Clash of Clans is a 2012 free-to-play mobile strategy video game developed and published by Finnish game developer Supercell. The game was released for iOS platforms on August 2, 2012, and on Google Play for Android on October 7, 2013.

The game is set in a fantasy-themed persistent world where the player is a chief of a village. Clash of Clans tasks players to build their own village using the resources gained from attacking other players' villages with troops, earning rewards, buying them with medals or by producing them at their own village. Players can conjoin to create clans - groups of up to fifty people - who can then participate in Clan Wars together, donate and receive troops, and chat with each other.

Clash of Clans was released to generally positive reviews from critics. Four spin-off games in the same universe of Clash of Clans were developed by Supercell. The first, Clash Royale, was released in 2016. The other three, Clash Quest, Clash Mini, and Clash Heroes, were announced in April 2021. Clash Quest development was discontinued on 17 August 2022.

Gameplay
Clash of Clans is an online multiplayer game in which each player is a village chief. Every player builds their village by using resources and trains troops to attack other player villages to gain resources and trophies. Players can (and usually do) form communities called clans, which are groups of upto 50 people. Clans players can donate troops to each other and can go on war with other clans. There are four currencies or resources in the game: Gold, Elixir, Dark Elixir, Gems. Gold and elixir are used to build and upgrade buildings like defenses, resource collectors etc. Elixir and Dark Elixir are also used to upgrade troops and spells. In the past, they were also used to train the troops but since July 2022 training is made free. Gems are the premium currency. They can be earned by completing in-game achievements or bought using real money. Attacks are rated on a three-star scale and have a maximum timed length of three minutes.

The game also features a pseudo-single-player campaign in which the player can attack a series of fortified goblin villages and earn resources.

To perform any upgrade, an unassigned builder is needed. The player initially has two builders, but can have up to six builders. They are bought by using gems (upto 5th) and sixth is unlocked by completing a series of challenges in Builder base (another village).

Buildings
To earn and store gold and elixir, players must build mines and storage for each. Elixir is used to carry out research in the laboratory to upgrade troops, and to build and upgrade certain (mostly offensive) buildings. Gold is used to build defensive buildings and to upgrade the town hall, which allows access to more buildings and higher levels for existing buildings. At Town Hall 7, dark elixir becomes available; this type of elixir is used to train and upgrade dark elixir troops, heroes such as the Barbarian King, and starting at Town Hall 8, create dark spells. To earn and store dark elixir, players must build dark elixir drills and dark elixir storages.

There are a number of buildings available to the player to defend their village, including cannons, mortars, bombs, teslas, traps, archer towers, wizard towers, inferno towers, eagle artilleries,
scattershots, Monolith, and Spell Tower. Players can also build walls, which can be upgraded further as a player's town hall level increases.As the Town Hall level increases, the player gets access to stronger buildings such as the Giga Tesla and the Eagle Artillery.

Troops and spells
The game has two kinds of barracks and factories, a basic version and a "dark" version of each. Initially, the barracks were used to train troops using elixir, whereas dark barracks trained troops using dark elixir. However, the July 2022 update made all troops free to train, with the primary limitation being space in the army camps. Both sets of barracks can be upgraded to higher levels to unlock more troops (fifteen total troops for the barracks, and eight for the dark barracks).

The spell factories follow the same pattern - the normal spell factory creates spells using elixir, and the dark spell factory using dark elixir. In addition, the dark spell factory produces spells that require less space, allowing more of these spells to be used in a battle. As the player progresses, several new troops and spells are able to be unlocked.

At Town Hall 12, the Workshop can be built to construct seven different types of siege machines; the player is initially limited to only three, but upgrading the Town Hall to level 15 allows them to upgrade the workshop to level 7 and build each siege machine. Introduced in March 2020, Super Troops are troops that are more powerful troops than their original counterparts and have special abilities.

Town Hall 14 unlocks the Pet House, a building used to assign one of four pets to heroes, each serving a different role in assisting a hero.

Town Hall 15 introduces the new Recall spell, 4 hero pets, the Electro Titan troop, and the battle drill siege machine. The Recall spell remove units from the attack and allows you to redeploy the troops on another position and is unlocked at Town Hall 13. The four new pets are Frosty which slows down enemies, Diggy which digs underground and stuns defenses, Poison Lizard that poisons nearby troops or defenses, and lastly Phoenix where when the Hero is knocked out it revives the Hero and gives it a temporary shield of invulnerability.

Clans and clan wars
Clans are groups of players who join to support each other, either materially with troops or with advice. Players can join clans once they rebuild the special Clan Castle building. A major component of Clash of Clans is clans facing off against one another in the "clan wars". Clan leaders and co-leaders can begin wars against other clans. Each clan is then given one "preparation day" and one "war day." When a player attacks a member of the opposing clan, they receive stars based upon the amount of destruction they cause to the opponent's base: 50% damage or more gives 1 star, destroying the townhall also gives 1 star and destroying the entire base gives the remaining third star. Each player is limited to two attacks per war and the team with the most stars at the end of the war day is declared victorious. If the two clans' number of stars are equal, then the victor is the one that has a greater percent of destruction. Players receive bonus war loot if they use their attacks in the war. This loot may be different on different bases and is decided by Supercell; the top base has the most war bonus loot and the last base has the least amount of bonus loot. If the clan wins the war, the bonus loot is fully delivered to the player but during a loss or draw one-third of the loot is delivered to the player.

The available war sizes are 50v50, 40v40, 30v30, 25v25, 20v20, 15v15, 10v10, and 5v5. There were previously 35v35 and 45v45 sizes as well, but these were removed in the March 2016 update. In the May 2016 update, Friendly Challenges were introduced to allow clanmates to compete amongst other clanmates - however, these challenges do not provide loot or trophies and do not affect a player's army. In the October 2018 update, Clan War Leagues were introduced. Clans can fight seven other clans to advance to the next league and earn league medals by earning stars in Clan War Leagues. The clans in the group with the most stars will be promoted to a higher league, while the clans in the group with the least stars will be demoted to a lower league.

Builder Base

Following an update on May 22, 2017, Supercell released the new "Builder Base" game mode to the game. It allows players to sail to a new island and create a new village with a different set of buildings.

In the "Builder Base" game mode, players can attack each other's bases simultaneously. The player who deals the most damage or gets the most stars can earn rewards such as gold, elixir, and trophies. However, the gold and elixir can only be won for the first three victories made by the player within a twenty-four hour time frame, but they can continue attacking for trophies afterwards.

Players can spend gems to speed up the in-game time (which can be mined in the Gem Mine) or by using the Clock Tower (temporarily speeds the process in the entire Builder Base). A new hero, the Battle Machine, was also introduced along with this update. In June 2019, Builder Hall level 9 was released. The May 2023 update brought Builder Hall 10, which is currently the highest Builder Hall level. The May 2023 update also brought the long-awaited Builder Base 2.0 level, with higher Builder Base levels having multiple levels to beat, and introducing many changes to the Builder Base. O.T.T.O, a secondary builder in the Builder Base, was also replaced by B.O.B in this update.

Clan games and magic items
In December 2017, Supercell introduced Clan Games where clan members could work together to complete tasks, which would then earn clan points. When enough points are accumulated, a new reward tier unlocks, and players can select one reward from each unlocked tier. This update also introduced Magic Items, obtainable as rewards from Clan Games and through events. These items can be used e.g. to get resources, finish upgrades, or briefly add levels to troops or heroes.

Clan capital
The Clan Capital is the central hub where the entire clan contributes to the construction and upgrading of a massive base. Every member of a clan will be able to contribute to building a new region to strengthen its defenses and upgrade its troops. A clan will to try and defeat other clans' Capitals over the course of a Raid Weekend. Capital Gold is earned during raids to upgrade and improve the Capital, but also Raid Medals that can be used to purchase items for players' villages. Reinforcement troops can be purchased without having to wait for other clanmates to donate. On December 2022, player decorations for their Capital Peak houses were introduced.

Development, release, and marketing

Clash of Clans was developed by Supercell, the company behind other popular mobile games like Hay Day and Brawl Stars . The game took six months to develop with the gameplay changing little over the course of development. According to Supercell's Lasse Louhento, the development team encountered no major hurdles during this time. Inspiration for the game included the games Backyard Monsters and Travian with the art style being influenced by old Super NES and arcade games. Initially, the art style was more cartoon based, but this was changed as the team worried it would alienate the more hardcore segment of their audience. Throughout most of development the game was multiplayer-only - however, after focus testing, Supercell added a single-player mode. The game was released for iOS platforms on August 2, 2012, and on Google Play for Android on October 7, 2013.

In February 2015, Supercell released their Clash of Clans Super Bowl XLIX commercial, featuring Liam Neeson parodying his character from Taken. On February 2, Business Insider reported the ad as the fifth most watched Super Bowl ad, though on February 6, VentureBeat reported the ad was the most viewed of those that appeared on the Super Bowl. YouTube users later voted the advertisement the second best Super Bowl ad, behind Nissan's "With Dad" ad.

On September 23, 2015, Taiwanese singers JJ Lin and Jimmy Lin released the game's theme song "全面开战" ("Fight on All Fronts" in English), which was sung in Mandarin.

Reception

Critical reception
Clash of Clans has received generally positive reviews. The iOS version holds an aggregate score of 74 out of 100 on Metacritic, and 80% on GameRankings.

Gamezebo's Leif Johnson was impressed, scoring the game 4.5 out of 5. Although he felt the gameplay was heavily skewed to encourage the player to purchase gems, he praised the addition of a single-player campaign. He concluded that "Clash of Clans is a simple game, but that's more of a strength than a weakness. It's simple enough to provide quick, painless matches on an iPhone in an idle moment, and there are enough different units to choose from in the battle mode to make playing against other players endlessly rewarding. Best of all, the option to fight against NPC goblins gives Clash of Clans a small edge over similar strategy games that rely almost entirely on player-versus-player combat."

Pocket Gamer'''s Peter Willington was equally impressed, scoring the game 9 out of 10 and giving it a "Gold Award". Reviewing the game several months after it was released for iOS devices, Willington praised the game for requiring real strategy to play. He wrote that the gameplay was built on the progression of "requiring more and more sophisticated units, asking you to strategise and really think about which elements you should focus on building within your camp." He concluded that "Clash of Clans is a superb game, freemium or otherwise, with more nuance than most give it credit for. That's why it's passed the test of time since its launch and still has an active community devotedly constructing elaborate fortresses in the hope of becoming invincible."

148App's Rob Rich scored the game 3.5 out of 5, writing "It's great to play an online freemium game that doesn't shy away from the single-player experience but also offers up some honest-to-goodness direct interaction, which is a very rare combination these days. It probably won't warm the hearts of any haters out there, but it does give genre fans something with a bit more action and strategy than they might be used to." Tom's Guide enjoyed the player interaction.

Modojo's John Bedford scored the game 3 out of 5. He was critical of freemium gaming in general, writing "The novelty hasn't just worn off this particular style of greedy gaming, it's shriveled up and condensed itself into an infinitely dense singularity of self-loathing." Of the game itself, he concluded, "This is a game that follows in the footsteps of no small number of titles that have made feverish demands on our wallets in exchange for just a slightly thicker slice of the gameplay. It's possible you have an unending appetite for these micromanagement titles, in which case we recommend getting heartily stuck into Supercell's latest game. While Clash of Clans brings something new to accompany its competent but unexceptional empire gameplay, for most of us it'll be a case of too little, too late."

Commercial receptionClash of Clans became an App Store top 5 download between December 2012 and May 2013, and this success has been described as helping to usher in a new era in single-player gaming on mobile devices.

In 2013, Clash of Clans was the third-highest game in revenue generated on the App Store and number one on Google Play.

In February 2014 it was reported that the game was generating $654,000 in daily revenue for Supercell.

In 2015, the game was the top grossing app on both the App Store and Google Play, with an estimated revenue of 1.5 million dollars per day.

It was the fourth most installed app in the App Store and the seventh most installed app in the Play Store, where it had amassed 500 million downloads by 2018.

As of 2018, Clash of Clans has generated more revenue than any other app on the App Store, having brought in a revenue of over $6.4 billion since its launch.

As of 2020, Clash of Clans remains in the top 50 grossing apps in both the Play Store and App Store, more than eight years following its release in 2012.

See also

 Game of War: Fire Age Lords Mobile Clash Royale''
 Supercell (video game company)

References

External links

2012 video games
Android (operating system) games
Fantasy video games
Free-to-play video games
IOS games
Video games developed in Finland
Supercell (video game company) games
2010s fads and trends

Clash of Clans


Heka (; ; Coptic:  hik; also transliterated Hekau) was the deification of magic and medicine in ancient Egypt. The name is the Egyptian word for "magic". According to Egyptian literature (Coffin text, spell 261), Heka existed "before duality had yet come into being." The term ḥk3 was also used to refer to the practice of magical rituals.

Name
The name Heka is identical with the Egyptian word ḥkꜣ(w) "magic". This hieroglyphic spelling includes the symbol for the word ka (kꜣ), the ancient Egyptian concept of the vital force. Due to the importance placed onto names in ancient Egypt Heka was often incorporated into personal names. Some examples include: Hekawy, Hekaf, or simply Heka. The goddess Isis is also sometimes affiliated with Heka being titled Weret Hekau, Great Lady of magic.

Beliefs

The Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts depict Heka as a supernatural energy that the gods possess. The "cannibal pharaoh" must devour other gods to gain this magical power. Eventually, Heka was elevated to a deity in his own right, and a cult devoted to him developed.

Creation myths
By the time of the Coffin Texts, Heka is said to have been created at the beginning of time by the creator Atum. Sometimes also being personified as the creator god, presented as a man or child and in some imagery holding two snakes. Heka is also said to be one of the three facets of the creator along with sia and hu.

General myths
Heka is later depicted as part of the tableau of the divine solar barque and as a protector of Osiris in Duat capable of blinding crocodiles.

Then, during the Ptolemaic dynasty, Heka's role was to proclaim the pharaoh's enthronement as a son of Isis, holding him in his arms.

Heka also appears as part of a divine triad in Esna, Ptolemaic and Roman capital of the Third Nome of the Thebaid of Upper Egypt, where he is the son of ram-headed Khnum and a succession of goddesses. His mother was alternately said to be Nebetu'u (a form of Hathor), lion-headed Menhit, and the cow goddess Mehet-Weret, before settling on Neith, a war and mother goddess.

Werethekau whose name means "she who has great magic" is also sometimes connected with the force of Heka.

As Egyptologist Ogden Goelet (1994) explains, magic in the Book of the Dead is problematic: The text uses various words corresponding to 'magic', for the Egyptians thought magic was a legitimate belief. As Goelet explains:

References

Egyptian gods
Health gods
Magic gods
Medicine gods
Nubian gods

ca:Llista de personatges de la mitologia egípcia#H

Heka (god)


Johann Spies (ca. 1540-1623) was a German printer who published an anonymous book of tales about a legendary Doctor Faust who made a pact with the Devil. The story became the basis for several notable literary works, including Marlowe's Tragedy of Doctor Faustus and Goethe's Faust.

Spies published the book in 1587 in Frankfurt am Main under the title Historia von D. Johann Fausten. The book is a compendium of anecdotes about a professor of theology and medicine who undertakes the study of sorcery, forms an alliance with the Devil (in the form of a friar named Mephistopheles), and undergoes a series of fantastic adventures. In the end, Faust is punished for his sins when Satan torments him and takes his soul to hell.

Within a year the book was translated into English, and by 1611 it had also appeared in French, Dutch, and Czech.

German printers
Businesspeople from Frankfurt
Year of birth uncertain
1623 deaths
1540 births

Johann Spies


A floor broker also known as a "Pit broker" is an independent member of an exchange who can act as a broker on the trading floor. They would act on behalf of floor traders or large clients such as financial firms, as an agent on the floor of the exchange. With the advent of electronic trading in the 1990s and the closing of physical trading floors, this role has largely disappeared.

The floor broker used to receive an order via Teletype machine from their firm's trading department and then proceeds to the appropriate trading post on the exchange floor. There he would join other brokers and the specialist in the security being bought or sold and executes the trade at the best competitive price available using open outcry. On completion of the transaction the customer is notified through his registered representative back at the firm and the trade is printed on the consolidated ticker tape which is displayed electronically around the country. A floor broker should not be confused with a floor trader who trades as a principal for his or her own account, rather than as a broker.
Commission brokers were employees of a member firm.

References

Financial markets
Brokerage firms

Floor broker


Robert Allan Murray (born April 4, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is the head coach of the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL. Murray played much of his career as captain of the American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons. He holds team records in single season penalty minutes (373), career assists (157), penalty minutes (1529), and games (501). His number 23 was retired by the Falcons, and remains honored by the successor team in the market, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Playing career
As a youth, Murray played in the 1980 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Toronto Marlboros minor ice hockey team.

Selected by the Washington Capitals in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, Murray played parts of two seasons for the Capitals. At the end of the 1990–91 season, he was claimed by the Minnesota North Stars and was traded the very next day to the Winnipeg Jets. Murray would spend most of his time in the Jets' minor league affiliates; first the Moncton Hawks for three seasons, and then the Springfield Falcons for eight, for which he is the career games leader and longtime captain.

Following the Jets' franchise when it relocated to Phoenix, Murray would spend parts of two seasons until he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers although he would never actually play a game for the franchise. He retired from active play in 2003.

Murray was at one time the career penalty minute leader in the AHL, but has since been surpassed by Dennis Bonvie; he remains in second place in league history with 2940. In 2017, he was named to the AHL Hall of Fame.

Coaching career
After retirement, Murray was hired as an assistant coach for the Providence Bruins and was named their head coach in 2008 following Scott Gordon's hiring by the New York Islanders. He was let go following the 2010–11 season. On July 13, 2011, he was named the head coach of the Alaska Aces of the ECHL where he remained for six seasons. His Aces teams won three Brabham Cups for the best regular season records and one Kelly Cup for the playoff championship in 2014. He stayed with the Aces until the team folded following the 2016–17 season. He was then named head coach of the Tulsa Oilers in June 2017.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

1967 births
Living people
Baltimore Skipjacks players
Canadian ice hockey coaches
Canadian ice hockey centres
Fort Wayne Komets players
Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) players
Moncton Hawks players
Peterborough Petes (ice hockey) players
Philadelphia Phantoms players
Phoenix Coyotes players
Providence Bruins coaches
Saint John Flames players
Ice hockey people from Toronto
Springfield Falcons players
Washington Capitals draft picks
Washington Capitals players
Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players

Rob Murray


Charles Mitchell Thomas (October 1, 1846 – July 3, 1908) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy who served for 47 years. He was briefly the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet while it was in port at San Francisco on the tour of the Great White Fleet. He was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1865. He married Ruth Simpson, daughter of Admiral Edward Simpson, on November 3, 1874.

In mid-1877, unrest over economic conditions and the disputed 1876 Presidential election, led to a series of railroad strikes and riots known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. In July, President Rutherford B. Hayes authorized the use of the military to put down the strikes. During the conflict, Thomas was given temporary command of the receiving ship USS St. Louis stationed at League Island in Philadelphia. He provided sailors to the USS Glance and USS Pilgrim which were used in the defense of the Frankford Arsenal in northeast Philadelphia.

As a lieutenant commander he commanded the USC&GS Carlile P. Patterson from 1887 to 1889 for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, mapping out portions of the Alaska coast and naming prominent features in the south-east of the state. Thomas Bay, which he surveyed, was named in his honor.

During the sailing of the Great White Fleet, Thomas was second-in-command behind Admiral Evans. Shortly after the launch of the first leg, Evans fell ill and Thomas served in his stead at diplomatic functions during the cruise. Beginning in February 1908, Thomas was officially made acting-Commander-in-Chief when Evans was transported to San Francisco for treatment. On May 9, 1908 Evans was formally replaced by Thomas as Commander-in-Chief. Five days later, Thomas retired from active duty and command was transferred to Admiral Charles S. Sperry for the second leg of the voyage.

References

1846 births
1908 deaths
Military personnel from Philadelphia
United States Navy admirals

Charles Mitchell Thomas


Ángel Ballesteros Gallardo,  Spanish poet and historian (Gálvez 1940- ), lives in Talavera de la Reina, graduated with degrees in philosophy and linguistics.  He is a member of the Royal Academy of Historic Sciences and Fine Arts of Toledo.

Biography
Gallardo was born in Gálvez, Toledo, studied Philosophy and Languages and began his research in Barcelona. In 1973 he moved to Talavera de la Reina, Spainwhere he started an important task as historic investigator. His main subject of studies is the ancient festival called "Mondas", a Spring parade originating in the Celt Iberian period 2200 a.C. in this area. He also studied about others items concerning to the city past. Ballesteros wrote in La Voz del Tajo newspaper.

In 1983 he was decorated as 'Numerary advisor of the Provincial Institute of Toledian Studies and Investigation'.

Angel Ballesteros founded the Data Seminary of historic Study of Talavera de la Reina and its Lands and directed the "P. Juan de Mariana" Historic Institute. He is a University teacher in the UNED University.

His main poetical works are  Precipitada Sangre (1970) (Hastened Blood), No sabe la muerte que se llama muerte (1974) (Death does not know that her name is Death), Cómo tuvo la sangre ilusiones (1982), (How the blood had illusions) and Igualada Derrota (1985) (Even Defeat).

As an Historian his principal works are Las Mondas de Talavera de la Reina, historia de una tradición (1980) (Mondas in Talavera de la Reina, History of a Tradition) or Talavera de la Reina, Ciudad de la Cerámica (1978) (Talavera de la Reina, City of Pottery), an enthusiastic guide of the city that was awarded with the "Everest prize".

He has written theater plays, the most important is about the Maristas, assassinated in Uganda Cosecha Enamorada (1998), (Loved Harvest).

He has been named as favourite son of the city of Talavera de la Reina

External links
 http://pagina.jccm.es/revista/167/articulos167/entrevista_julio.htm

20th-century Spanish historians
Living people
1940 births
20th-century Spanish poets

Ángel Ballesteros Gallardo


Thomas Barbar (fl. 1587), was an English divine.

Barbar was admitted scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, 8 November 1560, proceeded B.A. 1563–4, M.A. 1567, and B.D. 1576, and was elected fellow 11 April 1565. He subscribed in 1570 a testimonial requesting that Cartwright might be allowed to resume his lectures. He became preacher at St. Mary-le-Bow, London, about 1576, and in June 1584 he was suspended on refusing to take the ex officio oath. The parishioners petitioned the court of aldermen for his restoration. In December 1587 Archbishop Whitgift offered to remove his suspension if he would sign a pledge to conform to the law of the church and abstain from conventicles. He declined to pledge himself. His name is attached to the 'Book of Discipline,' and he belonged to the presbyterian church at Wandsworth, formed as early as 1572. In 1591 he was examined in the Star Chamber with other puritan divines for having taken part with Cartwright and others in a synod held at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1589, when it was agreed to correct and subscribe the 'Book of Discipline.' He is probably the author of a translation of Fr. du Jou's 'Exposition of the Apocalypse' (Cambridge, 1596), and of a 'Dialogue between the Penitent Sinner and Sathan' (London, without date).

References

16th-century births
Year of death missing
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
16th-century Puritans
English religious writers
16th-century English writers
16th-century male writers

Thomas Barbar


Renée Petropoulos is a contemporary artist who currently lives and works in Venice, California.

Petropoulos was born in Los Angeles and received her B.A. in Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974 and then her M.A. in Photography and Video, 1977, and her M.F.A. in Studio Art, 1979- both from UCLA. Petropoulos is represented by Rosamund Felsen Gallery in Santa Monica, California and is a professor at Otis College of Art and Design in the Graduate Fine Arts, Graduate Public Practice and Graduate Graphic Design departments.

Exhibitions
 "Proposal for a Pavilion", 2014. LAMOA / Los Angeles, CA, 2014
 "Freeway Studies #1: This Side of the 405," Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
 "Figures and Grounds: Approaches to Abstraction," Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2012
 "Telephone," Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA, 2011
 "Homage'" solo exhibition at Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2009
 "(dis)concert ," Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA, 2008
 "LA - A Select Survey of Art from Los Angeles," Center for Contemporary Art Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, 2008
 Renée Petropoulos, solo exhibition at Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2007
 "LACE Annual Benefit," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, 2007
 "Social Arrangements'" solo exhibition at Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2007
 "Sugartown," Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York City, NY, 2005
 "100 Artists See God," Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Virginia Beach, VA, 2005, and Institute of Contemporary Arts London, London (England), 2004. Catalog. Review in e-flux.
 "Trespassing: Houses X Artists," Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA, The Art Museum of the University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2004, and University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL, 2003.
 "Structures of Knowledge," RAID Projects, Los Angeles, CA, 2001
 "Urban Hymns," The Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Los Angeles, CA, 2000
 "The Stroke: An Overview of Contemporary Painting," Exit Art, New York City, NY (1999-2012)
 "Tangles," Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, 1996
 "Excavations," Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, 1998

Public art

Renée Petropoulos has made public artworks in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Among her public art commissions are a large painted ceiling at the downtown Los Angeles Public Library and a series of sculptures in Culver City, a collaborative project for the Municipal Services Building in downtown Philadelphia, and medallions for the guideway Douglas St/Rosecrans Ave. station  of the Metro Green Line in El Segundo, California.

Further reading
 Art Slant Profile
  Artist Profile, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)
 L.A. Times article: "Artistry in the Round: Renee Petropoulos Explores the Forms, Functions of Wreaths in her Current Exhibition"
 "Review: Renee Petropoulos at Rosamund Felsen Gallery," Los Angeles Times Blog, February 27, 2009.
 "Flagging Interest: Renée Petropoulos at Rosamund Felsen Gallery." L.A. Weekly, Feb 25 2009.
 "Renee Petropoulos: Rosamund Felsen Gallery," by Chris Kraus, Artforum International Vol. 46, No. 3, November 2007.

Living people
American contemporary artists
American women artists
Otis College of Art and Design faculty
Artists from Los Angeles
Year of birth missing (living people)
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
People from Venice, Los Angeles
American women academics
21st-century American women

Renee Petropoulos


Frank P. Moolin Jr. (1934–1982) was the senior engineer in charge of the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

He graduated from the University of Chicago magna cum laude with an engineering degree.

Moolin worked on various projects including a refinery in Singapore and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit System. After finishing work on the pipeline, Moolin started a construction consulting company. He also served as chief executive officer for the conglomerate Alaska International Industries, and became a vice president of Western Airlines. He was awarded "Construction's Man of the Year" by Engineering News-Record magazine.

In 1982, he died of leukemia. Shortly before his death, he stated:
"Perhaps I am being immodest, but I believe that in my career, I have accomplished many things. And foremost among them is the successful construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. I am confident that history will place the TAPS project among the highest technological achievements of engineering and construction. We had a very tough job to do, and we did it well."

References

External links

 Alaska's Digital Archives – Moolin reading on an airplane
 Alaska's Digital Archives – Moolin standing next to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

1934 births
1982 deaths
American civil engineers
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
University of Chicago alumni
20th-century American engineers

Frank Moolin Jr.


Jacob van Heemskerck (3 March 1567 – 25 April 1607) was a Dutch explorer and naval admiral. He is generally know for his victory over the Spanish at the Battle of Gibraltar, where he ultimately lost his life.

Early life
Jacob van Heemskerck was born in Amsterdam in 1567. He is described as having delicate feature, large brown eyes, a thin high nose, fair hair and beard, and a soft gentle expression. Under a quiet exterior and plain dress were a daring nature and indomitable ambition for military and naval distinction.

Career

Arctic exploration

Heemskerck's early fame arose from an attempt to discover an Arctic passage from Europe to China. Two vessels sailed from Amsterdam on 10 May 1596, under the command of Heemskerck and Jan Rijp. Willem Barentsz accompanied Heemskerck as pilot, and Gerrit de Veer, the historian of the voyage, was on board as mate.

The masses of ice in the straits leading to the Kara Sea, and the impenetrable nature of the pack near Novaya Zemlya, had suggested the advisability of avoiding the land and, by keeping a northerly course, of seeking a passage in the open sea. They sailed northwards, and, on 9 June, discovered Bear Island in the Barents Sea. Continuing on the same course they sighted a mountainous snow-covered land in about 80° N., soon afterwards being stopped by the polar pack ice. This important discovery was named Spitsbergen, and was believed—incorrectly—to be a part of Greenland.

Arriving at Bear Island again on 1 July, Rijp parted company, while Heemskerck and Barents proceeded eastward, intending to pass round the northern extreme of Novaya Zemlya. On 26 August, they reached Ice Haven, after rounding the northern extremity of the land. Here their vessel became anchored in ice and they wintered in a house built out of driftwood and planks from the tween decks and the deck-house of the vessel.

On 13 June, they made their way in two open boats to the Lapland coast; but Barents died during the voyage, on 20 June. This was the first time that an arctic winter was successfully faced; The voyage stands in the first rank among the polar enterprises of the 16th century, and led to the flourishing whale and seal fisheries which long enriched the Netherlands.

The East Indies
Heemskerck later served as a vice admiral, protecting Dutch merchant shipping on voyages to China and the Dutch East Indies and taking part in the second Dutch expedition to Indonesia. On 1 May 1598, Heemskerck set out from Texel in a fleet of eight ships bound for the East and returned to Texel on 19 May 1600. He sailed out again the following year in a combined fleet of thirteen ships with Admiral Wolphert Harmensz. The fleet split at the Azores, with Harmensz going to Mauritius and Heemskerck heading straight for the Moluccas.

On 25 February 1603, three Dutch ships under Heemskerck's command attacked and captured a Portuguese merchant carrack, Santa Catarina, off the Eastern coast of Singapore. The Admiralty of Amsterdam's subsequent decision to take the ship and her cargo as a prize, despite Portugal's demands, became the casus belli for the Dutch–Portuguese War that lasted until 1663.

J. K. J. de Jonge described Heemskerck as "less of a rough sailor, more of a Drake or a Cavendish, a gentleman adventurer, somewhat proud and lofty, but polished and afraid of naught." When reproached by a factor in Madura for risking the company's property, Heemskerck responded, "Where we risk our lives, the gentlemen of the Company must risk their ships and cargoes." He knew how to inspire his men with a blind confidence in himself. When Heemskerck was on board a vessel, the sailors felt safe. A battle they termed a "Heemskerck fight".

Gibraltar
Heemskerck died as a result of leg wounds caused by a cannonball, during the Battle of Gibraltar, an engagement in which a Spanish fleet of 21 vessels was entirely destroyed. His body was returned to Amsterdam to be buried with full honours at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. Heemskerck suit of armour—minus a thigh plate shattered by the fatal cannonball—is on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Notes

External links

16th-century Dutch explorers
16th-century explorers
17th-century Dutch military personnel
1567 births
1607 deaths
Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic
Burials at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
Dutch military personnel killed in action
Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces)
Dutch polar explorers
Explorers of Svalbard
Explorers of the Arctic
Military personnel from Amsterdam

Jacob van Heemskerck


The Black Hills are a small mountain range from the Great Plains of North America in South Dakota.

Native Americans have a long history in the Black Hills. After conquering the Cheyenne in 1776, the Lakota took over the territory of the Black Hills.

In 1868, the U.S. government signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. This exempted the Black Hills from all white settlement forever.

But, when European Americans discovered gold there in 1874, miners swept into the area in a gold rush. The US government reassigned the Lakota, against their wishes, to other reservations in western South Dakota. Unlike most of South Dakota, the Black Hills were settled by European Americans from population centers to the west and south. Miners flocked there from earlier gold boom places in Colorado and Montana.

As the economy shifted from mining and logging, the tourism industry has grown. The Black Hills have two areas: "The Southern Hills" and "The Northern Hills". The Southern Hills is home to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Harney Peak (the highest point in the United States east of the Rockies), Custer State Park (the largest state park in South Dakota, and one of the largest in the US), the Crazy Horse Memorial (the largest Mountain sculpture in the world), and the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, the world's largest mammoth research facility.

Mountain ranges of the United States
Mountains of the United States

Black Hills


Armadillo Hill () is an ice-covered hill in Antarctica which rises to  and projects  above the surrounding ice sheet. It is situated in the south part of Hemimont Plateau in Graham Land  east-southeast of the head of Northeast Glacier and  northeast of the head of Neny Fjord. First roughly surveyed by the British Graham Land Expedition, 1934–37, it was resurveyed in 1940 by sledging parties of the United States Antarctic Service on whose field charts the hill is labelled "Sawtooth". It was named Armadillo Hill by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey following its 1946–47 survey, because when viewed from the northeast the tumbled ice blocks on the summit and general shape of the hill resemble the side view of an armadillo.

References

Hills of Graham Land
Fallières Coast

Armadillo Hill


Aravana muttu or arabana muttu is an art form prevalent among Muslims in Kerala state of south India, named after the aravana, a hand-held, one-sided flat tambourine or drumlike musical instrument, derived from Arabia. It is made of wood and animal skin, similar to the duff but a little thinner and bigger. In the opinion of Becker Edakkazhiyur, a noted arabana musician, "the ritualistic performance of `Arabana Reefa Ee Raathib Muttu' has been mistaken for `Arabana Kali Muttu,' which is purely for entertainment. While the former is almost extinct, the latter, known for its aesthetic appeal, is the one presented nowadays."

The arabana muttu, which is performed to welcome dignitaries, is a more difficult art than the duff muttu. There are traditional and modern methods of playing the aravana. Traditionally, with participants sitting in a semicircle, the leader of the group will start singing. When the initial song is over, the players will start to play following the song of the leader and beating on the aravana musically; others will beat in the same way by giving chorus to the song.

Even though the duff and Aravana are two different types of arts, the word duff is used interchangeably for Aravana, because the duff is more familiar than the Aravana. This art is nowadays the basis for competitions in Kerala.

See also
 Duff muttu
 Kuthu Ratheeb
 Mappila
 Mappila Paattu
 Oppana

References

External links
 http://www.indiavideo.org/kerala/arts/ritual-art-forms/arabanamuttu-604.php

Arts of Kerala
Indian styles of music
Indian musical instruments
Mappilas

Aravana muttu


The Misadventure of Zoo (流氓皇帝) is a TVB television series, premiered in 1981. Theme song "Personhood Loves Freedom" (做人愛自由) composition and arrangement by Joseph Koo, lyricist by Wong Jim, sung by Adam Cheng, and the sub theme song "Cheers" (飲勝) composition and arrangement by Joseph Koo, lyricist by Wong Jim, sung by Adam Cheng.

Plot
The story centers around a villager named Chu Gam Chun (朱錦春, a homophone of the term 豬咁蠢, a Cantonese slang term meaning "as stupid as a pig"). One day, a soothsayer said he would one day become the penultimate Emperor of China. While he initially brushed it aside, a series of events and blunders would eventually make it come true.

When the Qing Dynasty fell, Chu and his villager friends became bandits, only to be recruited by a warlord. Once under their command, Chu quickly rose through the ranks when many of his superiors died in accidents that are not of Chu's making. Chu eventually became a warlord himself, but was later defeated by Nationalist forces.

Chu, along with his friends and family, made their way to Shanghai, where he eventually became an A-list movie star, even though Chu is illiterate, and can't read movie scripts. Chu then went from strength to strength, and eventually opened a department store. There, he was discovered by a Japanese spy, who wanted him to be a body double of Puyi, by then the Emperor of Manchukuo. The soothsayer's words have finally come true.

Eventually, Chu found out about the Japanese's deeds, and decided to leave his life as Emperor. He was separated from his family members while they were escaping, and Chu eventually ended up in Hong Kong as a beggar. Only when a local reporter found out about his story did Chu reunite with his family, as well as his longtime lover, who now works as a maid for the reporter's family.

Chu and his lover were reunited in the finale. At the same time, Chu discovered that he has won the Mark Six lottery drawing. However, realizing his desire to simply live out his life without dramatic ups and downs, Chu ripped up the lottery ticket.

Casts
It is important to note that most of the character's name in the series are Cantonese homophones of another term.

Adam Cheng as Chu Gam Chun (朱錦春, homophone of the term "as Stupid as a Pig" (豬咁蠢))
Tang Bick Wan as Yau Yu See (尤如絲, homophone of the term "Calamari Shreds" (魷魚絲), a popular snack in Hong Kong)
Chun Wong as Chu Cheung Fun (朱祥芬, homophone of the term "Rice noodle roll" (豬腸粉))
Loong Tin Sang as Mok Yi Mo (莫二毛)
Tsang Cho Lum as Lo Dai Gau (勞大舊)
Chan Gwok Kuen as Ngau Yuk Gon (牛玉乾, homophone of the term "Beef Jerky" (牛肉乾))

1981 Hong Kong television series debuts
1981 Hong Kong television series endings
TVB dramas
Cantonese-language television shows

The Misadventure of Zoo


The Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) is a leopard subspecies native to the Arabian Peninsula. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996 as fewer than 200 wild individuals were estimated to be alive in 2006. The population is severely fragmented. Subpopulations are isolated and not larger than 50 mature individuals. The population is thought to decline continuously.

The Arabian leopard is the smallest leopard subspecies. It was tentatively affirmed as a distinct subspecies by genetic analysis of a single wild leopard from South Arabia, which appeared most closely related to the African leopard.

Taxonomic history
Felis pardus nimr was the scientific name proposed by Wilhelm Hemprich and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1830 for a leopard from Arabia. Panthera pardus jarvisi, proposed by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1932, was based on a leopard skin from the Sinai Peninsula.

In the early 1990s, a phylogeographic analysis was carried out based on tissue samples from Asian and African leopards. P. p. jarvisi was provisionally grouped with the Persian leopard, as tissue samples were not available. Molecular biologists tentatively proposed in 2001 to group the Sinai leopard with P. p. nimr, as again tissue samples were not available.

Characteristics
The Arabian leopard's fur varies from pale yellow to deep golden, tawny or grey and is patterned with rosettes. Males have a total length of  including  long tails and weigh about ; females are  long including  long tails and weigh around . The Arabian leopard is smaller than both African and Persian leopards.
It is however the largest cat in the Arabian Peninsula.

Distribution and habitat

The geographic range of the Arabian leopard is poorly understood but generally considered to be limited to the Arabian Peninsula, including Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. It lives in mountainous uplands and hilly steppes, but seldom moves to open plains, desert or coastal lowlands. It prefers well-vegetated terrain that is difficult for humans to reach. Since the late 1990s, leopards were not recorded in Egypt. One individual was killed in the Elba Protected Area in 2014.

Modeling suggests that the species accumulated genetic and phenotypic differences from its conspecifics at a series of glacial maxima during the last glacial period in a Yemen refugium, from where it expanded elsewhere in the Holocene warming following the expansion of suitable landscape types. As humans expanded as well, they eventually restricted the source populations of the leopard to an area intersecting eastern Yemen and western Oman today.

Until the late 1960s, the Arabian leopard was widely distributed in the mountains along both the coasts of the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. In Saudi Arabia, leopard habitat is estimated to have decreased by around 90% since the beginning of the 19th century. Of 19 reports obtained from informants between 1998 and 2003, only four are confirmed including sightings in one location in the Hijaz Mountains and three locations in the Asir Mountains, with the most recent record in 2002 south of Biljurashi. No leopard was recorded during a camera trapping survey conducted from 2002 to 2003. Although the leopard is officially protected in the country, its remaining range is not encompassed by protected areas.

In the United Arab Emirates, the Arabian leopard was first sighted in 1949 by Wilfred Thesiger in Jebel Hafeet. The exact status of the leopard in the country is unclear. It is either extinct or very rare in the eastern region, with occasional sightings being reported in places like Wadi Wurayah. Before the end of the 20th century, sightings were reported in the areas of Jebel Hafeet and Al-Hajar Mountains.

In Oman, leopards were reported to have occurred in the Hajar Mountains until the late 1970s. The largest confirmed sub-population inhabits the Dhofar Mountains in the country's southeast. In the Jabal Samhan Nature Reserve, 17 individual adult leopards were identified between 1997 and 2000 using camera traps. Leopards were also sighted in the Musandam Peninsula, particularly Ras Musandam. The home range of Arabian leopards in this reserve is roughly estimated at  for males and  for females. The Dhofar mountain range is considered the best habitat for leopards in the country. This rugged terrain provides shelters, shade and trapped water, and harbors a wide variety of prey species, in particular in escarpments and narrow wadis.

In Yemen, leopards formerly ranged in all mountainous areas of the country, including the western and southern highlands eastwards to the border with Oman. Since the early 1990s, leopards are considered rare and close to extinction due to direct persecution by local people and depletion of wild prey.

There was a small population in Israel's Negev desert, estimated at 20 individuals in the late 1970s. Leopards were hunted until the early 1960s. By 2002, fewer than 11 isolated individuals were estimated to survive. Six males, three females and two unsexed individuals were identified in the country, based on genetic analysis of 268 scats collected. About five individuals were thought to survive in the Judaean Desert as of 2005. The last wild leopard in the Negev desert was sighted in Sde Boker in 2007, which was so sick it was taken into a sanctuary and died in 2009. In 2010-11, a leopard was sighted in the northern Arabah Valley.

In Jordan, the last confirmed sighting of a leopard dates to 1987.

Ecology and behaviour

Arabian leopards are predominantly nocturnal, but are sometimes also seen in daylight. They seem to concentrate on small to medium prey species, and usually store carcasses of large prey in caves or lairs but not in trees. Scat analyses revealed that the main prey species comprise Arabian gazelle, Nubian ibex, Cape hare, rock hyrax, porcupine, Ethiopian hedgehog, small rodents, birds, and insects. Since local people reduced ungulates to small populations, leopards are forced to alter their diet to smaller prey and livestock such as goats, sheep, donkeys and young camels.

In addition to humans, the main competitors of the Arabian leopard are the caracal and the Arabian wolf. It has been suggested that human poaching has reduced the leopard population to an extent that natural competition with other predators is now a threatening factor. Population viability analysis in Saudi Arabia suggests that under stable natural conditions in absence of poaching and restocking, the Arabian leopard would have a survival probability of only 37%; without competition by the caracal, this would increase to 89%; and without the Arabian wolf to 98%. Assuming a moderate poaching rate of six individuals per year would lead to extirpation over the next 100 years.

Information about ecology and behaviour of Arabian leopards in the wild is very limited. A leopard from the Judean desert is reported to have come into heat in March. After a gestation period of 13 weeks, females give birth to two to four cubs in a cave amidst boulders or in a burrow.

Leopard cubs are born with closed eyes that open four to nine days later. Captive-born Arabian leopard cubs emerged from their den for the first time at the age of one month. Cubs are weaned at the age of about three months, and remain with their mother for up to two years.

Threats

Three confirmed separate subpopulations remain on the Arabian Peninsula with fewer than an estimated 200 leopards. The Arabian leopard is threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation; prey depletion caused by unregulated hunting; trapping for the illegal wildlife trade and retaliatory killing in defense of livestock.

The leopard population has decreased drastically in Arabia as shepherds and villagers kill leopards in retaliation for attacks on livestock. In addition, hunting of leopard prey species such as hyrax and ibex by local people and habitat fragmentation, especially in the Sarawat Mountains, made the continued survival of the leopard population uncertain. Other reasons for killing leopards are for personal satisfaction and pride, traditional medicine and hides. Some leopards are killed accidentally when eating poisoned carcasses intended for Arabian wolf and striped hyena.
Among the products sold in the tent city of Mina, Saudi Arabia after the Hajj of 2010, skins of Arabian leopards that were poached in Yemen were offered.

The leopard population in Saudi Arabia is affected by the decrease of natural prey species so that leopards increasingly prey on livestock. Local people therefore consider leopards a threat and kill them either by using poison or snares. The leopard population is close to extinction in the country.

The Israeli West Bank Barrier, built by the Israeli government in the mid 2000s disrupts the migration of all terrestrial land animals between Israel and Palestine, therefore reducing animals' natural habitats and causing gene pools to be significantly shallower, which results in inbreeding and infertility.

In the 1950s, the Arabian leopard population was already decreasing drastically due to habitat degradation and fragmentation, and killing of leopards and prey species.

Conservation
The Arabian leopard is listed in CITES Appendix I. The current network of protected areas largely under-represents the species suitable habitat only covering its 11%, and most of the survey effort to detect and ensure the survival of the leopard in the peninsula has taken place outside the polygons identified by models as core areas for the species.

The  Jabal Samhan Nature Reserve was established in 1997 after camera trap records of leopards were obtained; camera trapping since then has identified 17 individual adult leopards, including one cub. Al Jazeera spotlighted successful tracking efforts in the Nature Reserve in a 2012 episode of its program Witness.

At least ten wild leopards were live-captured in Yemen since the early 1990s and sold to zoos; some have been placed in conservation breeding centers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

A detailed study of leopard distribution and habitat requirement is needed for the management of the species. The ecological information needed include data on feeding behavior, range use and reproduction. This information is of great importance to the survival of the species. There are many sites already surveyed and considered to be suitable for preservation for leopards in the plan adopted by the national commission for wildlife conservation and development. These areas include Jebel Fayfa, Jebel Al-Qahar, Jebel Shada, which has already been gazetted as a protected area, Jebel Nees, Jebel Wergan, Jebel Radwa and Harrat Uwayrid. The formal establishment of some of these areas is now urgent.

A successful conservation strategy must promote the awareness of the importance of leopard conservation, employing the media and perhaps other sources for basic education programs. The support and involvement of people living close to leopard habitats are vital in such efforts. This is true not only because they might affect the conservation of the leopard in one way or another, but also because they depend on their livestock which could be killed occasionally by leopards. Although it is not always practical, compensation for lost livestock from leopard predation should be considered.

Revenue from sources such as hunting rights and ecotourism, services such as roads and school employment in protected areas would encourage local residents to participate in leopard conservation. Furthermore, well-managed protected areas will ensure the continued survival of the species until other factors enhancing its survival become effective. Public awareness, fruitful consideration of the needs of local people and ecological studies may take years to be useful.

In Yemen, Dutch efforts are underway to conserve leopards at two sites, including Hawf Protected Area. In Saudi Arabia, authorities have undertaken efforts to create Sharaan Nature Reserve, a wildlife sanctuary for the leopard in the area of Al-`Ula.

In captivity
The first Arabian leopards were captured in southern Oman and registered in the studbook in 1985. Captive breeding was initiated in 1995 at the Oman Mammal Breeding Centre and is operated at a regional level on the Arabian Peninsula. Since 1999, the regional studbook is coordinated and managed by personnel of the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife in Sharjah. , nine institutions participated in the breeding programme and kept 42 males, 32 females, and three unsexed leopards, of which 19 were wild caught. This captive population comprised 14 founders that have an unequal number of descendants.

In Yemen, leopards were kept at Ta'izz and Sana'a Zoos.

Two cubs were born on 26 April 2019 at the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Wildlife Research Center in Ta'if.

See also
National symbols of Yemen
Leopard subspecies: African leopard  Amur leopard  Anatolian leopard  Indian leopard  Indochinese leopard  Javan leopard  Persian leopard  Sri Lankan leopard

 Zanzibar leopard
 Panthera pardus spelaea

References

Critically endangered fauna of Asia
Fauna of Egypt
Leopards
Mammals of the Arabian Peninsula
Mammals of the Middle East
Leopard, Arabian
Vertebrates of Israel
Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
Taxa named by Wilhelm Hemprich

Arabian leopard


Omega is a video game developed and published by Origin Systems in 1989. It was directed by Stuart B. Marks.

The player assumes the role of a cyber-tank designer and programmer, with the objective of creating tanks to defeat increasingly difficult opponents. The game emphasizes programming the tank, using a built-in text editor with artificial intelligence script commands similar to BASIC. Tanks can communicate and coordinate actions, and successful designs tend to be automated. Code is cross-platform, allowing Apple, Commodore, and IBM users to compete against each other.

The game received positive reviews, with Compute! praising its ease of use for newcomers to programming. Computer Gaming World acknowledged its similarities to RobotWar, while noting its improvements. Games International magazine awarded it 4 stars out of 5, highlighting its unique gameplay and requirement for strategic thinking.

Gameplay
The game puts the player in the role of a cyber-tank designer and programmer. Given a limited budget, the player must design a tank that can defeat a series of ever more challenging opponent tanks. Each successful design yields a higher security clearance and a larger budget, ultimately resulting in an OMEGA clearance and an unlimited budget. The focus of the game is not on the combat but on game programming the tank itself.

Tanks are programmed using a built-in text editor that allows the player to use various artificial intelligence script commands, similar in structure to BASIC. These commands permit control of various aspects of the tank, and also allows teams of tanks to communicate and coordinate actions. While commands exist that enable a range of control over the tank, successful designs tend to be automated. Decision making is an important part of the design process, as the programming must reflect the equipment placed on the tank.

Code was cross-platform, so Apple, Commodore, and IBM users could compete against each other. Origin operated a bulletin board system for Omega owners.

Reception

Compute! praised Omega, stating that it made writing code for tanks easy and fun for those new to programming.
Russell Sipe of Computer Gaming World in 1989 gave the game a positive review, noting its similarities and improvements over RobotWar. In a 1992 survey of science fiction games the magazine gave the title two of five stars, stating that "Programmers loved this 'simulation' [but] it's all greek to me".

John Inglis reviewed Omega for Games International magazine, and gave it 4 stars out of 5, and stated that "In summary I would say that Omega is a unique game that has had a considerable amount of thought lavished on it. It is not a game for the shoot-em-up enthusiast, as you must put considerable though in before you get anywhere."

References

External links

Omega Game Documentation

1989 video games
Amiga games
Apple II games
Apple IIGS games
Atari ST games
Commodore 64 games
DOS games
Classic Mac OS games
NEC PC-9801 games
Programming games
Video games developed in the United States

Omega (video game)


WWE Evolution was a women's professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and NXT UK brand divisions. The event took place on October 28, 2018, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. It was the first and currently only WWE PPV and livestreaming event to consist solely of women's matches.

The main card consisted of seven matches. Three of WWE's then-four women's championships were defended on the main card; the fourth was defended in a dark match before the show. It also featured the final of the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament. In the main event, Ronda Rousey defeated Nikki Bella by submission to retain the Raw Women's Championship. In the penultimate match, Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship. In other prominent matches, Toni Storm defeated Io Shirai to win the 2018 Mae Young Classic, and Shayna Baszler defeated Kairi Sane to become the first two-time NXT Women's Champion.

Production

Background

On the July 23, 2018, episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE executive Stephanie McMahon announced that for the first time, WWE would hold an all-women's professional wrestling event, which was titled Evolution. It was scheduled to take place on October 28, 2018, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, replacing the previously planned Clash of Champions. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale on August 24 through Ticketmaster. WWE Hall of Famers Lita, Trish Stratus, and Beth Phoenix were advertised as taking part in the event. It was also announced that the event would host the final of the 2018 Mae Young Classic and that all four of WWE's women's championships at the time would be defended; however, the NXT UK Women's Championship match was later removed from the main card and occurred as a dark match before the show.

WWE's executive vice president of talent, live events and creative Triple H explained that WWE's female performers "deserve[d] the opportunity" for a prominent showcase, and that it "was simply the right time for this to happen." He denied that the event was intended to be as a counterpoint for Crown Jewel—a subsequent pay-per-view days later in Saudi Arabia that, per the country's women's rights policies, would not include WWE's female performers at the time.

A documentary special entitled "Road to Evolution" was broadcast on the USA Network ahead of the event, as well as the E! Network following the premiere of the sixth episode of Total Divas eighth season. Internationally, the special was made available on the WWE Network. Evolution was promoted heavily by mainstream media outlets, which included The Bella Twins (Nikki Bella and Brie Bella) promoting the event on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Storylines
The event comprised seven matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and NXT UK brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and NXT.

On August 18, a match between Alexa Bliss and Trish Stratus was scheduled for Evolution. Then, on September 3, a match between Lita and Mickie James was scheduled for the event; the two last faced each other back in 2006 at Survivor Series where James won the original WWE Women's Championship from Lita in the latter's retirement match. On the October 8 episode of Raw, a confrontation between the four women occurred. It was then revealed that instead of the two singles matches, Bliss and James would face Stratus and Lita in a tag team match at Evolution. On October 26, however, Alicia Fox replaced Bliss due to injury, but it was revealed that she would be in James and Fox's corner for the match.

At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4, Kairi Sane defeated Shayna Baszler to win the NXT Women's Championship. On the September 26 episode of NXT, a rematch between the two for the title was scheduled for Evolution.

At SummerSlam, Ronda Rousey won the Raw Women's Championship. Following her win, The Bella Twins (Nikki Bella and Brie Bella) celebrated with the new champion. At Super Show-Down, it was announced that a title defense for Rousey was scheduled for Evolution. At that same event, Rousey and The Bella Twins teamed up to defeat The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan). On the following episode of Raw, Rousey and The Bella Twins defeated The Riott Squad in a rematch. Following the match, however, The Bella Twins attacked Rousey, turning heel. Later that night, a title match between Rousey and Nikki was then scheduled for Evolution.

At SummerSlam, Charlotte Flair defeated Becky Lynch and defending champion Carmella in a triple threat match to become a two-time SmackDown Women's Champion by pinning Lynch. Following the match, Lynch attacked Flair, turning heel. Lynch then defeated Flair to win the championship at Hell in a Cell. A rematch occurred at Super Show-Down where Flair won by disqualification after Lynch attacked her with the title belt, thus Lynch retained. The two faced each other in a rematch on the following episode of SmackDown, however, it ended in a double countout, resulting in Lynch retaining again. SmackDown General Manager Paige then announced that the two would have another rematch for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Evolution in a Last Woman Standing match, the first in WWE.

On the October 15 episode of Raw, it was announced that a battle royal for a women's championship match would also take place at Evolution with various competitors announced to take part, including WWE legends and Hall of Famers.

On the October 22 episode of Raw, it was announced that The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan) would face off against the team of Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Natalya.

Event

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a dark match took place in which Rhea Ripley defeated Dakota Kai to retain the NXT UK Women's Championship.

Preliminary matches
The actual pay-per-view opened with Alicia Fox and Mickie James (with Alexa Bliss) facing Lita and Trish Stratus. In the end, Lita performed a "Litasault" on both James and Fox, and Stratus performed a "Chick Kick" on James to win the match.

Next was the 20-woman Battle Royal which started with various WWE legends eliminating both of The IIconics (Peyton Royce and Billie Kay) and reuniting against current women. In the end, thinking that she won the match, Zelina Vega, who had not actually been eliminated, began celebrating, not realizing that neither Nia Jax or Ember Moon were eliminated. After Jax eliminated Vega by throwing her at Tamina, who was already eliminated and was standing at ringside, Jax eliminated Moon to earn a future opportunity at the Raw Women's Championship.

After that, Toni Storm fought Io Shirai in the tournament final of the 2018 Mae Young Classic. Shirai performed a dropkick on Storm from the top rope, followed by a moonsault at ringside. In the end, Storm countered a Moonsault by raising her knees and performed the "Storm Zero" on Shirai to win the match and the trophy. After the match, an elated Storm was congratulated by Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Sara Amato.

In the fourth match, Natalya teamed up with Bayley and Sasha Banks to face The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, and Sarah Logan). In the climax, Natalya applied a double sharpshooter on Riott and Logan, only for Morgan to perform the "201 Facebreaker" on Natalya for a nearfall. Natalya then performed a powerbomb on Morgan, followed by a diving elbow drop from Bayley and a frog splash from Banks for the victory.

Next, Kairi Sane defended the NXT Women's Championship against Shayna Baszler. During the match, as Sane attempted to perform an "Insane Elbow", Baszler rolled out of the ring. Sane then performed a diving crossbody into Baszler and threw Baszler at her fellow and former MMA Four Horsewomen, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke, who were at ringside. In the climax, Duke and Shafir distracted Sane which led to Baszler applying the "Kirifuda Clutch". However, Sane was able to counter into a roll-up for a nearfall. Sane managed another pinning combination, but Baszler kicked out and sent Sane into a kick from Duke. Baszler then applied the "Kirifuda Clutch" on Sane, who passed out, thus Baszler won by technical submission and became the first two-time NXT Women's Champion.

In the penultimate match, Becky Lynch defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match. Lynch attacked Flair with a kendo stick and a chair. Lynch attempted a "Bexploder Suplex" on Flair, but Flair countered and delivered a Back Suplex to Lynch directly onto a pile of chairs. Flair performed a Senton following a Moonsault on Lynch through a table. Flair applied the "Figure-Eight Leglock" on Lynch, whose leg was wrapped around a ladder, but Lynch was able to escape by attacking Flair with a steel chair. After Lynch and Flair brawled in the crowd, Flair cleared off the German announce table, only for Lynch to hit her with the SmackDown Women's title belt. Lynch then performed a leg drop from a ladder on Flair through the announce table and buried her under the weapons, but Flair stood at a nine count. Flair then retrieved another kendo stick and repeatedly struck Lynch with it before performing a "spear" on Lynch. In the end, Flair attempted a top-rope Moonsault on Lynch, who was lying on another table, only for Lynch to intercept Flair with a Powerbomb through the table. Flair was unable to make it to her feet before the ten count, thus Lynch retained.

Main event
In the main event, Ronda Rousey defended the Raw Women's Championship against Nikki Bella (accompanied by Brie Bella). During the match, Nikki dominated Rousey for a majority of the match. On the outside of the ring, Brie shoved Rousey into the ring post whilst the referee was distracted. Rousey attempted a "Piper's Pit" on Nikki, only for Brie to interfere. Rousey then performed the modified Samoan Drop on both Nikki and Brie for a near-fall. In the climax, Nikki performed the "Rack Attack 2.0" on Rousey for a nearfall. While Nikki was on the middle rope, Rousey performed a "Small Package driver" on Nikki and applied an armbar on Nikki, who submitted, to retain the title.

Reception
The Last Woman Standing match received critical acclaim. WWE ranked the match at number 1 in their top 25 matches of 2018. It also ranked number #1 on IGN's top 10 matches of 2018.

Dave Meltzer rated the SmackDown Women's Championship match 4.75 stars, which was the highest rated match of the night. The other matches were rated as follows: the main event received 3.75 stars, the 6-woman tag team, NXT Women's Championship, and the battle royal all received 3.25 stars. The Mae Young Classic Final received 3.5 stars, and the opening tag match received 2.25 stars, the lowest rated match of the night.

Aftermath
On the October 29 episode of Raw, it was announced that Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey would face off against SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch at Survivor Series as part of the annual interbrand competition. Later that same evening, Nia Jax defeated Ember Moon after a distraction by Tamina, leading to a staredown between Tamina and Jax. After defeating Moon in a rematch the following week, Jax joined Tamina in attacking Moon, turning Jax into a villainess and establishing an alliance with Tamina. At Survivor Series, Jax was victorious for Team Raw as the lone survivor in the women's elimination match after pushing her teammate, Sasha Banks, into Asuka. On the November 19 episode of Raw, Jax's Raw Women's Championship match was confirmed to happen at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.

Also on Raw, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Natalya teamed with Lita and Trish Stratus to defeat The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan), Alicia Fox, and Mickie James in a ten-woman tag team match.

After losing to Becky Lynch at Evolution, Charlotte Flair received an offer from SmackDown General Manager Paige on the October 30 episode of SmackDown, being asked to captain Team SmackDown in the women's elimination match, only for Charlotte to turn down the offer. Charlotte instead became Lynch's replacement in a match against Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey at the event, as Lynch suffered a legit injury just days prior to Survivor Series.

On the November 7 episode of NXT, it was announced that Kairi Sane would be invoking her rematch clause and would face NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler in a two-out-of-three-falls match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames.

Evolution was heavily featured across the fourth season of Total Bellas, which followed Nikki Bella and Brie Bella leading up to the event.

On June 9, 2020, Evolution was broadcast on Fox Sports 1, followed by a special all-female edition of WWE Backstage featuring Renee Young, Paige, Ember Moon, Beth Phoenix, and Sonya Deville.

Future all-female events
In a December 2019 interview with Talksport, Stephanie McMahon stated: "I'm hopeful to have an announcement on an Evolution 2, but there is nothing official to announce just yet." A report by Alex McCarthy of Sportskeeda in July 2020 stated that a second Evolution event was seen a "no brainer", with female talent pushing for it internally and tentative plans being made for the end of the year. In December 2020, Trish Stratus suggested that she had begun training for the rumored event, but that she had received no call from WWE, with no event taking place.

In a conference call for June 2021's NXT TakeOver: In Your House event, Triple H was questioned on if WWE would ever hold another all-female event. He said it was possible, "but it's not a must-have at the moment." He also found it odd that people thought that doing more all-female events would mean equality for the women's division, but cited the contradiction in that WWE would be criticized if they would run an all-male event; essentially, separate does not mean equal. He also responded to a comment made by former WWE wrestler Mickie James in regards to the National Wrestling Alliance's August 2021 all-female event, EmPowerrr, in which James served as an executive producer. James had said that she wanted the best female wrestlers in the world on the event regardless of contractual issues. Triple H said that from a business standpoint, that did not make sense and also gave his own opinion, stating that if female wrestlers wanted to face the best in the world, they should come to WWE.

Before James' release from WWE in April 2021, she had pushed for the company to produce another all-female event as well as an all-female brand, but said she was "cut off at every opportunity." She claims an unnamed WWE official told her that "women's wrestling doesn't make money" and that Evolution was the company's "lowest-rated pay-per-view ever in the history of WWE pay-per-views." However, James rebuked this by saying the event was set up to fail, only being promoted on WWE programming a month prior to the event, with matches being announced a week or two before. Other WWE female performers, notably Sasha Banks, have also been in vocal support of another all-female event.

In June 2021, former WWE wrestler Maria Kanellis also stated that former Head of WWE Talent Relations, Mark Carano, informed her that there would not be another all-female event. Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that whilst Evolution was not a commercial failure for WWE, and not the worst performing event of the year, it was still on the lower end of ticket sales despite its heavy marketing push compared to those similar to its size. Glenn Rubenstein of Wrestling Inc. reported that 90% of the seats were filled in the arena despite the reported sell-out. Prior to the announcement of the match between Nikki Bella and Ronda Rousey which saw a surge in ticket sales, WWE had sold 7,000 tickets, with 3,000 of those tickets belonging to scalpers.

Results

See also
 NWA EmPowerrr, the all women event produced by NWA.

References

External links

2018 WWE Network events
2018 WWE pay-per-view events
October 2018 events in the United States
2018 on Long Island
Events on Long Island
Events in Uniondale, New York
Professional wrestling in Uniondale, New York
Women in WWE
Women's professional wrestling shows

WWE Evolution