user: How many episodes of the second season of Game of Thrones did Alan Taylor direct?

assistant: Alan Taylor directed the first two, eighth, and last episodes of the second season of Game of Thrones.

user: Provide a brief summary of the reaction to the creation of LIV Golf

assistant: <think>
Human rights groups have criticized LIV Golf as sportswashing, a political strategy by Saudi Arabia to cleanse its repressive global image through sport. Human Rights Watch, for example, called the Saudi endeavor "an effort to distract from its serious human rights abuses by taking over events that celebrate human achievement".

Greg Norman has been accused of aiding the repressive Saudi government for his own financial gain. In 2021, Norman denied that he was being used for sportswashing and said he works for LIV because of his passion for the sport. Later, in May 2022, Norman defended the involvement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Jamal Khashoggi's murder, saying, "Look, we've all made mistakes, and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward." His statement drew extensive criticism. Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, said it was hurtful that "Jamal's brutal killing is brushed off as a 'mistake' and that we should just move on".

On 22 June 2022, a group of nearly 2,500 survivors of family members killed or injured during the September 11 attacks wrote an open letter to golfers who have remained loyal to the PGA Tour thanking them for not defecting to LIV Golf. The letter read in part, "Thank you for standing up for decency. Thank you for standing up for the 9/11 Families. Thank you for resisting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's efforts to cleanse its reputation by buying off professional athletes...To those of you who have chosen what is right over blood money from a corrupt, destructive sports entity and its Saudi backers, please continue to stand strong." On 17 July 2022, a group of September 11 victims' family members condemned former U.S. President Donald Trump for hosting the LIV Golf tour at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey; the group's letter to Trump noted that he himself had blamed Saudi Arabia for the 9/11 attack during a 2016 interview on Fox News.

Tiger Woods, who turned down an offer of $700 million to $800 million to join LIV Golf, was asked in July 2022 about the golfers who had joined. "I disagree with it. I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position," Woods said at a press conference before the 2022 Open Championship. "I know what the PGA Tour stands for and what we have done and what the tour has given us, the ability to chase after our careers and to earn what we get and the trophies we have been able to play for and the history that has been a part of this game."</think>
Overall, the reaction to the creation of the LIV Golf has been negative. For example, human rights groups have criticized LIV Golf as sportswashing, a group of 2500 survivors of family members killed during the September 11 attacks wrote a letter to golfers who stayed with the PGA Tour thanking them staying, and Tiger Woods said he thinks that the players who went to LIV Golf turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.

user: Why did the Sahara experience a period of rapid desertification?

assistant: <think>
The size of the Sahara has historically been extremely variable, with its area rapidly fluctuating and at times disappearing depending on global climatic conditions. At the end of the Ice ages, estimated to have been around 10,500 BCE, the Sahara had again become a green fertile valley, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in sub-Saharan Africa, with rock art paintings depicting a fertile Sahara and large populations discovered in Tassili n'Ajjer dating back perhaps 10 millennia. However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5000 BCE, the Sahara region was becoming increasingly dry and hostile. Around 3500 BCE, due to a tilt in the earth's orbit, the Sahara experienced a period of rapid desertification. The population trekked out of the Sahara region towards the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract where they made permanent or semi-permanent settlements. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa. Since this time, dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa and, increasingly during the last 200 years, in Ethiopia.</think>
Sahara experienced a period of rapid desertification due to a tilt in the earth's orbit.