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:
Nickelodeon (film)
Nickelodeon is a 1976 comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and stars Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds and Tatum O'Neal  According to Bogdanovich, the film was based on true stories told to him by silent film directors Allan Dwan and Raoul Walsh  It was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival 

Plot
In 1914, Leo Harrigan (Ryan O'Neal) goes from being a lawyer to a writer and then to a film director while having problems, such as being hopelessly smitten with Kathleen Cooke 
While directing a scene of his friend Buck rising in a balloon, Kathleen gets trapped in a rope and is hoisted in a most undignified manner  They keep filming, including the balloon crashing onto a moving train  As the footage is excellent, they incorporate it into the film and rewrite the story to fit  Kathleen therefore accidentally becomes the leading lady 
Due to Kathleen's life being saved by Buck in the balloon they are now engaged  After shooting a scene where they get married they drive off to really wed 
When they go to a small town nickelodeon, they are surprised to see a film Tuttle's Muddle which is a spliced version of the ten films which they have made to date  Their attitude changes when the audience follow them, recognising them as the stars of the film  The group are offered a contract by Atlantic Pictures who are relocating to the Pacific and they all head to Hollywood 
Leo moves from New Jersey to California to keep one step ahead of the Motion Picture Patents Company, which is out to destroy any non-authorized equipment violating the Edison Trust  Leo finally settles in with other filmmakers in Hollywoodland, California, and makes a series of dramatic, romantic, and comedic shorts as throwaways 
While initially believing movies are just a brief flickering kind of entertainment, Leo and the crew are profoundly affected when they go to see the 1915 world premiere of D  W  Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, which transforms the motion picture industry  The film gets a standing ovation and Leo is left feeling inadequate  After the film, they re-encounter Cobb who speaks to camera enthusing about what the cinema can bring  He wants Leo to make a film about the war, getting "what war?" in response 

Cast
Ryan O'Neal as Leo Harrigan
Burt Reynolds as Buck Greenway
Tatum O'Neal as Alice Forsyte
Jane Hitchcock as Kathleen Cooke
Brian Keith as H H  Cobb
Stella Stevens as Marty Reeves
John Ritter as Franklin Frank
Brion James as Bailiff
Sidney Armus as Judge
Joe Warfield as Defence Attorney
Lorenzo Music as Mullins
Jeffrey Byron as Steve
Priscilla Pointer as Mabel
Philip Bruns as Duncan
Frank Marshall as Dinsdale's Assistant
Harry Carey, Jr  as Dobie
James Best as Jim
George Gaynes as Reginald Kingsley
M  Emmet Walsh as 'Father' Logan
Miriam Byrd-Nethery as Aunt Lula
Les Josephson as Nickelodeon Bouncer
Griffin O'Neal as Boy On A Bicycle
Hamilton Camp as Blacker
Elaine Partnow as Movie Fanatic

Production
Screenplay
In his memoirs, Irwin Winkler says he wanted to make a movie about the silent film era  He took the idea to W D  Richter, with whom he had worked a number of times, and Richter agreed to write the project on "spec" for the producers (Winkler's producing partner was Bob Chartoff)  Richter's final script was called Starlight Parade, and attracted interest from United Artists and Columbia  David Begelman at Columbia suggested Peter Bogdanovich as director Winkler later stated:

He made David come to his office and wait until the receptionist said: 'Mr  Bogdanovich will see you now ' As soon as we came inside, we were very haughtily told that he thought the script was a piece of [garbage]  I'd been around long enough to know that I should take that as a bad sign  I remember coming out of the meeting, saying, 'David, why should we make the movie with someone who hates our script?' And all David said was, 'Hey, he's a genius '     What he filmed had nothing to do with the original script  I know it meant a lot to Peter to have all of the authentic stories about the silent period in the film, but Rick's script, authentic or not, was terrific  It was just a great drama  By the time Peter was done with it, it was authentic, but it wasn't dramatic anymore  Peter hadn't really experienced any failure yet —  we hired him before At Long Last Love had come out - so he was easily the most arrogant person I'd ever met in the business, before or since  When we shot the picture, he actually directed some of the scenes on horseback  When I asked him why he was on horseback, he said: "Because that's the way John Ford did it '"
Bogdanovich has an alternative version:

I should have never gotten involved, I should have done it myself  I'd been planning to do a big picture about the silent era, largely based on the interviews with Dwan, Walsh and McCarey  I was preparing it and I got a call from my agent and she said they're preparing a movie called Starlight Parade, there's another director involved but they want you  I said, "Well, I don't really want to do their script, I'll have to rewrite it completely " "They'll let you rewrite it, whatever you want " Basically I rewrote the whole damn thing and never used any of Starlight Parade  The trouble was, again, the picture had a balance between comedy and drama and it was a comedy-drama, no question about it, and I had wanted to do it in black and white  It was very important to do it in black and white and Columbia, the studio, wouldn't let me  I had a big fight about that and they cancelled the picture  Then Barry Spikings at British-Lion came in and funded some of the picture, threw in a few million dollars  It ended up being a Columbia-British Lion picture and but when it was all done it was a difficult picture 
The movie's title was eventually changed to Nickelodeon 

Casting
Bogdanovich said his original choices for the leads were Jeff Bridges, John Ritter, Cybill Shepherd and Orson Welles  However Columbia Pictures head David Begelman refused and Burt Reynolds and Ryan O'Neal were cast in the leads  He also refused to let Bogdanovich's then-girlfriend Shepherd in the female lead out of fear of a public backlash against her, following the poor box office performance of Daisy Miller and At Long Last Love  Brian Keith played the part Bogdanovich wanted Welles to play  (He later said he was going to play it at one stage ) Of Bogdanovich's original picks for the leads, only Ritter was cast, in a smaller role, as cameraman Franklin Frank in what would be the first of three collaborations between him and Bogdanovich (the other two being 1981's They All Laughed, and 1992's Noises Off )
"The character I play     is a sort of a Gary Cooper with a little Buster Keaton thrown in", said Reynolds  "I do a lot of pratfalls and fall into things  He's a very shy, sweet, and likeable character  This is a first for me  The part that I would normally play is being played by Ryan O'Neal  He's a fast talking guy trying to become a big success  Peter wrote the film for Ryan O'Neal and me; he sees me [in real life] as that shy guy "Tatum O'Neal, who had won an Oscar appearing in Paper Moon with her father and Bogdanovich, joined the supporting cast 
The fees for Reynolds and O'Neal were around $750,000, and Tatum O'Neal was $350,000  This caused the budget to increase and Columbia cancelled the film 
"This film is not over and done with", said Richter in November 1975  "What it comes down to is a power struggle over the budget  Columbia wants an enormous hunk cut out of it and I think if we can cut if they will make the film  By its very nature it is an expensive project  Why the studio brought this to is another question  Maybe it is the beginning of an attempt to start cutting back stars' prices  I think it is criminal to have to shorten the film just to pay a kings ransom to stars  You end up in debt before you begin "Extra finance was obtained by British Lion and it was announced that filming would proceed  "We have worked out 99% of the problems and expect to work out 100% of the creative differences", said David Begelman in December 1975 Columbia provided $6 million, British Lion $2 million  The director's fee was $700,000, $500,000 of which was held as a completion guarantee Bogdanovich later said the film "didn't have to cost half as much as it did  The producers insisted it be bigger and I fought but I finally had to accept what they wanted "

Shooting
"The whole idea was to capture the era, since obviously the original films were shot in black and white", Bogdanovich says  "My cinematographer, Laszlo Kovacs, carefully lit everything to accommodate black-and-white, which is why the lighting looks so good  We used a lot of the techniques of the silent era, irising in and out of scenes  There are no opticals at all in the film  But all the studio wanted was another broad comedy like What's Up, Doc? "During filming, Burt Reynolds collapsed on set one day  Doctors could not figure out what was wrong with him and the film had to be postponed for two weeks while he recovered  The film went over schedule and over budget and Bogdanovich had to forfeit his $500,000 "I just had a smaller picture in mind", said the director later  "Both Burt Reynolds and Ryan were good in it, and Jane Hitchcock was good but she didn't have any threat about her "Ryan O'Neal had made two pictures previously with Bogdanovich but said Nickelodeon was a "terrible experience" and that Bogdanovich "began no longer using writers     Orson Welles quit one week before he was to appear in the film     Bogdanovich rewrote what originally was a tough little script about Hollywood into a farcical series of precious little jokes  I tried to get out of the picture  I told him, 'Peter we had a good script but you changed it  You're locked up there in your house  You've got to get out and regain the gritty edge you showed in Last Picture Show  But he never did "Reynolds and his stunt man Hal Needham had an unhappy experience making the film  They later made the film Hooper which featured a pretentious film director based on Bogdanovich 

Post-production
Winkler says when he saw a rough cut of the final film he thought it was "atrocious     for Peter to blame the movie's failure on the casting and not being in black-and-white is a really terrible excuse for a guy who simply screwed up a really terrific script "

Reception
For the Los Angeles premiere, all guests (and some critics) paid five cents to see the movie in honor of the film and early Hollywood ticket prices  However, the movie was unsuccessful at the box office, and was Bogdanovich's third flop in a row, after Daisy Miller and At Long Last Love (the latter of which was also an attempt to revive an older style of film making) 
Bogdanovich reminisced in 2004:

The previews were edgy and the studio wanted me to take most of the drama out, play it more comedy and turn it more into a What's Up Doc?, which it really wasn't  So that threw it off and it got fucked up  Again, the picture came out not at all the way I wanted  I tried to recut that one and I couldn't get back to it  There's about five minutes I'd like to put back that really makes a difference, some heavy stuff where you find out that Ryan O'Neal has an affair with Stella Stevens, it becomes very clear, and you see that John Ritter knows it, all that stuff  It was just much heavier and darker  So the picture got screwed up and that's why I took three years off and went away 
Bogdanovich blamed the studio for poor marketing 

I couldn't seem to get anything across to them  I felt like I was talking into a void  When you've had a few successes you can say the stupidest things in the world and people will think it's clever  When you've had a few flops, you can say something perfectly reasonable and they look at you as if they had no idea what you are talking about 
As for Richter;

After it became clear the picture was a failure, the most amazing thing happened: I got more job offers than ever before in my life  People seemed so mad at Peter that they were eager to make excuses for me and help me out  And they all wanted to hear about working with him 

After making the film, Bogdanovich felt he had compromised so much he took three years off directing, before returning with Saint Jack (1979) 
Among contemporary reviews from critics, Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and called it "a curiously flat movie  It functions like clockwork and it looks right, but it doesn't feel like much  The laughs are telegraphed, the actors are lifeless (with the exception of Burt Reynolds), and the movie does an abrupt turnabout, from comedy to elegy, about two-thirds of the way through " Richard Eder of The New York Times called the film "two hours and two minutes of impersonations  Some of them are very good impersonations—deft and funny—but they lack a life to string them together " Arthur D  Murphy of Variety called it "an okay comedy-drama about the early days of motion pictures  Recreating a cultural era in terms of some of its artistic forms and cliches emerges as an uneven dramatic device though it sometimes works " Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four and wrote that it "really bogs down with incessantly inept pratfall comedy" and "is successful only when it captures the innocence of the period " Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "In the first part of the film O'Neal, Reynolds and Miss Hitchcock often seem merely silly as they carry on like the exaggerated characters in their own movies  Alas, the effect is to make the latter portion of the movie unduly static and drawn out in comparison to its frenetic beginning  However, the more aware one is of what Bogdanovich is trying to do and the more knowledgeable one is about the era he is trying to evoke, the more enjoyable the movie  Indeed, 'Nickelodeon' is most affecting for the cineaste, and its culminating tribute to D  W  Griffith as the screen's first great artist brings tears to the eyes " Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that while Bogdanovich's new film was not quite a disaster on par with his previous flop At Long Last Love, "this elaborate, rambling and ultimately tedious period comedy about the pioneering years of the movie business in Hollywood does not lack for crippling deficiencies, miscalculations and self-indulgences "Critic John Simon called the film "a sanity test: anyone who catches himself laughing at any of it at this late date should seriously consider committing himself to the nearest mental hospital even though in his case a cure is hardly to be hoped for "As of March 2022, the film holds a rating of 8% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 4 7 out of 10 

Alternative versions
The 2009 DVD release includes a 125-minute "Director's Cut" in black and white  "There's nothing to distract you", said Bogdanovich, "Ryan's blond hair and blue eyes don't distract you, and you focus on the action in an easier way  That's why the funniest movies ever made were silent comedies—Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin  It focuses the attention in a different way, and color is distracting for that sort of thing "
Passage 2:
Saturday Night Live (season 5)
The fifth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 13, 1979, and May 24, 1980 

Cast
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi left the show at the end of season 4, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end of the late-night sketch comedy show  
To keep the show going, Lorne Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to featured cast member status: Peter Aykroyd (Dan's brother), Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill's brother), Don Novello (also credited as Father Guido Sarducci), Tom Schiller and Alan Zweibel  Band leader Paul Shaffer also joined the cast, becoming the first person from the SNL band to become a cast member  Harry Shearer joined the show as a featured cast member and was promoted to repertory status during the season 
This season was the first to have two members of the same family as cast members (Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray) 
This would be the final season for everyone in the cast  Tom Davis and Jim Downey would return to the show in future seasons as writers  Al Franken, Brian Doyle-Murray, Don Novello and Harry Shearer would rejoin the cast in future seasons (Al Franken would also return as a writer) 

Cast roster
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Featured cast members announced and shown during the "Opening Introductions" varied from week to week, as noted below in each episode's description 

Writers
As previously mentioned, Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to cast member status, including Aykroyd, Downey, Doyle-Murray, Novello, Schiller and Zweibel  Doyle-Murray would be the only one to return, as a writer, in the following season 
This season's writers were Peter Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Al Franken, Tom Gammill, Lorne Michaels, Matt Neuman, Don Novello, Sarah Paley, Max Pross, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Harry Shearer, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel  The head writer was Herb Sargent 

Episodes
Home media
SNL's fifth season was released on DVD on December 1, 2009  There are no plans to release any further seasons 
Passage 3:
Peter Green Splinter Group (album)
Peter Green Splinter Group is an album by the British blues band of the same name, led by Peter Green  Released in 1997, this was their first album, and the comeback album for Green, who had been out of the music business for around 10 years  Green was the founder of Fleetwood Mac and a member of that group from 1967–70, before a sporadic solo career during the late 1970s and early 1980s 
Mostly recorded live on a tour of the UK, the album consisted of covers of blues songs 

Track listing
"Hitch Hiking Woman" (Black Ace) – 3:46 (studio recording)
"Travelling Riverside Blues" (Robert Johnson) – 3:26 (studio recording)
"Look on Yonder Wall" (Elmore James) – 6:26
"Homework" (Dave Clark, Al Perkins) – 3:56
"The Stumble" (Freddie King, Sonny Thompson) – 4:22
"Help Me" (Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Dixon, Ralph Bass) – 5:47
"Watch Your Step" (Bobby Parker) – 3:51
"From 4' Till Late" (Johnson) – 2:55
"Steady Rollin' Man" (Johnson) – 3:41
"It Takes Time" (Otis Rush) – 5:06
"Dark End Of The Street" (Dan Penn, Chips Moman) – 3:59
"Going Down" (Don Nix) – 7:43The album incorrectly lists the composer of track 4 as Otis Rush  Rush was the first person to record the song in 1962, but did not compose it 

Japanese issue bonus track
"The Green Manalishi" (Peter Green)

Personnel
Peter Green Splinter Group
Peter Green – guitars, vocals
Nigel Watson – guitars, vocals
Cozy Powell – drums
Neil Murray – bass guitar
Spike Edney – keyboards

Technical
Tim Summerhayes, Robin Black, Ian Dyekhoff – engineers
Spike Edney – remix engineer at Blackbarn Studios
Al at Spot On – design
Will Riley of Underworld – logo
Passage 4:
Jean Desessard
Jean Desessard (born 6 September 1952) is a French politician and a former member of the Senate of France  He represented Paris and is a member of Europe Ecology – The Greens 
Passage 5:
Cassata
Cassata or cassata siciliana ( kə-SAH-tə, Italian: [kasˈsaːta sitʃiˈljaːna], Sicilian: [ka(s)ˈsaːta sɪʃɪˈljaːna]) is a traditional cake from Sicily, Italy  Cassata is typically composed of a round sponge cake moistened with fruit juices or liqueur and layered with ricotta cheese and candied fruit (a filling also used with cannoli)  Cassata has a shell of marzipan, pink and green coloured icing, and decorative designs  Cassata may also refer to a Neapolitan ice cream containing candied or dried fruit and nuts 

Origin
Cassata is believed to have originated in Palermo in the 10th century, when under Muslim rule  The word al-qaššāṭī – القشاطي (Arabic for 'the cassata-maker') – was first mentioned in Corleone in 1178 The Arabic word qas'ah, from which cassata may derive, refers to the bowl that is used to shape the cake 

Variations
Unlike the round, traditional shape some cassata are made in the form of a rectangle, square, or box  The word "box" in Italian is cassa, although it is unlikely that the word cassata originated from this term Cassata Catanese, as it is often prepared in the Sicilian province of Catania, is made similar to a pie, containing a top and bottom crust, filled with ricotta, and baked in the oven 

The Cassatella di sant'Agata (pl  cassatelle)—colloquially named Minni di Vergini, meaning "virgin breasts"—is a similar dessert, but made in a smaller, personal-serving size,  with a candied cherry on top, and often a specifically green-coloured marzipan  It is typically made in Catania for the festival of Saint Agatha  The allusion to the female breast relates the specific torture Saint Agatha faced as a Catholic martyr When a cassata is made, layers of gelato (Italian ice cream) can be substituted for the layers of cheese, producing a dessert similar to an ice cream cake  The version of the recipe followed in Messina is less sweet than the one used in Palermo 
"Cassata" can also refer to a flavor of ice-cream inspired by the sweet 

United States
In Cleveland, Ohio and the surrounding region, the term "Cassata Cake" uniquely refers to a layered yellow sponge cake soaked in rum or rum syrup, filled with fresh strawberries and custard, and usually decorated with whipped cream and sliced strawberries  
This Cleveland version of the Cassata Cake first appeared in the early 1920s at LaPuma Spumoni & Bakery in Cleveland  The children of the owners did not like traditional cassata cake, made with sweetened ricotta and candied fruit  Using what he had in the bakery, Tomasso LaPuma created what was to become known as the Cleveland Cassata Cake  The fifth generation of this bakery, now located in the city's eastern suburb of Chesterland, still continues to make the original version of this cake, as do many other Italian bakeries in the area  The layered cake is served for special occasions such as weddings and large family events  Some local specialty bakers or restaurants, including several in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood, sell Cassata Cake by the slice or have adapted the cake to be sold with ingredients layered with in a jar to-go 

See also
Cannoli
Crema de fruta
Trifle
Tipsy cake
Passage 6:
Green Party of Tennessee
The Green Party of the United States, also known as GPUS, is one of the two minor contemporary political parties in the United States with a sustained national presence, the other being the Libertarian Party  The Green Party has affiliated state parties in most states  However, not all state Green Parties are affiliated with GPUS, with those parties included separately in the following list 

Organizations of GPUS
Standalone state parties
Alaska
The Green Party of Alaska is a political party in the U S  state of Alaska  It was the Alaska affiliate of the national state Green Party, up from its creation to 2021, due of the state party has broken the party rules over refused to recognize the nominated presidential candidate, Howie Hawkins in the 2020 presidential election   Alaska was the first state to gain Green Party ballot access, in 1990, when Jim Sykes ran for governor   Sykes had previously filed a ballot access lawsuit, citing an earlier case, Vogler v  Miller 
Like the Alaska Libertarian Party, the Green Party organizes local affiliate groups by regions of the state rather than election districts   It is known for calling these groups bioregions   The organized bioregions of the GPAK include the Southcentral Bioregion (Anchorage area) and the Tanana-Yukon Bioregion (the Interior, around the Tanana and Yukon River areas) 

Georgia
The Georgia Green Party is a state-level political party in Georgia  Their candidate for president in 2016 was Dr  Jill Stein  Stein was denied access to the ballot  The party sued and won at the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit  The state chapter was disaffiliated by the Green Party of the United States on June 26, 2021 due to the state chapter drafting and passing a platform amendment against the rights of transgender people, counter to the GPUS platform 

Rhode Island
OSGP
The Ocean State Green Party (OSGP) is a  Green party in the United States  The party was founded in summer 2020, originally as a small group of supporters of the Hawkins-Walker 2020 campaign in Rhode Island  After the older Green Party of Rhode Island refused to support the presidential campaign, these supporters opted to reject this decision and collect signatures to gain a ballot line for the Green Party ticket  They then proceeded to file a complaint with the Accreditation Committee of the Green Party of the United States 

GPRI
The Green Party of Rhode Island (GPRI) is one of the oldest active Green parties in the United States  The party was founded on March 6, 1992, at a meeting of 40 activists from Rhode Island  In November 1996, GPRI was one of 12 founding parties in the Association of State Green Parties, renamed the Green Party of the United States in 2001  Several Rhode Island party leaders have served as officers of the national Green Party   The party's candidates run for municipal councils in several cities and towns, such as running for Mayor of Providence, the State Senate and the State House of Representatives, U S  Congress, and for Lieutenant governor  The Green Party of Rhode Island was involved in nationwide Green politics, until 2020 when the state party leadership took the rogue position to refuse to place the Green nominee for President, Howie Hawkins, on the ballot  Rather than face deaccreditation, the state party ended its affiliation with GPUS 

Virginia
The Independent Greens of Virginia, (also known as the Indy Greens), was the state affiliate of the Independence Party of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia  It became a state party around 2003 when a faction of the Arlington local chapter of the Green Party of Virginia (GPVA) split from the main party  As of 2011, it bills itself as a "fiscally conservative, socially responsible green party", with an emphasis on rail transportation and "more candidates"  In support of wider ballot participation, it endorses many independent candidates who are not affiliated with the party 

See also
List of state parties of the Democratic Party (United States)
List of state parties of the Libertarian Party (United States)
List of state parties of the Republican Party (United States)
Passage 7:
Bowling Green Plateau
Bowling Green Plateau (79°42′S 158°36′E) is a small but prominent ice-covered plateau at the north side of the Brown Hills in the Cook Mountains in Antarctica  It was named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (VUWAE) (1962–63); Professor Charles C  Rich, geologist and deputy leader of the VUWAE, was affiliated with Bowling Green State University of Ohio  It is associated with the Bowling Green Col 

See also
Gatson Ridge
Passage 8:
Christopher Masterson
Christopher Kennedy Masterson (born January 22, 1980) is an American actor and disc jockey known best for his role as Malcolm's oldest brother Francis on the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle  He is the younger brother of former actor Danny Masterson, and the older half-brother of Alanna Masterson and Jordan Masterson, who are also actors 

Career
Masterson played Geoff in the direct-to-video movie Dragonheart: A New Beginning, the sequel to Dragonheart  Masterson is best known for his role as Francis, the trouble-making oldest brother of Frankie Muniz's title character in the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle  He took on the role for seven years, from 2000 to 2006  In 2003, he played Edward Linton in MTV's Wuthering Heights  Masterson portrayed a lead character in the films Scary Movie 2, Waterborne, Made for Each Other and Intellectual Property  He guest starred in three episodes of That '70s Show, alongside his brother, Danny  In the USA Network television series White Collar, he played Josh Roland in the episode "Where There's a Will"  He also played Scotty O'Neal in the movie My Best Friend's Wedding  In 2012, Masterson had a guest role on the TBS series Men at Work as a concierge named Archie  His brother, Danny Masterson, plays Milo on the show, but the two did not share any scenes together 

Personal life
Masterson was born on Long Island, New York, the son of Carol Masterson, a manager, and Peter Masterson, an insurance agent  Masterson, like his brother Danny Masterson, is a follower of Scientology  The two have invested in restaurants together  He also has a half-sister, actress Alanna Masterson, and a half-brother, actor Jordan Masterson  Masterson was in a relationship with his brother's That ‘70s Show co-star Laura Prepon from 1999 to 2007 On June 25, 2019, Masterson married actress Yolanda Pecoraro  In April 2021, she gave birth to their daughter Chiara 

Filmography
Passage 9:
When It's Time
"When It's Time" is a song by the American rock band Green Day from American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording, a cast recording to the musical production American Idiot, a stage adaptation of the band's 2004 concept album  The song was released as a single in the United Kingdom, where it reached no  68 on the UK Singles Chart 

Background and release
Despite originally being written in 1992, around the time that Kerplunk was released by Lookout! Records, the song was not recorded until the band began work on their seventh studio album, American Idiot, released in 2004  Since it did not make the cut for that album, the song was not released until April 13, 2010 when it appeared on American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording  It was released as a single in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2010 through the band's label Reprise Records 
The single is available in the UK iTunes store along with Amazon's digital download service 
The song was performed at 924 Gilman Street in November 18, 1992 and made rare appearances in some shows of the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour, performed solo by Billie Joe Armstrong on an acoustic guitar  
The song also appeared in most setlists during the European tour of 2010  It is also the third single from Green Day that was not accompanied by a music video, such as the cases of "She" and "J A R  (Jason Andrew Relva)" 
Due to the sensitive nature of the lyrics, the director of the American Idiot musical, Michael Mayer, had to receive special permission from the band to offer an acoustic solo version sung by John Gallagher Jr  as a number for the production 
A demo of the song was included on the 25th anniversary release of the band's fifth studio album Nimrod 

Chart performance
The song began its chart performance on the UK Singles Chart on June 20, 2010  It entered at no  71 and peaked at no  68 the next week where it stayed for one week, the highest position it achieved 
Passage 10:
Greene Point
Greene Point is an ice-covered point 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8 1 mi) northeast of Andrus Point in Lady Newnes Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica  It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and U S  Navy air photos, 1960–64, and was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Stanley W  Greene, a biologist at McMurdo Station, 1964–65 
Passage 11:
Ian Ewen-Street
Ian Ewen-Street (born 1949) is a New Zealand politician  He was a member of the Green Party and a Member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Greens from 1999 to 2005  He has been prominent in advocacy for organic farming, organic gardening and biosecurity in New Zealand
Context 3: Passage 1:
List of U S  states and territories by elevation
This list includes the topographic elevations of each of the 50 U S  states, the District of Columbia, and the U S  territories The elevation of a geographic area may be stated in several ways  These include:

The maximum elevation of the area (high point);
The minimum elevation of the area (low point);
The arithmetic mean elevation of the area (statistical mean elevation);
The median elevation of the area (statistical 50% elevation); and
The elevation range of the area All topographic elevations are adjusted to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88)  All geographic coordinates are adjusted to the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS 84)  The mean elevation for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are accurate to the nearest 100 feet (30 m)  Mean elevation data is not available for the other U S  territories 

Elevations
Minor outlying islands
The highest points in the U S  minor outlying islands, mostly unnamed:

Baker Island high point – 26 feet (8 m)
Howland Island high point – 10 feet (3 m)
Jarvis Island high point – 23 feet (7 m)
Johnston Atoll, Sand Island high point – 33 feet (10 m)
Kingman Reef high point – less than 7 feet (2 m)
Midway Atoll, Sand Island high point – 50 feet (15 m) – The highest point of the U S  minor outlying islands in the Pacific Ocean 
Navassa Island high point – 280 feet (85 m) – The highest point of all the U S  minor outlying islands 
Palmyra Atoll high point – 10 feet (3 m)
Wake Island high point – 26 feet (8 m)

Gallery
See also
Highpointing
List of elevation extremes by country
List of elevation extremes by region
Lists of highest points
List of highest U S  county high points
List of mountain peaks of the United States
List of the highest major summits of the United States
List of the most prominent summits of the United States
List of the most isolated major summits of the United States
List of highest counties in the United States
List of highest United States cities by state

Notes
Passage 2:
Fort Davis, Texas
Fort Davis is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States  The population was 1,201 at the 2010 census, up from 1,050 at the 2000 census  It is the county seat of Jeff Davis County 

History
It was the site of Fort Davis, established in 1854 on the San Antonio–El Paso Road through west Texas and named after Jefferson Davis, who was then the Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce  It was reestablished in 1867 following the civil war 

Geography
Fort Davis is located in southeastern Jeff Davis County at the southeast foot of the Davis Mountains  Texas State Highway 17 (State Street) passes through the center of town, leading northeast 38 miles (61 km) to Interstate 10 at Balmorhea and southwest 21 miles (34 km) to Marfa  Texas State Highway 118 joins Highway 17 through the center of Fort Davis, but leads northwest through the Davis Mountains 52 miles (84 km) to I-10 and southeast 23 miles (37 km) to Alpine 
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 10 1 square miles (26 1 km2), all land Fort Davis has the highest elevation above sea level of any county seat in Texas; the elevation is 4,900 feet (1,500 m) 

Climate
Fort Davis experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with cool, dry winters and hot, wet summers  There is a large degree of diurnal temperature variation due to the high elevation of the area 

Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,024 people, 415 households, and 317 families residing in the CDP 

2000 census
As of the census of 2000,  1,050 people, 415 households, and 298 families resided in the CDP  The population density was 188 2 inhabitants per square mile (72 7/km2)  The 525 housing units averaged 94 1 per square mile (36 3/km2)  The racial makeup of the CDP was 88 29% White, 0 19% African American, 0 48% Native American, 7 62% from other races, and 3 43% from two or more races  Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 49 33% of the population 
Of the 415 households, 32 0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57 6% were married couples living together, 10 6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28 0% were not families  About 24 3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older  The average household size was 2 53 and the average family size was 3 02 
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 24 7% under the age of 18, 7 4% from 18 to 24, 26 9% from 25 to 44, 25 4% from 45 to 64, and 15 6% who were 65 years of age or older  The median age was 39 years  For every 100 females, there were 102 3 males  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97 3 males 
The median income for a household in the CDP was $25,882, and  for a family was $27,955  Males had a median income of $22,500 versus $20,000 for females  The per capita income for the CDP was $14,249  About 20 7% of families and 21 6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26 3% of those under age 18 and 26 0% of those age 65 or over 

Arts and culture
Points of interest
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute
Fort Davis National Historic Site
The McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas at Austin
Fort Davis is home to one of 10 dishes comprising the Very Long Baseline Array
Davis Mountains State Park

Education
Fort Davis is served by the Fort Davis Independent School District 

Dirks-Anderson Elementary School
Fort Davis High SchoolAll of Jeff Davis County is zoned to Odessa College 

Gallery
Passage 3:
Dell
Dell Inc  is an American based technology company  It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services  Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, and electronics built by other manufacturers  The company is known for how it manages its supply chain and electronic commerce  This includes Dell selling directly to customers and delivering PCs that the customer wants  Dell was a pure hardware vendor until 2009 when it acquired Perot Systems   Dell then entered the market for IT services  The company has expanded storage and networking systems  It is now expanding from offering computers only to delivering a range of technology for enterprise customers Dell is a publicly traded company (Nasdaq: DELL), as well as a component of the NASDAQ-100 and S&P 500  It is the third-largest personal computer vendor as of January 2021  Dell is ranked 31st on the Fortune 500 list in 2022, up from 76th in 2021  It is also the sixth-largest company in Texas by total revenue, according to Fortune magazine  It is the second-largest non-oil company in Texas In 2015, Dell acquired the enterprise technology firm EMC Corporation  Dell and EMC became divisions of Dell Technologies  Dell EMC sells data storage, information security, virtualization, analytics, and cloud computing 

History
Founding and start-up
Michael Dell founded Dell Computer Corporation, doing business as PC's Limited in 1984 while a student at the University of Texas at Austin, operating from Michael Dell's off-campus dormitory room at Dobie Center  The start-up aimed to sell IBM PC compatible computers built from stock components  Michael Dell started trading in the belief that, by selling personal computer systems directly to customers, PC's Limited could better understand customers' needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs  Dell dropped out of college upon completion of his freshman year at the University of Texas in order to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after getting about $1,000 in expansion-capital from his family  As of April 2021, Dell's net worth was estimated to be over $50 billion 
In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design, the "Turbo PC", selling for US$795 and containing an Intel 8088-compatible processor capable of running at a maximum speed of 8 MHz  PC's Limited advertised the systems in national computer magazines for sale directly to consumers, and custom assembled each ordered unit according to a selection of options  This offered buyers prices lower than those of retail brands, but with greater convenience than assembling the components themselves  Pc's Limited was not the first company to use this business model, but they became one of the first to succeed with it  The company grossed more than $73 million in its first year of trading 
The company dropped the PC's Limited name in 1987 to become Dell Computer Corporation and began expanding globally  The reasoning was that this new company name better reflected its presence in the business market, and also resolved issues with the use of "Limited" in a company name in certain countries   The company set up its first international operations in Britain; 11 more followed within the next four years  In June 1988, Dell Computer's market capitalization grew by $30 million to $80 million from its June 22 initial public offering of 3 5 million shares at $8 50 a share  In 1989, Dell Computer set up its first on-site service programs in order to compensate for the lack of local retailers prepared to act as service centers 

Growth in the 1990s and early 2000s
In 1990, Dell Computer tried selling its products indirectly through warehouse clubs and computer superstores, but met with little success, and the company re-focused on its more successful direct-to-consumer sales model  In 1992, Fortune included Dell Computer Corporation in its list of the world's 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company at that time 
In 1993, to complement its own direct sales channel, Dell planned to sell PCs at big-box retail outlets such as Wal-Mart, which would have brought in an additional $125 million in annual revenue  Bain consultant Kevin Rollins persuaded Michael Dell to pull out of these deals, believing they would be money losers in the long run  Margins at retail were thin at best and Dell left the reseller channel in 1994  Rollins would soon join Dell full-time and eventually become the company president and CEO 
Originally, Dell did not emphasize the consumer market, due to the higher costs and low profit margins in selling to individuals and households; this changed when the company's Internet site took off in 1996 and 1997  While the industry's average selling price to individuals was going down, Dell's was going up, as second- and third-time computer buyers who wanted powerful computers with multiple features and did not need much technical support were choosing Dell  Dell found an opportunity among PC-savvy individuals who liked the convenience of buying direct, customizing their PC to their means, and having it delivered in days  In early 1997, Dell created an internal sales and marketing group dedicated to serving the home market and introduced a product line designed especially for individual users From 1997 to 2004, Dell steadily grew and it gained market share from competitors even during industry slumps  During the same period, rival PC vendors such as Compaq, Gateway, IBM, Packard Bell, and AST Research struggled and eventually left the market or were bought out  Dell surpassed Compaq to become the largest PC manufacturer in 1999  Operating costs made up only 10 percent of Dell's $35 billion in revenue in 2002, compared with 21 percent of revenue at Hewlett-Packard, 25 percent at Gateway, and 46 percent at Cisco  In 2002, when Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard (the fourth-place PC maker), the newly combined Hewlett-Packard took the top spot for a time but struggled and Dell soon regained its lead  Dell grew the fastest in the early 2000s In 2002, Dell expanded its product line to include televisions, handhelds, digital audio players, and printers  Chairman and CEO Michael Dell had repeatedly blocked President and COO Kevin Rollins's attempt to lessen the company's heavy dependency on PCs, which Rollins wanted to fix by acquiring EMC Corporation; a move that would eventually occur over 12 years later In 2003, at the annual company meeting, the stockholders approved changing the company name to "Dell Inc " to recognize the company's expansion beyond computers In 2004, the company announced that it would build a new assembly-plant near Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the city and county provided Dell with $37 2 million in incentive packages; the state provided approximately $250 million in incentives and tax breaks  In July, Michael Dell stepped aside as chief executive officer while retaining his position as chairman of the board  Kevin Rollins, who had held a number of executive posts at Dell, became the new CEO  Despite no longer holding the CEO title, Dell essentially acted as a de facto co-CEO with Rollins Under Rollins, Dell purchased the computer hardware manufacturer Alienware in 2006  Dell Inc 's plan anticipated Alienware continuing to operate independently under its existing management  Alienware expected to benefit from Dell's efficient manufacturing system 

Key events
In 2005, while earnings and sales continued to rise, sales growth slowed considerably, and the company stock lost 25% of its value that year  By June 2006, the stock traded around US$25 which was 40% down from July 2005—the high-water mark of the company in the post-dotcom era  By June 2021, the stock had reached an all-time high of over US$100 per share, reflecting the company's successful transition to a technology solutions provider that helps customers navigate digital transformation The slowing sales growth has been attributed to the maturing PC market, which constituted 66% of Dell's sales, and analysts suggested that Dell needed to make inroads into non-PC business segments such as storage, services, and servers  Dell's price advantage was tied to its ultra-lean manufacturing for desktop PCs, but this became less important as savings became harder to find inside the company's supply chain, and as competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and Acer made their PC manufacturing operations more efficient to match Dell, weakening Dell's traditional price differentiation  Throughout the entire PC industry, declines in prices along with commensurate increases in performance meant that Dell had fewer opportunities to upsell to their customers  As a result, the company was selling a greater proportion of inexpensive PCs than before, which eroded profit margins  The laptop segment had become the fastest-growing of the PC market, but Dell produced low-cost notebooks in China like other PC manufacturers which eliminated Dell's manufacturing cost advantages, plus Dell's reliance on Internet sales meant that it missed out on growing notebook sales in big box stores [4] CNET has suggested that Dell was getting trapped in the increasing commoditization of high volume low margin computers, which prevented it from offering more exciting devices that consumers demanded Despite plans of expanding into other global regions and product segments, Dell was heavily dependent on US corporate PC market, as desktop PCs sold to both commercial and corporate customers accounted for 32 percent of its revenue, 85 percent of its revenue comes from businesses, and 64 percent of its revenue comes from North and South America, according to its 2006 third-quarter results  US shipments of desktop PCs were shrinking, and the corporate PC market, which purchases PCs in upgrade cycles, had largely decided to take a break from buying new systems  The last cycle started around 2002, three or so years after companies started buying PCs ahead of the perceived Y2K problems, and corporate clients were not expected to upgrade again until extensive testing of Microsoft's Windows Vista (expected in early 2007), putting the next upgrade cycle around 2008  Heavily dependent on PCs, Dell had to slash prices to boost sales volumes, while demanding deep cuts from suppliers Dell had long stuck by its direct sales model  Consumers had become the main drivers of PC sales in recent years, yet there had a decline in consumers purchasing PCs through the Web or on the phone, as increasing numbers were visiting consumer electronics retail stores to try out the devices first  Dell's rivals in the PC industry, HP, Gateway and Acer, had a long retail presence and so were well poised to take advantage of the consumer shift  The lack of a retail presence stymied Dell's attempts to offer consumer electronics such as flat-panel TVs and MP3 players  Dell responded by experimenting with mall kiosks, plus quasi-retail stores in Texas and New York Dell had a reputation as a company that relied upon supply chain efficiencies to sell established technologies at low prices, instead of being an innovator  By the mid-2000s many analysts were looking to innovating companies as the next source of growth in the technology sector  Dell's low spending on R&D relative to its revenue (compared to IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Apple Inc )—which worked well in the commoditized PC market—prevented it from making inroads into more lucrative segments, such as MP3 players and later mobile devices  Increasing spending on R&D would have cut into the operating margins that the company emphasized  Dell had done well with a horizontal organization that focused on PCs when the computing industry moved to horizontal mix-and-match layers in the 1980s, but by the mid-2000 the industry shifted to vertically integrated stacks to deliver an end-to-end IT product, and Dell lagged far behind competitors like Hewlett-Packard and Oracle Dell's reputation for poor customer service, which was exacerbated as it moved call centers offshore and as its growth outstripped its technical support infrastructure, came under increasing scrutiny on the Web  The original Dell model was known for high customer satisfaction when PCs sold for thousands of dollars but by the 2000s, the company could not justify that level of service when computers in the same line-up sold for hundreds of dollars  Rollins responded by shifting Dick Hunter from the head of manufacturing to head of customer service  Hunter, who noted that Dell's DNA of cost-cutting "got in the way," aimed to reduce call transfer times and have call center representatives resolve inquiries in one call  By 2006, Dell had spent $100 million in just a few months to improve on this and rolled out DellConnect to answer customer inquiries more quickly  In July 2006, the company started its Direct2Dell blog, and then in February 2007, Michael Dell launched IdeaStorm com, asking customers for advice including selling Linux computers and reducing the promotional "bloatware" on PCs  These initiatives did manage to cut the negative blog posts from 49% to 22%, as well as reduce the "Dell Hell" prominent on Internet search engines There was also criticism that Dell used faulty components for its PCs, particularly the 11 8 million OptiPlex desktop computers sold to businesses and governments from May 2003 to July 2005 that suffered from faulty capacitors  A battery recall in August 2006, as a result of a Dell laptop catching fire, caused much negative attention for the company though later, Sony was found responsible for the manufacturing of the batteries, however a Sony spokesman said the problem concerned the combination of the battery with a charger, which was specific to Dell 2006 marked the first year that Dell's growth was slower than the PC industry as a whole  By the fourth quarter of 2006, Dell lost its title of the largest PC manufacturer to Hewlett Packard whose Personal Systems Group was invigorated thanks to a restructuring initiated by their CEO Mark Hurd 

SEC investigation
In August 2005, Dell became the subject of an informal investigation by the United States SEC  In 2006, the company disclosed that the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York had subpoenaed documents related to the company's financial reporting dating back to 2002  The company delayed filing financial reports for the third and fourth fiscal quarter of 2006, and several class-action lawsuits were filed   Dell Inc's failure to file its quarterly earnings report could have subjected the company to de-listing from the NASDAQ, but the exchange granted Dell a waiver, allowing the stock to trade normally  In August 2007, the Company announced that it would restate its earnings for fiscal years 2003 through 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 after an internal audit found that certain employees had changed corporate account balances to meet quarterly financial targets  In July 2010, the SEC announced charges against several senior Dell executives, including Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell, former CEO Kevin Rollins, and former CFO James Schneider, "with failing to disclose material information to investors and using fraudulent accounting to make it falsely appear that the company was consistently meeting Wall Street earnings targets and reducing its operating expenses " Dell, inc  was fined $100 million, with Michael Dell personally fined $4 million 

Michael Dell resumes CEO role
After four out of five quarterly earnings reports were below expectations, Rollins resigned as president and CEO on January 31, 2007, and founder Michael Dell assumed the role of CEO again On March 1, 2007, the company issued a preliminary quarterly earnings report showing gross sales of $14 4 billion, down 5% year-over-year, and net income of $687 million (30 cents per share), down 33%  Net earnings would have declined even more if not for the effects of eliminated employee bonuses, which accounted for six cents per share  NASDAQ extended the company's deadline for filing financials to May 4 

Dell 2 0 and downsizing
Dell announced a change campaign called "Dell 2



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

FIN

fi

Finland

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 child of the cast member of Green Ice?

The following are given passages.
Context 2: 

Political career
In the 1996 election, when the Green Party was part of the Alliance, Ewen-Street was the Alliance candidate for the Kaikoura electorate, where he came fourth in the candidate vote  His list ranking of 52 was far too low to enter Parliament as a list MP He first entered Parliament as a list MP in the 1999 election, having been ranked third on the newly independent Green Party's party list  He was re-elected in the 2002 election  In June 2004, however, he announced that he would be retiring from politics at the next election, saying that the birth of his daughter meant that he wanted to spend more time at home 
In August 2006, Ewen-Street joined the National Party, saying his passion for the environment hasn't changed, but he believes more progress can be made through a major party such as National 

Personal life
Ewen-Street was in a relationship with Sue Grey, a Nelson lawyer  Ewen-Street resigned from parliament when he fell in love with Grey while she was appearing before his select committee on the scampi inquiry  Ewen-Street laid a police complaint when Grey was fired from the Department of Conservation, alleging judicial misconduct In 2003 Ewen-Street divorced Margaret O'Brien, his wife of 16 years, and had a daughter with Grey named Ysabella; Grey had two children from a previous relationship 
Passage 12:
Basketball Wives LA
Basketball Wives is an American reality television series franchise on VH1  It chronicles the everyday lives of women romantically linked to men in the professional basketball industry 
The original incarnation was filmed in Miami, Florida and premiered on April 11, 2010  Basketball Wives LA, a spin-off based in Los Angeles, premiered on August 29, 2011, however, both shows ran for five seasons 
On March 27, 2017, VH1 announced that Basketball Wives would be revived for a sixth season, with its setting relocated to Los Angeles, effectively combining the casts of both the original series and its spinoff  Subsequent seasons have also featured this hybrid cast On June 13, 2023, VH1 renewed the series for an eleventh season, set to air this Fall 

Franchise history
Basketball Wives (Miami) (2010–13)
Season 1
The first season premiered on April 11, 2010, and ran for eight weeks in 30-minute episodes  The announced cast included Jennifer Williams, wife of Eric Williams, Evelyn Lozada, ex-fiancé of Antoine Walker, Mesha O'Neal, wife of Jermaine O'Neal, Royce Reed, former NBA team dancer and the mother of Dwight Howard's oldest son, Faith Rein, Udonis Haslem's girlfriend, and Shaunie O'Neal, wife of Shaquille O'Neal, who would also serve as an executive producer on the series  Mesha and Faith were replaced by Michael Olowokandi's ex-girlfriend Suzie Ketcham and Matt Barnes' fiancée Gloria Govan when the show aired  Erikka Moxam, ex-girlfriend of Rasual Butler, appeared in a supporting role  A spin-off, Football Wives, featuring the wives and girlfriend of professional football players, aired from October 24 to December 19, 2010 Seasons 2–4
The show was renewed for a second season of hour-long episodes, which premiered on December 12, 2010  Tami Roman, ex-wife of Kenny Anderson, was added to the cast, replacing Gloria Govan who was demoted to a supporting role, alongside Juli Richmond, wife of Mitch Richmond, Kimberli Russell, wife of Bryon Russell, and Ashley Walker, mother of Rafer Alston's children  Meeka Claxton, wife of Speedy Claxton, joined the cast in season three, which premiered on May 30, 2011, to 1 8 million viewers The fourth season premiered on February 20, 2012, following the spin-off Basketball Wives LA, which concluded in November 2011  Meeka departed the series and was replaced by new cast members Kesha Nichols, ex-fiancée of Richard Jefferson, and Kenya Bell, wife of Charlie Bell  On March 12, 2012, VH1 announced the spin-off Ev and Ocho, starring Evelyn Lozada and her fiancé Chad Ochocinco, set to air that September  However, three weeks before the show was to premiere, they shelved the series, following Ochocinco's arrest for assaulting Lozada, and subsequent divorce Season 5
The fifth season premiered on August 19, 2013, following the second season of Basketball Wives LA, which concluded in December 2012  Tasha Marbury, wife of Stephon Marbury, joined the cast, while Royce, Jennifer and Kesha were dropped from the series  Kenya would return in the season finale  According to a 2014 tweet from Tami Roman, the show was quietly canceled 

Basketball Wives LA / Basketball Wives (2011–present)
Seasons 1–2
On June 20, 2011, VH1 announced that they had expanded the franchise to Los Angeles  The announced cast for Basketball Wives LA  included Kimsha Artest, wife of Ron Artest, Gloria Govan and her sister Laura Govan, Jackie Christie, wife of Doug Christie, and Imani Showalter, ex-fiancée of Stephen Jackson  Malaysia Pargo, wife of Jannero Pargo, and Draya Michele, a model and aspiring actress with a history of dating basketball players, were announced as cast members a month later  Tanya Williams, wife of Jayson Williams, would also appear, however, was quickly phased out of the show along with Kimsha Artest, who admittedly stopped showing up for filming because of the "shenanigans and drama"  The series premiered on August 29, 2011, to 1 81 million viewers The show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 10, 2012, attracting 1 82 million viewers  Imani Showalter quit the show and moved back to New York, and was replaced by Brooke Bailey, girlfriend of Vernon Macklin  Adiz "Bambi" Benson, Malaysia's friend and an aspiring rapper, appeared in a supporting role 
Season 3
Following the cancellation of the original Basketball Wives, executive producer Shaunie O'Neal announced that the cast of Basketball Wives LA would be retooled for season three  Filming began in August 2013, with new members British Williams, fiancée of Lorenzo Gordon, Brandi Maxiell, wife of Jason Maxiell, and Sundy Carter, mother of Larry Hughes's daughter  Gloria and Laura Govan confirmed their exit, as did Brooke Bailey  The third-season premiere acquired 1 95 million viewers, the show's highest-rated at the time  This season is also the first and only of the series to reach over 2 million viewers for six consecutive weeks 
Seasons 4–5
Season four began production in November 2014 and wrapped in April 2015  The season premiered on July 12, 2015, to 1 90 million viewers, moving from Monday to Sunday nights  Shaunie O'Neal and Bad Girls Club's Mehgan James joined the cast, with Tyreke Evans's ex-girlfriend Angel Brinks, Eddy Curry's wife Patrice Curry, and Tami Roman appearing in supporting roles On September 23, 2015, the show was renewed for a fifth season  Filming began in January 2016 and wrapped in June, with Draya Michele and Mehgan James departing from the show  They were replaced by Tami Roman and Angel Brinks, who were promoted to the main cast, and new cast members LaTosha Duffey, fiancée of Iman Shokuohizadeh, and Angel Love, girlfriend of DeJuan Blair  It premiered on July 17, 2016, to 1 58 million viewers and a 0 5 in the adults 18–49 rating demographic, making it the lowest rated premiere for the series  It was followed by the spin-off, Shaunie's Home Court, starring Shaunie O'Neal, which aired on VH1 for two seasons Season 6
On March 27, 2017, VH1 announced that the show would be retooled, airing under its original moniker Basketball Wives after nearly four years off the air  The sixth season premiered on April 17, 2017  Basketball Wives's Evelyn Lozada would return to the franchise with Basketball Wives LA's Jackie Christie and Malaysia Pargo, along with Shaunie O'Neal and Tami Roman who starred in both incarnations  Basketball Wives's Jennifer Williams and Basketball Wives LA's Brandi Maxiell would return in supporting roles, with new cast members Keonna Green, ex-girlfriend of Nick Young, Bonnie-Jill Laflin, girlfriend of Kareem Rush, Elena Ahanzadeh, Joe Crawford's girlfriend Cristen Metoyer and her sister Aja, stylist Saniy'yah Samaa, and Hazel Renee Seasons 7–9
Jennifer was promoted to the main cast in season seven, which premiered on May 14, 2018  New cast members included Kristen Scott, wife of former league coach Thomas Scott, CeCe Gutierrez, girlfriend of Byron Scott, and professional athlete Ogom “OG” Chijindu, girlfriend of basketball player Kwame Alexander  All cast members returned for season eight, premiering on June 19, 2019, along with Feby Torres, ex-girlfriend of Lance Stephenson  Tami Roman departed the show halfway through the season, citing other career opportunities, as well as CeCe  After over a year long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show returned for a ninth season on February 9, 2021, with new cast members Liza Morales, ex-girlfriend of Lamar Odom, Nia Dorsey, ex-girlfriend of Lance Stephenson and her sister Noria Dorsey, wife of Shawn Taggart 
Season 10
On April 18, 2022, VH1 announced the show's return for a tenth season, which premiered on May 16, 2022  Following the conclusion of the ninth season, Evelyn Lozada announced her departure from the series in April 2022, while Kristen Scott, Ogom Chijindu, Feby Torres and Liza Morales were not asked back by producers  For the tenth season, three of the five cast members from the previous season returned  Jackie Christie, Malaysia Pargo and Jennifer Williams were joined by former Basketball Wives LA alumnae, Angel Brinks, Brandi Maxiell, Brooke Bailey, Brittish Williams and LaTosha Duffey  In addition to this, Shaunie O'Neal, Nia- and Noria Dorsey made multiple guest appearances throughout the season  
On August 1, 2022, during the mid-season finale of season 10, VH1 announced that additional episodes will air soon  On January 23, 2023, VH1 confirmed that the second half will premiere on February 13, 2023  After the sixteenth episode of the tenth season, Pargo exited the show, making Christie the last original basketball wife from the LA series  On May 8, 2023, Duffey announced her exit from the show following the conclusion of the tenth series Season 11–present
On June 14, 2023, VH1 announced the show's return for an eleventh season, with a 2023 fall premiere  Christie, Bailey and Williams returned  Lozada also returned as a full-time cast member, along with new cast members Brittany Renner, ex-wife of P  J  Washington, Vanessa Rider, wife of Isaiah Rider, Jac’Eil Duckworth, girlfriend of Natasha Howard and Clayanna Warthen, ex-girlfriend of Andre Iguodala  Brinks and Maxiell did not return whilst Henderson will appear again in a guest role 

Cast timeline
Note:

Series overview
Spin-offs
Football Wives
A spin-off, Football Wives, featuring the wives and girlfriend of professional football players, aired from October 24 to December 19, 2010 

Ev and Ocho
On March 12, 2012, VH1 announced the spin-off Ev and Ocho, starring Evelyn Lozada and her fiancé Chad Ochocinco, set to air that September  However, three weeks before the show was to premiere, they shelved the series, following Ochocinco's arrest for assaulting Lozada, and subsequent divorce 

Shaunie's Homecourt
On June 30, 2016, VH1 announced its new series "Shaunie's Home Court," which will follow O'Neal behind-the-scenes at home, where she spends the days tending to her brood of five, ranging in age from 10 to 19 years old  Shaunie's Home Court aired for two seasons 

Baller Wives
A third spin-off, Baller Wives, featuring the wives and girlfriends of professional football players, aired from August 14 to September 11, 2017 

Shaunie and Keion's Destination "I Do"
On May 18, 2022, MTV Entertainment Studios announced that a wedding special, featuring Shaunie embarking on a second chance at love with Pastor Keion Henderson, is set to air later that year on VH1  On November 7, 2022, TheWrap reported that O'Neal and Keion would be starring in a three-week-event series, Shaunie and Keion's Destination "I Do", and released an exclusive first look clip  The show would make its series premiere on November 28, 2022 

Proposed projects
Since 2015, Shaunie O'Neal has discussed expanding the franchise to other cities, such as Houston, Dallas and Orlando On July 12, 2017, Saniy'yah Samaa alleged that a spin-off in New York was in the works and had been cast, but VH1 never green-lit the project  During an interview she said the following: "I was sought out to do Basketball Wives in 2014  I was asked by someone on the show if I knew of any girls that would be good for the show, because we were doing Basketball Wives: New York "

Specials
Basketball Wives LA Overtime Special
On October 31, 2010, Tami Roman hosted a half-hour Basketball Wives LA overtime special in which she sat down with Jackie Christie and Laura Govan about the change of tide in episode ten and what it may mean to the ladies in the final episodes of the first season 

Basketball Wives Showdown: Evelyn vs  Tami
On March 27, 2017, VH1 announced a pre-season special entitled "Basketball Wives Showdown: Evelyn vs  Tami" set to premiere on April 10, 2017, highlighting fan favorite moments from Evelyn Lozada and Tami Roman's past seasons 

Tami Ever After
Tami Roman and boyfriend Reggie Youngblood starred in their own, hour-long special on June 19, 2019, on VH1  It followed Roman, and longtime love Reggie Youngblood as they take the next step in their relationship 

Notes
Passage 13:
List of Keeping Up with the Kardashians episodes
Keeping Up with the Kardashians is an American reality television series, airing on the E! network  Its premise originated with Rhys Parkin, who additionally serves as an executive producer  The series focuses on sisters Kourtney, Kim, and Khloé Kardashian, along with Kylie and Kendall Jenner 
It additionally places emphasis on their brother Rob Kardashian, their mother Kris Jenner, their step-parent Caitlyn Jenner, and Kourtney's now ex-boyfriend, Scott Disick  Khloé's ex-husband Lamar Odom developed a major position as part of the supporting cast from the fourth season onwards, though he rarely appeared in season eight while attempting to fix his marriage with Khloé  Along in season seven, Kanye West became a recurring cast member after entering into a relationship with Kim  West later developed a more prominent role from season 16 onwards  In seasons eight and nine, Caitlyn's children Brody and Brandon, and Brandon's ex-wife, Leah became recurring cast members  Blac Chyna appeared as a recurring cast member throughout season 12 whilst engaged to Rob 
The series has produced the spin-offs Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, Kourtney and Kim Take New York, Khloé & Lamar, Kourtney and Khloé Take The Hamptons, Dash Dolls, I Am Cait,  Kocktails with Khloé , Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian, Rob & Chyna, Life of Kylie and Flip It Like Disick 

Series overview
Episodes
Season 1 (2007)
Season 2 (2008)
Season 3 (2009)
Season 4 (2009-10)
Season 5 (2010)
Season 6 (2011)
Season 7 (2012)
Season 8 (2013)
Season 9 (2014)
Season 10 (2015)
Season 11 (2015-2016)
Season 12 (2016)
Season 13 (2017)
Season 14 (2017-18)
Season 15 (2018)
Season 16 (2019)
Season 17 (2019)
Season 18 (2020)
Season 19 (2020)
Season 20 (2021)
Specials
Passage 14:
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is a 2012 American romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon  It was written by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2008 novel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer  The sequel to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011), it is the fifth installment in The Twilight Saga film series  The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively; Mackenzie Foy portrays Renesmee Cullen  The ensemble cast includes Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Ashley Greene, Michael Sheen, and Dakota Fanning 
Summit Entertainment announced that Breaking Dawn would be adapted into a two-part film on June 10, 2010  Principal photography for both parts began on November 1, 2010, and wrapped on April 22, 2011  The second part was shot in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana; and Vancouver, Canada 
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 premiered in Los Angeles on November 12, 2012, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 16, by Summit Entertainment  The film grossed $829 7 million worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2012, the highest-grossing film of The Twilight Saga series, and the highest-grossing film released by Summit Entertainment, despite mixed reviews 

Plot
The movie continues from the events of the previous film, as Bella, who has just given birth, awakens from her human-to-vampire transformation  After Edward helps her satisfy her initial thirst, Bella is introduced to her daughter Renesmee  The rest of the Cullens and Jacob stay nearby, and when Jacob acts possessively towards Renesmee, Bella learns he has imprinted on her, making her furious until he explains he has no ill intentions 
Meanwhile, Bella's father, Charlie, has been trying to contact the Cullens for updates on Bella's health  Carlisle announces that they have to leave Forks, Washington, to protect their identities - especially because of Charlie  Jacob, desperate not to lose Renesmee, visits Charlie and tells him that Bella is alive and well, but that she had to change in order to get better  Jacob also tells him he doesn't live in the world he thinks he does, and then reveals his wolf form to him  Charlie goes to the Cullen house to see Bella and meet Renesmee  He accepts that Bella is now recovered and this is her chosen life, but he does not know what has changed her or where Renesmee came from, aside from she's 'adopted' 
Several months pass with Carlisle monitoring Renesmee's rapid growth  On an outing in the woods, a bitter Irina sees Renesmee from a distance and assumes she's an immortal child  Immortal children were vampires who were changed in childhood, and because they could not be trained nor restrained, they slaughtered entire villages  The creation of such children is outlawed by the Volturi and anyone caught with one is to be executed 
Irina goes to the Volturi, reporting what she has seen  Alice gets a vision of the Volturi and Irina coming to kill the Cullens and instructs the others to gather as many witnesses as they can to testify that Renesmee is not an immortal child  Alice and Jasper then leave to gather evidence of this  The Cullens begin to summon witnesses, such as the Denali family  One of the Denalis, Eleazar, later discovers that Bella has a special ability: a powerful mental shield that had protected her from Edward's mind-reading even when she was human, which she is taught to extend to protect others from vampire powers 
The Volturi, led by Aro, arrive in Forks prepared for battle  Seeing the large group of vampires (the Cullens and their witnesses) and wolves, they stop their procession  They are able to prove to Aro that Renesmee is not an immortal child; however, the Volturi are eager to add the gifted members of the Cullen coven to the guard, so they execute Irina in an attempt to provoke a battle  Before a fight breaks out, Alice and Jasper return and Alice shows Aro her visions of the future 
In this violent vision, she and Jasper are arrested for attacking Aro after Alice finds out he will not change his decision and kicks him in the face  Carlisle tries to save them but is murdered by Aro  Jasper is beheaded by Demetri and Jane  Alice and Sam together avenge Jasper by killing Jane  Caius is partially beheaded by Tanya (a member of the Denalis) as revenge for Irina's execution  Seth is killed by Felix  Leah saves Esme's life but loses hers in the process  Marcus welcomes his death as he is torn to pieces by Vladimir and Stefan  Aro tries to kill Edward but a joint effort from Bella and Edward kills him  The vision ends with Bella burning Aro's detached head as other Volturi members try to grab her from behind 
Aro, despite being afraid of the vision future, still wants to execute Renesmee as she might become savage  Alice and Jasper reveal their final witness, Nahuel, a half-human half-vampire just like Renesmee  He proves that he is not a threat, supporting the notion that Renesmee is not one either  The Volturi unhappily leave, Aro fearfully explaining that there will be no battle today 
Back at the Cullen home, Alice glimpses the future, seeing Edward and Bella greeting Jacob and a fully matured Renesmee, also a couple, on a sun-dappled beach  Edward reads Alice's mind and feels relieved that Renesmee has Jacob to protect her  Alone in the meadow, Bella pushes her mental shield away and finally allows Edward to see into her mind, showing him every moment they have shared together  They kiss after Bella tells him, "nobody has ever loved anybody as much as I love you", and he says "with one exception "

Cast
Gil Birmingham, Sarah Clarke, Michael Welch, Anna Kendrick, Christian Serratos, Justin Chon, Cam Gigandet, Edi Gathegi, Rachelle Lefevre, Kiowa Gordon, Tyson Houseman, Alex Meraz, Bronson Pelletier, Graham Greene, Tinsel Korey, Alex Rice, Xavier Samuel, Jodelle Ferland, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Carolina Virguez from the previous films make archival cameo appearances during the pre-credits montage accompanied by a duet version of Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” with Steve Kazee as the second voice 

Production
Development
On June 10, 2010, Summit Entertainment announced that a two-part adaptation of the novel Breaking Dawn would start filming in November and made clear that all major actors would return for both parts 

Pre-production
By August 2010, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg said that the scripts for Part 1 and 2 were 75 to 85 percent completed  She found the greatest challenge in writing the scripts to be the final sequence of Part 2, explaining, "The final battle sequence is a big challenge because it lasts 25 pages  It's almost an entire three-act story in and of itself  You have to track [keep it all in one setting] hundreds of characters  It's an enormous challenge to choreograph on the page and for Bill [Condon] to choreograph on the stage " She had written various drafts of the scene but, at the time, hadn't revised or discussed them with Condon yet  She said, "That's the next big hurdle to sit down with the stunt coordinator and create the ballet  It's a lot of work  I'm exhausted, but we're intent on making them the best scripts yet " Producer Wyck Godfrey called Part 2 "an action film in terms of life-and-death stakes" and said that in Part 1 "there are the pangs of newlywed tension that occur that are relatable even in a fantasy film  Marriage is not quite the experience that they thought it was "Godfrey considered releasing the second film in 3D to differentiate between the time before and after Bella becomes a vampire, an idea originally proposed for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, but said that the decision was up to Condon  However, he said that if the second film were to be released in 3D, he would like to shoot it with the proper equipment in "real" 3D as was done with Avatar (2009), not convert it into 3D in post-production as was done with Clash of the Titans (2010) 

Filming
Principal photography started on November 1, 2010, and wrapped on April 22, 2011, ending the franchise's three years of production since March 2008  Filming was shot on location in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana; and Vancouver, Canada  Filming also occurred at Raleigh Studios in Baton Rouge On the subject of the final day and her final moment as Bella, Stewart stated, "After that scene, my true final scene, I felt like I could shoot up into the night sky and every pore of my body would shoot light  I felt lighter than I've ever felt in my life "In April 2012, the crew and some of the cast, including Pattinson and Stewart, returned for reshoots to pick up some additional shots for technical work  These re-shoots did not include any new scenes or dialogue 

Special effects
Tippett Studio first began working on the CGI (computer-generated imagery) wolves in February 2009 for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and the look of the creatures has evolved, becoming more photo-real over the course of the saga, with the input of three different directors  "It's a subtle balance of just how anthropomorphic these wolves are," says Eric Leven  "Bill (Condon) wanted to make sure that we had a sense of the human or the shapeshifter in there  Finding that balance of how much of a human performance versus an animal performance was important for Bill "
Leven adds, "Bill has always treated the wolves as characters and never as computer-generated things, and directs them in the same way he'd direct any actor  He would always give us direction like Sam should be angrier  It's the best way to work  His treating these creatures as characters, instead of just computer bits, was really great "
"Because we've been working on this franchise for such a prolonged period of time, we've been able to improve the look from show to show," comments Phil Tippett  "Wolves generally are pretty darn clean and since Bill wanted the wolves rangier, that means a lot more fur matting and clumping, like they've lived out in the woods  We edged towards something a bit more feral "
"However, there is also a balance between look and technology," adds Tippett  "The body count of the wolves escalates and because we're adding a great deal more hair to get the right texture, that fur really ups the rendering time  We've gone from four wolves to eight to twelve, to sixteen in Part 2  So we have to be very careful about that balance because it takes hundreds of hours to render each wolf "

Music
It was revealed in January 2012 that the soundtrack for Part 2 had already started production  Confirmed for the soundtrack in advance were "Heart of Stone" by Iko, which plays when Edward and Bella are talking in the cottage after finding Alice's note and "Where I Come From" by Passion Pit, which will play when Bella wakes up from her transformation  The lead single from the soundtrack is "The Forgotten", performed by the American rock band Green Day  "A Thousand Years, Pt  2" by the American singer Christina Perri is also featured on the soundtrack album 
Carter Burwell, the composer of Twilight and Breaking Dawn: Part 1, returned to score the final installment of the series 

Release
Box office
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 earned $292 million in North America and $537 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $829 6 million  The film is the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2012, and the highest-grossing film of the Twilight series  It had a $340 9 million worldwide opening, which was the eighth-largest ever, the largest for the Twilight franchise, and the largest for a film released outside the summer period In North America, the film grossed $30 4 million in Thursday night and midnight showings, achieving the third-highest midnight gross and the highest midnight gross of the franchise  Breaking Dawn – Part 2 made $71 2 million on its opening day, which is the sixth-highest opening- and single-day gross as well as the third-highest of the franchise  For its opening weekend, the movie earned $141 1 million, which is the 13th-highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, the second-highest-grossing of the franchise, the third-largest November opening, and the fourth-largest opening of 2012  It retained first place in its second weekend by dropping 69 1% with a gross of $43 6 million over the three-day weekend and made a total of $64 4 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend  In its third weekend, Breaking Dawn Part – 2 held onto the No  1 spot again by dropping 60 1% and grossing $17 4 million  It became the third-highest-grossing film of the franchise behind Eclipse and New Moon Outside North America, the film opened on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, in six countries earning $13 8 million  By Thursday, it had opened in 37 territories, earning $38 8 million  In all territories, it opened with similar or higher earnings than its immediate predecessor  Through its first Friday, it earned $91 0 million, after expanding to 61 territories  By the end of its opening weekend (Wednesday–Sunday), it scored a series-best $199 5 million opening from 61 territories on 12,812 screens  This is the eighth-largest opening outside North America and the largest 2012 opening  IMAX showings generated $3 million from 82 locations  The film's largest openings were recorded in the UK, Ireland, and Malta ($25 2 million), Russia and the CIS ($22 0 million), and France and the Maghreb region ($17 9 million)  In Spain, it set a three-day opening-weekend record with $11 9 million  In total earnings, its three highest-grossing markets after North America are the UK, Ireland, and Malta ($57 9 million), Brazil ($54 2 million), and Russia and the CIS ($42 8 million) 

Critical response
At Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 49% approval rating and an average score of 5 3/10 based on 200 reviews  The consensus states: "It's the most entertaining Twilight, but that's not enough to make Breaking Dawn Part 2 worth watching for filmgoers who don't already count themselves among the franchise converts " At Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics  Audiences polled on CinemaScore gave it an average rating of "A" Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The final installment of the immortal Bella/Edward romance will give its breathlessly awaiting international audience just what it wants"  Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said, "Breaking Dawn: Part 2 starts off slow but gathers momentum, and that's because, with Bella and Edward united against the Volturi, the picture has a real threat"  Sara Stewart of the New York Post wrote, "Finally, someone took the source material at its terribly written word and stopped treating the whole affair so seriously"  Justin Chang of Variety praised the performance of Stewart by saying, "No longer a mopey, lower-lip-biting emo girl, this Bella is twitchy, feral, formidable and fully energized, a goddess even among her exalted bloodsucker brethren"  Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said, "Despite the slow start Mr  Condon closes the series in fine, smooth style  He gives fans all the lovely flowers, conditioned hair and lightly erotic, dreamy kisses they deserve" Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "its audience, which takes these films very seriously indeed, will drink deeply of its blood  The sensational closing sequence cannot be accused of leaving a single loophole, not even some of those we didn't know were there"  He concluded by saying, ""Breaking Dawn, Part 2" must be one of the more serious entries in any major movie franchise    it bit the bullet, and I imagine fans will be pleased " Helen O'Hara of Empire gave the film a mixed review and said, "Fans will be left on a high; other viewers will be confused but generally entertained by a saga whose romance is matched only by its weirdness" 

Home media
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 2, 2013  As of June 1, 2014, Breaking Dawn: Part 2 has sold 4,810,249 DVDs along with 1,224,869 Blu-ray Discs for $71,418,469 and $24,472,107, respectively, totaling $99,195,325 

Spin-offs
In September 2016, Lionsgate co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger stated that a sequel was "a possibility", but would only go ahead if Stephenie Meyer wanted to do one  On August 8, 2017, Variety reported that Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has interest in having spinoffs made for The Twilight Saga, and wants to create a writers' room to explore the idea 

Accolades
See also
Vampire films
Passage 15:
Reaching the Cold 100
Reaching the Cold 100 is an album recorded by the British blues band the Peter Green Splinter Group, led by Peter Green  Released in 2003, this was their eighth and final album  Green was the founder of Fleetwood Mac and a member of that group from 1967–70, before a sporadic solo career during the late 1970s and early 1980s 
This album is the only charting album by the group, at number 11 on the Billboard Blues album chart in March 2003 The album was recorded at the Roundel Studios, Kent, England, owned by Roger Cotton who also played on the album and composed some of the tracks 

Track listing
"Ain't Nothin' Gonna Change It" (Roger Cotton) – 3:28
"Look Out for Yourself" (Pete Stroud) – 4:29
"Cool Down" (Owen Parker, Nigel Watson) – 3:59
"Dangerous Man" (Cotton) – 4:06
"Needs Must the Devil Drives" (Parker, Watson) – 4:16
"Must Be a Fool" (Stroud) – 4:33
"Don't Walk Away" (Cotton) – 4:32
"Can You Tell Me Why (a k a  Legal Fee Blues)" (Parker, Watson) – 3:49
"Spiritual Thief" (Parker, Watson) – 4:57
"I'm Ready for You" (Stroud) – 4:39
"Smile" (Parker, Watson) – 5:17
"Nice Girl Like You" (Cotton) – 4:36
"When Somebody Cares" (Parker, Watson) – 5:26Bonus EP

"Black Magic Woman" (Peter Green) – 6:51
"It Takes Time" (Otis Rush) – 5:27
"Green Manalishi" (Green) – 4:43
"Albatross" (Green) – 3:24Some later versions including digital media (e g  Eagle Rock version in 2003) do not include the bonus EP tracks 

Personnel
Peter Green Splinter Group
Peter Green – guitars, harmonica, vocals
Nigel Watson – guitar, vocals
Roger Cotton – guitar, keyboards, Hammond C-3 organ
Pete Stroud – bass guitar, double bass
Larry Tolfree – drums, percussion

Technical
Peter Green Splinter Group – producers
Arthur Anderson – producer, engineer
Richard "Occy" Oxley – engineer
Monty Strikes – photography
Passage 16:
List of The Young and the Restless cast members
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera, created by William J  Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS  It first aired on March 26, 1973  The longest-running cast member is Doug Davidson, who has portrayed private investigator Paul Williams since May 23, 1978  Jeanne Cooper, who portrayed the soap opera's matriarch Katherine Chancellor, previously held the record for the series' longest-running cast member, airing from November 1973 until her death in May 2013  Melody Thomas Scott and Eric Braeden, who portray Nikki and Victor Newman, are the second and third longest-running current cast members, having joined in February 1979 and February 1980, respectively  Kate Linder has portrayed Esther Valentine since April 1982, and rounds out the series' top four longest-running cast members  The following list is of cast members who are currently on the show: both main and recurring members, as well as those who are debuting, departing or returning from the series 

Cast
Main cast
Recurring cast
Previous cast members
Passage 17:
Green Ice (soundtrack)
Green Ice is the soundtrack to the 1981 United Kingdom adventure film Green Ice starring Ryan O'Neal  The soundtrack was recorded by Bill Wyman and contains 18 original songs 

Track listing
All tracks written by Bill Wyman, except where noted 

Personnel
Bill Wyman – bass, guitars, harmonica, synthesizers, percussion
Terry Taylor – acoustic, electric and Spanish guitars, kyoto, synthesizers, percussion
Dave Mattacks – drums, percussion
Ray Cooper – Latin percussion
Doreen Chanter, Maria Muldaur, Stuart Epps – background vocals
Dave Richmond – bass on "Floating (Cloudhopper Theme)" and "Tenderness"
Tristan Fry – marimba on "Noche de Amore"
Kenny Baker – trumpet on "Colombia (Green Ice Opening Title)" and "Sol y Sombra"
Dave Lawson – vocoder, synthesizer on "Floating (Cloudhopper Theme)" and "Emerald Vault"
Ken Thorne – orchestral conductor and arranger
Context 3: 0," reducing the number of employees and diversifying the company's products  While chairman of the board after relinquishing his CEO position, Michael Dell still had significant input in the company during Rollins' years as CEO  With the return of Michael Dell as CEO, the company saw changes in operations, the exodus of many senior vice-presidents and new personnel brought in from outside the company  Michael Dell announced a number of initiatives and plans (part of the "Dell 2 0" initiative) to improve the company's financial performance  These include elimination of 2006 bonuses for employees with some discretionary awards, reduction in the number of managers reporting directly to Michael Dell from 20 to 12, and reduction of "bureaucracy"  Jim Schneider retired as CFO and was replaced by Donald Carty, as the company came under an SEC probe for its accounting practices On April 23, 2008, Dell announced the closure of one of its biggest Canadian call-centers in Kanata, Ontario, terminating approximately 1100 employees, with 500 of those redundancies effective on the spot, and with the official closure of the center scheduled for the summer  The call-center had opened in 2006 after the city of Ottawa won a bid to host it  Less than a year later, Dell planned to double its workforce to nearly 3,000 workers add a new building  These plans were reversed, due to a high Canadian dollar that made the Ottawa staff relatively expensive, and also as part of Dell's turnaround, which involved moving these call-center jobs offshore to cut costs 
 
The company had also announced the shutdown of its Edmonton, Alberta, office, losing 900 jobs  In total, Dell announced the ending of about 8,800 jobs in 2007–2008 — 10% of its workforce By the late 2000s, Dell's "configure to order" approach of manufacturing—delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications from its US facilities was no longer as efficient or competitive with high-volume Asian contract manufacturers as PCs became powerful low-cost commodities  Dell closed plants that produced desktop computers for the North American market, including the Mort Topfer Manufacturing Center in Austin, Texas (original location) and Lebanon, Tennessee (opened in 1999) in 2008 and early 2009, respectively  The desktop production plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, received US$280 million in incentives from the state and opened in 2005, but ceased operations in November 2010  Dell's contract with the state required them to repay the incentives for failing to meet the conditions, and they sold the North Carolina plant to Herbalife  Much work was transferred to manufacturers in Asia and Mexico, or some of Dell's own factories overseas  On January 8, 2009, Dell announced the closure of its manufacturing plant in Limerick, Ireland, with the loss of 1,900 jobs and the transfer of production to its plant in Łodź in Poland 

Attempts at diversification
The release of Apple's iPad tablet computer had a negative impact on Dell and other major PC vendors, as consumers switched away from desktop and laptop PCs  Dell's own mobility division has not managed success with developing smartphones or tablets, whether running Windows or Google Android  The Dell Streak was a failure commercially and critically due to its outdated OS, numerous bugs, and low resolution screen  InfoWorld suggested that Dell and other OEMs saw tablets as a short-term, low-investment opportunity running Google Android, an approach that neglected user interface and failed to gain long term market traction with consumers  Dell has responded by pushing higher-end PCs, such as the XPS line of notebooks, which do not compete with the Apple iPad and Kindle Fire tablets  The growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers instead of PCs drove Dell's consumer segment to an operating loss in Q3 2012  In December 2012, Dell suffered its first decline in holiday sales in five years, despite the introduction of Windows 8 In the shrinking PC industry, Dell continued to lose market share, as it dropped below Lenovo in 2011 to fall to number three in the world  Dell and fellow American contemporary Hewlett Packard came under pressure from Asian PC manufacturers Lenovo, Asus, and Acer, all of which had lower production costs and were willing to accept lower profit margins  In addition, while the Asian PC vendors had been improving their quality and design—for instance, Lenovo's ThinkPad series was winning corporate customers away from Dell's laptops—Dell's customer service and reputation had been slipping  Dell remained the second-most profitable PC vendor, as it took 13 percent of operating profits in the PC industry during Q4 2012, behind Apple's Mac that took 45 percent, seven percent at Hewlett Packard, six percent at Lenovo and Asus, and one percent for Acer Dell attempted to offset its declining PC business, which still accounted for half of its revenue and generates steady cash flow, by expanding into the enterprise market with servers, networking, software, and services  It avoided many of the acquisition write-downs and management turnover that plagued its chief rival Hewlett Packard  Despite spending $13 billion on acquisitions to diversify its portfolio beyond hardware, the company was unable to convince the market that it could thrive or made the transformation in the post-PC world, as it suffered continued declines in revenue and share price  Dell's market share in the corporate segment was previously a "moat" against rivals but this has no longer been the case as sales and profits have fallen precipitously 

2013 buyout
After several weeks of rumors, which started around January 11, 2013, Dell announced on February 5, 2013, that it had struck a $24 4 billion leveraged buyout deal, that would have delisted its shares from the NASDAQ and Hong Kong Stock Exchange and taken it private  Reuters reported that Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners, aided by a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, would acquire the public shares at $13 65 apiece  The $24 4 billion buyout was projected to be the largest leveraged buyout backed by private equity since the 2007 financial crisis  It is also the largest technology buyout ever, surpassing the 2006 buyout of Freescale Semiconductor for $17 5 billion Michael Dell said of the February offer "I believe this transaction will open an exciting new chapter for Dell, our customers and team members"  Dell rival Lenovo responded to the buyout, saying, "the financial actions of some of our traditional competitors will not substantially change our outlook "In March 2013, the Blackstone Group and Carl Icahn expressed interest in purchasing Dell  In April 2013, Blackstone withdrew their offer, citing deteriorating business  Other private equity firms such as KKR & Co  and TPG Capital declined to submit alternative bids for Dell, citing the uncertain market for personal computers and competitive pressures, so the "wide-open bidding war" never materialized  Analysts said that the biggest challenge facing Silver Lake would be to find an "exit strategy" to profit from its investment, which would be when the company would hold an IPO to go public again, and one warned "But even if you can get a $25bn enterprise value for Dell, it will take years to get out "In May 2013, Michael Dell joined his board in voting for the offer  The following August he reached a deal with the special committee on the board for $13 88 per share, a raised price of $13 75 plus a special dividend of 13 cents, as well as a change to the voting rules  The $13 88 cash offer (plus a $ 08 per share dividend for the third fiscal quarter) was accepted on September 12 and closed on October 30, 2013, ending Dell's 25-year run as a publicly-traded company 
After the buyout, the newly private Dell offered a Voluntary Separation Program that they expected to reduce their workforce by up to seven percent  The reception to the program so exceeded the expectations that Dell may be forced to hire new staff to make up for the losses 

Recent history
On November 19, 2015, Dell, alongside ARM Holdings, Cisco Systems, Intel, Microsoft, and Princeton University, founded the OpenFog Consortium, to promote interests and development in fog computing 

Acquisition of EMC
On October 12, 2015, Dell Inc  announced its intent to acquire EMC Corporation in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $67 billion, which has been considered the largest-ever acquisition in the technology sector  As part of the acquisition, Dell would take over EMC's 81% stake in the cloud-computing and virtualization company VMWare  This would combine Dell's enterprise server, personal computer, and mobile businesses with EMC's enterprise storage business in a significant Vertical merger of IT giants  Dell would pay $24 05 per share of EMC, and $9 05 per share of tracking stock in VMware The announcement came two years after Dell Inc  returned to private ownership, claiming that it faced bleak prospects and would need several years out of the public eye to rebuild its business  It was thought that the company's value had roughly doubled since then  EMC was being pressured by Elliott Management, a hedge fund holding 2 2% of EMC's stock, to reorganize their unusual "Federation" structure, in which EMC's divisions were effectively being run as independent companies  Elliott argued this structure deeply undervalued EMC's core "EMC II" data storage business, and that increasing competition between EMC II and VMware products was confusing the market and hindering both companies  The Wall Street Journal estimated that in 2014 Dell had revenue of $27 3 billion from personal computers and $8 9 billion from servers, while EMC had $16 5 billion from EMC II, $1 billion from RSA Security, $6 billion from VMware, and $230 million from Pivotal Software  EMC owns around 80 percent of the stock of VMware  The proposed acquisition will maintain VMware as a separate company, held via a new tracking stock, while the other parts of EMC will be rolled into Dell  Once the acquisition closes Dell will again publish quarterly financial results, having ceased these on going private in 2013 The combined business was expected to address the markets for scale-out architecture, converged infrastructure and private cloud computing, playing to the strengths of both EMC and Dell  Commentators have questioned the deal, with FBR Capital Markets saying that though it makes a "ton of sense" for Dell, it's a "nightmare scenario that would lack strategic synergies" for EMC  Fortune said there was a lot for Dell to like in EMC's portfolio, but "does it all add up enough to justify tens of billions of dollars for the entire package? Probably not " The Register reported the view of William Blair & Company that the merger would "blow up the current IT chess board", forcing other IT infrastructure vendors to restructure to achieve scale and vertical integration  The value of VMware stock fell 10% after the announcement, valuing the deal at around $63–64bn rather than the $67bn originally reported  Key investors backing the deal besides Dell were Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Silver Lake Partners On September 7, 2016, Dell completed the merger with EMC, which involved the issuance of $45 9 billion in debt and $4 4 billion of common stock  At the time, some analysts claimed that Dell's acquisition of the former Iomega could harm the LenovoEMC partnership In July 2018, Dell announced intentions to become a publicly traded company again by paying $21 7 billion in both cash and stock to buy back shares from its stake in VMware, offering shareholders roughly 60 cents on the dollar as part of the deal  In November, Carl Icahn (9 3% owner of Dell) sued the company over plans to go public  As a result of pressure from Icahn and other activist investors, Dell renegotiated the deal, ultimately offering shareholders about 80% of market value  As part of this deal, Dell once again became a public company, with the original Dell computer business and Dell EMC operating under the newly created parent, Dell Technologies Post-acquisition, Dell was re-organized with a new parent company, Dell Technologies; Dell's consumer and workstation businesses are internally referred to as the Dell Client Solutions Group, and is one of the company's three main business divisions alongside Dell EMC and VMware In January 2021, Dell reported $94 billion in sales and $13 billion operating cash flow during 2020 

Dell and AMD
When Dell acquired Alienware early in 2006, some Alienware systems had AMD chips  On August 17, 2006, a Dell press release stated that starting in September, Dell Dimension desktop computers would have AMD processors and that later in the year Dell would release a two-socket, quad-processor server using AMD Opteron chips, moving away from Dell's tradition of only offering Intel processors in Dell PCs 
CNet's News com on August 17, 2006, cited Dell's CEO Kevin Rollins as attributing the move to AMD processors to lower costs and to AMD technology  AMD's senior VP in commercial business, Marty Seyer, stated: "Dell's wider embrace of AMD processor-based offerings is a win for Dell, for the industry and most importantly for Dell customers "
On October 23, 2006, Dell announced new AMD-based servers — the PowerEdge 6950 and the PowerEdge SC1435 
On November 1, 2006, Dell's website began offering notebooks based on AMD processors (the Inspiron 1501 with a 15 4-inch (390 mm) display) with the choice of a single-core MK-36 processor, dual-core Turion X2 chips or Mobile Sempron In 2017, Dell released the AlienWare 17  The model was primarily based on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 systems 

Dell and desktop Linux
In 1998, Ralph Nader asked Dell (and five other major OEMs) to offer alternate operating systems to Microsoft Windows, specifically including Linux, for which "there is clearly a growing interest"  Possibly coincidentally, Dell started offering Linux notebook systems that "cost no more than their Windows 98 counterparts" in 2000, and soon expanded, with Dell becoming "the first major manufacturer to offer Linux across its full product line"  However, by early 2001 Dell had "disbanded its Linux business unit "On February 26, 2007, Dell announced that it had commenced a program to sell and distribute a range of computers with pre-installed Linux distributions as an alternative to Microsoft Windows  Dell indicated that Novell's SUSE Linux would appear first  However, the next day, Dell announced that its previous announcement related to certifying the hardware as ready to work with Novell SUSE Linux and that it (Dell) had no plans to sell systems pre-installed with Linux in the near future  On March 28, 2007, Dell announced that it would begin shipping some desktops and laptops with Linux pre-installed, although it did not specify which distribution of Linux or which hardware would lead  On April 18, a report appeared suggesting that Michael Dell used Ubuntu on one of his home systems  On May 1, 2007, Dell announced it would ship the Ubuntu Linux distribution  On May 24, 2007, Dell started selling models with Ubuntu Linux 7 04 pre-installed: a laptop, a budget computer, and a high-end PC On June 27, 2007, Dell announced on its Direct2Dell blog that it planned to offer more pre-loaded systems (the new Dell Inspiron desktops and laptops)  After the IdeaStorm site supported extending the bundles beyond the US market, Dell later announced more international marketing  On August 7, 2007, Dell officially announced that it would offer one notebook and one desktop in the UK, France and Germany with Ubuntu "pre-installed"  At LinuxWorld 2007 Dell announced plans to provide Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on selected models in China, "factory-installed"  On November 30, 2007, Dell reported shipping 40,000 Ubuntu PCs  On January 24, 2008, Dell in Germany, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom launched a second laptop, an XPS M1330 with Ubuntu 7 10, for 849 euro or GBP 599 upwards  On February 18, 2008, Dell announced that the Inspiron 1525 would have Ubuntu as an optional operating system  On February 22, 2008, Dell announced plans to sell Ubuntu in Canada and in Latin America From September 16, 2008, Dell has shipped both Dell Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Windows XP Home versions of the Inspiron Mini 9 and the Inspiron Mini 12  As of November 2009 Dell shipped the Inspiron Mini laptops with Ubuntu version 8 04 As of 2021, Dell continues to offer select laptops and workstations with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed, under the "Developer Edition" moniker 

List of Dell marketing slogans
Be direct (1998-2001)
Easy as Dell (2001-2004)
Get more out of now (2004–2005)
It's a Dell (2005-2006)
Dell  Purely You (2006–2007)
Yours is Here (2007–2011)
The power to do more (2011–present)

Senior leadership
List of chairmen
Michael Dell (1984– )

List of chief executives
Michael Dell (1984–2004)
Kevin Rollins (2004–2007)
Michael Dell (2007–present); second term

Acquisitions
Dell facilities
Dell's headquarters is located in Round Rock, Texas  As of 2013 the company employed about 14,000 people in central Texas and was the region's largest private employer, which has 2,100,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of space  As of 1999 almost half of the general fund of the city of Round Rock originated from sales taxes generated from the Dell headquarters Dell previously had its headquarters in the Arboretum complex in northern Austin, Texas  In 1989 Dell occupied 127,000 square feet (11,800 m2) in the Arboretum complex  In 1990, Dell had 1,200 employees in its headquarters  In 1993, Dell submitted a document to Round Rock officials, titled "Dell Computer Corporate Headquarters, Round Rock, Texas, May 1993 Schematic Design " Despite the filing, during that year the company said that it was not going to move its headquarters  In 1994, Dell announced that it was moving most of its employees out of the Arboretum, but that it was going to continue to occupy the top floor of the Arboretum and that the company's official headquarters address would continue to be the Arboretum  The top floor continued to hold Dell's board room, demonstration center, and visitor meeting room  Less than one month prior to August 29, 1994, Dell moved 1,100 customer support and telephone sales employees to Round Rock  Dell's lease in the Arboretum had been scheduled to expire in 1994 

By 1996, Dell was moving its headquarters to Round Rock  As of January 1996, 3,500 people still worked at the current Dell headquarters  One building of the Round Rock headquarters, Round Rock 3, had space for 6,400 employees and was scheduled to be completed in November 1996  In 1998 Dell announced that it was going to add two buildings to its Round Rock complex, adding 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2) of office space to the complex In 2000, Dell announced that it would lease 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) of space in the Las Cimas office complex in unincorporated Travis County, Texas, between Austin and West Lake Hills, to house the company's executive offices and corporate headquarters  100 senior executives were scheduled to work in the building by the end of 2000  In January 2001, the company leased the space in Las Cimas 2, located along Loop 360  Las Cimas 2 housed Dell's executives, the investment operations, and some corporate functions  Dell also had an option for 138,000 square feet (12,800 m2) of space in Las Cimas 3  After a slowdown in business required reducing employees and production capacity, Dell decided to sublease its offices in two buildings in the Las Cimas office complex  In 2002 Dell announced that it planned to sublease its space to another tenant; the company planned to move its headquarters back to Round Rock once a tenant was secured  By 2003, Dell moved its headquarters back to Round Rock  It leased all of Las Cimas I and II, with a total of 312,000 square feet (29,000 m2), for about a seven-year period after 2003  By that year roughly 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of that space was absorbed by new subtenants In 2008, Dell switched the power sources of the Round Rock headquarters to more environmentally friendly ones, with 60% of the total power coming from TXU Energy wind farms and 40% coming from the Austin Community Landfill gas-to-energy plant operated by Waste Management, Inc Dell facilities in the United States are located in Austin, Texas; Nashua, New Hampshire; Nashville, Tennessee; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Peoria, Illinois; Hillsboro, Oregon (Portland area); Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Eden Prairie, Minnesota (Dell Compellent); Bowling Green, Kentucky; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Miami, Florida  Facilities located abroad include Penang, Malaysia; Xiamen, China; Bracknell, UK; Manila, Philippines Chennai, India; Hyderabad, India; Noida, India; Hortolândia and Porto Alegre, Brazil; Bratislava, Slovakia; Łódź, Poland; Panama City, Panama; Dublin and Limerick, Ireland; Casablanca, Morocco and Montpellier, France 
The US and India are the only countries that have all Dell's business functions and provide support globally: research and development, manufacturing, finance, analysis, and customer care 

Manufacturing
From its early beginnings, Dell operated as a pioneer in the "configure to order" approach to manufacturing—delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications  In contrast, most PC manufacturers in those times delivered large orders to intermediaries on a quarterly basis To minimize the delay between purchase and delivery, Dell has a general policy of manufacturing its products close to its customers  This also allows for implementing a just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing approach, which minimizes inventory costs  Low inventory is another signature of the Dell business model—a critical consideration in an industry where components depreciate very rapidly Dell's manufacturing process covers assembly, software installation, functional testing (including "burn-in"), and quality control  Throughout most of the company's history, Dell manufactured desktop machines in-house and contracted out the manufacturing of base notebooks for configuration in-house  The company's approach has changed, as cited in the 2006 Annual Report, which states, "We are continuing to expand our use of original design manufacturing partnerships and manufacturing outsourcing relationships " The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2008 that "Dell has approached contract computer manufacturers with offers to sell" their plants  By the late 2000s, Dell's "configure to order" approach of manufacturing—delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications from its US facilities was no longer as efficient or competitive with high-volume Asian contract manufacturers as PCs became powerful low-cost commodities Assembly of desktop computers for the North American market formerly took place at Dell plants in Austin, Texas, (original location) and Lebanon, Tennessee, (opened in 1999), which were closed in 2008 and early 2009, respectively  The plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, opened in 2005 but ceased operations in November 2010  Most of the work that used to take place in Dell's US plants was transferred to contract manufacturers in Asia and Mexico, or some of Dell's own factories overseas  The Miami, Florida, facility of its Alienware subsidiary remains in operation, while Dell continues to produce its servers (its most profitable products) in Austin, Texas Dell assembled computers for the EMEA market at the Limerick facility in the Republic of Ireland, and once employed about 4,500 people in that country  Dell began manufacturing in Limerick in 1991 and went on to become Ireland's largest exporter of goods and its second-largest company and foreign investor  On January 8, 2009, Dell announced that it would move all Dell manufacturing in Limerick to Dell's new plant in the Polish city of Łódź by January 2010  European Union officials said they would investigate a €52 7million aid package the Polish government used to attract Dell away from Ireland  European Manufacturing Facility 1 (EMF1, opened in 1990) and EMF3 form part of the Raheen Industrial Estate near Limerick  EMF2 (previously a Wang facility, later occupied by Flextronics, situated in Castletroy) closed in 2002, and Dell Inc  has consolidated production into EMF3 (EMF1 now contains only offices)  Subsidies from the Polish government did keep Dell for a long time  After ending assembly in the Limerick plant the Cherrywood Technology Campus in Dublin was the largest Dell office in the republic with over 1200 people in sales (mainly UK & Ireland), support (enterprise support for EMEA) and research and development for cloud computing, but no more manufacturing except Dell's Alienware subsidiary, which manufactures PCs in an Athlone, Ireland, plant  Whether this facility will remain in Ireland is not certain  Dell started production at EMF4 in Łódź, Poland, in late 2007 Dell moved desktop, notebook and PowerEdge server manufacturing for the South American market from the Eldorado do Sul plant opened in 1999, to a new plant in Hortolândia, Brazil, in 2007 

Products
Scope and brands
The corporation markets specific brand names to different market segments 
Its Business/Corporate class includes:

OptiPlex (office desktop computer systems)
Dimension (home desktop computer systems)
Vostro (office/small business desktop and notebook systems)
n Series (desktop and notebook computers shipped with Linux or FreeDOS installed)
Latitude (business-focused notebooks)
Precision (workstation systems and high-performance "Mobile Workstation" notebooks),
PowerEdge (business servers)
PowerVault (direct-attach and network-attached storage)
Force10 (network switches)
PowerConnect (network switches)
Dell Compellent (storage area networks)
EqualLogic (enterprise class iSCSI SANs)
Dell EMR (electronic medical records)Dell's Home Office/Consumer class includes:

Inspiron (budget desktop and notebook computers)
XPS (high-end desktop and notebook computers)
G Series (high/medium-performance gaming laptops)
Alienware (high-performance gaming systems)
Venue (Tablets Android / Windows)Dell's Peripherals class includes USB keydrives, LCD televisions, and printers; Dell monitors includes LCD TVs, plasma TVs and projectors for HDTV and monitors  Dell UltraSharp is further a high-end brand of monitors 
Dell service and support brands include the Dell Solution Station (extended domestic support services, previously "Dell on Call"), Dell Support Center (extended support services abroad), Dell Business Support (a commercial service-contract that provides an industry-certified technician with a lower call-volume than in normal queues), Dell Everdream Desktop Management ("Software as a Service" remote-desktop management, originally a SaaS company founded by Elon Musk's cousin, Lyndon Rive, which Dell bought in 2007), and Your Tech Team (a support-queue available to home users who purchased their systems either through Dell's website or through Dell phone-centers) 
Discontinued products and brands include Axim (PDA; discontinued April 9, 2007), Dimension (home and small office desktop computers; discontinued July 2007), Dell Digital Jukebox (MP3 player; discontinued August 2006), Dell PowerApp (application-based servers), Dell Optiplex (desktop and tower computers previously supported to run server and desktop operating systems), Dell Unix (an SVR4-based Unix operating system for its Dell-branded PCs and workstations; discontinued in 1993) and Dell Mobile Connect（Windows Mobile application; discontinued July 31st, 2022) 

Security
Self-signed root certificate
In November 2015, it emerged that several Dell computers had shipped with an identical pre-installed root certificate known as "eDellRoot"  This raised such security risks as attackers impersonating HTTPS-protected websites such as Google and Bank of America and malware being signed with the certificate to bypass Microsoft software filtering  Dell apologized and offered a removal tool 

Dell Foundation Services
Also in November 2015, a researcher discovered that customers with diagnostic program Dell Foundation Services could be digitally tracked using the unique service tag number assigned to them by the program  This was possible even if a customer enabled private browsing and deleted their browser cookies  Ars Technica recommended that Dell customers uninstall the program until the issue was addressed 

Commercial aspects
Organization
The board consists of nine directors  Michael Dell, the founder of the company, serves as chairman of the board and chief executive officer  Other board members include Don Carty, Judy Lewent, Klaus Luft, Alex Mandl, and Sam Nunn  Shareholders elect the nine board members at meetings, and those board members who do not get a majority of votes must submit a resignation to the board, which will subsequently choose whether or not to accept the resignation  The board of directors usually sets up five committees having oversight over specific matters



ground_truth: Tatum O'Neal

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

Question: What is the highest city in the state where Dell ranks sixth by revenue?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:  These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues, including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles financial matters such as proposed mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters (including the nomination of the board); and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating antitrust laws Day-to-day operations of the company are run by the Global Executive Management Committee, which sets strategic direction  Dell has regional senior vice-presidents for countries other than the United States 

Marketing
Dell advertisements have appeared in several types of media including television, the Internet, magazines, catalogs, and newspapers  Some of Dell Inc's marketing strategies include lowering prices at all times of the year, free bonus products (such as Dell printers), and free shipping to encourage more sales and stave off competitors  In 2006, Dell cut its prices in an effort to maintain its 19 2% market share  This also cut profit margins by more than half, from 8 7 to 4 3 percent  To maintain its low prices, Dell continues to accept most purchases of its products via the Internet and through the telephone network, and to move its customer-care division to India and El Salvador A popular United States television and print ad campaign in the early 2000s featured the actor Ben Curtis playing the part of "Steven", a lightly mischievous blond-haired youth who came to the assistance of bereft computer purchasers  Each television advertisement usually ended with Steven's catch-phrase: "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell!"A subsequent advertising campaign featured interns at Dell headquarters (with Curtis' character appearing in a small cameo at the end of one of the first commercials in this particular campaign) 
In 2007, Dell switched advertising agencies in the US from BBDO to Working Mother Media  In July 2007, Dell released new advertising created by Working Mother to support the Inspiron and XPS lines  The ads featured music from the Flaming Lips and Devo who re-formed especially to record the song in the ad "Work it Out"  Also in 2007, Dell began using the slogan "Yours is here" to say that it customizes computers to fit customers' requirements Beginning in 2011, Dell began hosting a conference in Austin, Texas, at the Austin Convention Center titled "Dell World"  The event featured new technology and services provided by Dell and Dell's partners  In 2011, the event was held October 12–14  In 2012, the event was held December 11–13  In 2013, the event was held December 11–13  In 2014, the event was held November 4–6 

Dell partner program
In late 2007, Dell Inc  announced that it planned to expand its program to value-added resellers (VARs), giving it the official name of "Dell Partner Direct" and a new Website Dell India has started Online Ecommerce website with its Dell Partner www compuindia com GNG Electronics Pvt Ltd termed as Dell Express Ship Affiliate(DESA) 
The main objective was to reduce the delivery time  Customers who visit Dell India official site are given the option to buy online which then will be redirected to Dell affiliate website compuindia com 

Global analytics
Dell also operates a captive analytics division which supports pricing, web analytics, and supply chain operations  DGA operates as a single, centralized entity with a global view of Dell's business activities  The firm supports over 500 internal customers worldwide and has created a quantified impact of over $500 million 

Criticisms of marketing of laptop security
In 2008, Dell received press coverage over its claim of having the world's most secure laptops, specifically, its Latitude D630 and Latitude D830  At Lenovo's request, the (US) National Advertising Division (NAD) evaluated the claim, and reported that Dell did not have enough evidence to support it 

Retail
Dell first opened their retail stores in India 

United States
In the early 1990s, Dell sold its products through Best Buy, Costco and Sam's Club stores in the United States  Dell stopped this practice in 1994, citing low profit margins on the business, exclusively distributing through a direct-sales model for the next decade  In 2003, Dell briefly sold products in Sears stores in the US  In 2007, Dell started shipping its products to major retailers in the US once again, starting with Sam's Club and Wal-Mart  Staples, the largest office-supply retailer in the US, and Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the US, became Dell retail partners later that same year 

Kiosks
Starting in 2002, Dell opened kiosk locations in the United States to allow customers to examine products before buying them directly from the company  Starting in 2005, Dell expanded kiosk locations to include shopping malls across Australia, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong  On January 30, 2008, Dell announced it would shut down all 140 kiosks in the US due to expansion into retail stores  By June 3, 2010, Dell had also shut down all of its mall kiosks in Australia 

Retail stores
As of the end of February 2008, Dell products shipped to one of the largest office supply retailers in Canada, Staples Business Depot  In April 2008, Future Shop and Best Buy began carrying a subset of Dell products, such as certain desktops, laptops, printers, and monitors 
Since some shoppers in certain markets show reluctance to purchase technological products through the phone or the Internet, Dell has looked into opening retail operations in some countries in Central Europe and Russia  In April 2007, Dell opened a retail store in Budapest  In October of the same year, Dell opened a retail store in Moscow 
In the UK, HMV's flagship Trocadero store has sold Dell XPS PCs since December 2007  From January 2008 the UK stores of DSGi have sold Dell products (in particular, through Currys and PC World stores)  As of 2008, the large supermarket chain Tesco has sold Dell laptops and desktops in outlets throughout the UK 
In May 2008, Dell reached an agreement with the office supply chain, Officeworks (part of Coles Group), to stock a few modified models in the Inspiron desktop and notebook range  These models have slightly different model numbers, but almost replicate the ones available from the Dell Store  Dell continued its retail push in the Australian market with its partnership with Harris Technology (another part of Coles Group) in November of the same year  In addition, Dell expanded its retail distributions in Australia through an agreement with the discount electrical retailer, The Good Guys, known for "Slashing Prices"  Dell agreed to distribute a variety of makes of both desktops and notebooks, including Studio and XPS systems in late 2008  Dell and Dick Smith Electronics (owned by Woolworths Limited) reached an agreement to expand within Dick Smith's 400 stores throughout Australia and New Zealand in May 2009 (1 year since Officeworks—owned by Coles Group—reached a deal)  The retailer has agreed to distribute a variety of Inspiron and Studio notebooks, with minimal Studio desktops from the Dell range  As of 2009, Dell continues to run and operate its various kiosks in 18 shopping centers throughout Australia  On March 31, 2010, Dell announced to Australian Kiosk employees that they were shutting down the Australian/New Zealand Dell kiosk program 
In Germany, Dell is selling selected smartphones and notebooks via Media Markt and Saturn, as well as some shopping websites 

Competition
Dell's major competitors include Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Hasee, Acer, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, Asus, MSI, Panasonic, Samsung and Apple  Dell and its subsidiary, Alienware, compete in the enthusiast market against AVADirect, Falcon Northwest, VoodooPC (a subsidiary of HP), and other manufacturers  In the second quarter of 2006, Dell had between 18% and 19% share of the worldwide personal computer market, compared to HP with roughly 15% 
In late 2006, Dell lost its lead in the PC business to Hewlett-Packard  Both Gartner and IDC estimated that in the third quarter of 2006, HP shipped more units worldwide than Dell did  Dell's 3 6% growth paled in comparison to HP's 15% growth during the same period  The problem got worse in the fourth quarter, when Gartner estimated that Dell PC shipments declined 8 9% (versus HP's 23 9% growth)  As a result, at the end of 2006 Dell's overall PC market share stood at 13 9% (versus HP's 17 4%) 
IDC reported that Dell lost more server market share than any of the top four competitors in that arena  IDC's Q4 2006 estimates show Dell's share of the server market at 8 1%, down from 9 5% in the previous year  This represents an 8 8% loss year-over-year, primarily to competitors EMC and IBM  As of 2021, Dell is the third-largest PC manufacturer after Lenovo and HP 

Partnership with EMC
In 2001, Dell and EMC entered into a partnership whereby both companies jointly design products, and Dell provided support for certain EMC products including midrange storage systems, such as fibre channel and iSCSI storage area networks  The relationship also promotes and sells OEM versions of backup, recovery, replication and archiving software  On December 9, 2008, Dell and EMC announced the multi-year extension, through 2013, of the strategic partnership with EMC  In addition, Dell expanded its product lineup by adding the EMC Celerra NX4 storage system to the portfolio of Dell/EMC family of networked storage systems and partnered on a new line of data deduplication products as part of its TierDisk family of data storage devices On October 17, 2011, Dell discontinued reselling all EMC storage products, ending the partnership 2 years early  Later Dell would acquire and merge with EMC in the largest tech merger to date 

Environmental record
Dell committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its global activities by 40% by 2015, with the 2008 fiscal year as the baseline year   It is listed in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics that scores leading electronics manufacturers according to their policies on sustainability, climate and energy and how green their products are  In November 2011, Dell ranked 2nd out of 15 listed electronics makers (increasing its score to 5 1 from 4 9, which it gained in the previous ranking from October 2010) Dell was the first company to publicly state a timeline for the elimination of toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), which it planned to phase out by the end of 2009  It revised this commitment and now aims to remove toxics by the end of 2011 but only in its computing products 
In March 2010, Greenpeace activists protested at Dell offices in Bangalore, Amsterdam and Copenhagen calling for Dell's founder and CEO Michael Dell to "drop the toxics" and claiming that Dell's aspiration to be 'the greenest technology company on the planet' was "hypocritical"   Dell has launched its first products completely free of PVC and BFRs with the G-Series monitors (G2210 and G2410) in 2009 In its 2012 report on progress relating to conflict minerals, the Enough Project rated Dell the eighth-highest of 24 consumer electronics companies 

Green initiatives
Dell became the first company in the information technology industry to establish a product-recycling goal (in 2004) and completed the implementation of its global consumer recycling-program in 2006 
On February 6, 2007, the National Recycling Coalition awarded Dell its "Recycling Works" award for efforts to promote producer responsibility 
On July 19, 2007, Dell announced that it had exceeded targets in working to achieve a multi-year goal of recovering 275 million pounds of computer equipment by 2009  The company reported the recovery of 78 million pounds (nearly 40,000 tons) of IT equipment from customers in 2006, a 93-percent increase over 2005; and 12 4% of the equipment Dell sold seven years earlier On June 5, 2007, Dell set a goal of becoming the greenest technology company on Earth for the long term  The company launched a zero-carbon initiative that includes:

reducing Dell's carbon intensity by 15 percent by 2012
requiring primary suppliers to report carbon emissions data during quarterly business reviews
partnering with customers to build the "greenest PC on the planet"
expanding the company's carbon-offsetting program, "Plant a Tree for Me"Dell reports its environmental performance in an annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report that follows the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) protocol  Dell's 2008 CSR report ranked as "Application Level B" as "checked by GRI" The company aims to reduce its external environmental impact through an energy-efficient evolution of products, and also reduce its direct operational impact through energy-efficiency programs 

Criticism
In the 1990s, Dell switched from using primarily ATX motherboards and PSU to using boards and power supplies with mechanically identical but differently wired connectors  This meant customers wishing to upgrade their hardware would have to replace parts with scarce Dell-compatible parts instead of commonly available parts  While motherboard power connections reverted to the industry standard in 2003, Dell remains secretive about their motherboard pin-outs for peripherals (such as MMC readers and power on/off switches and LEDs) In 2005, complaints about Dell more than doubled to 1,533, after earnings grew 52% that year In 2006, Dell acknowledged that it had problems with customer service  Issues included call transfers
of more than 45% of calls and long wait times  Dell's blog detailed the response: "We're spending more than a $100 million—and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears of talented people—to fix this " Later in the year, the company increased its spending on customer service to $150 million  Since 2018, Dell has seen significant increase in consumer satisfaction  Moreover, their customer service has been praised for its prompt and accurate answers to most questions, especially those directed to their social media support On August 17, 2007, Dell Inc  announced that after an internal investigation into its accounting practices it would restate and reduce earnings from 2003 through to the first quarter of 2007 by a total amount of between $50 million and $150 million, or 2 cents to 7 cents per share  The investigation, begun in November 2006, resulted from concerns raised by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over some documents and information that Dell Inc  had submitted  It was alleged that Dell had not disclosed large exclusivity payments received from Intel for agreeing not to buy processors from rival manufacturer AMD  In 2010 Dell finally paid $100 million to settle the SEC's charges of fraud  Michael Dell and other executives also paid penalties and suffered other sanctions, without admitting or denying the charges In July 2009, Dell apologized after drawing the ire of the Taiwanese Consumer Protection Commission for twice refusing to honor a flood of orders against unusually low prices offered on its Taiwanese website  In the first instance, Dell offered a 19" LCD panel for $15  In the second instance, Dell offered its Latitude E4300 notebook at NT$18,558 (US$580), 70% lower than the usual price of NT$60,900 (US$1900)  Concerning the E4300, rather than honor the discount taking a significant loss, the firm withdrew orders and offered a voucher of up to NT$20,000 (US$625) a customer in compensation  The consumer rights authorities in Taiwan fined Dell NT$1 million (US$31250) for customer rights infringements  Many consumers sued the firm for unfair compensation  A court in southern Taiwan ordered the firm to deliver 18 laptops and 76 flat-panel monitors to 31 consumers for NT$490,000 (US$15,120), less than a third of the normal price  The court said the event could hardly be regarded as mistakes, as the prestigious firm said the company mispriced its products twice in Taiwanese website within 3 weeks After Michael Dell made a $24 4 billion buyout bid in August 2013, activist shareholder Carl Icahn sued the company and its board in an attempt to derail the bid and promote his own forthcoming offer In 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused at least 82 major brands, including BYD, of being connected to forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang 

See also
List of computer system manufacturers
List of Dell ownership activities
Configurator
Mass customization
Passage 4:
Adam Dell
Adam R  Dell (born January 14, 1970) is an American venture capitalist and is the brother of Michael Dell, the founder of computer manufacturing company Dell Inc 

Early life and education
Dell was born in Houston, Texas to a German Jewish family  He attended Tulane University and the University of Texas School of Law 

Career
He began his career working as a corporate attorney for Winstead Sechrest & Minick, in Austin, Texas, before joining the venture capital firm of Enterprise Partners in La Jolla, California  He then joined Crosspoint Venture Partners, in Woodside, California, where he became a partner in 1999  In 2000 he formed Impact Venture Partners, a $100mm early stage venture capital firm, in New York City  Dell joined Austin Ventures as a venture partner in 2009  Dell joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 2018 
During the course of his career, Dell invested in numerous technology companies such as Hotjobs com, which was acquired by Yahoo! in 2002; Ingenio, which was acquired by AT&T in 2007; and OpenTable He founded six companies: Clarity Money, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2018, Civitas Learning, Buzzsaw com, which was acquired by AutoDesk in 2002, MessageOne which was acquired by Dell, Inc  in 2008, Domain Money, and Shared Earth  
Dell has served as an adjunct professor at both Columbia Business School and the University of Texas School of Law 

Personal life
In 2010, Dell had a daughter with Padma Lakshmi 
Passage 5:
The Dice Spelled Murder
The Dice Spelled Murder, by American novelist Al Fray, was published in 1957 by Dell Publishing Company, Inc  as a Dell (paperback) First Edition  The jacket notes
to Fray's subsequent novel, Come Back for More, refer to The Dice Spelled Murder as a "best selling" novel 

Plot introduction
Danny is a master with the dice and Velma could con any man into anything  As a pair they cruise the California convention circuit, hustling suckers and raking in the dough  Where will their greed finally take them? To the fulfillment of their dreams? Or to sudden, violent death?

Plot summary
Danny Hogan, a truck driver disaffected with his job at Torgus Trucking, meets beautiful Velma Reed in a seedy Los Angeles bar where she has been working as the bartender's shill, enticing lonely men to buy drinks  Danny doesn't recognize Velma, but the two of them attended the same high school in a distant city, where they were only casually acquainted 
Danny was expelled from high school after being caught using loaded dice in an after-school craps game  A short time later, and unbeknownst to Danny, Velma became pregnant and also left school and their home town  Now, a dozen years later, Velma recognizes Danny and renews their acquaintance  Appealing to his greed and his masculinity, she convinces him to use his skills with crooked dice in a confidence game to help her separate convention-goers from their money  At first reluctant because of a beating he received in the Army after being caught using altered dice, Danny eventually agrees, hoping to amass enough money to start his own trucking company  He soon comes to realize that Velma, too, has a loftier purpose in mind—buying a motel in Las Vegas that she can operate, in order to become "legit" and no longer feel ashamed of the way she earns money to support her young son, whom she has placed in a boarding school 
The bulk of the novel's action surrounds Velma's artful pickup of likely suckers at conventions, mostly in California cities, and Danny's subsequent fleecing of them in craps games  Their adventures bring them into contact with a number of ordinary and extraordinary characters, including a gay con artist toward whom Danny displays a disdain that was probably more politically correct in 1957 than it seems now  Various close calls ensue, and Danny loses some of his enthusiasm for the con  He tells Velma he wants to quit, but she convinces him to run the con with her one last time 
Along the way, and unbeknownst to Danny, Velma and another male friend, Joe Lovelli, have committed  blackmail  Velma has twice enticed men to her hotel room, where Joe waited in a closet with a camera  Using infrared film, Joe snapped photographs of the men in compromising positions with Velma  The blackmailers then extorted—or attempted to extort—hush-up money from their victims  Danny remains unaware of Velma and Joe's sideline until near the end of the book, when Velma's second blackmail victim, a mob-related big shot, propels the novel to its climax in a fatal car chase 
After struggling with a conflict between conscience and ambition, Danny mails the bulk of his dishonest gambling earnings to Velma's young son, keeping only enough to buy a good used truck so that he and Jill Conner—the pretty, young, former office manager at Torgus Trucking—can start their own trucking firm 
Passage 6:
Hagerty Insurance Agency
Hagerty, Inc  is an American automotive lifestyle and membership company and the world's largest provider of specialty insurance for classic vehicles  Hagerty is based in Traverse City, Michigan and also operates in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom 

History
Hagerty was launched in 1984 by Frank and Louise Hagerty after they could not find good insurance coverage for their wooden boats  The company initially focused on providing coverage for antique boats, and later expanded into cars and other vehicles  In 1991, the company added coverage for classic cars In 2000, McKeel Hagerty, son of Frank and Louise, became CEO  Under McKeel Hagerty's guidance, the company developed an automotive media arm by launching Hagerty magazine (ISSN 2162-8033), covering the classic and enthusiast vehicle market  In 2020, the magazine was renamed Hagerty Drivers Club Magazine Hagerty published its first annual Hagerty Price Guide in 2008, a valuation tool that informs classic car buyers on how to best navigate the digital automotive age  Hagerty also originated both the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) and the RPM Foundation In 2017, the company adopted saving driving and preserving automotive culture for future generations as its corporate mission  To support the mission, Hagerty launched Hagerty Drivers Club, offering members access to events, automotive discounts, roadside service and more  In 2017, Hagerty also acquired DriveShare  The company became the owner and organizer of the Greenwich Concours d'Elégance and established MotorsportReg com and Hagerty Garage + Social in 2019  In 2021 it bought the California Mile, the Concours d’Elegance of America, and the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance In December 2021, Hagerty went public by merging with Aldel Financial, a SPAC, under the symbol HGTY  The merger deal was valued at $3 13 billion In January 2023, Hagerty launched Hagerty ECO (Enthusiast Carbon Offset) scheme for classic motorists to offset their carbon emissions  Hagerty partner with a third party to plant trees on your behalf  The scheme quickly came under scruitiny when the third party was found to be taking 20-30% of offset donations to simply pass the funds on to other charities  There are also no calculations provided as to how they achieve their CO2 or 'Trees' figures  A 2023 Bloomberg News article documented how within two years McKeel Hagerty turned the small family business into a conglomerate with dominance in the industry and classic car insurance markets 

In popular culture
Hagerty partnered with Japanese video game developer Polyphony Digital in 2022 to appear in the video game Gran Turismo 7  Hagerty branding appeared in the game's "Legend Cars Dealer" screen, and CEO McKeel Hagerty also featured, describing the cars that were available for the player to purchase, dubbed the "Hagerty Collection "



ground_truth: Fort Davis