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2016-01 | Barcelona-697570852 | Barcelona | Barcelona
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name = Barcelona
| native_name =
| other_name =
| settlement_type = City and Municipality
| image_skyline = Barcelona collage.JPG
| image_alt =
| image_caption = Central business district, Sagrada Família, Camp Nou stadium, The Castle of the Three Dragons, Palau Nacional, W Barcelona hotel and beach
| image_flag = Flag of Barcelona.svg
| flag_alt =
| image_shield = Coat of Arms of Barcelona.svg
| shield_alt =
| nickname =
Abbreviation(s): Barna, BCN
| motto =
| pushpin_map1 = Spain Catalonia
| pushpin_label_position1 =
| pushpin_map_alt1 =
| pushpin_map_caption1 = Location of Barcelona within Catalonia
| pushpin_map = Spain
| pushpin_label_position =
| pushpin_map_alt =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location of Barcelona within Spain
| latd = 41 | latm = 23 | lats = | latNS = N
| longd = 2 | longm = 11 | longs = | longEW = E
| coordinates_type = type:city(1,582,738)_region:ES
| coordinates_display = inline, title
| coordinates_footnotes =
| coordinates_region = ES
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Spain
| subdivision_name2 = Barcelona
| subdivision_type3 = Comarca
| subdivision_type1 = Autonomous community
| subdivision_name1 = Catalonia
| subdivision_type2 = Province
| subdivision_name3 = Barcelonès
| established_title =
| established_date =
| seat_type =
| seat = Barcelona City Hall
| parts_type = Districts
| parts_style = coll
| parts =
| p1 = Ciutat Vella
| p2 = Eixample
| p3 = Gràcia
| p4 = Horta-Guinardó
| p5 = Les Corts
| p6 = Nou Barris
| p7 = Sant Andreu
| p8 = Sants–Montjuïc
| p9 = Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
| p10 = Sant Martí
| government_type = Mayor–council
| governing_body =
| leader_party = Barcelona en Comú
| leader_title = Mayor
| leader_name = Ada Colau Ballano (2015)
| total_type = City
| unit_pref =
| area_total_km2 = 101.4
| area_footnotes =
| area_urban_km2 =
| elevation_footnotes = (AMSL)
| elevation_m = 12
| population_footnotes =
| population_rank = 2nd (Spain)
| population_total = 1602386
| population_urban = 4693000
| population_metro = 5375774
| population_as_of = 2014
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_demonym = Barcelonan, Barcelonian barceloní, -ina (ca) 'barcelonés, -esa (es)
| postal_code_type = Postal code
| postal_code = 080xx
| area_code_type = Area code
| area_code = +34 (E) 93 (B)
| blank_name_sec1 = INE code
| blank_info_sec1 = 08 0193
| blank1_name_sec1 = City budget
| blank1_info_sec1 = €2.5 billion
| blank_name_sec2 =
| blank_info_sec2 = Catalan and Spanish
| blank1_name_sec2 = Main festitivity
| blank1_info_sec2 = La Mercè
| blank2_name_sec2 = Patron saint
| blank2_info_sec2 = Eulalia of Barcelona
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Barcelona (, , ) is the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain and Spain's second most populated city, with a population of 1.6 million within its administrative limits. Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 4.7 million people, being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area, and Milan. It is the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is high.
Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economical and administrative center of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural center and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments.
Barcelona is one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair and cultural centers, and its influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. It is a major cultural and economic center in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world (before Zürich, after Frankfurt) and a financial center. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union and 35th in the world with GDP amounting to €177 billion. In 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion; it is leading Spain in both employment rate and GDP per capita change. In 2009 the city was ranked Europe's third and one of the world's most successful as a city brand. In the same year the city was ranked Europe's fourth best city for business and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 17% per year, but it has since been in a full recession with declines in both employment and GDP per capita, with some recent signs of the beginning of an economic recovery. Since 2011 Barcelona is a leading smart city in Europe. Barcelona is a transport hub with the Port of Barcelona being one of Europe's principal seaports and busiest European passenger port, an international airport, Barcelona–El Prat Airport, which handles above 35 million passengers per year, an extensive motorway network and a high-speed rail line with a link to France and the rest of Europe.
Names
The name Barcelona comes from the ancient Iberian Barkeno, attested in an ancient coin inscription found on the right side of the coin in Iberian script as , in Ancient Greek sources as , Barkinṓn; and in Latin as Barcino, Barcilonum and Barcenona.
Sources suggest that the city may have been named after the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who was supposed to have founded the city in the 3rd century BC.
During the Middle Ages, the city was variously known as Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelonaa, and Barchenona.
Internationally, Barcelona's name is usually abbreviated as 'Barsa' or 'Barça'. Locally, this name refers only to FC Barcelona, the football club. Locals refer to the city instead as 'Barna'.
Another common abbreviation is 'BCN', which is also the IATA airport code of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport.
The city is also referred to as the Ciutat Comtal in Catalan, and Ciudad Condal in Spanish, owing to its past as the seat of the Count of Barcelona.
History
The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear. Around the actual neighborhood of Raval have been found remains of an early settlement, including different tombs and a hut from 5.500 BC.
The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends. The first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. The second legend attributes the foundation of the city directly to the historical Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, who named the city Barcino after his family in the Third century BC.
In about 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum (Roman military camp) centerd on the "Mons Taber", a little hill near the contemporary city hall (Plaça de Sant Jaume). Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. Pomponius Mela mentions it among the small towns of the district, probably as it was eclipsed by its neighbour Tarraco (modern Tarragona), but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins; some from the era of Galba survive.
Important Roman vestiges are displayed in Plaça del Rei underground, as a part of the Barcelona City History Museum MUHBA; the typically Roman grid plan is still visible today in the layout of the historical center, the Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter). Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as the Basilica La Seu, is said to have been founded in 343. The city was conquered by the Visigoths in the early 5th century, becoming for a few years the capital of all Hispania. After being conquered by the Arabs in the early 8th century, it was conquered in 801 by Charlemagne's son Louis, who made Barcelona the seat of the Carolingian "Hispanic March" (Marca Hispanica), a buffer zone ruled by the Count of Barcelona.
The Counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include all of Catalonia, although on 6 July 985, Barcelona was sacked by the army of Almanzor. The sack was so traumatic that most of Barcelona's population was either killed or enslaved. In 1137, Aragon and the County of Barcelona merged in dynastic union by the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronilla of Aragon, their titles finally borne by only one person when their son Alfonso II of Aragon ascended to the throne in 1162. His territories were later to be known as the Crown of Aragon, which conquered many overseas possessions and ruled the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories in Naples and Sicily and as far as Athens in the 13th century. The forging of a dynastic link between the Crowns of Aragon and Castile marked the beginning of Barcelona's decline. The Bank of Barcelona, probably the oldest public bank in Europe, was established by the city magistrates in 1401. It originated from necessities of the state, as did the Bank of Venice (1402) and the Bank of Genoa (1407).
The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 united the two royal lines. Madrid became the center of political power whilst the colonisation of the Americas reduced the financial importance (at least in relative terms) of Mediterranean trade. Barcelona was a center of Catalan separatism, including the Catalan Revolt (1640–52) against Philip IV of Spain. The great plague of 1650–1654 halved the city's population.
In the 18th century, a fortress was built at Montjuïc that overlooked the harbour. In 1794, this fortress was used by the French astronomer Pierre François André Méchain for observations relating to a survey stretching to Dunkirk that provided the official basis of the measurement of a metre. The definitive metre bar, manufactured from platinum, was presented to the French legislative assembly on 22 June 1799. Much of Barcelona was negatively affected by the Napoleonic wars, but the start of industrialization saw the fortunes of the province improve.
During the Spanish Civil War, the city, and Catalonia in general, were resolutely Republican. Many enterprises and public services were "collectivised" by the CNT and UGT unions. As the power of the Republican government and the Generalitat diminished, much of the city was under the effective control of anarchist groups. The anarchists lost control of the city to their own allies, the Communists and official government troops, after the street fighting of the Barcelona May Days. The fall of the city on 26 January 1939, caused a mass exodus of civilians who fled to the French border. The resistance of Barcelona to Franco's coup d'état was to have lasting effects after the defeat of the Republican government. The autonomous institutions of Catalonia were abolished, and the use of the Catalan language in public life was suppressed. Barcelona remained the second largest city in Spain, at the heart of a region which was relatively industrialised and prosperous, despite the devastation of the civil war. The result was a large-scale immigration from poorer regions of Spain (particularly Andalusia, Murcia and Galicia), which in turn led to rapid urbanisation. The city gained vitality in 1992 when it hosted the Olympic games.
Geography
Location
Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea, on a plain approximately wide limited by the mountain range of Collserola, the Llobregat river to the southwest and the Besòs river to the north. This plain covers an area of , of which are occupied by the city itself. It is south of the Pyrenees and the Catalan border with France.
Tibidabo, high, offers striking views over the city and is topped by the Torre de Collserola, a telecommunications tower that is visible from most of the city. Barcelona is peppered with small hills, most of them urbanised, that gave their name to the neighbourhoods built upon them, such as Carmel (267 m), Putget (181 m) and Rovira (261 m). The escarpment of Montjuïc (173 m), situated to the southeast, overlooks the harbour and is topped by Montjuïc castle, a fortress built in the 17–18th centuries to control the city as a replacement for the Ciutadella. Today, the fortress is a museum and Montjuïc is home to several sporting and cultural venues, as well as Barcelona's biggest park and gardens.
The city borders on the municipalities of Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià de Besòs to the north; the Mediterranean Sea to the east; El Prat de Llobregat and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south; and Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Sant Just Desvern, Esplugues de Llobregat, Sant Cugat del Vallès, and Montcada i Reixac to the west. The municipality includes two small sparsely-inhabited exclaves to the north-west.
Climate
Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), with mild, humid winters and warm, dry summers.
Its average annual temperature is during the day and at night. The average annual temperature of the sea is about . In the coldest month – January, the temperature typically ranges from during the day, at night and the average sea temperature is . In the warmest month – August, the typical temperature ranges from during the day, about at night and the average sea temperature is . Generally – the summer / "holiday" season lasts about six months, from May to October. Two months – April and November – are transitional; sometimes the temperature exceeds , with an average temperature of during the day and at night. December, January and February are the coldest months, with average temperatures around during the day and at night. Large fluctuations in temperature are rare, particularly in the summer months. Because of the proximity to the warm sea, frosts are very infrequent in the city of Barcelona. In fact, only 1 day in the last 30 years was recorded with a temperature under the freezing mark. Snow is infrequent, but it snows lightly once or twice in a decade.
Barcelona averages several rainy days per month (≥ 1 mm), and annual average relative humidity is 72%, ranging from 69% in July to 75% in October. Rainfall totals are highest in autumn and lowest in early summer. Sunshine duration is 2,524 hours per year, from 138 (average 4.5 hours of sunshine a day) in December to 310 (average 10 hours of sunshine a day) in July.
Main sights
The Barri Gòtic (Catalan for "Gothic Quarter") is the center of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona. Catalan modernista architecture (related to the movement known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe), developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. Several of these buildings are World Heritage Sites. Especially remarkable is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí, which can be seen throughout the city. His best-known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the Sagrada Família, which has been under construction since 1882, and is still financed by private donations. As of 2007, completion is planned for 2026.
Barcelona was also home to Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion. Designed in 1929 for the International Exposition for Germany, it is an iconic building that came to symbolize modern architecture as the embodiment of van der Rohe's aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details." The Barcelona pavilion was intended as a temporary structure, and was torn down in 1930 less than a year after it was constructed. A modern re-creation by Spanish architects now stands in Barcelona, however, constructed in 1986.
Barcelona won the 1999 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for its architecture, the first (and as of 2015, only) time that the winner has been a city, and not an individual architect.
World Heritage Sites
Barcelona is the home of many points of interest declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO:
Historic buildings and monuments
Minor basilica of Sagrada Família, the international symbol of Barcelona
Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, included in the UNESCO Heritage List in 1997.
Works by Antoni Gaudí, including Park Güell, Palau Güell, Casa Milà (La Pedrera), Casa Vicens, Sagrada Família (Nativity façade and crypt), Casa Batlló, Crypt in Colonia Güell. The first three works were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984. The other four were added as extensions to the site in 2005.
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia (Gothic)
Gothic basilica of Santa Maria del Mar
Gothic basilica of Santa Maria del Pi
Romanesque church of Sant Pau del Camp
Palau Reial Major, medieval residence of the sovereign Counts of Barcelona, later Kings of Aragon
The Royal Shipyard (gothic)
Monastery of Pedralbes (gothic)
The Columbus Monument
The Arc de Triomf, a triumphal arch built for entrance to 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition.
Expiatory church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the summit of Tibidabo.
Museums
Barcelona has a great number of museums, which cover different areas and eras. The National Museum of Art of Catalonia possesses a well-known collection of Romanesque art while the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on post-1945 Catalan and Spanish art. The Fundació Joan Miró, Picasso Museum and Fundació Antoni Tàpies hold important collections of these world-renowned artists, as well as Can Framis Museum, focused on post 1960 Catalan Art owned by Fundació Vila Casas.
Several museums cover the fields of history and archeology, like the Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA), the Museum of the History of Catalonia, the Archeology Museum of Catalonia, the Barcelona Maritime Museum and the private-owned Egyptian Museum. The Erotic museum of Barcelona is among the most peculiar ones, while Cosmocaixa is a science museum that received the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006.
The FC Barcelona Museum has been the most visited museum in the city of Barcelona with 1506022 of visitors in 2013.
Parks
Barcelona contains sixty-eight municipal parks, of which twelve are historic parks, five are thematic (botanical) parks, forty-five are urban parks and six are forest parks. They range from vest-pocket parks to large recreation areas. The urban parks alone cover 10% of the city (). The total park surface grows about per year, with a proportion of of park area per inhabitant.
Of Barcelona's parks, Montjuïc is the largest, with 203 ha located on the mountain of the same name. It is followed by Parc de la Ciutadella (which occupies the site of the old military citadel and which houses the Parliament building, the Barcelona Zoo and several museums); including the zoo), the Guinardó Park (), Park Güell (designed by Antoni Gaudí; ), Oreneta Castle Park (also ), Diagonal Mar Park (, inaugurated in 2002), Nou Barris Central Park (), Can Dragó Sports Park and Poblenou Park (both ), the Labyrinth Park (), named after the garden maze it contains. There are also several smaller parks, for example, the Parc de les Aigües (). A part of the Collserolla Park is also within the city limits. PortAventura, one of the largest amusement parks in Europe with 3,000,000 visitors per year, is located one hour's drive from Barcelona. Also, within the city lies Tibidabo Amusement Park, a smaller amusement park in Plaza del Tibidabo, with the Muntanya Russa amusement ride.
Beaches
Barcelona beach was listed as number one in a list of the top ten city beaches in the world according to National Geographic and Discovery Channel. Barcelona contains seven beaches, totalling (2.8 mi) of coastline. Sant Sebastià, Barceloneta and Somorrostro beaches, both in length, are the largest, oldest and the most-frequented beaches in Barcelona.
The Olympic Harbour separates them from the other city beaches: Nova Icària, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. These beaches (ranging from were opened as a result of the city restructuring to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, when a great number of industrial buildings were demolished. At present, the beach sand is artificially replenished given that storms regularly remove large quantities of material. The 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures left the city a large concrete bathing zone on the eastmost part of the city's coastline.
Demographics
According to Barcelona's City Council, Barcelona's population as of 1 June 2006 was 1,673,075 people, on a land area of . It is the main component of an administrative area of Greater Barcelona, with a population of 3,218,071 in an area of (density 5,060 hab/km²). The population of the urban area was 4,223,000. It is the central nucleus of the Barcelona metropolitan area, which relies on a population of 5,083,000.
The population density of Barcelona was , with Eixample being the most populated district. 62% of the inhabitants were born in Catalonia, with a 23.5% coming from the rest of Spain. Of the 17.4% from other countries, a proportion which has more than quadrupled since 2001 when it was 3.9%, the majority come from (in order) Pakistan, Italy, China, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Morocco. The city has the largest Muslim community in Spain, 322.698 people in Barcelona are of Muslim faith. The city also has the largest Jewish community in Spain, with an estimated 3,500 Jews living in the city. There is a Japanese community clustered in Bonanova, Les Tres Torres, Pedralbes, and other northern neighborhoods, and a Japanese international school serves that community.
Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. After Spanish, Catalan language is the second most spoken one in the city, and it is understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% can speak it, 79% can read it, and 53% can write it, thanks to the language immersion educational system.
While most of the population state they are Roman Catholic (208 churches), a number of Muslims due to immigration (169 locations, mostly professed by Moroccans in Spain), there are also a number of other groups, including Evangelical (71 locations, mostly professed by Roma), Jehovah's Witnesses (21 Kingdom Halls) and Buddhists (13 locations), and Eastern Orthodox.
In 1900, Barcelona had a population of 533,000 people, which grew steadily but slowly until 1950, when it started absorbing a high number of people from other less-industrialized parts of Spain. Barcelona's population peaked in 1979 with 1,906,998 people, and fell throughout the 1980s and 1990s as more people sought a higher quality of life in outlying cities in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. After bottoming out in 2000 with 1,496,266 people, the city's population began to rise again as younger people started to return, causing a great increase in housing prices.
Population density
Note: This text is entirely based on the municipal statistical database provided by the city council.
Barcelona is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. For the year 2008 the city council calculated the population to 1,621,090 living in the 102.2 km2 sized municipality, giving the city an average population density of 15,926 inhabitants per square kilometre.
In the case of Barcelona though, the land distribution is extremely uneven. Half of the municipality or 50.2 km2, all of it located on the municipal edge is made up of the ten least densely populated neighbourhoods containing less than 10% of the city's population, the uninhabited Zona Franca industrial area and Montjuïc forest park. Leaving the remaining 90% or slightly below 1.5 million inhabitants living on the remaining 52 km2 at an average density close to 28,500 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Of the 73 neighbourhoods in the city, 45 had a population density above 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometre with a combined population of 1,313,424 inhabitants living on 38.6 km2 at an average density of 33,987 inhabitants per square km. The 30 most densely populated neighbourhoods accounted for 57.5% of the city population occupying only 22,7% of the municipality, or in other words, 936,406 people living at an average density of 40,322 inhabitants per square kilometre. The city's highest density is found at and around the neighbourhood of la Sagrada Família where four of the city's most densely populated neighbourhoods are located side by side, all with a population density above 50,000 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Religion
In a 2011 survey conducted by InfoCatólica, 49.5% of Barcelona residents of all ages identified themselves as Catholic. This was the first time that more than half of respondents did not identify themselves as Catholic. The numbers reflect a broader trend in Spain whereby the numbers of self-identified Catholics have declined.
In 2014, 322,698 people in Barcelona identified themselves as Muslim.
Economy
General information
The Barcelona metropolitan area comprises over 66% of the people in one of the richest regions in Europe – Catalonia, with a GDP per capita amounting to €28,400 (16% more than the EU average). The Barcelona metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $177 billion, equivalent to $34,821 in per capita terms (44% more than the EU average) making it the 4th most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union and 35th in the world in 2009. Barcelona city had a very high GDP of €80,894 per head in 2004, according to Eurostat. Furthermore, Barcelona was Europe's fourth best business city and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 17% per year as of 2009.
Barcelona is the 14th most "livable city" in the world according to lifestyle magazine Monocle. Similarly, according to Innovation Analysts 2thinknow, Barcelona occupies 13th place in the world on Innovation Cities™ Global Index.
Barcelona has a long-standing mercantile tradition. Less well known is that the region was one of the earliest to begin industrialization in continental Europe, beginning with textile-related works from the mid-1780s but really gathering momentum in the mid-19th century, when it became a major center for the production of textiles and machinery. Since then, manufacturing has played a large role in its history.
Borsa de Barcelona (Barcelona Stock Exchange) is the main stock exchange in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
Barcelona was recognised as the Southern European City of the Future for 2014/15, based on its economic potential, by FDi Magazine in their bi-annual rankings.
Trade fair and exhibitions
Drawing upon its tradition of creative art and craftsmanship, Barcelona is known for its award-winning industrial design. It also has several congress halls, notably Fira de Barcelona – the second largest trade fair and exhibition center in Europe, that host a quickly growing number of national and international events each year (at present above 50). The total exhibition floor space of Fira de Barcelona venues is , not counting Gran Via center on the Plaza de Europa. However, the Eurozone crisis and deep cuts in business travel affected the Council's positioning of the city as a convention center.
An important business center, the World Trade Center Barcelona, is located in Barcelona's Port Vell harbour.
The city is known for hosting well as world-class conferences and expositions, including the 1888 Exposición Universal de Barcelona, the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition (Expo 1929), the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures and the 2004 World Urban Forum.
Tourism
Barcelona is the 10th-most-visited city in the world and the third most visited in Europe after London and Paris, with 8 million tourists every year since 2012. With its Rambles, Barcelona is ranked the most popular city to visit in Spain.
Barcelona as internationally renowned a tourist destination, with numerous recreational areas, one of the best beaches in the world, mild and warm climate, historical monuments, including eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, many good-quality hotels, and developed tourist infrastructure.
Manufacturing sector
Industry generates 21% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the region, with the energy, chemical and metallurgy industries accounting for 47% of industrial production. The Barcelona metropolitan area had 67% of the total number of industrial establishments in Catalonia as of 1997.
Barcelona has long been an important European automobile manufacturing center. Formerly there were automobile factories of AFA, Abadal, Actividades Industriales, Alvarez, America, Artés de Arcos, Balandrás, Baradat-Esteve, Biscúter, J. Castro, Clúa, David, Delfín, Díaz y Grilló, Ebro trucks, Edis, Elizalde, Automóviles España, Eucort, Fenix, Fábrica Hispano, Auto Academia Garriga, Fábrica Española de Automóviles Hebe, Hispano-Suiza, Huracán Motors, Talleres Hereter, Junior SL, Kapi, La Cuadra, M.A., Automóviles Matas, Motores y Motos, Nacional Custals, National Pescara, Nacional RG, Nacional Rubi, Nacional Sitjes, Automóviles Nike, Orix, Otro Ford, Partia, Pegaso, PTV, Ricart, Ricart-España, Industrias Salvador, Siata Española, Stevenson, Romagosa y Compañía, Garaje Storm, Talleres Hereter, Trimak, Automóviles Victoria, Manufacturas Mecánicas Aleu.
Today, the headquarters and a large factory of SEAT (the largest Spanish automobile manufacturer) are in one of its suburbs. There is also a Nissan factory in the logistics and industrial area of the city. The factory of Derbi, a large manufacturer of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds, also lies near the city.
As in other modern cities, the manufacturing sector has long since been overtaken by the services sector, though it remains very important. The region's leading industries are textiles, chemical, pharmaceutical, motor, electronic, printing, logistics, publishing, telecommunications and information technology services.
Fashion
The traditional importance of textiles is reflected in Barcelona's drive to become a major fashion center. There have been many attempts to launch Barcelona as a fashion capital, notably Gaudi Home.
Beginning in the summer of 2000, the city hosted the prestigious Bread & Butter urban fashion fair until 2009, when its organisers announced that it would be returning to Berlin. This was a hard blow for the city as the fair brought €100 m to the city in just three days.
Since 2009, The Brandery, an urban fashion show, has been held in Barcelona twice a year. In 2012, Barcelona was named as the third most important fashion capital according to the Global Language Monitor’s annual ranking of the world's top fifty fashion capitals.
Government and administrative divisions
As the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Barcelona is the seat of the Catalan government, known as the Generalitat de Catalunya; of particular note are the executive branch, the parliament, and the Supreme Court of Catalonia. The city is also the capital of the Province of Barcelona and the Barcelonès comarca (district).
Barcelona is governed by a city council formed by 41 city councillors, elected for a four-year term by universal suffrage. As one of the two biggest cities in Spain, Barcelona is subject to a special law articulated through the Carta Municipal (Municipal Law). A first version of this law was passed in 1960 and amended later, but the current version was approved in March 2006. According to this law, Barcelona's city council is organized in two levels: a political one, with elected city councillors, and one executive, which administrates the programs and executes the decisions taken on the political level. This law also gives the local government a special relationship with the central government and it also gives the mayor wider prerogatives by the means of municipal executive commissions. It expands the powers of the city council in areas like telecommunications, city traffic, road safety and public safety. It also gives a special economic regime to the city's treasury and it gives the council a veto in matters that will be decided by the central government, but that will need a favourable report from the council.
The Comissió de Govern (Government Commission) is the executive branch, formed by 24 councillors, led by the Mayor, with 5 lieutenant-mayors and 17 city councillors, each in charge of an area of government, and 5 non-elected councillors. The plenary, formed by the 41 city councillors, has advisory, planning, regulatory, and fiscal executive functions. The six Commissions del Consell Municipal (City council commissions) have executive and controlling functions in the field of their jurisdiction. They are composed by a number of councillors proportional to the number of councillors each political party has in the plenary. The city council has jurisdiction in the fields of city planning, transportation, municipal taxes, public highways security through the Guàrdia Urbana (the municipal police), city maintenance, gardens, parks and environment, facilities (like schools, nurseries, sports centers, libraries, and so on), culture, sports, youth and social welfare. Some of these competencies are not exclusive, but shared with the Generalitat de Catalunya or the central Spanish government. In some fields with shared responsibility (such as public health, education or social services), there is a shared Agency or Consortium between the city and the Generalitat to plan and manage services.
The executive branch is led by a Chief Municipal Executive Officer which answers to the Mayor. It is made up of departments which are legally part of the city council and by separate legal entities of two types: autonomous public departments and public enterprises.
The seat of the city council is on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, opposite the seat of Generalitat de Catalunya. Since the coming of the Spanish democracy, Barcelona had been governed by the PSC, first with an absolute majority and later in coalition with ERC and ICV. After the May 2007 election, the ERC did not renew the coalition agreement and the PSC governed in a minority coalition with ICV as the junior partner.
After 32 years, on 22 May 2011, CiU gained a plurality of seats at the municipal election, gaining 15 seats to the PSC's 11. The PP hold 8 seats, ICV 5 and ERC 2.
Districts
Since 1987, the city has been divided into 10 administrative districts (districtes in Catalan, distritos in Spanish):
Ciutat Vella
Eixample
Sants-Montjuïc
Les Corts
Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
Gràcia
Horta-Guinardó
Nou Barris
Sant Andreu
Sant Martí
The districts are based mostly on historical divisions, and several are former towns annexed by the city of Barcelona in the 18th and 19th centuries that still maintain their own distinct character. Each district has its own council led by a city councillor. The composition of each district council depends on the number of votes each political party had in that district, so a district can be led by a councillor from a different party than the executive council.
Education
Barcelona has a well-developed higher education system of public universities. Most prominent among these is the University of Barcelona (established in 1450), a world-renowned research and teaching institution with campuses around the city. Barcelona is also home to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and the newer Pompeu Fabra University, and, in the private sector the EADA Business School founded in 1957, became the first Barcelona institution to run manager training programmes for the business community. IESE Business School, as well as the largest private educational institution, the Ramon Llull University, which encompasses internationally prestigious schools and institutes such as the ESADE Business School. The Autonomous University of Barcelona, another public university, is located in Bellaterra, a town in the Metropolitan Area. Toulouse Business School and the Open University of Catalonia (a private Internet-centered open university) are also based in Barcelona.
The city has a network of public schools, from nurseries to high schools, under the responsibility of a consortium led by city council (though the curriculum is the responsibility of the Generalitat de Catalunya). There are also many private schools, some of them Roman Catholic. Most such schools receive a public subsidy on a per-student basis, are subject to inspection by the public authorities, and are required to follow the same curricular guidelines as public schools, though they charge tuition. Known as escoles concertades, they are distinct from schools whose funding is entirely private (escoles privades).
The language of instruction at public schools and escoles concertades is Catalan, as stipulated by the 2009 Catalan Education Act (in court for discrimination). Spanish may be used as a language of instruction by teachers of Spanish literature or language, and foreign languages by teachers of those languages. An experimental partial immersion programme adopted by some schools allows for the teaching of a foreign language (English, generally) across the curriculum, though this is limited to a maximum of 30% of the school day. No public school or escola concertada in Barcelona may offer 50% or full immersion programmes in a foreign language, nor does any public school or escola concertada offer International Baccalaureate programmes.
Culture
Barcelona's cultural roots go back 2000 years. Since the arrival of democracy, the Catalan language (very much repressed during the dictatorship of Franco) has been promoted, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works. Barcelona is designated as a world-class city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network.
Entertainment and performing arts
Barcelona has many venues for live music and theatre, including the world-renowned Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the Teatre Lliure and the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall. Barcelona also is home to the Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphonic Orchestra (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, usually known as OBC), the largest symphonic orchestra in Catalonia. In 1999, the OBC inaugurated its new venue in the brand-new Auditorium (l'Auditori). It performs around 75 concerts per season and its current director is Eiji Oue.
The major thoroughfare of Las Ramblas is home to mime artists and street performers.
Yearly two major pop music festivals take place in the city, the Sónar Festival and the Primavera Sound Festival. The city also has a thriving alternative music scene, with groups such as The Pinker Tones receiving international attention.
Media
El Periódico de Catalunya, La Vanguardia and Ara are Barcelona's three major daily newspapers (the first two with Catalan and Spanish editions, Ara only in Catalan) while Sport and El Mundo Deportivo (both in Spanish) are the city's two major sports daily newspapers, published by the same companies. The city is also served by a number of smaller publications such as Ara and El Punt Avui (in Catalan), by nationwide newspapers with special Barcelona editions like El Pais (in Spanish, with an online version in Catalan) and El Mundo (in Spanish), and by several free newspapers like 20 minutos and Què (all bilingual).
Barcelona oldest and main online newspaper VilaWeb is the oldest one also in Europe (with Catalan and English editions)
Several major FM stations include Catalunya Ràdio, RAC 1, RAC 105 and Cadena SER. Barcelona also has a local TV stations, BTV, owned by city council. The headquarters of Televisió de Catalunya, Catalonia's public network, are located in Sant Joan Despí, in Barcelona's metropolitan area.
Sports
Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the highly successful 1992 Summer Olympics as well as several matches during the 1982 FIFA World Cup (at the two stadiums). It has also hosted, among others, about 30 sports events of international significance.
FC Barcelona is a sports club best known worldwide for its football team, one of the largest in the world and second richest football club in the world. It has 64 of national (likewise 41 runners-up) and 16 continental (likewise 10 runners-up) trophies, including five of the UEFA Champions League (likewise 3 runners-up) and three of the FIFA Club World Cup (likewise 1 runners-up). Also, it is the only men's club in the world to accomplish a sextuple. FC Barcelona also has teams in FC Barcelona Regal (basketball), FC Barcelona Handbol (the handball), FC Barcelona Hoquei (roller hockey), FC Barcelona Ice Hockey (ice hockey), FC Barcelona Futsal (futsal) and FC Barcelona Rugby (rugby union), all of them winners of the highest country or/and European competitions. The club's museum is the second most visited in Catalonia. Twice a season, FC Barcelona and cross-town rivals RCD Espanyol contest in the local derby in La Liga, while its basketball section has its own local derby in Liga ACB with nearby Joventut Badalona. Barcelona also has other clubs in lower categories, like CE Europa and UE Sant Andreu.
Barcelona has two UEFA elite stadiums: FC Barcelona's Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 100,000 and the publicly owned Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, with a capacity of 55,000; used for the 1992 Olympics. Also, the city has several smaller stadiums such as Mini Estadi, with a capacity of 15,000 and Camp Municipal Narcís Sala, Nou Sardenya with a capacity of 7,000. In the suburbs of Barcelona there is a third UEFA elite stadium – Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, with a capacity of 40,000. Also, except Palau Sant Jordi (St. George's sporting arena), with a capacity of 12,000–24,000 (depending on use), city has two other larger sporting and concert arena: Palau Blaugrana, with a capacity of 7,500 and Palau dels Esports de Barcelona.
Barcelona was also the host city for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, which were held at the Palau San Jordi.
Several road running competitions are organized year-round in Barcelona: the Barcelona Marathon every March with over 10,000 participants in 2010, the Cursa de Bombers in April, the Cursa de El Corte Inglés in May (with about 60,000 participants each year), the Cursa de la Mercè, the Cursa Jean Bouin, the Milla Sagrada Família and the San Silvestre. The Open Seat Godó, a 50-year-old ATP World Tour 500 Series tennis tournament, is held annually in the facilities of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona (Barcelona Royal Tennis Club). Also, each Christmas, a swimming race across the port is organized. Near Barcelona, in Montmeló, the 107,000 capacity Circuit de Catalunya / Circuit de Barcelona racetrack hosts the Formula One World Championship, Formula One Spanish Grand Prix, Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, Spanish GT Championship and GP2 Series. Skateboarding and bicycling are also very popular in Barcelona. In the city and the metropolitan area, there are tens of km of bicycle paths.
Transport
Airports
Barcelona is served by Barcelona-El Prat Airport, about from the center of Barcelona. It is the second-largest airport in Spain, and the largest on the Mediterranean coast, which handles more than 37.5 million passengers a year, showing an annual upward trend. It is a main hub for Vueling Airlines and Ryanair, and also a focus for Iberia and Air Europa. The airport mainly serves domestic and European destinations, although some airlines offer destinations in Latin America, Asia and the United States. The airport is connected to the city by highway, commuter train (Barcelona Airport railway station) and scheduled bus service. A new terminal (T1) has been built, and entered service on 17 June 2009.
Some low-cost airlines, such as Transavia.com and Ryanair, also use Girona-Costa Brava Airport, about to the north, Reus Airport, to the south, or Lleida-Alguaire Airport, about to the west, of the city. Sabadell Airport is a smaller airport in the nearby town of Sabadell, devoted to pilot training, aerotaxi and private flights.
Seaport
The Port of Barcelona has a 2000-year-old history and a great contemporary commercial importance. It is Europe's ninth largest container port, with a trade volume of 1.72 million TEU's in 2013. The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the old port), the commercial port and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size thanks to diverting the mouth of the Llobregat river (1¼ mi) to the south.
The Barcelona harbour is the leading European cruiser port and a most important Mediterranean turnaround base. In 2013, 3,6 million of pleasure cruises passengers used services of the Port of Barcelona.
The Port Vell area also houses the Maremagnum (a commercial mall), a multiplex cinema, the IMAX Port Vell and one of Europe's largest aquariums – Aquarium Barcelona, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks contained in 22 basins filled with 4 million litres of sea water. The Maremagnum, being situated within the confines of the port, is the only commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays and public holidays.
Railway
Barcelona is a major hub for RENFE, the Spanish state railway network. The city's main Inter-city rail station is Barcelona-Sants station, whilst Estació de França terminus serves a secondary role handling suburban, regional and medium distance services. Freight services operate to local industries and to the Port of Barcelona.
RENFE's AVE high-speed rail system, which is designed for speeds of , was extended from Madrid to Barcelona in 2008 in the form of the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line. A shared RENFE-SNCF high-speed rail connecting Barcelona and France (Paris, Marseilles and Toulouse, through Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line) was launched in 2013. Both these lines serve Barcelona Sants terminal station.
Besides RENFE's services, other rail services in the Barcelona area are operated by the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC), owned by the Catalonian government. The FGC operates largely commuter rail services, but also carries freight to the Port of Barcelona, as well as a number of rack railways and funiculars, and three of the lines of the Barcelona Metro (see local public transport below). Other suburban services are operated by Rodalies de Catalunya over RENFE tracks.
Roads and highways
Barcelona lies on three international routes, including European route E15 that follows the Mediterranean coast, European route E90 to Madrid and Lisbon, and European route E09 to Paris. It is also served by a comprehensive network of motorways and highways throughout the metropolitan area, including A-2, A-7/AP-7, C-16, C-17, C-31, C-32, C-33, C-60.
The city is circled by three half ring roads or bypasses, Ronda de Dalt (B-20) (on the mountain side), Ronda del Litoral (B-10) (along the coast) and Ronda del Mig (separated into two parts: Travessera de Dalt in the north and the Gran Via de Carles III), two partially covered fast highways with several exits that bypass the city.
The city's main arteries include Diagonal Avenue, which crosses it diagonally, Meridiana Avenue which leads to Glòries and connects with Diagonal Avenue and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, which crosses the city from east to west, passing through its center. The famous boulevard of La Rambla, whilst no longer an important vehicular route, remains an important pedestrian route.
The Estació del Nord (Northern Station), a former railway station which was renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games, now serves as the terminus for long-distance and regional bus services.
Local public transport
Barcelona is served by a comprehensive local public transport network that includes a metro, a bus network, two separate modern tram networks, a separate historic tram line, and several funiculars and aerial cable cars. Most of these networks and lines form a coordinated fare system, administered by the Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (ATM), although they are operated by a number of different bodies.
The largely underground Barcelona Metro network comprises eleven lines, identified by an "L" followed by the line number as well as by individual colours. Eight of these lines are operated on dedicated track by the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), whilst three lines are operated by the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) and share tracks with that company's commuter lines.
Another company, TRAMMET, operates the city's two modern tram networks, known as Trambaix and Trambesòs. The historic tram line, the Tramvia Blau, connects the metro (L7, operated by FGC) to the Funicular del Tibidabo (operated by TMB). The Funicular de Tibidabo climbs the Tibidabo hill, as does the Funicular de Vallvidrera (FGC). The Funicular de Montjuïc (TMB) climbs the Montjuïc hill. The city has two aerial cable cars: the Montjuïc Cable Car (to the Montjuïc castle) and the Port Vell Aerial Tramway that runs via Torre Jaume I and Torre Sant Sebastià over the port.
Buses in Barcelona are a major form of public transport, with extensive local, interurban and night bus networks. Most local services are operated by the TMB, although some other services are operated by a number of private companies, albeit still within the ATM fare structure. A separate private bus line, known as Aerobús, links the airport with the city center, with its own fare structure.
Barcelona has a metered taxi fleet governed by the Institut Metropolità del Taxi (Metropolitan Taxi Institute), composed of more than 10,000 cars. Most of the licences are in the hands of self-employed drivers. With their black and yellow livery, Barcelona's taxis are easily spotted, and can be caught from one of many taxi ranks, hailed on street, or called by telephone.
On 22 March 2007, Barcelona's City Council started the Bicing service, a bicycle service understood as a public transport. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the more than 400 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere the urban area of the city, and then leave it at another station. The service has been a success, with 50,000 subscribed users in three months.
International relations
Twin towns and sister cities
Barcelona is twinned with the following cities:(in chronological order)
Montpellier, France, 1963
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1972
Monterrey, Mexico, 1977
Boston, USA, 1983
Busan, South Korea, 1983
Cologne, Germany, 1984
São Paulo, Brazil, 1985
Montevideo, Uruguay, 1985
Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1985
Gdańsk, Poland, 1990
Havana, Cuba, 1993
Kobe, Japan, 1993
Antwerp, Belgium, 1997
Istanbul, Turkey, 1997
Gaza, Palestinian Territories, 1998
Tel Aviv, Israel, 1998
Dublin, Ireland, 1998
Athens, Greece, 1999
Isfahan, Iran, 2000
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2000
Valparaíso, Chile, 2001
Shanghai, China, 2001
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2006
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 2008
Cebu City, Philippines, 2009
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2009
San Francisco, USA, 2010
Partnerships and cooperations
Other forms of cooperation and city friendship similar to the twin city programmes exist to many cities worldwide.
Turin, Italy
Shenzhen, China
Other sights
See also
List of markets in Barcelona
List of tallest buildings in Barcelona
Plans for Winter Olympics held in Barcelona
References
Notes
Bibliography
Busquets, Joan. Barcelona: The Urban Evolution of a Compact City (Harvard UP, 2006) 468 pp.
Marshall, Tim, ed. Transforming Barcelona (Routledge, 2004), 267 pp.
Ramon Resina, Joan. Barcelona's Vocation of Modernity: Rise and Decline of an Urban Image (Stanford UP, 2008). 272 pp.
External links
Official website of Barcelona
Official website of Barcelona in the Spain's national tourism portal
Category:10s BC establishments in Spain
Category:Historic Jewish communities
Category:Mediterranean port cities and towns in Spain
Category:Municipalities in Barcelonès
Category:Phoenician colonies in Spain
Category:Populated places in Barcelonès
Category:Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal
Category:Roman sites in Spain
Category:University towns in Spain |
2016-01 | Smosh-697229775 | Smosh | Smosh
Smosh is an American web-based sketch comedy duo consisting of Ian Andrew Hecox (born November 30, 1987) and Anthony Padilla (born September 16, 1987).
Padilla began posting flash animations on Newgrounds in 2003, under the name Smosh. He was later joined by his friend Ian Hecox. Soon afterward, they began to post videos on YouTube in the autumn of 2005 and became one of the most popular channels on that site. , the Smosh channel has more than 21 million subscribers and 5.0 billion video views. The Smosh team has expanded to include others to handle animated, other language, and video gaming content videos, and the sketches have included more actors.
The Smosh channel has experienced three different spans as the most subscribed YouTube channel. The first period spanned from May to June 2006, the second spanned from April 2007 to September 2008, and the third span lasted from January to August 2013.
History
Formation and Pokémon Theme Music Video: 2002–2006
The franchise began when Anthony Padilla built a website in 2002, smosh.com, and made several different Flash animations. He has stated that the name Smosh came from an incident where he mistook a friend explaining a mosh pit, as a "smosh pit". Later, his friend, Ian Hecox, joined the venture. Padilla and Hecox first met in their sixth grade science class. They became friends, and quickly discovered their knack for comedy. In 2005, they joined YouTube and made several videos together, lip syncing the theme songs to Mortal Kombat, Power Rangers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At first, these videos were not intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they started a YouTube channel.
One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video," was released in November 2005. It followed the same style as their other earlier videos, featuring the duo lip-synching the original English theme song for the Pokémon anime. However, the video instantly became much more popular than any of their other videos; over the course of its lifetime, it gained 24.7 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on all of YouTube at that time. It held that title for about six months until it was removed.
The success of their Pokémon video and other videos led Smosh to be featured in the "Person of the Year: You" issue of Time Magazine, published December 13, 2006 and on Time.com. In March 2007, a user named Andii2000 re-uploaded the original Pokémon video; it has over 15.7 million views . Due to the channel's continued success, and Smosh's partnership with YouTube, the two recreated the video in November 2010, this time changing the words to be critical of The Pokémon Company taking down the Pokémon theme video.
YouTube success: 2006–2012
Over the course of the next few years, Smosh began to diversify. They started making short YouTube skits, such as their annual video series Food Battle and That Damn Neighbor. Smosh continued to grow in popularity and became one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube. In 2009, Smosh prepared a massive redesign of Smosh.com, added a games section, and put extras in the video section. In January 2010, Smosh launched the "Smosh Pit" feature, a blog that consists of various pieces of pop-culture trivia, and written comedy. In addition, 2010 saw the channel launch 3 different Smosh-based web series: Ian Is Bored, which started as a collection of comedic videos by Hecox, but then turned into both Hecox and Padilla making vlog like videos, and renamed Smosh Is Bored; Ask Charlie, where people ask Charlie, from their January 2010 Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig video, random questions; and Lunchtime with Smosh, a comedy series featuring Smosh getting and eating food from various places, and answering Twitter questions from their fans on Twitter. Some of Smosh's most popular video series include Pokémon in Real Life and If ____ Was Real. Also in early 2010, Smosh created the "iShut Up App" for Android phones as part of a Google sponsorship; it eventually made its way to the iTunes app store. In 2011, Smosh was acquired by Alloy Digital.
Expansion: 2012–present
In 2012, the duo started three new YouTube channels, ElSmosh, with Smosh videos dubbed in Spanish, Shut Up! Cartoons, with various animated videos, and Smosh Games, with gaming related content hosted alongside Mari Takahashi, David "Lasercorn" Moss, Matthew Sohinki, and Joshua "Jovenshire" Ovenshire. Some of Smosh's most popular videos are video-game themed music videos. These songs (along with other original songs) have been released in 4 albums to date – Sexy Album (2010), If Music Were Real (2011), Smoshtastic (2012), and The Sweet Sound of Smosh (2013). In January 2013, the Smosh channel surpassed Ray William Johnson in subscribers. Smosh released Super Head Esploder X, a video game for iPads, iPhones, and iPods, in February 2013, and in July 2013 started an Indiegogo campaign for an iOS and PC game, Food Battle: The Game. Hecox and Padilla raised $258,777 to hire video game producers to create a game based on their characters and the foods used in their annual Food Battle series. Smosh donated 10% of the funds to three charities in November 2014, as well as releasing the game.
In February 2014, Smosh released a mobile app to access Smosh videos and other content from their website, and in late 2014 an Xbox One app. Also in late 2014, fan run channel Smosh France became an official Smosh channel. In March 2015, Smosh re-launched the Smosh Games Alliance, a multi-channel network where fans join to enjoy network benefits in exchange for a percentage of the ad revenue. In 2015 the duo announced Noah Grossman, Keith Leak II, Olivia Sui, Courtney Miller, and Shayne Topp, as new regular cast members for Smosh videos.
Film
On September 18, 2014, Lionsgate announced that a feature-length movie was in development, Smosh: The Movie was released on July 23, 2015. It is directed by Alex Winter, written by Eric Falconer, and aside from Hecox and Padilla, stars Jenna Marbles, Grace Helbig, Harley Morenstein, Michael Ian Black, Mark Fischbach (Markiplier), and Steve Austin. Smosh is also giving their voices to the animated feature film The Angry Birds Movie, scheduled to premiere in 2016.
Channels
Ten Smosh-related channels exist on YouTube, though only seven have scheduled content.
Smosh (youtube.com/smosh)
The base "Smosh" channel, where the team post skits and other videos starring Noah Grossman, Ian Hecox, Keith Leak II, Courtney Miller, Anthony Padilla, Olivia Sui, and Shayne Topp. Videos are uploaded every Friday and every other Tuesday, and behind the scenes (BTS) are released in the following days. It has over 21 million subscribers and over 5.0 billion views. Grossman, Miller, Sui, and Topp also have their own channels, which are not considered part of the Smosh roster.
Smosh Games (youtube.com/SmoshGames)
"Smosh Games" uploads numerous videos a week, consisting of Let's Plays and video game commentary shows. Padilla and Hecox appear less regularly on this channel, with fellow Smosh Games members Mari Takahashi, David "Lasercorn" Moss, Matthew Sohinki, Joshua "Jovenshire" Ovenshire, Amra "Flitz" Ricketts, and Wesley "Wes The Editor" Johnson handling most hosting duties. It has over 6.5 million subscribers, and over 1.8 billion video views as of December 2015. Takahashi, Moss, Sohinki, Ovenshire, Ricketts, and Johnson also have their own channels, which are not considered part of the Smosh roster.
Smosh 2nd Channel (youtube.com/IanH)
From "Smosh 2nd Channel" (originally named "IanH", and was used at first for vlogs and other non-scripted videos), Hecox and Padilla upload their side series Smosh is Bored and Lunchtime with Smosh on Mondays, while the rest of the team uploads vlogs on Thursdays, and Put It In My Mouth and Smosh's Seriously Super Stupid Sleepover on Saturdays. It has over 5.0 million subscribers and over 1.1 billion views. Smosh Pit Weekly was a series on the channel hosted by Mari Takahashi from April 2011 to August 2015, posted on Saturdays.
ElSmosh (youtube.com/ElSmosh)
On "ElSmosh", the team uploads ElSmosh Pit de la Semana (Smosh Pit Weekly), Honest Game Trailers, a series from Smosh Games narrated in Spanish, and new Smosh episodes that have been dubbed over in Spanish. It has over 2.2 million subscribers.
Shut Up! Cartoons (youtube.com/ShutUpCartoons)
"Shut Up! Cartoons" uploads a number of ten episode animated series, created by different animators. It has over 1.8 million subscribers.
Kalel (youtube.com/WatchUsLiveAndStuff)
Active as a Smosh channel from June 2013 to October 2014, and titled "WatchUsLiveAndStuff", it hosted vlogs uploaded by Padilla and his then fiancée Kalel. Kalel continues to upload videos and it has over 1.8 million subscribers.
AnthonyPadilla (youtube.com/AnthonyPadilla)
"AnthonyPadilla" hosts vlog-like videos uploaded by Padilla.
New AskCharlie EVERY WEDNESDAY (youtube.com/askcharlie)
"AskCharlie", active from May 2010 to December 2011, hosts videos from the Ask Charlie series, where an anthropomorphic guinea pig, named Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig, answers viewer submitted questions.
Smosh Games Alliance (youtube.com/SmoshGamesAlliance)
The Smosh Games Alliance (SGA) is a channel which utilises fan-submitted gaming content and spotlights it on the channel. The channel also includes "Smosh University" which offers tutorials to viewers, live gaming between SGA members and the Smosh Games crew, and vlogs with the Smosh Games crew. It has over 120 thousand subscribers.
Smosh France (youtube.com/TheFrenchSmosh)
"Smosh France" is a fan-run channel which re-uploads videos from the Smosh channel with French subtitles. It has over 110 thousand subscribers.
Schedule
Discography
Studio albums
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Category:2002 establishments in California
Category:American comedy duos
Category:American musical duos
Category:Performing groups established in 2002
Category:YouTube channels |
2016-01 | Silver-697108121 | Silver | Silver
Silver is a chemical element with symbol Ag ( árguros, , both from the Indo-European root *h₂erǵ- for "grey" or "shining") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it possesses the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and reflectivity of any metal. The metal occurs naturally in its pure, free form (native silver), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.
Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. More abundant than gold, silver metal has in many premodern monetary systems functioned as coinable specie, sometimes even alongside gold. In addition, silver has numerous applications beyond currency, such as in solar panels, water filtration, jewelry and ornaments, high-value tableware and utensils (hence the term silverware), and also as an investment in the forms of coins and bullion. Silver is used industrially in electrical contacts and conductors, in specialized mirrors, window coatings and in catalysis of chemical reactions. Its compounds are used in photographic film and X-rays. Dilute silver nitrate solutions and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants and microbiocides (oligodynamic effect), added to bandages and wound-dressings, catheters and other medical instruments.
Characteristics
Silver is produced during certain types of supernova explosions by nucleosynthesis from lighter elements through the r-process, a form of nuclear fusion that produces many elements heavier than iron, of which silver is one.
Silver is a very ductile, malleable (slightly less so than gold), univalent coinage metal, with a brilliant white metallic luster that can take a high degree of polish. Protected silver has higher optical reflectivity than aluminium at all wavelengths longer than ~450 nm. At wavelengths shorter than 450 nm, silver's reflectivity is inferior to that of aluminium and drops to zero near 310 nm.
The electrical conductivity of silver is the highest of all metals, even higher than copper, but it is not widely used for electrical purposes due to its much higher cost. An exception to this is in radio-frequency engineering, particularly at VHF and higher frequencies, where silver plating is employed to improve electrical conductivity of parts and wires (at high frequencies current tends to flow on the surface of conductors, not their interior, hence silver plating greatly improves overall conductivity). Silver also has the lowest contact resistance of any metal. During World War II in the US, 13,540 tons were used in the electromagnets used for enriching uranium, mainly because of the wartime shortage of copper.
Pure silver has the highest thermal conductivity of any metal, although those of the nonmetal carbon in the form of diamond and Superfluid helium-4 are higher.
Silver halides are photosensitive and are remarkable for their ability to record a latent image that can later be developed chemically. Silver is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when it is exposed to air or water containing ozone or hydrogen sulfide, the latter forming a black layer of silver sulfide, which can be cleaned off with dilute hydrochloric acid. The most common oxidation state of silver is +1 (for example, silver nitrate, AgNO3); the less common +2 compounds (for example, silver(II) fluoride, AgF2), and the even less common +3 (for example, potassium tetrafluoroargentate(III), KAgF4) and even +4 compounds (for example, potassium hexafluoroargentate(IV), K2AgF6) are also known.
Isotopes
Naturally occurring silver is composed of two stable isotopes, 107Ag and 109Ag, with 107Ag being slightly more abundant (51.839% natural abundance). Their almost equal abundance is rare in the periodic table. Silver's atomic weight is 107.8682(2) g/mol.
Twenty-eight radioisotopes have been characterized, the most stable being 105Ag with a half-life of 41.29 days, 111Ag with a half-life of 7.45 days, and 112Ag with a half-life of 3.13 hours. This element has numerous meta states, the most stable being 108mAg (t1/2 = 418 years), 110mAg (t1/2 = 249.79 days) and 106mAg (t1/2 = 8.28 days). All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives of less than an hour, and the majority of these have half-lives of less than three minutes.
Isotopes of silver range in relative atomic mass from 93.943 (94Ag) to 126.936 (127Ag); the primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, 107Ag, is electron capture and the primary mode after is beta decay. The primary decay products before 107Ag are palladium (element 46) isotopes, and the primary products after are cadmium (element 48) isotopes.
The palladium isotope 107Pd decays by beta emission to 107Ag with a half-life of 6.5 million years. Iron meteorites are the only objects with a high-enough palladium-to-silver ratio to yield measurable variations in 107Ag abundance. Radiogenic 107Ag was first discovered in the Santa Clara meteorite in 1978. The discoverers suggest the coalescence and differentiation of iron-cored small planets may have occurred 10 million years after a nucleosynthetic event. 107Pd–107Ag correlations observed in bodies that have clearly been melted since the accretion of the solar system must reflect the presence of unstable nuclides in the early solar system.
Compounds
Silver metal dissolves readily in nitric acid () to produce silver nitrate (), a transparent crystalline solid that is photosensitive and readily soluble in water. Silver nitrate is used as the starting point for the synthesis of many other silver compounds, as an antiseptic, and as a yellow stain for glass in stained glass. Silver metal does not react with sulfuric acid, which is used in jewelry-making to clean and remove copper oxide firescale from silver articles after silver soldering or annealing. Silver reacts readily with sulfur or hydrogen sulfide to produce silver sulfide, a dark-colored compound familiar as the tarnish on silver coins and other objects. Silver sulfide also forms silver whiskers when silver electrical contacts are used in an atmosphere rich in hydrogen sulfide.
4 Ag + O2 + 2 H2S → 2 Ag2S + 2 H2O
Silver chloride () is precipitated from solutions of silver nitrate in the presence of chloride ions, and the other silver halides used in the manufacture of photographic emulsions are made in the same way, using bromide or iodide salts. Silver chloride is used in glass electrodes for pH testing and potentiometric measurement, and as a transparent cement for glass. Silver iodide has been used in attempts to seed clouds to produce rain. Silver halides are highly insoluble in aqueous solutions and are used in gravimetric analytical methods.
Silver oxide (), produced when silver nitrate solutions are treated with a base, is used as a positive electrode (anode) in watch batteries. Silver carbonate () is precipitated when silver nitrate is treated with sodium carbonate ().
2 AgNO3 + 2 OH− → Ag2O + H2O + 2 NO3−
2 AgNO3 + Na2CO3 → Ag2CO3 + 2 NaNO3
Silver fulminate (), a powerful, touch-sensitive explosive used in percussion caps, is made by reaction of silver metal with nitric acid in the presence of ethanol (). Other dangerously explosive silver compounds are silver azide (), formed by reaction of silver nitrate with sodium azide (), and silver acetylide, formed when silver reacts with acetylene gas.
Latent images formed in silver halide crystals are developed by treatment with alkaline solutions of reducing agents such as hydroquinone, metol (4-(methylamino)phenol sulfate) or ascorbate, which reduce the exposed halide to silver metal. Alkaline solutions of silver nitrate can be reduced to silver metal by reducing sugars such as glucose, and this reaction is used to silver glass mirrors and the interior of glass Christmas ornaments. Silver halides are soluble in solutions of sodium thiosulfate (), which is used as a photographic fixer, to remove excess silver halide from photographic emulsions after image development.
Silver metal is attacked by strong oxidizers such as potassium permanganate () and potassium dichromate (), and in the presence of potassium bromide (); these compounds are used in photography to bleach silver images, converting them to silver halides that can either be fixed with thiosulfate or redeveloped to intensify the original image. Silver forms cyanide complexes (silver cyanide) that are soluble in water in the presence of an excess of cyanide ions. Silver cyanide solutions are used in electroplating of silver.
Although silver normally has oxidation state +1 in compounds, other oxidation states are known, such as +3 in , produced by the reaction of elemental silver or silver fluoride with krypton difluoride.
Silver artifacts primarily undergo three forms of deterioration. Silver sulfide tarnish is the most common form of silver degradation. Fresh silver chloride is pale yellow colored, becoming purplish on exposure to light and projects slightly from the surface of the artifact or coin. The precipitation of copper in ancient silver can be used to date artifacts.
Applications
Many well-known uses of silver involve its precious metal properties, including currency, decorative items, and mirrors. The contrast between its bright white color and other media makes it very useful to the visual arts. By contrast, fine silver particles form the dense black in photographs and in silverpoint drawings. It has also long been used to confer high monetary value as objects (such as silver coins and investment bars) or make objects symbolic of high social or political rank. Silver salts have been used since the Middle Ages to produce a yellow or orange color in stained glass, and more complex decorative color reactions can be produced by incorporating silver metal in blown, kilnformed or torchworked glass.
Currency
Silver, in the form of electrum (a gold–silver alloy), was coined to produce money around 700 BC by the Lydians. Later, silver was refined and coined in its pure form. Many nations used silver as the basic unit of monetary value. In the modern world, silver bullion has the ISO currency code XAG. The name of the pound sterling (£) reflects the fact it originally represented the value of one pound Tower weight of sterling silver; other historical currencies, such as the French livre, have similar etymologies. During the 19th century, the bimetallism that prevailed in most countries was undermined by the discovery of large deposits of silver in the Americas; fearing a sharp decrease in the value of silver and thus the currency, most states had switched to a gold standard by 1900. In some languages, including Sanskrit, Spanish, French, and Hebrew, the word for silver may be used to mean money.
The 20th century saw a gradual movement to fiat currency, with most of the world monetary system losing its link to precious metals after the United States dollar came off the gold standard in 1971; the last currency backed by gold was the Swiss franc, which became a pure fiat currency on 1 May 2000. During this same period, silver gradually ceased to be used in circulating coins. In the UK the silver standard was reduced from .925 to .500 in 1920. Coins that had been made of silver started to be made of cupro-nickel in 1947; existing coins were not withdrawn, but ceased circulating as the silver content came to exceed the face value. In 1964 the United States stopped minting the silver dime and quarter; the last circulating silver coin was the 1970 40% half-dollar. In 1968 Canada minted their last circulating silver coins, the 50% dime and quarter.
For most of the century after the Civil War in the United States, the silver price was considerably less than the face value of circulating silver coins, reaching its nadir of about $.25 per ounce in 1932. By this measure, the silver coins of the United States were effectively fiat coins for much of their history. Not until 1963 did the silver price rise above the threshold of $1.29 per ounce, at which point the silver content of pre-1965 United States coins was equal to in value to the face values of the coins themselves.
Silver coins are still minted by several countries as commemorative or collectible items, but they are not in general circulation.
Silver is used as a currency by many individuals, and is legal tender in the US state of Utah. Silver coins and bullion are also used as an investment to guard against inflation and devaluation.
Jewelry and silverware
Jewelry and silverware are traditionally made from sterling silver (standard silver), an alloy of 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper. In the US, only an alloy consisting of at least 90.0% fine silver can be sold as "silver" (thus frequently stamped 900). Sterling silver (stamped 925) is harder than pure silver, and has a lower melting point (893 °C) than either pure silver or pure copper. Britannia silver is an alternative, hallmark-quality standard containing 95.8% silver, often used to make silver tableware and wrought plate. With the addition of germanium, the patented modified alloy Argentium sterling silver is formed, with improved properties, including resistance to firescale.
Sterling silver jewelry is often plated with a thin coat of .999 fine silver to give the item a shiny finish. This process is called "flashing". Silver jewelry can also be plated with rhodium (for a bright, shiny look) or gold (to produce silver gilt).
Silver is a constituent of almost all colored carat gold alloys and carat gold solders, giving the alloys paler color and greater hardness. White 9 carat gold contains 62.5% silver and 37.5% gold, while 22 carat gold contains a minimum of 91.7% gold and 8.3% silver or copper or other metals.
Historically, the training and guild organization of goldsmiths included silversmiths, and the two crafts remain largely overlapping. Unlike blacksmiths, silversmiths do not shape the metal while it is red-hot, but work it at room temperature with gentle and carefully placed hammer blows. The essence of silversmithing is to take a flat piece of metal and to transform it into a useful object using different hammers, stakes and other simple tools.
While silversmiths specialize in, and principally work silver, they also work with other metals, such as gold, copper, steel, and brass. They make jewelry, silverware, armor, vases, and other artistic items. Because silver is such a malleable metal, silversmiths have a large range of choices with how they prefer to work the metal. Historically, silversmiths are mostly referred to as goldsmiths, which was usually the same guild. In the western Canadian silversmith tradition, guilds do not exist; however, mentoring through colleagues becomes a method of professional learning within a community of craftspeople.
Traditionally, silversmiths mostly made "silverware" (cutlery, tableware, bowls, candlesticks and such). Much less solid silver tableware is handmade now than in the past.
Solar energy
Silver is used in the manufacture of crystalline solar photovoltaic panels. Silver is also used in plasmonic solar cells. 100 million ounces of silver are projected for use by solar energy in 2015.
Silver is the reflective coating of choice for concentrated solar power reflectors. In 2009, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and SkyFuel teamed to develop large curved sheets of metal that have the potential to be 30% less expensive than today's best collectors of concentrated solar power by replacing glass-based models with a silver polymer sheet that has the same performance as the heavy glass mirrors, but at much lower cost and weight. It also is much easier to deploy and install. The glossy film uses several layers of polymers, with an inner layer of pure silver.
Air conditioning
In 2014 researchers invented a mirror-like panel that, when mounted on a building, acts like an air conditioner. The mirror is built from several layers of wafer-thin materials. The first layer is silver, the most reflective substance on Earth. On top of this are alternating layers of silicon dioxide and hafnium oxide. These layers improve the reflectivity, but also turn the mirror into a thermal radiator.
Water purification
Silver is used in water purifiers. It prevents bacteria and algae from building up in filters. The catalytic action of silver, in concert with oxygen, sanitizes water and eliminates the need for chlorine. Silver ions are also added to water purification systems in hospitals, community water systems, pools and spas, displacing chlorine.
Dentistry
Silver can be alloyed with mercury at room temperature to make amalgams that are widely used for dental fillings. To make dental amalgam, a mixture of powdered silver and other metals such as tin and gold is mixed with mercury to make a stiff paste that can be adapted to the shape of a cavity. The dental amalgam achieves initial hardness within minutes, and sets hard in a few hours.
Photography and electronics
The use of silver in photography, in the form of silver nitrate and silver halides, has rapidly declined due to the lower demand for consumer color film from the advent of digital technology. From the peak global demand for photographic silver in 1999 (267,000,000 troy ounces or 8304.6 metric tonnes) the market had contracted almost 70% by 2013.
Some electrical and electronic products use silver for its superior conductivity, even when tarnished. The primary example of this is in high quality RF connectors. The increase in conductivity is also taken advantage of in RF engineering at VHF and higher frequencies, where conductors often cannot be scaled by 6%, due to tuning requirements, e.g. cavity filters. As an additional example, printed circuits and RFID antennas can be made using silver paints, and computer keyboards use silver electrical contacts. Silver cadmium oxide is used in high-voltage contacts because it can withstand arcing.
Some manufacturers produce audio connector cables, speaker wires, and power cables using silver conductors, which have a 6% higher conductivity than ordinary copper ones of identical dimensions, but cost much more. Though debatable, many hi-fi enthusiasts believe silver wires improve sound quality.
Small devices, such as hearing aids and watches, commonly use silver oxide batteries due to their long life and high energy-to-weight ratio. Another usage is high-capacity silver-zinc and silver-cadmium batteries.
In World War II, there was a shortage of copper and silver was borrowed from the United States Treasury for electrical windings for several production facilities including those of the Manhattan Project; see below under History, WWII.
Glass coatings
Telescopic mirrors
Mirrors in almost all reflective telescopes use vacuum aluminium coatings. However thermal or infrared telescopes use silver coated mirrors because of silver's ability to reflect some types of infrared radiation more effectively than aluminium, as well as silver's ability to reduce the amount of radiation actually emitted from the mirror (its thermal emissivity).
Silver, in protected or enhanced coatings, is seen as the next generation metal coating for reflective telescope mirrors.
Windows
Using a process called sputtering, silver, along with other optically transparent layers, is applied to glass, creating low emissivity coatings used in high-performance insulated glazing. The amount of silver used per window is small because the silver layer is only 10–15 nanometers thick. However, the amount of silver-coated glass worldwide is hundreds of millions of square meters per year, leading to silver consumption on the order of 10 cubic meters or 100 metric tons/year. Silver color seen in architectural glass and tinted windows on vehicles is produced by sputtered chrome, stainless steel or other alloys.
Silver-coated polyester sheets, used to retrofit windows, are another popular method for reducing light transmission.
Other industrial and commercial applications
Silver and silver alloys are used in the construction of high-quality musical wind instruments of many types. Flutes, in particular, are commonly constructed of silver alloy or silver plated, both for appearance and for the frictional surface properties of silver. Brass instruments, such as Trumpets and Baritones, are also commonly plated in silver.
Silver's catalytic properties make it ideal for use as a catalyst in oxidation reactions, for example, the production of formaldehyde from methanol and air by means of silver screens or crystallites containing a minimum 99.95 weight-percent silver. Silver (upon some suitable support) is probably the only catalyst available today to convert ethylene to ethylene oxide (later hydrolyzed to ethylene glycol, used for making polyesters)— an important industrial reaction. It is also used in the Oddy test to detect reduced sulfur compounds and carbonyl sulfides.
Because silver readily absorbs free neutrons, it is commonly used to make control rods to regulate the fission chain reaction in pressurized water nuclear reactors, generally in the form of an alloy containing 80% silver, 15% indium, and 5% cadmium.
Silver is used to make solder and brazing alloys, and as a thin layer on bearing surfaces can provide a significant increase in galling resistance and reduce wear under heavy load, particularly against steel.
Biology
Silver stains are used in biology to increase the contrast and visibility of cells and organelles in microscopy. Camillo Golgi used silver stains to study cells of the nervous system and the Golgi apparatus. Silver stains are used to stain proteins in gel electrophoresis and polyacrylamide gels, either as primary stains or to enhance the visibility and contrast of colloidal gold stain. Different yeasts from Brazilian gold mines, bioaccumulate free and complexed silver ions. A sample of the fungus Aspergillus niger was found growing from gold mining solution; and was found to contain cyano metal complexes; such as gold, silver, copper iron and zinc. The fungus also plays a role in the solubilization of heavy metal sulfides.
Medicine
The medical uses of silver include its incorporation into wound dressings, and its use as an antibiotic coating in medical devices. Wound dressings containing silver sulfadiazine or silver nanomaterials may be used to treat external infections. Silver is also used in some medical applications, such as urinary catheters and endotracheal breathing tubes, where there is tentative evidence that it is effective in reducing catheter-related urinary tract infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia respectively. The silver ion () is bioactive and in sufficient concentration readily kills bacteria in vitro. Silver and silver nanoparticles are used as an antimicrobial in a variety of industrial, healthcare and domestic applications.
Investing
Silver coins and bullion are used for investing. Various types of silver investments can be made on the stock markets, including mining or silver streaming stocks, or silver-backed exchange-traded funds.
Clothing
Silver inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungi on clothing, such as socks, so is sometimes added to reduce odors and the risk of bacterial and fungal infections. It is incorporated into clothing or shoes either by integrating silver nanoparticles into the polymer from which yarns are made or by coating yarns with silver. The loss of silver during washing varies between textile technologies, and the resultant effect on the environment is not yet fully known.
History
Silver has been used for thousands of years for ornaments and utensils, trade, and as the basis for many monetary systems. Its value as a precious metal was long considered second only to gold. The word "silver" appears in Anglo-Saxon in various spellings, such as seolfor and siolfor. A similar form is seen throughout the Germanic languages (compare Old High German silabar and silbir). The chemical symbol Ag is from the Latin word for "silver", argentum (compare Greek άργυρος, árgyros), from the Indo-European root *arg-, meaning "white" or "shining". Silver has been known since ancient times; it is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Slag heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate silver was being separated from lead as early as the 4th millennium BC using surface mining. One of the earliest silver extraction centres in Europe was Sardinia in early Chalcolithic.
The stability of the Roman currency relied to a high degree on the supply of silver bullion, which Roman miners produced on a scale unparalleled before the discovery of the New World. Reaching a peak production of 200 t per year, an estimated silver stock of 10,000 t circulated in the Roman economy in the middle of the second century AD, five to ten times larger than the combined amount of silver available to medieval Europe and the Caliphate around 800 AD. Financial officials of the Roman Empire worried about the loss of silver to pay for highly demanded silk from Sinica (China).
Mines were made in Laureion during 483 BC.
In the Gospels, Jesus' disciple Judas Iscariot is infamous for having taken a bribe of 30 coins of silver from religious leaders in Jerusalem to turn Jesus of Nazareth over to soldiers of the High Priest Caiaphas.
The Chinese Empire during most of its history primarily used silver as a means of exchange. In the 19th century, the threat to the balance of payments of the United Kingdom from Chinese merchants demanding payment in silver in exchange for tea, silk, and porcelain led to the Opium War because Britain had to find a way to address the imbalance in payments, and they decided to do so by selling opium produced in their colony of British India to China.
Islam permits Muslim men to wear silver rings on the little finger of either hand. Muhammad himself wore a silver signet ring.
In the Americas, high temperature silver-lead cupellation technology was developed by pre-Inca civilizations as early as AD 60–120.
World War II
During World War II, the shortage of copper led to the substitution of silver in many industrial applications. The United States government loaned out silver from its massive reserve located in the West Point vaults to a wide range of industrial users. One very important use was for bus bars for new aluminium plants needed to make aircraft. During the war, many electrical connectors and switches were silver plated. Another use was aircraft master rod bearings and other types of bearings. Since silver can replace tin in solder at a lower volume, a large amount of tin was freed up for other uses by substituting government silver. Silver was also used as the reflector in searchlights and other types of lights. Silver was used in nickels during the war to save that metal for use in steel alloys.
The Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb used about 14,700 tons of silver borrowed from the United States Treasury for calutron windings for the electromagnetic separation process in the Y-12 National Security Complex at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The oval "racetracks" had silver bus bars with a cross-section of one square foot.
After the war ended, the silver was returned to the vaults.
Occurrence and extraction
Silver is found in native form, as an alloy with gold (electrum), and in ores containing sulfur, arsenic, antimony or chlorine. Ores include argentite (Ag2S), chlorargyrite (AgCl), which includes horn silver, and pyrargyrite (Ag3SbS3). The principal sources of silver are the ores of copper, copper-nickel, lead, and lead-zinc obtained from Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, China, Australia, Chile, Poland and Serbia. Peru, Bolivia and Mexico have been mining silver since 1546, and are still major world producers. Top silver-producing mines are Cannington (Australia), Fresnillo (Mexico), San Cristobal (Bolivia), Antamina (Peru), Rudna (Poland), and Penasquito (Mexico). Top near-term mine development projects through 2015 are Pascua Lama (Chile), Navidad (Argentina), Jaunicipio (Mexico), Malku Khota (Bolivia), and Hackett River (Canada). In Central Asia, Tajikistan is known to have some of the largest silver deposits in the world.
The metal is primarily produced as a byproduct of electrolytic copper refining, gold, nickel, and zinc refining, and by application of the Parkes process on lead metal obtained from lead ores that contain small amounts of silver. Commercial-grade fine silver is at least 99.9% pure, and purities greater than 99.999% are available. In 2012, Mexico was the top producer of silver (5,360 tonnes or 21% of the world's total), closely followed by China (3,900 t) and Peru (3,480 t).
Price
As of 5 August 2014, the price of silver is US$649.28 per kilogram (US$20.1950 per troy ounce). This equates to approximately the price of gold. The ratio has varied from to in the past 100 years. Physical silver bullion prices are higher than the paper prices, with premiums increasing when demand is high and local shortages occur.
In 1980, the silver price rose to a peak for modern times of US$49.45 per troy ounce (ozt) due to market manipulation of Nelson Bunker Hunt and Herbert Hunt (). Some time after Silver Thursday, the price was back to $10/ozt. From 2001 to 2010, the price moved from $4.37 to $20.19 (average London US$/oz). According to the Silver Institute, silver's recent gains have greatly stemmed from a rise in investor interest and an increase in fabrication demand. In late April 2011, silver reached an all-time high of $49.76/ozt.
In earlier times, silver has commanded much higher prices. In the early 15th century, the price of silver is estimated to have surpassed $1,200 per ounce, based on 2011 dollars. The discovery of massive silver deposits in the New World during the succeeding centuries has been stated as a cause for its price to have diminished greatly.
The price of silver is important in Judaic law. The lowest fiscal amount a Jewish court, or Beth Din, can convene to adjudicate a case over is a shova pruta (value of a Babylonian pruta coin). This is fixed at of pure, unrefined silver, at market price. In a Jewish tradition, still continuing today, on the first birthday of a first-born son, the parents pay the price of five pure-silver coins to a Kohen (priest). Today, the Israel mint fixes the coins at of silver. The Kohen will often give those silver coins back as a gift for the child to inherit.
Human exposure and consumption
Silver plays no known natural biological role in humans, and possible health effects of silver are a disputed subject. Silver itself is not toxic to humans, but most silver salts are. In large doses, silver and compounds containing it can be absorbed into the circulatory system and become deposited in various body tissues, leading to argyria, which results in a blue-grayish pigmentation of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Argyria is rare, and although, so far as known, this condition does not otherwise harm a person's health, it is disfiguring and usually permanent. Mild forms of argyria are sometimes mistaken for cyanosis.
Monitoring exposure
Overexposure to silver can occur in workers in the metallurgical industry, persons taking silver-containing dietary supplements, patients who have received silver sulfadiazine treatment, and individuals who accidentally or intentionally ingest silver salts. Silver concentrations in whole blood, plasma, serum, or urine may be measured to monitor for safety in exposed workers, to confirm the diagnosis in potential poisoning victims, or to assist in the forensic investigation in a case of fatal overdosage.
Use in food
Silver is used in food coloring; it has the E174 designation and is approved in the European Union.
Traditional Indian dishes sometimes include the use of decorative silver foil known as vark, and in various cultures, silver dragée are used to decorate cakes, cookies, and other dessert items. The use of silver as a food additive is not approved in the United States.
Occupational safety and health
People can be exposed to silver in the workplace by breathing it in, swallowing it, skin contact, and eye contact. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the legal limit (Permissible exposure limit) for silver exposure in the workplace as 0.01 mg/m3 over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a Recommended exposure limit (REL) of 0.01 mg/m3 over an 8-hour workday. At levels of 10 mg/m3, silver is immediately dangerous to life and health.
See also
List of silver compounds
Silverpoint drawing
Free silver
List of elements
Hardnesses of the elements (data page)
References
External links
Chemistry in its element podcast (MP3) from the Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemistry World: Silver
Silver at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
Society of American Silversmiths
The Silver Institute A silver industry website
A collection of silver items Samples of silver
Transport, Fate and Effects of Silver in the Environment
CDC – NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards – Silver
Picture in the Element collection from Heinrich Pniok
Category:Chemical elements
Category:Cubic minerals
Category:Electrical conductors
Category:Native element minerals
Category:Noble metals
Category:Precious metals
Category:Transition metals
Category:Warrants issued in Hong Kong Stock Exchange |
2016-01 | The_Nexus_professional_wrestling-697490211 | The_Nexus_professional_wrestling | The Nexus (professional wrestling)
The Nexus (later renamed The New Nexus in January 2011) was a villainous stable in WWE that competed on Raw from June 7, 2010 to August 22, 2011, originally consisting of eight rookies of NXT season one and shifted their roster several times throughout their existence, with David Otunga being the longest-tenured member. Their initial goal was to obtain WWE contracts for all members, with the exception of original leader Wade Barrett (now known as King Barrett), already guaranteed a WWE contract for having won NXT. After NXT, the group went on to antagonize the Raw roster (and, on two occasions, the SmackDown roster), with then-WWE Champion John Cena as their main focus, who forcibly became a member of The Nexus after losing in a match at Hell in a Cell, but was eventually removed from the group by being fired at Survivor Series after Barrett lost his WWE Championship match to Randy Orton only to be rehired by Barrett. On January 3, 2011, Barrett was exiled from the group anyway after losing a steel cage match against Orton and Sheamus and Punk became the group's new leader, at which point the group was renamed The New Nexus in an attempt to distance itself from The Nexus, becoming a tight-knit group dedicated to one another by faith. Throughout its existence, the group won the WWE Tag Team Championship three times, while Punk won the WWE Championship in his final match with the stable at Money in the Bank.
Concept
On the January 26, 2010 edition of ECW, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that NXT would replace ECW on Syfy when the latter ends its run on February 16, describing NXT as "the next evolution of WWE; the next evolution of television history." The concept of the stable was each original member of Nexus was a contestant (or "rookie") on the first season of the NXT program, which, at the time, composed of the talent from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in a competition to become WWE's next breakout star with the help of mentors from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands. On June 1, 2010, Barrett was declared the winner and, as a result, was awarded a WWE contract and a championship match at a pay-per-view of his choosing, while the others were left without a job. Its most noticeable trait was that all members wore a black armband bearing the group's trademark black and yellow "N" logo (in the Wide Latin typeface).
History
Formation and attacks on WWE personnel
On the June 7, 2010 "Viewer's Choice" edition of Raw, after WWE backstage reporter Savannah asked Barrett how he felt winning NXT, Barrett told her that "he didn't need to explain anything because he knew he would win the entire time" and "to ask him the same question next week, when he does something that has never been done before in the history of Raw." Later in the night, during the main event which saw Cena face Punk after the leader of the Straight Edge Society won with 45% of the vote to Rey Mysterio's 32% and then-World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger's 23%, as Cena was looking to put Punk away with the Attitude Adjustment, the group debuted sporting matching armbands with the letter N. Barrett, who entered from the ramp, led the group, who entered through the crowd and jumped the barricades in a move similar to that of The Shield, in an attack on Cena, Punk, Luke Gallows, Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler, NXT host Matt Striker (who had joined Lawler and Michael Cole at ringside to commentate the main event), Justin Roberts (who was the Raw ring announcer at the time), WWE timekeeper Mark Yeaton and other WWE personnel around the ring, not to mention tearing the safety mats off the ground, flipping over the announce table, taking apart the barricades and dismantling the ring itself by having Barrett and Michael Tarver unscrew the turnbuckles. During the attack, which ended with Cena being taken out of the American Airlines Arena on a stretcher, Daniel Bryan strangled Roberts with his necktie and, in a sign of disrespect, spit in Cena's face and told him, "You are not better than me!" the latter of which led to Bryan being released from his contract on June 11, 2010 as WWE reportedly felt those acts were too violent for their TV-PG programming. His absence was explained by Barrett on the June 14, 2010 edition of Raw by stating that Bryan had felt remorse for his actions and, as a result, was kicked out of the group, rather than reveal that Bryan had actually been released from his contract. However, the group did explain their actions as retribution for the poor treatment they received from WWE management during their time on NXT, saying that the attack was to threaten WWE into giving the remaining members WWE contracts, but Hall of Famer Bret Hart, who was named Raw general manager three weeks earlier, rejected the demand and not only fired Barrett, but took away both his WWE contract and his WWE championship opportunity, then ordered the NXT rookies to leave the Time Warner Cable Arena or they would be arrested. Later that night, Hart ordered the whole Raw roster (excluding the Divas) to stand guard at the ringside and stage areas during the main event, which saw Cena and Orton team up to take on Edge and Sheamus in a Fatal 4-Way preview, to prevent what happened in Miami from happening in Charlotte, leaving The Nexus, who were presumably standing outside Hart's office when the order was given, to wait until the coast was clear to not only trash the arena, but storm Hart's office and accost and attack him backstage by having Barrett and Sheffield drag him down the hallway into the parking lot and Otunga rip his shirt open before the group forced him into a limousine and ordered the driver to floor it, which the driver did, in reverse down the ramp and crashing into four other vehicles, causing significant rear-end damage to the limo in the process. During the attack, which ended with Barrett demanding an answer by Sunday as to whether or not the NXT rookies would get their contracts, the group verbally assaulted Hart from outside the limo. On June 20, 2010 at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, The Nexus interfered in the main event for the WWE Championship, attacking all the wrestlers involved (their motive was in retaliation for what happened in Charlotte when members of the Raw roster thwarted a second attempted attack by the NXT rookies). Sheamus used the interference to win the title from Cena for a second time, having defeated the Cenation leader in a Tables match at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs (2009) after winning an interpromotional Breakthrough Battle Royal, which guest host, storyline matchmaker and Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura arranged, on the November 23, 2009 edition of Raw that determined the number one contender to the WWE Championship.
After Fatal 4-Way, The Nexus continued their hostile attacks on various WWE figures, including one on Lawler and Hall of Famers Dusty Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat on the June 21, 2010 edition of Raw as they were celebrating Steamboat's DVD release following an edict that the NXT rookies and the rest of the Raw roster could not engage in physical confrontation that week. McMahon removed Hart as general manager "due to his injuries" and subsequently appointed a new General Manager, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of being attacked like Hart was in Charlotte, communicating only through e-mails quoted by Cole, the "official spokesman" (and the only one other than Serena of The Straight Edge Society not attacked by The Nexus in Miami), who immediately gave the other members their WWE contracts and reinstated Barrett's WWE championship opportunity that was stripped from him the previous week by Hart. Barrett revealed that this group was going to form no matter who wound up winning NXT, stating that the seven of them had formed a "Nexus" and had a common goal they all fought to have accomplished. However, despite finally apologizing for their actions, the NXT rookies still continued their hostile attacks, including one on McMahon on the June 28, 2010 edition of Raw, the same night the anonymous Raw General Manager proclaimed an edict that if any member of The Nexus put their hands on a WWE superstar, they would be terminated, but if any WWE superstar put their hands on any member of The Nexus, they would be suspended, after he tried to take credit for The Nexus' actions in a move similar to that of Scar from The Lion King after Banzai, Shenzi and Ed ate him alive after blaming them for Mufasa's death.
Feud with John Cena
On the July 5, 2010 edition of Raw, the same night the NXT rookies became known as The Nexus, the anonymous Raw General Manager demanded Cena and Barrett call a truce later in the night, which Cena refused and attempted to attack Barrett, subsequently beginning a brawl between The Nexus and most, if not all, of the Raw locker room. After Cena didn't stop assaulting Young, the GM announced that Cena would face The Nexus in a 7-on-1 handicap match the following week, causing Cena to further attack Young, subsequently removing him from the following week's scheduled match. On the July 12, 2010 edition of Raw, due to being injured after being attacked the previous week by Cena, Young was removed from the match, turning it into a 6-on-1 handicap match, which, despite being down a member, The Nexus still won after the 450° splash of Gabriel, who then pinned Cena. Before the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Nexus appeared on the July 13, 2010 edition of NXT and competed in a battle royal featuring the second season pros and rookies. The storyline started when Percy Watson invited his partners (the other rookies) to attack MVP (in retaliation for the pros attacking the rookies in the aftermath of The Nexus forming to "keep them in line"), but in reply to this, MVP called the other pros and came ready for a fight, at which point Striker, who was the co-host of NXT at the time, intervened and arranged a battle royal, also including The Nexus, who were making a scheduled appearance on the show anyway. All seven Nexus members were declared co-winners after being the last men in the ring. On July 18, 2010 at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, The Nexus attempted to get involved in the WWE Championship match involving Sheamus and Cena in a steel cage by breaking the door. However, the referee on the outside of the cage threw the key into the crowd and took the tool that Tarver tried to use to break in. They then tried to climb up and get involved. However, Sheamus and Cena were able to hold them off and escape, with Sheamus winning. Afterwards, Cena began beating up Tarver and Young and then took Tarver's Nexus armband. The following night, on the July 19, 2010 edition of Raw, The Nexus continued their attacks on the Raw roster by first attacking Edge and then Chris Jericho after the two longtime rivals attempted to manipulate the group against each other. Later that same night, Barrett defeated Mark Henry in a singles match. After that, Barrett and Nexus asked Cena to join them. Cena refused and said that he would take them all down at SummerSlam and that he had found some help to do it before revealing his team one-by-one; Edge, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali, Jericho and Hart. On the July 26, 2010 edition of Raw, Team Nexus defeated Team Raw (Mark Henry, The Hart Dynasty, Lawler, Evan Bourne, Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu) in a 7-on-7 elimination tag team match with The Nexus getting the clean sweep, later mocking Cena's team, who were arguing amongst themselves, claiming an easy victory at SummerSlam. On August 15, 2010 at the SummerSlam pay-per-view, The Nexus' claim of an easy victory three weeks earlier was denied when they were defeated by Team WWE, featuring a returning Bryan (who joined Team WWE as a surprise member after The Nexus had injured Khali on the August 2, 2010 edition of Raw), who eliminated both Young and Slater by submission before Bryan's former NXT Pro, The Miz, hit him with the Money in the Bank briefcase, leaving Barrett to eliminate Bryan. In the end, however, Cena ended up being the sole survivor, eliminating Gabriel and Barrett by pinfall and submission, respectively. The following night, on the August 16, 2010 edition of Raw, The Nexus evoked their SummerSlam rematch clause and competed in seven one-on-one matches Team WWE (except Hart, who was replaced by Orton), with the stipulation that whichever Nexus member lost their match would be exiled from the group, a stipulation Otunga reminded Barrett of before Cena accepted on behalf of Team WWE. While The Nexus won the first six matches, Young, looking to help The Nexus repeat their clean sweep performance from three weeks earlier, was the only Nexus member who unfortunately failed to defeat Cena in the main event, leading the rest of The Nexus to storm the ring. Cena, anticipating another beatdown similar to the one he suffered at the conclusion of "Viewer's Choice Raw," waited to see what The Nexus would do next, but what he didn't anticipate was The Nexus letting him leave the ring on his own, as they turned their attention to Young, first attacking him with their respective finishing moves and, to add insult to injury, officially exiling him from The Nexus.
At a live WWE event in Hawaii on August 18, 2010, Sheffield broke his ankle during a tag match where he teamed with Otunga against The Hart Dynasty, putting him out of action for the next two years. With Young having been exiled from the group two nights earlier for losing to Cena, The Nexus went from seven active members remaining to only five entering September-- Barrett, Otunga, Slater, Gabriel and Tarver. On the August 30, 2010 edition of Raw, which celebrated its 900th episode, The Nexus defeated Cena, Edge, Jericho, Sheamus and Orton in a 5-on-5 elimination match, after Gabriel hit Cena with the 450° splash for a third time, pinning him for a second time, while Barrett pinned Orton. Earlier that same night, with help from Kane, The Nexus attacked The Undertaker. On the September 6, 2010 edition of Raw, thanks to a distraction from a returning Young, Barrett lost to Orton. On September 19, 2010 at the Night of Champions pay-per-view, Barrett used his guaranteed championship match that he won for winning NXT in the Six-Pack Elimination Challenge for the WWE Championship, but was eliminated by Orton, who later won the match and the title. The Nexus made an appearance on the October 1, 2010 edition of SmackDown (taped September 28) to mark the show's move to Syfy. Throughout the night, The Nexus attacked Dolph Ziggler, MVP, Big Show and Cena and then served as lumberjacks for the night's main event between Cena and Kane.
On October 3, 2010 at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, Barrett and Cena faced each other in a match with the stipulation that if Barrett won, Cena would have to join The Nexus, but if Cena won or any other Nexus member got involved, the group would be permanently disbanded. Thanks to interference from Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty, who would join The Nexus on the October 25, 2010 edition of Raw, Barrett managed to win the match and keep the group going and Cena was forced to join the very group he defeated at SummerSlam. The following night, on the October 4, 2010 edition of Raw, Tarver was paired with Cena who brutally attacked him after the match. Later, Barrett said that he was planning on getting rid of Tarver anyway, but that Cena did him a favor by attacking Tarver, as he implied that Tarver was no longer a member; like with Bryan, Barrett did not reveal the real reason why Tarver was kicked out of the group; it was actually because Tarver had a nagging groin injury and was later released from his contract in June 2011 (see below). After Cena openly declared that he would destroy The Nexus from within by fighting them even though he was now a member, the anonymous Raw General Manager stated that Cena had to honor the stipulations of the pay-per-view match and since he is now a member of The Nexus, he must take orders from Barrett or be fired. Later that same night, Barrett ordered Cena to help him win the number one contendership in a battle royal for the WWE Championship. The match came down to Cena and Barrett, where Barrett ordered Cena to eliminate himself. On October 24, 2010 at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view, The Nexus won their first titles in WWE when Otunga and Cena defeated Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. Later that same night, the group helped Kane defeat The Undertaker in his Buried Alive match for reasons never explained. In the main event, Barrett defeated Orton via disqualification, this time caused by Cena, who was then as a result chosen by Barrett as his own special guest referee for his WWE Championship match against Orton at the Survivor Series pay-per-view. Barrett chose Cena and declared that unless he won the title at the pay-per-view, Cena would be fired, but if Barrett defeated Orton, Cena would be relieved of all responsibilities to The Nexus.
On the November 5, 2010 edition of SmackDown (taped November 2), Otunga, who had been questioning Barrett's leadership over the past several weeks, led Gabriel, Harris, McGillicutty and Slater to an invasion of SmackDown, interrupting a match between Edge and Alberto Del Rio. The Nexus was then defeated in the main event in a 5-on-5 tag team match by Edge, Del Rio, Big Show, Kane and Kofi Kingston. Barrett didn't approve Otunga's decision to lead The Nexus on SmackDown and as a result forced him to defend his spot in the group a week later. On the November 12, 2010 edition of SmackDown (taped November 9), thanks to an interference from Kane, Otunga defeated Edge in a lumberjack match to keep his spot in The Nexus. On November 21, 2010 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Orton retained the WWE Championship against Barrett via pinfall and Cena was fired (kayfabe) from WWE and subsequently exiled from The Nexus. Despite being fired by The Nexus, Cena continued to show up on Raw in the subsequent weeks, causing interference in The Nexus' matches and attacking them backstage, in the ring and in the arena parking lots. On the December 6, 2010 edition of Raw, thanks to interference from Cena, Slater and Gabriel lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Elimination match. Later that same night, Cena informed The Nexus that his attacks on them may stop, but only on the condition that Barrett rehires him. Wanting the attacks to stop, The Nexus, with the exception of McGillicutty, who was (kayfabe) injured after being attacked the previous week by Cena, threatened to exile Barrett from the group unless he got Cena rehired the following week. The following week, on the December 13, 2010 Slammy Awards edition of Raw, Barrett, for fear of being exiled by The Nexus, rehired Cena on the condition that they settle the score in a Chairs match at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs. On December 19, 2010 at the TLC pay-per-view, Cena defeated Barrett in the main event, after attacking all the other members of The Nexus throughout the event, by dropping 23 steel chairs on Barrett. Cena faced the new leader of the Nexus CM Punk (who exiled Barrett from the group at some point after TLC) on the January 17, 2011 edition of Raw; the match ended in a no-contest after the debuting Mason Ryan attacked Cena, signaling him as a new member of The Nexus. At the Royal Rumble main event, Cena eliminated the majority of the Nexus during the match, officially ending his longtime feud with the stable.
The New Nexus
On the January 3, 2011 edition of Raw, The Nexus ambiguously announced that it was under "new management," with Punk being revealed to be the new leader, having acquired the position after Barrett lost a steel cage match against Orton and Sheamus (see above) and was subsequently exiled from The Nexus. With this move, the group was renamed The New Nexus to distance itself from The Nexus. The following week, on the January 10, 2011 edition of Raw, after refusing to follow Punk's orders of initiation by hitting each other with kendo sticks, Gabriel and Slater left the group, opting to join Barrett and former ECW Champion Ezekiel Jackson on SmackDown as The Corre, while Harris, McGillicutty and Otunga successfully completed the initiation and, thus, stayed in The New Nexus. On the January 17, 2011 edition of Raw, Ryan joined the Nexus after interfering in Punk's match against Cena and attacking both men before Punk handed Ryan a Nexus armband. The group participated in the 2011 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but were eliminated by Cena (aside from Harris, who was eliminated by The Great Khali); later that night, The New Nexus also cost Orton the WWE Championship. The following night, on the January 31, 2011 edition of Raw, McGillicutty and Harris teamed up against Marella and Kozlov for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which they lost. After the match, Orton entered the ring and punted Harris in the skull, injuring him. Orton, over the ongoing weeks, punted all members of The New Nexus, despite interference by Punk, removing each, one-by-one, from active competition. On April 3, 2011 at the WrestleMania XXVII pay-per-view, Orton defeated Punk, but was unable to punt him in the skull, leaving Punk as the only active member of The New Nexus. On the April 11, 2011 edition of Raw, McGillicutty, Otunga and Ryan returned, once again costing Orton another shot at Miz's WWE Championship and, for the first time since January 31, bringing The New Nexus back to full strength. On the April 25, 2011 edition of Raw, during the WWE draft (the last under the brand extension), Orton was drafted to SmackDown and, on May 1, 2011 at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, defeated Punk, thus officially ending his four-month feud with The New Nexus. On the May 23, 2011 episode of Raw, thanks to a distraction from Del Rio, McGillicutty and Otunga defeated Big Show and Kane for the WWE Tag Team Championship, giving Otunga his first WWE Tag Team Title since Bragging Rights.
Tag team and dissolution
On the June 20, 2011 "Power to the People" edition of Raw, Punk was originally going to be named the number one contender for the WWE Championship, but instead, he was forced to compete in a triple threat match with Del Rio and Rey Mysterio with a falls count anywhere stipulation voted for by fans, which Punk won and, after the match, revealed that his WWE contract would expire at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where he would face Cena for the WWE Championship, meaning that if he wins, he will leave with the WWE Championship. Ryan was voted to face Evan Bourne in a singles match and won, but it was later revealed that, due to a technical error, Sin Cara was the actual winner. The following week, on the June 27, 2011 edition of Raw, it was announced that Ryan had suffered an injury over the weekend, thus leaving the group. That same night, a brash Punk disrespectfully interrupted and threatened the returning Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, reminding him and the entire WWE Universe that once his contract expires at WWE Money in the Bank, that would have been the last time WWE would ever seen him and the WWE Championship. It was at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view that The New Nexus' quiet dissolution was confirmed, when Punk shunned his Nexus T-shirt and armband in favor of a new T-shirt. Despite this, Punk was labeled as part of Nexus in his entrance graphics. With his victory over Cena, the WWE Championship was finally held by the stable on their last night of existence. The group's final members then functioned as a tag team with the Nexus banner until August 1, 2011 and continued without the banner until August 22, 2011 when the group permanently disbanded.
Members
Timeline
In wrestling
Entrance themes
"We Are One" by 12 Stones (June 7, 2010–August 22, 2011)
"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (December 27, 2010–August 22, 2011)
"Death Blow" from VideoHelper Production Library (July 21, 2011-August 22, 2011; Otunga and McGillicutty)
"All About the Power" by S–Preme (July 28, 2011–August 22, 2011; Otunga and McGillicutty)
Championships and accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Feud of the Year (2010) vs. WWE
Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2010)
Rookie of the Year (2010) David Otunga
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWE Championship (1 time) – CM Punk
WWE Tag Team Championship (3 times) – John Cena and David Otunga (1), Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel (1), David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty (1)
NXT (Season one) – Wade Barrett
Slammy Award for the Shocker of the Year (2010) –
See also
NXT
The Corre
Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel
References
Category:WWE teams and stables |
2016-01 | Legality_of_cannabis-697104065 | Legality_of_cannabis | Legality of cannabis
The legality of cannabis varies from country to country. Possession of cannabis is illegal in most countries and has been since the beginning of widespread cannabis prohibition in the late 1930s. However, possession of the drug in small quantities has been decriminalized in many countries and sub-national entities in several parts of the world. Furthermore, possession is legal or effectively legal in the Netherlands, Uruguay, and in the US states of Colorado (Colorado Amendment 64), Oregon (Oregon Ballot Measure 91 (2014)), Alaska and Washington (Washington Initiative 502) as the federal government has indicated that it will not attempt to block enactment of legalization in those states. The federal district of Washington D.C. legalized cannabis for possession and use in 2015, but was blocked by a Congressional rider from instituting commercial sales and taxation. Cannabis is also legal in some U.S cities such as Portland and South Portland, both of which are in Maine. The United States Department of Justice is allowing all recognized Native American Reservations to regulate the legalization of cannabis, and the laws are allowed to be different from Federal and state law. On 10 December 2013, Uruguay became the first nation in the world to legalize the sale, cultivation, and distribution of cannabis.
The medicinal use of cannabis is legal in a number of countries, including Canada, the Czech Republic and Israel. The federal law in the United States no longer has a ban on the use of medical marijuana. States that allow medical marijuana and the sale of it can now do so without having to deal with the federal government.
Some countries have laws which are not as vigorously prosecuted as others, but apart from the countries which offer access to medical marijuana, most countries have various penalties ranging from lenient to very severe. Some infractions are taken more seriously in some countries than others in regard to the cultivation, use, possession or transfer of cannabis for recreational use. A few jurisdictions have lessened penalties for possession of small quantities of cannabis, making it punishable by confiscation and a fine, rather than imprisonment. Some jurisdictions/drug courts use mandatory treatment programs for young or frequent users, with freedom from narcotic drugs as the goal and a few jurisdictions permit cannabis use for medicinal purposes. Drug tests to detect cannabis are increasingly common in many countries and have resulted in jail sentences and loss of employment. However, simple possession can carry long jail sentences in some countries, particularly in parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia, where the sale of cannabis may lead to life imprisonment or even execution.
As of 2015, Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Jamaica, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Germany, the Netherlands, North Korea, some U.S. states and cities as well as some territories of Australia and some Canadian cities have the least restrictive cannabis laws while China, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam have the strictest cannabis laws.
History
Cannabis has been in use for thousands of years. In India and Nepal cannabis has long been used in religious rituals.
Under the name cannabis, nineteenth century medical practitioners sold the drug (usually as a tincture), popularizing the word among English-speakers. In 1894, the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, commissioned by the UK Secretary of State and the government of India, was instrumental in a decision not to criminalize the drug in those countries (See Shamir and Hacker (2001) in 'further readings' below. From the year 1860, different states in the US started to implement regulations for sales of Cannabis sativa. A 1905 Bulletin from the US Department of Agriculture lists twenty-nine states with laws mentioning cannabis. In 1925, a change of the International Opium Convention banned exportation of Indian hemp to countries that have prohibited its use. Importing countries were required to issue certificates approving the importation, stating that the shipment was to be used "exclusively for medical or scientific purposes".
Around 1840, doctors had realized that marijuana had a medical value, therefore it was freely sold for over a century in pharmacies. Marijuana used to be freely grown, sold, bought, and smoked in the United States up until it was criminalized in 1937.
The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was the first US national law making cannabis possession illegal, with the exception of industrial or medical purposes. Growers of hemp products were required to purchase an annual tax stamp, priced at $24, and retailers were required to purchase stamps priced at $1 per annum.
The name marijuana (Mexican Spanish marihuana, mariguana) is associated almost exclusively with the plant's psychoactive use. The term is now well known in English largely due to the efforts of American drug prohibitionists during the 1920s and 1930s. Mexico officially adopted prohibition in 1925, following the International Opium Convention.
The use of cannabis became widespread in the Western world due to the rise and influence of the counterculture that began in the late 1960s. In the late 1990s in California, Dennis Peron started a movement to legalize medical cannabis by opening the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club in 1992. The club became the headquarters for an activist movement that drafted the Compassionate Use Act, which was transformed into Proposition 215—the coalition managed to secure the passage of Proposition 215 with the support of billionaire and philanthropist George Soros in November 1996.
A BBC article, published in October 2011, reported on the actions of local authorities in the border town of Maastricht in the Netherlands. According to the article, the authorities were primarily concerned with those cannabis customers who had traveled from other European countries, such as Belgium and Germany. At the time, broader restrictions, which would apply to the entire nation, were being discussed in the Dutch parliament. From October 1, 2011, only Dutch, Belgian and German residents would be prohibited from purchasing cannabis from venues in Maastricht.
On November 6, 2012, Colorado Amendment 64 and Washington Initiative 502 were passed by popular initiative, thereby becoming the first American states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis under state law. However cannabis is still classified as a schedule I controlled substance under federal law and is subject to federal prosecution under the doctrine of dual sovereignty and Supremacy Clause.
On January 1, 2013, an amendment to the Netherlands' cannabis policy was introduced to "combat drug-related crime and nuisance." The new rule requires cannabis coffee shop owners to monitor the identities of their customers to ensure that only residents of the Netherlands purchase cannabis. Owners are expected to maintain adherence through procedures such as asking customers to produce valid documents to prove their status.
In a historical event with global significance, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed two bills on May 28, 2013 that made Colorado the world's first fully regulated recreational cannabis market for adults. Hickenlooper said to the media: "Certainly, this industry will create jobs. Whether it’s good for the brand of our state is still up in the air. But the voters passed Amendment 64 by a clear majority. That’s why we’re going to implement it as effectively as we possibly can." In its independent analysis, the Colorado Center on Law and Policy found that the state could expect a to see "$60 million in total combined savings and additional revenue for Colorado’s budget with a potential for this number to double after 2017."
Uruguay then became the world's first nation to legalize the production, sale, and consumption of cannabis in December 2013 after a 16–13 vote in the Senate. Julio Calzada, Secretary-General of Uruguay’s National Drug Council, said in a December 2013 interview that the government will be responsible for regulating the production side of the process: "Companies can get a license to cultivate if they meet all the criteria. However, this won’t be a free market. The government will control the entire production and determine the price, quality, and maximum production volume."
Under the new law, people are allowed to buy up to of cannabis from the Uruguayan government each month. Users have to be 18 or older and be registered in a national database to track their consumption. Cultivators are allowed to grow up to 6 crops at their homes each year and shall not surpass . Registered smoking clubs are allowed to grow 99 plants annually. Buying cannabis is prohibited to foreigners and it is illegal to move it across international borders.
In July 2014, president Calzada announced that the implementation of the law is postponed to 2015, as "there are practical difficulties," and explained that authorities will grow all the cannabis that can be sold legally. The concentration of THC shall be 15% or lower. An opposition presidential candidate claimed that the new law is never going to be applied, because of a perception that it is not practicable.
As of October 2014, the Government of Netherlands website explains that coffee shops are permitted to sell cannabis under certain strict conditions: venues cannot sell alcoholic drinks; the consumption of alcohol on the premises is not permitted; the venues must not create any form of public nuisance; "hard drugs" cannot be sold; cannabis cannot be sold to minors; drugs cannot be advertised; and "large quantities" of cannabis (more than five grams) cannot be sold in a single transaction. Individual municipalities are responsible for permitting the establishment of cannabis coffee shops within their boundaries, and are also allowed to introduce additional rules.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service does not prosecute members of the public for "possession of small quantities of soft drugs," which are defined as: "no more than 5 grams of cannabis (marijuana or hash); no more than 5 cannabis plants." It is illegal to grow cannabis plants in the Netherlands, but in cases in which a maximum of five plants is grown for "personal consumption," the authorities will most likely seize the plants, without taking any further action. If more than five plants are seized, the police may also seek prosecution.
Possession of marijuana for recreational use will be legalized by the Government of Canada, possibly as early as 2016, according to newly-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The plan is to remove marijuana consumption and incidental possession from the Criminal Code; however, new laws will be enacted for greater punishment of providing it to minors and impairment while driving a motor vehicle. In late November 2015, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said that she and the ministers of Health and Public Safety were working on specifics as to the legislation.
Alcohol and marijuana prohibition correlation
Franklin D. Roosevelt promised in the 1932 presidential election to end the prohibition for alcohol and fulfilled that promise in 1933. However, Roosevelt supported more restrictive laws from 1935 for cannabis. The U.S Treasury Department created a new department in 1930 named the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Harry J. Anslinger - who previously held the position of Assistant Prohibition Commissioner - became the Commissioner of Narcotics in 1930. Commissioner Anslinger's report in 1935 noted: "In the absence of Federal legislation on the subject, the States and cities should rightfully assume the responsibility for providing vigorous measures for the extinction of this lethal weed, and it is therefore hoped that all public-spirited citizens will earnestly enlist in the movement urged by the Treasury Department to adjure intensified enforcement of marijuana laws." By 1937, 46 out of 48 states had officially classified cannabis as a narcotic along the lines of morphine, heroin, and cocaine. Anslinger’s campaign supported the passing of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. The bill originated in the Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914, but that law didn’t actually ban marijuana outright.
Attitudes regarding legalization
Many advocate legalization of cannabis, believing that it will eliminate the illegal trade and associated crime, yield a valuable tax-source and reduce policing costs. Cannabis is now available as a palliative agent, in Canada, with a medical prescription. In 1969, only 16% percent of voters in the USA supported legalization, according to a poll by Gallup. According to the same source, that number had risen to 36% by 2005. More recent polling indicates that the number has risen even further; in 2009, between 46% and 56% of US voters would support legalization. According to press reports, supporters of the California initiative estimate that about $15 billion worth of marijuana is sold every year in the state. Thus, an excise tax on the retail sales of marijuana could raise at least $1.3 billion a year in revenue.
Attitudes regarding marijuana regulation have also changed as some states (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska) have passed their own laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use. According to a Gallup Poll published in December 2012, 64% of Americans believe the federal government should not intervene in these states. The survey also found a difference in age groups for those that think marijuana should be legal and those that still support prohibition: 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds favor legalization while only 48% of those age 30-64 and 36% of those older than 65 feel this way.
The marijuana industry has grown significantly since 2000 and federal officials maintain that the legalization of marijuana will contribute to the increase of youth and adolescent use because it will be easier to obtain, the perception of risk would be reduced and more adult role models will be using. However, studies in Colorado have shown that there has been no connection between legalized marijuana laws and youth marijuana use because Colorado teen use is lower than the national average, fewer teens are reporting they use marijuana than compared to reported use prior to legalization laws and underage use will continue to decrease with strict age limits and implementation of risk awareness programs.
In 2014, Colorado invested $2 million generated from marijuana sales tax revenue on campaigns aimed at anti-marijuana education of minors and the state has plans to spend double that amount, $4 million in 2015 (out of a total projected marijuana sales tax revenue of $125 million). The current campaigns provide information on the laws of marijuana and impacts on youth use, the dangers of driving under the influence of all drugs and the harmful side effects of using marijuana. With strict laws on possession and use, the state is working to deter underage and unsafe use. By redirecting Colorado’s tax revenues to educational programs for youth and adults the state is showing a commitment to fully inform the public and that may be making strides in keeping youth pot use to a minimum, or at least helping to keep teen uses from increasing.
In the Pew Research Center poll released on April 4, 2013, 52 percent of Americans support legalizing the drug and only 45 percent oppose legalization. While support has generally tracked upward over time, it has spiked 11 percentage points since 2010. Research conducted by the Pew Research Center in February 2014 shows an increase in the percentage of legalization supporters, from 52% to 54%,
Islamic view
In the medieval Arab world, hashish use was associated with Sufism, a counterculture within the Arab community in the same way that the hippies of the 1960s represented a counterculture within American society. Their religious stance and non-conformist attitudes to conservative Islamic rules combined to make the Sufis pariahs in the Arab world. Islamic leaders used the Sufi's hashish culture as a pretext for oppressing dissent within the societies they controlled. While the efforts to eliminate hashish were often quite dramatic, all attempts ultimately proved futile.
Human rights
It has been put forth that drug prohibition laws are incompatible with the protections afforded by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The scope for the ECHR to be co-opted to evolve drug policy is far from exhausted. Involved are article 8 (right to private and family life), article 9 (freedom of thought), and article 14 (prohibition of discrimination).
Advertising
In 2012, Denver City Council voted unanimously to ban all outdoor medical marijuana ads in the state of Colorado, where marijuana is legal to purchase for people 21 years of age or older. This ban includes billboards, posters, bus benches, and sign twirlers. Marijuana businesses are still able to advertise on television, radio, online, and on print but must use a disclaimer indicating the products being advertised are for registered Colorado medical marijuana patients only. The council's Debbie Ortega and Christopher Herndon are behind the proposal which is an expansion of a May plan by Ortega that called for a ban on medical marijuana ads within 1,000 feet of schools, daycares and parks after she received complaints from constituents, Westword reports.
The medical marijuana community in Denver remains divided on this issue. The Cannabis Business Alliance, one advocacy group that fought against the full ad ban, was disappointed by the outcome. They claim that although they supported the original proposal to ban ads within 1,000 feet of schools and parks, the terms of this full ban are not clear enough in regards to outside marketing that falls outside of billboards, bus benches, and sign twirlers like festivals and merchandise. Kush Magazine went as far as saying that the ban is a violation of the First Amendment.
Kush Magazine reported in June that the often loud, over-the-top advertising by medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver has to do with trying to stand out in an overcrowded marketplace—there are approximately 200 dispensaries in Denver alone competing for more than 50,000 valid patients. Pot industry magazine The Medical Marijuana Business Daily says that the ban could force dispensaries to market themselves in more traditional ways making it harder to stand out and much harder to attract local passersby with a showy billboard or sign twirler. But perhaps that's not all bad when the signage the proposed ban addresses has created some backlash.
On the other side of the debate is the Medical Marijuana Industry Group (MMIG), a trade association that advocates for responsible medical marijuana regulation at the local, state, and national level, who actively pushed for the ad ban that passed, and says the ban is ultimately positive for the industry. Michael Elliott, the executive director of MMIG explained in a Huffington Post article why he and his group supported the article:
"The Denver City Council recently passed an ordinance which will eliminate certain troublesome advertising practices utilized by some participants in the medical marijuana industry. My organization, the Medical Marijuana Industry Group (MMIG), supported this ordinance because we believe it finds the right balance between protecting the interests of the medical marijuana community and the citizens of Denver [...] Under the new ordinance, medical marijuana businesses will still have access to a comprehensive range of affordable venues in which to advertise. These include but are not limited to: the print media, merchandising, and web-based solutions including social media. In addition, business signage will still be allowed. But most importantly, patients can be assured that they will have the necessary tools to easily locate and procure their medication. Put simply, this ordinance addresses those concerns most often voiced by Denver’s citizenry, while maintaining the rights of industry participants to market their businesses in an efficient, fair, and cost-effective manner."
The Associated Press reports that Colorado attorney Lenny Frieling, an outspoken marijuana legalization advocate, didn't want marijuana singled out like this saying, "I don't think any medicines should be advertised, period, end of story. Whether it's medical marijuana or something that will give me an erection for eight hours, I find it all inappropriate," Frieling said. "Ban it all or don't ban any of it."
However most of Denver's city council members disagreed with Frieling and do want to give medical marijuana businesses the ability to advertise—just not in the over-the-top way that some have been. "We are still allowing advertising," Councilman Herndon, one of the backers of the ad ban said. "We just don't want it in your face."
Despite the rules against allowing dispensaries to advertise in the public space, the magazine High Times has sued the state of Colorado in order to gain advertising in print press. The law states that stores providing recreational marijuana can advertise in publications that have "reliable evidence that no more than 30 percent of the publication's readership is reasonably expected to be under the age of 21". This lawsuit argues that the inability to advertise in magazines, as well as any kind of medium, is as restriction on the freedom of speech article in the Constitution. However, none of these policies apply to the medical marijuana business. Also accompanying the High Times magazine in this lawsuit is a local publication called Westwood. David Lane, the attorney representing High Times, states that these rules "irrationally single out Retail Marijuana Establishments for more stringent advertising restrictions than those regulating the alcohol industry, although the Colorado Constitution calls for the regulation of marijuana ‘in a manner similar to alcohol.’" This lawsuit, commencing in February, still has not come to any conclusion.
In August of 2014, Colorado public health officials started an advertising campaign targeted at teenagers warning them of the dangers of smoking marijuana during adolescence. The campaign, which is called "Don't Be a Lab Rat", is displaying human-sized cages across Colorado that display provocative messages about harm the drug can cause while the teenage body is maturing. This campaign, which also includes television commercials, has been criticized by Colorado's legal pot industry and has been called a scare tactic. The campaign has been funded with $2 million from the state attorney generals office, as well as the city of Denver, and foundations across the state. Mike Sukle's advertising agency was hired by the state and designed the campaign and has called the job "a monumental task".
Later that August in 2014, the city of Boulder, Colorado’s superintendent, Bruce Messinger, announced that the "Don’t Be a Lab Rat" campaign would not be appropriate for the community. Messinger stated that his objection to the campaign was the fact that inviting pre-teen to teenage students into massive rat cages was not the most effective way to get their message across. Messinger was quoted saying "scare tactics don’t work". He then went on in the interview to question the validity of some of the studies referred to in the "Don’t Be a Lab Rat" campaign.
On the other hand, Dr. Larry Wolk, the executive director and chief medical officer at the state health department and one of the driving forces behind "Don’t Be a Lab Rat", stated that the entire intent of the campaign was to get kids to start talking amongst themselves and with adults about the possible effects of marijuana. Although the campaign was shut down in the schools within Boulder, it has been, according to Dr. Wolk, very successful in other locations. For example, the campaigns that were in Denver’s public library and downtown skate park had received much positive feedback.
In response to this campaign, U.S. Representative Jared Polis (D-Colo.) has been quoting saying: "It's a bizarre, ill-fated campaign...I think they need to go back to the drawing board on that one." Polis went on to say that "Most people who saw [the advertisements] thought they had something to do with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), like they are trying to free laboratory rats from the University of Colorado...And also, kids are playing in the cages." While Rep. Polis has been critical, Dr. Wolk says "We are pleased that the Don't Be a Lab Rat campaign has served as a catalyst to start a much-needed conversation among teens, parents and influencers about the potential negative effects of marijuana on developing brains...Critique and criticism of the creative elements of the campaign were to be expected and have helped further the conversation."
Use of capital punishment against the cannabis trade
Several countries have either carried out or legislated capital punishment for cannabis trafficking.
Non-drug purposes
Hemp is the common name for cannabis and is the English term used when this annual herb is grown for non-drug purposes. These include industrial purposes for which cultivation licenses may be issued in the European Union (EU). When grown for industrial purposes hemp is often called industrial hemp, and a common product is fibre for use in a variety of different ways. Fuel is often a by-product of hemp cultivation.
Hemp seed may be used as food. Though the UK's Defra (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) will not issue cultivation licenses for this purpose, treating it as a non-food crop, the seed appears on the UK market as a food product.
In the UK hemp seed and fibre have always been perfectly legal products. Cultivation for non drug purposes was, however, completely prohibited from 1928 until circa 1998, when Home Office industrial-purpose licenses became available under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
Industrial strains intended for legal use within the EU are bred to comply with regulations limiting THC content to 0.2%. (THC content is a measure of the herb's drug potential and can reach 25% or more in drug strains).
International reform
Cannabis reform at the international level refers to efforts to ease restrictions on cannabis use under international treaties. Internationally, the drug is in Schedule IV, the most restrictive category, of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. As of January 1, 2005, 180 nations belonged to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs makes a distinction between recreational, medical and scientific uses of drugs; nations are allowed to permit medical use of drugs, but recreational use is prohibited by Article 4:
The parties shall take such legislative and administrative measures as may be necessary . . . Subject to the provisions of this Convention, to limit exclusively to medical and scientific purposes the production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in, use and possession of drugs.
The Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances requires its Parties to establish criminal penalties for possession of drugs prohibited under the Single Convention for recreational use. A nation wanting to legalize marijuana would have to withdraw from the treaties; every signatory has a right to do this.
As of January 2009, "cannabis, cannabis resin, cannabinol and its derivatives" are categorized as Class B drugs, in accordance with "(Amendment) Order 2008" of the United Kingdom's Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Following a proposal by UK politician David Blunkett "to seek the reclassification of cannabis from a Class B drug to a Class C drug" in 2001, the classification was moved to the less stringent Class C in January 2004, but was returned to Class B in January 2009.
Barriers
Some barriers to cannabis reform are the result of the international drug control structure, while others are related to political circumstances. A number of non-government organizations support the prohibition of cannabis as a recreational drug. In 2013, 97 NGOs in 37 countries joined the World Federation Against Drugs.
Bureaucratic
The international drug control system is overseen by the United Nations General Assembly and UN Economic and Social Council. The Single Convention grants the Commission on Narcotic Drugs the power to reschedule controlled substances. Cindy Fazey, the former Chief of Demand Reduction for the United Nations Drug Control Programme, said:
"Theoretically, the conventions can be changed by modification, such as moving a drug from one schedule to another or simply by removing it from the schedules. However, this cannot be done with cannabis because it is embedded in the text of the 1961 Convention. Also, modification would need a majority of the Commissions’ 53 members to vote for it. Amendment to the conventions, that is changing an article or part of an article, does not offer a more promising route for the same reason. Even if a majority were gained, then only one state need ask for the decision to go to the Economic and Social Council for further consideration, and demand a vote. The 1971 and 1988 Conventions need a two-thirds majority for change, not just a simple majority."
To modify cannabis regulations at the international level, a conference to adopt amendments in accordance with Article 47 of the Single Convention would be needed. This has been done once, with the 1972 Protocol Amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs; as Fazey notes, this process is fraught with bureaucratic obstacles.
Political
In reference to situations where the Commission on Narcotic Drugs proposes changing the scheduling of any drug, (d)(2)(B) of The U.S. Controlled Substances Act gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power to issue recommendations that are binding on the U.S. representative in international discussions and negotiations:
"Whenever the Secretary of State receives information that the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations proposes to decide whether to add a drug or other substance to one of the schedules of the Convention, transfer a drug or substance from one schedule to another, or delete it from the schedules, the Secretary of State shall transmit timely notice to the Secretary of Health and Human Services of such information who shall publish a summary of such information in the Federal Register and provide opportunity to interested persons to submit to him comments respecting the recommendation which he is to furnish, pursuant to this subparagraph, respecting such proposal. The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall evaluate the proposal and furnish a recommendation to the Secretary of State which shall be binding on the representative of the United States in discussions and negotiations relating to the proposal."
The U.S Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) denied in June 2011 a petition that proposed rescheduling of cannabis and enclosed a long explanation for the denial.
On March 5, 2013, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) urged the United States government to challenge the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado and Washington. INCB President, Raymond Yans stated that these state laws violate international drug treaties, namely the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961. The Office of the US Attorney General said in December 2012 that regardless of any changes in state law, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remained illegal under federal law. Raymond Yans called the statement "good but insufficient" and said he hoped that the issue would soon be addressed by the US Government in line with the international drug control treaties.
See also
Adult lifetime cannabis use by country
Annual cannabis use by country
Cannabis and lobbying efforts
Effects of cannabis
Legal and medical status of cannabis
Legal history of cannabis in the United States
Legality of cannabis by country
Cannabis Social Club
1946 Lake Success Protocol
Illegal drug trade
Latin American drug legalization
References
Further reading
Reefer Madness, a 2003 book by Eric Schlosser, detailing the history of marijuana laws in the United States.
The Emperor Wears No Clothes, a 1985 book by Jack Herer, the Authoritative Historical Record of Cannabis and the Conspiracy Against Marijuana.
Fazey, Cindy: The UN Drug Policies and the Prospect for Change, April 2003.
Feeney, Susan: Bush backs states' rights on marijuana, The Dallas Morning News, October 20, 1999.
Monthly Status of Treaty Adherence, January 1, 2005.
Shamir, Ronen and Hacker Daphna: (2001 article on legalization debate in late 19th century colonial India) Colonialism's Civilizing Mission: The Case of the Indian Hemp Drug Commission, in: Law & Social Inquiry 26, 2, 435-461 (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2001.tb00184.x/abstract;jsessionid=E245E9A3601C114657253DE43A283B37.f02t01)
Wolfe, Daniel: Condemned to Death, Agence Global, April 8, 2004.
Bush, Bill: An anniversary to regret: 40 years of failure of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
External links
European laws on possession of cannabis for personal use from EMCDDA
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
Australian laws on possession of cannabis for personal use |
2016-01 | Beer_pong-695176647 | Beer_pong | Beer pong
Beer pong, also known as Beirut, is a drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in a cup of beer on the other end. The game typically consists of opposing teams of two or more players per side with 6 or 10 cups set up in a triangle formation on each side. Each team then takes turns attempting to shoot ping pong balls into the opponent's cups. If a ball lands in a cup (known as a 'make'), the contents of that cup are consumed by the other team and the cup is removed from the table. The first team to eliminate all of the opponent's cups is the winner.
Venues
Beer pong is played at parties, bars, colleges/universities and other venues such as tailgating at sporting events.
Origin and name
The game was originally believed to have evolved from the original beer pong played with paddles which is generally regarded to have had its origins within the fraternities of Dartmouth College in the 1950s and 1960s, where it has since become part of the social culture of the campus. The original version resembled an actual ping pong game with a net and one or more cups of beer on each side of the table. Eventually, a version without paddles was created and the names Beer Pong and Beirut were adopted in some areas of the United States sometime in the 1980s.
Bucknell University's student-run newspaper, The Bucknellian, claims Delta Upsilon fraternity members at Bucknell created "Throw Pong", a game very similar to beer pong, during the 1970s. "Throw Pong" was then brought to Lehigh University by fraternity brothers who visited Bucknell and this led to the creation of the version of beer pong that is played today.
In some places, Beer Pong refers to the version of the game with paddles, and Beirut to the version without. However, according to a CollegeHumor survey, beer pong is the more common term than Beirut for the paddle-less game.
The origin of the name "Beirut" is disputed. A 2004 op-ed article in the Daily Princetonian, the student newspaper at Princeton University, suggested that the name was possibly coined at Bucknell or Lehigh University around the time of the Lebanese Civil War. Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, was the scene of much fighting during the war, particularly mortar fire.
Setup
Teams
Beer pong is usually played with two teams of two to four players each. Each team begins the game by standing at either end of the table behind their rack of cups.
Playing field
Although the game is typically played on either a ping pong table or a folding banquet table, enthusiasts may create a personalized table for use by friends and visitors. In general, this will be a plywood board cut to proper size, sometimes painted with sports, school, or fraternity symbols and given a liquid-proof coating. Some companies sell tables, including portable and inflatable tables. However, the game can be played on any flat surface.
Equipment
The most common cups used are disposable plastic cups (such as Solo cups) with ridge-lines which can be used precisely to measure the amount of beer to be poured into the cup. On each side of the table, teams assemble equilateral triangles with a convergence point focusing on the other team. Games typically use ten cups. Each team usually also has a separate cup of water used to rinse off the ball.
Alcohol
An inexpensive pale lager or light beer of 3.2–5% ABV is sometimes preferred because of the large quantities consumed during the course of several games. Sometimes under house rules, there might be cups of other liquors used during the game. For non-drinkers, the game may be played without beer, as is done at Utah State University, where alcohol is not allowed on campus; root beer is used instead. For sanitary reasons, the game may also be played with cups of water that players do not drink from, instead drinking from a separate cup of beer or alcohol.
Game play
Traditionally, the game of beer pong has been played by countless variations of rule sets. In recent years, organizations such as The World Series of Beer Pong have put forth "official" rules. Typically, players abide by a uniform set of "house rules" which are often consistent within one university or region of the country (e.g. "West Coast rules") or may vary on a "house-by-house" basis. Number of cups, bouncing, re-racking, amount of alcohol, distance shots must be taken from, etc. may all vary. All house rules should be posted or verbally stated and understood by both teams before the game starts.
The order of play varies - both players on one team can shoot, followed by both players on the other team, or players on opposite teams can alternate back and forth. A cup that is made must immediately have its contents drunk and be removed from play. Some rule sets allow for "re-racking" (also known as "reforming", "rearranging", "consolidation", and other names), which is a rearrangement of a team's remaining cups after some have been removed. The formations, number of cups, when to rearrange and so on, depend on the rule set. For example, a team with three remaining cups may ask the other team to "re-rack" the cups into a single triangle formation.
Common house rules allow players to 'finger' or blow the ball out of the cup if the ball spins around the inner rim. Another common house rule states that if a team makes both shots during their turn, a 'rollback' occurs allowing each player to shoot again. In the World Series of Beer Pong rules, only a single-ball 'rollback' occurs resulting in a three cup maximum that can be made per turn.
Before shooting, teams may dunk the ping pong balls into cups of water in order to wash off the balls. However, research has shown that the wash cups can still hold bacteria such as E. coli. To avoid any illness, many players put water in the cups instead of beer, keeping a separate beer on the side to drink from. In doing so, it removes the possibility of getting sick or drinking any dirt that may transfer from the ball into the cup.
Shot techniques
There are three common ways to shoot in beer pong: the arc, the fastball (or "laser, snipe"), and the bounce shot. The most common throwing technique is the arc shot, where one grasps the ping pong ball with the tips of the thumb and forefinger, holds the arm at an angle with the ball upwards, then throws using a gentle elbow motion holding the upper arm parallel with the table.
Some players throw "fastball" style which uses more of a hard chopping motion to send the ball in a more direct line toward the intended target cup. A fastball shot may be favorable if house rules dictate that a cup knocked over is removed from the table, in which case a fastball can eliminate multiple cups if thrown hard enough.
A bounce shot is performed by bouncing the ball towards the cups. Depending on house rules, if the other team has the opportunity to swat away a bounced ball, a bounce shot may be worth more than one cup.
Winning the game
If a team makes their last cup, the other team loses unless they can make all of their remaining cups; this is called a rebuttal or redemption. If the losing team can hit their redemption shots, then the game is forced into overtime where three cups are used instead of the normal ten cups.
Another 'house rule' can be stated before or during the game in the midst of a shutout. A shutout in beer pong occurs if one team makes all ten of their cups and the opposite team makes none of their cups. If the shutout does occur, the losing team must do whatever the two teams decided on, such as going streaking (naked lap) or drinking a large quantity of beer.
Also depending on 'house rules', there are other ways to end the game. Cups that were accidentally left in the rack after being made are known as death/kill cups. These cups will immediately end the game if made again.
Health effects
The game may have several associated health risks. As with any activity involving alcohol, beer pong may cause players to become drunken or even intoxicated enough to suffer alcohol poisoning. Also, the supposed cleaning effects of the water "dunk" cup may be offset by bacteria in the cups.
Some writers have mentioned beer pong as contributing to "out of control" college drinking.
Legal restrictions
Some municipalities and states have attempted to ban beer pong, either from bars or in general, due to the belief that it encourages binge drinking (see Health Effects above). In Oxford, Ohio, where Miami University is located, the city council tried to ban the game from being played outdoors. In Arlington, Virginia and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, bar owners were told to stop allowing the game to be played in their establishments. In the fall of 2007, Georgetown University officially banned all beer pong paraphernalia such as custom-built tables and the possession of many ping-pong balls.
Time magazine ran an article on July 31, 2008 called "The War Against Beer Pong", noting legal restrictions and bans on the game in college and elsewhere.
In many states, players have taken to placing water in cups in order to hold organized beer pong tournaments legally in bars. Some examples of this can be found in Michigan, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
Tournaments and leagues
Beer pong tournaments are held in the United States at the local, regional, and national levels.
The World Series of Beer Pong (WSOBP), hosted by bpong.com, is the largest beer pong tournament in the world. WSOBP IV, held in January 2009 at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, had a $50,000 grand prize and attracted over 800 participants from the US and Canada. WSOBP V, held in January 2010, attracted over 1,000 participants, and attracted teams from Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Japan, each of which voiced their aspirations to further the sport in their home countries. The World Beer Pong Tour has stops in various cities and cash prizes as well.
A more common organization of beer pong games are leagues which operate on a local or regional level. Ordinarily, a group of pong enthusiasts will create teams (partnerships) and play weekly against each other. Sometimes, the leagues have websites, rankings and statistics, while others have been started by college students with the goal of intramural competition such as at University of California, Santa Barbara with the "Isla Vista Beer Pong League", and at New York University.
Media
The Wall Street Journal, Time and other media outlets have reported on the increase in businesses selling beer pong paraphernalia, such as tables, mats, cups, or clothes. Last Cup: Road to the World Series of Beer Pong is a documentary which follows some competitive players as they prepare for the WSOBP II and ultimately compete against one another for the $20,000 grand prize. This documentary, directed by Dan Lindsay, premiered at the CineVegas film festival on June 13, 2008. WSOBP V attracted further media attention, with writers from Maxim magazine and ESPN The Magazine attending, and it was featured on The Jay Leno Show on January 8, 2010, and also on G4's Attack of the Show! on January 11, 2010. Rick Reilly wrote an entire column about The World Series of Beer Pong IV for ESPN The Magazine.
The Associated Press cited the game and other drinking games as a factor in deaths of college students.
Time magazine recently had an article on the popularity of beer pong and posted a video on their website. In both, players claimed beer pong was a sport, rather than a game—similar to billiards and darts.
The game has been a recurring segment on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, with host Fallon playing against female celebrity guests such as Betty White, Serena Williams, Anna Kournikova, Charlize Theron and Jessica Alba.
The Colbert Report featured a segment on the CDC study hoax.
Road Trip: Beer Pong, a sequel to the 2000 comedy Road Trip, featured the game prominently. Agnes Scott College, where most of the movie was filmed, did not want to be listed in the credits after complaints from students.
Publishing
On August 29, 2009, Chronicle Books published The Book of Beer Pong, a 200-page fully illustrated guide to the game.
Bud pong
Bud pong was the branded version of beer pong that brewer Anheuser-Busch said involved the drinking of water, not Budweiser or any other beer. In the summer of 2005, the company began marketing "bud pong" kits to its distributors. Francine I. Katz, vice president for communications and consumer affairs, was reported in The New York Times as saying that bud pong was not intended for underage drinkers because promotions were held in bars, not on campuses. And it did not promote binge drinking, she said, because official rules call for water to be used, not beer.
The New York Times quoted a bartender at a club near Clemson University as saying she had worked at several bud pong events and had "never seen anyone playing with water. It's always beer. It's just like any other beer pong."
Some expressed incredulity at Anheuser-Busch's public statements. Henry Wechsler, director of the College Alcohol Study at the Harvard School of Public Health, said: "Why would alcohol companies promote games that involve drinking water? It's preposterous," while advertising news site Adjab opined that "someone playing bud pong with water is about as likely as a teenage kid using the rolling paper he bought at the convenience store to smoke tobacco."
However, the practice of playing with water has become increasingly common on college campuses, due to the cost saving effects. Instead of drinking the beer from a glass each time a player sinks a shot, the player simply takes a shot of liquor or a sip from their own drink each time the opposing team scores. This is usually done when there isn't enough beer to accommodate a large number of games during the party.
Video games
In July 2008, JV Games Inc. released a downloadable video game for the Wii console called Frat Party Games: Beer Pong. After much outrage by parent and university groups, the game was renamed Frat Party Games: Pong Toss and all references to alcohol were removed.
References
External links
Category:Drinking culture
Category:Drinking games
Category:Sports entertainment
Category:Beer culture |
2016-01 | Serial_killer-697151493 | Serial_killer | "Serial killer\n\nA serial killer is a person who murders three or more people, usually due to abno(...TRUNCATED) |
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