text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}

The epoch of full helium reionization was a major transition for the intergalactic medium (IGM).
It likely began at $z>3.5$, possibly as early as $z \gtrsim 4$ \citep{lidz10,becker11,bolton12}, and depending on the sightline it completed at $z \sim 2.7$--$3.3$, as determined by the transition from a \ion{He}{2} Gunn-Peterson trough \citep{gunn65} to a \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ forest \citep[e.g.,][]{shull10,syphers11a,worseck11a}.
Reionization of helium was thus delayed versus that of hydrogen at $z>6$ \citep{fan06}, as it required higher-energy photons produced by quasars, which did not become numerous until later \citep{hopkins07}.
The most useful and direct probe of the helium reionization epoch has proved to be observations of the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ Gunn-Peterson trough, along very rare sightlines that are free of substantial hydrogen absorption and thus show quasar continua extending to the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ break ($304$~\AA\ rest frame).
Only a few percent of $z \sim 3$ quasar sightlines have small enough \ion{H}{1} column densities to allow such observations \citep{moller90,zheng05}, and finding these ``\ion{He}{2} quasars'' has been a laborious task.

Other methods of observing the epoch of \ion{He}{2} reionization are more indirect, examining either the \ion{H}{1} Ly$\alpha$ forest or metal systems.
Helium reionization injects a substantial amount of energy into the IGM, which may be observed as broader \ion{H}{1} Ly$\alpha$ forest lines \citep[e.g.,][]{ricotti00,schaye00,becker11} or lower average Ly$\alpha$ forest opacity \citep[e.g.,][]{bernardi03,faucher-giguere08}.
Variations of forest line width with redshift are disputed \citep{mcdonald01,kim02,meiksin10}, and while there appears to be a real opacity dip at $z \simeq 3.2$, its interpretation is not straightforward \citep{bolton09a,mcquinn09}.
Measurements of IGM metal line widths could break the thermal/non-thermal broadening degeneracy and yield firmer indirect constraints, but these are as yet observationally impossible in the necessary density regime \citep{meiksin10}.
Optical depth ratios of metal species whose ionization potentials straddle the \ion{He}{2} Lyman limit (54.4~eV, 228~\AA) may show a change in the UV background in $z \sim 3$--4 that is possibly associated with helium reionization \citep{songaila98,agafonova07}, but this observational result is controversial \citep{kim02a,aguirre04}, and such a change is not predicted in some models due to inhomogeneities in the UV background or in metallicity \citep{furlanetto09a,bolton11}.
Helium Gunn-Peterson trough studies, while unable to probe the early stages of helium reionization \citep[$x_{\rm He\,II} \gtrsim 10$\%;][]{mcquinn09a,syphers11b}, are therefore the most direct probe of its later stages.

For many years, only a few \ion{He}{2} quasars were known, but techniques cross matching large quasar catalogs with {\it GALEX} UV photometry have greatly increased the efficiency of finding such quasars, from $\sim$3--5\% to $>$50\% \citep{syphers09b,syphers09a,worseck11}, and now in this paper to $\sim$80\%.
Verification spectra of quasars on these cross-match lists requires observed-frame far-UV (FUV) observations, and for many years prior to the installation of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph \citep[COS;][]{green11,osterman11}, far-UV observations were limited to the Advanced Camera for Surveys/Solar Blind Channel (ACS/SBC) prism and $\lambda > 1250$~\AA.
This meant that \ion{He}{2} quasars could be observed only at redshifts $z > 3.1$, and with very low spectral resolution ($R \sim 50$--$400$).
With some notable exceptions, many of the \ion{He}{2} quasars verified with the ACS prism are faint, and thus less attractive targets for long COS observations.
This is particularly true because COS must acquire targets in the near UV, where these quasars tend to be fainter, and where COS has relatively high backgrounds.
(However, these targets are not nearly so faint in the FUV as initially thought.
The ACS flux calibration was probably a factor of $\sim$3 low; see Section \ref{sec:obs}.)

The advent of COS has allowed substantial progress, from very high quality reobservations of known \ion{He}{2} quasars \citep{shull10} to the discovery of some new lower-redshift \ion{He}{2} quasars \citep[$z \lesssim 3.0$;][]{worseck11a}.
However, the number of \ion{He}{2} quasars known remains small, and since many of those are fairly faint or at low redshift (and thus have very little of their Gunn-Peterson troughs and helium Ly$\alpha$ forests covered by COS), it is highly desirable to find new \ion{He}{2} quasars.
There are strong variations between sightlines, seen in the well-known \ion{He}{2} quasars HE2347$-$4243 \citep{reimers97,shull10}, HS1700$+$6416 \citep{davidsen96,fechner06}, Q0302$-$003 \citep{jakobsen94,heap00}, and recently reconfirmed \citep{worseck11a}, so substantial numbers are necessary to draw general conclusions.

In this paper we report the discovery of 13 new \ion{He}{2} quasars, with redshifts ranging from $2.82$ to $3.77$, including targets much brighter in the far UV than many of the previously known \ion{He}{2} quasars.
A number of these are well suited to more detailed investigation with longer COS observations.
In Section \ref{sec:obs} we discuss the observations, and instrumental subtleties including geocoronal emission and background subtraction (the appendix gives more detail on the latter point).
Section \ref{sec:results} presents the results of our search for new \ion{He}{2} quasars, and the significance of our success using our UV--optical cross-correlation technique to target such quasars.
We conclude in Section \ref{sec:conclusion}.

\section{Observations}
\label{sec:obs}

We selected targets from the catalogs of \citet{syphers09b}, which were compiled from cross-correlation of optical quasar catalogs (primarily the Sloan Digital Sky Survey [SDSS]; \citealp{york00}) with {\it GALEX} UV catalogs \citep{morrissey07}.
Attempts at finding \ion{He}{2} quasars relying only on optical catalogs have success rates of only $\sim$5\% \citep[e.g.,][]{zheng05}, while UV--optical cross-correlation catalogs boost that to $\sim$50\% \citep{syphers09b}, or, using the more refined criteria of this work, to $\sim$80\%.
We briefly describe our selection criteria here; for more details, see \citep{syphers09b,syphers09a}.

We begin with catalogs of spectroscopically confirmed quasars, using the SDSS DR7 quasar catalog \citep{schneider10} and the heterogenous compilation of \citet{veron-cetty10}.
These quasars are then matched to the {\it GALEX} GR4$+$5 UV source catalog, using a maximum match radius of 3$''$.
We match separately to FUV and NUV sources---the FUV band covers $1340$~\AA~$ \lesssim \lambda \lesssim 1790$~\AA, with an effective wavelength of $1539$~\AA, and the NUV band covers $1770$~\AA~$\lesssim \lambda \lesssim 2830$~\AA, with an effective wavelength of $2316$~\AA\ \citep{morrissey07}.
Matching {\it GALEX} to Monte Carlo quasar catalogs that have arcminute-scale offsets from their true positions, we estimated a background false-match rate of $\simeq$30\% in our 3$''$ catalog.
In practice, we preferred targets at $r<2''$ to reduce our false matches, but $\sim$10\% of true matches are located in $2'' < r < 3''$, and given the rare nature of \ion{He}{2} quasars, we choose some higher-quality candidates in this region.
Beyond $3''$, there are a negligible number of true matches.
In previous work we required detection only in one UV band, which means that a few matches were spurious UV sources, while others were true NUV matches that lacked an FUV counterpart due to an intervening hydrogen Lyman-limit system (LLS).
For the survey in this work, we required matches to both {\it GALEX} UV bands, boosting our success rate to $\sim$80\% (discussed in more detail in Section \ref{sec:match_rate}).

Note that the {\it GALEX} imaging data consist of three primary surveys of varying depth.
The shallow all-sky imaging survey (AIS) covers a large area, but some of our fainter \ion{He}{2} quasars are below its detection limit ($\sim$6~$\times 10^{-17}$~erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$~\AA$^{-1}$ at 3$\sigma$, and for 5$\sigma$, $\sim$50~$\times 10^{-17}$~erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$~\AA$^{-1}$).
Some \ion{He}{2} quasars may therefore go undetected if they are covered only by AIS imaging, and not by the medium or deep imaging surveys (MIS and DIS).
This is not a concern for low redshift ($2.7 \lesssim z \lesssim 3$), where such faint \ion{He}{2} quasars would not add much to our knowledge, but it is a concern for high redshift ($z \gtrsim 3.5$), where even our best confirmed \ion{He}{2} quasars are relatively faint.

In {\it HST} GO 12178, we observed 16 potential \ion{He}{2} quasars from our list of candidates with the low-resolution FUV grating of COS, G140L ($R \sim 2000$--3000), most for one orbit and some for two.
The data were reduced using CALCOS 2.13.6.
We coadded exposures with custom software that flatfields the data, taking into account spectrum defects like the dips due to shadows from the grid of wires placed above the detector to improve its quantum efficiency.
Observation details are presented in Table~\ref{tab:obs}, and the spectra are shown in Figures~\ref{fig:spec1}--\ref{fig:spec4}.

\begin{deluxetable*}{lllcrrclc}
\tablecolumns{9}
\tablewidth{0pc}
\tabletypesize{\footnotesize}
\tablecaption{{\it HST}/COS observations}
\tablehead{
\colhead{Name} & \colhead{R.A.} & \colhead{Decl.} & \colhead{Redshift} & \colhead{FUV $f_{\lambda}$} & \colhead{$\alpha_{\nu}$\tablenotemark{b}} & \colhead{Exp. Time} & \colhead{Obs. Date} & \colhead{$\tau_{{\rm eff, \, He \, II \; Ly}\alpha}$} \\
\colhead{} & \colhead{(J2000)} & \colhead{(J2000)} & \colhead{} & \colhead{($10^{-17}$)\tablenotemark{a}} & \colhead{} & \colhead{(s)} & \colhead{} & \colhead{}}
\startdata
LBQS 1216+1656 & 184.83501 & 16.65820 & 2.82 & $57.9^{+0.5}_{-3.0}$ & $-1.29^{+0.11}_{-0.10}$ & 2008 & 2011 May 25 & $1.83^{+0.12}_{-0.15}$ \\
HS 1024+1849 & 156.89222 & 18.57433 & 2.85 & $62.7^{+1.2}_{-2.7}$ & $-1.30^{+0.20}_{-0.09}$ & 2038 & 2011 Mar 14 & $2.01^{+0.17}_{-0.15}$ \\
4C57.27 & 240.98303 & 57.51511 & 2.85 & $110.5^{+2.7}_{-4.9}$ & $1.20^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$\tablenotemark{c} & 2408 & 2011 Mar 4 & $1.95^{+0.08}_{-0.10}$ \\
SDSS J160441.47+164538.3 & 241.17280 & 16.76064 & 2.94 & $17.8^{+0.4}_{-1.5}$ & $-0.49^{+0.41}_{-0.26}$ & 2066 & 2011 Apr 30 & $1.94^{+0.27}_{-0.29}$ \\
SDSS J144311.58+354646.3 & 220.79829 & 35.77954 & 2.94 & $7.4^{+0.2}_{-0.3}$ & $-0.82^{+0.53}_{-0.34}$ & 1990 & 2011 Jun 9 & $2.75^{+1.03}_{-0.55}$ \\
SDSS J094734.19+142116.9 & 146.89249 & 14.35471 & 3.03 & $52.4^{+3.6}_{-2.1}$ & $-1.39^{+0.29}_{-0.01}$ & 2116 & 2011 Apr 27 & $2.60^{+0.26}_{-0.19}$ \\
SDSS J124456.98+620143.0 & 191.23743 & 62.02862 & 3.06 & $9.7^{+5.5}_{-2.5}$ & $3.14^{+3.99}_{-2.14}$ & 1906 & 2011 May 6 & $2.18^{+1.01}_{-0.67}$ \\
SDSS J085633.57+123428.5 & 134.13989 & 12.57459 & 3.19 & $7.0^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$ & $-0.63^{+0.37}_{-0.28}$ & 2012 & 2010 Oct 8 & $1.92^{+0.38}_{-0.28}$ \\
SDSS J150828.78+165433.1 & 227.11992 & 16.90920 & 3.21 & $29.9^{+1.1}_{-1.7}$ & $1.93^{+0.54}_{-0.67}$ & 996 & 2011 Sep 9 & $3.09^{+0.43}_{-0.35}$ \\
SDSS J102509.63+045246.7 & 156.29016 & \phn 4.87966 & 3.22 & $29.9^{+4.3}_{-0.8}$ & $2.33^{+0.98}_{-0.06}$ & 1500 & 2011 Mar 27 & \nodata \\
SDSS J095546.35+432244.7 & 148.94316 & 43.37909 & 3.24 & $26.5^{+0.1}_{-1.4}$ & $0.29^{+0.45}_{-0.27}$ & 1846 & 2010 Oct 7 & $3.40^{+0.38}_{-0.34}$ \\
SDSS J091510.01+475658.7 & 138.79172 & 47.94966 & 3.34 & $43.0^{+0.2}_{-1.5}$ & $-1.07^{+0.21}_{-0.10}$ & 5520 & 2010 Oct 6 & $>6.84$ \\
SDSS J085503.81+293248.9 & 133.76588 & 29.54693 & 3.39 & $11.5^{+0.6}_{-1.2}$ & $-1.53^{+0.78}_{-0.98}$ & 1728 & 2010 Nov 28 & \nodata \\
SDSS J005401.48+002847.7 & \phn 13.50618 & \phn 0.47994 & 3.41 & \nodata\phn\tablenotemark{d} & \nodata\phn\phn & 1796 & 2010 Nov 3 & \nodata \\
SDSS J234522.19+151217.3 & 356.34248 & 15.20482 & 3.59 & $9.2^{+0.1}_{-0.6}$ & $3.06^{+1.47}_{-0.88}$ & 1425\tablenotemark{e} & 2010 Oct 13 & $5.04^{+\infty}_{-1.87}$ \\
SDSS J225759.67+001645.6 & 344.498625 & \phn 0.279342 & 3.77 & $6.1^{+2.5}_{-1.1}$ & $3.35^{+9.26}_{-1.34}$ & 1415\tablenotemark{e} & 2010 Oct 16 & $>3.75$ \\
\enddata
\tablenotetext{a}{erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$~\AA$^{-1}$, from the fit to the COS spectrum at the \ion{He}{2} break, $(1+z_{\rm em}) \times 304$~\AA, or LLS break, $(1+z_{\rm LLS}) \times 912$~\AA, if not a \ion{He}{2} quasar.}
\tablenotetext{b}{Defined $f_{\nu} \propto \nu^{\alpha_{\nu}}$. This is the spectral index redward of any LLS seen in the COS data, but does not take into account LLS in the near UV ($1800 \lesssim \lambda \lesssim 3800$~\AA). See the text for the derivation of the error estimates.}
\tablenotetext{c}{The $z=0.96$ LLS is {\it not} taken into account here; above the break, the slope is not well constrained, but is probably $\alpha_{\nu} \sim -0.5$.}
\tablenotetext{d}{This quasar is not the source of the FUV light.}
\tablenotetext{e}{We report the actual science exposure time; this does not include failed exposures from guide star acquisition problems.}
\label{tab:obs}
\end{deluxetable*}

\begin{figure*}
\epsscale{1.0}
\plotone{fig1.eps}
\caption{{\it HST}/COS G140L spectra of our reconnaissance targets. The red dashed vertical line indicates the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ break for the redshift of the quasar. The thin horizontal solid line marks zero flux, and the dotted curve is the error spectrum. The best-fit continuum is shown in blue, and the range in possible continuum fits is shaded in cyan. Where available, night-only data has been used in regions contaminated by geocoronal line emission.}
\label{fig:spec1}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}
\epsscale{1.0}
\plotone{fig2.eps}
\caption{{\it HST}/COS G140L spectra of our reconnaissance targets. The red dashed vertical line indicates the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ break for the redshift of the quasar. The thin horizontal solid line marks zero flux, and the dotted curve is the error spectrum. The best-fit continuum is shown in blue, and the range in possible continuum fits is shaded in cyan. Where available, night-only data has been used in regions contaminated by geocoronal line emission.}
\label{fig:spec2}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}
\epsscale{1.0}
\plotone{fig3.eps}
\caption{{\it HST}/COS G140L spectra of our reconnaissance targets. The red dashed vertical line indicates the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ break for the redshift of the quasar. The thin horizontal solid line marks zero flux, and the dotted curve is the error spectrum. The best-fit continuum is shown in blue, and the range in possible continuum fits is shaded in cyan. Where available, night-only data has been used in regions contaminated by geocoronal line emission.}
\label{fig:spec3}
\end{figure*}

\begin{figure*}
\epsscale{1.0}
\plotone{fig4.eps}
\caption{{\it HST}/COS G140L spectra of our reconnaissance targets. The red dashed vertical line indicates the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ break for the redshift of the quasar. The thin horizontal solid line marks zero flux, and the dotted curve is the error spectrum. The best-fit continuum is shown in blue, and the range in possible continuum fits is shaded in cyan. Where available, night-only data has been used in regions contaminated by geocoronal line emission.}
\label{fig:spec4}
\end{figure*}

We adopt 7 pixels ($0.56$~\AA) as a resolution element, since this is approximately the FWHM of the line-spread function (LSF).
Note that the on-orbit LSF is non-Gaussian, due primarily to mirror polishing errors on {\it HST} \citep{kriss11}.
For our higher-S/N cases, we plot the spectra binned to the standard 7~pixels, but in lower-S/N cases we use 14~pixels, and for our lowest-flux target (SDSSJ2257+0016) we use 28~pixels.
The error spectra are calculated from the CALCOS pipeline error estimates assuming that the noise $\sigma \propto N^{-0.5}$, where $N$ is the bin size in pixels, which would be the case for truly independent noise in each pixel.
COS has fixed-pattern noise features that make this assumption of independence an imperfect one.
Medium-resolution COS spectra with moderate to high S/N show that binned noise may scale as $N^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha \simeq -0.37$ (Keeney et al.\ 2012, in prep.), although our own direct tests of our low-S/N G140L data show that $\alpha \lesssim -0.44$, closer to the assumption of independent noise.
This binning uncertainty means we may be underestimating the noise in our spectra by $\lesssim$10\%, but this error has little impact on our results.
We use the error spectra only for fitting the continua---in particular, we do not use it when calculating Gunn-Peterson optical depths.

We note in passing that the flux calibration of the ACS/SBC PR130L prism is likely incorrect by a significant amount.
Zheng et al.\ (2012, in prep.) observe four quasars with COS that had prior high-S/N observations with the ACS/SBC prism \citep{zheng08,syphers09b,syphers09a}.
It is notable that in every case, the flux observed with COS is approximately three times higher than that observed with ACS.
While quasars are variable, particularly at shorter wavelengths, it would be quite unlikely for all these quasars to vary in the same direction and in about the same proportion.
Low-quality spectroscopic observations of two of these objects with STIS \citep{zheng05} and imaging observations of all four with {\it GALEX} also suggest fluxes in agreement with COS rather than ACS.
It therefore seems likely that the flux calibration of the ACS/SBC prisms \citep{larsen06} is unreliable at the faint end.

\subsection{Removing Geocoronal Emission}

Geocoronal emission-line contamination, primarily \ion{H}{1}~Ly$\alpha$ and \ion{O}{1}~$\lambda$1302, can be quite substantial in the far UV.
This contamination is a problem for identifying quasar emission lines and assessing the nature of the Gunn-Peterson absorption in higher-redshift quasars.
Our data from COS is collected in TIME-TAG mode, where every count has a time stamp, and we can therefore extract the spectra during orbital night, when geocoronal emission is substantially weaker.
In practice, we cut on whether or not \ion{O}{1}~$\lambda$1302 is visible above the background---this not only tracks the day/night divide well, and implicitly accounts for any increased background near the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), but \ion{O}{1} emission is actually the quantity we are directly interested in.
The spectra shown in Figures~\ref{fig:spec1}--\ref{fig:spec4} use all available data except in those wavelength regions contaminated by geocoronal emission, where night-only data is used.
We verify below that geocoronal line photons scattered to other wavelengths are insignificant even in the Gunn-Peterson trough, and thus this analysis technique is justified.

The strongest geocoronal line is \ion{H}{1}~Ly$\alpha$, which is always quite strong, although an order of magnitude weaker at night.
\ion{O}{1}~$\lambda$1302 is prominent during the day, but almost entirely absent at night.
Nonetheless, we avoid Gunn-Peterson measurements in the region contaminated by this line, as there is some small residual flux.
Weaker and more rarely seen features are geocoronal \ion{N}{1}~$\lambda$1134 and \ion{O}{1}~$\lambda$1356, but they are common in continuous-viewing-zone (CVZ) observations.
These lines are relatively weak, and entirely negligible during night-only periods.
\ion{N}{1}~$\lambda$1200 is strong during high-geocoronal periods, but in G140L this line is blended with \ion{H}{1}~Ly$\alpha$, and we always avoid the entire region.
We may see, very weakly, \ion{N}{1}~$\lambda$1493, but this is not in the Gunn-Peterson trough for any object, and thus has negligible impact on our work.
We do not detect other geocoronal lines like \ion{O}{1}~$\lambda$1152 \citep[mentioned in][]{dixon10}.

Outside of regions contaminated by geocoronal emission, dark current from the detector is the dominant source of background ($\sim$$10^{-4}$~counts~s$^{-1}$~pix$^{-1}$ in the one-dimensional spectrum with the default extraction window).
Earthshine, Zodiacal light, and scattered light from geocoronal lines are all small sources of background, compared to the dark current.
We test the effect of scattered geocoronal emission by calculating the optical depths in very black troughs using all data for an object, and then using only that data collected during orbital night.
We see no effect other than larger error bars at night from the smaller quantity of data.
Earthshine and zodiacal light are at least five orders of magnitude fainter than dark current at all FUV wavelengths \citep{dixon10}.

\subsection{Verifying Background Subtraction}
\label{sec:bg}

When analyzing very dark troughs, where the source is comparable to or fainter than the background, subtraction of that background is a serious issue.
Two approaches have been taken the literature regarding COS background: \citet{worseck11a} have assumed a constant background, while \citet{syphers11b} have used the pixel-by-pixel background CALCOS derives for each exposure from background windows offset in the cross-dispersion direction.
The first approach is suboptimal because the background is noticeably variable both in time and in position (in both dispersion and cross-dispersion directions)---see Appendix~\ref{app:bg}.
While the second method attempts to take this variability into account, the very low dark rate makes this problematic, as detailed below.

There are a number of potential concerns with the COS background estimate:
(1) the background is estimated from pixels that are unexposed, and thus only measures dark current, not earthshine, scattered airglow lines, or Zodiacal light;
(2) the background windows in their default locations include some actual airglow photons;
(3) the background is lower in the spectrum extraction region than in the region used to estimate the background, which is offset in the cross-dispersion ($y$) direction (thus this feature in the background is called ``$y$-dip'');
(4) the background varies as a function of $x$, the dispersion direction;
(5) the background is time dependent, both on short scales due to the local orbital environment, and on longer scales due to changes in sensitivity or instrumental settings;
(6) there are simply not enough counts in the background regions of any given exposure to get a truly good estimate of the background.

(1) The first item is in fact negligible.
As mentioned above, dark current is by far the dominant source of background, more than five orders of magnitude larger than earthshine and Zodiacal light.
Scattered light from strong airglow lines has no measurable impact, since very black Gunn-Peterson troughs are as black during the day as at night.

(2) While it is true that the background in airglow regions as reported by CALCOS includes a few airglow photons as well as dark current, we cannot use regions contaminated by airglow anyway, and thus this effect is unimportant.
The background is smoothed over 100 pixels in $x$, which will leave some very small contamination beyond the airglow lines, but our cuts around the lines are generous.

(3) When working with very dark spectral regions, $y$-dip is a serious concern.
Due to lowered sensitivity in exposed regions (the primary science aperture), background counts in this region on average have smaller pulse-height amplitudes (PHAs) than those in the detector region used to estimate the background.
Counts in science data are cut on PHA, which greatly reduces the background noise from detector dark current (at low PHA) and cosmic rays (at high PHA).
This means that estimates of the background may in fact be too high by up to $\sim$10\%.
This has little to no effect on most work done with COS, but is important when dealing with dark regions in spectra, such as our \ion{He}{2} Gunn-Peterson troughs.
We discuss this issue in detail in Appendix~\ref{app:bg}, and the effect is shown in Figure~\ref{fig:dark_y} in the Appendix.

(4) Assuming a constant background across all wavelengths is incorrect, because of background variation in the dispersion ($x$) direction.
COS consists of two detectors, A and B segments, and observations in G140L 1105 central wavelength use only the A segment.
(G140L 1280 central wavelength uses both segments, with B segment covering $\lambda < 1150$--1210~\AA, depending on the FP-POS setting, and A segment recording longer wavelengths.)
The background variation in $x$ is fairly smooth on the A segment, which is the only segment used for the majority of our data.
Only SDSS0915 has data from both G140L central wavelengths, and thus from B segment.
In addition, CALCOS takes this variation into account, because these features in $x$ persist over a wide range of $y$, including both the science extraction region and the background estimation region.
See Appendix~\ref{app:bg} for further discussion.

(5) Assuming a constant background also produces compromised results because of the time variability of the background.
This effect is taken into account in the current CALCOS method of processing the background, where each individual exposure is used to estimate its own background.
See Appendix~\ref{app:bg} for further discussion.

(6) Along with $y$-dip, poor statistics due to the low number of background counts is the major drawback of the current CALCOS method of background estimation.
We discuss how to avoid this problem in Appendix~\ref{app:bg}.

We can directly verify background subtraction by consulting other COS quasar data (not taken for \ion{He}{2} studies) where we know that the true flux must be zero for a portion of the spectrum.
The best way to do this is to consider spectra with known low-redshift DLAs or sub-DLAs, where the column density can be constrained by Lyman-series lines to be high enough that the Lyman limit should be black.
Several such examples have been studied with COS/G130M \citep[e.g.,][]{meiring11}, but for them to be of use, we require that some of the Lyman trough be redshifted into the G130M band; i.e., $z_{\rm LLS}>0.24$.

From {\it HST} GO 11598 and 12248 (PI Tumlinson), we have two medium-resolution observations of systems with $N_{\rm H\,I}>10^{19}$~cm$^{-2}$ (implying $\tau_{\rm LL} > 60$, with the column measured from damping wings of line absorption) that are also at sufficiently high redshift to show trough absorption on the B segment in G130M mode.
We calculate the optical depths using the method described in \citet{syphers11b}; we briefly review it here.
This method tallies the number of source counts and background counts in the specified region of the absorption trough for all exposures, and calculates a Poissonian Feldman-Cousins confidence interval \citep{feldman98} for the source counts.
It then takes the power-law continuum fit for the quasar, and calculates the expected number of counts in the specified region absent any absorption, taking into account various detector features like shadows from the grid wires \citep{osterman11}.

To provide some idea of how sensitive a measurement we can accurately perform, we examine the sensitivity as defined by \citet{feldman98}, which is the average upper limit of flux confidence intervals with the given detector background and zero signal.
We also quote the detector upper limit, which is the maximum intensity a source can have without having a probability of $\beta$ of being detected at a significance level $\alpha$ \citep{kashyap10,syphers11b}.
Here we use $\alpha=0.32$ (68\% confidence) and $\alpha=0.05$ (95\% confidence), and $\beta=0.9$.
These flux upper limits become lower limits in optical depth.

The first absorption trough gives a Lyman-limit opacity of $\tau_{\rm LL}=8.8^{+1.6,\infty}_{-0.8,1.2}$, where the errors quoted are 68\% and 95\% confidence, respectively.
The sensitivity is $\tau=8.5$ (68\%) and $\tau=7.9$ (95\%), and the detector lower limits are $\tau=8.1$ (68\%) and $\tau=7.5$ (95\%).
The second absorption trough is oversubtracted, with an estimated $-194$ source counts and $1431$ background counts ($\simeq$65,100 expected source counts if unabsorbed).
This implies $\tau_{\rm LL} \gg 10$, but this is far enough into the nonphysical regime of negative signal that the confidence intervals are highly untrustworthy, because the assumption that the background is correctly estimated is likely invalid.
In this case, we have sensitivities $\tau=8.0$ (68\%), $\tau=7.3$ (95\%), and detector lower limits $\tau=7.6$ (68\%) and $\tau=7.1$ (95\%).

In addition to these two troughs, {\it HST} GO 12204 (PI Thom) provides us with a highly saturated DLA Ly$\alpha$ absorption line ($N_{\rm H\,I}>10^{20.2}$~cm$^{-2}$).
Although the region of zero flux in a line is much shorter than a Lyman-limit trough would be, our using the line allows us to consider this lower-redshift ($z \sim 0.2$) absorber where we do not have coverage down to the Lyman limit.
Fortuitously, the line falls on the A segment in G130M mode and the B segment in G160M mode, giving better statistics than expected, and allowing us to assess both detector segments.
We can find the column density of the absorber quite well from the damping wings of Ly$\alpha$, and convolving this Voigt profile with the COS LSF allows us to limit our analysis to those regions where the flux should truly be indistinguishable from zero ($\tau_{\rm eff}>20$, a residual flux $f_{\lambda} < 10^{-22}$~erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$~\AA$^{-1}$, 5--6 orders of magnitude smaller than dark current).
When we do so, we find the background is overestimated by $\simeq$8\%, yielding a slightly unphysical estimate of source counts, but not extremely so.
The estimates of the optical depth are $\tau \in [8.91,\infty)$ (68\%) and $\tau \in [7.55,\infty)$ (95\%).
Given the background levels, the sensitivities are $\tau=7.5$ (68\%) and $\tau=6.9$ (95\%), while the detector lower limits are $\tau=7.1$ (68\%) and $\tau=6.6$ (95\%).
The data for A segment (G130M) and B segment (G160M) independently agree.
While both are slightly oversubtracted, the difference between the estimated observed counts and the true value of zero is not very significant---if we assume a background at this level estimated with no bias, an oversubtraction at the observed level is expected $\simeq$20\% of the time for the combined segments.

With only three systems satisfying our requirements for observing known-black troughs, we cannot reach firm conclusions.
We do find a hint that oversubtraction of the background is an issue, which is to be expected given the $y$-dip problem.
Alternate methods of determining the background, discussed in Appendix~\ref{app:bg}, are not yet mature enough to use in practice, but promise to yield noticeably more accurate background estimates.

\section{\ion{He}{2} Quasar Results}
\label{sec:results}

We deredden the spectra with a Fitzpatrick \& Massa UV extinction curve \citep{fitzpatrick99}, using $E(B-V)$ from \citet{schlegel98}, and then fit each quasar continuum using a power law.
The fit is iterative, clipping data with a residual above and below threshold values, and the clipping of low data is more aggressive in an attempt to avoid absorption.
For the first iteration we manually specify portions of the spectrum to use, avoiding obvious absorption and emission lines (the latter primarily geocoronal, although some may be intrinsic to the quasars).
When fitting quasars with low-redshift partial LLS, where we can see the break in our COS spectrum but there is substantial flux below it, we fit the spectral energy distribution (SED) including an LLS.
These fits are convolved with the COS LSF, and overplotted in Figures \ref{fig:spec1}--\ref{fig:spec4}.
Higher-redshift LLS, which have breaks in the NUV and are thus typically not detected, are not a substantial concern when extrapolating continua for Gunn-Peterson optical depth measurements.
While it is true that a powerlaw continuum does not exactly remain a powerlaw below a Lyman limit, the deviations are well within our uncertainties.
Even for a high-S/N COS observation, such as that of HE2347, a powerlaw remains a good fit in the FUV despite the intervening high-redshift LLS \citep{shull10}.

We use night-only data in regions contaminated by geocoronal line emission, where possible.
Because most of the observations were a single orbit, sometimes there is no night data available for a given quasar.

With data of this S/N, the optimal approach towards continuum fitting is unclear.
We avoid strong absorption systems, but we have no hope of avoiding the Ly$\alpha$ forest altogether, given our resolution of $\sim$100--150~km~s$^{-1}$.
With $\sim$7~pixels per resolution element, the COS data are also very oversampled.
We bin our higher-S/N data to 7~pixels, with the remaining data binned to 14~pixels, or in one case 28~pixels.
Even for high-S/N data there is rarely reason to bin more finely than 7~pixels, as optimal binning for detecting weak unresolved features is no smaller than this (Keeney et al.\ 2012, in prep.).

We derive uncertainties on our continuum fits by varying the binning of the data, the wavelength range considered, and the clipping level for both high and low excursions.
\citet{worseck11a} obtained continuum uncertainties by assuming a Poissonian distribution of counts, and using a Monte Carlo to sample from this distribution and refitting the spectrum many times.
However, we find that the fitting input parameters such as the data bin size contribute more significantly to the uncertainty than does the spectrum noise.
From each set of these parameters we obtain a normalization and a power-law index; our continuum uncertainty at a specific wavelength is taken to be the full range of model predictions at that wavelength.
Even considering the iterative nature of the fit, there is unfortunately a substantial level of subjectivity in what constitutes ``reasonable'' binning and clipping levels.
For higher-S/N data we typically consider binning the data by 6--14 pixels, 7 being our preferred value for the best estimate, while for lower-S/N data we tend to use $\sim$7--20 pixels, with 14 preferred.
Wavelengths included in the continuum fit typically extend from the flux break (either \ion{He}{2} Gunn-Peterson or low-redshift \ion{H}{1} Lyman limit) redward until we reach wavelengths where the average S/N per resolution element is approximately 1.
For some quasars this value is reached around 1900~\AA, while for others it is closer to 1700~\AA.
We clip fairly aggressively, using $2.5$--3$\sigma$ to clip upward excursions and $1.5$--2$\sigma$ for downward excursions, with $\sigma$ being the local spectrum error.

The observations are detailed in Table~\ref{tab:obs}, the columns of which are as follows:
Column~1---quasar name.
Column~2---right ascension in J2000, from SDSS (even for those quasars discovered in other surveys).
Column~3---declination in J2000, from SDSS.
Column~4---FUV flux at the break wavelength, whether the break is from \ion{He}{2} Gunn-Peterson absorption or a low-redshift \ion{H}{1} LLS.
This is calculated from our spectrum fits, so it applies to the dereddened spectra.
Our Galactic extinctions are typically $E(B-V) \sim 0.01$--$0.03$, which means the flux reported in this table is $\sim$10--30\% higher than the observed flux.
Column~5---the powerlaw index from our fit, taking $f_{\nu} \propto \nu^{\alpha_{\nu}}$. Note $\alpha_{\lambda}=-2-\alpha_{\nu}$.
For those objects with observed LLS where we have usable data above the break, we report $\alpha_{\nu}$ for the SED prior to the onset of the LLS.
Considering the large gap in wavelength coverage between our FUV spectrum (which extends to $\sim$1800--1900~\AA) and the SDSS optical spectrum (beginning at $\sim$3800~\AA), it is likely that several of our quasars have intervening LLS that are not accounted for, and thus this number cannot be directly interpreted as the intrinsic extreme-UV spectral index.
Column~6---exposure time.
Column~7---observation date.
Column~8---the optical depth in a 20~\AA\ bin (observed frame) just shortward of the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ break, or as near to that as possible while avoiding geocoronal emission and any obvious line-of-sight proximity effect. The uncertainties reflect both the number of observed counts in the trough (68\% limits) and the full range of SED fits plotted in Figures~\ref{fig:spec1}--\ref{fig:spec4}.

As shown in Table~\ref{tab:obs}, average effective \ion{He}{2} Ly$\alpha$ optical depth does evolve from $\tau_{\rm eff} \sim 2$ at $2.7 \lesssim z \lesssim 2.9$ to $\tau_{\rm eff} \gtrsim 5$ at $3.2 \lesssim z \lesssim 3.6$, as expected if we are probing the end of helium reionization at $z \sim 3$.
There is considerable variation in optical depth between sightlines and even in a single sightline, but when averaging over larger bins to find effective optical depths, these fluctuations are reduced, and we see steady progression to lower optical depth at lower redshift.
Current model predictions for the evolution of $\tau_{\rm eff}$ with redshift differ considerably \citep{mcquinn09,dixon09,worseck11a}, and it will be interesting to see how more accurate simulations with radiative hydrodynamics affect these results \citep{meiksin11}.
Other aspects, such as quasar beaming and SEDs, can also noticeably affect results.

Comments on the spectra:\\
{\it 4C57.27}---the high flux of this target allows us to use data out to 1950~\AA, and verify an LLS at $z=0.9615$ (with the redshift from Ly$\delta$ and Ly$\epsilon$), with $\log{N_{\rm H \, I}} \simeq 17.3$. Due to the fairly poor quality of data above the Lyman limit, we fit a power law to the data below the break.\\
{\it SDSSJ1443+3546}---the LLS at $z=0.444$ has $\log{N_{\rm H \, I}}=17.24 \pm 0.02$.\\
{\it SDSSJ0947+1421}---there is a substantial flux dip from $\sim$1370--1410~\AA, but the origin is unclear. It appears in both COS exposures at the same position, despite the FP-POS shift between exposures of $\sim$20~\AA, and does not appear in spectra of other targets. It therefore seems unlikely to be an instrumental feature. Assuming the dip is \ion{H}{1}~Ly$\alpha$ absorption, the rest-frame equivalent width of the feature is $15.3 \pm 0.3$~\AA, which would make it a DLA, but it would have to have partial covering or contaminating flux from a nearby source to explain the fact that it is not saturated at line center. Possible dips near 1500~\AA\ and perhaps even 1600~\AA\ suggest something unusual may be evident in this spectrum, or something amiss with this observation.\\
{\it SDSSJ1244+6201}---the LLS at $z=0.528$ has $\log{N_{\rm H \, I}}=17.25 \pm 0.10$. The large flux rise at $\lambda \sim 1130$~\AA\ is geocoronal \ion{N}{1}~$\lambda$1134. Other relatively unusual geocoronal lines clearly visible are \ion{O}{1}~$\lambda$1356 and \ion{N}{1}~$\lambda$1200 (visible in the error spectrum). No night data is available for this target.\\
{\it SDSSJ0856+1234}---the LLS at $z=0.77$ has $\log{N_{\rm H \, I}}=17.23 \pm 0.04$.\\
{\it SDSSJ1508+1654}---this target has a very uncertain redshift. SDSS reports $z=3.17$, but this is skewed by high-ionization lines. \ion{O}{1}~$\lambda$1302 emission gives a redshift of $z \simeq 3.19$, while \ion{C}{4} is $\sim$3000~km~s$^{-1}$ blueshifted from this. \ion{H}{1}~Ly$\alpha$ absorption starts at $z=3.21$, which matches the onset of \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ absorption seen in the COS spectrum, and is therefore adopted here. If the hydrogen and helium absorption is due to an infalling system near the quasar, it is one that shows no \ion{N}{5} or \ion{C}{4} absorption in the SDSS spectrum ($R \simeq 1740$, S/N$\,\simeq 30$ per resolution element).\\
{\it SDSSJ1025+0452}---the LLS at $z=0.52$ has $\log{N_{\rm H \, I}}=17.93^{+0.12}_{-0.07}$ (68\% confidence interval; note that an infinite column density is in the 95\% confidence interval). There is possible \ion{Mg}{2} absorption near this redshift in the SDSS spectrum, but \ion{H}{1}~Ly$\alpha$ absorption precludes robust identification at SDSS resolution.\\
{\it SDSSJ0855+2932}---the LLS at $z=0.555$ has $\log{N_{\rm H \, I}}=17.74^{+0.11}_{-0.07}$ (68\% confidence interval; $<18.12$ at 95\% confidence). There is a plausible strong \ion{Mg}{2} absorber at $z=0.5565 \pm 0.0001$ in the SDSS spectrum, although it is blended with the \ion{H}{1}~Ly$\alpha$ forest.\\

One quasar, SDSSJ0054+0028, was found to not be FUV bright---although flux $\sim$$5 \times 10^{-18}$~erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$~\AA$^{-1}$ is observed in the COS spectrum, it continues unabated below the \ion{He}{2} break.
Thus the quasar must lie behind the faint, low-redshift galaxy barely visible in the SDSS image, which is the source of the UV light in the {\it GALEX} photometry, as well as the COS spectrum.

\subsection{Match Rate Statistics}
\label{sec:match_rate}

Our current survey found 13 new \ion{He}{2} quasars out of 16 targets (and 15 UV detections of the target quasars).
We thus find that 94\% (85--98\%) are FUV bright, and 81\% (70--89\%) are \ion{He}{2} quasars.
(We quote 68\% Wilson confidence intervals for these quantities; \citealt{brown01}.)
Our earlier reconnaissance programs with the ACS prism yielded \ion{He}{2} quasars at a rate of 58\% (50--66\%, 22 out of 38 observations) for targets in our SDSS--{\it GALEX} cross-correlation catalog \citep{syphers09b,syphers09a}.
Objects in this catalog are known quasars with flux detected in one or both {\it GALEX} bands, and an SDSS--{\it GALEX} separation $r<3\arcsec$, as discussed in the previous section.
We estimated that a success rate of $\sim$80\% could be achieved if one required detection in both {\it GALEX} bands, and this is borne out by the current study.
Requiring flux in one band only occasionally led to no FUV flux observed at all, either due to the source being spurious or having only NUV flux (due to a higher redshift LLS).
Our current survey finds true UV flux in all cases, although in one instance this was not due to the quasar, but rather a low-redshift galaxy very near the quasar sightline.

Cases such as the interloping low-redshift UV source, or those quasars with low-redshift LLS, show why short reconnaissance spectra are still advisable, despite the vast increase in efficiency that the SDSS--{\it GALEX} cross-correlation technique has brought.

\subsection{Quasar Emission}

To see if there is any evidence of extreme-UV (EUV) quasar emission lines in our data, we normalize all the spectra by their continuum fits as shown in Figures~\ref{fig:spec1}--\ref{fig:spec4}, and stack them in the rest frame using a robust mean (clipped at $3\sigma$).
The resulting average spectrum is shown in Figure~\ref{fig:stack}, where the error spectrum (dotted line) is calculated directly from the standard deviation of all contributing spectra.
Also plotted in this figure is the number of spectra that can contribute at each wavelength (the dashed upper curve), which depends on excisions of data around geocoronal emission and truncation due to observed-frame wavelength coverage.
Because we clip the data at every wavelength to avoid extreme noise excursions and absorption features, some additional spectra are excluded, and so the total number actually used for the average at each wavelength is plotted as well (the solid upper curve).
The normalization means no information about the EUV spectral index remains, but the stack would reveal common strong emission lines if they were present.
In fact we see only marginal hints of lines, and notably we see no evidence at all for \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ emission.

\begin{figure}
\epsscale{1.0}
\plotone{fig5.eps}
\caption{Rest-frame stack of all \ion{He}{2} quasars presented in this paper, binned to $0.6$~\AA. The lower two curves are the coadded spectrum (solid line) and the error on this spectrum (dotted line), while the upper two curves are the total number of spectra allowed to contribute at a given wavelength (dashed line) and the number of spectra actually contributing at a given wavelength after clipping (solid line). The spectra are all normalized by their power-law fits (as shown in Figures~\ref{fig:spec1}--\ref{fig:spec4}) before coaddition, so no information about spectral index remains, but emission lines should be evident if present. None are seen at high significance, despite theoretical predictions of a \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ EW$\sim$10~\AA. The flux break at 304~\AA\ is due to the onset of IGM \ion{He}{2} absorption.}
\label{fig:stack}
\end{figure}

Simple Cloudy \citep{ferland98} photoionization models of the quasar broad emission lines region (BELR) predict very noticeable \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ emission, with an equivalent width of 6--11~\AA\ for a covering factor of 10\% \citep{syphers11a}.
Very low-resolution ACS prism spectra occasionally showed lines that might be \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ \citep{syphers09b,syphers09a}, but this was far from universal.
It is notable, therefore, that {\it none} of the COS spectra presented in this paper show any obvious emission lines, and no hint of \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ emission is seen even in stacks of the data.
\citet{lawrence11} has recently proposed an extreme-UV reprocessing region in AGN to create the Big Blue Bump, which produces \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ even more strongly than standard BELR models.
The observed absence of the line may present a strong constraint on this reprocessing, in addition to presenting a challenge for understanding even the standard broad line region.

The quasar EUV spectral index is also of great interest, as it is these photons that create and destroy many important ions in the IGM (\ion{He}{2}, \ion{Si}{4}, \ion{C}{4}, \ion{O}{6}, etc.).
Constraining quasar emission in this ionizing regime is important for determining the ionizing UV background \citep{haardt11} and models of helium reionization \citep{meiksin05}.
\citet{telfer02} find an average index $\alpha_{\nu}=-1.76 \pm 0.12$, while \citet{scott04} find $\alpha_{\nu}=-0.56^{+0.38}_{-0.28}$ using a lower-redshift, lower luminosity sample.
However, both these samples use data only in the energy range $1 < E \lesssim 1.5$~Ryd, whereas our FUV spectra of $z \sim 3$ quasars allows us to examine $1.8 \lesssim E < 3$~Ryd.
We caution that the power-law indices quoted in Table~\ref{tab:obs} are affected by the Lyman Valley \citep{moller90} and $z \gtrsim 1$ LLS that have their Lyman limits in the NUV, and are thus unobserved.
Both these effects bias these indices to be higher (harder) than the actual intrinsic spectrum.
It is nonetheless interesting that none of our quasars has a best-fit spectral index as soft as the \citet{telfer02} average, and only one is consistent with that average.
It is true, however, that some of the \ion{He}{2} quasars observed with ACS had redder slopes, although extremely low resolution made it difficult to define the continuum \citep{syphers09b}.
As the sample of \ion{He}{2} quasars increases, it will be interesting to apply statistical corrections for IGM opacity and get a direct measurement of the average EUV spectral index.

\section{Conclusion}
\label{sec:conclusion}

Quasars allowing the study of \ion{He}{2} reionization through examination of their Gunn-Peterson troughs are still relatively rare---there are 33 in the literature \citep[e.g.,][]{zheng05,syphers09b,syphers09a,worseck11a}.
Many of these are fairly faint, $f_{\lambda} \sim 10^{-17}$~erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$~\AA$^{-1}$.
In this paper we present 13 new \ion{He}{2} quasars, including several that are quite bright compared to those previously cataloged ($f_{\lambda} > 2 \times 10^{-16}$~erg~s$^{-1}$~cm$^{-2}$~\AA$^{-1}$; i.e., brighter than the well-studied Q0302$-$003), and well suited for higher-resolution, higher-S/N COS spectroscopy.
These initial observations show evidence for IGM helium opacity increasing with redshift, as expected during the end of the helium reionization epoch.
Higher-resolution observations will allow detailed characterization of the transition from Gunn-Peterson troughs to the \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ forest, and allow us to move beyond effective optical depth methods to methods such as dark gap and transmission window statistics \citep[e.g.,][]{gallerani08,maselli09}.

We see no clear EUV quasar emission lines either in individual quasars or in an averaged spectrum.
Because models of EUV quasar emission generally predict easily observable \ion{He}{2}~Ly$\alpha$ emission, it is interesting that we see no sign of it.
This could provide useful constraints on models of the broad line region in AGN, as could any EUV metal line emission seen in future studies of individual higher-quality spectra or averages of larger samples.

COS has allowed a revolution in the observation of the end of the \ion{He}{2} reionization epoch.
The new COS G130M/1220 mode allows study of the helium IGM at higher resolution ($R \gtrsim \;$10,000) down to $z=2.5$, and along with G140L, it will allow observation of Gunn-Peterson troughs of higher-order Lyman lines \citep{syphers11b}.
COS data should nonetheless be used carefully, as there are a number of detector features that become important when dealing with very faint targets or Gunn-Peterson troughs.
These issues may not be resolvable for the average COS user, and are not dealt with in CALCOS 2.13.6 or 2.15.4 (or development CALCOS versions up to 2.16; S.\ Penton 2011, private communication), but they are manageable problems that future versions of the CALCOS pipeline should handle.

Cross-matching optical quasar catalogs with {\it GALEX} UV catalogs has previously been shown to be a very efficient method for finding \ion{He}{2} quasars \citep{syphers09b,syphers09a}.
In this paper we have robustly demonstrated that adding the requirement that the quasar be detected in both {\it GALEX} bands raises the efficiency to $\sim$80\%.
Large expansions of quasar catalogs, in particular SDSS DR7 \citep{schneider10}, have allowed us to use this more selective criterion, and future catalogs resulting from, e.g., Pan-STARRS \citep{kaiser02} and BOSS \citep{eisenstein11}, will allow us to require not only matching in both bands, but also a minimum FUV flux.
\ion{He}{2} quasar studies are starting to allow detailed characterization of the progress of helium reionization, and possible future observations promise a great deal more progress.

\acknowledgments

We thank Jason Tumlinson and Chris Thom for providing access to COS observations of high-column, low-redshift absorbers from {\it HST} GO 11598 and 12248 (PI Tumlinson) and GO 12204 (PI Thom).
We thank Steve Penton and Steve Osterman for helpful discussions about the COS detector.

Support for {\it HST} Program number 12178 was provided by NASA through grants from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

The Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos is supported by the Eberly College of Science and the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research at the Pennsylvania State University.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Julian Assange issued a First Nations passport
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been offered an Aboriginal Nations passport in an inner-city Sydney ceremony after he was "abandoned" by Australian authorities.
His father, John Shipton, accepted the document at a celebration in Darlington today.
He said his son had been jilted by the Australian government, and the passport ceremony - which follows Ecuador's decision to grant Mr Assange diplomatic asylum - was a show of solidarity.
Assange gets an Aboriginal passport
AAP Sydney Morning Herald September 15, 2012
$250,000 delivered to each First Nation family at a cost of $220,000
White public servants cost, per First Nations family, an average of about $220,000 a year. Under Macklin, each family averages only about $30,000, and, for many, even the spending of that is carefully and paternalistically ''managed''.
There are nearly two non-Indigenous public servants ministering to the ''needs'' of every family. That may be as many as 100,000 people, once one counts or fractions in health workers, teachers, policemen, social workers and the risk managers, bookkeepers, equal opportunity officers, army public relations people, human resource managers and co-ordinators-general required to keep their shows on the road. - 3 Articles
Kimberley heritage sold out by 'conspiracy of deceit'
Investigations reveal a trail of deceit in which records that prove the legitimacy of traditional Goolarabooloo lawman Joseph Roe's heritage claims have ignored and the Kimberley Land Council has also worked with Woodside and the state against the interests of some of its own clients.
Woodside has been prepared to tell the state government to withdraw warnings that it may be acting in breach of the law that could put its directors in jail. And the government has been happy to comply with its wishes.
Sovereign Union of First Nations is inevitable
Left to right: Michael Ghillar Anderson, George Gaymarani Pascoe, Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra
In a 'Sovereign Union' Media Release from Darwin, Michael Anderson said that he has completed discussions with Dr Djiniyini Gondarra and George Gaymarani Pascoe and they all agreed that a Sovereign Union of nations is inevitable, but it needs to grow from the grassroots and its success can only be achieved if the First Nations people want it.
"The Sovereign Union is about building a protective shelter while our people go through the hard long process of organising from the community level up," Michael Anderson explained. "Each of the sovereign Nations' sovereign independence dictates that they make their own rules about their own governance, while the Sovereign Union national unity government deals with national and international political agenda items that will be dictated to by the individual sovereign Nations.
WA under fire over stolen wages compensation
The West Australian Government is under fire over its compensation offer to pay lost wages to thousands of the state's Indigenous workers.
In March, the state government announced a six-month time period for former workers to apply for wages withheld by the government in what has become known as the stolen wages case.
Between 1905 and 1972, the government withheld up to three-quarters of the wages earned by workers on state-run Native Welfare Settlements.
The monies were put into government trust accounts with the promise that they would later be rightfully dispersed. But that never happened.
listen to 'I worked for shirt, hat, boots' on Audioboo
All charges against Musgrave fire defenders dropped on Aboriginal Sovereignty Day
The Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy celebrates the dropping of all charges against those arrested in Musgrave Park on May 16 attempting to stop Brisbane City Council desecrating the sacred fire.
This is a victory for all Aboriginal people and our pursuit to assert our sovereignty over the land.
The embassy press release states, 'This isn't over and we are looking at all avenues to get justice for this unwarranted attack on our culture and on a sacred place'. Under the Cultural Heritage Act it is crime to interfere with or damage a registered cultural heritage site. The maximum penalty for this crime is fines up to $1,000,000 and imprisonment for up to 2 years.
Townsville professor blasts Australia over land rights and Intervention at international conference
An international conference in South Africa last month heard an Aboriginal woman professor from Townsville, Gracelyn Smallwood, blast Australia over land rights and the Northern Territory intervention ...
In an interview with Noosa Community Radio Gracelyn said she expects her three talks, based on her PhD thesis to go feral internationally. The thesis is to be published by a London publisher Routledge "because it was too hot a potato for Australian publishers" she approached.
listen to '"Horrified about Australia's deep dark secret"' on Audioboo
First Peoples nations still struggling for their rights
UN processes are so slow it took two UN Decades for member states to reach an agreement on the political status of Indigenous rights. After the First International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples (1995-2004) failed to resolve contention over self-determination, the General Assembly had to expand the timeframe with a second UN Decade (2005-2015) under the theme "A Decade for Action and Dignity".
The controversy focused primarily on the practice of Indigenous autonomy - and its implications for state sovereignty. Most member-states reacted to Article 46 insisting that the declaration not be interpreted in any way that could impair the territorial sovereignty of states. Four governments voted against the declaration (Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US) out of opposition to the majority's interpretations of sovereignty.
As Indigenous protests gain momentum, most governments fail to practice what they have committed to internationally
Women gather for Cootamundra Girls Home anniversary
Cootamundra Training Home
ABC Riverina August 10, 2012
Indigenous women and their families from across Australia have started arriving in the Riverina for the centenary of the Cootamundra Girls Home.
Hundreds of girls were forcibly taken from their families and placed at the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls between 1911 and 1968, as part of the Commonwealth's assimilation policy. The girls were not allowed to contact their families and were later sent to work as domestic servants.
The governments said children had to be taken away from their parents because the influence of their own communities was immoral and they were in danger of abuse and neglect, but the real agenda then was to de-Aboriginalise them.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I, like many others haven't had any success with combs, also, my hair and scalp have been very happy without them.
As you can see from the picture above, hair loss with combs is about 3 times that of finger detangling. The reason for this is that combs are an aggressive tool which are used to forcefully remove knots and tangles in the hair. Even if you use the best combs ever known to man and are very gentle with your hair when combing it, you will still end up with more hair loss than normal. The amount of hair that you lose to a comb will be dependent on your skill level with combs. In that someone who is very gentle and patient will lose less than someone who is rough and in a rush.
What combing and forceful tearing does to your hair.
How does a comb cause more breakage and retard growth?
Because combs can't feel the tiny knots and tangles your fingers would feel, it will separate the knotted hair by breaking them apart. This leaves broken fragments on the comb, floor, back or wherever they happen to land on. The end result of this forceful breakage is split ends which will turn into splitting ends and continuous breakage, ultimately leading to retarded hair growth.
Aside from the aggressive and damaging hair trims combs causes, it also causes an early and traumatic shedding. The pain you feel on your scalp when you force a comb through your hair is a result of hair that are being uprooted way before they reach the end of their growth cycle. Hair that has been uprooted with a comb are being robbed of their growth potential because they are unable to grow to the maximum length which genetics have programmed them to grow to.
The breakage and early shedding which combs causes are the major reasons why many have been led to believe that their hair can never grow past a certain length. When the truth is that they are the ones that have been killing their hair with an innocent weapon, which is the comb. But if they can stop or reduce using combs and other hair tools which are damaging to the hair, they might be able to see length overtime.
What has your experience been with combs?
I think you're one of the few people that I know uses a comb successfully and whose hair or child's hair needs it. I never go for 100% detangled hair so my fingers are sufficient.
But we can agree that the majority of us don't know how to use a comb properly and for the few who can, our hair is just too fine and fragile to be combed.


BEIJING, Jan. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- TAL Education Group ("TAL" or the "Company") (NYSE: XRS), a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, today announced that it will release its unaudited financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2014 ended November 30, 2013, before the market opens on Wednesday, January 22, 2014.
The Company will host a corresponding conference call and live webcast at 8:00 am U.S. Eastern time (9:00 pm Beijing time) on Wednesday, January 22, 2014.
A telephone replay of the conference call will be available through 11:59 pm U.S. Eastern time, January 29, 2014 (0:59 am Beijing time, January 30, 2014).
TAL Education Group is a leading K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China. The acronym "TAL" stands for "Tomorrow Advancing Life," which reflects our vision to promote top learning opportunities for Chinese students through both high-quality teaching and content, as well as leading edge application of technology in the education experience. TAL Education Group offers comprehensive tutoring services to students from pre-school to the twelfth grade through three flexible class formats: small classes, personalized premium services, and online courses. Our tutoring services cover the core academic subjects in China's school curriculum including mathematics, English, Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology. The Company's learning center network includes 264 physical learning centers as of August 31, 2013, located in fifteen key cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xi`an, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Suzhou and Shenyang. We also operate www.eduu.com, a leading online education platform in China. Our ADSs trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "XRS."


text:
[![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/picardy/angular-fontawesome](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/picardy/angular-fontawesome?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)

http://picardy.github.io/angular-fontawesome/demo/

A simple directive for [FontAwesome](http://fontawesome.io/) icons. Avoid writing a massive `ngStyle` declaration for your FontAwesome integration, and use the power of Angular to make interactive icon-based widgets.

### Usage

1. Include the FontAwesome CSS and fonts in your application by [following their instructions](http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/get-started/).

2. Include the angular-fontawesome module in your Angular app.
    ```javascript
    angular.module('myApp', ['picardy.fontawesome'])
    ```

3. Use the directive on any page which bootstraps your app.
    ```html
    <fa name="spinner" spin ng-style="{'color': checkColor}"></fa>
    <!-- $scope.checkColor = 'blue' -->
    <!-- rendered -->
    <i class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin" style="color:blue;"></i>
    ```

### Attributes

The `fa` directive's attributes map to the classes used by FontAwesome\.

```html
<fa name="ICON-NAME"
    alt="TEXT-ALTERNATIVE"
    size="1-5|large"
    flip="horizontal|vertical"
    rotate="90|180|270"
    spin
    border
    list
></fa>
```

##### name
The icon's [name](http://fontawesome.io/icons/), such as `fa-spinner` or `fa-square`.
```html
<fa name="github"></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-github"></i>
```

##### alt
For accessibility support, you can now add an *alt* attribute, which will add a [screen-reader friendly](https://github.com/FortAwesome/Font-Awesome/issues/6133#issuecomment-88944728) replacement text.
```html
<fa name="github" alt="github website"></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-github" aria-hidden="true"></i>
<span class="sr-only">github website</span>
```

*notice:* the ['sr-only' class](http://getbootstrap.com/css/#helper-classes-screen-readers) will hide the text from anyone not using a screen reader. It is derived from [Bootstrap](http://getbootstrap.com/), so if you're not using Bootstrap, you must add this style to your css:
```css
.sr-only {
    position: absolute;
    width: 1px;
    height: 1px;
    margin: -1px;
    padding: 0;
    overflow: hidden;
    clip: rect(0, 0, 0, 0);
    border: 0;
}
```

##### size
The icon's font size, either defined by a multiplier (1-5), or by the string `"large"`.
```html
<fa name="square" size="{{ currentSize }}"></fa>
<!-- $scope.currentSize = 3 -->
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-square fa-3x"></i>
```

##### flip
Flip the icon `horizontal` or `vertical`.
```html
<fa name="pencil" flip="vertical"></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-pencil fa-flip-vertical"></i>
```

##### rotate
Rotate the icon `90`, `180`, or `270` degrees.
```html
<fa name="floppy-o" rotate="90"></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-floppy-o fa-rotate-90"></i>
```

##### spin
Animate the icon to spin. You don't need to provide true to use the boolean attributes:
```html
<fa name="spinner" spin></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin"></i>
```
You can pass in `true` or `false` to the attribute as well, allowing the spin class to be be easily toggleable.
```html
<fa name="{{ isLoading ? 'spinner' : 'check' }}" spin="{{ isLoading }}"></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin"></i>
```

##### border
```html
<fa name="envelope" border></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-envelope fa-border"></i>
```

##### fixed width
```html
<fa name="book" fw></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-book fa-fw"></i>
```

##### inverse
```html
<fa name="home" inverse></fa>
<!-- rendered -->
<i class="fa fa-home fa-inverse"></i>
```

##### list
This directive autodetects if you're setup to do `fa-li` and then takes care of it for you.
```html
<ul class="fa-ul">
  <li>
    <fa name="square"></fa>
    Text here
    <fa class="check"></fa>
  </li>
</ul>
<!-- rendered -->
<ul class="fa-ul">
  <li>
    <i class="fa fa-li fa-square"></i>
    Text here
    <!-- <fa>s that aren't the first <fa> in the <li> do not automatically get the fa-li class -->
    <i class="fa fa-check"></i>
  </li>
</ul>
```

##### stack
The `faStack` directive is used as a wrapper for stacked fonts used by FontAwesome\.

```html
<fa-stack size="1-5|large">
    <fa name="ICON_NAME" stack="1-5|large"></fa>
    <fa name="ICON_NAME" stack="1-5|large"></fa>
</fa-stack>
```
When using <fa-stack> as a wrapper, you must also specify the 'stack' attribute on the children,
as described [here](http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/examples/#stacked).
Failure to do so will render the fonts, just not one on top of another like we want them to.

### TODO
 * `fa-stack` tests
 * `pull="left"`, `pull="right"`
 * full browser support list

### License
MIT Licensed by [Picardy](http://beta.picardylearning.com).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Monday، 20 May 2019 12:58 PM
Outcry against heavy sentences for three prominent Iran writers
A social media backlash has followed the decision to jail three writers in Iran for a total of 18 years.
Baktash Abtin, Kayvan Bazhan, and Reza Khandan-Mahabadi were each given a six-year sentence May 15 for "acting against national security" and "propaganda against the state".
The ruling was made at branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Iran by Mohammad Moghiseh, a judge known for his harsh line on human rights activists, lawyers, and members of religious minorities.
A statement from the Iran Writers Association (IWA) condemned the verdict, insisting that Abtin, Bazhan, and Khandan-Mahabadi were being punished for their membership of the organization.
It claimed they had been involved in research for a book on five decades of the IWA history and organizing memorial ceremonies for IWA members allegedly murdered by state agents in the 1990s.
This amounted to "assembly and collusion against national security" which the IWA believes is the real reason behind the verdict.
"This trial is not just the condemnation of three writers. This was not a trial against the IWA alone. It condemns all writers and others who want to enjoy the right to free expression," the organization said.
The statement added: "What kind of national security gets threatened with the publication of newsletters and protest statements? Whose security gets threatened when IWA members organize gatherings at the grave of poets and writers?
"No court with the least measure of care for justice, impartiality, and human rights could accept such activities as evidence of a crime. In fact, it would see it as a frame-job".
Civil rights activists in Iran have repeatedly maintained that whenever the Islamic Republic recognizes an individual as "troublesome", it charges them with vaguely defined accusations, such as "propaganda against the establishment", "disrupting public peace and order", "collusion for illegal assembly", and "attempts against national security".
The IWA – which was set up in 1968 during the monarchy to highlighted state censorship – said: "Such sentences are highly regrettable and should be repealed."
Since the verdict, dozens of Iranian writers have turned to social media to express dismay and anger at Judge Moghishe's decision.
Journalist and author Mehdi Yazdani Khorram wrote on Instagram: "What I should I say about such a verdict? Where could I go to seek justice? 18 years behind bars for three writers? On what charges? Have they committed murder? Are they convicted of stealing? For a 'little bit of embezzlement' or smuggling?"
His last phrase is a broadside at Islamic Republic insiders who are often exposed for corruption and embezzlement.
Author Hengameh Hovayda said that drives such as the "Free the Writer!" campaign have proven futile.
Referring to the writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Ja'far Pouyandeh who were allegedly killed by the Islamic Republic intelligence agents in 1990s, Hovayda has said: "I have never been able to take any effective step against such actions of the regime. I have not only been able to save anyone from being jailed or executed, but I have witnessed many of my friends' lives taken away by the ruling establishment."
She added: "Out of helplessness, I have always surrendered to the will of the establishment … I am ashamed of my impotence. We are facing a wolf, and one cannot talk to a wolf in sheep's language."
Author Zahra Abdi reminded Iranian authorities of the last days of the Shah's rule: "Once again we are putting reason in chains. We have placed ecologists, teachers, and writers behind bars, opening up the way for 'visionless protests,' and paving the way for the foreigners to invade the country easily".
"We are our own Trojan Horse," she added.
Hadi Ghaemi of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said Iran's use of "kangaroo courts" to jail writers and artists was a "travesty of justice".
Earlier this month PEN International's Rebecca Sharkey said: "We stand in solidarity with our Iranian colleagues who are targeted due to their writing and peaceful activism. We call on the Iranian authorities to drop all charges against them and to respect their right to freedom of expression."
Iranian man accused of murdering American woman sentenced to death
Iran gives death penalty for American woman's murder
Iraqi citizen sentenced to death over terrorism-related charges
Malaysian jailed for 10 years for insulting Islam on social media
Iran convicts rights lawyer after defending women protesters
Iran executes businessman for economic crimes
Reza Khandan Mahabadi
Baktash Abtin
Keyvan Bajan
Last Modified: Monday، 20 May 2019 01:21 PM
Could Russia move to counterbalance the US in Iraq? 18 January 2020 11:22 PM
Broken but unbowed: The life-changing injuries of Iraq's revolution 18 January 2020 07:01 PM
Iraqi decision to expel US troops: was it wise? 17 January 2020 01:33 AM
After ISIL, Agricultural Production Struggles to Recover 15 January 2020 11:55 AM
US: supporting Iraq, fighting Iran's malign activities 13 January 2020 01:39 PM
US troops in Iraq knew of Iranian attack 2.5 hours ahead of time 12 January 2020 11:48 PM
Nearly 300,000 Syrians displaced from Idlib since mid-December 11 January 2020 09:51 PM
A look at some of the victims of the Iran plane crash who had roots in Canada 11 January 2020 12:45 AM


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text:
Home › News › Business
Selfridges gets through 2020 in good shape, pre-pandemic sales rose
Selfridges weathered the 2020 storm, despite enduring the toughest retail year in decades. That's according to company chief Anne Pitcher who admitted to The Times that it was the "most difficult" period in its 113 years in existence.
No other details about the 2020/21 trading figures were available from the company that's due to file its latest set of results (for the 12 months to February 2020) by the end of this month.
But it's clear that the period from March 2020 was a tough one for the firm as its stores were forced to close for months on end (and are again closed due to the latest UK lockdown). Last summer the company was forced to announce 450 job cuts as it said its recovery from the pandemic would be slow, with sales in the year forecast to be significantly less than they were in 2019.
Yet MD Anne Pitcher said that 2019's success "allowed us to be so resilient in 2020" and that online sales partly made up for lost physical trading.
However, with Selfridges stores being located in city centres, she expects footfall to remain muted for some time, even when stores reopen. City centres — and especially London's West End — have been devastated in the last year with the international and domestic tourists, plus office workers, that usually make up the majority of shoppers being thin on the ground.
Meanwhile the newspaper reported that the 2019/20 financial year, saw a 7% sales increase as turnover hit £1.97 billion. But despite the increase, operating profits dropped by as much as 10% to £88 million and pre-tax profits plunged to £34 million from £98 million.
That was partly linked to new accounting rules around leases but also because of heavy investment on the part of the business.
The company has been investing not only in the shopping areas of its stores but in added attractions such as the cinema that has been opened as part of its Oxford Street flagship.
Iris van Herpen on the role of women in the fashion industry and the business potential of haute couture
ASOS names key finance exec to team
Bed Bath & Beyond gets loan default notice from JPMorgan
Foot Locker reveals staff cuts on wind down of Sidestep Europe ops, top exec departs
Visa profit beats estimates on resilient consumer spending


Cinderella Dreams' last shopping day is coming up this Saturday, March 31, from 10am to 12pm. Prom-goers can choose a gown for a donation of $5.
During the last two hours of the sale (beginning at 10 a.m.) the general public may purchase any dress marked "sale" for just $10. Most dresses will be included, with the exception of a few new ones. All proceeds from the sale will go back into the Cinderella Dreams project to pay for storage and other expenses.
Not in the market for a prom-type dress? What about a cocktail dress? Cinderella Dreams will hold a separate "Little Black Dress" event this Thursday evening from 7-9 p.m. at the Cinderella Dreams dress shop. Little black dresses and cocktail dresses will be for sale for $10 each.
Cinderella Dreams is organized by the Midlothian Junior Women's Club.


text:
class SetDefaultsForShowInNavigationAndCacheLength < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    change_column_default(:smithy_pages, :show_in_navigation, true)
    change_column_default(:smithy_pages, :cache_length, 600)
  end
end


text:
L'église Santa Maria in Monticelli (Sainte-Marie de Monticelli) est une église catholique située à Rome dans la rue du même nom.

Historique
L'année de sa fondation exacte et le nom de son premier architecte sont inconnus. L'église qui se trouve sur un monticule dont elle prend le nom est reconstruite au  et reconsacrée par Innocent II en 1143, comme le rappelle une pierre gravée à l'intérieur. En latin, elle est répertoriée comme église Sancta Maria in Monticellis Arenulae de Urbe, ainsi que l'on peut le lire dans la bulle d'Urbain VII de 1264.

Il ne reste plus rien de cette église médiévale, sauf le campanile à l'angle qui s'élevait plus haut à l'origine et qui fut réduit au , pour des raisons de stabilité.

L'église est entièrement reconstruite en 1716 par Matteo Stassi à la demande de Clément XI et remaniée en 1860 par .

L'église est desservie par les prêtres de la doctrine chrétienne dont la maison généralice se trouve au couvent adjacent. Les reliques de leur fondateur, saint César de Bus, reposent à l'église.

Intérieur
L'église est de forme basilicale à trois nefs et trois chapelles de chaque côté. On remarque à l'intérieur de l'église les œuvres suivantes :

Deuxième chapelle de droite, La Flagellation, fresque attribuée à Antonio Carracci du  ;
Deuxième chapelle de gauche, crucifix de bois du , attribué à Pietro Cavallini ;
Troisième chapelle de gauche, Vierge à l'Enfant et saints de Sebastiano Conca ;
Abside, Tête du Rédempteur, fragment d'une mosaïque du .

Bibliographie
 C. Rendina, Le Chiese di Roma, Newton & Compton Editori, Milano, 2000
 M. Quercioli, Rione VII Regola, in AA.VV, I rioni di Roma, Newton & Compton Editori, Milano, 2000, vol. II, 448–498
 M. Richiello, Santa Maria in Monticelli, Roma, 2005, Elio de Rosa Editore

Église dans le rione de Regola

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Dave Chappelle's controversial comedy special is a catalyst for change as Netflix walkout leads to calls for reform
When it comes to the controversy surrounding Dave Chappelle's "The Closer," Netflix seems to have hit a nerve affecting both employees and boldfacers
Dave Chappelle's comedy special "The Closer" has raised several issues at Netflix. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News)
By Helena Andrews-Dyer
October 20, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Netflix employees at the streaming giant's campuses around the world walked off the job Wednesday in protest of Dave Chappelle's latest special, the company's defense of the comedian and its dismissal of concerns that the content was dangerously transphobic.
A crowd of dozens gathered outside the streamer's West Hollywood offices to denounce both Chappelle and the company's chief executive, Ted Sarandos, who has stood by "The Closer" after employees, LGBTQ organizations and the platform's own talent likened the special to hate speech. Some supporters of Chappelle also attended the rally, clashing with protesters as they urged Netflix not to limit speech and held up signs with messages such as "Jokes are funny."
"We're here today not because we can't take a joke," Ashlee Marie Preston, a media personality and the walkout's organizer, told rallygoers. "We're here today because the jokes are taking lives."
A crowd of dozens gathered outside Netflix headquarters on Oct. 20 in protest of Dave Chappelle's comedy special "The Closer," which they said was transphobic. (Reuters)
The one-day walkout followed weeks of simmering complaints and punctuates the collision of the comedian's popularity with the growing movement to protect the rights of transgender people.
The issue exploded after the Oct. 5 release of the comedian's special, in which he compares being trans to wearing blackface, makes jokes about transgender people's genitalia and declares he's "team TERF" — which stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist — because he believes "gender is a fact." He compares the struggles of the Black community directly with the LGBTQ community. "I can't help but feel like if slaves had baby oil and booty shorts," he tells the audience, "we might have been free a hundred years sooner."
In their list of demands to Sarandos, the Netflix employee resource group Trans*, which consists of trans and nonbinary employees and their allies, wrote in a news release that they want the company to add disclaimers to transphobic content, make investments in trans creators and recruit trans people to work in Netflix leadership roles. The group did not demand that "The Closer" be removed from the platform.
Considered one of comedy's greats, Chappelle influenced a generation of entertainers with his racially charged and critically acclaimed sketch series "Chappelle's Show" and his subsequent dramatic exit from the show in 2005. After years spent out of the spotlight, he returned to the stage in 2013, and in 2016 inked a $60 million Netflix deal for a trio of specials that considered no topic too taboo. In the years since, Chappelle has received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, hosted the highest-rated "Saturday Night Live" telecast in years, won multiple Emmy and Grammy awards, and in what he called "the most significant honor of my life," his alma mater is planning to name its theater after him.
The dedication ceremony at Duke Ellington School of the Arts is set to take place next month in Washington, but some students there are not happy with the decision. "To walk past there and see the name of someone who does not respect my sexuality or me as a person frankly disgusts me," said 16-year-old student Andrew Wilson, who identifies as gay.
From its very first punchlines, Chappelle's sixth and perhaps final special for the company establishes itself as napalm. The 48-year-old jokingly refers to himself as "transphobic comedian Dave Chappelle" in an attempt to reanimate the topic of cancel culture and political correctness he explored in his 2019 special "Sticks and Stones."
Dave Chappelle draws criticism for doubling down on jokes about the LGBTQ community
Responding to the criticism from LGBTQ groups, Sarandos defended the program in two memos, saying he supported Chappelle's "artistic freedom." Though he acknowledged in an interview with Variety on Tuesday that he "screwed up that internal communication" and "should have led with a lot more humanity," he reiterated that the special would not be taken down and said he defined hate speech on the platform as "something that would intentionally call for physically harming other people or even remove protections. For me, intent to cause physical harm crosses the line, for sure."
In an interview with The Washington Post, Lourdes Ashley Hunter, executive director of the Trans Women of Color Collective, zeroed in on that distinction. "Harm is not always physical," Hunter said. "It's psychological, it's emotional. It happens in many different forms, and words hurt. Words incite violence."
"This isn't about Dave Chappelle and what he says," said David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. "It has always been about Netflix platforming transphobia for profit, and creating and holding space for intersectionality to be used as a way to acknowledge how easily and often Black trans, queer and nonbinary people are erased ... in ways that might condone or contribute to violence."
LGBTQ advocacy organizations expressed their support for Wednesday's walkout and, as GLAAD wrote in a statement, urged Netflix to "take swift and strong action to address the calls for change from the community and their own employees."
A spokesperson for Netflix released a statement ahead of the planned rally that said the company respected employees' decision to walk out "and recognize we have much more work to do both within Netflix and in our content."
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a statement that "privilege can cloud what we do or don't see as harmful. Media companies and content producers have big decisions to make about what is respectful and what deserves a platform."
But Chappelle has still found support from some fellow comedians. Damon Wayans told TMZ that comedians were "slaves to PC culture" and that Chappelle "freed" them. And Chappelle himself received a standing ovation at the Hollywood Bowl a few days after the special premiered, telling the crowd, "If this is what being canceled is like, I love it."
The Equality Act is a positive step forward for the LGBTQ community. But it came with swift backlash from conservative lawmakers. (Monica Rodman, Sarah Hashemi/The Washington Post)
The streaming company now finds itself on the edge of a metamorphic moment. Since its transformation from DVD mailer to entertainment industry heavyweight nearly a decade ago, the company has managed to weather the tide of controversy that comes with being a big fish in the rising ocean of online streaming.
But with a marathon list of original programming that in 2019 was equivalent to debuting one new title a day, issues have emerged.
There has been accusations of censorship over deleted episodes of shows, such as when Netflix blocked Saudi audiences from viewing an episode of Hasan Minhaj's show "Patriot Act" after the comedian connected the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi to the Saudi Arabian crown prince in his monologue).
There have been outcries from mental health advocacy groups about the depiction of suicide, such as an intensely graphic scene in the wildly popular teen drama "13 Reasons Why" that the company edited out more than two years after it first aired.
There was a reworking of a promotional poster over concerns of sexualizing prepubescent girls. After Netflix changed the artwork for "Cuties" following intense backlash, it tweeted an apology that read in part, "It was not OK."
The company has demonstrated that it can change course when necessary. But when it comes to the Chapelle controversy, Netflix has hit a nerve.
Instead of just outside pressure mounting the charge, calls for action are coming from both employees and stars who made their names on the platform.
Terra Field, a Netflix software engineer who is also transgender, took the company to task on Twitter for attempting to be "neutral." "This is not an argument with two sides. It is an argument with trans people who want to be alive and people who don't want us to be," she wrote. She then attended a meeting meant for senior executives along with two other co-workers. All three were suspended and then reinstated days later. But the fate of another colleague was more permanent: Netflix confirmed that it had fired an employee it said had leaked company data, including that the streamer paid $24.1 million for "The Closer," that appeared in a Bloomberg News article.
Netflix fires employee for sharing information about Dave Chappelle's special amid LGBTQ backlash
While the corporate drama was playing out, the talent was equally as enraged.
Jaclyn Moore, the showrunner of the Netflix series "Dear White People" who is also trans, said she was "done" with the company.
Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, whose 2018 Netflix special "Nanette" was heralded as groundbreaking for her takes on trauma, sexuality and mental health, took particular exception with Sarandos, who in a memo cited Gadsby's work as an example of the streamer's diverse slate of programming.
"Hey Ted Sarandos! Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn't drag my name into your mess," Gadsby responded via Instagram. "Now I have to deal with even more of the hate and anger that Dave Chappelle's fans like to unleash on me every time Dave gets 20 million dollars to process his emotionally stunted partial world view."
In the final moments of "The Closer," Chappelle seems to qualify his remarks, telling the audience that he has "never had a problem with transgender people. If you listen to what I'm saying clearly, my problem has always been with White people." Now that the transgender community has the country listening, it appears that their argument has something in common with the comedian's own framing. The main problem isn't with Chappelle, they insist. It's with Netflix.
Jacob Bogage, Sonia Rao and Vanessa G. Sanchez contributed to this report.
An 'Atlanta' episode and Dave Chappelle's Netflix special show what has — and hasn't — changed in five years
What does reality TV owe Black women?
A year of country music controversies has left some fans disappointed — and wondering whether they should keep listening


This is my (growing) list of blogs and websites I personally think are of genuine interest and worth look at.
Written by Mat Westhorpe. This blog is constantly well written – and covers issues that I neither have the skill, nor mindset to cover . . . let alone the balls or knowledge. There are and always will be issues within the Ambulance Service that need to be addressed should we want to have the bare minimum acceptable healthcare service in this country. Mat hits the subjects hard and addresses everything that is of concern to us all . . . and speaks where the rest of us are unable.
He also has a Facebook part to this. Worth a read every time!
This is a facebook page that has always raised a smile on my face. Never fails to deliver. Written and updated by someone in London's finest Met Police it is clearly meant to touch on the "lighter" side of the dark humour that the Police have to face day in day out.
Every now and then I come to this blog for a read. Really well written – often sad but poignantly so. Good style.
This is an equally gentle blog written by Ella Shaw. I like this one as it's not self centered, and doesn't necessitate the need to overindulge in the serious side of issues in this job. By far this blog is underrated and needs more attention.
Not related to medicine in ANY WAY. But every time I need to be cheered up, I go to this site. David Thorne became (in)famous for his email "battles" using well aimed sarcasm and outrageous abuse of his targets.
Always, worth a look at and good starting points would be the famous works such as Overdue Account or Missing Missy Then slowly work your way through the countless others before buying the books.


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Home > Shows > Power Grid/ Planetary Frequencies
Power Grid/ Planetary Frequencies
Guests Michael Maloof, David B. Sereda
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In the first half, WND's Washington senior reporter, Michael Maloof, talked about the vulnerability of America's power grid and infrastructures, and how they could be damaged by a solar flare as well as an EMP or cyber attack. The utilities have been fooling themselves in thinking they can handle such events, with today's national power grid drill an example of them remaining in denial, he commented. "But if you have an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) over a wide geographical area, there's no way they're going to be able to control that" and it will certainly take months and years to make repairs, and urban centers could be wiped out, he warned.
Such effects could also be seen from a solar flare if we take a direct hit, he added. NASA estimates if the US takes a direct hit it will cost upwards of $2 trillion in the first year, and 4-10 years to recover, with some 160 million lives affected, he reported. People will basically die of starvation and diseases simply because critical life-sustaining infrastructures depend on the grid to run, he continued. Maloof cited the need for congressional action to fund the strengthening and protection of the grid. The bipartisan EMP Caucus in the House of Representatives is one such step in this direction.
In the latter half, filmmaker and mystic ecologist David Sereda discussed his recent experiments with how human brainwaves correspond to frequencies of the nine planets in our solar system. Essentially, the planets are the power transmitters of these frequencies, and our DNA coils are the receivers, he explained. Sereda said he's developed a tuning technology that enables him to experience quantum communication with the other planets, and star systems such as the Pleiades. This technology has also been able to heal people, and facilitate astral projection, he added.
Sereda described some of his communications with the Jupiter frequency, in which he encountered 8 ft. tall beings who had lightning bolts flashing between their chests. Calculating the electromagnetic frequencies of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, he determined that it was a giant crystal oscillator, which could be used to function like a stargate. For more, check out his video, 'Quantum Pyramid.'
News segment guests: Steve Kates 'Dr. Sky', Christian Wilde
voiceentertainment.net
davidsereda.co
wnd.com/author/mmaloof
Differentials, The Hidden Harmonic Codes of the Universe
A Nation Forsaken: EMP: The Escalating Threat of an American Catastrophe
Tupac Amaru
Moonlight Drive
Waters of Cesme
I Only Want to be With You
Waiting on the World to Change
Numerology/ Psychopaths
Lizard Man/ UFOs & ET Contact


Have you come across a brilliant lecturer, a dedicated supervisor or an otherwise excellent teacher? The Student Union rewards this year's best teacher at the University of Helsinki. Send in your suggestions!
Every autumn, HYY's Good Teacher - Magister Bonus prize is awarded to a teacher who has shown skills and interest both in teaching and students. All the student community members or organisations may nominate candidates. A council of students will process all applications and make a suggestion to the Student Union board. Special attention will be given to student-friendliness, expertise, active attitude towards developing, and giving and receiving constructive criticism. This year we will also emphasize how the teacher supports study ability and students' well-being in teaching.
The award will be presented at the anniversary of the Student Union on 23rd November.
Expertise appears as the ability to highlight essential issues. A good teacher is enthusiastic about their field and also conveys one's enthuasiasm to students. A professional teacher is also a student's reliable guide to the scientific community.
Any member or a member organisation of the academic community can make suggestions. The candidates must be in a teaching position at the University of Helsinki. The reasons should include examples of how the nominated person fulfills the criteria. In addition, the application may include comments by students and other members of the academic community or other suitable examples of the candidate's merits. You may download this information as attachments in the e-form.