text:
Talk:1980 October Surprise theory

Post RFC Discussion
Now that there is a consensus to move the page, we should discuss alternatives. Above, the following were presented: -- Jerome Frank Disciple 14:05, 30 May 2023 (UTC) Editors involved above:
 * October Surprise Allegations (with 1980 before or after)
 * October Surprise (1980)
 * 1980 October surprise theory
 * October Surprise plot

Discussion

 * 1980 October surprise theory. I adopt my reasoning above. That term (minus the year) was used in the semi-recent New York Times article and has been used by other reliable sources. Also has the bonus of allowing for a relatively easy transition—just take out "conspiracy". I would oppose "October Surprise (1980)" and, to a lesser degree, "October Surprise allegations". The problem with the former is that an October surprise is a thing. It's a news event that may influence the outcome of the election. Here, the article isn't about there being an October surprise, it's about an alleged effort to prevent an October surprise—i.e. the release of hostages (which may have bumped Carter's numbers). The problem with the latter is that, as MOS:ALLEGED acknowledges, we should be careful about using variations of the terms "alleged". "Theory" is a neutral term that simultaneously emphasizes that some reliable sources take the concept seriously and some do not accept it.-- Jerome Frank Disciple 14:05, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * When considering the titles the sources use, I draw the community's attention to WP:OUROWNWORDS.—S Marshall T/C 16:28, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I think there's some tension between applying WP:OUROWNWORDS to article titles and WP:COMMONNAME, but fair point! I would still say that 1980 October surprise theory doesn't have the defects that the other articles do-- Jerome Frank Disciple 16:52, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I'd support "theory" or "allegations", while there is not enough evidence to evidence the allegations I think there may be POV issues labeling it a conspiracy theory. "Plot" makes it sound definitely real which is its own issue (t · c)  buidhe  17:21, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I still prefer "allegations" out of all the options. I believe that the most relevant line in MOS:ALLEGED is alleged and accused are appropriate when wrongdoing is asserted but undetermined. That's exactly the situation here. Any other title is attempting to convey the same situation, but with less clear language. Loki (talk) 22:23, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * That's a decent point! I usually associate alleged with the example provided—people awaiting or undergoing a criminal trial, and I still think theory also captures the undetermined aspect, but I'm less opposed to allegations than I was.-- Jerome Frank Disciple 11:22, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
 * 1980 October surprise allegations/theory are both good. No preference between them for now. DFlhb (talk) 21:01, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
 * 1980 October surprise theory. "1980 October surprise allegations" would also be fine. I am opposed to "October surprise" and "October surprise plot" because both imply that something actually happened. -- Random person no 362478479 (talk) 01:54, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
 * 1980 October surprise allegations; pr Loki, mostly; people are charged, but the jury is still out. 1980 October surprise could also be acceptable; that we don't have theory/allegations doesn't neccessarely imply that it did happen; just like the Extraterrestrial life-article doesn't neccessarely imply that there actually is any. Huldra (talk) 23:21, 6 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Support. October Surprise Allegations is what I proposed above....and I'm sticking with it. Rja13ww33 (talk) 00:46, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * October Surprise (1980): That's what it's called, no need to embroider it.--Jack Upland (talk) 04:59, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

Requested move 14 June 2023
October Surprise conspiracy theory → 1980 October surprise allegations – A recent RFC yielded a consensus that this article should be moved. As the closer said, "there's consensus to change the title, but no consensus about what to change it to." In a post-rfc discussion, users were generally split between two options: 1980 October surprise allegations and 1980 October surprise theory. Most users supported both, but only one user opposed "allegations", and two users opposed "theory". Jerome Frank Disciple 19:11, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

!votes

 * Support: First, as the last RFC noted, there is a consensus to move the page, largely because "conspiracy theory" is pejorative and it is not clear that all reliable sources treat the theory as a conspiracy theory. Second, "theory" is the better choice over "allegations". As noted, per MOS:ALLEGED, alleged is appropriate when "wrongdoing is asserted but undetermined". Theory, on the other hand, is an umbrella term. And, rightly or wrongly, a few of the secondary sources we've previously gone over do treat the "allegations" as having been established/determined. Additionally, "alleged" is more often used in a criminal context (i.e. "prosecutors alleged"), which is inappropriate here. And I haven't heard any explanation as to why "theory" would be deficient. But I support allegations over the current name, and the discussion as to what the name should be has died down.-- Jerome Frank Disciple 19:16, 14 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose. This is literally a conspiracy theory, which is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy by powerful and sinister groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable. What am I missing? Srnec (talk) 20:56, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Recent articles in March from certain RS including the NYT came out, essentially adding weight to the "allegation" that Reagan's administration did prolong the crisis for political gain. As I understand it, the Carter admin was also trying to use this crisis to help in his reelection, which IMO is also a bit gross. This cite is from NYmag and isn't pay-walled, if you want to take a look. There are better sources I'm sure, but I'll let you decide if you want to go down the rabbit hole. DN (talk) 00:13, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * If you want to relitigate whether or not conspiracy theory should be in the title, feel free, but the closing statement in the RFC above covers everything you just said, so I would at least suggest reading it first.-- Jerome Frank Disciple 01:39, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment Could someone explain why we don't just refer to it as "October Surprise (1980)"? I feel like we should avoid adding anything to the title. Let the readers make up their own minds. That seems like the most neutral course of action.DN (talk) 23:57, 15 June 2023 (UTC)
 * But it wasn't an October surprise, was it? It was the negation of a potential October surprise (if it's true). The 'event' took place on inauguration day. Srnec (talk) 00:24, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I believe it's the origin of the term "October surprise", but I agree that since that term has taken on its own meaning and is no longer exclusively or even primarily associated with this event, we should add something to it here. Loki (talk) 00:36, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * It is based on WP:COMMONNAME, and which many sources have referred to it as a "conspiracy theory". I'm not confident adding "allegation" or removing the word "conspiracy" from "conspiracy theory" do much to rectify that, if that is the point of this. I feel that this new RS is essentially another claim, so "allegation" may be more accurate, it's just that my knee-jerk reaction is to avoid anything that may be perceived as editorializing by Wiki. However I am more interested in hearing what others have to say on this before I vote. DN (talk) 00:44, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I think "theory" alone doesn't have the neutrality problems that conspiracy theory has, as shown by other Wikipedia articles with theory in the title. I also agree with Loki that the fact that an October Surprise is (today) something, and this theory posits that an October Surprise was prevented (not that one occurred), October Surprise (1980) wouldn't be a great option.-- Jerome Frank Disciple 01:42, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * @Jerome Frank Disciple Is it just the placement or the parenthesis perhaps? I would also prefer "1980 October surprise" over adding words that suggest an interpretation that only certain RS hold over other RS. Either way, I am grateful to see all of these issues being addressed. DN (talk) 03:01, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Not sure it's parentheses: If I say the 1969 moon landing, you think "a moon landing that occurred in 1969" And that'd be Apollo 11. But I wouldn't describe Apollo 13 as "the 1970 moon landing" or "moon landing (1970)" ... because no moon landing happened.
 * Similarly, the point of this theory is that an October Surprise was prevented. It didn't occur. As such, I think the "1980 October Surprise" wouldn't work as a title.-- Jerome Frank Disciple 03:17, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * @Jerome Frank Disciple I would agree that using "theory" would, in theory, help avoid/mitigate the typical wiki lawyering from casual users, not that many are even that familiar with the Carter/Reagan years...Fu**imold... DN (talk) 03:11, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Requested move redux:

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved to 1980 October Surprise theory. In appraising this discussion, I reviewed not just this RM itself, but also the sections Post RFC Discussion and Requested move 14 June 2023, which were effectively part of the same overall conversation. I read through the prior RfC as well, though discussion in that RfC largely pertained to the usage of the term "conspiracy theory" in this article's title, and thus it has less relevance to the specific questions under dispute here.

One of the main complicating factors in evaluating this discussion is that many of the participants expressed comparable levels of support for either title. However, some arguments were still made to support one proposed title above the other. It was noted that MOS:ALLEGED seems to prefer "allegations", but that "theory" is a broader term that captures the same idea; participants disputed whether adopting that broader term would be an improvement in neutrality, or a worsening of clarity. The question of WP:COMMONNAME was also somewhat fraught. In the original RfC, some sources were leveled to demonstrate usage of "theory"; meanwhile, it was claimed in this RM that "allegations" was more common in the academic literature, but no evidence was supplied to verify that claim. Honestly, I don't think there's a consensus for either specific title; however, the previous consensus to move away from "conspiracy theory" has showed no signs of changing, which leaves me in the position of needing to make a WP:NOTCURRENTTITLE close. Within this framework, I think "1980 October surprise theory" has the marginally stronger case, due to the sources provided in its support. However, if anyone has new arguments that they feel were not raised in this discussion, they may feel free to open a new RM at any time.

Finally, I wish to devote a bit of space to alternate titles that came up during the overarching discussion. At various points, people suggested just paring down the title to October Surprise (1980) or similar formulations, but these proposals largely failed to pick up traction due to the fact that no such surprise actually occurred. Additionally, some recent participants in the discussion suggested descriptive titles such as 1980 Iran hostage deal allegations that omit the term "October surprise" entirely, arguing that the term "October surprise" is not sufficiently WP:RECOGNIZABLE. While this view has attracted a few supporters recently, the fact that it went unmentioned for most of the two months of active discussion suggests to me that it's not a sufficiently widespread view to have consensus at this point. Again, as this is a WP:NOTCURRENTTITLE close, supporters of a descriptive title may launch a new RM at any time if they feel that the topic needs more focused consideration. (closed by non-admin page mover) ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 15:33, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

This RFC is meant to consider two move options: October Surprise conspiracy theory → 1980 October surprise theory or → 1980 October surprise allegations – A recent RFC yielded a consensus that this article should be moved. As the closer said, "there's consensus to change the title, but no consensus about what to change it to." In a post-rfc discussion, users were generally split between two options: 1980 October surprise allegations and 1980 October surprise theory. Because editors seem evenly split on preferring allegations/theory (most editors say they support either), I've started an RFC to get broader community input-- Jerome Frank Disciple 17:39, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

!votes

 * Support theory: First, as the last RFC noted, there is a consensus to move the page, largely because "conspiracy theory" is pejorative and it is not clear that all reliable sources treat the theory as a conspiracy theory. Second, "theory" is the better choice over "allegations": To start, "1980 October Surprise theory" is used by other sources (as I showed above), making it the more WP:COMMONNAME. That should be enough on its own. Still, to respond to the support for allegations: as noted, per MOS:ALLEGED, alleged is appropriate when "wrongdoing is asserted but undetermined". But theory is an umbrella term that captures "allegation". And, rightly or wrongly, a few of the secondary sources we've previously gone over do treat the "allegations" as having been established/determined. Additionally, "alleged" is more often used in a criminal context (i.e. "prosecutors alleged"), which is inappropriate here. And I haven't heard any explanation as to why "theory" would be deficient. But I support allegations over the current name, and the discussion as to what the name should be has died down-- Jerome Frank Disciple 17:38, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose but support move to allegations Sorry for not !voting above, but like I've explained above I think 1980 October Surprise Allegations is a clearly superior title. Loki (talk) 17:43, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Support move to allegations.Rja13ww33 (talk) 18:28, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Support "theory" I think it's a fine neutral description. Also, I would say that in 1980 "allegations" would have been the obvious choice, but by now it's more a theory. However, I have no objections to "allegations". As a third option I propose flipping a coin lest we end up with yet another RFC. -- Random person no 362478479 (talk) 18:37, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment I weekly support adding 1980 to the title. I have no strong feelins on "Conspiracy theory" vs "allegations", a quick query on GS suggests both terms are used in academic literature. The latter seems more common, but sounds weirder to me given wiki naming conventions so... abstain on that. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 02:54, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Support allegations but theory is also acceptable. KarlFrei (talk) 14:51, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Between these, I support move to allegations. To my ear, "theory" makes it sound more like punditry about the concept of a late-campaign announcement, whereas "allegations" better gets across the idea that this is a specific accusation of wrongdoing. — Kawnhr (talk) 17:13, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Support anything. Flip a coin if necessary. SilverLocust (talk) 01:07, 28 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Support "theory" with 1980 if no better title can be found, but it fails the 'recognisability' test to anyone not already very up-to-speed on US pundit terminology. As I lived through it, I was aware of the intense humiliation heaped onto Carter by the delays in the hostage release until minutes after his presidency had finished, but I would never have guessed that this article was connected to those occurences from the title. When 'botted' here, I thought 'October Surprise' might be  some kind of chocolate treat. Some suggestions below are more recognisable. Pincrete (talk) 06:52, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

Discussion
Honestly, I'd like to request that you withdraw your withdrawal above. That !vote was not up for nearly enough time to come to any real conclusions. Loki (talk) 17:45, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

 * Actually, it's confusing me what the previous vote was even about. It seems like it might have also been to move to "theory"? But it was edited after the fact? Loki (talk) 17:46, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Fixing now! I did an official withdrawal after the short-hand was just changed. There were only 3 votes after 6 days, but, also: there's no actual objective reason to preference theory or allegations: After DN's comments in the withdrawn RFC, the exact same number of users seem to have supported both (with the vast majority supporting either and small few supporting just allegations or just theory). I wish I could do an RM for both, but unfortunately that's not doable. I'm going to change the intro of this RFC to encourage people to say their selection.-- Jerome Frank Disciple 17:49, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I didn't get the vote either. But I guess I'll add mine.Rja13ww33 (talk) 18:00, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Pinging all editors in last RFC and subsequent discussion: -- Jerome Frank Disciple 17:49, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Notified each of the WikiProjects to which this page belongs., , , , , -- Jerome Frank Disciple 22:15, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
 * 1980 allegations that representatives of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign made a secret deal with Iranian leaders to delay the release of American hostages until after the election between Reagan and President Jimmy Carter - there must be a better title. Propose: Allegations of deal to delay release of American embassy hostages in Iran. In ictu oculi (talk) 10:26, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * That title is way too long, but I could see something like 1980 Iran hostage deal allegations. Loki (talk) 17:44, 23 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree with the above. The term "October surprise" has become so thoroughly genericized — indeed, by the modern understanding, 1980 might not even qualify as an October surprise, since nothing actually happened — that using it in the title doesn't make clear what this article is actually about. To me, it sounds more like punditry or political science, applied to one specific election, rather than allegations of meddling and wrongdoing. 1980 Iran hostage deal allegations, as suggested by Loki, would be much clearer title. — Kawnhr (talk) 17:14, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I think it's a little funny that this page is now starting to be split between users who are like "I've never heard of an October surprise outside of this context" and users who are like "the term October surprise has so thoroughly permeated our cultural lexicon that it's lost all connection from its origin"-- Jerome Frank Disciple 23:40, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Haha! Well, don't take my word for it… October surprise has examples for every US presidential election, and several midterm elections, of this millennium. — Kawnhr (talk) 00:52, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

All but settled?
What is the point of using the New Republic article in the Ben Barnes section? The piece is so irresponsible (arguably dishonest) with its facts and conclusions that it's basically worthless as a source of commentary. 2600:8801:710D:EA00:FCC5:B928:3B61:EF96 (talk) 03:36, 20 August 2023 (UTC)

== In the entry for August 12, 1980 in the "Chronology" the pertinence of the statement that Cyrus Hashimi received a $7 million commission for arms deliveries is unclear as the statement does not say who paid or authorized the commission. ==

Cyrus Hashimi purchases a Greek ship and commences arms deliveries valued at $150 million from the Israeli port of Eilat to Bandar Abbas. According to CIA sources, Hashimi receives a $7 million commission. [30][32]: 205–6  Wumhenry1 (talk) 17:51, 6 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:1980 October Surprise theory


text:
Productivity paradox

The productivity paradox refers to the slowdown in productivity growth in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s despite rapid development in the field of information technology (IT) over the same period. The term was coined by Erik Brynjolfsson in a 1993 paper ("The Productivity Paradox of IT") inspired by a quip by Nobel Laureate Robert Solow "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics." For this reason, it is also sometimes also referred to as the Solow paradox.

The productivity paradox inspired many research efforts at explaining the slowdown, only for the paradox to disappear with renewed productivity growth in the developed countries in the 1990s. However, issues raised by those research efforts remain important in the study of productivity growth in general, and became important again when productivity growth slowed around the world again from the 2000s to the present day. Thus the term "productivity paradox" can also refer to the more general disconnect between powerful computer technologies and weak productivity growth.

1970s to 1980s productivity paradox
The 1970s to 1980s productivity paradox has been defined as a perceived "discrepancy between measures of investment in information technology and measures of output at the national level." Brynjolfsson documented that productivity growth slowed down at the level of the whole U.S. economy, and often within individual sectors that had invested heavily in IT, despite dramatic advances in computer power and increasing investment in IT. Similar trends were seen in many other nations. While the computing capacity of the U.S. increased a hundredfold in the 1970s and 1980s, labor productivity growth slowed from over 3% in the 1960s to roughly 1% in the 1980s. This perceived paradox was popularized in the media by analysts such as Steven Roach and later Paul Strassman.

Many observers disagree that any meaningful "productivity paradox" exists and others, while acknowledging the disconnect between IT capacity and spending, view it less as a paradox than a series of unwarranted assumptions about the impact of technology on productivity. In the latter view, this disconnect is emblematic of our need to understand and do a better job of deploying the technology that becomes available to us rather than an arcane paradox that by its nature is difficult to unravel.

Some point to historical parallels with the steam engine and with electricity, where the dividends of a productivity-enhancing disruptive technology were reaped only slowly, with an initial lag, over the course of decades, due to the time required for the technologies to diffuse into common use, and due to the time required to reorganize around and master efficient use of the new technology. As with previous technologies, an extremely large number of initial cutting-edge investments in IT were counterproductive and over-optimistic. Some modest IT-based gains may have been difficult to detect amid the apparent overall slowing of productivity growth, which is generally attributed to one or more of a variety of non-IT factors, such as oil shocks, increased regulation or other cultural changes, a hypothetical decrease in labor quality, a hypothetical exhaustion or slowdown in non-IT innovation, and/or a coincidence of sector-specific problems.

This phenomenon inspired a number of hypothesized explanations of the paradox.

Mismeasurement hypotheses
The mismeasurement hypotheses of the productivity paradox center around the idea that real output estimates during this time overestimates inflation and understates productivity, because they do not take into account quality improvements of IT goods and goods in general. The US government measures productivity by comparing real output measurements from period to period, which they do by dividing the nominal output measurements from each period into an inflation component, and a real output component. The US government's calculations of real GDP does not take into account inflation directly, and during the 1970s and 1980s these calculations estimates inflation from observing the change in total spending and change in total units consumed for goods and services over time. This accurately represented inflation if the consumed goods and services in the output measurements remain relatively the same from period to period, but if goods and services improved from period to period the change in spending will characterize consumer spending for quality improvements as inflation, which overstates inflation and under estimates productivity growth. Later calculations of GDP partly compensates for this problem using hedonic regression methods, and these methods estimate that the true price of mainframe computers alone from 1950 to 1980s may have declined more than 20% per year. These estimated implicit price decreases are indications of the scale of productivity growth missing from the output measurements. These measurement issues, as well as measurement issues with new products, continues to affect output and productivity measurement today.

Lags due to learning and adjustment hypothesis
The "lags due to learning and adjustment" (lags) hypotheses explains the productivity paradox as the idea that output and productivity gains from investment in IT materializes well after the investment takes place, so any output and productivity observations of the 1970s and 1980s will not observe those gains. Surveys of executives as well as econometric studies indicated that it might take between two and five years for IT investments to have any impact on organizations that made IT investments. The lags in IT benefits might also slow down IT investments, as observations of short-term marginal costs and benefits of IT investments might seem irrational. IT investments might also require complementary capital investments to be made to be fully productive. Subsequent observations of productivity increases in 2000s may be due to lag effects of IT investments in the 1970s-1990s period.

Redistribution and dissipation of profits hypotheses
The redistribution and dissipation of profits hypotheses rely on the idea that firms might make IT investments that are productive for the firm by capturing more wealth available in their industry, but do not create more wealth in that industry. Some examples of these types of IT investments might be market research, marketing and advertisement investments. These investments help firms compete away market share from firms with less of these IT investments, while they do not improve the total output of the industry as a whole.

Mismanagement of IT hypotheses
The mismanagement of IT hypotheses suggests that IT investments are really not productive at a firm level, but that decision makers are making the investments nevertheless. These hypotheses suggest that firm level decision-makers make IT investments regardless of the cost and productivity benefits of the investments because of the difficulty in quantifying IT productivity gains.

IT unproductive hypotheses
Other economists have made a more controversial charge against the utility of computers: that they pale into insignificance as a source of productivity advantage when compared to the industrial revolution, electrification, infrastructures (canals and waterways, railroads, highway system), Fordist mass production and the replacement of human and animal power with machines. High productivity growth occurred from last decades of the 19th century until the 1973, with a peak from 1929 to 1973, then declined to levels of the early 19th century.

However, the hypothesis that IT was fundamentally unproductive weakened in the early 1990s, as total factor productivity growth in the United States accelerated. From 2000 through the most recent data in 2022, the information technology industry was among those to see the fastest productivity growth.

Effects of economic sector share changes
Gordon J. Bjork points out that manufacturing productivity gains continued, although at a decreasing rate than in decades past; however, the cost reductions in manufacturing shrank the sector size. The services and government sectors, where productivity growth is very low, gained in share, dragging down the overall productivity number. Because government services are priced at cost with no value added, government productivity growth is near zero as an artifact of the way in which it is measured. Bjork also points out that manufacturing uses more capital per unit of output than government or services.

End of the 1970s to 1980s productivity paradox
By the late 1990s there were some signs that productivity in the workplace been improved by the introduction of IT, especially in the United States. In fact, Erik Brynjolfsson and his colleagues found a significant positive relationship between IT investments and productivity, at least when these investments were made to complement organizational changes. A large share of the productivity gains outside the IT-equipment industry itself have been in retail, wholesale and finance. The 1990s IT-related productivity jump arguably resolving the original paradox in favor of the lag in productivity benefits explanations.

2000 to 2020s productivity slowdown
There was an additional slowdown in productivity growth in the United States and developed countries from the 2000s to 2020s; sometimes the newer slowdown is referred to as the productivity slowdown, the productivity puzzle, or the productivity paradox 2.0. The 2000s to 2020s productivity slowdown has been defined in terms of lower developed world productivity growth, especially in the US, in this period compared to the period between 1940s and 1970s, and the period between 1994 and 2004. Sometimes this productivity slowdown is analyzed in the context of AI and other modern IT advancements similarly to the 1970s and 1980s productivity paradox. As well, many of the hypothesized explanations of the 1970 and 1980s productivity paradox remains relevant to the discussion of the modern productivity paradox.

New mismeasurement hypotheses
New mismeasurement hypotheses are conceptually similar to the 1970s and 1980s mismeasurement hypotheses of the productivity paradox in that they still center around the idea that real output estimates overestimates inflation and understates productivity; however, the new mismeasurement hypotheses looks at additional sources of estimation error like the output effects of adding new, never-before-seen products. As in the 1970s and 1980s, modern, post-2000s US productivity measures are produced by comparing real output measurements from period to period, which they do by dividing the nominal output measurements from each period into an inflation component, and a real output component. As before, the US government's calculations of real GDP does not take into account inflation directly, and estimates inflation from observing the change in total spending and change in total units consumed for goods and services over time. These new inflation calculation methods, however, compensates for previously raised mismeasurement problems using Hedonic regression methods, but they still do not take into account the output-inflation effects of introducing new products. If existing goods and services improved from period to period, hedonic regression estimates could produce an estimate of what consumers would pay for the quality improvements and lower inflation estimates by those amounts. However, if new goods and services in a sector appear in one time period, the extra money that consumers would pay for creation of those new goods and services are not captured in the inflation estimate; the observed extra spending by consumers in that sector is measured as inflation and not attributed to the new goods and services in this case. Thus, the modern real output calculations will characterize consumer spending for new products and services, as well as any spending for quality improvements not captured by the hedonic regression models, as inflation, which overstates inflation and underestimates productivity growth.

New lag hypotheses
New lag hypotheses are substantially the same as older lag hypotheses but focus on the lag effects of different new technology and different ways that technology can improve productivity. Productivity benefits from IT investments in the mid-1990s tend to come from their ability to improve supply-chain, back-office and end-to-end operations. Productivity benefits from IT investments post-2000s are expected to come from front-office operations and new product introductions.

Little productivity benefit from IT in manufacturing
Acemoglu,, Dorn, Hanson & Price (2014) studied IT productivity benefits in manufacturing to find that "there is...little evidence of faster productivity growth in IT-intensive industries after the late 1990s. Second and more importantly, to the extent that there is more rapid growth of labor productivity...this is associated with declining output...and even more rapidly declining employment." In fact, up to half of the growth of U.S. healthcare spending is attributable to technology costs.

Distraction
Computers and mobile phones are continually cited as the greatest reducers of workplace productivity by means of distraction.

Online commerce
Despite high expectations for online retail sales, individual item and small quantity handling and transportation costs may offset the savings of not having to maintain bricks and mortar stores. Online retail sales has proven successful in specialty items, collectibles and higher priced goods. Some airline and hotel retailers and aggregators have also witnessed great success.

Online commerce has been extremely successful in banking, airline, hotel, and rental car reservations, to name a few.

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

title: Productivity paradox


text:
Danish International Development Agency

Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is the brand used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark when it provides humanitarian aid and development assistance to other countries, with focus on developing countries. There is no distinct Danida organisation within the Ministry.

According to the OECD, Denmark’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 2.9 billion) increased in 2022 due to in-donor refugee costs. It represented 0.7% of gross national income (GNI). Most of Denmark’s official development assistance (ODA) is provided as bilateral co-operation, primarily to fragile partner countries in Africa.

Origin of name
The organisation's name was originally DANAID. In Greek mythology, the Danaids were daughters of Danaus who killed their husbands and were condemned to fill a bathtub with water to wash away their sins. Because the buckets they were given to do this were actually sieves, they worked for all eternity in Tartarus without making any progress. For this reason, the aid agency's name was changed from DANAID to DANIDA at the last minute when this unfortunate connotation was discovered. The term Danida appeared in 1963.

Overview
Denmark has been granting development assistance since the end of the Second World War. It is one of the five countries in the world that meets the United Nations' target of granting 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) in development assistance. In 2011 Denmark disbursed roughly DKK:15.753 billion (US$2.98 billion) in development assistance to countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Denmark's European Union neighbors. Furthermore, DANIDA works in collaboration with many Danish NGOs such as Global Medical Aid. According to the OECD, 2020 official development assistance from Denmark increased 0.5% to USD 2.6 billion.

Focus areas
DANIDA focusses on four areas of interest:
 * Human rights and democracy
 * Green growth
 * Social progress
 * Stability and protection.

As of 2015, DANIDA was involved in a total of 73 countries and regions across the world, with 21 countries of high priority. Most of the priority countries are among the poorest of the world, located in Africa and Asia.

The sectors receiving the largest amount of financial bilateral support is government and civil society, and humanitarian aid, at roughly 28% and 14% respectively.

Most of the goals of DANIDA's projects gets fulfilled, with an annual success rate between 79% and 88% since 2005.

History
Danish development assistance in the 1950s was nearly exclusively channeled through the United Nations. In 1962, Denmark established its first bilateral development assistance programme for developing countries under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2010, about 40% of Denmark’s bilateral assistance went to social sectors, including education and health. Danida also works in collaboration with the United Nations, the World Bank, regional development banks and the European Union.

title: Danish International Development Agency


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Historical Mississippi License Plates

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was KEEP. Golbez 05:56, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Historical Mississippi License Plates
Delete Minor subtopic of a subtopic of an article that should be merged with another article. Spotteddogsdotorg 02:51, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Keep These articles are useful for other users to see how state license plates have individually changed designs over the past hundred years. I think this is a worthwhile article to keep, and we shouldn't rush to delete this page. Absecon 59 04:00, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * This seems as if this user is going to use it to showcase his collection of Mississippi licence plates, and it also looks like this was the reason he created the History of US and Canadian license plates entry, so my Delete vote still stands, now adding vanity into the mix. If you want to show your plates off, other than illustrating a point, get your own website. Spotteddogsdotorg 14:27, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Interesting... I actually got the idea to create this page after seeing the image of the current Mississippi license plate that was uploaded by Spotteddogsdotorg onto the page for the state of Mississippi. I've included it on this page, and my hope is that with the addition of other images of plates and information from people with knowledge about them, we might know more about the history of license plates and license plates designs. I did not create this site for vanity purposes; I merely hope that this could be a collaborative project among many Wikipedia users. In fact, I don't have any more images of Mississippi plates to put on this page. Absecon 59 22:40, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep. The history of state licence plates is encyclopedic. If you had wanted to merge the articles, why didn't you just do it? Double Blue  (Talk) 06:03, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete: If the nominator did merge the articles, we'd either need a redirect (necessary only if the article title will be searched) or to preserve edit history. Otherwise, there would still be a VfD vote.  It is a mistake to fork each state's license plates.  The granularity is far too great.  Therefore, I'd say delete, partially to send the message that such forking is a bad, bad idea. Geogre 14:58, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. There can and should be articles showing historical license plates for the other 49 states too.  Kaibabsquirrel 16:15, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Interesting, if incomplete, list. Bad faith nomination by someone out to WP:POINT  SchmuckyTheCat 16:21, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, Not at all a bad faith nomination. The article itself should be deleted for its vanity.  RickK 22:30, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Seems to be no need for this, its not a license plate encylopedia, now is it? Melvis 16:25, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * User's 15th edit, 7 of which are VfD votes. Kaibabsquirrel 21:04, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Same comment as what I said on the VfD for History of US and Canadian license plates.  --Dachannien 16:37, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete It looks like some cheap guy wanting to have a website but not wanting to pay for it. ConeyCyclone 17:29, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Account created 17:05, 12 Jun 2005 and mostly used to vote on VfD's. Kaibabsquirrel 20:50, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and merge. Hohokus 18:35, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Account created 9 Jun 2005 and mostly used to vote on VfD's. Kaibabsquirrel 20:50, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Jinkleberries 19:57, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Account created 19:40, 12 Jun 2005 and mostly used to vote on VfD's. Kaibabsquirrel 20:50, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Votes have always been 'keep' and have been in rapid succession. 37 votes in 7 minutes.Tobycat 20:56, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete there is a page about US and Canadian license plates and it belongs there if anywhere. This is a very minor subtopic of a major topic and is Toasthaven 22:18, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * User's 60th edit. User's first ever edit was a VFD vote. Kaibabsquirrel 05:41, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Weak keep'. Trivial, but verifiable and of historic reference interest to some. -- Infrogmation 03:42, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete if not turned into something worthwhile very soon. Right now about the only encyclopedic part is "The state of Mississippi began requiring its citizens to register their vehicles and display their license plates on their cars in 1912" which could easily be mentioned elsewhere. More than 3/4 of the space of the article is taken up by listing off years with no addtional information (how is 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918... encyclopedic?). A little of the info on post '77 plates may be salvageable but right now it's mostly grandular subtrivial facts on the colors used. This one's in danger of becoming mostly a collection of pictures. -R. fiend 05:34, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Dsmdgold 13:34, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Several people are interested in license plates, and the topic is encyclopedic enough. (The Encarta for instance, includes a picture of the current licence plate in each of their state factboxes) Sjakkalle (Check!)  13:37, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. All I see here are just a lsit of years and a few photos. However, what we can do is inside each State Infobox on here, we can add a section for the license plate photo and we can use that. Plus, I do think there should be an article on US license plates in general, but I do not think each state has enough information to get their own article. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 18:23, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete or Merge with US and Canadian license plates. Pburka 00:52, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Interesting, verifiable content. --Centauri 01:04, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages.  Please do not edit this page .


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Talk:Wilayah

Indonesian usage:
Wilayah is also used in Indonesia. I'm not clear whether it's a general or specific term.

Singkong 6 July 2005 13:32 (UTC)

 * Okay, Meursault2004 has confirmed it's a general term.

 * I agree with Meursault2004 that this part doesn't belong: "Wilayah dependensi are dependend areas in indonesian. Wilayah yang dipertentangkan are disputed territories." This is because it appears to be a translation, rather than official terms for levels of government of divisions of area - Indonesian speakers see Wilayah dependensi.

 * I replaced it with "In Indonesian wilayah means area, region or regional, but does not refer to a level of government."

 * Singkong 9 July 2005 03:35 (UTC)
 * fine :-)), well done to leave the note in the article, so in future mistakes with respect to indonesian usage are less likely. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 9 July 2005 10:14 (UTC)

title: Talk:Wilayah


text: Category:Bridges completed in 1804

title: Category:Bridges completed in 1804


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1972 in country music

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1972.

Events

 * March — For the first time since 1967, Sonny James fails to hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Singles Chart with a single release. His hit, "Only Love (Can Break a Heart)" stops at No. 2. James' record streak would hold for more than 14 years, until Alabama scored its 17th-straight with "40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" in August 1985. "The Southern Gentleman" would return to the No. 1 spot twice more during 1972 — "That's Why I Love You Like I Do" (a retitled remake of his 1957 hit, "You're the Reason I'm in Love," the lesser-known flip side of "Young Love"; and also his last major hit with Capitol Records); and "When the Snow is on the Roses."
 * During 1972, James inks a recording deal with Columbia Records; "When the Snow..." is his first hit with his new label.

 * March — Merle Haggard is pardoned by California Gov. Ronald Reagan for his 1957 robbery; which had landed him a prison term that lasted two-and-a-half years.
 * April — The first Fan Fair is held in Nashville, Tennessee.
 * June 3 — The Opryland USA country music theme park opens in Nashville.
 * June 13 — The Country Music Foundation Library and Media Center is dedicated.
 * September — The premiere issue of Country Music magazine hits the newsstand. The magazine, which will be issued monthly (later bi-monthly), is an immediate hit with critics and readers.
 * September 17 — Faron Young — who has international success with "It's Four in the Morning" — is charged with assault for spanking a girl in the audience at a concert in Clarksburg, West Virginia after claiming she spat on him. Young appeared before a Wood County, West Virginia justice of the peace and was fined $24, plus $11 in court costs. It is the first in a string of incidents involving Young, whose increasingly bizarre behavior would begin overshadowing his success.
 * October — The Country Music Association moves from NBC to CBS, where it remained until 2006 when the awards show moved to ABC. Loretta Lynn becomes the first woman to win the CMA's Entertainer of the Year award.

No dates

 * The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a California-based country-folk-rock band, releases their landmark album Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The album of folk and country standards, recorded in Nashville alongside traditional country artists, is a huge critical and commercial success. Two additional volumes would be released in 1989 and 2002.
 * Music and Billboard chart historian Joel Whitburn releases "Top Country Songs 1944–1971." The book, published by Record Research, marks the first time a listing of every song and artist that had ever appeared by means of a country and western hit parade had been compiled into a single volume. Eight more updated volumes will follow (the most recent edition covers through 2017), as well as two editions focusing on strictly those songs reaching the Top 40 (the original released in 1996, and an updated version in 2006).
 * Buck Owens returns to his musical roots when Jerry Brightman is added on pedal steel for records and tours.
 * A class of new artists proves to be among the most prolific of the 1970s. Singers Donna Fargo, Johnny Rodriguez, Joe Stampley, Mel Street and Tanya Tucker, and harmonica player Charlie McCoy each have their first major hits during 1972 and would be among the most successful of the newcomers.

United States
(as certified by Billboard)

 * Notes
 * 1 ^ No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard.
 * 2 ^ Song dropped from No. 1 and later returned to top spot.
 * A ^ First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
 * B ^ Last Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
 * C ^ Only Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.

Canada
(as certified by RPM)

 * Notes
 * 2 ^ Song dropped from No. 1 and later returned to top spot.
 * A ^ First RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
 * B ^ Last RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
 * C ^ Only RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.

Christmas albums

 * The Johnny Cash Family Christmas — Johnny Cash (Columbia)

Births

 * February 23 — Steve Holy, 2000s (decade) country singer best known for his No. 1 hit "Good Morning Beautiful."
 * April 5 — Pat Green, "Texas country"-styled singer/songwriter.
 * July 17 — Paul Brandt, Canadian country singer who began enjoying U.S. success in the late 1990s.
 * August 16 — Emily Robison, member of the Dixie Chicks (she plays the guitar, banjo and dobro).
 * October 23 — Jimmy Wayne, singer-songwriter of the 2000s (decade).
 * October 28 — Brad Paisley, new traditionalist of the 2000s (decade).

Deaths

 * January 28 — T. Texas Tyler, 55, 1940s country star best known for "The Deck of Cards."
 * June 23 — Elton Britt, 59, 1940s country star best known for "There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere."
 * July 16 – Charlie Chamberlain, 61, Canadian Country Singer, who was the Male vocalist for Don Messer's Islanders from the band's inception in 1933 until shortly before his death (Heart Attack).

Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

 * Jimmie Davis (1899–2000)

Grammy Awards

 * Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA", Donna Fargo
 * Best Male Country Vocal Performance — Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs, Charley Pride
 * Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "Class of '57", The Statler Brothers
 * Best Country Instrumental Performance — Charlie McCoy/The Real McCoy, Charlie McCoy
 * Best Country Song — "Kiss an Angel Good Morning", Ben Peters (Performer: Charley Pride)

Juno Awards

 * Country Male Vocalist of the Year — Stompin' Tom Connors
 * Country Female Vocalist of the Year — Myrna Lorrie
 * Country Group or Duo of the Year — Mercey Brothers

Academy of Country Music

 * Entertainer of the Year — Roy Clark
 * Song of the Year — "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA", Donna Fargo (Performer: Donna Fargo)
 * Single of the Year — "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA", Donna Fargo
 * Album of the Year — The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA, Donna Fargo
 * Top Male Vocalist — Merle Haggard
 * Top Female Vocalist — Donna Fargo
 * Top Vocal Group — The Statler Brothers
 * Top New Male Vocalist — Johnny Rodriguez
 * Top New Female Vocalist — Tanya Tucker

Country Music Association

 * Entertainer of the Year — Loretta Lynn
 * Song of the Year — "Easy Loving", Freddie Hart (Performer: Freddie Hart)
 * Single of the Year — "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA", Donna Fargo
 * Album of the Year — Let Me Tell You About a Song, Merle Haggard
 * Male Vocalist of the Year — Charley Pride
 * Female Vocalist of the Year — Loretta Lynn
 * Vocal Duo of the Year — Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
 * Vocal Group of the Year — The Statler Brothers
 * Instrumentalist of the Year — Charlie McCoy
 * Instrumental Group of the Year — Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass

Other links

 * Country Music Association
 * Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame

title: 1972 in country music


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Ivangorod Fortress

Ivangorod Fortress (Ивангородская крепость; Jaanilinna linnus; Jaanilidna) is a castle in Ivangorod, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It was built in the 15th century. It is located on the east bank of the Narva River, which currently forms the international border between Russia and Estonia, across from the city of Narva in Estonia.

Ivangorod Fortress was established during the reign of Ivan III in 1492, intended to reaffirm Muscovy's access to the Baltic Sea and to form a bulwark against the Teutonic Order, being built opposite the powerful Teutonic Hermann Castle. The fortress eventually grew into the town of Ivangorod, and the structures of the fort were gradually expanded and strengthened. Ivangorod Fortress was controlled by Sweden after the end of the Livonian War in 1583, changing hands numerous times during conflicts and border shifts over the following centuries. Following World War I, the fortress was used as a prisoner of war repatriation camp from 1920-21. After World War II, the fortress returned to permanent Russian rule through the Soviet Union. Ivangorod Fortress is now a museum and a tourist attraction.

History
The original castle was constructed in one summer, in the year 1492. It was named after Muscovite Grand Prince Ivan III. Its purpose was to fend off the Livonian Knights. The castle is strictly quadrilateral, measuring 1600 sqm, with walls 14 metres tall.

Ivangorod was won back from the Livonian Order later in the year by Muscovite forces under the command of Prince Ivan Gundar and Mikhail Klyapin. Three thousand troops arrived to retake the castle, rebuild it, and construct a new barracks and stronger bastions. For almost 10 years, the land around the castle was in constant warfare. The fortress and the land around changed hands repeatedly. The castle was reconstructed and fortified many times, becoming one of the strongest defensive structures in the 16th century. The castle was in development until the 17th century, becoming a large, sprawling fortress with several lines of defence.

The Treaty of Teusina (1595) returned the fortress to Russia. In 1612, the Swedish Empire conquered the fortress, which was defended by a voivode, Fyodor Aminev (b 1560s, d 1628) and his sons. By the Treaty of Stolbova, Ingria was ceded to Gustav II Adolf, king of Sweden. In 1704, Peter the Great captured the castle from Swedish troops, bringing the fortress back into Russian control. Inside the fortress, there are two churches: one is dedicated to the Virgin's Assumption (1496) and the other to St Nicholas (built in the late 16th century but later reconstructed).

After the early 18th century, the military role of the fortress dwindled due to technological advances. In 1728, a review was carried out of the fortresses in this area, which concluded that the installation had been neglected, and had a low fighting efficiency. An order was issued for restoration of the Ivangorod fortress, but after the inspection of 1738 the fortress was designated not adequate for defence purposes.

In 1840, some improvements were carried out in the fortress (roofs were renewed), and further improvements took place in 1863 and 1911-1914. During World War I, the fortress was captured by the Germans on 25 February 1918. The Imperial Russian Army had been relying on it and similar fortresses to halt the Imperial German Army advance during the Great Retreat, but they ended up outmatched against modern military technologies such as heavy artillery. From 1919 to 1940, the fortress belonged to Estonia. During 1920 - 1921, the fortress was used as transit camp for former POWs being repatriated to Germany and to Russia. Despite changing hands several times in the first half of the 20th century, the fortress played no significant role in fighting.

During World War II, after the Soviet invasion and annexation of Estonia in 1940, the fortress was first controlled by the USSR (1940–1941) and then by Nazi Germany (1941–1944), which established two POW camps within the fortress and left many of its buildings damaged after their retreat. In January 1945 Soviet authorities defined the Narva river as the new administrative border between the Estonian SSR and Russian SFSR, and as a result the Ivangorod fortress transferred from Narva to the Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast. In August 1991, after the restoration of the independent Republic of Estonia, the town and fortress remained with Russian SFSR, and thereafter with the Russian Federation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Currently, the fortress serves as a museum.

The museum
The history and art museum of the Ivangorod fortress exhibits paintings of Ivan Bilibin, Alexandra Shchekotikhina-Pototskaya and other artists. Also, local history and tradition are explained by some of the museum's exhibits, such as archeological finds encountered in the surrounding areas. There is a permanent exhibition devoted to the Great Northern War and the Livonian War. As well, there are models of fortresses in the surrounding region and armaments, and documents and letters related to famous people such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, exhibited in the fortress museum.

title: Ivangorod Fortress


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File:Daikatanabox.jpg

Box art for Daikatana.

title: File:Daikatanabox.jpg


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User:Oddball990

Hello, my name is Oddball990. Some of my contributions are under 70.112.25.84 and 70.112.26.216

title: User:Oddball990


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Gravatar

Gravatar (a portmanteau of globally recognized avatar) is a service for providing globally unique avatars and was created by Tom Preston-Werner. Since 2007, it has been owned by Automattic, having integrated it into their WordPress.com blogging platform.

Functionality
On Gravatar, users can register an account based on their email address, and upload an image of their choice to be associated with that email address. Gravatar plugins are available for popular blogging software; when the user posts a comment on such a blog that requires an email address, the blogging software checks whether that email address has an associated avatar at Gravatar. If so, the Gravatar is shown along with the comment. Gravatar support is provided natively in WordPress as of v2.5 and in web based project management application Redmine beginning with version 0.8. Support for Gravatar is also provided via third-party modules for web content management systems such as Drupal and MODX.

A user's profile data is available in a number of metadata standards, including hCard, JSON, XML, PHP, and vCard as well as via QR codes. The raw data formats (JSON, XML, and PHP) use the Portable Contacts standard.

A Gravatar image can be up to 2048 pixels wide, is always square and is displayed at 80 by 80 pixels by default. If the uploaded avatar is larger or smaller, the avatar is scaled appropriately. Each Gravatar is rated with an MPAA-style age recommendation, allowing webmasters to control the content of the Gravatars displayed on their website.

Webmasters can also configure their system to automatically display an Identicon when a user has no registered Gravatar.

History
For some time, the Gravatar service remained unmaintained. The maker became busy with working on a new version of the service, as Gravatar's popularity grew and more bandwidth was required. On 16 February 2007, "Gravatar 2.0" was launched. Besides an improved server script, users also noticed other improvements, such as being able to crop and use an image already hosted on the web. Support for two gravatars per account was added, between which the user can easily switch. "Gravatar Premium" was also launched, allowing unlimited email addresses and Gravatars per account.

On 11 June 2007, Tom Preston-Werner announced that 32,000 new users had signed up since the launch of Gravatar 2.0.

On 18 October 2007, Automattic acquired Gravatar. After doing so, they offered all previously paid services at no cost, improved server response time, and refunded those who had recently paid for service.

Matt Mullenweg announced on The Big Web Show on 2 December 2010 that Gravatar was serving approximately 20 billion images per day.

Security concerns and data breaches
Gravatars are loaded from the Gravatar web server, using a URL containing an MD5 hash of the associated email address. This method has, however, been shown to be vulnerable to dictionary attacks and rainbow table approaches.

In 2009, it was demonstrated that over 10% of the email addresses of a set of forum users could be determined from the Gravatar URLs combined with the forum user names.

Subsequently, in 2013, security researcher Dominique Bongard presented that he was able to determine 45% of the email addresses used to post comments on a well-known French political forum by using Gravatar URLs and the open source Hashcat password cracking tool.

Given that Hashcat uses graphics processing units to achieve high-efficiencies at cracking hashes, it has been proposed that as GPU technology and performance continues to improve, that Gravatar hashes will only become easier to crack over time as a result. This is in addition to the fact that the MD5 hashing algorithm itself is severely compromised and unfit for cryptographic applications; the CMU Software Engineering Institute has recommended against its use in any capacity since the end of 2008.

In October 2020, a technique for scraping large volumes of data from Gravatar was exposed by Carlo di Dato, a security researcher, after being ignored by Gravatar when he raised his concerns with them. 167 million names, usernames and MD5 hashes of email addresses used to reference users' avatars were subsequently scraped and distributed within the hacking community. 114 million of the MD5 hashes were cracked and distributed alongside the source hash, thus disclosing the original email address and accompanying data, with email account holders able to check whether their addresses have been leaked using Have I Been Pwned.

title: Gravatar


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Relient K

Relient K is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio, by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and Brian Pittman during their third year in high school and time at Malone University. The band is named after guitarist Hoopes' automobile, a Plymouth Reliant K car, with the spelling intentionally altered to avoid trademark infringement over the Reliant name.

The group is associated with the contemporary Christian music culture, most notably the Christian rock and punk scene. They have also performed alongside secular artists. The band has reached critical success with mainstream pop-punk and alternative rock; additionally, their sound incorporates piano and acoustic elements. Since its formation, Relient K has released nine studio albums, seven EPs, two Christmas albums, and one collection of rarities. The band has received numerous awards including a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 for Best Rock Gospel Album and two Dove Awards.

Relient K has found commercial success with their studio albums, three of which peaked in the top 15 of the U.S. Billboard 200 chart: 2004's Mmhmm, which debuted at No. 15, 2007's Five Score and Seven Years Ago, their fifth and most successful album, which debuted at No. 6; and 2009's Forget and Not Slow Down, which debuted at No. 15. The band has sold over 2 million records, with three albums being given a gold certification by the RIAA. The band is also highly successful throughout the Christian albums and contemporary Christian music charts. On October 4, 2011, the band released a cover album Is for Karaoke. On July 2, 2013, the band's seventh full-length album, Collapsible Lung, was released. On July 22, 2016, the band's eighth full-length album, Air for Free, was released. On April 24, 2020, they released Relient K: Live that includes 15 tracks that were only previously available on vinyl and were recorded at shows in 2009 and 2016.

All Work and No Play and Relient K (1998–2000)
After Relient K was founded by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes and Brian Pittman in 1998, Todd Frascone joined for a short time in 1998 as a drummer. However, Frascone left the band after recording the demo All Work & No Play. The demo was recorded by Mark Lee Townsend, the former live guitar player for dc Talk. Townsend had met the band members because his daughter, Danielle, was friends with the band. Danielle eventually married guitarist Matt Hoopes.

All Work & No Play caught the attention of dc Talk's Toby McKeehan (tobyMac), who later signed the band to his label, Gotee Records. With the label Relient K released its debut EP, 2000 A.D.D. in 2000, with Stephen Cushman on drums. Soon after, the band released Relient K, the group's first full-length CD, which featured lyrics with a wide range of pop-culture and Christian references. Cushman left later that year to join the Christian metal band Narcissus. Brett Schoneman of Christian rock band Philmore filled in temporarily, followed by Jared Byers, drummer of the Christian rock band Bleach, until Dave Douglas joined in December 2000.

In an interview, Matt Thiessen said that when the band started, he was the only one who sang, but he knew Matt Hoopes could sing as well. Hoopes was reluctant, but Thiessen said he "got it out of him". As a result, Hoopes became the backing vocalist.

The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek (2001–2002)
The band released its second album, The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, in 2001. Though there were still plenty of pop-culture references on this album, it contained many more softer songs and slightly lighter guitars. The band would continue chords through tracks in order to fluidly transition in between songs, a trend that continued on the group's later albums.

Anatomy landed them in the Christian rock limelight, and Relient K was offered a clothing deal with Abercrombie & Fitch in 2001. Gotee, the band's label, accepted the offer on Relient K's behalf; Pittman recalls, "The choice was never really given to us. The label made the choice." After significant pressure from conservative Christian organizations such as Focus on the Family, Gotee backed out of the contract.

Relient K was then asked to do a rendition of the popular VeggieTales song "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" for the 2002 feature length VeggieTales movie Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. The song was released on three different albums, two in single form. The first version also included Relient K's "Breakdown" being sung by Larry the Cucumber. There was also a promotional version which included the original version of "Breakdown". A cut-down version (missing the bridge) was included on the Christian rock compilation Veggie Rocks!. This song mixes the sounds of The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, and the band's third album, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do.

Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do (2003)
In 2003, Relient K released Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do. The album had multiple covers of different colors, each depicting a vehicle in some kind of wreck. As pop-culture references became less specific, sound and vocals became far more defined. Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do (often called Two Lefts by fans) combined the soft, meaningful songs of The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek and threw in fast-paced songs with deep lyrics. It was nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Rock Gospel Album" and won the Dove Award for "Modern Rock Album of the Year" in 2004.

During this time, Relient K also released a limited edition red vinyl EP entitled The Vinyl Countdown, only released in one printing. The EP included two versions of the song, "Five Iron Frenzy is Either Dead or Dying." The album was dedicated to Jesse Alkire, contest winner and friend of Matthew Thiessen, who inspired the song "The Vinyl Countdown."

Since Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do was released in March 2003, Relient K released a bonus disc for Christmas, entitled Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand. The album was packaged with Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do from November 2003 to December 2003.

Mmhmm (2004–2006)
The group released its fourth album, Mmhmm, in late 2004. Pop-culture references were even less specific than on the band's third album, if present at all. The album was significantly more on the serious side with very few of the silly songs the band was known for. The album had the band experimenting with its sound a bit more, which included incorporating piano, hardcore punk and some pop music. In July 2005, the album was certified gold for shipping over 500,000 copies. It is reported that it has sold approximately 796,000 copies. Driven by newfound recognition from Mmhmm, their previous album, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do was also certified gold in spring 2005. Also, it was announced in 2006 that the band's second record, The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, had reached the Gold rank as well as certified by the RIAA.

Shortly before Mmhmm's release, longtime bassist Brian Pittman left the band, citing that he was tired of touring and wanted to start a landscaping company. He also joined Christian metal band Inhale Exhale shortly afterward. Matt Thiessen announced Pittman's departure in fall 2004, saying: "After almost seven years of being in Relient K, our cherished and lifelong friend, Brian Pittman has decided to move on to other things. That IS crazy, huh? Brian decided to leave the band in July, so we've had plenty of time to let the initial shock die down. We're aware that a lot of you already knew, so we apologize for not announcing this sooner. There were many reasons. He thought long and hard about his decision, and he came to the conclusion that he would like to do other things than play bass for the band. We respect him for it. We'd be lying to say that we're not all completely bummed that Brian won't be a part of Relient K anymore. And though we know things won't be the same without him, it must be said that we have always valued our friendships with him more than our on-stage relationship.

"Anyway, all of us still hang out, and its like nothing is different at all. I feel like that's how you know that you've made a friend that will be there for the rest of your days. We want to thank Brian for all the years he gave the band. You're the best, buddy."

Pittman reunited with the band for one final show, which was the release party for "Mmhmm" at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio on November 1, 2004. John Warne, lead singer and guitarist of Ace Troubleshooter, filled in as bassist for the remainder of 2004 and became full-time bassist in 2005. Also in 2005, Jon Schneck joined as a third guitarist, as well as a banjo and bell player, to create a fuller, more distinctive sound. This was also because the band planned to add more piano, and having another guitarist gave Matt Thiessen the freedom to do that.

Relient K provided the first track, "Manic Monday" originally recorded by The Bangles, to the various artist CD, Punk Goes 80's, released on June 7, 2005.

Mmhmm features two Top 40 hits which both made it on MTV's Top Ten. The music video for the track Be My Escape entered MTV's Top Ten, and landed them an appearance on The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "Be My Escape" is also featured on Now! 19, a popular secular and quasi-annual compilation series. It was classified as a gold single in October 2005. The music video for "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been" has also made its way onto the Total Request Live countdown, many top 40 radio stations, and was included on Now! 21. Mmhmm was awarded a Dove Award in 2006 for the "Rock Album of the Year." The band was also nominated for "Artist of the Year" and "Band of the Year" at GMA Canada's 2006 Covenant Awards.

Their song "High of 75" was featured in the soundtrack of the video game MX vs. ATV Untamed.

In June 2006, the band appeared on "Freaked!", a DC Talk tribute album, produced by Gotee Records, composed of several different bands from that time, paying homage to DC Talk's "Jesus Freak" album. Relient K performed the song "Between You and Me".

Five Score and Seven Years Ago (2006–2008)
Recording sessions for another studio album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, started on June 18, 2006 and continued for parts of July and August. Some tracks on the album were produced by Howard Benson, (The All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, P.O.D.). "Four score and seven years ago" is the first line of the Gettysburg Address, the famous speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. Thiessen had said that the title of the album comes from the fact that it's the band's fifth album, it is the first time all five of them are on a record together, and the band had been seven years since the release of Relient K.

While the band hoped for a November 2006 release, the official release date was announced as March 6, 2007. The album is considered, by the band, to be the group's happiest record to date. On March 2, 2007 the entire album (except the last track, "Deathbed") was made available for streaming on the band's MySpace. Five Score and Seven Years Ago debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling about 64,000 copies in its first week.

The band's first single from the album, "Must Have Done Something Right," was released on the iTunes Store on November 28, 2006 and to radio on January 9, 2007. "Forgiven" was the first radio single directed at Christian stations. "Forgiven" was the most added song on Christian radio and entered Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart on January 11, 2007. The single received enough airplay to be the fourth most played song on Christian Hit Radio (CHR) stations in 2007 according to R&R magazine.

The second single from the album, "The Best Thing," was released to radio on April 10, 2007, taking the 7th most adds in its first week. Thiessen has said that "The Best Thing" is "the anti-Daniel Powter "Bad Day" song. It's straight-up positive." A video was filmed for the single. The second single released on Christian CHR radio stations was "Give Until There's Nothing Left", which was the 20th most played song on CHR radio stations in 2007.

In the early morning of June 28, 2007, Relient K's bus caught on fire from an oil spill from the engine. Everyone escaped safely, but the band lost many instruments, laptops, cameras, phones, iPods, clothes, and merchandise. Matt Thiessen said he lost a laptop that had roughly 100 unfinished songs on it, and Dave Douglas lost his Battlefield drum set. In the midst of it, the band still laughed at the situation, calling it "cinematic". On a blog post on the band's website, Matt Thiessen stated that the next day after the fire, the band members went to view the damage of their van and found that while 85% of their gear was intact, Douglas's drum kit set was not salvageable.

The band released Let It Snow, Baby... Let It Reindeer, a Christmas album, on October 23, 2007. The CD contained all of the tracks from Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand as well as six new songs. This Christmas themed re-release was met with a peak of No. 96 on the Billboard 200.

Relient K, Switchfoot and Ruth recorded a song together, "Rebuild". It is available for download on Switchfoot's website; fans can choose between paying for the song (with proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity) or downloading it for free.

On October 18, 2007 drummer Dave Douglas announced his departure on good terms on the band's website due to a desire to pursue his side-project Gypsy Parade with his wife Rachel. He played his last show with Relient K on December 29, 2007. On February 12, 2008 it was announced that Ethan Luck, former guitarist of The O.C. Supertones and for Demon Hunter, would be replacing Douglas as the band's new drummer.

Luck and Warne were in a short-lived band together called Guerilla Rodeo.

"The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" which was originally recorded for Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, was also used in The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie.

The Bird and the Bee Sides (2008)
On July 1, 2008 Relient K released a double EP. The double EP is contained on a single disc and contains The Nashville Tennis EP and The Bird and the Bee Sides. The Nashville Tennis EP included 13 tracks of new material that allowed the band to explore its sound a bit by allowing other band members, besides Thiessen and Hoopes, to compose/record a few tracks, as well as adding some influences from country and ska music. The Bird and the Bee Sides contained tracks that had previously been released on hard-to-come-by records. The Bird and the Bee Sides won the 2009 GMA Canada Covenant Award for Modern Rock/Alternative Album of the Year. In turning in the EP, Relient K officially fulfilled its contract with Gotee Records and subsequently signed to and now manage Mono vs Stereo (an imprint of Gotee Records).

In November 2008, the band released three bonus iTunes tracks for a re-issue of Let It Snow, Baby... Let It Reindeer. The tracks were later pulled from iTunes, but have since then been released on Gotee Records's 2010 Christmas compilation album: 'Tis The Season To Be Gotee.

Forget and Not Slow Down (2009–2010)
In early 2009, the band began to write music for an album to be released later in 2009. Thiessen stated that the band had been keen on finishing the album for a 2009 release and had begun recording the new album with the band's "favorite" producer, Mark Lee Townsend at Dark Horse Recording Studio in Tennessee. After recording a few tracks, the band stated that more tracks were set to be recorded with John Feldmann. Webisodes released weekly via the band's MySpace and Facebook pages show the recording progress in the studio. On May 8, 2009, Thiessen announced on Twitter the album's title, Forget and Not Slow Down, also noting that 'Forget and Not Slow Down' is the name of a track.

Forget and Not Slow Down was available for pre-order, with the option of having a faux VIP-Pass signed by members of the band, and T-shirt, and a poster featuring the names of all who pre-ordered the album. On September 29, the album was made available for stream off of AbsolutePunk. It was released on October 6, 2009.

A bonus song was offered to customers who bought the album from Amazon.com's MP3 store. The song is entitled "Terminals" and was produced by Owl City's Adam Young. The song is now available for download without purchasing the full album.

In May 2010, Relient K released a triple-compilation collection CD entitled The First Three Gears. It included the band's first three studio albums with various "EP exclusive" tracks attached to each CD, according to their approximate release year.

In October 2010, the band contributed an original song—"What Can I Do"—for Family Christian Stores' exclusive compilation album Freedom: Artists United for International Justice Mission, created in order to generate funds for International Justice Mission in fighting modern-day slavery.

Is for Karaoke (2011)
On April 11, 2011, the band announced via Facebook that a cover album was set to be recorded. On June 14, 2011, Alt Press reported the EP would be called K Is for Karaoke and displayed the album artwork. The band revealed one album song per day on its Facebook page. The first album, Is for Karaoke EP, was made available for download on June 28, 2011 through the Amazon MP3 store. It was also available through iTunes or as a physical CD on the Vans Warped Tour and Rock The Universe at Universal Studios. On October 4, 2011 the group released a second EP, Is for Karaoke EP, Part 2, and also the full-length album, Is for Karaoke, which features all the tracks from both EPs.

Collapsible Lung, departure of Ethan Luck and Mmhmm 10th anniversary tour (2011–2014)
In several interviews on YouTube, Matt Thiessen and other band members stated that they had planned to enter the studio in November 2011 to write and record an album, which they hoped would be released mid-2012. However, due to a record label swap, the album was delayed. RCA Music Group announced it was dissolving Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, Relient K and all other artists previously signed to these three labels would release their future material on the RCA Records. In May 2012, it was announced via the band's Twitter that recording had begun with producer Paul Moak. On February 22, 2013, Absolutepunk.net posted that the new album was finished and that details were coming soon.

On February 4, 2013, the band released a single via YouTube, in the form of a lyric video: "That's My Jam". According to the group, the song was used in the background of a Pizza Hut commercial. Later, the track was redone, featuring Owl City, as an iTunes bonus track for Collapsible Lung.

On March 30, the band announced at Easterfest that the new album would be called Collapsible Lung. The song "Don't Blink" was released in the form of a lyric video on the band's YouTube channel. On April 19, the band announced that the release of Collapsible Lung had been postponed to July 2013, and the specific date of July 2 was confirmed, along with the album cover artwork, on May 17.

On April 21, drummer Ethan Luck stated that he is no longer a member of the band. He became the on-tour guitar technician for the Cold War Kids. He and the Jo(h)ns had earlier posted that they would not be appearing on the next tour.

On May 29, the band released a second lyric video for the album via YouTube titled "Lost Boy". This was then followed on June 29, by a third lyric video for the title song "Collapsible Lung".

On July 2, 2013, Collapsible Lung was released as expected. The album charted well on many of Billboard's charts, most notably topping at number No. 16 on the Billboard 200.

In June 2014, the band contributed two cover songs to Gotee Records' twentieth anniversary album, Gotee Records: Twenty Years Brand New. The band performed a cover of "Body Be" by Johnny Q. Public, as well as a tenth anniversary version of the band's "Sadie Hawkins Dance".

In July 2014, the band announced a 10th anniversary "Mmhmm" tour slated from October 30 in Louisville to December 12 in Nashville. Shortly after the tour announcement, drummer Dave Douglas announced his return to the band for the 10th anniversary tour. Neither Jon Schneck nor John Warne joined the band on this tour.

Air for Free (2016–present)
On September 30, 2015, long-time Relient K producer Mark Lee Townsend posted a short video on his Twitter account with the caption "RK 8 has been serious fun to make... you're gonna dig it. #rkjamsessions." The video showed Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and three other people in a studio recording a new song.

Thiessen stated in an interview in November 2015, "[Relient K has] a new record finished and poised for a 2016 release. At a show in December, the band revealed the album's title to be Air for Free. On February 14, 2016, Relient K digitally released a new single titled "Look on Up". The song, however, was said by Matt Hoopes to not make it onto the new record. Although there were rumors that the album would be released in May, the band announced that the album would release on July 22, 2016. The album has 16 tracks, and is available digitally and on CD and vinyl.

A second single, "Bummin'", was released on April 13, 2016.

On July 22, 2016 Air For Free was released. It debuted at No. 44 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on Top Christian Albums, No. 6 on Top Rock Albums, and No. 3 on Top Alternative albums, selling 9,000 copies in its first week.

In September 2016, Relient K added a new band photo, revealing Dave Douglas (drums) had rejoined the band in an official capacity, along with Tom Breyfogle (bass) and Mark Lee Townsend (guitar). On October 27, 2016, Relient K digitally released The Creepier EP...er, a Halloween-themed EP.

Relient K toured alongside Switchfoot on the Looking For America tour from September 17, 2016 to November 26, 2016. Relient K announced that they would embark on a second tour with Switchfoot, the Still Looking For America 2our, which would cover Western U.S. and Canada, on January 21, 2017.

In February 2017, the band added an updated photo revealing that Mark Lee Townsend was no longer with them, but that Jake Germany had joined on keys. On February 12, 2017, Relient K digitally released a Valentine's Day EP titled Truly, Madly, Deeply EP.

On April 24, 2020, they released Relient K: Live, which combined live tracks from a 2009 show at Rocketown in Nashville, Tennessee and a 2016 show at The Ritz in Raleigh, North Carolina. The songs were previously only available on vinyl.

On February 17, 2022, Relient K kicked off their "Um Yeah Tour" at The Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri, and ended the tour on April 2, 2022, after two shows in Nashville. Jon Schneck (guitar, vocals) and Ethan Luck (bass, vocals) returned to the band's lineup for the tour, alongside Matt Thiessen (guitar, piano, leading vocals), Matt Hoopes (guitar, vocals), and Dave Douglas (drums, vocals). In a podcast interview, Jon Schneck said the band was trying to schedule a west coast leg of the tour for the fall of 2022, since no cities or states west of Missouri were included in the initial run. The "Um Yeah tour" itself was deemed highly successful as many shows sold out and lines to attend wrapped around the buildings they performed in.

The band performed at the 2023 Furnace Fest, along with other artists such as Anberlin, Between the Buried and Me, Becoming the Archetype, Project 86, and Hatebreed.

Band members
Current members

 * Matt Hoopes – lead guitar, backing vocals (1998–present)
 * Matt Thiessen – lead vocals, piano, rhythm guitar, occasional trumpet (1998–present)
 * Dave Douglas – drums, backing vocals (2000–2007, 2016–present; 2014–2016 as touring/session member)
 * Jon Schneck – rhythm and lead guitar, banjo, mandolin, bells, backing vocals (2005–2015, 2021–present)
 * Ethan Luck – bass (2021–present), drums (2007–2013), backing vocals (2007–2013, 2021–present)

Former members

 * Brian Pittman – bass (1998–2004)
 * Todd Frascone – drums (1998)
 * Stephen Cushman – drums, backing vocals (1998–2000)
 * Brett Schoneman – drums (2000)
 * Jared Byers – drums (2000)
 * John Warne – bass, backing vocals (2004–2013)
 * Tom Breyfogle – bass, backing vocals (2016–2017; 2014-2016 as touring/session member), drums (2013–2014 as touring member)
 * Mark Lee Townsend – guitar, backing vocals (2016)
 * Jake Germany – keyboard, backing vocals (2017)

Former touring musicians

 * Dan Gartley – bass, backing vocals (2004, 2013)
 * Justin York – guitar, backing vocals (2010–2011)
 * Jeremy Gifford - bass, backing vocals (2013)
 * Zac Farro – drums (2013)
 * Josh Sudduth – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals (2014–2017)

The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind
In 2004, Relient K released a book, The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind. The title of the book is taken from the last line of the song "Mood Rings," which is found on the band's third album, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do. Though the band is listed as co-author of the book, the band members contributed very little to the content of the book. The book clues in the confused male Relient K fans on the thoughts of female fans, and clues in the confused female Relient K fans on some of the thoughts of males. The band gives advice on the opposite sex through personal experience, stereotypes (including The Rock Chick and Vanilla Pudding), and Biblical advice—presented in the attitude found in the group's music. Matt Hoopes later apologized for the book's existence, acknowledging that it perpetuated harmful stereotypes and clarifying that they had agreed to the original concept but did not review the book's contents before release.

Woodland Forest
In June 2006, Relient K released the first episode of the group's own flash cartoon. The cartoon features all five band members, and takes place in a fictional land known as Woodland Forest. It is animated by bassist John Warne. There have only been two episodes thus far, and can be found on YouTube. The cartoons also feature "Merle the Squirrel," singing the Woodland Forest theme song, as well as "Crosby the Reindeer," singing O Holy Night.

Podcasts
Relient K has made a total of nine audio podcasts and eleven video podcasts. The nine audio podcasts were made during the band's time on the Matt Hoopes Birthday Tour. The band included interviews with the band members, the group's guitar technicians, and along with others involved in the group's touring. There were also interviews with the other touring bands, The Rocket Summer and Maxeen.

The five video podcasts include various scenes in the studio, as well as the band doing things outside the studio, much like the video podcasts made by Switchfoot. The first two video podcasts showed the band in the studio preparing for the recording of Five Score and Seven Years Ago, and Dave Douglas recording the drum parts, respectively. The third video podcast was a collection of footage and discussions from the Nintendo Fusion Tour, and a Mario Kart DS Tournament between the five band members. The fourth video podcast showed Jon Schneck and Dave Douglas preparing for a boxing match (which is also included and completed in the Wal-Mart "Devastation and Reform" video), and the fifth video podcast showed the completion of the battle. There is a sixth unreleased video podcast including John Warne fulfilling his lifelong dream of walking into a room with the AutoZone Theme Song playing. It shows Warne recording the song with the assistance of Dave Douglas and Jon Schneck. It can be found on YouTube at the present time, and it is currently unofficially released on the site, as it has not made it to the band's official site. The eighth video podcast is about the band going to see millions of bats fly at sundown. The last podcast is a short video showing the band playing a game called "Gum Golf" created during the release of Let it Snow, Baby... Let it Reindeer.

Related projects
Outside of Relient K, Matt Thiessen has a piano-focused solo project called Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes. He started it in 1998, around the time Relient K was started. He released a full album, "Wind Up Bird", under the project in 2018.

The band made a cover of the song, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" for the soundtrack to the movie Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. It was also featured in the movie adaptation of the song.

Former drummer Dave Douglas created a project called Agnes, a solo rock project that somewhat resembles the sound of Relient K's earlier music with his own twist. Douglas also started a project called Gypsy Parade, a softer project that he started with his wife, Rachel. They have released two demo songs on their MySpace with more expected. Douglas amicably left Relient K to further pursue this project. Gypsy Parade has since disbanded, Attack Cat taking its place.

Ethan Luck, the former drummer, was involved with the Christian metal band Demon Hunter until late 2009, but he also has a side project called My Red Hot Nightmare which included drummer Josh Abbott, who was the drummer for Bassist John Warne's band, Ace Troubleshooter for the band's entire existence. Luck also played guitar in the Christian Ska band The O.C. Supertones and is featured on a few of the band's albums, including Loud and Clear and Live! Volume One.

Three tracks were featured on the compilation album My Other Band, Vol. 1 on Mono vs Stereo records in 2006, from Matt Thiessen's side project Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes, Dave Douglas' side project Agnes, and Ethan Luck's My Red Hot Nightmare project. Relient K was part of a fundraiser called "Habitat for Humanity" with other Christian bands. Matt Thiessen and Jon Foreman (Switchfoot's lead singer and guitarist) wrote a song called "Rebuild" to help raise even more money.

In 2011, John Warne became a member of Yellow Second.

Matt Thiessen co-wrote the song "Longshot" along with Katy Perry for Kelly Clarkson's CD, All I Ever Wanted.

Philanthropy
Relient K starred in the educational drug abuse prevention film, "Natural High 4". The band members provided advice to young adults to stay off of drugs and to pursue their personal best.

Studio albums

 * Relient K (2000)
 * The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek (2001)
 * Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do (2003)
 *  Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand (2003)
 * Mmhmm (2004)
 * Five Score and Seven Years Ago (2007)
 * Let It Snow, Baby... Let It Reindeer (2007)

 * Forget and Not Slow Down (2009)
 * Is for Karaoke (2011)
 * Collapsible Lung (2013)
 * Air for Free (2016)

title: Relient K


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My Reflection

My Reflection, also known as Christina Aguilera: My Reflection or My Reflection: Live, is a television special starring American singer Christina Aguilera, that premiered on Sunday, December 3, 2000, on ABC. It was directed by Lawrence Jordan and executive produced by Aguilera herself, alongside Ken Ehrlich. The special is a televised concert of Aguilera's performance at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The special features guest appearances by Lil Bow Wow and Dr. John. It features songs from Aguilera's three studio albums, Christina Aguilera (1999), Mi Reflejo (2000), and My Kind of Christmas (2000), as well as covers. The show attracted 10.5 million viewers.

Video album
The special was released as Aguilera's second video album through RCA Records and Image Entertainment. It became a commercial success, being certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) as well as reaching number one and eight respectively in the music video charts of those regions.

title: My Reflection


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Noor

Noor or Nour may refer to:

Arts and media

 * Noor, an album by the metal band Adorned Brood
 * Noor, the Arabic title for Turkish soap opera Gümüş and a character in the series
 * Noor, a 2020 Pakistani television series with Usama Khan
 * Noor (film), a 2017 Bollywood film
 * Noor (novel), a 2021 Africanfuturist novel by Nnedi Okorafor
 * Noor (play), a 2009 play by Akbar Ahmed

People

 * Noor (name)
 * Queen Noor of Jordan

Places

 * Noor (Meuse), a river in the Netherlands and Belgium
 * Noor, Iran, a city in northern Iran and capital of the Noor county
 * Noor County, a county in Mazandaran Province in Iran
 * Noor Palace, Sweden

Power plants

 * Noor Abu Dhabi, a solar power plant in Abu Dhabi, UAE
 * Noor Energy 1, phase 4 of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park near Dubai, UAE
 * Ouarzazate solar power station, also known as Noor Power Station, a concentrated solar power station in Ouarzazate, Morocco

Other uses

 * Noor (horse), an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse
 * Noor (Minecraft), one of the nine protagonists of the game Minecraft
 * Noor (missile), an Iranian anti-ship missile
 * Noor (satellite), a series of satellites; included the first Iranian military satellite
 * NOOR photo agency, a documentary photography collective and foundation

title: Noor


text:
Long Live Love (album)

Long Live Love is the fourth studio album by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, released in June 1974 by EMI Records.

Singles
The title track was released in March 1974. Newton-John performed it at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest when she represented the UK. Along with the title track, five other tracks from the LP had been the six shortlisted songs for the UK selection for Eurovision, broadcast as A Song for Europe, 1974. The song that placed second, "Angel Eyes", was also released as the B-side of the "Long Live Love" single. (The other four songs were "Someday", "Loving You Ain't Easy", "Have Love, Will Travel", and "Hands Across the Sea".)

Side one

 * 1) "Free the People" (Barbara Keith) – 3:20
 * 2) "Angel Eyes" (Tony Macaulay, Keith Potger) – 2:45
 * 3) "Country Girl" (Alan Hawkshaw, Peter Gosling) – 3:49
 * 4) "Someday" (Gary Benson, David Mindel) – 2:57
 * 5) "God Only Knows" (Brian Wilson, Tony Asher) – 2:48
 * 6) "Loving You Ain't Easy" (Stuart Leathwood, Bob Saker, Gary Sulsh) – 2:47

Side two

 * 1) "Home Ain't Home Anymore" (John Farrar, Peter Robinson) – 2:52
 * 2) "Have Love, Will Travel" (Roger Greenaway, Geoff Stephens) – 2:45
 * 3) "I Honestly Love You" (Peter Allen, Jeff Barry) – 3:38
 * 4) "Hands Across the Sea" (Ben Findon, Geoff Wilkins) – 2:55
 * 5) "The River's Too Wide" (Bob Morrison) – 3:16
 * 6) "Long Live Love" (Valerie Avon, Harold Spiro) – 2:46

Japanese bonus tracks

 * 1) "Mon Amour, Mon Impossible Amour" – 3:40
 * 2) "Long Live Love" (German version) – 2:48

Personnel

 * John Farrar, Nick Ingman, Alan Hawkshaw, Brian Bennett - arrangements
 * John Kelly - photography

title: Long Live Love (album)


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Prayers of Steel

Prayers of Steel is the debut full-length album released by the German heavy metal band Avenger in 1985, before they changed their name to Rage. The only other release that followed under the name Avenger was the EP Depraved to Black (also 1985). German label GUN Records reissued the album on CD in 1995, including the track of the EP.

The opening track "Battlefield" was later re-recorded as a humoristic song called Bottlefield in the Extended Power EP, while the title track "Prayers of Steel" was re-recorded for 10 Years in Rage. Other songs from this album were later re-recorded for Rage's Seasons of the Black album in 2017.

Personnel

 * Peavy Wagner – vocals, bass guitar
 * Jochen Schroeder – guitars
 * Alf Meyerratken – guitars
 * Jörg Michael – drums

 * Production
 * Ferdinand Köther – producer
 * Ralph Hubert – engineer
 * Ulli Schnarre – tape operator and mixing

title: Prayers of Steel


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title: Category:Bridges in North Carolina