what is the name given to the german parliament

The Bundestag (German pronunciation: [ˈbʊndəstaːk], "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It can be compared to the lower house of parliament along the lines of the United States House of Representatives, the Irish Dáil Éireann or the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, with the Bundesrat, though a separate institution, having a similar role to the upper house of a bicameral parliament.

Bundestag

Government (399)

Opposition parties (310)

The Bundestag was established by chapter III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany[1] (Constitution) in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany and thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag.

Since 1999 it has met in the Reichstag Building in Berlin. Wolfgang Schäuble is the current President of the Bundestag. Members of the Bundestag (Mitglieder des Bundestages) are usually elected every four years by all adult German citizens in a mixed system of constituency voting and list voting. The constitutional minimum number of seats is 598; with overhang and leveling seats there are currently 709 seats. The Election Day, however, can be earlier if the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) loses a vote of confidence and asks the Federal President (Bundespräsident) to dissolve the Bundestag in order to hold new general elections.

In the 19th century the name Bundestag was the unofficial designation for the assembly of the sovereigns and mayors of the Monarchies and Free Cities which formed the German Confederation (1815â€“1866). Its seat was in the Free City of Frankfurt on the Main.

With the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866 and the founding of the German Empire (Deutsches Reich) in 1871, the Reichstag was established as the German parliament in Berlin, which was the capital of the then Kingdom of Prussia (the largest and most influential state in both the Confederation and the empire). Two decades later, the current parliament building was erected. The Reichstag delegates were elected by direct and equal male suffrage (and not the three-class electoral system prevailing in Prussia until 1918). The Reichstag did not participate in the appointment of the Chancellor until the parliamentary reforms of October 1918. After the Revolution of November 1918 and the establishment of the Weimar Constitution, women were given the right to vote for (and serve in) the Reichstag, and the parliament could use the no-confidence vote to force the chancellor or any cabinet member to resign. In March 1933, one month after the Reichstag fire, the then President of the German Reich, Paul von Hindenburg, a retired war hero, gave Adolf Hitler ultimate power through the Decree for the Protection of People and State and the Enabling Act of 1933, although Hitler remained at the post of Federal Government Chancellor (though he called himself the Führer). After this the Reichstag met only rarely, usually at the Krolloper (Kroll Opera House) following the Reichstag fire starting in 1933 to unanimously rubber-stamp the decisions of the government. It last convened on 26 April 1942.

With the new Constitution of 1949, the Bundestag was established as the new West German parliament. Because West Berlin was not officially under the jurisdiction of the Constitution, a legacy of the Cold War, the Bundestag met in Bonn in several different buildings, including (provisionally) a former water works facility. In addition, owing to the city's legal status, citizens of West Berlin were unable to vote in elections to the Bundestag, and were instead represented by 22 non-voting delegates[2] chosen by the House of Representatives, the city's legislature.[3]

The Bundeshaus in Bonn is the former parliament building of Germany. The sessions of the German Bundestag were held there from 1949 until its move to Berlin in 1999. Today it houses the International Congress Centre Bundeshaus Bonn and in the north areas the branch office of the Bundesrat ("Federal Council", upper house of the German Federal Parliament representing the Länder – the federated states). The southern areas became part of German offices for the United Nations in 2008.

The former Reichstag building housed a history exhibition (Fragen an die deutsche Geschichte) and served occasionally as a conference center. The Reichstag building was also occasionally used as a venue for sittings of the Bundestag and its committees and the Bundesversammlung (Federal Assembly), the body which elects the German Federal President. However, the Soviets harshly protested against the use of the Reichstag building by institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany and tried to disturb the sittings by flying supersonic jets close to the building.

Since 1999, the German parliament has again assembled in Berlin in its original Reichstag building, which was built in 1888 based on the plans of German architect Paul Wallot and underwent a significant renovation under the lead of British architect Sir Norman Foster. Parliamentary committees and subcommittees, public hearings and parliamentary group meetings take place in three auxiliary buildings, which surround the Reichstag building: the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, Paul-Löbe-Haus and Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus.

In 2005, a small aircraft crashed close to the German Parliament. It was then decided to ban private air traffic over Central Berlin.

Together with the Bundesrat, the Bundestag is the legislative branch of the German political system.

Although most legislation is initiated by the executive branch, the Bundestag considers the legislative function its most important responsibility, concentrating much of its energy on assessing and amending the government's legislative program. The committees (see below) play a prominent role in this process. Plenary sessions provide a forum for members to engage in public debate on legislative issues before them, but they tend to be well attended only when significant legislation is being considered.

The Bundestag members are the only federal officials directly elected by the public; the Bundestag in turn elects the Chancellor and, in addition, exercises oversight of the executive branch on issues of both substantive policy and routine administration. This check on executive power can be employed through binding legislation, public debates on government policy, investigations, and direct questioning of the chancellor or cabinet officials. For example, the Bundestag can conduct a question hour (Fragestunde), in which a government representative responds to a previously submitted written question from a member. Members can ask related questions during the question hour. The questions can concern anything from a major policy issue to a specific constituent's problem. Use of the question hour has increased markedly over the past forty years, with more than 20,000 questions being posed during the 1987-90 term. Understandably, the opposition parties are active in exercising the parliamentary right to scrutinize government actions.

Constituent service does also take place in the form of the Petition Committee. In 2004, the Petition Committee received over 18,000 complaints from citizens and was able to negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution to more than half of them. In 2005, as a pilot of the potential of internet petitions, a version of e-Petitioner was produced for the Bundestag. This was a collaborative project involving The Scottish Parliament, International Teledemocracy Centre and the Bundestag ‘Online Services Department’. The system was formally launched on 1 September 2005, and in 2008 the Bundestag moved to a new system based on its evaluation.[4]

The Bundestag is elected for four years, and new elections must be held between 46 and 48 months after the beginning of its electoral term. Unless the Bundestag is dissolved prematurely, its term ends when the next Bundestag convenes, which must occur within 30 days of the election.[5] Prior to 1976, there could be a period where one Bundestag had been dissolved and the next Bundestag could not be convened; during this period, the rights of the Bundestag were exercised by a so-called "Permanent Committee".[6]

Members serve four-year terms, with elections held every four years, or earlier in the relatively rare case that the Bundestag is dissolved prematurely by the president. The Bundestag can be dissolved by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor if the latter has lost a vote of confidence in the Bundestag, if the recommendation is made and accepted before the Bundestag acts to elect a new Chancellor. This has happened three times: 1972 under Chancellor Willy Brandt, 1983 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl and 2005 under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The procedures for these situations are governed by Articles 67 and 68 of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Law regarding the election procedure itself is the Federal Election Act 1956 (Bundeswahlgesetz/BWahlG)[7]

All candidates must be at least eighteen years old; there are no term limits. The election uses the MMP electoral system. In addition, the Bundestag has a minimum threshold of either 5% of the national party vote or three (directly elected) constituency representatives for a party to gain additional representation through the system of proportional representation. Thus, small minority parties cannot easily enter the Bundestag and prevent the formation of stable majority governments as they could under the Weimar constitution.

The most recent election, the German federal election, 2017, was held on 24 September 2017.

Half of the Members of the Bundestag are elected directly from 299 constituencies (first-past-the-post system), the other half are elected from the partiesâ€™ Land lists in such a way as to achieve proportional representation for the total Bundestag (if possible).

Accordingly, each voter has two votes in the elections to the Bundestag. The first vote, allowing voters to elect their local representatives to the Bundestag, decides which candidates are sent to Parliament from the constituencies.

The second vote is cast for a party list; it determines the relative strengths of the parties represented in the Bundestag.

At least 598 Members of the Bundestag are elected in this way. Parties that gain more than 5% of the second votes or win at least 3 direct mandates are allocated seats in the Bundestag in proportion to the number of votes it has received (d'Hondt method until 1987, largest remainder method until the 2005 election, now Sainte-Laguë method).

In addition to this, there are certain circumstances in which some candidates win what are known as overhang seats when the seats are being distributed. If a party has gained more direct mandates in a Land than it is entitled to according to the results of the second vote, it does not forfeit these mandates because all directly elected candidates are guaranteed a seat in the Bundestag. The other parties are then compensated by getting additional seats as well, the balance seats, so proportionality is preserved.

The last Federal elections were held on Sunday, 24 September 2017, to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag.

The election saw the CDU/CSU win 33% of the vote, a drop of more than 8% and its lowest share of the vote since 1949, while the SPD achieved its worst result since the Second World War with just 20% of the vote. Alternative for Germany (AfD)—which was previously unrepresented in the Bundestag—became the third party in the Bundestag with 12.6% of the vote and a plurality of the vote in Saxony. No party won an outright majority in any state, including Bavaria, where the CSU often wins majorities and won a majority of the vote in 2013.

1 1983 to 1994 The Greens and 1990 to 1994 Alliance 90, since 1994 Alliance 90/The Greens
2 1990 to 2005 PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism), 2005 to 2007 The Left Party.PDS, since 2007 The Left
3 BP 17, KPD 15, WAV 12, Centre Party 10, DKP-DRP 5, SSW 1, Independents 3
4 GB-BHE 27, Centre Party 3

*resigned for medical reasons
**died in office
***resigned for political reasons
†first woman to hold the post
§ resigned when he became President of Germany

The most important organisational structures within the Bundestag are parliamentary groups (Fraktionen; sing. Fraktion), which are traditionally formed by political parties represented in the chamber which incorporate more than 5% of the Bundestag legislators; CDU and CSU have always formed a single united Fraktion. The size of a party's Fraktion determines the extent of its representation on legislative committees, the time slots allotted for speaking, the number of committee chairs it can hold, and its representation in executive bodies of the Bundestag. The Fraktionen, not the members, receive the bulk of government funding for legislative and administrative activities.

The leadership of each Fraktion consists of a parliamentary party leader, several deputy leaders, and an executive committee. The leadership's major responsibilities are to represent the Fraktion, enforce party discipline, and orchestrate the party's parliamentary activities. The members of each Fraktion are distributed among working groups focused on specific policy-related topics such as social policy, economics, and foreign policy. The Fraktion meets every Tuesday afternoon in the weeks in which the Bundestag is in session to consider legislation before the Bundestag and formulate the party's position on it.

Parties which do not fulfill the criterion for being a Fraktion but have at least three seats by direct elections (i.e. which have at least three MPs representing a certain electoral district) in the Bundestag can be granted the status of a group of the Bundestag. This applied to the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) from 1990-1998. This status entails some privileges which are in general less than those of a Fraktion. In the current Bundestag, there are no such groups (the PDS had only two MPs in parliament until 2005 and could thus not even considered a group anymore; the party—now The Left—has now returned to the Bundestag with full Fraktion status).

The Bundestag's executive bodies include the Council of Elders and the Presidium. The council consists of the Bundestag leadership, together with the most senior representatives of each fraktion, with the number of these representatives tied to the strength of the Parliamentary groups in the chamber. The council is the coordination hub, determining the daily legislative agenda and assigning committee chairpersons based on Parliamentary group representation. The council also serves as an important forum for interparty negotiations on specific legislation and procedural issues. The Presidium is responsible for the routine administration of the Bundestag, including its clerical and research activities. It consists of the chamber's president (usually elected from the largest fraktion) and vice presidents (one from each fraktion).

Most of the legislative work in the Bundestag is the product of standing committees, which exist largely unchanged throughout one legislative period. The number of committees approximates the number of federal ministries, and the titles of each are roughly similar (e.g., defense, agriculture, and labor). There are, as of the current eighteenth Bundestag, 23 standing committees. The distribution of committee chairs and the membership of each committee reflect the relative strength of the various Parliamentary groups in the chamber. In the current eighteenth Bundestag, the CDU/CSU chaired twelve committees, the SPD seven, The Left (Die Linke) two, and the Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), two. Members of the opposition party can chair a significant number of standing committees (e.g. The budget committee is always chaired by the biggest opposition party). These committees have either a small staff or no staff at all.

As is the case with some other parliaments, the Bundestag is subject to the principle of discontinuation, meaning that a newly elected Bundestag is legally regarded to be a body and entity completely different from the previous Bundestag. This leads to the result, that any motion, application or action submitted to the previous Bundestag, e.g. a bill referred to the Bundestag by the Federal Government, is regarded as void by non-decision (German terminology: "Die Sache fällt der Diskontinuität anheim"). Thus any bill that has not been decided upon by the beginning of the new electoral period must be brought up by the government again, if it aims to uphold the motion, this procedure in effect delaying the passage of the bill. Furthermore, any newly elected Bundestag will have to freshly decide on the rules of procedure (Geschäftsordnung), which is done by a formal decision of taking over such rules from the preceding Bundestag by reference.

Any Bundestag is considered dissolved only once a newly elected Bundestag has actually gathered in order to constitute itself (Article 39 sec. 1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law), which has to happen within 30 days of its election (Article 39 sec. 2 of the Basic Law). Thus, it may happen (and has happened) that the old Bundestag gathers and makes decisions even after the election of a new Bundestag that has not gathered in order to constitute itself. For example, elections to the 16th Bundestag took place on 18 September 2005,[8] but the 15th Bundestag still convened after election day to make some decisions on German military engagement abroad,[9] and was entitled to do so, as the newly elected 16th Bundestag did not convene for the first time until 18 October 2005.[10]


what kind of differential does an s2000 have

The S2000 was introduced in 1999 for the 2000 model year and was given the chassis designation of "AP1". It features a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout with power delivered by a 1,997 cc (122 cu in) inline four-cylinder DOHC-VTEC engine. The engine (codenamed F20C) produces outputs of 177–184 kW (237–247 hp), and 208–218 N⋅m (153–161 lbf⋅ft) depending on the target market.[6] The engine is mated to a six-speed manual transmission and Torsen limited slip differential. The S2000 achieved what Honda claimed as the highest specific output normally aspirated production automobile engine in the world. The most powerful version; the JDM F20C was rated at 250 ps (247 hp) or 125 ps per L as a result of a higher 11.7:1 compression ratio.[7]

Honda S2000

The Honda S2000 is a roadster that was manufactured by Japanese company Honda from 1999 to 2009. First shown as a concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1995, the production version was launched in April 1999 to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. The S2000 is named for its engine displacement of twoÂ liters, carrying on in the tradition of the S500, S600, and S800 roadsters of the 1960s.

Several revisions were made throughout the car's lifetime, including changes to the engine, gearbox, suspension, interior and exterior. Officially two variants exist: the initial launch model was given the chassis code AP1, though cosmetically similar, the facelifted version (known as the AP2 in the US) incorporated significant changes to the drivetrain and suspension. Production of the S2000 ceased in June 2009. In Japan, it was exclusively sold through the Honda Verno sales channel.

Introduced at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show,[2][3] the Honda Sport Study Model concept car was the design study for the production S2000. The SSM was a rear-wheel-drive roadster powered by a 2.0 L (122 cu in) inline four-cylinder engine. It featured a rigid 'high X-bone frame' which Honda claimed improved the vehicle's rigidity and collision safety.[4] The concept car was constructed with aluminum body panels and featured a 50:50 weight distribution.[5]

The SSM appeared in many automotive shows for several years afterwards, hinting at the possibility of a production version, which Honda announced in 1999.

Features include independent double wishbone suspension, electrically assisted steering and integrated roll hoops. The car features 16 in (41 cm) wheels with Bridgestone Potenza S-02 tires. The compact and lightweight engine, mounted entirely behind the front axle, allow the S2000 to achieve a 50:50 front/rear weight distribution and lower rotational inertia. An electrically powered vinyl top with internal cloth lining was standard, with an aluminum hardtop available as an optional extra (in 2001). Honda offered Berlina Black, New Formula Red, Gran Prix White, Sebring Silver and Silverstone Metallic in the US domestic market.

The 2001 model was largely unchanged; Honda added a digital clock to the radio display and made the rear wind blocker standard. Honda also added Spa Yellow to the US domestic market lineup. For the 2002 model year, suspension settings were revised and the plastic rear window was replaced by a glass unit incorporating an electric defroster. Other updates included slightly revised tail lamps with chrome rings, an upgraded radio with separate tweeters, a leather gearshift knob, leatherette console cover and a revised engine control unit. Honda added Suzuka Blue to the US domestic market lineup.

The AP1 was manufactured up to 2003 at Honda's Takanezawa plant, alongside the Honda NSX and Honda Insight hybrid.[8]

The Japanese domestic market received the Type V edition starting in mid-2000. It included variable gear ratio steering (VGS), a steering system that continuously changes steering ratio based upon vehicle speed and steering angle to provide improved handling. Honda announced the S2000 Type V on July 7, 2000 as the first system of its kind. The lock-to-lock steering ratio was reduced to 1.4 turns (stock is 2.4). Honda outfitted Type V cars with revised damper units, stabilizers and limited slip differentials to "complement the VGS". Equipped cars came with a special steering wheel and a VGS badge on the rear. [9] The Type V steering/handling package.

The 2004 model S2000 underwent several significant changes. Production moved to Suzuka. The new model introduced 17 in (43 cm) wheels and Bridgestone RE-050 tires along with a retuned suspension to reduce oversteer. The spring rates and shock absorber damping were altered and the suspension geometry modified to improve stability by reducing toe-in changes under cornering loads. The subframe also received a revision in design to achieve a high rigidity. In the gearbox the brass synchronizers were replaced with carbon fiber. In addition, cosmetic changes were made to the exterior with new front and rear bumpers, revised headlight assemblies, new LED tail-lights, and oval-tipped exhausts. Although all the cosmetic, suspension and most drivetrain upgrades were included on the Japanese, Australian and European S2000s, they retained the 2.0l F20C engines and remained designated as AP1s.

For the North American market the updates also included the introduction of a larger version of the F20C (F22C1), this larger engine gave the chassis designation AP2. F22C1, the engine's stroke was lengthened, increasing its displacement to 2,157 cc (132 cu in). At the same time, the redline and fuel cutoff were reduced from 8,800 rpm and 9,000 rpm to 8,000 rpm and 8,200 rpm respectively, mandated by the longer travel of the pistons. Peak torque increased 6% to 220 N⋅m (160 lbf⋅ft) at 6,800 rpm while power output remained unchanged, 177 kW (237 hp) at a lower 7,800 rpm. In conjunction with its introduction of the F22C1, Honda also changed the transmission gear ratios by shortening the first five gears and lengthening the sixth.[10]

In 2006, the F22C1 was also introduced to the Japanese market, with an output of (178 kW (239 hp) and 221 N⋅m (163 lbf⋅ft)). The F20C continued in all other markets. The 2006 model introduced a drive by wire throttle, an electronic stability control system, new wheels, and one new exterior color, Laguna Blue Pearl. Interior changes included revised seats and additional stereo speakers integrated into the headrests.

The 2007 model year marked the first time the S2000 was offered in more than one trim level in the United States.[11] In addition to the base model, Honda offered a more track-oriented version of the S2000, distinguished by reduced weight, fewer amenities, and an increase in performance. The S2000 Club Racer made its world debut at the New York International Auto Show on 4 April 2007.[12] Changes for the CR included a lower ratio steering rack, revised exhaust system, black lug nuts, darker colored wheels, clear side markers, stiffer suspension and new Bridgestone Potenza RE070 tires that were wider at the rear; 245/40R-17 to 255/40R-17. A revised body kit, composed of a redesigned front lip, and a large spoiler, were wind-tunnel tested and claimed to reduce the overall coefficient of lift by 70–80%. The power folding soft top was removed and replaced with additional chassis bracing topped off with a tonneau cover, while the hard top, optional on other models, became a standard feature on the CR. Honda also revised the shift knob over the base with an exclusive spherical aluminum shift knob that rests 12.6 mm lower for a 6 percent reduction in shift stroke compared to the conventional S2000 cylindrical shift knob (aluminum/leather wrapped). Conversely, the shift load effort increased by 10 percent with the new design.

CR models were only available with yellow and black alcantara interiors. Additionally the CR interior has faux carbon fiber overlays on the center console and radio door and a peak power indicator light on the instrument gauge cluster that flashes when the engine is producing its peak power output. Finally, in an effort to reduce weight and lower the center of gravity, the spare tire was omitted and air conditioning and stereo were offered only as options. Net weight savings without the additional hardtop came to 41 kg (90 lb) relative to the standard model. The engine in the S2000 CR was unchanged from the standard trim.[13][14] Shigeru Uehara, the designer of the S2000, stated that the CR was positioned between the Type S and a hypothetical Type R.[15] Honda has never made an official Type R for the S2000.

Production volume of fewer than 2,000 units was expected however the final number produced was 699 for the combined 2008 and 2009 model years. The production numbers were broken down as follows; Apex Blue Pearl: 200 (21 delete models) Rio Yellow Pearl: 140 (20 delete models) Berlina Black: 269 (10 delete models) Grand Prix White: 90 (8 delete models) for a total 699 (668 for 2008, 31 for 2009). Honda continued to offer both the standard and CR versions unchanged for the 2009 model year.

The Japanese domestic market received the Type S edition for the last two years of production (2008â€“2009). Changes are similar to the U.S. market's CR edition, sharing the weight loss, a purpose built bodykit providing much higher downforce, bespoke wheels and interior. Although it shares the wheels with the CR edition, the Type S retains the rear tire size of 245/40R-17 for better handling. A specific Type S suspension setup with improved geometry was designed to enhance the handling, the setup is stiffer but more compromising than the CR setup to suit it better to everyday spirited driving and the Japanese touge experience.[16] The Type S retains its soft top folding mechanism.

The interior is a Type S specific yellow and black alcantara material scheme. Leather interior from the standard S2000 was available as a free option. The aluminum shift knob with reduced shift stroke is shared with the CR. While the CR is designed to be a pure track car, the Type S is designed for improved handling and retains some creature comforts.[17] Only 1,755 copies of the Type S were made and sold exclusively in Japan. (2007:168 units, 2008:827 units, 2009:737 units, 2010 [Jan-Jun]:23 units)

In the United Kingdom, the 2009 model was offered in both roadster and GT trim. The GT featured a removable hard-top and an outside temperature gauge. On-the-road prices of these trims were £27,300 and £27,850 respectively.

The S2000 Ultimate Edition (continental Europe) and GT Edition 100 (UK) were limited versions of the S2000 released to commemorate the end of production. Both included Grand Prix White body color, removable hard top, graphite-colored alloy wheels, and red leather interior with red coloring for stitching on the gear lever gaiter.

The Ultimate Edition was unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show and went on sale in March 2009.[18] The GT Edition 100 was a limited run of 100 units released for the UK market. In addition to the Ultimate Edition's specification, it features a black S2000 badge and a numbered plaque on the kick-plate indicating which vehicle in the series it is.[19]

1,260 kg (2,778 lb) (JP type V)

1,295 kg (2,855 lb) w/ AC

Dimensions are approximate and vary across markets and years for the same model.

The S2000 has received much praise from critics and motoring journalists and has received favourable reviews from such publications as Car and Driver. Highlighted are the high output of the engine, the high redline, the balanced handling, and the smooth gearbox. User surveys have named the S2000 as a favorite for overall customer satisfaction.[26]

After several years of steady production, sales of the roadster began falling dramatically starting in 2006, and the trend accelerated during the 2008 automotive industry crisis. In 2008, only 2,538 units were sold in the U.S. - a 74% decline from the 2002 sales peak. In November of that year, for the first time since its launch, only 90 new S2000s were sold nationwide during a calendar month.[44]

Production of the S2000 ceased in June 2009 [45] and plans for a successor were scrapped in the aftermath of the automotive industry crisis.[46] During the 2009 announcement of the vehicle's production end, Honda reported that worldwide sales through the end of 2008 totaled 110,673 units.[47]

*Note: No new cars were produced in 2010 and 2011; sales represent clearance of residual inventory.
Figures are not directly comparable as they are obtained through different methodologies in different markets.


what's the most religious country in the world

In terms of demographics, India ranks as the country with the largest number of highly religious people in the world, with over 1.05 billion believers (estimated). China, although its number is less than a fifth of its total population (~18-19%), ranks second, with an estimated 240-260 million believers, followed by Indonesia (~235 million), the United States (~205 million), Pakistan (~175 million), Brazil (~168 million), Nigeria (~163 million) and Bangladesh (~135 million).[3][not in citation given][4][not in citation given][5][not in citation given][6][not in citation given]

Importance of religion by country

This page charts a list of countries by importance of religion.

The table below is based upon global Gallup Poll in 2009 research which asked "Is religion important in your daily life?". Percentages for "yes" and "no" answers are listed below; they often do not add up to 100% because some answered "don't know" or did not answer.[1]


when was alice in chains jar of flies released

Jar of Flies is the second studio EP by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on January 25, 1994 through Columbia Records. It is the first EP in music history to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 Chart with the first week sales exceeding 141,000 copies in the United States and was well received by critics. The EP has since been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA and has gone on to sell 4 million copies worldwide,[citation needed] making Jar of Flies one of the biggest sellers in Alice in Chains' catalog.

Jar of Flies

Following Alice in Chains' extensive 1993 world tour for Dirt, Mike Starr getting fired during the tour for his drug use, and appearance at Lollapalooza, the band members returned home to Seattle to find themselves evicted from their residence after failing to pay the rent. The band then moved into London Bridge Studio feeling lonely and depressed.[3] Vocalist Layne Staley said the band "just wanted to go into the studio for a few days with our acoustic guitars and see what happened. We never really planned on the music we made at that time to be released. But the record label heard it and they really liked it. For us, it was just the experience of four guys getting together in the studio and making some music."[4]

Written and recorded in one week in September 1993,[5] Jar of Flies was produced by the band members themselves with Toby Wright, and marks the first major studio recording with bassist Mike Inez who replaced Starr (the band recorded two songs with Inez, "What the Hell Have I" and "A Little Bitter", for the Summer 1993 Last Action Hero soundtrack earlier in the year).[6] Guitarist Jerry Cantrell said, "That was the first time we'd written with Mike Inez... The whole Jar of Flies EP proved to both us and the fans what a talented and valid part of the band Mike was. He plays the nastiest, darkest shit but he's got the sweetest heart in the world."[7] The album was recorded on a DAT machine, which was state-of-the-art for the time.

According to Staley, the title for the album came from a science experiment Cantrell conducted in third grade: "They gave him two jars full of flies. One of the jars they overfed, the other jar they underfed. The one they overfed flourished for a while, then all the flies died from overpopulation. The one they underfed had most of the flies survive all year. I guess there's a message in there somewhere. Evidently that experiment had a big impact on Jerry."[8]

The album was nominated for Best Recording Package in 1995 but lost to Buddy Jackson for "Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys" performed by Asleep at the Wheel.[9]

Jar of Flies well demonstrates Alice in Chains' broad musical scope and features a variety of predominantly acoustic songs ranging from dark, depressed passages like "Rotten Apple" and "Nutshell" to the more upbeat anthems like "No Excuses". It also boasts various instrumentation not otherwise common in the Alice in Chains catalog; the opening track, "Rotten Apple", features a talk box effect, and "Don't Follow" includes both harmonica and soul-driven vocals. However, Cantrell's signature electric guitar style still plays a prominent role in correspondence with the acoustic rhythms. "Whale & Wasp" also offers another Alice in Chains rarity in its purely instrumental nature, as does the blues/country-inspired "Swing on This", the closing track of the album.

While it was never originally intended for a public release, Columbia Records released Jar of Flies on January 25, 1994. Jar of Flies debuted at number one on the Billboard 200; the sales that prompted this was over 141,000 during the first week of its release thus becoming the first ever EP and first Alice in Chains release to top the charts.[14] It was the only EP ever to gain this distinction until 2004, when a mashup EP by Jay-Z and Linkin Park titled Collision Course also achieved the number one spot ten years later and Bad Meets Evil's Hell: The Sequel in 2011. Jar of Flies has since been certified triple platinum, with over 2,037,853 copies sold during its first year and another million more copies after two years. Paul Evans of Rolling Stone called the EP "darkly gorgeous",[12] and Steve Huey stated "Jar of Flies is a low-key stunner, achingly gorgeous and harrowingly sorrowful all at once."[10]

Jar of Flies included the singles "No Excuses" and "I Stay Away", both of which had accompanying music videos. "No Excuses", which was a number one single on the Mainstream Rock charts, was Alice in Chains' most successful radio song until 2009. The second single, "I Stay Away", reached number ten on the Mainstream Rock charts, while the final single "Don't Follow", reached number 25.[14] The final single released from the EP was a bold offering for a grunge-oriented band: a promo of the string instrumental "Whale & Wasp" was released as a promo-only single in January 1995. "I Stay Away" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1995.[15]

In November 2011, Jar of Flies was ranked number four on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1994.[16] It was featured in Guitar World magazine's "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.[17] In May 2014, the EP was placed at number five on Loudwire's "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1994" list.[18]

All music composed by Jerry Cantrell except where noted. Lyrics by Layne Staley, except where noted.

Alice in Chains

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone


who built the famous dilwara temple at mount abu in rajasthan in the 13th century

The Dilwara Temples (Gujarati: અાબુના દેલવાડા) of India are located about 2½ kilometres from Mount Abu, Rajasthan's only hill station. These Jain temples were built by Vimal Shah and designed by Vastupal-Tejpal, Jain laymen[1], between the 11th and 13th centuries AD and are famous for their use of marble and intricate marble carvings. The five marble temples of Dilwara are a sacred pilgrimage place of the Jains. Some consider them to be one of the most beautiful Jain pilgrimage sites in the world.[2] The temples have an opulent entranceway, the simplicity in architecture reflecting Jain values like honesty and frugality. The temples are in the midst of a range of forested hills. A high wall shrouds the temple complex.

Dilwara Temples

Although Jains built some beautiful temples at other places in Rajasthan, Dilwara temples are believed to be most beautiful example of architectural perfection.[3] The ornamental detail spreading over the minutely carved ceilings, doorways, pillars and panels is simply marvellous.[4]

There are five temples in all, each with its own unique identity. Each is named after the small village in which it is located. These are:

Among all the five legendary marble temples of Dilwara, the most famous of those are the Vimal Vasahi and the Luna Vasahi temples.

This temple carved entirely out of white marble was built in 1031 A.D. by Vimal Shah, a minister of Bhima I, the Chaulukya king of Gujarat. The temple is dedicated to Lord Rishabha.[5] The temple stands in an open courtyard surrounded by a corridor, which has numerous cells containing smaller idols of the tirthankaras. The richly carved corridors, pillars, arches, and'mandaps' or porticoes of the temple are simply amazing. The ceilings feature engraved designs of lotus-buds, petals, flowers and scenes from Jain mythology.

The Navchowki is a collection of nine rectangular ceilings, each containing beautiful carvings of different designs supported on ornate pillars. The Gudh mandap is a simple hall once you step inside its heavily decorated doorway. Installed here is the idol of Adi Nath or Lord Rishabdev, as he is also known. The mandap is meant for Aarti to the deity.

The Hastishala (Elephant courtyard) was constructed by Prithvipal, a descendant of Vimalsha in 1147-49 and features a row of elephants in sculpture with the members of the family riding them.[6]

The Luna Vasahi temple is dedicated to Lord Neminath. This magnificent temple was built in 1230 by two Porwad brothers - Vastupal and Tejpal - both ministers of a Virdhaval, the Vaghela ruler of Gujarat.[5] The temple built in memory of their late brother Luna was designed after the Vimal Vashi temple. The main hall or Rang mandap features a central dome from which hangs a big ornamental pendent featuring elaborate carving. Arranged in a circular band are 72 figures of Tirthankars in sitting posture and just below this band are 360 small figures of Jain monks in another circular band. The Hathishala or elephant cell features 10 beautiful marble elephants neatly polished and realistically modelled.

The Navchowki features some of the most magnificent and delicate marble stone cutting work of the temple. Each of the nine ceilings here seems to exceed the others in beauty and grace. The Gudh mandap features a black marble idol of the 22nd tirthankar Neminatha. The Kirthi Stambha is a big black stone pillar that stands on the left side of the temple. The pillar was constructed by Maharana Kumbha of Mewar. The remaining three temples of Dilwara are smaller but just as elegant as the other two.

This temple was built by Bhima Shah, a minister of Sultan Begada of Ahmedabad.[7] A massive metal statue of the first tirthankara, Rishabha Dev (Adinath), cast in five metals, is installed in the temple. The main metal used in this statue is 'Pital' (brass), hence the name 'Pittalhar'.[8][9] The Shrine consists of a main Garbhagriha, Gudh mandap and Navchowki. It seems that the construction of Rangmandap and the corridor was left unfinished. The old mutilated idol was replaced and installed in 1468-69 AD weighing 108 maunds (four metric tons) according to the inscription on it.[10] The image was cast by an artist 'Deta' which is 8 ft (2.4 m). high, 5.5 ft (1.7 m). broad and the figure is 41 inches (1,000 mm) in height. In Gudh Mandap on one side, a big marble Panch-Tirthi sculpture of Adinath is installed. Some shrines (devakulika) were constructed in 1474 and 1490, before construction was abandoned.[page needed]

This temple, dedicated to Lord Parshvanath, was built by Mandlik and his family in 1458-59.[9] It consists of a three storied building, the tallest of all the shrines at Dilwara. On all the four faces of the sanctum on the ground floor are four big mandaps. The outer walls of the sanctum comprise beautiful sculptures in gray sandstone, depicting Dikpals, Vidhyadevis, Yakshinis, Shalabhanjikas and other decorative sculptures comparable to the ones in Khajuraho and Konark.[8]

This is a small structure constructed in 1582 and dedicated to Lord Mahavira. Being small it is a marvelous temple with carvings on its walls. On the upper walls of the porch there are pictures painted in 1764 by the artists of Sirohi.

The temples have undergone repairs time to time. Allauddin Khilji had attacked and damaged the temples in 1311. In 1321, Bijag and Lalag of Mandore had undertaken repairs.

In 1906, Lallubhai Jaichand of Patan had the temples repaired and reconsecrated on April 25, 1906, under the supervision of Yati Hemasagar.[11] Extensive repairs were again undertaken during 1950-1965 by Anandji Kalyanji with the work done by the Sompura firm Amritlal Mulshankar Trivedi.[12] The older marble has a yellow patina, where as the newer marble is white.

The temples are currently administered by the Seth Kalyanji Paramanandji Pedi of Sirohi (not to be confused by Seth Anandji Kalyanji Pedhi of Ahmedabad). Seth Kalyanji Paramanandji Pedi also runs a Bhojanshala (dining hall) nearby.

Facilities are available for bathing, which is mandatory before puja is performed for the idols. These facilities use passive solar power to heat up the water for bathing and other things. Guided tour hours for tourists are posted outside the temple.

Interior of Luna Vasahi

Jain temple, Mt.Abu

Interior of the Luna Vasahi or Neminath Temple, Dilwara

Inner Hall of the main temple at Mt. Abu in 1898

Dilwara Temple, domed ceiling, detail

Dilwara in 1990

Dilwara Temple ceiling detail

Kalpavriksha illustration in Dilwara Jain Temple


who played red foot in the usual suspects

Greene had roles in Pulp Fiction, The Mask, Clean, Shaven, and The Usual Suspects in 1994 and 1995. In Pulp Fiction, Greene appeared as Zed who rapes Marsellus Wallace. The Mask saw him play the villainous Dorian Tyrell opposite Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz. Greene played the schizophrenic Peter Winter in Clean, Shaven. The Usual Suspects saw him play the character of Redfoot. Greene often plays villains, such as in Judgment Night, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Training Day (as a corrupt narcotics officer) and martial arts/crime film Fist of the Warrior (opposite Ho-Sung Pak, Roger Guenveur Smith and Sherilyn Fenn).

Peter Greene

Peter Greene (born Peter Green; October 8, 1965) is an American character actor, generally known for playing villains.

A native of Montclair, New Jersey,[1] Greene did not pursue a career in acting until his mid 20s. He initially landed several roles in cinema and television in the early 1990s.

Greene worked with director Jordan Alan twice: once on the film Kiss and Tell, a dark comic turn and then again four years later in The Gentleman Bandit (aka Gentleman B). After Greene's arrests in 1998 for drug related crimes, Alan had to put the actor through rehab to get him through the second film and eventually, after coming upon Greene doing heroin with Mike Starr, he was forced to replace Greene's voice because of the vocal problems caused by drugs. Despite these problems, Mr. Alan vouched for Greene to producer Tobe Jaffe for the movie Blue Streak, in which Greene played Martin Lawrence's nemesis.

Greene has continued to work mostly as a character actor. He appeared in the short-lived television drama The Black Donnellys. He also appeared as a policeman in Prodigy of Mobb Deep's video for "A,B,C's", as well as the focal character in House of Pain's video for "Fed Up". Greene appeared in the opening scene of the premiere of the FX series Justified.

He has two younger siblings, John and Mary Anne. [2] He is of Irish descent. [3] In 2007, Greene was arrested for possessing crack cocaine.[4]


who was the founding father of the bernina sewing machine

Bernina International AG is a privately owned international manufacturer of sewing and embroidery systems. The company was founded in 1893 in Steckborn, Switzerland, by a Swiss inventor Fritz Gegauf. The company develops, manufactures, and sells goods and services for the textile market, primarily household sewing-related products in the fields of embroidery, quilting, home textiles, garment sewing, and crafting.[2] The origins of the company lie in the invention of the hemstitch sewing machine, invented in 1893 by a Swiss inventor and entrepreneur Karl Friedrich Gegauf. Currently, the company's products include sewing machines, embroidery machines, serger/overlocker machines, and computer software for embroidery design.

Bernina International

The present-day Bernina International AG was founded by Karl Friedrich Gegauf in 1893, when he decided to pursue an apprenticeship as a mechanic instead of studying medicine. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked in the Baum embroidery machine factory in Rorschach. In 1890, Karl Friedrich Gegauf set up his own business in Steckborn, Switzerland, opening an embroidery and mechanical workshop for the manufacture of his own invention, a monogram embroidery machine. Together with his brother Georg, a salesman, Karl Friedrich ran the Gebrüder Gegauf (Bros. Gegauf) company. Through his involvement in the textile industry, he noticed how laborious it was to produce hemstitching, which until then could only be done manually. Consequently, in 1893, Karl Friedrich Gegauf invented the world’s first hemstitch sewing machine, capable of sewing 100 stitches per minute.[3] In 1895, the Bros. Gegauf workshop was completely destroyed by fire, except for the prototype of the hemstitch sewing machine, which was the only thing that could be rescued. Karl Friedrich built a new workshop in an old barn, where the focus was no longer on embroidery, but on the construction of the hemstitch sewing machine. About 70 people were employed in the serial production of the hemstitch sewing machine. The mechanical production of hemstitching, whether as embellishment for handkerchiefs, tablecloths, or bedspreads, was commonly referred to as "gegaufing", because the name Gegauf became famous in the industry.[4]

In 1919, Fritz Gegauf, one of Karl’s sons, together with his father, filed a patent application for the "Wotan" hemstich sewing machine, which became another international success for the company, which changed its name to "Fritz Gegauf". After being in Paris selling the company’s tin openers, which had no market in Switzerland, he returned to his home town. His brother Gustav and he took control of the factory after their father’s death in 1926.[5] During the Great Depression, Fritz Gegauf joined forces with the embroidery factory, Brütsch & Sohn in St. Gallen, which was also operating in the red. By the end of 1932, they had developed the company's first household sewing machine, which they named Bernina. The Bernina was soon being produced as furniture-cum-sewing-machine, which required the building of a new, attached furniture factory in Steckborn. As of October 26, 1937, a total of 20,000 machines had left the factory in Steckborn. In 1937, he introduced the first Bernina zigzag machine and in 1945 the world’s first portable zigzag machine on the market. In 1947, Gustav Gegauf left the company. By mid-1963, one million Bernina zigzag sewing machines had been manufactured in Steckborn. Since then, the company has commonly been called Bernina, although, since 1947, its official name has been "Fritz Gegauf Aktiengesellschaft, Bernina Nähmaschinenfabrik".

Since 1959, Odette Ueltschi, Fritz Gegauf's daughter, took the lead role at Bernina.[6] She took over the management after the death of her brother in 1965. In 1963, the first Bernina sewing machine with a patented knee-activated presser foot lifter, the 730, appeared on the market. From 1963 onwards, the subsequent model, the 730, was produced, and in the same year, the millionth Bernina sewing machine was manufactured. The top-seller of all the models was the 830 class, which came into production in 1971 and continued until 1981. In 1981, the company took a further step in the development of household sewing machines. The 930 model was the first machine with a stretch-stitch function. It was followed by the 1130, the first fully automated sewing machine, the 1130, launched in 1986. The enduring mark which Odette Gegauf-Ueltschi left on the company is reflected in the name of the bernette sewing machine line, formed by a combination of the first half of the brand name and the second half of her given name.[7]

Hanspeter Ueltschi took over the management of Fritz Gegauf AG in 1988 from his mother Odette Gegauf-Ueltschi, and  currently runs the company as owner and chairman of the board of directors. After studying business administration at the University of St. Gallen, Ueltschi spent seven years gaining professional experience in the USA before getting into the leadership of the family company in Switzerland. Ueltschi further expanded the leading position of the company in the sewing machine technology sector, brought down manufacturing costs, and promoted product innovations and marketing. He ushered the computer age into the business with the artista 180, Berninaâ€™s first sewing computer, and ensured the continuous development and optimization of computer technology in the sewing sphere, as shown by the successive models of the artista, as well as the aurora series. In doing so, he made strides toward his declared goal of making sewing more appealing and more popular worldwide. Under the chairmanship of Hanspeter Ueltschi, a manufacturing outlet was set up in Thailand, in addition to the parent factory in Steckborn. He is also largely responsible for establishing the US as a key market and expansion to the new markets in Eastern Europe, Russia, South America, and India, as well as in the Middle East. He renamed "Fritz Gegauf AG" to "Bernina International AG"  to accommodate the trend toward globalization and the success of the company brand and at the same time, Ueltschi incorporated the flag of Switzerland into the company logo as a sign of patriotism. Linking to the 830, the most successful Bernina model from the 1970s, the new B830, in 2008 and its sister model, the B820, in 2009, were introduced as the most advanced sewing machines of the brand to date, with a total of 15 patents filed for the new B830.

The Bernina Textile Group is a globally active group of 15 companies doing business in 80 countries. The company operates in the product categories such as household sewing and embroidery machines, household overlocker machines, longarm quilting machines, multineedle embroidery machines, accessories (presser foot, embroidery hoops and other accessories for sewing, quilting and overlocking), and computer software for embroidery design.

Subsidiaries are established in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the USA. The subsidiary Benartex, headquartered in the United States[8], sells printed textiles and quilting fabrics in particular. OESD, another subsidiary, develops and sells embroidery designs. Brewer, engaging in the sewing supplies market, offers sewing and crafting notions, patterns, books etc. The company supplies 80 markets worldwide via business-to-business connections.

The latest model, B 880, is the company’s current flagship model, while the 7 series models are Bernina’s most advanced products, equipped with the Bernina hook system for 9 mm stitch width at up to 1,000 stitches per minutes.

aurora 440 QE

Manual sewing machine manufactured by Fritz Gegauf

Bernina developed embroidery design editing and full digitizing software branded under its own name and written by industrial digitizing software manufacturer Wilcom International Pty Ltd.[11]


how many consonants are in the hawaiian language

The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters: five vowels (each with a long pronunciation and a short one) and eight consonants, one of which is the glottal stop called Ê»okina.

Hawaiian language

The Hawaiian language (Hawaiian: ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, pronounced [ʔoːˈlɛlo həˈvɐjʔi])[4] is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaiʻi, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the State of Hawaii. King Kamehameha III established the first Hawaiian-language constitution in 1839 and 1840.

For various reasons, including territorial legislation establishing English as the official language in schools, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian gradually decreased during the period from the 1830s to the 1950s. Hawaiian was essentially displaced by English on six of seven inhabited islands. In 2001, native speakers of Hawaiian amounted to under 0.1% of the statewide population. Linguists were unsure that Hawaiian and other endangered languages would survive.[5][6]

Nevertheless, from around 1949 to the present day, there has been a gradual increase in attention to and promotion of the language. Public Hawaiian-language immersion preschools called Pūnana Leo were started in 1984; other immersion schools followed soon after that. The first students to start in immersion preschool have now graduated from college and many are fluent Hawaiian speakers. The federal government has acknowledged this development. For example, the Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act of 2000 changed the names of several national parks in Hawaiʻi, observing the Hawaiian spelling.[7] However, the language is still classified as critically endangered by UNESCO.[8]

A pidgin or creole language spoken in HawaiÊ»i is Hawaiian Pidgin (or Hawaii Creole English, HCE). It should not be mistaken for the Hawaiian language nor for a dialect of English.

The Hawaiian language takes its name from the largest island in the Hawaiian state, Hawaii (HawaiÊ»i in the Hawaiian language). The island name was first written in English in 1778 by British explorer James Cook and his crew members. They wrote it as "Owhyhee" or "Owhyee". Explorers Mortimer (1791) and Otto von Kotzebue (1821) used that spelling.[9]

The initial "O" in the name is a reflection of the fact that unique identity is predicated in Hawaiian by using a copula form, o, immediately before a proper noun.[10] Thus, in Hawaiian, the name of the island is expressed by saying O Hawaiʻi, which means "[This] is Hawaiʻi."[11] The Cook expedition also wrote "Otaheite" rather than "Tahiti."[12]

The spelling "why" in the name reflects the [hw] pronunciation of wh in 18th-century English (still used in parts of the English-speaking world). Why was pronounced [hwai]. The spelling "hee" or "ee" in the name represents the sounds [hi], or [i].[13]

Putting the parts together, O-why-(h)ee reflects [o-hwai-i], a reasonable approximation of the native pronunciation, [o hɐwɐiʔi].

American missionaries bound for Hawaiʻi used the phrases "Owhihe Language" and "Owhyhee language" in Boston prior to their departure in October 1819 and during their five-month voyage to Hawaiʻi.[14] They still used such phrases as late as March 1822.[15] However, by July 1823, they had begun using the phrase "Hawaiian Language."[16]

In Hawaiian, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi means "Hawaiian language", as adjectives follow nouns.[17]

Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian language family.[18] It is closely related to other Polynesian languages, such as Samoan, Marquesan, Tahitian, Māori, Rapa Nui (the language of Easter Island) and Tongan.[citation needed]

According to SchÃ¼tz (1994), the Marquesans colonized the archipelago in roughly 300 CE[19] followed by later waves of immigration from the Society Islands and Samoa-Tonga. Their languages, over time, became the Hawaiian language within the Hawaiian Islands.[20] Kimura and Wilson (1983) also state:

"Linguists agree that Hawaiian is closely related to Eastern Polynesian, with a particularly strong link in the Southern Marquesas, and a secondary link in Tahiti, which may be explained by voyaging between the Hawaiian and Society Islands."[21]

The genetic history of the Hawaiian language is demonstrated primarily through the application of lexicostatistics, which involves quantitative comparison of lexical cognates, and the comparative method.[22][23] Both the number of cognates and the phonological similarity of cognates are measures of language relationship.

The following table provides a limited lexicostatistical data set for ten numbers.[24] The asterisk (*) is used to show that these are hypothetical, reconstructed forms. In the table, the year date of the modern forms is rounded off to 2000 CE to emphasize the 6000-year time lapse since the PAN era.[citation needed]

Note: For the number "10", the Tongan form in the table is part of the word /hoŋo-fulu/ ('ten'). The Hawaiian cognate is part of the word /ana-hulu/ ('ten days'); however, the more common word for "10" used in counting and quantifying is /ʔumi/, a different root.[citation needed]

Application of the lexicostatistical method to the data in the table will show the four languages to be related to one another, with Tagalog having 100% cognacy with PAN, while Hawaiian and Tongan have 100% cognacy with each other, but 90% with Tagalog and PAN. This is because the forms for each number are cognates, except the Hawaiian and Tongan words for the number "1", which are cognate with each other, but not with Tagalog and PAN. When the full set of 200 meanings is used, the percentages will be much lower. For example, Elbert found Hawaiian and Tongan to have 49% (98 รท 200) shared cognacy.[25] This points out the importance of data-set size for this method, where less data leads to cruder results, while more data leads to better results.[25][citation needed]

Application of the comparative method will show partly different genetic relationships. It will point out sound changes,[26] such as:

This method will recognize sound change #1 as a shared innovation of Hawaiian and Tongan. It will also take the Hawaiian and Tongan cognates for "1" as another shared innovation. Due to these exclusively shared features, Hawaiian and Tongan are found to be more closely related to one another than either is to Tagalog or PAN.[citation needed]

The forms in the table show that the Austronesian vowels tend to be relatively stable, while the consonants are relatively volatile. It is also apparent that the Hawaiian words for "3", "5", and "8" have remained essentially unchanged for 6000 years.[citation needed]

In 1778, British explorer James Cook made Europe's initial, recorded first contact with Hawaiʻi, beginning a new phase in the development of Hawaiian. During the next forty years, the sounds of Spanish (1789), Russian (1804), French (1816), and German (1816) arrived in Hawaiʻi via other explorers and businessmen. Hawaiian began to be written for the first time, largely restricted to isolated names and words, and word lists collected by explorers and travelers.[27]

The early explorers and merchants who first brought European languages to the Hawaiian islands also took on a few native crew members who brought the Hawaiian language into new territory.[28] Hawaiians took these nautical jobs because their traditional way of life changed due to plantations, and although there were not enough of these Hawaiian-speaking explorers to establish any viable speech communities abroad, they still had a noticeable presence.[29] One of them, a boy in his teens known as Obookiah (ʻŌpūkahaʻia), had a major impact on the future of the language. He sailed to New England, where he eventually became a student at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. He inspired New Englanders to support a Christian mission to Hawaiʻi, and provided information on the Hawaiian language to the American missionaries there prior to their departure for Hawaiʻi in 1819.[30]

Like all natural spoken languages, the Hawaiian language was originally just an oral language. The native people of the Hawaiian language relayed religion, traditions, history, and views of their world through stories that were handed down from generation to generation. One form of storytelling most commonly associated with the Hawaiian islands is hula. Nathaniel B. Emerson notes that "It kept the communal imagination in living touch with the nation's legendary past".[31]

The islanders' connection with their stories is argued to be one reason why Captain James Cook received a pleasant welcome. Marshall Sahlins has observed that Hawaiian folktales began bearing similar content to those of the Western world in the eighteenth century.[32] He argues this was caused by the timing of Captain Cook's arrival, which was coincidentally when the indigenous Hawaiians were celebrating the Makahiki festival. The islanders' story foretold of the god Lono's return at the time of the Makahiki festival.[33]

In 1820, Protestant missionaries from New England arrived in HawaiÊ»i.

Adelbert von Chamisso might have consulted with a native speaker of Hawaiian in Berlin, Germany, before publishing his grammar of Hawaiian (Über die Hawaiische Sprache) in 1837.[34] When Hawaiian King David Kalākaua took a trip around the world, he brought his native language with him. When his wife, Queen Kapiʻolani, and his sister, Princess (later Queen) Liliʻuokalani, took a trip across North America and on to the British Islands, in 1887, Liliʻuokalani's composition Aloha ʻOe was already a famous song in the U.S.[35]

In 1834, the first Hawaiian-language newspapers were published by missionaries working with locals. The missionaries also played a significant role in publishing a vocabulary (1836)[36] grammar (1854)[37] and dictionary (1865)[38] of Hawaiian. Literacy in Hawaiian was widespread among the local population, especially ethnic Hawaiians. Use of the language among the general population might have peaked around 1881. Even so, some people worried, as early as 1854, that the language was "soon destined to extinction."[39]

The decline of the Hawaiian language dates back to a coup that overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and dethroned the existing Hawaiian queen. Thereafter, a law was instituted that banned the Hawaiian language from being taught.[40] The law cited as banning the Hawaiian language is identified as Act 57, sec. 30 of the 1896 Laws of the Republic of HawaiÊ»i:

The English Language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools, provided that where it is desired that another language shall be taught in addition to the English language, such instruction may be authorized by the Department, either by its rules, the curriculum of the school, or by direct order in any particular instance. Any schools that shall not conform to the provisions of this section shall not be recognized by the Department.

This law established English as the medium of instruction for the government-recognized schools both "public and private". While it did not ban or make illegal the Hawaiian language in other contexts, its implementation in the schools had far-reaching effects. The banishment was only two years removed from acknowledgement as a legitimate sovereign government.  From July 1894 to January 1895, 19 nations, including the United States, recognized Hawai'i as an independent country.[42]  Those who had been pushing for English-only schools took this law as licence to extinguish the native language at the early education level. While the law stopped short of making Hawaiian illegal (it was still the dominant language spoken at the time), many children who spoke Hawaiian at school, including on the playground, were disciplined. This included corporal punishment and going to the home of the offending child to strongly advise them to stop speaking it in their home. Moreover, the law specifically provided for teaching languages "in addition to the English language," reducing Hawaiian to the status of a foreign language, subject to approval by the Department. Hawaiian was not taught initially in any school, including the all-Hawaiian Kamehameha Schools. This is largely because when these schools were founded, like Kamehameha Schools founded in 1887 (nine years before this law), Hawaiian was being spoken in the home. Once this law was enacted, individuals at these institutions took it upon themselves to enforce a ban on Hawaiian. Beginning in 1900, Mary Kawena Pukui, who was later the co-author of the Hawaiianâ€“English Dictionary, was punished for speaking Hawaiian by being rapped on the forehead, allowed to eat only bread and water for lunch, and denied home visits on holidays.[43] Winona Beamer was expelled from Kamehameha Schools in 1937 for chanting Hawaiian.[44]

In 1949, the legislature of the Territory of HawaiÊ»i commissioned Mary Pukui and Samuel Elbert to write a new dictionary of Hawaiian, either revising the Andrews-Parker work or starting from scratch.[45] Pukui and Elbert took a middle course, using what they could from the Andrews dictionary, but making certain improvements and additions that were more significant than a minor revision. The dictionary they produced, in 1957, introduced an era of gradual increase in attention to the language and culture.

Efforts to promote the language have increased in recent decades. Hawaiian-language "immersion" schools are now open to children whose families want to reintroduce Hawaiian language for future generations.[46] The ʻAha Pūnana Leo’s Hawaiian language preschools in Hilo, Hawaii, have received international recognition.[47] The local National Public Radio  station features a short segment titled "Hawaiian word of the day" and a Hawaiian language news broadcast. Honolulu television station KGMB ran a weekly Hawaiian language program, ʻĀhaʻi ʻŌlelo Ola, as recently as 2010.[48] Additionally, the Sunday editions of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the largest newspaper in Hawaii, feature a brief article called Kauakukalahale written entirely in Hawaiian by teachers, students, and community members.

Today, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian, which was under 0.1% of the statewide population in 1997, has risen to 2,000, out of 24,000 total who are fluent in the language, according to the US 2011 census. On six of the seven permanently inhabited islands, Hawaiian has been largely displaced by English, but on Niʻihau, native speakers of Hawaiian have remained fairly isolated and have continued to use Hawaiian almost exclusively.[49][40][50]

The isolated island of Niʻihau, located off the southwest coast of Kauai, is the one island where Hawaiian is still spoken as the language of daily life.[49]
Elbert & Pukui (1979:23) states that "[v]ariations in Hawaiian dialects have not been systematically studied", and that "[t]he dialect of Niʻihau is the most aberrant and the one most in need of study". They recognized that Niʻihauans can speak Hawaiian in substantially different ways. Their statements are based in part on some specific observations made by Newbrand (1951). (See Hawaiian phonological processes)

Hawaiians had no written language prior to Western contact, except for petroglyph symbols.
The modern Hawaiian alphabet, ka pīʻāpā Hawaiʻi, is based on the Latin script. Hawaiian words end only[52] in vowels, and every consonant must be followed by a vowel. The Hawaiian alphabetical order has all of the vowels before the consonants,[53] as in the following chart.

This writing system was developed by American Protestant missionaries during 1820–1826.[54] It was the first thing they ever printed in Hawaiʻi, on January 7, 1822, and it originally included the consonants B, D, R, T, and V, in addition to the current ones (H, K, L, M, N, P, W), and it had F, G, S, Y and Z for "spelling foreign words". The initial printing also showed the five vowel letters (A, E, I, O, U) and seven of the short diphthongs (AE, AI, AO, AU, EI, EU, OU).[55]

In 1826, the developers voted to eliminate some of the letters which represented functionally redundant allophones (called "interchangeable letters"), enabling the Hawaiian alphabet to approach the ideal state of one-symbol-one-phoneme, and thereby optimizing the ease with which people could teach and learn the reading and writing of Hawaiian.[56] For example, instead of spelling one and the same word as pule, bule, pure, and bure (because of interchangeable p/b and l/r), the word is spelled only as pule.

However, hundreds of words were very rapidly borrowed into Hawaiian from English, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac.[57][58][59] Although these loan words were necessarily Hawaiianized, they often retained some of their "non-Hawaiian letters" in their published forms. For example, Brazil fully Hawaiianized is Palakila, but retaining "foreign letters" it is Barazila.[60] Another example is Gibraltar, written as Kipalaleka or Gibaraleta.[61] While [z] and [ɡ] are not regarded as Hawaiian sounds, [b], [ɹ], and [t] were represented in the original alphabet, so the letters (b, r, and t) for the latter are not truly "non-Hawaiian" or "foreign", even though their post-1826 use in published matter generally marked words of foreign origin.

ʻOkina (ʻoki 'cut' + -na '-ing') is the modern Hawaiian name for the symbol (a letter) that represents the glottal stop.[62] It was formerly known as ʻuʻina ('snap'[63][64]).

For examples of the ʻokina, consider the Hawaiian words Hawaiʻi and Oʻahu (often simply Hawaii and Oahu in English orthography). In Hawaiian, these words can be pronounced [hʌˈʋʌi.ʔi] and [oˈʔʌ.hu], and can be written with an ʻokina where the glottal stop is pronounced.[65][66]

Elbert & Pukui's Hawaiian Grammar says "The glottal stop, â€˜, is made by closing the glottis or space between the vocal cords, the result being something like the hiatus in English oh-oh."[67]

As early as 1823, the missionaries made some limited use of the apostrophe to represent the glottal stop,[68] but they did not make it a letter of the alphabet. In publishing the Hawaiian Bible, they used it to distinguish koʻu ('my') from kou ('your').[69] In 1864, William DeWitt Alexander published a grammar of Hawaiian in which he made it clear that the glottal stop (calling it "guttural break") is definitely a true consonant of the Hawaiian language.[70] He wrote it using an apostrophe. In 1922, the Andrews-Parker dictionary of Hawaiian made limited use of the opening single quote symbol, called "reversed apostrophe" or "inverse comma", to represent the glottal stop.[71] Subsequent dictionaries have preferred to use that symbol. Today, many native speakers of Hawaiian do not bother, in general, to write any symbol for the glottal stop. Its use is advocated mainly among students and teachers of Hawaiian as a second language, and among linguists.[72]

The Ê»okina is written in various ways for electronic uses:

Because many people who want to write the Ê»okina are not familiar with these specific characters and/or do not have access to the appropriate fonts and input and display systems, it is sometimes written with more familiar and readily available characters:

A modern Hawaiian name for the macron symbol is kahakō (kaha'mark' + kō 'long').[76] It was formerly known as mekona (Hawaiianization of macron). It can be written as a diacritical mark which looks like a hyphen or dash written above a vowel, i.e., ā ē ī ō ū and Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū. It is used to show that the marked vowel is a "double", or "geminate", or "long" vowel, in phonological terms.[77] (See: Vowel length)

As early as 1821, at least one of the missionaries, Hiram Bingham, was using macrons (and breves) in making handwritten transcriptions of Hawaiian vowels.[78] The missionaries specifically requested their sponsor in Boston to send them some type (fonts) with accented vowel characters, including vowels with macrons, but the sponsor made only one response and sent the wrong font size (pica instead of small pica).[71] Thus, they could not print ā, ē, ī, ō, nor ū (at the right size), even though they wanted to.

Due to extensive allophony, Hawaiian has more than 13 phones. Although vowel length is phonemic, long vowels are not always pronounced as such,[77] even though under the rules for assigning stress in Hawaiian, a long vowel will always receive stress.[79][80]

Hawaiian is known for having very few consonant phonemes – eight: /p, k ~ t, ʔ, h, m, n, l, w ~ v/. It is notable that Hawaiian has allophonic variation of [t] with [k],[81][82][83][84] [w] with [v],[85] and (in some dialects) [l] with [n].[86] The [t]–[k] variation is quite unusual among the world's languages, and is likely a product both of the small number of consonants in Hawaiian, and the recent shift of historical *t to modern [t]–[k], after historical *k had shifted to [ʔ]. In some dialects, /ʔ/ remains as [k] in some words. These variations are largely free, though there are conditioning factors. /l/ tends to [n] especially in words with both /l/ and /n/, such as in the island name Lānaʻi ([laːˈnɐʔi]–[naːˈnɐʔi]), though this is not always the case: ʻeleʻele or ʻeneʻene "black". The [k] allophone is almost universal at the beginnings of words, whereas [t] is most common before the vowel /i/. [v] is also the norm after /i/ and /e/, whereas [w] is usual after /u/ and /o/. After /a/ and initially, however, [w] and [v] are in free variation.[87]"A consonant occurs only before a vowel; thus two consonants never occur in succession and a syllable always ends with a vowel".[67]

Hawaiian has five short and five long vowels, plus diphthongs.

Hawaiian has five pure vowels.  The short vowels are /u, i, o, e, a/, and the long vowels, if they are considered separate phonemes rather than simply sequences of like vowels, are /uː, iː, oː, eː, aː/. When stressed, short /e/ and /a/ tend to become [ɛ] and [ɐ], while when unstressed they are [e] and [ə]. /e/ also tends to become [ɛ] next to /l/, /n/, and another [ɛ], as in Pele [pɛlɛ]. Some grammatical particles vary between short and long vowels. These include a and o "of", ma "at", na and no "for". Between a back vowel /o/ or /u/ and a following non-back vowel (/a e i/), there is an epenthetic [w], which is generally not written. Between a front vowel /e/ or /i/ and a following non-front vowel (/a o u/), there is an epenthetic [j] (a y sound), which is never written.

The short-vowel diphthongs are /iu, ou, oi, eu, ei, au, ai, ao, ae/. In all except perhaps /iu/, these are falling diphthongs. However, they are not as tightly bound as the diphthongs of English, and may be considered vowel sequences. (The second vowel in such sequences may receive the stress, but in such cases it is not counted as a diphthong.) In fast speech, /ai/ tends to [ei] and /au/ tends to [ou], conflating these diphthongs with /ei/ and /ou/.

There are only a limited number of vowels which may follow long vowels, and some authors treat these sequences as diphthongs as well: /oːu, eːi, aːu, aːi, aːo, aːe/.

Hawaiian syllable structure is (C)V. All CV syllables occur except for wū;[88] wu occurs only in two words borrowed from English.[89][90] As shown by Schütz,[57][91][92] Hawaiian word-stress is predictable in words of one to four syllables, but not in words of five or more syllables. Hawaiian phonological processes include palatalization and deletion of consonants, as well as raising, diphthongization, deletion, and compensatory lengthening of vowels.[82][93] Phonological reduction (or "decay") of consonant phonemes during the historical development of the language has resulted in the phonemic glottal stop.[94][95] Ultimate loss (deletion) of intervocalic consonant phonemes has resulted in Hawaiian long vowels and diphthongs.[95][96][97][98]

Hawaiian is an analytic language with verb–subject–object word order. While there is no use of inflection for verbs, in Hawaiian, like other Austronesian personal pronouns,  declension is found in the differentiation between a- and o-class genitive case personal pronouns in order to indicate inalienable possession in a binary possessive class system. Also like many Austronesian languages, Hawaiian pronouns employ separate words for inclusive and exclusive we (clusivity), and distinguish singular, dual, and plural. The grammatical function of verbs is marked by adjacent particles (short words) and by their relative positions, that indicate tense–aspect–mood.

Some examples of verb phrase patterns:

Nouns can be marked with articles:

ka and ke are singular definite articles. ke is used before words beginning with a-, e-, o- and k-, and with some words beginning ʻ- and p-. ka is used in all other cases. nā is the plural definite article.

To show part of a group, the word kekahi is used. To show a bigger part, mau is inserted to pluralize the subject.


who sings the song with or without you

"With or Without You" features sustained guitar parts played by guitarist the Edge with a prototype of the Infinite Guitar, along with vocals by lead singer Bono and a bassline by bassist Adam Clayton. The song originated from a demo recorded in late 1985 that the group continued to work on throughout The Joshua Tree sessions. Ostensibly a troubled love song, the track's lyrics were inspired by Bono's conflicting feelings about the lives he led as a musician and domestic man.

With or Without You

"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track on their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree (1987), and was released as the album's lead single on 16 March 1987. The song was the group's most successful single at the time, becoming their first number-one hit in both the United States and Canada by topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and the RPM national singles chart for one week, with a further three weeks at number two.

Critics praised the song upon its release. It is frequently performed on the band's tours, and it has appeared on many of their compilation albums and concert films. "With or Without You" is U2's second most frequently covered song.[2] In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 132 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[3]

In late 1985, U2 convened at a house that drummer Larry Mullen Jr. bought to review material the group had written during The Unforgettable Fire Tour. During this time, a rough demo of "With or Without You" was written, with lead vocalist Bono composing the song's chord sequence.[4] The band continued to work on the song at STS Studios, creating many permutations of the track, but not making any progress. Guitarist the Edge considered the song at that point to be "awful".[4] The track consisted of a Yamaha drum machine beat and a bass part played by bassist Adam Clayton using an Ibanez bass guitar with a short scale.[5] According to Clayton, these early versions of the song sounded too sentimental[6] and "very traditional because the chords just went round and round and round".[4]

The sessions for The Joshua Tree started in earnest in 1986, and U2 were recording at the Georgian mansion Danesmoate House in Dublin. The group attempted to take the song in a different direction, although Bono was reluctant.[6] Under the direction of co-producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, the Edge pursued more ambient guitar playing, Clayton turned up the volume on his bass, and Mullen experimented with an electronically enhanced drum kit.[6] Despite the work they continued to put into the track, the group considered abandoning the song, as they could not find an arrangement they liked.[7]

Bono and his friend Gavin Friday continued to work on the song after Lanois and Eno declined to do so.[7] Bono credits Friday with rescuing the song and rearranging it, believing it could be a hit. Eno added a keyboard arpeggio, similar to the one from "Bad".[7] The song's fate was still in doubt when the Edge was sent a prototype of the Infinite Guitar by Canadian musician Michael Brook, with whom he had collaborated for the Captive soundtrack.[7] The instrument allowed sustained notes to be played, producing "a similar effect to the E-Bow", but with the ability to provide all the "mid-points between no sustain and infinite sustain" that the E-Bow cannot provide.[8] The prototype included elaborate assembly instructions and as the Edge recollects, "one wrongly placed wire and you could get a nasty belt of electricity. This piece of gear would have failed even the most basic of safety regulations."[7] On subsequent tours, his guitar technician occasionally received electric shocks from the instrument when preparing it for performances.[7]

Listening to the backing track to "With or Without You" in the control room, Bono and Friday heard the sustained effect that the Edge was creating with the Infinite Guitar in the other room. The combination of the two playing simultaneously caught their attention. According to Lanois, "I said, 'That sounded pretty cool,' so we listened back and I said, 'Jesus it's better than I thought.'"[5] The Edge immediately recorded an Infinite Guitar part in two takes.[5][7] The band considers the song's recording to be one of the album sessions' breakthrough moments, as it was recorded amidst concerns that they had run out of ideas.[7]

Eno sequenced the song's electronic drum beat on the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser. Rather than connect it to the recording equipment via a DI unit and maintain the instrument's pristine sound, the producers plugged it into a Mesa Boogie guitar amplifier and then miked it to give the sound more personality. As a result, Lanois said it sounded "more like people playing in a room". The sequenced beat was chosen to give the song a feeling of discipline, so that when Mullen's acoustic drums enter the song, "they mean something", in Lanois' words.[9]

Producer Steve Lillywhite was hired by U2 in December 1986 to help mix some songs for The Joshua Tree;[10] "With or Without You" was one of them. While Lillywhite and engineer Mark Wallis were mixing it, Eno entered the room and told them that he wanted to change the introduction. Wallis said: "And it was kind of awe-inspiring because he said, 'Right, send this guitar through those ten effects over there and send that guitar through those ten effects over there and then feed them back to each other.' So what started as a traditional bit of rhythm guitar, bass, and drums suddenly became something quite otherworldly and spiritual, and the sound of the music you were hearing started to give you a feeling of where the song was going to go prior to the lyric. I thought that was really visionary."[11] Ultimately, "With or Without You" was the most debated song of those on which Lillywhite worked, as Eno and Lanois each had ideas different from his. Lillywhite, who wanted a more mainstream approach to his mix, favoured "a little more crash, bang" sound to Mullen's drums that enter later in the song, while Eno preferred that the drums remain "more mysterious and more supportive".[12]

Bono wrote the lyrics during his first night visiting Côte d’Azur in 1986,[13] while struggling to reconcile his responsibilities as both a married man and a musician.[7] His wanderlust in belonging to a musical act was often at odds with his domestic life.[7] While writing the lyrics, he realized that neither facet of his life defined him, but rather the tension between the two did. He explained that the final lyric is about torment and how repressing desires only makes them stronger.[7]

"With or Without You" is written in a 4/4 time signature and is played at a tempo of 110 beats per minute.[14] Although certain stanzas of lyrics are repeated, the song does not follow a traditional verse-chorus form. Lanois says of it, "It has tension and builds like one of those great Roy Orbison songs, where every section is unique and never repeats. I like that kind of sophistication [...]."[5]

The song begins with a minimal drum beat of eighth notes played by Mullen, while a backing track—Eno's synthesiser—plays a "rippling" triplet arpeggio of the chord D major.[8] A high sustained guitar part (played by The Edge's Infinite Guitar) enters, played "dry" in the left channel before reverberating on the right.[8] At 0:09, Clayton's bass guitar begins to play eighth notes in time with the kick drum, and the song's four-bar sequence of the chord progression D–A–Bm–G, begins.[8] This chord progression is never explicitly played but is "implied" by the root notes played by Clayton and the guitar parts of The Edge.[8]

â€”The Edge, on the song's concluding guitar figure[15]

Bono's vocals enter at 0:28 in a low register, a stark contrast from Bono's typical singing style to that point in the group's career.[8] He stays below the middle C for the first two and a half stanzas, centering his melody on the mediant F♯. At the end of each of the first two stanzas, his vocals drop an octave, from A to A. Author Susan Fast called Bono's vocals on "With or Without You" the first occasion on which he "extended his vocal range downward in an appreciable way".[16] At 0:58, an additional sustained guitar part joins the mix.[8] The drums increase in intensity at 1:45, before The Edge begins playing the song's signature guitar riff at 1:53. The riff, a perfect fifth opening to a sixth, features a prominent use of delay.[8] When the riff is played, it is answered by Bono singing "And you give yourself away", a line on which backing vocals appear at 2:06 and 2:32.[8]

A stanza begins in which Bono sings the song's title in a high, passionate voice as the drums get heavier.[8]  At 3:03, the song bursts out in emotion as Bono begins open-throated "Oh-oh-oh-ohh" vocals, which are double-tracked, and the rhythm increases to play sixteenth notes on the guitar, cymbals, and tambourine.[8]  After another stanza of Bono repeating the song's title, the music dies down at 3:38 to a similar state as it was at the beginning of the song.[8]  Ten seconds later, Bono sings in a falsetto while a bass synthesiser doubles the bass guitar.[8]  After the vocals complete, The Edge begins a simple guitar figure. He explained that its understated nature was meant to resist the temptation to play an intricate guitar solo as an ending.[15] The second time the figure is played, the signature guitar riff from earlier re-appears and the song regains some of its intensity.[8] The song concludes with a fade-out.

The lyrics ostensibly describe a troubled relationship between two lovers, although the lyrics have been interpreted in religious contexts. The Washington Post interpreted the song as both an acerbic love song and a tune lamenting the moral contradictions one faces with their religious faith.[17] Toby Creswell echoed these sentiments, saying it "can be read as a song about either marital romance or spiritual need".[18] Bono explained that the lyrics had romantic intentions, saying, "there's nothing more revolutionary than two people loving each other. One, 'cause it's so uncommon these days, and two, 'cause it's so difficult to do."[18] In 1987, Bono explained that "And you give yourself away" lyric refers to how he sometimes feels exposed being in U2, and that his openness, both to the public and music press, can do damage to the group. Author Niall Stokes interpreted the line as encompassing the theme of "surrendering the ego" to one's love and spiritual faith.[19]

According to Bono, the song was heavily influenced by Scott Walker's album Climate of Hunter.[2]

The band's manager Paul McGuinness was resistant to U2 releasing "With or Without You" as a single, as he thought it was too sonically unusual for release. Gavin Friday, having helped the band complete the track, disagreed and thought it would be a "certain No. 1".[5] The song was selected as the lead single from The Joshua Tree. United States radio stations were allowed to play the song at 11:30Â a.m. on 4 March 1987, with strong warnings by Island Records against playing it earlier.[20] The single was released on 16 March 1987, two weeks after the album was released.[20][21] It was the group's first single to be widely issued on compact disc.[2]  Clayton referred to the song's nature as a challenge to radio, saying, "You don't expect it there [on radio]. In church perhaps."[19]

"With or Without You" debuted at number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart,[20] and on 16 May 1987,[22] it topped the chart to become U2's first number-one single in the US, proving Friday's prediction true.[5] The song spent three weeks atop the chart,[23] and 18 weeks in total on the Hot 100.[22] The song also topped Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart,[24] Canada's RPM Top 100,[25] and the Irish Singles Chart.[26] According to Billboard, the song was the group's breakthrough with American audiences.[23] The single peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, spending 11 weeks in the top 75 of the chart. The single also peaked at number two on the Dutch MegaCharts Top 40.[27] In 2009, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 43 on the week ending 31 May, based on download sales due to Shaun Smith's performance of the song in the semi-final of Britain's Got Talent.[28]

Two videos were shot in Dublin in February 1987 and were co-directed by Meiert Avis and Matt Mahurin. The first includes abstracts shots of dancer (and Edge's future wife) Morleigh Steinberg edited in between shots of the band playing the song. A second alternative version can be found in the Super Deluxe version of the album.[29]

"With or Without You" was first played live at the second show on the Joshua Tree Tour on 4 April 1987, and was a regular for the rest of that tour. It was played at most shows on 1989's Lovetown Tour.  During these tours, two extensions to the song not present on the studio version were played: an extra verse with lyrics that typically read "We'll shine like stars in the summer night/We'll shine like stars in the winter light/One heart, one hope, one love" or modifications thereof,[30] which appears on the Rattle and Hum movie; and a snippet of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (along with the "shine like stars" lyrics) which can be heard in the live album and concert film Live from Paris. Since the PopMart Tour, it has been more common for Bono to repeat the "Ohh" at the climax of the song, with the "shine like stars" verse sung rarely.

"With or Without You" was played at most Zoo TV Tour concerts and every concert on the PopMart Tour.  It was dropped from the set list during the third leg of the Elevation Tour. It was initially a rare inclusion during the Vertigo Tour - over the two months of the tour's first leg, it was only played four times.[31] It became a regular concert inclusion during stadium concerts on the second leg in Europe and remained in the set list for the third leg. It has been played on every night of the U2 360° Tour, occasionally with the "shine like stars" coda.[32] The song regularly closed out the main set on the Innocence + Experience Tour, again occasionally with the "shine like stars" coda.

Live performances of the song also appear in the group's concert films Zoo TV: Live from Sydney, PopMart: Live from Mexico City, Elevation 2001: Live from Boston, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, Vertigo 05: Live from Milan, U2 3D, and U2 360° at the Rose Bowl.

Rolling Stone called it an "inventively arranged tune... that builds from a soothing beginning to a resounding climax".[33] Bill Graham of Hot Press praised the song, suggesting it may be Bono's "most controlled vocal, building from an almost conversational first verse over a bare rhythm section to a soul-baring confession". Graham suggested the lyric "And you give yourself away" was essential to U2's message.[34] The Sunday Independent suggested that the song was proof the band could be commercially accessible, yet not resort to rock clichÃ©s.[35] NME called it "some kind of love song" and found musical and lyrical symmetry between the song and the group's 1981 album October.[36]

Mike DeGagne of AllMusic praised the song for Eno's and Lanois' "gleaming" production work, Bono's vocals and "poetic deftness", and for The Edge's "astute but assertive" guitar playing. DeGagne described Bono's singing as "unleashing all his vocal power, moving from a soft, subtle intro and middle to an explosive burst of unyielding energy toward the end". He made religious comparisons to the musical arrangement, saying the "discerning air sounds almost church-like as it slowly unravels".[37] Readers of Rolling Stone voted "With or Without You" the "Best Single" in a 1987 end-of-year poll,[2] while it finished in 15th place on the "Best Singles" list from The Village Voice's 1987 Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[38]

"With or Without You" has become one of U2's most well-known songs, and it often appears in music critics' rankings of the best songs of all-time. In 2000, the song appeared at number eight on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Pop Songs", compiled by Rolling Stone and MTV music critics to rank songs released since The Beatles' breakthrough.[39] In 2005, Blender ranked the song at number 268 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".[40] The following year, readers of Q voted "With or Without You" the 17th-greatest song in history.[41] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed "With or Without You" as the 40th best single of the 1980s.[42] Music television network VH1 ranked the song number 13 on the "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" countdown in its series The Greatest.[43] In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 132 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[3] The song appeared as one of seven U2 songs in Toby Creswell's 2006 music reference book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories, and Secrets.[18] Creswell said the song struck a perfect balance between the "vigour and spit and attitude" of the group's teenage years and their new-found appreciation for the "power of understatement".[18] U2 have included the song on two of their compilation albums, The Best of 1980–1990 and U218 Singles.

^shipments figures based on certification alonesales+streaming figures based on certification alone


where does the last name spicer come from

The Middle English surname Spicer /ˈspaɪsər/ is derived from the Old French word especier, which in turn was derived from the Latin speciarius. Translated, it refers to a seller of spices, a grocer or a druggist. It is also a variation of the Jewish name Spitzer.

Spicer (surname)

People with the surname Spicer include:

Locations of families with the last name Spicer include: