document_title: Bottled water

question_text: where does the water for bottled water come from

question_tokens: where does the water for bottled water come from

text: Bottled water

text: History[edit]

text: Although vessels to bottle and transport water were part of the earliest human civilizations,[1] bottling water began in the United Kingdom with the first water bottling at the Holy Well in 1621.[2] The demand for bottled water was fueled in large part by the resurgence in spa-going and water therapy among Europeans and American colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries.[3] The first commercially distributed water in America was bottled and sold by Jackson’s Spa in Boston in 1767.[4] Early drinkers of bottled spa waters believed that the water at these mineral springs had therapeutic properties and that bathing in or drinking the water could help treat many common ailments.[3]

text: The popularity of bottled mineral waters quickly led to a market for imitation products. Carbonated waters developed as means for approximating the natural effervescence of spring-bottled water, and in 1809 Joseph Hawkins was issued the first U.S. patent for “imitation” mineral water.[5] As technological innovation in nineteenth century lowered the cost of making glass and improved production speed for bottling, bottled water was able to be produced on a larger scale and the beverage grew in popularity.[4] Bottled water was seen by many as a safer alternative to 19th century municipal water supplies that could be contaminated with pathogens like cholera and typhoid.[6] By the middle of the century, one of America’s most popular bottlers, Saratoga Springs, was producing more than 7 million bottles of water annually.[4]

text: In the United States, the popularity of bottled water declined in the early 20th century, when the advent of water chlorination reduced public concerns about water-borne diseases in municipal water supplies.[4] However, it remained popular in Europe, where it spread to cafes and grocery stores in the second half of the century.[6] In 1977, Perrier launched a successful advertisement campaign in the United States, heralding a rebirth in popularity for bottled water.[4] Today, bottled water is the second most popular commercial beverage in the United States, with about half the domestic consumption as soft drinks.[7]

text: Water chemistry[edit]

text: Many of the early developments in the field of chemistry can be attributed to the study of natural mineral waters and attempts to replicate them for commercial sale. Joseph Priestley, who would discover oxygen in 1775, made his first contributions to the field of chemistry by dissolving carbon dioxide in water, for which he was awarded the Copley Medal in 1773. He would go on to work with Jacob Schweppes, founder of Schweppes, in developing “aerated” waters for commercial sale.[8]

text: PET plastic bottles[edit]

text: In 1973, DuPont engineer Nathaniel Wyeth patented polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, the first plastic bottle to be able to withstand the pressure of carbonated liquids.[9] Today, PET plastic has replaced glass as the preferred material for single-serving bottled water containers due to its light weight and resistance to breaking.[10][11]

text: Types[edit]

text: Some of the more common types of bottled water are:[12][13]

text:
Artesian water – this is water that originates from a confined aquifer that has been tapped and in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer.
Fluoridated – this type of water contains added fluoride. This category includes water classified as "For Infants" or "Nursery."
Groundwater – this type of water is from an underground source that is under a pressure equal to or greater than atmospheric pressure.
Mineral water – water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It comes from a source tapped at one or more bore holes or spring, and originates from a geologically and physically protected underground water source. No minerals may be added to this water.
Purified water – this type of water has been produced by distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis, or other suitable processes. Purified water may also be referred to as "demineralized water".
Sparkling water – Sparkling water contains the same amount of carbon dioxide that it had at emergence from the source. The carbon dioxide may be removed and replenished after treatment.
Spring water – this type of water comes from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the Earth's surface.
Sterile water – this type of water meets sterilization requirements, for example, those specified under "sterility tests" in the United States Pharmacopoeia.
Well water – well water is taken from a hole tapping, etc. This hole may be bored, drilled, or otherwise constructed in the ground.[14]

text: Product forms[edit]

text: The Beverage Marketing Corporation defines the bottled water market segment as "retail PET, retail bulk, home and office delivery, vending, domestic sparkling and imports", but excluding "flavored and enhanced water."[15]

text: Purified water vending machines[edit]

text: A number of cities and companies worldwide have vending machines that dispense purified water into customer's own containers. All dispensers filter the location's tap water. In North America, these machines are typically located outside of supermarkets.

text: Of all the water vending companies, Glacier Water is the largest. Since its inception in 1983, Glacier Water has experienced significant growth in machine placements.[citation needed]

text: Bottled water service[edit]

text: It is not uncommon for business or individuals to subscribe to a bottled water service. These services deliver water either monthly or weekly, sometimes even daily. Traditionally, water in glass bottles (jugs) was provided to electric coolers in areas of businesses without plumbing. Plastic containers have replaced those glass jugs, however, dispensers at businesses now may stand alongside existing water taps or fountains.

text: Storage[edit]

text: Bottled water is often stored as part of an emergency kit in case of natural disaster. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says the "safest" and "most reliable" source of drinking water is store bought bottled water.[16] Commonly, disaster management experts recommend storing 1-US-gallon (3.8 L) of water per person, per day for at least three days.[17] This amount is intended to include water for drinking and cooking as well as water for hand washing, washing dishes, and personal hygiene. Factory-containers of water have an indefinite shelf life, as long as they remain unopened and undamaged.[18] The sell-by date is voluntarily and individually set by manufacturers to indicate the length of time that they believe the water will taste and smell fresh, rather than to indicate any issue of contamination or food safety.

text: PET Recycling[edit]

text: The most common packaging material for single-serve, non-carbonated bottled water in the United States and Europe is polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic.[19][20]] Marked in many countries with resin identification code number “1,” PET is 100% recyclable,[21] though recycling rates vary by region. In 2014, approximately 1.8 billion pounds of post-consumer PET bottles were collected in the United States and 1.75 million metric tons (approximately 3.9 billion pounds) were collected in the European Union, making it the most recycled plastic in both the United States and Europe. [22][23] In the United States, the recycling rate for PET packaging was 31.8% in 2014;[24] in the European Union, the recycling rate for PET packaging for the same period was approximately 52%.[25]

text: The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), the trade association for the PET plastic packaging industry in the United States and Canada, identifies five major, generic end-use categories for recycled PET plastic: 1) packaging applications, including new bottles; 2) sheet and film applications, including some thermoforming applications; 3) strapping; 4) engineered resins applications; and 5) fiber applications.[26] According to the nonprofit Recycling Across America, five individual serving PET plastic bottles provide enough fiber to make one square foot of carpet or to fill one ski jacket.[27]

text: In Europe, more than one-third of recovered PET plastic is used to produce polyester fibers, and another quarter is used in the production of preformed plastic containers—such as egg cartons, fruit boxes, and other plastic beverage bottles.[28]

text: Water and Energy Usage[edit]

text: On average, it takes 1.32 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water.[29] This includes 1 liter of ingredient water and 0.32 liters of water used in facility processes such as treatment, bottling, and maintenance.[29] Small pack facilities (facilities that package water in containers between 8 oz. and 2.5 gallons) use the least amount of water (1.26 liters per 1 liter), followed by mixed packaging facilities (1.46 liters per 1 liter). Facilities that package water for home and office delivery in sizes of 2.5 gallons to 5 gallons use the most water (1.56 liters per 1 liter).[29]

text: Bottled water has lower water usage than bottled soft drinks, which average 2.02 liters per 1 liter, as well as beer (4 liters per 1 liter) and wine (4.74 liters per 1 liter). The larger per-liter water consumption of these drinks can be attributed to additional ingredients and production processes, such as flavor mixing and carbonization for soft drinks and fermentation for beer and wine.[30][29] In the United States, bottled water production represents 0.011% of annual water consumption.[31]

text: Critics of bottled water argue that the industry should take in to account not just water used in its production and packaging process, but the total water footprint of its supply chain, which includes water used in the production of its packaging.[32]

text: A 2011 IBWA lifecycle inventory study found that the production, packaging, and transportation of bottled water within the United States consumes 107.4 trillion BTUs of energy annually, which represents about .07% of yearly energy consumption in the country.[33] According to the same study, 6.8 million tons of CO2 eq are emitted by the bottled water industry a year in the United States, about .08% of annual emissions.[34] An Aetna Group study in 2015 concluded that each liter of bottled water requires 0.24 megajoules of energy to produce.[29] The lifecycle carbon footprint for a half liter of small pack bottled water is 111 grams CO2 eq.[35] By comparison, the same sized PET plastic-bottled soft drink produces 240 grams CO2 eq. Soft drink bottles require much thicker plastic due to carbonation, and therefore many more grams of CO2 eq.

text: Regulation[edit]

text: Food and Drug Administration[edit]

text: Bottled water is comprehensively regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a packaged food product.[36] By law, the FDA regulations for bottled water must be at least as stringent as the Environmental Protection Agency standards for tap water.[37]

text: The FDA has established "Standards of Identity" for bottled water products sold in the U.S. For a product to be considered “bottled water”, it cannot contain sweeteners or chemical additives (other than flavors, extracts or essences) and must be calorie-free and sugar-free. If flavors, extracts and essences—derived from spice or fruit—are added to the water, these additions must comprise less than 1% by weight of the final product. The FDA Code of Federal Regulations establishes limitations for the amount of fluoride that can added to water. Mineral water contains at least 250 parts per million total dissolved solids (TDS). "Purified water" is defined in the United States Pharmacopoeia.

text: Food Standards Australia New Zealand[edit]

text: Food Standards Australia New Zealand's Food Standards Code limits fluoride in bottled water to between 0.6 and 1.0 milligrams per litre, and requires any addition to be specified on the product label.[38]

text: Industry reform[edit]

text: The Council of Canadians, a social action organization, stressed the need for bottled water industry reform after launching a boycott of Nestlé in September 2016 after the company outbid a small town aiming to secure a long-term water supply through a local well as the country battles drought and depletion of ground water reserves.[39][40][41][42] Premier Kathleen Wynne stated that her government will look for ways to put community needs ahead of bottled water corporations, saying "as we look at the water bottling industry, that has to be a question because we're talking about what we could argue is our most precious resource" that they have this "discussion about our water, the status of and the treatment of water bottling companies, that needs to be taken into consideration".[43]

text: Markets[edit]

text: Global sales[edit]

text: Global bottled water sales have increased dramatically over the past several decades, reaching a valuation of around $60 billion and a volume of more than 115,000,000 cubic metres (3.0×1010 US gal) in 2006.[44] U.S. sales reached around 30 billion bottles of water in 2008, a slight drop from 2007 levels [45]

text: The rate of consumption more than quadrupled between 1990 and 2005.[46] Spring water and purified tap water are currently the leading global sellers. By one estimate, approximately 50 billion bottles of water are consumed per year in the U.S. and around 200 billion bottles globally.[47]

text: Australia[edit]

text: The Australasian Bottled Water Institute is a regional member of the International Council of Bottled Water Associations. The bottled water industry in Australia is worth approximately $400 million per year,[48]

text: An upmarket restaurant in Sydney has stopped selling bottled water and started using a machine costing A$5000 to filter, chill and carbonate tap water to get the same quality water.[49]

text: European Union[edit]

text: Directive 2009/54/EC[50] deals with the marketing and exploitation of natural mineral waters in the European Union. The two main types of bottled water recognized are mineral water and spring water.

text: Broadly speaking, "mineral water" is groundwater that has emerged from the ground and flowed over rock. Treatment of mineral water is restricted to removal of unstable elements such as iron and sulfur compounds. Treatment for such minerals may extend only to filtration or decanting with oxygenation. Free carbon dioxide may be removed only by physical methods, and the regulations for introduction (or reintroduction) of CO2 are strictly defined. Disinfection of natural mineral water is completely prohibited, including the addition of any element that is likely to change bacterial colony counts. If natural mineral water is effervescent, it must be labelled accordingly, depending on the origin of the carbon dioxide: naturally carbonated natural mineral water (no introduction of CO2); natural mineral water fortified with gas from the spring (reintroduction of CO2); carbonated natural mineral water (CO2 added following strict guidelines).

text: Directive 2001/83/EC[51] deals with bottled water that is considered a "medicinal product" and is thus excluded from the scope of the other regulation.

text: India[edit]

text: The bottled water industry in India witnessed a boom in the late 1990s soon after Bisleri launched its packaged drinking water in the country. This significant growth was fuelled by a surge in advertising by the industry players that "bottled water was pure and healthy".[52]

text: The total market was valued at ₹60 billion (US$940 million) in 2013, of which the top five players (Bisleri, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Dhariwal and Parle) accounted for 67% of the market share. This market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22%, to reach ₹160 billion (US$2.5 billion) in 2018.[52]

text: In 2016, Sikkim announced restrictions on the usage of plastic water bottles (in government functions and meetings) and styrofoam products as it is associated with adverse health and environment impacts.[53]

text: Lebanon[edit]

text: Lebanon has one of the fastest growth rate of per capita consumption of bottled water.[54] Lebanon has seven major brands of bottled mineral water for local consumption and for exportation to the water-starved countries on the Arabian Peninsula and in the Persian Gulf.[55]

text: New Zealand[edit]

text: Bottled water in New Zealand is regulated by Food Standards Australia New Zealand and must comply with the Food Act 1981. From July 2009 fluoride was allowed to be present in bottled water as an additive or as a natural occurring mineral.

text: Pakistan[edit]

text: Due to contaminated water being widespread, in the mid-1980s urban families started installing filtration units at home. This later developed into companies providing mineral water delivery services at home. Use of these 1-US-gallon (3.8 L) bottles that could be attached to a dispenser is still widespread.

text: Bottled water was made famous by one of the largest marketing campaigns in Pakistan history undertaken by Nestle. Eventually, other bottlers including dozens of local ones, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mineral Drops by water icon, Nature, Vey, Nova Pure Water Larkana, Mina Water, Great Water Islamabad, Dew Drop,[56] and other imported brands such as Evian began marketing in the country.

text: United States[edit]

text: The U.S. is the second largest consumer market for bottled water in the world, followed by Mexico, Indonesia, and Brazil. China surpassed the United States to take the lead in 2013.[57] In 2008, U.S. bottled water sales topped 8.6 billion US gallons (33,000,000 m3) for 28.9% of the U.S. liquid beverage market, exceeding sales of all other beverages except carbonated soft drinks, they are followed by fruit juices, and sports drinks.[15] Americans drink 21 US gallons (79 L) of bottled water per capita per year.[58]

text: In the United States, bottled water and tap water are regulated by different federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of tap water. The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is headquartered in Alexandria, VA.

text: From 1970 (16 brands) over 1998 (50 brands) to 2012 (195 brands), the number of mineral water brands in the U.S. has grown exponentially.[59]

text: Consumer information[edit]

text: Labeling[edit]

text: In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates all packaged foods and beverage products, including bottled water, and mandates labeling requirements. FDA labeling requirements include a statement of the type of water in the container, compliance with the applicable definitions in the FDA Standards of Identity, ingredient labeling, name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer or distributor, net weight, and, if required, nutrition labeling.[60]

text: Consumer information[edit]

text: Public water systems are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide households in their service territories with a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) that provides information on the quality of their water during the previous year.[61] Such disclosures are not required by the FDA of any packaged food or beverage product, including bottled water. All packaged foods and beverages, must be manufactured according to FDA regulations and must meet all applicable quality and safety standards.[60]

text: In Canada, bottled water must meet the standards in the Food and Drugs Act & Regulations (FDAR) as it is considered a food. The FDAR works in partnership with Health Canada and Canadian in developing the policies regarding bottled water. The CFIA focuses more on regulations pertaining to packaging, labeling, advertising, and other safety practices, whereas the FDAR focuses more on the water itself. For example, the bottled water must meet the Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Regulations in Division 12, Part B of the Act must be met before it is approved for sale. Some of the regulations include: labeling terms, safety standards (i.e.: what is/isn't acceptable), and microbiological standards (i.e.: chlorine).[62] In addition to this, the type of filtration method the water has gone through must be shown on the label, as stated in Section B.12.009 [63] Additional information regarding regulations can be found on the CFIA website.[64] The regulations specific to bottled water is in Division 12 and 15, which specify what can be added, such as the amount of arsenic and lead.[65] Regulations are always being updated to conform with new scientific data, laws, new products, and new improvements.[65] In terms of the types of water sold, spring and mineral water must meet the following criteria:

text:
originate from an underground source which is not part of a community water supply; and[65]
be naturally fit to drink (potable) at the source; and[65]
before bottling, not be treated in any way that changes the original chemical composition of the water. (The allowable treatments are discussed in section 1.2.)[65]

text: In Canada, there are two categories of bottled water: 1) spring/mineral water, or 2) water other than mineral water or spring water.[citation needed]

text: Emergency preparedness[edit]

text: Emergency preparedness refers to the steps taken prior to a natural disaster or emergency to ensure safety throughout the event.[66] The American Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommend that individuals and families maintain disaster supply kits in the event that an emergency disrupts food supply or public water systems, blocks roads, or leaves people unable to find essentials.[67][68] Following disasters such as floods, blizzards, or earthquakes, water sources can be cut off or contaminated, limiting access to safe, clean drinking water.[69] For this reason, FEMA recommends that all disaster supply kits include one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days for drinking and sanitation. In hot climates, FEMA recommends doubling this quantity.

text: For the safest water supply, FEMA recommends commercially bottled water kept in a cool, dark place. As an alternative, FEMA recommends using disinfected food-grade water containers to store tap water and replacing the water every six months.[69]

text: Bottled water in emergency response[edit]

text: Hurricanes

text: Following Hurricane Sandy, FEMA requested 5.4 million bottles of water from Nestle North America to aid in disaster relief efforts.[70] Nestle donated 3 million bottles of water to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.[71] In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, FEMA requested 100 tractor trailers’ worth of bottled water (approximately 200,000 cases) from the American Beverage Association.[72]

text: Tornadoes

text: AmeriCares, an international disaster relief non-profit, donated 109,000 bottles of water to residents in and around Moore, Oklahoma following the May 2013 tornadoes.[73] Members of the International Bottled Water Association donated more than 400,000 additional bottles of water to the victims of the tornadoes.[74]

text: Contamination

text: In August 2014, city officials in Toledo, Ohio banned local tap water after toxins from an algae bloom in Lake Erie were found in the city’s water supply.[75] The American Red Cross and AmeriCares responded by helping coordinate the distribution of bottled water to the 500,000 area residents impacted by the ban.[76][77]

text: Concerns[edit]

text: Bottled water debates[edit]

text: Bottled water is bought for many different reasons including taste, convenience, poor tap water quality and safety concerns, health concerns and as a substitute for sugary drinks.[78] The environmental impact, container safety, water origin, emergency supplies and role of the bottled water industry continue to be areas of concern for many people.

text: Most bottled water containers are made from recyclable PET plastic, and some of these bottles end up in the waste stream in landfills. The financial and environmental costs of transportation of bottled water has been another concern because of the energy used and the consequent release of carbon dioxide and the potential impact on climate change.[79]

text: In some cases it can be shown that bottled water is actually tap water.[80] However, it is also argued that the quality specifications for some bottled waters in some jurisdictions are more stringent than the standards for tap-water. In the USA, bottled water that comes from municipal suppliers must be clearly labeled as such unless it has been sufficiently processed to be labeled as “distilled” or “purified”.[81]

text: It has been argued that bottled water companies should only exist for emergency situations when public water supplies are unsafe, unavailable or overwhelmed.[82] The contrary view is that if regulations are placed on the availability of bottled water, bottled water companies will not have the sufficient supplies when a water system is compromised, and that the only reason bottled water is readily available during emergencies is because the industry is maintained by routine purchases.[83]

text: One American study showed that "even in areas with safe tap water, African American, Polish American and Latino parents were three times more likely to give their children mostly bottled water compared to non-Latino white children, because of their belief that bottled water is safer, cleaner, better tasting, or more convenient." The economic implications of this also showed serious inequities: as a percentage of household income, whites reported median spending of 0.4% of their income on bottled water; African Americans and Latinos reported median spending to be more than twice as high.”[84] The study volunteers, "For poor families, the use of bottled water may lead to less availability of resources for other health needs.......by the rather striking levels of expenditure on water relative to household income."[84] On a global scale, markets for bottled water in poorer developing countries are growing rapidly due to increased fears of “contaminated tap water, inadequate municipal water systems, and increased marketing on the part of bottled water companies.”[84] Sales of bottled water in Mexico, China, and parts of India are rising steeply.[84]

text: Perceptions about bottled water[edit]

text: Bottled water is perceived by many as being a safer alternative to other sources of water such as tap water. Bottled water usage has increased even in countries where clean tap water is present.[85] This may be attributed to consumers disliking the taste of tap water or its organoleptics.[86] Another contributing factor to this shift could be the marketing success of bottled water. The success of bottled water marketing can be seen by Perrier's transformation of a bottle of water into a status symbol.[86] However, while bottled water has grown in both consumption and sales, the industry’s advertising expenses are considerably less than other beverages. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), in 2013, the bottled water industry spent $60.6 million on advertising. That same year, sports drinks spent $128 million, sodas spent $564 million, and beer spent $1 billion.

text: Consumers tend to choose bottled water due to health related reasons.[86] In communities that experience problems with their tap water, bottled water consumption is significantly higher. The International Bottled Water Association guidelines state that bottled water companies cannot compare their product to tap water in marketing operations. Consumers are also affected by memories associated with particular brands.[86] For example, Coca-Cola took their Dasani product off the UK market after finding levels of bromate that were higher than legal standards because consumers in the UK associated this flaw with the Dasani product.[86]

text: "Bottled water sales are higher amongst African-American, Asians and Hispanic groups, which typically have lower incomes than whites."[86] Some hypothesize that these differences are due to the geographic distribution of ethnic groups. It was theorized that ethnic differences in bottled water usage "mirror the variability of water system quality between urban, suburban and rural areas (Abrahams et al. 2000) and it was also pointed out that they might reflect the memory of past problems caused by deficient tap-water systems in deprived areas (Olson 1999)."[86] In France, a similar geographic study in the early 1970s found that bottled water consumption was found to be much higher in urban areas (Ferrier 2001). This finding was "also explained in terms of the poor quality of urban tap water and of the bad condition of the old lead pipes in French cities. Nonetheless, while poor tap water quality may motivate the public to search for alternative sources, it alone does not necessarily lead to higher consumption of bottled water."[86]

text: Some surveys "found that bottled water, far from being an alternative to tap water, seems to be mostly consumed as a substitute for alcoholic and traditional soft drinks (e.g. AWWA-RF 1993; FWR 1996) – the exception being when water contamination presents serious health risks and the trust in the tap water company is highly eroded (e.g. Lonnon 2004)."[86] Another explanation for the rise in popularity of bottled water is alternative explanation is that "the consumption of 'pure' and 'natural' bottled water in degraded environments may represent a symbolic purging behavior."[86]

text: Many low-income families avoid drinking tap water because they fear it may cause sickness.[87] Bottled, filtered, and tap water are all for the most part safe in the United States.[88] The Environmental Protection Agency regulations for tap water are "actually stricter than the Food and Drug Administration regulations for bottled water."[88] A study of drinking water in Cincinnati, Ohio, discovered that bacterial counts in bottled water were often higher than those in tap water and fluoride concentration was inconsistent.[88]

text: Globally, there is an intensifying environmental backlash against bottled water usage. As global consumption of bottled water soars, environmental groups such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Greenpeace have warned of the huge environmental footprint of the plastic in which the water is packaged.[89]

text: In 2001 a WWF study, "Bottled water: understanding a social phenomenon", warned that in many countries, bottled water may be no safer or healthier than tap water and it sold for up to 1,000 times the price. It said the booming market would put severe pressure on recycling plastics and could lead to landfill sites drowning in mountains of plastic bottles.[89] Also, the study discovered that the production of bottled water uses more water than the consumer actually buys in the bottle itself.[89]

text: Pricing[edit]

text: Bottled water is more expensive than municipally-supplied tap water. Tap water sources and delivery systems (taps and faucets) are fixed in place while bottled water is available at many differing price points and in a variety of size formats.

text: "The consumption of bottled and filtered water has dramatically increased in the United States during the past decade, with bottled water sales tripling to about $4 billion a year. More than 50% of the US population drinks bottled water and 'people spend from 240 to over 10,000 times more per gallon for bottled water than they typically do for tap water.' An annual supply of bottled water for a person who consumes 8 glasses a day would cost approximately $200; the same amount of tap water would cost approximately $0.33. In general, women are more likely to drink bottled water than men, and Hispanic women are the group most likely to drink bottled water."[88]

text: The Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) states that in 2013, the average wholesale price per gallon of domestic non-sparkling bottled water was $1.21. BMC’s research also shows that consumers actually tend to buy bottled water in bulk from supermarkets (25.3%) or large discount retailers (57.9%) because it costs significantly less. Convenience stores are likely to have higher prices (4.5%), as do drug stores (2.8%). The remaining 9.5% is accounted for through vending machines, cafeterias and other food service outlets, and other types of sales.[90]

text: Bans[edit]

text: In response to environmental and financial concerns, a few localities and U.S. colleges are banning bottled water sales.

text: In 2009, the small New South Wales town of Bundanoon voted to become the first town in the world to ban the selling or dispensing of bottled water.[48][91] Bundanoon caught the attention of many other cities around the world.[48][92]

text: After a Sydney-based beverage company wanted to open a water extraction plant in the New South Wales town Bundanoon, residents outlawed the sale of bottled water. The town continues to fight the company's proposal in court.[89] "In the same week the New South Wales state premier also banned all state departments and agencies from buying bottled water because of its huge environmental footprint, joining more than 70 cities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom that have banned bottled water in their departments."

text: In 2012, the town of Concord, Massachusetts became the first in the United States to ban the sale of bottled water. Specifically, sales of non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water in single-serving polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of 1 liter (34 ounces) or less are prohibited. The ban went into effect on 1 January 2013.

text: Health concerns[edit]

text: In the United States, bottled water and tap water are regulated by different federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of tap water. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act the EPA has set maximum contaminant levels for approximately 90 contaminants that might be found in drinking water and 15 secondary maximum contaminant levels.[93]

text: In some areas, tap water may contain added fluoride, which helps prevent tooth decay and cavities.[94] Some bottled water manufacturers in the United States add fluoride to their product, or provide a fluoridated bottled water product. The Food and Drug Administration of the United States does not require bottled water manufacturers to list the fluoride content on the label. However, unlike tap water where the amount of fluoride added by municipalities to drinking water is not federally regulated, the FDA has set specific limits for how much fluoride may be found in bottled water.[95] Water fluoridation remains controversial in countries that require it (the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and a handful of other countries).

text: According to a 1999 NRDC study, in which roughly 22 percent of brands were tested, at least one sample of bottled drinking water contained chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits. Some of the contaminants found in the study could pose health risks if consumed over a long period of time.[96] The NRDC report conceded that "most waters contained no detectable bacteria, however, and the level of synthetic organic chemicals and inorganic chemicals of concern for which [they] were tested were either below detection limits or well below all applicable standards."[97] Meanwhile, a report by the Drinking Water Research Foundation found that of all samples tested by NRDC, "federal FDA or EPA limits were allegedly exceeded only four times, twice for total coliforms and twice for fluorides."[98]

text: Studies show that the plastics used for bottles contain chemicals having estrogenic activity, even when they claim otherwise.[99] Although some of the bottled water contained in glass were found polluted with chemicals as well, the researchers believe some of the contamination of water in the plastic containers may have come from the plastic containers.[100] Leaching of chemicals into the water is related to the plastic bottles being exposed to either low or high temperatures.

text: Safety[edit]

text: There have been no major outbreaks of illness or serious safety concerns associated with bottled water in the past decade, an FDA official stated in testimony before a 9 July 2009 Congressional hearing.[101] Conversely, as noted in the Drinking Water Research Foundation's (DWRF) 2013 report, Microbial Health Risks of Regulated Drinking Waters in the United States, EPA researchers reported an estimated 16.4 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness per year are caused by tap water. Subsequent research has estimated that number of illnesses to be closer to 19.5 million cases per year.[102] In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that waterborne diseases, such as Cryptosporidiosis and Giardiasis, cost the U.S. healthcare system as much as $539 million a year in hospital expenses.[103]

text: Bottled water versus carbonated beverages[edit]

text: Bottled noncarbonated drinking water competes in the marketplace with carbonated beverages (including carbonated water) sold in individual plastic bottles.[104] Consumption of water often is considered a healthier substitute for sodas.[105]

text: According to the Container Recycling Institute, sales of flavored, non-carbonated drinks are expected to surpass soda sales by 2010.[106] In response, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola have introduced new carbonated drinks that are fortified with vitamins and minerals, Diet Coke Plus and Tava, marketed as "sparkling beverages."[107]

text: Bottled water versus tap water[edit]

text: Bottled water may have reduced amounts of copper, lead, and other metal contaminants since it does not run through the plumbing pipes where tap water is exposed to metal corrosion, however, this varies by the household and plumbing system.[108]

text: In much of the developed world, chlorine often is added as a disinfectant to tap water. If the water contains organic matter, this may produce other byproducts in the water such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, which has shown to increase the risk of cancer.[109] The level of residual chlorine found at around 0.0002 g per litre, which is too small to cause any health problems directly.[108] The chlorine concentration recommended by World Health Organization is between 0.0005 and 0.0002 g/L.[110]

text: The Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and World Wildlife Fund have urged their supporters to consume less bottled water. Anti-bottled-water-campaigns and organizations, such as Corporate Accountability International, typically argue that bottled water is no better than tap water, and emphasize the detrimental environmental side-effects of disposable plastic bottles.

text: In a 2003 episode of the Showtime series Penn & Teller: Bullshit! restaurant diners appeared unable to discern between bottled water and water from a garden hose behind the restaurant.[111]

text: The recent documentary Tapped argues against the bottled water industry, asserting that tap water is healthier, more environmentally sustainable, and more ecologically sound than bottled water. The film focuses on the bottled water industry in the United States. The film has received largely positive reviews, and has spawned college campus groups such as Beyond the Bottle. Yet, as many people remain generally unaware of the negative health and environmental impacts associated with bottled water, recent research in environmental psychology has started to investigate how to reduce the public's consumption of bottled water.[112][113][114]


document_title: The Wailers Band

question_text: who is the lead singer of the wailers now

root

text: The Wailers Band

text: Previous Wailers' incarnations[edit]

text: The Wailers began as Bob Marley, Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh. Following the 1974 parting of The Wailers, Bob Marley proceeded with his group Bob Marley & The Wailers, with the Wailers Band as the backing band, and the I Threes (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt, & Marcia Griffiths) as backup vocalists. The Wailers Band consisted of, among others, bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother, drummer Carlton "Carly" Barrett, who had been members of Lee "Scratch" Perry's studio band, The Upsetters,[1] with whom The Wailers had recorded some of their most notable songs.

tag: p

text: After the death of Bob Marley in 1981, the Wailers Band was led by Aston Barrett and Junior Marvin. The band continued to play a heavy worldwide touring schedule. Carlton "Carly" Barrett, 36, was tragically murdered at his Jamaica home in 1987.

text: In 2008 former Wailers Al Anderson and Junior Marvin formed The Original Wailers, with the latter departing in 2011.

text: In 2014 The Wailers embarked on a worldwide "Legend Tour", marking the 30th anniversary of the release of the best selling reggae album of all time.

text: In 2015 they performed in India for the first time.[2]

text: In 2015, Familyman Barrett began the process of reuniting past members of the Wailers. Shows occurred in South America which included past members such as Barrett, Al Anderson, and Tyrone Downie. An Oct 2016 US tour recently took place, and a UK tour will soon follow.

text: The Wailers Reunited (2016)[edit]

text:
Aston "Family Man" Barrett - bass
Aston Barrett, Jr. - drums
Junior Marvin - lead guitar & vocals
Donald Kinsey - lead guitar
Owen "Dreadie" Reid - rhythm guitar
Josh David Barrett - lead vocals
Javaughn Bond - keyboards
Shema McGregor - vocals

tag: ul

text: Discography[edit]

text: Studio albums[edit]

text:
I.D. (1989)
Majestic Warriors (1991)
JAH Message (1994)

text: Live albums[edit]

text:
Legend Tour (Live) (1984)
Lives On (Live) (1995)
My Friends (Live '95-'97) (1997)
Live at Maritime Hall (1999)
Live In Jamaica (2001)
Live (2003)
Legend Live (2006)

text: With Other Artists[edit]

text:
Reggae Vibration with Joe Yamanaka (1982)
Reggae Vibration 2 with Joe Yamanaka (1983)
It's About Time, with John Denver (1983)
Reggae Vibration 3 with Joe Yamanaka (1984)
Watchful Eyes Acclaimed LP for Jah Mel (1983)
"Makisupa Policeman" for Sharin' in the Groove (2001)
Jerusalem (Alpha Blondy album) (1986)
Inkarnation, Iya Karna album with the Wailers (1986)
"A Step for Mankind" with Duane Stephenson & Bishop Lamont, Solutions for Dreamers: Season 3 (2010)[3]
HiFi Calypso, with Karl Zéro (2004)

text: Guest singles[edit]

text:
Year

Single

Artist

Peak chart positions

Certifications(sales threshold)

Album

US Country

US

CAN

2008

"Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven"

Kenny Chesney

1

41

49

US: Gold[4]

Lucky Old Sun

2012

"Al Leila Ya Samra"

Mohamed Mounir
—
—
—

Arabiac Studio

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

tag: table

text: Music videos[edit]

text:
Year

Video

Director

2008

"Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" (with Kenny Chesney)

Shaun Silva

2010

"A Step for Mankind" (feat. Duane Stephenson & Bishop Lamont)

Luke Archer [3]

2013

"Spread The Love" (with Kenny Chesney)

Shaun Silva


document_title: Why did the chicken cross the road?

question_text: the real answer to why did the chicken cross the road

text: Why did the chicken cross the road?

text: History[edit]

text: The riddle appeared in an 1847 edition of The Knickerbocker, a New York City monthly magazine:[1]

text: There are 'quips and quillets' which seem actual conundrums, but yet are none.  Of such is this:  'Why does a chicken cross the street?[']   Are you 'out of town?'    Do you 'give it up?'  Well, then:  'Because it wants to get on the other side!'

text: In the 1890s, a pun variant version appeared in the magazine Potter's American Monthly:[2]

text:
Why should not a chicken cross the road?
It would be a fowl proceeding.

text:
The origins of this joke emerged from picket lines during labor strikes in 19th-century America. The answer to ‘Why did the chicken cross the road’ was originally:
‘To get where he was standing.’
This means that the laborer had  ‘chickened’ out of the strike and crossed the picket line over to the factory. This person would also be known as a scab or a strikebreaker. ‘To get where he was standing’ meant that he would continue to make the same income he had before the strike, and not improve his ‘standing’.

text: Newspapers at this time were generally owned by wealthy factory owners, and they began printing alternative responses to this joke. One such response was ‘To get to the other side’. This was intended to disempower the picketters- by suggesting that their efforts were in vanity and the job pays what it pays.

text: Variations[edit]

text: There are many riddles that assume a familiarity with this well-known riddle and its answer, for example by supplying a different answer, such as "it was too far to walk around".[3] One class of variations enlists a creature other than the chicken to cross the road, in order to refer back to the original riddle. For example, a duck (or turkey) crosses "because it was the chicken's day off," and a dinosaur crosses "because chickens didn't exist yet." Some variants are both puns and references to the original, such as "Why did the duck cross the road?" "To prove he's no chicken".

text: Other variations replace side with another word often to form a pun. Some examples are "Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide" or "Why did the whale cross the ocean? To get to the other tide." A mathematical version asks, "Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip?" "To get to the same side."

text: Another class of variations, designed for written rather than oral transmission, employs parody by pretending to have notable individuals or institutions give characteristic answers to the question posed by the riddle.[4] As with the lightbulb joke, variants on these themes are widespread.


document_title: A Goofy Movie

question_text: who sang stand out from a goofy movie

question_tokens: who sang stand out from a goofy movie

text: A Goofy Movie

text: Plot[edit]

text: Goofy is the single father of a 14-year-old teenage boy named Max Goof in the town of Spoonerville, Ohio, although the two have a tense relationship. On the last day of school before summer vacation, Max and his best friends P.J. and Robert "Bobby" Zimmeruski hijack the auditorium stage in the middle of Principal Mazur's speech, creating a small concert where Max performs, while costumed as the pop singer Powerline. The performance succeeds in making Max a school celebrity and impressing his love interest, Roxanne, but him, P.J. and Bobby are sent to Mazur's office. While waiting outside of the office, Roxanne speaks with Max and agrees to go with him to a party where Powerline's concert will be aired live. However, Mazur exaggerates these events to Goofy, making Max look like a gang member, and forewarns him that Max's actions may result in him facing capital punishment.

text: Goofy decides to take Max on a fishing trip to Lake Destiny, Idaho, following a map route he and his father took years ago, and the two go into his station wagon. However, he is oblivious to what Max is planning to do with Roxanne. Max stops by Roxanne's house to call off their date, but when Roxanne says she will just have to go with someone else, Max panics and instead fabricates a story about his father knowing Powerline; he tells her he will be on stage at the concert.

text: Despite his son's objections, Goofy plans his own trip, with initially disastrous results. Max hurts his father's feelings after his father humiliates him at an opossum-based theme park. While camping, Pete and P.J. join them. Following Pete's advice to keep Max under control, Goofy takes his son fishing and performs the Perfect Cast fishing technique, luring Bigfoot to their camp. Pete and P.J. flee, leaving Goofy and Max to spend the night with Bigfoot. At night, while Goofy is still asleep, Max alters the map route to Los Angeles, where the concert is taking place.

text: The next morning, Goofy decides to make Max the navigator of the trip. The two go to several locations that satisfy both of them. They stop by a motel where they meet Pete and P.J. again. When Pete overhears a conversation between Max and P.J., he tells Goofy that Max has tricked him in traveling to Los Angeles. The next day, Goofy and Max come to a junction: one leading to Idaho, the other to California. Max chooses the route to California, making Goofy stop the car at the Grand Canyon and storm off in anger. With the brake loose, the car drives off on its own; Goofy and Max chase after it and end up in the canyon. Goofy reveals that no matter how old Max gets, he will always be his son and the two reconcile with each other. After learning that Max had promised Roxanne that he would be at the concert, Goofy decides to take him to Los Angeles. The two nearly plummet down a waterfall to their deaths, but Max fortunately saves Goofy, using the Perfect Cast technique.

text: Goofy and Max get to Los Angeles, and while attempting to sneak backstage, they end up onstage and dance with Powerline, watched by Pete, P.J. and Roxanne on separate televisions. Goofy and Max later return to Roxanne's house in their damaged car. Max tells the truth to Roxanne, though she accepts it and admits she always had feelings for him, ever since he first said, "Ahyuck!"; thus, a relationship starts between them. Goofy's car suddenly explodes due to the damage it has sustained, ejecting Goofy in the process, but he safely falls through the porch roof of Roxanne's house, and Max proceeds to introduce him to Roxanne.

text: Voice cast[edit]

text:
Jason Marsden as Maximillan "Max" Goof, an insecure teenage boy. He is often embarrassed by his dad's antics, and is worried that he is turning into him. His relationship with his father is somewhat tense, but he loves him despite their differences. He is self-aware, and wants to be popular among his peers at high school. Aaron Lohr provides Max's singing voice.
Bill Farmer as Goofy Goof, Max's father who works as a photographer at a toy store. He cares deeply about his son, and wants to be a part of his life despite the latter's disinterest. He is clumsy but well-intended.
Kellie Martin as Roxanne, Max's high school love interest.
Jim Cummings as Peter Pete, Goofy's next-door neighbor.
Rob Paulsen as P.J. Pete, Pete's son and Max's best friend.
Pauly Shore (uncredited) as Robert "Bobby" Zimmeruski, Max and P.J.'s friend at school.
Jenna von Oÿ as Stacey, Roxanne's best friend.
Julie Brown as Lisa
Joey Lawrence as Chad
Tevin Campbell as the singing voice of Powerline, a famous pop star who Max looks up to.
Wallace Shawn as Principal Arthur Mazur
Frank Welker as Bigfoot
Kevin Lima as Lester
Florence Stanley as Waitress
Jo Anne Worley as Miss Maple
Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
Pat Buttram as Possum Park Emcee
Herschel Sparber as Security guard
Pat Carroll as Restaurant waiter
Corey Burton as Wendell
Brittney Alyse Smith as Photo Studio Girl

text: Production[edit]

text: A Goofy Movie was the directorial debut for Disney crew member Kevin Lima, who went on to direct the Disney films Tarzan (1999), 102 Dalmatians (2000) and Enchanted (2007).[4] In 1995, Lima said that "Instead of just keeping Goofy one-dimensional as he's been in the past, we wanted to give an emotional side that would add to the emotional arc of the story. We wanted the audience to see his feelings instead of just his antics."[5]

text: Although based upon a Disney TV series, A Goofy Movie was jointly produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation, Disney MovieToons, Walt Disney Animation France S.A. and Walt Disney Animation Australia. Pre-production was done at the main WDFA studio in Burbank, California, starting as early as mid-1993. The animation work was done at Walt Disney Animation France in Paris, France supervised by Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, with additional scenes animated at Disney's studio in Sydney, Australia under the direction of Steve Moore, and clean-up work done at the main Burbank studio.[6][7] Additional clean-up/animation was done by Phoenix Animation Studios in Canada, and digital ink and paint by the Pixibox studio in France.[8]

text: Music[edit]

text: The score for A Goofy Movie was provided by Carter Burwell and Don Davis.[9] The songs "I 2 I" and "Stand Out" were performed by R&B singer Tevin Campbell. The soundtrack album for A Goofy Movie was released by Walt Disney Records on March 18, 1995.[10] Mitchell Musso covered the song "Stand Out" for the DisneyMania 7 album, which was released on March 9, 2010.[11]

text:
A Goofy Movie Original Soundtrack

No.
Title
Length

1.
"I 2 I" (Tevin Campbell)
4:37

2.
"After Today" (Aaron Lohr and Chorus)
2:21

3.
"Stand Out" (Tevin Campbell)
3:00

4.
"On the Open Road" (Bill Farmer, Aaron Lohr, and Chorus)
3:01

5.
"Lester's Possum Park" (Kevin Quinn and Chorus)
1:25

6.
"Nobody Else But You" (Bill Farmer and Aaron Lohr)
2:35

7.
"Opening Fanfare / Max's Dream / Transformation"
1:25

8.
"Deep Sludge"
2:35

9.
"Bigfoot"
1:50

10.
"Hi Dad Soup"
2:04

11.
"Runaway Car"
2:14

12.
"Junction"
1:32

13.
"The Waterfall! / The Truth"
2:17

text: Release[edit]

text: A Goofy Movie was originally scheduled for a November 1994 theatrical release,[12] but production setbacks resulted in a push-back to 1995, while The Lion King was reissued to fill in for the film's absence.[13] The film's premiere took place on April 5, 1995, at the AMC Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, and was attended by director Kevin Lima and voice stars Bill Farmer and Jenna von Oy. On the 7th, it was released nationwide.[14] The film played a limited engagement at the El Capitan Theatre from August 25 through September 4, 2017.[15]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The film was first released on VHS by Walt Disney Home Video on September 6, 1995, and included a music video for the Parachute Express song Doctor Looney's Remedy on their video, Come Sing with Us. In the UK, it was released in theaters succeeding the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain on October 18, 1996, and on VHS in 1997. It was reissued on June 20, 2000, along with a DVD version as part of the short-lived Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. This edition includes the Goof Troop episode, "Calling All Goofs" and a "Disney-fied" edit of Mambo No. 5. To date, this film and Doug's 1st Movie are the only two Disney animated films produced in widescreen that have pan and scan-only Region 1 DVD releases (not counting separate widescreen and pan and scan DVD releases of the two Disney/Pixar films The Incredibles and Cars). However, the film's PAL and NTSC (Japan) counterpart does have a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD, and the film is available in a letterbox presentation on LaserDisc.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: A Goofy Movie holds a score of 53% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 15 critics.[16]

text: Variety's Todd McCarthy criticized the film's score, calling the six featured songs "unmemorable". He also felt that the personality of Goofy's character, while agreeable enough in support, proved a bit over the top for a headliner, and that "by any reasonable reckoning, he's distinctly overbearing and selfish, and responds with a bland dismissal to any opinion offered up by his son". McCarthy praised the film's technical aspects, calling them "crisp and clean".[6] Louis Black of The Austin Chronicle summed up his review by saying the film was "bland, a barely television-length cartoon stretched out to fill a feature, and not much fun".[5]

text: Siskel and Ebert both approved of the movie, praising the color scheme and the "sweet" father-son plot, and gave it three stars.[17] Writing for Common Sense Media, Nell Minow gave the film 4 stars, saying that "even tweens will enjoy this road trip with Goofy."[18]

text: Box office[edit]

text: A Goofy Movie was considered a relative success for Disney, opening in 2,159 theaters at #2 on its opening weekend with $6,129,557 - held from the #1 spot only because of the Will Smith blockbuster Bad Boys that opened the same weekend, with $15,523,358 in box office returns.[19] It ultimately ended its run at the US box office grossing $35,348,597 - coming in as the 51st highest-grossing domestic film in 1995.[3]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: The film was nominated for "Best Animated Feature" in the production categories and "Best Production Design", "Best Storyboarding", "Best Music", and "Best Animation" in the individual categories at the 23rd Annie Awards.[20]

text: Sequel[edit]

text: In 2000, a direct-to-video sequel to A Goofy Movie, titled An Extremely Goofy Movie, was released on DVD and VHS. The film involves Max's freshman year in college. Characters that returned for the sequel were Goofy, Max, P.J., Pete and Bobby, but Roxanne, Max's love interest, is absent from the sequel and is not referenced. Roxanne later appeared in the television series House of Mouse in the episode titled "Max's Embarrassing Date", where she was voiced by Grey DeLisle instead of Kellie Martin.

text: Reunion[edit]

text: On August 14, 2015, a 20th anniversary reunion for the film occurred at the D23 Expo at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.[21] Those in attendance included Bill Farmer, Jason Marsden, Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Jenna von Oÿ and producer Don Hahn. Wallace Shawn, Pauly Shore and director Kevin Lima also sent video messages.[21] The panel also included musical performances from Farmer, Marsden and Tevin Campbell.[21][22]


document_title: Joffrey Baratheon

question_text: game of thrones who is joffrey's father

question_tokens: game of thrones who is joffrey 's father

text: Joffrey Baratheon

text: Overview[edit]

text: Joffrey Baratheon is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as his uncle Tyrion Lannister and his one-time fiancée Sansa Stark. Joffrey is mostly a background character in the novels.[5] He inherits his mother's traditional Lannister looks, and has blond hair and green eyes, and is believed by many to be very handsome.

text: Character description[edit]

text: In public, Joffrey is allegedly the oldest son and heir of King Robert Baratheon and Queen Cersei Lannister, both of whom entered into a political marriage alliance after Robert took the throne by force from the 'Mad King' Aerys II Targaryen. In reality, his biological father is his mother's twin brother, Jaime Lannister. He has a younger sister, Myrcella, and a younger brother, Tommen, both of whom are also products of Jaime and Cersei's incestuous relationship. Their sole biological grandparents, Tywin and Joanna Lannister, were also first cousins.[6]

text: Joffrey is an amoral sadist who disguises his cruelty with a thin veneer of charm. This is best epitomized by his response when his (then) betrothed offends him: Joffrey pronounces that his mother had taught him never to strike a woman, and so commissions a knight of the Kingsguard to hit her instead. He enjoys forcing people to fight to the death, and enforces cruel punishments for lesser crimes. He has no sense of personal responsibility, blaming failures on others. He lacks self-control and often insults his allies and family members. Joffrey is one of the story's few characters to display no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

text: Joffrey is 12 years old at the beginning of A Game of Thrones (1996).

text: Storylines[edit]

text: A Game of Thrones[edit]

text: Prince Joffrey is taken by his parents to Winterfell and is betrothed to Sansa Stark in order to create an alliance between House Baratheon and House Stark. At first, Joffrey is kind and polite to Sansa. However, he refuses to show sympathy with the family when Bran Stark falls from a tower; this makes Joffrey's uncle Tyrion have to physically punish him until he shows respect. While on the Kingsroad to King's Landing, Joffrey and Sansa come across Arya Stark practicing swordplay with a commoner Mycah. Joffrey accuses Mycah of assaulting a noble girl and makes a cut on his face with a sword. This causes Arya to hit Joffrey, allowing Mycah to escape. Joffrey then turns on Arya, making her direwolf Nymeria attack Joffrey, injuring him. Later, Joffrey lies about the attack, saying it was unprovoked and demands Nymeria to be killed; however, Sansa's direwolf Lady is killed instead. He later orders his bodyguard and sworn sword Sandor "The Hound" Clegane to kill Mycah and bring him back his corpse, which he does.

text: Later, Eddard Stark discovers that Joffrey is not King Robert's son and rightful heir, by examining the family history and realizing that black hair is a dominant trait in the Baratheon line, hence the blonde hair can be attributed to the incestuous relationship of Queen Cersei and Ser Jaime. This causes Eddard to refuse to acknowledge Joffrey's claim to the throne when King Robert dies. He is taken into custody and his guards and household are murdered.

text: Sansa kneels and begs for Joffrey to spare her father's life and give him a chance to confess the treason. Joffrey promises Sansa that if Eddard truly does confess, he would be merciful. Reluctant at first, Eddard begrudgingly accepts Joffrey as the rightful King in order to spare Sansa's life. However, Joffrey, though pleased by Eddard's "confession", says that he has no acceptance for traitors and instead beheads Eddard and later forces Sansa to look upon her father's head.

text: A Clash of Kings[edit]

text: Joffrey is briefly seen in A Clash of Kings (1998). He rules with whim and caprice, proving difficult for even his mother to control. Sansa becomes imprisoned to his will, and he frequently has his guards beat her when she displeases him. When Stannis Baratheon attacks King's Landing, Joffrey leaves the battlefield, damaging the morale of his army. The battle is only won by his uncle Tyrion's use of wildfire and his grandfather Tywin's last-minute counterattack aided by the forces of House Tyrell.

text: A Storm of Swords[edit]

text: Joffrey sets aside his earlier betrothal to Sansa Stark in favor of Margaery Tyrell, cementing an alliance between the Lannisters and House Tyrell. At Tyrion and Sansa's wedding, he humiliates his uncle and is outraged when his uncle threatens him after he commands him to consummate their marriage. Tyrion only avoids punishment when his father Tywin assures Joffrey that his uncle was drunk and had no intention of threatening the king. Later after the events of the "Red Wedding", Joffrey gleefully plans on serving Sansa her recently deceased brother's head, when Tyrion and Tywin are outraged. Tyrion threatens Joffrey once again, and later Joffrey turns on Tywin, who responds by commanding Joffrey to be sent to his room, much to Joffrey's chagrin. During his wedding feast in the throne room, he presents an extremely offensive play of "The War of the Five Kings, " with each of the kings played by dwarves, to humiliate his uncle. He also repeatedly torments Tyrion and Sansa, forcing the former to be his cupbearer. At the conclusion of the dinner, however, Joffrey's wine is poisoned, and he dies in an event known as "The Purple Wedding," in which Tyrion is falsely accused and arrested by Cersei in A Storm of Swords (2000). It is later revealed that Lady Olenna Tyrell and Lord Petyr Baelish were the true perpetrators, with assistance from royal fool Ser Dontos Hollard, who successfully smuggles Tyrion's wife Sansa out of King's Landing before either of them can be caught and tried for Joffrey's murder.

text: Later novels[edit]

text: Joffrey is mentioned a few times in the later novels.

text: Family tree of House Lannister[edit]

text:
[hide]

v
t
e

Descendants of Tytos Lannister

Tytos[a]

Jeyne
Marbrand[b]

Joanna[c]

Tywin[c]

Emmon
Frey[c]

Genna[c]

Kevan[c]

Dorna
Swyft[c]

Tygett[c]

Darlessa
Marbrand[c]

Gerion[c]

Briony[d]

Robert
Baratheon[c]

Cersei[c]

Jaime
"The Kingslayer"[c]

Tysha[e]

Tyrion
"The Imp"[c]

Sansa
Stark[f]

Amerei
Frey[g]

Lancel[c]

Martyn[c]

Willem[c]

Janei[c]

Tyrek[c]

Ermesande
Hayford[h]

Joy
Hill[c]

Joffrey
Baratheon[i][j]

Myrcella
Baratheon[i][j]

Margaery
Tyrell[k][l]

Tommen
Baratheon[i][j]

Tion
Frey[c]

"Red" Walder
Frey[m]

Jeyne
Darry[n]

Cleos
Frey[c]

Lyonel
Frey[m]

Melesa Crakehall

Tywin
Frey[n]

Willem
Frey[n]

References and notes:

^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R. (1996). "Chapter 56: Tyrion". A Game of Thrones. p. 593. ISBN 978-0-553-89784-5.
^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R.; García Jr., Elio M.; Antonsson, Linda (2014). The World of Ice & Fire. ISBN 978-0-553-80544-4.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Martin. "Appendix: House Lannister". A Game of Thrones. pp. 787–788.
Jump up ^ Martin; García Jr.; Antonsson. "Appendix: Lannister Lineage". The World of Ice & Fire.
Jump up ^ Tyrion's first wife was a peasant girl named Tysha. The marriage was later annulled by Lord Tywin's order.
Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2000). "Chapter 28: Sansa". A Storm of Swords. pp. 382–393. ISBN 978-0-553-89787-6.
Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2005). "Chapter 30: Jaime". A Feast for Crows. pp. 501–518. ISBN 978-0-553-90032-3.
Jump up ^ Martin. "Appendix: The King on the Iron Throne". A Storm of Swords. p. 1131.
^ Jump up to: a b c Martin. "Appendix: House Baratheon". A Game of Thrones. p. 783.
^ Jump up to: a b c Though officially Robert's children, Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen are the products of an incestuous affair between Cersei and Jaime.
Jump up ^ Martin. "Appendix: The Queen Regent". A Feast for Crows. p. 782.
Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2011). "Appendix: The Boy King". A Dance with Dragons. p. 1055. ISBN 978-0-553-90565-6.  [m] [n]
^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R. (2000). "Appendix: House Lannister". A Storm of Swords. ISBN 0-553-10663-5.
^ Jump up to: a b c Martin, George R. R. (2011). "Appendix: House Lannister". A Dance with Dragons. ISBN 978-0553801477.

text: TV adaptation[edit]

text: In January 2007 HBO secured the rights to adapt Martin's series for television.[7][8] Years later young actor Jack Gleeson was cast as Joffrey Baratheon.[9]

text: Storylines[edit]

text: Joffrey Baratheon is the Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms. He is the eldest of Cersei Lannister's children and heir to the Iron Throne. Evil, arrogant, vicious, and cruel, he has a short temper and believes he can do anything he wants. He is also a coward when confronted by those who aren't afraid of him. Joffrey is also unaware that King Robert is not his real father – in reality, he is the son of Jaime Lannister.

text: Season 1[edit]

text: After Robert's death, the Lannisters make Joffrey King against his father's will, and his mother uses him as a puppet. A cruel ruler, Joffrey makes a mistake when, against Cersei's and Sansa's wishes, he refuses to honor his promise of sparing Ned; instead, Joffrey has him executed.

text: Season 2[edit]

text: His act worsens the situation with the Lannisters' war effort as his uncle Jaime is captured by the Starks and his uncles Renly and Stannis have challenged his claim to the Iron Throne. He frequently orders his Kingsguard to beat Sansa. His cruelty and ignorance of the commoners' suffering makes him unpopular after he orders the City Watch to kill all of his father's bastard children in King's Landing which would later lead to a riot where he is almost killed. When Stannis attacks King's Landing, Joffrey serves only as a figurehead and avoids the heavy fighting. When the battle eventually turns in Stannis' favor, Cersei calls her son into the safety of the castle, damaging the morale of his army. The battle is only won by his uncle Tyrion and his grandfather Tywin, aided by the forces of House Tyrell. To cement the alliance between their families, Joffrey's engagement to Sansa is annulled so he can marry Margaery Tyrell.

text: Season 3[edit]

text: The marriage is yet to take place, and rifts are growing between Joffrey and his uncle and grandfather, who are (in their respective ways) rebutting his cruelty. He also seems to take little interest in his bride, but is amazed and altered by her ways of winning the people's favor, in which he takes part. At Tyrion and Sansa's wedding, he humiliates his uncle and is outraged when his uncle threatens him after he commands him to consummate their marriage. Tyrion only avoids punishment when his father Tywin assures Joffrey that his uncle was drunk and had no intention of threatening the king. Later after the events of the "Red Wedding", Joffrey gleefully plans on serving Sansa her recently deceased brother's head, when Tyrion and Tywin are outraged. Tyrion threatens Joffrey once again, and later Joffrey turns on Tywin, who responds by commanding Joffrey to be sent to his room, much to Joffrey's chagrin.

text: Season 4[edit]

text: Joffrey finally marries Margaery. During his wedding feast in the gardens of the Red Keep, he presents an extremely offensive play of "The War of the Five Kings, " with each of the kings played by dwarves, to humiliate his uncle. He also repeatedly torments Tyrion and Sansa, forcing the former to be his cupbearer. At the height of festivities Joffrey is suddenly overcome by poison, and he dies. His uncle Tyrion is accused and arrested. It is confirmed, however, he was poisoned by Olenna Tyrell, with assistance from Petyr Baelish and Dontos Hollard, as she wanted to protect Margaery from the physical and emotional abuse that Joffrey had very clearly inflicted on Sansa. Olenna later confides to Margaery that she would never have let her marry "that monster". Following Joffrey's funeral, his younger brother and heir, Tommen, is crowned King and proceeds to marry Joffrey's widow Margaery.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Jack Gleeson has received positive reviews for his role as Joffrey Baratheon in the television series. In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked the character #4 in their list of the "40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time".[10] Author Martin described Joffrey as similar to "five or six people that I went to school with ... a classic bully ... incredibly spoiled".[11]


question_text: what was the purpose of rhode island colony

text: Early America[edit]

text: The land that became the English colony was first home to the Narragansett Indians, which led to the name of the modern town of Narragansett, showing respect to the Narragansett and Nipmuc peoples. European settlement began around 1622 with a trading post at Sowams, now the town of Warren.

text: Roger Williams, a Puritan theologian and linguist, founded Providence Plantations in 1636 on land given to him by Narragansett sachem Canonicus. Williams was exiled under religious persecution from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He and his fellow settlers agreed on an egalitarian constitution providing for majority rule "in civil things," with liberty of conscience on spiritual matters. He named the settlement Providence Plantation, believing that God had brought them there. (The term "plantation" was used in the 17th century as a synonym for "settlement" or "colony.")[1] Williams named the islands in the Narragansett Bay after Christian virtues: Patience, Prudence, and Hope Islands.[2]

text: In 1637, another group of Massachusetts dissenters purchased land from the Indians on Aquidneck Island, which was called Rhode Island at the time, and they established a settlement called Pocasset. The group included William Coddington, John Clarke, and Anne and William Hutchinson, among others. That settlement, however, quickly split into two separate settlements. Samuel Gorton and others remained to establish the settlement of Portsmouth (which formerly was Pocasset) in 1638, while Coddington and Clarke established nearby Newport in 1639. Both settlements were situated on Rhode Island (Aquidneck).

text: The second plantation settlement on the mainland was Samuel Gorton’s Shawomet Purchase from the Narragansetts in 1642. As soon as Gorton settled at Shawomet, however, the Massachusetts Bay authorities laid claim to his territory and acted to enforce their claim. After considerable difficulties with the Massachusetts Bay General Court, Gorton traveled to London to enlist the help of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, head of the Commission for Foreign Plantations. Gorton returned in 1648 with a letter from Rich, ordering Massachusetts to cease molesting him and his people. In gratitude, he changed the name of Shawomet Plantation to Warwick.[3]

text: Cromwell interregnum[edit]

text: In 1651, William Coddington obtained a separate charter from England setting up the Coddington Commission, which made him life governor of the islands of Rhode Island and Conanicut in a federation with Connecticut Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony. Protest, open rebellion, and a further petition to Oliver Cromwell in London led to the reinstatement of the original charter in 1653.[4]

text: Sanctuary for religious freedom[edit]

text: Following the 1660 restoration of royal rule in England, it was necessary to gain a Royal Charter from King Charles II. Charles was a Catholic sympathizer in staunchly Protestant England, and he approved of the colony's promise of religious freedom. He granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663, uniting the four settlements together into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In the following years, many persecuted groups settled in the colony, notably Quakers and Jews.[5][6] The Rhode Island colony was very progressive for the time, passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, most capital punishment and, on May 18, 1652, chattel slavery of both blacks and whites.[7][8]

text: Rhode Island remained at peace with local Indians, but the relationship was more strained between other New England colonies and certain tribes and sometimes led to bloodshed, despite attempts by the Rhode Island leadership to broker peace.[5][6] During King Philip's War (1675–1676), both sides regularly violated Rhode Island's neutrality. The war's largest battle occurred in Rhode Island, when a force of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth militia under General Josiah Winslow invaded and destroyed the fortified Narragansett village in the Great Swamp in southern Rhode Island, on December 19, 1675.[9] The Narragansetts also invaded and burned down several of the cities of Rhode Island, including Providence. Roger Williams knew both Metacom (English name Philip) and Canonchet as children. He was aware of the tribe's movements and promptly sent letters informing the Governor of Massachusetts of enemy movements. By his prompt action, Providence Plantations made some efforts at fortifying the town, and Williams even started training recruits for protection. In one of the final actions of the war, troops from Connecticut hunted down and killed "King Philip", as they called the Narragansett war leader Metacom, on Rhode Island's territory.[5][6]

text: Dominion of New England[edit]

text: In the 1680s, Charles II sought to streamline administration of the English colonies and to more closely control their trade. The Navigation Acts passed in the 1660s were widely disliked, since merchants often found themselves trapped and at odds with the rules. However, many colonial governments, Massachusetts principally among them, refused to enforce the acts, and took matters one step further by obstructing the activities of the Crown agents.[10] Charles' successor James II introduced the Dominion of New England in 1686 as a means to accomplish these goals. Under its provisional president Joseph Dudley, the disputed "King's Country" (present-day Washington County) was brought into the dominion, and the rest of the colony was brought under dominion control by Governor Sir Edmund Andros. The rule of Andros was extremely unpopular, especially in Massachusetts. The 1688 Glorious Revolution deposed James II and brought William III and Mary II to the English throne; Massachusetts authorities conspired in April 1689 to have Andros arrested and sent back to England.[citation needed] With this event, the dominion collapsed and Rhode Island resumed its previous government.[11]

text: The bedrock of the economy continued to be agriculture – especially dairy farming – and fishing; lumber and shipbuilding also became major industries. Slaves were introduced at this time, although there is no record of any law re-legalizing slave holding. Ironically, the colony later prospered under the slave trade, by distilling rum to sell in Africa as part of a profitable triangular trade in slaves and sugar between Africa, America, and the Caribbean.[12]

text: American Revolutionary period[edit]

text: Leading figures in the colony were involved in the 1776 launch of the American Revolutionary War which delivered American independence from the British Empire, such as former royal governors Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward, as well as John Brown, Nicholas Brown, William Ellery, the Reverend James Manning, and the Reverend Ezra Stiles, each of whom had played an influential role in founding Brown University in Providence in 1764 as a sanctuary for religious and intellectual freedom.[citation needed]

text: On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the 13 colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown,[13] and was the fourth to ratify the Articles of Confederation between the newly sovereign states on February 9, 1778.[14] It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution,[15] and initially refused to ratify it.[16] It relented after Congress sent a series of constitutional amendments to the states for ratification, the Bill of Rights guaranteeing specific personal freedoms and rights; clear limitations on the government's power in judicial and other proceedings; and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the 13th state and the last of the former colonies to ratify the Constitution.[17]


document_title: Ranchi Rajdhani Express

question_text: route of rajdhani express from ranchi to delhi

text: Ranchi Rajdhani Express

text: Service[edit]

text: The 12453/12454 Rajdhani Express is the fastest train on the Ranchi - Delhi sector. It runs four days in a week on between Ranchi and Delhi.[2] It operates as train number 12453 from Ranchi to New Delhi Railway Station and as train number 12440.

text: It has four halts in 12453 direction at Tori, Daltonganj, Mughalsarai Junction and Kanpur Central Junction.

text: A separate Ranchi Rajdhani (Train no. 12439/12440) via Grand Chord route is also there via Bokaro, Gomoh, Gaya.

text: Loco link[edit]

text: This train is hauled by a WAP 4/WAP 7 locomotive of Ghaziabad shed in both directions.

text: Incident[edit]

text: On 12 May 2012,30 people reported ill after eating the food and numerous of passengers vomited . On 7 may 2017, the engine and power car of train derailed near new delhi.

text: Time-table[edit]

text: This table shows the time-table of 12453/12454 Rajdhani Express (via Daltonganj).

text:
Station Code
Station Name

12453 - Ranchi to New Delhi

12454 - New Delhi to Ranchi

Arrival
Departure
Arrival
Departure

RNC
Ranchi
Source
17:10
11:00
Destination

DTO
Daltonganj
22:03
22:05
04:55
05:00

GHD
Garwa Road
22:50
22:55
04:10
04:18

MGS
Mughal Sarai Junction
01:47
01:57
01:18
01:28

CNB
Kanpur Central
05:45
05:50
21:00
21:05

NDLS
New Delhi
10:50
Destination
Source
16:10

text: The 12439/12440 Rajdhani Express (via Bokaro) has a journey time of 16 hours and 55 minutes. It covers 1307 km at the average speed of 95 km/h and touches a top speed of 130 km/h in Gaya – New Delhi section of route. The 12439 Rajdhani Express (via Bokaro) departs Ranchi Junction at 5:55pm in the evening and reaches New Delhi at 10:50 in the morning. And the 12440 Rajdhani Express (via Bokaro) departs New Delhi at 16:05pm in the evening and reaches Ranchi Junction at 9:10am in the morning.


document_title: Gandhi–Irwin Pact

question_text: who offered dominion status for india in 1929

text: Gandhi–Irwin Pact

text: This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The Gandhi Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5 March 1931 before the second Round Table Conference in London.[1] Before this, the viceroy Lord Irwin announced in October 1929, a vague offer of 'dominion status' for India in an unspecified future and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution.[2]The second round table conference which was held in 1931.

text: "The Two Mahatmas"—as Sarojini Naidu described Gandhi and Irwin—had eight meetings that totaled 24 hours. Gandhi was impressed by Irwin’s sincerity. The terms of the "Gandhi-Irwin Pact" fell manifestly short of those Gandhi prescribed as the minimum for a truce.[3]

text: Below are the proposed conditions:-

text:
Discontinuation of the Civil disobedience movement by the Indian National Congress
Participation by the Indian National Congress in the Second Round Table Conference
Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the British Government imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress
Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to several types of offenses except those involving violence
Release of prisoners arrested for participating in the Civil disobedience movement.
Removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use

text: Many British officials in India, and in England, were outraged by the idea of a pact with a party whose avowed purpose was the destruction of the British Raj. Winston Churchill publicly expressed his disgust "...at the nauseating and humiliating spectacle of this one-time Inner Temple lawyer, now seditious fakir, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy’s palace, there to negotiate and parley on equal terms with the representative of the King Emperor."

text: In reply, the British Government agreed to:-

text:
Withdraw all ordinances and end prosecutions
Release all political prisoners, except those guilty of violence
Permit peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops
Restore confiscated properties of the satyagrahis
Permit free collection or manufacture of salt by persons near the sea-coast
Lift the ban over the congress.

tag: ol

text: The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, was at this time directing the sternest repression Indian nationalism had known, but did not relish the role. The British civil service and the commercial community favoured even harsher measures. But Premier Ramsay MacDonald and Secretary of State for India William Benn were eager for peace, if they could secure it without weakening the position of the Labour Government. They wanted to make a success of the Round Table Conference and knew that this body, without the presence of Gandhi and the Congress, could not carry much weight. In January 1931, at the closing session of the Round Table Conference, Ramsay MacDonald went so far as to express the hope that the Congress would be represented at the next session. The Viceroy took the hint and promptly ordered the unconditional release of Gandhi and all members of the Congress Working Committee. To this gesture Gandhi responded by agreeing to meet the Viceroy.

text: Gandhi’s motives in concluding a pact with the Viceroy can be best understood in terms of his technique. The Satyagraha movements were commonly described as "struggles", "rebellions" and "wars without violence". Owing, however, to the common connotation of these words, they seemed to lay a disproportionate emphasis on the negative aspect of the movements, namely, opposition and conflict. The object of Satyagraha was, however, not to achieve the physical elimination or moral breakdown of an adversary—but, through suffering at his hands, to initiate a psychological processes that could make it possible for minds and hearts to meet. In such a struggle, a compromise with an opponent was neither heresy nor treason, but a natural and necessary step. If it turned out that the compromise was premature and the adversary was unrepentant, nothing prevented the Satyagrahi from returning to non-violent battle.

text: This was the second high-level meeting between Gandhi and Viceroy in 13 years and should be read in the context of Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms that were the basis of the Government of India Act, 1919.


document_title: The Blue Marble

question_text: when was the first photo of earth from space taken

text: The Blue Marble

text: The photograph[edit]

text: The photograph, taken by astronauts on December 7, 1972, at 05:39 a.m. EST (10:39 UTC), is one of the most widely distributed photographic images in existence.[5] The image is one of the few to show an almost fully illuminated Earth as the astronauts had the Sun behind them when they took the image. To the astronauts, the slightly gibbous Earth had the appearance and size of a glass marble, hence the name. It has been mostly shown with Antarctica at the bottom, although the actual view the astronauts had was with Antarctica on top.

text: History[edit]

text: The photograph was taken about 5 hours and 6 minutes after launch of the Apollo 17 mission,[7] and about 1 hour 54 minutes after the spacecraft left its parking orbit around Earth, to begin its trajectory to the Moon.[8] The time of Apollo 17's launch, 12:33 a.m. EST, meant that Africa was in daylight during the early hours of the spacecraft's flight. With the December solstice approaching, Antarctica was also illuminated.

text: The 1972 Tamil Nadu cyclone can be seen in the top right of the image. This storm had brought flooding and high winds to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on December 5, two days before the photograph was taken.[9]

text: The photograph's official NASA designation is AS17-148-22727. NASA photograph AS17-148-22726, taken just before and nearly identical to 22727, is also used as a full-Earth image.[7][10]

text: The photographer used a 70-millimeter Hasselblad camera with an 80-millimeter Zeiss lens.[11][12] NASA credits the image to the entire Apollo 17 crew—Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmitt—all of whom took photographs during the mission with the on-board Hasselblad, although evidence examined after the mission suggests that Jack Schmitt was the photographer.[5]

text: All Apollo flights were heavily scheduled down to the minute. At the time this photo was taken, none of the astronauts was scheduled to do so. Thus this photo was taken quickly in a stolen moment. The astronaut who took the picture was weightless, and the continents were hard to see, and he took the photo quickly, which explains why he held the camera upside down compared to the north up orientation of all maps. If every photo on this roll of film is printed, and all of the photos on the roll of film are oriented the same way, then when viewed in sequence, to put feet down and heads up, this photo will have the south pole up, breaking the map convention.[7]

text: Apollo 17 was the last manned lunar mission. No human since has been far enough from Earth to photograph a whole-Earth image[citation needed] such as The Blue Marble, but whole-Earth images have been taken by many unmanned spacecraft missions.[13][citation needed]

text: The Blue Marble was not the first clear image taken of an illuminated face of Earth, since similar shots from the ATS-3 satellite had already been made as early as 1967.[14] The Apollo 17 image, however, released during a surge in environmental activism during the 1970s, became a symbol of the environmental movement, as a depiction of Earth's frailty, vulnerability, and isolation amid the vast expanse of space.[4] NASA archivist Mike Gentry has speculated that The Blue Marble is among the most widely distributed images in human history.[5]

text: Subsequent Blue Marble images[edit]

text: Subsequent similar images of Earth (including composites at much higher resolution) have also been termed Blue Marble images, and the phrase "blue marble" (as well as the picture itself) is frequently used, as in the Earth flag by environmental activist organizations or companies attempting to promote an environmentally conscious image. There has also been a children's television program called Big Blue Marble. Poet-diplomat Abhay K has penned an Earth Anthem inspired by the blue marble which contains "all the peoples and the nations of the world, one for all, all for one, united we unfurl the blue marble flag".[15][better source needed]

text: Imaging series 2001–2004[edit]

text: In 2002, NASA released an extensive set of satellite-captured imagery, including prepared images suitable for direct human viewing, as well as complete sets suitable for use in preparing further works.[17] At the time, 1 km/pixel was the most detailed imagery available for free, and permitted for reuse[18] without a need for extensive preparatory work to eliminate cloud cover and conceal missing data, or to parse specialized data formats. The data also included a similarly manually assembled cloud-cover and night-lights image sets, at lower resolutions.

text: A subsequent release was made in 2005, named Blue Marble Next Generation.[19] This series of photo mosaics was produced with the aid of automated image-sifting upon images from NASA's Earth Observatory, which enabled the inclusion of a complete, cloud-free globe for each month from January to December 2004, at even higher resolution (500 m/pixel).[20] The original release of a single-image set covering the entire globe could not reflect the extent of seasonal snow-and-vegetative cover across both hemispheres, but this newer release closely modeled the changes of the seasons.

text: A number of interactive viewers for these data have also been released, among them a music visualization for the PS3 that is based on the texture data.[21][22]

text: Blue Marble 2012[edit]

text: On January 25, 2012, NASA released a composite image of the western hemisphere of Earth entitled Blue Marble 2012. The picture logged over 3.1 million views on the Flickr image hosting website within the first week of release.[23] On February 2, 2012, NASA released a companion to this new Blue Marble, showing a composite image of the eastern hemisphere from data obtained on January 23, 2012.[24]

text: The picture is composed of data obtained by the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on board the Suomi NPP satellite on January 4, 2012.[24][25] The data was obtained from six orbits of the Earth by the Suomi NPP over an eight-hour period.[24] The image was created using a near-sided perspective projection with the viewing point placed 2100 km above 20° North by 100° West. This projection results in a very wide-angle presentation such as one might get with a fish-eye lens, and it does not include the whole hemisphere.

text: Black Marble 2012[edit]

text: On December 5, 2012, NASA released a nighttime view of Earth called Black Marble[26] during an annual meeting of Earth scientists held by the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.[27] The images display all the human and natural matter that glows and can be detected from space.[28] The data was acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012 and then mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.[29] The Suomi NPP satellite completed 312 orbits and gathered 2.5 terabytes of data to get a clear shot of every parcel of the Earth’s land surface. Named for satellite meteorology pioneer Verner Suomi, the satellite flies over any given point on Earth’s surface twice each day and flies 512 miles (824 km) above the surface in a polar orbit.[30]

text: The nighttime views were obtained with the new satellite's "day-night band" of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared, and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight. Auroras, fires, and other stray light have been removed in the case of the Black Marble images to emphasize the city lights.[29] The images have been used to study the spatial distribution of economic activity, to select sites for astronomical observatories, and to monitor human activities around protected areas.[29]

text: DSCOVR[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: On July 21, 2015, NASA released a new Blue Marble photograph taken by a U.S. Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), a solar weather and Earth observation satellite which was launched in February 2015 and will provide a near-continuous view of the entire sunlit-side of the Earth. The image was taken on July 6, 2015.[31] The photograph, of the Western Hemisphere, is centered over Central America. The Western United States, Mexico and the Caribbean are visible, but much of South America is hidden beneath cloud cover. Greenland can be seen at the upper edge of the image.

text: The EPIC science team plans to upload 13 new color images per day on their website. The color balance has been adjusted to approximate an image that could be seen with the average human eye. In addition to images, scientific information will be uploaded as it becomes available after in-flight calibration is complete. The science information will be ozone and aerosol amounts, cloud reflectivity, cloud height, and vegetation information.  The EPIC instrument views the Earth from sunrise in the west to sunset in the east 12 to 13 times per day as the Earth rotates at 15 degrees of longitude per hour. Clearly visible are storms forming over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, major slowly moving "cloud rivers", dust aerosol plumes from Africa, the sun's reflection in the oceans, ship exhaust tracks in the clouds, rivers and lakes, and the variegated land surface patterns especially in the African deserts. The spatial resolution of the color images is about 10 km, and the resolution of the science products will be about 20 km. Once every three months, lunar images are obtained that are the same as those viewed from Earth during our full Moon. On occasion, the other side of the Moon will appear in the Earth images as the Moon crosses in front of the Earth.


document_title: Shaka era

question_text: who started the saka era still used by the government of india

text: Shaka era

text: History[edit]

text: The origin of the Shaka era is highly controversial.[1] There are two Shaka era system in scholarly use, one is called Old Shaka Era, whose epoch is uncertain, probably sometime in the 1st millennium BCE because ancient Buddhist, Jaina and Hindu inscriptions and texts use it, but this is a subject of dispute among scholars. The other is called Saka Era of 78 AD, or simply Saka Era, a system that is common in epigraphic evidence from southern India. A parallel northern India system is the Vikrama Era, which is related to the Bikrami calendar linked to Vikramaditya.[2]

text: The beginning of the Shaka era is now widely equated to the ascension of king Chashtana in 78 CE.[3] His inscriptions, dated to the years 11 and 52, have been found at Andhau in Kutch region. These years are interpreted as Shaka years 11 (89 CE) and 52 (130 CE).[4] A previously more common view was that the beginning of the Shaka era corresponds to the ascension of Kanishka I in 78 CE.[1] However, the latest research by Henry Falk indicates that Kanishka ascended the throne in 127 CE.[5] Moreover, Kanishka was not a Shaka, but a Kushana ruler.[6] Other historical candidates have included rulers such as Vima Kadphises, Vonones, and Nahapana.[6]

text: According to historian Dineshchandra Sircar, the historically inaccurate notion of "Shalivahana era" appears to be based on the victory of the Satavahana ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni over some Shaka (Western Kshatrapa) kings. Sircar also suggests that the association of the northern king Vikramaditya with Vikrama era (also historically inaccurate) might have led the southern scholars to fabricate a similar legend of their own.[7] Another similar account claims that the legendary emperor Vikramaditya defeated the Shakas in 78 CE, and the Shaka era marks the day of this conquest. This legend has been mentioned in the writings of Brahmagupta (7th century CE), Al-Biruni (973-1048 CE), and others. However, this is an obvious fabrication.[1] Over time, the word "Shaka" became generic, and came to be mean "an era"; the era thus came to be known as "Shalivahana Shaka".[8]

text: Usage[edit]

text: The earliest known users of the era are the Western Satraps, the Shaka (Indo-Scythian) rulers of Ujjain. From the reign of Rudrasimha I (178–197), they recorded the date of minting of their coins in the Shaka era, usually written on the obverse behind the king's head in Brahmi numerals.[9]

text: The use of the calendar era survived into the Gupta period and became part of Hindu tradition following the decline of Buddhism in India. It was in widespread use by the 6th to 7th centuries, e.g. in the works of Varāhamihira and Brahmagupta, and by the 7th century also appears in epigraphy in Hindu Southeast Asia.

text: The calendar era remained in use in India and Southeast Asia throughout the medieval period, the main alternative era in traditional Hindu timekeeping being the Vikram Samvat era (56 BC). It was used by Javanese courts until 1633, when it was replaced by Anno Javanico, a hybrid Javanese-Islamic system.[10] It was adopted as the era of the Indian national calendar (also known as "Śaka calendar") in 1957.

text: The Shaka era is the vernal equinox of the year AD 78. The year of the modern Shaka Calendar is tied to the Gregorian date of 22 March every year, except in Gregorian leap years when it starts on 21 March.