation Laboratory (UCRL) over the next twelve months. A further study of an implosion weapon was also commissioned that led to initial work on the XW48 focused on the design, leading to the cancellation of the XW32 shell in favour of the WX48 in May 1955. Although the details of the study are classified, the results were positive enough that by September 1956 that emphasis moved to developing a 155 mm shell.


title: W48

text: The draft military characteristics noted that the shell would afford divisional commanders the ability to provide close nuclear fire support and enable the attack of deep targets not appropriately reached by other nuclear weapons available to them. The shell could be fired from sea level to to strike target from sea level to in altitude and the weapon would have a range of .


title: W48

text: In May 1957 Sandia stated that the 155 mm implosion-type projectile would require considerable development work and that the success of the program was not assured. Some of the issues cited included the resistance of beryllium to firing shock and issues with the strength of high-explosives and the nuclear assembly under setback acceleration. New and extremely rugged components would need development and they estimated that at least three years would be required for development.


title: W48

text: As the Atomic Energy Commission was not equipped to study setback accelerations on shells, research into this matter was performed by the military. This research determined that the weapon would need to withstand angular accelerations of 166,000 radians per second per second, spins of 2,500 to 18,000 revolutions per minute and setback accelerations of . Picatinny Arsenal suggested that the weapon use a toroidal polystyrene capacitor. This capacitor was thought to be the weakest link in the assembly and would have to remain charged for 4 years in storage.


title: W48

text: The Army informed Sandia in July 1958 that due to the technical challenges of the 155mm shell that a shell be explored as well but that work on the 155 mm design continue. In early 1959 the Army considered cancelling the XW48 but in April decided upon review to continue the program.


title: W48

text: In May 1959, Sandia presented the XW48 firing set to the Oak Committee. The design included a ferromagnetic transducer, and formed a cylinder wide and high. Tests of the firing set had been successful and most of the design problems had been solved. By August the length of the projectile had increased to improve the shell's ballistic characteristics and the weight increased to which reduced the range to .


title: W48

text: In January 1960 the Defense Atomic Support Agency wrote to Sandia indicating the weapon met the desired military characteristics with some exceptions. These exceptions remain classified except for the statement that a higher yield was still desired. However in May the Military Liaison Committee amended the military Characteristics requirements to make the weapon compatible with the T248 howitzer in addition to the M1A1. UCRL and Sandia state this was not possible to confirm without further testing. Tests were subsequently performed at Yuma Proving Ground generating angular accelerations of 190,000 radians per second per second and setback accelerations of . No damage to weapon components was detected.


title: W48

text: In November 1961 the Army nomenclature of the weapon was changed from T358 to XM454 due to security concerns. In June 1962 the requirement for surface burst preclusion was removed and in September the requirement for the shell to survive air-drop delivery from helicopters was added. At this time full-scale testing of warhead components fired from howitzers began. First production date slipped from June 1962 to October, then to March 1963.


title: W48

text: First production of the W48 Mod 0 occurred in October 1963. The maximum range of the weapon was and the minimum fuze-setting range was . The final weapon was long and weighed . The weapon was internally initiated.


title: W48

text: Later a Mod 1 variant was produced. Only 135 Mod 0 weapons were produced out of a total production run of 1060 weapons and these weapons were retired by 1969. The Mod 1 weapons were retired in 1992.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: Louis Robert Paul Ducruet (born 26 November 1992) is the son of Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and Daniel Ducruet.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: Ducruet grew up in Monaco-Ville. His parents, Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and Daniel Ducruet, were married in 1995, but divorced a year later. For a couple of years, he lived in Auron, France, then he moved with his mother and sisters to the Zurich area. After 2002, he and his mother and sisters returned to live in Monaco.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: Ducruet attended primary school in Auron. He then attended the Lycée français Marie Curie de Zurich. He completed secondary schooling at Lycée Albert Premier, where he passed the Baccalauréat in 2010. He started his post-secondary education at Skema Business School in Sophia Antipolis, France. In 2015, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Sports Management at Western Carolina University, in Cullowhee, North Carolina


title: Louis Ducruet

text: Immediately after secondary school, he took a summer job in the water sports department of Société des bains de mer de Monaco (SBM). He interned for AS Monaco FC and, after obtaining his degree, took a salaried position as an international recruiter. Early in 2019, he was promoted to Assistant to the Vice-President of the club, Vadim Vasilyev.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: As of March 2016, Ducruet and his father, Daniel Ducruet, are co-managers of the Monaco-based company MONADECO.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: In 2013, Ducruet participated in the "4L Trophy" automobile race. The race covered 6000 km, with starting points from Poitiers to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and tracked over France, Spain, and Morocco. Ducruet and his co-driver, Ronan Imbrosciano, drove a car that was decorated in the colors and emblem of Radio Monaco. The money raised from the event provides school supplies to poor Moroccan students.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: On 26 October 2020, it was announced that Ducruet joined EFL Championship football club Nottingham Forest as an advisor for international projects.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: On 12 February 2018, Ducruet announced his engagement to long-time girlfriend, Marie Hoa Chevallier (born 28 December 1992), a Frenchwoman of Vietnamese descent. Ducruet and Chevallier met in their first year of "Grande école" at the Skema Business School. Chevallier is a graduate of Skema, where she earned her Bachelor of Business Administration, and is specialized in French Education and Marketing from Western Carolina University. She has a career as event coordinator in luxury hospitality.


title: Louis Ducruet

text: The civil wedding took place on 26 July 2019 at Monaco town hall. The religious wedding took place on 27 July 2019 at Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate.


title: Hum TV

text: Hum TV is a 24-hour Urdu General Entertainment TV channel based in Karachi, Pakistan. It was founded by Sultana Siddiqui and Duraid Qureshi. It is owned by Hum Network Limited and traded on Pakistan Stock Exchange as (HUMNL).


title: Hum TV

text: Hum Network Limited was known as "Eye Television Network Limited" prior to 21 January 2011. Hum TV began its transmission on 17 January 2005. In March 2013, Hum Network held its first Hum Awards ceremony. As of 1 May 2018, Hum TV shut down its SD feed and is only available in HD in Pakistan.


title: Hum TV

text: Hum TV is one of Pakistan's biggest entertainment networks and regularly is in top ranks and maintains a loyal fanbase on social media, streaming platforms, as well as on television.


title: Hum TV

text: The channel's drama series "Humsafar", broadcast in 2011–2012, has become the most successful program of the channel to date, earning it widespread acclaim and international recognition. Due to its success, critics referred to Pakistani television as a "Golden Age".


title: Hum TV

text: At the 1st Hum Awards ceremony it was awarded the Hum Honorary Phenomenal Serial Award. Hum TV caters to all genres from entertainment. While HUM caters to urban Pakistan, most dramas on Hum TV at the moment are skewed towards a teen/youth audience, with some other serials being aimed at a more mature urban audience.


title: Hum TV

text: The network television serials are primarily produced under production company Momina Duraid Productions or MD Productions, owned by Momina Duraid wife of Siddiqui's youngest Son Duraid Qureshi and she is also a senior producer at channel.


title: Hum TV

text: The other Hum TV shows are being produced by Moomal Entertainment owned by Moomal Shunaid, wife of Siddiqui's eldest son Shunaid Siddiqui. Moomal Entertainment was founded in 2014.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin. It was recorded by Elton John and released in 1976, both as a single and as part of the "Blue Moves" album. It was John's second single released by The Rocket Record Company. The song is a mournful ballad about a romantic relationship which is falling apart.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: The song also appeared the following year on "Greatest Hits Volume II", though for copyright reasons it no longer appears on the current version of that album. It now appears on "Greatest Hits 1976–1986", "The Very Best of Elton John" and in "Greatest Hits 1970–2002", as well as a number of other compilations.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a mournful ballad about a romantic relationship that is falling apart. Bernie Taupin said: "It's a pretty simple idea, but one that I think everyone can relate to at one point or another in their life. That whole idealistic feeling people get when they want to save something from dying when they basically know deep down inside that it's already dead. It's that heartbreaking, sickening part of love that you wouldn't wish on anyone if you didn't know that it's inevitable that they're going to experience it one day."


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: Elton John began writing the song in 1975 in Los Angeles. Whilst many of his songs involved Taupin writing lyrics first, then John writing the music later, John wrote the melody and most of the lyrics for "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", and Taupin completed it afterwards. John explained: "I was sitting there and out it came, 'What have I got to do to make you love me.'"


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: Taupin later said: "I don't think he was intending on writing a song, but we were sitting around an apartment in Los Angeles, and he was playing around on the piano and he came up with this melody line, and I said, 'Hey, that's really nice.' For some reason this lyrical line, 'Sorry seems to be the hardest word' ran through my head, and it fit perfectly with what he was playing. So I said, 'Don't do anything more to that, let me go write something,' so I wrote it out in a few minutes and we had the song." Taupin added: "[The i]nteresting thing about 'Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word' is that it's one of the rare occasions when Elton played me a melody line that inspired a lyric, as opposed to our routine of the lyrics always coming first. He was messing around on the piano one day and was playing something and asked me what did I think. It was actually pretty immediate, the title and the first couple of lines came into my head in a way that I guess I felt they were already there and just needed a little prompting."


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: "Billboard Magazine" praised John's vocal performance, calling it "almost painfully sincere and believable" and also commented on the complexity of the backing vocals. "Cash Box" called it "a tender love song about breaking up."


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: The song was a Top 20 hit, reaching No. 11 in the United Kingdom, No. 6 in the United States and No. 3 in Canada. In addition, the song went to No. 1 on the US and Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. In the US, it was certified Gold on 25 January 1977 by the RIAA.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" was covered in 2002 by English boy band Blue for their second studio album, "One Love" (2002). The song was recorded as a collaboration with Elton John and was the second single from the album. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 15 December 2002, giving Blue their second number-one single and John his fifth. It also reached number one in Hungary and the Netherlands, and peaked within the top 10 in an additional 16 countries.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: When Blue's second studio album, "One Love", was being put together, executive producer Hugh Goldsmith said that a cover version should be included on the final tracklist. Band member Lee Ryan suggested "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" as it was his favourite song of all time. Despite reservations from the rest of the group, who were sceptical that Elton John would allow them to record the track, John's management gave permission. John accompanied the band in the recording studio and was originally only going to play the piano, but he later said he was willing sing as well, and the song became a duet.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: The song was covered by Joe Cocker in 1991 for the "" tribute album. Cocker is quoted in the album liner notes:


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: In 1993, Argentinian singer Pedro Aznar covered and translated the lyrics in Spanish called "Ya no hay forma de pedir perdón", which made the single popular and a favourite among Argentinians.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: In 2004, Elton John and Ray Charles performed the song on Charles' duet album, "Genius Loves Company". It would turn out to be the last recording Charles ever did before his death that June. The duet was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. It was also performed by smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G on the soprano saxophone featuring Richard Marx on his 2004 album "At Last...The Duets Album" later that year.


title: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

text: The single was the lead single for the eight-track remix compilation "Good Morning to the Night" in collaboration with Australian remixer Pnau, which came out on 16 July 2012. In 2015, the song was covered by Diana Krall. This version was included on her "Wallflower" album.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Rupert Bear is a British children's comic strip character and franchise created by artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the "Daily Express" newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival "Daily Mail" and "Daily Mirror". In 1935, the stories were taken over by Alfred Bestall, who was previously an illustrator for "Punch" and other glossy magazines. Bestall proved to be successful in the field of children's literature and worked on Rupert stories and artwork into his nineties. More recently, various other artists and writers have continued the series. About 50 million copies have been sold worldwide.


title: Rupert Bear

text: The comic strip is published daily in the "Daily Express", with many of these stories later being printed in books, and every year since 1936 a Rupert annual has also been released. Rupert Bear is a part of children's culture in the United Kingdom, and appears in several television series based on the character.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Rupert is a bear who lives with his parents in a house in Nutwood, a fictional idyllic English village. He is drawn wearing a red jumper and bright yellow checked trousers, with matching yellow scarf. Originally depicted as a brown bear, his colour soon changed to white to save on printing costs, though he remained brown on the covers of the annuals.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Most of the other characters in the series are also anthropomorphic animals (animals with humanoid forms). They are all scaled to be about the same size as Rupert, regardless of species. Rupert's animal friends are usually referred to as his "chums" or "pals." Aside from his best friend Bill Badger, some of the most enduring pals are an elephant (Edward Trunk), a mouse (Willie), Pong-Ping the Pekingese, Algy Pug (who actually pre-dates Rupert), Podgy Pig, Bingo the Brainy Pup, the identical twins Freddy and Ferdy Fox, the identical twins Reggie and Rex Rabbit, and Ming the dragon. The kindly Wise Old Goat also lives in Nutwood, and helps Rupert in some of his adventures. One of the most unusual and evocative characters is Raggety, a woodland troll-creature made from twigs, who is often very grumpy and annoying. In the 2006 television revival of the series, Raggety has been transformed into a friendly elf with broken English. There is also a recurring country Police Officer who is an adult dog named PC Growler.


title: Rupert Bear

text: There are also a few human characters in the stories, such as the Professor (who lives in a castle with his servant, Bodkin), Tiger Lily (a Chinese girl), her father "the Conjuror," and several less frequently occurring characters such as Sailor Sam, Gaffer Jarge, Captain Binnacle and Rollo, the Gypsy boy. There is also a recurring Merboy.


title: Rupert Bear

text: During his time as Rupert writer, Alfred Bestall added further characters such as the girl guides Beryl, Pauline and Janet, with Beryl's cat, Dinky. These characters were based on Girl Guides from Bestall's own church who asked him in late 1947 if they could have their own adventure with Rupert. They remain part of the comic series even today.


title: Rupert Bear

text: The series often features fantastic and magical adventures in faraway lands. Each story begins in Nutwood, where Rupert usually sets out on a small errand for his mother or to visit a friend, which then develops into an adventure to an exotic place such as King Frost's Castle, the Kingdom of the Birds, underground, or to the bottom of the sea. Sometimes one of the Professor's inventions opens the door to one of Rupert's adventures. At the end of the story Rupert returns to Nutwood, where all is safe and well, and where his parents seem perfectly sanguine about his adventures.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Unlike most modern comic strips, Rupert Bear has always been produced in the original form of strip with illustrations accompanying text, called "text comics", as opposed to text being incorporated directly into the art; for example, within speech balloons.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Bestall developed the classic Rupert story format: the story is told in picture form (generally two panels each day in the newspaper and four panels to a page in the annuals), in simple page-headers, in rhyming two-line-per-image verse, and as running prose at the foot. Rupert Annuals can therefore be "read" on four levels.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Rupert's unspectacular introduction was in a single panel, the first of 36 episodes of the story "Little Lost Bear" written and drawn by Tourtel.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Bestall expanded the stories and plots of Rupert; and in addition to precise and detailed drawings for the "Daily Express" panels he also created beautifully crafted illustrations in the Rupert Annuals. Bestall drew the Rupert stories for the "Daily Express" until 1965; and continued to illustrate the covers for the annuals until his retirement in 1973. Much of the landscape in Rupert is inspired by the Vale of Clwyd in North Wales (Alfred Bestall himself lived for many years in the north Welsh village of Beddgelert)(the Professor's castle is based on Ruthin Castle), the Sussex Weald and East Devon. Bestall's successor was Alex Cubie. Cubie created Rupert annual artwork between 1974 and 1977. His images are recognisable from the thicker black outlines around the characters and the use of more vibrant colours than Bestall employed. A Rupert Annual is still produced every year and Rupert appears each day in the "Daily Express". In 1978, his new adventures became illustrated by John Harrold; his drawings in the annual were usually coloured by Gina Hart. In 2008 John Harrold was succeeded by Stuart Trotter and a new style of annual (sans serif typeface) with a more modern Rupert to tie-in with the CGI-animation "Rupert Bear, Follow the Magic...", began.


title: Rupert Bear

text: The Rupert Annual for 1960 contained a story called "Rupert and the Diamond Leaf", in which he visits "Coon Island", whose inhabitants are little "Coons". The Coons previously appeared on the cover of "The New Rupert: The Daily Express Annual, 1954" and in the interior story "Rupert and the Castaway". The first appearance was in the 1946 soft cover summer special "Rupert on Coon Island".


title: Rupert Bear

text: Rupert appeared in Paul McCartney's 1984 music video "We All Stand Together"; McCartney also made an animated video starring Rupert called "Rupert and the Frog Song". The short film, produced by McCartney won the British Academy Award.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Tourtel's home was in Canterbury in Kent, and the Rupert Bear Museum, formerly part of the Canterbury Heritage Museum, which has since closed, had collections that covered much of the history of Rupert and his friends, as well as Tourtel and other illustrators. The museum was geared toward families and those interested in the general history of Rupert.


title: Rupert Bear

text: On 31 October 2005, UK Media Group Entertainment Rights (which was later bought by Boomerang Media, then DreamWorks Classics and now NBCUniversal) purchased a majority interest in the Rupert Bear character from the "Daily Express".


title: Rupert Bear

text: Every year since 1936, a Rupert Bear annual has been released, even during the years of World War II, during a paper shortage.


title: Rupert Bear

text: All of these books were written and illustrated by Mary Tourtel and originally published from 1928 to 1936, by Sampson Low. There were 46 books in the original series.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Some of the titles were later published for the Woolworth's retail chain, with only 18 of the original titles. However, the titles and numbers for this series did not relate to the earlier published series.


title: Rupert Bear

text: Brainwaves Limited of Basingstoke, Hampshire, produced a series of Rupert storybooks in 1991 (no author or artist credited):


title: Rupert Bear

text: Rupert first appeared on television in an ITC series produced for the ITV network that ran for 156 ten-minute episodes. The characters were all puppets, although the opening sequence featured a toy Rupert bear sitting in a live-action child's bedroom. Rupert's friends and flying chariot appeared straight from the "Daily Express" pages, although he was joined by some new friends including Willy Wisp, Drizzle, Della, Jimmy, Mr Grimnasty, Gypsy Granny, Chun-Mao, The Wise Old Wizard, and Mr Koskora


title: Rupert Bear

text: The theme song, written by Len Beadle (also known as Frank Weston) and Ron Roker, sung by Jackie Lee, reached number 14 in the UK charts in 1971.


title: Rupert Bear

text: "Rupert" returned to television in 1985 to the BBC, in the form of 36 five-minute-stories. In this series, each episode consisted of a series of still illustrations and narration. The sole narrator was Ray Brooks. The short title music is credited to Brave New World. In the US, these shorts aired on the Disney Channel as part of its "Lunch Box" program.


title: Rupert Bear

text: In 1991, Rupert Bear featured in an animated television series with 65 episodes and five seasons (13 per season) produced by Nelvana (Canada), Ellipse (France) and Television South (TVS) for the first season (13 episodes), with Scottish TV taking over control from season 2 when Television South lost its ITV franchise. The show followed the style and tone Bestall established in the Rupert newspaper series, with many of the stories being almost direct adaptations of his or others' panel stories from the "Daily Express".


title: Rupert Bear

text: It was aired in syndication on YTV in Canada. In the U.S., the show first aired on Nickelodeon (as part of Nick Jr. block) before moving to CBS in January 1999; repeats of the series came to Qubo's digital service in January 2007. The show was aired in the United Kingdom on CITV. In Australia, the show was aired on the ABC and on TV2 in New Zealand as part of the "Jason Gunn show". The show has been returned in the United Kingdom on the satellite and cable network Tiny Pop. As of 2009, the show also airs daily on Qubo channel, although only the latter 26 episodes are being shown. In South America, the show was aired in Brazil by the TV Cultura channel between 1998 and 2008.


title: Rupert Bear

text: In 2000, the Canadian producer Nelvana made plans to produce a feature film about Rupert at Hollywood studios, but the project was not implemented.


title: Rupert Bear

text: In 2006, a new Rupert Bear stop-motion-animated television series was produced, skewing almost entirely towards small children. Changes to the characters are that Rupert wears trainers and his fur has a slight tan; Bill wears a dark blue leather jacket and blue pants with yellow stripes instead of his suit and bowtie, and tends to carry a personal digital assistant with him at all times; Pong Ping has become a girl who uses magic and had her name reversed; Raggety, who rarely appeared before, has become a friendly tree elf; Ming a baby dragon and Ping Pong's pet; Edward no longer has tusks, his trunk has been straightened and he wears an orange T-shirt and brown shorts; and one of the fox twins (Ferdie) has been changed into a girl named Freda. There are new characters like Miranda the mermaid; but characters Podgy Pig, his self-obsessed sister Rosalie and the timid Willie Mouse make no appearances.


title: Rupert Bear

text: "Rupert Bear, Follow The Magic ..." was first aired on Five from 8 November 2006 until 1 February 2008. 52 ten-minute episodes were broadcast and subsequently repeated.


title: Rupert Bear

text: A short film directed by Geoff Dunbar based on ideas/music/songs by Paul McCartney was made in 1984, titled "Rupert and the Frog Song". It follows Rupert as he explores the country one night and finds a special gathering of frogs. The film contains a song titled "We All Stand Together", written by McCartney and arranged by the Beatles' producer George Martin. The song reached No.3 in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Rupert Bear

text: The British video-game publisher Quicksilva adapted Rupert Bear for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum 8-bit computers, in two game instalments: the 1985 "Rupert and the Toymaker's Party" and the 1986 "Rupert and The Ice Castle".


title: Rupert Bear

text: In September 2020, Royal Mail issued a set of eight stamps to commemorate the centenary of Rupert Bear. Featuring Bestall's artwork, they comprised two second-class stamps, two first-class, two at £1.45 and two at £1.70.


title: Rupert Bear

text: A cartoon of Rupert superimposed on a Robert Crumb drawing, showing the bear in a sexual situation, was a notable part of the notorious edition of the British underground magazine "Oz" guest-edited by schoolkids. Subsequently, the adult editors and publishers of the magazine were prosecuted in a high-profile obscenity trial at the Old Bailey in June 1971; the inclusion of Rupert formed a part of the prosecution's case and defence witnesses were cross-examined on it.


title: Guitar Center

text: Guitar Center is an American musical instrument retailer chain. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 294 locations. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California.


title: Guitar Center

text: Guitar Center oversees various subsidiaries including Musician's Friend, AVDG, Music & Arts, Woodwind & Brasswind, and Giardinelli.


title: Guitar Center

text: The company was founded in Hollywood by Wayne Mitchell in 1959 as The Organ Center, a retailer of electronic organs for home and church use. In 1964, after one of Mitchell's suppliers informed him that in order to continue receiving organs he would have to also carry Vox guitar amplifiers, Mitchell added the amps and changed the store's name to The Vox Center, capitalizing on the popularity of The Beatles and their association with the Vox brand. Toward the end of the 1960s, as other brands like Marshall rose in popularity, Mitchell once again changed the name, this time to Guitar Center.


title: Guitar Center

text: By 1972, Guitar Center had expanded to eight stores, and eventually opened locations in San Francisco and San Diego, as well as several suburbs of Los Angeles. Ray Scherr, previously the General Manager of the San Francisco store, purchased the company from Mitchell in the late 1970s.


title: Guitar Center

text: The 1980s "guitar rock" revival led by Van Halen and a concurrent influx of Japanese-produced instruments brought guitar sales to unprecedented levels, fueling Guitar Center's further expansion across the United States to become the largest musical instrument retailer in the country.


title: Guitar Center

text: Scherr sold the company in 1996. The following year, with 30 stores on the West Coast and in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida, Guitar Center made an initial public offering of stock and began opening new locations at an increased rate.


title: Guitar Center

text: In 2000, Guitar Center acquired mail order and e-commerce retailer Musician's Friend for $50 million, asserting that the merged company was the world's largest seller of musical instruments. Musician's Friend became a wholly owned subsidiary, and remained headquartered in Medford, Oregon.


title: Guitar Center

text: In 2005, Guitar Center Inc. acquired Music & Arts, the largest band & orchestra dealer in the United States, and merged their American Music Group chain of band and orchestral stores into Music & Arts (as the company was renamed). The same year, Guitar Center, Inc., started The Fender Music Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports music education.


title: Guitar Center

text: In Summer 2006, Guitar Center acquired four stores in Texas from the popular South Texas and Central/South American company, Hermes. The same year, Activision partnered with Guitar Center; all purchases made during game play of "Guitar Hero", beginning with the second installment, are made in a virtual Guitar Center store.


title: Guitar Center

text: In February 2007, the direct response division of Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, purchased assets of the Indiana-based company Dennis Bamber, Inc., which included leading band and orchestra retailer Woodwind & Brasswind, plus Music 123 and Lyons Music.


title: Guitar Center

text: On June 27, 2007, Guitar Center agreed to a $1.9 billion buyout from Bain Capital, totaling $2.1 billion including debt. The deal was led by Goldman Sachs and amounted to a per-share price of $63, or a 26% premium on the June 26 closing price. The deal was approved by shareholders on September 18, 2007, and closed October 9, 2007.


title: Guitar Center

text: In mid-2009 Guitar Center opened its first rehearsal and lessons studio facility in Woodland Hills, California. The eight studios with full backline range in size from .


title: Guitar Center

text: In 2011, Musician's Friend's headquarters operations were gradually consolidated into Guitar Center's facilities in Westlake Village, California. The same year, Guitar Center began offering equipment rentals in one of their San Diego, California stores. Guitar Center has since opened rental departments in ten other existing locations and plans to offer rental services in various other stores across the country.


title: Guitar Center

text: In May 2013, Standard & Poor's cut its debt rating on Bain Capital-owned Guitar Center Holdings Inc to "junk bond" status, citing struggles with "weak operating trends." The corporate credit rating on the company dropped from 'B−' to 'CCC+'.


title: Guitar Center

text: In April 2014, Ares Management took a controlling stake in Guitar Center. Bain Capital, Guitar Center's former owner, retained partial ownership of the company, along with representation on the board. According to Mike Pratt, the retailer's previous chief executive, the deal will reduce Guitar Center's total debt and provide it with the resources to expand its footprint and invest in its business.


title: Guitar Center

text: In August 2014, Guitar Center opened a new 28,000 square foot flagship location in the heart of Times Square in New York City. The grand opening included a celebratory concert featuring the band The Roots. The Guitar Center Times Square location is now the permanent home of Eric Clapton's Blackie Fender Stratocaster, which Guitar Center purchased at a Christie's Crossroads Centre auction in 2004 for $959,000. Due to the pandemic, and Guitar Center’s 2020 bankruptcy filing, the Times Square location is permanently closed.


title: Guitar Center

text: In April, 2017, Moody's Investors Services revised the outlook on Guitar Center's B2 rating to negative, meaning it could downgrade the rating further into junk territory in the medium term. The concern was that Guitar Center may be overwhelmed by its $1 billion debt in the face of flat sales in the musical instrument industry as a whole.


title: Guitar Center

text: On November 13, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guitar Center announced that it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after negotiating a debt-cutting deal with key investors and lenders as soon as the weekend of November 14, 2020. Guitar Center said it received up to $165 million in new equity and lenders agreed to reduce its debt by around $800 million. Guitar Center emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 23, 2020, after a reorganization deal added additional equity and debt capital.


title: Guitar Center

text: The "Guitar Center Legends Collection" consists of four classic guitars made famous by music legends Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and U2's The Edge. Guitar Center purchased Clapton’s “Blackie” Fender Stratocaster, his vintage Gibson “ES-335,” and Vaughan’s “Lenny” Stratocaster for over $2.4 million from the Clapton Crossroads Centre charity auction at Christie's New York in 2004. They added The Edge’s cream white Gibson Les Paul Custom after purchasing it for $240,000 at the Music Rising Charity Auction in 2007. Over the years, the collection has been exhibited in one-of-a-kind, "Legends' Collection" display cases, which provide high level protection and climate control as the instruments tour prestigious musical events and key Guitar Center locations, such as "Guitar Center Road to Crossroads" held at Madison Square Garden in conjunction with Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in April 2013. In August 2014, Clapton’s Blackie and ES-335 were moved to their new permanent location at Guitar Center’s Times Square flagship location.


title: Guitar Center

text: Clapton's "Blackie" was purchased by Guitar Center for $959,500. Clapton’s Cherry Red Gibson "335", purchased for $847,500, was used to record Cream’s versions of "Badge" and "Crossroads (from their final live performance in November 1968),” as well as many other historical performances, during his 40 years of ownership. Steve Ray Vaughan’s "Lenny", which was purchased for $623,500, was used to record his classic love songs including "Lenny" and "Riviera Paradise". All of the proceeds from these three guitars purchased by Guitar Center were for the benefit of Clapton’s Crossroads Centre charity.


title: Guitar Center

text: The Edge's cream colored 1975 Les Paul Custom (faded from its original white) found fame as a go-to guitar for stage and studio on many of U2’s most famous recordings and performances. In 2005, The Edge partnered with producer Bob Ezrin, Gibson and the Guitar Center Music Foundation (now known as the Fender Music Foundation) to establish Music Rising, a charity founded to benefit musicians whose lives were torn apart by Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, he donated this prized guitar to be auctioned for the cause. The winning bid was $240,000 from Guitar Center ($288,000 including Buyers Premium).


title: Guitar Center

text: From 1988 through 2016, Guitar Center conducted an annual search for the next great undiscovered drummer. Developed to spotlight the drumming community, Guitar Center’s Drum-Off is the music retailer’s longest running artist-discovery program. For over 25 years, the program unearthed top undiscovered drummers and provided a platform for established drummers to be acknowledged.


title: Guitar Center

text: The process of Guitar Center’s Drum-Off began with three rounds of preliminary competitions at each of Guitar Center's 250+ locations nationwide, with each contestant allowed five minutes of set up time and three minutes to perform. One winner from each store finals competition advanced to one of 30 quarterfinal competitions, and one winner from each quarterfinal competition advanced to one of five semifinal competitions, during which contestants were allowed five minutes to perform. The winners from each of these five semifinal competitions qualified to compete in Guitar Center's Drum-Off finals in Los Angeles, California in front of a live audience and a panel of celebrity judges.


title: Guitar Center

text: In the finals, each contestant was required to perform on a 5-piece acoustic drum kit complete with hardware, cymbals, cowbell, throne and the option to incorporate the Roland SPD-30 Octapad into the competition kit (the SPD-30 was not included in 2016). Contestants were evaluated by a panel of independent and credible judges on the following criteria: skills & technique, groove, originality, stage presence, and overall performance.


title: Guitar Center

text: Some of the world’s most renowned drummers participated in and supported Guitar Center’s Drum-Off, including: Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa), Dennis Chambers (Parliament/Funkadelic), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Steve Gadd, Questlove (The Roots), Travis Barker (Blink-182), Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe), Dave Lombardo (Slayer), Carmine Appice, John Tempesta (The Cult), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Steve Smith, Gavin Harrison, Jojo Mayer, Thomas Lang, Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle), José Pasillas (Incubus), Billy Cobham, Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden), Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), Danny Carey (Tool), Brann Dailor (Mastodon), John Blackwell, and more.


title: Guitar Center

text: Guitar Center discontinued their sponsorship of the annual contest in 2017, announcing that it would instead create a community outreach program specifically geared toward drummers.


title: Guitar Center

text: The Sunset Boulevard location in Los Angeles hosts Hollywood's RockWalk, a hall of fame honoring musical artists. Founded in 1985, artists are invited to place their handprints into cement blocks that are put on display at the Guitar Center. The inaugural inductees were music gear pioneers Jim Marshall, Robert Moog, Les Paul, and musicians Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Wonder. Since then over 150 more honorees have followed. Other inductees include Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, Carole King, Alice Cooper, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Herbie Hancock, the Black Crowes, Dick Clark, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, KISS, John Lee Hooker, Smokey Robinson, Solomon Burke, John "Jabo" Starks, Robert Cray, Etta James, Ike Turner, Kim Se-hwang, Muddy Waters, B'z, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Alanis Morissette, B.B. King, Black Sabbath, Carlos Santana, Cheap Trick, Def Leppard, Ernie Ball, Grandmaster Flash, Iron Maiden, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Joan Baez, Joe Satriani, Bonnie Raitt, Kenny Loggins, Johnny Cash, Layne Staley, Little Richard, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Melissa Etheridge, Nancy Wilson, Queen, Roky Erickson, Clyde Stubblefield, Slash, The Doobie Brothers, The Wrecking Crew, Van Halen, Vince Gill, Simon Kirke, Lizzo, Nick Cave, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Oasis, Mud, Korn, In Flames, Jakob Dylan, BTS, Yola and even also Chick Corea.


title: Guitar Center

text: First debuting in 2010, each episode of "Guitar Center Sessions" showcases exclusive live performances by noteworthy artists captured in hi-definition at Guitar Center's iconic Hollywood, CA location. Some past guests have included Linkin Park, Saint Motel, Wiz Khalifa, Billy Idol, The 1975, Sum 41, Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette, 311, Megadeth, Snoop Dogg, Soundgarden, Seether, The Cult, Cake, Jakob Dylan, Tame Impala, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Bush, Ben Folds Five, Korn, Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, Skylar Grey, Peter Frampton, Frank Turner, J Balvin, Coheed and Cambria, Debbie Harry, Kraftwerk and Jane's Addiction. "Guitar Center Sessions" is hosted by Nic Harcourt, and was created, developed and produced by Guitar Center exclusively on DirecTV. "Guitar Center Sessions" has won several awards, including a Lumiere Award from the International 3D Society for the episodes featuring Jane's Addiction and Peter Gabriel. To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Guitar Center asked Linkin Park to play a show on October 24, 2014; the performance first aired on DirecTV on December 5, 2014.


title: Guitar Center

text: The "At: Guitar Center" web series (formerly "At: Guitar Center" podcast) features interviews and intimate performances with some of the biggest names in music. Some past guests have included Travis Barker, Sevendust, T-Pain, Joe Bonamassa, The Crystal Method, Buddy Guy, Elmer Bernstein, Daughtry, Jimmy Cliff, Meiko, Lee Jong-suk, Rza, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Brandi Carlile, and Minus the Bear, The podcasts are available on the iTunes, Zune and BlackBerry networks and on the Guitar Center website. The show is hosted by Nic Harcourt.


title: Guitar Center

text: "Connections Made by Guitar Center", a collaboration between 88.5 KCSN Los Angeles and Guitar Center, was a weekly one-hour radio program hosted by radio host Nic Harcourt featuring new music from both signed and unsigned artists from across the globe and musical spectrum.


title: Hotter than July

text: Hotter than July is the nineteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, originally released on September 29, 1980, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. Wonder primarily recorded the album in Los Angeles at Wonderland Studios, which he had recently acquired. The album peaked at number three on the "Billboard" Top LPs & Tapes chart and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 3, 1981. It was Wonder's most successful album in the UK, where it peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and produced four top ten singles. Music videos were produced for the album's first, third, and fourth singles.


title: Hotter than July

text: The album was nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Album at the 1982 American Music Awards. In a review in "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), J. D. Considine called the album "buoyantly tuneful" and said fans viewed it as a return to form after the commercial disappointment of "Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants".


title: Hotter than July

text: The relative critical and commercial failure of Wonder's previous album "Journey through the Secret Life of Plants" (1979), from which only one single ("Send One Your Love") reached the top 5 of a "Billboard" chart, left him struggling at the turn of the new decade, and he let the media know he felt Motown had not promoted that album very well. During this time of upheaval, Wonder co-wrote the song "Let's Get Serious" with Lee Garrett for Jermaine Jackson's 1980 album of the same name and the song "You Are My Heaven" with Eric Mercury, which became a success for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway on Atlantic Records. Wonder was also in demand as a guest on the recordings of artists such as B.B. King, James Taylor, Quincy Jones, and Smokey Robinson.


title: Hotter than July

text: In addition to performing, Wonder handled the writing, arranging, and producing of "Hotter than July", which was primarily recorded in Los Angeles at his newly-acquired Wonderland Studios. "Master Blaster (Jammin')" (US No. 5; R&B No. 1), the album's lead-off single, was inspired by the reggae music of Bob Marley, who Wonder had met in 1979 after their performance at the Black Music Association in Philadelphia. The country-tinged "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" (U.S. No. 11; R&B No. 4), the ballad "Lately" (U.S. No. 64) and the upbeat "Happy Birthday" were other notable successes from the album. In the UK, all four singles reached the top 10, with the first and fourth releases peaking at No. 2.


title: Hotter than July

text: "All I Do" had originally been written by a teenaged Wonder and collaborators Clarence Paul and Morris Broadnax in 1966. Tammi Terrell recorded the first version of the song that year, but it remained in the Motown vaults until it was included in the compilation "A Cellarful of Motown!" in the UK in 2002, 32 years after Terrell's death. Brenda Holloway also recorded a version of the song, which was released in 2005 on her "Motown Anthology" set. Michael Jackson, Eddie Levert and Walter Williams of the O'Jays, and Betty Wright provided backing vocals for Wonder's recording of the song for "Hotter than July". The backing vocals for "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" were handled by Charlie and Ronnie Wilson of the GAP Band, and Wonder's ex-wife Syreeta backed Wonder on "As If You Read My Mind".


title: Hotter than July

text: While a number of Wonder's previous works, such as "Songs in the Key of Life" and "Innervisions", had received wide critical acclaim and had chart success, "Hotter than July" was his first album eligible to be certified Platinum by the RIAA, as Motown sales records before 1977 were not audited by the organization after they introduced the category.


title: Hotter than July

text: Wonder wrote "Happy Birthday" to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and used the song to campaign for King's birthday, January 15, to become a national holiday in the United States (Martin Luther King Jr. Day would be declared a federal holiday in 1983, and first be celebrated nationwide in 1986). The design of "Hotter Than July"'s original record sleeve is also dedicated to these two purposes. Both sides of the sleeve are printed in a black-and-white semi-glossy photographic process. One side features a large square photographic portrait of King inset on a black background with white lettering above and below. Above the photo is printed "Martin Luther King, Jr." "January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968" (on two lines, centered), and below it appears a passage of text written by Wonder, which reads:


title: Hotter than July

text: It is believed that for a man to lay down his life for the love of others is the supreme sacrifice. Jesus Christ by his own example showed us that there is no greater love. For nearly two thousand years now we have been striving to have the strength to follow that example. Martin Luther King was a man who had that strength. He showed us, non-violently, a better way of life, a way of mutual respect, helping us to avoid much bitter confrontation and inevitable bloodshed. We still have a long road to travel until we reach the world that was his dream. We in the United States must not forget either his supreme sacrifice or that dream.


title: Hotter than July

text: I and a growing number of people believe that it is time for our country to adopt legislation that will make January 15, Martin Luther King's birthday, a national holiday, both in recognition of what he achieved and as a reminder of the distance which still has to be traveled.


title: Hotter than July

text: To the right of this text is a thumbprint, presumably Stevie Wonder's (Stevland Morris's), serving as his signature.


title: Hotter than July

text: On the other side of the record sleeve is a collage of five historical photos: one filling the top third, three sharing the middle third, and one filling the bottom third. The top image is an aerial view of a low-lying urban area with a six-lane highway passing through it and thick smoke rising from many of the buildings on both sides of the highway—presumably a riot is taking place. The center three images consist of a central rectangular photo of a large peaceful demonstration march, with both black and white participants, being led by Martin Luther King Jr. and two square flanking photos of apparent police brutality: in the photo to the left, three officers in white helmets, one of whom is holding a club, are grabbing a male African-American youth by his arms and one leg, and, in the photo to the right, an officer in a white helmet stands in the foreground and looks toward an African-American man lying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk in front of an urban store, while another Africa-American man crouches with his back against the wall and looks away (King directly mentioned police brutality in his famous "I Have A Dream" speech). The bottom image shows a confrontation in an urban street four of five lanes wide between a large group of African Americans standing in non-violent defiance and law enforcement officers in white helmets who appear to be advancing with weapons. These images contrast with the upbeat and positive mood of the music on most of the album—"Happy Birthday" included. Exceptions are the few songs about romantic turmoil ("Rocket Love", "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It", "Lately") and the socially critical "Cash In Your Face", which protests racial housing discrimination.


title: Hotter than July

text: In a contemporary review for "Rolling Stone", Stephen Holden said "Hotter than July" proved Wonder was still "our most gifted pop muralist" because of his evocative, unique synthesis of pop and African elements. The album was voted the eighth best of 1980 in "The Village Voice"s annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. Robert Christgau, that poll's creator, ranked the album eighteenth on his own year-end list and wrote in a retrospective review that, while "Master Blaster" and perhaps "Happy Birthday" were the only "great Stevie here", the pleasure with which Wonder performed the songs was evident in "his free-floating melodicism and his rolling overdrive, his hope and his cynicism". In a review in "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), J. D. Considine called the album "buoyantly tuneful" and said fans viewed it as a return to form for Wonder after the commercial disappointment of "Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants".


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Sears Modern Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American retailer.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in North America, by the company's count. Sears Modern Homes were purchased primarily by customers in East Coast and Midwest states, but have been located as far south as Florida, as far west as California, and as far north as Alaska and Canada. No comprehensive list of their locations exists.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Sears Modern Homes offered more than 370 designs in a wide range of architectural styles and sizes over the line's 34-year history. Many included the latest technology available to house buyers in the early part of the twentieth century, such as central heating, indoor plumbing, and electricity.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Primarily shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included most of the materials needed to build a house. Once delivered, many of these houses were assembled by the new homeowner, relatives, friends and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families. Other homeowners relied on local carpenters or contractors to assemble the houses. In some cases, Sears provided construction services to assemble the homes. Some builders and companies purchased houses directly from Sears to build as model homes, speculative homes, or homes for customers or employees.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Sears discontinued its Modern Homes catalog after 1940, though sales through local sales offices continued into 1942. Years later, the sales records related to home sales were destroyed during a corporate house cleaning. As only a small percentage of these homes were documented when built, finding these houses today often requires detailed research to properly identify them. Because the various kit home companies often copied plan elements or designs from each other, there are a number of catalog and kit models from different manufacturers that look similar or identical to models offered by Sears. Determining which company manufactured a particular catalog and kit home may require additional research to determine the origin of that home.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: In 1906, Frank W. Kushel, a Sears manager, was given responsibility for the catalog company's unwieldy, unprofitable building-materials department. Sales were down, and there was excess inventory languishing in warehouses. Kushel is credited with suggesting to Richard Sears that the company assemble kits of all the parts needed and sell "entire houses" through mail order. That year, the Aladdin Company of Bay City, Michigan, offered the first kit homes through mail order.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: In 1908, Sears issued its first specialty catalog for houses, "Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans", featuring 44 house styles ranging in price from US $360–$2,890. The first mail order for a Sears house was filled that year. As its mail-order catalogs were already sent to millions of homes, Sears had a distinct advantage over other kit-home competitors.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: As sales grew, Sears expanded its production, shipping, and sales offices to locations across the U.S. To provide the materials needed for the Modern Homes division, Sears operated a lumber mill in Cairo, Illinois. Later, Sears constructed a second mill in Port Newark, New Jersey and purchased the Norwood Sash and Door Company in Norwood, Ohio. The ability to mass-produce the materials used in Sears homes reduced manufacturing costs, which allowed Sears to pass along the savings in lower prices for customers.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Precut framing timbers, an innovation pioneered by Aladdin, were first offered by Sears in 1916. Precut lumber was cut to the appropriate lengths and angles based on where the framing timber would be used in the house. Before 1916, the home builder had to cut their Sears-supplied lumber to appropriate lengths. These pre-1916 houses are generally considered "catalog houses", not "kit houses". Pre-cut lumber reduced construction time by up to 40%, according to Sears. Sears's use of "balloon style" framing systems did not require a team of skilled carpenters, as did previous methods. Balloon frames could be built faster and generally only required one carpenter. This system used precut timber of mostly standard sizes (2"x4" and 2"x8") for framing. Balloon framing systems rely only on nails to make connections between joints, whereas previous methods used heavier members and pegs. The method was originally named in the sense that the structure was light and could be lifted away like a balloon. Early balloon structures were very basic, to enable home buyers to assemble them independently and also because designers had yet to see the implications the method held.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Shipped by railroad boxcar, and then usually trucked to a home site, the average Sears Modern Home kit had about 25 tons of materials, with more than 30,000 parts. Plumbing, electrical fixtures, and heating systems were options that could be ordered at additional cost; they were many families' first steps to modern HVAC systems, kitchens, and bathrooms. During the Modern Homes program, large quantities of asphalt shingles became available. Asphalt shingles were cheap to manufacture and ship, and easy and inexpensive to install. Sears also offered a plasterboard product similar to modern drywall as an alternative to the plaster and lath wall-building techniques which required skilled carpenters and plasterers. This product offered the advantages of low price, ease of installation, and added fire protection. Local building requirements sometimes dictated that certain elements of the house construction be done professionally and varied depending on where the house was constructed.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Sears began offering financing plans around 1912. Early mortgage loans were typically for 5 to 15 years at 6% to 7% interest. Sales peaked in 1929, just before the Great Depression. While financing through Sears helped many homeowners purchase homes, many of those purchasers defaulted during the ensuing Great Depression. The company was forced to liquidate $11 million in defaulted debt. The mortgage program was also a PR disaster, as many of the families Sears foreclosed upon refused to do further business with the company. By 1934, Sears had stopped offering mortgages. It even halted sales of houses themselves for a short time before restarting sales. Sales slowly recovered as the United States emerged from the Great Depression.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: The last Sears Modern Homes catalog was issued in 1940. Although it is sometimes claimed that no Sears kit homes were built after 1940, Sears continued to offer pre-cut kit homes through 1941 and into early 1942. Advertisements for Sears Modern Homes appeared through May 1942. Many of these post 1940 homes were based on models from the 1940 and earlier Sears catalogs but not all were, leading to debate over whether these homes qualify as "Sears Modern Homes". Because these homes were constructed using pre-cut lumber and plans provided by Sears, these homes can be considered to be "Sears Modern Homes". Many of these homes were built in Sears planned "Home Club Plan" developments in New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Sears offered 370 models over the 32 years it sold houses by catalog. In the early years, the models were identified with numbers. After several years, Sears also began assigning names to the various models. Some models were offered with variations, the most common of those being expanded floor plans and additional finished living spaces. Sears houses could also be ordered with reversed floor plans. While the vast majority of models were for single-family house designs, Sears offered some duplex house designs and even a few larger multiple-family buildings.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: The most popular models appeared in the catalog for multiple years. Other models only appeared for one year. No built examples have been found of some of the least popular models. Some models were offered in both wood siding and brick veneer versions with different names attributed to the same or almost identical home plan. Some of the most popular models were:


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: The largest and one of the most expensive Sears models was the Magnolia. Only seven Magnolias are known to be still standing. One Magnolia built in Lincoln, Nebraska, was demolished in 1985.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: In addition to houses, the 1908 Sears catalog offered a kit schoolhouse with the model name "Schoolhouse No. 5008". The two-story schoolhouse was priced at $11,500 and its design included six classrooms, a library, an auditorium, and a superintendent's office. 1908 was the only year the schoolhouse appeared in the catalog. It is unknown whether any were purchased or built.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: There was no single architect for the Sears designs. Many of the famous designs were commandeered from other sources and/or purchased from architects but given just enough change to be advertised as their own. Later on in the Modern Homes timeline, Sears had in-office designers but titled them as "experts" rather than actual architects.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Identifying Sears Homes has become a pastime among history enthusiasts because of their sturdy structure, the do-it-yourself nature of construction, and the popular architectural design concepts. However, many houses described as Sears Homes are not true Sears Homes, being either the product of another kit home manufacturer or not a kit home at all. National and regional competitors in the catalog and kit home market included Aladdin, Bennett, Gordon-Van Tine, Harris Brothers, Lewis, Pacific Ready Cut Homes, Sterling and Montgomery Ward (Wardway) Homes.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Cities that have records of building permits may list Sears, Roebuck as the original architect. Also, homes in southern Ohio may have financing documents through the "Norwood Sash and Door Company" of Norwood, Ohio. Some Home Club homes have deeds from the "Port Newark Lumber and Material Company".


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Because the Modern Homes division sales records were destroyed, there is no way to definitively verify the number of Sears houses that still exist. Documented Sears houses have been found across the United States and in a few locations in Canada. Cities with large numbers of documented Sears Modern Homes include:


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: The Carlinville, Illinois, concentration consists of houses bought in bulk by the Standard Oil Company in 1918 to house its mineworkers at a total cost of about US $1 million. The houses, comprising eight models, were all built in a 12-block area known as the Standard Addition. Construction of the houses took nine months which were completed in 1919. The bulk order is the largest known order for Sears Modern Homes and led to Sears, Roebuck naming their "Carlin" model after the city.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Not all Sears houses became private residences. At Greenlawn Cemetery, near the Hampton Roads waterfront in the Newport News, Virginia, area, the cemetery office building is a 1936 Sears Modern Home.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Like the Standard Addition in Carlinville, neighborhoods of Sears houses still hold a sense of identity and community. Due to reviews by homeowners then and now, it would appear that Sears Modern Homes are just as appreciated now as they were then. According to a review written by Mary Ann O'Boyle of Takoma Park, Maryland, her Sears home feels "unabashedly American, the kind of house you see in movies about the good old days" and "allows me to connect with the past". Another homeowner, Erskine Hogue Stanberry, states that his Saratoga model was the "first house in Chelsea to have electric lights" and that they "are using the original plumbing and wiring".


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: Sears Modern Homes can also be found in historic districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places:


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: According to Carolyn Fraser's Pulitzer-winning book, "Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder," the house that Rose Wilder Lane built for her parents, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder, at Rocky Ridge Farm in Missouri was from a Sears kit. The kit was greatly modified by Lane's ambitious designs. Her parents did not care much for the house and eventually moved back into their original farmhouse. Without authentication, however, we can't be 100% certain that this house was ordered from Sears, as numerous kit and non-kit companies offered a very similar model, and these kinds of stories that are passed down over time, often turn out to be mistaken (with the house actually being a model from a different kit company, or simply resembling a model offered by Sears). To see a variety of models similar to the Mitchell, that were offered during the kit-house era, see this article.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: There are examples of modern homes built based on the design of Sears Modern Home. In some cases, homeowners used plans from original Sears homes to recreate a modern version of a Sears home. In other cases, the home followed the general design of a Sears house without being an exact duplicate.


title: Sears Modern Homes

text: One well-known replica of a Sears house is at the "Farm at Prophetstown" museum in Battle Ground, Indiana, which features a replica of a Hillrose model. The house forms part of the farmstead at the museum.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Windows Server 2008 R2 is the fifth version of the Windows Server operating system produced by Microsoft and released as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009, shortly after the completion of Windows 7. It is the successor to Windows Server 2008, which is derived from the Windows Vista codebase, released the previous year, and was succeeded by the Windows 8-based Windows Server 2012.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Enhancements in Windows Server 2008 R2 include new functionality for Active Directory, new virtualization and management features, version 7.5 of the Internet Information Services web server and support for up to 256 logical processors. It is built on the same kernel used with the client-oriented Windows 7, and is the first server operating system released by Microsoft to exclusively support 64-bit processors, a move which was followed by the consumer-oriented Windows 11 in 2021. Windows Server 2008 R2 is also the last version of Windows to support Itanium processors; its successor, Windows Server 2012, supports x64 processors only.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Seven editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 were released: Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, HPC Server and Itanium, as well as Windows Storage Server 2008 R2. A home server variant called Windows Home Server 2011 was also released.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Microsoft is no longer providing security updates and technical support for Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM since April 9, 2013, and Service Pack 1 must be installed to continue receiving support and updates on any given Windows operating system.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Official mainstream support for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 ended on January 13, 2015, and extended support ended on January 14, 2020. Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are eligible for the paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) program (free for Azure Virtual Desktop users). Security updates are available for both operating systems until January 10, 2023 (January 9, 2024 for Azure Virtual Desktop users).


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Microsoft introduced Windows Server 2008 R2 at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference as the server variant of Windows 7, based on the Windows NT kernel.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: On January 7, 2009, a beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2 was made available to subscribers of Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN programs, as well as those participating in the Microsoft Connect program for Windows 7. Two days later, the beta was released to the public via the Microsoft Download Center.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: On April 30, 2009, the release candidate was made available to subscribers of TechNet and MSDN. On May 5, 2009, the release candidate was made available to the general public via the Microsoft download center.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: According to "Windows Server Blog", the following are the dates of the year 2009 when Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 has been made available to various distribution channels:


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Additionally, qualifying students have been able to download Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard edition in 15 languages from the Microsoft Imagine program (known as DreamSpark at the time).


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Microsoft has announced that Server 2008 R2 will be the last version of Windows supporting the Itanium architecture, with its extended support ending earlier than for x86-64 editions or "until July 10, 2018."


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: A reviewer guide published by the company describes several areas of improvement in R2. These include new virtualization capabilities (Live Migration, Cluster Shared Volumes using Failover Clustering and Hyper-V), reduced power consumption, a new set of management tools and new Active Directory capabilities such as a "recycle bin" for deleted objects. IIS 7.5 has been added to this release which also includes updated FTP server services. Security enhancements include encrypted clientless authenticated VPN services through DirectAccess for clients using Windows 7, and the addition of DNSSEC support for DNS Server Service. Even though DNSSEC as such is supported, only one signature algorithm is available: #5/RSA/SHA-1. Since many zones use a different algorithm – including the root zone – this means that in reality Windows still can't serve as a recursive resolver.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: The DHCP server supports a large number of enhancements such as MAC address-based control filtering, converting active leases into reservations or link layer based filters, DHCppP "Name protection" for non-Windows machines to prevent name squatting, better performance through aggressive lease database caching, DHCP activity logging, auto-population of certain network interface fields, a wizard for split-scope configuration, "DHCP Server role" migration using WSMT, support for DHCPv6 Option 15 (User Class) and Option 32 (Information Refresh Time). The DHCP server runs in the context of the "Network Service" account which has fewer privileges to reduce potential damage if compromised.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Windows Server 2008 R2 supports up to 64 physical processors or up to 256 logical processors per system. (Only the Datacenter and Itanium editions can take advantage of the capability of 64 physical processors. Enterprise, the next-highest edition after those two, can only use 8.) When deployed in a file server role, new File Classification Infrastructure services allow files to be stored on designated servers in the enterprise based on business naming conventions, relevance to business processes and overall corporate policies.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Server Core includes a subset of the .NET Framework, so that some applications (including ASP.NET web sites and Windows PowerShell 2.0) can be used.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Performance improvement was a major area of focus for this release; Microsoft has stated that work was done to decrease boot time, improve the efficiency of I/O operations while using less processing power, and generally improve the speed of storage devices, especially iSCSI.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Active Directory has several new features when raising the forest and domain functional levels to Windows Server 2008 R2: Two added features are Authentication Mechanism Assurance and Automatic SPN Management. When raising the forest functional level, the Active Directory recycle bin feature is available and can be enabled using the Active Directory Module for PowerShell.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: Support for the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 R2 ended on April 9, 2013, and users can no longer receive further security updates for the operating system, due to new policies requiring Service Pack 1 to continue to be supported with security updates, lasting until the end of support lifecycle for that Windows operating system. The host without the latest Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack installed is vulnerable to viruses and multiple security attacks.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: On January 13, 2015, Windows Server 2008 R2 exited mainstream support and entered the extended support phase; Microsoft continued to provide security updates every month for Windows Server 2008 R2, however, free technical support, warranty claims, and design changes were no longer being offered. Extended support ended on January 14, 2020, about less than eleven years after the release of Windows Server 2008 R2. On July 12, 2018, Microsoft announced a paid "Extended Security Updates" service that will offer additional updates for Windows Server 2008 R2 "Standard", "Enterprise" and "Datacenter" for up to 3 years after the end of extended support, lasting until January 10, 2023. In November 2021 Microsoft extended ESU support for Windows Server 2008/R2 for the fourth extra year of support, lasting until January 9, 2024 if ESU service is installed on Microsoft Azure.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: In August 2019, researchers reported that "all modern versions of Microsoft Windows" may be at risk for "critical" system compromise due to design flaws of hardware device drivers from multiple providers. In the same month, computer experts reported that the BlueKeep security vulnerability, , that potentially affects older unpatched Microsoft Windows versions via the program's Remote Desktop Protocol, allowing for the possibility of remote code execution, may now include related flaws, collectively named "DejaBlue", affecting newer Windows versions (i.e., Windows 7 and all recent versions) as well. In addition, experts reported a Microsoft security vulnerability, , based on legacy code involving Microsoft CTF and ctfmon (ctfmon.exe), that affects all Windows versions from the older Windows XP version to the most recent Windows 10 versions; a patch to correct the flaw is currently available.


title: Windows Server 2008 R2

text: On February 9, 2011, Microsoft officially released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to OEM partners. Apart from bug fixes, it introduces two new major functions, RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory. RemoteFX enables the use of graphics hardware support for 3D graphics in a Hyper-V based VM. Dynamic Memory makes it possible for a VM to only allocate as much physical RAM as is needed temporarily for its execution. On February 16, SP1 became available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers as well as volume licensing customers. As of February 22, SP1 is generally available for download via the Microsoft Download Center and available on Windows Update.


title: Human intelligence (intelligence gathering)

text: Human intelligence (abbreviated HUMINT and pronounced as "hyoo-mint") is intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as signals intelligence (SIGINT), imagery intelligence (IMINT) and measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT).


text: NATO defines HUMINT as "a category of intelligence derived from information collected and provided by human sources." HUMINT, as the name suggests, is mostly done by people rather than any technical means, and is commonly provided by covert agents and spies. For instance, Oleg Penkovsky was a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) colonel who served as a source to the UK and the United States by informing them of the precise knowledge necessary to address rapidly developing military tensions with the Soviet Union. A typical HUMINT activity consists of interrogations and conversations with persons having access to information.


text: The manner in which HUMINT operations are conducted is dictated by both official protocol and the nature of the source of the information. Within the context of the U.S. military, HUMINT activity may involve clandestine activities, however these operations are more closely associated with CIA projects. Both counterintelligence and HUMINT include clandestine HUMINT and clandestine HUMINT operational techniques.


title: Ellise Chappell

text: Ellise Chappell (born 21 March 1992) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Morwenna Chynoweth in "Poldark" and as Jennifer Strange in "The Last Dragonslayer".