Body shape refers to the many physical attributes of the human body that make up its appearance, including size and countenance. Body shape has come to imply not only sexual/reproductive ability, but wellness and fitness. In the West, slenderness is associated with happiness, success, youth, and social acceptability. Being overweight is associated with laziness. The media promote a weight-conscious standard for women more often than for men. Deviance from these norms result in social consequences. The media perpetuate this ideal in various ways, particularly glorifying and focusing on thin actors and actresses, models, and other public figures while avoiding the use or image of overweight individuals. This thin ideal represents less than 5% of the American population.

It has been stated that the increase in eating disorders over the past several decades has coincided with an overall decrease (pound-wise) in women's ideal body weight portrayed by the mass media. A group of researchers examined the magazines Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Mademoiselle, and Vogue from 1959 to 1999. Fashion models became increasingly thinner during the 1980s and 1990s, making the thin ideal even more difficult for women to achieve. Photos depicting the models' entire bodies significantly increased in number from the 1960s to the 1990s. From 1995 to 1999 models were dressed in far more revealing outfits than they were from 1959 to 1963.

Women's magazines have been criticized for their conflicting messages, with an emphasis on food, cooking, child rearing, and entertaining. 75% of women's magazines contain at least one ad or article about how to alter one's appearance through cosmetic surgery, diet, or exercise. 25% of the women's magazines surveyed included tips for dieting or messages about weight loss. Many women's magazines focus on how to lead a better life by improving physical appearance. Megenta magazine released an article on "How to dress for your body type" giving tips and tricks to look the best in an outfit while striving to encourage women to feel comfortable in their skin. Men's magazines provide information about hobbies, activities, and entertainment in order for men to better their lives.

Much of the research about how the media affects body image examines the change in models and magazine articles over time. Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Thompson paid particular attention to the difference in body shape of Playboy centerfolds over a 20-year period. They found that over the years, the body mass, bust, and hip measurements decreased; however, the height increased. They also determined that the Playboy centerfolds were 13%-19% lower than the normal body weight for women of their age (Cusumano, Thompson 1997). Other studies found that over the years, magazines like Seventeen, YM, and Cosmopolitan all had an increase in articles about diet and exercise. Anderson and DiDomenico (1992) compared women's and men's popular magazines and found that diet and exercise articles appeared more than 10 times as much in women's magazines than men's.

Modeling and fashion industries have come under fire in recent years for embracing and promoting an ultra-thin appearance, giving "unhealthy stigma". According to a data research done by Might Goods using 3,000 models from 20 leading model agencies, 94% of the models are underweight. In addition, in a recent study conducted by Jennifer Brenner and Joseph Cunningham, it was observed that the majority of female models were underweight. The average American female fashion model begins working in the modeling business at ages 13–17 years old. The average female model in the United States weighs in ranging from 90 pounds to 120 pounds and an average of 5'8" to 5'11" tall. In comparison, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the average weight of a female is 168.5 pounds, and the average height for females is 5'4". According to the AMA (American Medical Association), thin models on the catwalk as well as social media and fashion photography lead to unrealistic body expectations, which in turn could lead to eating disorders and other emotional problems. With the mass advertisement promoting thin body, plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery, women and young girls are being bombarded with this very idea of achieving thin body. This issue is being control by some countries such as Israel and France in which they regulate the body mass indexes of models and let the public know whether the ad images is manipulated.

Photoshop is, "the altering (a photographic image) with Photoshop software or other image-editing software especially in a way that distorts reality". Aerie, the lingerie line for American Eagle, began the campaign Aerie Real in which models were no longer photoshopped. A 2016 study showed that some women showed a smaller decrease in body satisfaction when seeing the photos of women untouched in comparison to the greater decrease in body satisfaction when seeing previous photos that were retouched. Many well-known magazines have been called out for photoshopping, a few examples being AdWeek, InStyle, Modeliste Magazine, and Fashion Magazine. Celebrities have recently commented on changes that were made to their photos by such magazines. In 2015, Zendaya, a current 21-year-old actress, singer, and dancer, posted two pictures side by side of her magazine photoshoot calling out the changes that were made by the magazine, Modeliste Magazine. She stated, "These are the things that make women self conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have".

Social media consists of websites like Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook enabling users to produce and share content. Thinspiration images that promote the idealization of thinness and pro-eating disorder websites are becoming increasingly more prevalent throughout social media. Pro-eating disorder (i.e. pro-ana and pro-bulimia) websites are forms of social media where individuals can share advice and images that encourage their peers to engage in eating disorder behaviors. These websites have been shown to have deleterious effects because they communicate to the viewer that the thin ideal is something that is not only attainable but also necessary. Women are more likely to compare themselves online when they feel the need to improve their appearance. Women with low self-esteem are more likely to feel dissatisfied after comparing themselves to images on social and women who struggle with preexisting eating disorders may exacerbate them through social media-fueled body comparison. A study on college women in the US concluded that women who spent a significant amount of time on Facebook had increased body dissatisfaction.

Whether positive or negative, other social media platforms have also shown to have an impact on their users. In an online experiment of US women, it was found that Pinterest users that followed fitness boards were "more likely to engage in extreme weight-loss behaviors." It was also found that these boards promoted a positive correlation between social comparison, female ideal body typing, and extreme weight loss behaviors.


Differential heat treatment (also called selective heat treatment or local heat treatment) is a technique used during heat treating to harden or soften certain areas of a steel object, creating a difference in hardness between these areas. There are many techniques for creating a difference in properties, but most can be defined as either differential hardening or differential tempering. These were common heat treating techniques used historically in Europe and Asia, with possibly the most widely known example being from Japanese swordsmithing. Some modern varieties were developed in the twentieth century as metallurgical knowledge and technology rapidly increased.

Differential hardening consists of either two methods. It can involve heating the metal evenly to a red-hot temperature and then cooling it at different rates, turning part of the object into very hard martensite while the rest cools slower and becomes softer pearlite. It may also consist of heating only a part of the object very quickly to red-hot and then rapidly cooling (quenching), turning only part of it into hard martensite but leaving the rest unchanged. Conversely, differential tempering methods consist of heating the object evenly to red-hot and then quenching the entire object, turning the whole thing into martensite. The object is then heated to a much lower temperature to soften it (tempering), but is only heated in a localized area, softening only a part of it.

Differential heat treatment is a method used to alter the properties of various parts of a steel object differently, producing areas that are harder or softer than others. This creates greater toughness in the parts of the object where it is needed, such as the tang or spine of a sword, but produces greater hardness at the edge or other areas where greater impact resistance, wear resistance, and strength is needed. Differential heat treatment can often make certain areas harder than could be allowed if the steel was uniformly treated, or "through treated". There are several techniques used to differentially heat treat steel, but they can usually be divided into differential hardening and differential tempering methods.

During heat treating, when red-hot steel (usually between 1,500 °F (820 °C) and 1,600 °F (870 °C)) is quenched, it becomes very hard. However, it will be too hard, becoming very brittle like glass. Quenched-steel is usually heated again, slowly and evenly (usually between 400 °F (204 °C) and 650 °F (343 °C)) in a process called tempering, to soften the metal, thereby increasing the toughness. However, although this softening of the metal makes the blade less prone to breaking, it makes the edge more susceptible to deformation such as dulling, peening, or curling.

Differential hardening is a method used in heat treating swords and knives to increase the hardness of the edge without making the whole blade brittle. To achieve this, the edge is cooled faster than the spine by adding a heat insulator to the spine before quenching. Clay or another material is used for insulation. To prevent cracking and loss of surface carbon, quenching is usually performed before beveling, shaping, and sharpening the edge. It can also be achieved by carefully pouring water (perhaps already heated) onto the edge of a blade as is the case with the manufacture of some kukri. Differential hardening technology originated in China and later spread to Korea and Japan. This technique is mainly used in later Chinese jian, Chinese dao, and the katana, the traditional Japanese sword, and the khukuri, the traditional Nepalese knife. Most blades made with this technique have visible temper lines. Earlier Chinese jian from the ancient era (eg. Warring States to Han Dynasty) used tempering rather than differential heat treatment. This method is sometimes called differential tempering, but this term more accurately refers to a different technique, which originated with the broadswords of Europe.

Modern versions of differential hardening were developed when sources of rapidly heating the metal were devised, such as an oxy-acetylene torch or induction heating. With flame hardening and induction hardening techniques, the steel is quickly heated to red-hot in a localized area and then quenched. This hardens only part of the object, but leaves the rest unaltered.

Differential tempering was more commonly used to make cutting tools, although it was sometimes used on knives and swords as well. Differential tempering is obtained by quenching the sword uniformly, then tempering one part of it, such as the spine or the center portion of double edged blades. This is usually done with a torch or some other directed heat source. The heated portion of the metal is softened by this process, leaving the edge at the higher hardness.

Differential hardening (also called differential quenching, selective quenching, selective hardening, or local hardening) is most commonly used in bladesmithing to increase the toughness of a blade while keeping very high hardness and strength at the edge. This helps to make the blade very resistant to breaking, by making the spine very soft and bendable, but allows greater hardness at the edge than would be possible if the blade was uniformly quenched and tempered. This helps to create a tough blade that will maintain a very sharp, wear-resistant edge, even during rough use such as found in combat.

Although differential hardening produces a very hard edge, it also leaves the rest of the sword rather soft, which can make it prone to bending under heavy loads, such as parrying a hard blow. It can also make the edge more susceptible to chipping or cracking. Swords of this type can usually only be resharpened a few times before reaching the softer metal underneath the edge. However, if properly protected and maintained, these blades can usually hold an edge for long periods of time, even after slicing through bone and flesh, or heavily matted bamboo to simulate cutting through body parts, as is in iaido.

Flame hardening is often used to harden only a portion of an object, by quickly heating it with a very hot flame in a localized area, and then quenching the steel. This turns the heated portion into very hard martensite, but leaves the rest unchanged. Usually, an oxy-gas torch is used to provide such high temperatures. Flame hardening is a very common surface hardening technique, which is often used to provide a very wear-resistant surface. A common use is for hardening the surface of gears, making the teeth more resistant to erosion. The gear will usually be quenched and tempered to a specific hardness first, making a majority of the gear tough, and then the teeth are quickly heated and immediately quenched, hardening only the surface. Afterward, it may or may not be tempered again to achieve the final differential hardness.

Induction hardening is a surface hardening technique which uses induction coils to provide a very rapid means of heating the metal. With induction heating, the steel can be heated very quickly to red-hot at the surface, before the heat can penetrate any distance into the metal. The surface is then quenched, hardening it, and is often used without further tempering. This makes the surface very resistant to wear, but provides tougher metal directly underneath it, leaving the majority of the object unchanged. A common use for induction hardening is for hardening the bearing surfaces, or "journals", on automotive crankshafts or the rods of hydraulic cylinders.


Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 21,677 as of the 2010 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of eastern North Carolina.

In 2009, Kinston won the All-America City Award. This marks the second time in 21 years the city has won the title.

During the onset of the Civil War, Camp Campbell and Camp Johnston were established near the city as training camps, and a bakery on Queen Street was converted to produce hardtack in large quantities. Also, a factory for the production of shoes for the military was located in Kinston. The Battle of Kinston took place in and around the city on December 14, 1862.

From February 5 to February 22, 1864, 22 deserters were executed by hanging in the city. The court martial and subsequent hangings were carried out by the 54th Regiment, North Carolina Troops, Confederate States Army. Fifteen of these men were from Jones County and had all started their service in the 8th Battalion North Carolina Partisan Rangers.

The Battle of Wyse Fork, also known as the Battle of Southwest Creek (March 7–10, 1865) took place very near the city. At this later battle, the Confederate ram Neuse was scuttled to avoid capture by Union troops. Remnants of the ship have been salvaged, and were on display at Richard Caswell Park on West Vernon Avenue. A climate-controlled museum has been built on downtown Queen Street, and has moved the hulk there to prevent further deterioration of the original ship's remains. A full-scale replica vessel (Ram Neuse II) has been constructed near the original's resting place (known as the "Cat's Hole") beside the bank of the Neuse River on Heritage Street in Kinston. Union Army forces occupied the city following the battle. United States troops were assigned to the area through the Reconstruction era.

Despite the hardships of war and Reconstruction, the population of the city continued to grow. By 1870, the population had increased to 1,100 people and grew to more than 1,700 within a decade.

During the late 19th century, an expansion into new areas of industry occurred, most notably the production of horse-drawn carriages. Kinston also became a major tobacco and cotton trading center. By the start of the 20th century, more than 5 million lb of tobacco were being sold annually in Kinston's warehouses. Along with the growth in population and industry came a growth in property values. Some parcels increased in value more than fivefold within a 20-year period.

On April 6, 1916, Joseph Black was taken from the Lenoir County Jail and lynched by a mob of armed men. He was accused of assisting his son in an escape attempt.

Kinston is in the Atlantic coastal plain region of North Carolina. It is mainly on the northeast side of the Neuse River, and is northeast of the center of Lenoir County. It is 26 miles (42 km) east of Goldsboro, 30 miles (48 km) south of Greenville, and 35 miles (56 km) west of New Bern. The Atlantic Ocean at Emerald Isle is 57 miles (92 km) to the southeast, and Raleigh, the state capital, is 80 miles (130 km) to the northwest.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city of Kinston has a total area of 18.6 sq mi (48.1 km2), of which 0.2 sq mi (0.5 km2), or 0.95%, is covered by water.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (formerly the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) operates the Dobbs Youth Development Center juvenile correctional facility in Kinston. The facility, which opened in 1944, has a prisoner capacity of 44.

In the 2017 municipal elections, Democratic candidate Dontario Hardy beat incumbent B.J. Murphy by a margin of 205 votes. City Councilman Robert A. Swinson IV was re-elected alongside newcomer Kristal Suggs, completing Kinston's first ever all African-American city council.

As with most of North Carolina, Kinston is predominantly Protestant with large concentrations of Baptists, Methodists, and various other evangelical groups. Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Disciples of Christ also constitute a significant portion of the population.

The Roman Catholic community in Kinston has seen steady growth over the years with the migration of Hispanic workers to the area. Catholic migrants have also come from the Northeastern United States who work for the North Carolina Global TransPark and in nearby Greenville.

Kinston at one time had a sizeable Jewish community. As with most Jewish communities in the rural South, it has seen a steady decline. Temple Israel, Kinston's only synagogue, has only a few remaining members.


The Malayan Union was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration. Following opposition by the ethnic Malays, the union was reorganised as the Federation of Malaya in 1948.

Prior to World War II, British Malaya consisted of three groups of polities: the protectorate of the Federated Malay States, five protected Unfederated Malay States and the crown colony of the Straits Settlements.

On 1 April 1946, the Malayan Union officially came into existence with Sir Edward Gent as its governor, combining the Federated Malay States, Unfederated Malay States and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca under one administration. The capital of the Union was Kuala Lumpur. The former Straits Settlement of Singapore was administered as a separate crown colony.

The idea of the Union was first expressed by the British in October 1945 (plans had been presented to the War Cabinet as early as May 1944) in the aftermath of the Second World War by the British Military Administration. Sir Harold MacMichael was assigned the task of gathering the Malay state rulers' approval for the Malayan Union in the same month. In a short period of time, he managed to obtain all the Malay rulers’ approval. The reasons for their agreement, despite the loss of political power that it entailed for the Malay rulers, has been much debated; the consensus appears to be that the main reasons were that as the Malay rulers were of course resident during the Japanese occupation, they were open to the accusation of collaboration, and that they were threatened with dethronement. Hence the approval was given, though it was with utmost reluctance.

When it was unveiled, the Malayan Union gave equal rights to people who wished to apply for citizenship. It was automatically granted to people who were born in any state in British Malaya or Singapore and were living there before 15 February 1942, born outside British Malaya or the Straits Settlements only if their fathers were citizens of the Malayan Union and those who reached 18 years old and who had lived in British Malaya or Singapore "10 out of 15 years before 15 February 1942". The group of people eligible for application of citizenship had to live in Singapore or British Malaya "for 5 out of 8 years preceding the application", had to be of good character, understand and speak the English or Malay language and "had to take an oath of allegiance to the Malayan Union". However, the citizenship proposal was never actually implemented. Due to opposition to the citizenship proposal, it was postponed then modified, which made it harder for many Chinese and Indian residents to obtain Malayan citizenship.

The Sultans, the traditional rulers of the Malay states, conceded all their powers to the British Crown except in religious matters. The Malayan Union was placed under the jurisdiction of a British Governor, signalling the formal inauguration of British colonial rule in the Malay peninsula. Moreover, while the State Councils were still kept functioning in the former Federated Malay States, they lost the limited autonomy that they enjoyed, left to administer only some less important local aspects of government, and became an extended hand of the Federal government in Kuala Lumpur. Also, British Residents replacing the Sultans as the head of the State Councils meant that the political status of the Sultans was greatly reduced.

The Malays generally opposed the creation of the Union. The opposition was due to the methods Sir Harold MacMichael used to acquire the Sultans' approval, the reduction of the Sultans' powers, and easy granting of citizenship to immigrants. The United Malays National Organisation or UMNO, a Malay political association formed by Dato' Onn bin Ja'afar on 10 May 1946, led the opposition against the Malayan Union. Malays also wore white bands around their heads, signifying their mourning for the loss of the Sultans' political rights.

After the inauguration of the Malayan Union, the Malays, under UMNO continued opposing the Malayan Union. They utilised civil disobedience as a means of protest by refusing to attend the installation ceremonies of the British governors. They had also refused to participate in the meetings of the Advisory Councils, hence Malay participation in the government bureaucracy and the political process had totally stopped. The British had recognised this problem and took measures to consider the opinions of the major races in Malaya before making amendments to the constitution. The Malayan Union was dissolved and replaced by the Federation of Malaya on 1 February 1948.


Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is a role-playing video game developed by Media.Vision and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment that was released in Japan on March 12, 2015 for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. Part of the Digimon franchise, the game is the fifth installment in the Digimon Story series, following 2011's Super Xros Wars, and the first to be released on home consoles. The game would be released in North America on February 2, 2016, becoming the first installment of the Digimon Story series to be released in North America since 2007's Digimon World Dawn and Dusk, and the first to be released under its original title.

A sequel, titled Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker's Memory, was released in Japan in 2017 and in Western territories in 2018. In July 2019, a port of the game and its sequel for Nintendo Switch and Windows, was announced for release on October 18, 2019, as Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition, although the PC version was released a day early.

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is a role-playing game, played from a third-person perspective where players control a human character with the ability to command Digimon, digital creatures with their own unique abilities who do battle against other Digimon. Players can choose between either Palmon, Terriermon or Hagurumon as their starting partner at the beginning of the game, with more able to be obtained as they make their way into new areas. A total of 249 unique Digimon are featured, including seven that were available as DLC throughout the life of the game, and two which were exclusive to the Western release. The title features a New Game Plus mode where players retain all of their Digimon, non-key items, money, memory, sleuth rank, scan percentages, and Digifarm progress.

Players assume the role of Takumi Aiba (male) or Ami Aiba (female), a young Japanese student living in Tokyo while their mother, a news reporter, is working abroad. After receiving a message from a hacker, Aiba investigates the physical-interaction cyberspace network EDEN, where they meet Nokia Shiramine and Arata Sanada. The hacker gives them "Digimon Capture" programs and locks them in EDEN. While searching for an exit, Aiba meets Yuugo, leader of the hacker team "Zaxon"; Yuugo teaches Aiba how to use their Digimon Capture and tells them that Arata is a skilled hacker himself. Aiba meets up with Nokia and Arata, who unlocks a way out, but the three are then attacked by a mysterious creature that grabs Aiba and corrupts their logout process.

Aiba emerges in the real world as a half-digitized entity and is rescued by detective Kyoko Kuremi, head of the Kuremi Detective Agency, which specializes in cyber-crimes. Aiba manifests an ability, Connect Jump, which allows them to travel into and through networks. Recognizing their utility, Kyoko helps Aiba stabilize their digital body and recruits them as her assistant. They investigate a hospital ward overseen by Kamishiro Enterprises, which owns and manages EDEN, and finds it filled with patients of a phenomenon called "EDEN Syndrome," where users logged onto EDEN fall into a seemingly permanent coma. Aiba discovers their own physical body in the ward, before being confronted by a mysterious girl. The girl admits to knowing one of the other victims, and helps Aiba avoid Rie Kishibe, the current president of Kamishiro.

The mysterious girl approaches Kyoko and Aiba and reveals herself as Yuuko Kamishiro, the daughter of Kamishiro Industries' former president, and requests they investigate her father's purported suicide. With the assistance of Goro Mayatoshi, a detective in the Tokyo Police Department and an old friend of Kyoko's father, Kyoko and Aiba gather evidence regarding illegal activity within Kamishiro. Kyoko's plans are thwarted when Kishibe holds a sudden press conference, admitting to the activity and terminating several non-essential employees as scapegoats, which causes Mayatoshi's superiors to call off the accusations. Aiba, Arata, Yuuko, and Kyoko take advantage of an EDEN preview event to hack into the Kamishiro servers, learning of a "Paradise Lost Plan," and that Yuuko's older brother is a victim of EDEN Syndrome, a casualty of a failed beta test eight years ago apparently covered up by Kamishiro.

Nokia, with Aiba's help, reunites with an Agumon and Gabumon she met and bonded with in Kowloon; she learns from them that Digimon are not hacker programs, but living creatures from a "Digital World", and that Agumon and Gabumon came to EDEN for a purpose they can't remember. Nokia vows to help them recover their memories, but is hampered by her lack of fighting experience; after being soundly defeated by Yuugo's lieutenant Fei, she resolves to become stronger and forms her own group, the Rebels, to improve relations between humans and Digimon. This allows Agumon and Gabumon to digivolve into WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, and gains her a large following, but Yuugo worries that she might interfere with his goal of protecting EDEN.

Meanwhile, Aiba assists Arata in investigating "Digital Shift" phenomena occurring around Tokyo. They meet Akemi Suedou, who identifies the creature behind the Digital Shifts as an Eater; a mass of corrupted data that consumes users' mental data, making it responsible for the EDEN Syndrome and Aiba's half-digital state. Eaters have links to a "white boy ghost" that keeps appearing around it, and by "eating" data can evolve into different forms. Arata, discouraged after witnessesing many friends become victims of EDEN Syndrome, decides to help Aiba upon learning the truth about their condition.

As Aiba continues their investigations, Jimiken "Jimmy KEN," a Japanese rock idol and disgruntled Zaxon hacker, breaks away from Zaxon and forms a group called the "Demons." Jimiken hijacks Tokyo's television signals, broadcasting a music video overlaid with subliminal messaging to hypnotize users into logging onto EDEN and entering the Demons' stronghold. Aiba defeats Jimiken, who reveals the signal hijacking equipment was given to him by Rie Kishibe in exchange for his loyalty, but his account is destroyed by Fei before he can be further interrogated.

Yuugo mobilizes hackers around EDEN to attempt a large-scale attack on Kamishiro Enterprise’s high-security servers codenamed "Valhalla." Arata intervenes, revealing he is the former leader of a hacker group that failed to hack the Valhalla server in the past, and initiates a battle between Yuugo's Zaxon hackers, his own group of veteran hackers, and Nokia's Rebels, supported by Aiba. The battle is interrupted when Rie unleashes Eaters in the server, revealing the entire event was a trap to get Yuugo to accumulate Eater prey, and forcibly logs Yuugo out, who is actually Yuuko using a false EDEN avatar modeled and named after her older brother. Rie informs Yuuko that she was using the avatar to manipulate her actions, and begins extracting Yuuko's memories.

The game holds a score of 75/100 on the review aggregator Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reviews. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth received a 34 out of 40 total score from Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu, based on individual scores of 8, 9, 9, and 8.

Destructoid felt that the game wasn't much of a departure from older role-playing games, stating "The battle system is basically everything you've seen before from the past few decades of JRPGs," which includes random encounters that are "either deliciously or inexcusably old-school, depending on your tastes." While PlayStation LifeStyle felt that the game "isn’t a perfect video game interpretation of Bandai Namco’s long-running franchise," criticizing its linear dungeon design and "cheap" interface, its gameplay improvements were a step in the right direction "for fans who have been waiting to see the series get on Pokémon’s level." The website also commended the colorful art and character design of Suzuhito Yasuda, declaring that "Yasuda’s art brings crucial style and life to Digimon’s game series, which had spent previous years sort of fighting to establish its identity." Hardcore Gamer thought that the game was an important step forward for the franchise, stating "It isn’t perfect; its story and script could use some fine-tuning, and the world needs to be more interesting, but overall, this is a solid first step."

The PlayStation Vita version of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth sold 76,760 copies in its debut week in Japan, becoming the third high-selling title for the week. Although initial sales were less than its predecessor, Digimon World Re:Digitize, Cyber Sleuth managed to sell approximately 91.41% of all physical copies shipped to the region, and would go on to sell a total of 115,880 copies by the end of 2015, becoming the 58th best-selling software title that year. In the UK, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth was the 11th best selling game in the week of release. The PlayStation Vita version was the best selling digital title in North America and Europe. The game also has good performance among Latin American countries (#2 Brazil, #3 Mexico, #3 Argentina, #3 Chile, #3 Costa Rica, #4 Guatemala, #6 Perú, #9 Colombia) and the PlayStation 4 version was the 20th best selling digital title in North America and the 19th in Europe on the PlayStation Store in the month of its release in their respective categories. By May 2019, Cyber Sleuth had sold over 800,000 copies worldwide. By October 2020, Cyber Sleuth and Hacker's Memory had shipped more than 1.5 million units worldwide combined. The Switch port of Complete Edition sold 4,536 copies in its first week in Japan.


The Taiwan Miracle or Taiwan Economic Miracle refers to the rapid industrialization and economic growth of Taiwan during the latter half of the twentieth century. As it developed alongside Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong, Taiwan became known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers".

In the 1970s, protectionism was on the rise, and the United Nations switched recognition from the government of the Republic of China to the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of mainland China. It was expelled by General Assembly Resolution 2758 and replaced in all UN organs with the PRC. The Kuomintang began a process of enhancement and modernization of the industry, mainly in high technology (such as microelectronics, personal computers and peripherals). One of the biggest and most successful Technology Parks was built in Hsinchu, near Taipei.

Many Taiwanese brands became important suppliers of worldwide known firms such as DEC or IBM, while others established branches in Silicon Valley and other places inside the United States and became known. The government also recommended the textile and clothing industries to enhance the quality and value of their products to avoid restrictive import quotas, usually measured in volume. The decade also saw the beginnings of a genuinely independent union movement after decades of repression. Some significant events occurred in 1977, which gave the new unions a boost.

One was the formation of an independent union at the Far East Textile Company after a two-year effort discredited the former management-controlled union. This was the first union that existed independently of the Kuomintang in Taiwan's post-war history (although the Kuomintang retained a minority membership on its committee). Rather than prevailing upon the state to use martial law to smash the union, the management adopted the more cautious approach of buying workers' votes at election times. However, such attempts repeatedly failed and, by 1986, all of the elected leaders were genuine unionists. Another, and, historically, the most important, was the now called "Zhongli incident".

In the 1980s, Taiwan had become an economic power, with a mature and diversified economy, solid presence in international markets and huge foreign exchange reserves. Its companies were able to go abroad, internationalize their production, investing massively in Asia (mainly in People's Republic of China) and in other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, mainly in the United States.

Higher salaries and better organized trade unions in Taiwan, together with the reduction of the Taiwanese export quotas meant that the bigger Taiwanese companies moved their production to China and Southeast Asia. The civil society in a now developed country, wanted democracy, and the rejection of the KMT dictatorship grew larger. A major step occurred when Lee Teng-hui, a native from Taiwan, became President, and the KMT started a new path searching for democratic legitimacy.

Two aspects must be remembered: the KMT was on the center of the structure and controlled the process, and that the structure was a net made of relations between the enterprises, between the enterprises and the State, between the enterprises and the global market thanks to trade companies and the international economic exchanges. Native Taiwanese were largely excluded from the mainlanders dominated government, so many went into the business world.

Economic growth has become much more modest since the late 1990s. A key factor to understand this new environment is the rise of China, offering the same conditions that made possible, 40 years ago, the Taiwan Miracle (a quiet political and social environment, cheap and educated workers, absence of independent trade unions). To keep growing, the Taiwanese economy must abandon its workforce intensive industries, which cannot compete with China, Vietnam or other sub-developed countries, and keep innovating and investing in information technology. Since the 1990s, Taiwanese companies have been permitted to invest in China, and a growing number of Taiwanese businessmen are demanding easier communications between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

One major difference with Taiwan is the focus on English education. Mirroring Hong Kong and Singapore, the ultimate goal is to become a country fluent in three languages (Taiwanese; Mandarin, the national language of China, and Taiwan; and English, becoming a bridge between East and West).

According to western financial markets, consolidation of the financial sector remains a concern as it continues at a slow pace, with the market split so small that no bank controls more than 10% of the market, and the Taiwanese government is obligated, by the WTO accession treaty, to open this sector between 2005 and 2008.

Debate on opening "Three Links" with the People's Republic of China were completed in 2008, with the security risk of economic dependence on PR China being the biggest barrier. By decreasing transportation costs, it was hoped that more money will be repatriated to Taiwan and that businesses will be able to keep operations centers in Taiwan while moving manufacturing and other facilities to mainland China.

A law forbidding any firm investing in the PR China more than 40% of its total assets on the mainland was dropped in June 2008, when the new Kuomintang government relaxed the rules to invest in the PR China. Dialogue through semi-official organisations (the SEF and the ARATS) reopened on 12 June 2008 on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, with the first meeting held in Beijing. Taiwan hopes to become a major operations center in East Asia.


Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 American fantasy drama film directed by Gábor Csupó and written by David L. Paterson and Jeff Stockwell. It is based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Katherine Paterson. The film stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Bailee Madison, Zooey Deschanel, and Robert Patrick. It follows two 12-year-old neighbors who create a fantasy world called Terabithia to cope with reality and spend their free time together in an abandoned tree house.

The original novel was based on events from the childhood of the author's son, screenwriter David Paterson. When he asked his mother if he could write a screenplay of the novel, she agreed in part because of his ability as a playwright. Produced by Walden Media, principal photography was shot in Auckland, New Zealand, within 60 days. Film editing took ten weeks, while post-production, music mixing, and visual effects took several months, with the film fully completed by November 2006. This was Michael Chapman's last film as cinematographer before his retirement and eventual death in 2020.

Bridge to Terabithia was theatrically released in the United States on February 16, 2007 by Walt Disney Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics who praised the visuals, performances and faithfulness to the source material. It was a box-office success, grossing $137.6 million worldwide against its budget of $20–25 million. At the 29th Young Artist Awards, the film won all five awards for which it was nominated.

esse "Jess" Aarons is a 12-year-old aspiring artist living with his financially struggling family in Lark Creek. He rides the bus to school with his younger sister May Belle where he avoids the school bully Janice Avery. In class, Jess is also bullied by classmates Scott Hoager and Gary Fulcher and meets a new student named Leslie Burke. At recess, Jess enters a running event, for which he has been training at home. Leslie also enters and manages to win, much to Jess' irritation. On the way home, Jess and Leslie learn they are next-door neighbors.

Later that day, it is discovered that Jess has a difficult relationship with his father, who spends more time with May Belle. Due to their financial struggles, his mother also forces him to wear his older sister's sneakers. One day at school, Leslie compliments Jess' drawing ability and they become friends.

After school, they venture into the woods and swing across a creek on a rope. Jess and Leslie find an abandoned treehouse on the other side and invent a new world, which they call Terabithia. For the next few days, Jess and Leslie spend their free time in the treehouse getting to know each other.

Leslie gives Jess an art kit on his birthday. Jess becomes angry with his father for his attitude towards him and he loses his belief in Terabithia, and refuses its existence the next day at school. Later, Jess apologizes to Leslie by giving her a puppy, whom she names Prince Terrien (P.T).

Once in Terabithia, they encounter various creatures, including a giant troll resembling Janice, squirrel-like creatures resembling Hoager called "Squogers", and "Hairy Vultures" resembling Fulcher.

At school, Leslie becomes frustrated by Janice Avery's bullying. Jess and Leslie play a prank on Janice and she is embarrassed in front of everyone on the bus. Leslie introduces Jess to her parents and they help paint their house. At school, Leslie discovers from Janice that her bullying is due to her abusive father, and the two become friends, with Janice later befriending Jess as well. Jess and Leslie take P.T to Terabithia, where they fight off the Dark Master's creatures resembling their bullies, this time with the troll as their ally.

The next morning, Ms. Edmunds, the music teacher who Jess has a crush on, calls to invite him on a one-on-one field trip to an art museum. When Jess returns home, his father reveals that Leslie died after hitting her head in the creek when the rope she used snapped. Jess first denies it and runs to check on Leslie, but he notices the severed rope as well as emergency vehicles surrounding her house before eventually accepting her death.

The following day, Jess and his parents visit the Burke family to pay their respects. Leslie's father Bill tells Jess she loved him and thanks him for being the best friend she ever had since she never had friends at her old school. Jess feels overwhelming guilt for Leslie's death, lashing out at both Hoager and May Belle, and imagining the Dark Master from Terabithia chasing after him before breaking down into tears, but his father comforts and consoles him. Jess says Leslie is gone forever, but his father tells him she will never be as long as he keeps her memory alive.

Jess decides to re-imagine Terabithia and builds a bridge across the river to welcome a new ruler. He invites May Belle to Terabithia and the siblings agree to rule together, with Jess as king and May Belle as the princess.

Csupó explained that "it was a very conscious decision from the very beginning that we're not going to overdo the visual effects because of the story's integrity and the book's integrity", because there was only a brief mention of Jess and Leslie fighting imaginary creatures in the forest in the novel. With that in mind, they "tried to do the absolute minimum, which would be required to put it into a movie version".[5]

In designing the fantasy creatures found in Terabithia, Csupó wanted to make creatures that were "little more artsy, imaginative, fantastical creatures than the typical rendered characters you see in other movies", and drew inspiration from Terry Gilliam and Ridley Scott. Dima Malanitchev came up with the drawings for the creatures with Csupó's guidance. Csupó chose to have Weta Digital render the 3D animation because he "was impressed with their artistic integrity, the teamwork, the fact that people were really nice, and also they responded to our designs very positively". Weta modified some of the creature designs, but ultimately remained faithful to Csupó's original designs.

There were around 100 crew members from Weta working on the effects for the film. Weta was already working on animating the creatures while the film was being shot, and Weta crew members were on-set for all the scenes that involved special effects during the filming. Weta visual effects supervisor Matt Aitken explained that process involved in interpreting the creatures was "split into two steps". First, natural-looking creatures were created based on pencil sketches by Csupó and Malanitchev, and this was done mostly through Photoshop collages done by visual effects art director Michael Pangrazio. The second step was to figure out animation or motion styles that best suited these creatures.

Leslie's costumes in the film were designed to look as if the character "might have made some of them herself", and they were updated from those described in the book to reflect what would currently be considered eccentric.


Yasujirō Ozu (12 December 1903 – 12 December 1963) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. The most prominent themes of Ozu's work are marriage and family, especially the relationships between generations. His most widely beloved films include Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953), and An Autumn Afternoon (1962).

Widely regarded as one of the world's greatest and most influential filmmakers, Ozu's work has continued to receive acclaim since his death. In the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, Ozu's Tokyo Story was voted the third-greatest film of all time by critics world-wide. In the same poll, Tokyo Story was voted the greatest film of all time by 358 directors and film-makers world-wide.

With his uncle acting as intermediary, Ozu was hired by the Shochiku Film Company, as an assistant in the cinematography department, on 1 August 1923, against the wishes of his father. His family home was destroyed in the earthquake of 1923, but no members of his family were injured.

On 12 December 1924, Ozu started a year of military service. He finished his military service on 30 November 1925, leaving as a corporal.

In 1926, he became a third assistant director at Shochiku. In 1927, he was involved in a fracas where he punched another employee for jumping a queue at the studio cafeteria, and when called to the studio director's office, used it as an opportunity to present a film script he had written. In September 1927, he was promoted to director in the jidaigeki (period film) department, and directed his first film, Sword of Penitence, which has since been lost. Sword of Penitence was written by Ozu, with a screenplay by Kogo Noda, who would become his co-writer for the rest of his career. On September 25, he was called up for service in the military reserves until November, which meant that the film had to be partly finished by another director.

In 1928, Shiro Kido, the head of the Shochiku studio, decided that the company would concentrate on making short comedy films without star actors. Ozu made many of these films. The film Body Beautiful, released on 1 December 1928, was the first Ozu film to use a low camera position, which would become his trademark. After a series of the "no star" pictures, in September 1929, Ozu's first film with stars, I graduated But..., starring Minoru Takada and Kinuyo Tanaka, was released. In January 1930, he was entrusted with Shochiku's top star, Sumiko Kurishima, in her new year film, An Introduction to Marriage. His subsequent films of 1930 impressed Shiro Kido enough to invite Ozu on a trip to a hot spring. In his early works, Ozu used the pseudonym "James Maki" for his screenwriting credit. His film Young Miss, with an all-star cast, was the first time he used the pen name James Maki, and was also his first film to appear in film magazine Kinema Jumpo's "Best Ten" at third position.

In 1932, his I Was Born, But..., a comedy about childhood with serious overtones, was received by movie critics as the first notable work of social criticism in Japanese cinema, winning Ozu wide acclaim. In 1935 Ozu made a short documentary with soundtrack: Kagami Jishi, in which Kikugoro VI performed a Kabuki dance of the same title. This was made by request of the Ministry of Education.. 221  Like the rest of Japan's cinema industry, Ozu was slow to switch to the production of talkies: his first film with a dialogue sound-track was The Only Son in 1936, five years after Japan's first talking film, Heinosuke Gosho's The Neighbor's Wife and Mine.

On 9 September 1937, at a time when Shochiku was unhappy about Ozu's lack of box-office success, despite the praise he received from critics, the thirty-four-year-old Ozu was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army. He spent two years in China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. He arrived in Shanghai on 27 September 1937 as part of an infantry regiment which handled chemical weapons. He started as a corporal but was promoted to sergeant on 1 June 1938. From January until September 1938 he was stationed in Nanjing, where he met Sadao Yamanaka, who was stationed nearby. In September, Yamanaka died of illness. In 1939, Ozu was dispatched to Hankou, where he fought in the Battle of Nanchang and the Battle of Xiushui River. In June, he was ordered back to Japan, arriving in Kobe in July, and his conscription ended on 16 July 1939.

Some of Ozu’s published diaries cover his wartime experiences between December 20, 1938, to June 5, 1939. Another diary from his wartime years, he expressly forbade from publication. In the published diaries, reference to his group’s participation in chemical warfare (in violation of the Geneva Protocol, though Japan had withdrawn from the League of Nations in 1933) can be found, for example, in various entries from March, 1939. In other entries, he describes Chinese soldiers in disparaging terms, likening them in one passage to insects Although operating as a military squad leader, Ozu retains his directorial perspective, once commenting that the initial shock and subsequent agony of a man as he is hacked to death is very much like its depiction in period films.

Ozu returned to Japan in February 1946, and moved back in with his mother, who had been staying with his sister in Noda in Chiba prefecture. He reported for work at the Ofuna studios on 18 February 1946. His first film released after the war was Record of a Tenement Gentleman in 1947. Around this time, the Chigasakikan Ryokan became Ozu's favoured location for scriptwriting.

Tokyo Story was the last script that Ozu wrote at Chigasakikan. In later years, Ozu and Noda used a small house in the mountains at Tateshina in Nagano Prefecture called Unkosō to write scripts, with Ozu staying in a nearby house called Mugeisō.

Ozu's films from the late 1940s onward were favourably received, and the entries in the so-called "Noriko trilogy" (starring Setsuko Hara) of Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), and Tokyo Story (1953) are among his most acclaimed works, with Tokyo Story widely considered his masterpiece. Late Spring, the first of these films, was the beginning of Ozu's commercial success and the development of his cinematography and storytelling style. These three films were followed by his first colour film, Equinox Flower, in 1958, Floating Weeds in 1959, and Late Autumn in 1960. In addition to Noda, other regular collaborators included cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta, along with the actors Chishū Ryū, Setsuko Hara, and Haruko Sugimura.


Tyrone Barnett (born 28 October 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for National League North club Hereford. A former West Bromwich Albion youth team player, the self-described 'athletic target man' dropped into non-league football with Rushall Olympic, AFC Telford United, Willenhall Town, and Hednesford Town. He won the Birmingham Senior Cup with Hednesford, before his goal scoring record won him a move to Football League club Macclesfield Town in May 2010. He was voted the club's Player of the Year for 2010–11, and won a move to Crawley Town in June 2011. He was named on the 2011–12 League Two PFA Team of the Year, and joined Peterborough United on loan in February 2012, which was made into a permanent move at the end of the season for £1.1 million.

He struggled with injuries and discipline issues in the 2012–13 season, and was loaned out to Ipswich Town in November 2012. The 2013–14 season was more positive, though he was still allowed to join Bristol City on a four-month loan in January 2014. He joined Oxford United on loan in September 2014, before he was sold on to Shrewsbury Town in February 2015. He helped Shrewsbury to win promotion out of League Two at the end of the 2014–15 campaign, before he was loaned out to Southend United in January 2016. His contract with Shrewsbury was cancelled in August 2016, and he subsequently signed with AFC Wimbledon. He switched to Port Vale in July 2017, and moved on to Cheltenham Town in January 2019 after a successful loan spell. He joined non-League Eastleigh in August 2019, before moving to Hereford in June 2022.

Barnett began his career as a youth player with West Bromwich Albion but left The Hawthorns after not being offered a professional contract. He instead moved to Rushall Olympic, making his Southern League Division One South & West debut at the age of 19 in a 3–1 defeat to Clevedon Town. He ended the 2005–06 season with nine goals in 41 appearances. His form at the start of the 2006–07 season, scoring nine goals in 16 appearances in all competitions, led Northern Premier League Premier Division side AFC Telford United to sign Barnett in October 2006 in exchange for Dean Perrow joining Rushall on a one-month loan deal. However, he fell out of favour at the New Bucks Head and left to join Willenhall Town at the end of the season.

He spent the 2007–08 season with the "Lockmen", finishing as the club's top scorer with 22 goals, before he joined Hednesford Town. He scored 28 goals in all competitions during his first season, helping the "Pitmen" to win the Birmingham Senior Cup for the first time in 73 years with a 2–0 win over Stourbridge He scored 26 goals in 53 games across the 2009–10 campaign to help Hednesford qualify for the Southern Premier Division play-offs. Before turning professional he had jobs working for the Halifax bank, British Car Auctions, as a security guard in job centres and as a delivery driver for a waste management company.

In May 2010, Barnett moved to League Two side Macclesfield Town, joining former Hednesford teammate Ross Draper at Moss Rose. He made a goalscoring debut on the opening day of the 2010–11 season in a 2–2 draw at Stevenage. He initially signed a one-year deal with an option for a second; the option was quickly taken up by the "Silkmen" after he enjoyed a successful start to his league career. However manager Gary Simpson admitted that "if he keeps playing like that we'll struggle to keep hold of him". Barnett was voted by Macclesfield Town supporters their Player of the Year for 2010–11 after scoring 13 goals in 51 matches.

Barnett signed for newly promoted League Two side Crawley Town for an undisclosed fee in June 2011. He scored the "Red Devils" first ever Football League goal on 6 August, opening the scoring in a 2–2 draw with Port Vale at Vale Park. Barnett and Crawley manager Steve Evans were nominated for Player of the Month for August and League Two Manager of the Month for August respectively, but lost to Mark Arber and Andy Scott. Barnett scored his first brace for the club against Bradford City on 16 September. His brace against Bradford attracted interest from other clubs. He went on to score a total of 14 goals in 33 games for the club in the first half of the 2011–12 season. Blackpool had a bid accepted for Barnett, but the move fell through over personal terms. Despite leaving Crawley Town, Barnett was nominated for the League Two Player of the Year, but lost out to Matt Ritchie. He was also named on the PFA Team of the Year for League Two.

Barnett describes himself as an 'athletic target man' forward, able to use his athleticism to get on the end of a cross and his strength to hold the ball up. In February 2012, Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson said that Barnett was "technically very good, has decent pace and he is one of the best strikers in the air that I have seen for a while".


Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature. He is widely considered by theatre historians to be the first dramaturg in his role at Abel Seyler's Hamburg National Theatre.

Lessing was born in Kamenz, a small town in Saxony, to Johann Gottfried Lessing and Justine Salome Feller. His father was a Lutheran minister and wrote on theology. Young Lessing studied at the Latin School in Kamenz from 1737 to 1741. With a father who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, Lessing next attended the Fürstenschule St. Afra in Meissen. After completing his education at St. Afra's, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig where he pursued a degree in theology, medicine, philosophy, and philology (1746–1748).[2]

It was here that his relationship with Karoline Neuber, a famous German actress, began. He translated several French plays for her, and his interest in theatre grew. During this time, he wrote his first play, The Young Scholar. Neuber eventually produced the play in 1748.

From 1748 to 1760, Lessing lived in Leipzig and Berlin. He began to work as a reviewer and editor for the Vossische Zeitung and other periodicals. Lessing formed a close connection with his cousin, Christlob Mylius, and decided to follow him to Berlin. In 1750, Lessing and Mylius teamed together to begin a periodical publication named Beiträge zur Historie und Aufnahme des Theaters. The publication ran only four issues, but it caught the public's eye and revealed Lessing to be a serious critic and theorist of drama.

In 1752, he took his master's degree in Wittenberg. From 1760 to 1765, he worked in Breslau (now Wrocław) as secretary to General Tauentzien during the Seven Years' War between Britain and France, which had effects in Europe. It was during this time that he wrote his famous Laocoön, or the Limitations of Poetry

In 1765, Lessing returned to Berlin, leaving in 1767 to work for three years at the Hamburg National Theatre. Actor-manager Konrad Ackermann began construction of Germany's first permanent national theatre in Hamburg, established by Johann Friedrich Löwen. The owners of the new Hamburg National Theatre hired Lessing as the theatre's critic of plays and acting, an activity later known as dramaturgy (based on his own words), making Lessing the very first dramaturge. The theatre's main backer was Abel Seyler, a former currency speculator who since became known as "the leading patron of German theatre." There he met Eva König, his future wife. His work in Hamburg formed the basis of his pioneering work on drama, titled Hamburgische Dramaturgie. Unfortunately, because of financial losses due to pirated editions of the Hamburgische Dramaturgie, the Hamburg Theatre closed just three years later.

Lessing was also famous for his friendship with Jewish-German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. A recent biography of Mendelssohn's grandson, Felix, describes their friendship as one of the most "illuminating metaphors for the clarion call of the Enlightenment for religious tolerance". It was this relationship that sparked his interest in popular religious debates of the time. He began publishing heated pamphlets on his beliefs which were eventually banned. It was this banishment that inspired him to return to theatre to portray his views and to write Nathan the Wise.

Early in his life, Lessing showed interest in the theatre. In his theoretical and critical writings on the subject—as in his own plays—he tried to contribute to the development of a new type of theatre in Germany. With this he especially turned against the then predominant literary theory of Gottsched and his followers. Lessing's Hamburgische Dramaturgie ran critiques of plays that were performed in the Hamburg Theatre, but after dealing with dissatisfied actors and actresses, Lessing redirected his writings to more of an analysis on the proper uses of drama. Lessing advocated the outline of drama in Aristotle's Poetics. He believed the French Academy had devalued the uses of drama through their neoclassical rules of form and separation of genres. His repeated opinions on this issue influenced theatre practitioners who began the movement of rejecting theatre rules known as Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress"). He also supported serious reception of Shakespeare's works. He worked with many theatre groups (e.g. the one of the Neuberin).

In Hamburg he tried with others to set up the German National Theatre. Today his own works appear as prototypes of the later developed bourgeois German drama. Scholars see Miss Sara Sampson and Emilia Galotti as amongst the first bourgeois tragedies, Minna von Barnhelm (Minna of Barnhelm) as the model for many classic German comedies, Nathan the Wise (Nathan der Weise) as the first German drama of ideas ("Ideendrama"). His theoretical writings Laocoön and Hamburg Dramaturgy (Hamburgische Dramaturgie) set the standards for the discussion of aesthetic and literary theoretical principles. Lessing advocated that dramaturgs should carry their work out working directly with theatre companies rather than in isolation.

In his religious and philosophical writings he defended the faithful Christian's right for freedom of thought. He argued against the belief in revelation and the holding on to a literal interpretation of the Bible by the predominant orthodox doctrine through a problem later to be called Lessing's Ditch. Lessing outlined the concept of the religious "Proof of Power": How can miracles continue to be used as a base for Christianity when we have no proof of miracles? Historical truths which are in doubt cannot be used to prove metaphysical truths (such as God's existence). As Lessing says it: "That, then, is the ugly great ditch which I cannot cross, however often and however earnestly I have tried to make that leap."


The Late Late Show is an American late-night television talk and variety comedy show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, who was followed by Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and current host James Corden. The show originates from Television City in Los Angeles.

The show differed from most late-night talk shows during its first two decades on air in that it did not use a house band or an in-studio announcer. The traditional opening monologue also tended to be different from that of other late night shows tending to avoid jokes with punch lines during Snyder and Ferguson's tenures in favor of a short conversational introduction when Snyder was host and a cold opening featuring either a musical parody, audience interaction, a short sketch or interaction between Ferguson and Geoff Peterson followed by an anecdotal stream of consciousness introduction during most of Ferguson's years. While Craig Kilborn opened with a monologue it tended to be shorter than that used by other late shows. Corden's approach to the monologue has been a hybrid of topical punchline jokes and a stream of consciousness, although it is usually very short, as the show tends to favor longer recorded sections.

While most late-night talk shows in the United States feature multiple guests individually, James Corden typically has all of his guests on at the same time in a similar fashion to most British talk shows.

Tom Snyder hosted the program from its inception in January 1995 until March 1999. The choice of Snyder as host was made by David Letterman, whose contract with CBS gave him (via production company Worldwide Pants) the power to produce the show in the timeslot immediately after his own program and who had an affinity for Snyder, whose NBC late night series Tomorrow had been succeeded by Late Night with David Letterman. The time slot on CBS previously carried repeats of Crimetime After Primetime. Snyder departed CNBC to host the Late Late Show on CBS.

Letterman and Snyder had a long history together: a 1978 Tomorrow episode hosted by Snyder was almost exclusively devoted to a long interview with up-and-coming new comedy talents Letterman, Billy Crystal and Merrill Markoe. And in 1982, when Tomorrow was canceled by NBC, Letterman's series Late Night with David Letterman succeeded Tomorrow in the timeslot, and Snyder had been offered but refused a move to after Late Night by NBC.

When Snyder announced he was leaving, the show was reformatted to resemble Letterman and other major late-night talk programs. Craig Kilborn took over in March 1999, having left The Daily Show (Where he was succeeded by Jon Stewart) to become the new Late Late Show host (previously he was an anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter).

When Kilborn was on the show, it began with an image of a full moon wavering behind gray stratus clouds, to the tuning of an orchestra, while the announcer—the recorded, modulated voice of Kilborn himself—blurted out, "From the gorgeous, gorgeous Hollywood Hills in sunny California, it's your Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Tonight," and then the guests were announced, backed by the show's theme song, composed by Neil Finn. Then Kilborn was presented, "Ladies and gentlemen, *pause* Mister Craig Kilborn", with the 1970s disco band Wild Cherry song "Play That Funky Music".

Under Craig Ferguson's tenure as host, the show started with a cold open, followed by opening credits and a commercial break. A loose comic monologue then followed, consistently including a greeting ("Welcome to Los Angeles, California, welcome to the Late Late Show, I am your host, TV's Craig Ferguson") and the proclamation that "It's a great day for America, everybody!".

From 2010 the monologue also included banter with Geoff Peterson, his "robot skeleton sidekick", voiced and controlled by Josh Robert Thompson. This animatronic was constructed by the MythBusters' Grant Imahara but went through many revisions, the most important was the regular live control and voicing by Thompson. This changed the dynamic of the show as Ferguson had a recurring 'sidekick' to banter with.

On September 8, 2014, CBS announced that James Corden would succeed Ferguson as host on March 23, 2015. His show, originally slated to premiere on March 9, 2015, CBS pushed back its premiere to March 23, 2015, in December 2014, in order to use the NCAA basketball tournament as a means of promoting Corden's debut, and prevent a situation where two episodes would be pre-empted during the first week of the tournament. Corden's hosting tenure is the first to have a house band (the lack thereof having been a running joke during Ferguson's tenure); Reggie Watts serves as the franchise's first bandleader.

In keeping with customs employed on British chat shows, Corden interviews all of the nightly guests at once, opting for a more conversational style. He also eschews sitting behind the set's desk during the interview portion of the show, using it only for comedy bits and direct addresses to the audience. Corden's version of the show also originates from Studio 56 on a set that includes a bar. His segment on "Carpool Karaoke" where stars sing their songs in cars became highly popular online and clips of the show became popular videos.


The party was established in 1854 by opponents of slavery and secession in the commonwealth, with the newly-chartered state chapter first sending its own among over 600 delegates to the 1856 Republican National Convention. However, the Virginia delegates ultimately abstained from casting ballots for president, instead casting ballots for William L. Dayton for vice-president; both candidates were defeated in the general by Democrats James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge. Virginia's delegates to the 1860 convention were initially split between a majority for Abraham Lincoln and a minority for Simon Cameron in the first and second ballots, with delegates settling on Lincoln on the third ballot for president, and voted for Cassius M. Clay for vice-president on the first and second ballots (with Clay being defeated in the convention by Hannibal Hamlin). While John Bell and Edward Everett of the Constitutional Union Party, a party of conservative former Whigs who supported slavery but opposed secession, carried Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, Lincoln and Hamlin eventually won the presidential election.

Virginia Republicans were active in fighting for the Union side in the American Civil War, and helped lead the formation of the Restored Government of Virginia as well as the secession of what became the state of West Virginia. Republicans Francis Harrison Pierpont and Daniel Polsley were respectively elected the governor and lieutenant governor of the Restored Government, with Pierpont eventually taking power as the de facto governor of Virginia after the previous Democratic governor William Smith was removed from office and arrested. Two more Republicans would hold office for governor, Henry H. Wells and Gilbert Carlton Walker.

Republican fortunes turned downward as the Redeemer movement gathered apace and the Reconstruction era ended. A brief upturn occurred when William Mahone formed the Readjuster Party, a bi-racial populist coalition of Democrats and Republicans which held its height of power from 1870 to 1883. After the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1902, which drafted and promulgated a new constitution which disfranchised almost all African-Americans in the commonwealth, the Republican Party ceased to be an effective political party in Virginia.

The party reached its nadir of representation in the General Assembly, reaching handfuls of representation in either chamber and in the U.S. House until after 1964. Historically, from the late 19th into the mid-20th centuries, the 9th and 2nd congressional districts were the friendliest terrain for Republicans in the state (and some of the friendliest in the former Confederacy), encompassing areas which border West Virginia. Virginia Republicans managed to help Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis win the 1928 election, but would only regain their statewide competitiveness after Dwight Eisenhower carried the state in 1952. Linwood Holton would be elected in 1969 as the first Republican governor of Virginia in the 20th century, inaugurating an era of competitive elections between the two major parties.

Kate Obenshain Griffin of Winchester became the party's chairman in 2004. Following Senator George Allen's unsuccessful 2006 reelection bid, Griffin submitted her resignation as Chairman effective November 15, 2006. Her brother, Mark Obenshain, is a State Senator from Harrisonburg in the Virginia General Assembly. Both are the children of the late Richard D. Obenshain.

Ed Gillespie was elected as the new Chairman of the RPV on December 2, 2006. He resigned on June 13, 2007 to become the counselor to President George W. Bush. Mike Thomas served as interim chairman until July 21 when former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia John H. Hager was elected chairman. On April 9, 2007 the RPV named Fred Malek to serve as the Finance Chairman and Lisa Gable to serve as the Finance Committee Co-Chair.

On May 31, 2008, Hager was defeated in his bid for re-election at a statewide GOP convention by a strongly conservative member of the House of Delegates, Jeff Frederick of Prince William County. Frederick, who was then 32 years old, was the fifth party chairman in five years. On April 4, 2009, Frederick was removed from the position by RPV's State Central Committee, in a move backed by most of the senior GOP establishment. Many argued that Frederick's election and later removal was a war within the party between insiders and outsiders, or grassroots versus establishment Republicans. After his removal, Frederick considered seeking the chairman job again at the party's May 2009 convention, but decided against it. Pat Mullins, who was then the chairman of the Louisa County party unit and formerly the chairman of the Fairfax County party unit, was selected on May 2, 2009, to serve in the interim before a special election at state party convention later that month. Mullins won the special election at the May 30, 2009, convention, defeating Bill Stanley, the Franklin County chairman. Mullins was re-elected at the party's June 2012 convention. Mullins announced his retirement on November 5, 2014, a day after the Virginia GOP had a strong showing in the 2014 elections. 10th District Republican Committee chairman John Whitbeck was elected on January 24, 2015, by the party's State Central Committee to serve out the remainder of Mullins's term.

Whitbeck faced a challenge for the chairmanship for the 2016 election at the party's state convention from Vince Haley, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for state senate in the 12th state Senate district in 2015. Haley withdrew his candidacy in early 2016, then tried to re-enter before the convention. At the convention, the party nominations committee ruled that Haley did not qualify to seek the office, and Whitbeck was re-elected unopposed to a full four-year term. Whitbeck resigned from his position on July 21, 2018, due to differences with Corey Stewart, the party's nominee for U.S. Senate in that year's race for U.S. Senate. In September 2018, Jack R. Wilson, the party's 4th Congressional District Chairman since 2007 and a lawyer from Chesterfield County, was elected to fill the balance of Whitbeck's term. The current chairman is former Delegate Rich Anderson, who was elected to a four-year term on August 15, 2020.

Prior to the January 6 joint session of the United States Congress to certify Joe Biden's win, Republican Delegates Dave LaRock (Loudon), Mark Cole (Fauquier), and Ronnie Campbell (R-Lexington) sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence urging him to nullify Virginia's electoral results. Democratic Speaker of the House Elieen Filler-Corn punished the members by stripping them of their committee assignments.

Republican 2021 candidate for Governor Sen. Amanda Chase attended the rally prior to the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol. After the riot that left one person dead, party chairman Rich Anderson said in a statement "I and Virginia Republicans across our great Commonwealth condemn these despicable acts without reservation or hesitation."

Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker quickly condemned the Republican officials, saying "The Republican Party has made their disdain for democracy clear, and every elected GOP official has been complicit."


Theralizumab (also known as TGN1412, CD28-SuperMAB, and TAB08) is an immunomodulatory drug developed by Thomas Hünig of the University of Würzburg. It was withdrawn from development after inducing severe inflammatory reactions as well as chronic organ failure in the first-in-human study by PAREXEL in London in March 2006.The developing company, TeGenero Immuno Therapeutics, went bankrupt later that year. The commercial rights were then acquired by a Russian startup, TheraMAB. The drug was renamed TAB08. Phase I and II clinical trials have been completed for arthritis and clinical trials have been initiated for cancer.

Originally intended for the treatment of B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) and rheumatoid arthritis, TGN1412 is a humanised monoclonal antibody that not only binds to, but is a strong agonist for, the CD28 receptor of the immune system's T cells. CD28 is the co-receptor for the T cell receptor; It binds to receptors on the interacting partner in the reaction through one of its ligands (B7 family).

The drug, which was designated as an orphan medical product by the European Medicines Agency in March 2005, was developed by TeGenero Immuno Therapeutics, tested by Parexel and manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim. TeGenero announced the first elucidation of the molecular structure of CD28 almost exactly one year prior to commencement of the TGN1412 phase I clinical trial.

Mice of the inbred strain BALB/c were immunized with recombinant human CD28-Fc fusion proteins and boosted with a B lymphoma cell line transfected to express human CD28. Hybridomas were obtained by fusing B cells with the hybridoma partner X63Ag8.653 and screened for reactivity with human CD28 and TCR-independent mitogenic activity. Two monoclonals called 5.11A1 and 9D7 were identified. The more active of the two, 5.11A1, is a mouse IgG1 immunoglobulin.

The complementarity-determining regions of 5.11A1 were cloned into the framework of human IgG and combined with IgG1 (TGN1112) or IgG4 (TGN1412) constant regions. According to the company's Investigator Brochure, "TGN1412 is a humanised monoclonal antibody directed against the human CD28 antigen. The molecule was genetically engineered by transfer of the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) from heavy and light chain variable region sequences of a monoclonal mouse anti-humanC28 antibody (5.11A1, Luhder et al., 2003) into human heavy and light chain variable frameworks. Humanised variable regions were subsequently recombined with a human gene coding for the IgG4 gamma chain and with a human gene coding for a human kappa chain, respectively."

The recombinant genes were transfected into Chinese hamster ovary cells and the recombinant antibody harvested from culture supernatant.

Critics argued that the company should have anticipated that the drug would provoke a severe reaction in humans. An immunologist contacted by New Scientist and who wished to remain anonymous said "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out what will happen if you non-specifically activate every T cell in the body."While the drug had appeared to be safe in animal models, researchers noted that there were reasons why these may not be indicative of the response in humans, particularly with respect to this type of drug. The BBC reported that "two of 20 monkeys used in earlier tests suffered an increase in the size of lymph nodes," but that "this information was given to the men and submitted to the test regulators." TeGenero said this was transient and was evidence of the extra T cells that the drug produces. Experiments with another drug affecting the CD28 receptor (but to a lesser extent than TGN1412) had also shown side effects in human trials. There have been criticisms that the risks taken and the design of the protocol were insufficiently justified by proper statistical evidence.

Critics of animal testing have cited the case to argue that experiments on nonhuman animals, even in species closely related to humans, are not necessarily predictive of human responses, and cannot justify the harm inflicted on animals or the resultant risks to humans.


The electric power industry covers the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electric power to the general public and industry. The commodity sold is actually energy, not power, e.g. consumers pay for kilowatt-hours, power multiplied by time, which is energy. The commercial distribution of electricity started in 1882 when electricity was produced for electric lighting. In the 1880s and 1890s, growing economic and safety concerns lead to the regulation of the industry. What was once an expensive novelty limited to the most densely populated areas, reliable and economical electric power has become an essential aspect for normal operation of all elements of developed economies.

By the middle of the 20th century, electricity was seen as a "natural monopoly", only efficient if a restricted number of organizations participated in the market; in some areas, vertically-integrated companies provide all stages from generation to retail, and only governmental supervision regulated the rate of return and cost structure.

Since the 1990s, many regions have broken up the generation and distribution of electric power.[citation needed] While such markets can be abusively manipulated with consequent adverse price and reliability impact to consumers, generally competitive production of electrical energy leads to worthwhile improvements in efficiency. However, transmission and distribution are harder problems since returns on investment are not as easy to find.

The electric power industry is commonly split up into four processes. These are electricity generation such as a power station, electric power transmission, electricity distribution and electricity retailing. In many countries, electric power companies own the whole infrastructure from generating stations to transmission and distribution infrastructure. For this reason, electric power is viewed as a natural monopoly. The industry is generally heavily regulated, often with price controls and is frequently government-owned and operated. However, the modern trend has been growing deregulation in at least the latter two processes.

The nature and state of market reform of the electricity market often determines whether electric companies are able to be involved in just some of these processes without having to own the entire infrastructure, or citizens choose which components of infrastructure to patronise. In countries where electricity provision is deregulated, end-users of electricity may opt for more costly green electricity.

All forms of electricity generation have positive and negative aspects. Technology will probably eventually declare the most preferred forms, but in a market economy, the options with less overall costs generally will be chosen above other sources. It is not clear yet which form can best meet the necessary energy demands or which process can best solve the demand for electricity. There are indications that renewable energy is rapidly becoming the most viable in economic terms. A diverse mix of generation sources reduces the risks of electricity price spikes.

Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines which facilitate this movement are known as a transmission network. This is distinct from the local wiring between high-voltage substations and customers, which is typically referred to as electric power distribution. The combined transmission and distribution network is known as the "power grid" in North America, or just "the grid". In the United Kingdom, India, Malaysia and New Zealand, the network is known as the National Grid.

A wide area synchronous grid, also known as an "interconnection" in North America, directly connects many generators delivering AC power with the same relative frequency numerous consumers. For example, there are four major interconnections in North America (the Western Interconnection, the Eastern Interconnection, the Quebec Interconnection and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid). In Europe one large grid connects most of continental Europe.

Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmission voltage to medium voltage ranging between 2 kV and 35 kV with the use of transformers. Primary distribution lines carry this medium voltage power to distribution transformers located near the customer's premises. Distribution transformers again lower the voltage to the utilization voltage used by lighting, industrial equipment or household appliances. Often several customers are supplied from one transformer through secondary distribution lines. Commercial and residential customers are connected to the secondary distribution lines through service drops. Customers demanding a much larger amount of power may be connected directly to the primary distribution level or the subtransmission level.


Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby (IATA: QCY, ICAO: EGXC), is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located 13.7 kilometres (8.5 mi) south-west of Horncastle, and 15.8 kilometres (9.8 mi) north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and home to three front-line Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 units, No. 3 Squadron, No. 11 Squadron and No. 12 Squadron. In support of front-line units, No. 29 Squadron is the Typhoon Operational Conversion Unit and No. 41 Squadron is the Typhoon Operational Evaluation Unit. Coningsby is also the home of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) which operates a variety of historic RAF aircraft.

Plans for an airfield at Coningsby began in 1937 as part of the RAF's expansion plan. However progress in the compulsory purchase of the land was slow and delayed the start of work for two years. The station opened during the Second World War on 4 November 1940 under No. 5 Group, part of RAF Bomber Command. The first flying unit, No. 106 Squadron with the Handley Page Hampden medium bomber, arrived in February 1941, with active operations taking place the following month when four Hampdens bombed Cologne in Germany. The squadron was joined in April 1941 by No. 97 Squadron equipped with Avro Manchester medium bombers. In May 1942, aircraft from Coningsby participated in the 'Thousand Bomber' raid on Cologne.

The original grass runways were found to be unsuitable for heavy bomber operations so the station was closed for nearly a year between September 1942 and August 1943, whilst paved runways were laid in preparation for accommodating such aircraft. At the same time further hangars were constructed.

The first unit to return was the now-famous No. 617 'Dambusters' Squadron. Equipped with Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, the squadron was stationed at Coningsby from August 1943. Due to its specialist nature, the Dambusters carried out limited operations whilst at Coningsby, with the most notable being Operation Garlic, a failed raid targeting the Dortmund-Ems canal in Germany, when five out of the eight Lancasters on the mission failed to return home. As the squadron required more space, it moved to nearby RAF Woodhall Spa in January 1944, swapping places with another Lancaster unit, No. 619 Squadron, which itself later moved on to RAF Dunholme Lodge.

Further Lancaster squadrons were based at Coningsby during the final months of the war, including No. 61 Squadron from RAF Skellingthorpe, No. 83 Squadron and No. 97 Squadron.

Following the Second World War, Coningsby was home to the Mosquito-equipped No. 109 Squadron and No. 139 Squadron, then became part of No. 3 Group, with Boeing Washington aircraft from 1950. On 17 August 1953 52-year-old Air Vice-Marshal William Brook, the Air Officer Commanding of No. 3 Group, took off from the base in a Gloster Meteor, and crashed into a Dutch barn at Bradley, Staffordshire.

The TSR2's intended replacement—the American General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark—was shelved on 16 January 1968 when its costs overshot the UK's budget (it would have cost £425m for 50 aircraft). The TSR2 had large development costs, whereas the F-111 (also known as Tactical Fighter Experimental, or TFX) could be bought off the shelf. Coningsby was planned to get the F-111K, the RAF version of the F-111; also in the 1966 Defence White Paper, it was intended that the Anglo-French AFVG, later the UKVG, would replace the TSR2 (it did eventually as the Panavia Tornado). 50 F-111Ks were planned with 100 AFVGs (to enter service by 1970); Denis Healey claimed the F-111s and AFVGs would be cheaper than the TSR2 programme (158 aircraft) by £700m. As Minister of Aviation throughout 1965, the Labour MP Roy Jenkins had also wanted to similarly cancel the Olympus-powered Concorde, but the 1962 Anglo-French treaty imposed prohibitively steep financial penalties for cancellation; the Hawker Siddeley P.1154 and HS.681 were cancelled at the same time.

AFVGs were also planned to replace the Buccaneer in the Royal Navy—Tornados were never flown by the Royal Navy, as the carriers for them, the CVA-01s, were cancelled. But the Royal Navy did operate fourteen Phantoms on HMS Ark Royal, until the new smaller carriers entered service—48 Phantoms had been designated for the Fleet Air Arm, with twenty of these ending up at RAF Leuchars, and Ark Royal's Phantoms ended up at Leuchars in 1978. HMS Eagle was never converted to Phantom use as it was deemed too expensive, and the carrier was scrapped in January 1972, with its Sea Vixen aircraft. Another alternative considered by the Labour government in July 1965 for the TSR-2 was to order Rolls-Royce Spey-engined French Mirage IV aircraft, to be known as the Mirage IVS; it would have avionics from the TSR-2, and be partly made by BAC at Warton.

With the running down of RAF Coltishall in Norfolk, No. 6 Squadron relocated with their SEPECAT Jaguars to Coningsby on 1 April 2006, where it was planned they would operate from until October 2007. However, on 25 April 2007 it was announced by the Ministry of Defence that the Jaguars would be withdrawn from service on 30 April. May 2007 saw No. 6 Squadron flying their Jaguars to RAF Cosford where they would be utilised by No. 1 SoTT. No. 6 Squadron disbanded on 31 May 2007. Deliveries continued in June and July, with the last Jaguar to arrive at Cosford from Coningsby being XX119 on 2 July 2007.

Coningsby was the first airfield to receive the Phantoms, the Tornado ADV and was the first to receive its replacement, the Eurofighter Typhoon. Typhoon arrived in May 2005 with No. 17 Squadron, after the RAF first publicly displayed the aircraft at Coningsby in December 2004. No. 3(F) Squadron moved to RAF Coningsby where it became the first operational front line RAF Typhoon squadron in July 2007 and No. 11(F) Squadron became operational at RAF Coningsby shortly thereafter.

No. 12 Squadron reactivated in July 2018 and is temporarily integrating Qatari Emri Air Force air and ground crews in order to provide training and support as part of the Qatari purchase of twenty-four Typhoons from the UK.


Atlantis (sometimes called the Kingdom of Atlantis or the Atlantean Empire) is an aquatic civilization appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics commonly associated with the superhero, Aquaman. It is one of the numerous depictions of Atlantis within DC Comics and is, perhaps, the most recognizable depiction within DC Comics. The version of the city first appeared in Adventure Comics #260 (May 1959), and was created by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon.

An aquatic nation whose people are human-like creatures with varying levels of biological, aquatic adaptations, Atlantis is considered within DC Universe one of the first and oldest civilizations in the history of the Earth as well as one of the most powerful. In most continuities and stories, Atlantis is a hereditary monarchy that was founded by a powerful race of magic users known as the Homo magi (sometimes referred to as ancient Atlanteans or Atlanteans) and over the course of its history, became an epicenter of magic and science alike. Eventually, the nation would collapse into the bottom of the ocean and its people would adapt and evolved into the modern, aquatic Atlanteans. Overtime, the nation's history would be embordered in conflict with regards to its succession of rulers, the nation's status as a superpower, its fictional cultural heritage, and its relationship with the global world in the modern age.

The Kingdom of Atlantis made its cinematic debut in the 2017 film Justice League, set in the DC Extended Universe, and was later more prominently featured in the 2018 film Aquaman.

The continent of Atlantis was settled 65,000,000 years ago, by a humanoid extraterrestrial race known as the Hunter/Gatherers, who proceeded to hunt the animals to extinction. One million years ago, Atlantean society flourished alongside Homo erectus, the precursors of modern man. This apparently occurred long before the intervention of the genetic tampering with the Metagene.

Thousands of years ago, magic levels on Earth began to drop due to the sleeping entity known as Darkworld beginning to awaken. The Atlantean sorceress, Citrina, struck a deal with the Lords of Chaos who ruled Gemworld, so she would be allowed to create a home there for those Homo magi and magic dependent species such as the Faerie, Elves, Centaurs, and so forth who wished to emigrate from Earth. Gemworld was colonized by Homo magi emigrants from Earth made up of the 12 ruling houses of Atlantis.

Darkworld was a dimension formed by the body of an unnamed cosmic entity who later fell into a deep sleep. This entity's dreams were responsible for creating the first Lords of Chaos and Order, Chaon (chaos), Gemimn (order), and Tynan the Balancer. These beings and others were worshiped as gods by the citizens of Atlantis. Darkworld was tethered to Atlantis by a massive "chain" created by Deedra, goddess of nature. Some Atlantean magicians such as Arion and Garn Daanuth later learned to tap the mystic energies of Darkworld, enabling them to wield nearly godlike power.

Eventually, Atlantis came to be the center of early human civilization. Its king, Orin, ordered the construction of a protective dome over the city simply as a defense against barbarian tribes, but shortly afterward a meteor crashed into the earth, destroying most of the upper world and sinking the city to the bottom of the ocean. Orin's brother, Shalako, departed with a number of followers through tunnels in order to reclaim another sunken city of their empire, Tritonis, whose inhabitants had not survived. After a few years, Atlantean scientists developed a serum that would permanently let their people breathe underwater; as a consequence of the magic used by Shalako in settling Tritonis, the Tritonians were further mutated to have fish-tails instead of legs. Some descendants of Shalako's son Dardanus also inherited his telepathy, which was marked by blonde hair, extremely rare among Atlanteans. Dardanus's son Kordax further had the ability to command sea creatures. After he led them alongside the Tritonians in a revolution against the king, he was exiled, and children born with blond hair, the "mark of Kordax" were generally viewed as aberrations and abandoned to die.

In the DC Universe, the Homo magi originated on the lost continent of Atlantis. The continent was a focal point for unharnessed magical energies (wild magic), and the local Homo sapiens evolved into Homo magi as a result of their exposure to these energies. Upon the fall of Atlantis, people who carried the predisposition for magic were scattered to the four winds. Today, every human being capable of casting spells is a descendant of the Atlantean Homo magi.