1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Stand-up comedy
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Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian. In stand-up comedy, the comedian usually recites a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners typically called a monologue, routine, some stand-up comedians use props, music, or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in clubs, bars and pubs, nightclubs. Outside of live performance, stand-up is often distributed commercially via television, DVD, CD, in stand-up comedy, the feedback of the audience is instant and crucial for the comedians act. Audiences expect a stand-up comic to provide a stream of laughs. Will Ferrell has called stand-up comedy hard, lonely and vicious, a stand-up comedy show may involve only one comedian, or feature a headline or a showcase format. This is followed by one or two middle or featured acts, who perform 15- to 20-minute sets, followed by a headliner who performs for longer, a showcase format may still feature an MC. Bringer shows are another opportunity for amateur performers, the performer must bring a specified number of paying guests in order to get stage time. The guests usually have to pay a charge and there is often a minimum number of drinks that must be ordered. These shows usually have a showcase format and this type of show gives comedians better exposure than open mics because there is usually better audience turnout and industry professionals sometimes go to watch. Different comedy clubs have different requirements for their bringer shows, gotham Comedy Club in New York City, for example, usually has ten-person bringers, while Broadway Comedy Club in New York City usually has six-person bringers. As the name implies, stand-up comedians usually perform their material while standing, stand-up comedy has its origin in classic Parrhesia in 400 BC used for cynics and epicureans in order to tell the reality without censorship. Stand-up comedy in the United Kingdom began in the halls of the 18th and 19th centuries. The heavy censorship regime of the Lord Chamberlains Office required all comedians to submit their acts for censorship, the act would be returned with unacceptable sections underlined in blue pencil. The comedian was then obliged not to deviate from the act in its edited form, the rise of the post-war comedians coincided with the rise of television and radio, and the traditional music hall circuit suffered greatly as a result. By the 1970s, music hall entertainment was virtually dead, alternative circuits had evolved, such as working mens clubs. The alternative comedy scene began to evolve
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Transparent (TV series)
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Transparent is an American comedy-drama web television series created by Jill Soloway for Amazon Studios that debuted on February 6,2014. The story revolves around a Los Angeles family and their lives following the discovery that the person they knew as their father Mort is transgender, transparents first season premiered in full on September 26,2014, the second season on December 11,2015. The third on September 23,2016, Amazon picked up the series for a fourth season ahead of the premiere of the third. This is the first show produced by Amazon Studios to win a major award, jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman, a retired college professor of political science who finally opens up to her family about always identifying as a woman. Amy Landecker as Sarah Pfefferman, the oldest sibling and she is married and has two children. She leaves her husband for Tammy, a woman she fell in love with in college and she is initially the most accepting of her fathers transition. Jay Duplass as Joshua Josh Pfefferman, the middle sibling, a successful music producer who has troubled relationships with women. He seems to have a hard time accepting his fathers transition at first, gaby Hoffmann as Alexandra Ali Pfefferman, the youngest sibling. She is perpetually unemployed and has a tendency to be immature for her age, Hoffmann also plays Mauras mother Rose in flashbacks. Judith Light as Shelly Pfefferman, Mauras ex-wife and the mother of Sarah, Josh and she has been aware of Mauras desire to express her inner femininity for years. Kathryn Hahn as Rabbi Raquel Fein Joshs ex-fiancé and rabbi at the Pfeffermans synagogue, Soloway created the pilot Transparent for Amazon. com, which became available for free streaming and download on February 6,2014 and was part of Amazons second pilot season. She was inspired by her transgender father, the pilot for Transparent was picked up by Amazon Studios. Tambor had previously portrayed transvestite judge Alan Wachtel on the police procedural television show Hill Street Blues in the 1980s, Soloway wrote Hoffmanns role after seeing her performance on Season 3 of Louis C. K. s show Louie. Transparent premiered all ten episodes simultaneously in late September 2014, in Canada, where Amazons video streaming service was not available, the series premiered on the Shomi platform on January 23,2015. Soloway, the writers, and the cast developed, workshopped, as part of the making of the show, Soloway enacted a transfirmative action program, whereby transgender applicants are hired in preference to cisgender ones. As of August 2014, over eighty transgender people have worked on the show, including Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst who are transgender consultants, in 2014, Our Lady J was chosen as the first openly transgender person to be a writer for the show. All the bathrooms on set are gender-neutral, the original pilot made available in February 2014 was partly reshot after the series was approved. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an rating of 98% based on 54 reviews
4.
GLAAD
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GLAAD is a U. S. non-governmental media monitoring organization founded by LGBT people in the media. Before March 2013, the name GLAAD had been an acronym for Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, initial meetings were held in the homes of several New York City activists as well as after-hours at the New York State Council on the Arts. Some members of GLAAD went on to become the members of ACT UP. In 1987, after a meeting with GLAAD, The New York Times changed its policy to use the word gay instead of harsher terms referring to homosexuality. GLAAD advocated that the Associated Press and other television and print news sources follow, GLAADs influence soon spread to Los Angeles, where organizers began working with the entertainment industry to change the way LGBT people were portrayed on screen. Graddick is the son of Charles Graddick of Mobile, a circuit court judge. In 2013, Jennifer Finney Boylan was chosen as the first openly transgender co-chair of GLAADs National Board of Directors, GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz stated, It is a natural progression that reflects the work GLAADs staff is already leading. We respect and honor the name that the organization was founded with. GLAADs Announcing Equality project has resulted in more than 1,000 newspapers including gay, the GLAAD Media Reference Guide is a style guide of recommendations for writers, especially journalistic outlets, to reference in positive, inclusive depiction of LGBT people. It has been published since the 1990s, with the 9th edition being the most recently published since 2014, list of LGBT rights organizations Violence against LGBT people All About Trans Trans Media Watch Myers, Daniel J. Daniel M. Cress
5.
Townsquare Media
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Townsquare Media is an American media company based in Greenwich, Connecticut. The company started in radio and expanded digital media toward the end of the 2000s. As of 2016, Townsquare was the third-largest AM–FM operator in the country, Townsquare Media was established as Regent Communications by Terry Jacobs in 1994. Jacobs was formerly the CEO of Jacor Communications, a broadcasting company which he created in 1979. Bill Stakelin later shared chief status in the company with Jacobs, Stakelin and Jacobs resurrected the Regent name to replace JS, with approval by Jacor. Jacobs left the company in 2005, on October 27,2008, Regent Broadcasting joined Radiolicious and began streaming on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Regent is the first major group to contract for all of its streaming stations to be available through the Radiolicious application. The filing plan made Oaktree Capital Management the majority owner of Regent after the bankruptcy, after the privatization, the company was renamed Townsquare Media. Gap Broadcasting Group, another radio group owned by Oaktree, was merged into Townsquare, in December 2010, the company began to expand its digital media operations, overhauling its stations websites and launching a new country music news website known as Taste of Country. Townsquare acquired a number of stations from Double O Radio in August 2011, on August 24,2012, Townsquare reached a deal to acquire the MOG Music Network, an advertising network for music blogs. The network was part of MOG, a music service that had previously reached a deal to be acquired by Beats Electronics. In June 2013, Townsquare announced it would acquire a number of music-related blogs from AOL, including The Boombox, The Boot, the deal came following the abrupt shutdown of AOLs Music division in April 2013. On August 29,2013, it was announced that Cumulus would purchase Dial Global, Cumulus paid $260 million for this service, a portion of which was used to pay off Dials debt before it was folded into Cumulus. The second sent 15 more stations in Dubuque, IA and Poughkeepsie, NY, Peak, which like Dial Global and Townsquare has a large investment held by Oaktree, also had its Boise cluster folded into Townsquare. Due to market overlaps, three of Townsquares newly acquired stations were placed in a divestiture trust, the acquisition of the Cumulus stations closed on November 14,2013. On June 24,2014, Townsquare Media filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, on July 24,2014, Townsquare Media became a public company with an initial offering price of $11 a share. In September 2014, Townsquare Media acquired XXL, King, Townsquare then ceased print publication of XXL. In August 2015, Townsquare Media acquired North American Midway Entertainment of Farmland, Indiana, on August 17,2016, The Madison Square Garden Company acquired a 12% stake in Townsquare Media
6.
Jen Richards
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Jen Richards is a transgender writer, actress, and producer. In 2013, she founded the website We Happy Trans, in 2015, she appeared as a supporting cast member of Caitlyn Jenners reality show I Am Cait. In 2016, she co-starred, co-directed, and co-produced the web series Her Story, Richards also co-produced the series More Than T and wrote the Trans 102 series. Richards joined the cast of the television series Nashville in 2017, how Amazons Transparent is changing the game for trans people Radical Theosophy by Christopher Richardson Metaphysics of The Matrix Jen Richards on IMDB
7.
Portland, Maine
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Portland is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maine, with a population of 66,881 as of 2015. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to half a million people. The Old Port district is frequented by tourists, while Portland Head Light is also a destination, the city seal depicts a phoenix rising from ashes, which is a reference to the recoveries from four devastating fires. Portland was named for the English Isle of Portland, and the city of Portland, Oregon was in turn named after Portland, Native Americans originally called the Portland peninsula Machigonne. Portland, Maine was named for the English Isle of Portland, the first European settler was Capt. Christopher Levett, an English naval captain granted 6,000 acres in 1623 to found a settlement in Casco Bay. The settlement failed, and the fate of Levetts colonists is unknown, the explorer sailed from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to meet John Winthrop in 1630, but never returned to Maine. Fort Levett in the harbor is named for him, the peninsula was first permanently settled in 1632 as a fishing and trading village named Casco. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony took over Casco Bay in 1658, in 1676, the village was destroyed by the Abenaki during King Philips War. During King Williams War, a party of French and Native allies attacked. On October 18,1775, Falmouth was burned in the Revolution by the Royal Navy under command of Captain Henry Mowat, following the war, a section of Falmouth called The Neck developed as a commercial port and began to grow rapidly as a shipping center. In 1786, the citizens of Falmouth formed a town in Falmouth Neck and named it Portland, after the isle off the coast of Dorset. Portlands economy was greatly stressed by the Embargo Act of 1807, which ended in 1809, and the War of 1812, in 1820, Maine became a state with Portland as its capital. In 1832, the capital was moved north to Augusta, in 1851, Maine led the nation by passing the first state law prohibiting the sale of alcohol except for medicinal, mechanical or manufacturing purposes. The law subsequently became known as the Maine law, as 18 states quickly followed, on June 2,1855, the Portland Rum Riot occurred. In 1853, upon completion of the Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal, the Portland Company manufactured more than 600 19th-century steam locomotives. Portland became a 20th-century rail hub as five rail lines merged into Portland Terminal Company in 1911. Following nationalization of the Grand Trunk system in 1923, Canadian export traffic was diverted from Portland to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the 20th century, icebreakers later enabled ships to reach Montreal in winter, drastically reducing Portlands role as a winter port for Canada. On June 26,1863, a Confederate raiding party led by Captain Charles Read, entered the harbor at Portland, more than 10,000 people were left homeless
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