prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Which band, Matthew Good Band or Switchfoot is still together?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
In a Coma
In a Coma: 1995-2005 is the title of the Matthew Good compilation album, featuring both his solo work and work from the Matthew Good Band 

Details
The album is often titled In a Coma: 1995-2005, and notably lacks either "best of" or "greatest hits" in the official title  It was released on September 20, 2005  However, even before its release, the album reached #1 on Amazon ca via pre-orders, and 200 signed copies sold out from Matthew Good's official site in under four hours 
The album is available in two forms: the regular version and the deluxe  The regular only includes disc one, the deluxe features two audio discs and one DVD  The first disc contains nearly all of the singles released by the Matthew Good Band and Matt solo, lacking only Good's most recent singles ("Near Fantastica", "It's Been a While Since I Was Your Man", "In Love with a Bad Idea") and the singles from the album The Audio of Being ("Carmelina", "Anti-Pop")  The first disc also contains two new songs ("Oh Be Joyful", "Big City Life"), as well as a b-side ("Pony Boy") recorded during the sessions for The Audio of Being 
For the second disc, Good entered the studio solo with an acoustic guitar and recorded new versions of several songs from his extensive catalog  For added effect, Good miked the street outside the studio as he performed, adding an ambiance to the session that Good particularly enjoyed  Given the scarcity of the two MGB EPs Lo-Fi B-Sides and Loser Anthems, Good decided to add the two discs to the latter half of the second disc as a nod to fans 
The DVD in the deluxe package includes every promotional video filmed during Good's career, solo and with the Matthew Good Band  As a bonus, Good recorded a commentary track with Bill Morrison, who directed the majority of the videos  The DVD also includes an animated video for "While We Were Hunting Rabbits", which was created by students at Sheridan College  After Good realized that his favourite songs had not been included in the package, a section featuring those songs accompanied by a slideshow of images similar to the cover artwork was added to the disc 
"Oh Be Joyful", the first single from In a Coma, was released on July 25, 2005  The song's release was accompanied by a video that many fans found confusing, as it contained little more than a burning fireplace  Matthew Good was quick to defend his video on his blog, saying that it was "one of the greatest temporary musical screen savers of all time" and that it was only intended to appear on his site, not to play on Much Music 

Track listing
Regular release
"Oh Be Joyful"  – 3:52 (previously unreleased)
"Big City Life"  – 4:15 (previously unreleased)
"Alert Status Red"  – 4:19 (from White Light Rock & Roll Review)
"Weapon"  – 6:06 (from Avalanche)
"In a World Called Catastrophe"  – 5:59 (from Avalanche)
"Hello Time Bomb"  – 3:56 (from Beautiful Midnight)
"Load Me Up"  – 3:42 (from Beautiful Midnight)
"Strange Days"  – 4:24 (from Beautiful Midnight)
"The Future Is X-Rated"  – 3:46 (from Beautiful Midnight)
"Everything Is Automatic"  – 4:18 (from Underdogs)
"Rico"  – 3:27 (from Underdogs)
"Apparitions"  – 5:14 (from Underdogs)
"Indestructible"  – 3:26 (from Underdogs)
"Symbolistic White Walls"  – 4:30 (from Last of the Ghetto Astronauts)
"Haven't Slept In Years (Alternate)"  – 3:35 (from Raygun)
"Alabama Motel Room"  – 3:20 (from Last of the Ghetto Astronauts)
"Pony Boy"  – 4:03 (previously unreleased)
"All Together" - 4:37 (previously unreleased) iTunes Pre-Order Track / ca 7digital com exclusive

Deluxe Edition
Part One: Rooms (acoustic reworkings)

"Truffle Pigs"  – 4:04
"Tripoli"  – 4:51
"Generation X-Wing"  – 3:55
"Apparitions"  – 4:05
"North American for Life"  – 3:13
"Advertising on Police Cars"  – 4:08
"Hello Time Bomb"  – 4:10
"Strange Days"  – 4:55
"Prime Time Deliverance"  – 4:22Part Two: Loser Anthems

 "Flashdance II"  – 4:44
"The Man from Harold Wood"  – 2:18
"My Life as a Circus Clown"  – 2:46
"Intermezzo: M  Good v  M  Trolley"  – 0:35
"Flight Recorder from Viking 7"  – 5:34
"Life Beyond the Minimum Safe Distance"  – 3:53
"The Fine Art of Falling Apart"  – 3:39Part Three: Lo-Fi B-Sides

 "Born to Kill"  – 5:14
"Enjoy the Silence"  – 3:11
"Fated"  – 3:31

Bonus DVD
Part One: Music Videos

Alabama Motel Room
Symbolistic White Walls
Everything Is Automatic
Indestructible
Apparitions
Rico
Hello Time Bomb
Load Me Up
Strange Days
The Future Is X-Rated
Carmelina
Anti-Pop
Weapon
In a World Called Catastrophe
Alert Status Red
It's Been a While Since I Was Your Man
While We Were Hunting Rabbits (new video)Part Two: The Making of "Rooms"

The Making of "Rooms" FeaturePart Three: Matthew's picks with special slide show

Avalanche
A Long Way Down
Pledge of Allegiance
Blue Skies Over Bad Lands
House of Smoke and MirrorsPart Four: Discography

Personnel
Matthew Good Band performs from Last of the Ghetto Astronauts to Loser Anthems  Others are performed by Matthew Good 

Matthew Good Band
Matthew Good - vocals, guitar, cover concept (Underdogs), piano, percussion, additional producer, strings, writing & arrangement, art director, producer
Ian Browne - drums
Geoff Lloyd - Bass guitar (Last of the Ghetto Astronauts, Raygun, Underdogs)
Rich Priske - Bass guitar
Dave Genn - Guitar, Keyboards

Last of the Ghetto Astronauts
Dave Genn - Organ, Rhodes (not part of MGB at this time)
John Shepp - Producer, mixer
Terry Brown - Mixer ("Alabama Motel Room", "Symbolistic White Walls")
George Leger - Mastering
Recorded at Utopia Parkway Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Manufacturer: Darktown Records
Distributor: A&M Records, a division of PolyGram Inc 
Words and music by Matthew GoodExcept "Alabama Motel Room", music by Good/Lloyd/Browne

Raygun
Dale Penner - Producer, engineer
Clif Norrell - Mixer
Stephen Marcussen - Mastering
Recorded at Greenhouse Studios, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Words and music by Matthew Good

Underdogs
Todd Kerns performs backing vocals on "Everything Is Automatic" and "Rico" (not part of MGB)

Warne Livesey - Producer, engineer, mixer
Dean Maher - Assistant
Zach Blackstone - Engineer
Stephen Marcussen - Mastering
Recorded at Greenhouse Studios, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Words by Matthew Good
Music by Matthew Good/Dave GennExcept "Rico", music by Good/Browne/Lloyd/Genn

Lo-Fi B-Sides (Disc Two, Part Three)
Warne Livesey - Producer, engineer, mixer

Beautiful Midnight
Todd Kerns (not part of MGB) performs backing vocals on "Hello Time Bomb"

Natasha Duprey - Phone Sex on "The Future is X-Rated"
Warne Livesey - Producer, Engineer, mixer
Zach Blackstone - Engineer
Steve Kaplan (BJG Studios, London) - Mixer
Tim Young - Mastering
Recorded at House of Brucifer, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Words by Matthew Good
Music by Matthew Good/Dave GennExcept "Load Me Up", music by Good/Genn/Browne/Priske

Loser Anthems (Disc Two, Part Two)
Holly McNarland performs backing vocals on "Flight Recorder from Viking 7" (not part of MGB)

Avalanche
Pat Steward - Drums, Percussion
Richard Priske - Bass guitar, Additional Keyboards, Additional producer
Christian Thor Valdson - Electric Guitar
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra - Strings
Musica Intima - Choral Performances
Warne Livesey - Producer, engineer, mixer, strings Writing & Arrangement
Zach Blackstone - Engineer
Adam Ayan (Gateway Mastering) - Mastering
Recorded at Mushroom Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
All songs by Matthew Good

White Light Rock & Roll Review
Pat Steward - Drums
Rich Priske - Bass guitar
Christian Thor Valdson - Electric Guitar
Warne Livesey - Producer, engineer, mixer
Scott Ternan - Assistant engineer
Joel Livesey - Assistant engineer
Zach Blackstone - Assistant engineer
Kirk McNally - Assistant engineer
Mastered by Tim Young at Metropolis, London, UK
Tim Young (Metropolis, London, England) - Mastering
Recorded at Mushroom Studios and Warehouse Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
All songs by Matthew Good

New Songs ("Oh Be Joyful", "Big City Life")
Ryan Dahle - Lead guitar, engineer
Pat Steward - Drums
Megan Bradfield - Bass guitar
Zach Blackstone - Engineer
Randy Staub - Mixer
George Marino - Mastering
Recorded at Warehouse Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
All songs by Matthew Good

B-Sides ("Pony Boy") (unreleased from "The Audio of Being" sessions)
Matthew Good - Electric Guitar, vocals
Dave Genn - Electric Guitar, Keyboards
Rich Priske - Bass guitar
Ian Browne - Drums
Holly McNarland - Backing vocals
Warne Livesey - Producer, engineer, mixer
Recorded at Armoury Studios and Warehouse Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Words & Music by Matthew Good

Rooms
Recorded at Warehouse Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
All songs by Matthew Good

Music videos
Videos features music, words, and band members from the album they were released on, information on those can be found on each album's page All videos directed by Bill MorrisonExcept "Strange Days" (Morrison/Good), "Anti-Pop" (Chris Nelson), "Weapon" (officially Ante Kovac/Good, but Good fired Kovac halfway through the video), "In a World Called Catastrophe" (Kyle Davison), and "While We Were Hunting Rabbits (animation students of Sheridan College)Note: Because most of this album is a compilation, the personnel varies from song to song, which is why the albums were listed during Disc One  The information here is condensed; full information can be retrieved on the album's original page 
Passage 2:
Matthew Good discography
This is a comprehensive discography for the solo works of Matthew Good, a Canadian singer-songwriter 

Demos
Albums
Studio albums
Compilations and live albums
Note: Contains material from the Matthew Good Band as well as Matthew Good's solo releases 

Extended plays
Singles
Music videos
See also
Matthew Good Band discography
Passage 3:
Matthew Good Band
Matthew Good Band was a Canadian alternative rock band formed in Coquitlam, British Columbia in 1995  The band consisted of singer-songwriter/guitarist Matthew Good, guitarist/keyboardist Dave Genn, drummer Ian Browne and bassist Geoff Lloyd  Lloyd was replaced by Rich Priske in 1998  They became one of the most successful rock bands in Canada during the late 1990s and early 2000s, being nominated for 14 Juno Awards and winning the awards for "Best Group" and "Best Rock Album" (Beautiful Midnight) in 2000  The band broke up after the release of their 2001 album, The Audio of Being 

History
1995–1996: Formation, Last of the Ghetto Astronauts
After beginning his music career as a folk musician, Matthew Good formed a three-piece rock band in 1995 composed of himself, drummer Charlie Quintana (later replaced by Ian Browne) and bassist Geoff Lloyd  Dave Genn originally only recorded with the band as a paid session musician  The four recorded the band's debut album, Last of the Ghetto Astronauts  The band released the album independently in 1995, after which Genn officially joined the band  The band was not originally called "Matthew Good Band"  In fact, the first 5000 copies of Last of the Ghetto Astronauts were just titled "MGB"  After the album was released, "Alabama Motel Room" began to receive significant radio airplay, and people began requesting the song on radio and the album at retail stores calling the band, "Matthew Good Band"  At the time, the band had been having conversations about their name, and decided that they would be called "Matthew Good Band"  Although initially popular only in the Vancouver area, they received more exposure across Canada in 1996, with the singles "Alabama Motel Room" and "Symbolistic White Walls" becoming significant hits on radio and their music videos being played on MuchMusic  In December 1996, Matthew Good Band signed a two-album deal with Private Music 

1997–1999: Underdogs
In mid-January 1997, on the first day of pre-production for their next album, the group was notified that BMG Entertainment North America was merging Private Music into Windham Hill/High Street Records, putting a halt to the production of the album  In mid-March, after negotiations, Windham Hill/High Street released the group from its contract  Good was paid what he was owed for the two albums, and the group then decided to record the new album without label support, using the money received from the divorce of their contract with Windham Hill/High Street to fund it  The group then agreed to release the upcoming album under a distribution agreement with PolyGram Group Canada  After releasing the EP Raygun in May 1997, the band later that year released their second full-length album, Underdogs  The album was produced by Warne Livesey, who would go on to produce every full-length MGB album and most of Good's subsequent solo albums  The album spawned the singles "Everything Is Automatic", "Indestructible", "Apparitions" and "Rico", all of which were hits in Canada 
The band toured across Canada with Edgefest during the summer of 1998  In November 1998, Geoff Lloyd left the band  Lloyd was replaced by Rich Priske shortly after  On January 21, 1999, Underdogs was certified Platinum in Canada 

1999–2000: Beautiful Midnight
In July 1999, the band again toured across Canada as a part of Edgefest, this time on the main stage  In September 1999, the band released Beautiful Midnight  The album debuted at #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart and featured the hit singles "Hello Time Bomb", "Load Me Up" and "Strange Days"  In January 2000, Good underwent vocal cord surgery after being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, prompting him to temporarily quit smoking  In March 2000, The band won two Juno awards for "Best Group" and "Best Rock Album"  Good himself did not attend the ceremony, and guitarist Dave Genn has been quoted as saying that he only attends for the open bar  Beautiful Midnight became the band's best-selling album, being certified Double Platinum in Canada and selling over 300,000 copies by 2016  In 2000, the band's song "Running for Home" was featured in an episode of Higher Ground 

2000–2001: The Audio of Being
In the summer of 2000, Good stayed in a hotel for three weeks in Whistler to work on songs for the new album  Good later wrote that he spent much of the time "trying to keep down food supplement bars, trying to forget the growing tension within the band, the high expectations of needing to produce 'hit songs' (whatever they are these days), throwing up, and trying to find some semblance of direction in my personal life"  The band entered the studio in late 2000 to record the material  The sessions saw a great deal of intra-band turmoil  In February 2001, the band began a brief tour of the United States to promote the American release of Beautiful Midnight  In June 2001, the band released the EP Loser Anthems, and followed it with what would be the band's final tour in the summer  In August 2001, Dave Genn quit the band, returning though four days later  The band released The Audio of Being on October 30, 2001 

Breakup
In November 2001, it was reported that Genn had left the band again and Ian Browne had also left the band  In February 2002, Universal Music Canada confirmed that the band had broken up  In March 2002, during his first interview after the breakup was confirmed, Good stated that the breakup was "a conscious effort on everybody's part"  In a 2009 interview for The Ongoing History of New Music, Good stated that he decided the band was done after The Audio of Being was released, citing him no longer wanting to placate the needs of the other band members and no one wanting to tour the new record as reasons 

2002–present: Aftermath
Since the breakup of Matthew Good Band, Good has pursued a successful solo career, with Priske continuing as Good's bassist until 2005  Genn has been a member of the Canadian rock group 54-40 since 2003 and has written and produced songs for several artists  Geoff Lloyd died in January, 2010  Good briefly reunited with Browne in 2011, with Browne drumming for Good on his Lights of Endangered Species tour  Rich Priske died on July 11, 2020 

Members
Matthew Good – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1995–2002)
Rich Priske – bass guitar (1998–2002)
Ian Browne – drums (1995–2001)
Dave Genn – lead guitar, keyboards (1995–2001)
Geoff Lloyd – bass guitar (1995-1998)

Discography
Last of the Ghetto Astronauts (1995)
Raygun (1997)
Underdogs (1997)
Lo-Fi B-Sides (1998)
Beautiful Midnight (1999)
Loser Anthems: B-Sides & Rarities (2001)
The Audio of Being (2001)

See also
Canadian rock
Music of Canada
Passage 4:
Switchfoot
Switchfoot is an American rock band from San Diego, California  The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals)  After early successes in the Christian rock scene, Switchfoot first gained mainstream recognition with the inclusion of four of their songs in the 2002 movie A Walk to Remember  This recognition led to their major label debut, The Beautiful Letdown, which was released in 2003 and featured the hits "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move"  The album sold over 2 6 million copies  They have since been noted for their energetic live shows, and their seventh studio album Hello Hurricane received a Grammy award in 2011 for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album 
According to Jon Foreman, the name "Switchfoot" comes from a surfing term  "We all love to surf and have been surfing all our lives so to us, the name made sense  To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction  It's about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music "

History
Formation and early years (1996–2002)
Switchfoot was founded in 1996 as Chin Up, consisting of Jon Foreman and his brother Tim, along with Chad Butler on drums  After playing a few shows including the Foreman brothers' dad's megachurch North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California, the band was contacted by music industry veteran Charlie Peacock and eventually signed to his indie label Re:think Records under the current moniker, Switchfoot  Re:think went on to distribute the first three Switchfoot albums, The Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human, and Learning to Breathe  Because Re:think was bought by Christian giant Sparrow Records before Switchfoot's first release, however, the band's and Peacock's intentions of being marketed outside of the Contemporary Christian music scene and reaching a wider audience were put on hold  Consequently, the band was mostly marketed to Christian radio and retail outlets early in their careers, a time Jon Foreman has described as when "half of who we were was lost "Of Switchfoot's first three albums, Learning to Breathe was the most successful, receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album 
Later on in 2002, Switchfoot's music was featured prominently in the movie A Walk to Remember, starring singer and actress Mandy Moore, who sang Switchfoot's song "Only Hope" during a scene in the movie  In addition to Moore's cover of "Only Hope", Switchfoot's songs "You", "Learning to Breathe", and "I Dare You to Move" were showcased in the film, as well as their own original version of "Only Hope" towards the end of the film 

The Beautiful Letdown (2003–2005)
Following the exposure that came from A Walk to Remember, Switchfoot attracted attention from multiple record labels, and ultimately signed with Columbia Records/SonyBMG  Their major label debut, The Beautiful Letdown, under Columbia Records/Red Ink, represented the band's evolution from the predominantly lo-fi, indie rock sound of their early albums, toward a more layered, synth-influenced sound that helped launch the band to mainstream popularity  This shift sonically could be attributed to the fact that the album was the first to include keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas, formerly of industrial bands Mortal and Fold Zandura  Fontamillas had been touring with Switchfoot since 2000, following the release of Learning to Breathe 
The Beautiful Letdown has since been certified double platinum, selling more than 2 6 million copies, on the strength of constant touring and the huge mainstream radio hits "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move"  A live DVD depicting one of the band's live concerts, Live in San Diego, went platinum as well, and a third single, "This Is Your Life" was released to radio  In addition, the song "Gone" received major airplay on Christian radio stations as well 
Following the runaway success of The Beautiful Letdown, a compilation titled The Early Years: 1997-2000 was released, which featured Switchfoot's first three indie albums released under Re:think records including the original artwork for all the albums  This collection has since been certified Gold, with total sales of over 500,000 copies Switchfoot also received five 2005 Dove Award nominations, and won four, including Artist of the year 

Nothing Is Sound (2005–2006)
In 2005, prior to the release of Nothing Is Sound, Switchfoot announced that guitarist Drew Shirley (previously the guitarist for All Together Separate) had become the band's fifth member after touring with the band since 2003  Nothing Is Sound was released on September 13, 2005, and with Shirley's inclusion saw Switchfoot's sound become even more densely layered and guitar-heavy, resulting in an album that was edgier and darker than any of their previous work  "Stars" was released as the first radio single to promote the album, and was a solid hit on mainstream and alternative rock radio stations  It was also used in ads for HBO  "We Are One Tonight" was released as the second single in early 2006, and was also featured in ads for the 2006 Winter Olympics 

The album debuted at No  3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, an all-time high for the band, while bassist Tim Foreman attracted headlines by speaking out against the copy-protection used by the label and providing fans a detailed workaround on the band's message board, which was quickly deleted by Sony  This copy-protection is known as Extended Copy Protection, which has been identified by leading anti-virus companies as a trojan horse and a rootkit 
During the Spring 2006 leg of the Nothing Is Sound Tour, the band introduced "a video diary of life on the road" in the form of free video podcasts available via iTunes and streaming online on YouTube  In addition to featuring snippets of upcoming songs and live performances, the videos gave fans an inside look at the more casual and humorous aspects of the band members' touring lives, as well as featuring footage of the band working on their follow-up to Nothing Is Sound 

Oh! Gravity  (2006–2007)
Switchfoot's next album, Oh! Gravity , was released on December 26, 2006, to considerable critical acclaim  It entered the Billboard chart at No  18 and peaked at No  1 on iTunes' Top Albums chart 

Before the release of the album, Switchfoot e-mailed a newsletter on June 2 which contained a free download of the song "Daylight to Break", a statement from Foreman implying that the band wanted to have a new album out by the end of the year, as well as a thanks to their fans for helping keep the band together for ten years  The band tried to involve their fans in the creation of the album, setting up a webcam in their recording studio and running a contest for a chance to play the cowbell in the studio with the band To promote the album, the band first released the song, "Dirty Second Hands", as a "preview" single via iTunes on September 26  The title track "Oh! Gravity" was also released to iTunes on October 21 and was sent to radio on October 31 as the lead single for the album, seeing limited success at alternative and modern rock radio  The album's second single, "Awakening", was released in early 2007  Although it saw virtually no play on mainstream radio, the accompanying band-funded music video song received over one million hits on YouTube in less than three months  Along with preorders of Oh! Gravity came a 3-song EP called Oh! Switchfoot  The short CD included three songs: "The Sound in My Mouth", "C'mon C'mon", and "Oh! Gravity (Acoustic)" 

Major-label independence, The Best Yet (2007–2008)
Later, on August 10, 2007, Jon Foreman revealed that the band had severed ties with Columbia Records in order to release music as an Indie band  "Neither party has any hard feelings," he said of the split a few months later  "I think for us, the reason why we signed with Columbia was because of the people that were there  So it's very understandable when all those people are gone, you don't hold any real bad feelings or good feelings towards a company name  I think that's part of the problem with the corporate entity as a whole is that there's no true responsibility " Later in October, the band announced that they had created a new record label called lowercase people records, in order to better make a direct connection with their fans 
Subsequently, Foreman began working on his own set of solo EPs (one named after each season of the year); the first of these was released on November 27, 2007, the last on June 10, 2008  "Your Love Is Strong" is the most well known from the string of releases  Each of Jon's EP's contained six songs  At the end of this, he released a sort of "best of" album called Limbs and Branches  Foreman wrote two additional songs for this called "Over the River" and "Broken from the Start"  Once all four EP's were released, they were released again on vinyl in limited quantity  Foreman also began a side project with Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek originally called "The Real SeanJon" but later renamed "Fiction Family" 
With their new status as an independent band, Switchfoot embarked on their 2007 fall tour, playing shows with Relient K and Ruth  The tour, dubbed the "Appetite for Construction Tour", was designed to benefit Habitat For Humanity, with the bands donating one dollar per ticket sold to the cause  In addition, Foreman wrote the song "Rebuild" with Matt Thiessen from Relient K, and released it as a way to raise additional money for Habitat  By the end of the tour, the bands had raised over $100,000 for Habitat for Humanity  With no new album to promote, the band continued touring for philanthropic causes, booking a short national tour in March through May (titled the Up In Arms Tour), partnering with and benefitting the organization To Write Love on Her Arms In March 2008, the band wrote and recorded a new song called "This Is Home" for the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian  The song was included on the film's official soundtrack and an accompanying music video was also filmed, with footage from the film Later that year, Columbia Records/Sony Music released a Switchfoot greatest hits compilation album titled The Best Yet, a sort of "final farewell from Sony" 

Hello Hurricane and Eastern Hymns for Western Shores (2008–2010)
Prior to the label split, Foreman had announced in a March 17, 2007 MySpace blog that Switchfoot had begun pre-production for a new album, saying that "the new SF record is underway " Later, on October 12, 2007, Foreman also announced that the band had begun construction of their own studio in their hometown of San Diego  The studio, named Spot X Studio, was completed in the spring of 2008, and the band began recording their follow-up to 2006's Oh! Gravity In April, the band announced that instead of one studio album, they had actually been at work on 4 albums-worth of material, and had decided at the time to release them one after another, starting with the first one on November 10, 2009, titled Hello Hurricane Upon completion of Hello Hurricane, the band began searching for "the right partners" to distribute the songs globally  On August 7, 2009, the band announced that lowercase people records was licensing the album to Atlantic Records, ensuring "these tunes are heard around the world " To help promote this new release, the band took a hands-on approach with their lead single, "Mess of Me", by hiding copies of the single all across the world and encouraging fans to share it around by finding the discs and making copies of their own to hide  Through this, the single spread all across the world in grassroots fashion in advance of a traditional radio release, which saw the track hitting the Top 15 of Modern Rock radio  This was followed by the release of "The Sound (John M  Perkins' Blues)", which went on to become the band's first Top 10 Modern Rock hit since "Dare You to Move" On December 1, 2010, it was announced that Hello Hurricane had been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album  It won the Grammy on February 13, 2011 
Late in 2010, Switchfoot announced, via newsletter, that they would be releasing an EP of songs that they wrote and recorded between Nothing Is Sound and Oh! Gravity  It was called Eastern Hymns for Western Shores  For a time the location of the masters of these tracks were unknown  Once found, Switchfoot announced that the EP would be available as part of their holiday fan pack which also included a Switchfoot calendar, poster, sweatshirt jacket, and limited edition post cards, one for each of the songs on the EP  In their newsletter the band described these songs as showing their "darker" side  The EP included five never before heard songs along with a different cut of the Oh! Gravity song "Dirty Second Hands" 

Vice Verses (2011–2012)
Switchfoot's eighth studio album, Vice Verses, was released on September 27, 2011, and debuted at No  8 on the Billboard 200  According to Butler, the core of the record rests thematically in the idea of the polarity of life  A release date of September 27, 2011, was announced on AllAccess, with "Dark Horses" hitting modern rock radio on July 20 In an interview with CBN com, Bassist Tim Foreman calls Vice Verses a cousin to Hello Hurricane, not a sequel to their last album, but related in some ways  Tim, speaking of his brother (Switchfoot's lead singer, Jon), said, "It features some of his best lyrical work," and that Tim is happy with the musical component of the project as well  "From the very beginning, we set goals, one of them being to make a very rhythmic record, a very soulful record, and a very hard-hitting record that really pushes the boundaries, the highs and the lows," he told CBN com Switchfoot performed a song for the Hawaii Five-0 soundtrack, released October 4, 2011, titled "Out of Control" 
On Record Store Day 2012, Switchfoot released their latest EP record, Vice Re-Verses  The digital download of the EP was later released on May 1 

Fading West album and film (2013–2015)
As of May 2013, Switchfoot was on tour and filming a movie called Fading West  The band's guitarist Drew Shirley has said that it was "a surf documentary mixed with behind the scenes footage of the band" and that "the soundtrack will be released as a CD and it will be [their] next album"  On September 17, 2013 Switchfoot released Fading West EP containing three songs from the full-length album  Two songs on the EP, "Who We Are" and "Love Alone Is Worth the Fight", were released to different radio formats as the lead singles promoting the upcoming album  The Fading West film premiered during the Fading West Tour that started in September 2013, and was released digitally on December 10, 2013  Switchfoot's ninth studio album, also titled Fading West, was released on January 14, 2014 through lowercase people and Atlantic Records In February 2014, in a YouTube Interview with Relevant magazine, Jon Foreman hinted that a new album was coming out in late 2014 or early 2015 that would mostly consist of the songs that were cut from the Fading West film  The album, an EP titled The Edge of the Earth, was released on September 9, 2014  Foreman also announced that he would be releasing between 30-50 new songs for his solo albums most likely during 2015 
Switchfoot toured in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands in May and June 2015 
In July and August 2015, Switchfoot toured with Needtobreathe, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors and Colony House during the second leg of the 2015 "Tour De Compadres" tour 

Where the Light Shines Through and hiatus (2015–2017)
In August 2015, it was reported that Switchfoot would be releasing their tenth studio album in 2016 
On April 29, 2016, Concord Music Group announced that the band had signed a worldwide recording and co-publishing deal with Vanguard Records imprint and Concord's sister publishing unit, The Bicycle Music Company 
On May 12, 2016, Switchfoot announced that the album, titled Where the Light Shines Through, would be released on July 8, 2016  It was produced by Switchfoot and John Fields, with whom the band has worked on The Beautiful Letdown, Nothing Is Sound and Oh! Gravity 
The band supported the album with the Looking for America Tour, featuring Relient K and traveled to over 70 cities from September 17, 2016 through February 2017 
On December 6, 2016, Switchfoot revealed through an email newsletter and on their website that the premiere of their new film, Live from Hollywood Palladium, would coincide with their 2017 Summer Getaway event 
In July 2017 the band took to the road touring with Lifehouse on the "Looking for Summer" tour  Where the band delivered 30+ shows across the U S  and Canada  It was the first time that both Lifehouse & Switchfoot had toured together, where rock fans across North America got to hear both dynamic Rock bands of the same era  A new single by Lifehouse and Switchfoot had been released to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey while on tour  The song, “Shine Like Gold” 
On December 15, 2017, Switchfoot announced via their website and mailing list that, after returning home from their fall tour, they will be taking a hiatus "for the foreseeable future"  The band said in their announcement, "For the first time in twenty years, we are taking an extended break "

Native Tongue and Covers (2018–2021)
On March 30, 2018, the band posted a clip on YouTube stating that they had come out of their hiatus and were working on something called "Project 11"  They also previewed a heavy metal version of "Meant to Live", claiming this to be their new sound  Two days later on April 1, this was revealed to be an April Fool's Joke On August 9, 2018, the band's song "You Found Me" was released as the single promoting the drama film Unbroken: Path to Redemption  The soundtrack album for the film was released on September 14, 2018 On October 19, 2018, Switchfoot announced the release of their eleventh album Native Tongue on January 18, 2019 through Fantasy Records  In support of the album, the band embarked on a 2019 concert tour of the United States, supported by Colony House and Tyson Motsenbocker  The first single "Native Tongue" and its music video were released in conjunction with the album announcement In Spring 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Switchfoot started working on an EP titled Covers, containing the band's take on songs by Frank Ocean, Vampire Weekend, The Chainsmokers, The Verve, Harry Styles and Jon Bellion  It was released on June 19, 2020 via Fantasy Records  They also played a monthly livestream concert called the "Fantastic Not Traveling Music Show" during which they played a variety of song requests spanning their career 

Interrobang (2021–present)
On May 7, 2021, Switchfoot released "I Need You (To Be Wrong)" as the first single from their twelfth studio album 
Interrobang  The album was released on August 20, 2021  A "deluxe" edition of the album was released on July 8, 2022, the six year anniversary of their 2016 album "Where The Light Shines Through"  Switchfoot returned to live touring opening for Needtobreathe on the "Into the Mystery Tour"  They also collaborated with Needtobreathe on an Amazon original Christmas song titled "Hometown Christmas" On February 21, 2022, the band announced that Drew Shirley and the band were parting ways In September 2022 the band announced their first Christmas album This Is Our Christmas Album will be released in November  The album was released on November 4, 2022 
In May 2023, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album The Beautiful Letdown, the band released The Beautiful Letdown (Our Version) and went on a subsequent tour playing the entire album live 

Style and influences
Since Switchfoot's first release in 1997, the band's sound has changed significantly  The style of the early albums with independent label re:think Records consisted primarily of guitar-driven alternative rock, hard rock with characteristics of a three-man lineup, though they also incorporated string arrangements with slower songs 

Switchfoot's frontman and guitarist Jon Foreman cites his musical influences as U2, The Beatles, and Keith Green, and has said that he admires the vocal "strength and vulnerability" of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash  Guitarist Drew Shirley cites U2, Miles Davis, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tommy Walker, Phil Keaggy, Michael Jackson, Dave Matthews Band, and the Brand New Heavies, while bassist Tim Foreman pays tribute to Stevie Wonder  Chad Butler also cites Dave Grohl as an influence for The Beautiful Letdown  "We've never fit in any of the genre boxes," says Jon Foreman  "I think that diversity is our strength" With regard to their lyrics, Foreman notes "we try to make music for thinking people", which can be characterized by his allusions to the works of philosophers like Søren Kierkegaard and Augustine of Hippo in the songs "Sooner or Later (Soren's Song)" and "Something More (Augustine's Confession)" respectively  "Meant to Live", the band's runaway hit, was inspired by T  S  Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men", while "Stars", the lead single off Nothing Is Sound, briefly "looks at things from the Descartes perspective," according to Foreman 

Switchfoot and Christian music
Switchfoot is often referred to as a Christian rock band; even after having been signed to the mainstream Columbia Records from 2003–2007, Atlantic Records from 2008–2016, and currently, Vanguard Records, their albums are still distributed to Christian retail outlets through Sparrow Records/EMI CMG, their songs are featured on Christian radio and charts, they play at Christian festivals, and they are presented with Dove Awards  The band has always philosophically disagreed with this label; "We're Christian by faith, not genre," Tim Foreman explained to Rolling Stone magazine in 2003 Says Jon Foreman, "We've always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from  For us, these songs are for everyone  Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them, and that's not what we're trying to do  Music has always opened my mind—and that's what we want" "[Signing to Columbia was] a realization of something that we'd wanted to be from the beginning," Foreman explains  "When we were signed to re:think Records [an indie label], the goal was to get the music out to everybody  [But] when Sparrow [a Christian label] bought re:think Records, it was evident that our music wasn't going to be in the hands of everybody  As a Christian, I have a lot to say within the walls of the church  But also, as a Christian, I've got a lot to say just about life in general     So to be able to be on Columbia and on Sparrow felt like the realization of the two sides of what we had to say  It's a dream come true to be able to have songs that are outside of the box "Following the release of The Beautiful Letdown, the band temporarily stopped playing at Christian festivals and doing interviews with Christian organizations, as they found the speculation about their faith to be distracting from the music  Three years later, they went back to headlining at large Christian-based music festivals, and also agreed to be featured on the June 2006 cover of CCM Magazine after declining the opportunity for years  Yet in many ways they used the opportunity to describe their split from the CCM industry  This has caused some, such as Spin writer Andrew Beaujon, to take the view that "their lyrics often have two different meanings, one meaning for a Christian audience and one meaning for the rest of us  They try to relate to two different groups of people at once " Jon Foreman has compared the Christian undertones of his music to the undertones of C S  Lewis's books 

Other projects
Switchfoot has been involved in a number of humanitarian causes, including DATA, the ONE Campaign, the Keep A Breast Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Invisible Children, and To Write Love on Her Arms In addition to supporting those causes, they founded the Switchfoot Bro-Am Surf Contest, an annual benefit contest and concert to raise money for various organizations serving homeless kids in the band's hometown of San Diego  Also, before recording Nothing Is Sound, the band made a trip to several South African villages in January 2005, which inspired the album's song "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine"  Seeing an orphanage filled with infants who all lost their parents to AIDS, befriending orphans in the streets, and getting involved with a children's choir called the "Kuyasa Kids" moved them to start an organization called lowercase people  The organization originally published a quarterly online magazine for music, arts and social justice  They have also produced a CD by the Kuyasa Kids to help raise money for the children's communities 
In 2008, Switchfoot also got involved in the musical movement to spread awareness about 21st century slavery and human trafficking, performing "Awakening" for the documentary film Call + Response 
Jon Foreman has also released several solo projects, and is also involved in an acoustic collaboration called Fiction Family with Sean Watkins of the band Nickel Creek On Saturday, July 31, 2010, Switchfoot performed live at the 2010 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree final arena show: "A Shining Light Across America" in Fort A P  Hill, Virginia  Jon and Tim Foreman were both Boy Scouts in their youth, and were honored by the opportunity to perform at the Scouts' 100th anniversary event Switchfoot performed at the Harvest America event on March 6, 2016 at ATT Stadium Switchfoot hosts a yearly charity event in their hometown of San Diego known as the "Bro Am"  Established in 2005, the event benefits local and national charitable organizations, including the band's own Bro Am foundation  The Bro Am festivities typically include a silent auction the night before the public event, wherein donors bid in a silent auction for charity  The Bro Am event consists of surf contests in the morning and musical performances in the afternoon, culminating in Switchfoot's capstone performance  Since its inception, the Bro Am has raised over $1 million for charitable causes In 2017, Switchfoot joined forces with the fellow rock band Lifehouse, to help raise funds for Hurricane Harvey victims through their song "Shine Like Gold” 

Members
Current membersJon Foreman – lead vocals, keyboards, piano (1996–present); lead guitar (1996–2004, 2022–present); rhythm guitar (1996–2001, 2005–2022 in studio; 2005–present live)
Tim Foreman – bass, backing and occasional lead vocals, occasional acoustic guitar (1996–present), keyboards (2000–2001)
Chad Butler – drums, percussion (1996–present)
Jerome Fontamillas – keyboards, piano, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)Current touring musiciansBoaz Roberts – lead guitar, backing vocals (2021–present)Former membersDrew Shirley – lead guitar, backing vocals (2005–2022; touring musician 2004–2005)Timeline

Discography
The Legend of Chin (1997)
New Way to Be Human (1999)
Learning to Breathe (2000)
The Beautiful Letdown (2003)
Nothing Is Sound (2005)
Oh! Gravity  (2006)
Hello Hurricane (2009)
Vice Verses (2011)
Fading West (2014)
Where the Light Shines Through (2016)
Native Tongue (2019)
Interrobang (2021)
This Is Our Christmas Album (2022)
The Beautiful Letdown (Our Version) (2023)

Awards
Switchfoot won a Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album in 2011 with Hello Hurricane  They've also garnered eleven GMA Dove Awards and twelve San Diego Music Awards 
Passage 5:
Raygun (album)
Raygun is an EP released by the Matthew Good Band in 1997  The EP was distributed by A&M Records on Matthew Good's own imprint, Darktown  It was the first MGB album recorded with guitarist Dave Genn as an official member of the band  The EP includes a re-recorded version of Last of the Ghetto Astronauts song, "Haven't Slept In Years" 

Track listing
All tracks written by Matthew Good, except where noted 

"Raygun"  – 3:17
"Generation X-Wing"  – 4:32 (Good, Genn)
"Haven't Slept In Years (Alternate)"  – 3:31
"Alabama Motel Room"  – 3:22 (Good, Lloyd, Browne)
"So Long Mrs  Smith"  – 1:36

Production
Produced and engineered by Dale Penner for Paradise Alley Productions  Mixed by Clif Norrell at Ocean Way Recording, Los Angeles, CA, except Alabama Motel Room, which was produced and engineered by John Shepp and remixed by Clif Norrell  Recorded at Greenhouse Studios and Utopia Parkway Studios, Vancouver, BC  Mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Mastering, Los Angeles, CA 

Band members
Matthew Good - vocals, guitar
Geoff Lloyd - bass guitar
Ian Browne - drums
Dave Genn - guitar, keyboards
Passage 6:
Rich Priske
Rich Priske (August 29, 1967 –  July 11, 2020), also known as Rich Rock, was a Canadian bass guitarist  Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he had long been active in the B C  music scene, and played bass guitar and/or written songs for Art Bergmann, DSK, ShoCore, Chrome Dog, Bif Naked, The Real McKenzies, and others  Priske was best known for playing bass guitar in the Canadian band Matthew Good Band from 1998 to 2002  After the band's dissolution in 2002, he kept playing with Matthew Good until the end of the In a Coma tour in fall 2005  Later in life, he lived in Kelowna and played in the Jon Bos Band and Florida Man 

Writing
Priske was an avid writer, contributing to weblogs as a "citizen journalist" for kitsilano ca, and others  He contributed many technical and instructional articles to magazines such as CM (Canadian Musician)  Priske also wrote for Wine Trails, and other wine-industry publications  He had a long history with the web, and was an early adopter of what is now known as "web logging" or "blogging", beginning with his popular "Notes From The Road" feature on the now defunct Matthew Good Band website, circa 2001  He kept a blog on Blogger, but updated it rarely 

Film work
Priske was also involved in BC's thriving film and theatre industry, on stage and both in front of and behind the camera  As well as appearing in many music videos, he had bit parts in films like Red Scorpion 2, and Hard Core Logo, and appeared on stage in productions of Cabaret and You Can't Take It with You  Behind the scenes, Priske was active in the Art Department, earning an Emmy nomination for 2008's "Tinman" 

Death
On July 11, 2020, Priske died of a heart attack 

Discography
with Matthew Good Band:

Beautiful Midnight
Loser Anthems
The Audio of Beingwith Matthew Good:

Avalanche
White Light Rock & Roll Review
In a Comawith DSK:

Exploder
Imploderwith Bif Naked:

Bif Naked
Essentially Naked (greatest hits compilation)with The Real McKenzies:

Real McKenzies
Clash of the Tartanswith ShoCore:

untitled release (2007)with Brooke Nolan:

self-titled EPwith The Town Pants:

Weight of WordsSex With Nixon (1995) Self titled LP
Passage 7:
Weapon (song)
"Weapon" is a song by Canadian alternative rock artist Matthew Good  It was the first song released by Good as a solo artist after the break-up of the Matthew Good Band  The song was released in October 2002 as the lead single from his debut solo album, Avalanche   The song peaked at No  4 on Canada's Nielsen rock chart 

Track listing
Music video
The music video for "Weapon" was directed by Matthew Good and Ante Kovac  It was filmed on October 5, 2002, at Pier 94  In a later commentary, Good related that Kovac's first edit of the video was far too standard, with gratuitous and generic fades  After firing Kovac, Good flew to Toronto and worked with video editor Jay Deschamps to re-craft the footage  While working on the edit, Good began to experiment with overlaying text and adding still frames and stock photos to help deliver the message  Good noted that the video was his favourite from his catalogue 
The video won the award for "Best Video" at the 2003 Juno Awards  Good did not attend the ceremony and Kovac accepted the award alone 

In popular culture
The song is featured on MuchMusic's compilation album Big Shiny Tunes 7 
An excerpt of the song was used as the opening credits theme music for CTV's series The Eleventh Hour 
The song was featured on Hockey Night in Canada in the opening montage for Game 5 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals 
"Weapon" was also featured in the second-season finale of Smallville 
The song is used in the second-season episode "A Higher Echelon" of the J  J  Abrams series Alias 
The song appears in the third season of Queer As Folk 
The song was featured in the first season of Flashpoint in the episode "Between Heartbeats" 
Passage 8:
Ian Browne (musician)
Ian Browne (born November 12, 1973) is a Canadian-born musician and composer  He was formerly with psych-blues band No Sinner, and before that notably the drummer of the popular Canadian rock group Matthew Good Band  Browne plays drums and performs backup vocals on The Prettys' upcoming second LP "Soirée"  He also played on No Sinner's debut EP Boo Hoo Hoo, and played drums and produced tracks on their 2016 LP "Old Habits Die Hard"  He can also be heard on the Matthew Good Band albums Last of the Ghetto Astronauts, Raygun, Underdogs, Lo-Fi B-Sides, Beautiful Midnight, Loser Anthems, Audio of Being, and the greatest hits compilation In a Coma 
While with Matthew Good Band, Browne received Juno Awards in 2000 for Best Group of 1999 and Best Rock Album  of 1999  Browne also composed original music for the Sci-Fi network series Sanctuary  He now records and performs with The Prettys and occasionally other Vancouver, British Columbia based artists Rich Hope and Dustin Bentall 
As a composer, his work can be heard on the science fiction series Flash Gordon and Sanctuary  And Now and forever he’s playing in The Pierce Kingans , recording/playing on over 13 EPs 
Passage 9:
Yes to Everything
Yes to Everything is a 2005 album by Canadian alternative rock band 54-40  This was the first 54-40 album recorded with the band's new guitarist, Dave Genn (former guitarist of Matthew Good Band)   The album was recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver using former Midnight Oil and Matthew Good producer Warne Livesey 

Track listing
"Easy to Love" – 3:48
"Can't Get Enough" – 3:58
"Golden Sun" – 4:35
"Stop Line" – 6:05
"This Is Here, This Is Now" – 4:21
"All About Love" – 3:12
"Blue Plate Special" – 3:44
"Beautiful Self" – 3:38
"Calling You Out" – 3:00
"Another Kiss" – 3:06
"On the Road Home" – 3:58
Context 2: Passage 1:
Cropper, Kentucky
Cropper is an unincorporated community within Shelby County, Kentucky, United States  It was also known as Croppers Depot  Their post office  is closed  The town of Cropper (Population Cal  at 205 in 2010) is located in northeast Shelby County, Kentucky  The origin of its name comes from the town's founder James Cropper, a blacksmith and store keeper who was the first person to build a house there sometime in the 1790s  He also was the town's first postmaster  The majority of Cropper's original citizens were members of the Low Dutch colony who were in the area as early as 1786  In 1807, a new group of settlers from Virginia increased the town's population  In 1855, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L and N) along with a depot opened on the east end of town  A hotel soon opened afterwards  This railroad line was closed in the early 1970s  Another occurrence, in 1855, was the founding of Union Grove Church  This church had three different denominations that included Christian, Methodist and Baptist  The only cemetery in Cropper is on the church grounds  In June 1900, the Baptist separated from the Union Church, and by 1903 it had its own building  In 1967, the Union Grove Church was renamed Cropper Christian Church  In 1905, a bank was opened by Ben Allen Thomas, but it was closed in 1921  An 1882 map shows the first school in Cropper which was a large two-story building with grades one through twelve  It burned in 1951 and was replaced with a one-story elementary school  The team mascot was the Yellow Jackets 
Passage 2:
Stelljes House
The Stelljes House is a historic house on New Hampshire Route 31 in Goshen, New Hampshire  Built about 1800, it is one of the oldest of a cluster of plank-frame houses in Goshen  The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985  It has possibly been demolished 

Description and history
The Stelljes House stands in a rural area of southern Goshen, on the east side of NH 31  It is a 1+1⁄2-story wooden structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior  A brick chimney rises slightly off-center from the roof ridge  The main facade is asymmetrical, with a slightly off-center entrance, two sash windows to its left, and a three-section modern picture window to the right  A gable dormer projects from the rear roof face  An ell extends from the southern portion of the rear of the main block, with a porch in the corner joining the two blocks The house was built about 1800, and is one of the oldest of Goshen's cluster of plank-frame houses  The framing is three-inch planking attached vertically to sills, which rests on a rubble and granite stone foundation  Dowels are attached horizontally to give this framing lateral stability  The front facade was probably originally five bays across 

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Sullivan County, New Hampshire
Passage 3:
Haverstraw, New York
Haverstraw  is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of the Town of Clarkstown and the Town of Ramapo; east of Orange County; south of the Town of Stony Point; and west of the Hudson River  The town runs from the west to the east border of the county in its northern section  The population was 39,087 at the 2020 census The name comes from the Dutch word Haverstroo meaning "oats straw", referring to the grasslands along the river  The town contains three villages, one of which is also known as Haverstraw  Haverstraw village is the original seat of government for the town, hosting the area's historic central downtown business district and the densest population in northern Rockland County 

History
In 1609, the region was explored by Henry Hudson  A land purchase was made in this town in 1666 from local natives and confirmed as a patent in 1671   The region was known as Haverstroo, meaning "oat straw" in Dutch 
During the American Revolution, it served as an important lookout for British activities on the Hudson  A blue-marked trail, the Long Path, may be taken 2 miles (3 km) eastward from Central Highway along the crest of South Mountain to High Tor  Halfway is Little Tor, the second highest peak on South Mountain 
The town of Haverstraw was formed in 1788 while still part of Orange County, New York   Haverstraw was partitioned in 1791 to form the town of Clarkstown and the town of Ramapo and again in 1865 to form the town of Stony Point 
In 1826 the town was the site of a short-lived effort to establish an Owenite colony called the Franklin Community  Underfinanced and wracked by internal dissent, the model Owenite community folded after a mere five months of operation 

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 27 4 square miles (71 0 km2), of which 22 2 square miles (57 4 km2) is land and 5 3 square miles (13 6 km2), or 19 19%, is water 

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 33,811 people, 11,255 households, and 8,328 families residing in the town   The population density was 1,508 3 inhabitants per square mile (582 4/km2)   There were 11,553 housing units at an average density of 515 4 per square mile (199 0/km2)   The racial makeup of the town was 66 24% white, 10 27% black or African American,  41% Native American, 3 21% Asian,  10% Pacific Islander, 15 65% from other races, and 4 12% from two or more races  Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31 73% of the population 
Haverstraw has one of largest Dominican communities in the United States with Dominicans making up 32 4% of the populationThere were 11,255 households, out of which 37 3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54 4% were married couples living together, 15 0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26 0% were non-families  21 3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older   The average household size was 2 94 and the average family size was 3 43 
In the town, the population was spread out, with 26 3% under the age of 18, 8 6% from 18 to 24, 31 2% from 25 to 44, 23 6% from 45 to 64, and 10 3% who were 65 years of age or older   The median age was 35 years  For every 100 females, there were 93 7 males   For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89 4 males 
The median income for a household in the town was $53,850, and the median income for a family was $61,119  Males had a median income of $40,109 versus $31,979 for females  The per capita income for the town was $22,188   About 8 1% of families and 10 6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12 8% of those under age 18 and 13 8% of those age 65 or over 
As of the 2020 census, there were 39,087 people residing in the town 

Government
Haverstraw has a council form of government   The town supervisor is Howard T  Phillips Jr , and council members are Vincent Gamboli, John J  Gould, Hector L  Soto and Isidro "Papo" Cancel   The town's services include a police department 

Transportation
Major highways include the Palisades Interstate Parkway, U S  Route 9W, U S  Route 202, and NY Route 45  Haverstraw is also a terminus of the NY Waterway/Metro-North Railroad Haverstraw–Ossining Ferry 
Short Line, part of Coach USA, provides daily service along U S  Route 9W heading to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan and West Point Military Academy or Newburgh 

New York Central's West Shore Railroad began operations along the banks of the Hudson in 1883 and until 1958 operated passenger service between Albany and Weehawken Terminal in Weehawken, New Jersey, where passengers could transfer to ferries to Manhattan  Service between West Haverstraw and Weehawken was discontinued in 1959  The right of way is still used for freight and is known as the River Line  Conrail operated the system until its dissolution  It is now part of the CSX River Subdivision which runs between North Bergen Yard in New Jersey and Selkirk, New York 

Communities and locations in the town
Bowline Point Town Park – A park east of Haverstraw on a peninsula, called Bowline Point, in the Hudson River 
Garnerville – A hamlet southwest of West Haverstraw 
Harriman State Park – Part of the park is in the western part of the town 
Village of Haverstraw – The historic downtown business district  The original seat of government in Haverstraw Town 
Johnsontown – A hamlet west of West Haverstraw named after the Johnson brothers 
Ladentown – A hamlet 
Lake Kanawauke – A lake in Harriman State Park in the southwestern corner of the town 
Lake Sebago – A lake in Harriman State Park in the southwestern corner of the town 
Lake Welch – A lake in Harriman State Park near the western town line 
Mount Ivy – A hamlet by the southern town line 
Pomona – A village partly in the town and partly in the town of Ramapo 
Samsondale – A hamlet east of West Haverstraw 
St  John's in the Wilderness – A hamlet 
Thiells – A hamlet west of West Haverstraw 
West Haverstraw – A village 
Willow Grove – A hamlet on the northern town line 

Education
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates Catholic schools in Rockland County  St  Peter Parish School was in Haverstraw  In 2012, after the archdiocese announced that it could potentially be closed, the school community did a fundraising drive as the school was told it could remain open if a plan to raise $500,000 annually was produced  That year the school's per-student cost was $5,500 but it relied on archdiocese funds as it deliberately had tuition below cost, at $3,600, so children of working class backgrounds could attend  It had an increasing enrollment at the time of closure, with 328 students in its final year 

Notable people
Wilson P  Foss Jr , art collector and businessman
Walter S  Gurnee, Fourteenth Mayor of Chicago
Abram Stevens Hewitt (1822–1903) was a teacher, lawyer, iron manufacturer, U S  Congressman, and a mayor of New York 
Molly McGee (1952–1994), gridiron football player
Marty Springstead, American League Umpire
Scott Stanford (1977) – WWE Superstars play-by-play announcer working for the Raw brand
Both the composer Kurt Weill and his wife, the actress and singer Lotte Lenya, are buried in Haverstraw
Robert Sterling Yard, journalist, environmentalistHaverstraw was home to three Medal of Honor recipients:

Nick Erickson, Navy, Spanish–American War
Michael A  Donaldson, 69th New York, World War I

Footnotes
Further reading
George H  Budke, Rockland County during the American Revolution, 1776–1781  New York: Rockland County Public Librarians Association, 1976 

External links

Town of Haverstraw official website
Greater Haverstraw Chamber of Commerce
Passage 4:
Kadıköy, Yalova
Kadıköy is a town (belde) in the Yalova District, Yalova Province, Turkey  Its population is 9,543 (2022)  It is 7 kilometres (4 3 mi) south west of Yalova and at the midpoint of Armutlu Peninsula  The settlement was founded  by an Ottoman kadı ("judge")   Hence it was named as Kadıköy ("Judge's village")  During Ottoman Empire most of the population was composed of Greeks  But according to Population exchange between Greece and Turkey agreement the Greek population was replaced by Turkish population from Greece  Refugees from Caucasus after the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) were also settled in the village  The village was declared a seat of township in 1991  Intensive farming such as green house farming and floriculture is the main economic activity of the town 
Passage 5:
Timnath, Colorado
The Town of Timnath is a Statutory Town located in Larimer County, Colorado, United States  Founded in 1882, Timnath is a small agricultural/farming community located southeast of Fort Collins, Colorado, approximately one-half mile east of the Harmony Road/Interstate 25 interchange, on a small bluff east of the Cache la Poudre River  The surrounding farmlands have been used primarily for potatoes, alfalfa, sugar beets, and cattle  Although the town has remained virtually unchanged in recent decades, the encroaching growth of both Fort Collins to the west and Windsor to the south have placed the town in an area considered favorable to development  The population was 6,487 at the 2020 census   Timnath has been one of the fastest-growing communities in Colorado since 2020, and in 2021 had an estimated population of 7,839 

Description
Other structures lining Main Street (a section of County Road 5) include elementary school (in the Poudre School District), a one-story modern post-office, and several other historic buildings  Most residences are single-family homes  There is another elementary school (Bethke Elementary) 2 8 miles away from the one lining Main Street 

History
The area was first homesteaded by settlers in 1869  The first schoolhouse was constructed that year, approximately one-half mile west of the current town, and was named "Fairview"  By 1880, the community had outgrown the schoolhouse, and new "Fairview" school was built just north of the current town  The school also served as an early meeting place for the Presbyterian Church  The turning point in the early history of the community was in 1882, with the arrival of the Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railroad (controlled by the Union Pacific) linking Greeley and Fort Collins  The following year, the Presbyterian Church, petitioned by local residents, sent a missionary to found a congregation  The current structure along Main Street dates from that year 
A post office was established in 1884, headed by Reverend Charles A  Taylor, the local Presbyterian minister  When the post office was formed, Taylor bestowed the current name of the town from the 14th chapter of the Book of Judges, as the place where Samson went to obtain a Philistine wife  In 1900 the second school became outdated and a new one was built, dropping the name "Fairview" permanently  This structure currently stands as an out-building to the current elementary school  A larger school was built in 1918 (which burned in 1935 and was rebuilt the following year)  The school district was consolidated with that of Fort Collins in 1960 
During World War II, the Empire of Japan launched Fu-Go balloon bombs that floated across the Pacific to the U S  One of these bombs dropped and exploded in a field in Timnath 

Geography
Timnath is located at 40°31'47" North, 104°58'54" West (40 529718, -104 981654) As of 2013, the incorporated area of Timnath comprises 5 05 square miles of land The historical downtown lies along County Road Five, which runs north–south parallel to Interstate 25 half a mile to the east  Since the 2000 census, the town of Timnath has annexed several square miles of land to the east and southeast; the town has experienced significant commercial development along the east–west corridor of County Road 38 (Harmony Road), including Wal-Mart and Costco  The majority of the six mile (north-south) by three mile (east-west) block of land that lies within Timnath's growth management area is low-density residential or agricultural, and is designated to remain so, with open space and parkland filling the remainder of the area, particularly near the Poudre River and Timnath Reservoir 

Government
Timnath is a Home Rule Town, governed by a Town Council, which consists of five elected officials - one Mayor and four Council Members, all positions are elected "at large," meaning that candidates come from all areas of the town  Elected officials serve 4 year terms 
Council meetings are open, public meetings where the Council makes town decisions and creates local laws and policies  The Council holds regular meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p m  Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are held at the Town Administration Building at 4800 Goodman Street 
The Town Council appoints the Town Manager who is responsible for the administration and daily operations of the Town 
Police services are provided by the Timnath Police Department and the Larimer County Sheriff's Department  Fire protection is provided by Poudre Fire Authority 

Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 625 people, 214 households, and 179 families residing in the town  There were 243 housing units  The racial makeup of the town was 94 4% White, 0 6% African American, 0 0% Native American, 1 1% Asian, 0 3% Pacific Islander, 1 4% from other races, and 2 1% from two or more races  6 1% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race 
There were 214 households, out of which 46 7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 72 0% were married couples living together, 7 9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3 7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 16 4% were non-families  14 0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older  The average household size was 2 92 and the average family size was 3 23 
In the town, the population was spread out, with 32 3% under the age of 18, 5 5% from 18 to 24, 27 7% from 25 to 44, 27 1% from 45 to 64, and 7 4% who were 65 years of age or older  The median age was 35 4 years  For every 100 females, there were 98 4 males 
In the 2009-2013 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the town was $113,144, and the median income for a family was $114,318  The per capita income for the town was $40,889  1 5% of the population and 1 1% of families were below the poverty line  1 0% of those under the age of 18 and 0 0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line 
Timnath has experienced significant population growth in recent years, and was the fastest growing town in Colorado in 2013 (32%) and the fastest growing town in Colorado since the start of the decade (142%) 

Notable people
Jean Bethke Elshtain, political philosopher
Passage 6:
Clarkstown, New York
Clarkstown is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States  The town is on the eastern border of the county, located north of the town of Orangetown, east of the town of Ramapo, south of the town of Haverstraw, and west of the Hudson River  As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 86,855  The hamlet of New City, the county seat of Rockland County, is also the seat of town government and of the Clarkstown Police Department, the county sheriff's office, and the county correctional facility  New City makes up about 41 47% of the town's population 
In 2008, Clarkstown became one of 600 municipalities nationwide to sign the United States Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 7 percent below the 1990 levels by 2012 

History
The town of Clarkstown was created in 1791 from the town of Haverstraw in Orange County, before Rockland County was formed 

Geography
The Hudson River defines the eastern border of the town, which is opposite the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County 
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 46 9 square miles (121 km2), of which 38 5 square miles (100 km2) is land and 8 4 square miles (22 km2) (17 87%) is water 
The New York State Thruway (Interstate 87/Interstate 287) intersects the Palisades Interstate Parkway in the town 

Demographics
As of the 2010 Census, there were 84,187 people, 29,234 households, and 22,186 families residing in the Town of Clarkstown  The population density was 1,800 per square mile  There were 30,314 housing units at an average density of 646 35 per square mile  There were 29,234 households, out of which 27 9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62 1% were married couples living together, 10 4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24 1% were non-families  36 2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 31 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age of older  The average household size was 2 84 and the average family size was 3 28  The median age was 42 8 years  
As of the census of 2000, there were 82,082 people, 27,697 households, and 21,991 families residing in the town   The population density was 2,129 7 inhabitants per square mile (822 3/km2)   There were 28,220 housing units at an average density of 732 2 per square mile (282 7/km2)   The racial makeup of the town was 79 97% White, 7 87% African American, 0 13% Native American, 7 90% Asian, 0 10% Pacific Islander, 1 99% from other races, and 2 03% from two or more races  Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6 92% of the population 
There were 27,697 households, out of which 36
Context 3: Passage 1:
Pop'n TwinBee
Pop'n Twinbee (ポップンツインビー) is a top-view shoot-'em-up game originally released in 1993 by Konami for the Super Famicom in Japan  The game was also released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the PAL region  It is the sixth game in the TwinBee series and a direct follow-up to the arcade game Detana!! TwinBee (Bells & Whistles)  The European version was published by Konami's Palcom Software division and was the first of three TwinBee games localized for the European market, followed by a Game Boy version of Pop'n TwinBee (which was actually an earlier game titled TwinBee Da!! in Japan) and the side-scrolling platform game Pop'n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures  It was released in North America 27 years after its Super Famicom launch through a February 2020 update to the Nintendo Switch Online Super NES library 

Plot
The game's opening sequence shows TwinBee and WinBee patrolling the skies of Donburi Island when they suddenly receive a distress signal from a young girl named Madoka  Madoka reveals that she is the granddaughter of Dr  Mardock, who was once a benevolent scientist until a bump in the head turned him insane  Dr  Mardock now seeks to conquer the world with an army of Acorn Men and only TwinBee and WinBee can stop him 

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to Detana!! TwinBee, the second coin-op game in the series, but with a few notable additions and changes  Like in previous TwinBee, up to two players can play simultaneously, Player 1 controls TwinBee (the blue aircraft), while Player 2 controls WinBee (the pink aircraft)  When the player begins the game, they'll be asked to enter their name and choose between three types of companion ships (whether their companions will follow their ship, engulf them, or surround them)  The player's objective is to maneuver their spacecraft through a series of seven stages and defeat every enemy who gets in the way, facing a boss at the end of each stage  Unlike previous games, instead of extra lives, the player has a life meter that determines how much damage the player's ship can take before losing  When the player loses, they will be given a chance to restart at the stage where they left off, but only limited chances are given to continue 
Like in previous TwinBee games, the player shoots at airborne enemies with their gun and drops bombs to the land  The player can also attack airborne enemies with their ship's punches as well at close range  The player can shoot tiny-sized replicas of their ship that will fly and attack all on-screen enemies  The player can only perform this attack based on the number of stocks they have  During a 2-player game, one player can give the other player a bit of their life energy to replenish it or even use the other player's ship as a projectile against the enemy  As usual, the main power-up items are bells that can change colors by shooting them in the air, giving the player a different upgrade when one is retrieved depending on the bell's color 
On the game's option settings, the player can adjust the game's difficulty, controls, and sound, as well as switch between "normal" and "couple" mode  During couple mode, the enemy attacks will aim primarily at Player 1 if two players are playing together  This feature is intended to allow less experienced players enjoy the game if they're playing with a more experience partner 

Soundtrack
The upbeat and light hearted soundtrack, composed by Kazuhiko Uehara among others, takes influence from Japanese Idol songs 

Reception
The game was reviewed by Weekly Famitsu, and was given a score of 30 out of 40 
Passage 2:
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, known in Japan as Super Demon World Village, is a platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991  As the third game in the Ghosts 'n Goblins series and the first not to be released for the arcade, it again depicts knight Arthur saving Princess Guinevere and the kingdom from Emperor Sardius, who has cast a spell that has revived the Ghoul Realm 
The game has been included in multiple compilations of Capcom classics  A remake was released for the Game Boy Advance which features an additional game mode with new stages 

Gameplay
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is a side-scrolling platform game with reduced emphasis on run and gun and more on platforming  As in the predecessor Ghosts 'n Goblins, the player takes the role of the knight Arthur, who must save Princess Guinevere and rid the kingdom of the Ghoul Realm which is revived under a spell of Emperor Sardius (known as Samael in the Japanese version), who has kidnapped Guinevere in the Phantom Zone  The game has four difficulty settings (easy, normal, difficult, and professional), and the player can set up to nine lives  However, there are also only six continues In each of the eight levels (named Quests), four of them consisting of two sections, Arthur, has a time limit to fight ghouls before defeating a Foul Guardian that protects the gate to the next stage  The first five Quests (The Dead Place, The Rotting Sea, Vermilion Horror, The Ghoul's Stomach, and The Deep Chill) take place in a variety of locations, such as graveyards, abandoned ships on sea, flame-filled caverns, and locales consisting of ice and snow  The final three Quests (The Castle of the Emperor, Hallway of Ghouls, and The Throne Room) are areas of Sardius's castle  Parts of the environment, such as earth ground lifting caused by earthquakes, blizzards, heavy sea waves, and avalanches, are also threats to Arthur  Ice Wall, the second section of the fifth level, depicts Arthur scaling a rotating palace as in Nebulus (1987) Arthur starts in the Steel Armor with a lance  If he gets hit by an enemy or projectile, he loses his armor and is reduced to his underpants; getting hit again results in the loss of a life  An ability not present in previous series entries is the double jump, which allows Arthur to leap, then jump again when in mid-air  Although there is no control of momentum during a single jump, Arthur can change direction through a double jump  Other weapons can be picked up along the way, such as a faster-speed knife, hatchets, cross bows, daggers, and torches with short arcs that explode on contact  However, only one can be held at a time  Like in Ghouls n' Ghosts, hidden treasure chests can be found for weapons, armor upgrades, and bonus points  Chests have unwanted deadly traps, and an magician, the Conjurer, transforms Arthur into one of four weaker forms temporarily: a baby, a girl, a seal or a wasp  Chests only appear when moving through specific areas of the screen Bronze and Gold armor is collectable  A bronze armor equips Arthur with a Weapon of Enchantment, a more powerful version of the weapon he's holding, such as flamed lances, lightning bolt daggers, and even more fiery torches  A gold armor, a new feature for the series, provides him the enchanted weapon plus a Moon Shield, which protects him from one hit and only works while standing still, and magic that can power up his weapon even more Sticking with tradition, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts must be defeated twice; after beating the last Foul Guardian before Sardius in the first playthrough, Guinevere informs Arthur that he cannot kill Sardius without a mysterious weapon named the Goddess's Bracelet, for which Sardius captured the Princess because she once wore it  The Goddess's Bracelet must be found in the second playthrough and used to beat Sardius 

Development
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is the third entry of Capcom's Ghosts 'n Goblins series, following Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985) and Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1988), it is also the series' first entry to not be released to the arcade  Leading the 50-member staff, in his first time managing a team, was Tatsuya Minami, who by then already took on positions as artist and producer for console ports of Rush & Crash (1986), Final Fight (1989), and Street Fighter 2 (1991)  Capcom's boss assigned Minami to Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts following a two-week break that began after completing Final Fight  By then, the project was stagnant with only the first level completed  The following two years were very turbulent, and the master ROM was remade several times near the end of the deadline  The favorable reviews following a very difficult process inspired Minami to run future projects for Capcom 

Regional differences
The crosses in the game were modified from the original Chō Makaimura, where they resemble church crosses; in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, they appear as ankhs  The final boss was also renamed from Samael to Sardius 
The European version removed certain enemies and obstacles in the game to reduce the difficulty and potential slowdown 

Release
A port of the Super NES version of Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is featured alongside the arcade versions of Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts in the video game compilation Capcom Generation: Chronicles of Arthur for PlayStation, which was also released for the Sega Saturn in Japan as Capcom Generation 2  This version is also included in Capcom Classics Collection for PlayStation 2 and Xbox and in Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for PlayStation Portable 
The Game Boy Advance version, titled Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts in North America and Europe and Chō Makaimura R in Japan, features an "Arrange Mode" that enables the player to choose from redesigned levels and bosses based on Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts, depending on success in keeping the bronze armor, or a higher difficulty tier of the standard levels set upon keeping the golden armor  Unlike the Normal Mode, in Arrange Mode, the Goddess's Bracelet is already accessible during the first playthrough 
The SNES version was released for the Virtual Console on the Wii on March 5, 2007, the Wii U on May 16, 2013, and New Nintendo 3DS on June 23, 2016  The GBA version was also released for the Wii U on October 22, 2015 
Nintendo re-released Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts in the United States and Europe in September 2017 for the Super NES Classic Edition Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts was also available as one of the classic games included as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service 

Reception
Critics from Electronic Gaming Monthly and the German Video Games magazine called it the best entry in the Ghosts 'n Goblin series As with prior Ghosts 'n Goblins games, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts's very high difficulty was discussed, with Nintendo Life's Damien McFerran declaring it "16-bit gaming at its most unforgiving"  Most reviewers opined the challenge was never unfair  A minor criticism was directed at the lack of shooting flexibility, specifically that the player couldn't shoot up or down Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead was in the minority on finding the challenge proper  He opined it "relies far too heavily on cheap tricks and blatantly unfair game mechanics to turn an otherwise pleasant platformer into an exercise in cruel frustration", his rationales including inability to change directions during a jump, and superior enemy advantages in terms of movement and ability for foes to shoot through certain objects Arthur could not  Neal Ronaghan of Nintendo World Report and Nadia Oxford of USgamer wrote the player had to be perfect starting at level one  According to Oxford, "every pixel of every level" had to be memorized, such as enemy patterns, power-up locations, platform movement, and the best power-up weapons to kill each enemy  Oxford, as well as reviewers from Nintendo World Report and Super Play, stated the difficulty level was so high some players, even those of average skill, wouldn't enjoy it  Super Play claimed it was hard to beat even a single section without the power-up armors, made worse by how easy it is to lose it  The magazine and Nadia also condemned the absence of a save feature, such as a password or the console's save battery, meaning the game had to be beat in one sitting Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts was praised for its replay value  Wrote ACE magazine's David Upchurch, the game was "tough but rarely frustrating, and will keep you coming back again and again until it's been cracked"  Upchurch called the control "superb", writing the SNES joypad was so well-designed it made jumping and shooting possible  Super Pro felt it had more depth and replay-a-bility than other arcade ports due to its "exciting" graphics and sound and the "variety and imagination" in its level design  Wrote McFerran, "the fantastic level design, inventive enemies and gripping gameplay lock you in for hours, despite the fact that for a large portion of that time you'll feel like you're banging your head against a wall" The graphics, sound and level design was lauded, especially by retrospective reviews that called the game the best example of the 16-bit console's capabilities  In Video Games, Julian Eggebrecht found the graphics the best he'd seen on a home console  James Mielke of GameSpot considered the game's color palette ahead of its time  Claimed Super Gamer, "there's a multitude of power-ups, hideously imaginative monsters and fantastic settings, including a beautifully drawn sunken ship " Mean Machines writer Rich, calling the graphics "exceptional", stated the game superseded another one of Capcom's arcade ports to the SNES, U N  Squadron, in term of backdrops  He and Upchurch highlighted the ice level, particularly its parallax scrolling, layers of snow, and tower section  Nintendo Life staff, in addition to noting the "outstanding sprite work" and "lots of neat little touches in the background", also focused on Mode 7 effects such as the zooming of enemy sprites and rotating platforms Martin Gaksch of Video Games described the game as a mixture of "modern action entertainment and a hodgepodge of innovative ideas"  The diversity in gameplay was noted by Upchurch: "One minute Arthur's avoiding showers of skulls from giant stone monoliths, the next he's clambering on top of a stone pillar to avoid being washed away by a giant tidal wave, then he's dodging careening trolleys of flame - and this is all on the first level alone!" On the other hand, Tim Boone, although amazed by the look and sound, found the game just another side-scrolling platformer, which he was already tired of due to the amount of similar titles that existed since the original Ghost 'n Goblins A frequent criticism was the slowdown, occurring when several sprites appeared on the screen  Upchurch and McFerran argued it helped in defeating harder enemies  On the other hand, Super Play opined it negatively affected the experience in general, and Craig Harris of IGN found it harder to control Arthur when the game slowed down As of June 30, 2017, 1 09 million units of the SNES version were sold since its release in October 1991, making it Capcom's 75th best-selling game of all time  In later years, it was ranked the 76th best all-time Nintendo game by Official Nintendo Magazine, the 231st best by Nintendo Power, and the 22nd best console video game of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly  The Game Boy Advance version was nominated for GameSpot's 2002 "Best Port of a 16-Bit Classic" award  GamesRadar ranked the game at number 25 in their "the Best SNES games of all time"  In 2018, Complex listed the game 22nd in its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time" and opining that Super Ghouls'n Ghosts is "Probably the most difficult game in the SNES library " In 1995, Total! placed the game 26th on its Top 100 SNES Games  They praised the game's graphics as "Top notch" and gave praise for the game's classic arcade gameplay concluding: "It's constantly challenging but also has a wonderfully friendly learning curve " IGN listed the game 51st in their Top 100 SNES Games 

Notes
Passage 3:
Plok
Plok! is a side-scrolling platform game developed by British studio Software Creations and its concepts and characters created and owned by Ste and John Pickford  It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in late 1993 by Tradewest in North America, Nintendo in Europe, and Activision in Japan  Players portray the hood-headed titular protagonist, the king of the island Akrillic who is protecting it from fleas spawned by the Flea Queen, who is under the island's ground, as well as other bosses trying to overthrow Plok's power  His versatility lies in his four separable limbs, which can be used to shoot at targets and enemies, and several power-ups scattered throughout its colorful stages as "presents "
Plok!'s history began in the late 1980s as a self-funded coin-op project by the two Pickford brothers named Fleapit; they worked on it while at Zippo Games and programmed it for Rare's 'Razz Board' hardware  It was cancelled in 1990 following the closure of Zippo Games, but was revived as a SNES game developed at Software Creations after the Pickfords were promoted to higher positions, with Ste becoming an art director and John a producer  Software Creations self-funded the game with the Pickfords owning intellectual property rights 
Plok! was positively received by critics, who praised its innovative ideas, variety, presentation, versatile playable character, and level design; however, some expressed skepticism of it being the same cutesy colorful platform title as many others, and the Pickfords attributed its underwhelming sales to market saturation of mascot platformers 

Gameplay
Plok! has two difficulty modes: "Normal" which features the entire game, and "Child's Play" which omits the harder stages and decreases the speed and hit points of enemies  "Plokontinues" are earned if four P-L-O-K tokens are collected, and a token is garnered if a level is finished without dying; if a Game Over occurs, the player will restart with a score of 0, three lives, and at the place the Plokontinue was received  Saving is limited to two "Permanent Continue Positions" after the completion of the Bobbins Brothers and Rockyfella boss fights which the player can return to even after the game is reset, and there is no password feature 
Plok can launch any of his four limbs (two arms and two legs) at will to damage enemies as projectiles from his arms and feet  While a limb instantly returns to Plok's body if it hits an enemy, it takes longer if it does not collide with anything  Limbs can also fire through certain barriers like rock pillars  The only limitation is that he cannot shoot limbs while somersaulting  In later levels, some puzzles involve having to "sacrifice" one of Plok's limbs to activate scenery-changing targets  Once a limb hits a switch, it is placed on a hanger that is usually next to the target  Some targets also require certain limbs  Once Plok is limbless, he moves by bouncing and becomes harder to control Plok's secondary attack takes the form of "Speed Blade," a buzzsaw-like jump that not only gives him increased speed as items but also dispatches enemies at the highest damage possible  Plok can pick up shells, which award extra lives and serve as ammunition for a special amulet received partway through the game  The amulet converts shells into power for Plok's secondary attack  There are also "Magic Fruits" that can heal Plok's health; the more he punches a fruit, the bigger it gets and more health he receives  Less frequent are bigger "Golden Fruits" that increase Plok's energy to its fullest  In some levels, some fruits can either send Plok to a timed bonus stage where he must reach a goal or a strange room where he must collect all the shells to progress  Completing these will have Plok warp to the next level with some of them being able to skip boss fights 
"Presents" temporarily upgrades Plok into a character from his favourite movies, such as "Plocky" which equips him with boxing gloves, "Vigilante Plok" which makes him a flamethrower-equipped character a la the "Ploxterminator," the Deerstalker-wearing "Squire Plok" equipped with a blunderbuss, a gun-slinging "Cowboy Plok" based on westerns, and "Rocket Plok" where is equipped with multiple rocket launchers  Presents in the Fleapit yield high-tech, futuristic vehicles with weapons, such as a unicycle with a water cannon, an "off-road truck" with a rocket launcher, a jetpack with lasers, a motorbike with grenades, a tank, a bomb-dropping helicopter, a flying saucer with plasma cannons, and a pair of spring pogo shoes The player encounters several different enemies, such as the aforementioned fleas  For fleas, for the player to complete the level, Plok must destroy every single one of them in every level (with the exceptions of Cotton Island, Legacy Island, and Fleapit), where the last one drops a flag which levitates to its flag pole and allows the player to progress 

Plot
As king, Plok dwells on Akrillic, a large island in the fictional archipelago of Polyesta  Plok wakes up one morning and notices his big square flag on the pole on his house's rooftop has been stolen, and goes out searching for it  He spots the flag on Cotton Island from far away and sails to it to find the flag  Plok mistakes some imposter flags for his own, becoming irritated in the process  Plok encounters the two giant creatures who are responsible for placing the fake flags, the Bobbins Brothers, whom Plok's grandpappy had warned him about, and fights them Although successfully defeating the Bobbins Brothers and getting his big square flag back, Plok sails back to Akrillic to find the island has been infested and overtaken by "fleas", two-legged blue insects that hatch from eggs and hop around; Plok learns that the theft of his large flag was simply a decoy to lure him away from Akrillic  Plok travels through Akrillic, defeating every single flea on the surface to reclaim his island  
Partway through the game, Plok places the big square flag back where it belongs outside his home, and then takes a break as he sits on a foot of the statue of his grandfather, Grandpappy Plok, wishing he had found an amulet to help him deal with the fleas  He takes a nap and has an odd dream of his grandfather's search for an amulet 50 years ago  In the dream, the player plays as Grandpappy Plok as he sails from Akrillic to Legacy Island, and shares the same experience as what his grandson is doing now, traveling through bizarre obstacles, discovering artifacts (including Rockyfella), and dealing with the same Bobbin Brothers as well as their third brother Irving  Having defeated them, Grandpappy finally dug up an amulet and sailed back to Akrillic victoriously  Back to the present day, Plok wakes up and discovers that the amulet is located at the bottom of the statue  Plok's mission on getting his island back continues, now with the ability to "charge" a buzzsaw jump ability by sacrificing the shells he has collected Plok then heads into various locations around the island while facing other creatures trying to overthrow Akrillic: Penkinos, a group of inflatable, floating magicians of mysterious origin living in the North of the island; Womack, a spider living in the island's center with its long legs being weak points; and Rockyfella, the spirit of the island's soil residing under in the mountains of the island's southeast who is vengeful against Plok for the flagpoles he dug in the ground  After clearing out all the enemies on the island, Plok journeys into the source of the fleas, the Fleapit, where he uses various weapon vehicles  He faces off with the leader of the fleas who hatched them, the Flea Queen, using a high-tech "secret Super-Vehicle" armed with bug spray to defeat her  After the showdown, he returns home to sleep on his green chair 

Development
1988: Rare hires Zippo Games
In the summer of 1988, Ste and John Pickford, workers at Zippo Games which was owned by John and their friend Steve Hughes, were struggling to complete games for 16-bit Atari ST and Amiga computers, many getting canceled  They learned Rare was looking for developers of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) titles, which the console had yet to gain steam in the United Kingdom; despite finding the 8-bit system "horribly overpriced and terribly underpowered", the Pickfords took the offer due to financial necessity and their love of the works of Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper's previous company Ultimate Play the Game  Zippo Games was the only company to have been consulted by Rare for NES work  Despite initial skepticism against the NES, the Pickfords' experience working on Ironsword, as well as playing Mario and Zelda games on the console as required by the Stamper brothers, gained them an appreciation for the console and changed their development focus from being on technical finesse to the player's experience, which is what they had for Plok! 

1988–1989: Fleapit
John, while Ste was drawing the shop screen for Ironsword, came up with an idea of a character with a hangman's hood; Ste doodled it in a small margin of the layout  The detachable limbs were also conceived in the sketch, as below the character was an arrow pointing to a pile of his parts  John then thought of a game where the player had to capture all jumping fleas in a land, which the two decided to have the hangman be the playable character  Plok's name was then spontaneously coined when John was placing letters from a cassette tape cover on his computer mouse; his full name was "Plok the Exploding Man" to describe his separable design  After more motivation from John, Ste moved to clear sheets of paper to do more sketches, where the character's colors, poses, size (32x40) and "extreme expressions" involving an opening mouth were conceived After the formation of these ideas, Chris Stamper went to Zippo Games to introduce a coin-op hardware he designed named the Razz Board  In addition to being impressed by the hardware's innovative graphics system, the Pickfords also saw an opportunity to make a "real arcade game" like the ones in their youth; they previously worked on an Amiga-based coin-op system for World Darts, but never a "real" arcade title  As a result, the Pickfords made a deal with Rare to use the hardware to produce their dream game as well as to own the game property and receive a big chunk of revenue from board sales; however, the deal also made all of the funding up to the brothers  The project was named Fleapit Ste vaguely recalled Fleapit in a 2014 interview, comparing its gameplay to Excitebots: Trick Racing (2009) in that the player had to catch one of several flying footballs to score a touchdown in the middle of a level; he reported the product being only a little more "primitive" than Plok!, featuring stages only scrolling horizontal and vertically, more "set pieces or one-off levels," backgrounds made of food like sausages and doughnuts, and a space level As development went on, Rare was profiting mostly from selling NES titles, making them less focused on Razz Board games such as Fleapit  In 1989, Rare, the first company outside of Japan to have a Game Boy, instructed Zippo Games to develop a game for the handheld console; however, this meant stopping the development of Fleapit  Rare and Zippo Games' relationship worsened; Zippo never completed a Game Boy product as instructed and was bought out by Rare in 1990 to be renamed Rare Manchester, which was shut down  Fleapit was cancelled half-completed in 1990 as a result of Zippo Games closing and funds running out; Ste admitted in 2014 a desire to produce a coin-op caused improper business decisions, such as rejecting more financially-rewarding console work Late in Fleapit's development, the brothers obtained comedian Chris Sievey to voice Plok, contacting him in 1990 via the number on the name of one of his songs, "969 1909 " He encountered Sievey in his Frank Sidebottom costume at The Ritz venue, and offered to work for free; however, a short time later, Fleapit was cancelled, and Sievey never voiced the character 

1990–1993: From Zippo to Software Creations
After leaving Zippo, John phoned Richard Hay, the head of Software Creations, the first company outside of Japan to have a development kit for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)  Hay hired the Pickfords right away to use it to design and program Equinox (1993), a sequel to the NES title Solstice (1990)  The Pickfords were eventually promoted to higher positions, with Ste becoming an art director and John a producer On the side, the Pickfords continued working on Fleapit, coming up with new characters and locations as well as doing more pitch illustrations  Near the completion of Equinox, the Pickfords showcased Fleapit to Hay, pitching it under a new name: Plok! While the brothers and Hay considered many consoles, such as the NES, Super NES, and Game Boy, only a Super NES title came into fruition  Development once again involved self-funding, albeit on the part of Software Creations instead of just the Pickfords Plok!'s team consisted of the two brothers as producers, art directors, and designers; John Buckley as programmer; Lyndon Brooke as graphic artist; another set of brothers, Tim and Geoff Follin, developing the music and sound; Kevin Edwards and Stephen Ruddy as compressors; Dan Whitworth creating additional graphics; and an 18-year-old Chun Wah Kong joining in spring 1993 as a tester  Software Creations, for some of their games, hired animators recently laid-off from a Manchester studio, and Whitworth was no exception; he animated the title screen (where Plok plays a harmonica to the theme song) while Ste was on a two-week holiday, and Whitworth's work was enthusiastically-received by the staff Plok! was the Pickford brothers' first experience as project managers, as well as the first time they collaborated with other developers to turn their ideas into a finished product  Buckley later admitted to Plok! being his most "proud" work  and Kong admittined that his experience as the game's tester prepared him for being lead designer on Team Soho's PlayStation 2 title The Getaway (2002): "QA is great grounding for designers  It makes you think critically about how players approach your level; how to reward curiosity if the player wanders off the beaten track; how different approaches could break the game "Although Pickfords allowed Buckley and Brooke to offer many contributions, development was not without conflict, the biggest argument occurring late in development regarding difficulty; while Buckley and Brooks felt it was proper, the Pickfords found it overbearing  To settle the dispute, the first eight stages which were originally for Cotton Island were moved later as the Grandpappy Plok dream stages, with eight new easier Cotton Island stages created  According to Buckley, dream levels were conceived to vary the pacing, particularly with the Amulet  Kong also reported one of the publishers wanted the first level's difficulty decreased, so the staff decreased the bouncing sprouts' hit points from two to one; however, in the tutorial segment of the final game, the sprouts take two hits as Plok fires an extra arm  While Software Creations did have collectible continues (named "Plokontinues") for Plok!, it did not produce a save battery due to being too costly, and passwords were scrapped out of fear gaming magazines would spread them around Kong recalled most of the game was completed close to the end of Equinox's testing 

Graphics and art
Many of Plok!'s visuals were formulated during its Fleapit stage, where it was being programmed for the Razz Board  The hardware had an unusual system that executed higher-depth graphics and performed better with fewer data  Unlike other hardwares that used bitmap grids that encode colors and transparency through binary numbers, the Razz Board hardware stored pixels as bytes, with the first six bits determining color, the seventh bit setting its vertical position relative to its predecessor, and the eighth its horizontal  For instance, using a bitmap system to create a 32-pixel line requires a grid of 1,024 pixels (32x32) with 992 of them transparent, while making the same line took only 32 bytes in Razz Board  This meant sprites weren't restrained to perfectly square sizes, which Ste took advantage of when creating the text font although setting an arbitrary limit of 22x29  For the SNES game, Brooke designed two new fonts for 16x16 and 8x8 bitmap grids: one based on Ste's font for Fleapit, in turn based on his lettering in concept drawings, and another for the silent movie-esque screens in the Legacy Island levels  Software Creations' leader and Plok! executive producer Mike Webb reported compressing 50% on the game's 16-megabit graphics data (equivalent to Street Fighter II) to eight megabits Fleapit was the Pickfords' first game where Ste created concept art, to be more professional and adapt to an increase in presentation to buyers in the industry; according to Ste, this changed the process of green-lighting a game just by starting programming: "Everyone in the industry was self taught, and there were no standards or expectations of how a new game should progress  I remember it being a struggle to justify spending work time drawing pretty pictures which wouldn't actually contribute to the game " Ste added shades to the concept art using Letratone as an easy method to a businesslike aesthetic  Ste drew the illustrations in black and white, due to being focused more on shape than on color and photocopying technology only allowing monochrome prints  The color scheme was formulated originally for an 8-bit arcade title; to achieve a "natural" look, colors were scrunched into extreme areas of the RGB color wheel  When the project turned into a 16-bit SNES game, the color scheme (although generally the same) was more detailed with a wider palette, and Ste used magic markers to color concept art; it was used not only for the game but also for other titles and products of a potential franchise and as illustrations for the instruction manual John's first plan for taking the most advantage of the Razz Board was with how Plok was animated; since he had separable limbs, all of his six parts were independently-moving static sprites  
The separated limbs of Plok made him easy to animate and took less graphical data, as static parts could be coded to move and rotate instead of creating multiple frames  Ste also had Plok's boots and gloves be gigantic in order for his detachable-limb design to work to its full potential  The fleas, although animated traditionally with frames, were only two legs to make animating extreme poses simpler and for the sprite to not be too busy  Ste reported "5 or 6" frames for all of the fleas' movements  For the SNES console, Brooke altered the design of Plok and the fleas only slightly, but Plok's animation method was transformed; the SNES has the traditional bitmap method of executing pixels, thus he was animated frame-by-frame by Brooke 

Concepts and design
Fleapit characters not in Plok! include Armstrong, a "mini-version" of Rockyfella; and Suki, a manga-style character who ran an item shop  The Bobbins Brothers and Womack were transferred from Fleapit (although Womack went through a massive redesign by Brooke that Ste appreciated) while the Penkinos were originally-conceived for Plok! The "floating" limb movements were coded in John's first prototype of Fleapit, with the idea of removing limbs incorporated later on as the Pickfords experimented  The idea of costume and vehicle power-up had also been around since Fleapit, although the set of power-ups changed with only the helicopter carrying over; Fleapit-only power-ups included "Robo Plok," a robot form that improved maneuverability and was inspired by Ro-Jaws from the 2000 AD comics; "Ninja Plok" which armed him with an endless amount of throwing stars; and "Super Plok," a superhero with flying abilities  Plok also had the "smart bomb," an ability where he enraged himself to the point of exploding and wiping out all enemies on the screen (as well as his own limbs) By the start of the development of the SNES game, Buckley didn't have Fleapit's code; thus, he started programming out of what he saw in the VHS footage, including Plok attacking fleas with his limbs and skid-ing down slanted platforms  Brooke conceived triggering parts of the scenery with limbs, reasoning they "looked a bit rough" when constantly looping; however, carrying it out was difficult due to affecting the collision detection and causing Plok's movements to be jolty  He came up with the limb-holding coat hangers two weeks later  The vehicles were left for the final stages, as incorporating them into earlier levels would've taken too much work to "balance" them with those stages' other aspects 

Audio
When it came to NES and SNES titles, Software Creations was notable for pushing the limits of a hardware's sound, including with Plok! Work on Plok!'s soundtrack, composed by Tim and Geoff Follin, began halfway into development  It was categorized by Nintendo World Report as typical of other kid-friendly platform games, although "a bit manic, deceptively bombastic, and diverse in tone"  Ste reported Geoff doing around 75% of the work and being far more open for discussion with the team, and Tim being more "elusive" Plok! continues the Follin brothers' incorporation of old rock music influences; "Beach," for instance, was inspired by the works of Stevie Wonder, and its guitar solo being influenced by Queen guitarist Brian May  Tim Follin composed the title song out of a guitar-played two-chord progression of "Tequila" by rock and roll group The Champs, as two guitar chord samples could fit within memory  "Lead" instruments such as an electric guitar and harmonicas were made out of simple waveforms, with the guitar's wave identical to a square  A breathing sample in the boss theme was also used in Equinox and Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (1992) The soundtrack has been released to physical formats twice, on July 27, 2019, to cassette by CANVAS Ltd  and as a limited-edition 500-copy double vinyl on Record Store Day (18 April) 2020 by Respawn Records; Respawned's release had notes and artwork by the Pickfords and both 180gram vinyls colored red and yellow  Rare composer David Wise has expressed admiration for Plok!, claiming his work on Donkey Kong Country to be inspired by the Follin brothers' soundtrack 

Release
Publishing
Software Creations was so confident in Plok! the developer tried to persuade Nintendo to publish it; reception from the corporation's Japan and American branches was positive  Shigeru Miyamoto expressed a strong interest in working on the game; when Plok! was only half-finished, he wrote a letter to Hay claiming it was the third-best platform game below Sonic and Mario and that he would make it the second-greatest in the genre above Sonic but below Mario  Tony Harman, product acquisitions and development manager at Nintendo of America, also attended the studio to play Plok! four weeks within its development, and told Kay Miyamoto was amazed by the game's audio to the point of analyzing it  For unknown reasons, however, Nintendo only published Plok! in Europe, while Tradewest published it in North America and Activision in Japan  Although reasons for Nintendo's rejection haven't been disclosed, Ste inductively reasoned Miyamoto found it too similar to a Super Mario World sequel in development, particularly with its mini-race levels 

Promotion
The Pickfords, despite owning the IP and developing Plok!, were never consulted on promotion  Tradewest set Plok!'s primary demographic at gamers six-to-fourteen years old  Although published by Tradewest in the United States, Plok! still received promotion from Nintendo of America; a complete guide and review was published in the October 1993 issue of its magazine Nintendo Power, and a two-page section in a Nintendo Player's Guide book for Mario Paint (1993) included templates of body part stamps to animate Plok and the flea enemies, and a background painting based on one of the Cotton Island levels



ground_truth: Switchfoot

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What was the population in 2010 of the town where The Stelljes House is located ?

The following are given passages.
Context 2: 9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67 4% were married couples living together, 9 1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20 6% were non-families  16 9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6 5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older   The average household size was 2 90 and the average family size was 3 27 
In the town, the population was spread out, with 24 7% under the age of 18, 6 6% from 18 to 24, 28 3% from 25 to 44, 28 1% from 45 to 64, and 12 3% who were 65 years of age or older   The median age was 39 years  For every 100 females, there were 94 3 males   For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90 3 males 
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the town was $92,121, and the median income for a family was $104,909  Males had a median income of $57,773 versus $40,805 for females  The per capita income for the town was $34,430   About 2 5% of families and 3 8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4 5% of those under age 18 and 3 4% of those age 65 or over 
As of the 2020 Census, there were 86,855 people residing in the Town of Clarkstown Clarkstown is the most densely populated town in Rockland County and is home to New City, which is the county seat  Clarkstown has more business districts in it than any other town in Rockland County, including the Palisades Center, which is among the largest malls in the world 

Elected representation
The Town of Clarkstown has as its chief executive a Town Supervisor   The current Town Supervisor is George Hoehmann   Clarkstown is represented in the United States House of Representatives by Congressman Michael Lawler   It is represented in New York State government by Senator Bill Weber and Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski Jr  Clarkstown is divided into four wards as follows:

Ward 1 Councilman Frank Borelli (R)
encompasses the northern portion of New City 
Ward 2 Councilman Michael Graziano (R)
encompasses the northeast portion of Clarkstown 
Ward 3 Councilman Donald Franchino (R)
encompasses Central Nyack, West Nyack, Nanuet, and Bardonia 
Ward 4 Councilman Patrick Carroll (D)
encompasses Bardonia, New City, Nanuet, Spring Valley and West Nyack 

Public transportation
Clarkstown Mini-Trans is the provider of local mass transportation in Clarkstown  It has five bus routes:

Route A- Nanuet Mall to Lakewood Drive
Route B- Nanuet Mall to Zukor Park
Route C- Nanuet Mall to South Mountain Road
Route D- Nanuet Mall to Palisades Center Mall
Route E- Nanuet Mall to Ridge RoadAdditionally, Transport of Rockland provides local mass transportation  Routes 59, 91, 92, 93, and 97 serve the town Commuter transportation is provided by New Jersey Transit's Pascack Valley Line at Nanuet, with service to Hoboken and connecting service to New York Penn Station  Tappan ZEExpress, operated by Transport of Rockland provides bus service from the Palisades Center in West Nyack and the Hudson Link bus in Central Nyack to the Tarrytown train station and the White Plains TransCenter  In addition, Rockland Coaches provides express service to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City from Park-and-Ride and other pickup locations in New City, Bardonia, West Nyack, and Nanuet via Route 49 and 49J, and local service to New York from New City, Valley Cottage, and Upper Nyack on Routes 9A, 9T, and 20 

Education
The town of Clarkstown is served by several school districts  The majority of the town is served by the Clarkstown Central School District, which educates students in New City, Bardonia, Congers, and West Nyack  The village of Upper Nyack as well as the hamlets of Valley Cottage and Central Nyack are served by the Nyack Public Schools, while the Hamlet of Nanuet is served by the Nanuet Union Free School District  A small portion on the western town border is served by the East Ramapo Central School District High schools located in the town include Clarkstown South High School in West Nyack, Clarkstown North High School in New City, Nyack Senior High School in Upper Nyack, and Nanuet Senior High School in Nanuet 

Clarkstown Central School District
In 2015 U S  News & World Report ranked Clarkstown North Senior High School with a Silver award as the 135 Best High School in New York State and 1,329 nationally
In 2017 U S  News & World Report ranked Clarkstown South Senior High School with a Silver award as the 116 Best High School in New York State and 1,219 nationally 
In 2017 U S  News & World Report ranked Clarkstown North Senior High School with a Silver award as the 117 Best High School in New York State and 1,224 nationally 
In 2018, ranked 78 Best School Districts in Clarkstown by Niche's 

Communities and locations in the Town of Clarkstown
Rankings
CNN Money
In 2008, CNNMoney com named Clarkstown the 71st best small "city" to live in America 
In 2010, CNNMoney com named Clarkstown the 41st best small "city" to live in America, which was the highest such ranking in New York 
In 2012, CNNMoney com named Clarkstown the 35th best small "city" to live in America 
In 2014, CNNMoney com named Clarkstown the 7th best small "city" to live in America 
In 2016, CNNMoney com named Clarkstown the 7th best small "city" to live in America 
In 2019, CNNMoney com named Clarkstown the 91st best small "city" to live in America 
In 2021, CNNMoney com named Clarkstown the 49th best small "city" to live in America 

CQ Press Crime ranking
In 2005, it was named by Morgan Quitno the second safest city in the United States whose population is greater than 75,000 as well as the second safest overall from over 369 cities  This was the fifth year in a row in which Clarkstown made it within the top five and top ten respectively in these categories 
In 2007, Clarkstown was once again named the second safest city in the United States, in the 14th annual "2007 – 2008 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press – formally known as Morgan Quitno, a unit of Congressional Quarterly Inc  It was based on the FBI's September 24, 2007, crime statistics report which looked at 378 municipal areas with at least 75,000 people based on per-capita rates for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft 
In 2008, Clarkstown was named the 6th safest city in the United States in the 15th annual "2008 – 2009 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press 
In 2009, Clarkstown was named the 7th safest city in the United States in the 16th annual "2009 – 2010 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press 
In 2010, Clarkstown was named the 5th safest city in the United States in the 17th annual "2010 – 2011 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press In 2011, Clarkstown was named the 7th safest city in the United States in the 18th annual "2011 – 2012 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press 
In 2012, Clarkstown was named the 8th safest city in the United States in the 19th annual "2012 – 2013 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press 
In 2013, Clarkstown was named the 8th safest city in the United States in the 20th annual "2013 – 2014 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press 
However, these rankings are highly controversial, because of their source  In October 2007 the American Society of Criminology, the United States Conference of Mayors, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation requested that the publisher reconsider the promotion of the book – specifically, "their inaccurate and inflammatory press release labeling cities as 'safest' and 'most dangerous'" – because the rankings are "baseless and damaging "

Educational ranking
In 2015 U S  News & World Report ranked Clarkstown South Senior High School with a silver award as the 128 Best High School in New York State and 1,233 nationally In 2015 U S  News & World Report ranked Clarkstown North Senior High School with a silver award as the 135 Best High School in New York State and 1,329 nationally 

Clarkstown Going Green
Clarkstown has taken steps towards "going green" by conducting energy audits, purchasing Energy Star office equipment and using green cleaning products in town facilities  Other steps included:

2005 – Purchasing 10% of the energy used by town government from wind and solar sources 
2006 – Passing a tree preservation law 
2007 – Purchasing hybrid vehicles and smaller cars 
2008 – Installing energy-efficient lighting (LED) at its parks and recreation building with sensors that automatically turn off lights when no motion is detected 
2012- Solar Field installed on capped Town Landfill (Dedicated in 2014)  It is the first Solar Field on a capped landfill in New York State  Proposed by then Councilman, George Hoehmann 
2013- Town participated in the NYSDEC Climate Smart Communities program in developing resiliency and climate action plans 
2016- Town purchases street lights from Orange and Rockland Utilities and begins converting to LED (Conversion completed in 2018) Climate Action and Sustainability Planning - Training and Outreach

Beginning in 2014, Town Planners, along with representatives from other Town Departments, attended an initial training workshop held by the consulting firm of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc  (VHB), who is being funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation specifically to help communities attain their goals as Climate Smart Communities   Town Planners participated in a series of workshops with VHB through February 2015 to begin the process of identifying ways to reduce the Town's greenhouse gas emissions 
In addition, the Clarkstown Planning Department, along with other Town Departments, participated in the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program   This is a separate initiative funded by the New York State Department of State to aid in the development of resilient and sustainable communities  As part of this New York Rising Program the consulting firm AKRF, Inc  worked with the Town to identify areas of the Town which are vulnerable to storm damage and to formulate a plan and provide funding to address these issues 
Participation in these initiatives and the products generated will serve as the foundations of the Climate Action and Sustainability Plan, which will be incorporated into the first update of the Town's Comprehensive Plan, Clarkstown 2020   Additionally, workshops were held throughout the Town's hamlets to begin gathering input and formulate direction for the Clarkstown 2020 update 

US Supreme Court case
In 1994, Clarkstown was involved in litigation that challenged a town ordinance, that required all waste picked up in the town to be sorted for recyclables at a specific privately operated facility   The case made it to the United States Supreme Court in C&A Carbone, Inc  v  Town of Clarkstown, in which the ordinance was held unconstitutional 
Passage 7:
Carrizozo, New Mexico
Carrizozo is a town in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States  It is the county seat, with a population of 996 at the 2010 census  Founded in 1899, the town provided the main railroad access for Lincoln County, and the town experienced significant population growth in the early decades of the 1900s  However, with declining relevance of the railroad, the population of the town has gradually declined  The town is located at the intersection of U S  Routes 54 and 380 

Name
The name of the town is derived from the Spanish vernacular for reed grass (Carrizo), which grew significantly in the area and provided excellent feed for ranch cattle  The additional "zo" at the end of the town name was added to indicate abundance of Carrizo grass  The town is now often referred to colloquially as "Zozo" 

History
Prior to 1899, the area was primarily a few ranches and a stagecoach crossing with limited permanent settlement  Lawrence Murphy, a merchant active in the Lincoln County War (1878), owned a major ranch in the area  The location of Carrizozo was selected as the site for a station on the El Paso and Northeastern Railway (EP&NE) main line in 1899  Carrizozo was chosen over the nearby booming mine town of White Oaks, resulting in large-scale migration from White Oaks to Carrizozo The railroad brought businesses, growing population, and increased importance to the town of Carrizozo  As a result, a county referendum in 1909 moved the seat of Lincoln County from the town of Lincoln to Carrizozo  This decision resulted in a four-year legal battle that was eventually resolved in favor of Carrizozo by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Gray v  Taylor  The result was a boom in which railroad access and political importance combined to lead to significant population growth in Carrizozo  The population reached around 2,000 by 1920 During this time, Albert B  Fall, a U S  Senator from New Mexico and later Secretary of the Interior, owned the Three Rivers Ranch just south of Carrizozo, but had to sell it to settle legal debts as a result of his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal (1922–1923)  During the same time, journalist Quentin Reynolds visited the town and wrote a piece on it for Collier's  Later, he wrote in The Wounded Don't Cry that "I used to agree with Bugs that once you left New York, you were strictly on the horse and buggy circuit  But of late years I've had to modify that  Since then I've discovered New Orleans, San Francisco and a little place called Carrizozo, New Mexico, where I want to go when I die  I want to go there and gang around the drug store and sneak behind the prescription counter with Art Rolland and have a nip of what he calls Old Granddaddy then type out his prescriptions for him "Carrizozo is about 35 miles (56 km) east of the Trinity Site, where the first nuclear bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945  Residents reported tremors like an earthquake and, as the first major downwind settlement, the town received a significant part of the remnants of the mushroom cloud (resulting in some radioactive contamination of the area, which faded quickly and does not persist today) With the rise of the automobile, Carrizozo's proximity to the railroad became less important starting in the 1950s, and the last passenger train passed through in 1968  The result was a decrease in economic opportunity in Carrizozo, and the population fell back to about 1,200 people for much of the end of the 20th century  Recently, the town has seen increasing focus on tourism, and cherry cider produced in the town is known nationally 

Geography
Carrizozo is located at the northern end of the Tularosa Basin, which extends southward to the New Mexico–Texas border  The town itself is located in a flat area known prior to the founding of the town as the Corrizo flats, with typical Chihuahuan desert scrub and desert grasslands To the west of the town is the Carrizozo Malpais, a 40-mile-long (64 km) lava flow that is about 1,500 years old and accessible through the Valley of Fires Recreation Area  To the northeast is Carrizo Mountain, a 9,600-foot (2,900 m) peak within the Sacramento Mountains, and to the southeast are the Sierra Blanca mountain range 

Climate
Demographics
As of the 2010 census, there were 996 people living in the town  The racial makeup of the town was 78 71% White, 0 70% African American, 2 61% American Indian, 14 16% Other, and 3 82% identified as two or more  Hispanics of any race were 43 57% of the population  Of the population, 54 72% were men and 45 28% were women  Of these, 15 96% were under the age of 18, 24 50% were over 65, and 59 54% were between 18 and 65 

Transportation
Carrizozo is located at the intersection of U S  Routes 54 and 380  For general aviation, the town is served by Carrizozo Municipal Airport 

Education
Carrizozo Municipal Schools is the local school district 

Points of interest
Carrizozo Women's Club (1920 Pueblo Revival style building listed in the National Register of Historic Places)
Carrizozo Heritage Museum (1940s built as a frozen food locker—converted into local history museum in 2003)
Lincoln National Forest (southeast of the city via U S  Route 380 and NM 37)
Valley of Fires Recreation Area (west-northwest of the city via U S  Route 380)

Film and television
A number of movies have been filmed in Carrizozo  Movies which have been filmed at least partially in Carrizozo include:
Wander (2020)
Gambit (2012)
This Must be the Place (2011)
The Book of Eli (2010)
Deja Vu, Hera's Odyssey (2004)
The Outfitters (1999)
Mad Love (1995)

Notable people
Albert B  Fall, first senator from the state of New Mexico (1912–1921) and later U S  Secretary of the Interior (1921–1923); owned the Three Rivers Ranch on the outskirts of Carrizozo
William C  McDonald, first governor of the state of New Mexico (1912–1917); owned a ranch on the outskirts of Carrizozo
Charlie Siringo, famous Pinkerton detective assigned to Carrizozo to catch cattle thieves (1916–1917)
Earl Reece Stadtman, biochemist born in Carrizozo in 1919
José Maria de Vega, born in Michoacán, Entrepreneur carpenter, assisted McDonald, 1st board of trustees in Carrizozo 
Rick Geary, American cartoonist and illustrator, has lived in Carrizozo since 2007 
Passage 8:
Ancón, Panama
Ancón is a corregimiento in Panamá District, Panamá Province, Panama with a population of 29,761 as of 2010  Its population as of 1990 was 11,518; its population as of 2000 was 11,169  It is sometimes considered a suburb or small town within Panama City, northeast of the limits of the town of Balboa  Ancon Hill is also the name of a large hill that overlooks Panama City and once served as a form of protection from pirates and sea invasion  The township was originally located around this hill, and was created to house employees of the Panama Canal during its construction  As part of the construction effort, the historic Gorgas Army Hospital was founded and built on the hillside  The first ship to officially transit the canal, SS Ancon, was named after the district  The community continued to serve as housing for employees of the Panama Canal Company until 1980, when parts of it began to be turned over to the Panamanian government under the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties  Modern-day Ancón is a corregimiento (the Panamanian equivalent of a suburb in the United States) of Panama City, serving mainly as a residential area  The Gorgas Army Hospital building is now the Panamanian Oncology Hospital, primarily used for cancer research  The area also houses Panama's Supreme Court, just a few feet away from the Gorgas Army Hospital building, and several Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute buildings for research into tropical biology  Ancón is also a parish (parroquia) of the District of Panama, located in the Panama Canal adjacent area 

History
The area where the district of Ancón is located was always conceived as a place of transit  From the Spanish arrival on the Isthmus of Panama in 1501, it was thought to build there a road between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, an idea that was materialized with the construction of the Panama Canal During the years when the Panama Canal was under the control of the United States, many administrative facilities, military bases, and communities were built in the adjacent areas, forming part of the former Panama Canal Zone  When these areas were reverted to Panama under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, several alternatives were proposed to integrate the district to the city of Panama  The current district of Ancón was created when a new political-administrative division for the reverted areas was adopted, by Act No  18 of August 29, 1979, and later amended by Law No  1 of October 27, 1982  The areas located in the Pacific sector became part of this district, while those located on the Atlantic side were incorporated into the district of Cristobal, in the province of Colon  They remain characterized by a strong US urban architectural style 

Economy
Due to its geographical location, the district of Ancón is of great importance for the economy of Panama  In it are located most of the administrative facilities and services related to the Panama Canal  Balboa is home to the port of Panama City  The district also home to the Administrative Unit of Reverted properties of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, established in 2007 as a replacement for the former Inter-Oceanic Region Authority  Many of the buildings belonging to former US military bases are today sites of Panamanian governmental and nongovernmental institutions, such as the City of Knowledge, the main science and technology park in the country, in the area of the former Fort Clayton 
Besides its importance in the fields of trade and intermodal transportation, the district is becoming increasingly relevant in terms of services and tourism  Ancón is home to the Marcos A  Gelabert International Airport, the Grand National Transportation Terminal, and Albrook Mall, the largest mall in the country 

Sites of interest
The district of Ancón includes the Parque Natural Metropolitano, a vast jungle located a few minutes from the city, and its highest elevation, Ancon Hill  In its urban areas, you can visit several historical sites of the Panamanian capital, the building that houses the headquarters of the  Panama Canal Authority, popularly known as the Administration Building  The Amador Causeway, a section of which runs over the sea, joining three small Pacific islands, is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, with marinas, restaurants, bars, and discothèques  There is also the Figali Convention Center, while the Museum of Biodiversity, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, is currently in construction 

See also
Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone
Passage 9:
Carpenter, Colorado
Carpenter is a ghost town in Mesa County, Colorado, United States, twelve miles northeast of Grand Junction at the end of an extension to 27¼ Road  The settlement was established by William Thomas Carpenter early in 1890 to provide the miners who worked in his two Book Cliff mines with a place to live  He began building shacks to house his single miners and later erected small houses for the employees with families 
As a result of the town's rapid growth, a request to the U S  post office to establish a branch there in June 1890 was quickly obliged and the community was officially dubbed Carpenter  However, the town never attained a population of over 50, and the post office closed after one year  After the closure of its post office, Carpenter built a company store and a combination boarding house/restaurant  Book Cliff company stone cutters and masons constructed several buildings and many foundations at Carpenter, using stone from the company quarry near the cliffs  One of the finest examples of a building made of Book Cliff sandstone is the Fruita, Colorado Catholic church 
Several years of prosperity followed the arrival of the Little Book Cliff Railway at the townsite in 1892  Carpenter began to formulate big plans for his village  He envisioned it as a tourist resort complete with hotel, dance pavilion, picnic areas, and even a lake that was to be fed by a spring located near his Book Cliff mines  Carpenter renamed the camp Poland Spring after a noted resort of that name in Maine  It was variously referred to as Polen, Pollen, and Polan Springs, although Carpenter's intended name was evidenced by his having it emblazoned on the side of one of his railroad excursion cars  The resort plans were never completed because Carpenter went broke shortly after the Panic of 1893 
Isaac Chauncey Wyman, a wealthy Massachusetts investor, became the next owner of the Book Cliff company  The town continued to enjoy an active existence because he did much to improve the mines and thus created a need for additional employees  The old eating house, referred to as the Hotel de Carpenter on occasion, was converted into a school and church for the camp's inhabitants, and many company structures were rebuilt and improved during Wyman's tenure as owner  The new name Book Cliff was applied to the town but did not adhere any better than did Poland Springs  Usually, people referred to the place as the “Book Cliff Mines ”
The town reached its zenith and then began a gradual decline following Wyman's death in 1910  In his will, Wyman left the town, railroad, and mines to Princeton University  Princeton managed everything for 15 years then decided to abandon it all in 1925  By the end of that summer nearly everything had been sold, dismantled, and hauled away 
Passage 10:
Goshen, New Hampshire
Goshen is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States  The population was 796 at the 2020 census 

History
Incorporated in 1791, Goshen was first settled in 1768 as a part of Saville (now Sunapee)  The name "Goshen" may have been taken from Goshen, Connecticut, where many residents had relatives 

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 22 5 square miles (58 4 km2), of which 22 4 square miles (58 1 km2) are land and 0 1 square miles (0 2 km2) are water, comprising 0 41% of the town  Goshen is drained by the South Branch Sugar River and its tributaries Blood Brook and Gunnison Brook, and hence lies almost fully within the Connecticut River watershed  Most of the southeast part of town is drained by Cherry Brook, one of the headwaters of the Ashuelot River, a southwest-flowing tributary of the Connecticut, but a small area at the southeast corner of town has the headwaters of the east-flowing West Branch Warner River, part of the Merrimack River watershed The long ridge of Mount Sunapee occupies the eastern edge of town  The highest point in Goshen is an unnamed knob on the ridge (near Goves Mountain) where the elevation reaches 2,529 feet (771 m) above sea level 
New Hampshire Route 10 passes through the western part of the town, including Goshen village, and leads north to Newport and south to Keene  New Hampshire Route 31 has its northern terminus at Route 10 and leads southeast to Hillsborough 

Adjacent municipalities
Sunapee, New Hampshire (north)
Newbury, New Hampshire (east)
Bradford, New Hampshire (southeast at one point)
Washington, New Hampshire (south)
Lempster, New Hampshire (southwest)
Unity, New Hampshire (west)
Newport, New Hampshire (northwest)

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 741 people, 279 households, and 219 families residing in the town   The population density was 32 9 inhabitants per square mile (12 7/km2)   There were 389 housing units at an average density of 17 3 per square mile (6 7/km2)   The racial makeup of the town was 97 03% White, 1 62% Native American, 0 13% Asian, 0 13% from other races, and 1 08% from two or more races  Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0 40% of the population 
There were 279 households, out of which 33 3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64 5% were married couples living together, 9 7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21 5% were non-families  17 2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older   The average household size was 2 63 and the average family size was 2 96 
In the town, the population was spread out, with 24 2% under the age of 18, 8 0% from 18 to 24, 27 5% from 25 to 44, 26 7% from 45 to 64, and 13 6% who were 65 years of age or older   The median age was 40 years  For every 100 females, there were 97 6 males   For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96 5 males 
The median income for a household in the town was $42,625, and the median income for a family was $45,208  Males had a median income of $33,333 versus $22,727 for females  The per capita income for the town was $20,561   About 6 9% of families and 8 8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10 8% of those under age 18 and 21 5% of those age 65 or over 

Education
Goshen and the neighboring town of Lempster maintained a combined elementary and middle school, called Goshen-Lempster Cooperative School, located in Lempster  The school served kindergarten through 8th grade  The cooperative was dissolved in June 2016   The majority of Goshen elementary and middle-school aged children now attend Newport, NH schools; the Newport school system now acts as the anchor system for Goshen students 
After 8th grade, students are given the choice to attend several neighboring high schools, including Newport High School, Sunapee Middle-High School, and Kearsarge Regional High School 

Notable people
John Williams Gunnison (1812–1853), US Army officer, explorer of the American West
Context 3:  In the United Kingdom, Nintendo released a VHS tape, Super Mario All-Stars Video (1993); hosted by Craig Charles, the video features a segment of testers at Nintendo UK promoting upcoming games, including Plok! Club Nintendo, Germany's official Nintendo magazine, ran a comic strip where Plok races with Mario at an Olympic match in space Some print advertising was criticized in later years by Ste for not showing enough of the game itself  Tradewest's US print advertisement depicted the top half taken up by Double Dragon and Battletoads, the bottom half a picture of the Plok character; the only info revealed was that Plok! was published by the two other franchises  Nintendo's UK print ad depicted a faux desktop screenshot with an image of an angry old lady in the house as the wallpaper; the only Plok! visual depicted was its box art, placed in the bottom right and very small-sized However, other print advertisements were much more true to the game, such as Tradewest's series of comic book panel ads named The Adventures of Plok with Plok's origins at the storyline Plok! was first announced in June 1993; upon its announcement, an N-Force journalist called it one of the most "surreal" games in the September 1993 line-up  Tradewest presented Plok! at the summer 1993 Consumer Electronics Show; a GameFan writer called Tradewest "one of the [show's] most impressive third party line-up," highlighting Plok! as a "a colorful new action title with a lead character that hurls his arms and legs at attackers "

Reception
Contemporaneous reviews
Upon release, some critics declared Plok! the best Nintendo release of 1993 as well as another classic by the company, the best platform game of the year, and one of the all-time best in the genre  However, Plok! was compared to many other games of its kind, and even the most favorable reviewers expressed skepticism about playing another average colorful cutesy platform game  Some critics ultimately thought it was and criticized its lack of depth  A frequent comparison was with Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), particularly in its "sugary" tone and Plok's speed ball attack; GameStar's FI derogatorily labeled the titular character as "a puny version" of the Sega franchise's blue hedgehog, criticizing his weird design and calling it names such as "hot pink reddy coloured duck penguin thing" and "freaky pork chop "However, other reviewers opined Plok as distinguished in the genre, noting innovative aspects such as the costume and weapon power-ups and limb mechanics  Reviews also enjoyed its humor, such as with Plok's limbless movements, his power-ups, and nonsensical story; Humphreys felt it would help the game be enjoyed by even the biggest detractors of kid-friendly platformers  The hero was applauded for being charming, more lovable than other mascots of its kind, and versatile, particularly with his limbs and his costume and weapon power-ups  Trenton Webb found the limb mechanic "quite fun to mess around with uselessly," and an Electronic Gaming Monthly critic called it "catchy" with "plenty of situations to test it " Superjuegos writer The Elf called his vehicle power-ups "fantastic and fun," and Hyper magazine Jason Humphreys claimed the cowboy power-up his favourite Some critics were addicted to Plok!'s gameplay and eulogized its playability, perfect control, and variety  Super Play's Jonathan Davies felt it kept adding new concepts as the game went on, and praised some of them, such as patterns of item placements directing the player to off-camera platforms and bouncing off water instead of drowning to death  Plok!'s difficulty was also highlighted, mostly attributed to lack of a password system, save feature, and requirement for continues to be earned  Other contributors to the challenge included long stage lengths and sudden obstacles such as rolling logs  One Total! journalist reported being confused what action to do next in some stages, and another from HobbyConsolas disclosed getting lost in levels and unable to look for targets and fleas required to complete levels  While some reviewers approved how hard Plok was, others disliked not being able to save or use passwords, reasoning it was annoying to replay earlier stages over and over again The cartoony graphics were praised as colorful, surreal, adorable, and featuring "vivid backgrounds"; one reviewer called them some of the best on the Super Nintendo, while another compared it to Equinox  FI appreciated the detail, such as Plok's breathing animation when standing still and the many "little coloured flowers everywhere, looking like real flower power stuff " The music was highlighted (by one critic as the game's best aspect) and noted for pushing the hardware limitations, and sound effects were praised 

Commercial performance and plans for a franchise
John Pickford and Kay had faith in Plok! being commercially successful  The Pickford brothers garnered IP ownership for the Plok character, common in other media economies but rare in the video games industry; and planned a franchise out of it, such as sequels, ports, and merchandise  A Mega Drive version was planned using a Software Creations worker's software for automatically converting SNES titles into Mega Drive games; 80% of the code was automatically converted, according to Ste, with the other 20% requiring hands-on work  Ultimately, however, despite Webb announcing the port's completion in an April 1994 interview, it was never released for unknown reasons Ste, using magic markers, created artwork for future sequels and merchandise, such as style guides of the characters and illustrations of scenes  The Pickfords planned sequels to involve Plok searching for the fleas' home, introduce a setting named Tower Island, and make Plok's comfy chair (which he sleeps on in the end credits of Plok!) a more crucial part of the gameplay  The Pickfords also drew concepts for toys used for pitches of the SNES game, such as a doll where limbs were joined and detached with velcro  During marketing, a Plok model was created in 3D Studio 4 for a promotional photo of Software Creations However, 1992, late in Plok!'s development, saw the beginning of a saturation of colorful platform games starring cute mascots, like Bubsy and Zool  Ste, in 2004, publicly stated developers and producers with more finances knew about previews of the Fleapit coin-op, which may have influenced them to produce games like it; there are no other reports verifying this  Although selling decently over a long period, none of the revenue went to the Pickfords, and Ste suggested the saturation hindered its commercial performance significantly; this plus Software Creations constantly changing publishers between projects rendered a Plok! franchise impossible for several years 

Legacy
In 2009, North American company Super Fighter Team released Zaku, a horizontal shooter for the Atari Lynx which features a special guest appearance by Plok The Pickfords later launched a Plok webcomic  From there, the webcomic takes place 20 years after the game as it features new characters and some returning ones like Rockyfella  The comic sometimes used pop-culture references from other games and other media, in-jokes reference and commentaries on the game's development and its future 
In later years, Plok was ranked the 26th all-time best SNES title (which also named it the best platformer produced in the United Kingdom) in 1996, the 19th best platform game by Gamereactor in 2014, and was listed in Edge editor Tony Mott's 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die in its 2013 edition  Video game elements introduced in Plok! were noted by retrospective journalists to be in more popular platformers released in later years  Games starring characters with floating body parts used as weapons, such as Dynamite Headdy (1994) and Rayman (1995), were released shortly afterwards and garnered much wider exposure  When listing Plok! on a list of "The Most Unappreciated Platformers Of The '90s" for Kotaku, Ben Bertoli wrote it was "influential for portraying a world, named Akrill[ic], based on craft supplies and cloth, a concept that Nintendo itself has come to rely on for many games  The game also provided players with power-ups and vehicles, such as flamethrowers and jetpacks, the likes of which had not been seen in a single game " Sepia-toned flashback stages also made up a chunk of Mickey Mania (1994) 

Notes
Passage 4:
Sonic Mania
Sonic Mania is a 2017 platform game published by Sega for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows  Produced in commemoration of the Sonic the Hedgehog series' 25th anniversary and serving as a prelude to Sonic Forces, Sonic Mania pays homage to the original Sega Genesis Sonic games, featuring speedy side-scrolling gameplay  It takes place over 13 levels, including several redesigned from past games  The story follows Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as they venture to defeat their nemesis Doctor Eggman and his robotic henchmen, the Hard-Boiled Heavies 
The development team was composed of members known for their work in the Sonic fangame and ROM hacking community  Development began after lead developer, director and programmer Christian "Taxman" Whitehead, who was previously contracted by Sega to develop enhanced mobile ports of Genesis Sonic games, presented a playable prototype to Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka  Art, level design, audio, and additional programming were provided by independent studios PagodaWest Games and Headcannon  The team used Whitehead's Retro Engine and aimed for a graphical quality between Genesis and Sega Saturn games 
Sonic Mania was released in August 2017 and became the highest-rated Sonic game in fifteen years  Many reviewers saw it as a return to form for the Sonic series following a number of poorly received games released after the 1990s  Its presentation, level design, music, and faithfulness to the early Sonic games were praised, but its lack of originality was criticized  Several described it as one of the best Sonic games and one of the best games of 2017  Within a year, it had sold over one million copies worldwide  Sonic Mania Plus, an enhanced version with additional content, was released in July 2018 

Gameplay
Sonic Mania is a side-scrolling platformer similar to the early Sonic the Hedgehog games released for the Sega Genesis  Players select one of 3 playable characters, each with their own unique abilities: Sonic can perform a "drop dash" which sends him rolling in a dash after a jump, Tails can fly and swim, and Knuckles can glide and climb walls  As with Sonic 2 (1992), players can play as Sonic and Tails simultaneously, or a second player can control Tails independently  Unlockable options include Sonic's abilities from Sonic CD (1993) and Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994) in place of the drop dash and "& Knuckles" mode, which allows simultaneous control of any character and Knuckles, including himself Sonic Mania takes place over 13 levels, called zones; the game features eight "remixed" zones, such as Green Hill Zone from the first Sonic game (1991), alongside five original ones  Remixed stages consist of both new elements and recycled gimmicks and ideas from other past Sonic games  Each zone is divided into 2 acts, in which the player must guide their character past various enemies and obstacles to reach the end  At the end of each act, the player takes part in a boss battle against Doctor Eggman, also known as Dr  Robotnik, or one of his robots, including the Hard-Boiled Heavies, elite henchmen based on the EggRobo enemies from Sonic 3 & Knuckles  The player collects golden rings, which serve as a form of health; players survive hits as long as they have at least one ring, but, if hit, their rings scatter and disappear after a short time  Television monitors containing rings, elemental shields, or power-ups such as invincibility and faster running speed are scattered throughout each level  Like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the story is told via short in-game cutscenes between levels Giant rings hidden in each act, a feature of the original games, lead to pseudo-3D special stages similar to those in Sonic CD, where players can attempt to collect a Chaos Emerald  In special stages, players dodge obstacles and collect colored spheres to increase their speed, allowing them to pursue a UFO carrying a Chaos Emerald; collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds allows players to use their character's super transformation and unlocks the game's true ending  Players' ring counters slowly decrease during special stages and must be continually replenished; if the player runs out of rings before they catch the UFO, the special stage ends  The "Blue Sphere" special stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 also return, repurposed as bonus stages that are accessed by entering a portal that appears when the player passes a checkpoint while carrying 25 or more rings  Completing bonus stages earns the player a silver or gold medal depending on their performance; collecting medals unlocks features such as a debug mode and sound test In a time attack mode, players must complete levels as quickly as possible, with the best times included on an online leaderboard; players can instantly reload a level to try again at any time  A split-screen competitive multiplayer mode allows two players to race to the end of a level, similar to those of Sonic 2  Players can also unlock "Mean Bean", a 2-player minigame based on Dr  Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 

Plot
After the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic and Tails detect a powerful energy reading on Angel Island and board their biplane, the Tornado, to investigate  However, Dr  Eggman sends an elite group of EggRobos to reach the signal before Sonic and Tails  The EggRobos excavate the source of the signal, a magical gemstone called the Phantom Ruby, just as Sonic and Tails arrive  The EggRobos gain new powers from the ruby, becoming the Hard-Boiled Heavies, and send Sonic, Tails, and the island's guardian, Knuckles, through zones the trio have previously visited where they pursue Eggman to prevent him from using the ruby's power for evil, clashing with him and the Heavies along the way 
Sonic and his allies discover that Eggman has used the Phantom Ruby's power to retake control of Little Planet from Sonic CD  They board Eggman's robotic fortress, defeat him and the Heavies, and escape just as it explodes  If all seven Chaos Emeralds are collected while playing as Sonic, the Phantom Ruby transports him and Eggman to another dimension  There, the Heavies' leader, Heavy King, betrays Eggman and takes the ruby, imbuing himself with power; Eggman attacks the Heavy to try to reclaim it  Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and fights Eggman and the Heavy King separately to keep the ruby out of their possession  After the battle, the Phantom Ruby reacts with the Emeralds, negating Sonic's super state and creating a wormhole that engulfs itself and Sonic as Little Planet vanishes 

Development
Development of Sonic Mania began in 2015, led by Australian programmer Christian "Taxman" Whitehead  Whitehead was a prominent member of the Sonic fangame community, and had previously been contracted by Sega to develop remastered ports of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD for mobile phones  After developing the game for a few months, Whitehead presented a prototype, which he called Sonic Discovery, to series producer Takashi Iizuka  Iizuka was receptive, and suggested that it should include old levels from the early Sonic games it was inspired by, "remixed" in a way that felt new  He also gave it the working title of Sonic Mania, which stuck after no one suggested a better one  The title referenced the development team's "maniacal" fandom for the series; Iizuka described the project as being made "by the mania, for the mania", and as a "passion product" driven by the fans' love for the early Sonic games Sonic Mania was produced in commemoration of the series' 25th anniversary  It was developed using Whitehead's Retro Engine, a game engine tailored for creating two-dimensional games, which he also used for the enhanced ports of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD  The team also included programmer Simon "Stealth" Thomley of the independent studio Headcannon, who assisted Whitehead with those projects and on various Sonic fangames and ROM hacks, as well as level designer Jared Kasl and art director Tom Fry of PagodaWest Games, who had previously independently collaborated on an unofficial high-definition remaster of Sonic 2  Tantalus Media helped develop the Nintendo Switch port  Iizuka and the rest of Sonic Team provided guidance and made sure the team didn't "go off the rails into something that doesn't feel like Sonic"  Iizuka described the visuals as a cross between the graphical capabilities of the Genesis and Sega Saturn, comprising mostly pixel art with some polygonal graphics The developers modeled the gameplay on Sonic 3, with boss fights at the end of each zone  For returning stages, the designers made the first act feel familiar, and introduced new elements in the second act  The team cited Sonic CD and Sonic 3 as major influences on the level design for their "big, wide open" and "streamlined" designs, respectively  According to Thomley, the team typically decided what elements to include in the returning stages prior to designing them, but sometimes came up with new ideas or changed them based on how the development progressed  The first original level designed was the Hollywood-themed Studiopolis Zone  The desert-themed Mirage Saloon Zone was inspired by an unfinished level from Sonic 2 and the Monument Valley region of the United States  The special stages were inspired by more recent games such as Sonic Rush (2005) and Sonic Colors (2010)  The team felt proud of their recreation of classic Sonic gameplay The game features animated opening and ending sequences led by Tyson Hesse, one of the artists of the Sonic comics by Archie Comics  It also features an optional CRT graphical filter, and supports the enhanced features of both the  PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, outputting at a native 4K resolution  The soundtrack was composed by Tee Lopes of PagodaWest Games, consisting of rearranged pieces from previous Sonic games alongside new material  Lopes was chosen due to his popularity on YouTube for producing arrangements of various Sonic tracks, and for his work on the Sonic 2 HD project  Lopes initially wanted his score to resemble the Sonic CD soundtrack, trying to imagine what a sequel to it might have sounded like  As development progressed, he took inspiration from other older Sonic and Sega games, such as The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) and the Sega Rally games, and from 1990s popular music, such as the work of Michael Jackson  The reveal trailer theme, "Checkpoint", was composed by the electronic music groups Hyper Potions and Nitro Fun and the opening theme, "Friends", was composed by Hyper Potions 

Release
Sonic Mania was announced alongside Sonic Forces at the 25th anniversary Sonic event at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) convention in July 2016  The game was also featured at South by Southwest (SXSW), the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), and SDCC in 2017; at SDCC 2017, attendees received a promotional instruction manual for the game  The game was announced for the second quarter of 2017, but Sega announced at SXSW that it had been delayed to allow for more development Sonic Mania was released digitally for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on August 15, 2017  Four days before release, Sega delayed the Windows version for another two weeks for further optimization, releasing it on August 29 as a download on Steam  As compensation, those who had pre-ordered the game received a copy of the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Steam In addition to the standard release, a Sega Genesis-themed collector's edition was also released, containing a 12-inch (30 cm) Sonic statue atop a model Genesis, a game cartridge cast with a golden ring, and a metallic collector's card with a download code for the game  To promote the collector's edition, Sega released a retro-styled infomercial featuring former series art director Kazuyuki Hoshino and social media manager Aaron Webber, based on an American television commercial for Sonic The Hedgehog 2  The music label Data Discs published a vinyl LP featuring the game's original music in late 2017  An expanded soundtrack was released on digital music distribution platforms on January 17, 2018  A five-part animated short mini-series, Sonic Mania Adventures, was released on the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel between March and July 2018, promoting the release of Sonic Mania Plus  The series depicts Sonic's return to his world following the events of Sonic Forces, teaming up with his friends to prevent Eggman and Metal Sonic from collecting the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald  A holiday-themed bonus episode was released in December 2018  The shorts were written and directed by Hesse, with animation production by Neko Productions, and music written by Lopes  All six shorts were later included as part of the Sonic Origins compilation in 2022 

Sonic Mania Plus
An expanded version of the game, Sonic Mania Plus, was released in North America and Europe at retail and as downloadable content for the original version on July 17, 2018, and in Japan on July 19, 2018  A version for Amazon Luna was released on October 20, 2020  It adds playable characters Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel from the 1993 arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog, each with unique abilities: Mighty can slam the ground and is immune to spikes when in ball form, while Ray can glide without losing altitude  Plus also adds an "Encore Mode" with remixed levels and a reworked lives mechanic, a pinball bonus stage, and a four-player competition mode  Additionally, an update released alongside Sonic Mania Plus adds more cutscenes and a reworked Metal Sonic battle based on his appearance in Knuckles' Chaotix (1995)  The physical version was released with a 32-page art book and a reversible cover in the style of Genesis or Mega Drive boxart covers, depending on the region  A soundtrack CD was included with the Japanese physical release In an interview with Famitsu, Iizuka explained that Sonic Mania was not intended to have a physical release; Sega staff requested one, but a retail version would have presented a challenge for the production schedule  After the game launched, fans also expressed interest in a physical version  As a retail release would cost more than the downloadable version, the team added value with new content  Mighty and Ray were included because they were rarely featured in games; to accommodate them, level designs had to be altered  Additionally, the multiplayer mode was updated because of the increased number of selectable characters 

Reception
Sonic Mania was announced following years of mixed reviews for the Sonic franchise  According to the International Business Times, the series had been "tarnished by years of sub-par games with only the occasional gem"  The Business Times predicted that Sega's approach of releasing Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania in the same year, catering to new and old fans, could repair the series' reputation and lead to a "Sonic renaissance"  Several critics expressed excitement for a return to the style of the early Sonic games, and wrote that Sega's previous efforts to develop games in the "classic" style, such as Sonic the Hedgehog 4 in 2010, had been disappointing According to the review aggregator site Metacritic, Sonic Mania received "generally favorable" reviews  It became the best-reviewed Sonic game in fifteen years, and several critics described it as one of the best 2D platform games  At launch, Sonic Mania was the bestselling Switch game, outselling Minecraft and Overcooked: Special Edition  It greatly increased Sega's third-quarter profits, and helped Sega almost double sales of packaged games compared to the same period in 2016  By April 2018, it had sold over one million copies worldwide across all platforms The presentation attracted acclaim  USGamer described it as the "pinnacle" of the series' pixel graphics  GameSpot called the animations and detail superior to the original games, writing that they added an extra layer of personality  Cubed3 described the levels as stylish and vibrant  Critics also praised the attention to detail in recreating the early games  Game Informer wrote that its gameplay was "nearly indistinguishable" from its Genesis predecessors, but with "extra polish"  Easy Allies wrote that Mania emulated the original games "exceptionally", and that "running, jumping, and spin dashing all work exactly as well as you would hope"  Nintendo World Report wrote that it avoided the physics problems from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and recaptured the spirit of the 16-bit games The level design and music also received praise  Hardcore Gamer wrote that the remixed versions of older stages felt fresh while staying true to the originals  Game Informer wrote that the new stages matched the quality and captured the spirit of early Sonic games  The A V  Club praised the detail and content in each level; Metro praised the fan service, and likened it to a school project "gone wild, something enthusiastic kids have made while the teacher was away and which far surpasses anything they were actually supposed to be doing"  Like IGN, Venture Beat appreciated the replay value, with branching paths that made multiple playthroughs "fresh"  EGM wrote that the soundtrack was "completely fantastic" and felt nostalgic and new at the same time  Nintendo Life called the soundtrack "one of the best of recent times" The game received some criticism  Polygon commented that frustrations with controls and enemy placement in the original Sonic games were present in Sonic Mania  VideoGamer com wrote that the game relied too much on nostalgia, with minimal innovation and too few original stages, but was a good proof of concept that the development team could expand upon  Nintendo World Report complained about the boss fights, which they felt were poorly executed and too easy  The Windows version was subject to review bombing due to its implementation of the digital rights management (DRM) software Denuvo, which some thought to be the real reason behind the two-week delay  The game could not be played offline on launch day; Sega stated this was a bug unrelated to Denuvo, and released a patch the following day Multiple reviewers saw it as a return to form for the Sonic series after a number of poorly reviewed games after the 1990s  EGMNow commended Sonic Mania as one of the "purest and most enjoyable" Sonic games, expressing excitement for the future of the series  IGN wrote that it was the "classic" throwback that fans had clamored for since the 1990s, but also recommended it for people new to the franchise  Nintendo World Report called it a "must-buy" for fans of the older Sonic games  Waypoint compared it favorably to Donkey Kong Country Returns, describing it as a game that knew "what was fun" about its predecessors  Nintendo Life felt that Mania represented "a true return to form" and was a contender for the best game in the series Sonic Mania Plus received stronger reviews, with the Nintendo Switch version receiving "universal acclaim", according to the review aggregator Metacritic  Multiple reviewers called it the definitive version thanks to its extra game mode and characters  DualShockers' Tomas Franzese praised the "Encore" mode for feeling fresh, as well as the movement options introduced with Mighty and Ray  Michael Leri of Game Revolution, however, found the new partner system more frustrating than the traditional lives system found in classic Sonic games  IGN Spain did not recommend the update for those that own the original game, but commended the physical release and the added value for new players and hardcore fans 

Legacy
Sonic Mania was nominated for the "Best Family Game" at The Game Awards 2017 and the "Best Kids Game" at the 2018 New York Game Awards  The theme song "Friends" was reused for the prologue of the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film 

Notes
Passage 5:
Captain Comic
The Adventures of Captain Comic is a platform game written by Michael Denio for MS-DOS compatible operating systems and released as shareware in 1988  It was one of the first side-scrolling games for IBM PC compatibles reminiscent of games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it presaged a trend of shareware platform games in the early 1990s  A version for the NES was later published by Color Dreams as an unlicensed title 
A sequel, Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality, was released in 1990 

Plot
Captain Comic is on a mission to the planet Tambi, where the quest begins  Comic must find three artifacts: the Mystical Gems of Lascorbanos, the Thousand Coins of Tenure, and the Crown of the Ages  To find them, he must travel through many varied environments  The game is completed when Comic is in possession of all three treasures 

Gameplay
The game is divided into eight major areas, and each contains three smaller zones  Transitioning between zones plays a short tune, all enemies are removed from the screen, and Comic's position is saved 
Comic has twelve "shield" points which act as health  Each time an enemy hits him, two points are removed  When at zero, Comic dies on the next hit  Occasionally, shields can be found which instantly replenish the health to full, or if it is already full, give an extra life  Comic starts with four lives, and an extra life is given for each 50,000 points earned if Comic isn't already at the maximum of five extras 
If Comic is killed by either falling off the bottom of the screen, or  hit with no shield points remaining, a life is lost and he is returned to the point where he last entered this zone 
Enemies have different behaviors, from simply bouncing off walls and following preset paths to seeking Comic as he passes by  After picking up a Blastola Cola, Comic can shoot at and destroy enemies for points 

Development
Michael Denio previously wrote an interactive demo of a  platform game called The Adventures of Captain Pixel of the Galactic Security Patrol in 34010 AD for a TMS34010 coprocessor board  The credits screen has a 1987 copyright notice for the graphics  The TMS34010 is a CPU with graphics-oriented instructions which was later used in arcade video games such as Narc and Mortal Kombat  
Denio wrote in the introduction to the Captain Comic manual:

The Adventures of Captain Comic started out as an experiment to test the viability of two theories, the first as to whether a real arcade type game can be done on a standard IBM PC with an EGA card, and secondly, given the first can be done, if it is possible to make any money doing it  Well, I've come to a conclusion on the second point, but I'll let you judge the first point for yourself 

Music
The original theme song for Captain Comic was a rendition of the United States Marine Corps Hymn  The song was replaced in the final revision of the game, released in 1991, by George Frideric Handel's Harpsichord Suite in D Minor, HWV 428, Air  The NES version of the soundtrack is composed entirely of classical music 

Reception
Legacy
A sequel from the same author was published in 1990 as Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality 
In 2012, PC World called Captain Comic the twelfth greatest shareware game of all time, writing that "it inspired many other shareware authors, including the folks who would later create Commander Keen "The original game was cloned for the SAM Coupé  It was also cloned as The Adventures of Pioneer Kseniauk in 1990 by a team of Ukrainian programmers 
Passage 6:
Christian Whitehead
Christian Whitehead, also known by his alias The Taxman, is an Australian video game programmer and designer  He is most recognized for his work creating updated ports of early games in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, as well as being the lead developer of an original game in the series, Sonic Mania  He has also developed multiple remakes of classic Sonic games and most recently, the remasters in Sonic Origins 

Career
In 2006, Whitehead worked as a freelance 3D animator with the company Kine Graffiti  Since 2009, he has focused on game development, developing various fangames based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series  In 2009, Whitehead produced a "proof-of-concept" video of Sonic CD running on an iPhone using his own custom engine, the "Retro Engine"  In an interview with Steven O'Donnell of Good Game: Spawn Point, Whitehead proclaims that he spent "about a year or so" convincing Sega to let him work on the Sonic CD port  In 2009, a video regarding Sonic CD from Whitehead was taken down, leading Eurogamer to report that Whitehead possibly faced a cease and desist letter from Sega, which Whitehead claimed was false  The port was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPhone and Android in 2011  His remake was so successful that he, along with developer Simon "Stealth" Thomley of the studio Headcannon, would later be commissioned to remaster Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for mobile devices Although he, along with Headcannon, released a proof-of-concept video for a Sonic the Hedgehog 3 remaster in 2014, Sega did not greenlight the port  In 2015, it was announced that Whitehead would be involved in his first non-Sonic game, Freedom Planet 2  In 2017, Whitehead, in collaboration with Headcannon and PagodaWest Games, developed and released their own original title in the Sonic series, titled Sonic Mania  In 2018, Sonic Mania became Sonic Mania Plus, with the release of the Encore DLC  Sonic Mania Plus was developed by Whitehead, Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, and the now included HyperKinetic  Whitehead also contributed to the development of Sonic Origins, providing a new version of the engine used in the remasters  Whitehead is currently working on Freedom Planet 2, built with the Unity engine, for PC, Mac, and Linux In late 2018, Whitehead and other development members behind Sonic Mania founded their own studio Evening Star Studio, where he serves as creative director and lead engine architect 

Works



ground_truth: 810

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What side-scrolling platform game had Christian Whitehead as project lead?

The following are given passages.
Context 4:  In many cases they are able to mimic the mechanism used by their protein counterparts  For example, in self cleaving ribozyme RNAs, an in-line SN2 reaction is carried out using the 2’ hydroxyl group as a nucleophile attacking the bridging phosphate and causing 5’ oxygen of the N+1 base to act as a leaving group  In comparison, RNase A, a protein that catalyzes the same reaction, uses a coordinating histidine and lysine to act as a base to attack the phosphate backbone Like many protein enzymes, metal binding is also critical to the function of many ribozymes  Often these interactions use both the phosphate backbone and the base of the nucleotide, causing drastic conformational changes  There are two mechanism classes for the cleavage of a phosphodiester backbone in the presence of metal  In the first mechanism, the internal 2’- OH group attacks the phosphorus center in a SN2 mechanism  Metal ions promote this reaction by first coordinating the phosphate oxygen and later stabling the oxyanion  The second mechanism also follows a SN2 displacement, but the nucleophile comes from water or exogenous hydroxyl groups rather than RNA itself  The smallest ribozyme is UUU, which can promote the cleavage between G and A of the GAAA tetranucleotide via the first mechanism in the presence of Mn2+  The reason why this trinucleotide (rather than the complementary tetramer) catalyzes this reaction may be because the UUU-AAA pairing is the weakest and most flexible trinucleotide among the 64 conformations, which provides the binding site for Mn2+ Phosphoryl transfer can also be catalyzed without metal ions  For example, pancreatic ribonuclease A and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozymes can catalyze the cleavage of RNA backbone through acid-base catalysis without metal ions  Hairpin ribozyme can also catalyze the self-cleavage of RNA without metal ions, but the mechanism for this is still unclear Ribozyme can also catalyze the formation of peptide bond between adjacent amino acids by lowering the activation entropy 

Activities
Although ribozymes are quite rare in most cells, their roles are sometimes essential to life  For example, the functional part of the ribosome, the biological machine that translates RNA into proteins, is fundamentally a ribozyme, composed of RNA tertiary structural motifs that are often coordinated to metal ions such as Mg2+ as cofactors  In a model system, there is no requirement for divalent cations in a five-nucleotide RNA catalyzing trans-phenylalanation of a four-nucleotide substrate with 3 base pairs complementary with the catalyst, where the catalyst/substrate were devised by truncation of the C3 ribozyme The best-studied ribozymes are probably those that cut themselves or other RNAs, as in the original discovery by Cech and Altman  However, ribozymes can be designed to catalyze a range of reactions, many of which may occur in life but have not been discovered in cells RNA may catalyze folding of the pathological protein conformation of a prion in a manner similar to that of a chaperonin 

Ribozymes and the origin of life
RNA can also act as a hereditary molecule, which encouraged Walter Gilbert to propose that in the distant past, the cell used RNA as both the genetic material and the structural and catalytic molecule rather than dividing these functions between DNA and protein as they are today; this hypothesis is known as the "RNA world hypothesis" of the origin of life  Since nucleotides and RNA (and thus ribozymes) can arise by inorganic chemicals, they are candidates for the first enzymes, and in fact, the first "replicators" (i e , information-containing macro-molecules that replicate themselves)  An example of a self-replicating ribozyme that ligates two substrates to generate an exact copy of itself was described in 2002 
The discovery of the catalytic activity of RNA solved the "chicken and egg" paradox of the origin of life, solving the problem of origin of peptide and nucleic acid central dogma  According to this scenario, at the origin of life, all enzymatic activity and genetic information encoding was done by one molecule: RNA 
Ribozymes have been produced in the laboratory that are capable of catalyzing the synthesis of other RNA molecules from activated monomers under very specific conditions, these molecules being known as RNA polymerase ribozymes  The first RNA polymerase ribozyme was reported in 1996, and was capable of synthesizing RNA polymers up to 6 nucleotides in length  Mutagenesis and selection has been performed on an RNA ligase ribozyme from a large pool of random RNA sequences, resulting in isolation of the improved "Round-18" polymerase ribozyme in 2001 which could catalyze RNA polymers now up to 14 nucleotides in length  Upon application of further selection on the Round-18 ribozyme, the B6 61 ribozyme was generated and was able to add up to 20 nucleotides to a primer template in 24 hours, until it decomposes by cleavage of its phosphodiester bonds The rate at which ribozymes can polymerize an RNA sequence multiples substantially when it takes place within a micelle The next ribozyme discovered was the "tC19Z" ribozyme, which can add up to 95 nucleotides with a fidelity of 0 0083 mutations/nucleotide  Next, the "tC9Y" ribozyme was discovered by researchers and was further able to synthesize RNA strands up to 206 nucleotides long in the eutectic phase conditions at below-zero temperature, conditions previously shown to promote ribozyme polymerase activity The RNA polymerase ribozyme (RPR) called tC9-4M was able to polymerize RNA chains longer than itself (i e  longer than 177 nt) in magnesium ion concentrations close to physiological levels, whereas earlier RPRs required prebiotically implausible concentrations of up to 200 mM  The only factor required for it to achieve this was the presence of a very simple amino acid polymer called lysine decapeptide The most complex RPR synthesized by that point was called 24-3, which was newly capable of polymerizing the sequences of a substantial variety of nucleotide sequences and navigating through complex secondary structures of RNA substrates inaccessible to previous ribozymes  In fact, this experiment was the first to use a ribozyme to synthesize a tRNA molecule  Starting with the 24-3 ribozyme, Tjhung et al  applied another fourteen rounds of selection to obtain an RNA polymerase ribozyme by in vitro evolution termed '38-6' that has an unprecedented level of activity in copying complex RNA molecules  However, this ribozyme is unable to copy itself and its RNA products have a high mutation rate  In a subsequent study, the researchers began with the 38-6 ribozyme and applied another 14 rounds of selection to generate the '52-2' ribozyme, which compared to 38-6, was again many times more active and could begin generating detectable and functional levels of the class I ligase, although it was still limited in its fidelity and functionality in comparison to copying of the same template by proteins such as the T7 RNA polymerase An RPR called t5(+1) adds triplet nucleotides at a time instead of just one nucleotide at a time  This heterodimeric RPR can navigate secondary structures inaccessible to 24-3, including hairpins  In the initial pool of RNA variants derived only from a previously synthesized RPR known as the Z RPR, two sequences separately emerged and evolved to be mutualistically dependent on each other  The Type 1 RNA evolved to be catalytically inactive, but complexing with the Type 5 RNA boosted its polymerization ability and enabled intermolecular interactions with the RNA template substrate obviating the need to tether the template directly to the RNA sequence of the RPR, which was a limitation of earlier studies  Not only did t5(+1) not need tethering to the template, but a primer was not needed either as t5(+1) had the ability to polymerize a template in both 3' → 5' and 5' 3 → 3' directions A highly evolved RNA polymerase ribozyme was able to function as a reverse transcriptase, that is, it can synthesize a DNA copy using an RNA template  Such an activity is considered to have been crucial for the transition from RNA to DNA genomes during the early history of life on earth  Reverse transcription capability could have arisen as a secondary function of an early RNA-dependent RNA polymerase ribozyme 
An RNA sequence that folds into a ribozyme is capable of invading duplexed RNA, rearranging into an open holopolymerase complex, and then searching for a specific RNA promoter sequence, and upon recognition rearrange again into a processive form that polymerizes a complementary strand of the sequence  This ribozyme is capable of extending duplexed RNA by up to 107 nucleotides, and does so without needing to tether the sequence being polymerized 

Artificial ribozymes
Since the discovery of ribozymes that exist in living organisms, there has been interest in the study of new synthetic ribozymes made in the laboratory  For example, artificially produced self-cleaving RNAs with good enzymatic activity have been produced  Tang and Breaker isolated self-cleaving RNAs by in vitro selection of RNAs originating from random-sequence RNAs  Some of the synthetic ribozymes that were produced had novel structures, while some were similar to the naturally occurring hammerhead ribozyme 
In 2015, researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois Chicago engineered a tethered ribosome that works nearly as well as the authentic cellular component that produces all the proteins and enzymes within the cell  Called Ribosome-T, or Ribo-T, the artificial ribosome was created by Michael Jewett and Alexander Mankin  The techniques used to create artificial ribozymes involve directed evolution  This approach takes advantage of RNA's dual nature as both a catalyst and an informational polymer, making it easy for an investigator to produce vast populations of RNA catalysts using polymerase enzymes  The ribozymes are mutated by reverse transcribing them with reverse transcriptase into various cDNA and amplified with error-prone PCR  The selection parameters in these experiments often differ  One approach for selecting a ligase ribozyme involves using biotin tags, which are covalently linked to the substrate  If a molecule possesses the desired ligase activity, a streptavidin matrix can be used to recover the active molecules 
Lincoln and Joyce used in vitro evolution to develop ribozyme ligases capable of self-replication in about an hour, via the joining of pre-synthesized highly complementary oligonucleotides Although not true catalysts, the creation of artificial self-cleaving riboswitches, termed aptazymes, has also been an active area of research  Riboswitches are regulatory RNA motifs that change their structure in response to a small molecule ligand to regulate translation  While there are many known natural riboswitches that bind a wide array of metabolites and other small organic molecules, only one ribozyme based on a riboswitch has been described: glmS  Early work in characterizing self-cleaving riboswitches was focused on using theophylline as the ligand  In these studies, an RNA hairpin is formed which blocks the ribosome binding site, thus inhibiting translation  In the presence of the ligand, in these cases theophylline, the regulatory RNA region is cleaved off, allowing the ribosome to bind and translate the target gene  Much of this RNA engineering work was based on rational design and previously determined RNA structures rather than directed evolution as in the above examples  More recent work has broadened the ligands used in ribozyme riboswitches to include thymine pyrophosphate  Fluorescence-activated cell sorting has also been used to engineering aptazymes 

Applications
Ribozymes have been proposed and developed for the treatment of disease through gene therapy  One major challenge of using RNA-based enzymes as a therapeutic is the short half-life of the catalytic RNA molecules in the body  To combat this, the 2’ position on the ribose is modified to improve RNA stability  One area of ribozyme gene therapy has been the inhibition of RNA-based viruses 
A type of synthetic ribozyme directed against HIV RNA called gene shears has been developed and has entered clinical testing for HIV infection Similarly, ribozymes have been designed to target the hepatitis C virus RNA, SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Adenovirus and influenza A and B virus RNA  The ribozyme is able to cleave the conserved regions of the virus's genome, which has been shown to reduce the virus in mammalian cell culture  Despite these efforts by researchers, these projects have remained in the preclinical stage 

Known ribozymes
Well-validated naturally occurring ribozyme classes:

See also
Notes and references
Further reading
External links
Tom Cech's Short Talk: "Discovering Ribozymes"
Passage 6:
Ribosome
Ribosomes () are macromolecular machines, found within all  cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (mRNA translation)  Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules to form polypeptide chains  Ribosomes consist of two major components: the small and large ribosomal subunits  Each subunit consists of one or more ribosomal RNA (rRNA) molecules and many ribosomal proteins (RPs or r-proteins)  The ribosomes and associated molecules are also known as the translational apparatus 

Overview
The sequence of DNA that encodes the sequence of the amino acids in a protein is transcribed into a messenger RNA chain  Ribosomes bind to messenger RNAs and use their sequences for determining the correct sequence of amino acids to generate a given protein  Amino acids are selected and carried to the ribosome by transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules, which enter the ribosome and bind to the messenger RNA chain via an anti-codon stem loop  For each coding triplet (codon) in the messenger RNA, there is a unique transfer RNA that must have the exact anti-codon match, and carries the correct amino acid for incorporating into a growing polypeptide chain  Once the protein is produced, it can then fold to produce a functional three-dimensional structure 
A ribosome is made from complexes of RNAs and proteins and is therefore a ribonucleoprotein complex  Each ribosome is composed of small (30S) and large (50S) components, called subunits, which are bound to each other:

(30S) has mainly a decoding function and is also bound to the mRNA
(50S) has mainly a catalytic function and is also bound to the aminoacylated tRNAs The synthesis of proteins from their building blocks takes place in four phases: initiation, elongation, termination, and recycling  The start codon in all mRNA molecules has the sequence AUG  The stop codon is one of UAA, UAG, or UGA; since there are no tRNA molecules that recognize these codons, the ribosome recognizes that translation is complete  When a ribosome finishes reading an mRNA molecule, the two subunits separate and are usually broken up but can be re-used  Ribosomes are ribozymes, because the catalytic peptidyl transferase activity that links amino acids together is performed by the ribosomal RNA Ribosomes are often associated with the intracellular membranes that make up the rough endoplasmic reticulum 
Ribosomes from bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes in the three-domain system resemble each other to a remarkable degree, evidence of a common origin  They differ in their size, sequence, structure, and the ratio of protein to RNA  The differences in structure allow some antibiotics to kill bacteria by inhibiting their ribosomes, while leaving human ribosomes unaffected  In all species, more than one ribosome may move along a single mRNA chain at one time (as a polysome), each "reading" a specific sequence and producing a corresponding protein molecule 
The mitochondrial ribosomes of eukaryotic cells functionally resemble many features of those in bacteria, reflecting the likely evolutionary origin of mitochondria 

Discovery
Ribosomes were first observed in the mid-1950s by Romanian-American cell biologist George Emil Palade, using an electron microscope, as dense particles or granules   They were initially called  Palade granules due to their granular structure   The term "ribosome" was proposed in 1958:

During the course of the symposium a semantic difficulty became apparent  To some of the participants, "microsomes" mean the ribonucleoprotein particles of the microsome fraction contaminated by other protein and lipid material; to others, the microsomes consist of protein and lipid contaminated by particles  The phrase "microsomal particles" does not seem adequate, and "ribonucleoprotein particles of the microsome fraction" is much too awkward  During the meeting, the word "ribosome" was suggested, which has a very satisfactory name and a pleasant sound  The present confusion would be eliminated if "ribosome" were adopted to designate ribonucleoprotein particles in sizes ranging from 35 to 100S 
Albert Claude, Christian de Duve, and George Emil Palade were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in 1974, for the discovery of the ribosome  The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 was awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A  Steitz and Ada E  Yonath for determining the detailed structure and mechanism of the ribosome 

Structure
The ribosome is a complex cellular machine  It is largely made up of specialized RNA known as ribosomal RNA (rRNA) as well as dozens of distinct proteins (the exact number varies slightly between species)  The ribosomal proteins and rRNAs are arranged into two distinct ribosomal pieces of different sizes, known generally as the large and small subunit of the ribosome  Ribosomes consist of two subunits that fit together (Figure 2) and work as one to translate the mRNA into a polypeptide chain during protein synthesis (Figure 1)  Because they are formed from two subunits of non-equal size, they are slightly longer in the axis than in diameter 

Prokaryotic ribosomes
Prokaryotic ribosomes are around 20 nm (200 Å) in diameter and are composed of 65% rRNA and 35% ribosomal proteins  Eukaryotic ribosomes are between 25 and 30 nm (250–300 Å) in diameter with an rRNA-to-protein ratio that is close to 1  Crystallographic work has shown that there are no ribosomal proteins close to the reaction site for polypeptide synthesis  This suggests that the protein components of ribosomes do not directly participate in peptide bond formation catalysis, but rather that these proteins act as a scaffold that may enhance the ability of rRNA to synthesize protein (See: Ribozyme) 

The ribosomal subunits of prokaryotes and eukaryotes are quite similar The unit of measurement used to describe the ribosomal subunits and the rRNA fragments is the Svedberg unit, a measure of the rate of sedimentation in centrifugation rather than size  This accounts for why fragment names do not add up: for example, bacterial 70S ribosomes are made of 50S and 30S subunits 
Prokaryotes have 70S ribosomes, each consisting of a small (30S) and a large (50S) subunit  E  coli, for example, has a 16S RNA subunit (consisting of 1540 nucleotides) that is bound to 21 proteins  The large subunit is composed of a 5S RNA subunit (120 nucleotides), a 23S RNA subunit (2900 nucleotides) and 31 proteins 
Affinity label for the tRNA binding sites on the E  coli ribosome allowed the identification of A and P site proteins most likely associated with the peptidyltransferase activity; labelled proteins are L27, L14, L15, L16, L2; at least L27 is located at the donor site, as shown by E  Collatz and A P  Czernilofsky  Additional research has demonstrated that the S1 and S21 proteins, in association with the 3′-end of 16S ribosomal RNA, are involved in the initiation of translation 

Archaeal ribosomes
Archaeal ribosomes share the same general dimensions of bacteria ones, being a 70S ribosome made up from a 50S large subunit, a 30S small subunit, and containing three rRNA chains  However, on the sequence level, they are much closer to eukaryotic ones than to bacterial ones  Every extra ribosomal protein archaea have compared to bacteria has a eukaryotic counterpart, while no such relation applies between archaea and bacteria 

Eukaryotic ribosomes
Eukaryotes have 80S ribosomes located in their cytosol, each consisting of a small (40S) and large (60S) subunit  Their 40S subunit has an 18S RNA (1900 nucleotides) and 33 proteins  The large subunit is composed of a 5S RNA (120 nucleotides), 28S RNA (4700 nucleotides), a 5 8S RNA (160 nucleotides) subunits and 49 proteins 
During 1977, Czernilofsky published research that used affinity labeling to identify tRNA-binding sites on rat liver ribosomes  Several proteins, including L32/33, L36, L21, L23, L28/29 and L13 were implicated as being at or near the peptidyl transferase center 

Plastoribosomes and mitoribosomes
In eukaryotes, ribosomes are present in mitochondria (sometimes called mitoribosomes) and in plastids such as chloroplasts (also called plastoribosomes)  They also consist of large and small subunits bound together with proteins into one 70S particle  These ribosomes are similar to those of bacteria and these organelles are thought to have originated as symbiotic bacteria  Of the two, chloroplastic ribosomes are closer to bacterial ones than mitochondrial ones are  Many pieces of ribosomal RNA in the mitochondria are shortened, and in the case of 5S rRNA, replaced by other structures in animals and fungi  In particular, Leishmania tarentolae has a minimalized set of mitochondrial rRNA  In contrast, plant mitoribosomes have both extended rRNA and additional proteins as compared to bacteria, in particular, many pentatricopetide repeat proteins The cryptomonad and chlorarachniophyte algae may contain a nucleomorph that resembles a vestigial eukaryotic nucleus  Eukaryotic 80S ribosomes may be present in the compartment containing the nucleomorph 

Making use of the differences
The differences between the bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes are exploited by pharmaceutical chemists to create antibiotics that can destroy a bacterial infection without harming the cells of the infected person  Due to the differences in their structures, the bacterial 70S ribosomes are vulnerable to these antibiotics while the eukaryotic 80S ribosomes are not  Even though mitochondria possess ribosomes similar to the bacterial ones, mitochondria are not affected by these antibiotics because they are surrounded by a double membrane that does not easily admit these antibiotics into the organelle  A noteworthy counterexample, however, includes the antineoplastic antibiotic chloramphenicol, which successfully inhibits bacterial 50S and eukaryotic mitochondrial 50S ribosomes  Ribosomes in chloroplasts, however, are different: Antibiotic resistance in chloroplast ribosomal proteins is a trait that has to be introduced as a marker, with genetic engineering 

Common properties
The various ribosomes share a core structure, which is quite similar despite the large differences in size  Much of the RNA is highly organized into various tertiary structural motifs, for example pseudoknots that exhibit coaxial stacking  The extra RNA in the larger ribosomes is in several long continuous insertions, such that they form loops out of the core structure without disrupting or changing it  All of the catalytic activity of the ribosome is carried out by the RNA; the proteins reside on the surface and seem to stabilize the structure 

High-resolution structure
The general molecular structure of the ribosome has been known since the early 1970s  In the early 2000s, the structure has been achieved at high resolutions, of the order of a few ångströms 
The first papers giving the structure of the ribosome at atomic resolution were published almost simultaneously in late 2000  The 50S (large prokaryotic) subunit was determined from the archaeon Haloarcula marismortui and the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, and the structure of the 30S subunit was determined from Thermus thermophilus  These structural studies were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009  In May 2001 these coordinates were used to reconstruct the entire T  thermophilus 70S particle at 5 5 Å resolution Two papers were published in November 2005 with structures of the Escherichia coli 70S ribosome  The structures of a vacant ribosome were determined at 3 5 Å resolution using X-ray crystallography  Then, two weeks later, a structure based on cryo-electron microscopy was published, which depicts the ribosome at 11–15 Å resolution in the act of passing a newly synthesized protein strand into the protein-conducting channel 
The first atomic structures of the ribosome complexed with tRNA and mRNA molecules were solved by using X-ray crystallography by two groups independently, at 2 8 Å and at 3 7 Å  These structures allow one to see the details of interactions of the Thermus thermophilus ribosome with mRNA and with tRNAs bound at classical ribosomal sites  Interactions of the ribosome with long mRNAs containing Shine-Dalgarno sequences were visualized soon after that at 4 5–5 5 Å resolution In 2011, the first complete atomic structure of the eukaryotic 80S ribosome from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae   was obtained by crystallography  The model reveals the architecture of eukaryote-specific elements and their interaction with the universally conserved core  At the same time, the complete model of a eukaryotic 40S ribosomal structure in Tetrahymena thermophila was published and described the structure of the 40S subunit, as well as much about the 40S subunit's interaction with eIF1 during translation initiation  Similarly, the eukaryotic 60S subunit structure was also determined from Tetrahymena thermophila in complex with eIF6 

Function
Ribosomes are minute particles consisting of RNA and associated proteins that function to synthesize proteins  Proteins are needed for many cellular functions such as repairing damage or directing chemical processes  Ribosomes can be found floating within the cytoplasm or attached to the endoplasmic reticulum  Their main function is to convert genetic code into an amino acid sequence and to build protein polymers from amino acid monomers 
Ribosomes act as catalysts in two extremely important biological processes called peptidyl transfer and peptidyl hydrolysis  The "PT center is responsible for producing protein bonds during protein elongation" In summary, ribosomes have two main functions: Decoding the message, and the formation of peptide bonds  These two functions reside in the ribosomal subunits  Each subunit is made of one or more rRNAs and many r-proteins  The small subunit (30S in bacteria and archaea, 40S in eukaryotes) has the decoding function, whereas the large subunit (50S in bacteria and archaea, 60S in eukaryotes) catalyzes the formation of peptide bonds, referred to as the peptidyl-transferase activity  The bacterial (and archaeal) small subunit contains the 16S rRNA and 21 r-proteins (Escherichia coli), whereas the eukaryotic small subunit contains the 18S rRNA and 32 r-proteins (Saccharomyces cerevisiae; although the numbers vary between species)  The bacterial large subunit contains the 5S and 23S rRNAs and 34 r-proteins (E  coli), with the eukaryotic large subunit containing the 5S, 5 8S, and 25S / 28S rRNAs and 46 r-proteins (S  cerevisiae; again, the exact numbers vary between species) 

Translation
Ribosomes are the workplaces of protein biosynthesis, the process of translating mRNA into protein  The mRNA comprises a series of codons which are decoded by the ribosome so as to make the protein  Using the mRNA as a template, the ribosome traverses each codon (3 nucleotides) of the mRNA, pairing it with the appropriate amino acid provided by an aminoacyl-tRNA  Aminoacyl-tRNA contains a complementary anticodon on one end and the appropriate amino acid on the other  For fast and accurate recognition of the appropriate tRNA, the ribosome utilizes large conformational changes (conformational proofreading)  The small ribosomal subunit, typically bound to an aminoacyl-tRNA containing the first amino acid methionine, binds to an AUG codon on the mRNA and recruits the large ribosomal subunit  The ribosome contains three RNA binding sites, designated A, P, and E  The A-site binds an aminoacyl-tRNA or termination release factors; the P-site binds a peptidyl-tRNA (a tRNA bound to the poly-peptide chain); and the E-site (exit) binds a free tRNA  Protein synthesis begins at a start codon AUG near the 5' end of the mRNA  mRNA binds to the P site of the ribosome first  The ribosome recognizes the start codon by using the Shine-Dalgarno sequence of the mRNA in prokaryotes and Kozak box in eukaryotes 
Although catalysis of the peptide bond involves the C2 hydroxyl of RNA's P-site adenosine in a proton shuttle mechanism, other steps in protein synthesis (such as translocation) are caused by changes in protein conformations  Since their catalytic core is made of RNA, ribosomes are classified as "ribozymes," and it is thought that they might be remnants of the RNA world 
In Figure 5, both ribosomal subunits (small and large) assemble at the start codon (towards the 5' end of the mRNA)  The ribosome uses tRNA that matches the current codon (triplet) on the mRNA to append an amino acid to the polypeptide chain  This is done for each triplet on the mRNA, while the ribosome moves towards the 3' end of the mRNA  Usually in bacterial cells, several ribosomes are working parallel on a single mRNA, forming what is called a polyribosome or polysome 

Cotranslational folding
The ribosome is known to actively participate in the protein folding  The structures obtained in this way are usually identical to the ones obtained during protein chemical refolding; however, the pathways leading to the final product may be different  In some cases, the ribosome is crucial in obtaining the functional protein form  For example, one of the possible mechanisms of folding of the deeply knotted proteins relies on the ribosome pushing the chain through the attached loop 

Addition of translation-independent amino acids
Presence of a ribosome quality control protein Rqc2 is associated with mRNA-independent protein elongation  This elongation is a result of ribosomal addition (via tRNAs brought by Rqc2) of CAT tails: ribosomes extend the C-terminus of a stalled protein with random, translation-independent sequences of alanines and threonines 

Ribosome locations
Ribosomes are classified as being either "free" or "membrane-bound" 

Free and membrane-bound ribosomes differ only in their spatial distribution; they are identical in structure  Whether the ribosome exists in a free or membrane-bound state depends on the presence of an ER-targeting signal sequence on the protein being synthesized, so an individual ribosome might be membrane-bound when it is making one protein, but free in the cytosol when it makes another protein 
Ribosomes are sometimes referred to as organelles, but the use of the term organelle is often restricted to describing sub-cellular components that include a phospholipid membrane, which ribosomes, being entirely particulate, do not  For this reason, ribosomes may sometimes be described as "non-membranous organelles" 

Free ribosomes
Free ribosomes can move about anywhere in the cytosol, but are excluded from the cell nucleus and other organelles  Proteins that are formed from free ribosomes are released into the cytosol and used within the cell  Since the cytosol contains high concentrations of glutathione and is, therefore, a reducing environment, proteins containing disulfide bonds, which are formed from oxidized cysteine residues, cannot be produced within it 

Membrane-bound ribosomes
When a ribosome begins to synthesize proteins that are needed in some organelles, the ribosome making this protein can become "membrane-bound"  In eukaryotic cells this happens in a region of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) called the "rough ER"  The newly produced polypeptide chains are inserted directly into the ER by the ribosome undertaking vectorial synthesis and are then transported to their destinations, through the secretory pathway  Bound ribosomes usually produce proteins that are used within the plasma membrane or are expelled from the cell via exocytosis 

Biogenesis
In bacterial cells, ribosomes are synthesized in the cytoplasm through the transcription of multiple ribosome gene operons  In eukaryotes, the process takes place both in the cell cytoplasm and in the nucleolus, which is a region within the cell nucleus  The assembly process involves the coordinated function of over 200 proteins in the synthesis and processing of the four rRNAs, as well as assembly of those rRNAs with the ribosomal proteins 

Origin
The ribosome may have first originated as a protoribosome, possibly containing a peptidyl transferase centre (PTC), in an RNA world, appearing as a self-replicating complex that only later evolved the ability to synthesize proteins when amino acids began to appear  Studies suggest that ancient ribosomes constructed solely of rRNA could have developed the ability to synthesize peptide bonds  In addition, evidence strongly points to ancient ribosomes as self-replicating complexes, where the rRNA in the ribosomes had informational, structural, and catalytic purposes because it could have coded for tRNAs and proteins needed for ribosomal self-replication  Hypothetical cellular organisms with self-replicating RNA but without DNA are called ribocytes (or ribocells) As amino acids gradually appeared in the RNA world under prebiotic conditions, their interactions with catalytic RNA would increase both the range and efficiency of function of catalytic RNA molecules  Thus, the driving force for the evolution of the ribosome from an ancient self-replicating machine into its current form as a translational machine may have been the selective pressure to incorporate proteins into the ribosome's self-replicating mechanisms, so as to increase its capacity for self-replication 

Heterogeneous ribosomes
Ribosomes are compositionally heterogeneous between species and even within the same cell, as evidenced by the existence of cytoplasmic and mitochondria ribosomes within the same eukaryotic cells  Certain researchers have suggested that heterogeneity in the composition of ribosomal proteins in mammals is important for gene regulation, i e , the specialized ribosome hypothesis  However, this hypothesis is controversial and the topic of ongoing research Heterogeneity in ribosome composition was first proposed to be involved in translational control of protein synthesis by Vince Mauro and Gerald Edelman  They proposed the ribosome filter hypothesis to explain the regulatory functions of ribosomes  Evidence has suggested that specialized ribosomes specific to different cell populations may affect how genes are translated  Some ribosomal proteins exchange from the assembled complex with cytosolic copies suggesting that the structure of the in vivo ribosome can be modified without synthesizing an entire new ribosome 
Certain ribosomal proteins are absolutely critical for cellular life while others are not  In budding yeast, 14/78 ribosomal proteins are non-essential for growth, while in humans this depends on the cell of study  Other forms of heterogeneity include post-translational modifications to ribosomal proteins such as acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation  Arabidopsis, Viral internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs) may mediate translations by compositionally distinct ribosomes  For example, 40S ribosomal units without eS25 in yeast and mammalian cells are unable to recruit the CrPV IGR IRES Heterogeneity of ribosomal RNA modifications plays a significant role in structural maintenance and/or function and most mRNA modifications are found in highly conserved regions  The most common rRNA modifications are pseudouridylation and 2’-O methylation of ribose 

See also



ground_truth: Sonic Mania