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

Question: What did M. King Hubbert's employer announce it was in the process of doing in April 2010?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
457 visa
In Australia, the 457 visa was the most common visa for Australian or overseas employers to sponsor skilled overseas workers to work temporarily in Australia  It was abolished on 18 March 2018 by the Turnbull government and replaced by another visa category  The full title of this subclass of visa was Temporary Business (Long Stay) and was introduced soon after John Howard became Prime Minister in 1996  The title of the visa was changed to Temporary Work (Skilled) (Subclass 457) visa on 24 November 2012   Applications were processed by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)  On 18 April 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the 457 visas will be replaced with two new visa categories 

Requirements
Holders of a 457 visa may be employed for a period of up to four years and may bring any eligible family members, including same-sex partners, who have unrestricted work and study rights in Australia  "If your sponsor is a start-up business or has traded in Australia for less than 12 months, then the visa will be granted for 18 months " Holders of the subclass 457 visa have no limit on the number of times they travel in and out of Australia Employers must be approved by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection as an approved sponsor  Primary subclass 457 visa holders are restricted to working for their sponsor and may not work (or volunteer) for any other organisation (other than associated entities as defined by the Corporations Act)  In order to change employer and sponsor, the "new employer" must be or become an approved 457 sponsor and then lodge a 457 nomination  Once the nomination is approved, the employer obligations will shift to the new employer and the visa applicant is restricted to working for it  There is no need to apply for a new 457 visa within the validity of the visa 
Employees must also meet minimum levels of skill and English language requirements, in addition to character and health requirements  Some trades occupations and passport holders from certain countries may be required to do a skills assessment (see the TRA website) 
It is common for 457 visa holders to apply for a permanent Australia residents visa with a view to permanently settle in Australia and become Australian citizens 

Restrictions on the 457 visa
A 457 visa holder can only work in a nominated occupation for the sponsor employer  Medical practitioners and general managers must work in their nominated occupation but they can work for employers other than their sponsor or an associated entity of their sponsor  The specific occupations to which this rule applies are listed in Exemption from the requirement to work directly for the sponsor  The worker must also not have ceased employment for more than 60 consecutive days 

457 visa update
The Australian Government reviewed the 457 skilled immigrant visa and made some provisions to quicken the transition to permanent residency starting on 1 July 2012   From that date, non-resident workers on the 457 skilled immigration visa are able to transition to permanent residency if they have two years with the employer who has sponsored them and if the employer provides a full-time position in the 457 visa holder's nominated occupation 
Furthermore, the Australian government has recognised that 457 visas deserve priority in review as they are highly responsive to the needs of the market  Overseas workers will be able to work in Australia on a six-month short term work visa before they apply for a 457 visa 
As at 30 June 2016, the size of the subclass 457 programme was 94,890 Primary visa holders in Australia 

Criticisms
An audit by the Fair Work Ombudsman conducted between September 2013 and June 2014 found that 40% of 457 visa holders were no longer employed by a sponsor or were being paid well below the statutory minimum wage of $53,900 In October 2014, the Abbott government announced that it would make it easier for businesses to apply for 457 visa workers by relaxing rules for English language competency to broaden the pool of potential workers from overseas With the commencement of the Japan free trade agreement in 2015, employers no longer need to offer jobs to locals or to prove that none could fill vacancies before Japanese nationals eligible for 457 visas are employed In December 2014, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection released recommendations to relax 457 visa requirements  The recommendations include extending the six-month short term work visa to 12 months with no obligation to apply for a 457 visa  The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has criticized this change on the grounds that it avoids the 457 visa's requirement for English language and skills tests and employers would not be required to demonstrate they had first tried to fill job vacancies with Australian workers 

Replacement
On 18 April 2017, Malcolm Turnbull announced his intention to replace the 457 visas with 2 new categories (short term and medium term) of visas One of the replacements was the Temporary Skill Shortage visa, known as a 482 Visa  It allows immigration It requires candidates to obtain an IELTS (English Language) exam band score of 5 or higher, or other method of showing the English level 

See also
Visa documentation
Working holiday visa
Working Holidays in Australia
Passage 2:
M  King Hubbert
Marion King Hubbert (October 5, 1903 – October 11, 1989) was an American geologist and geophysicist  He worked at the Shell research lab in Houston, Texas   He made several important contributions to geology, geophysics, and petroleum geology, most notably the Hubbert curve and Hubbert peak theory (a basic component of peak oil), with important political ramifications   He was often referred to as "M  King Hubbert" or "King Hubbert" 

Biography
Hubbert was born in San Saba, Texas  He attended the University of Chicago, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1926, a Master of Science in 1928, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1937, studying geology, mathematics, and physics   He worked as an assistant geologist for the Amerada Petroleum Company for two years while pursuing the PhD, additionally teaching geophysics at Columbia University  He also served as a senior analyst at the Board of Economic Warfare  He joined the Shell Oil Company in 1943, retiring from that firm in 1964  After he retired from Shell, he became a senior research geophysicist for the United States Geological Survey until his retirement in 1976   He also held positions as a professor of geology and geophysics at Stanford University from 1963 to 1968, and as a professor at UC Berkeley from 1973 to 1976 Hubbert was an avid technocrat  He co-founded Technocracy Incorporated with Howard Scott  Hubbert wrote a study course that was published without attribution called the Technocracy Study Course, which advocates a non-market economics form of energy accounting, in contrast to the current price system method Hubbert was a member of the board of governors, and served as secretary of education in that organization  Hubert died on October 11, 1988 at the age of 86 while receiving treatment for pulmonary embolism 

Research
Hubbert made several contributions to geophysics, including a mathematical demonstration that rock in the earth's crust, because it is under immense pressure in large areas, should exhibit plasticity, similar to clay   This demonstration explained the observed results that the earth's crust deforms over time   He also studied the flow of underground fluids 
Based on theoretical arguments, Hubbert (1940) proposed a constitutive equation 
  
    
      
        
          K
          
            a
            b
            s
          
        
        =
        N
        
          D
          
            2
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle K_{abs}=ND^{2}}
   for absolute permeability 
  
    
      
        
          K
          
            a
            b
            s
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle K_{abs}}
   of an underground water or oil reservoir where 
  
    
      
        D
      
    
    {\displaystyle D}
   is the average grain diameter and 
  
    
      
        N
      
    
    {\displaystyle N}
   is a dimensionless proportionality constant  However, Kozeny (1927) proposed a constitutive equation for absolute permeability which contains Hubbert's proposal as a factor  Hubbert (1940, 1956) also presented a force potential, denoted 
  
    
      
        Φ
      
    
    {\displaystyle \Phi }
   or 
  
    
      
        
          Φ
          
            h
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle \Phi _{h}}
  , that bears his name:

  
    
      
        Φ
        =
        
          ∫
          
            P
            r
            e
            f
          
          
            P
          
        
        
          
            
              d
              P
            
            
              ρ
              (
              P
              )
            
          
        
        −
        g
        z
        
        ⟹
        
        ∇
        
          Φ
          
            h
          
        
        =
        
          
            1
            ρ
          
        
        ∇
        P
        −
        g
        ∇
        z
      
    
    {\displaystyle \Phi =\int _{Pref}^{P}{\frac {dP}{\rho (P)}}-gz\implies \nabla \Phi _{h}={\frac {1}{\rho }}\nabla P-g\nabla z}
  Some years later Hubbert (1956) showed that Darcy's law can be derived from the Navier-Stokes equation of motion of a viscous fluid 
Hubbert is best known for his studies on the size of oil fields and natural gas reserves, and the limits these impose on rates of oil and gas production  He predicted that for any oil-producing area, whether a province, a nation, or the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum production of the reserve over time would resemble a bell curve  Based on his theory, he presented a paper to the 1956 meeting of the American Petroleum Institute in San Antonio, Texas, which predicted that overall petroleum production would peak in the United States between 1965, which he considered most likely, and 1970, which he considered an upper bound  At first his prediction received much criticism, for the most part because many other predictions of oil capacity had been made over the preceding half century, but these had usually been based on the reserves-to-production ratio, had not taken into account future discoveries, and had proven false   Hubbert became famous when U S  oil production peaked in 1970 and began to decline, as he had predicted 
In 1974, Hubbert projected that global oil production would peak in 1995 "if current trends continue"  Various subsequent predictions have been made by others as trends have fluctuated in the intervening years 
Hubbert believed that solar power would be a practical renewable energy replacement for fossil fuels, and that nuclear energy in breeder reactors would be able to sustain humanity for centuries  He also states that "provided world population can somehow be brought under control, we may at last have found an energy supply (uranium) adequate for our needs for at least the next few centuries of the 'foreseeable future' "

Contributions
Hubbert's contributions to science have been summarized as follows:

Mathematical demonstration that rock in the earth's crust is plastic, and that the earth's crust deforms over time 
Prediction of migration paths of hydrocarbons 
Predictions of peak rates of oil and gas production, based on a consistent mathematical model which ties reserves, discovery rates, and production rates  His model remains highly influential, and has been widely applied to other finite resources 

Renewable resources
Fisheries: At least one researcher has attempted to perform Hubbert linearization (Hubbert curve) on the whaling industry, as well as charting the transparently dependent price of caviar on sturgeon depletion  The Atlantic northwest cod fishery was a renewable resource, but the numbers of fish taken exceeded the fish's rate of recovery  The end of the cod fishery matches the exponential drop of the Hubbert bell curve  The comparison of the cases of fisheries and of mineral extraction tells us that the human pressure on the environment is causing a wide range of resources to go through a depletion cycle which mirrors the Hubbert curve 

Accolades
Hubbert was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences   He was long affiliated with the Geological Society of America, receiving their Arthur L  Day Medal in 1954, being elected President of the Society in 1962, and receiving the Society's Penrose Medal in 1973   He received the Vetlesen Prize from the G  Unger Vetlesen Foundation and Columbia University in 1981   He also received the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1981 

Hubbert on peak oil
Hubbert explaining some aspects of worldwide peak oil  1976 video clip of M King Hubbert speaking about fossil fuel depletion on YouTube 

See also
Bioeconomics (biology)
Fred Meissner

Notes
External links
 Media related to Marion King Hubbert at Wikimedia Commons
 Quotations related to M  King Hubbert at Wikiquote
M  King Hubbert Bibliography Archived 2019-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
M  King Hubbert papers at the University of Wyoming - American Heritage Center
Passage 3:
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England  Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange  A core component of Big Oil, Shell is the second largest investor-owned oil and gas company in the world by revenue (after ExxonMobil), and among the world's largest companies out of any industry  Measured by both its own emissions, and the emissions of all the fossil fuels it sells, Shell was the ninth-largest corporate producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the period 1988–2015 Shell was formed in 1907 through the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company of the United Kingdom  The combined company rapidly became the leading competitor of the American Standard Oil and by 1920 Shell was the largest producer of oil in the world  Shell first entered the chemicals industry in 1929  Shell was one of the "Seven Sisters" which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s  In 1964, Shell was a partner in the world's first commercial sea transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG)  In 1970, Shell acquired the mining company Billiton, which it subsequently sold in 1994 and now forms part of BHP  In recent decades gas has become an increasingly important part of Shell's business and Shell acquired BG Group in 2016 Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration, production, refining, transport, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation, and trading  Shell has operations in over 99 countries, produces around 3 7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has around 44,000 service stations worldwide  As of 31 December 2019, Shell had total proved reserves of 11 1 billion barrels (1 76×109 m3) of oil equivalent  Shell USA, its principal subsidiary in the United States, is one of its largest businesses  Shell holds 44% of Raízen, a publicly-listed joint venture with Cosan, which is the third-largest Brazil-based energy company  In addition to the main Shell brand, the company also owns the Jiffy Lube, Pennzoil and Quaker State brands 
Shell is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and had a market capitalisation of US$199 billion on 15 September 2022, the largest of any company listed on the LSE and the 44th-largest of any company in the world  By 2021 revenues, Shell is the second-largest investor-owned oil company in the world (after ExxonMobil), the largest company headquartered in the United Kingdom, the second-largest company headquartered in Europe (after Volkswagen), and the 15th largest company in the world  Until its unification in 2005 as Royal Dutch Shell plc, the firm operated as a dual-listed company, whereby the British and Dutch companies maintained their legal existence and separate listings but operated as a single-unit partnership  From 2005 to 2022, the company had its headquarters in The Hague, its registered office in London and had two types of shares (A and B)  In January 2022, the firm merged the A and B shares, moved its headquarters to London, and changed its legal name to Shell plc 

History
Origins
The Royal Dutch Shell Group was created in April 1907 through the amalgamation of two rival companies: the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company (Dutch: Koninklijke Nederlandse Petroleum Maatschappij) of the Netherlands and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited of the United Kingdom  It was a move largely driven by the need to compete globally with Standard Oil  The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company was a Dutch company founded in 1890 to develop an oilfield in Pangkalan Brandan, North Sumatra, and initially led by August Kessler, Hugo Loudon, and Henri Deterding  The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company (the quotation marks were part of the legal name) was a British company, founded in 1897 by Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, and his brother Samuel Samuel  Their father had owned an antique company in Houndsditch, London, which expanded in 1833 to import and sell seashells, after which the company "Shell" took its name For various reasons, the new firm operated as a dual-listed company, whereby the merging companies maintained their legal existence but operated as a single-unit partnership for business purposes  The terms of the merger gave 60 percent stock ownership of the new group to Royal Dutch, and 40 percent to Shell  Both became holding companies for Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, containing the production and refining assets, and Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, containing the transport and storage assets  National patriotic sensibilities would not permit a full-scale merger or takeover of either of the two companies  The Dutch company, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij at The Hague, was in charge of production and manufacture  The British Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company was based in London, to direct the transport and storage of the products In 1912, Royal Dutch Shell purchased the Rothschilds' Russian oil assets in a stock deal  The Group's production portfolio then consisted of 53 percent from the East Indies, 29 percent from the Russian Empire, and 17 percent from Romania 

20th century
During the First World War, Shell was the main supplier of fuel to the British Expeditionary Force  It was also the sole supplier of aviation fuel and supplied 80 percent of the British Army's TNT  It also volunteered all of its shipping to the British Admiralty The German invasion of Romania in 1916 saw 17% of the group's worldwide production destroyed In 1919, Shell took control of the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company and in 1921 formed Shell-Mex Limited, which marketed products under the "Shell" and "Eagle" brands in the United Kingdom  During the Genoa Conference of 1922 Royal Dutch Shell was in negotiations for a monopoly over Soviet oilfields in Baku and Grosny, although the leak of a draft treaty led to breakdown of the talks  In 1929, Shell Chemicals was founded  By the end of the 1920s, Shell was the world's leading oil company, producing 11 percent of the world's crude oil supply and owning 10 percent of its tanker tonnage Shell Mex House was completed in 1931, and was the head office for Shell's marketing activity worldwide  In 1932, partly in response to the difficult economic conditions of the Great Depression, Shell-Mex merged its UK marketing operations with those of BP to create Shell-Mex & BP, a company that traded until the brands separated in 1975  Royal Dutch Company ranked 79th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts 
The 1930s saw Shell's Mexican assets seized by the local government  After the invasion of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in 1940, the head office of the Dutch companies was moved to Curaçao  In 1945 Shell's Danish headquarters in Copenhagen, at the time being used by the Gestapo, was bombed by Royal Air Force De Havilland Mosquitoes in Operation Carthage In 1937, Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), 23 75 percent owned by Royal Dutch Shell plc, signed an oil concession agreement with the Sultan of Muscat  In 1952, IPC offered financial support to raise an armed force that would assist the Sultan in occupying the interior region of Oman, an area that geologists believed to be rich in oil  This led to the 1954 outbreak of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman that lasted for more than 5 years Around 1952, Shell was the first company to purchase and use a computer in the Netherlands  The computer, a Ferranti Mark 1*, was assembled and used at the Shell laboratory in Amsterdam  In 1970 Shell acquired the mining company Billiton, which it subsequently sold in 1994 In the 1990s, protesters criticised the company's environmental record, particularly the possible pollution caused by the proposed disposal of the Brent Spar platform into the North Sea  Despite support from the UK government, Shell reversed the decision under public pressure but maintained that sinking the platform would have been environmentally better  Shell subsequently published an unequivocal commitment to sustainable development, supported by executive speeches reinforcing this commitment  Shell was subsequently criticised by the European Commission and five European Union members after deciding to leave part of its decommissioned oil rigs standing in the North Sea  Shell argued that removing them would be too costly and risky  Germany said that the estimated 11,000 tonnes of raw oil and toxins remaining in the rigs would eventually seep into the sea, and called it a 'ticking timebomb' On 15 January 1999, off the Argentinian town of Magdalena, Buenos Aires, the Shell tanker Estrella pampeana collided with a German cargo ship, emptying its contents into the lake, polluting the environment, drinkable water, plants and animals  Over a decade after the spill, a referendum held in Magdalena determined the acceptance of a US$9 5 million compensatory payout from Shell  Shell denied responsibility for the spill, but an Argentine court ruled in 2002 that the corporation was responsible 

21st century
In 2002, Shell acquired Pennzoil-Quaker State through its American division for $22 USD per share, or about $1 8 billion USD  Through its acquisition of Pennzoil, Shell became a descendant of Standard Oil  With its acquisition, Shell inherited multiple auto part brands including Jiffy Lube, Rain-X, and Fix-a-Flat  The company was notably late in its acquisition as seen by journalists, with Shell seen as streamlining its assets around the same time of other major mergers and acquisitions in the industry, such as BP's purchase of Amoco and the merger of Exxon and Mobil In 2004, Shell overstated its oil reserves, resulting in loss of confidence in the group, a £17 million fine by the Financial Services Authority and the departure of the chairman Philip Watts  A lawsuit resulted in the payment of $450 million to non-American shareholders in 2007 As a result of the scandal, the corporate structure was simplified  Two classes of ordinary shares, A (code RDSA) and B (code RDSB), identical but for the tax treatment of dividends, were issued for the company In November 2004, following a period of turmoil caused by the revelation that Shell had been overstating its oil reserves, it was announced that the Shell Group would move to a single capital structure, creating a new parent company to be named Royal Dutch Shell plc, with its primary listing on the LSE, a secondary listing on Euronext Amsterdam, its headquarters and tax residency in The Hague, Netherlands and its registered office in London  The company was already incorporated in 2002 as Forthdeal Limited, a shelf corporation incorporated by Swift Incorporations Limited and Instant Companies Limited, both based in Bristol  The unification was completed on 20 July 2005 and the original owners delisted their companies from the respective exchanges  On 20 July 2005, the Shell Transport & Trading Company plc was delisted from the LSE, whereas, Royal Dutch Petroleum Company from the New York Stock Exchange on 18 November 2005  The shares of the company were issued at a 60/40 advantage for the shareholders of Royal Dutch in line with the original ownership of the Shell Group During the 2009 Iraqi oil services contracts tender, a consortium led by Shell (45%) and which included Petronas (30%) was awarded a production contract for the "Majnoon field" in the south of Iraq, which contains an estimated 12 6 billion barrels (2 00×109 m3) of oil  The "West Qurna 1 field" production contract was awarded to a consortium led by ExxonMobil (60%) and included Shell (15%) In February 2010, Shell and Cosan formed a 50:50 joint-venture, Raízen, comprising all of Cosan's Brazilian ethanol, energy generation, fuel distribution and sugar activities, and all of Shell's Brazilian retail fuel and aviation distribution businesses  In March 2010, Shell announced the sale of some of its assets, including its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business, to meet the cost of a planned $28bn capital spending programme  Shell invited buyers to submit indicative bids, due by 22 March, with a plan to raise $2–3bn from the sale  In June 2010, Shell agreed to acquire all the business of East Resources for a cash consideration of $4 7 billion  The transaction included East Resources' tight gas fields Over the course of 2013, the corporation began the sale of its US shale gas assets and canceled a US$20 billion gas project that was to be constructed in the US state of Louisiana  A new CEO Ben van Beurden was appointed in January 2014, prior to the announcement that the corporation's overall performance in 2013 was 38 percent lower than in 2012—the value of Shell's shares fell by 3 percent as a result  Following the sale of the majority of its Australian assets in February 2014, the corporation plans to sell a further US$15 billion worth of assets in the period leading up to 2015, with deals announced in Australia, Brazil and Italy Shell announced on 8 April 2015 it had agreed to buy BG Group for £47 billion (US$70 billion), subject to shareholder and regulatory approval  The acquisition was completed in February 2016, resulting in Shell surpassing Chevron Corporation and becoming the world's second largest non-state oil company On 7 June 2016, Shell announced that it would build an ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after spending several years doing an environmental cleanup of the proposed plant's site In January 2017, Shell agreed to sell £2 46bn worth of North Sea assets to oil exploration firm Chrysaor  In 2017, Shell sold its oil sands assets to Canadian Natural Resources in exchange of approximately 8 8% stake in that company  In May 2017, it was reported that Shell plans to sell its shares in Canadian Natural Resources fully exiting the oil sands business On 5 November 2017, the Paradise Papers, a set of confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment, revealed that Argentine Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren was revealed to have managed the offshore companies 'Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited' and 'Sol Antilles y Guianas Limited', both subsidiaries of Shell  One is the main bidder for the purchase of diesel oil by the government through the state owned CAMMESA (Compañía Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico) On 30 April 2020, Shell announced that it would cut its dividend for the first time since the Second World War, due to the oil price collapse following the reduction in oil demand during the COVID-19 pandemic  Shell stated that their net income adjusted for the cost of supply dropped to US$2 9 billion in three months to 31 March  This compared with US$5 3 billion in the same period the previous year  On 30 September 2020, the company said that it would cut up to 9,000 jobs as a result of the economic effects caused by the pandemic and announced a "broad restructuring"  In December 2020, Shell forecast another write-down of $3 5-4 5 billion for the fourth quarter due to lower oil prices, following $16 8 billion of impairment in the second quarter In February 2021, Shell announced a loss of $21 7 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite reducing its operating expenses by 12%, or $4 5 billion, according to a Morningstar analysis cited by Barron's In November 2021, Shell announced that it is planning to relocate their headquarters to London, abandon its dual share structure, and change its name from Royal Dutch Shell plc to Shell plc  The company's name change was registered in the Companies House on 21 January 2022 In December 2021, Shell pulled out of the Cambo oil field, off the Shetland Islands, claiming that "the economic case for investment in this project is not strong enough at this time, as well as having the potential for delays"  The proposed oilfield had been the subject of intense campaigning by environmentalists in the run-up to the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021 On 4 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in the midst of the growing boycott of Russian economy and related divestments, Shell bought a cargo of discounted Russian crude oil  The next day, following criticism from Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Shell defended the purchase as a short term necessity, but also announced that it intended to reduce such purchases, and it would put profits from any Russian oil it purchases into a fund that would go towards humanitarian aid to Ukraine  On 8 March, Shell announced that it would stop buying Russian oil and gas and close its service stations in the country In 2022, the major oil and gas companies, including Shell, reported sharp rises in interim revenues and profits  In fact, this rise in profit for Shell was so sharp, that 2022 was the company's best year, as Shell recorded double the profits from 2021, and the highest profit in its entire history 

Corporate affairs
Management
On 4 August 2005, the board of directors announced the appointment of Jorma Ollila, chairman and CEO of Nokia at the time, to succeed Aad Jacobs as the company's non-executive chairman on 1 June 2006  Ollila is the first Shell chairman to be neither Dutch nor British  Other non-executive directors include Maarten van den Bergh, Wim Kok, Nina Henderson, Lord Kerr, Adelbert van Roxe, and Christine Morin-Postel Since 3 January 2014, Ben van Beurden has been CEO of Shell  His predecessor was Peter Voser who became CEO of Shell on 1 July 2009 Following a career at the corporation, in locations such as Australia and Africa, Ann Pickard was appointed as the executive vice president of the Arctic at Royal Dutch Shell, a role that was publicized in an interview with McKinsey & Company in June 2014 In January 2023, Wael Sawan succeeded Ben van Beurden as CEO 

Board of directors
As of 25 January 2023, the Shell board members are:
Andrew Mackenzie (chair), former CEO of BHP Billiton
Euleen Goh, former CEO of Standard Chartered Singapore
Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell plc
Sinead Gorman, CFO of Shell plc
Dick Boer, former president and CEO of Ahold Delhaize
Neil Carson, former CEO of Johnson Matthey
Ann Godbehere, former CFO of Swiss Re and Northern Rock
Catherine J  Hughes, former executive at Nexen, Husky Oil, and Schlumberger
Jane Holl Lute, former president and CEO of SICPA North America
Martina Hund-Mejean, former CFO of Mastercard
Abraham Schot, former CEO of Audi AG
Caroline Omloo, company secretary

Historical leadership
Name and logo
The name Shell is linked to The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company  In 1833, the founder's father, Marcus Samuel Sr , founded an import business to sell seashells to London collectors  When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea area in 1892, the younger Samuel realised there was potential in exporting lamp oil from the region and commissioned the world's first purpose-built oil tanker, the Murex (Latin for a type of snail shell), to enter this market; by 1907 the company had a fleet  Although for several decades the company had a refinery at Shell Haven on the Thames, there is no evidence of this having provided the name The Shell logo is one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world  This logo is known as the "pecten" after the sea shell Pecten maximus (the giant scallop), on which its design is based  The yellow and red colours used are thought to relate to the colours of the flag of Spain, as Shell built early service stations in California, previously a Spanish colony  The current revision of the logo was designed by Raymond Loewy in 1971 The slash was removed from the name "Royal Dutch/Shell" in 2005, concurrent with moves to merge the two legally separate companies (Royal Dutch and Shell) to the single legal entity which exists today On 15 November 2021, Royal Dutch Shell plc announced plans to change its name to Shell plc 

Logo evolution
Operations
Business groupings
Shell is organised into four major business groupings:
Upstream – manages the upstream business  It searches for and recovers crude oil and natural gas and operates the upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver oil and gas to the market  Its activities are organised primarily within geographic units, although there are some activities that are managed across the business or provided through support units 
Integrated Gas and New Energies – manages to liquefy natural gas, converting gas to liquids and low-carbon opportunities 
Downstream – manages Shell's manufacturing, distribution, and marketing activities for oil products and chemicals  Manufacturing and supply include refinery, supply, and shipping of crude oil 
Projects and technology – manages the delivery of Shell's major projects, provides technical services and technology capability covering both upstream and downstream activities  It is also responsible for providing functional leadership across Shell in the areas of health, safety and environment, and contracting and procurement 

Oil and gas activities
Shell's primary business is the management of a vertically integrated oil company  The development of technical and commercial expertise in all stages of this vertical integration, from the initial search for oil (exploration) through its harvesting (production), transportation, refining and finally trading and marketing established the core competencies on which the company was founded  Similar competencies were required for natural gas, which has become one of the most important businesses in which Shell is involved, and which contributes a significant proportion of the company's profits  While the vertically integrated business model provided significant economies of scale and barriers to entry, each business now seeks to be a self-supporting unit without subsidies from other parts of the company Traditionally, Shell was a heavily decentralised business worldwide (especially in the downstream) with companies in over 100 countries, each of which operated with a high degree of independence  The upstream tended to be far more centralised with much of the technical and financial direction coming from the central offices in The Hague  The upstream oil sector is also commonly known as the "exploration and production" sector Downstream operations, which now also includes the chemicals business, generate the majority of Shell's profits worldwide and is known for its global network of more than 40,000 petrol stations and its various oil refineries  The downstream business, which in some countries also included oil refining, generally included a retail petrol station network, lubricants manufacture and marketing, industrial fuel and lubricants sales, and a host of other product/market sectors such as LPG and bitumen  The practice in Shell was that these businesses were essentially local and that they were best managed by local "operating companies" – often with middle and senior management reinforced by expatriates 

Sponsorships
Shell has a long history of motorsport sponsorship, most notably Scuderia Ferrari (1951–1964, 1966–1973 and 1996-present), BRM (1962–1966 and 1968–1972), Scuderia Toro Rosso (2007–2013 and 2016), McLaren (1967–1968 and 1984–1994), Lotus (1968–1971), Ducati Corse (since 1999), Team Penske (2011–present), Hyundai Motorsport (since 2005), AF Corse, Risi Competizione, BMW Motorsport (2015–present with also Pennzoil) and Dick Johnson Racing (1987-2004 and 2017–present) Starting in 2023, Shell will become the official fuel for IndyCar Series, supplying E100 race fuel for all teams 

Operations by region
Arctic
Kulluk oil rig
Following the purchase of an offshore lease in 2005, Shell initiated its US$4 5 billion Arctic drilling program in 2006, after the corporation purchased the "Kulluk" oil rig and leased the Noble Discoverer drillship  At inception, the project was led by Pete Slaiby, a Shell executive who had previously worked in the North Sea  However, after the purchase of a second offshore lease in 2008, Shell only commenced drilling work in 2012, due to the refurbishment of rigs, permit delays from the relevant authorities and lawsuits  The plans to drill in the Arctic led to protests from environmental groups, particularly Greenpeace; furthermore, analysts in the energy field, as well as related industries, also expressed skepticism due to perceptions that drilling in the region is "too dangerous because of harsh conditions and remote locations" Further problems hampered the Arctic project after the commencement of drilling in 2012, as Shell dealt with a series of issues that involved air permits, Coast Guard certification of a marine vessel, and severe damage to essential oil-spill equipment  Additionally, difficult weather conditions resulted in the delay of drilling during mid-2012 and the already dire situation was exacerbated by the "Kulluk" incident at the end of the year  Shell had invested nearly US$5 billion by this stage of the project As the Kulluk oil rig was being towed to the American state of Washington to be serviced in preparation for the 2013 drilling season, a winter storm on 27 December 2012 caused the towing crews, as well as the rescue service, to lose control of the rig  As of 1 January 2013, the Kulluk was grounded off the coast Sitkalidak Island, near the eastern end of Kodiak Island  Following the accident, a Fortune magazine contacted Larry McKinney, the executive director at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M, and he explained that "A two-month delay in the Arctic is not a two-month delay     A two-month delay could wipe out the entire drilling season "It was unclear if Shell would recommence drilling in mid-2013, following the "Kulluk" incident, and, in February 2013, the corporation stated that it would "pause" its closely watched drilling project off the Alaskan coast in 2013, and will instead prepare for future exploration  In January 2014, the corporation announced the extension of the suspension of its drilling program in the Arctic, with chief executive van Beurden explaining that the project is "under review" due to both market and internal issues A June 2014 interview with Pickard indicated that, following a forensic analysis of the problems encountered in 2012, Shell will continue with the project and Pickard stated that she perceives the future of the corporation activity in the Arctic region as a long-term "marathon"  Pickard stated that the forensic "look back" revealed "there was an on/off switch" and further explained:

In other words, don't spend the money unless you're sure you're going to have the legal environment to go forward  Don't spend the money unless you're sure you're going to have the permit  No, I can't tell you that I'm going to have that permit until June, but we need to plan like we're going to have that permit in June  And so probably the biggest lesson is to make sure we could smooth out the on/off switches wherever we could and take control of our own destiny 
Based upon the interview with Pickard, Shell is approaching the project as an investment that will reap energy resources with a lifespan of around 30 years According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management report in 2015 the chances of a major spill in a deep-sea Arctic drilling is 75% before century's end 

Kodiak Island
In 2010, Greenpeace activists painted "No Arctic Drilling" using spilled BP oil on the side of a ship in the Gulf of Mexico that was en route to explore for Arctic oil for Shell  At the protest, Phil Radford of Greenpeace called for "President Obama [to] ban all offshore oil drilling and call for an end to the use of oil in our cars by 2030 "On 16 March 2012, 52 Greenpeace activists from five different countries boarded Fennica and Nordica, multipurpose icebreakers chartered to support Shell's drilling rigs near Alaska  Around the same time period, a reporter for Fortune magazine spoke with Edward Itta, an Inupiat leader and the former mayor of the North Slope Borough, who expressed that he was conflicted about Shell's plans in the Arctic, as he was concerned that an oil spill could destroy the Inupiat peoples hunting-and-fishing culture, but his borough also received major tax revenue from oil and gas production; additionally, further revenue from energy activity was considered crucial to the future of the living standard in Itta's community In July 2012, Greenpeace activists shut down 53 Shell petrol stations in Edinburgh and London in a protest against the company's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic  Greenpeace's "Save the Arctic" campaign aims to prevent oil drilling and industrial fishing in the Arctic by declaring the uninhabited area around the North Pole a global sanctuary A review was announced after the Kulluk oil rig ran aground near Kodiak Island in December 2012 In response, Shell filed lawsuits to seek injunctions from possible protests, and Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP and Radford argued that the legal action was "trampling Americans' rights " According to Greenpeace, Shell lodged a request with Google to take down video footage of a Greenpeace protest action that occurred at the Shell-sponsored Formula One (F1) Belgian Grand Prix on 25 August 2013, in which "SaveTheArctic org" banners appear at the winners' podium ceremony  In the video, the banners rise up automatically—activists controlled their appearance with the use of four radio car antennas—revealing the website URL, alongside an image that consists of half of a polar bear's head and half of the Shell logo Shell then announced a "pause" in the timeline of the project in early 2013 and, in September 2015, the corporation announced the extension of the suspension of its drilling program in the Arctic 

Polar Pioneer rig
A June 2014 interview with the corporation's new executive vice president of the Arctic indicated that Shell will continue with its activity in the region In Seattle protests began in May 2015 in response to the news that the Port of Seattle made an agreement with Shell to berth rigs at the Port's Terminal 5 during the off-season of oil exploration in Alaskan waters  The arrival of Shell's new Arctic drilling vessel, Polar Pioneer (IMO number: 8754140), a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig, was greeted by large numbers of environmental protesters paddling kayaks in Elliott Bay On 6 May 2015, it was reported that during a coast guard inspection of Polar Pioneer, a piece of anti-pollution gear failed, resulting in fines and delay of the operation  Oil executives from Total and Eni interviewed by the New York Times, expressed scepticism about Shell's new ambitions for offshore drilling in the Arctic, and cited economic and environmental hurdles  ConocoPhillips and Equinor (formerly Statoil) suspended Arctic drilling earlier, after Shell's failed attempt in 2012 

Australia
On 20 May 2011, Shell's final investment decision for the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility was finalized following the discovery of the remote offshore Prelude field—located off Australia's northwestern coast and estimated to contain about 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent reserves—in 2007  FLNG technology is based on liquefied natural gas (LNG) developments that were pioneered in the mid-20th century and facilitates the exploitation of untapped natural gas reserves located in remote areas, often too small to extract any other way The floating vessel to be used for the Prelude field, known as Prelude FLNG, is promoted as the longest floating structure in the world and will take in the equivalent of 110,000 barrels of oil per day in natural gas—at a location 200 km (125 miles) off the coast of Western Australia—and cool it into liquefied natural gas for transport and sale in Asia  The Prelude is expected to start producing LNG in 2017—analysts estimated the total cost of construction at more than US$12 billion Following the decision by the Shell fuel corporation to close its Geelong Oil Refinery in Australia in April 2013, a third consecutive annual loss was recorded for Shell's Australian refining and fuel marketing assets  Revealed in June 2013, the writedown is worth A$203 million and was preceded by a A$638m writedown in 2012 and a A$407m writedown in 2011, after the closure of the Clyde Refinery in Sydney, Australia In February 2014, Shell sold its Australian refinery and petrol stations for US$2 6 billion (A$2 9 billion) to Swiss company Vitol At the time of the downstream sale to Vitol, Shell was expected to continue investment into Australian upstream projects, with projects that involve Chevron Corp , Woodside Petroleum and Prelude  In June 2014, Shell sold 9 5% of its 23 1% stake in Woodside Petroleum and advised that it had reached an agreement for Woodside to buy back 9 5% of its shares at a later stage  Shell became a major shareholder in Woodside after a 2001 takeover attempt was blocked by then federal Treasurer Peter Costello and the corporation has been open about its intention to sell its stake in Woodside as part of its target to shed assets  At a general body meeting, held on 1 August 2014, 72 percent of shareholders voted to approve the buy-back, short of the 75 percent vote that was required for approval  A statement from Shell read: "Royal Dutch Shell acknowledges the outcome of Woodside Petroleum Limited's shareholders' negative vote on the selective buy-back proposal  Shell is reviewing its options in relation to its remaining 13 6 percent holding "

Brunei
Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) is a joint venture between the Government of Brunei and Shell  The British Malayan Petroleum Company (BMPC), owned by Royal Dutch Shell, first found commercial amounts of oil in 1929  It currently produces 350,000 barrels of oil and gas equivalent per day  BSP is the largest oil and gas company in Brunei, a sector which contributes 90% of government revenue  In 1954, the BMPC in Seria had a total of 1,277 European and Asian staff 

China
The company has upstream operations in unconventional oil and gas in China  Shell has a joint venture with PetroChina at the Changbei tight gas field in Shaanxi, which has produced natural gas since 2008  The company has also invested in exploring for shale oil in Sichuan  The other unconventional resource which Shell invested in in China was shale  The company was an early entrant in shale oil exploration in China but scaled down operations in 2014 due to difficulties with geology and population density  It has a joint venture to explore for oil shale in Jilin through a joint venture with Jilin Guangzheng Mineral Development Company Limited 

Hong Kong
Shell has been active in Hong Kong for a century, providing Retail, LPG, Commercial Fuel, Lubricants, Bitumen, Aviation, Marine and Chemicals services, and products  Shell also sponsored the first Hong Kong-built aircraft, Inspiration, for its around-the-world trip 

India
Shell India has inaugurated its new lubricants laboratory at its Technology Centre in Bangalore 

Ireland
Shell first started trading in Ireland in 1902  Shell E&P Ireland (SEPIL) (previously Enterprise Energy Ireland) is an Irish exploration and production subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell  Its headquarters are on Leeson Street in Dublin  It was acquired in May 2002  Its main project is the Corrib gas project, a large gas field off the northwest coast, for which Shell has encountered controversy and protests in relation to the onshore pipeline and licence terms In 2005, Shell disposed of its entire retail and commercial fuels business in Ireland to Topaz Energy Group  This included depots, company-owned petrol stations and supply agreements stations throughout the island of Ireland  The retail outlets were re-branded as Topaz in 2008/9 The Topaz fuel network was subsequently acquired in 2015 by Couchetard and these stations began re-branding to Circle K in 2018 

Malaysia
Shell discovered the first oil well in Malaysia in 1910, in Miri, Sarawak  Today the oil well is a state monument known as the Grand Old Lady  In 1914, following this discovery, Shell built Malaysia's first oil refinery and laid a submarine pipeline in Miri 

Nigeria
Shell began production in Nigeria in 1958  In Nigeria, Shell told US diplomats that it had placed staff in all the main ministries of the government  Shell continues however upstream activities/extracting crude oil in the oil-rich Niger Delta as well as downstream/commercial activities in South Africa  In June 2013, the company announced a strategic review of its operations in Nigeria, hinting that assets could be divested  In August 2014, the company disclosed it was in the process of finalizing the sale of its interests in four Nigerian oil fields  On 29 January 2021 a Dutch court ruled that Shell was responsible for multiple oil leaks in Nigeria The actions of companies like Shell has led to extreme environmental issues in the Niger Delta  Many pipelines in the Niger Delta owned by Shell are old and corroded  Shell has acknowledged its responsibility for keeping the pipelines new but has also denied responsibility for environmental causes  The heavy contamination of the air, ground and water with toxic pollutants by the oil industry in the Niger Delta is often used as an example of ecocide  This has led to mass protests from the Niger Delta inhabitants, Amnesty International, and Friends of the Earth the Netherlands against Shell  It has also led to action plans to boycott Shell by environmental and human rights groups  In January 2013, a Dutch court rejected four out of five allegations brought against the firm over oil pollution in the Niger Delta but found a subsidiary guilty of one case of pollution, ordering compensation to be paid to a Nigerian farmer 

Nordic countries
On 27 August 2007, Shell and Reitan Group, the owner of the 7-Eleven brand in Scandinavia, announced an agreement to re-brand some 269 service stations across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals under the different competition laws in each country  In April 2010 Shell announced that the corporation is in process of trying to find a potential buyer for all of its operations in Finland and is doing similar market research concerning Swedish operations  In October 2010 Shell's gas stations and the heavy vehicle fuel supply networks in Finland and Sweden, along with a refinery located in Gothenburg, Sweden were sold to St1, a Finnish energy company, more precisely to its major shareholding parent company Keele Oy 

North America
Through most of Shell's early history, Shell USA business in the United States was substantially independent  Its stock was traded on the NYSE, and the group's central office had little direct involvement in running the operation  However, in 1984, Shell made a bid to purchase those shares of Shell Oil Company it did not own (around 30%) and, despite opposition from some minority shareholders which led to a court case, Shell completed the buyout for a sum of $5 7 billion 

Philippines
Royal Dutch Shell operates in the Philippines under its subsidiary, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation  Its headquarters is in Makati and it has facilities in the Pandacan oil depot and other key locations In January 2010, the Bureau of Customs claimed 7 34 billion pesos worth of unpaid excise taxes against Pilipinas Shell for importing Catalytic cracked gasoline (CCG) and light catalytic cracked gasoline (LCCG) stating that those imports are bound for tariff charges In August 2016, Pilipinas Shell filed an application to sell US$629 million worth of primary and secondary shares to the investing public (registration statement) with the SEC  This was a prelude to filing its IPO listing application with the Philippine Stock Exchange  On 3 November 2016 the Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation was officially listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SHLPH after they held its initial public offering on 19 to 25 October of the same year Due to the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the global, regional and local economies, continually low refining margins, and competition with imported refined products, the management of Pilipinas Shell announced in August 2020 that the 110,000 bbl/d refinery in Tabangao, Batangas, which started operations in 1962, will be shutting down permanently and turned into an import terminal instead 

Russia
In February 2022, Shell exited all its joint ventures with Gazprom because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and, in March 2022, Shell announced that it would stop buying oil from Russia and close all its service stations there  In April 2022, it emerged that Shell was to book up to $5 billion in impairment charges from exiting its interests in Russia 

Singapore
Singapore is the main centre for Shell's petrochemical operations in the Asia Pacific region  Shell Eastern Petroleum limited (SEPL) have their refinery located in Singapore's Pulau Bukom island  They also operate as Shell Chemicals Seraya in Jurong Island  In November 2020, Shell announced that, as part of efforts to curtail pollution emissions, it will cut its oil-processing capacity in Singapore 

United Kingdom
In the UK sector of the North Sea Shell employs around 4,500 staff in Scotland as well as an additional 1,000 service contractors: however in August 2014 it announced it was laying off 250 of them, mainly in Aberdeen  Shell paid no UK taxes on its North Sea operations over the period 2018 to 2021 

Alternative energy
In the early 2000s Shell moved into alternative energy and there is now an embryonic "Renewables" business that has made investments in solar power, wind power, hydrogen, and forestry  The forestry business went the way of nuclear, coal, metals and electricity generation, and was disposed of in 2003  In 2006 Shell paid SolarWorld to take over its entire solar business and in 2008, the company withdrew from the London Array which when built was the world's largest offshore wind farm Shell also is involved in large-scale hydrogen projects  HydrogenForecast com describes Shell's approach thus far as consisting of "baby steps", but with an underlying message of "extreme optimism"  In 2015, the company announced plans to install hydrogen fuel pumps across Germany, planning on having 400 locations in operation by 2023 Shell holds 44% of Raízen, a joint venture with Brazilian sugarcane producer Cosan which is the third-largest Brazil-based energy company by revenues and a major producer of ethanol  In 2015, the company partnered with Brazilian start-up company Insolar to install solar panels in Rio de Janeiro to deliver electricity to the Santa Marta neighbourhood Shell is the operator and major shareholder of The Shell Canada Quest Energy project, based within the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, located near Fort McMurray, Alberta  It holds a 60% share, alongside Chevron Canada Limited, which holds 20%, and Marathon Canadian Oil Sands Holding Limited, which holds the final 20%  Commercial operations launched in November 2015  It was the world's first commercial-scale oil and sand carbon capture storage (CCS) project  It is expected to reduce CO2 emissions in Canada by 1 08 million tonnes per year In December 2016, Shell won the auction for the 700 MW Borssele III & IV offshore wind farms at a price of 5 45 c/kWh, beating 6 other consortia  In June 2018, it was announced that the company and its co-investor Partners Group had secured $1 5bn for the project, which also involves Eneco, Van Oord, and Mitsubishi/DGE In October 2017, it bought Europe's biggest vehicle charging network, "NewMotion "In November 2017, Shell's CEO Ben van Beurden announced Shell's plan to cut half of its carbon emissions by 2050, and 20 percent by 2035  In this regard, Shell promised to spend $2 billion annually on renewable energy sources  Shell began to develop its wind energy segment in 2001, the company now operates six wind farms in the United States and is part of a plan to build two offshore wind farms in the Netherlands In December 2017, the company announced plans to buy UK household energy and broadband provider First Utility  In March 2019 it rebranded to Shell Energy and announced that all electricity would be supplied from renewable sources In December 2018, the company announced that it had partnered with SkyNRG to begin supplying sustainable aviation fuel to airlines operating out of San Francisco Airport (SFO), including KLM, SAS, and Finnair  In the same month, the company announced plans to double its renewable energy budget to investment in low-carbon energy to $4 billion US each year, with an aim to spend up to $2 billion US on renewable energy by 2021 In January 2018, the company acquired a 44% interest in Silicon Ranch, a solar energy company run by Matt Kisber, as part of its global New Energies project  The company took over from Partners Group, paying up to an estimated $217 million for the minority interest In February 2019, the company acquired German solar battery company Sonnen  It first invested in the company in May 2018 as part of its New Energies project  As of late 2021, the company had 800 employees and has installed 70 000 home battery systems On 27 February 2019, the company acquired British VPP operator Limejump for an undisclosed amount In July 2019, Shell installed their first 150 kW electric car chargers at its London petrol stations with payments handled via SMOOV  They also plan to provide 350 kW chargers in Europe by entering into an agreement with IONITY On 26 January 2021, Shell said it would buy 100 per cent of Ubitricity, owner of the largest public charging network for electric vehicles in the United Kingdom, as the company expands its presence along the power supply chain On 25 February 2021, Shell announced the acquisition of German Virtual Power Plant (VPP) company Next Kraftwerke for an undisclosed amount  Next Kraftwerke connects renewable electricity generation- and storage projects to optimize the usage of those assets  The company mostly operates in Europe In November 2022, it was announced Shell's wholly-owned subsidiary, Shell Petroleum NV, had acquired the Odense-headquartered renewable natural gas producer, Nature Energy Biogas A/S for nearly $2 billion USD 

Controversies
General issues
Shell's public rhetoric and pledges emphasize that the company is shifting towards climate-friendly, low-carbon and transition strategies  However, a 2022 study found that the company's spending on clean energy was insignificant and opaque, with little to suggest that the company's discourse matched its actions In 1989, Shell redesigned a $3-billion natural gas platform in the North Sea, raising its height one to two meters, to accommodate an anticipated sea level rise due to global warming  In 2013, Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported CO2 emissions of 81 million metric tonnes In 2017, Shell sold non-compliant foreign fuel to consumers In 2020, the Northern Lights CCS project was announced, which is a joint project between Equinor, Shell and Total, operating in the European Union (Norway) and aiming to store liquid CO2 beneath the seabed Environmentalists have expressed concern that Shell is processing oil from the Amazon region of South America  In the United States, the Martinez refinery (CA) and the Puget Sound Refinery (WA) carry Amazonian oil  In 2015, 14% of the Martinez refinery's gross, at 19,570 barrels per day, came from the Amazon In 2021, Shell was ranked as the 10th most environmentally responsible company out of 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) In December 2021, Royal Dutch Shell decided to move ahead with seismic tests to explore for oil in humpback whale breeding grounds along South Africa's eastern coastline  On 3 December 2021, a South African high court struck down an urgent application brought by environmentalists to stop the project, which will involve a vessel regularly firing an air gun that produces a very powerful shock wave underwater to help map subsea geology  According to Greenpeace Africa and the South African Deep Sea Angling Association, this could cause "irreparable harm" to the marine environment, especially to migrating humpback whales in the area 

Climate change
In 2017, a public information film ("Climate of Concern") unseen for years resurfaced and showed Shell had clear grasp of global warming 26 years earlier but has not acted accordingly since, said critics The burning of the fossil fuels produced by Shell are responsible for 1 67% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions from 1988 to 2015  In April 2020, Shell announced plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner  However, internal documents from the company released by the Democratic-led House committee reveal a private 2020 communication saying Shell does not have any plans to bring emissions to zero for next 10–20 years 

Climate case
On 5 April 2019, Milieudefensie (Dutch for "environmental defense"), together with six NGOs and more than 17,000 citizens, sued Shell, accusing the company of harming the climate despite knowing about global warming since 1986  In May 2021, the district court of The Hague ruled that Shell must reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels) 

Oil spills
Shell was responsible for around 21,000 gallons of oil spilled near Tracy, California, in May 2016 due to a pipeline crack 
Shell was responsible for an 88,200-gallon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in May 2016 
Two ruptures in a Shell Oil Co  pipeline in Altamont, California – one in September 2015 and another in May 2016 – led to questions on whether the Office of the State Fire Marshal, charged with overseeing the pipeline, was doing an adequate job 
On 29 January 2021, a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell plc's Nigerian unit to compensate for oil spills in two villages over 13 years ago  Shell Nigeria is liable for damages from pipeline leaks in the villages of Oruma and Goi, the Hague Court of Appeals said in a ruling  Shell said that it should not be liable, as the spills were the result of sabotage 

Accusations of greenwashing
On 2 September 2002, Shell Chairman Philip Watts accepted the "Greenwash Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Greenwash Academy's Oscar Green, near the World Summit on Sustainable Development In 2007, British ASA ruled against a Shell ad involving chimneys spewing flowers, which depicted Shell's waste management policies, claiming it was misleading the public about Shell's environmental impact In 2008, the British ASA ruled that Shell had misled the public in an advertisement when it claimed that a $10 billion oil sands project in Alberta, Canada, was a "sustainable energy source" In 2021, Netherlands officials told Shell to stop running a campaign which claimed customers could turn their fuel "carbon neutral" by buying offsets, as it was concluded that this claim was devoid of evidence In December 2022, U S  House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney and U S  House Oversight Environment Subcommittee Chair Ro Khanna sent a memorandum to all House Oversight and Reform Committee members summarizing additional findings from the Committee's investigation into the fossil fuel industry disinformation campaign to obscure the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming, and that upon reviewing internal company documents, accused Shell  along with BP, Chevron Corporation, and ExxonMobil of greenwashing their Paris Agreement carbon neutrality pledges while continuing long-term investment in fossil fuel production and sales, for engaging in a campaign to promote the use of natural gas as a clean energy source and bridge fuel to renewable energy, and of intimidating journalists reporting about the companies' climate actions and of obstructing the Committee's investigation, which ExxonMobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute denied 

Health and safety
A number of incidents over the years led to criticism of Shell's health and safety record, including repeated warnings by the UK Health and Safety Executive about the poor state of the company's North Sea platforms 

Reaction to the War in Ukraine
Shell already had previous experience exiting markets that were subject to sanctions pressure from NATO or EU member states  In particular, in 2013, Shell announced that it was suspending its operations in Syria  On 8 March 2022, Shell announced its intention to phase out all Russian hydrocarbon production and acquisition projects, including crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG)   In early 2022 the company criticized by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for its slow response to the war in Ukraine  As of April 2023, Shell still had shares in Russian companies, such as 27 5% in Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC), a joint venture with Gazprom (50%), Mitsui (12 5%) and Mitsubishi (10%) 

royaldutchshellplc com
This domain name was first registered by a former marketing manager for Royal Dutch Shell plc, Alfred Donovan, and has been used as a "gripe site"  It avoids being an illegal cybersquatter as long as it is non-commercial, active, and no attempt is made to sell the domain name, as determined by WIPO proceedings  In 2005, Donovan said he would relinquish the site to Shell after it "gets rid of all the management he deems responsible for its various recent woes " The site has been recognized by several media outlets for its role as an Internet leak  In 2008 the Financial Times published an article based on a letter published by royaldutchshellplc com, which Reuters and The Times also covered shortly thereafter  On 18 October 2006, the site published an article stating that Shell had for some time been supplying information to the Russian government relating to Sakhalin II  The Russian energy company Gazprom subsequently obtained a 50% stake in the Sakhalin-II project  Other instances where the site has acted as an Internet leak include a 2007 IT outsourcing plan, as well as a 2008 internal memo where CEO Jeroen van der Veer expressed disappointment in the company's share-price performance The gripe site has also been recognized as a source of information regarding Shell by several news sources  In the 2006 Fortune Global 500 rankings, in which Royal Dutch Shell placed third, royaldutchshellplc com was listed alongside shell com as a source of information  In 2007 the site was described as "a hub for activists and disgruntled former employees " A 2009 article called royaldutchshellplc com "the world's most effective adversarial Web site " The site has been described as "an open wound for Shell "

See also
Notes
Passage 4:
Jack Hubbert
Jack Hubbert (19 March 1916 – 5 August 1990) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL) 

Notes
External links
Jack Hubbert's playing statistics from AFL Tables
Jack Hubbert at AustralianFootball com
Passage 5:
San Ardo, California
San Ardo, formerly known as San Bernardo (Spanish for "St  Bernard"), is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California, United States  San Ardo is located 18 miles (29 km) southeast of King City at an elevation of 449 feet (137 m)  The population was 392 at the 2020 census, down from 517 in 2010 

History
The owner of the San Bernardo land grant, M J  Brandenstein, laid out the town when the railroad reached his land in 1887  The San Bernardo post office opened in 1886, and changed its name to San Ardo in 1887  The former name of San Bernardo was changed to avoid confusion with San Bernardino, California 

Geography
San Ardo is near the point where the broad Salinas Valley has its southeastern terminus and pinches out within the converging portions of the California Coast Ranges, including the Santa Lucia Mountains on the west and the Cholame Hills and the Diablo Range on the east  U S  Route 101 passes west of the town, leading northwest to 18 miles (29 km) to King City and 66 miles (106 km) to Salinas, the Monterey county seat, while to the southeast it leads 33 miles (53 km) to Paso Robles 
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0 4 square miles (1 0 km2), all of it land  The Salinas River flows northward along the west side of the community 

Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71 6 °F   According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, San Ardo has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps 

Economy
The huge San Ardo Oil Field is about 5 miles (8 km) south of town   Much of the local economy is based on agriculture (including farming and ranching), and servicing the oil field 

Demographics
2010
At the 2010 census San Ardo had a population of 517  The population density was 1,150 7 inhabitants per square mile (444 3/km2)  The racial makeup of San Ardo was 252 (48 7%) White, 1 (0 2%) African American, 3 (0 6%) Native American, 5 (1 0%) Asian, 0 (0 0%) Pacific Islander, 245 (47 4%) from other races, and 11 (2 1%) from two or more races   Hispanic or Latino of any race were 363 people (70 2%) The whole population lived in households, no one lived in non-institutionalized group quarters and no one was institutionalized 
There were 140 households, 76 (54 3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 82 (58 6%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 16 (11 4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 13 (9 3%) had a male householder with no wife present   There were 6 (4 3%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 1 (0 7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships  22 households (15 7%) were one person and 9 (6 4%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older  The average household size was 3 69   There were 111 families (79 3% of households); the average family size was 4 13 
The age distribution was 185 people (35 8%) under the age of 18, 66 people (12 8%) aged 18 to 24, 139 people (26 9%) aged 25 to 44, 83 people (16 1%) aged 45 to 64, and 44 people (8 5%) who were 65 or older   The median age was 26 6 years  For every 100 females, there were 112 8 males   For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 129 0 males 
There were 158 housing units at an average density of 351 7 per square mile, of the occupied units 47 (33 6%) were owner-occupied and 93 (66 4%) were rented  The homeowner vacancy rate was 4 1%; the rental vacancy rate was 9 6%   145 people (28 0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 372 people (72 0%) lived in rental housing units 

2000
At the 2000 census there were 501 people, 157 households, and 110 families in the CDP   The population density was 1,114 6 inhabitants per square mile (430 3/km2)   There were 167 housing units at an average density of 371 5 per square mile (143 4/km2)   The racial makeup of the CDP was 47 90% White, 0 40% African American, 2 40% Native American, 0 40% Asian, 46 91% from other races, and 2 00% from two or more races  Hispanic or Latino of any race were 65 67% Of the 157 households 41 4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47 1% were married couples living together, 10 2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29 3% were non-families  24 2% of households were one person and 7 6% were one person aged 65 or older   The average household size was 3 19 and the average family size was 3 82 
The age distribution was 35 3% under the age of 18, 11 8% from 18 to 24, 27 7% from 25 to 44, 15 8% from 45 to 64, and 9 4% 65 or older   The median age was 27 years  For every 100 females, there were 106 2 males   For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114 6 males 
The median household income was $25,208 and the median family income  was $31,500  Males had a median income of $30,417 versus $14,375 for females  The per capita income for the CDP was $11,379   About 15 4% of families and 24 0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32 5% of those under age 18 and 13 5% of those age 65 or over 
Context 2: Passage 1:
Broward Correctional Institution
The Broward Correctional Institution (BCI) was a correctional facility located in the former Country Estates CDP and in Southwest Ranches, Florida, operated by the Florida Department of Corrections  The Region IV Correctional Facility Office is located on the grounds of Broward Correctional Institution in the former Country Estates CDP  The prison was in proximity to Pembroke Pines  It was located along Sheridan Street, near U S  Route 27 The facility was opened in 1977 to house a male inmate population  However, in its history the prison has had only female inmates  It housed female death row inmates until February 2003 when the female death row was moved to Lowell Annex  The Broward Correctional Institution served as a reception center for female inmates  As of 2011, a staff of approximately 272 individuals serviced the facility  As of 2012 624 prisoners, all female, were housed there  The facility was closed in 2012  Closure was scheduled for May 1 of that year  The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel said "BCI was determined to have a relatively low population and a high per diem inmate cost of $111 48 " ($145 02 when adjusted for inflation)

Notable inmates
Death row:

Judy Buenoano
Aileen Wuornos
Passage 2:
Shooter (TV series)
Shooter is an American drama television series based on the 2007 film of the same name and the first three novels in the Bob Lee Swagger series by Stephen Hunter  The show stars Ryan Phillippe in the lead role of Swagger, a retired United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper from MARSOC living in seclusion who is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the President  USA Network picked up the pilot in August 2015 and ordered the series in February 2016 The series was originally set to premiere on July 19, 2016, but it was postponed to July 26 due to the July 7 Dallas police officer shootings  USA pulled it entirely after the Baton Rouge police officer shootings on July 17  On October 3, 2016, USA announced that the new premiere date for Shooter would be November 15, 2016  On December 19, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season that premiered on July 18, 2017  On December 4, 2017, the series was renewed for a third season On August 15, 2018, USA Network canceled Shooter after three seasons, and its final episode aired on September 13, 2018 

Cast and characters
Main
Ryan Phillippe as Bob Lee Swagger, a highly trained, retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant and MARSOC Scout Sniper
Shantel VanSanten as Julie Swagger, Bob Lee's wife
Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Nadine Memphis, an FBI agent investigating Swagger
Omar Epps as Isaac Johnson, a Secret Service Agent who is also a former Marine Captain and was Swagger's commanding officer in MARSOC
Eddie McClintock as Jack Payne, a figure involved in the conspiracy against Swagger (season 1; guest, season 3)
Josh Stewart as Solotov, a Chechen master sniper with whom Bob Lee has tangled before (seasons 2–3)
Jesse Bradford as Harris Downey, a D C  staffer who was once involved with Nadine (recurring, season 2; main, season 3)
Gerald McRaney as Red Bama Sr , owner of Bama Cattle and an Undersecretary in the Department of Agriculture (season 3)

Recurring
David Andrews as Sam Vincent, Bob Lee's close friend and lawyer  (season 1, 3)
David Marciano as Howard Utey, Nadine Memphis' superior at the FBI (season 1)
Lexy Kolker as Mary Swagger, Bob Lee's and Julie's daughter
William Fichtner as Rathford O'Brien, Bob Lee's former shooting instructor
Tom Sizemore as Hugh Meachum, a CIA black ops operative with mysterious motives (season 1)
Rob Brown as Donny Fenn, Swagger's best friend and spotter who was killed by Solotov (seasons 1–2)
Sean Cameron Michael as Grigory Krukov, a Russian FSB agent (season 1)
Delaina Mitchell as Anna Wallingford, Julie's married sister and Mary's aunt (season 1, 3)
David Chisum as Jim Wallingford, Anna's husband and Julie's brother in law (season 1)
Michelle Krusiec as Lin Johnson, Isaac's loyal wife (season 1-2)
Matt Shallenberger as John Wheeler, a mysterious and deadly Atlas operative (guest: season 1, recurring: season 3)
Desmond Harrington as Lon Scott, the CEO of Anhur Dynamics (season 1)
Beverly D'Angelo as Patricia Gregson, a former National Security Advisor
Jerry Ferrara as Kirk Zehnder, a former marine who always detects a conspiracy and is part of the core team of Bob Lee Swagger (season 2)
Todd Lowe as Colin Dobbs, a former marine in Swagger's unit, now living in Texas an hour from the Swagger Ranch (season 2)
Patrick Sabongui as Yusuf Ali, a core member of Swagger's original Marine team (season 2)
Jaina Lee Ortiz as Angela Tio, an active duty Marine who formerly served with Bob Lee's unit (season 2)
John Marshall Jones as Sheriff Brown, the local law enforcement in Bob Lee's hometown and a long-time friend (season 2–3)
Harry Hamlin as Sen  Addison Hayes, a mysterious and powerful mastermind whose agenda will collide with Swagger (seasons 2–3)
Troy Garity as Jeffrey Denning, a seasoned investigative journalist who cares deeply about justice being served (season 2)
Derek Phillips as Earl Swagger, Bob Lee's father, a Vietnam veteran who was sheriff in Bob Lee's hometown before he was killed in 1988 (season 3)
Tait Blum as Young Bob Lee (season 3)
Conor O'Farrell as Rick Culp, a West Texas prison guard who may have been involved in Earl Swagger's death (season 3)
Eric Ladin as Red Bama Jr , Red Sr's screw-up of a son who desperately wants his father's respect and confidence (season 3)
Brian Letscher as Bert Salinger, an employee of Red Bama Sr  who watches over Red Jr  (season 3)
Felisha Terrell as Carlita Cruise, a former Atlas operative embedded in the Dept  of Agriculture who helps Nadine and Isaac take down her former employers (season 3)
Mallory Jansen as Margo, an Agent for the Department of Justice who has been attempting to bring down Atlas for years (season 3)
Kurt Fuller as Andrew Gold, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the U S  President and high ranking Atlas member (season 3)
Dee Wallace as Katherine Mansfield, the long-time former mission planner for Atlas who is now forced to reside in a mental institution (season 3)
Michael O'Neill as Ray Brooks, a Federal judge nominated for a vacancy on the U S  Supreme Court and Atlas operative (season 3)

Production
On July 6, 2016, while filming a scene at Agua Dulce Airpark, actor Tom Sizemore accidentally ran over a stuntman  Sizemore was supposed to enter the Cadillac Escalade and stay there until the scene ended, but the stunt coordinator told him to pull out, not realizing that the stuntman was behind him On July 26, 2017, the second-season episode order was cut back from the planned ten episodes to the eight episodes already filmed after Ryan Phillippe broke his leg on July 16, 2017, in an incident unrelated to the series About the cancellation, Omar Epps said: “That was all backdoor politics  It had nothing to do with the numbers  Me and Ryan [Phillippe] had a great time  We were like kids in a candy store  We used to laugh every day we showed up to work, like, 'We're kids again!' We just get to run and jump, push, punch  You know, stuff that little boys do  It was like playing in the playground in the sandbox  I had a great, great time on that show  I have a lot of respect for John Hlavin, who's a showrunner on there  And like I said, Ryan and I got cool and had a great time on that show  That was just the backdoor politics “

Episodes
Season 1 (2016–17)
Based on the novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter 

Season 2 (2017)
Based on the novel Time to Hunt by Stephen Hunter 

Season 3 (2018)
Based on the novel Black Light by Stephen Hunter 

Broadcast
Shooter aired on Thursdays at 10:00 pm on USA Network  The episodes are approximately 43 minutes, and are broadcast in both high- and standard definition  In addition, the streaming service Netflix started to broadcast the series in certain regions worldwide, the first season weekly on November 15, 2016, with a one-day delay with respect to the original United States broadcast 

Reception
Shooter received mixed reviews from critics  On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 47% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 5 75/10  The site's critical consensus reads: "Ryan Phillippe's efforts aren't enough to salvage Shooter, a tedious, under-developed drama that lacks an original voice or perspective " On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the series has a score 60 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews" 

Ratings
Season 1 (2016–17)
Season 2 (2017)
Season 3 (2018)
Passage 3:
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East region of Queensland, Australia 
Part of the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Brisbane, the region covered was initially administered by the Archdiocese of Sydney  In 1859 the Diocese of Brisbane was erected, and elevated as an archdiocese in 1887  The archdiocese is the metropolitan of the suffragan dioceses of Cairns, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Townsville 
The Cathedral of St Stephen is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane  On 12 May 2012 Mark Coleridge was installed as the sixth Archbishop of Brisbane, the seventh Bishop of Brisbane 

History
The Diocese of Brisbane was established in 1859, with responsibility for the entire state of Queensland  Prior to its establishment, Queensland was part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney On 27 January 1877 Pope Pius IX excised the northern part of the Diocese of Brisbane from Cape Hinchinbrook and then west to the border with South Australia (now Northern Territory) to create the Vicariate Apostolic of Queensland (later the Diocese of Cairns On 29 December 1882, the Diocese of Rockhampton was excised from the Archdiocese of Brisbane  The new Rockhampton diocese had responsibility for northern Queensland while the Brisbane archdiocese retained responsibility for southern Queensland In 1929, the Diocese of Toowoomba was excised from the Archdiocese of Brisbane 

Bishops
Ordinaries
The following people have been appointed as Roman Catholic Archbishops of Brisbane or any of its precursor titles:
Coadjutors are included in the table above 

Auxiliary bishops
CurrentTim Norton SVD (2022–present)FormerHenry Joseph Kennedy † (1967–1971), appointed [[Roman Catholic Bishop of Armidale|Bishop of Armidale]]
John Joseph Gerry † (1975–2003)
Eugene James Cuskelly, M S C  † (1982–1996)
Michael Ernest Putney † (1995–2001), appointed Bishop of Townsville
Brian Vincent Finnigan (2002–2015)
Joseph John Oudeman, O F M  Cap  (2002–2017)
Kenneth Howell (2017–2023), appointed Bishop of Toowoomba

Other priests of the diocese who became bishops
James Byrne †, appointed Bishop of Toowoomba in 1929
Andrew Gerard Tynan †, appointed Bishop of Rockhampton in 1946
Edward John Doody †, appointed Bishop of Armidale in 1948
John Ahern Torpie †, appointed Bishop of Cairns in 1967
Brian Heenan, appointed Bishop of Rockhampton in 1991
James Foley, appointed Bishop of Cairns in 1992
William Martin Morris, appointed Bishop of Toowoomba in 1992
Michael Fabian McCarthy, appointed Bishop of Rockhampton in 2014
Anthony Randazzo, appointed an Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney in 2016
Timothy James Harris, appointed Bishop of Townsville in 2017
† = deceased

Cathedral
The gothic revival cathedral is located on a site bounded by Elizabeth, Charlotte and Edward Streets, in the Australian city of Brisbane  Built between 1864 and 1922, with extensions made in 1989, the cathedral was established with James Quinn as its first bishop  Quinn planned to construct a large cathedral to accommodate a growing congregation   On 26 December 1863, the Feast of St Stephen, Quinn laid the foundation stone for a grand cathedral designed by Benjamin Backhouse  Backhouse's original design was changed and downsized numerous times over the course of the cathedral's completion, mainly for economic reasons 
In 1927, there was a plan to replace St Stephen's with a new Holy Name Cathedral to be built in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane  However, funding was only sufficient to build the crypt  Eventually the project was abandoned, the crypt demolished and the land sold 

Parishes
Economic contribution
The Archdiocese contributes around $2 5 billion to the economy through its schools and other institutions, providing employment to 22,000 people The Archdiocese manages 98 parishes and 144 Catholic schools  It also provides services to 12,992 aged care and disability clients, support for 8362 seniors to live at home, support to 23,000 victims of domestic violence and help for 4,000 people with mental illness 

See also
Roman Catholicism in Australia
Passage 4:
Lindhorst railway station
Lindhorst is a railway station located in Lindhorst, Germany  The station is located on the Hannover to Minden railway  The train services are operated by Deutsche Bahn as part of the Hanover S-Bahn  Lindhorst is served by the S1 

Train services
The following services currently call at Lindhorst:
Passage 5:
Take Me Home, Country Roads
"Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver  It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on Billboard's US Hot 100 singles for the week ending August 28, 1971  The song was a success on its initial release and was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 18, 1971, and Platinum on April 10, 2017  The song became one of John Denver's most popular songs  It has continued to sell, with over 1 6 million digital copies sold in the United States The song is considered a symbol of West Virginia  In March 2014, it became one of the four official state anthems of West Virginia  In 2023, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry 

Composition
Inspiration for the title line had come while Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff, who were married, were driving along Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland to a gathering of Nivert's family in Gaithersburg, with Nivert behind the wheel while Danoff played his guitar  "I just started thinking, country roads, I started thinking of me growing up in western New England and going on all these small roads," Danoff said  "It didn't have anything to do with Maryland or anyplace "To Danoff, the lyric "(t)he radio reminds me of my home far away" in the bridge is quintessentially West Virginian, an allusion to when he listened to the program Saturday Night Jamboree, broadcast from Wheeling, West Virginia, on WWVA at his home in Springfield, Massachusetts during his childhood in the 1950s Danoff was influenced by friend and West Virginian actor Chris Sarandon and members of a West Virginia commune who attended Danoff's performances  Of the commune members, Danoff remarked, "They brought their dogs and were a very colorful group of folks, but that is how West Virginia began creeping into the song " While the song was inspired by Danoff's upbringing in Springfield, Massachusetts, he "didn't want to write about Massachusetts because [he] didn't think the word was musical "Starting December 22, 1970, Denver was heading the New Year's bill at The Cellar Door, with Fat City opening for him, just as Denver had opened at the same club for then-headliner David Steinberg  After the club's post-Christmas reopening night on Tuesday, December 29 (Cellar Door engagements ran from Tuesday to Sunday, and this booking was for two weeks), the three returned to the couple's apartment for an impromptu jam  On the way, Denver's left thumb was broken in a collision  He was rushed to the emergency room, where the thumb was splinted  When they returned to the apartment, Denver said he was "wired, you know "When Danoff and Nivert ran through what they had of the song they had been working on for about a month, planning to sell to Johnny Cash, Denver "flipped"  He decided he had to have it, prompting them to abandon plans for the sale  The verses and chorus were still missing a bridge, so the three of them went about finishing 
Nivert got out an encyclopedia to learn more about West Virginia  The first thing she encountered was the Rhododendron, the state flower, so she kept trying to work the word Rhododendron into the song  Rhododendron was the title that Nivert had written down on the lyric sheet, which they later sent to ASCAP  The three stayed up until 6:00 a m , changing words and moving lines around When they finished, on the morning of Wednesday, December 30, 1970, Denver announced that the song had to go on his next album  Later that night, during Denver's first set, Denver called his two collaborators back to the spotlight, where the trio changed their career trajectories, reading the lyrics from a single, handheld, unfolded piece of paper  According to Len Jaffe, a Washington, D C -based singer-songwriter who attended the show where Denver premiered the song, this resulted in a five-minute standing ovation  The next day was Denver's 28th birthday  They recorded it in New York City in January 1971 
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" is written in a Key of A major and composed in a tempo of 82 beats per minute per common time 

Commercial performance and legacy
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" appeared on the LP Poems, Prayers & Promises and was released as a 45 in the spring of 1971  Original pressings credited the single to "John Denver with Fat City"  It broke nationally in mid-April but moved up the charts very slowly  After several weeks, RCA Records called John and told him they were giving up on the single  His response: "No! Keep working on it!" They did, and the single went to number 1 on the Record World Pop Singles Chart and the Cash Box Top 100, and number 2 on the U S  Billboard Hot 100, topped only by "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees 
On August 18, 1971, it was certified Gold by the RIAA for a million copies shipped  The song continued to sell in the digital era  As of January 2020, the song has also sold 1,591,000 downloads since it became available digitally Denver's recording of "Take Me Home, Country Roads" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2023 

Reception in West Virginia
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" received an enthusiastic response from West Virginians  On November 1, 2017, the West Virginia Tourism Office announced it had obtained the rights to use "Take Me Home, Country Roads", in its marketing efforts  "'Country Roads' has become synonymous with West Virginia all over the world," said West Virginia Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby  "It highlights everything we love about our state: scenic beauty, majestic mountains, a timeless way of life, and most of all, the warmth of a place that feels like home whether you've lived here forever or are just coming to visit " The opening phrase of the song, "Almost heaven", became a primary tourism office slogan The song is the theme song of West Virginia University, and it has been performed during every home football pregame show since 1972  The song is played for other athletic events and university functions, including after football games, for which the fans are encouraged to stay in the stands and sing the song along with the team  On September 6, 1980, at the invitation of West Virginia Governor Jay Rockefeller, songwriters Danoff, Nivert, and Denver performed the song during pregame festivities to a sold-out crowd of Mountaineer fans  This performance marked the dedication of the current West Virginia University Mountaineer Field and the first game for head coach Don Nehlen The popularity of the song inspired resolutions in the West Virginia Legislature to adopt "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as an official state song  On March 7, 2014, the West Virginia Legislature approved a resolution to make "Take Me Home, Country Roads" an official state song of West Virginia, alongside three other pieces: "West Virginia Hills", "This Is My West Virginia", and "West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home"  Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the resolution into law on March 8, 2014 The song was played at the funeral for West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd at the state capitol in Charleston, West Virginia on July 2, 2010 The Mountain State Brewing Company based in Thomas, West Virginia, produces an amber ale named "Almost Heaven", which it says is "named after John Denver's ode to West Virginia, 'Country Roads'" 

Personnel
John Denver – vocals, 6- & 12-string acoustic guitar
Bill Danoff – backing vocals
Taffy Nivert – backing vocals
Eric Weissberg – banjo, steel guitar
Mike Taylor – acoustic guitar
Richard Kniss – double bass
Gary Chester – drums, percussion

Charts
Certifications
Cover versions
Hermes House Band version
Dutch pop band Hermes House Band covered the song and released it as "Country Roads"  This version was first released in Germany on May 21, 2001, and was issued in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2001, where it was a contender for the 2001 Christmas number-one single  This version was a chart success in Europe, reaching number one in Scotland, number two in Germany and Ireland, and the top 10 in Austria, Denmark, and the United Kingdom 

Track listings
Charts
Certifications
Olivia Newton-John version
Olivia Newton-John released a cover version in January 1973 that reached number 6 in Japan and number 15 in the UK  It was the lead single from her third studio album, Let Me Be There  This version, as well as the song itself, features prominently in the Japanese animated film, Whisper of the Heart 

Fallout 76 version
A cover version of the song, a collaboration between Copilot Music and Sound and the vocal group Spank, was commissioned for and featured in both the teaser and full E3 2018 trailers for the 2018 video game Fallout 76, with its plot events are set in West Virginia  Released as an iTunes-only single on July 4, 2018, the song reached No  1 on the iTunes singles chart  It debuted at No  41 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart that week and at No  21 on Billboard's Country Digital Songs the following week  The official YouTube upload of the original John Denver recording, initially uploaded in 2013, would later edit its description in response to the song's use for the game  In Australia, a promotional Fallout 76 vinyl featuring the cover was included with the December 2018 issue of STACK Magazine exclusively from retailer JB Hi-Fi 

Forever Country
The song found further chart success as part of the Forever Country medley and video, created in 2016 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Country Music Association Awards 
Passage 6:
Khong Island
Khong Island or Don Khong (Lao: ດອນໂຂງ) is the largest island and the seat of administration in the Si Phan Don riverine archipelago located in the Mekong River, Khong District, Champasak Province, southern Laos 
The island is 18 kilometers (11 mi) long (north-south), and 8 kilometers (5 0 mi) at its widest point  Its population is mainly concentrated in the two villages Muang Saen (west) and Muang Khong (east); the latter is the de facto capital of the island as well as the regional seat of government  There are 19 villages on the island and the main source of income comes from fishing  
The former President of Laos, Khamtai Siphandon, has a residence on the island, which is a possible explanation for the  high quality of its infrastructure, such as asphalted roads and electricity  Locals tend to travel on longtail boats 
Passage 7:
John Phan
Bon "John" Phan (born October 10, 1974, in Da Nang, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player based in Stockton, California, who is a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and is a winner and four-time final tablist of World Poker Tour Championships 

World Series of Poker
Phan has made numerous World Series of Poker (WSOP) money finishes, including the final table of the $5,000 Seven-card stud event in 2005, finished fourth and outlasted both professional poker players Dave Colclough and Rob Hollink At the 2006 WSOP, Phan finished second in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event when his Q♠ 5♠ failed to improve against Jon Friedberg's A♥ 7♥ on a board of 10♥ 9♦ 3♠ 2♥ 7♠  Phan earned $289,389 for his runner-up finish the next year at the 2007 World Series of Poker Phan was runner-up to Francois Safieddine in the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event, earning $330,846 but it was not until the 2008 World Series of Poker that Phan won his first bracelet after winning the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em event, earning $434,789 and then he won his second bracelet the same year, this time in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event, earning $151,896  Phan cashed for a total of $608,464 at the 2008 WSOP 

World Series of Poker bracelets
World Poker Tour
Phan cashed eleven times on the World Poker Tour (WPT) making the final table in four of them,  one was at the $25,000 WPT Championship of season 3, receiving $518,920 for finishing in fourth place above Hollink, Phil Ivey, Joe Beevers, Chris Ferguson and Juha Helppi  and the other was at the $9,600 No Limit Hold'em WPT season 6 event at the 2008 Bay 101 Shooting Stars where he finished 6th, earning $135,000  In July 2008, Phan made another WPT final table finishing in fifth place at the Bellagio Cup IV, earning $193,915On the WPT seventh season, Phan won his first WPT title after defeating well known online player Amit "Amak316″ Makhija during heads-up play, winning the WPT bracelet and over $1 1 million at the Legends of Poker held at The Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California 

Other poker events

Phan won two events at The Fifth Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open in 2004, the $500 Limit Hold'em event, earning $160,965 and $500 Pot Limit Hold'em event, earning $85,257 also cashing three other times at that same event  He later won the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em event at the Festa al Lago II in 2004, earning $189,900  He won the $2,425 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2005 L A  Poker Classic, earning $300,578 and was runner-up to Marcel Lüske in the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em event at the Fourth Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic in 2006, earning $179,195 As of 2017, his total live tournament winnings exceed $5,525,000  His 29 cashes as the WSOP account for over $1,450,000 of those winnings He was the Cardplayer Magazine 2008 Player of the Year with 6,704 points as well as 2008 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year 


== Notes ==
Passage 8:
Icaria Planum
Icaria Planum is a region on Mars in the Thaumasia quadrangle of Mars that is 566 59 km across and is located at 43 27 S and 
253 96E   It was named after a classic albedo feature that was approved in 1979   The name of the classic feature was based on the land where according to greek mythology, Icarus died (Icaria) 

See also
HiRISE
HiWish program
Latitude dependent mantle
Thaumasia quadrangle
Passage 9:
Muang Kham, Chiang Rai
Muang Kham (Thai: ม่วงคำ) is a village and tambon (subdistrict) of Phan District, in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand  In 2005 it had a total population of 8837 people  The tambon contains 17 villages 
Passage 10:
Dići
Dići is a village situated in Ljig municipality in Serbia  The town is known for having a medieval church dedicated to St  John, and being the burial place of 14th-century nobleman Vlgdrag 
Passage 11:
Phan Huy Quát
Phan Huy Quát (Hà Tĩnh Province, 12 June 1908 – 27 April 1979) was a South Vietnamese doctor and politician who served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam for four months in 1965 

Early life
Phan Huy Quát was born in Lộc Hà District in Hà Tĩnh Province  He attended the Lycée Pellerin, Huế, then studied medicine in Hanoi and qualified as a doctor before entering politics 
On 1 July 1949, Quát was appointed Minister of Education by Head of State Bảo Đại  On 22 January 1950, Prime Minister Nguyễn Phan Long appointed Quát Minister of Defense, at which position he had only served briefly before the Cabinet was re-organized and he returned to working for the Đại Việt Quốc dân đảng 
In June 1953, Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Tâm appointed Quát Minister of Defense  Quát would be in this position until 1954 when Prince Bửu Lộc became Prime Minister who appointed Quát Special Minister in charge of the democratization process for Vietnam  Dr  Quát then served briefly as an interim Prime Minister until Bảo Đại appointed Ngô Đình Diệm to the position 
In April 1960, Quát signed the Caravelle Manifesto, a list of grievances and demands specifically critical of Diệm, and was promptly jailed by the GVN  After Diệm's assassination in October 1963, Quát was appointed Foreign Minister by Major General Nguyễn Khánh, one of the principal participants in the bloody coup  Though Quát frequently criticized Khánh's self-serving rule, he remained in Khánh's cabinet until November 1964, when Trần Văn Hương was installed as Prime Minister of General Khánh's freshly created High National Council (HNC) On 16 February 1965, the Armed Forces Council, a group of South Vietnamese military officers who took over when General Khánh deposed Hương and the HNC, secured Quát's appointment to Prime Minister in order to foil a power grab by the junta chief Khánh, who intended to install the economist Nguyễn Xuân Oánh as his puppet in the Prime Minister post  Khánh himself was forced to step down after a coup on 19/20 February and was subsequently exiled  Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ then led the junta that oversaw the civilian cabinet  In 1965, Kỳ was appointed Prime Minister and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu became President by a special joint meeting of military leaders following the voluntary resignation of civilian President Sửu  After leaving the Prime Minister post, Dr  Quát returned to his medical practice  He remained in politics until 1975 by working with the Asia Anti-Communist League (Liên Minh Á Châu Chống Cộng) as Chairman of its Vietnamese office 

Last years/death
After the Fall of Saigon, Quát went into hiding  In August 1975, he was arrested and jailed at Chí Hòa Prison after a failed attempt to escape from Vietnam  It was there that he died of liver failure on 27 April 1979  The official report indicated that Quát had died from "a stroke, heart attack and liver failure" 

See also
1965 South Vietnamese coup
Passage 12:
Mohammad Zubair Khan
Dr  Mohammad Zubair Khan has a doctorate in political economy from Johns Hopkins University  After working briefly for the World Bank, he worked at the International Monetary Fund from 1981 to 1992, assigned to a wide range of countries, including industrial countries in northern Europe and Turkey, developing countries in south Asia, the oil producing countries in the Middle East and countries in the South Pacific region Since returning to Pakistan, he has been consulting for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNDP, JBIC and other international organizations on a range of issues, such as macroeconomic stabilisation policies, monetary policy, trade and exchange rate issues, fiscal and external debt sustainability, fiscal federalism, tax administration and poverty related issues  He also lectures at the Central Banks of Egypt and Sri Lanka, the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) campus in Lahore, the Pakistan Administrative Staff College, and the National Defence University in Islamabad 
He has been Commerce Minister of Pakistan and represented Pakistan at the first ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization  Currently, in addition to consulting, Khan is a member of the National Finance Commission, the advisory board of the  Securities and Exchange Commission, Government of Pakistan, a member of the board of directors of Bank of Khyber, and a member of the Provincial Finance Commission of the Government of North-West Frontier Province  He is also a member of the Boao Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan, China 
Khan is currently managing director of Financial Techniques International  Because of his straight talk and knowledge of economics, he is a popular guest on TV 

Family
He is the son of the late Wali Mohammad Khan, the elder brother of late Hayat Sherpao and Aftab Sherpao who were born to the family of Khan Bahadar Ghulam Haider Khan Sherpao, a key player in the Pakistan Movement 
His family tree and cross-marriages in influential families of Pakistan are unique  He is the cousin and brother-in-law of the former President of Pakistan, the late Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, and uncle of Sumera Malik and Ayla Malik (granddaughters of Malik Amir Mohammed Khan of Kalabagh) both members of the National Assembly  He is also the uncle of Senator Jamal Leghari and Awais Leghari who was a Minister of Telecommunications and member of the National Assembly 

Publications
 Kickstarting Pakistan's Economy  Lahore: Vanguard Books, 2001  ISBN 969-402-356-4 
"Liberalization and Economic Crisis in Pakistan " In Rising to the Challenge in Asia: A Study of Financial Markets: Volume 9 - Pakistan   Asian Development Bank, 1999   ISBN 971-561-236-9 
Passage 13:
South Central Coast
In Vietnam, South Central Coast (Vietnamese: Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ) and South Central Region (Vietnamese: Nam Trung Bộ) are two terms which can refer to the same region or two regions that do not correspond to each other  South Central Coast (sometimes called "South Central Region") consists of the independent municipality of Đà Nẵng and seven other provinces (picture 1), which means South Central Coast does not include Central Highlands (picture 2); nevertheless the term "South Central Region" can be also used to include Central Highlands as it is part of southern part of Central Vietnam  
The region has traditionally been one of the main gateways to neighbouring Central Highlands  It has a complex geography with mountain ranges extending up to the coast, making transport and infrastructure development challenging but favouring tourism in some places, most notable around Phan Thiết, Nha Trang, and Da Nang  Tourism also benefits from Cham cultural heritage, including architecture, performances, and museums  It is generally much less industrialized and developed than the region around Ho Chi Minh City or the Red River Delta, but it has some regional industrial centers in Da Nang, around Nha Trang and Quy Nhon 
South Central Coast (Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ) -  8 provinces: Da Nang, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận  The two southern provinces Ninh Thuận and Bình Thuận are sometimes seen as part of the Southeast region  In the Nguyễn dynasty, this area was known as Tả Trực Kỳ (the area located in the right of Thừa Thiên) 

Provinces
History
The region was inhabited by people of the Sa Huỳnh culture between around 1000 BC and 200 AD



ground_truth: trying to find a potential buyer for all of its operations in Finland

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Finland

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

Question: In what region of the country of S-Fone is The place of birth of John Phan located?

The following are given passages.
Context 2:  Remains of this ancient civilization were found in Sa Huỳnh, Quảng Ngãi province  It was succeeded by a kingdom called Lin-yi (林邑) by the Chinese or Lâm Ấp in Vietnamese that was in existence from 192 AD  Its political center was just north of the South Central Coast near Huế  Lin-yi was culturally influenced by India  According to Chinese sources, it repeatedly raided Jiaozhi (Vietnamese: Giao Chỉ), which was one factor that contributed to several wars between Jiaozhi and their Chinese colonizers against Lin-yi in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries 

The historic territory of Champa roughly equals the South Central Coast region, although it has at times extended well into the North Central Coast and its influence also extended into the Central Highlands  Except for its first capital, all of Champa's political centers were located in the South Central Coast  Some of the earlier capitals, as well as the religious center of Mỹ Sơn and the port city of Hội An were located in the territory of present-day Quảng Nam province  Probably due to defeats in wars against Đại Việt the political center shifted further south to Vijaya in what is now Bình Định province  After the fall of Vijaya to Vietnam in 1471, Champa had to retreat to the southern principality of Panduranga (now at Phan Rang in Ninh Thuận province), while much of occupied Champa continued to exist as a sort of protectorate within Vietnam for some time : 119 
Relations with the mountainous hinterland and traders from overseas were crucial  Champa's trade specialized on procuring luxury goods such as eaglewood from the Central Highlands and even as far as Attapeu in southern Laos and selling them to foreign merchants through their ports at Hội An and Thi Nai : 110–111, 114

Geography
Topography
In contrast to most other coastal regions in Vietnam, the South Central Coast's terrain is not mainly flat  It has a diverse topography with mountain ranges and hills extending not only along the entire border with Central Highlands but also to the coast, forming several passes, bays, peninsulas, and beautiful sceneries with beaches and mountain backdrops  Many of the highest mountains are at or near the border with the Central Highlands, the highest of which is Ngọc Linh mountain at 2598 meters  There are several high peaks near the coast of Da Nang city (696m on Son Tra Peninsula), Bình Định province (up to 874m), Phú Yên province (up to 814m), Khánh Hòa province (up to 978m), and Ninh Thuận province (up to 1040m)  
Several mountain passes function as geographic borders between the provinces of the region, with one or two provinces between two major passes  Major passes include the Hải Vân Pass on the northern border of the region (Da Nang), Binh De pass (đèo Bình Đê) between Quảng Ngãi province and Bình Định province, Cù Mông pass (đèo Cù Mông) between Bình Định province and Phú Yên province and Cả pass (đèo Cả) between Phú Yên province and Khánh Hòa province The region includes several islands  Some of the larger ones are the Lý Sơn Islands, the Cham Islands, and Phú Quý island  The Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands are officially administered by Da Nang City and Khánh Hòa Province  However, sovereignty over them is disputed and Vietnam actually controls only some of the Spratly Islands 

Hydrography
There are several rivers along the South Central Coast, the most significant being Thu Bồn River in Quảng Nam province and Đà Rằng River in Phú Yên province (most of the latter's river system is in the Central Highlands  Other major rivers include Trà Khúc River in Quảng Ngãi province, Côn River in Bình Định province, Ki Lo River in Phú Yên province, Cái River in Khánh Hòa province, and Dinh River in Ninh Thuận province 

Climate
Summer temperatures average above 28 °C (82 °F) along most of the coast with slightly lower temperatures further inland  Winters are significantly cooler with average temperatures ranging from around 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F)  The region includes some of the most arid (Ninh Thuận province and Bình Thuận province) as well as some of wettest climates in Vietnam (Da Nang, parts of Quảng Nam province, Quảng Ngãi province), with the rest being somewhere in between  While average precipitation per year exceeds 2,800 millimetres (110 2 in) in many parts of the three provinces in the north of the region, it is less than 800 millimetres (31 5 in) in much of Ninh Thuận province 

Economy
Agriculture, forestry, fishing
The South Central Coast's sector 1 (agriculture, forestry, fishing) performance can be seen as average in the national context, with its GDP contribution similar to its population share (9 7% and 9 5%)  Rice output is below average, but output of some other crops (see table below) as well as forestry and fishing are above average 
The province with the largest sector 1 economy is Bình Định (contributing 22 9% to the regions sector 1 GDP), due to its relatively large output in agriculture, forestry, and fishing  It is followed by Quảng Nam province with 15%, Bình Thuận province with 14 6%, Quảng Ngãi province and Khánh Hòa province with around 13% each  Forestry output is concentrated in Quảng Nam province and Bình Định province with around 25% each, with Quảng Ngãi province and Bình Thuận province contribute another 15% each, while Da Nang and especially Ninh Thuận province have very small forestry sectors  Fishing output is highest in Khánh Hòa province (22 3%) and Bình Định province (19 6%), followed by Phú Yên province and Quảng Ngãi province with around 12% each and Quảng Nam province, Bình Thuận province and Phú Yên province with 9 to 10% each 2 52 million tons of rice were harvested in the South Central Coast in 2007, 7% of Vietnam's total rice harvest  The main producers are Bình Định (580kt in 2007), Bình Thuận (434kt), Quảng Nam (395kt), Quảng Ngãi (381kt), and Phú Yên (321kt)  The region's maize harvest made up 7 5% of the nation's total 
Some tea and coffee are also planted in the region, but their output is not significant in the national context 

Industry
The South Central Coast is central Vietnam's most industrialized region, mostly due to major industrial centers such as Da Nang and Khánh Hòa province  However, industrialization in the region is still lagging behind the national average and is far behind Vietnam's two major industrial hubs around Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi  The region's industrial GDP was 35,885 4 billion VND in 2007, accounting for 37 35% of the region's total GDP and 7 54% of Vietnam's industrial GDP  More than 40% of that is produced in Khánh Hòa province and Da Nang (21 8% and 20%) and another 13 to 14% each by Quảng Nam province and Bình Định province  Bình Thuận province has been able to increase its share to 12% with growth rates in industry averaging 21 6% from 2000 to 2007  Most other provinces have achieved growth between 15 and 20%, with slower growth only in the established industrial centers of Da Nang (14 8%) and Khánh Hòa province (13%)  The region's average industrial growth rate was 16 3% per year from 2000 to 2007, making the main driving force of the economy 

Da Nang has a relatively diversified industrial sector including textiles, fabric, fertilizer, cement, soap, paper, pharmaceuticals etc  Khánh Hòa's industrial sector is still more reliant on basic industries such as food and seafood processing and beverages, shipbuilding, etc  The province also benefited significantly from investment related to the former Russian naval base at Cam Ranh, to which around 30 factories were attached  Quy Nhon is the region's third largest industrial center  It has been able to capitalize on its advantage as a gateway to the Central Highlands to develop resource-based industries (wood processing and stone processing) and a major furniture manufacturing cluster  Other industries are more dispersed, such as construction materials and basic food processing 
New industrial centers are currently being developed in the economic zones: Chu Lai Economic Zone in southern Quảng Nam, nearby Dung Quat Economic Zone (with Dung Quất Refinery) in northern Quảng Ngãi province, Nhơn Hội Economic Zone in Quy Nhon, and Van Phong Economic Zone in northern Khánh Hòa province  All four zones have large areas of land, major infrastructure and industrial projects  However, in contrast to the smaller industrial parks, they are not limited to industrial sectors 

Infrastructure
Transport
Vietnam's main north-south transport corridors run through the whole South Central Coast region  
The North–South Railway runs along the region, with Reunification Express stops at Đà Nẵng Railway Station, Diêu Trì Railway Station, and Nha Trang Railway Station  Stations with less frequent stops are Tam Kỳ Railway Station, Quảng Ngãi Railway Station, Quy Nhơn Railway Station, Tuy Hòa Railway Station, Tháp Chàm Railway Station, Mương Mán Railway Station, as well as several local railway stations 
The two-lane National Route 1 connects all major cities of the region to the rest of the country (Quy Nhon and Nha Trang by extension 1D and 1C)  The Ministry of Transport is planning the construction of a 139 5 km four-lane highway from Da Nang to Quảng Ngãi province in cooperation with foreign donors The region is connected to the Central Highlands by several national roads at Phan Rang (National Road 27 to Da Lat), Ninh Hòa, Khánh Hòa province (26 to Buôn Ma Thuột), Tuy Hòa (25 to Pleiku via Ayun Pa) Quy Nhon (19 to Pleiku), and western Quảng Nam province (14/ Ho Chi Minh Road to Kon Tum) The largest airport in the region is Da Nang International Airport with flights to various cities in Vietnam, Singapore, Siem Reap, Guangzhou, Shanghai and seasonal flights to other cities in mainland China and Taiwan  The region's second international airport at Cam Ranh (serving Nha Trang flights to various cities in Vietnam, Guangzhou, Shanghais, Hong Kong, etc )  Phu Cat Airport (serving Quy Nhon) and Dong Tac Airport (serving Tuy Hòa) have only domestic flights  Chu Lai in southern Quảng Nam province has an international airport, but only domestic flights 
Da Nang Port and Quy Nhơn Port are the region's major ports  Another major port is under construction at Vân Phong in Khánh Hòa province 

Energy
The South Central Coast has limited potential for hydro-power plants and has therefore not been a major part of EVN's mostly hydro-focused strategy  However, it is at the forefront of many of Vietnam's efforts to diversify electricity sources away from hydro-power  The country's first nuclear power plant is under construction in Ninh Thuận province  A second nuclear power project is being prepared with Japanese partners and will also be in Ninh Thuận A 200 MW wind power plant is under construction in Ninh Thuận province and is planned to be completed in 2012  Other wind power plants are being constructed in Bình Thuận province 
Bình Thuận is also the location of a 1200 MW electro-thermal plant currently under construction 

Demography
The South Central Coast region had a population of 8 93 million  The three northern provinces of Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi and Bình Định have the largest populations and together make up almost half of the region's population (47 7%) 2 82 million or 31 6% of them live in cities and towns  More than half of the region's urban population is in Da Nang, Khánh Hòa province and Bình Thuận province, while more than half of the rural population is in the provinces  of Quảng Nam, Bình Định and Quảng Ngãi Annual population growth has averaged 1 22% from 2000 to 2007, with Da Nang recording the fastest population growth at 1 95%  Growth in the three northern provinces of Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi and Bình Định has been slowest at around 1%  The four other provinces had average growth rates between 1 26% (Khánh Hòa province) and 1 59% (Ninh Thuận province) The region's population is ethnically clearly dominated by the Vietnamese people (Kinh)  There are some minorities, the most significant of which are the Cham, the descendants of Champa  They live mostly in the lowlands around Phan Rang and northern Bình Thuận province, with smaller communities in other provinces such as southern Bình Định  Other minorities live mostly in the mountainous western parts of the region  Areas inhabited by minority people make up more than half of Quảng Nam province and Quảng Ngãi province 
Passage 14:
Mueang Phan
Mueang Phan (Thai: เมืองพาน) is a village and tambon (subdistrict) of Phan District, in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand  In 2005 it had a total population of 19,326 people  The tambon contains 25 villages 
Passage 15:
Sauk Rapids Regional Bridge
The Sauk Rapids Regional Bridge is a bridge spanning the Mississippi River in the U  S  city of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota  Construction began on September 26, 2005; the bridge was completed in September 2007 and opened to traffic on October 23, 2007  The official dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on November 16, 2007   The bridge replaced the former Sauk Rapids Bridge, located a short distance downriver, which was demolished in the fall and winter of 2007-2008 
The new bridge spans the BNSF Railway on the east bank of the river  Traffic flow is no longer disrupted during train crossings; this was a frequent problem with the former bridge 
The new span relied heavily on steel for its construction rather than concrete to reduce the number of piers needed to be placed in the river  This design choice increased the project cost by $2 3 million USD to a total cost estimated at $56 63 million   Construction of the bridge of itself cost an estimated $20 46 million, with other costs including right-of-way purchases, road construction, and a program to help businesses affected by the project relocate elsewhere in downtown Sauk Rapids 
The entire project was large in scope, due to the amount of business and residential properties that were affected by its chosen location   When the Sauk Rapids Bridge project began, it was considered to be the first downtown transportation project of its kind nationwide in terms of the scale of relocations of businesses that were necessary   The success of the project may set a precedent for future bridges The original design of the bridge was hotly contested between Benton County and the City of Sauk Rapids, and the dispute was nearly taken to court  The county had wished that the bridge land beyond Benton Drive (Sauk Rapids' "main street") on Second Avenue and connect with Second Street North  The city feared that such a design would adversely affect businesses in the downtown area and desired instead that the bridge land on Benton Drive  Benton County's stake in the project (Stearns County being the other contributor) was eventually handed over to the city, and it was elected that the bridge pass over the BNSF Railway, land on Benton Drive, and connect with Second Street North 
The Sauk Rapids Regional Bridge features a spiral walkway on the Sauk Rapids side of the bridge that allows pedestrians to access the city parking lot under the bridge 

See also
Sauk Rapids Bridge
List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River
Passage 16:
Labanoras Regional Park
Labanoras Regional Park, established in 1992, is located 80 kilometers northeast of Lithuania's capital, Vilnius  Covering 553 18 km², it is the largest regional park in the country  Its administration is in the small town of Labanoras 

Nature

The park contains about 70 lakes; about 80% of its land is forested  Its floral biodiversity is high, and it is home to the densest population of nesting white stork couples in Europe  It also contains areas with archeological, architectural, ethnographic, and historic value 
It is the largest Lithuania regional park, distinguished by a variety of landscapes, extremely rich flora and fauna  The largest part of the park is occupied by forests (80%), mostly pine forests  Labanoras forest with abundant wetlands and lakes is characterized by an abundance of protected species  Lakes occupy 14 percent  park areas  Spectacular Black Lakajai and White Lakajai, Stirniai, Siesartis and other lakes in Molėtai Lake District, 15 8 km long Aisetas lake  Lakaja, one of the most beautiful and exotic rivers, was loved not only by water birds but also by water tourists 
There are 285 lakes in Labanoras Regional Park - the largest of all Lithuanian regional parks  Largest: Stirniai, White Lakajai, Kertuojai  About 30 streams flow through the park  These are Lakaja, Peršokšna, Dumblė, Luknelė  In addition to these water bodies, the park protects swamp ecosystems, valuable calcareous marshes 
A whole complex of high marshes and lakeside low marshes is protected - Kanija raistas and many larger and smaller wetlands  In the Girutiškis Nature Reserve here, the Beržalotas upland swamp shines with the mirrors of the lakes 
Pine forests make up 81 percent  of all the forests in the park  Along with abundant lakes, swamps, hilly and undulating terrain, they are very picturesque 
The distant surroundings of Aukštaitija National Park can be seen from the observation tower of the Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology 
The park is a famous breeding ground for elks,  wolves  and lynxes 
Passage 17:
S-Fone
S-Fone was a mobile communication operator in Vietnam that used the CDMA technology  Founded on 1 July 2003 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, S-Fone became the third network of Vietnam, breaking the duopoly of the two VNPT operators  It is the trademark of S-Telecom (CDMA Mobile Phone Centre) (set up as a joint venture between Saigon Postel Corp  (SPT) and Korea SK Telecom)  SK Telecom decided to leave the partnership in 2010  SPT has since then found it difficult to find a new partner, after a co-operation with Saigon Tel failed As of the start of 2005, breaking the old rule of the calls fee from 10 second to 1 second (6+1)7, S-Fone has 1,500,000 to 1,800,000 subscribers, contributing 3% to the total market (after Mobifone with 41%, Viettel Mobile with 34% and Vinaphone with 20%  Its market share (estimated based on revenues) fell to 0 1% by 2012 after suffering from a lack of capital, a small number of subscribers and low network quality S-Fone has become highly indebted and has been unable to pay salaries for several months in its Hanoi branch in late 2012  S-Fone ceased its operation, closed its stores and website, and released its staff from their contracts in July 2012  Its operating license expired in 2016 

Achievements
S-Fone is the first and biggest national cellular mobile phone network using CDMA in Vietnam (followed by EVN Telecom and HT Mobile)  On 9 October 2006, S-Fone officially launched CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO value added services for the first time in Vietnam: VOD/MOD (Video, TV on demand, music on demand) and mobile Internet (enabling internet access for PCs and laptops via S-Fone network) beginning in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho 
Passage 18:
Fire and Water (sculpture)
Fire and Water is a public art work by American artist John Luttropp, located on the southwest side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin  The multi-element architectural sculpture was created for the entrance of the Milwaukee Fire Department Engine Company #25 station  It is located at 300 S  84th St 

Description
The sculpture includes two primary elements: a pair of neon-topped tapering concrete walls flanking the entry sidewalk, and a wall-mounted neon sign displaying the number 25 in a stylized font  During the day, the neon is not lit  At night, the entry numbers glow red, and the tops of the tapering wall glow blue  According to the Smithsonian Institution's Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey, the red neon symbolizes fire and the blue neon symbolizes water spray from fire hoses 

Historical information
The City of Milwaukee commissioned the work for $9,000 and it was greeted with some criticism  The Milwaukee Sentinel compared the neon look to a fast food restaurant and quoted hesitant firefighters based at the station 
Passage 19:
Bodyguard (British TV series)
Bodyguard is a British political thriller television series created and written by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions as part of ITV Studios for the BBC  The six-part series centres around the fictional character of Police Sergeant David Budd (Richard Madden), a British Army war veteran suffering from PTSD, who is now working for the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service  He is assigned as the principal protection officer (PPO) for the ambitious Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), whose politics he despises  The series draws attention to controversial issues such as  government monitoring of private information and its regulation, the politics of intervention and terrorism, and PTSD The series began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 August 2018, achieving the highest viewing figures for a new BBC drama in the multichannel era and the highest BBC viewing figures since 2008  The BBC commissioned the series from the then-independent World Productions in 2016  Since ITV Studios Global Entertainment acquired the company in 2017, they have handled international distribution for the series  Netflix agreed to a distribution deal to broadcast the show outside the United Kingdom and Ireland The series was met with critical acclaim, particularly for Madden's performance  The series received numerous award nominations including the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama, with Madden winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama  At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, the series was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and a second series is in development 

Cast and characters
Main
Budd familyRichard Madden as PS David Budd, a Scottish veteran of the Afghanistan war and now dedicated Principal Protection Officer (PPO) at Protection Command  His wartime experiences have left him struggling with PTSD, prone to volatile behaviour, and mistrustful of politicians  Assigned to protect Julia Montague, whose politics he loathes, Budd is conflicted over his loyalties 
Sophie Rundle as Vicky Budd, David's wife and the mother of their two children, who works as a ward sister at a London hospital  David's unpredictable moods and issues with PTSD since returning from Afghanistan resulted in their marriage being estranged GovernmentKeeley Hawes as The Rt Hon  Julia Montague MP, the Home Secretary and Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the fictional constituency of Thames West  Montague's suspected desire to become Prime Minister, and her controversial additions to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, dubbed "RIPA-18" and "The Snoopers' Charter", which would give greater powers to the police and Security Services to investigate personal communications and information, have resulted in many enemies 
Vincent Franklin as Mike Travis MP, Minister of State for Counter-Terrorism, who grows increasingly resentful over being excluded from Montague's dealings with MI5 
Nicholas Gleaves as The Rt Hon  Roger Penhaligon MP, the Government Chief Whip, Member of Parliament for Surrey North and Montague's ex-husband  A staunch supporter of the Prime Minister, he becomes increasingly suspicious and wary of Montague's political ambition 
David Westhead as The Rt Hon  John Vosler MP, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party 
Paul Ready as Rob MacDonald, Special Advisor to the Home Secretary, who has a crush on Montague PoliceGina McKee as Commander Anne Sampson, Head of Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) and Deepak Sharma's superior  Threatened by Montague's preference for MI5, Sampson enlists Budd's help 
Pippa Haywood as CSI Lorraine Craddock, Budd's commanding officer at Protection Command, who assigns him to protect Montague 
Ash Tandon as DCI Deepak Sharma, a senior detective in SO15 leading the investigation into the recent series of terror activities  As things fail to add up, he becomes suspicious of Budd 
Nina Toussaint-White as DS Louise Rayburn, an SO15 officer working under Sharma who starts to work with Budd Security Service / MI5Stuart Bowman as Stephen Hunter-Dunn, Director General of the Security Service (MI5), whose surveillance powers will be significantly enhanced by RIPA 18  Montague's preference for MI5 over SO15 puts him at odds with Sampson 
Michael Shaeffer as "Richard Longcross", an enigmatic MI5 agent working under Hunter-Dunn who becomes involved in a cat-and-mouse game with Budd CriminalsTom Brooke as Andrew 'Andy' Apsted, a war veteran and friend of Budd's  Scarred both physically and mentally by his experiences in Afghanistan, Apsted leads the anti-war Veterans Peace Group 
Matt Stokoe as Luke Aikens, a mysterious organised crime leader  He seeks to eliminate the Home Secretary 
Anjli Mohindra as Nadia Ali, implicated with her husband in an attempted bombing on a London-bound train service 

Recurring
FamilyMatthew Stagg as Charlie Budd, David and Vicky's 8-year-old son  Charlie attends Heath Bank Primary School in Camberwell 
Bella Padden as Ella Budd, David and Vicky's 10-year-old daughter  Ella attends Heath Bank Primary School in Camberwell GovernmentShubham Saraf as Tahir Mahmood, Montague's PR Adviser 
Stephanie Hyam as Chanel Dyson, the PR Advisor to the Home Secretary before getting fired by Montague PoliceClaire-Louise Cordwell as Constable Kim Knowles, a Protection Command bodyguard in Budd's team 
Richard Riddell as Constable Tom Fenton, a Protection Command bodyguard in Budd's team 

Episodes
Production
The series was largely filmed on location in London, including the Whittington Estate for Budd's flat and Battersea for Montague's flat  The bomb scenes in the final episode were filmed around CityPoint near Moorgate and Woburn Square and Senate House in Bloomsbury 
The train scenes in the first episode were filmed on the Mid-Norfolk Railway BBC journalists including Andrew Marr, John Pienaar, John Humphrys, and Laura Kuenssberg appear as themselves 

Reception
Audience
Viewing figures for the series were high, with 10 4 million (peaking at 11 million) viewers watching the overnight broadcast of the finale live on BBC One alone  As significant numbers of viewers watched the show on catchup service iPlayer after transmission, the series sparked a debate on how the media should handle spoilers  Radio Times revealed the fate of Montague in a cover story during the series's original transmission 

Critical response
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the series a 93% approval rating, with an average rating of 8 2/10, based on 70 reviews  The critical consensus reads, "Bodyguard maintains a palpable tension throughout its pulpy proceedings to create an absorbing and addicting psychological thriller " On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews" In a positive review, Variety's Daniel D'Addario describes the series as "Both juicy in its delving into character psychology and rippingly ready to tear up its playbook as it goes, it’s a six-episode ride that demands, and rewards, a quick binge " D'Addario further states that the series "excels at both the daring, gasp-inducing twist and the methodical construction of slower-burning thrills", and that Madden's performance "by turns tripping on his own empathy, and angrily operating beyond rationality, makes us believe anything is possible — a wonderful asset for a show that seeks above all else to keep us watching"  Allison Keene, writing for Collider, lauds the performances of the cast, describing Madden's as "enthralling" and "absolutely heartbreaking", and depicts the series as "an exhilarating ride that truly showcases Madden as a major talent"  Writing for Time, Judy Berman states that the series "subverts thriller tropes just often enough to earn its reliance on them", and in a five-star review Guardian critic Lucy Mangan expresses that "[Mercurio] has created something as dark and moreish as ever"  Hanh Nguyen of IndieWire describes the series as "relentless", and the performances of Madden and Hawes as "mesmerizing"  Robert Rorke of the New York Post writes that the series is "gripping" and that Madden "gives a magnetic performance" In a more mixed assessment, Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Some elements of the series struck me as odd   and certain climactic revelations had me talking to the screen  But the action is well mounted and the tension tightly wound; it uncoils, when it does, with a satisfying snap"  In a similarly mixed review, The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert acknowledged that "Hawes is elegantly unknowable as Julia   she gives just enough nuance in her performance to make you question whether she has a heart or is extremely deft at emotional manipulation", however she laments that "To watch Bodyguard’s six episodes is to suspend disbelief and submit to its surprises  It helps not to expect too much more than that, particularly when it comes to the show’s lavish employment of archetypes, which inevitably leads to its more questionable elements "Intelligent Protection International Limited’s CEO Alex Bomberg on BBC Radio 5 Live said that the plot, in particular the personal relationship that Budd developed with his charge, would be frowned upon as both unprofessional and putting the charge at risk  Detective Chief Inspector Steve Ray, of the Royal and Specialist Protection Command (RaSP) told the BBC that “the relationship that we have with our principals is purely professional”, adding that anyone who crossed the line would quickly be identified and would not last very long in Protection Command or even in the police service” 

Accolades
Red Nose Bodyguard
A skit titled Red Nose Bodyguard was filmed in support of Comic Relief, featuring many cast members from the series as well as performances from Joanna Lumley, Adrian Dunbar and Sanjeev Bhaskar  The skit was first broadcast on Red Nose Day 2019 on 15 March 2019 

See also
List of fictional prime ministers of the United Kingdom
Context 3: Passage 1:
Chickasaw, Louisville
Chickasaw is a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, USA   Its boundaries are West Broadway, 34th Street, Hale Avenue and Chickasaw Park 
Chickasaw Park is predominantly black and middle-class  Before integration, Shawnee Park was reserved for whites, while Chickasaw Park was reserved for blacks  Integration has led to a decrease in use for Chickasaw as more persons prefer the larger Shawnee to the north  In 1969, Elmer Lucille Allen, a scientist and artist from the Chickasaw Little League created the Chickasaw Little League  The little league was in operation for 3-4 years and was made to accommodate the children who lived in the Chickasaw neighborhood who could not participate in the little league held in Shawnee Park Located in north-central Mississippi, Chickasaw County possesses a notable number of creeks and lakes and is traversed by both the Yalobusha and Tombigbee Rivers 
Passage 2:
4 Little Girls
4 Little Girls is a 1997 American historical documentary film about the murder of four African-American girls (Addie May Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Rosamond Robertson) in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963  The film was directed by Spike Lee and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary The events inspired the 1964 song "Birmingham Sunday" by Richard and Mimi Fariña, which was used in the opening sequence of the film, as sung by Joan Baez, Mimi's sister  They also inspired the 1963 tune "Alabama" by John Coltrane, which is also included in the soundtrack 
4 Little Girls premiered on June 25, 1997, at the Guild 50th Street Theatre in New York City  It was produced by Lee's production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, and Home Box Office (HBO) In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" 

Synopsis
A local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan placed bombs at the 16th Street Baptist Church and set them off as Sunday services prepared to commence on the morning of September 15, 1963  Four young girls, ranging in age from 11 to 14, were killed in the explosion, which also caused anywhere between 14 and 22 additional injuries  The deaths provoked national outrage, and, the following summer, the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was signed by President Lyndon B  Johnson  The bombing is marked in history as a critical and pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement 
The film covered the events in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 related to civil rights demonstrations and the movement to end racial discrimination in local stores and facilities  In 1963, Rev  Dr  Martin Luther King Jr  arrived in the town to help with their strategy and to speak at the funeral of the four young girls  People of the community met at the 16th Street Baptist Church while organizing their events  The demonstrations were covered by national media, and the use by police of police dogs and pressured water from hoses on young people shocked the nation  The large number of demonstrators who were arrested resulted in local jails filling to capacity 
The film ends with the trial and conviction in 1977 of Robert Edward Chambliss, also known as Dynamite Bob, as the main person responsible for the bombing, though he is said to have been only one of four Klan members involved  The film also references black churches being set on fire in Birmingham in 1993, giving the impression that, while progress has been made, there are some things that still have not changed 
Lee uses interviews with family and friends of the girls, government officials, and civil rights activists, as well as home movies and archival footage, to not only tell the story of the four girls' lives, but also to provide a greater historical and political context of the times 

Production
Lee first became interested in making a film about the Birmingham bombing in 1983, when he was a student at New York University  After reading a New York Times Magazine article about the incident, he was moved to write to Chris McNair, the father of Denise, one of the victims, to ask for permission to tell her story on film  McNair turned down the young, aspiring filmmaker  "I was entering my first semester at N Y U  So my skills as a filmmaker were nonexistent, and at that time, Chris McNair was still hesitant to talk about it," Lee said in a 1997 interview with Industry Central's The Director's Chair   "I believe timing is everything  So it took ten years of Chris thinking about this and ten years of myself making movies for this to come together "According to McNair, he changed his mind about supporting Lee's film idea due to learning about the depth and precision of Lee's research  McNair said, "[I]t's very important that this be done accurately and correctly  In all his research, he [Lee] showed that he was objective and seeking a broad section of opinion  I'm a stickler for the facts "At first, Lee had intended to create a dramatic reproduction of the incident, but eventually, he decided that would not be the best approach, and the project became a documentary  Once he secured funding, he went to Birmingham with a small skeleton film crew, as he wanted the families be as comfortable as possible during the interviews  Sam Pollard served as a producer and the editor and Ellen Kuras was the director of photography of the film 
Lee had developed a relationship with Kuras while working on an HBO project called Subway Stories, which was an anthology of short films compiled by Jonathan Demme (though Lee's film did not make the final cut due, in part, to conflict between him and Demme)  Kuras said of her desire to shoot 4 Little Girls, "I was really interested because my background is in political documentaries     I always felt that one of the reasons that I had got into filmmaking was that I wanted to use my craft to be able to say something about the human condition, however I could, in my own humble way  For me this was an opportunity to make a small contribution "
Lee's partnership with Sam Pollard had begun on Mo' Better Blues when Pollard was recommended to replace Barry Alexander Brown, who was unavailable because he was directing his own film, as editor  Pollard originally refused the overture because he was busy working on his segments of Eyes on the Prize, but ultimately, he accepted, and he has since become one of Lee's most frequent collaborators  Their first few films together were fiction, but Pollard's background was in documentary, and he was key to guiding the structure of 4 Little Girls  He said about his role: Basically it was to help with the conception of the structure, to edit it     We spent a lot of time screening dailies together   We could come to 40 Acres at 7a m , and we would spend three hours a day screening dailies for two weeks straight     We talked, selected all the material that we liked, and I started working on the structure in the editing room   Spike was asking if he needed narration and what the structure should be  I basically said the structure should be that there are parallels—the family, the history of the community—and then they come together on the explosion 

Reception
Critics and public
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature  On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 100% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 8 42/10  The website's critical consensus reads: "4 Little Girls finds Spike Lee moving into documentary filmmaking with his signature style intact -- and all the palpable fury the subject requires "

Box office
It was initially planned for the film to first be seen by the public when it was aired on HBO, but, after seeing the final product, the production team decided it was important to release the film in theaters before running it on television  Accordingly, 4 Little Girls opened in American theaters on July 9, 1997, and closed on October 2, 1997  It grossed $130,146 from a total of four theaters  In its opening weekend, it earned $13,528 from a single theater, which was 10 4% of its total gross  It cost approximately $1 million to make, funded by HBO 

See also
Civil rights movement in popular culture
1956 Sugar Bowl
civil rights movement
Timeline of the civil rights movement
Passage 3:
Sloane House YMCA
The Sloane House YMCA, also known as William Sloane House YMCA, at 356 West 34th Street in Manhattan was the largest residential YMCA building in the nation It was sold in 1993 for $5 million and converted to rental apartments later  It is managed by Kibel Company 
Related papers are archived Its pending closure was noted as part of a trend 

See also
List of YMCA buildings
Passage 4:
David Bjornson
David Bjornson (born 7 July 1947 in Selkirk, Manitoba) was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993, serving in the 34th Canadian Parliament for the Progressive Conservative party in the Selkirk riding  By career, he is an electrician 
Bjornson left federal politics after being defeated by Liberal candidate Ron Fewchuk in the 1993 federal election  Amid the Tory collapse that year, Bjornson was pushed into fourth place behind Fewchuk and the New Democratic and Reform candidates 

External links

David Bjornson – Parliament of Canada biography
Passage 5:
Mr  Noodle
Mr  Noodle and his siblings – (Mister Noodle, Ms  Noodle, and Miss Noodle in 1998–2009 and Mister Noodle, Mister Noodle and Miss Noodle in 2017–present) – are characters who appear in the "Elmo's World" segments during the educational children's television program Sesame Street  Mr  Noodle was played by Broadway actor Bill Irwin, who had previously worked with Arlene Sherman, executive producer of Sesame Street and co-creator of "Elmo's World", in short films for the program When Irwin became unavailable, Sherman asked Michael Jeter, who was his friend, to replace Irwin as Mr  Noodle's brother Mister Noodle, which he accepted enthusiastically, calling it his favorite role in twenty years  Jeter was in the role beginning in 2000, until his death in 2003  Kristin Chenoweth played Mr  Noodle's sister Ms  Noodle, and Sarah Jones played Mr  Noodle's other sister Miss Noodle  As of 2018, Daveed Diggs and Daniel Koren have played two more of Mr  Noodle's brothers, as well as Ilana Glazer as Mr  Noodle's other sister Miss Noodle 

Writer Louise A  Gikow calls the Noodles "a dynasty of mimes,   in the tradition of great silent film comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd"  They made mistakes, but solved them with the help of "enthusiastic kid voice overs", which empowered children and helped them feel smarter than the adults 
They were silent in order to allow Elmo to do all the talking and to give children the opportunity to respond to what they saw on the screen  They would physically and humorously act out their replies to Elmo's questions According to writer and "Elmo's World" co-creator Judy Freudberg, "Mr  Noodle, who never speaks, is all about trial and error  When you throw him a hat, he acts like he's never seen one before  Kids feel empowered watching him because they can do what he can't"   According to Sesame Street researcher Lewis Bernstein, the characters, whom he called "bungling", gave young viewers "the opportunity to figure it out" before the adults did 
Passage 6:
The Little Orchestra Society
Not to be confused by The Little Orchestra of LondonThe Little Orchestra Society is an American orchestra based at 630 9th Avenue, Suite 807 in New York City  It was founded in 1947 by Thomas Scherman, who served as its conductor until his death in 1979  From 1979 to 2011 the Orchestra was led by Dino Anagnost  Its membership has ranged between 45 and 60 musicians  The orchestra's name is borrowed from The Little Orchestra of London, which was formed by Felix Mendelssohn during the Bach Revival   In 2019, the Orchestra named David Alan Miller its new Artistic Advisor 
Its first concert took place at Town Hall in Manhattan on October 27, 1947  In 1959 the orchestra toured to eight Asian countries including Vietnam, Hong Kong, India, and Japan, performing the music of Henry Cowell Pierre Monteux guest conducted the orchestra on April 2, 1957, in a concert that included Johannes Brahms' Serenade No  2 in A Major   Monteux had recorded the serenade in the preceding year, but this performance too was recorded The orchestra commissions new works and has given 65 world premieres (by composers including Franz Schubert, Douglas Moore, and David Diamond), and more than 175 U S  and New York premieres by such composers as Antonio Vivaldi, John Corigliano, and Christopher Rouse 

Discography
Ludwig van Beethoven, Octet in E-Flat Major, Op  103 & Rondino in E-Flat Major, Grove 146, Thomas Scherman conducting, EMS Recordings #1, 1950
Hello, World!/The Greatest Sound Around, Eleanor Roosevelt, narrator (on Hello World!), words and music by Susan Otto and William R  Mayer, The Little Orchestra Society, Thomas Scherman, conductor, John Langstaff, tenor (on The Greatest Sound Around)  RCA Victor Red Seal LM-2332, 1959
Passage 7:
Miracle on 34th Street
Miracle on 34th Street (initially released as The Big Heart in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies  It stars Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn  The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City, and focuses on the effect of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa  The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite 
Miracle on 34th Street won three Academy Awards: Gwenn for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Valentine Davies for Best Writing, Original Story, and George Seaton for Best Writing, Screenplay  The film was nominated for Best Picture, losing to Gentleman's Agreement  In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant"  The Academy Film Archive preserved Miracle on 34th Street in 2009 Davies also wrote a short novelization of the tale, which was published by Harcourt Brace simultaneously with the film's release 

Plot
Kris Kringle is indignant to find that the man assigned to play Santa in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is intoxicated  When he complains to event director Doris Walker, she persuades Kris to take his place  He does so well that he is hired to play Santa at Macy's New York City store on 34th Street 
Ignoring instructions from the toy department head, Mr  Shellhammer, to recommend overstocked items to undecided shoppers, Kris directs one woman to another store to fulfill her son's Christmas request  Impressed by Kris's honesty and helpfulness, she informs Shellhammer that she will now become a loyal Macy's customer 
Attorney Fred Gailey, Doris's neighbor, takes the young divorcée's daughter Susan to see Santa  Doris has raised her to not believe in fairy tales, but Susan is shaken after seeing Kris speak Dutch with a girl who does not know English  Doris asks Kringle to tell Susan that he is not Santa, but he insists that he is 
Worried, Doris decides to fire him, but Kris has generated so much positive publicity and goodwill that the store's owner promises bonuses  To alleviate Doris's misgivings, Shellhammer suggests Granville Sawyer administer a "psychological evaluation", but Sawyer recommends Kris's dismissal  Meanwhile, Susan shows Kris a magazine photo of her dream house and tells him she wants it for Christmas; reluctantly he promises to do his best 
In the company cafeteria, young employee Alfred tells Kris that Sawyer convinced him that he is unstable simply because he enjoys dressing as Santa Claus  Kris immediately confronts Sawyer, eventually striking him on the head with an umbrella  Sawyer exaggerates his pain to have Kris confined to Bellevue Hospital  Tricked into cooperating and believing Doris to be in on the deception, Kris deliberately fails his examination and is recommended for permanent commitment  However, Fred persuades Kris not to give up 
At a hearing before Judge Henry X  Harper, District Attorney Thomas Mara gets Kris to assert that he is Santa Claus and rests his case, asking Harper to rule that Santa does not exist  In private, Harper's political adviser, Charlie Halloran, warns him that doing so would be disastrous for his upcoming reelection bid  Harper buys time by hearing further evidence 
Fred calls Macy as a witness and gets him to admit that he believes in Santa  On leaving the stand, Macy fires Sawyer  Next, Fred calls Mara's own young son, who testifies that his father told him that Santa is real  In the face of this, Mara has to concede the point, but goes on to demand that Fred prove that Kris is "the one and only" Santa Claus on the basis of some competent authority by the following day 
Meanwhile, Susan writes Kris a letter to cheer him up, which Doris also signs  When a New York Post Office mail sorter sees Susan's letter, addressed to Kris at the New York courthouse, he suggests delivering all of the dead letters addressed to Santa Claus to Kris  As court resumes, Fred is told of the delivery of mailbags to the courthouse; he argues that the Post Office—a branch of the U S  federal government—has acknowledged that Kris is the one and only Santa Claus by delivering the letters  When the judge insists on seeing them, Fred has them dump bag after bag on Harper's desk  Harper dismisses the case 
On Christmas morning at a party for Macy's employees, Susan loses faith in Kris when he admits he was not able to get her the house she wanted  However, after Kris offers Fred and Doris a route home that avoids traffic, Susan sees her dream house with a "For Sale" sign in front  Demanding that Fred stop the car, she runs into the house, exclaiming, "Mr  Kringle is Santa Claus!" Fred learns that Doris had encouraged Susan to have faith and suggests they get married and purchase the house  He then boasts that he must be a great lawyer since he proved an eccentric old man was Santa  However, when he and Doris spot a cane in the house that looks just like Kris's, he is not so sure 

Cast
Production
Miracle on 34th Street was shot on location in New York City, with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade sequences filmed live while the 1946 parade was happening  "It was a mad scramble to get all the shots we needed, and we got to do each scene only once," Maureen O'Hara recalled in her memoir  "It was bitterly cold that day, and Edmund and I envied Natalie (Wood) and John Payne, who were watching the parade from a window "Although the film is set during the Christmas season, studio head Darryl F  Zanuck insisted that it be released in May, arguing that more people go to the movies in warmer weather  The studio rushed to promote it while keeping its Christmas setting a secret  Fox's promotional trailer depicted a fictional producer roaming the studio backlot and encountering such stars as Rex Harrison, Anne Baxter, Peggy Ann Garner, and Dick Haymes extolling the virtues of the film  In addition, the movie posters prominently featured O'Hara and Payne, with Gwenn's character kept in the background  The film opened in New York City at the Roxy Theatre on June 4, 1947  By contrast, modern home video packaging has Gwenn and Wood dominating the imagery, with the DVD release having Kringle in his Santa Claus costume 
O'Hara was initially reluctant to take the role, having recently moved back to post-war Ireland  She immediately changed her mind after reading the script and came back to the United States for the film 
Arthur Jacobson, assistant director, filmed the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving morning with nine cameras simultaneously  He said he "plunked actors Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood in the department store cafeteria line during a weekday lunch-rush"  When Maureen O'Hara requested a special police escort for a Christmas shopping spree through Macy's he said "I know New Yorkers  They aren't going to pay any attention to you  And don't wear a bandanna around your head or dark glasses  Just be normal "Throughout the process of getting this script accepted by the PCA, the movie underwent multiple different title changes, starting as My Heart Tells Me and then progressing into The Big Heart, It's Only Human, Meet Me at Dawn, and finally ended with the name Miracle on 34th Street  These title changes all happened within a four-month time period  These title changes occurred while the filmmakers were fixing any other discrepancies that the PCA required them to fix before the production of the film could begin 

Reception
Critical reception
Miracle on 34th Street mostly received positive reviews from critics  Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said: "For all those blasé skeptics who do not believe in Santa Claus—and likewise for all those natives who have grown cynical about New York—but most especially for all those patrons who have grown weary of the monotonies of the screen, let us heartily recommend the Roxy's new picture, Miracle on 34th Street  As a matter of fact, let's go further: let's catch its spirit and heartily proclaim that it is the freshest little picture in a long time, and maybe even the best comedy of this year " A critic for the BBC called it "a clever and deeply original story, that remains true and confident in direction, while delivering considerable charm all the while "The film is considered by many to be one of the best films of 1947, and it has been dubbed a "christmas classic" by several publications  On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on reviews from 52 critics, with an average rating of 8 5/10  The website's critics consensus reads, "Irrefutable proof that gentle sentimentalism can be the chief ingredient in a wonderful film, Miracle on 34th Street delivers a warm holiday message without resorting to treacle "The Catholic Legion of Decency gave the movie a "B", "morally objectionable in part" rating  This was mainly due to the fact that O'Hara portrayed a divorcée in the film 

Accolades
The film won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Edmund Gwenn), Best Writing, Original Story (Valentine Davies) and Best Writing, Screenplay  It was also nominated for Best Picture, losing to Gentleman's Agreement 
It was ranked ninth by the American Film Institute on 100 Years    100 Cheers, a list of America's most inspiring films  Miracle on 34th Street was listed as the fifth best film in the fantasy genre in the American Film Institute's "Ten top Ten" lists in 2008 In 2005, Miracle on 34th Street was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" American Film Institute Lists

AFI's 100 Years   100 Movies – Nominated
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated
AFI's 100 Years   100 Cheers – #9
AFI's 100 Years   100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
AFI's 10 Top 10 – #5 Fantasy Film

Home media and colorization
Miracle on 34th Street was first released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1987 
In 1985, it became one of the first full-length black and white films to be colorized  The 4½-month process was carried out by Color Systems Technology, Inc  In 1993, this version was released on VHS and LaserDisc, and was followed four years later by a "50th Anniversary Edition" on both formats, remastered by THX 
The first DVD release was in October 1999, featuring the B&W version alongside the original theatrical trailer and a TV spot  In November 2006, it was re-released as a two-disc "Special Edition" DVD, with disc one containing an "all new colorized version" carried out by Legend Films  The second disc had the original black-and-white version and numerous extras, including The 20th Century Fox Hour's 1955 TV remake  Both discs also included a full-length audio commentary by Maureen O'Hara  The B&W disc has since been re-released several times, including in a pairing with the 1994 remake 
In October 2009, 20th Century Fox released the B&W version on Blu-ray with all previous extras, bar the TV remake In 2017, the film was restored in 4K resolution; so far this version is only available via DCP 

Remake
A 1994 feature film starred Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, J  T  Walsh, Timothy Shea, James Remar, Jane Leeves, Simon Jones, William Windom and Mara Wilson  It was adapted by John Hughes from the Seaton script, and directed by Les Mayfield  Due to Macy's refusal to give permission to use its name, it was replaced by the fictitious "Cole's"  "We feel the original stands on its own and could not be improved upon," said Laura Melillo, a spokeswoman for Macy's  Gimbels no longer existed by 1994 so its name was replaced by the name of the fictional "Shopper's Express"  Alvin Greenman (Alfred in the original version) played a doorman  The 1994 remake of the film had a more serious tone than the original 1947 film had and a large portion of the plot was rewritten, although the majority of both the plot and the characters remained intact  The 1994 film also added a subtext which described concerns about religious faith 

In other media
There are numerous remakes of the movie, as well as a Broadway musical 

Radio
Lux Radio Theatre aired a one-hour adaptation of the movie on three occasions: on December 22, 1947, which starred the original cast including Natalie Wood; on December 20, 1948, without Natalie Wood's participation; and on December 21, 1954  There were also two broadcasts on Screen Directors Playhouse: as a half-hour play on December 23, 1949; and then as a one-hour play on December 21, 1950  All of these adaptations had Edmund Gwenn reprising his screen role 

Theatre
A 1963 Broadway musical version, entitled Here's Love, was written by Meredith Willson 
The novella was adapted into a stage play by Will Severin, Patricia Di Benedetto Snyder and John Vreeke in 2000  It is a favorite in many community and regional theaters during the Christmas season  The characters' names are those used in the novella, and the stage setting is distinctly late 1940s  Production rights are held by Samuel French, Inc 

Television
A 1955 one-hour television adaptation of the movie starred Thomas Mitchell as Kris, Macdonald Carey as Fred, Teresa Wright as Doris, and Sandy Descher as Susan  This version did not show the drunken Santa at all  Titled The Miracle on 34th Street, it originally aired as an episode of The 20th Century Fox Hour  It was later re-run as "Meet Mr  Kringle" 
Ed Wynn played Kris in a 1959 television adaptation of the movie  Also featured was Orson Bean  It was broadcast live and in color on NBC the day after Thanksgiving  NBC made a kinescope of the program, probably for broadcasting opening night on the West Coast  The copy was in a large collection of kinescopes donated by NBC to the Library of Congress and later unearthed by Richard Finegan, who reported his experiences in the December 2005 issue of Classic Images 
A 1973 television version featured Jane Alexander, David Hartman, Roddy McDowall, Sebastian Cabot as Kris (without his natural beard; he was forced to shave and wear a false beard for the role), Suzanne Davidson, Jim Backus, David Doyle and Tom Bosley  It was adapted by Jeb Rosebrook from the George Seaton screenplay, and directed by Fielder Cook  Mrs  Walker's first name is changed to Karen in this version  This would prove to be the final version in which the department store was actually Macy's  David Doyle, who played R  H  Macy in this version, had played Mr  Sawyer in the original Broadway cast of Here's Love 10 years earlier 

Puppets
In 2012, the flagship Macy's Department Store at Herald Square in New York City featured a 30-minute puppet version of the story within its Santaland display, featuring the voice talents of Broadway stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Victoria Clark 

Appearances
A short clip of the film was seen on the kitchen television screen in Home Alone (a 1990 Christmas film released by Fox) and also the ending was seen in the den television screen in the 1996 film The Preacher's Wife 

See also
Trial film
List of Christmas films
Santa Claus in film
Passage 8:
Kate Kellaway
Kate Kellaway (born 15 July 1957) is an English journalist and literary critic who writes for The Observer 

Early life
The daughter of the Australians Bill and Deborah Kellaway, she is the older sister of the journalist Lucy Kellaway  Both siblings were educated at the Camden School for Girls, where their mother was a teacher, and at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read English 

Professional life
Following a period teaching in Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1986, she began her career in journalism at the Literary Review and became deputy to then editor Auberon Waugh around 1987 Kellaway later joined The Observer, where her posts have included features writer, deputy literary editor, deputy theatre critic and children's books editor  While The Observer's poetry editor, Kellaway was one of the five judges for the Booker Prize in 1995 Kellaway is married and has four sons and two step-sons 
Passage 9:
Bit part
In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, or a walk-on part with no dialogue 
A bit part is higher than that of an extra and lower than that of a supporting actor  An actor who regularly performs in bit roles, either as a hobby or to earn a living, is referred to as a bit player, a term also used to describe an aspiring actor who has not yet broken into supporting or leading roles 
Unlike extras, who do not typically interact with principals, actors in bit parts are sometimes listed in the credits  An exception to this practice is the cameo appearance, wherein a well-known actor or other celebrity appears in a bit part; it is common for such appearances to be uncredited 
In MGM's 1951 screen version of the musical Show Boat, the role of the cook Queenie (Frances E  Williams) was reduced from a significant supporting role in the stage version to a bit part in the film  Williams, whose appearance was not intended as a cameo, was not listed at all in the credits  On the other hand, William Warfield, whose role as Joe, Queenie's husband, was also drastically shortened in the film from the stage original, did receive screen credit because he sang "Ol' Man River" 
Bit parts are often significant in the story line and sometimes pivotal, as in Jack Albertson's role as a postal worker in the 1947 feature film Miracle on 34th Street  Some characters with bit parts attract significant attention  Konstantin Stanislavski remarked that "there are no small parts, only small actors" Dabbs Greer, a bit actor, once said: "Every character actor, in their own little sphere, is the lead" 

See also
Extra (acting)
Ready When You Are, Mr  McGill
Passage 10:
Five Finger Exercise
Five Finger Exercise [sic] is a 1962 American drama film directed by Daniel Mann and produced by Frederick Brisson from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett based on the play by Peter Shaffer  The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures The film stars Rosalind Russell, Jack Hawkins, Richard Beymer, Maximilian Schell and Annette Gorman, with an early screen appearance by Lana Wood, the sister of Natalie Wood 

Plot
Stanley and Louise Harrington are a married couple who constantly argue, and their son and daughter are on the same path  When a music teacher enters their lives, things begin to change for the better, but the peace is only temporary 

Cast
Rosalind Russell as Louise Harrington
Jack Hawkins as Stanley Harrington
Richard Beymer as Philip Harrington
Annette Gorman as Pamela Harrington
Maximilian Schell as Walter
Lana Wood as Mary
Terry Huntingdon as Helen

Production
The film was based on Five Finger Exercise, a play that premiered at the Comedy Theatre in London's West End in July 1958 and played for 337 performances at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway from December 1958 until October 1960  The film project's title was temporarily changed to Five Kinds of Love before reverting to Five Finger Exercise Alec Guinness was originally cast in the role of Stanley Harrington but left the project because of other commitments  The producers asked Trevor Howard to take the role, but he was involved with a London stage play  The role finally went to Jack Hawkins 
Filming began on June 26, 1961 near Carmel, California  Action scenes were also filmed along the Pacific Coast in Ventura County  To film the scene in which Walter rescues Pamela from drowning, a special team of lifeguards, first-aid providers and highway patrol officers was assembled to ensure safety Maximilian Schell, who plays the piano in the film, was an accomplished pianist 

Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote:Something vital and essential to the dramatic quality of Peter Shaffer's successful British drama, ''Five Finger Exercise," has been lost, mislaid or stolen in the translation of it to the screen—and in the shift of its location from a British to an American middle-class milieu  What it is that is missing     is the solid ring of truth, the artful illusion that the people in this stark family drama are real  The measure of its artificiality is in the performance that Rosalind Russell gives as a selfish and snobbish American woman who drives her husband, son and daughter to blank despair  Miss Russell is much too blithe and bouncy, too much of a bourgeois Aunty Mame, to convey a conviction of a woman who is a serious, sinister influence in her home



ground_truth: South Central Coast

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

Question: Who is the sibling of the actress that played the little girl in Miracle on 34th street 1947?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:      Obviously, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett coarsened and cheapened the original play in rewriting it into an American situation and idiom  But Delbert Mann really lost it in his fumbling direction of the cast Reviewer Martin Russell of the San Francisco Examiner echoed similar sentiments: "It is a fine psychological drama, or so it appeared when Peter Shaffer's play came to San Francisco last year  Now the film version has arrived     and something has happened      The small additions and subtractions have made the picture barely identifiable with the original      [T]he movie characters seem to have diminished in depth and stature  You hardly care what happens to them      Daniel Mann's direction suggests that he knew what he was doing—the continuity and approach to individual scenes is fine—but at the same time it shows no grasp nor particular interest in the drama's fascinating undertones "However, critic Cyrus Durgin praised the film in his review for The Boston Globe: "'Five Finger Exercise,' on the screen as upon the stage, is theatrical enterprise of quality  It is good drama, well acted, and will appeal to those of serious tastes      [O]nce the drama of the family dissension begins to mount, so does the emotional temperature, and slowness and lack of visual variety do not seem to matter      'Five Finger Exercise' has style and polish in its progress of a disunited family toward understanding and more love  It is accordingly recommended—to the serious-minded "
Passage 11:
Light as a feather, stiff as a board
Light as a feather, stiff as a board is a game played by children at slumber parties  The phrase has also become established in popular culture as a reference to a levitation trick, and has been referred to in various media accounts  In performing magic this effect is known as abnormal lift 

Description
One participant lies flat on the floor, facing upwards  The others space themselves around that person, each placing one or two fingertips underneath the participant's limbs  The person closest to the head commonly begins by saying something like "She's looking ill", which is repeated several times, and followed by, "she's looking worse", which is also repeated several times  The general direction of the call-and-repeat describes how the person is looking worse and worse, followed by saying "she is dying", and, finally, "she is dead" 
Variations of the spoken part of the game occur  In a common, modern version, the person being lifted is told a story about their death and asked to imagine it happening to them  This is intended to unsettle the participants, and to convince them that something may have changed making it easier to lift the person than before 
All versions of the game end with the phrase "light as a feather, stiff as a board" chanted by those standing around the "dead" player as they attempt to lift their companion's body using only their fingertips  Some versions omit the story entirely and only the "light as a feather   " chant is used  After these repetitions, the person being lifted is described by the group as having become lighter or even entirely weightless 
Another variation of the game takes place with one person seated in a chair  Four volunteers agree to stand around the sitter, two on the sitter's left side and the other two on their right  Each of the four places two fingers under each corner of the chair's seat and the four together will attempt to lift the chair and sitter, which generally fails  The volunteers will then perform some small ritual, usually involving rubbing their hands together or circling the chair in various direction (counter-clockwise, walking backwards, etc ) After this ritual, the volunteers hold their hands over the sitter's head to "transfer" energy into the sitter, which will presumably make them weightless  The lifters then retry lifting the sitter the same way as before  Also, it can be that the lifters lift the person sitting in the chair; doing the rest of the ritual as so, but holding at the four main points of the body (under the knees on each side and under the shoulders) 

Explanation of the trick
The key to the trick is timing: each of the lifters must apply the lifting force at the same moment  When this is done, the weight of the subject is divided equally between each lifter, requiring each person to contribute only 12–20 kilograms (26–44 lb) of lift, to raise a 50–80-kilogram (110–176 lb) person If the trick is performed without synchronising the lift, it will fail: as participants attempt to lift at slightly different times, they are instead performing a series of lifts by smaller groups, resulting in a much heavier weight per person  This fact may be used as a deliberate form of misdirection from the person explaining the trick, first asking the group to "go ahead, try to lift" to show that it cannot be done, and then asking them to try again on the count of three, where it succeeds Some people who remember performing the trick as a child will have exaggerated their memory of the effect, recalling the performance as lifting the subject high into the air for some time, when in reality they would only have lifted them for a moment 

History
The oldest known account of levitation play comes from the diary of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), a British naval administrator  Pepys’s account of levitation play comes from a conversation with a friend of his, Mr  Brisband, who claimed to have seen four little girls playing light as a feather, stiff as a board in Bordeaux, France  Pepys’s account of Mr  Brisband’s experience reads:

He saw four little girls, very young ones, all kneeling, each of them, upon one knee; and one begun the first line, whispering in the ear of the next, and the second to the third, and the third to the fourth, and she to the first  Then the first begun the second line, and so round quite through, and putting each one finger only to a boy that lay flat upon his back on the ground, as if he was dead; at the end of the words, they did with their four fingers raise this boy high as they could reach, and he [Mr  Brisband] being there, and wondering at it, as also being afeared to see it, for they would have had him to have bore a part in saying the words, in the roome of one of the little girles that was so young that they could hardly make her learn to repeat the words, did, for feare there might be some sleight used in it by the boy, or that the boy might be light, call the cook of the 	house, a very lusty fellow, as Sir G  Carteret's cook, who is very big, and they did raise him in just the same manner 
Pepys also spoke of the chant that accompanied this performance 

The next recording of the game being played comes from The Magician’s Own Book (1857)  This account differs from that of Pepys, as it is a direct account of the game being played  Also, this account focuses on a different version of the game than the version played by the girls in Samuel Pepys’ account   In this account, the heaviest man at a party in Venice, Italy, sits in a chair, and is unable to be lifted by six other persons, initially  However, after coordinated hand-clapping and synchronized inhalations and exhalations, the man in the chair is able to be lifted on the forefingers of the six lifters The phenomenon has been observed into modern times, often being described as a form of spiritualism or seance and considered anathema by some religious groups   It is widely considered a simple spooky party game along the lines of Bloody Mary and the telling of ghost stories 
The game appears in the 1996 film The Craft, which follows the story of four high school students as they familiarize themselves with witchcraft and various arcane experiments—one of which is light as a feather, stiff as a board  In the movie, the four young women are seen performing the version of the game described in Samuel Pepys’ diary, which involves one participant lying down, while the others kneel around her  The teenagers chant “Light as a feather, stiff as a board,” several times before lifting the participant into the air  In the movie, special effects are used to show the person levitating above the hands of the lifters 
The game appears in the South Park episode "Marjorine", where Butters Stotch declares the other South Park Elementary girls, including Wendy Testaburger, "witches" for playing the game at a slumber party  Butters, as Marjorine, initially mistakes this for the girls "lezzing out" 

See also
Light as a Feather (TV series)

Footnotes
Sources
In-depth explanation of levitation including tricks from Answers com
Halloween is good clean fun October 30, 1998 Weekender Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) article for purchase link
Pajama game: Despite dramatic changes in culture and technology, girls' sleepovers have remained basically the same for generations by MaryEllen Fillo Hartford Courant Aug  30, 2005 article for purchase link
Samuel Pepys' diary highlights the experience during the London plague of 1665 as well as the Great Fire in 1666 
Levitation Revisited by Elizabeth Tucker explains the origins of the game and discusses some of its occult history \
The Magician's Own Book contains an entry on page 341-42 which describes an account of the game being played at a Venetian party 
The Craft (1996) Light as a feather, Stiff as a board scene 
Video example 1
Video example 2
Passage 12:
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U S -based department store chain Macy's  The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit (with both parades being four years younger than Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade)  The three-hour parade is held in Manhattan, ending outside Macy's Herald Square, takes place from 9:00 a m  to 12:00 p m  Eastern Standard Time on Thanksgiving Day, and has been televised nationally on NBC since 1953  The Parade's workforce is made up of Macy's employees and their friends and family, all of whom work as volunteers 

History
Early history
In 1924, store employees marched to Macy's Herald Square, the flagship store on 34th Street, dressed in vibrant costumes  There were floats, professional bands and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo  At the end of that first parade, Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square  At this first parade, Santa was enthroned on the Macy's balcony at the 34th Street store entrance, where he was then crowned "King of the Kiddies"  With an audience of over 250,000 people, the parade was such a success that Macy's declared it would become an annual event, despite media reports only barely covering the first parade The Macy's parade was enough of a success to push Ragamuffin Day, the typical children's Thanksgiving Day activity from 1870 into the 1920s, into obscurity  Ragamuffin Day featured children going around and performing a primitive version of trick-or-treating, a practice that by the 1920s had come to annoy most adults  The public backlash against such begging in the 1930s (when most Americans were struggling in the midst of the Great Depression) led to promotion of alternatives, including Macy's parade  While ragamuffin parades that competed with Macy's would continue into the 1930s, the competition from Macy's would overwhelm the practice, and the last ragamuffin parade in New York City would take place in 1956 Anthony "Tony" Frederick Sarg loved to work with marionettes from an early age  After moving to London to start his own marionette business, Sarg moved to New York City to perform with his puppets on the street  Macy's heard about Sarg's talents and asked him to design a window display of a parade for the store 

Growth and changes
Through the 1930s, the parade continued to grow, with crowds of over one million people lining the parade route in 1933  The first Mickey Mouse balloon entered the parade in 1934  The annual festivities were broadcast on local radio stations in New York City from 1932 to 1941 and resumed in 1945, running through 1951 The parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 as a result of World War II because rubber and helium were needed for the war effort  The parade resumed in 1945 and became known nationwide shortly afterwards, having been prominently featured in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, which included footage of the 1946 festivities  The event had its first broadcast on network television in 1948 (see § Television coverage)  From 1984 to 2019, the balloons were made by Raven Industries of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, through its Raven Aerostar division Since 1985, the parade was traditionally led by the New York City Police Department Highway Patrol  In 2019, the cast of Sesame Street led the parade in honor of the show's 50th anniversary 
Following an incident in 2005 where a balloon knocked over a street light and injured spectators (see § Injuries), new safety measures were incorporated in 2006 to prevent accidents and balloon-related injuries  One measure taken was the installation of wind measurement devices to alert parade organizers to any unsafe conditions that could cause the balloons to behave erratically  In addition, parade officials implemented a measure to keep the balloons closer to the ground during windy conditions  New York City law prohibits Macy's from flying the full-size balloons if sustained winds exceed 20 knots (23 mph) or wind gusts exceed 30 knots (35 mph); New York's tall buildings and mostly uniform grid plan can amplify wind velocity on city streets  This law, imposed in 1997, has never been activated, despite several close calls; the only time the parade balloons were ever grounded was in 1971  Each balloon has a risk profile to determine handling in windy conditions; taller, upright balloons are rotated to appear horizontal and face downward in such situations (as was the case in 2019, when a grounding was narrowly averted)  The remaining floats and performances will continue as scheduled should the balloons be grounded The 2018 parade was the coldest to date, with the temperature at 19 °F (-7 2 °C) during the event  The warmest was in 1933 at 69 °F (20 5 °C)  The 2006 parade was the wettest with 1 72" (49 mm) of rain  Actresses Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla's kiss during The Prom's performance at the 2018 parade received significant media attention for being the first broadcast of a same-sex kiss in the parade's history Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the 2020 parade was downsized and closed to the public—being filmed as a broadcast-only event in the Herald Square area  There were 88% fewer participants, and social distancing was enforced  The event did not include college and high school marching bands (with the affected bands having been reinvited for 2021), nor any participant under 18 years of age  Balloons were tethered to a "specially rigged anchor vehicle framework of five specialty vehicles" rather than carried by handlers  Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio stated that it will "[not be] a live parade, but something that will really give us that warmth and that great feeling we have on Thanksgiving day " In 2021, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade returned to its traditional in-person procession with 6,500 participants marching in the Parade 
The 2022 edition marks the first time that the parade was hosted entirely by women 

Balloons
The balloons were introduced in 1928, replacing live zoo animals  Sarg's large animal-shaped balloons were produced by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio from the 1920s through 1980  That year there was no procedure to deflate the balloons, and they were simply released  In 1928 five of the giant balloons were designed and filled with helium to rise above 2,000 feet (610 meters) and slowly deflate for whoever was lucky enough to capture the contestants in Macy's "balloon race[s]" and return them for a reward of $100 (equivalent to more than $1,600 with inflation as of 2021), this lasted until 1932 The balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade have had several varieties  The oldest is the novelty balloon class, consisting of smaller balloons ranging widely in size and handled by between one and thirty people (the smallest balloons are shaped like human heads and fit on the heads of the handlers)  The larger and more popular class is the character balloons, primarily consisting of licensed pop-culture characters; each of these (16 in 2019) is handled by exactly 90 people  From 2005 to 2012, a third balloon class, the "Blue Sky Gallery", transformed the works of contemporary artists into full-size balloons; after a five-year hiatus, the Blue Sky Gallery returned in 2018 

Balloons listed by year introduced
Character balloons
Novelty balloons
Blue Sky Gallery
Falloon
A falloon, a portmanteau of "float" and "balloon", is a float-based balloon  They were introduced in 1986 

Balloonicle
A balloonicle, a portmanteau of "balloon" and "vehicle", is a self-powered balloon vehicle  They were introduced in 2004 

Floalloonicle
A "floalloonicle", a portmanteau of "float", "balloon" and "vehicle", is a self-powered balloon vehicle structured around a float  They were introduced in 2021 

Heritage Balloon
"Heritage Balloons" are mid-sized helium balloons that have a sponsor other than Macy's  They were introduced in 2016 

Performers and acts
In addition to the well-known balloons and floats, the parade also features live music and other performances  College and high school marching bands from across the country participate in the parade  The television broadcasts feature performances by established and up-and-coming singers and bands  The Rockettes of Radio City Music Hall are a classic performance (having performed annually since 1957 as the last pre-parade act to perform, followed by a commercial break), as are cheerleaders and dancers chosen by the National Cheerleaders Association from various high schools across the country  The parade always concludes with the arrival of Santa Claus to ring in the Christmas and holiday season (except for the 1932 parade, when Santa led the parade)  Since 2017, the Macy's Singing Christmas Tree choir precedes Santa Claus as the final performer of the parade 
On the NBC telecast from in front of the flagship Macy's store on Broadway and 34th Street, the marching bands perform live music  Most "live" performances by musicals and individual artists lip-sync to the studio, soundtrack or cast recordings of their songs, due to the technical difficulties of attempting to sing into a wireless microphone while in a moving vehicle (performers themselves typically perform on the floats); the NBC-flagged microphones used by performers on floats are almost always non-functioning props  Although rare, recent parade broadcasts have featured at least one live performance with no use of recorded vocals 

Featured performers
Broadway shows
Every year, cast members from some Broadway shows (usually shows that debuted that year) perform either in the parade or immediately preceding the parade in front of Macy's and before The Rockettes' performance (since NBC broadcasts the parade's start, the performances are shown during the wait for the parade itself)  The 2007 parade was notable as it took place during a strike by the I A T S E  (a stagehands' union)  Legally Blonde, the one performing musical affected by the strike, performed in show logo shirts, with makeshift props and no sets  The other three shows that year performed in theaters that were not affected by the strike 

Marching bands
Special guests
For the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in 2011, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade invited family members from Tuesday's Children (a nonprofit organization that benefits families directly impacted by terrorism) to cut the ribbon at the start of the parade with NBC's Al Roker and led the parade with Amy Kule, the Parade's executive producer 

Television coverage
More than 44 million people typically watch the parade on television on an annual basis  It was first televised locally in New York City in 1939 as an experimental broadcast on NBC's W2XBS (now WNBC)  No television stations broadcast the parade in 1940 or 1941, but local broadcasts resumed when the parade returned in 1945 after the wartime suspension  The parade began its network television appearances on CBS in 1948, the year that major, regular television network programming began  NBC has been the official broadcaster of the event since 1953  However, CBS (which has a studio in Times Square) also carries unauthorized coverage as The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS  The parade committee can endorse an official broadcaster as the parade takes place in public (however, they cannot award exclusive rights as other events, such as sporting events, which take place inside restricted-access stadiums, have the authority to do so)  The rerouting of the parade starting from 2012 (see below) moved the parade out of the view of CBS's cameras and thus made it significantly more difficult for the network to cover the parade  However, the route now passes along the west side of the network's Black Rock headquarters building along Sixth Avenue (with the hosts stationed on a temporary tower platform at the Sixth/W  53rd St  corner of the building), and CBS nevertheless continues to cover the parade as before 
Since 2003, the parade has been broadcast in Spanish on the sister network of NBCUniversal (Telemundo) hosted by María Celeste Arrarás from 2003 to 2006  The parade won nine Emmy Awards for outstanding achievements in special event coverage since 1979  Since 2020, the parade also provided audio description via a second audio program channel At first, the telecasts were only an hour long  The telecast then expanded to two hours in 1961, reduced to 90 minutes in 1962, reverted to two hours in 1965, and expanded to all three hours of the parade in 1969  The event began to be broadcast in color in 1960  NBC airs the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade live in the Eastern Time Zone as well as Puerto Rico and the U S  Virgin Islands, as the network uses broadcast feeds from that time zone (which due to time differences starts at 10:00 a m  AST), but tape delays the telecast elsewhere in the continental U S  and territories from the Central Time Zone westward to allow the program to air in the same 9:00 a m  to 12:00 p m  timeslot across its owned-and-operated and affiliated stations (except for Guam, which airs it the day after Thanksgiving at 9:00 a m  local time, as the territory is located west of the International Date Line and therefore a day ahead from the rest of the United States); since the morning program's expansion to three hours in 2000 (it eventually expanded to four hours in 2007), NBC's Today only airs for two hours on Thanksgiving morning, pre-empting the last two talk-focused hours of the show for the day  NBC began airing a same-day afternoon rebroadcast of the parade in 2009 (replacing the annual broadcast of Miracle on 34th Street, which NBC had lost the broadcast television rights to that year)  CBS's unauthorized coverage airs live in most time zones, allowing viewers to see the parade as much as two hours before the official NBC coverage airs in their area; CBS still broadcasts the parade on delay on the West Coast, immediately after the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving game in even-numbered years when CBS carries it, or at 9:00 a m  local time in odd-numbered years when they carry the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving game From 1963 to 1972, NBC's coverage was hosted by Lorne Greene (who was then appearing on NBC's Bonanza) and Betty White  David Hartman and Karen Grassle hosted the parade in 1974, With Ed McMahon serving as a man on the street host, He would become a main host in 1977, until 1981  Since 1982, NBC has appointed at least one of the hosts of Today to emcee the television broadcast, starting with Bryant Gumbel, who hosted the parade until 1984  From 1987 to 1997, NBC's coverage was hosted by longtime Today weather anchor Willard Scott  During that period, their co-hosts included Mary Hart, Sandy Duncan, and Today colleagues Deborah Norville and Katie Couric  In recent years, NBC's coverage has been hosted by Today anchors Matt Lauer (from 1998 to 2017), Meredith Vieira (from 2006 to 2010), Ann Curry (2011), Savannah Guthrie (since 2012) and Hoda Kotb (since 2018) as well as Today weather anchor Al Roker who usually joins the producers of the parade or the CEO of Macy's and special guests in the ribbon cutting ceremony  In 2022, Dylan Dreyer filled in for Roker, who was recovering due to health complications involving blood clots, while Kotb hosted the ribbon cutting ceremony segment when the parade reached Herald Square, rather than when it usually takes place in the Upper West Side 
From the early 1970s until 1993, the television broadcast was produced and directed by Dick Schneider; since 1994, it has been executive produced by Brad Lachman (who has otherwise been known for producing reality television series), produced by Bill Bracken and directed by veteran sitcom director Gary Halvorson  Announcements during the telecast were first provided by Bill McCord, then followed in succession by Bill Wendell, Lynda Lopez (the telecast's only female announcer), and longtime Saturday Night Live and NBC staff announcer Don Pardo; from circa 2000 to 2010, announcer duties were helmed by Joel Godard (who also served as the announcer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien for much of that period), and then were assumed by Today announcer Les Marshak with the 2011 telecast  Milton DeLugg served as the telecast's music director until his death in 2015 
CBS's coverage was originally part of the All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade, a broadcast that included footage from multiple parades across North America, including parades at Detroit, Philadelphia and Disneyland (the latter was later replaced by Opryland USA in 1997 and after that Miami Beach), and taped footage of the Toronto Santa Claus Parade (taped usually the second or third weekend of November) and the Aloha Floral Parade in Honolulu (which usually took place in September)  Beginning in 2004, however, CBS has focused exclusively on the Macy's parade, but avoids using the Macy's name due to the lack of an official license  To compensate for the fact that the Broadway and music performances can only appear on NBC, CBS adds their own pre-recorded performances (also including Broadway shows, although different from the ones that are part of the official parade and recorded off-site) to fill out the special  With the lack of a live parade for 2020, CBS aired The CBS Thanksgiving Day Celebration—which was hosted by Kevin Frazier and Keltie Knight of Entertainment Tonight, and featured highlights and new performances For the 1997 parade, MTV guest reporters, Beavis and Butt-head, with host Kurt Loder, provided their usual style of commentary on aspects of the parade, and of their take on Thanksgiving in general  The special, titled Beavis and Butt-head Do Thanksgiving, included a balloon of Beavis and Butt-head spectating from their couch  The balloon was not participating in the parade, but stationed on top of a building alongside the parade route 
Radio coverage is provided by Audacy's WINS (1010 AM) in New York City  It is one of the few times throughout the year in which that station breaks away from its all-news radio format 
From 2016 to 2019, Verizon produced a 360-degree virtual reality live telecast of the parade, with minimal commentary, made available through YouTube  The 2019 edition, produced in cooperation with NBC, had more extensive production, adding hosts Terry Crews, Lilly Singh and Ross Matthews, also adding "virtual balloons" generated through viewers' votes  Verizon's simulcast of the 2020 event ran in a traditional flat, single-perspective format, and was the very first to be broadcast internationally, not just in the United States, thru Verizon's and Macy's YouTube and Twitter handles  Verizon did not simulcast the 2021 event in either format 
The first ever live international broadcast of the parade occurred in 2020, when Philippine cable television channel TAP TV became the first foreign-based broadcaster to air the parade's live telecast  Before that, the broadcasts were delayed and aired on Black Friday on what is now CNN Philippines until 2013  In addition, delayed broadcasts are aired to United States military installations overseas thru American Forces Network hours following the original U S  broadcast 

Current hosts
Savannah Guthrie (2012–present)
Hoda Kotb (2018–present)
Al Roker (1995–2021)
Dylan Dreyer (2022)

Past hosts
Parade route
The Parade has always taken place in Manhattan  The parade originally started from 145th Street in Harlem and ended at Macy's flagship in Herald Square (at the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue, and 34th Street), making a 6-mile (9 7 km) route In the 1930s, the balloons were inflated around 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, near the Cathedral of St  John the Divine  The parade proceeded south on Amsterdam Avenue to 106th Street and turned east  At Columbus Avenue, the balloons had to be lowered to go under the Ninth Avenue El  Past the El tracks, the parade proceeded east on 106th Street to Central Park West and turned south to terminate at Macy's flagship 
A new route was established for the 2009 parade  From 77th Street and Central Park West, the route went south along Central Park to Columbus Circle, then east along Central Park South  The parade would then make a right turn at 7th Avenue and go south to Times Square  At 42nd Street, the parade turned left and went east, then at 6th Avenue turned right again at Bryant Park  Heading south on 6th Avenue, the parade turned right at 34th Street (at Herald Square) and proceeded west to the terminating point at 7th Avenue where the floats are taken down  The 2009 route change eliminated Broadway completely, where the parade has traveled down for decades  The City of New York said that the new route would provide more space for the parade, and more viewing space for spectators  Another reason for implementing the route change is the city's subsequent transformation of Broadway into a pedestrian-only zone at Times Square Another new route was introduced with the 2012 parade  This change is similar to the 2009 route, but eliminated Times Square altogether, instead going east from Columbus Circle along Central Park South, then south on Sixth Avenue to Herald Square Balloon teams race through Columbus Circle due to higher winds in this flat area, making it an unsuitable observation location  New York City officials preview the parade route and try to eliminate as many potential obstacles as possible, including rotating overhead traffic signals out of the way  Viewing is restricted from 38th Street through the end of the parade route, as this area is used for the NBC telecast 

Injuries
On November 25, 1993, strong gusts of wind pushed the Sonic the Hedgehog balloon into a lamppost at Columbus Circle  The lamppost damaged the balloon and the top of the post broke off while inside the balloon, dragging it down, injuring a child and an off-duty police officer in the process On November 27, 1997, very high winds pushed the Cat in the Hat balloon into a lamppost  The falling debris struck a parade-goer, fracturing her skull and leaving her in a coma for a month  Balloon size regulations were implemented the next year, eliminating larger balloons such as the Cat in the Hat On November 24, 2005, the M&M's balloon collided with a streetlight in Times Square; parts of the light fell on two sisters, who suffered minor injuries  As a result, new safety rules were introduced  The M&M's balloon was retired in 2006 

Similar parades
Other American cities also have parades held on Thanksgiving, none of which are run by Macy's  The nation's oldest Thanksgiving parade (the Gimbels parade, which has had many sponsors over the years, and is now known as the 6abc Dunkin' Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade) was first held in Philadelphia in 1920  Other cities with parades on the holiday include the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, Illinois and parades in Plymouth, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Fountain Hills, Arizona  There is also a second Thanksgiving balloon parade within the New York metropolitan area, the UBS balloon parade in Stamford, Connecticut, located 30 miles (48 km) away; that parade is held the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so as not to compete with the parade in New York City  It usually does not duplicate any balloon characters  The Celebrate the Season Parade, held the last Saturday in November in Pittsburgh, was sponsored by Macy's from 2006 to 2013 after Macy's bought the Kaufmann's store chain that had sponsored that parade prior to 2006 

Universal's Holiday Parade Featuring Macy's
Since 2002, Macy's Studios has partnered with the Universal Orlando Resort (owned by NBC parent NBCUniversal) to bring balloons and floats from New York City to the theme park in Florida every holiday season in an event known as the Macy's Holiday Parade  The parade is performed daily and includes the iconic Santa Claus float  Performers from the Orlando area are cast as various clowns, and the park used to invite guests to be "balloon handlers" for the parade  In 2017, the Macy's Holiday Parade was renamed to Universal's Holiday Parade Featuring Macy's  In 2020, as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the parade could not be run  Instead, a walkthrough experience known as Universal's Holiday Experience Featuring Macy's Balloons took place throughout the holiday season, displaying various floats and balloons that would normally be seen in the parade 

In popular culture
The 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, begins with the parade, as do most of its remakes  The film portrays the real Santa Claus being hired to work at Macy's after its own Santa impersonator gets drunk during the parade  NBC, in its telecasts, often showed the original 1947 film on Thanksgiving afternoon, following its coverage of the parade and the National Dog Show 
The 1984 film Broadway Danny Rose features a sequence in which Danny (Woody Allen) and Tina (Mia Farrow) are chased into a warehouse containing Parade materials and helium gas supplies; near the end of the film we see Tina at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade itself  It is the 1982 Parade, in which we briefly see Sammy Davis, Jr  Milton Berle, who has a small guest role in the film playing himself, was also featured in the Parade, but is not seen in this sequence 
In the Seinfeld episode "The Mom and Pop Store", Elaine wins a spot on the parade route for her boss, Mr  Pitt, to hold the Woody Woodpecker balloon 
The first Thanksgiving-themed episode of Friends centered on the accidental release of the (unused at the time) "Underdog" balloon 
The parade is featured in the children's book We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story and its animated film adaptation where Rex mistakenly befriends a dinosaur balloon 
"Macy's Day Parade" is a song by Green Day 
In 2008, a Coca-Cola CGI ad aired in the United States during Super Bowl XLII  The commercial's plot centered around Underdog and fictional Stewie Griffin balloons chasing a Coke bottle-shaped balloon through New York City  The spot ended with a Charlie Brown balloon holding the Coke balloon  The advertisement won a Silver Lion Award at the annual Lions International Advertising Festival in Cannes, France, that year, and the clip of the commercial with the Griffin balloon was featured in a Macy's commercial in October 2008 (along with clips from Miracle on 34th Street, I Love Lucy, Seinfeld and other media where Macy's was mentioned)  The commercial was also referenced in an episode of Family Guy  Stewie, one of its main characters, is seen watching the parade only to see the balloon of himself in the parade 
In the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters, the Ghostbusters fight a haunted balloon parade including several Macy's balloons from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s 

See also
Santa Claus parades
List of Christmas and holiday season parades
Passage 13:
Tora Suber
Tora Suber (born November 23, 1974) is a former professional basketball player who played for the Charlotte Sting and Orlando Miracle in the WNBA  She played a total of 83 games 

High school
Suber and Tina Nicholson were teammates at Downingtown High School in the early 1990s  Suber graduated in 1993  In total she recorded 2,420 career points and helped the team win four District 1 titles and two state crowns 

WNBA Career
On April 28, 1997, Suber was selected with the 7th overall pick of the 1997 WNBA Draft by the Charlotte Sting  Her debut game was played on June 22, 1997 in a 59 - 76 loss to the Phoenix Mercury where she recorded 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals  Suber would play her rookie and sophomore seasons as a member of the Sting, playing in 58 games, scoring a total of 321 points, 142 assists and 95 rebounds  She was waived by the Sting on May 29, 1999 After being waived by the Sting, Suber would go on to play her 3rd season with the Orlando Miracle  However, she had a significantly less role and although she played in 25 games, she only averaged 4 6 minutes per game and averaged 0 8 points 

Unsuccessful WNBA Comeback Attempts
After playing the 1999 season with the Miracle, Suber would never play in the WNBA again, but she did sign multiple contracts for teams in the early 2000's  One of those teams coincidentally being the Orlando Miracle  Suber would sign with the Miracle on May 3, 2001 but would get waived 8 days later on May 11, 2001  Since she missed out on the 2001 season, Suber would try her luck again in the 2002 WNBA season by signing with the Houston Comets, even participating in the team's Media Day on April 29, 2002  Unfortunately, she would never play a game for the Comets and would be waived on May 8, 2002 
Two years later in April 2004, Suber tried another comeback by signing once again with the Houston Comets as a free agent  However, she was waived a few weeks later on May 9, 2004Due to her 2001, 2002 and 2004 comebacks not coming to fruition, Suber's final WNBA game was the last game of the 1999 season as a member of the Miracle  That game was played on August 21, 1999 in a 68 - 74 loss to the Detroit Shock where Suber only played for 13 seconds  This game was also the final career game of fellow 1997 WNBA Draftee Wanda Guyton, who was a member of the Shock 

Personal life
Suber was born prematurely to a 15-year-old mother  She earned a bachelor's degree in English literature at Virginia 

Career statistics
Regular season
Playoffs



ground_truth: Lana Wood