Daniel in the lions' den

The story of Daniel in the lions' den (chapter 6 in the Book of Daniel) tells how Daniel is raised to high office by his royal master Darius the Mede, but jealous rivals trick Darius into issuing a decree which condemns Daniel to death. Hoping for Daniel's deliverance, but unable to save him, the king has him cast into the pit of lions. At daybreak he hurries back, asking if God had saved his friend. Daniel replies that God had sent an angel to close the jaws of the lions, "because I was found blameless before him." The king has those who had conspired against Daniel, and their wives and children, thrown to the lions in his place, and commands to all the people of the whole world to "tremble and fear before the God of Daniel".

Modern scholarship agrees that Daniel is a legendary figure. The book of which he is the hero divides into two parts, a set of tales in chapters 1–6, and the series of visions in chapters 7–12: the tales are no earlier than the Hellenistic period, and the visions date from the Maccabean era (the mid-2nd century BC). The stories were probably originally independent, but were collected in the mid-2nd century by the author of chapter 7 and expanded again shortly afterwards with the visions in chapters 8-12 to produce the modern book.

Lion's Den (mixed martial arts)

The Lion's Den is a mixed martial arts team and training facility that was based out of Lodi, California and San Diego, California but has recently moved its headquarters to Reno, Nevada. The team was founded in the early 1990s by UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock, and was the most dominant fight camp in the early UFC. It featured fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Vernon "Tiger" White, Jerry Bohlander, Tra Telligman, Pete Williams, and Mikey Burnett. The Lion's Den now features many new training facilities, including Lion's Den Arizona, Lion's Den Connecticut, and Lion's Den Reno.

Establishment

The team was founded out of necessity, as the then-new sport of mixed martial arts began to take off in the early 1990s. Shamrock, who had fought at UFC 1, had trouble finding adequate sparring partners to prepare for fights. Shamrock attracted the attention of American fighters Vernon White and Guy Mezger early on, and formed the first ever mixed martial arts team in the USA.

Dragons' Den

Dragons' Den is a reality television format featuring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas in order to secure investment finance from a panel of venture capitalists. The show originated in Japan as Money Tigers or Tigers of Money ("マネーの虎", a pun on "Tiger of Malaya", the nickname of WWII general Tomoyuki Yamashita). The format is owned by Sony Pictures Television.

Local versions of the show have been produced in nearly 30 countries, as well as one for the Arab world; in some countries, more than one version has aired. The most popular name for the show is Dragons' Den or variations thereof, a name that originated in the United Kingdom. The show has also been titled Shark Tank (a name that originated in the United States) and Lions' Den, and variations on those names, among others. In versions where the name of the show contains a creature's name, the investors are referred to as that creature.

Format

The contestants are usually product designers or service operators who have what they consider to be a viable and potentially very profitable business idea, but who lack funding and direction. They pitch their idea to five rich entrepreneurial businesspeople, the eponymous "dragons" (or "tigers" in the original Japanese show, "sharks" in the U.S. and Israeli versions and "lions" in Germany and elsewhere). Before the show, the contestants have named a specific amount of money that they wish to get (along with a percentage in the business that the contestant is offering to sell to the investors), and the rules stipulate that if they do not raise at least this amount from the dragons, they get nothing. In return, the contestant gives the dragons a percentage of the company's stock, which is the chief point of negotiation. The program does not show the entire pitch as scenes are selected and edited from the episode due to time constraints.