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Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: The Killing Joke is a 1988 DC Comics one-shot graphic novel featuring the characters Batman and the Joker written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland. The Killing Joke provides another origin story for the supervillain the Joker, loosely adapted from the 1951 story "The Man Behind the Red Hood!", which was written by Batman co-creator Bill Finger. The Joker's supposed origin is presented via flashback, while simultaneously depicting his attempt to drive Jim Gordon insane and Batman's desperate attempt to stop him.

Created by Moore, Bolland, and Higgins as their own take on the Joker's source and psychology, the story became famous for its origin of the Joker as a tragic character; a family man and failed comedian who suffered "one bad day" that finally drove him insane. Moore stated that he attempted to show the similarities and contrasts between Batman and the Joker. The story's effects on the mainstream Batman continuity also included the shooting and paralysis of Barbara Gordon (a.k.a. Batgirl), an event that eventually leads her to develop the identity of Oracle, secret data broker for the DC Universe's superhero community and leader of the superhero team Birds of Prey.

Many critics consider the graphic novel to be the definitive Joker story and one of the best Batman stories ever published, though the story's exploitative treatment of Barbara Gordon has garnered criticism. The comic won the Eisner Award for "Best Graphic Album" in 1989 and appeared on The New York Times Best Seller List in May 2009. In 2006, The Killing Joke was reprinted as part of the trade paperback DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore. In 2008, DC Comics reprinted the story in a deluxe hardcover edition, which features new coloring by Bolland, with a more sombre, realistic, and subdued palette than the original. Elements of The Killing Joke have inspired or been incorporated into other aspects of Batman media.

Background and creation
Artist Brian Bolland conceived the idea for the story after watching the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs, which features a character named Gwynplaine (played by Conrad Veidt) whose rictus grin inspired the visual design of the Joker. Bolland's rendition of the Joker was partially influenced by that film. DC editor Dick Giordano's invitation led directly to Bolland working with writer Alan Moore to create a plausible background story for the Joker. He recounted: "I thought about it in terms of who's my favorite writer at the moment, what hero I would really love to do, and which villain? I basically came up with Alan, Batman and the Joker".

Although the story takes pains to stress that it is merely one possible "origin story" for the Joker, it has been widely accepted and adopted into DC continuity, and editor Len Wein had to ask the publisher for approval of a central mutilation of long-running character Barbara Gordon. Bolland said that he saw "Judge Death [as] almost a dry run for drawing the Joker". He also recounted that "by the time Alan had finished Watchmen he had fallen out with DC to a certain extent... in the end, he only continued to do Killing Joke as a favor to me".

The 48-page prestige format one-shot comic took a considerable amount of time to produce. Both Moore and Bolland are well known for their meticulous and time-consuming work; both creators' then-recently finished 12-issue maxiseries titles – Moore's Watchmen and Bolland's Camelot 3000 – had seen delays. Bolland was aided by the laid-back attitude taken by DC, who he says "seemed prepared to let me do it at my own pace". The original editor, Len Wein, left the company, and was replaced by Dennis O'Neil, a "very hands-off sort of guy", with whom Bolland only recalls having one conversation about the book.

Bolland envisaged the flashback sequences in black and white, and instructed Watchmen colorist John Higgins to use "muted November colors". He was upset when he saw the finished comic had "garish... hideous glowing purples and pinks... and my precious Eraserhead-esque flashback sequences swamped in orange". The 2008-published 20th anniversary edition of the book featured new colouring by Bolland, restoring his artistic intentions to the palette. The first problem was that all the original artwork had long disappeared in the hands of collectors but thankfully, someone in DC figured out a way to reverse engineer the already colored prints to isolate the black & white from the colors. In addition to recoloring, Bolland also did a touchup on several of the character's faces using Photoshop.

Plot summary
An unnamed man quits his job at a chemical company to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife, he agrees to guide two criminals through the chemical plant where he previously worked so that they can rob the playing card company next to it. The police inform him that his wife and unborn child have died in a household accident. Grief-stricken, the comedian tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals convince him into keeping his commitment.

At the plant, the criminals encounter security personnel who kill the comedian's two accomplices and they attempt to escape. The comedian is then confronted by Batman. He flees by jumping into the chemical plant's waste pound lock and is swept through a pipe leading outside. He discovers to his shock that the chemicals have permanently bleached his skin chalk-white, stained his lips red and dyed his hair green. His disfigurement, compounded by the loss of his family, drives him completely insane and marks the birth of the Joker. He later admits that he is not sure whether this actually happened, as he tends to remember his past differently at different times. In present day, Batman goes to Arkham Asylum to talk with the Joker about ending their years-long feud, only to find that the Joker has escaped. The Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon and kidnaps her father, Commissioner James "Jim" Gordon. He takes Gordon to a deserted and abandoned amusement park, where he tortures and cages him in the park's freak show. He forces Gordon to view blown-up photos of a wounded Barbara, lying stripped nude and in pain on the floor after the shooting. He then puts Gordon on display before the park's freaks, ridiculing him as "the average man", a weakling doomed to insanity.

Batman's attempts to locate Commissioner Gordon are unsuccessful until the Joker sends him an invitation to the amusement park. Though traumatized by his ordeal, Gordon retains his sanity and moral code, and insists that Batman capture the Joker "by the book" to "show him that our way works". Batman dodges a series of booby traps while the Joker tries to persuade his nemesis that the world is a "black, awful joke" that is not worth fighting for, and it only takes "one bad day" to drive an ordinary man insane.

Batman subdues the Joker and tells him that Gordon is as sane as ever, and the Joker is alone in his madness. He offers to help the Joker rehabilitate in order to end their everlasting war, which Batman fears may one day result in a fight to the death. The Joker apologetically declines, saying it is too late for that. He says that the situation reminds him of a joke about two inmates in an asylum who try to escape. Batman chuckles at the joke's punchline, and as the two old foes share a laugh, he grabs the Joker as police arrive.

Themes and analysis
The book explores Moore's assertion that, psychologically, "Batman and the Joker are mirror images of each other" by delving into the relationship between the two. The story itself shows how the Joker and Batman came to terms with their respective life-altering tragedies, which both eventually lead to their present lives and confrontation. Critic Geoff Klock further explained that "both Batman and the Joker are creations of a random and tragic 'one bad day'. Batman spends his life forging meaning from the random tragedy, whereas the Joker reflects the absurdity of life, and all its random injustice".

The torments that the Joker puts Commissioner Gordon through are meant to serve as "proof that there is something buried deep within each lunatic, a nugget of insanity, that is simply waiting for the right moment to spring forth". Unlike the Joker, however, Gordon emerges from his ordeal with his sanity and moral code intact. The story is also famous for returning Batman to his darker roots, which changed how the Modern Age of Comics perceived the character. The Killing Joke delves deep into the character's psychology, framing him as being just as insane as the Joker, and postulating that he and the Joker perceive the world according to differing points of view, with the Joker viewing the world as one big joke.

The final panels of the book have been the subject of interpretation and debate. According to one view, Batman and the Joker, who have been fighting for years, end all of their disputes by having a good laugh about it all. Another interpretation, popularized by comic writer Grant Morrison, is that Batman kills the Joker at the end of the story, hence the title "The Killing Joke". Grant Morrison acknowledges the ambiguous nature of the story's ending, which they believe is a part of its enduring appeal, with the original script providing no further information.

The Joker serves as an unreliable narrator. He admits to his own uncertainty, as he has disparate memories of the single event ("Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another...If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"), accentuating the comic's depiction of "a world unraveling toward relentless urban violence and moral nihilism".

Oracle Year One: Born of Hope
In 1996, John Ostrander and Kim Yale wrote a story entitled "Oracle: Year One: Born of Hope" which appeared in The Batman Chronicles #5. The story consists of Barbara recounting the events of The Killing Joke from her perspective, and the immediate aftermath of those events, including her recovery from her injuries and her adoption of the Oracle mantle.

No Joke
In 2007, Geoff Johns wrote a companion story to The Killing Joke entitled "No Joke" that appeared in the series Booster Gold.

In the story, Booster Gold is charged by Rip Hunter to go back in time and save Barbara from being shot by the Joker. Booster arrives at the carnival and is attacked by Joker's freaks. He manages to escape, but arrives too late to save Barbara. Catching the Joker in the middle of taking photos of his victim, Booster attacks in a rage. The Joker nevertheless gains the upper hand, snapping several photos of Booster in the process. Rip returns Booster to the future before the Joker can murder him, but Booster demands to be sent back again. He fails several times until learning that the Joker is destined to paralyze her, as this prompts her to become the Oracle. Rip did this to demonstrate that some points in time, like Barbara's paralysis, are fixed and cannot be altered, so that Booster would not continue insisting on rescuing his friend Ted Kord from death, another fixed point. The story also reveals that Batman kept the photos of Barbara and Booster, and had been waiting until Booster came of age before confronting him. Batman thanks Booster for trying to stop the Joker and offers him his friendship. Eventually, Dick Grayson, who becomes the new Batman for a short time, would also learn about this and offer his thanks to Booster.

"Ladies' Night"
In 2010, writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Cliff Chiang collaborated on a one-shot story called "Ladies' Night", which was published in the anthology series The Brave and the Bold. The story is set shortly before The Killing Joke and deals with Zatanna and Wonder Woman struggling to come to terms with the impending attack on Barbara after Zatanna has a precognitive dream about it. Like "No Joke", the story heavily implies that the heroines cannot alter Barbara's fate, despite their desire to do so, instead giving her a final night on the town before she loses the use of her legs. The story also implies that Wonder Woman served as the inspiration for Barbara Gordon's eventual codename of the Oracle.

The New 52
When DC Comics relaunched its continuity in 2011, many of Batman's stories were erased from history or altered, but the events of The Killing Joke remained intact. In the new continuity, Barbara Gordon recovered from the paralysis after three years. Although she resumes her work as Batgirl one year after recovering her mobility, she continues to have posttraumatic stress disorder when exposed to gunfire that could result in receiving new spinal damage.

In March 2015, DC Comics released 25 Joker-themed variant covers for its various monthly series in celebration of the character's 75th anniversary. Among them was a cover to Batgirl #41 by artist Rafael Albuquerque that took its inspiration from The Killing Joke. The cover depicts the Joker standing next to a tearful Batgirl, who has a red smile painted across her mouth. The Joker has one hand holding a revolver draped over Batgirl's shoulder and is pointing to her cheek with the other hand, as if gesturing to shoot her. The cover quickly drew criticism for highlighting a dark period in the character's history, especially when juxtaposed with the youthful, more optimistic direction of the series at the time. The hashtag #changethecover drew dozens of posts on Twitter and Tumblr asking DC not to release the variant. DC ultimately withdrew the cover from publication at the request of Albuquerque, who said that he did not want to hurt or upset anyone through his art.

Three Jokers
The 2020 book Batman: Three Jokers features the Joker's pregnant wife, Jeannie, and includes more details about what happened to her.

Live action

 * Along with The Dark Knight Returns, Tim Burton has mentioned that The Killing Joke influenced his film adaptation of Batman, specifically the origin of the Joker: "I was never a giant comic book fan, but I've always loved the image of Batman and the Joker. The reason I've never been a comic book fan — and I think it started when I was a child — is because I could never tell which box I was supposed to read. I don't know if it was dyslexia or whatever, but that's why I loved The Killing Joke, because for the first time I could tell which one to read. It's my favorite. It's the first comic I've ever loved. And the success of those graphic novels made our ideas more acceptable".
 * Director Christopher Nolan has mentioned that The Killing Joke influenced the story, themes and Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in the 2008 film The Dark Knight. The Joker's ambiguous, multiple-choice past and depiction as an unreliable narrator who provides various alternate possibilities of his origins, was inspired by the comic, as was the character's line "Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push", a nod to the Joker's philosophy in The Killing Joke that "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy". In both stories, the Joker tries to corrupt one of Batman's allies by harming their loved ones. Ledger also stated in an interview that he was given a copy of the graphic novel as reference for the role.
 * Writer/director Todd Phillips said that the Joker's descent into madness after an unsuccessful career as a stand-up comedian, his past as a struggling lower-class citizen, and his ambiguous past in The Killing Joke served as an inspiration for the narrative and thematic elements of the 2019 feature film Joker.

Animation

 * The story is referenced in a flashback scene in the DC Universe Animated Original Movie, Batman: Under the Red Hood. Red Hood lures Batman (voiced by Bruce Greenwood) to the chemical factory where the Joker's (voiced by John DiMaggio) accident took place. The flashback then shows a fleeing Joker had attempted to escape while trying to claim that he was set up, only to accidentally fall into the chemicals that disfigure him. The film's villain, Jason Todd (voiced by Jensen Ackles) – whom the Joker had murdered, and who takes up his murderer's former criminal identity upon being returned to life by Ra's al Ghul (voiced by Jason Isaacs) – calls it Batman's greatest failure. Jason also obliquely refers to the Joker crippling Barbara.
 * Batman: The Killing Joke animated film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 2, 2016, and also played in select theaters in July. Sam Liu directed and Bruce Timm executive produced the film. The Batman: The Animated Series castmates, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Tara Strong returned as Batman, the Joker, and Batgirl, respectively, alongside Ray Wise as Commissioner Gordon. The film received a mixed reception. The film's storyline follows the original comic, but also includes a new storyline involving Barbara's decision to retire as Batgirl after a crisis involving a Mafia war, as well as a brief sexual relationship between Batman and Batgirl that earned a particular amount of criticism from critics and fans.
 * The Killing Joke was referenced several times in the interactive film adaptation of Batman: Death in the Family, which serves as a follow-up to Batman: Under the Red Hood. The film also reused the pictures the Joker took of Barbara in The Killing Joke animated film. If Batman sacrifices himself to save Jason, two possible scenarios can play out. If Jason chooses to disobey Bruce's dying wish, he meets the Joker at a diner. Joker reminisces about Batman by retelling Jason the same joke he told Bruce at the end of The Killing Joke before Jason stabs him to death. If Jason attempts to uphold Batman's moral code and arrest Joker without killing him, Joker reveals to him that he has been repressing all the times he killed criminals during his time as the Red Hood and has become more of a successor to the villain himself rather than Batman – all because of "one bad day".

Television

 * In the pilot episode of the 2002 Birds of Prey television series, the pilot episode includes a version of the scene in which the Joker shoots Barbara in the spine, paralyzing her.
 * In the FOX TV series Gotham (2014–19), story arcs involving the show's "Proto-Jokers", Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska (both played by Cameron Monaghan), are heavily influenced by The Killing Joke. Several scenes, themes, and lines of dialogue are directly taken from the comic. The episode "A Dark Knight: One Bad Day" takes inspiration from the Joker's observation that "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy", and ends with Jeremiah shooting and paralyzing Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova).
 * In Young Justice, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (voiced by Alyson Stoner) is introduced in Season 2, but is shown to become Oracle in Season 3 during the two-year time skip between seasons. In Season 4, it is revealed that Barbara was paralyzed after saving the Joker from an assassination attempt by Cassandra Cain. However, Barbara tells Cassandra she did not save the Joker for his sake, but to prevent Cassandra from becoming a killer.
 * In Harley Quinn, the Joker shoots Batgirl when Harley Quinn meets with her to tell her that she's quitting the Bat-family at the end of "A Potato-Based Cloning Incident." In "Killer's Block," it's revealed that Batgirl is paralyzed from the waist down as Harley tortures the Joker for revenge, with Joker revealing he shot Batgirl after she exposed him for not being the one to kill Nightwing.

Video games

 * In the 2008 video game Lego Batman: The Video Game, there is an alt featured in the game for The Joker called The Joker (Tropical), which shows him wearing a Hawaiian shirt, purple gloves and a sunhat, which looks very similar to the scene when he shoots and cripples Barbara Gordon in The Killing Joke, albeit with a few changes.
 * In the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City, the Joker (again voiced by Hamill) recounts his backstory from The Killing Joke to Hugo Strange (voiced by Corey Burton). When Strange expresses doubt at the Joker's story, the Joker admits that he prefers his origin story "to be multiple choice", repeating the line from the graphic novel.
 * In the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, a downloadable content Killing Joke pack includes three skins for the character from the story. It includes his Hawaiian attire, the Red Hood, and his hat and long coat.
 * The 2013 video game prequel Batman: Arkham Origins, makes several references to The Killing Joke. When Batman (voiced by Roger Craig Smith) enters a carnival-themed room, the Joker (voiced by Troy Baker) tells him he got a great deal on an out-of-service amusement park, and jokes that "You should have seen the look on the real estate agent's face when we shook hands on the deal!", an allusion to the scene early in the graphic novel in which Joker cons the owner of a run-down amusement park out of the property, and then murders him. In a level depicting a psychiatric interview with Dr. Harleen Quinzel (voiced by Tara Strong), Joker is playable as the Red Hood, walking through the chemical plant that will end with his transformation into the Joker. Another scene shows him in an altercation with patrons at a comedy club who exhibited a poor reception to his act. Baker recites a monologue from the graphic novel.
 * The 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight depicts the Joker's shooting of Barbara Gordon as one of the hallucinations Batman experiences.

Novel
Novelists Christa Faust and Gary Phillips wrote a novel adaptation of Alan Moore's story, published on September 25, 2018, by Titan Books.

Miscellaneous
One of the two covers of the comic book Darkwing Duck Annual, published in March 2011, was a homage to Brian Bolland's cover of The Killing Joke.

Reception and legacy
Although a one-shot, the events of The Killing Joke were adopted into ongoing comic book storylines. DC Comics officially retired Batgirl in the one-shot comic Batgirl Special #1 (July 1988), and when Barbara Gordon reappeared in the Suicide Squad series, she was in a wheelchair and became the computer hacker known as the Oracle. This event, along with a Batman storyline that takes place shortly afterward, "A Death in the Family", involving the Joker murdering Robin (Jason Todd), The Killing Joke, leads Batman's obsession with the Clown Prince of Crime to a personal level. The mantle of Batgirl would eventually be passed to successor Cassandra Cain and later, Stephanie Brown. Gordon's paralysis was later retconned into a temporary event that lasted only three years in DC Comics' 2011 line-wide title relaunch, The New 52, which saw her restored as the first and only Batgirl.

The graphic novel won the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album and garnered Alan Moore the Best Writer award in 1989. Hilary Goldstein of IGN praised The Killing Joke, calling it "easily the greatest Joker story ever told" and adding that "Moore's rhythmic dialogue and Bolland's organic art create a unique story often mimicked but never matched". IGN declared The Killing Joke the third-greatest Batman graphic novel, after The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. James Donnelly of Pop Syndicate called The Killing Joke "one of the greatest comics of the 20th century". Van Jensen of ComicMix said: "Each time I read The Killing Joke I'm amazed all over again at how Alan Moore and Brian Bolland teamed to pack such intensity, ferocity and humanity into those pages". B.L. Wooldridge of Batman in Comics called the graphic novel "an incredible story, with Moore at his best and awe-inspiring art by painter Brian Bolland". Comics historians Robert Greenberger and Matthew K. Manning describe it as "the definitive Joker story of all time". Manning additionally called it "one of the most powerful and disturbing stories in the history of Gotham City".

Seb Patrick of Den of Geek also had a mixed response, calling The Killing Joke "one of the most revered and influential 'Batman' stories ever written and arguably the definitive Joker story", but adding that it's "not at the level of [Alan Moore's] true masterpieces such as Watchmen, V for Vendetta [and] The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".

Creator's response
In a 2000 interview, and elsewhere, Moore has been critical of his work: "I don't think it's a very good book. It's not saying anything very interesting". Later qualifying that personal critique, he summarized the book saying: "I was making a point... '[that] there are a lot of similarities between Batman and the Joker'. That was the main point of The Killing Joke". In 2003, he further clarified why, with the benefit of hindsight, it was this view that leads him to consider it one his lesser works:

"'The Killing Joke is a story about Batman and the Joker; it isn't about anything that you're ever going to encounter in real life, because Batman and the Joker are not like any human beings that have ever lived. So there's no important human information being imparted...Yeah, it was something that I thought was clumsy, misjudged and had no real human importance. It was just about a couple of licensed DC characters that didn't really relate to the real world in any way'."

Bolland gave his own thoughts on Moore's response in 2008:

"'The Killing Joke was not a project instigated by Alan, nor was it, as far as I know, a labour of love for him, and it doesn't usually appear in a list of his greatest works. I was glad he agreed to write it, though'."

In a 2004 interview with Wizard magazine, Moore was also critical about his decision to disable Barbara Gordon: "I asked DC if they had any problem with me crippling Barbara Gordon – who was Batgirl at the time – and if I remember, I spoke to Len Wein, who was our editor on the project... [He] said, 'Yeah, okay, cripple the bitch'. It was probably one of the areas where they should've reined me in, but they didn't".

In the introduction to the story as it appears in the trade paperback DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore, Brian Bolland disputes the widely held belief that the story started as a Batman annual story and ended up as a prestige-format book. Bolland recalls that the idea for a one-off Batman story focusing on the Joker—with Batman more of an incidental character—was his. Bolland says that in 1984, Dick Giordano told him he could do any project for DC he wanted, and Bolland requested to do a Batman/Joker prestige book with Moore as writer. Bolland has also expressed dissatisfaction with the final book, and regrets that its impending schedule for release meant he could not color the book himself (John Higgins was the colorist). Bolland says that "the end result wasn't quite what I'd hoped. I don't think it rates with some of the highlights of Alan's career". March 2008 saw the release of the artwork as Bolland intended it: the twentieth anniversary hardcover edition of The Killing Joke is completely recolored by Bolland himself. The book made The New York Times Best Seller list in May 2009.

Influence on other Joker stories
Critic Mark Vogler wrote that The Killing Joke provided the Joker "with a sympathetic back story as it presented some of the villain's most vile offenses". Moore's rendition of the Joker's origin employs elements of the 1951 story "The Man Behind the Red Hood" (Detective Comics #168), which established the concept of the Joker originally having been a thief known only as the Red Hood. According to Will Brooker, in his 2001 book Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon, the tragic and human elements of the character's story, coupled with his barbaric crimes as the Joker, reveal the character as more of a three-dimensional human being. During an interview with Salon, Moore explained that the Joker's psychotic nature could have been caused by a "bad decision" in his life.

Much of the Joker's backstory from The Killing Joke is also referred to in 2004's "Pushback" (Batman: Gotham Knights #50-55; reprinted with #66 as Batman: Hush Returns), in which the events are observed and reported by the Riddler, who recounts that the pregnant wife of the pre-accident Joker, who is called "Jack" prior to his accident, was kidnapped and murdered by the criminals in order to force his compliance.

Feminist interpretations
Many have argued that the novel implies that Barbara Gordon is raped by the Joker, instead of just being merely stripped and photographed. The book has been the subject of feminist critique, criticizing the treatment of Barbara Gordon. Author Brian Cronin notes that "many readers felt the violence towards Barbara Gordon was too much, and even Moore, in retrospect, has expressed his displeasure with how the story turned out". Author Sharon Packer wrote: "Anyone who feels that feminist critics overreacted to Gordon's accident is advised to consult the source material ... Moore's The Killing Joke is sadistic to the core. It shows Gordon stripped and mutilated, with before, during and after photos of the attack displayed before her bound and gagged father, the police commissioner. She is more than merely disabled". Gail Simone included the character's paralysis in a list of "major female characters that had been killed, mutilated, and depowered", dubbing the phenomenon "Women in Refrigerators" in reference to a 1994 Green Lantern story where the title character discovers his girlfriend's mutilated body in his refrigerator. Author Jeffrey A. Brown noted The Killing Joke as an example of the "relatively unequal violence female characters are subjected to" in the major DC/Marvel Comics industry. While male characters may be critically injured or killed, they are more than likely to be returned to their original conception, while "women on the other hand, are more likely to be casually, but irreparably, wounded such as when Barbara Gordon's (the original Batgirl) spine was shattered by the Joker just for fun and has been restricted to a wheelchair for over a decade now".

Coloring
The entire story was recolored by Brian Bolland for the 2008 Deluxe Edition. The new colors featured black-and-white flashbacks, as opposed to Higgins' colors, along with one or two items per panel colored in pink or red, up until the helmet of the Red Hood is revealed. In addition to recoloring the pages, Bolland also removed the yellow oval around the bat symbol on Batman's chest. A colored version of Bolland's "An Innocent Guy" was also included. Van Jensen of ComicMix said that "the new colors really do improve the book, giving it a subtlety and grimness not present in the original". James Donnelly of Pop Syndicate said that the original version "is outdone by Bolland's recoloring", which he said "gives the comic a more timeless quality". Seb Patrick of Den of Geek had a lukewarm reaction, calling the recoloring of the flashbacks "superb", but commenting that "some of the [other] changes seem to have less of a point — increasing definition for the sake of it, but giving the book too much of a present-day feel rather than looking like it was printed in the 1980s".

John Higgins' original coloring can still be found in DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore.

title: Batman: The Killing Joke


text:
Space marine

The space marine is an archetype of military science fiction describing a kind of soldier who operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill multiple roles: ship defence, boarding actions, landing parties, and general-purpose high-mobility land deployments that operate within a fixed distance of shore or ship. By analogy, hypothetical space marines would defend allied spaceships, board enemy ships, land on planets and moons, and satisfy rapid-deployment needs throughout space.

History
The earliest known use of the term "space marine" was by Bob Olsen in his short story "Captain Brink of the Space Marines" (Amazing Stories, Volume 7, Number 8, November 1932), a light-hearted work whose title is a play on the song "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines", and in which the protagonists were marines of the "Earth Republic Space Navy" on mission to rescue celebrity twins from aliens on Titan. Olsen published a novella sequel four years later, "The Space Marines and the Slavers" (Amazing Stories, Volume 10, Number 13, December 1936), featuring the same characters using a spaceship with active camouflage to free hostages from Martian space pirates on Ganymede.

A more widely known early example was E. E. Smith's Lensman series. While the first story, Triplanetary and most later sequels (Second Stage Lensmen, Children of the Lens and The Vortex Blaster) do not mention them, passing mentions of marines are made in Galactic Patrol (Astounding Stories, September 1937–February 1938) and Gray Lensman (Astounding Stories, October 1939–January 1940), and a more direct mention is made in First Lensman (1950): "Dronvire of Rigel Four in the lead, closely followed by Costigan, Northrop, Kinnison the Younger, and a platoon of armed and armored Space Marines!".

The phrase "space marines" appears in Robert A. Heinlein's "Misfit" (1939) and is again used in "The Long Watch" (1949) which expands on a story from his earlier novel Space Cadet (1948), in all cases before Smith had used the phrase. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) is considered the defining work for the concept, although it does not use the term "space marine". The actors playing the Colonial Marines in Aliens (1986) were required to read Starship Troopers as part of their training prior to filming. Heinlein intended for the capsule troopers of the Mobile Infantry to be an amalgam of the shipborne aspect of the US Marine Corps relocated to space and coupled with the battlefield delivery and mission profile of US Army paratroopers.

As a gaming concept, space marines play a major role in the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures wargame, in which they are genetically altered super-soldiers and the most powerful fighting forces available to the Imperium of Man. In computer games, playing a space marine in action games was popularized by id Software's Doom series, first published in 1993. It is a convenient game back-story as it excuses the presence of the character on a hostile alien world with little support and heavy weaponry. Some critics have suggested it has been overused to the point of being an action game cliché.

Trademark controversy
In December 2012, online retailer Amazon.com removed the e-book Spots the Space Marine by M.C.A. Hogarth at the request of games company Games Workshop. They claimed the use of the phrase "space marine" infringed on their trademark of the term for their game Warhammer 40,000. In February 2013, the row received a lot of publicity, with authors such as Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross and John Scalzi supporting Hogarth, and Amazon.com then restored the e-book for sale.

Characteristics
In film and television space marines often appear in squads, while in video games the protagonist Marine is usually alone or in very small squads. Depending on the mission, they may be deployed via dropship or another specialised insertion craft. Their battledress varies between media, ranging from equipment comparable to modern-day fatigues (or just being contemporary, such as the equipment of Colonial Marines in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica) to environmentally sealed suits of powered armour. Equipment and weaponry is similarly varied, often incorporating various fictional technologies. Directed-energy weapons are common, though conventional firearms are also used, like the M41A Pulse Rifles the Colonial Marines in the Aliens movie use (which are projectile weapons that use an electric pulse to shoot caseless ammunition). If the marines' armour is particularly bulky, their weapons may be similarly scaled up such as in Warhammer 40,000 where Space Marines carry "boltguns," effectively rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as a standard firearm.

Non-fiction aspects
The United States Air Force's Project Hot Eagle considers the use of spacecraft to deliver Marines to a target on the ground. "Within minutes of bursting into the atmosphere beyond the speed of sound – and dispatching that ominous sonic boom – a small squad of Marines could be on the ground and ready for action within 2 hours."

Games

The term is also used in an intentionally hyperbolic manner to describe especially powerful armies in Paradox Interactive strategy games Europa Universalis IV and Hearts of Iron IV.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Space marine


text:
D. L. Hughley

Darryl Lynn Hughley (born March 6, 1963) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hughley is best known as the original host of BET's ComicView from 1992 to 1993, the eponymous character on the ABC/UPN sitcom The Hughleys, and as one of the "Big Four" comedians in The Original Kings of Comedy. Additionally, he has been the host of CNN's D. L. Hughley Breaks the News, a correspondent for The Jay Leno Show on NBC, and a local radio personality and interviewer in New York City. In early 2013, D. L. Hughley landed in ninth place on Dancing with the Stars.

Early life
Hughley was born in Portsmouth, VA, the son of Audrey and Charles Hughley, who was a Delta Air Lines maintenance worker. He is the second of four children. He stayed in Portsmouth for only two months before his family moved, Hughley grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Hughley's teen years were troubled as he became a member of the notorious street gang, the Bloods, and was expelled from San Pedro High School. However, he eventually turned his back on gang life, got his GED, and obtained employment with the Los Angeles Times.

Career
From 1992 to 1993, Hughley was the original host of ComicView, the stand-up comedy program on BET. In 1993, he also appeared in the third season of Fresh Prince of Bel Air as Will's friend Keith Campbell, a comedian from Philadelphia. From 1998 to 2002, he wrote, produced and starred in the television sitcom series, The Hughleys, based on his real-life experiences living with his African-American family in an upscale neighborhood. During 2005, he released a stand-up comedy album "D.L. Hughley: Notes From The GED Section" and had a short-lived talk show on Comedy Central called Weekends at the D.L. He is a member of The Original Kings of Comedy, and has also had roles on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and on NBC's Scrubs as Turk's brother. In 2008, he was the host of the BET Awards. He also attended the funeral of one of his best friends and fellow King of Comedy, Bernie Mac where he gave a tearful speech during the eulogy.

In June 2010, Hughley served as special guest moderator of ABC's The View for one day.

Hughley guest-starred on TBS's Glory Daze and guest hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Hughley's first book, I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up: How the Audacity of Dopes Is Ruining America, with contributions from Michael Malice, was published on July 31, 2012, by Crown Archetype Press.

Hughley was a contestant on season 16 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with two-time champion Cheryl Burke.

Hughley's second book, Black Man, White House: An Oral History of the Obama Years, was published on June 6, 2017, by William Morrow.

Hughley's third book, How Not to Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People with contributions from Doug Moe was published on June 26, 2018, by William Morrow.

Hughley's fourth book, Surrender, White People: Our Unconditional Terms for Peace with contributions from Doug Moe was published on June 30, 2020, by HarperCollins.

Hughley's latest book, How to Survive America, was published June 15, 2021, with contributions from Doug Moe was published on June 15, 2021, by Custom House.

He is now hosting a talk show, The D.L. Hughley Show, that premiered on TV One on March 18, 2019.

CNN
Hughley was selected to host and write a comedic news-show on CNN which covers global happenings in politics, entertainment, sports and pop culture, titled D. L. Hughley Breaks the News, which aired its premiere episode on Saturday, October 25, 2008, at 10 p.m. EDT on CNN. On March 9, 2009, CNN announced Hughley would be ending the show due to a desire to work in Los Angeles and be closer to his family. He planned to continue his work with CNN as a Los Angeles-based contributor for the network.

Radio
Hughley also has a career as an on-air radio personality. On July 20, 2009, The D.L. Hughley Morning Show premiered on WRKS (now WEPN), more popularly known at the time as 98.7 Kiss FM, an urban adult contemporary station in New York City. His co-hosts included former BET news correspondent Jacque Reid. Airing from 6 to 10 am, the show placed Hughley in direct competition with his fellow "King of Comedy" Steve Harvey, whose nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show airs in New York on WBLS (Kiss FM's longtime rival). There were plans to take Hughley's show into syndication as well, but a dispute regarding his salary erupted between Kiss FM's parent company and the potential syndication company. In August 2010, Kiss FM dropped the show from its schedule, and Hughley moved on to other endeavors.

On August 12, 2013, REACH Media, the syndicator founded by Tom Joyner, announced it had finalized a deal with D.L. to host a new nationally syndicated afternoon drive show, The D.L. Hughley Show, distributed by Cumulus Media Networks.

Personal life
Hughley and his wife, LaDonna, have two daughters, Ryan and Tyler, and a son, Kyle. Hughley has discussed his son's Asperger syndrome on several occasions.

On November 9, 2017, Hughley gave an interview on Angela Yee's Lipservice podcast in which he described having an affair early in his marriage and career. His mistress had become pregnant and had a son; the infant was shaken to death by the infant's mother's boyfriend.

On June 19, 2020, Hughley collapsed while performing at a club in Nashville, Tennessee; the reported cause was exhaustion. Subsequent tests revealed he was positive for COVID-19.

Hughley was initiated as an honorary member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity on July 30, 2020.

title: D. L. Hughley


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Wayne Brady

Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American television host, comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? He was the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show, was the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival. Brady also performed in the Tony Award–winning musical Kinky Boots on Broadway as Simon—who is also drag queen Lola—from November 2015 to March 2016, and as James Stinson on the American TV series How I Met Your Mother.

Brady is a five-time Emmy Award winner, winning his first for his work on Whose Line? in 2003, two more in the next year for The Wayne Brady Show, and two for Let's Make a Deal. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009 for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, for his cover of the Sam Cooke song "A Change Is Gonna Come".

Early life
Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia, to West Indian parents. He was moved to Orlando, Florida, as a young child to live with his grandmother and aunt. Brady refers to his grandmother, Valerie Petersen, as his "mom", since she raised him. As a child, Brady developed a stutter. This led to him being bullied by other children, which caused him a great deal of anxiety.

At 16, Brady started performing in community theater and in the Orlando improvisation troupe SAK Comedy Lab, where he first started developing his improv skills. He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, from which he graduated in 1989.

Shortly thereafter, Brady gained employment at Universal Studios Florida, where he appeared in several projects, most notably two involving the character of Beetlejuice. The first was a street show called "Beetlejuice: Dead in Concert", pitting the titular ghost against the Ghostbusters (this is when the park still had the rights to the franchise), where Brady played Winston Zeddemore. Later on, the "ghost with the most" was given his own stage show, "Beetlejuice's Rock 'N Roll Graveyard Revue", where Brady portrayed Dracula.

In 1996, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued developing his acting skills.

Career
Brady first appeared on national television as a recurring contestant on the sketch comedy competition Kwik Witz from 1996 to 1999, appearing most often as partners with Frank Maciel. Brady was one of the improvisational theater performers in the original (British) version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, along with Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and host Clive Anderson in 1998 when the last season was filmed in Hollywood, after which he became a regular on the American version, hosted by Drew Carey. In 2003, Brady won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his work on the show, the only person to win the award for a television series, as opposed to a special, since Dana Carvey in 1993.

He went on to star in his own ABC variety show in 2001, The Wayne Brady Show, and a daytime talk show of the same name in 2002, which lasted two seasons and won four Daytime Emmy Awards, two of which went to Brady for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Brady guest-starred on The Drew Carey Show in 1999 and 2000 to take part in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II". On the show, Brady played several games taken from Whose Line Is It Anyway? with other characters.

In 2004, Brady joined the Broadway revival of Chicago, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn. He appeared briefly in the final episode of the 2004 season of the comedy Reno 911!. He guest-starred on the Sci Fi Channel's hit series Stargate SG-1 as Trelak, the first prime of Goa'uld System Lord Ares. He made an appearance on Chappelle's Show, poking fun at his squeaky-clean persona. Brady co-wrote and sang the theme song for Disney's animated series The Weekenders. In 2005, he sang and recorded Jim Brickman's original Disney song "Beautiful" (a cover of All-4-One's 2002 hit "Beautiful As You") and its Christmas version. In 2006, Brady became the host of TV Land's That's What I'm Talking About, a talk show discussing the role of African-Americans in the entertainment industry. From August 29 to September 29, 2006, Brady hosted the Fox show Celebrity Duets.

Brady made several guest appearances on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, playing James Stinson, the gay brother of Neil Patrick Harris's character, Barney Stinson. Brady has also appeared as a guest star for the MTV show Wild 'n Out and lent his voice to the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken. Brady guest-starred in the CBC comedy Getting Along Famously alongside his Whose Line is It Anyway? costar Colin Mochrie. He appeared on the episode "You Don't Know Jack" of the television show Dirt and guest-starred on 30 Rock as Steven Black, Liz Lemon's date for the Source Awards. He co-hosted the short-lived VH1 show Vinyl Justice in 1998. In 2007, he starred in the ABC Family film The List. He starred in Flirt, a comedy pilot which was not picked up by the network. Brady guest-starred as Julius Rock's gifted younger brother, Louis, in the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, and hosted a singing game show called Don't Forget the Lyrics! on Fox until its cancellation in June 2009. He performed "Wayne Brady: Making $%!^ Up" at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada four nights a week.

He appeared on two episodes of Kevin Hill. Brady's debut album was released on September 16, 2008. Brady's version of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" earned him a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance category. Brady started hosting an updated version of the game show Let's Make a Deal for CBS in October 2009, which taped at the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and currently tapes in Los Angeles. The show replaced the soap opera Guiding Light, which ended its long run. The original host of Let's Make a Deal was Monty Hall, who served as consultant for the new show until his death in 2017. Drew Carey currently hosts The Price Is Right, and thus, both game shows in the CBS daytime lineup (as of September 2019) hold the distinction of being hosted by an alumnus of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Brady was the guest host on the May 3, 2010, episode of WWE Raw, where he was involved in an in-ring segment with Edge and Randy Orton, eventually getting RKO'd by Orton. Later that year, in August, Brady played Tom Collins in a staged production of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl. The production was directed by Neil Patrick Harris.

Brady appeared alongside Let's Make a Deal announcer Jonathan Mangum in two episodes of Fast and Loose, an improvisational series on BBC2 hosted by Hugh Dennis, in January 2011. Then, with Holly Robinson Peete, he co-hosted the 42nd annual NAACP Image Awards on March 4, 2011. On May 3, 2011, he appeared on Dancing with the Stars as the lead performer in a tribute to James Brown, celebrating what would have been Brown's 78th birthday in the Macy's Stars of Dance segment. He has also been a special guest of Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza on GSN. Brady made a cameo in the 2011 song "Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)" by Lloyd featuring Lil Wayne and Andre 3000, narrating Lil Wayne's section of the song. He appeared as a special guest star in the March 14, 2012, episode of the TV series Psych.

Brady starred in the 2012 ABC improvisational comedy series Trust Us with Your Life and returned for The CW's revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the summer of 2013. Brady guest-starred as Don in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Where's Pinky?" on June 7, 2013, and from February 9 to 13, 2015, guest-hosted The Late Late Show on CBS. In November 2015, Brady replaced Billy Porter as Lola in Kinky Boots on Broadway until March 2016.

Brady assumed the lead role of Aaron Burr in the PrivateBank Theatre production of Hamilton in Chicago from January 17 to April 9, 2017. In 2018, Brady began a recurring role in the sci-fi drama Colony as Everett Kynes, the administrator of the Seattle colony and creator of an algorithm used in sorting and identifying people. On April 29, 2018, Brady won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host for Let's Make A Deal for the first time, after seven previous nominations. In November 2018, Brady began making appearances as Dr. Reese Buckingham on The Bold and the Beautiful. On October 10, 2019, he was featured in a 30-minute YouTube documentary created by SoulPancake in collaboration with Funny or Die wherein a variety of comedians discuss mental health called Laughing Matters. On December 18, 2019, Brady competed on season two of The Masked Singer as "Fox". He was named the winner of that season.

Beginning in 2020, Brady plays a major recurring role during the third season of The CW superhero drama series Black Lightning as the DC Comics character Tyson Sykes / Gravedigger. It was also announced that he had created a reality competition show to air on BYU TV called Wayne Brady's Comedy IQ, in which teens would be taught skills and compete in weekly challenges. Brady later appeared as a guest panelist in season four of The Masked Singer where he also sang Maroon 5's "Memories" as "Mr. TV" at the start of the sixth episode. On December 28, 2020, it was announced that Brady would star as Django in a benefit concert presentation of Ratatouille the Musical, an internet meme that originated on TikTok, inspired by the 2007 Disney/Pixar film. The concert streamed exclusively on TodayTix on January 1, 2021, and raised over $1 million for The Actors Fund. On September 8, 2022, Brady was announced as a contestant on season 31 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Witney Carson and they finished in 3rd place.

Personal life
Brady has been married twice. He married Diana Lasso on December 31, 1993. They divorced on September 21, 1995. On April 3, 1999, he married dancer Mandie Taketa. He and Taketa have one child, a daughter named Maile Masako Brady, born on February 3, 2003. Brady and Taketa separated on April 5, 2006, and Taketa filed for divorce on July 2, 2007. They have remained close friends and co-parents.

In 2007, Brady became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, the Friends of RMHC.

In 2013, Bill Maher compared Brady to President Barack Obama, in that, in popular culture, they were both supposedly "not Black enough". Brady took issue with this statement, suggesting that Maher should "be careful when [he makes] statements like that" because it will allow his viewers to make the same stereotypical assumptions about Black people.

Brady has suffered from clinical depression. On his 42nd birthday, in 2014, he had a mental breakdown and later credited Taketa for helping him recover.

In August 2023, Brady came out as pansexual.

Brady is an honorary member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Discography
Albums

 * Singles
 * 2000
 * "The Weekenders" Theme Song
 * 2004
 * "Unsung Heroes"
 * "Between" – Wayne Brady with The Sesame Street Muppets
 * 2005
 * "Beautiful" – Wayne Brady, accompanied on piano by songwriter Jim Brickman
 * "Don't Stop" – Jamie Jones featuring Wayne Brady and William Carthright
 * 2008
 * "Ordinary"
 * 2009
 * "F.W.B."
 * 2013
 * "Whistle While I Work it" – Chester See featuring Tobuscus with Wayne Brady
 * 2019
 * "Flirtin' With Forever"

title: Wayne Brady


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Nehemiah Abbott

Nehemiah Abbott (March 29, 1804 – July 26, 1877) was an American attorney and politician from Maine. Originally active in politics as a Democrat, he became a Republican when the party was founded in the mid 1850s. Among the offices in which he served were member of the Maine House of Representatives (1842–1844, 1845–1846), member of the United States House of Representatives (1857–1859), and mayor of Belfast (1865–1866).

Biography
Abbott was born in Sidney, Maine on March 29, 1804, a son of Asa Abbott and Hepzibah (Brooks) Abbott. He attended Litchfield Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1836 and began to practice in Calais, Maine. In 1839, he moved to Columbus, Mississippi, where he continued the practice of law. In 1840, he returned to Maine and settled in Belfast.

Originally a Democrat, in 1842, 1843, and 1845 he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives. Abbott became a Republican when the party was founded in the mid-1850s. In 1856, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He served one term, March 4, 1857 to March 3, 1859. During his U.S. House service, Abbott was a member of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. He did not run for reelection in 1858, and resumed the practice of law.

During the American Civil War, Abbott supported the Union. In 1864, he was appointed temporary chairman of the National Union Party nominating convention for Maine's 5th congressional district. He served as mayor of Belfast from 1865 to 1866.

Abbott died in Belfast on July 26, 1877. He was buried at Grove Cemetery in Belfast.

Family
In 1836, Abbott married Caroline Williams Belcher. They were the parents of six children— Caroline Belcher, Howard, Emma Fuller, Clifford Belcher, Annie Gill, and Henry Fuller.

title: Nehemiah Abbott


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Island country

[[Image:Island nations.svg|thumb|350px|[[Sovereign state]]s and a de facto state (Taiwan) fully on islands: those with land borders shaded green, and those without shaded dark blue (Bahrain (bh) should be shaded green as it shares a small land border with Saudi Arabia on Passport Island).

Countries/territories not shown on the map: Antarctica (aq) (continental disputed territory), Australia (au) (continental country), the Cook Islands (ck) (free association with New Zealand), Greenland (gl) (constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark), Niue (nu) (free association with New Zealand), and Puerto Rico (pr) (unincorporated U.S. territory).]] An island country, island state, or island nation is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. Approximately 25% of all independent countries are island countries. Island countries are historically more stable than many continental states but are vulnerable to conquest by naval superpowers. Indonesia is the largest and most populated island country in the world.

There are great variations between island country economies: they may rely mainly on extractive industries, such as mining, fishing and agriculture, and/or on services such as transit hubs, tourism, and financial services. Many islands have low-lying geographies and their economies and population centers develop along coast plains and ports; such states may be vulnerable to the effects of climate change, especially sea level rise.

Remote or significant islands and archipelagos that are not themselves sovereign are often known as dependencies or overseas territories.

Politics
Historically, island countries have tended to be less prone to political instability than their continental counterparts. The percentage of island countries that are democratic is higher than that of continental countries.

Island territories
While island countries by definition are sovereign states, there are also several islands and archipelagos around the world that operate semi-autonomously from their official sovereign states. These are often known as dependencies or overseas territories and can be similar in nature to proper island countries.

War
Island countries have often been the basis of maritime conquest and historical rivalry between other countries. Island countries are more susceptible to attack by large, continental countries due to their size and dependence on sea and air lines of communication. Many island countries are also vulnerable to predation by mercenaries and other foreign invaders, although their isolation also makes them a difficult target.

Natural resources
Many developing small island countries rely heavily on fish for their main supply of food. Some are turning to renewable energy—such as wind power, hydropower, geothermal power and biodiesel from copra oil—to defend against potential rises in oil prices.

Geography
Some island countries are more affected than other countries by climate change, which produces problems such as reduced land use, water scarcity, and sometimes even resettlement issues. Some low-lying island countries are slowly being submerged by the rising water levels of the Pacific Ocean. Climate change also impacts island countries by causing natural disasters such as tropical cyclones, hurricanes, flash floods and droughts.

Economics
Many island countries rely heavily on imports and are greatly affected by changes in the global economy. Due to the nature of island countries their economies are often characterised by being smaller, relatively isolated from world trade and economy, more vulnerable to shipping costs, and more likely to suffer environmental damage to infrastructure; exceptions include Japan, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. The dominant industry for many island countries is tourism.

Composition
Island countries are typically small with low populations, although some, like Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines are notable exceptions.

Some island countries are centred on one or two major islands, such as the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, New Zealand, Cuba, Bahrain, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Iceland, Malta, and Taiwan. Others are spread out over hundreds or thousands of smaller islands, such as Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, The Bahamas, Seychelles, and the Maldives. Some island countries share one or more of their islands with other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland; Haiti and the Dominican Republic; and Indonesia, which shares islands with Papua New Guinea, Brunei, East Timor, and Malaysia. Bahrain, Singapore, and the United Kingdom have fixed links such as bridges and tunnels to the continental landmass: Bahrain is linked to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway, Singapore to Malaysia by the Johor–Singapore Causeway and Second Link, and the United Kingdom has a railway connection to France through the Channel Tunnel.

Geographically, the country of Australia is considered a continental landmass rather than an island, covering the largest landmass of the Australian continent. In the past, however, it was considered an island country for tourism purposes (among others) and is sometimes referred to as such.

title: Island country


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Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Indians, Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Alaskan Creoles, Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures. They are often defined by their language groups. Many Alaska Natives are enrolled in federally recognized Alaska Native tribal entities, who in turn belong to 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations, who administer land and financial claims.

Ancestors of Native Alaskans or Alaska Natives migrated into the area thousands of years ago, in at least two different waves. Some are descendants of the third wave of migration, in which people settled across the northern part of North America. They never migrated to southern areas. Genetic studies show they are not closely related to native peoples in South America.

Alaska Natives came from Asia. Anthropologists have stated that their journey from Asia to Alaska was made possible through the Bering land bridge or by traveling across the sea. Throughout the Arctic and the circumpolar north, the ancestors of Alaska Natives established varying indigenous, complex cultures that have succeeded each other over time. They developed sophisticated ways to deal with the challenging climate and environment.

Historical groups have been defined by their languages, which belong to several major language families. Today, Alaska Natives or Native Alaskans constitute more than 20% of the population of Alaska.

List of peoples
Below is a full list of the different Alaska Native or Native Alaskan peoples, who are largely defined by their historical languages (within each culture are different tribes):

 * Ancient Beringian
 * Alaskan Athabaskans
 * Ahtna
 * Deg Hit'an
 * Dena'ina
 * Eskimo
 * Eyak
 * Gwich'in
 * Haida
 * Hän
 * Holikachuk
 * Koyukon
 * Lower Tanana
 * Tanacross
 * Upper Tanana
 * Upper Kuskokwim (Kolchan)
 * Tlingit
 * Tsimshian
 * Iñupiat, an Inuit group
 * Yupik
 * Siberian Yupik
 * Yup'ik
 * Cup'ik
 * Nunivak Cup'ig
 * Sugpiaq ~ Alutiiq
 * Chugach Sugpiaq
 * Koniag Alutiiq
 * Aleut (Unangan)

Demographics
The Alaska Natives Commission estimated there were about 86,000 Alaska Natives living in Alaska in 1990, with another 17,000 who lived outside Alaska. A 2013 study by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development documented more than 120,000 Alaska Native people in Alaska. While the majority of Alaska Natives live in small villages or remote regional hubs such as Nome, Dillingham, and Bethel, the percentage who live in urban areas has been increasing. In 2010, 44% lived in urban areas, compared to 38% in the 2000 census. As of 2018, natives constitute 15.4% of the overall Alaskan population.

History
The modern history of Alaska Natives begins with the first contact between Alaskan First Nations and Russians sailing from Siberia in the eighteenth century. British and American traders, coming mostly from eastern settlements in North America, generally did not reach the area until the nineteenth century. In some cases, Christian missionaries were not active in Alaska until the twentieth century.

Russian colonial period
Vitus Bering spotted Alaska during an expedition. Native Alaskans first came into contact with Russians in the 18th century. Time of contact with Russians varied throughout each native group since the Native Alaskan groups were spread throughout Alaska. Arriving from Siberia by ship in the mid-eighteenth century, Russians began to trade with Alaska Natives in what became known as the Aleutian Islands. They started new settlements around trading posts, and Russian Orthodox missionaries were part of these. The Russian missionaries were the first persons to translate Christian scripture into Native languages, such as Tlingit. In the 21st century, the numerous congregations of Russian Orthodox Christians in Alaska reflect this early history, as they are generally composed mostly of Alaska Natives.

Rather than hunting and harvesting marine life themselves, the Sibero-Russian promyshlenniki forced the Aleuts to do the work for them, enserfing the Aleuts. As word spread of the riches in furs to be had, competition among Russian companies increased. Catherine the Great, who became Empress in 1763, proclaimed good will toward the Aleut and urged her subjects to treat them fairly. The growing competition between the trading companies, which merged into fewer, larger and more powerful corporations, created conflicts that aggravated the relations with the indigenous populations. Over the years, the situation became catastrophic for the Aleuts, as well as other Native Alaskan people who were impacted by Russian contact.

As the animal populations declined, the Aleuts, already dependent on the new barter economy created by their fur trade with the Russians, were increasingly coerced into taking greater risks in the dangerous waters of the North Pacific to hunt for more otter. As the Shelikhov-Golikov Company and later Russian-American Company developed as a monopoly, it used skirmishes and systematic violence as a tool of colonial exploitation of the indigenous people. When the Aleut revolted and won some victories, the Russians retaliated, killing many. They also destroyed the peoples' boats and hunting gear, leaving them no means of survival.

The greatest mortality was caused by the Aleuts' encounters with new diseases: during the first two generations (1741/1759-1781/1799 AD) of Russian contact, 80 percent of the Aleut population died from Eurasian infectious diseases. These had been endemic among the Europeans for centuries, but the Aleut had no immunity against the new diseases.

Effects of Russian colonization
The Russian Tsarist government expanded into Indigenous territory in present-day Alaska for its own geopolitical reasons. It consumed natural resources of the territory during the trading years, and Russian Orthodoxy was evangelized. Their movement into these populated areas of Indigenous communities altered the demographic and natural landscape.

Historians have suggested that the Russian-American Company exploited Indigenous peoples as a source of inexpensive labor. The Russian-American Company not only used Indigenous populations for labor during the fur trade, but also held some as hostages to acquire iasak. Iasak, a form of taxation imposed by the Russians, was a tribute in the form of otter pelts. It was a taxation method the Russians had previously found useful in their early encounter with Indigenous communities of Siberia during the Siberian fur trade. Beaver pelts were also customary to be given to fur traders upon first contact with various communities.

The Russian-American Company used military force on Indigenous families, taking them as hostage until male community members produced furs for them. Otter furs on Kodiak Island and Aleutian Islands enticed the Russians to start these taxations. Robbery and maltreatment in the form of corporal punishment and the withholding of food was also present upon the arrival of fur traders. Catherine the Great dissolved the giving of tribute in 1799, but her government initiated mandatory conscription of Indigenous men between the ages of 18 and 50 to become seal hunters strictly for the Russian American Company. This mandatory labor gave the Russian American Company an edge in competition with American and British fur traders. But the conscription separated men from their families and villages, thus altering and breaking down communities. With able-bodied men away on the hunt, villages were left with little protection as only women, children, and the elderly remained behind.

In addition to changes that came with conscription, the spread of disease also altered the populations of Indigenous communities. Although records kept in the period were scarce, it has been said that 80% of the pre-contact population of the Aleut people were gone by 1800.

Relationships between Indigenous women and fur traders increased as Indigenous men were away from villages. This resulted in marriages and children that would come to be known as Creole peoples, children who were Indigenous and Russian. To reduce hostilities with Aleutian communities, it became policy for fur traders to enter into marriage with Indigenous women. The Creole population increased in the territory controlled by the Russian American Company.

The growth of the Russian Orthodox Church was another important tactic in the colonization and conversion of Indigenous populations. Ioann Veniaminov, who later became Saint Innocent of Alaska, was an important missionary who carried out the Orthodox Church's agenda to Christianize Indigenous populations. The church encouraged Creole children to follow Russian Orthodox Christianity, while the Russian American Company provided them with an education. Many Orthodox missionaries, like Herman of Alaska, defended Natives from exploitation. Creole people were believed to have high levels of loyalty toward the Russian crown and Russian American Company. After completing their education, children were often sent to Russia, where they would study skills such as mapmaking, theology, and military intelligence. In the 1850s Russia lost much of its interest in Alaska.

American colonialism
Alaska has many natural resources, which, including its gold, caught the attention of the United States. In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. It did not consider the wishes of Native Alaskans or view them as citizens. The land that belonged to Alaska Natives was considered to be "open land", which could be claimed by white settlers without redress to the Alaska Natives living there. The only schools for Alaska Natives were those founded by religious missionaries. Most white settlers did not understand the sophisticated cultures the Alaska Natives had developed to live in challenging environment and considered them to be inferior to European Americans, correlating with white supremacist beliefs.

The Klondike Gold Rush occurred in the 1896–1898, increasing white presence in Alaska as well as discriminatory practices. Americans imposed racial segregation and discriminatory laws (similar to Jim Crow laws) that limited Alaska Native opportunities and participation in culture, treating them as second-class citizens. With the imposition of discriminatory laws, segregation amongst Alaskan Natives and Americans occurred; for example, "whites only" signs excluded natives from entering buildings. There were also segregated schools. An 1880 court case describes a child not allowed to attend a school with Americans because his stepfather was native. A child that was part native and part American would only be allowed to attend a school with American children if the family has abandoned their culture. This means that they could no longer speak their native language, wear traditional native clothing, be amongst other natives, eat native foods, or practice any native religion.

In 1912, the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) was formed to help fight for citizenship rights. The Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was created in 1915. Also in 1915, the Alaska Territorial legislature passed a law allowing Alaskan Natives the right to vote – but on the condition that they give up their cultural customs and traditions. The Indian Citizenship Act, passed in 1924, gave all Native Americans United States citizenship.

ANB began to hold a great deal of political power in the 1920s. They protested the segregation of Alaska Natives in public areas and institutions, and also staged boycotts. Alberta Schenck (Inupiaq) staged a well-publicized protest against segregation in a movie theater in 1944. With the help of Elizabeth Peratrovich (Tlingit), the Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945 was passed, ending segregation in Alaska.

In 1942, during World War II, the United States forced evacuation of around nine hundred Aleuts from the Aleutian Islands. The idea was to remove the Aleuts from a potential combat zone during World War II for their own protection, but European Americans living in the same area were not forced to leave. The removal was handled so poorly that many Aleuts died after they were evacuated; the elderly and children had the highest mortality rates. Survivors returned to the islands to find their homes and possessions destroyed or looted. Civil rights activists such as Alberta Schenck Adams and Elizabeth Peratrovich protested discriminatory laws against Native Alaskans with what were effectively sit-ins and lobbying.

The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination state law in the U.S., occurred as a result of these protests. It entitled all Alaskans to "full and equal enjoyment" of public areas and businesses, a ban on segregating signs, with discriminatory actions punishable by a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail.

Alaska became part of the United States in 1959 upon President Dwight D. Eisenhower recognizing Alaska as the 49th state.

ANCSA and since (1971 to present)
In 1971, with the support of Alaska Native leaders such as Emil Notti, Willie Hensley, and Byron Mallott, the U.S. Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which settled land and financial claims for lands and resources which the Alaska Natives had lost to European-Americans. It provided for the establishment of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations to administer those claims. Similar to the separately defined status of the Canadian Inuit and First Nations in Canada, which are recognized as distinct peoples, in the United States, Alaska Natives or Native Alaskans are in some respects treated separately by the government from other Native Americans in the United States. This is in part related to their interactions with the U.S. government which occurred in a different historical period than its interactions during the period of westward expansion during the 19th century.

Europeans and Americans did not have sustained encounters with the Alaska Natives until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when many were attracted to the region in gold rushes. The Alaska Natives were not allotted individual title in severalty to land under the Dawes Act of 1887 but were instead treated under the Alaska Native Allotment Act of 1906.

The Allotment Act was repealed in 1971, following ANSCA, at which time reservations were ended. Another characteristic difference is that Alaska Native tribal governments do not have the power to collect taxes for business transacted on tribal land, per the United States Supreme Court decision in Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government (1998). Except for the Tsimshian, Alaska Natives no longer hold reservations but do control some lands. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, Alaska Natives are reserved the right to harvest whales and other marine mammals.

Climate change
Four indigenous tribes in Alaska, the Shishmaref, Kivalina, Shaktoolik and Newtok tribes, are being considered the first climate refugees for America, due to sea ice melting and increased wildfires in the regions (Bronen and Brubaker). The effects of climate change on the people of Alaska are extensive and include issues such as increased vulnerability to disease, mental health issues, injury, food insecurity, and water insecurity (Brubaker). According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the loss of sea ice will increase erosion area and further displace more native communities. The melting sea ice will also affect the migration of some animals that the tribes rely on and with the ice melting there will be no place to store the food that they do obtain (EPA). Due to the permafrost melting, the infrastructure that has been around in the past will become unstable and native villages will collapse (EPA). The Shishmaref, Kivalina, Shaktoolik and Newtok tribes are located on the west coast of Alaska and due to sea-level rise the villages are experiencing more severe storm surges that are eroding their coastlines (Bronen). There is no land for these tribes to move to that are already in the area they live in which forces these communities to migrate and change their whole way of living (Bronen). It is predicted that a climate event will submerge the tribes completely in less than fifteen years (Bronen).

Extreme weather conditions has increased the risk of injury, usually there are thick layers of ice all year long but due to increasing temperatures in the atmosphere and the sea the ice is becoming thinner and is increasing the number of people who fall through the ice, if a person survives falling through the ice they are faced with other health concerns (Brubaker). Increased water insecurity and failing infrastructure caused by climate change has created sanitation issues which has increased the amount of respiratory illnesses in many regions in Alaska, in 2005 pneumonia was the leading cause of hospitalizations (Brubaker). Many of the affected tribes are experiencing increased mental stress due to climate change and the problem of relocating but no policy or way to relocate (Brubaker). Stress has also increased on villages who face infrastructure damage due to melting permafrost, there are almost no regulations other than the Alaskan government recommended not building on permafrost or using extra layers of insulation that is used on foundation walls (EPA). Food insecurity has also created stress and health issues, families can not get enough food due to animals also relocating to get to a climate that is more suitable to them (Brubaker). Families also do not have a secure food system because their ways of storing food, underground ice cellar, are no longer frozen year long due to climate change, their cellars thaw in the summers leaving their food supply inedible.

Subsistence
Gathering of subsistence food continues to be an important economic and cultural activity for many Alaska Natives. In Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in 2005, more than 91 percent of the Iñupiat households which were interviewed still participated in the local subsistence economy, compared with the approximately 33 percent of non-Iñupiat households who used wild resources obtained from hunting, fishing, or gathering.

But, unlike many tribes in the contiguous United States, Alaska Natives or Native Alaskans do not have treaties with the United States that protect their subsistence rights, except for the right to harvest whales and other marine mammals. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act explicitly extinguished aboriginal hunting and fishing rights in the state of Alaska.

title: Alaska Natives


text:
Adan

Adan may refer to:
 * Garden of Eden, the Biblical paradise, Adan in Arabic

People

 * Adan (given name)
 * Adan (surname)

Places

 * 'Adan or Aden, a city of Yemen
 * 'Adan Governorate, Yemen
 * Al-Adan, a district of the governorate of Mubarak Al-Kabeer in Kuwait
 * The Adan River, located in India
 * Adan, Hooghly, village in West Bengal, India
 * Aden_Protectorate Protectorate state of Britain from 1839 to 1960.

title: Adan


text:
Aptitude

An aptitude is a component of a competence to do a certain kind of work at a certain level. Outstanding aptitude can be considered "talent", or "skill". Aptitude is inborn potential to perform certain kinds of activities, whether physical or mental, and whether developed or undeveloped. Aptitude is often contrasted with skills and abilities, which are developed through learning. The mass term ability refers to components of competence acquired through a combination of both aptitude and skills.

According to Gladwell (2008) and Colvin (2008), it is often difficult to set apart the influence of talent from the influence of hard training in the case of outstanding performances. Howe, Davidson, and Sloboda argue that talents are acquired rather than innate. Talented individuals generally show high levels of competence immediately in only a narrow range of activities, often comprising only a single direction or genre.

Intelligence and aptitude
Aptitude and IQ are different but related concepts relating to human mental ability. Unlike the original idea of IQ, aptitude often refers to one of the many different characteristics which can be independent of each other, such as aptitude for military flight, air traffic control, or computer programming. This approach measures a variety of separate skills, similar to the theory of multiple intelligences and Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory and many other modern theories of intelligence. In general, aptitude tests are more likely to be designed and used for career and employment decisions, and intelligence tests are more likely to be used for educational and research purposes. However, there is a great deal of overlap between them, and they often measure the same kinds of abilities. For example, aptitude tests such as the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery measure enough aptitudes that they could also serve as a measure of general intelligence.

A single construct such as mental ability is measured with multiple tests. Often, a person's group of test scores will be highly correlated with each other, which makes a single measure useful in many cases. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor's General Learning Ability is determined by combining Verbal, Numerical and Spatial aptitude scores. However, many individuals have skills that are much higher or lower than their overall mental ability level. Aptitude subtests are used intra-individually to determine which tasks that individual is more skilled at performing. This information can be useful for determining which job roles are the best fits for employees or applicants. Often, before more rigorous aptitude tests are used, individuals are screened for a basic level of aptitude through a previously-completed process, such as SAT scores, GRE scores, GATE scores, degrees, or other certifications.

Common aptitude tests
Examples of aptitude tests include;

 * Logical reasoning tests: Logical reasoning tests examine how you come to see the difference or similarities between patterns and shapes.
 * Verbal reasoning tests: Verbal reasoning tests will determine the way you have defined or obtained information from within short passage or paragraph.
 * In-tray exercises: Also called e-tray exercise, in-tray exercises is to determine your prioritization and organizational abilities required in the workplace.
 * Watson Glaser critical thinking tests: The Watson Glaser critical thinking test determines your ability to analyze any set of information to see how well you understand it and draw from it a logical conclusion.
 * Situational judgment tests: Situational judgment tests measure how you solve problems at work using various workplace scenarios.
 * Numerical reasoning tests: Numerical reasoning tests determine how you use numbers and calculations to solve mathematical problems.
 * Diagrammatic reasoning tests: Diagrammatic reasoning tests give you patterns and diagrams from which you must find the next step in the chain and provide the next step in the pattern using logic.

Combined aptitude and knowledge tests
Tests that assess learned skills or knowledge are frequently called achievement tests. However, certain tests can assess both types of constructs. An example that leans both ways is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), which is given to recruits entering the armed forces of the United States. Another is the SAT, which is designed as a test of aptitude for college in the United States, but has achievement elements. For example, it tests mathematical reasoning, which depends both on mathematical ability and education received in mathematics.

Aptitude tests can typically be grouped according to the type of cognitive ability they measure, whether that be fluid or crystallized intelligence.

title: Aptitude


text:
Garden gnome

Garden gnomes (Gartenzwerge) are lawn ornament figurines of small humanoid creatures based on the mythological creature and diminutive spirit which occur  in Renaissance magic and alchemy, known  as gnomes. They also draw on the German folklore of the dwarf.

Traditionally, the garden figurines depict male dwarfs wearing red pointy hats. Typically, gnomes stand between 1 and 2 ft. Originating as a decoration for the wealthy in Europe, garden gnomes are now prevalent in gardens and lawns throughout the Western world, among all social classes. They are regarded by some as kitsch.

Ancient predecessors
In ancient Rome, small stone statues depicting the Greco-Roman fertility god Priapus, also a protector of beehives, flocks, and vineyards, were frequently placed in Roman gardens. Gnomes as magical creatures were first described during the Renaissance period by Swiss alchemist Paracelsus as "diminutive figures two spans in height who did not like to mix with humans". During this period, stone "grotesques", which were typically garishly painted, 1 m figurines, were commonly placed in the gardens of the wealthy. Among the figures depicted were gobbi (Italian for hunchbacks). In particular, Jacques Callot produced 21 versions of gobbi, which he engraved and printed in 1616.

18th and 19th centuries
By the late 18th century, gnome-like figurines made of wood or porcelain, known by names including "dwarves", had become popular household decorations in some parts of Europe. In particular, the area surrounding the town of Brienz in Switzerland was known for their production of wooden house dwarves. In Germany, these figurines became conflated with pre-existing folk stories and beliefs about dwarves (Zwerge; singular Zwerg) that they believed helped around the mines and on the farm.

The Dresden company Baehr and Maresch had small ceramic statues of "dwarves" or "little folk" in stock as early as 1841. Hence, while the claim has been contested, some credit Baehr and Maresch with creating the first garden gnomes.(Gartenzwerge). Within less than 10 years, statues of dwarves had spread from the provinces of Saxony and Thuringia, in particular, across Germany and into France. The manufacture of dwarves spread across Germany, with numerous other large and small manufacturers coming in and out of the business, each having its own particular style of design.

Garden gnomes spread to other countries in Europe in the 1840s and became particularly popular in France and Britain. In 1847, Sir Charles Isham, brought 21 terracotta gnomes manufactured in Germany by Philip Griebel back to Britain where they were called "gnomes" in English, and placed in the gardens of Isham's home, Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire. Nicknamed "Lampy", the only gnome of the original batch to survive is on display at Lamport Hall and insured for GB£1 million.

Use of the term "garden gnome" may originate from fact that German catalogues sold ornaments of dwarfs under the name gnomen-figuren, meaning miniature figurines.

From around 1860 onwards, Gräfenroda, a town in Thuringia long known for its ceramics, became increasingly associated with production of garden gnomes.

Twentieth century
Garden gnomes were further popularized when Sir Frank Crisp, the owner of the second largest collection of garden gnomes in the UK, opened his Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames estate to the public at least once a week from 1910 to 1919. It was here where garden enthusiasts and visitors from around the world perhaps saw garden gnomes for the first time.

The reputation of German gnomes declined after World War I, but they became popular again in the 1930s following Disney's animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, when more working-class people were able to purchase them. Tom Major-Ball (father of former British prime minister John Major) was the most notable producer at that time with his company Major's Garden Ornaments. World War II and the years following saw a decline in the industry, causing most producers to halt their manufacture.

Garden gnomes saw a resurgence in popularity again in the 1970s with the creation of more humorous types of gnomes. In the 1990s travelling gnome and garden gnome pranks became popular and made national news at times, where people steal a garden gnome from an unknowing person's lawn and then send the owner photos of the gnome as a practical joke before returning it.

Twenty-first century
Philip Griebel's descendants are still producing garden gnomes in Germany., there were an estimated 25 million garden gnomes in Germany. A recent trend has introduced miniature gnomes of only a few inches in height.

Types of garden gnomes
Garden gnomes are typically male, often bearded, usually wear red caps and often have pipes. They are often shown pursuing leisurely pastimes such as fishing or napping.

Gnomes may be made from terracotta clay slip (runny clay) poured into molds. This is allowed to set up and the excess emptied from the center, leaving a clay shell. The gnome is removed from the mold when firm, allowed to dry and then fired in a kiln until hard. Once cooled, the gnome is painted. More modern gnomes are made from resins and similar materials.

Today, many different variations of garden gnomes exist, including humorous ones ranging from the lighthearted biker or barbecuing gnome, to the more sinister, such as one stabbed in the back or wearing an executioner's hood.

In popular culture and politics

Gnomes have become controversial in serious gardening circles in the United Kingdom, and were for a time banned from the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show, as the organisers claimed that they detract from the garden designs. Gnome enthusiasts accused the organisers of snobbery, as garden gnomes are popular in the gardens of working class and suburban households. The ban was lifted during 2013 to mark the show's centenary.

 * In the Italian movie The Monster (1994), the main character Loris, played by Roberto Benigni, is accused of stealing the garden gnome Bashful.
 * A subplot in the 2001 French movie Amélie revolves around a "travelling" garden gnome.
 * A 2 ft garden gnome with a long, white beard, red conical hat and blue coat is the central figure in Travelocity's Roaming Gnome advertising campaign which was launched in January 2004.
 * Gnomeo and Juliet is a 2011 British-American CGI film that is inspired by the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet featuring garden gnomes as the characters. In 2018, its sequel, Sherlock Gnomes, was released.
 * The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) used garden gnomes, which they called "Coolmen", in their campaign for the 2014 regional elections in Vorarlberg. It was intended as an ironic pun since the SPÖ historically performed poorly in elections in this part of Austria and considered itself to be a political "dwarf". The campaign placed 20,000 Coolmen holding small posters with short slogans along highly frequented roads. The party made a police report after 400 of them went missing, drawing attention from the international media.
 * The 2010 video game Fable III includes a side mission where a collection of garden gnomes are given magical properties, which the player character must collect throughout the world.
 * In the children's television series Pinkalicious & Peterrific (based on the book series by Victoria Kann), a garden gnome named Norman who was a bit grumpy but a gentle gnome who befriends Pinkalicious and her friends.
 * A 2005 episode of King of the Hill titled "Yard, She Blows!" revolves around Bobby breaking Peggy's newly acquired, and very rare, garden gnome. Hank, hating the gnome, attempts to use the event to eliminate it from the front lawn.

title: Garden gnome


text:
James M. Beggs

James Montgomery Beggs (January 9, 1926 – April 23, 2020) was an American businessman and consultant who served as the 6th Administrator of NASA from 1981 to 1986.

Early life and education
James Montgomery Beggs was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 9, 1926. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1947. After leaving the navy in 1954, he earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1955.

Career
Beggs served as an executive Vice President and director of General Dynamics. He worked with NASA between 1968 and 1969 as an Associate Administrator of the Office of Advanced Research and Technology. He was an Undersecretary of Transportation from 1969 to 1973. He had served in managerial roles for various such corporations as Summa Corporation, General Dynamics, and Westinghouse prior to his work in NASA.

NASA Administrator
Beggs was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as NASA Administrator on June 1, 1981, and took office on July 10. He served until December 4, 1985, when he took an indefinite leave of absence due to an indictment for contract fraud related to activities alleged by the United States Department of Defense to have taken place prior to his tenure at NASA. This indictment was later dismissed, and the United States Attorney General apologized to Beggs for any embarrassment. Deputy Administrator William Graham took over as Acting Administrator until the appointment of James C. Fletcher, who had previously served as Administrator between 1971 and 1977, to a second term.

Beggs formally resigned on February 26, 1986, in the aftermath of the Challenger disaster. He denied knowledge of the problems related to the disaster, stating that he "had no specific concerns with the joint, the O-rings or the putty".

Personal life and death
Beggs married Mary Harrison, and they had five children. After his NASA career Beggs worked as a consultant from his offices in Bethesda, Maryland, and was involved with the NASA Alumni League and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. Beggs died on April 23, 2020, in his Bethesda home of congestive heart failure.

title: James M. Beggs


text:
Alexander Gode

Alexander Gottfried Friedrich Gode-von Aesch (October 30, 1906 – August 10, 1970) was a German-born American linguist, translator and the driving force behind the creation of the auxiliary language Interlingua.

Biography
Born to a German father and a Swiss mother, Gode studied at the University of Vienna and the University of Paris before leaving for the U.S. and becoming a citizen in 1927. He was an instructor at the University of Chicago as well as Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in Germanic Studies in 1939.

Alexander Gode died of cancer in hospital. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Johanna. Gode was survived by two daughters from his first marriage, his second wife Alison, and their two children.

Interlingua
Gode was involved with the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA) from 1933 on, sporadically at first. In 1936 the IALA began development of a new international auxiliary language and in 1939 Gode was hired to assist in this work.

After André Martinet was brought in to head the research in 1946, the two men's views came into conflict as Gode thought that Martinet was trying to schematize the new language too much, conflating it with Occidental. Gode saw no need to invent a language, as a product of some a-priori design. Instead, he and the former director of research, Ezra Clark Stillman, wanted to record the international vocabulary that, in their view, already existed. This would be done – and was being done before Martinet – by systematically extracting and modifying words from the existing control languages in such a way that they could be seen as dialects of a common language, with their own specific peculiarities. When Martinet resigned in 1948 over a salary dispute, Gode took up leadership and got full reign in implementing this vision. The result was Interlingua, the dictionary and grammar of which were published in 1951.

In 1953, the role of IALA was assumed by the Interlingua Division of Science Service, and Gode became the division director. He continued his involvement with Interlingua until his death by translating scientific and medical texts into it. He won awards for this from the American Medical Writers Association and the International Federation of Translators.

American Translators Association
Gode was one of the founders and first president of the American Translators Association (1960–1963). In his honor, this organization awards the Alexander Gode Medal "for outstanding service to the translation and interpreting professions".

Translations
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title: Alexander Gode