Virtual sex is a sexual act where two or more people gather together via some form of communications equipment to arouse each other by transmitting sexually explicit messages. Virtual sex describes the phenomenon, no matter the communications equipment used.

• Phone sex is virtual sex spoken over the telephone.
• Cybersex is virtual sex typed over the Internet, including IRC, e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, webcam, role-playing games, etc.
• Sexting is virtual sex sent via mobile phone network text messaging. The advent of cell phones with built-in digital cameras has undoubtedly added new dimensions to these activities.

These terms are listed chronologically^{[citation needed]} and continuously evolve as technologies and methods of communication change.

Increases in Internet connectivity, bandwidth availability, and the proliferation of webcams have also had implications for virtual sex enthusiasts.^{[citation needed]} It's increasingly common for these activities to include the exchange of pictures or motion video.^{[citation needed]} There are companies which allow paying customers to actually watch people have live sex or masturbate and at the same time allow themselves to be watched as well.^{[citation needed]} Recently devices have been introduced and marketed to allow remote controlled stimulation.^{[citation needed]} Thus the distinctions between real and virtual sex may become increasingly blurred.

References[link]

• Deuel, Nancy R. 1996. Our passionate response to virtual reality. Computer-mediated Communication: Linguistic, Social, and Cross-Cultural Perspectives, p. 129-146. Ed. by Susan C. Herring. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Philadelphia.

See also[link]

• Teledildonics

External links[link]

• Cyberwatch: Online Dating and Cybersex
• Violet Blue: bluetooth vibrator, activated by text/SMS
• Cyborgasms: Cybersex Amongst Multiple-selves and Cyborgs in the Narrow-bandwidth Space of American Online Chat Rooms - 1996 dissertation
• FUFME, Inc. The ultimate remote sex solution. (1999 parody website, mirrored from now defunct www.fufme.com)

Martin Paul Sargent
Martin Sargent April 2007
Born	(1975-08-18) August 18, 1975 (age 36) Spencerport, New York
Occupation	Host
Website
MartinSargent.com

Martin Paul Sargent (born August 18, 1975 in Spencerport, New York) is an American television personality and was co-host of the This WEEK in FUN podcast with Sarah Lane. He is most well known from his time as a Segment Producer on TechTV's The Screen Savers and later as the host of his own late night talk show Unscrewed with Martin Sargent.

Early life[link]

Sargent studied History and English at the University of London, Cornell University and Syracuse University.

Career[link]

Sargent's first job after school was as an editor at PC/Computing magazine.^[1]

In 1998, Sargent joined the ZDTV (later TechTV) TV show Call For Help as the show's "Resident Craft Professional" and substitute co-host. In 2001, he moved from Call For Help to another TechTV show, The Screen Savers, and became known first as "The Twisted Lister", for producing and presenting odd, "twisted" top-five lists on the show, and later for another segment, "Site of the Night", in which he presented strange websites.

Sargent left The Screen Savers in April 2003, to host his own show, Unscrewed with Martin Sargent, anchoring a newly introduced late-night programming block.

On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV. This move became hugely controversial among loyal fans of TechTV. Around May 6, G4 announced the termination of 250 employees from the San Francisco office by July 10, 2004, allowing approximately 80 to 100 employees to transition to G4's main office in Los Angeles, California if they agreed to relocate there.^[2] Sargent chose to stay with G4 and moved to Los Angeles.

Six months later, on November 11, 2004, G4TechTV canceled Unscrewed and terminated Sargent, along with many other former co-workers from TechTV.^[3]

Exactly one year after his termination, Sargent launched Infected, a comedy podcast distributed by the internet production company Revision3. Infected was hosted by Sargent and "The Gator" (portrayed by co-writer Jay Speiden), produced by Joey Rabier, and was structured as a conversation between co-hosts and producer, with fake "commercials" for various real and fictional products as well as occasional guest callers. Recurring callers included inventor Alex Chiu as well as the fictional characters Johnny O'Banion (portrayed by co-writer/producer Stewart Engesser), a Hollywood reporter and former Loni Anderson paramour, and karate master Rickey Kang (also played by Spieden). O'Banion and Kang were recurring characters on Unscrewed, and Rabier acted as a production assistant on the show and also appeared as his "intern" character for selected skits. The podcast was originally available in audio-only format, then offered an alternative video version consisting of a montage of still photographs relating to the topic discussed and taken at the recording session. The video version has since been offered in full-motion video. Infected was canceled in December 2007, after 50 episodes.

Sargent hosted Web Drifter^[4] and Internet Superstar on Revision3 and Why Today Sucked, on GoTV Network's "Laugh Riot" channel, available for video-enabled cell phones on the Sprint network. Web Drifter began as a pilot originally pitched to Comedy Central, but it was picked up by Revision3 after the cable network passed on the show.^[1]

On January 30, 2008, the Revision3 website released the first episode of Martin Sargent's new show, Internet Superstar.

As of October 27, 2008 he was made redundant as part of Revision3 layoffs.^[5] He has reappeared on Revision3 show 'The Digg Reel' twice since he was laid off, once as acting co-host alongside Kevin Rose while regular host Andrew Bancroft was on vacation. In this appearance he expressed mock-anger that, as part of promotions within the show, other cancelled show 'Pixel Perfect' has been revived, unlike his own shows. He appeared once more on The Digg Reel's 100th episode, in which he jokingly stated that he secretly lived within the walls of the Revision3 building, resulting from his supposed inability to get another job.

Starting February 12, 2009, he and Sarah Lane appeared together in a Podcast on Leo Laporte's TWiT.tv network called This Week in Fun.^[6] The show aired for just shy of a year before going on hiatus in January 2010, following Martin's employment at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. The show was left on good terms with the TWiT network, though they have made no solid plans of returning to production.^[7]

In November 2009, Martin and long-time associate Molly McDonald became engaged.^[8]

Credits[link]

Television[link]

• Call for Help - Contributor (1998–2001)
• The Screen Savers - Contributor (1999–2003)
• Unscrewed with Martin Sargent - Host (2003–2004)
• VH1 40 Greatest Internet Superstars - Contributor (2007)

Podcasts and vidcasts[link]

• Infected - Host (2005–2007)
• DL.TV - Segment Host, CES Special (2006)
• Web Drifter - Host (2007–2008)
• Internet Superstar - Host (2008)
• This WEEK in FUN - Host (2009–2010)

Other[link]

• Wilson Harold - Editor (1992–1993)
• College Pro - Crew Chief (1996)
• PC Computing Magazine - Editor (1998)
• TechTV's Digital Video for the Desktop - Author (2002)
• .net Magazine - Columnist (2007)

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martin Sargent

External links[link]

• This Week In Fun - Martin's former podcast with Sarah Lane
• Web Drifter - Revision3
• Internet Superstar - Revision3
• Martin Sargent on Myspace
• SargeWorld- Martin Sargent's blog

Jim Cramer
Born	James J. Cramer[1] (1955-02-10) February 10, 1955 (age 57)[2] Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Residence	Summit, New Jersey[3]
Alma mater	Harvard College (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Occupation	Television personality, author
Years active	1978–present
Known for	Hosting Mad Money Chairman of TheStreet.com, Inc., CNBC anchor, author
Spouse	Karen Backfisch-Olufsen

James "Jim" J. Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality, a former hedge fund manager, and a best-selling author. Cramer is the host of CNBC's Mad Money and a co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com, Inc.

Family[link]

Cramer married Karen Backfisch-Olufsen, a trader, in 1988,^{[citation needed]} and lives in Summit, New Jersey.^[4]

Early years[link]

Cramer was born to Jewish parents^[5] in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia.^[6] One of his first jobs was selling ice cream at Veterans Stadium during Philadelphia Phillies games.^[7] Cramer went to Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County.^[8]

Biography[link]

Education and early career[link]

Cramer graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a B.A. in government.^[7]

He began his involvement with journalism in college, working for The Harvard Crimson, and rising to become its president. After graduation, Cramer worked in several entry-level reporting jobs. Dating back to March 1, 1978, Cramer worked for the Tallahassee Democrat in Tallahassee, Florida, where he covered the Ted Bundy murders. The then-executive editor, Richard Oppel, says "[Cramer] was like a driving ram. He was great at getting the story."^[9] He then worked as a journalist for The Los Angeles Herald Examiner. Around this time, his apartment was robbed and he was left with nothing more than his car and the things in it; he lived out of his car for about nine months.^{[citation needed]} He also worked for Governor Jerry Brown.^[6]

Cramer was one of the first reporters at American Lawyer.^[10] Cramer later earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School.^[7] During his years at Harvard Law School, Cramer worked as a research assistant for Alan Dershowitz. He assisted Dershowitz's campaign to acquit alleged murderer Claus von Bülow despite the fact that Cramer admitted to himself that von Bülow was "supremely guilty".^[11] Cramer was admitted to the New York Bar in 1985, but his Bar status is currently listed as "suspended." ^[12]

Investing[link]

Cramer started investing in the stock market during his time at law school.^[6] Cramer began promoting his holdings by leaving stock picks on his answering machine, impressing The New Republic owner Martin Peretz, who gave him $500,000 to invest; Cramer earned Peretz $150,000 in two years.^[9]

His track record helped Cramer obtain employment in 1984 as a stock broker with Goldman Sachs' Private Wealth Management^[13] division. Cramer's success in this position led him to found his own hedge fund, Cramer & Co. (later Cramer, Berkowitz, & Co.), in 1987. The fund operated out of the offices of hedge fund pioneer Michael Steinhardt's Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., and early investors included Eliot Spitzer (a Harvard classmate, one of his oldest friends, and former Governor of New York who resigned),^[14] Brill, and Peretz.^[15]

During Cramer's tenure of the fund, from 1988–2000, he had one year of negative returns in 1998. The following year in 1999 the fund returned 47%, and in 2000 28%, beating the S&P 500 by 38 percentage points.^[9] Cramer retired from his hedge fund in 2001, finishing with a 24% average annual return over 14 years and having "routinely [taken] home $10 million a year and more."^[9] The fund was taken over by his former partner Jeff Berkowitz after Cramer's retirement. During that time, he was also an "editor at large" for Smart Money magazine, and was accused of unethically combining his investing and reporting activities when he bought more of stocks that he recommended just before the recommendation article came out, contributing to a $2 million personal gain.^[16] Today, Cramer is barred by CNBC from trading stocks with his personal funds although he makes picks and sells his recommendations.

In 1996, Cramer co-founded TheStreet.com, Inc. with The New Republic editor Martin Peretz, one of his hedge fund's original clients. Cramer is currently a market commentator and adviser to the TheStreet.com, and is its second largest shareholder.^[1] Cramer also manages a charitable trust stock portfolio which is tied to TheStreet.com through a paid subscription service called the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio.^[9]

Cramer currently works on a new project as part of TheStreet.com called MainStreet.com.^{[citation needed]} An earlier project, TheRoad.com, was not successful.^{[citation needed]}

Cramer claimed to be worth $50 to $100 million in October 2005.^[9] In 2009, Cramer received earnings of $461,276 from TheStreet.com.^[1]

Television personality[link]

The cable television program Mad Money with Jim Cramer first aired on CNBC in 2005. According to CNBC's Web site in an article titled, "Mad Money Manifesto" by Jim Cramer, the show's mission statement and Cramer's job

"...is not to tell you what to think, but to teach you how to think about the market like a pro. This show is not about picking stocks. It's not about giving you tips that will make you money overnight – tips are for waiters. Our mission is educational, to teach you how to analyze stocks and the market through the prism of events."

To provide viewers with "the knowledge and the tools that will empower you to be a better investor," Mad Money features many segments, including: The Lightning Round, Game Plan, Execution Decision, Off the Charts, Sell Block, Market Marshmallows, Outrage of the Day, Mad Bull Disease, Am I Diversified, and Mad Mail.^[17]

After being a frequent guest commentator on CNBC in the late 1990s, Cramer co-hosted CNBC shows America Now and Kudlow & Cramer with Lawrence Kudlow in the early 2000s.

Cramer hosted a one-hour radio show, Jim Cramer's Real Money, until December 2006. "Take the money and run" by the Steve Miller Band was the opening intro to each of his radio shows. The show was similar to his Mad Money TV show. He also guest-hosted in the slot caused by the cancellation of Imus in the Morning (MSNBC and WFAN/Westwood One) in May 2007.

On November 13, 2005, Dan Rather did a sit-down interview with Cramer on 60 Minutes. Among the topics of discussion were Cramer's past at his hedge fund; for example, his violent temper, and what finally led him to come to his senses and "calm down."^{[citation needed]} Footage of Cramer at his family home with his daughters and wife was also included.^{[citation needed]} On November 15, 2005, Cramer mentioned on his program that he received hundreds of e-mails after his 60 Minutes interview. This report was taped before Cramer's radio show, Smart Money with Jim Cramer moved to WOR and became syndicated under the CBS Radio banner.

In 2005, Cramer appeared as himself in two episodes of the television series Arrested Development. He appeared to first announce that he had upgraded Bluth Company stock to a "Don't Buy" from a "Triple Sell", and then to say that the stock was not a "Don't Buy" anymore, but a "Risky".

Cramer has also made appearances on NBC's Today, NBC Nightly News, Live with Regis and Kelly, ESPN Classic's Cheap Seats, NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live and NBC's The Apprentice (U.S. Season 7) called "The Celebrity Apprentice".

Cramer also appeared in the 2008 motion picture Iron Man spoofing Stark Industries on his show Mad Money.^[18] and appears in the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.^[19] He also claims to have consulted for the original Wall Street movie by telling the filmmakers how he would get through to Gordon Gekko.^[20]

On March 12, 2009, Jon Stewart interviewed Cramer on The Daily Show^[21] and challenged Cramer's recommendations of Bear Stearns.

On November 3, 2009, Cramer appeared on the Martha Stewart Show to promote his new book,Getting Back to Even. While baking wholewheat bread, he stated that it is a great time to invest in real estate and that he has recently purchased the Debary Inn in Summit, NJ.^{[citation needed]}

Action Alerts charitable trust[link]

In the timeframe of 2002 until May 2009 the performance of Cramer's charitable trust "Action Alerts PLUS" outpaced the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000; while the charitable trust accumulated a return of 31.75%, the S&P 500 had a return of 18.75% and the Russell 2000 has a return of 22.51%. On an annual basis, the trust outperformed the S&P 500 by 7.35% and the Russell 2000 Index by 3.33%. Paul Bolster explains that Cramer beats the market in part because of the excess risk in his picks. “If we adjust for his market risk, we come up with an excess return that is essentially zero,” Bolster said, adding that “zero,” in this case, means his returns are roughly in line with the risk he’s taking on.^[22]

CNBC does not permit Cramer to buy or sell any security he has spoken about on CNBC for the trust for five days following the broadcast. Whenever Cramer is acting within his portfolio or important news about his stocks occur he sends out e-mails to his paying subscribers on TheStreet.com. Whenever mentioning a stock that he holds in his portfolio, he is required to disclose that he owns shares of such company on his CNBC show.^[23]

Selected controversies[link]

Fox News Channel lawsuit[link]

In 2000, Cramer settled a lawsuit with Fox News Channel in which Fox had claimed Cramer reneged on a deal to produce a show for them. Their conflict began when Fox complained that Cramer promoted TheStreet.com's stock on the air.^[24]

Market manipulation[link]

In March 2007, a December 2006 interview from TheStreet.com's "Wall Street Confidential" webcast stirred controversy after it appeared on YouTube.com.^[25] In the video, Cramer described activities used by hedge fund managers to manipulate stock prices – some of debatable legality and others illegal. He described how he could push stocks higher or lower with as little as $5 million in capital when he was running his hedge fund. Cramer said, "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund...When I was positioned short—meaning I needed it down—I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures." He also encouraged hedge funds to engage in this type of activity because it is "a very quick way to make money".^[26]

Cramer stated that everything he did was legal, but that illegal activity is common in the hedge fund industry as well. He also stated that some hedge fund managers spread false rumors to drive a stock down: "What's important when you are in that hedge-fund mode is to not do anything remotely truthful because the truth is so against your view, that it's important to create a new truth, to develop a fiction."^[26] Cramer described a variety of tactics that hedge fund managers use to affect a stock's price. Cramer said that one strategy to keep a stock price down is to spread false rumors to reporters he described as "the Pisanis of the world". The comment was a reference to CNBC correspondent Bob Pisani, who reports from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. "You have to use these guys," said Cramer. He also discussed giving information to "the bozo reporter from The Wall Street Journal" to get an article published.^[27][28] Cramer said this practice, although illegal, is easy to do "because the SEC doesn't understand it."^[29] During the interview Cramer referred to himself as a "banking class hero."^[30]

SEC subpoena[link]

In February 2006, an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into allegations of collusion between short-sellers and a stock research firm led to the serving of subpoenas to TheStreet.com and Cramer, as well as journalists for Dow Jones and Marketwatch.com. The SEC then began to back away from the subpoenas, indicating it had no intention of enforcing them after lawyers for Dow Jones said they would not comply. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox rebuked the SEC's staff attorneys for filing subpoenas on two Dow Jones reporters without first consulting him or the other top commissioners. Cox issued a statement saying neither he nor any of the SEC's four other commissioners were aware of the subpoenas, which he called "highly unusual."^[31]

The allegations had been raised publicly and in a lawsuit against Gradient by Overstock.com chief executive Patrick M. Byrne. In May 2007, it was revealed that the SEC had subpoenaed Byrne in May 2006, in connection with an investigation of the company.^[32]

Market performance[link]

Cramer is the founder, former owner and former Senior Partner of Cramer Berkowitz, a hedge fund where Cramer reported a compounded annual "rate of return of 24% after all fees for 15 years" at Cramer Berkowitz. He retired from his hedge fund in 2001, where he finished with a self reported 36% return in 2001.^[33]

On August 3, 2007, Cramer made a plea for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to cut interest rates supposedly because of comments he was getting from investment banks, and their concern about adjustable-rate mortgage borrowers increasing loan rates.^[34]

On July 8, 2008, in an article on TheStreet.com entitled, "Look At The Facts"^[35] Cramer said, "The losses are increasing, the auction-rate preferreds are now biting, the mortgage implode-a-meter now measures how many home-builders are going under."

On "Hardball with Chris Matthews" for September 19, 2008, Cramer stated "It's not too late to be on the pom-pom...the sideline" in regards to home teaser loans.^[36] Cramer spoke again on the Today Show on October 6, 2008, suggesting to investors, "Whatever money you need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market."^[37]

On September 22, 2008, Wall Street Journal best-selling author Eric Tyson, criticized Cramer's stock picks and his performance in general.^[38]

An August 20, 2007, article in Barrons stated that within the select time frame of the previous two years, "his picks haven't beaten the market. Over the past two years, viewers holding Cramer's stocks would be up 12% while the Dow rose 22% and the S&P 500 16%."^[39] CNBC disputed the magazine's findings.^[39] In a February 9, 2009, story, Barrons further reported that betting against Cramer's Buy recommendations using options in the short term could yield 25% in the initial month.^[40]

Cramer's responses to criticism[link]

The White House[link]

On March 2, 2009, Cramer drew the attention of some critics after his evaluation of President Obama’s spending plans and the administration’s handling of the banking crisis. Cramer’s name came up on March 3 during a White House press briefing after Cramer said that Obama was responsible for “the greatest wealth destruction I have seen by a president.”^[41] An offended White House shot back.^[42] Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "If you turn on a certain program it's geared to a very small audience. I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to make some of the statements." When pressed further by NBC's Tom Costello, Gibbs said, "You can go back and look at any number of statements he's made in the past about the economy and wonder where some of the backup for those are, too."

On March 5, 2009, Cramer responded to the White House.^[43] He said, "Huh? Backup? Look at the incredible decline in the stock market, in all indices, since the inauguration of the president, with the drop accelerating when the budget plan came to light because of the massive fear and indecision the document sowed: Raising taxes on the eve of what could be a second Great Depression, destroying the profits in health care companies, tinkering with the mortgage deduction at a time when U.S. house price depreciation is behind much of the world's morass and certainly the devastation affecting our banks, and pushing an aggressive cap and trade program that could raise the price of energy for millions of people."

Cramer questioned criticism he received which he explained makes him "uncomfortable being in the crosshairs of columnists and comedians I enjoy."^[44] Cramer asked, "So, why after toiling in the cable wilderness for four years with Mad Money am I the target of the wrath of the Obama clan, and the darling, albeit surely momentary, of the Obama-critics? After all, my criticism of Obama's handling of the economic crisis is a lot less pointed than my withering August 2007 'They Know Nothing' meltdown^[45] against Ben Bernanke^[46] and the previous administration's handling of the economic crisis."

Frank Rich[link]

Referring to March 8, 2009, charges leveled against Cramer by New York Times columnist Frank Rich, Cramer said that he does not understand how Obama and his staff plan to raise taxes, institute cap-and-trade limitations and rework the health-care system all during a recession.^[47] The article says: "It isn’t that Cramer disagrees with Obama’s vision for the country – he even agrees with taxing the rich – but now is not the time to put those plans into action. The president needs to solve our housing, employment and financial problems, and only then turn his attention to health care and changing the mortgage deduction."

Bear Stearns recommendation[link]

On the March 11, 2008, episode of Cramer's show Mad Money, a viewer named Peter submitted the question "Should I be worried about Bear Stearns in terms of liquidity and get my money out of there?" Cramer responded "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble. If anything, they're more likely to be taken over. Don't move your money from Bear."^[48][49] On March 14, 2008, Bear Stearns stock fell 92% on news of a Fed bailout and $2/share takeover by JPMorgan.^[50] On March 17, 2008, Cramer claimed his statements were made in regards to the liquidity of Bear Stearns brokerage accounts as opposed to Bear Stearns common stock.^[51] Cramer stated he was not recommending the common stock but allaying concerns about the account holder's liquidity held in a Bear Stearns brokerage account. Cramer later wrote about the incident: "I did tell an emailer that his deposit in his account at Bear Stearns was safe, but through a clever sound bite, (Jon) Stewart, and subsequently (Frank) Rich—neither of whom have bothered to listen to the context of the pulled quote—pass off the notion of account safety as an out-and-out buy recommendation. The absurdity astounds me. If you called Mad Money and asked me about Citigroup, I would tell you that the common stock might be worthless, but I would never tell you to pull your money out of the bank because I was worried about its solvency. Your money is safe in Citi as I said it was in Bear. The fact that I was right rankles me even more."^[52]

Michael Lewis, a journalist for the U.K.-based Evening Standard news Web site, states that TheStreet.com listed Bear Stearns as a "Buy" at $62 per share on March 11, 2008, which was the same day as the caller's question and a day before the collapse of Bear Stearns.^[53] However, TheStreet.com^[54]--the web site quote that shows the ratings history for actual changes that Cramer makes—indicates that Cramer changed Bear Stearns rating to a "Sell" on February 5, 2008. On his March 12, 2009 appearance on the Daily Show, Cramer admitted he made mistakes on his Bear Stearns calls.^[55]

Jon Stewart[link]

On March 12, 2009, Cramer appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.^[56] Stewart reiterated earlier claims regarding the CNBC host's "silly and/or embarrassing and/or stupid financial observations."^[57] Moreover, he claimed CNBC shirked its journalistic duty by believing corporate lies, rather than being an investigative "powerful tool of illumination."^[58] For his part, Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but acknowledged that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse: "We all should have seen it more." ^[59]

Stewart also discussed how short-selling was detrimental to the markets and investors. Cramer admitted to Stewart that short-selling was detrimental, stated his opposition to it, and claimed that he had never engaged in it, which contradicts earlier statements in which he described going short while managing a hedge fund. In a December 2006 interview from TheStreet.com's "Wall Street Confidential" webcast Cramer said, "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund...When I was positioned short—meaning I needed it down—I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures."^[26] He said, "I will say this: I am trying to expose this stuff, exactly what you guys do, and I've been trying to get the regulators to look at it."^[60] However, Stewart played several video clips from 2006 where Cramer discussed the spreading of false rumors to drive down stock prices and encouraged short-selling by hedge funds as a means to generate returns.^[61] At one point in a clip from December 22, 2006 he said, "I would encourage anyone in a hedge fund to do it." He called it a very quick way to make money and very satisfying. He continued, "By the way, no one else in the world would ever admit that, but I don't care, and again, I'm not gonna say it on TV." ^[59] Stewart responded, "I want the Jim Cramer on CNBC to protect me from that Jim Cramer."^[59] Cramer again admitted that he can do better, and that he should try to change. The interview ended when Stewart pointedly suggested: “Maybe we can remove the ‘financial expert’ and the ‘In Cramer We Trust’ and start getting back to fundamentals on the reporting, as well, and I can go back to making fart noises and funny faces.” Cramer responded: “I think we make that deal right here.”^[62]

Response to pundits[link]

"The pundits," Cramer explained on March 9, 2009, in a MainStreet article, "who haven't paid attention to anything I have been saying or writing for the past 18 months are all over me."^[63] Cramer said the pundits "won't engage in the merits of, say, favoring Tier 1 capital for the banks vs. common equity, or forbearing on the banks to work the situation out over time because the banks can be profitable if we have some patience. They just attack me."^[64] Cramer suggested, "It's time to get serious. It's time to take the issue from the pundits and from the left and right, and put it where it belongs: serious non-ideological debate to put out the real firestorm, the collapse of the economy from Wall Street to Main Street and the ensuing Great Wealth Destruction for all."

Bibliography[link]

• Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even ISBN 978-1-4391-5801-2
• Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer) ISBN 978-1-4165-5885-9
• Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich ISBN 1-4165-3790-2
• Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World ISBN 0-7432-2489-2
• Confessions of a Street Addict ISBN 0-7432-2487-6
• You Got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How You Can Prosper ISBN 0-7432-4690-X

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Kurtz, Howard (2000). The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street's Game of Money, Media, and Manipulation. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-86879-2. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: James Cramer

Biographies[link]

• Jim Cramer biography on CNBC.com
• Jim Cramer biography on TheStreet.com
• Action Alerts PLUS on TheStreet.com

Notable Cramer sources[link]

• Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer Madcap Recap
• Mad Money TV show recapped Nightly Verbatim Recaps
• TheStreet.com, Cramer's investment website.
• Stockpickr Stock market social networking site.
• Articles written by Jim Cramer on MainStreet.com
• In the Money, continued, Balance Sheet, article about Cramer and other law alumni, from the online Harvard Law Bulletin
• Jim Cramer at the Internet Movie Database
• Betting on the Market – PBS Frontline interview with Jim Cramer
• Jim Cramer's Picks at Seeking Alpha
• To The Moon
• Maxim: Ask Jim Cramer, Maxim's interview with Cramer, and Top 2 Chinese Stocks Right Now
• Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2009 – Jim Cramer
• Jim Cramer on the Iraqi Dinar – on DinarProfits.com

Marjorie Heins is an activist, writer, and founder of the Free Expression Policy Project (http://fepproject.org/), a U.S. based organization dedicated to exploring challenges to free expression from censorship, media regulation, and intellectual property laws. She began the project in 2000 while at the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC).

Heins founded and directed the Arts Censorship Project at the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991-1998, during the years in which arts censorship were a particularly controversial and active field. During that time, she worked on a number of high-profile arts censorship matters. Heins was co-counsel on the ACLU's Reno v. ACLU brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately led to striking the Communications Decency Act as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. Heins also worked on Karen Finley's lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Arts.^[1]

In the 1980s as staff counsel at the Massachusetts chapter of the ACLU, she litigated numerous civil rights matters, including LGBT rights and free speech. One matter involved a litigation against Boston University for the discharge of the Dean of Students on the basis of her complaints about discrimination on the part of the university.^[2] This story is told in Cutting the Mustard (1988).

Heins was chief of the Civil Rights Division of the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts and visiting professor at Boston College Law School. She was a journalist in the 1970s in San Francisco on publications including the underground San Francisco Express Times, and an anti-war activist during the Vietnam War.

Heins was admitted to the New York bar in 1993 and the Massachusetts bar in 1978. She received her J.D. (magna cum laude) from Harvard Law School in 1978, and a B.A., with distinction, from Cornell University in 1967. She is currently an adjunct professor at New York University. She has also taught at the University of California - San Diego and the American University of Paris.

In 2011, Heins was a fellow at the Frederic Ewen Academic Freedom Center at New York University, conducting research for her forthcoming book, Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge.

Bibliography[link]

Books

• Not in Front of the Children: 'Indecency', Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth (2001) (ISBN 0-8090-7399-4)
• Sex, Sin and Blasphemy: A Guide to America's Censorship Wars (1993; rev. 1998) (ISBN 1-56584-048-8)
• Cutting the Mustard: Affirmative Action and the Nature of Excellence (1988), with Pat Oliphant, illustrator (ISBN 0-571-12974-9)
• "Banning Words: A Comment on 'Words that Wound'" 18 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 585 (1983)
• Strictly Ghetto Property: The Story of Los Siete de la Raza (1972) (ISBN 0-87867-010-6)

Reports and Articles

• Indecency: The ongoing American debate over sex, children, free speech, and dirty words (1997; report)
• AlterNet Articles

Notable Cases Litigated[link]

• Urofsky v. Gilmore, 216 F.3d 401 (4th Cir. 2000) (argued for professors challenging constitutionality of Virginia law restricting access to sexually explicit material on work computers)
• Finley v. National Endowment for the Arts, 100 F.3d 671 (9th Cir. 1996) (ACLU co-counsel for artists challenging NEA funding criteria as impermissibly vague)
• American Civil Liberties Union v. Reno, 929 F.Supp. 824 (E.D.Pa. 1996) (ACLU co-counsel for coalition challenging statute restricting "indecent speech" on the Internet)

Awards and honors[link]

• Eli M. Oboler Award (2002, American Library Association) for best published work in intellectual freedom for Not in Front of the Children (2001)
• Luther McNair Award (1991, Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts) for significant contributions to civil liberties
• "First Amendment Hero" (1992 & 1993, Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression)

References[link]

1. ^ Finley v. National Endowment of the Arts, 100 F.3d 671 (9th Cir. 1996).
2. ^ Barbara Lightner, "Interview with Marjorie Heins", IOBA Standard, v.3, no. 3 (Aug. 2002).

External links[link]

• FEPProject.org at the NYU Brennan Center for Justice

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2011)

Chun-Li (春麗（チュン・リー）, Chun Rī^?, simplified Chinese: 春丽; traditional Chinese: 春麗; pinyin: Chūn Lì)^[1] is a video game character produced by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II, she has since appeared as a player character in nearly all subsequent games in the series.^[2]

An undercover Interpol agent, Chun-Li enters Street Fighter II 's fighting tournament as a way of getting to its founder, M. Bison. She seeks to avenge her father, who was murdered while investigating Bison's crime syndicate, Shadaloo. Chun-Li is notable for being the first female playable character in a fighting game,^[2][3] earning her a status of the "first lady of fighting games" among the genre's enthusiasts.^[4][5]

In video games[link]

[edit] Street Fighter series

Chun-Li was first introduced in 1991 in the original version of Street Fighter II as one of the game's eight playable characters as well as the sole female character in the game before the addition of Cammy. Chun-Li's backstory centers on her quest to avenge the death of her father, an undercover police agent who disappeared while investigating M. Bison's organization. In her ending, she fulfills her revenge and decides to return to her life as an ordinary girl. In Super Street Fighter II (1993), the player is given the option to make Chun-Li return to ordinary life or continue her work as a police officer.

Chun-Li is brought back in Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams (1995), which is set prior to the events of the Street Fighter II. She is depicted as an undercover International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) agent who is after M. Bison and his drug cartel. In the first Alpha game Chun-Li is dressed in a Chinese acrobatics outfit, although the two sequels: Alpha 2 (1996) and Alpha 3 (1998) feature Chun-Li's original outfit from SFII as an alternate version of the character with alternate special abilities and super combos.

She appears as a playable character in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (1997), the third iteration of Street Fighter III, as one of five new playable characters that were added, making her one of the few Street Fighter characters to appear in all major sub-series. Set years after the Street Fighter II, she has retired from street fighting to teach martial arts to young children,^[6] but is forced to return to law enforcement after one of her students is abducted by Urien.

Chun-Li appears in Street Fighter IV (2008) as one of the returning fighters. Her in-game narrative shows her at a current crossroads in her life, eventually returning to both street fighting and law enforcement.

In the 1996-1997 Street Fighter EX sub-series, Chun-Li's story is similar to that of Street Fighter II, in which she is a police officer investigating Shadaloo in search of her missing father, instead of avenging his death.

Other games[link]

As one of the symbolic Street Fighter characters, Chun Li has made appearances in many other Capcom-produced fighting games, including in all titles of the long-running Marvel vs. Capcom (since X-Men vs. Street Fighter in 1996) and in the Capcom vs. SNK series (also in SNK's SNK vs. Capcom games), and in 2010's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. She and Ryu are the only Street Fighter characters to appear in every other crossover title by Capcom, including the 2005 tactical role-playing game Namco × Capcom (where they are partnered with Cammy) and the 2012 fighting game Street Fighter X Tekken.

Chun-Li appears in the 1996 puzzle game Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and its 1998 sequel Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, and in the pachinko slot game Chun-Li Ni Makase China! (the first game that features her in the starring role). She also makes small cameo appearances in the 1993 beat'em-up Final Fight 2 and the 1993 role-playing game Breath of Fire (the cameo appearance featured on Expert Gamer's 1998 list of The 50 Greatest Video Game Secrets^[7]), and in the 2008 platform game Mega Man 9. Alternate costumes inspired by her character were featured in the 2006 action-adventure Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (as an unlockable costume swap for Ohatsu) and in Sony's LittleBigPlanet (as a Sackgirl design released as downloadable content in 2008).^[8]

Character design[link]

In the Street Fighter II sub-series and most of her later appearances, Chun-Li wears a qipao, an early 20th century Chinese dress.^[4] In the first version of Street Fighter II, Chun-Li was originally depicted wearing an orange qipao instead of blue.^[2] The dress is modified to allow a far wider range of movement than a generic qipao. Her ensemble also includes a pair of white combat boots and brown pantyhose. She wears her hair in "ox horns",^[2] with silk brocades and ribbons in her hair. Another familiar part of her ensemble are the large spiked bracelets she wears on her wrists.

In the Street Fighter Alpha games (set during the time period before Street Fighter II), Chun-Li wears an embroidered vest, a unitard,^[2] and athletic sneaker shoes. She wears her ox horns unadorned. She also wears her original Street Fighter II outfit in her X-ism mode in Alpha 3.

In Street Fighter IV, Chun-Li's alternate outfit consists of black night gown with gold accents at the bottom. She wears a black and gold sash held by a red rope-like belt. She wears her ox horns unadorned, just like in her Alpha appearance, only this time it's held by red ropes with golden balls at the tip. The outfit is completed with red shoes, gold earrings and black and gold bracelets. The outfit resembles the clothes she wore in one of the episodes of the cartoon series.

Chun-Li is especially known for her muscular legs, while depictions of the rest of her body are more variable. In the Street Fighter Alpha games, where she wore a sleeveless, tight outfit, her arms and upper body were visibly much stronger than those of any other female character in the franchise^[2], but many artists choose to depict her as petite and slim, in official and unofficial artworks alike, drawing only her legs strong due to her emphasis on kicking moves. Chun-Li was designed with an exceptionally strong physique because she was the sole woman among a roster of powerful male characters in Street Fighter II. To overcome this perceived imbalance, she was devised as a character who had mastered Chinese kenpo and really pushed her body to the limit so that she could compete with such a cast of large and imposing men.^[9]

Appearances in other media[link]

Live-action[link]

Chun-Li, who is given the full name of Chun-Li Zang (simplified Chinese: 臧 春丽; traditional Chinese: 臧 春麗; pinyin: Zāng Chūn Lì) in the film, was portrayed in the 1994 action film Street Fighter by actress Ming-Na. She poses as a television reporter in order to infiltrate the nation of Shadaloo and kill M. Bison, a warlord who murdered her father during a peasant uprising during his days as a drug lord. She allies herself with E. Honda and Balrog, a former sumo wrestler and boxer, respectively, whose reputations were ruined by Bison's mafia connections, and later forms an initially uneasy alliance with Ryu and Ken, who are working with Guile to infiltrate Bison's fortress and lead Guile there. At the end of the film, she helps Ryu and Ken free Bison's hostages, and in return for her service, Guile promises her an exclusive interview.

In 2006, Hyde Park Entertainment and Capcom announced its intention to produce another film adaptation with the storyline to focus on Chun-Li, who was given the full name of Chun-Li Huang and became the main protagonist in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li,^[10] played by Kristin Kreuk.^[10] Street Fighter was released in 2009 for the 20th anniversary of the game series,^[11] While the games simply give Chun-Li a Chinese nationality with no further details, she was portrayed as a Chinese-American in the film, having a Chinese father and a white mother.

Animation[link]

Chun-Li is a central character in the 1994 anime film Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. An Interpol agent, she is investigating M. Bison's organization of Shadowlaw, which is suspected of murdering several diplomats. She requests to work with Guile to investigate Bison's organization. Guile is initially reluctant to work with her, more eager to pursue Bison himself. By the end of the movie, however, they have become inseparable. She is voiced by Miki Fujitani in the Japanese release. In the English dubbing adaptation by Manga Entertainment, she is voiced by Lia Sargent. In a famous instance of fan service, an explicit scene shows Chun-Li showering in her apartment as a Shadaloo assassin, Vega, arrives to kill her. The shower scene has been censored to varying degrees in versions of the English dub.^[12] Vega ends up having been kicked through a wall and hurtling several stories to the ground, but Chun-Li succumbs to her injuries and slips into a coma. She remains hospitalized for the rest of the movie, as distraught Guile promises her that he will make M. Bison pay. Following Bison's defeat at the hands of Ryu and Ken, Chun-Li pulls a prank on Guile by making it appear as if she has died while he was away.

Chun-Li was a regular character in the USA Network's animated television series Street Fighter. She was depicted as a reporter (as she was in the 1994 movie) and was voiced by Donna Yamamoto.

In the 1997-1998 anime series Street Fighter II V, Chun-Li appears as the spirited tour guide to Ken and Ryu. Her character in this adaptation is a far cry from the world's strongest woman, since she is mostly a kung-fu student under the guidance of her father, the highest-ranked police chief in Hong Kong. Chun-Li plays a sizable role in the series' finale, when she is brainwashed by Bison's psycho power. Ken is shown having growing feelings for her, as he takes her on a shopping spree and even buys her an engagement ring in the first part of the series. In the Japanese version, she is voiced by Chisa Yokoyama. In the Animaze dub, she is voiced by Lia Seargent, while in the ADV Films version she is played by Junie Hoang and later on by Tamara Lo.

Chun-Li also appears in the 1999 anime OVA Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, as an Interpol agent who investigates a mad scientist called Sadler that works for Shadaloo. She believes the trail can lead her to her father, who at the time, was missing and presumed alive. She assists Ryu and Ken in finding a boy named Shun, kidnapped by Sadler to force him to succumb to the Satsui no Hadō. Yumi Tōma voices her in the Japanese version, and once again Lia Seargent provides her voice for this OVA.

Manga[link]

In a Street Fighter II manga published in the 1990s (by Masaomi Kanzaki), Chun-Li remains in her established role of an interpol agent investigating Bison, yet frequently expresses her desire to earn Ryu's praise as a genuine fighter. As the story progresses, Chun-Li participates in a tournament arranged by Shadaloo, eventually coming up against Vega, portrayed here as her father's killer. She defeats Vega, but she is exhausted from the fight and is pulled from the tournament. Her injuries prevent her from doing much when Ryu and Bison confront one another, except call off an air strike by Interpol.

Chun-Li also appears in Masahiko Nakahira's 1996-1997 manga Street Fighter: Sakura Ganbaru!, in which she participates in a police raid to an illegal underground fighting circle. Later on, she follows the trails that lead her to an assassin which turns out to be Gen, from whom she suffers an utter defeat.

In the manga adaptations of Street Fighter Alpha, Chun- Li is again an agent of the Interpol as she is in almost all iterations save for the live action film. She encounters Ryu, who has fallen from grace and had hired himself out as a bodyguard to drug smugglers. Chun-Li winds up befriending him and Birdie as well as Ken, and rescues Cammy from being captured by Sodom. Shadaloo is once again responsible for the death of her father, though the exact identity of the killer has yet to be revealed.

Comics[link]

In the 1990s, Malibu Comics produced a short-lived series of Street Fighter comics, which featured Chun-Li as a starring character. She is depicted as having known Ryu and Ken since her late teens, as well as having a romantic interest in Ryu. The story primarily focuses not on Chun-Li or Ryu in particular, but rather on the events which follow the murder of Ken Masters. Due to the comic's abrupt end (it was cancelled after three issues), the storyline was never resolved.

When UDON picked up the comic book license for the Street Fighter franchise for American distribution, Chun-Li again became a central character, involved in the hunt for Bison and Shadaloo. However, in the new comic, it is not Bison who is the killer of Chun-Li's father, but rather Cammy, prior to her being freed from Bison's control. Chun-Li battles Cammy when they meet face to face for the first time and ultimately forgives Cammy and turns her sights on Bison himself. Chun-Li also meets Cammy for the second time (issue #11) and formally wins against her. Eventually, she receives an invitation from Shadaloo to enter a tournament being held by Bison. The comic appears to be mixing elements of the various games together and Chun-Li's mode of dress changes several times throughout the UDON comics, from the outfits worn in Street Fighter Alpha, to her more traditional qipao from the Street Fighter II games.

In 2008, UDON also released a four-issue special miniseries Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li, which focuses on a younger Chun-Li and one of her first assignments for the Hong Kong police, when she was working with her partner Po-lin, a young policewoman who has a very personal score to settle with Shadaloo.

Merchandise and other appearances[link]

Scores of Chun-Li figures were produced by various manufacturers.^[13] Artworks of her were also featured on an officially licenced animated Nubytech/UDON joypad for the PlayStation 2,^[14] and a Mad Catz wireless joypad for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[15]

Chun-Li was played by cross-dressing Jackie Chan in the 1993 live-action City Hunter movie during the Street Fighter II spoof scene.^[16] In the season 6 (2010) Halloween special of the animated series American Dad, Toshi's older sister Akiko goes trick-or-treating as Chun-Li.^[17]

Reception[link]

Chun-Li is widely regarded as one of the most popular characters in the series and was voted number one in Capcom's own 2002 poll of top 85 characters for the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter.^[18] She was ranked IGN third in IGN's 2009 list of top Street Fighter characters, noting that while sexism is factored into her initial design, she has "come a long way over the years. She's by far the most popular female fighting game character out there, and if you try to start naming off better-known women in videogaming period, you're going to wind up with a pretty short list."^[19] GameDaily ranked her as number one on their 2009 list of top Street Fighter characters of all time, praising her character evolution and for balanced gameplay.^[20] The same site ranked her as second in their 2008 list of top Capcom characters of all time and as the favorite character from the Street Fighter series.^[21] UGO Networks ranked her as third on their 2010 list of top Street Fighter characters, adding that as the first female fighting game character, Chun-Li "was one of few female characters in the early 90s not cast in a role of damsel in distress, but instead showed that female characters could fight just as same as their male counterparts."^[22] She is also a popular subject of cosplay.^[23]

Chun-Li is also often appearing in the top lists for the fighting game genre, all video games, and in even fiction in general. She was awarded the title of the "Hottest Babe of 1992" by Electronic Gaming Monthly, tying with Blaze from Streets of Rage.^[24] Spike featured her in their 2008's contest "Top 10 Video Game Vixens" at number four, citing a preference for her muscular thighs.^[25] In Game Informer's 2009 list of top ten best fighting game characters Chun-Li was seventh.^[26] UGO placed her as ninth on their list of top "videogame hotties", stating "Chun-Li's female presence and early dominance of the fighting game genre propelled her into the minds of many early fanboys."^[27] In addition, UGO ranked her as number one on their 2011 list of fighting games' finest female fighters, stating "For the record: There's nothing wrong with Chun-Li's thighs, and they are definitely not 'too big',"^[28] also including her in their list of "hottest fictional women of 2012".^[5] In 2009, she was included in Manolith's list of the 25 "hottest" video game female protagonists, with a comment that "Chun Li is possibly the most absolutely loved and best remembered of all characters from the fighting game that birthed all other fighting games."^[29] In 2010, CraveOnline listed her as one of top ten "hottest girls in gaming", stating "For millions of early-generation gamers, Capcom's arcade release of Street Fighter II was the very first real taste of a video-game crush."^[30] Similarly, Videogamer.com included her in the 2010 list of top ten "video game crushes", noting that gamers have loved her since 1992.^[31] Mania Entertainment put her second in the 2010's list of "video game women that kick ass".^[32] In 2011, Complex ranked her naked appearance in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie as seventh on the list of the "hottest cartoon women" of all time.^[33]

Chun-Li's return in the Street Fighter III: Third Strike has been labelled as the main and best addition to the game due to her popularity.^[34][35] Nevertheless, she has been noted to be one of the most overpowered characters from the game alongside Ken and Yun.^[36][37] There was also some negative reception. In 2011, BeefJack featured her among the five game characters who are supposed to be sexy but turn out awkward, comparing her legs to "those of a thoroughbred race horse."^[38]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Japan portal
	Video games portal
	Fictional characters portal

• Chun-Li - The Street Fighter Wiki
• Chun-Li at the Internet Movie Database