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National_Football_League

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Each NFL season begins annually with a three-week preseason in August, followed by the 18-week regular season, which runs from early September to early January, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference, including four division winners and three wild card teams, advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament, which culminates in the Super Bowl, played in early February between the winners of the AFC and NFC championship games. The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings, a playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with the NFL Championship Game until 1966. Following an agreement to merge the NFL with the rival American Football League (AFL), the Super Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine a champion between the best teams from the two leagues and has remained as the final game of each NFL season since the merger was completed in 1970. The NFL is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue and the sports league with the most valuable teams. The NFL also has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. The Super Bowl is also among the most-watched sporting events in the world, with the individual games accounting for many of the most watched television programs in American history and all occupying the top five of Nielsen's all-time most-watched U.S. television broadcasts by 2015. The NFL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The Green Bay Packers hold the most combined NFL championships with thirteen, winning nine titles before the Super Bowl era and four Super Bowls afterwards. Since the creation of the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the most Super Bowl victories at six each. The reigning league champions are the Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 25–22 in Super Bowl LVIII. History Founding and history On August 20, 1920, a meeting was held by representatives of the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangles at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio. This meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), a group who, according to the Canton Evening Repository, intended to "raise the standard of professional football in every way possible, to eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs and to secure cooperation in the formation of schedules". A second meeting was held on September 17, 1920, with representatives from teams within four states: Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton from Ohio; the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana; the Rochester Jeffersons from New York; and the Rock Island Independents, Decatur Staleys, and Racine (Chicago) Cardinals from Illinois. The league was renamed to the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The league elected Jim Thorpe as its first president, and consisted of 14 teams (the Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers, Columbus Panhandles and Detroit Heralds joined the league during the year). The Massillon Tigers from Massillon, Ohio was also at the September 17 meeting, but did not field a team in 1920. Only two of these teams, the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals), remain in the NFL. Although the league did not maintain official standings for its 1920 inaugural season and teams played schedules that included non-league opponents, the APFA awarded the Akron Pros the championship by virtue of their 8–0–3 record. The first event occurred on September 26, 1920, when the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park. On October 3, 1920, the first full week of league play occurred. The following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans. On June 24, 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League (NFL). In 1932, the season ended with the Chicago Bears (6–1–6) and the Portsmouth Spartans (6–1–4) tied for first in the league standings. At the time, teams were ranked on a single table and the team with the highest winning percentage (not including ties, which were not counted towards the standings) at the end of the season was declared the champion; the only tiebreaker was that in the event of a tie if two teams played twice in a season, the result of the second game determined the title (the source of the 1921 controversy). This method had been used since the league's creation in 1920, but no situation had been encountered where two teams were tied for first. The league quickly determined that a playoff game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the league's champion. The teams were originally scheduled to play the playoff game, officially a regular-season game that would count towards the regular season standings, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but a combination of heavy snow and extreme cold forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium, which did not have a regulation-size football field. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the smaller playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0 and thus won the championship. Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933, to split into two divisions with a championship game to be played between the division champions. The 1934 season also marked the first of twelve seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league. The de facto ban was rescinded in 1946, following public pressure and coinciding with the removal of a similar ban in Major League Baseball. The NFL was always the largest professional football league in the United States; it nevertheless faced numerous rival professional leagues through the 1930s and 1940s. Rival leagues included at least three separate American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), on top of various regional leagues of varying caliber. Three NFL teams trace their histories to these rival leagues; the Los Angeles Rams who came from a 1936 iteration of the American Football League, and the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, both from the AAFC. By the 1950s, the NFL had an effective monopoly on professional football in the United States; its only competition in North America was the professional Canadian football circuit, which formally became the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1958. With Canadian football being a different football code than the American game, the CFL established a niche market in Canada and still survives as an independent league. A new professional league, the fourth American Football League (AFL), began to play in 1960. The upstart AFL began to challenge the established NFL in popularity, gaining lucrative television contracts and engaging in a bidding war with the NFL for free agents and draft picks. The two leagues announced a merger on June 8, 1966, to take full effect in 1970. In the meantime, the leagues would hold a common draft and championship game. The game, the Super Bowl, was held four times before the merger, with the NFL winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV. After the league merged, it was reorganized into two conferences: the National Football Conference (NFC), consisting of most of the pre-merger NFL teams, and the American Football Conference (AFC), consisting of all of the AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL teams. Today, the NFL is the most popular sports league in North America – with much of the league's growth and popularity attributable to former Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who led the league from 1960 to 1989. Overall annual attendance increased from 3 million at the beginning of his tenure to 17 million by the end of his tenure, and 400 million global viewers watched 1989's Super Bowl XXIII. The NFL established NFL Properties in 1963. The league's licensing wing, NFL Properties, earns the league billions of dollars annually; Rozelle's tenure also marked the creation of NFL Charities and a national partnership with United Way. Paul Tagliabue was elected as commissioner to succeed Rozelle; his 17-year tenure, which ended in 2006, was marked by large increases in television contracts and the addition of four expansion teams, as well as the introduction of league initiatives to increase the number of minorities in league and team management roles. The league's current Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has focused on reducing the number of illegal hits and making the sport safer, mainly through fining or suspending players who break rules. These actions are among many the NFL is taking to reduce concussions and improve player safety. Prior to 2021, the NFL had utilized race-based adjustments of dementia claims in the $1 billion settlement of concussion claims, which had been criticized by critics before the NFL decided to end what was called "race-norming". On May 21, 2024, the NFL announced the NFL Source initiative, aimed at increasing the number of minority- and women-owned businesses that work with the league throughout the year. NFL Source will be mandatory for teams that host major events, such as the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft, and their organizing committees, but will be optional for other contracts at the team level. The NFL will partner with the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc to help local businesses across the country obtain the certifications necessary to do business with the league in furtherance of its efforts to increase partnerships with certified and underrepresented businesses that are 51% owned and operated or led by a veteran, woman, minority, person with disabilities or LGBTQ+. In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers, alleging that the NFL, its member teams, its broadcast partners, and DirecTV engaged in a conspiracy to violate antitrust law, by granting DirecTV exclusive rights to sell the Sunday Ticket product, thereby restricting competition and forcing viewers to pay super competitive prices to view out-of-market games. On June 27, 2024, a jury in Los Angeles found that the NFL had violated antitrust law in setting the price of the Sunday ticket package and ordered a penalty totaling more than $4.7 billion. With triple damages allowed under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could ultimately be liable for $14.39 billion. The league said it would ask the judge to set the verdict aside then appeal the verdict if needed. Season and playoff development From 1920 to 1934, the NFL did not have a set number of games for teams to play, instead setting a minimum. The league mandated a twelve-game regular season for each team beginning in 1935, later shortening this to eleven games in 1937 and ten games in 1943, mainly due to World War II. After the war ended, the number of games returned to eleven games in 1946, and later back to twelve in 1947. The NFL went to a 14-game schedule in 1961, which it retained until switching to a 16-game schedule in 1978. In March 2021, the NFL officially adopted a 17-game schedule after gaining the agreement of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Having an odd number of games in the schedule will give half the teams nine games as the home team, while half the teams have only eight home games. To minimize the perceived benefit on competition of having more home games, the extra home game will be rotated between the two conferences each year. This is because playoff berths are allocated at the conference level, so all teams within the conference will have played the same number of home games. The NFL operated in a two-conference system from 1933 to 1966, where the champions of each conference would meet in the NFL Championship Game. If two teams tied for the conference lead, they would meet in a one-game playoff to determine the conference champion. In 1967, the NFL expanded from 15 teams to 16 teams. Instead of just evening out the conferences by adding the expansion New Orleans Saints to the seven-member Western Conference, the NFL realigned the conferences and split each into two four-team divisions. The four division champions would meet in the NFL playoffs, a two-round playoff. The NFL also operated the Playoff Bowl (officially the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl) from 1960 to 1969. Effectively, a third-place game, pitting the two conference runners-up against each other, the league considers Playoff Bowls to have been exhibitions rather than playoff games. The league discontinued the Playoff Bowl in 1970 due to its perception as a game for losers. Following the addition of the former AFL teams into the NFL in 1970, the NFL split into two conferences with three divisions each. The expanded league, now with twenty-six teams, would also feature an expanded eight-team playoff, the participants being the three division champions from each conference as well as one 'wild card' team (the team with the best win percentage that did not win its division) from each conference. In 1978, the league added a second wild card team from each conference, bringing the total number of playoff teams to ten, and a further two wild card teams were added in 1990 to bring the total to twelve. When the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, the league realigned, changing the division structure from three divisions in each conference to four divisions in each conference. As each division champion gets a playoff bid, the number of wild card teams from each conference dropped from three to two. The playoffs expanded again in 2020, adding two more wild card teams to bring the total to 14 playoff teams. Corporate structure At the corporate level, the National Football League considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 32 member teams. Up until 2015, the league was an unincorporated nonprofit 501(c)(6) association. Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides an exemption from federal income taxation for "Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual." In contrast, each individual team, with the exception of the non-profit Green Bay Packers, is subject to tax because they make a profit. In 2015, the NFL gave up its tax-exempt status following public criticism; in a letter to the club owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a "distraction", saying "the effects of the tax-exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years… Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there. This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business." As a result, the league office might owe around US$10 million in income taxes, but it is no longer required to disclose the salaries of its executive officers. The league has three defined officers: the commissioner, secretary, and treasurer. Each conference has one defined officer, the president, which is essentially an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties, including awarding the conference championship trophy. The commissioner is elected by the affirmative vote of two-thirds or eighteen (whichever is greater) of the members of the league, while the president of each conference is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths or 10 of the conference members. The commissioner appoints the secretary and treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs, players, coaches, and employees. He is the "principal executive officer" of the NFL and also has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team, clubs, or employed individuals of an NFL club if they have violated league by-laws or committed "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football". The commissioner can, in the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league, suspend individuals, hand down a fine of up to US$500,000, cancel contracts with the league, and award or strip teams of draft picks. In extreme cases, the commissioner can offer recommendations to the NFL's executive committee, up to and including the "cancellation or forfeiture" of a club's franchise or any other action, he deems necessary. The commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games. The current Commissioner of the National Football League is Roger Goodell, who was elected in 2006 after Paul Tagliabue, the previous commissioner, retired. Clubs The NFL consists of 32 clubs divided into two conferences of 16 teams each. Each conference is divided into four divisions of four clubs each. During the regular season, each team is allowed a maximum of 55 players on its roster; only 48 of these may be active (eligible to play) on game days. Each team can also have a sixteen-player practice squad separate from its main roster. Each NFL club is granted a franchise, the league's authorization for the team to operate in its home city. This franchise covers 'Home Territory' (the 75 miles surrounding the city limits, or, if the team is within 100 miles of another league city, half the distance between the two cities) and 'Home Marketing Area' (Home Territory plus the rest of the state the club operates in, as well as the area the team operates its training camp in for the duration of the camp). Each NFL member has the exclusive right to host professional football games inside its Home Territory and the exclusive right to advertise, promote, and host events in its Home Marketing Area. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, mostly relating to teams with close proximity to each other: teams that operate in the same city (e.g. New York City and Los Angeles) or the same state (e.g. California, Florida, and Texas) share the rights to the city's Home Territory and the state's Home Marketing Area, respectively. According to Forbes, the Dallas Cowboys, at approximately US$8 billion, are the most valuable NFL franchise and the most valuable sports team in the world. 26 of the 32 NFL teams rank among the Top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world; and 16 of the NFL's owners are listed on the Forbes 400, the most of any sports league or organization. Season format The NFL season format consists of a three-week preseason, an 18-week regular season (each team plays 17 games), and a 14-team single-elimination playoff culminating in the Super Bowl, the league's championship game. Preseason The NFL preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. Each NFL team is required to schedule three preseason games. NFC teams must play at least two of these at home in odd numbered years and AFC teams must play at least two at home in even numbered years. However, the teams involved in the Hall of Fame game, as well as any team that played in an American Bowl game, play four preseason games. Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular-season totals. Because the preseason does not count towards standings, teams generally do not focus on winning games; instead, they are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance, both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut. The quality of preseason games has been criticized by some fans, who dislike having to pay full price for exhibition games, as well as by some players and coaches, who dislike the risk of injury the games have, while others have felt the preseason is a necessary part of the NFL season. Regular season Currently, the 14 opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula: The league runs an 18-week, 272-game regular season. Since 2021, the season has begun the week after Labor Day (the first Monday in September) and concluded the week after New Year. The opening game of the season is normally a home game on a Thursday for the league's defending champion. Most NFL games are played on Sundays, with a Monday night game typically held at least once a week and Thursday night games occurring on most weeks as well. NFL games are not normally played on Fridays or Saturdays until late in the regular season, as federal law prohibits professional football leagues from competing with college or high school football. Because high school and college teams typically play games on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the NFL cannot hold games on those days until the Friday before the third Saturday in December. While Saturday games late in the season are common, the league rarely holds Friday games, the most recent one being on Christmas Day in 2020. NFL games are rarely scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, and those days have only been used three times since 1948: in 2010, when a Sunday game was rescheduled to Tuesday due to a blizzard; in 2012, when the Kickoff game was moved from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid conflict with the Democratic National Convention; and in 2020, when a game was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday due to players testing positive for COVID-19. NFL regular season matchups are determined according to a scheduling formula. Within a division, all four teams play 14 out of their 17 games against common opponents or each other– two games (home and away) are played against the other three teams in the division, while one game is held against all the members of a division from the NFC and a division from the AFC as determined by a rotating cycle (three years for the conference the team is in, and four years in the conference they are not in). Two of the other games are intraconference games, determined by the standings of the previous year – for example, if a team finishes first in its division, it will play two other first-place teams in its conference, while a team that finishes last would play two other last-place teams in the conference. The final game is an inter-conference based on a rotating cycle and determined by previous season's standings. In total, each team plays 17 games and has one bye week, where it does not play a game. Although a team's home and away opponents are known by the end of the previous year's regular season, the exact dates and times for NFL games are not determined until much later because the league has to account for, among other things, the Major League Baseball postseason and local events that could pose a scheduling conflict with NFL games. During the 2010 season, over 500,000 potential schedules were created by computers, 5,000 of which were considered "playable schedules" and were reviewed by the NFL's scheduling team. After arriving at what they felt was the best schedule out of the group, nearly 50 more potential schedules were developed to try to ensure that the chosen schedule would be the best possible one. Postseason Following the conclusion of the regular season, the NFL Playoffs, a 14-team single-elimination tournament, is then held. Seven teams are selected from each conference: the winners of each of the four divisions as well as three wild card teams (the three remaining teams with the best overall record, with tiebreakers in the event of two or more teams having the same record). These teams are seeded according to overall record and tiebreakers, with the division champions always ranking higher than the wild card teams. The top team (seeded one) from each conference are awarded a bye week, while the remaining six teams (seeded 2–7) from each conference compete in the first round of the playoffs, the Wild Card round, with the 2-seed competing against the 7-seed, the 3-seed competing against the 6-seed and the 4-seed competing against the 5-seed. The winners of the Wild Card round advance to the Divisional Round, which matches the lower seeded team against the 1-seed and the two remaining teams against each other. The winners of those games then compete in the Conference Championships, with the higher remaining seed hosting the lower remaining seed. The AFC and NFC champions then compete in the Super Bowl to determine the league champion. The only other postseason event hosted by the NFL is the Pro Bowl, the league's all-star game. Since 2009, the Pro Bowl has been held the week before the Super Bowl; in previous years, the game was held the week following the Super Bowl, but in an effort to boost ratings, the game was moved to the week before. Because of this, players from the teams participating in the Super Bowl are exempt from participating in the game. The Pro Bowl is not considered as competitive as a regular-season game because the biggest concern of teams is to avoid injuries to the players. Trophies and awards Team trophies The National Football League has used three different trophies to honor its champion over its existence. The first trophy, the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup, was donated to the NFL (then APFA) in 1920 by the Brunswick-Balke Collender Corporation. The trophy, the appearance of which is only known by its description as a "silver loving cup", was intended to be a traveling trophy and not to become permanent until a team had won at least three titles. The league awarded it to the Akron Pros, champions of the inaugural 1920 season; however, the trophy was discontinued and its current whereabouts are unknown. A second trophy, the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, was issued by the NFL from 1934 to 1967. The trophy's namesake, Ed Thorp, was a referee in the league and a friend to many early league owners; upon his death in 1934, the league created the trophy to honor him. In addition to the main trophy, which would be in the possession of the current league champion, the league issued a smaller replica trophy to each champion, who would maintain permanent control over it. The current location of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, long thought to be lost, is believed to be possessed by the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. The current trophy of the NFL is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Super Bowl trophy was officially renamed in 1970 after Vince Lombardi, who as head coach led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls. Unlike the previous trophies, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is issued to each year's champion, who maintains permanent control of it. Lombardi Trophies are made by Tiffany & Co. out of sterling silver and are worth anywhere from US$25,000 to US$300,000. Additionally, each player on the winning team as well as coaches and personnel are awarded Super Bowl rings to commemorate their victory. The winning team chooses the company that makes the rings; each ring design varies, with the NFL mandating certain ring specifications (which have a degree of room for deviation), in addition to requiring the Super Bowl logo be on at least one side of the ring. The losing team are also awarded rings, which must be no more than half as valuable as the winners' rings, but those are almost never worn. The conference champions receive trophies for their achievement. The champions of the NFC receive the George Halas Trophy, named after Chicago Bears founder George Halas, who is also considered one of the co-founders of the NFL. The AFC champions receive the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after Lamar Hunt, the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs and the principal founder of the American Football League. Players on the winning team also receive a conference championship ring. Player and coach awards The NFL recognizes a number of awards for its players and coaches at its annual NFL Honors presentation. The most prestigious award is the AP Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Other major awards include the AP Offensive Player of the Year, AP Defensive Player of the Year, AP Comeback Player of the Year, and the AP Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards. Another prestigious award is the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which recognizes a player's off-field work in addition to his on-field performance. The NFL Coach of the Year award is the highest coaching award. The NFL also gives out weekly awards such as the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week and the Pepsi MAX NFL Rookie of the Week awards. Media coverage In the United States, the National Football League is televised on eight networks across seven media partners: ESPN/ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Prime Video, Netflix, and NFL Network. The league offers its media rights in packages of games to prospective media partners. The packages can vary depending on conference, broadcast time slot, or both. CBS televises afternoon games from the AFC package, and Fox carries afternoon games from the NFC package. These afternoon games are not carried on all affiliates, as multiple games are being played at once; each network affiliate is assigned one game per time slot, according to a complicated set of rules. Since 2011, the league has reserved the right to give Sunday games that, under the contract, would normally air on one network to the other network (known as "flexible scheduling"). The only way to legally watch a regionally televised game not being carried on the local network affiliates is to purchase NFL Sunday Ticket, the league's out-of-market sports package, which is available through YouTube TV starting with the 2023 season. The league also provides NFL RedZone, an omnibus telecast that cuts to the most relevant plays in each game, live as they happen. In addition to the regional games, the league also has packages of telecasts, mostly in prime time, that are carried nationwide. NBC broadcasts the primetime Sunday Night Football package, which includes the Thursday NFL Kickoff game that starts the regular season and a primetime Thanksgiving Day game. ESPN is the main broadcaster of the Monday Night Football package with ABC airing select games either exclusively or as a simulcast with ESPN. Amazon, through their Prime Video streaming service, is the exclusive carrier of the Thursday Night Football package. NFL Network, a U.S. pay cable channel owned by the league itself, broadcasts select games under the NFL Network Exclusive Game Series banner. Games under this banner usually consist of NFL International Series games and select Saturday games. In 2023, the NFL occupied the top three rates for a 30-second advertisement: $882,079 for Sunday Night Football, $562,524 for Monday Night Football, and $440,523 for Thursday Night Football. The league, in recent years, has expanded their televised broadcasts to over-the-top streaming services. Since 2022, Amazon holds the exclusive rights to broadcast the Thursday Night Football package. Prior to then, Amazon streamed games from the same package as part of a tri-cast model that saw games aired on broadcast television (initially through CBS and NBC, then later with Fox), cable television (through NFL Network), and digital streaming (through Prime Video). Amazon has also streamed games for free on Twitch since 2018. CBS streams its AFC package games on Paramount+ as a simulcast with its CBS broadcasts. NBC streams Sunday Night Football and select exclusive games on Peacock. ESPN streams its games on ESPN+ in simulcast with the broadcasts on ESPN or ABC. ESPN also holds exclusive rights to stream one Sunday morning international game on ESPN+. Beginning in 2024, Netflix holds the global streaming rights for at least one Christmas Day game every season as part of a three-year deal. The Super Bowl television rights are rotated on a four-year basis between CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN/ABC. The NFL's most recent contract negotiation for the media rights deal was announced on March 18, 2021, to take effect beginning in the 2023 season. The deal renewed previous rights agreements made by the NFL and each of its network partners to air their respective game packages, while awarding Amazon the Thursday Night Football package. ESPN/ABC is set to return to the Super Bowl broadcast rotation and will broadcast the Super Bowl on U.S. television in 2027, 21 years after airing its last Super Bowl, Super Bowl XL. Digital and streaming distribution was expanded to allow CBS, NBC, and ESPN/ABC to stream games on their respective over-the-top streaming services. For each of the packages the respective network partners currently hold, ESPN/ABC is paying US$2.7 billion a year; CBS, Fox, and NBC are each paying more than US$2 billion a year; and Amazon is paying US$1 billion a year. The current deal runs through the 2033 season. The league also has deals with Spanish-language broadcasters NBC Universo, Fox Deportes, and ESPN Deportes, which air Spanish language dubs of their respective English-language sister networks' games. The league's contracts do not cover preseason games, which individual teams are free to sell to local stations directly; a minority of preseason games are distributed among the league's national television partners. Through the 2014 season, the NFL had a blackout policy in which games were 'blacked out' on local television in the home team's area if the home stadium was not sold out. Clubs could elect to set this requirement at only 85%, but they would have to give more ticket revenue to the visiting team; teams could also request a specific exemption from the NFL for the game. The vast majority of NFL games were not blacked out; only 6% of games were blacked out during the 2011 season, and only two games were blacked out in 2013 and none in 2014. The NFL announced in March 2015 that it would suspend its blackout policy for at least the 2015 season. According to Nielsen, the NFL regular season since 2012 was watched by at least 200 million individuals, accounting for 80% of all television households in the United States and 69% of all potential viewers in the United States. NFL regular season games accounted for 31 out of the top 32 most-watched programs in the fall season and an NFL game ranked as the most-watched television show in all 17 weeks of the regular season. At the local level, NFL games were the highest-ranked shows in NFL markets 92% of the time. Super Bowls account for the 22 most-watched programs (based on total audience) in US history, including a record 167 million people that watched Super Bowl XLVIII, the conclusion to the 2013 season. In addition to radio networks run by each NFL team, select NFL games are broadcast nationally by Westwood One (known as Dial Global for the 2012 season). These games are broadcast on over 500 networks, giving all NFL markets access to each primetime game. The NFL's deal with Westwood One was extended in 2012 and continued through 2017. Other NFL games are nationally distributed by Compass Media Networks and Sports USA Radio Network under contracts with individual teams. Some broadcasting innovations have either been introduced or popularized during NFL telecasts. Among them, the Skycam camera system was used for the first time in a live telecast, at a 1984 preseason NFL game in San Diego between the Chargers and 49ers, and televised by CBS. Commentator John Madden famously used a telestrator during games between the early 1980s to the mid-2000s, boosting the device's popularity. Draft Each April (excluding 2014 when it took place in May), the NFL holds a draft of college players. The draft consists of seven rounds, with each of the 32 clubs getting one pick in each round. The draft order for non-playoff teams is determined by regular-season record; among playoff teams, teams are first ranked by the furthest round of the playoffs they reached, and then are ranked by regular-season record. For example, any team that reached the divisional round will be given a higher pick than any team that reached the conference championships, but will be given a lower pick than any team that did not make the divisional round. The Super Bowl champion always drafts last, and the losing team from the Super Bowl always drafts next-to-last. All potential draftees must be at least three years removed from high school in order to be eligible for the draft. Underclassmen that have met that criterion to be eligible for the draft must write an application to the NFL by January 15 renouncing their remaining college eligibility. Clubs can trade away picks for future draft picks, but cannot trade the rights to players they have selected in previous drafts. Aside from the seven picks each club gets, compensatory draft picks are given to teams that have lost more compensatory free agents than they have gained. These are spread out from rounds 3 to 7, and a total of 32 are given. Clubs are required to make their selection within a certain period of time, the exact time depending on which round the pick is made in. If they fail to do so on time, the clubs behind them can begin to select their players in order, but they do not lose the pick outright. This happened in the 2003 draft, when the Minnesota Vikings failed to make their selection on time. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers were able to make their picks before the Vikings were able to use theirs. Selected players are only allowed to negotiate contracts with the team that picked them, but if they choose not to sign they become eligible for the next year's draft. Under the current collective bargaining contract, all contracts to drafted players must be four-year deals with a club option for a fifth. Contracts themselves are limited to a certain amount of money, depending on the exact draft pick the player was selected with. Players who were draft eligible but not picked in the draft are free to sign with any club. The NFL operates several other drafts in addition to the NFL draft. The league holds a supplemental draft annually. Clubs submit emails to the league stating the player they wish to select and the round they will do so, and the team with the highest bid wins the rights to that player. The exact order is determined by a lottery held before the draft, and a successful bid for a player will result in the team forfeiting the rights to its pick in the equivalent round of the next NFL draft. Players are only eligible for the supplemental draft after being granted a petition for special eligibility. The league holds expansion drafts, the most recent happening in 2002 when the Houston Texans began play as an expansion team. Other drafts held by the league include an allocation draft in 1950 to allocate players from several teams that played in the dissolved All-America Football Conference and a supplemental draft in 1984 to give NFL teams the rights to players who had been eligible for the main draft but had not been drafted because they had signed contracts with the United States Football League or Canadian Football League. Like the other major sports leagues in the United States, the NFL maintains protocol for a disaster draft. In the event of a 'near disaster' (less than 15 players killed or disabled) that caused the club to lose a quarterback, they could draft one from a team with at least three quarterbacks. In the event of a 'disaster' (15 or more players killed or disabled) that results in a club's season being canceled, a restocking draft would be held. Neither of these protocols has ever had to be implemented. Free agency Free agents in the National Football League are divided into restricted free agents, who have three accrued seasons and whose current contract has expired, and unrestricted free agents, who have four or more accrued seasons and whose contract has expired. An accrued season is defined as "six or more regular-season games on a club's active/inactive, reserved/injured or reserve/physically unable to perform lists". Restricted free agents are allowed to negotiate with other clubs besides their former club, but the former club has the right to match any offer. If they choose not to, they are compensated with draft picks. Unrestricted free agents are free to sign with any club, and no compensation is owed if they sign with a different club. Clubs are given one franchise tag to offer to any unrestricted free agent. The franchise tag is a one-year deal that pays the player 120% of his previous contract or no less than the average of the five highest-paid players at his position, whichever is greater. There are two types of franchise tags: exclusive tags, which do not allow the player to negotiate with other clubs, and non-exclusive tags, which allow the player to negotiate with other clubs but gives his former club the right to match any offer and two first-round draft picks if they decline to match it. Clubs also have the option to use a transition tag, which is similar to the non-exclusive franchise tag but offers no compensation if the former club refuses to match the offer. Due to that stipulation, the transition tag is rarely used, even with the removal of the "poison pill" strategy (offering a contract with stipulations that the former club would be unable to match) that essentially ended the usage of the tag league-wide. Each club is subject to a salary cap, which is set at US$188.2 million for the 2019 season, US$11 million more than that of 2018. Members of clubs' practice squads, despite being paid by and working for their respective clubs, are also simultaneously a kind of free agent and are able to sign to any other club's active roster (provided their new club is not their previous club's next opponent within a set number of days) without compensation to their previous club; practice squad players cannot be signed to other clubs' practice squads, however, unless released by their original club first. See also American football in the United States List of NFL champions (1920–1969) List of Super Bowl champions (1966–present) National Football League (1902) National Football League All-Decade Teams National Football League Cheerleading National Football League controversies National Football League franchise moves and mergers National Football League records National Football League 75th Anniversary All-Time Team National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL Europe NFL Films Timeline of the National Football League List of NFL franchise owners List of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees List of NFL players with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) International Player Pathway Program (IPPP) References Explanatory notes Citations Bibliography External links Official website Pro Football Reference – historical stats of teams, players and coaches in the NFL Jared Dubin (April 28, 2015), "NFL ends tax exempt status after 73 years: 3 things to know", CBS Sports

Kevin_S._Bright

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_S._Bright

Kevin S. Bright (born November 15, 1954) is an American television executive producer and director. He is best known as the showrunner of the sitcoms Dream On and Friends. Early life Born to a Jewish-American family in New York City, Bright attended the East Side Hebrew Institute on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and graduated magna cum laude from Emerson College. Career Bright started his professional career under the tutelage of his father, Jackie Bright. After graduation, he worked in New York with Joseph Cates, where he produced specials for George Burns, Johnny Cash, David Copperfield, and Dolly Parton. After moving to Los Angeles in 1982, he started work in comedy programming such as The History of White People in America and comedy specials starring Robin Williams, Martin Mull, Harry Shearer, Paul Shaffer, and Merrill Markoe. In 1993, Bright entered a partnership with Marta Kauffman and David Crane to form Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions and began a development deal with Warner Bros. Television to produce the comedy series Friends. He also directed 60 episodes of the series, including the series finale. After Friends, he went on to executive-produce the spin-off series Joey with Friends producers Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri. Joey starred Friends actor Matt LeBlanc as the title character and featured Jennifer Coolidge, also an Emerson College attendee. Joey was cancelled on May 15, 2006, during its second season after a major ratings slump. After Joey, Bright moved back to Boston where he began working at his alma mater, Emerson College. Over the last four years at Emerson, he executive produced three-sketch comedy shows, Zebro: A Laugh Show and Chocolate Cake City, four original half-hour situation comedies, Browne At Midnight, Saturdays, Ground Floor, and Record Cellar, and a live multi-cam stand-up comedy special, Die Laughing. He also serves as an advisor to The EVVY Awards. Bright then went on to teach a series of television production classes in the Visual Media Arts department, and helped develop the program for Emerson's new LA Center, which opened in 2013. Kevin ran a diversity workshop for high school students through Emerson College, and worked with Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, to develop a method of teaching television production to the blind. Bright moved back to Los Angeles in 2013, when he was appointed as Founding Director of the Emerson Los Angeles program. There, he has focused on building new programs that take full advantage of the opportunities Emerson's expanded presence in Los Angeles provides. He directed a documentary in 2007 with Linda Feferman called Who Ordered Tax? about his father, Jackie, who was an actor and vaudevillian performer. In 2016, Bright served as the executive producer of the documentary Best and Most Beautiful Things about Michelle Smith, a woman from Bangor, Maine who is both legally blind and autistic. Bright also directed on CBS comedy Man with a Plan in 2019 for one episode, reuniting with Friends alum Matt LeBlanc. In 2024, Bright served as an executive producer of the documentary My Own Normal about Alexander Freeman, a filmmaker from Newton, Massachusetts who has cerebral palsy, following his journey of becoming a partner and father and confronting the pain of his parent's reaction. The documentary premiered at Independent Film Festival Boston. Personal life Bright lives with his wife, Claudia Wilsey Bright in Saratoga Springs, New York. Filmography Film Television References External links Kevin S. Bright at IMDb Kevin S. Bright at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

Marta_Kauffman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Kauffman

Marta Fran Kauffman (born 21 September 1956) is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the co-creator of the NBC sitcom Friends with her longtime friend, David Crane; Crane and Kauffman similarly were in a friend group with four other people. Both Kauffman and Crane were also executive producers of the show, along with Kevin Bright. Kauffman and Crane produced Veronica's Closet and Jesse. From 2005 to 2006 she was an executive producer on Related. Both writers were the creators of the HBO series Dream On. Without Crane, she co-created the Netflix series Grace and Frankie. Early life and education Born in the Philadelphia suburbs, Kauffman was raised in a conservative Jewish household. Kauffman attended Marple Newtown High School, located in the Marple Newtown School District near Philadelphia, where she was a thespian and student director of the school play "Our Town" in 1974. Kauffman attended Brandeis University and received a BA in theater in 1978. During her time there, she was a sister of Sigma Delta Tau sorority. Kauffman also studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City. She then moved to Sherman Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles. Career Okay Goodnight production company was headed by partners Kauffman, Robbie Rowe Tollin, and Hannah KS Canter. Fox 21 Television Studios signed Okay Goodnight to a multi-year first-look agreement deal in January 2020, starting with The Dreamers novel adaptation; The Littlefield Company is also in the deal. Personal life Kauffman married Michael Skloff, who composed the Friends theme song, and lived in Los Angeles. The couple have three children together. Kauffman is a registered Democrat. Filmography Awards and nominations References External links Marta Kauffman at IMDb Marta Kauffman at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

David_Crane_(producer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crane_(producer)

David Crane (born August 13, 1957) is an American writer and producer. He is best known as one of the co-creators of the television sitcoms Friends and Episodes. Early life Crane was born into a Jewish family in West New York, New Jersey, the son of Joan Crane and veteran Philadelphia television personality Gene Crane. He attended Harriton High School in Pennsylvania and graduated from there in 1975. He is a 1979 graduate of Brandeis University. Career He and his husband, Jeffrey Klarik (creator of Half & Half, co-producer Mad About You), created the 2006 ensemble sitcom The Class. In 2011, Crane and Klarik created a sitcom called Episodes for the BBC. Airing first in the US on Showtime on Sunday January 9, 2011 and then on BBC Two on Monday January 10, 2011, it features Friends star Matt LeBlanc and Green Wing's Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig. Filmography Television References External links David Crane at IMDb David Crane at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

Mission_Accomplished_speech

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech

On May 1, 2003, United States President George W. Bush gave a televised speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Bush, who had launched the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq six weeks earlier, mounted a podium in front of a White House-produced banner that read "Mission Accomplished". Reading from a prepared text, he said, "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed" because "the regime [the Iraqi dictatorship of Saddam Hussein] is no more". Although Bush went on to say that "Our mission continues" and "We have difficult work to do in Iraq," his words implied that the Iraq War was over and America had won. Bush's assertions—and the sign itself—became controversial as the Iraqi insurgency gained pace and developed into a full-on sectarian war. The vast majority of casualties, U.S. and Iraqi, military and civilian, occurred after the speech. U.S. troops fought in Iraq for eight more years before eventually withdrawing. In modern cultural relevance, the phrase "Mission Accomplished" is frequently used to refer to the perils of declaring victory too early in crises. Description On May 1, 2003, Bush became the first sitting president to arrive in an arrested landing in a fixed-wing aircraft on an aircraft carrier when he arrived at the USS Abraham Lincoln in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, dubbed Navy One, as the carrier lay just off the San Diego coast, having returned from combat operations in the Persian Gulf. He posed for photographs with pilots and members of the ship's crew while wearing a flight suit. A few hours later, he gave a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq War. Behind and above him hung a banner that said "Mission Accomplished." Bush was criticized for the historic jet landing on the carrier as an overly theatrical and expensive stunt. For instance, it was pointed out that the carrier was well within range of Bush's helicopter, and that a jet landing was not needed. Originally, White House officials had said the carrier was too far off the California coast for a helicopter landing and a jet would be needed to reach it. On the day of the speech, the Lincoln was only 30 miles (48 km) from shore, but the administration still decided to go ahead with the jet landing. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer admitted that Bush "could have helicoptered, but the plan was already in place. Plus, he wanted to see a landing the way aviators see a landing." The Lincoln made a scheduled stop in Pearl Harbor shortly before the speech, docked in San Diego after the speech, and returned to her home port in Everett, Washington, on May 6, 2003.The S-3 that served as "Navy One" was retired from service and placed on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida, on July 17, 2003. The museum makes it clear that Bush was a passenger – not the pilot – of the plane. While Bush trained and served as a jet pilot in the Air National Guard flying F-102 fighter-interceptors, he was never trained to land on a carrier. In the speech, Bush said, "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." He also said, "We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous." And he added, "Our mission continues...The War on Terror continues, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide." The speech and the "Mission Accomplished" banner were swiftly criticized by people who pointed out that the war was hardly over. Media questions about the banner appeared to surprise U.S. government officials, who initially offered different accounts of its origin and its meaning. Navy Cmdr. Conrad Chun, a Pentagon spokesman, said the banner referred specifically to the aircraft carrier's 10-month deployment (the longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War) and not the war itself: "It truly did signify a mission accomplished for the crew." The White House claimed that the banner was requested by the crew of the ship, who did not have the facilities for producing such a banner. Later, the administration and naval sources said that the banner was the Navy's idea, White House staff members made the banner, and it was hung by Navy sailors. White House spokesman Scott McClellan told CNN, "We took care of the production of it. We have people to do those things. But the Navy actually put it up." According to John Dickerson of Time magazine, the White House later conceded that they hung the banner but still insisted it had been done at the request of the crew members. Subsequently, the White House released a statement saying that the sign and Bush's visit referred to the initial invasion of Iraq. When he received an advance copy of the speech, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took care to remove any use of the phrase "Mission Accomplished" in the speech itself. Later, when journalist Bob Woodward asked him about his changes to the speech, Rumsfeld responded: "I was in Baghdad, and I was given a draft of that thing to look at. And I just died, and I said my God, it's too conclusive. And I fixed it and sent it back... they fixed the speech, but not the sign." Bush did offer a "Mission Accomplished" message to the troops in Afghanistan at Camp As Sayliyah on June 5, 2003 – about a month after the aircraft carrier speech: "America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been accomplished." For critics of the war, the photo-op became a symbol of the Bush administration's unrealistic goals and perceptions of the conflict. Anti-war activists questioned the integrity and realism of Bush's "major combat" statement. The banner came to symbolize the irony of Bush giving a victory speech only a few weeks after the beginning of the fifth longest war in American history. In a less publicized incident, Rumsfeld also declared an end to major combat operations in Afghanistan on May 1, a few hours before Bush's announcement. Subsequent events In November 2008, soon after the presidential election in which Democrat Barack Obama was chosen to succeed him, Bush indicated that he regretted the use of the banner, telling CNN, "To some, it said, well, 'Bush thinks the war in Iraq is over,' when I didn't think that. It conveyed the wrong message." In January 2009, Bush said, "Clearly, putting 'Mission Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake." In 2010, the "Mission Accomplished" banner was transferred from the National Archives to the collection of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The banner is not on display. American deaths in the Iraq War totaled 104 when President Bush gave his Mission Accomplished speech. A further 3,424 Americans were killed in the war through February 2011, when American combat operations there halted. In culture Iraq War opponents have used the phrase "mission accomplished" in an ironic sense, while others have non-politically cited it as an example of a general public relations failure. In addition, some mainstream outlets questioned the state of the war with derivatives of this statement. For example, the October 6, 2003, cover of Time featured the headline "Mission Not Accomplished": In 2004, the HBO original series The Wire ended its third season with an episode titled "Mission Accomplished". In an audio commentary for that episode, the show's creator David Simon said that the third season of the show symbolized the War in Iraq. In March 2008, a book entitled Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq was released. A continuation of the "Experts Speak" series from the Institute of Expertology, this book by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky, with illustrations by Robert Grossman, is a compilation of hundreds of quotations from prominent figures in the media and government concerning military operations in Iraq. On April 30, 2008, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said: "President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said, 'Mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission.' And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner." On April 14, 2018, President Donald Trump tweeted "Mission Accomplished!" following a US-led airstrike on Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime. Critics were quick to point out the similarities to Bush's speech. In Deadpool 2, after failing to fully fulfill his contract kill, Deadpool describes it as "mission accomplished in the George W. Bush sense". See also American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–2021) Dewey Defeats Truman References External links Commander in Chief lands on USS Lincoln CNN.com, May 2, 2003 President Bush Announces Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended, White House transcript of Bush's speech, May 1, 2003 'Mission Accomplished' Whodunit CBSnews.com, October 29, 2003 White House press release discussing/explaining 'Mission Accomplished' banner, October 29, 2003

2003_Teen_Choice_Awards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Teen_Choice_Awards

The 2003 Teen Choice Awards ceremony was held on August 2, 2003, at the Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City, California. The awards celebrate the year's achievements in music, film, television, sports, fashion, comedy, video games, and the Internet, and were voted on by viewers living in the US, aged 13 and over through various social media sites. The event was hosted by David Spade with Kelly Clarkson, Evanescence, and The Donnas as performers. Performers Performers included: Kelly Clarkson – "Low" Evanescence – "Going Under" The Donnas – "Too Bad About Your Girl" Verne Troyer as "5 Cent" – "In Da Club" Presenters Presenters included Winners and nominees Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold text. Movies References: Television Music References: Miscellaneous References: == References ==

Winter_Olympic_Games

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Olympic_Games

The Winter Olympic Games (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BCE to 394 CE. The Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 1,500 years later in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. The original five Winter Olympic Sports (consisting of nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating). The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992, the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games were held in the same year. A decision to change this was made in 1986, when during the 91st International Olympic Committee session, IOC members decided to alternate the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games on separate four-year cycles in even-numbered years. Also, at that same congress it was decided that 1992 Winter Olympics would be the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games and that to change the rotation, the games that would be held in 1996 would be brought forward by two years, being scheduled to 1994. After those games, the next were to be held in 1998 when the four-year Olympic Cycle resumed. The Winter Olympic Games have evolved since their inception. Sports and disciplines have been added and some of them, such as alpine skiing, luge, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding, have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic program. Some others, including curling and bobsleigh, have been discontinued and later reintroduced; others have been permanently discontinued, such as military patrol, though the modern Winter Olympic sport of biathlon is descended from it. Still others, such as speed skiing, bandy and skijoring, were demonstration sports but never incorporated as Olympic sports. The rise of television as a global medium for communication enhanced the profile of the Games. It generated income via the sale of broadcast rights and advertising, which has become lucrative for the IOC. This allowed outside interests, such as television companies and corporate sponsors, to exert influence. The IOC has had to address numerous criticisms over the decades like internal scandals, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Winter Olympians, as well as a political boycott of the Winter Olympic Games. Countries have used the Winter Olympic Games as well as the Summer Olympic Games to proclaim the superiority of their political systems. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted on three continents by thirteen countries, all of whom are located in the Northern Hemisphere. They have been held four times in the United States (1932, 1960, 1980, and 2002), three times in France (1924, 1968, and 1992) and twice each in Switzerland (1928 and 1948), Austria (1964 and 1976), Norway (1952 and 1994), Japan (1972 and 1998), Italy (1956 and 2006) and Canada (1988 and 2010). Also, the Winter Olympic Games have been held just once each in Germany (1936), Yugoslavia (1984), Russia (2014), South Korea (2018), and China (2022). The IOC has selected the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics are usually held in February, during the winter season of the Northern Hemisphere. As of 2024, no city in the Southern Hemisphere has applied to host the Winter Olympic Games in the month of August (during the winter months of the Southern Hemisphere). As of 2022, twelve countries have participated in every Winter Olympic Games – Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Also, Czechoslovakia participated in all Winter Olympic Games before its dissolution and its successors, Czech Republic and Slovakia have participated in all Winter Games thereafter. Six of these countries have won medals at every Winter Olympic Games – Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The only country to have won a gold medal at every Winter Olympic Games is the United States. Norway leads the all-time medal record for the Winter Olympic Games. When including defunct states, Germany (comprising the former countries of West Germany and East Germany) leads, followed by Norway, Russia (including the former Soviet Union), and the United States. History Early years A predecessor, the Nordic Games, were organised by General Viktor Gustaf Balck in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1901 and were held again in 1903 and 1905 and then every fourth year thereafter until 1926. Balck was a charter member of the IOC and a close friend of Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin. He attempted to have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles. Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The organisers opposed this idea because they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports. The idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin, Germany. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing were planned, but the 1916 Olympics was cancelled after the outbreak of World War I. 1920 to 1936 The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and featured figure skating and an ice hockey tournament. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were banned from competing in the games. At the IOC Congress held the following year it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would host a separate "International Winter Sports Week" under the patronage of the IOC. Chamonix was chosen to host this week (actually 11 days) of events. The 1924 games in Chamonix proved to be a success when more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events. Athletes from Finland and Norway won 28 medals, more than the rest of the participating nations combined. The first gold medal awarded was won by Charles Jewtraw of the United States in the 500-meter speed skate. Sonja Henie of Norway, at just 11 years old, competed in the ladies' figure skating and, although finishing last, became popular with fans. Gillis Grafström of Sweden defended his 1920 gold medal in men's figure skating, becoming the first Olympian to win gold medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics. Germany remained banned until 1925, and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the winter edition of 1922 (which predated the first Winter Olympics). In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate winter event and the 1924 games in Chamonix were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics. St. Moritz, Switzerland, was appointed by the IOC to host the second Winter Games in 1928. Fluctuating weather conditions challenged the hosts. The opening ceremony was held in a blizzard while warm weather conditions plagued sporting events throughout the rest of the games. Because of the weather the 10,000 metre speed-skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled. The weather was not the only noteworthy aspect of the 1928 games: Sonja Henie of Norway returned to the Winter Olympics to make history when she won the ladies' figure skating at the age of 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she held for 70 years, and went on to defend her title at the next two Winter Olympics. Gillis Grafström won his third consecutive figure skating gold and went on to win silver in 1932, becoming the most decorated men's figure skater to date. The next Winter Olympics, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated. This was less than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid was too long and expensive for some European nations that encountered financial problems in the midst of the Great Depression. The athletes competed in fourteen events in four sports. Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games, and there was not enough snow to hold all the events until mid-January. Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title, and Eddie Eagan of the United States, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold medal in the men's bobsleigh event to join Gillis Grafström as the only athletes to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Eagan has the distinction as the only Olympian as of 2020 to accomplish this feat in different sports. The German towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 Winter Games, held from 6–16 February. This was the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country in the same year. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut, but skiing teachers were barred from entering because they were considered to be professionals. Because of this decision the Swiss and Austrian skiers refused to compete at the games. World War II interrupted the Winter Olympics. The 1940 games had been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but the decision was rescinded in 1938 because of the Japanese invasion of China. The games were then to be held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, but the 1940 games were cancelled following the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Due to the ongoing war, the 1944 games, originally scheduled for Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled. 1948 to 1962 St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war games, in 1948. Switzerland's neutrality had protected the town during World War II, and most venues from the 1928 games remained in place, which made St. Moritz a logical choice. It became the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice. Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited. Controversy erupted when two hockey teams from the United States arrived, both claiming to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp was stolen, as was its replacement. There was unprecedented parity at these games, during which 10 countries won gold medals—more than any games to that point. The Olympic Flame tradition was introduced at the 1952 games in Oslo, when the flame was lit in the fireplace by Norwegian skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim and the first Winter torch relay was conducted by 94 torchbearers entirely on their skis. Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was featured as a demonstration sport, though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams. Norwegian athletes won 17 medals, which outpaced all the other nations. They were led by Hjalmar Andersen who won three gold medals in four events in the speed skating competition. After not being able to host the games in 1944, Cortina d'Ampezzo was selected to organise the 1956 Winter Olympics. At the opening ceremonies the final torchbearer, Guido Caroli, entered the Olympic Stadium on ice skates. As he skated around the stadium his skate caught on a cable and he fell and burned his arm, nearly extinguishing the flame. He was able to recover and light the cauldron. These were the first Winter Games to be televised, and the first Olympics ever broadcast to an international audience, though no television rights were sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The Cortina games were used to test the feasibility of televising large sporting events. The Soviet Union made its Olympic debut and had an immediate impact, winning more medals than any other nation. The Soviets' immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train full-time. Chiharu Igaya won the first Winter Olympics medal for Japan and the continent of Asia when he placed second in the slalom. The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States. the announcement of its selection came as a shock as the resort was undeveloped and unknown outside the United States.About US$80,000,000 was spent over four years to build the completely non-existent infrastructure. The opening and closing ceremonies were the firsts produced by Walt Disney Company. The Squaw Valley Olympics was the first Winter Games to have a dedicated athletes' village, the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results, and the first to feature female speed skating events. This edition is the only one to date to not have bobsleigh competitions, as the number of countries registered in the event was insufficient and the costs of building the track were too high for the Organizing Committee.To replace the event, an extra edition from the FIBT World Championship was held. 1964 to 1980 The Austrian city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. For the first time, the Olympic torch of the Winter Olympic Games was lit at the traditional ritual held in the temple of Olympia.Although Innsbruck was a traditional winter sports resort, unprojected warm weather caused a lack of snow and organisers were unable to save enough snow to be used during the Games, and the Austrian army was enlisted to transport snow and ice from other places to the sports venues. Soviet speed-skater Lidia Skoblikova made history by winning all four-speed skating events. Her career total of six gold medals set a record for Winter Olympics athletes. Also, for the first time Luge was added to the Olympic program, but the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run. Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour. There were 1,158 athletes from 37 nations competing in 35 events. French alpine ski racer Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to win all the men's alpine skiing events. Due the high interest around the world, the organising committee sold television rights for US$2 million, which was more than twice the cost of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games. For the first time, the organizers chose to decentralize the Games to save costs and the events were spread across three long distances clusters, which led to the need to build three Olympic Villages.Along the high costs, the organisers claimed that this was necessary to accommodate technological advances, however, critics disputed this, alleging that the layout would incorporate the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the athletes' expense. The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, were the first to be hosted on a continent other than North America or Europe. The issue of professionalism was disputed during these Games when a number of alpine skiers were found to have participated in a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in the United States; three days before the opening ceremony, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar the skiers from competing in the Games as he insisted that they were no longer amateurs having benefited financially from their status as athletes. Eventually only Austrian Karl Schranz, who earned more than the other skiers, was excluded from the competition. Canada boycotted the 1972 and the 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest at not being able to use players from professional leagues. Canadian authorities also accused the Soviet Union of using state-sponsored athletes, who were de facto professionals. Francisco Fernández Ochoa became the first and, as of 2022, the only Spaniard to win a Winter Olympic gold medal when he triumphed in the slalom. The 1976 Winter Olympics had initially been awarded in 1970 to Denver, Colorado in the United States. These Games would have coincided with the year of Colorado's centennial and the United States Bicentennial. However, the increasing costs of the event and the oil crisis led to a local plebiscite held in November 1972, that resulted in the city withdrawing from hosting the Games, as the people of Colorado voted against public funding of the Games by a 3:2 margin. The IOC responded by offering the Games to Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia in Canada, which had previously been a finalist bid for the 1976 Games. However, a change in the provincial government resulted in an administration that did not support the Olympic bid, so the IOC's offer was rejected. Salt Lake City, previously a candidate for the 1972 Winter Olympics, then put itself forward, but a tense political situation led IOC to invite Innsbruck to host the 1976 Games, as all the infrastructure used during the 1964 Games had been maintained. Despite only having half the usual time to prepare for the Games, Innsbruck accepted the invitation to replace Denver in February 1973. During the opening ceremonies, two cauldrons were lit because it was the second time that the Austrian town had hosted the Winter Games. The 1976 Games featured the first combination bobsleigh-and-luge track, in neighbouring Igls. The Soviet Union won its fourth consecutive ice hockey gold medal. In 1980 the Winter Olympics returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games.Unlike previous editions, Lake Placid had no competitors in this bid process. Cyprus made their Olympic debut at the games. People's Republic of China and the first tropical nation Costa Rica competed for the first at the Winter Games. The Republic of China boycoted the Games, in protest of the IOC's recognition of the People's Republic of China as the only "China", and its request for the Republic of China to compete as "Chinese Taipei". The PRC, on the other hand, returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1952 and made its Winter Olympic debut. American speed-skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or World record in every one of the five events in which he competed, winning a total of five individual gold medals and breaking the record for most individual golds in a single Olympics (both Summer and Winter). Hanni Wenzel won both the slalom and giant slalom and her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist. In the "Miracle on Ice", the American hockey team composed of college players beat the favoured seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union, and progressed to eventually win the gold medal. 1984 to 1998 Sapporo, Japan, and Gothenburg, Sweden, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, was selected as host. The Games were well-organised and not affected by the run-up to the war that engulfed the country eight years later. A total of 49 nations and 1,272 athletes participated in 39 events. Host nation Yugoslavia won its first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won silver in the giant slalom. Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean; their Boléro routine received unanimous perfect scores for artistic impression, earning them the gold medal. In 1988, the Canadian city of Calgary hosted the first Winter Olympics to span three weekends, lasting for a total of 16 days. New events were added in ski-jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their debut appearance as demonstration sports. The speed skating events were held indoors for the first time, on the Olympic Oval. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip won three gold medals and set two world records, beating skaters from the favoured East German team in every race. Her medal total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all three events in his sport. Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier, made his Olympic debut by winning both the giant slalom and slalom. East German Christa Rothenburger won the women's 1,000 metre speed skating event. Seven months later she would earn a silver in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul, to become the only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year. The 1988 games are well remembered in popular culture from two films based on its events: Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsled team; and Eddie the Eagle about British ski jumper Michael Edwards, who finished last but set a British record of 73.5 metres. The 1992 Winter Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games. They were hosted in the French Savoie region, with 18 events held in the city of Albertville and the remaining events spread out over the Savoie. Political changes of the time were reflected in the composition of the Olympic teams competing in France: this was the first Games to be held after the fall of Communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games. Former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debuts as independent nations; most of the former Soviet republics still competed as a single team known as the Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances for the first time since before World War II. At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion. New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom. The 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Lillehammer, Norway, were the first Winter Games to be held in a different year from the Summer Games. This change resulted from the decision reached in the 91st IOC Session (1986) to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years. Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games. It was the second time the Games were held in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, and the first time the Olympic Truce was observed. As a result, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debuts. The women's figure skating competition drew media attention when American skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on 6 January 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding. Both skaters competed in the Games, but the gold medal was narrowly won by Oksana Baiul who became Ukraine's first Olympic champion, while Kerrigan won the silver medal. Johann Olav Koss of Norway won three gold medals, coming first in all of the distance speed skating events. 13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist when South Korea won the women's 3,000-metre speed skating relay. Bjørn Dæhli of Norway won a medal in four out of five cross-country events, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympian until then. Russia won the most events, with eleven gold medals, while Norway achieved 26 podium finishes, collecting the most medals overall on home ground. Juan Antonio Samaranch described Lillehammer as "the best Olympic Winter Games ever" in his closing ceremony speech. The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in the Japanese city of Nagano and were the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes. The National Hockey League allowed its players to participate in the men's ice hockey tournament for the first time, and the Czech Republic won the tournament. Women's ice hockey made its debut, and the United States won the gold medal. Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete, with eight gold medals and twelve medals overall. Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the super-G and the giant slalom. Tara Lipinski of the United States, aged just 15, became the youngest ever female gold medallist in an individual event when she won the Ladies' Singles, a record that had stood since Sonja Henie of Norway won the same event, also aged 15, in St. Moritz in 1928. New world records were set in speed skating largely due to the introduction of the clap skate. 2002 to 2022 After a tumultuous host city process, the 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, United States. 2,399 athletes from 77 National Olympic Committees participated in 78 events in 7 sports. These Games were the first to take place since the September 11 attacks of 2001, which meant a higher degree of security to avoid a terrorist attack. The opening ceremony saw signs of the aftermath of the events of that day, including the flag that flew at Ground Zero, and honour guards of NYPD and FDNY members. German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to win medals in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics. Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's ice hockey gold medals. Canada became embroiled with Russia in a controversy that involved the judging of the pairs figure skating competition. The Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze competed against the Canadian pair of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier for the gold medal. The Canadians appeared to have skated well enough to win the competition, yet the Russians were awarded the gold. The French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, awarded the gold to the Russians. An investigation revealed that she had been pressured to give the gold to the Russian pair regardless of how they skated; in return, the Russian judge would look favourably on the French entrants in the ice dancing competition. The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games. Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the southern hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event. The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy had hosted the Winter Olympic Games. South Korean athletes won 10 medals, including 6 gold in the short-track speed skating events. Sun-Yu Jin won three gold medals while her teammate Hyun-Soo Ahn won three gold medals and a bronze. In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit Canadian Sara Renner broke one of her poles and, when he saw her dilemma, Norwegian coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen decided to lend her a pole. In so doing she was able to help her team win a silver medal in the event at the expense of the Norwegian team, who finished fourth. On winning the Super-G, Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway became the most decorated ski racer of all time with 4 gold and 8 overall medals. He is also the only ski racer to have won the same event at three Olympics, winning the Super-G in 1992, 2002, and 2006. Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals. In February 2009, Pechstein tested positive for "blood manipulation" and received a two-year suspension, which she appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her suspension but a Swiss court ruled that she could compete for a spot on the 2010 German Olympic team. This ruling was brought to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which overturned the lower court's ruling and precluded her from competing in Vancouver. In 2003, the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics. With a population of more than 2.5 million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games. Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events. The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies resulted in the Whistler Sliding Centre changing the track layout on safety grounds. Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen won five medals in the six cross-country events on the women's programme. She finished the Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze. For the first time, Canada won a gold medal at an Olympic Games it hosted, having failed to do so at both the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. In contrast to the lack of gold medals at these previous Olympics, the Canadian team finished first overall in gold medal wins, and became the first host nation—since Norway in 1952—to lead the gold medal count, with 14 medals. In doing so, it also broke the record for the most gold medals won by a NOC at a single Winter Olympics (the previous was 13, set by the Soviet Union in 1976 and matched by Norway in 2002). The Vancouver Games were notable for the poor performance of the Russian athletes. From their first Winter Olympics in 1956 to the 2006 Games, a Soviet or Russian delegation had never been outside the top five medal-winning nations, but in 2010 they finished sixth in total medals and eleventh in gold medals. President Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of top sports officials immediately after the Games. Russia's disappointing performance at Vancouver is cited as the reason behind the enhancement of an already existing doping scheme alleged to have been in operation at major events such as the 2014 Games at Sochi. The success of Asian countries stood in stark contrast to the under-performing Russian team, with Vancouver marking a high point for medals won by Asian countries. At the Albertville Games in 1992 the Asian countries had won fifteen medals, three of which were gold. In Vancouver, the total number of medals won by athletes from Asia had increased to thirty-one, with eleven of them being gold. The rise of Asian nations in Winter Olympics sports is due in part to the growth of winter sports programmes and the interest in winter sports in nations such as Kazakhstan, South Korea, Japan and China. These results increased the chances of an Asian city hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics that would be held the following year. Sochi, Russia, was selected as the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics over Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time that Russia had hosted a Winter Olympics. The Games took place from 7 to 23 February 2014. A record 2,800 athletes from 88 countries competed in 98 events. The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium were located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues were 50 kilometres (31 mi) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana. The Games were the most expensive until the date, with a cost of £30 billion (US$51 billion). On the snow, Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen took two golds to bring his total tally of Olympic medals to 13, overtaking his compatriot Bjørn Dæhlie to become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time. Another Norwegian, cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen took three golds; her total of ten Olympic medals tied her as the female Winter Olympian with most medals, alongside Raisa Smetanina and Stefania Belmondo. Snowboarder Ayumu Hirano became the youngest medallist on snow at the Winter Games when he took a silver in the halfpipe competition at the age of fifteen. On the ice, the Netherlands team dominated the speed skating events, taking 23 medals, four clean sweeps of the podium places and at least one medal in each of the twelve medal events. Ireen Wüst was their most successful competitor, taking two golds and three silvers. In figure skating, Yuzuru Hanyu became the first skater to break the 100-point barrier in the short programme on the way to winning the gold medal. Among the sledding disciplines, luger Armin Zöggeler took a bronze, becoming the first Winter Olympian to secure a medal in six consecutive Games. Following their disappointing performance at the 2010 Games, and an investment of £600 million in elite sport, Russia initially topped the medal table, taking 13 gold and 33 total medals. However, Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian national anti-doping laboratory, subsequently claimed that he had been involved in doping dozens of Russian competitors for the Games, and that he had been assisted by the Russian Federal Security Service in opening and re-sealing bottles containing urine samples so that samples with banned substances could be replaced with "clean" urine. A subsequent investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency led by Richard McLaren concluded that a state-sponsored doping programme had operated in Russia from "at least late 2011 to 2015" across the "vast majority" of Summer and Winter Olympic sports. On 5 December 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would compete as the Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics and by the end of 2017 the IOC Disciplinary Commission had disqualified 43 Russian athletes, stripping thirteen medals and knocking Russia from the top of the medal table, thus putting Norway in the lead. However, nine medals were later returned, meaning that Russia reclaimed first place in the overall medal table, and joint first place with Norway in terms of gold medals. On 6 July 2011, Pyeongchang, South Korea, was selected to host the 2018 Winter Olympics over Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France. This was the first time that South Korea had been selected to host a Winter Olympics and it was the second time the Olympics were held in the country overall, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The Games took place from 9 to 25 February 2018. More than 2,900 athletes from 92 countries participated in 102 events. The main venue cluster was the Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon, while the ice events are held at Gangneung Olympic Park in Pyeongchang's neighbouring sea-city of Gangneung. The lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics was affected by the tensions between North and South Korea and the ongoing Russian doping scandal. Despite tense relations, North Korea agreed to participate in the Games, enter with South Korea during the opening ceremony as a unified Korea, and field a unified team in women's ice hockey. Russian athletes, who complied with the IOC's doping regulations, were given the option to compete in Pyeongchang as "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR). The Games saw the addition of big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the programme. Like four years early, the Netherlands again dominated speed skating, winning gold medals in seven of the ten individual events. Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer won gold in the men's 5000m event, becoming the only male speed skater to win the same Olympic event three times. On the snow, Norway led the medal tally in cross-country skiing, with Marit Bjørgen winning bronze in the women's team sprint and gold in the 30-kilometre classical event, bringing her total Olympic medal haul to fifteen, the most won by any athlete (male or female) in Winter Olympics history. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway became the youngest ever male to win an Olympic gold in cross-country skiing when he won the men's sprint at age 21. Noriaki Kasai of Japan became the first athlete in history to participate in eight Winter Olympics when he took part in the ski jumping qualification the day before the opening of the Games. Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic won gold in the skiing super-G event and another gold in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom, making her the first female athlete to win Olympic gold medals in two sports at a single Winter Games. Norway led the total medal standings with 39, the highest number of medals by a nation in any Winter Olympics, followed by Germany's 31 and Canada's 29. Host nation South Korea won seventeen medals, five of them gold, its highest medal haul at a Winter Olympics. Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, was elected as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics on 31 July 2015 at the 128th IOC Session. Beijing became the first city ever to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Like the Summer Olympics held six months earlier in Tokyo, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the implementation of strict health and safety protocols, including restrictions on public attendance at the Games. The Games included a record 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven sports with seven new medal events, including mixed team competitions in freestyle skiing aerials, ski jumping, and snowboard cross. The Games were held between 4 and 20 February 2022 at venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou which for the first time were run entirely on renewable energy. Several of the events were impacted by temperatures as low as minus 20 Celsius and strong wind. The first gold medal of the Games was won by Therese Johaug of Norway in the women's skiathlon. Johaug had been excluded from the 2018 Winter Olympics in a controversial decision after having used a banned cream for sunburned lips. She went on to also win the women's 10 km and 30 km cross-country distances. In the women's snowboard cross, Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States won the gold, having lost the gold 16 years earlier at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino due to a brutal fall. On the ice, the Netherlands dominated with a total of six gold medals and Irene Schouten winning the women's mass start, 3,000m and 5,000m distances. Nils van der Poel of Sweden won the men's 5,000m and 10,000m distances, setting new Olympic records in both distances. Kamila Valieva of Russia was allowed to compete in the women's figure skating despite a failed doping test in December 2021. She failed, however, to win an individual medal after falling in her final routine. Russia's team gold medal remained in limbo for two years, pending investigation into Valieva's positive drug test, before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified Valieva for four years retroactive to 25 December 2021, leading the ISU to re-allocate the medals, upgrading the United States to gold and Japan to silver while downgrading the ROC to bronze. Finland claimed its first ice hockey gold, having beaten the Russian Olympic Committee in the men's final on the last day of the Games. Norway was first in the overall medal standings, claiming 37 medals in total and 16 gold medals, the highest number of gold medals of any country in a single Winter Olympics. This was the ninth time Norway claimed the highest number of gold medals at the Winter Games. Future The 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and take place between 6 and 22 February 2026. At the 142nd IOC Session in July 2024, it was confirmed that the 2030 Winter Olympics will be hosted by France in the French Alps. The 2034 Winter Olympics was also awarded simultaneously to be hosted by the United States in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Olympics were held previously in 2002. Problems and politics Controversy The process for awarding host city honours came under intense scrutiny after Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games. Soon after the host city had been announced it was discovered that the organisers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to curry favour with IOC officials. Gifts and other financial considerations were given to those who would evaluate and vote on Salt Lake City's bid. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives, a college scholarship for one member's son and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch received two rifles valued at $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since, as president, he was a non-voting member. The subsequent investigation uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Olympics (both Summer and Winter) since 1988. For example, the gifts received by IOC members from the Japanese Organising Committee for Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described by the investigation committee as "astronomical". Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the IOC feared that corporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the process and that the Olympic brand would be tarnished to such an extent that advertisers would begin to pull their support. The investigation resulted in the expulsion of 10 IOC members and the sanctioning of another 10. New terms and age limits were established for IOC membership, and 15 former Olympic athletes were added to the committee. Stricter rules for future bids were imposed, with ceilings imposed on the value of gifts IOC members could accept from bid cities. Host city legacy According to the IOC, the host city for the Winter Olympics is responsible for "...establishing functions and services for all aspects of the Games, such as sports planning, venues, finance, technology, accommodation, catering, media services, etc., as well as operations during the Games". Due to the cost of hosting the Games, most host cities never realise a profit on their investment. For example, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, cost $3.6 billion to host. By comparison, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, cost $12.5 billion. The organisers of the Nagano Games claimed that the cost of extending the bullet train service from Tokyo to Nagano was responsible for the large price tag. The organising committee had hoped that the exposure gained from hosting the Winter Olympics, and the improved access to Nagano from Tokyo, would benefit the local economy for years afterwards. In fact, Nagano's economy did experience a post-Olympic boom for a year or two, but the long-term effects have not materialised as anticipated. The likelihood of heavy debt is a deterrent to prospective host cities, as well as the prospect of unused sports venues and infrastructure saddling the local community with upkeep costs with no appreciable post-Olympic value. The Winter Olympics has the added problem of the alpine events requiring a mountain location; the men's downhill needs an 800-metre altitude difference along a suitable course. As this is a focal event that is central to the Games, the IOC has previously not agreed to it taking place a long way from the main host city, in contrast to the Summer Games, where sailing and horse sports have taken place more than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away. The requirement for a mountain location also means that venues such as hockey arenas often have to be built in sparsely populated areas with little future need for a large arena and for the hotels and infrastructure needed for all Olympic visitors. Due to cost issues, fewer and fewer cities are willing to host. Both the Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 Games, which were hosted in countries where large cities are located close to suitable mountain regions, had lower costs since more venues, hotels and transport infrastructure already existed. In contrast, the Sochi 2014 games had large costs as most installations had to be built. The IOC has tried to mitigate these concerns. Firstly, it has agreed to fund part of the host city's budget. Secondly, the qualifying host countries are limited to those that have the resources and infrastructure to successfully host an Olympic Games without negatively impacting their region or nation; this rules out a large portion of the developing world. Finally, any prospective host city is required to add a "legacy plan" to their proposal, with a view to the long-term economic and environmental impact that hosting the Olympics will have. Beginning with the 2022 Winter Games, the IOC is allowing a longer distance between the alpine events and other events. The Oslo bid had 220 kilometres (140 mi) to the Kvitfjell downhill arena, while eventual host Beijing had venues 220 km away from the city as well. For the 2026 Winter Games, Stockholm's unsuccessful bid proposed to hold the alpine event in Åre, 620 kilometres (390 mi) away by road. Doping In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started by randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics. The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player, but his team was still allowed to compete. During the 1970s testing outside of competition was escalated because it was found to deter athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs. The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardisation of the test procedures, which undermined the credibility of the tests. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations began to coordinate efforts to standardise the drug-testing protocols. The IOC took the lead in the fight against steroids when it established the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999. The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin became notable for a scandal involving the emerging trend of blood doping, the use of blood transfusions or synthetic hormones such as Erythropoietin (EPO) to improve oxygen flow and thus reduce fatigue. The Italian police conducted a raid on the Austrian cross-country ski team's residence during the Games where they seized blood-doping specimens and equipment. This event followed the pre-Olympics suspension of 12 cross-country skiers who tested positive for unusually high levels of haemoglobin, which is evidence of blood doping. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi's Russian Doping Scandal has resulted in the International Olympic Committee to begin disciplinary proceedings against 28 (later increased to 46) Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, acting on evidence that their urine samples were tampered with. Cold War The Winter Olympics were an ideological front in the Cold War since the Soviet Union first participated at the 1956 Winter Games. It did not take long for the Cold War combatants to discover what a powerful propaganda tool the Olympic Games could be. The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis. Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism until the '90s. The Cold War created tensions amongst countries allied to the two superpowers. The strained relationship between East and West Germany created a difficult political situation for the IOC. Because of its role in World War II, Germany was not allowed to compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics. In 1950, the IOC recognised the West German Olympic Committee, and invited East and West Germany to compete as a unified team at the 1952 Winter Games. East Germany declined and instead sought international legitimacy separate from West Germany. In 1955, the Soviet Union recognised East Germany as a sovereign state, thereby giving more credibility to East Germany's campaign to become an independent participant. The IOC agreed provisionally to accept the East German National Olympic Committee on condition that East and West Germans compete as one team. The situation became tense when the Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany in 1961 to stop migration of its citizens and Western European nations began refusing visas to East German athletes. The uneasy compromise of a unified team held until the 1968 Grenoble Games when the IOC split the teams and threatened to reject host-city bids from any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes. Boycott The Winter Games have had only one national team boycott when Taiwan decided not to participate in the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. Prior to the Games, the IOC agreed to allow China to compete in the Olympics for the first time since 1952. China was given permission to compete as the "People's Republic of China" (PRC) and to use the PRC flag and anthem. Until 1980 the island of Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China" (ROC) and had been using the ROC flag and anthem. The IOC attempted to have the countries compete together but when this proved to be unacceptable the IOC demanded that Taiwan cease to call itself the "Republic of China". The IOC renamed the island "Chinese Taipei" and demanded that it adopt a different flag and national anthem, stipulations to which Taiwan would not agree. Despite numerous appeals and court hearings, the IOC's decision stood. When the Taiwanese athletes arrived at the Olympic village with their Republic of China identification cards they were not admitted. They subsequently left the Olympics in protest, just before the opening ceremonies. Taiwan returned to Olympic competition at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo as Chinese Taipei. The country agreed to compete under a flag bearing the emblem of their National Olympic Committee and to play the anthem of their National Olympic Committee should one of their athletes win a gold medal. The agreement remains in place to this day. Sports The Olympic Charter limits winter sports to "those sports which are practised on snow or ice". Since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme, which include short-track speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle and moguls skiing. The addition of these events has broadened the appeal of the Winter Olympics beyond Europe and North America. While European powers such as Norway and Germany still dominate the traditional Winter Olympic sports, countries such as South Korea, Australia and Canada are finding success in these new sports. The results are more parity in the national medal tables, more interest in the Winter Olympics, and higher global television ratings. Current sports Demonstration events Demonstration sports have historically provided a venue for host countries to attract publicity to locally popular sports by having a competition without granting medals. Demonstration sports were discontinued after 1992. Military patrol, a precursor to the biathlon, was a medal sport in 1924 and was demonstrated in 1928, 1936 and 1948, becoming an official sport in 1960. The special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Bandy (Russian hockey) is a sport popular in the Nordic countries and Russia. In the latter it is considered a national sport. It was demonstrated at the Oslo Games. Ice stock sport, a German variant of curling, was demonstrated in 1936 in Germany and 1964 in Austria. The ski ballet event, later known as ski-acro, was demonstrated in 1988 and 1992. Skijöring, skiing behind dogs, was a demonstration sport in St. Moritz in 1928. A sled-dog race was held at Lake Placid in 1932. Speed skiing was demonstrated in Albertville at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Winter pentathlon, a variant of the modern pentathlon, was included as a demonstration event at the 1948 Games in Switzerland. It included cross-country skiing, shooting, downhill skiing, fencing, and horse riding. All-time medal table The table below uses official data provided by the IOC. Medal leaders by year Number of occurrences List of Winter Olympic Games See also Notes References Sources External links Official website Winter Olympic Sports at the IOC official website

1932_Winter_Olympics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1932_Winter_Olympics

The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February 4 and closed on February 13. It was the first time the Winter Games were held outside of Europe and the first of four Winter Olympics held in the United States; Lake Placid hosted again in 1980. The games were awarded to Lake Placid in part by the efforts of Godfrey Dewey, head of the Lake Placid Club and son of Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System. California also had a bid for the 1932 Winter Games. William May Garland, president of the California X Olympiad Association, wanted the games to take place in Wrightwood and Big Pines, California. The world's largest ski jump at the time was constructed in Big Pines for the event, but the games were ultimately awarded to Lake Placid. The practice of awarding Olympic medals at podium ceremonies was established at the 1932 Winter Olympics, based on pedestals used at the 1930 British Empire Games, as proposed by Melville Marks Robinson. Highlights American company Coca-Cola became the official provider of that games' soft drinks and would remain so for all subsequent winter Olympics (as of 2021). The Games were opened by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the Governor of New York. He would be elected President of the United States nine months later. The victory podium was used for the first time at the winter games. Speed skater Jack Shea became the first Olympic champion to receive a gold medal on the podium. Billy Fiske (who would win his second gold medal at Lake Placid, having won his first at 16 in the 1928 Winter Olympics), carried the flag for the United States in the opening ceremonies. A planner of a winter resort in Aspen, Colorado, he was killed in 1940 flying in the Battle of Britain. Sonja Henie won the second of three consecutive Olympic gold medals in figure skating. She also won gold in 1928 and 1936. Irving Jaffee won the 5,000 m (3.1 mi) and the 10,000 m (6.2 mi) speed skating gold medals, beating previous champion and world record holder Ivar Ballangrud in the 10,000 m by 4.5 m (15 ft). Eddie Eagan became the only Olympian to win gold medals at both the summer and winter games in different sports. He won gold in boxing in the 1920 Antwerp summer games and gold in bobsleigh at Lake Placid. The bobsleigh race was held two days after the games' closing ceremonies due to unseasonably warm weather in the region the week prior. Georg Gyssling, a member of the Nazi Party, joined a newly created four man bobsledding team after half the German team was injured in several violent crashes on Mount Van Hoevenberg. René Fonjallaz, a future Nazi propagandist on the Swiss team, was also injured and left unconscious for five minutes after a crash during a practice run. The United States topped the medal count with a total of 12 medals (6 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze). This was the only time the U.S. led the overall medal standings at the Winter Olympics until the 2010 Games in Vancouver, and the only time the United States won the most gold medals. Seventeen countries participated. Events Medals were awarded in 14 events contested in 4 sports (7 disciplines). Bobsleigh (2) () Ice hockey (1) () Skating Figure skating (3) () Speed skating (4) () Nordic skiing () Cross-country skiing (2) () Nordic combined (1) () Ski jumping (1) () Demonstration sports The Games also included events in three demonstration sports. Curling Sled dog race Speed skating (women) Venues Participating nations Athletes from 17 nations competed in these Games, down from 25 nations at the previous Games in 1928. Argentina, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia did not send athletes to Lake Placid. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees Medal count Podium sweeps See also 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic Games held in the United States 1904 Summer Olympics – St. Louis 1932 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 1932 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid 1960 Winter Olympics – Squaw Valley 1980 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid 1984 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta 2002 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City 2028 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 2034 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City List of IOC country codes References External links "Lake Placid 1932". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. III Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1932, 1932 The official report. Lake Placid Olympic Authority The program of the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics

1932_Summer_Olympics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1932_Summer_Olympics

The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held during the worldwide Great Depression, with some nations not traveling to Los Angeles as a result; 37 countries competed, compared to the 46 at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, and even then-U.S. President Herbert Hoover did not attend the Games. The organizing committee did not report the financial details of the Games, although contemporary newspapers stated that the Games had made a profit of US$1 million (equivalent to US$18.19 million in 2023). Host city selection The selection of the host city for the 1932 Summer Olympics was made at the 23rd IOC Session in Rome, Italy, on April 9, 1923. Remarkably, the selection process consisted of a single bid, from Los Angeles’ Olympic Committee led by Billy May Garland, and as there were no bids from any other city, Los Angeles was selected by default to host the 1932 Games. Highlights Facilities and opening ceremony Charles Curtis became the first and only U.S. Vice President to inaugurate the Olympic Games. An Olympic Village was built for the first time and became a model for future games, in Baldwin Hills, occupied by male athletes. Female athletes were housed at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. Tenth Street, a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, was renamed Olympic Boulevard in honor of the Games of the Tenth Olympiad. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was known in 1932 as Olympic Stadium. The victory podium was used for the first time at the summer games (a podium was also used earlier in the year at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid). An Olympic mascot, Scottish Terrier Smoky, was featured for the first time in history, albeit unofficially. Athletics and field events Babe Didrikson won two gold medals in the javelin and the hurdles event. She also competed in a jump-off for a gold in the high jump. Her technique in the jump-off was ruled illegal, leaving Didrikson with second place. Finland's Paavo Nurmi was suspended from competition by the IAAF for alleged violation of amateur rules. Finns charged that the Swedish officials had used devious tricks in their campaign against Nurmi's amateur status, and ceased all athletic relations with Sweden. A year earlier, controversies on the track and in the press had led Finland to withdraw from the Finland-Sweden athletics international. After Nurmi's suspension, Finland did not agree to return to the event until 1939. Eddie Tolan won both the 100 m and 200 m sprint events. Poland's Stanisława Walasiewicz won the gold medal in the women's 100 m; she also won the silver medal in the event four years later. After her death in 1980, it was discovered that she was intersex and would have been ineligible to participate under modern rules. Due to an official's error, the 3,000 m steeplechase went for 3,460 m, or one extra lap. Several women's events debuted at these games, among them the 80 meters hurdles and javelin throw. Babe Didrikson won both events and also competed in the high jump where she was controversially denied gold, leaving her with silver. As women, unlike men, were only allowed to enter a maximum of three events, Didrikson could not compete in the discus throw, long jump, and relay where she would have likely medaled based on her prior results. Had the 200 meters and pentathlon been contested at these games (they debuted in 1964), Didrikson would have won them easily based on her performances prior to the Olympics. Team sports In field hockey, only three nations took part. The host nation lost both matches, 1–24 to India and 2–9 to Japan, but still won a bronze medal. Gymnastics Romeo Neri won three gold medals in gymnastics. Although women's team gymnastics debuted in the previous Olympics, the event was not held in these games; however, there were women gymnasts who traveled to Los Angeles and participated in exhibition events at the 1932 games. Swimming Helene Madison won three gold medals in swimming, while the Japanese upset the men's events and took all but one title. Kusuo Kitamura won the gold medal in the men's 1500 meter freestyle swimming race. He was and continues to be the youngest ever male swimmer to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. Equestrian Takeichi Nishi (Baron Nishi) was the gold medalist with his horse Uranus in the equestrian show jumping individual event. Nishi's gold medal is Japan's only gold medal in the equestrian event to this day. Nishi died in 1945 as an officer stationed in the defense of the island of Iwo Jima, and as such is an important character in Clint Eastwood's film, Letters from Iwo Jima. Cycling Dunc Gray won Australia's first cycling gold medal; he set a world record of 1m 13s in the 1000 time trial. The Dunc Gray Velodrome, built for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, was named after him. Medals awarded 117 events in 20 disciplines, comprising 14 sports, were part of the Olympic program in 1932. In one of two Equestrian jumping events (team competitions) no medals were awarded. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses. Demonstration sports American football (1) Lacrosse (1) Art The Art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics awarded medals for works inspired by sport-related themes in five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. Venues Fifteen sports venues were used for the 1932 Summer Olympics. In order to control costs in the wake of the Great Depression, existing venues were used. They included two golf courses, two city parks, three public highways, and a city road. The Swimming Stadium was the only new venue constructed for these games. The Rose Bowl, constructed in 1921, was made into a temporary velodrome for track cycling events under the auspices of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, constructed in 1923, was used as the Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Auditorium was constructed in 1924 in preparation for Los Angeles being awarded the Games; it was modified to meet the specifications of the boxing, weightlifting, and wrestling federations. Long Beach Marine Stadium was created in 1925 when Alamitos Bay was dredged, then further dredged seven years later in time for the 1932 Games. Elysian Park, the oldest city park in Los Angeles, was founded in 1886, and has been part of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) training academy since 1925. The Riviera Country Club opened in 1926 as the Los Angeles Athletic Club Golf Course and was renamed Riviera by the time of the 1932 Games. The Swimming Stadium, constructed adjacent to the Coliseum in 1932, was intended to be a temporary structure. Riverside Drive, Los Angeles Avenue, Vineyard Avenue, and the Pacific Coast Highway were common driving routes in California at the time of the 1932 Games. The Coliseum was the first (& temporary) Los Angeles home for the National League (NL) Dodgers baseball team when it moved from Brooklyn, New York before the 1958 season. The following year, it hosted the 2nd 1959 MLB All-Star Game and games 3, 4 & 5 of the 1959 World Series. When Dodger Stadium was completed in 1962, the Dodgers moved there where they have been since. The National Football League (NFL) Los Angeles Rams used the Coliseum as its host stadium from 1946 to 1979 when it moved to Anaheim, located southeast of Los Angeles. It also hosted what became known as Super Bowl I in 1967. Even the American Football League's Chargers used the Coliseum as a venue in 1960 until their move to San Diego the following year. The Coliseum continues to host USC Trojans football games to this day, and also hosted UCLA Bruins football for a number of years. The Rams returned to the Coliseum for a span of four years from 2016 to 2019 while SoFi Stadium was being built. The track constructed in the Rose Bowl was given to the Tournament of Roses Association upon completion of the 1932 Games. The Bowl was expanded between 1932 and the 1984 Summer Olympics three times, increasing its capacity from 83,000 in 1931 to 104,594 in 1972. It hosted Super Bowl XI in 1977, where the Oakland Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32–14. It is the current home of UCLA Bruins football and the Rose Bowl Game, and was the home of the Major League Soccer (MLS) Los Angeles Galaxy from 1996 to 2003. Elysian Park's shooting range was left intact for the LAPD to use. Sunset Fields Golf Club was renamed Brentwood Country Club in 1941 and is still in use as of 2010. All of the road courses were returned to public usage after the Olympics. The Olympic Auditorium continued to be of use for boxing and roller derby events until June 2005 when it was bought to be used as a megachurch. Los Angeles Harbor continues to be a major sea port in the Western United States, employing 919,000 people and generating US$39.1 billion in annual wages and tax revenues as of 2007. The Riveria Country Club continues to host golf events, hosting the 1948 U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in 1983 and 1995. The Swim Stadium was renovated in 2003 and continues to be in use as of 2010. For the 1984 Summer Olympics, the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl were used as venues. Participating nations A total of 37 nations were represented at the 1932 Games. Colombia made its first appearance at the Olympic Games, and the Republic of China competed for the first time after its failed appearance at the 1924 Games. The nations that participated in the previous games in Amsterdam 1928 but was absent in Los Angeles 1932 was Bulgaria, Chile, Egypt, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Panama, Rhodesia and Romania. At the time, Australia and New Zealand were dominions of the British Empire. India was also part of the British Empire, but was not a dominion. With the Statute of Westminster 1931 Ireland, Canada and South Africa are recognized as sovereign states in their own right. The whole statute was applied to the three countries without the need for any acts of ratification. Philippines was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees Medal count These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1932 Games. Gallery See also 1932 Winter Olympics Olympic Games held in the United States 1904 Summer Olympics – St. Louis 1932 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 1932 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid 1960 Winter Olympics – Squaw Valley 1980 Winter Olympics – Lake Placid 1984 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 1996 Summer Olympics – Atlanta 2002 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City 2028 Summer Olympics – Los Angeles 2034 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City List of IOC country codes Notes References Bibliography Raevuori, Antero (1997). Paavo Nurmi, juoksijoiden kuningas (in Finnish) (2nd ed.). WSOY. ISBN 978-9510218501. External links "Los Angeles 1932". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.

1936_Winter_Olympics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Winter_Olympics

The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (German: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Germany also hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics, which were held in Berlin. It was the last year in which the Summer and Winter Games both took place in the same country (the cancelled 1940 Olympics would have been held in Japan, with Tokyo hosting the Summer Games and Sapporo hosting the Winter Games). The 1936 Winter Games were organized on behalf of the German League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (DRL) by Karl Ritter von Halt, who had been named president of the committee for the organization of the Fourth Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen by Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten. Organization and politics While the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin months later have attracted extensive examination for the Nazi Party's spectacles and the accompanying racial controversies – including the exclusion of most Jewish athletes and Jesse Owens's achievements – the Winter Games took place five months earlier and saw some of the same efforts by Adolf Hitler's propaganda machine. Globally, there had been efforts to initiate boycotts from different countries, and a number of Jewish athletes faced pressure not to participate in an event held in a nation ruled by a blatantly antisemitic regime. The Nazis took steps to soften the appearance of their harsher policies before visitors from other nations arrived, such as removing antisemitic signage that was common in Germany, and – under pressure from a potential American boycott and Olympic officials – allowing the Jewish athlete Rudi Ball to play on Germany's ice hockey team. A few weeks before the Games began, William L. Shirer, the Berlin correspondent for the Universal wire service, wrote a series of articles describing preparations for the competition. "I had written... that the Nazis at Garmisch had pulled down all the signs saying that Jews are unwanted (they're all over Germany) and that the Olympic visitors would thus be spared any signs of the kind of treatment meted out to Jews in this country." None of the member nations boycotted the Winter Games, and 49 in all participated, the greatest number at that time. The Games were completed with a minimum of political controversy, although the Canadian skiing team raised their arms in what appeared to be a Nazi salute as they entered the opening ceremonies. The German crowd erupted in applause at the salute, which was later explained as the "Olympic Salute" that was identical to the Nazi version but with the arm extended laterally instead of forward. However, even Shirer was impressed by the effectiveness of the Nazis' efforts, writing: Twelve days after the Games closed, Hitler sent German troops to remilitarize the Rhineland, his first territorial violation of the Treaty of Versailles and a critical test of European resolve to resist Germany's military expansion. None of the Western powers lifted a finger and Europe's first steps towards World War Two were taken. Highlights German skier Willy Bogner took the Olympic oath during the opening ceremonies. Alpine skiing made its first appearance in the Winter Olympics as the combined, which added a skier's results in both the downhill and slalom. German athletes Franz Pfnür won men's alpine and Christl Cranz won the women's alpine event. Ivar Ballangrud won three out of the four speed skating races. Sonja Henie won her third consecutive gold medal in woman's figure skating. Switzerland won the four-man bobsled competition with a time of 5:19.85. Great Britain upset 1932 gold medalists Canada in ice hockey when Edgar Brenchley scored the winning goal within the last 90 seconds. Norway won the overall games with a total of seven gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals. The 1936 Winter Olympics presented the largest and heaviest medals ever awarded to athletes: 100 mm (3.9 in) diameter, 4 mm (0.16 in) thick and weighing 324 g (11.4 oz). Sports Medals were awarded in 17 events contested in four sports (eight disciplines). Bobsleigh (2) () Ice hockey (1) () Skating Figure skating (3) () Speed skating (4) () Skiing Alpine skiing (2) () Nordic skiing () Cross-country skiing (3) () Nordic combined (1) () Ski jumping (1) () Demonstration sports Military patrol Ice stock sport Venues Große Olympiaschanze – Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and Ski Jumping. Gudiberg – Alpine skiing (combined – slalom) Kreuzjoch – Alpine skiing (combined – downhill) Kreuzeck – Alpine skiing (downhill finish line) Olympia-Kunsteisstadion – Figure skating and Ice hockey Riessersee and surrounding areas – Bobsleigh, Ice hockey, and Speed skating Participating nations A total of 28 nations sent athletes to compete in Germany. Australia, Bulgaria, Greece, Liechtenstein, Spain and Turkey all made their Winter Olympics debut, and Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia returned after having missed the 1932 Winter Olympics. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee (from highest to lowest) Medal count * Host nation (Germany) Podium sweeps See also 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic Games held in Germany 1936 Winter Olympics – Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 Summer Olympics – Berlin 1972 Summer Olympics – Munich List of IOC country codes National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise References Notes Citations External links "Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Complete official IOC report. In German The program of the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Olympics Further reading Berlin Games – How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream, by Guy Walters; ISBN 0719567831 (UK), ISBN 0060874120 (US)

1936_Summer_Olympics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Summer_Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: Olympische Sommerspiele 1936), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: Spiele der XI. Olympiade) and officially branded as Berlin 1936, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona at the 29th IOC Session on 26 April 1931. The 1936 Games marked the second and most recent time the International Olympic Committee gathered to vote in a city that was bidding to host those Games. Later rule modifications forbade cities hosting the bid vote from being awarded the games. To outdo the 1932 Los Angeles Games, Reichsführer Adolf Hitler had a new 100,000-seat track and field stadium built, as well as six gymnasiums and other smaller arenas. The Games were the first to be televised, with radio broadcasts reaching 41 countries. Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to film the Games for $7 million. Her film, titled Olympia, pioneered many of the techniques now common in the filming of sports. Hitler saw the 1936 Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy and antisemitism, and the official Nazi Party paper, the Völkischer Beobachter, wrote in the strongest terms that Jews should not be allowed to participate in the Games. German Jewish athletes were barred or prevented from taking part in the Games by a variety of methods, although some female swimmers from the Jewish sports club Hakoah Vienna did participate. Jewish athletes from other countries were said to have been sidelined to avoid offending the Nazi regime. Lithuania was expelled from the Olympic Games due to Berlin's position regarding Lithuanian anti-Nazi policy, particularly because of the 1934–35 Trial of Neumann and Sass in Klaipėda. Total ticket revenues were 7.5 million Reichsmark (equivalent to €17.4 million in 2021), for a profit of over one million R.M. The official budget did not include outlays by the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5 million R.M.) or the outlays of the German national government (which did not make its costs public, but is estimated to have spent US$30 million). Jesse Owens of the United States won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events, and became the most successful athlete to compete in Berlin, while Germany was the most successful country overall with 101 medals (38 of them gold); the United States placed a distant second with 57 medals. These were the final Olympic Games under the presidency of Henri de Baillet-Latour. For the next 12 years, no Olympic Games were held due to the immense world disruption caused by the Second World War. The next Olympic Games were held in 1948 (the Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and then the Summer Games in London, England). Host city selection At the 28th IOC Session, held in May 1930 in Berlin, 14 cities announced their intention to bid to host the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. By the time of the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona in April 1931, only Barcelona and Berlin were left in contention. The other cities that announced an intention to hold the games, but withdrew from the race, were Alexandria, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Cologne, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Lausanne, Montevideo, Nuremberg, Rio de Janeiro, and Rome. Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona, and Rio de Janeiro would go on to host the Olympic Games in 1952, 1960, 1992, and 2016, respectively. Rome withdrew on the eve of the 1931 Session. The process by which the other candidate cities were withdrawn from consideration for the 1936 Summer Olympics is unclear. Additionally, the level of seriousness behind each other city's declared intention to bid is also uncertain. The city of Barcelona held a multi-sport festival at the same time as the 1931 IOC Session. This included a football match between Spain and the Irish Free State, which was watched by 50,000 spectators. The political uncertainty around the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic, which had happened days before the IOC Session, was likely a great factor in the decision taken by delegates regarding the host city for 1936. The games were the first for which the host was decided by a vote of each individual IOC member. The deadline for votes was 13 May 1931, two weeks after the Barcelona Session. Of the 67 voting IOC members, 19 submitted ballots during the Session, and 40 by post to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne; the other 8 abstained. The vote was 43 for Berlin, 16 for Barcelona. After the Nazis took control of Germany and began instituting anti-Semitic policies, the IOC held private discussions among its delegates about changing the decision to hold the Games in Berlin. However, Hitler's regime gave assurances that Jewish athletes would be allowed to compete on a German Olympic team. One year before the games, the American Olympic Association suggested to change the venue to Rome; they saw Rome as a good replacement because Rome was originally selected to hold the 1908 Summer Olympics. Organization Hans von Tschammer und Osten, as Reichssportführer (i.e., head of the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, DRL), the Reich Sports Office, played a major role in the structure and organisation of the Olympics. He promoted the idea that the use of sports would harden the German spirit and instill unity among German youth. At the same time he also believed that sports was a "way to weed out the weak, Jewish, and other undesirables". Von Tschammer entrusted the details of the organisation of the games to Theodor Lewald and Carl Diem, the former president and secretary of the Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen, the forerunner of the Reich Sports Office. Among Diem's ideas for the Berlin Games was the introduction of the Olympic torch relay between Greece and the host nation. Torch relay The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was the first of its kind, following on from the reintroduction of the Olympic Flame at the 1928 Games. It pioneered the modern convention of moving the flame via a relay system from Greece to the Olympic venue. Leni Riefenstahl filmed the relay for the 1938 film Olympia. The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn't separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That's why the Olympic Flame should never die. Broadcasting The games were the first to have live television coverage in black-and-white. The German Post Office, using equipment from Telefunken, broadcast over 70 hours of coverage to special viewing rooms throughout Berlin and Potsdam and a few private TV sets, transmitting from the Paul Nipkow TV Station. They used three different types of TV cameras, so blackouts would occur when changing from one type to another. The games were also first time photographed and filmed in color using newly invented Agfacolor. Olympic village The 1936 Olympic village was located at Elstal in Wustermark (at 52°32′10.78″N 13°0′33.20″E), on the western edge of Berlin. The site, which is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the centre of the city, consisted of one and two-floor dormitories, a large dining hall, Dining Hall of the Nations, a swimming facility, gymnasium, track, and other training facilities. Its layout was designed and construction overseen by appointed village commander Hauptmann Wolfgang Fürstner beginning in 1934. Less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games, Fürstner was abruptly demoted to vice-commander, and replaced by Oberstleutnant Werner von Gilsa, commander of the Berlin Guard-Regiment. The official reason for the replacement was that Fürstner had not acted "with the necessary energy" to prevent damage to the site as 370,000 visitors passed through it between 1 May and 15 June. However, this was just a cover story to explain the sudden demotion of the half-Jewish officer. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws, passed during the period Fürstner was overseeing the Olympic Village, had classified him as a Jew, and as such, the career officer was to be expelled from the Wehrmacht. Two days after the conclusion of the Berlin Olympics, vice-commander Fürstner had been removed from active Wehrmacht duty, and committed suicide a day later because he realised he had no future under the Nazis. After the completion of the Olympic Games, the village was repurposed for the Wehrmacht into the Olympic Döberitz Hospital (German: Olympia-Lazarett Döberitz), and Army Infantry School (German: Heeres-Infanterieschule), and was used as such through the Second World War. In 1945 it was taken over by the Soviet Union and became a military camp of the Soviet occupation forces. Late 20th-century efforts were made to restore parts of the former village, but little progress was made. More recently, the vast majority of the land of the Olympic village has been managed by the DKB Foundation, with more success; efforts are being made to restore the site into a living museum. The dormitory building used by Jesse Owens, Meissen House, has been fully restored, with the gymnasium and swimming hall partially restored. Seasonally, tours are given daily to small groups and students. The site remains relatively unknown even in Germany, but some tournaments are held at the site in an effort to boost knowledge of the venues. Venues Twenty-two venues were used for the 1936 Summer Olympics. Many were located in the Reich Sportsfeld complex. Sailing was held in the Bay of Kiel, which would serve as the same sporting venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich. The Olympic Stadium would later be part of two FIFA World Cups and then host an IAAF World Championships in Athletics along with undergoing a renovation in the early 2000s to give new life to the stadium. Avus Motor Road (AVUS) was started in 1907, but was not completed until 1921 due to World War I. The track was rebuilt for the 1936 Games. AVUS continued being used after World War II though mainly in Formula 2 racing. The German Grand Prix was last held at the track in 1959. Dismantling of the track first took place in 1968 to make way for a traffic crossing for touring cars that raced there until 1998. BSV 92 Field was first constructed in 1910 for use in football, handball, athletics, and tennis. The Reich Sports Field, which consisted of the Olympic Stadium, the Dietrich Eckert Open-Air Theatre, the Olympic Swimming Stadium, Mayfield, the Hockey Stadiums, the Tennis Courts, and the Haus des Deutschen Sports, was planned for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics, but was not completed until 1934. Mayfield was the last venue completed prior to the 1936 Games in April 1936. Deutschland Hall was opened in 1935. Mommenstadion opened in 1930. Basketball was held outdoors at the request of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The tennis courts were used, which turned to mud during heavy rain at the final. The K-1 1000 m canoeing final was also affected by heavy rain at Grünau that included thunder and lightning. During World War II, Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, suffered heavy aerial bombing damage. After the war, the hall was reconstructed and expanded. The Deutschlandhalle was used as a venue, but was increasingly closed for repairs, last in 2009. It was demolished in December 2011. The Mommsenstadion was renovated in 1987 and was still in use as of 2010. The Olympic Stadium was used as an underground bunker in World War II as the war went against Nazi Germany's favor. The British reopened the Stadium in 1946 and parts of the stadium were rebuilt by the late 1950s. As a host venue for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the stadium had its roof partially covered on the North and South Stands. British occupation of the stadium ended in 1994. Restoration was approved in 1998 with a contractor being found to do the work in 2000. This restoration ran from 2000 to 2004. The modernized Stadium reopened in 2004, with a capacity of 74,228 people. The seating has been changed greatly, especially the sections that were reserved for German and international political leaders. The stadium now plays host to Hertha BSC (1963–present), and is expected to remain the home of the team for years to come. For the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the venue was where the final took place between Italy and France. Three years later, the venue hosted the World Athletics Championships. Games Opening ceremony The opening ceremony was held at the Berlin Olympic Stadium on 1 August 1936. A flyover by the German airship Hindenburg flying the Olympic flag behind it was featured early in the opening ceremonies. After the arrival of Hitler and his entourage, the parade of nations proceeded, each nation with its own unique costume. As the birthplace of the Olympics, Greece entered the stadium first. The host nation, Germany, entered last. Some nations' athletes purposefully gave the Nazi salute as they passed Hitler. Others gave the Olympic salute (a similar one, given with the same arm), or a different gesture entirely, such as hats-over-hearts, as the United States, India, and China did. All nations lowered their flags as they passed the Führer, save the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Commonwealth of the Philippines. (The United States doing this was explained later as an army regulation.) Writer Thomas Wolfe, who was there, described the opening as an "almost religious event, the crowd screaming, swaying in unison and begging for Hitler. There was something scary about it; his cult of personality." After a speech by the president of the German Olympic Committee, the games were officially declared open by Adolf Hitler who quoted (in German): "I proclaim open the Olympic Games of Berlin, celebrating the Eleventh Olympiad of the modern era." This sentence was written by IOC President Baillet-Latour as part of a compromise the IOC struck to prevent Hitler from turning the speech into a propaganda event, and he was to follow it strictly, to which Hitler reportedly joked "Count, I'll take the trouble to learn it by heart". Hitler opened the games from his own box, on top of others. Writer David Wallechinsky has commented on the event, saying, "This was his event, he wanted to be glorified." Although the Olympic flame was first introduced in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, this was the first instance of the torch relay. The Nazis invented the concept of the torch run from ancient Olympia to the host city. Thus as swimmer Iris Cummings later related, "once the athletes were all in place, the torch bearer ran in through the tunnel to go around the stadium". A young man chosen for this task ran up the steps all the way up to the top of the stadium there to light a cauldron which would start this eternal flame that would burn through the duration of the games. But in spite of all the pomp and ceremony, and the glorification of Hitler, all did not go according to plan, and there was a rather humorous aspect in the opening ceremony. U.S. distance runner Louis Zamperini, one of the athletes present, related it on camera: They released 25,000 pigeons, the sky was clouded with pigeons, the pigeons circled overhead, and then they shot a cannon, and they scared the poop out of the pigeons, and we had straw hats, flat straw hats, and you could heard the pitter-patter on our straw hats, but we felt sorry for the women, for they got it in their hair, but I mean there were a mass of droppings, and I say it was so funny... Events 129 events in 25 disciplines, comprising 19 sports, were part of the Olympic program in 1936. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses. Basketball, canoeing, and handball made their debut at the Olympics. Handball did not appear again on the program until the next German summer Olympic games in Munich in 1972. There were two demonstration sports: baseball and gliding. Art competitions for medals were also held, and medals were awarded at the closing ceremony for feats of alpinism and aeronautics. Unofficial exhibition events included Indian sports, wushu and motor racing. Notable achievements Germany had a successful year in the equestrian events, winning individual and team gold in all three disciplines, as well as individual silver in dressage. In the cycling match sprint finals, German Toni Merkens fouled Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands. Instead of being disqualified, he was fined 100 ℛℳ and kept his gold. German gymnasts Konrad Frey and Alfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals. American Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events. His German competitor Luz Long offered Owens advice after he almost failed to qualify in the long jump. Mack Robinson, brother of Jackie Robinson, won the 200-meter sprint silver medal behind Owens by 0.4 seconds. Although he did not win a medal, future American war hero Louis Zamperini, lagging behind in the 5,000-meter final, made up ground by clocking a 56-second final lap. In one of the most dramatic 800-meter races in history, American John Woodruff won gold after slowing to jogging speed in the middle of the final in order to free himself from being boxed in. Glenn Edgar Morris, a farm boy from Colorado, won gold in the decathlon. British rower Jack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport, and his third gold medal. The U.S. eight-man rowing team from the University of Washington won the gold medal, coming from behind to defeat the Germans and Italians with Hitler in attendance. 13-year-old American sensation Marjorie Gestring won the women's 3 meter diving event. Jack Lovelock of New Zealand won the 1500 m gold medal, coming through a strong field to win in world record time of 3:47.8. In the marathon, the ethnic Koreans Sohn Kee-chung and Nam Sung-yong won one gold and one bronze medal; as Korea was annexed by Japan at the time, they were running for Japan. India won the gold medal in the field hockey event once again (they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928 to 1956), defeating Germany 8–1 in the final. Indians were considered Indo-Aryans by the German authorities and there was no controversy regarding the victory. Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming. Estonian heavyweight wrestler Kristjan Palusalu won two gold medals, he became the first and only wrestler in Olympic history ever to win both the Greco-Roman and freestyle heavyweight events. Berlin 1936 marked the last time Estonia competed as an independent nation in the Olympics until 1992. After winning the middleweight class, the Egyptian weightlifter Khadr El Touni continued to compete for another 45 minutes, finally exceeding the total of the German silver medalist by 35 kg. The 20-year-old El Touni lifted a total of 387.5 kg, crushing two German world champions and breaking the then-Olympic and world records, while the German lifted 352.5 kg. Furthermore, El Touni had lifted 15 kg more than the light-heavyweight gold medalist, a feat only El Touni has accomplished. El Touni's new world records stood for 13 years. Fascinated by El Touni's performance, Adolf Hitler rushed down to greet this human miracle. Prior to the competition, Hitler was said to have been sure that Rudolf Ismayr and Adolf Wagner would embarrass all other opponents. Hitler was so impressed by El Touni's domination in the middleweight class that he ordered a street named after him in Berlin's Olympic village. The Egyptian held the No. 1 position on the IWF list of history's 50 greatest weightlifters for 60 years, until the 1996 Games in Atlanta where Turkey's Naim Süleymanoğlu surpassed him to top the list. Italy's football team continued their dominance under head coach Vittorio Pozzo, winning the gold medal in these Olympics between their two consecutive World Cup victories (1934 and 1938). Much like the successes of German athletes, this triumph was claimed by supporters of Benito Mussolini's regime as a vindication of the superiority of the fascist system. Austria won the silver; a controversial win after Hitler called for a rematch of the quarterfinals match to discount Peru's 4–2 win over Austria. The Peruvian national Olympic team refused to play the match again and withdrew from the games. In the quarter-finals of the football tournament, Peru beat Austria 4–2 in extra-time. Peru rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 15 minutes of normal time. During extra-time, Peruvian fans allegedly ran onto the field and attacked an Austrian player. In the chaos, Peru scored twice and won, 4–2. However, Austria protested and the International Olympic Committee ordered a replay without any spectators. The Peruvian government refused and their entire Olympic squad left in protest as did Colombia. A remarkable story from the track and field competition was the gold medal won by the US women's 4 × 100 m relay team. The German team were the heavy favourites, but dropped the baton at one hand-off. Of notable interest on the US team was Betty Robinson. She was the first woman ever awarded an Olympic gold medal for track and field, winning the women's 100 m event at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1931, Robinson was involved in a plane crash, and was severely injured. Her body was discovered in the wreckage and it was wrongly thought that she was dead. She was placed in the trunk of a car and taken to an undertaker, where it was discovered that she was not dead, but in a coma. She awoke from the coma seven months later, although it was another six months before she could get out of a wheelchair, and two years before she could walk normally again. Due to the length of her recovery, she had to miss participating in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, in her home country. Participating nations A total of 49 nations attended the Berlin Olympics, up from 37 in 1932. Five nations made their first official Olympic appearance at these Games: Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Liechtenstein. The nations that returned to the games was Bulgaria, Chile, Egypt, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Peru, Romania and Turkey. The nations that participated in the previous games in Los Angeles 1932 but was absent in Berlin 1936 was Ireland and Spain. At the time, Australia and New Zealand were dominions of the British Empire. Both nations had not yet ratified the Statute of Westminster 1931. India and Bermuda was also part of the British Empire, but was not dominions. And Philippines was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States. Haiti, also took part in the Opening Ceremony, but its only athlete (a weightlifter) did not compete. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee Medal count The twelve nations that won the most medals at the 1936 Games. * Host nation (Germany) Controversies Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy. The official Nazi party paper, the Völkischer Beobachter, wrote in the strongest terms that Jewish and black people should not be allowed to participate in the Games. However, when threatened with a boycott of the Games by other nations, he relented and allowed black and Jewish people to participate, and added one token participant to the German team—Helene Mayer, a woman of Jewish descent. In an attempt to "clean up" the host city, the German Ministry of the Interior authorized the chief of police to arrest all Romani and keep them in a "special camp", the Berlin-Marzahn concentration camp. Political aspects United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage became a main supporter of the Games being held in Germany, arguing that "politics has no place in sport", despite having initial doubts. French Olympians gave a Roman salute at the opening ceremony: known as the salut de Joinville per the battalion, Bataillon de Joinville, the Olympic salute was part of the Olympic traditions since the 1924 games. However, due to the different context this action was mistaken by the crowd for a support to fascism, the Olympic salute was discarded after 1946. Although Haiti attended only the opening ceremony, an interesting vexillological fact was noticed: its flag and the flag of Liechtenstein were coincidentally identical, and this was not discovered until then. The following year, a crown was added to Liechtenstein's to distinguish one flag from the other. Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were originally slated to compete in the American 4x100 relay team but were replaced by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe prior to the start of the race. There were speculations that their Jewish heritage contributed to the decision "not to embarrass the German hosts"; however, given that African-Americans were also heavily disliked by the Nazis, Glickman and Stoller's replacement with black American athletes does not support this theory. Others said that they were in a better physical condition, and that was the main reason behind the replacement. In 1937, 20th Century Fox released the film Charlie Chan at the Olympics. The plot concerned members of the Berlin police force helping the Chinese detective apprehend a group of spies (of unnamed nationality) trying to steal a new aerial guidance system. Despite pertaining to the Berlin Olympics, actual Games' footage used by the filmmakers was edited to remove any Nazi symbols. After the Olympics, Jewish participation in German sports was further limited, and persecution of Jews started to become ever more lethal. The Olympic Games provided a nine-month period of relative calmness. Antisemitism The German Olympic committee, in accordance with Nazi directives, virtually barred Germans who were Jewish or Roma or had such an ancestry from participating in the Games (Helene Mayer, who had one Jewish parent, was the only German Jew to compete at the Berlin Games). This decision meant exclusion for many of the country's top athletes such as shotputter and discus thrower Lilli Henoch, who was a four-time world record holder and 10-time German national champion, and Gretel Bergmann who was suspended from the German team just days after she set a record of 1.60 meters in the high jump. Individual Jewish athletes from a number of countries chose to boycott the Berlin Olympics, including South African Sid Kiel, and Americans Milton Green and Norman Cahners. In the United States, the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee supported a boycott. Boycott debate Prior to and during the Games, there was considerable debate outside Germany over whether the competition should be allowed or discontinued. Berlin had been selected by the IOC as the host city in 1931 during the Weimar Republic, but after Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, observers in many countries began to question the morality of going ahead with an Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime. A number of brief campaigns to boycott or relocate the Games emerged in the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, and the United States. Exiled German political opponents of Hitler's regime also campaigned against the Berlin Olympics through pro-Communist newspapers such as the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung. The protests were ultimately unsuccessful; forty-nine teams from around the world participated in the 1936 Games, the largest number of participating nations of any Olympics to that point. France Fencer Albert Wolff qualified for the French Olympic Team but boycotted the 1936 Summer Olympics, withdrawing from France's national team on principle because he was Jewish. He said: "I cannot participate in anything sponsored by Adolf Hitler, even for France." Spain The Spanish government led by the newly elected left-wing Popular Front boycotted the Games and organized the People's Olympiad as a parallel event in Barcelona. Some 6,000 athletes from 49 countries registered. However, the People's Olympiad was aborted because of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just one day before the event was due to start. Soviet Union The Soviet Union had not participated in international sporting events since the 1920 Summer Olympics. The Soviet government was not invited to the 1920 Games, with the Russian Civil War still raging, and they did not participate in the 1924 Summer Olympics and forward on ideological grounds. Instead, through the auspices of the Red Sport International, it had participated in a left-wing workers' alternative, the Spartakiad, since 1928. The USSR had intended to attend the People's Olympiad in Barcelona until it was cancelled; the Soviets did attend the Spartakiad-sponsored 1937 Workers' Summer Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium. The Soviet Union started competing in the Olympics in 1952, when Joseph Stalin realized that they could use the event to fulfil their political and ideological agenda. Turkey Halet Çambel and Suat Fetgeri Așani, the first Turkish and Muslim women athletes to participate in the Olympics (fencing), refused an offer by their guide to be formally introduced to Adolf Hitler, saying they would not shake hands with him due to his approach to Jews, as stated by Ms. Çambel in a Milliyet newspaper interview in 2000. United States Traditionally, the United States sent one of the largest teams to the Olympics, and there was a considerable debate over whether the nation should participate in the 1936 Games. Those involved in the debate on whether to boycott the Olympics included Ernest Lee Jahncke, Judge Jeremiah T. Mahoney, and future IOC President Avery Brundage. Some within the United States considered requesting a boycott of the Games, as to participate in the festivity might be considered a sign of support for the Nazi regime and its antisemitic policies. However, others such as Brundage (see below) argued that the Olympic Games should not reflect political views, but rather should be strictly a contest of the greatest athletes. Brundage, then of the United States Olympic Committee, opposed the boycott, stating that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should continue. Brundage asserted that politics played no role in sports, and that they should never be entwined. Brundage also believed that there was a "Jewish-Communist conspiracy" that existed to keep the United States from competing in the Olympic Games. Somewhat ironically, Brundage would be later accused of being a Soviet dupe for his controversial stance on the Soviet sports system that allowed them to circumvent the amateur rules. On the subject of Jewish discrimination, he stated, "The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race." During a fact-finding trip that Brundage went on to Germany in 1934 to ascertain whether German Jews were being treated fairly, Brundage found no discrimination when he interviewed Jews and his Nazi handlers translated for him, and Brundage commiserated with his hosts that he belonged to a sports club in Chicago that did not allow Jews entry, either. Unlike Brundage, Mahoney supported a boycott of the Games. Mahoney, the president of the Amateur Athletic Union, led newspaper editors and anti-Nazi groups to protest against American participation in the Berlin Olympics. He contested that racial discrimination was a violation of Olympic rules and that participation in the Games was tantamount to support for the Third Reich. Most African-American newspapers supported participation in the Olympics. The Philadelphia Tribune and the Chicago Defender both agreed that black victories would undermine Nazi views of Aryan supremacy and spark renewed African-American pride. American Jewish organizations, meanwhile, largely opposed the Olympics. The American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation. The JLC organized the World Labor Athletic Carnival, held on 15 and 16 August at New York's Randall's Island, to protest the holding of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. Eventually, Brundage won the debate, convincing the Amateur Athletic Union to close a vote in favor of sending an American team to the Berlin Olympics. Mahoney's efforts to incite a boycott of the Olympic games in the United States failed. US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his administration did not become involved in the debate, due to a tradition of allowing the US Olympic Committee to operate independently of government influence. However, several American diplomats including William E. Dodd, the American ambassador to Berlin, and George Messersmith, head of the US legation in Vienna, deplored the US Olympic Committee's decision to participate in the games. Last surviving competitor Upon the death of Joan Langdon on 15 March 2022, Iris Cummings became the last surviving competitor of the 1936 Summer Olympics. Gallery See also 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic Games held in Germany 1936 Winter Olympics – Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 Summer Olympics – Berlin 1972 Summer Olympics – Munich List of IOC country codes Olympic Games Decoration Race (2016 film) National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise The Boys in the Boat The Boys in the Boat (film) Notes References Further reading Barry, James P. The Berlin Olympics. World Focus Books. Grix, Jonathan, and Barrie Houlihan. "Sports mega-events as part of a nation's soft power strategy: The cases of Germany (2006) and the UK (2012)." British journal of politics and international relations 16.4 (2014): 572–596. online Archived 6 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine Hilton, Christopher. Hitler's Olympics: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. (2006) Krüger, Arnd. The Nazi Olympics of 1936, in Kevin Young and Kevin B. Wamsley (eds.), Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games. Oxford: Elsevier 2005; pp. 43–58. Krüger, Arnd, and William Murray (eds.), The Nazi Olympics: Sport, Politics and Appeasement in the 1930s. (Univ. of Illinois Press 2003). Lehrer, Steven. Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States). McFarland, 2002. Large, David Clay. Nazi games: the Olympics of 1936 (WW Norton & Company, 2007). Mandell, Richard D. The Nazi Olympics (University of Illinois Press, 1971). Rippon, Anton. Hitler's Games: The 1936 Olympics. (2012) excerpt Socolow, Michael J. Six Minutes in Berlin: Broadcast Spectacle and Rowing Gold at the Nazi Olympics. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Walters, Guy, Berlin Games – How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream. (2006) excerpt External links "Berlin 1936". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Complete official IOC report. Part I Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Complete official IOC report. Part II United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Online Exhibition: Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Library Bibliography: 1936 Olympics Virtual Library: the NAZI Olympics Die XI. Olympischen Sommerspiele in Berlin 1936 at Lebendiges Museum Online. In German 1936 Olympics and the Struggle for Influence on C-SPAN The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany Nazi Games at PBS International

New_England

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England

New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick to the northeast and Quebec to the north. The Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean are to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the southwest. Boston is New England's largest city and the capital of Massachusetts. Greater Boston is the largest metropolitan area, with nearly a third of New England's population; this area includes Worcester, Massachusetts, the second-largest city in New England; Manchester, New Hampshire, the largest city in New Hampshire; and Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of and largest city in Rhode Island. In 1620, the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony, the second successful settlement in British America after the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia, founded in 1607. Ten years later, Puritans established Massachusetts Bay Colony north of Plymouth Colony. Over the next 126 years, people in the region fought in four French and Indian Wars until the English colonists and their Iroquois allies defeated the French and their Algonquian allies. In the late 18th century, political leaders from the New England colonies initiated resistance to Britain's taxes without the consent of the colonists. Residents of Rhode Island captured and burned a British ship which was enforcing unpopular trade restrictions, and residents of Boston threw British tea into the harbor. Britain responded with a series of punitive laws stripping Massachusetts of self-government which the colonists called the "Intolerable Acts". These confrontations led to the first battles of the American Revolutionary War in 1775 and the expulsion of the British authorities from the region in spring 1776. The region played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States, and it was the first region of the U.S. transformed by the Industrial Revolution, initially centered on the Blackstone and Merrimack river valleys. The physical geography of New England is diverse. Southeastern New England is covered by a narrow coastal plain, while the western and northern regions are dominated by the rolling hills and worn-down peaks of the northern end of the Appalachian Mountains. The Atlantic fall line lies close to the coast, which enabled numerous cities to take advantage of water power along the many rivers, such as the Connecticut River, which bisects the region from north to south. Each state is generally subdivided into small municipalities known as towns, many of which are governed by town meetings. Unincorporated areas are practically nonexistent outside of Maine, and village-style governments common in other areas are limited to Vermont and Connecticut. New England is one of the U.S. Census Bureau's nine regional divisions and the only multi-state region with clear and consistent boundaries. It maintains a strong sense of cultural identity, although the terms of this identity are often contrasted, combining Puritanism with liberalism, agrarian life with industry, and isolation with immigration. History The earliest known inhabitants of New England were American Indians who spoke a variety of the Eastern Algonquian languages. Prominent tribes included the Abenakis, Mi'kmaq, Penobscot, Pequots, Mohegans, Narragansetts, Nipmucs, Pocumtucks, and Wampanoags. Prior to the arrival of European colonists, the Western Abenakis inhabited what is now New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as parts of Quebec and western Maine. Their principal town was Norridgewock in today's Maine. The Penobscots lived along the Penobscot River in Maine. The Narragansetts and smaller tribes under their sovereignty lived in Rhode Island, west of Narragansett Bay, including Block Island. The Wampanoags occupied southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The Pocumtucks lived in Western Massachusetts, and the Mohegan and Pequot tribes lived in Connecticut. The Connecticut River Valley linked numerous tribes culturally, linguistically, and politically. As early as the year 1600, French, Dutch, and English traders began exploring the New World, trading metal, glass, and cloth for local beaver pelts. Colonial period On April 10, 1606, King James I of England issued a charter for the Virginia Company, which consisted of the London Company and the Plymouth Company. These two privately funded ventures were intended to claim land for England, to conduct trade, and to return a profit. In 1620, the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower and established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, beginning the history of permanent European colonization in New England. In 1616, English explorer John Smith named the region "New England". The name was officially sanctioned on November 3, 1620, when the charter of the Virginia Company of Plymouth was replaced by a royal charter for the Plymouth Council for New England, a joint-stock company established to colonize and govern the region. The Pilgrims wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact before leaving the ship, and it became their first governing document. The Massachusetts Bay Colony came to dominate the area and was established by royal charter in 1629 with its major town and port of Boston established in 1630. Massachusetts Puritans began to establish themselves in Connecticut as early as 1633. Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts for theological reasons; he led a group south where they founded Providence Plantations, which grew into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1636. At this time, Vermont was uncolonized, and the territories of New Hampshire and Maine were claimed and governed by Massachusetts. As the region grew, it received many immigrants from Europe due to its religious tolerance and economy. French and Indian Wars Relationships alternated between peace and armed skirmishes between colonists and local Native American tribes, the bloodiest of which was the Pequot War in 1637 which resulted in the Mystic massacre. On May 19, 1643, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut joined in a loose compact called the New England Confederation (officially "The United Colonies of New England"). The confederation was designed largely to coordinate mutual defense, and it gained some importance during King Philip's War which pitted the colonists and their Indian allies against a widespread Indian uprising from June 1675 through April 1678, resulting in killings and massacres on both sides. In the aftermath of settler-Native conflicts, hundreds of captive Indians were sold into slavery. Up until 1700, Native Americans comprised a majority of the non-white labor force in colonial New England. During the next 74 years, there were six colonial wars that took place primarily between New England and New France, during which New England was allied with the Iroquois Confederacy and New France was allied with the Wabanaki Confederacy. Mainland Nova Scotia came under the control of New England after the Siege of Port Royal (1710), but both New Brunswick and most of Maine remained contested territory between New England and New France. The British eventually defeated the French in 1763, opening the Connecticut River Valley for British settlement into western New Hampshire and Vermont. The New England Colonies were settled primarily by farmers who became relatively self-sufficient. Later, New England's economy began to focus on crafts and trade, aided by the Puritan work ethic, in contrast to the Southern colonies which focused on agricultural production while importing finished goods from England. Dominion of New England By 1686, King James II had become concerned about the increasingly independent ways of the colonies, including their self-governing charters, their open flouting of the Navigation Acts, and their growing military power. He therefore established the Dominion of New England, an administrative union including all of the New England colonies. In 1688, the former Dutch colonies of New York, East New Jersey, and West New Jersey were added to the dominion. The union was imposed from the outside and contrary to the rooted democratic tradition of the colonies, and it was highly unpopular among the colonists. The dominion significantly modified the charters of the colonies, including the appointment of royal governors to nearly all of them. There was an uneasy tension among the royal governors, their officers, and the elected governing bodies of the colonies. The governors wanted unlimited authority, and the different layers of locally elected officials would often resist them. In most cases, the local town governments continued operating as self-governing bodies, just as they had before the appointment of the governors. After the Glorious Revolution, in 1689, Bostonians overthrew the royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros. During a popular and bloodless uprising, they seized dominion officials and adherents to the Church of England. These tensions eventually culminated in the American Revolution, boiling over with the outbreak of the War of American Independence in 1775. The first battles of which were fought in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, leading to the Siege of Boston by continental troops. In March 1776, British forces were compelled to retreat from Boston. New England in the new nation After the dissolution of the Dominion of New England, the colonies of New England ceased to function as a unified political unit but remained a defined cultural region. There were often disputes over territorial jurisdiction, leading to land exchanges such as those regarding the Equivalent Lands and New Hampshire Grants. By 1784, all of the states in the region had taken steps towards the abolition of slavery, with Vermont and Massachusetts introducing total abolition in 1777 and 1783, respectively. The nickname "Yankeeland" was sometimes used to denote the New England area, especially among Southerners and the British. Vermont was admitted to statehood in 1791 after settling a dispute with New York. The territory of Maine had been a part of Massachusetts, but it was granted statehood on March 15, 1820, as part of the Missouri Compromise. Today, New England is defined as the six states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. New England's economic growth relied heavily on trade with the British Empire, and the region's merchants and politicians strongly opposed trade restrictions. As the United States and the United Kingdom fought the War of 1812, New England Federalists organized the Hartford Convention in the winter of 1814 to discuss the region's grievances concerning the war, and to propose changes to the United States Constitution to protect the region's interests and maintain its political power. Radical delegates within the convention proposed the region's secession from the United States, but they were outnumbered by moderates who opposed the idea. Politically, the region often disagreed with the rest of the country. Massachusetts and Connecticut were among the last refuges of the Federalist Party, and New England became the strongest bastion of the new Whig Party when the Second Party System began in the 1830s. The Whigs were usually dominant throughout New England, except in the more Democratic Maine and New Hampshire. Industrial Revolution New England was key to the Industrial Revolution in the United States. The Blackstone Valley running through Massachusetts and Rhode Island has been called the birthplace of America's industrial revolution. In 1787, the first cotton mill in America was founded in the North Shore seaport of Beverly, Massachusetts as the Beverly Cotton Manufactory. The Manufactory was also considered the largest cotton mill of its time. Technological developments and achievements from the Manufactory led to the development of more advanced cotton mills, including Slater Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Towns such as Lawrence, Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and Lewiston, Maine became centers of the textile industry following the innovations at Slater Mill and the Beverly Cotton Manufactory. The Connecticut River Valley became a crucible for industrial innovation, particularly the Springfield Armory, pioneering such advances as interchangeable parts and the assembly line which influenced manufacturing processes all around the world. From early in the nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth, the region surrounding Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut served as the United States' epicenter for advanced manufacturing, drawing skilled workers from all over the world. The rapid growth of textile manufacturing in New England between 1815 and 1860 caused a shortage of workers. Recruiters were hired by mill agents to bring young women and children from the countryside to work in the factories. Between 1830 and 1860, thousands of farm girls moved from rural areas where there was no paid employment to work in the nearby mills, such as the Lowell Mill Girls. As the textile industry grew, immigration also grew. By the 1850s, immigrants began working in the mills, especially French Canadians and Irish. New England as a whole was the most industrialized part of the United States. By 1850, the region accounted for well over a quarter of all manufacturing value in the country and over a third of its industrial workforce. It was also the most literate and most educated region in the country. During the same period, New England and areas settled by New Englanders (upstate New York, Ohio's Western Reserve, and the upper midwestern states of Michigan and Wisconsin) were the center of the strongest abolitionist and anti-slavery movements in the United States, coinciding with the Protestant Great Awakening in the region. Abolitionists who demanded immediate emancipation had their base in the region, such as William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Wendell Phillips. So too did anti-slavery politicians who wanted to limit the growth of slavery, such as John Quincy Adams, Charles Sumner, and John P. Hale. The anti-slavery Republican Party was formed in the 1850s, and all of New England became strongly Republican, including areas that had previously been strongholds for both the Whig and the Democratic parties. New England remained solidly Republican until Catholics began to mobilize behind the Democrats, especially in 1928. This led to the end of "Yankee Republicanism" and began New England's relatively swift transition into a consistently Democratic stronghold in national elections. 20th century and beyond The flow of immigrants continued at a steady pace from the 1840s until cut off by World War I. The largest numbers came from Ireland and Britain before 1890, and after that from Quebec, Italy, and Southern Europe. The immigrants filled the ranks of factory workers, craftsmen, and unskilled laborers. The Irish and Italians assumed a larger and larger role in the Democratic Party in the cities and statewide, while the rural areas remained Republican. The Great Depression in the United States of the 1930s hit the region hard, with high unemployment in the industrial cities. The Boston Stock Exchange rivaled the New York Stock Exchange in 1930. In the beginning of 1930 John C. Hull, first Securities Director of Massachusetts (1930–1936), helped to mitigate the consequences of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. He was helpful in the passing of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 with his war on "unlisted securities". Hull gave testimony to the US Senate (Sen. Duncan Upshaw Fletcher) for work on the Pecora Commission, which revealed that neither Albert H. Wiggin (born in Medfield, MA) nor J. P. Morgan Jr. had paid any income taxes in 1931 and 1932; a public outcry ensued. Boston figured prominently on the subject of securities laws in the early 1930s in response to the Great Depression. Harvard University professors Felix Frankfurter, Benjamin V. Cohen, and James M. Landis drafted the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was the first chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and he was from Boston. The Democrats appealed to factory workers and especially Catholics, pulling them into the New Deal coalition and making the once-Republican region into one that was closely divided. However, the enormous spending on munitions, ships, electronics, and uniforms during World War II caused a burst of prosperity in every sector. The region lost most of its factories starting with the loss of textiles in the 1930s and getting worse after 1960. The New England economy was radically transformed after World War II. The factory economy practically disappeared. Once-bustling New England communities fell into economic decay following the flight of the region's industrial base. The textile mills one by one went out of business from the 1920s to the 1970s. For example, the Crompton Company went bankrupt in 1984 after 178 years in business, costing the jobs of 2,450 workers in five states. The major reasons were cheap imports, the strong dollar, declining exports, and a failure to diversify. The shoe industry subsequently left the region as well. What remains is very high technology manufacturing, such as jet engines, nuclear submarines, pharmaceuticals, robotics, scientific instruments, and medical devices. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology invented the format for university-industry relations in high tech fields and spawned many software and hardware firms, some of which grew rapidly. By the 21st century, the region had become famous for its leadership roles in the fields of education, medicine, medical research, high-technology, finance, and tourism. Some industrial areas were slow in adjusting to the new service economy. In 2000, New England had two of the ten poorest cities in the U.S. (by percentage living below the poverty line): the state capitals of Providence, Rhode Island and Hartford, Connecticut. They were no longer in the bottom ten by 2010; Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire remain among the ten wealthiest states in the United States in terms of median household income and per capita income. Geography The states of New England have a combined area, including water surfaces, of 71,988 square miles (186,447 km2), making the region slightly larger than the state of Washington and slightly smaller than Great Britain. Maine alone constitutes nearly one-half of the total area of New England, yet is only the 39th-largest state, slightly smaller than Indiana. The remaining states are among the smallest in the U.S., including the smallest state—Rhode Island. The areas of the states (including water area) are: Maine, 35,380 square miles (91,600 km2) Massachusetts, 10,554 square miles (27,330 km2) Vermont, 9,616 square miles (24,910 km2) New Hampshire, 9,349 square miles (24,210 km2) Connecticut, 5,543 square miles (14,360 km2) Rhode Island, 1,545 square miles (4,000 km2) Geology New England's long rolling hills, mountains, and jagged coastline are glacial landforms resulting from the retreat of ice sheets approximately 18,000 years ago, during the last glacial period. New England is geologically a part of the New England province, an exotic terrane region consisting of the Appalachian Mountains, the New England highlands and the seaboard lowlands. The Appalachian Mountains roughly follow the border between New England and New York. The Berkshires in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and the Green Mountains in Vermont, as well as the Taconic Mountains, form a spine of Precambrian rock. The Appalachians extend northwards into New Hampshire as the White Mountains, and then into Maine and Canada. Mount Washington in New Hampshire is the highest peak in the Northeast, although it is not among the ten highest peaks in the eastern United States. It is the site of the second highest recorded wind speed on Earth, and has the reputation of having the world's most severe weather. The coast of the region, extending from southwestern Connecticut to northeastern Maine, is dotted with lakes, hills, marshes and wetlands, and sandy beaches. Important valleys in the region include the Champlain Valley, the Connecticut River Valley and the Merrimack Valley. The longest river is the Connecticut River, which flows from northeastern New Hampshire for 407 mi (655 km), emptying into Long Island Sound, roughly bisecting the region. Lake Champlain, which forms part of the border between Vermont and New York, is the largest lake in the region, followed by Moosehead Lake in Maine and Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Climate The climate of New England varies greatly across its 500 miles (800 km) span from northern Maine to southern Connecticut: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Massachusetts have a humid continental climate (Dfb in Köppen climate classification). In this region the winters are long and cold, and heavy snow is common (most locations receive 60–120 inches (150–300 cm) of snow annually in this region). The summer's months are moderately warm, though summer is rather short and rainfall is spread through the year. In central and eastern Massachusetts, northern Rhode Island, and northern Connecticut, the same humid continental prevails (Dfa), though summers are warm to hot, winters are shorter, and there is less snowfall (especially in the coastal areas where it is often warmer). Southern and coastal Connecticut is the broad transition zone from the cold continental climates of the north to the milder subtropical climates to the south. The frost free season is greater than 180 days across far southern/coastal Connecticut, coastal Rhode Island, and the islands (Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard). Winters also tend to be much sunnier in southern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island compared to the rest of New England. Regions Biodiversity New England contains forested ecosystems with a variety of terrestrial vertebrates. Land-use patterns and land disturbance, such as the dramatic increase in land clearing for agriculture in the mid eighteenth century to nineteenth century, greatly altered the ecosystem and resulted in extinctions, local extirpations, and recolonizations. According to an analysis of USDA Forest Service data, tree species diversity increases from north to south at about 2-3 species per degree in latitude. In addition, taller trees are associated with higher tree species diversity, and tree height is a better predictor than general forest age or biomass. Due to an increasing the amount of nitrogen in the soil from climate change, the red maple is becoming one of the most abundant trees in the region, and outcompeting other maples such as the sugar maple. Largest cities The most populous cities as of the 2020 U.S. Census were (metropolitan areas in parentheses): Boston, Massachusetts: 675,647 (4,941,632) Worcester, Massachusetts: 206,518 (923,672) Providence, Rhode Island: 190,934 (1,604,291) Springfield, Massachusetts: 155,929 (699,162) Bridgeport, Connecticut: 148,654 (939,904) Stamford, Connecticut: 135,470 (part of Greater Bridgeport) New Haven, Connecticut: 134,023 (862,477) Hartford, Connecticut: 121,054 (1,214,295) Cambridge, Massachusetts: 118,403 (part of Greater Boston) Manchester, New Hampshire: 115,644 (406,678) During the 20th century, urban expansion in regions surrounding New York City has become an important economic influence on neighboring Connecticut, parts of which belong to the New York metropolitan area. The U.S. Census Bureau groups Fairfield, New Haven and Litchfield counties in western Connecticut together with New York City and other parts of New York and New Jersey as a combined statistical area. Major cities of New England Metropolitan areas and capitals Metropolitan areas The following are metropolitan statistical areas as defined by the United States Census Bureau. State capitals Hartford, Connecticut Augusta, Maine Boston, Massachusetts Concord, New Hampshire Providence, Rhode Island Montpelier, Vermont Demographics In 2020, New England had a population of 15,116,205, a growth of 4.6% from 2010. Massachusetts is the most populous state with 7,029,917 residents, while Vermont is the least populous state with 643,077 residents. Boston is by far the region's most populous city and metropolitan area. Although a great disparity exists between New England's northern and southern portions, the region's average population density is 234.93 inhabitants/sq mi (90.7/km2). New England has a significantly higher population density than that of the U.S. as a whole (79.56/sq mi), or even just the contiguous 48 states (94.48/sq mi). Three-quarters of the population of New England, and most of the major cities, are in southern New England—the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island—where the combined population density is 786.83/sq mi (2000 census). In northern New England—the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont—the combined population density is 63.56/sq mi (2000 census). According to the 2006–08 American Community Survey, 48.7% of New Englanders were male and 51.3% were female. Approximately 22.4% of the population were under 18 years of age; 13.5% were over 65 years of age. The six states of New England have the lowest birth rate in the U.S. White Americans make up the majority of New England's population at 73.4% of the total population, Hispanic and Latino Americans are New England's largest minority, and they are the second-largest group in the region behind non-Hispanic European Americans. As of 2014, Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 10.2% of New England's population. Connecticut had the highest proportion at 13.9%, while Vermont had the lowest at 1.3%. There were nearly 1.5 million Hispanic and Latino individuals reported in New England in 2014. Puerto Ricans were the most numerous of the Hispanic and Latino subgroups. Over 660,000 Puerto Ricans lived in New England in 2014, forming 4.5% of the population. The Dominican population is over 200,000, and the Mexican and Guatemalan populations are each over 100,000. Americans of Cuban descent are scant in number; there were roughly 26,000 Cuban Americans in the region in 2014. People of all other Hispanic and Latino ancestries, including Salvadoran, Colombian and Bolivian, formed 2.5% of New England's population and numbered over 361,000 combined. According to the 2014 American Community Survey, the top ten largest reported European ancestries were the following: Irish: 19.2% (2.8 million), English (includes "American" ancestry): 16.7% (2.4 million), Italian: 13.6% (2.0 million), French and French Canadian: 13.1% (1.9 million), German: 7.4% (1.1 million), Polish: 4.9% (roughly 715,000), Portuguese: 3.2% (467,000), Scottish: 2.5% (370,000), Russian: 1.4% (206,000), and Greek: 1.0% (152,000). English is, by far, the most common language spoken at home. Approximately 81.3% of all residents (11.3 million people) over the age of five spoke only English at home. Roughly 1,085,000 people (7.8% of the population) spoke Spanish at home, and roughly 970,000 people (7.0% of the population) spoke other Indo-European languages at home. Over 403,000 people (2.9% of the population) spoke an Asian or Pacific Island language at home. Slightly fewer (about 1%) spoke French at home, although this figure is above 20% in northern New England, which borders francophone Québec. Roughly 99,000 people (0.7% of the population) spoke languages other than these at home. As of 2014, approximately 87% of New England's inhabitants were born in the U.S., while over 12% were foreign-born. 35.8% of foreign-born residents were born in Latin America, 28.6% were born in Asia, 22.9% were born in Europe, and 8.5% were born in Africa. Southern New England forms an integral part of the BosWash megalopolis, a conglomeration of urban centers that spans from Boston to Washington, D.C. The region includes three of the four most densely populated states in the U.S.; only New Jersey has a higher population density than the states of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Greater Boston, which includes parts of southern New Hampshire, has a total population of approximately 4.8 million, while over half the population of New England falls inside Boston's Combined Statistical Area of over 8.2 million. Economy Several factors combine to make the New England economy unique. The region is distant from the geographic center of the country, and it is a relatively small region but densely populated. It historically has been an important center of industry and manufacturing and a supplier of natural resource products, such as granite, lobster, and codfish. The service industry is important, including tourism, education, financial and insurance services, and architectural, building and construction services. The U.S. Department of Commerce has called the New England economy a microcosm for the entire U.S. economy. The region underwent a long period of deindustrialization in the first half of the 20th century, as traditional manufacturing companies relocated to the Midwest, with textile and furniture manufacturing migrating to the South. In the late-20th century, an increasing portion of the regional economy included high technology, military defense industry, finance and insurance services, and education and health services. As of 2018, the GDP of New England was $1.1 trillion. New England exports food products ranging from fish to lobster, cranberries, potatoes, and maple syrup. About half of the region's exports consist of industrial and commercial machinery, such as computers and electronic and electrical equipment. Granite is quarried at Barre, Vermont, guns made at Springfield, Massachusetts, and Saco, Maine, submarines at Groton, Connecticut, surface naval vessels at Bath, Maine, and hand tools at Turners Falls, Massachusetts. Urban centers In 2017, Boston was ranked as having the ninth-most competitive financial center in the world and the fourth-most competitive in the United States. Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund in the 1980s and has made Boston one of the top financial centers in the United States. The city is home to the headquarters of Santander Bank and a center for venture capital firms. State Street Corporation specializes in asset management and custody services and is based in the city. Boston is also a printing and publishing center. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is headquartered there, along with Bedford-St. Martin's and Beacon Press. The city is also home to the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay and the Seaport Hotel and Seaport World Trade Center and Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront. The General Electric Corporation announced its decision to move the company's global headquarters to the Boston Seaport District from Fairfield, Connecticut, in 2016, citing factors including Boston's preeminence in the realm of higher education. The city also holds the headquarters to several major athletic and footwear companies, including Converse, New Balance and Reebok. Rockport, Puma and Wolverine World Wide have headquarters or regional offices just outside the city. Hartford is the historic international center of the insurance industry, with companies such as Aetna, Conning & Company, The Hartford, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, The Phoenix Companies and Hartford Steam Boiler based in the city, and The Travelers Companies and Lincoln National Corporation have major operations in the city. It is also home to the corporate headquarters of U.S. Fire Arms Mfg. Co., United Technologies, and Virtus Investment Partners. Fairfield County, Connecticut, has a large concentration of investment management firms in the area, most notably Bridgewater Associates (one of the world's largest hedge fund companies), Aladdin Capital Management and Point72 Asset Management. Moreover, many international banks have their North American headquarters in Fairfield County, such as NatWest Group and UBS. Agriculture Agriculture is limited by the area's rocky soil, cool climate, and small area. Some New England states, however, are ranked highly among U.S. states for particular areas of production. Maine is ranked ninth for aquaculture, and has abundant potato fields in its northeast part. Vermont is fifteenth for dairy products, and Connecticut and Massachusetts seventh and eleventh for tobacco, respectively. Cranberries are grown in Massachusetts' Cape Cod-Plymouth-South Shore area, and blueberries in Maine. Energy The region is mostly energy-efficient compared to the U.S. at large, with every state but Maine ranking within the ten most energy-efficient states; every state in New England also ranks within the ten most expensive states for electricity prices. Wind power, mainly from offshore sources, is expected to gain market share in the 2020s. Employment As of January 2017, employment is stronger in New England than in the rest of the United States. During the Great Recession, unemployment rates ballooned across New England as elsewhere; however, in the years that followed, these rates declined steadily, with New Hampshire and Massachusetts having the lowest unemployment rates in the country, respectively. The most extreme swing was in Rhode Island, which had an unemployment rate above 10% following the recession, but which saw this rate decline by over 6% in six years. As of December 2016, the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with the lowest unemployment rate, 2.1%, was Burlington-South Burlington, Vermont; the MSA with the highest rate, 4.9%, was Waterbury, Connecticut. Overall tax burden In 2023, three of the six New England states were among the top ten states in the country in terms of taxes paid per taxpayer, while one was among the top five least. The rankings being #3 Maine (11.14%), #4 Vermont (10.28%), #5 Connecticut (9.83%), #11 Rhode Island (9.07%), #20 Massachusetts (8.48%), and #48 New Hampshire (6.14%). While overall tax burden varies widely, all six states sport exceptionally high property taxes with five of the six states being within the nationwide top 10. The rankings being #1 Maine (5.33%), #2 Vermont (4.98%), #3 New Hampshire (4.94%), #6 Connecticut (4.24%), #7 Rhode Island (4.17%), and #13 Massachusetts (3.42%). Government Town meetings New England town meetings were derived from meetings held by church elders, and are still an integral part of government in many New England towns. At such meetings, any citizen of the town may discuss issues with other members of the community and vote on them. This is the strongest example of direct democracy in the U.S. today, and the strong democratic tradition was even apparent in the early 19th century, when Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America: New England, where education and liberty are the daughters of morality and religion, where society has acquired age and stability enough to enable it to form principles and hold fixed habits, the common people are accustomed to respect intellectual and moral superiority and to submit to it without complaint, although they set at naught all those privileges which wealth and birth have introduced among mankind. In New England, consequently, the democracy makes a more judicious choice than it does elsewhere. By contrast, James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 55 that, regardless of the assembly, "passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob." The use and effectiveness of town meetings is still discussed by scholars, as well as the possible application of the format to other regions and countries. Politics Elections State and national elected officials in New England recently have been elected mainly from the Democratic Party. The region is generally considered to be the most liberal in the United States, with more New Englanders identifying as liberals than Americans elsewhere. In 2010, four of six of the New England states were polled as the most liberal in the United States. As of 2021, five of the six states of New England have voted for every Democratic presidential nominee since 1992. In that time, New Hampshire has voted for Democratic nominees in every presidential election except 2000, when George W. Bush narrowly won the state. 2020 was a particularly strong year for Democratic nominee Joe Biden in New England, winning 61.2% of the total vote in the six states, the highest percentage for Democrats since the landslide election of 1964. As of the 117th Congress, all members of the U.S. House of Representatives from New England are members of the Democratic Party, and all but one of its senators caucus with the Democrats. Two of those senators, although caucusing with Democrats, are two of the only three independents currently serving in the Senate: Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, representing Vermont and Angus King, an Independent representing Maine. In the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama carried all six New England states by 9 percentage points or more. He carried every county in New England except for Piscataquis County, Maine, which he lost by 4% to Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Pursuant to the reapportionment following the 2010 census, New England collectively has 33 electoral votes. The following table presents the vote percentage for the popular-vote winner for each New England state, New England as a whole, and the United States as a whole, in each presidential election from 1900 to 2020, with the vote percentage for the Republican candidate shaded in red and the vote percentage for the Democratic candidate shaded in blue: Political party strength Judging purely by party registration rather than voting patterns, New England today is one of the most Democratic regions in the U.S. According to Gallup, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont are "solidly Democratic", Maine "leans Democratic", and New Hampshire is a swing state. Though New England is today considered a Democratic Party stronghold, much of the region was staunchly Republican before the mid-twentieth century. This changed in the late 20th century, in large part due to demographic shifts and the Republican Party's adoption of socially conservative platforms as part of their strategic shift towards the South. For example, Vermont voted Republican in every presidential election from 1856 through 1988 with the exception of 1964, and has voted Democratic every election since. Maine and Vermont were the only two states in the nation to vote against Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt all four times he ran for president. Republicans in New England are today considered by both liberals and conservatives to be more moderate (socially liberal) compared to Republicans in other parts of the U.S. New Hampshire primary Historically, the New Hampshire primary has been the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years. Held in the state of New Hampshire, it usually marks the beginning of the U.S. presidential election process. Even though few delegates are chosen from New Hampshire, the primary has always been pivotal to both New England and American politics. One college in particular, Saint Anselm College, has been home to numerous national presidential debates and visits by candidates to its campus. Education Colleges and universities New England contains some of the oldest and most renowned institutions of higher learning in the United States and the world. Harvard College was the first such institution, founded in 1636 at Cambridge, Massachusetts, to train preachers. Yale University was founded in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1701, and awarded the nation's first doctoral (PhD) degree in 1861. Yale moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1718, where it has remained to the present day. Brown University was the first college in the nation to accept students of all religious affiliations, and is the seventh oldest U.S. institution of higher learning. It was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1764. Dartmouth College was founded five years later in Hanover, New Hampshire, with the mission of educating the local American Indian population as well as English youth. The University of Vermont, the fifth oldest university in New England, was founded in 1791, the same year that Vermont joined the Union. In addition to four out of eight Ivy League schools, New England contains the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the bulk of educational institutions that are identified as the "Little Ivies", four of the original Seven Sisters, one of the eight original Public Ivies, the Colleges of Worcester Consortium in central Massachusetts, and the Five Colleges consortium in western Massachusetts. The University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Connecticut, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Rhode Island, and the University of Vermont are the flagship state universities in the region. Private and independent secondary schools At the pre-college level, New England is home to a number of American independent schools (also known as private schools). The concept of the elite "New England prep school" (preparatory school) and the "preppy" lifestyle is an iconic part of the region's image. See the list of private schools for each state:Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont. Public education New England is home to some of the oldest public schools in the nation and was the first region in the United States to implement universal compulsory schooling. Boston Latin School is the oldest public school in America and was attended by several signatories of the Declaration of Independence. Hartford Public High School is the second oldest operating high school in the U.S. As of 2005, the National Education Association ranked Connecticut as having the highest-paid teachers in the country. Massachusetts and Rhode Island ranked eighth and ninth, respectively. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont have cooperated in developing a New England Common Assessment Program test under the No Child Left Behind guidelines. These states can compare the resultant scores with each other. Academic journals and press There are several academic journals and publishing companies in the region, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard University Press and Yale University Press. Some of its institutions lead the open access alternative to conventional academic publication, including MIT, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Maine. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston publishes the New England Economic Review. Culture New England has a shared heritage and culture primarily shaped by waves of immigration from Europe. In contrast to other American regions, many of New England's earliest Puritan settlers came from eastern England, contributing to New England's distinctive accents, foods, customs, and social structures.: 30–50  Within modern New England a cultural divide exists between urban New Englanders living along the densely populated coastline, and rural New Englanders in western Massachusetts, northwestern and northeastern Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, where population density is low. There is also a substantial divide between Connecticut and the other states of the region, owing to the former's close cultural and economic ties with the New York metropolitan area. Religion Today, New England is the least religious region of the U.S. In 2009, less than half of those polled in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont claimed that religion was an important part of their daily lives. Connecticut and Rhode Island are among the ten least religious states, where 55% and 53% of those polled (respectively) claimed that it was important. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, 34% of Vermonters claimed to have no religion; nearly one out of every four New Englanders identifies as having no religion, more than in any other part of the U.S. New England had one of the highest percentages of Catholics in the U.S. This number declined from 50% in 1990 to 36% in 2008. Cultural roots Many of the first European colonists of New England had a maritime orientation toward whaling (first noted about 1650) and fishing, in addition to farming. New England has developed a distinct cuisine, dialect, architecture, and government. New England cuisine has a reputation for its emphasis on seafood and dairy; clam chowder, lobster, and other products of the sea are among some of the region's most popular foods. New England has largely preserved its regional character, especially in its historic places. The region has become more ethnically diverse, having seen waves of immigration from Ireland, Quebec, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, Asia, Latin America, Africa, other parts of the U.S., and elsewhere. The enduring European influence can be seen in the region in the use of traffic rotaries; the bilingual French and English towns of northern Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire; the unique, often non-rhotic traditional coastal dialect akin to the southeastern half of England; and the region's heavy prevalence of English town- and county-names. These repeat from state to state, primarily due to settlers throughout the region having named their new towns after their old ones. For example, the town of North Yarmouth, Maine, was named by settlers from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, which was in turn named for Great Yarmouth (still locally called Yarmouth) in England. Every New England state has a town named Warren (a French-English noble family of wealthy settlers), and each except Rhode Island has a city/town named Franklin and Washington (constitutional founding fathers), Andover, Bridgewater, Chester, Manchester, Plymouth, and Windsor (these six were towns in England). Every state except Connecticut has a Lincoln and has a Richmond. Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine each contain a Franklin County. Cuisine New England maintains a distinct cuisine and food culture. Early foods in the region were influenced by Native American and English cuisines. The early colonists often adapted their original cuisine to fit with the available foods of the region. New England staples reflect the convergence of American Indian and Pilgrim cuisine, such as johnnycakes, succotash, cornbread and various seafood recipes. The Wabanaki tribal nations made nut milk. New England also has a distinct food language. A few of the unique regional terms include "grinders" for submarine sandwiches and "frappes" for thick milkshakes, referred to as "Cabinets" in Rhode Island. Other foods native to the region include steak tips (marinated sirloin steak), bulkie rolls, maple syrup, cranberry recipes and clam chowder. A type of India pale ale known as New England India Pale Ale (NEIPA) was developed in Vermont in the 2010s. Other regional beverages include Moxie, one of the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States, introduced in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1876; it remains popular in New England, particularly in Maine. Coffee milk is associated with Rhode Island as the official state drink. Portuguese cuisine is an important element in the annual Feast of the Blessed Sacrament in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the largest ethnic heritage festival in New England. Accents and dialects There are several American English dialects spoken in the region, most famously the Boston accent, which is native to the northeastern coastal regions of New England. The most identifiable features of the Boston accent are believed to have originated from England's Received Pronunciation, which shares features such as the broad A and dropping the final R. Another source was 17th century speech in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, where many of the Puritan immigrants had originated. The East Anglian "whine" developed into the Yankee "twang". Boston accents were most strongly associated at one point with the so-called "Eastern Establishment" and Boston's upper class, although today the accent is predominantly associated with blue-collar natives, as exemplified by movies such as Good Will Hunting and The Departed. The Boston accent and those accents closely related to it cover eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Some Rhode Islanders speak with a non-rhotic accent that many compare to a "Brooklyn" accent or a cross between a New York and Boston accent, where "water" becomes "wata". Many Rhode Islanders distinguish the aw sound [ɔː], as one might hear in New Jersey; e.g., the word "coffee" is pronounced KAW-fee. This type of accent was brought to the region by early settlers from eastern England in the Puritan migration in the mid-seventeenth century.: 13–207 Social activities and music Acadian and Québécois culture are included in music and dance in much of rural New England, particularly Maine. Contra dancing and country square dancing are popular throughout New England, usually backed by live Irish, Acadian or other folk music. Fife and drum corps are common, especially in southern New England and more specifically Connecticut, with music of mostly Celtic, English, and local origin. New England leads the U.S. in ice cream consumption per capita. Candlepin bowling is essentially confined to New England, where it was invented in the 19th century. New England was an important center of American classical music for some time. The First New England School of composers was active between 1770 and 1820, and the Second New England School about a century later. Prominent modernist composers also come from the region, including Charles Ives and John Adams. Boston is the site of the New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In popular music, the region has produced Donna Summer, JoJo, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Bel Biv Devoe, Passion Pit, MGMT, Meghan Trainor, New Kids on the Block, Rachel Platten and John Mayer. In rock music, the region has produced Rob Zombie, Aerosmith, Extreme, the Modern Lovers, Phish, the Pixies, the Cars, the J. Geils Band, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Grace Potter, GG Allin, the Dresden Dolls, Dinosaur Jr., the Dropkick Murphys and Boston. Quincy, Massachusetts, native Dick Dale helped popularize surf rock. Hip hop acts hailing from New England include Gang Starr, Apathy, Mr. Lif and Akrobatik. Media The leading U.S. cable TV sports broadcaster ESPN is headquartered in Bristol, Connecticut. New England has several regional cable networks, including New England Cable News (NECN) and the New England Sports Network (NESN). New England Cable News is the largest regional 24-hour cable news network in the U.S., broadcasting to more than 3.2 million homes in all of the New England states. Its studios are located in Newton, Massachusetts, outside of Boston, and it maintains bureaus in Manchester, New Hampshire; Hartford, Connecticut; Worcester, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; and Burlington, Vermont. In Connecticut, Litchfield, Fairfield, and New Haven counties it also broadcasts New York based news programs—this is due in part to the immense influence New York has on this region's economy and culture, and also to give Connecticut broadcasters the ability to compete with overlapping media coverage from New York-area broadcasters. NESN broadcasts the Boston Red Sox baseball and Boston Bruins hockey throughout the region, save for Fairfield County, Connecticut. Connecticut also receives the YES Network, which broadcasts the games of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets as well as SportsNet New York (SNY), which broadcasts New York Mets games. NBC Sports Boston broadcasts the games of the Boston Celtics, New England Revolution and Boston Cannons to all of New England except Fairfield County. While most New England cities have daily newspapers, The Boston Globe and The New York Times are distributed widely throughout the region. Major newspapers also include The Providence Journal, Portland Press Herald, and Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the U.S. Comedy New Englanders are well represented in American comedy. Writers for The Simpsons and late-night television programs often come by way of The Harvard Lampoon. A number of Saturday Night Live (SNL) cast members have roots in New England, from Adam Sandler to Amy Poehler, who also starred in the NBC television series Parks and Recreation. Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, is from Connecticut, with the show taking place in a fictional town called Quahog, Rhode Island. Former Daily Show correspondents John Hodgman, Rob Corddry and Steve Carell are from Massachusetts. Carell was also involved in film and the American adaptation of The Office (alongside fellow Massachusetts natives Mindy Kaling, B. J. Novak, and John Krasinski), which features Dunder-Mifflin branches set in Stamford, Connecticut, and Nashua, New Hampshire. Late-night television hosts Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien have roots in the Boston area. Notable stand-up comedians are also from the region, including Bill Burr, Steve Sweeney, Steven Wright, Sarah Silverman, Lisa Lampanelli, Denis Leary, Lenny Clarke, Patrice O'Neal and Louis CK. SNL cast member Seth Meyers once attributed the region's imprint on American humor to its "sort of wry New England sense of pointing out anyone who's trying to make a big deal of himself", with The Boston Globe suggesting that irony and sarcasm are its trademarks, as well as Irish influences. Literature New Englanders have made significant contributions to literature. The first printing press in America was set up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Stephen Daye in the 17th century. Writers in New England produced many works on religious subjects, particularly on Puritan theology and poetry during colonial times and on Enlightenment ideas during the American Revolution. The literature of New England has had an enduring influence on American literature in general, with themes that are emblematic of the larger concerns of American letters, such as religion, race, the individual versus society, social repression and nature. 19th century New England was a center for progressive ideals, and many abolitionist and transcendentalist tracts were produced. Leading transcendentalists were from New England, such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Frederic Henry Hedge. Hartford, Connecticut resident Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was an influential book in the spread of abolitionist ideas and is said to have "laid the groundwork for the Civil War". Other prominent New England novelists include John Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Sarah Orne Jewett, H. P. Lovecraft, Annie Proulx, Stephen King, Jack Kerouac, George V. Higgins, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Boston was the center of the American publishing industry for some years, largely on the strength of its local writers and before it was overtaken by New York in the middle of the nineteenth century. Boston remains the home of publishers Houghton Mifflin and Pearson Education, and it was the longtime home of literary magazine The Atlantic Monthly. Merriam-Webster is based in Springfield, Massachusetts. Yankee is a magazine for New Englanders based in Dublin, New Hampshire. Many New Englander poets have also been preeminent in American poetry. Prominent poets include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, David Lindsay-Abaire, Annie Proulx, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Amy Lowell, John Cheever, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, E. E. Cummings, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert P. T. Coffin and Richard Wilbur. Robert Frost who was described as an "artistic institution" frequently wrote about rural New England life. The Confessional poetry movement features prominent New England writers including Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. Film, television, and acting New England has a rich history in filmmaking dating back to the dawn of the motion picture era at the turn of the 20th century, sometimes dubbed Hollywood East by film critics. A theater at 547 Washington Street in Boston was the second location to debut a picture projected by the Vitascope, and shortly thereafter several novels were being adapted for the screen and set in New England, including The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. The New England region continued to churn out films at a pace above the national average for the duration of the 20th century, including blockbuster hits such as Jaws, Good Will Hunting and The Departed, all of which won Academy Awards. The New England area became known for a number of themes that recurred in films made during this era, including the development of yankee characters, smalltown life contrasted with city values, seafaring tales, family secrets and haunted New England. These themes are rooted in centuries of New England culture and are complemented by the region's diverse natural landscape and architecture, from the Atlantic Ocean and brilliant fall foliage to church steeples and skyscrapers. Since the turn of the millennium, Boston and the greater New England region have been home to the production of numerous films and television series, thanks in part to tax incentive programs put in place by local governments to attract filmmakers to the region. Notable actors and actresses that have come from the New England area include Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Evans, Ryan O'Neal, Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Banks, Steve Carell, Ruth Gordon, John Krasinski, Edward Norton, Mark Wahlberg and Matthew Perry. Many films and television series have been produced in and set in New England. Museums, historical societies, and libraries There are many museums located throughout New England, especially in the Greater Boston area. These museums include privately held collections as well as public institutions. Most notable of these museums are the Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Worcester Art Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum. The oldest public museum in continuous operation in the United States is the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which opened in 1824. The Boston Public Library is the largest public library in the region with over 8 million materials in its collection. The largest academic research library in the world is the Harvard Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The W. E. B. Du Bois Library of the University of Massachusetts Amherst is the tallest academic library in the world. There are also many historical societies in the region. Historic New England operates museums and historic sites in the name of historical preservation. Many properties belonging to HNE include preserved house museums of prominent figures in New England and American history. Other societies include the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Essex Institute, the American Antiquarian Society, and The Bostonian Society. The Massachusetts Historical Society, founded in 1791, is the oldest operating in the United States. Many cities and towns across New England operate their own historical societies focused on historical preservation of local sites and the recording of local history. Sports New England has a strong heritage of athletics, and many internationally popular sports were invented and codified in the region, including basketball, volleyball, and American football. Football is the most popular sport in the region and was developed by Walter Camp in New Haven, Connecticut, in the 1870s and 1880s. The New England Patriots are based in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and are the most popular professional sports team in New England. The Patriots have won six Super Bowl championships and are one of the most winning teams in the National Football League. There are also high-profile collegiate and high school football rivalries in New England. These games are most often played on Thanksgiving Day and are some of the oldest sports rivalries in the United States. The high school rivalry between Wellesley High School and Needham High School in Massachusetts is considered to be the nation's oldest football rivalry, having started in 1882. Before the advent of modern rules of baseball, a different form was played called the Massachusetts Game. This version of baseball was an early rival of the Knickerbocker Rules of New York and was played throughout New England. In 1869, there were 59 teams throughout the region which played according to the Massachusetts rules. The New York rules gradually became more popular throughout the United States, and professional and semi-professional clubs began to appear. Early teams included the Providence Grays, the Worcester Worcesters and the Hartford Dark Blues; these did not last long, but other teams grew to renown, such as the Boston Braves and the Boston Red Sox. Fenway Park was built in 1912 and is the oldest ballpark still in use in Major League Baseball. The Red Sox have won the World Series nine times, tied for third-most among all MLB teams. Other professional baseball teams in the region include the Hartford Yard Goats, New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Vermont Lake Monsters, Portland Sea Dogs, Bridgeport Bluefish, New Britain Bees and the Worcester Red Sox. Basketball was developed in Springfield, Massachusetts, by James Naismith in 1891. Naismith was attempting to create a game which could be played indoors so that athletes could keep fit during New England winters. The Boston Celtics were founded in 1946 and are the most successful NBA team, winning 18 titles. The Celtics' NBA G League team, the Maine Celtics, is based in Portland, Maine. The Women's National Basketball Association's Connecticut Sun is based in Uncasville, Connecticut. The UConn Huskies women's basketball team is the most successful women's collegiate team in the nation, winning 11 NCAA Division I titles, and the UConn Huskies men's basketball team has won six titles, tied for third-most in the nation. The Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Massachusetts. Winter sports are extremely popular and have a long history in the region, including alpine skiing, snowboarding, and Nordic skiing. Ice hockey is also a popular sport. The Boston Bruins were founded in 1924 as an Original Six team, and they have a historic rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens. The Bruins play in the TD Garden, a venue that they share with the Boston Celtics. College hockey is also a popular spectator sport, with Boston's annual Beanpot tournament between Northeastern University, Boston University, Harvard University and Boston College. Other hockey teams include the Maine Mariners, Providence Bruins, Springfield Thunderbirds, Worcester Railers, Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the Hartford Wolf Pack. The Connecticut Whale hockey team and the Boston Pride are two of the six teams of the Premier Hockey Federation. The region's largest ice hockey and skating facility is the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts, home to the Skating Club of Boston, one of the oldest ice skating clubs in the United States. Volleyball was invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1895 by William G. Morgan. Morgan was an instructor at a YMCA and wanted to create an indoor game for his athletes. The game was based on badminton and was spread as a sport through YMCA facilities. The international Volleyball Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke. Rowing, sailing, and yacht racing are also popular events in New England. The Head of the Charles race is held on the Charles River in October every year and attracts over 10,000 athletes and over 200,000 spectators each year. Sailing regattas include the Newport Bermuda Race, the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race, and the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race. The New York Times considers the Newport and Marblehead races to be among the most prestigious in the world. The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots' Day every year and was first run in 1897. It is a World Marathon Major and is operated by the Boston Athletic Association. The race route goes from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, through Greater Boston, finishing at Copley Square in Boston. The race offers far less prize money than many other marathons, but its difficulty and long history make it one of the world's most prestigious marathons. It is New England's largest sporting event with nearly 500,000 spectators each year. New England is represented in the top level of American professional soccer by the New England Revolution, an inaugural team of the Major League Soccer founded in 1994 and playing in Gillette Stadium which it shares with the New England Patriots. The Revolution have won a U.S. Open Cup and a SuperLiga Championship, and they have appeared in five MLS finals. In the USL Championship, the second division on the American soccer pyramid, New England is represented by Hartford Athletic which was founded in 2019 and plays its games at Dillon Stadium, and Rhode Island FC, which began play in 2024. Transportation Each of the New England states has its own Department of Transportation which plans and develops systems for transport, though some transportation authorities operate across state and municipal lines. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) oversees public transportation in the Greater Boston area. It is the largest such agency and operates throughout eastern Massachusetts and into Rhode Island. The MBTA oversees the oldest subway system (the Tremont Street subway) and the second most-used light rail line (the Green Line) in the United States, as well as one of five remaining trolleybus systems nationwide. Coastal Connecticut makes use of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York due to the connection of that region to New York's economy. The MTA operates the Metro-North Railroad in coordination with the Connecticut Department of Transportation. CTrail is a division of the Connecticut Department of Transportation which operates the Shore Line East along its southern coast, terminating in Old Saybrook and New London. It also operates the Hartford Line, leading south to New Haven and north to Springfield. Commuter rail service is provided north of Springfield to Greenfield, Massachusetts, as part of the Valley Flyer Amtrak route. Amtrak provides interstate rail service throughout New England. Boston is the northern terminus of the Northeast Corridor. The Vermonter connects Vermont to Massachusetts and Connecticut, while the Downeaster links Maine to Boston. The long-distance Lake Shore Limited train has two eastern termini after splitting in Albany, one of which is Boston. This provides rail service on the former Boston and Albany Railroad which runs between its namesake cities. The rest of the Lake Shore Limited continues to New York City. Bus transportation is available in most urban areas and is governed by regional and local authorities. The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority and the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority are examples of public bus transportation which support more suburban and rural communities. South Station in Boston is a major center for bus, rail, and light rail lines. Major interstate highways traversing the region include I-95, I-93, I-91, I-89, I-84, and I-90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike). Logan Airport is the busiest transportation hub in the region in terms of number of passengers and total cargo, opened in 1923 and located in East Boston and Winthrop, Massachusetts. It is a hub for Cape Air and Delta Air Lines, and a focus city for JetBlue. It is the 16th busiest airport in the United States. Other airports in the region include Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, Bradley International Airport, Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport, Manchester–Boston Regional Airport, and Portland International Jetport. See also References Citations Sources Further reading Bartlett, Ray et al. New England Trips. ISBN 1-74179-728-4 Berman, Eleanor. Eyewitness Travel Guides New England. ISBN 0-7566-2697-8 Chenoweth, James. Oddity Odyssey: A Journey Through New England's Colorful Past. Holt, 1996. Humorous travel guide. ISBN 0-8050-3671-7 Hall, Donald, Burt Feintuch, and David H. Watters, eds. Encyclopedia of New England (Yale U.P. 2005), 1596 pp; the major scholarly resource to the geography, history and culture of the region. ISBN 0-300-10027-2 Koistinen, David. Confronting Decline: The Political Economy of Deindustrialization in Twentieth-Century New England (2013) Muse, Vance. The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America: Northern New England. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1998. A photographic guide to historic sites in New England. ISBN 1-55670-635-9 Riess, Jana. The Spiritual Traveler Boston and New England: A Guide to Sacred Sites and Peaceful Places, HiddenSpring ISBN 1-58768-008-4 Sayen, Jamie. Children of the Northern Forest: Wild New England's History from Glaciers to Global Warming (Yale UP, 2023) online book review Sletcher, Michael. New England: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures (2004) Wiencek, Henry. The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America: Southern New England. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1998. A photographic guide to historic sites in New England. ISBN 1-55670-633-2 External links Political New England Governors Conference Historical Historic New England Minuteman National Park Homepage - American Revolution battle site Maps Historic USGS Maps of New England & NY Map of New England. From the 1871 Atlas of Massachusetts by Walling and Gray. Culture New England Music Archive

Connecticut

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut

Connecticut ( kə-NET-ik-ət) is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Connecticut lies between the major hubs of New York City and Boston along the Northeast Corridor. The New York metropolitan area, which includes six of Connecticut's seven largest cities, extends well into the southwestern part of the state, while the northeastern corner reaches Greater Boston. Connecticut is the third-smallest state by area after Rhode Island and Delaware, and the 29th most populous with slightly more than 3.6 million residents as of 2020, ranking it fourth among the most densely populated U.S. states. The state is named after the Connecticut River, the longest in New England which roughly bisects the state and drains into the Long Island Sound between the towns of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The name of the river is in turn derived from anglicized spellings of Quinnetuket, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river". Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the region was inhabited by various Algonquian tribes. In 1633, the Dutch West India Company established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the first major settlements were established by the English around the same time. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Connecticut Colony, while other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony; both merged into the former by 1664. Connecticut's official nickname, the "Constitution State", refers to the Fundamental Orders adopted by the Connecticut Colony in 1639, which is considered by some to be the first written constitution in Western history. As one of the Thirteen Colonies that rejected British rule during the American Revolution, Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. In 1787, Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, state delegates to the Constitutional Convention, proposed a compromise between the Virginia and New Jersey Plans; its bicameral structure for Congress, with a respectively proportional and equal representation of the states in the House of Representatives and Senate, was adopted and remains to this day. In January 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution. Connecticut is a developed and affluent state, performing well on the Human Development Index and on different metrics of income except for equality. It is home to a number of prestigious educational institutions, including Yale University in New Haven, as well as other liberal arts colleges and private boarding schools in and around the “Knowledge Corridor”. Due to its geography, Connecticut has maintained a strong maritime tradition; the United States Coast Guard Academy is located in New London by the Thames River. The state is also associated with the aerospace industry through major companies Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft headquartered in East Hartford and Stratford, respectively. Historically a manufacturing center for arms, hardware, and timepieces, Connecticut, as with the rest of the region, had transitioned into an economy based on the financial, insurance, and real estate sectors; many multinational firms providing such services can be found concentrated in the state capital of Hartford and along the Gold Coast in Fairfield County. History First people The name Connecticut is derived from the Mohegan-Pequot word that has been translated as "long tidal river" and "upon the long river", both referring to the Connecticut River. Evidence of human presence in the Connecticut region dates to as far back as 10,000 years ago. Stone tools were used for hunting, fishing, and woodworking. Semi-nomadic in lifestyle, these peoples moved seasonally to take advantage of various resources in the area. They shared languages based on Algonquian. The Connecticut region was inhabited by multiple Native American tribes which can be grouped into the Nipmuc, the Sequin or "River Indians" (which included the Tunxis, Schaghticoke, Podunk, Wangunk, Hammonasset, and Quinnipiac), the Mattabesec or "Wappinger Confederacy" and the Pequot-Mohegan. Some of these groups still reside in Connecticut, including the Mohegans, the Pequots, and the Paugusetts. Colonial period The first European explorer in Connecticut was Dutchman Adriaen Block, who explored the region in 1614. Dutch fur traders then sailed up the Connecticut River, which they called Versche Rivier ("Fresh River"), and built a fort at Dutch Point in Hartford that they named "House of Hope" (Dutch: Huis van Hoop). The Connecticut Colony was originally a number of separate, smaller settlements at Windsor, Wethersfield, Saybrook, Hartford, and New Haven. The first English settlers came in 1633 and settled at Windsor, and then at Wethersfield the following year. John Winthrop the Younger of Massachusetts received a commission to create Saybrook Colony at the mouth of the Connecticut River in 1635. The main body of settlers came in one large group in 1636. They were Puritans from Massachusetts Bay Colony led by Thomas Hooker, who established the Connecticut Colony at Hartford. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were adopted in January 1639, and have been described as the first constitutional document in America. The Quinnipiack Colony was established by John Davenport, Theophilus Eaton, and others at New Haven in March 1638. The New Haven Colony had its own constitution called "The Fundamental Agreement of the New Haven Colony", signed on June 4, 1639. The settlements were established without official sanction of the English Crown, and each was an independent political entity. In 1662, Winthrop traveled to England and obtained a charter from Charles II which united the settlements of Connecticut. Historically important colonial settlements included Windsor (1633), Wethersfield (1634), Saybrook (1635), Hartford (1636), New Haven (1638), Fairfield (1639), Guilford (1639), Milford (1639), Stratford (1639), Farmington (1640), Stamford (1641), and New London (1646). The Pequot War marked the first major clash between colonists and Native Americans in New England. The Pequots reacted with increasing aggression to Colonial settlements in their territory—while simultaneously taking lands from the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. Settlers responded to a murder in 1636 with a raid on a Pequot village on Block Island; the Pequots laid siege to Saybrook Colony's garrison that autumn, then raided Wethersfield in the spring of 1637. Colonists declared war on the Pequots, organized a band of militia and allies from the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes, and attacked a Pequot village on the Mystic River, with death toll estimates ranging between 300 and 700 Pequots. After suffering another major loss at a battle in Fairfield, the Pequots asked for a truce and peace terms. The western boundaries of Connecticut have been subject to change over time. The Hartford Treaty with the Dutch was signed on September 19, 1650, but it was never ratified by the British. According to it, the western boundary of Connecticut ran north from Greenwich Bay for a distance of 20 miles (32 km), "provided the said line come not within 10 miles [16 km] of Hudson River". This agreement was observed by both sides until war erupted between England and The Netherlands in 1652. Conflict continued concerning colonial limits until the Duke of York captured New Netherland in 1664. On the other hand, Connecticut's original Charter in 1662 granted it all the land to the "South Sea"—that is, to the Pacific Ocean. Most Colonial royal grants were for long east–west strips. Connecticut took its grant seriously and established a ninth county between the Susquehanna River and Delaware River named Westmoreland County. This resulted in the brief Pennamite-Yankee Wars with Pennsylvania. Yale College was established in 1701, providing Connecticut with an important institution to educate clergy and civil leaders. The Congregational church dominated religious life in the colony and, by extension, town affairs in many parts. With more than 600 miles (970 km) of coastline including along its navigable rivers, Connecticut developed during its colonial years the antecedents of a maritime tradition that would later produce booms in shipbuilding, marine transport, naval support, seafood production, and leisure boating. Historical records list the Tryall as the first vessel built in Connecticut Colony, in 1649 at a site on the Connecticut River in present-day Wethersfield. In the two decades leading up to 1776 and the American Revolution, Connecticut boatyards launched about 100 sloops, schooners and brigs according to a database of U.S. customs records maintained online by the Mystic Seaport Museum, the largest being the 180-ton Patient Mary launched in New Haven in 1763. Connecticut's first lighthouse was constructed in 1760 at the mouth of the Thames River with the New London Harbor Lighthouse. American Revolution Connecticut designated four delegates to the Second Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott. Connecticut's legislature authorized the outfitting of six new regiments in 1775, in the wake of the clashes between British regulars and Massachusetts militia at Lexington and Concord. There were some 1,200 Connecticut troops on hand at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775. In 1775, David Bushnell invented the Turtle which the following year launched the first submarine attack in history, unsuccessfully against a British warship at anchor in New York Harbor. In 1777, the British got word of Continental Army supplies in Danbury, and they landed an expeditionary force of some 2,000 troops in Westport. This force then marched to Danbury and destroyed homes and much of the depot. Continental Army troops and militia led by General David Wooster and General Benedict Arnold engaged them on their return march at Ridgefield in 1777. For the winter of 1778–79, General George Washington decided to split the Continental Army into three divisions encircling New York City, where British General Sir Henry Clinton had taken up winter quarters. Major General Israel Putnam chose Redding as the winter encampment quarters for some 3,000 regulars and militia under his command. The Redding encampment allowed Putnam's soldiers to guard the replenished supply depot in Danbury and to support any operations along Long Island Sound and the Hudson River Valley. Some of the men were veterans of the winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the previous winter. Soldiers at the Redding camp endured supply shortages, cold temperatures, and significant snow, with some historians dubbing the encampment "Connecticut's Valley Forge". The state was also the launching site for a number of raids against Long Island orchestrated by Samuel Holden Parsons and Benjamin Tallmadge, and provided soldiers and material for the war effort, especially to Washington's army outside New York City. General William Tryon raided the Connecticut coast in July 1779, focusing on New Haven, Norwalk, and Fairfield. New London and Groton Heights were raided in September 1781 by Benedict Arnold, who had turned traitor to the British. At the outset of the American Revolution, the Continental Congress assigned Nathaniel Shaw Jr. of New London as its naval agent in charge of recruiting privateers to seize British vessels as opportunities presented, with nearly 50 operating out of the Thames River which eventually drew the reprisal from the British force led by Arnold. Early statehood Early national period and industrial revolution Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution on January 9, 1788, becoming the fifth state. The state prospered during the era following the American Revolution, as mills and textile factories were built and seaports flourished from trade and fisheries. After Congress established in 1790 the predecessor to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service that would evolve into the U.S. Coast Guard, President Washington assigned Jonathan Maltbie as one of seven masters to enforce customs regulations, with Maltbie monitoring the southern New England coast with a 48-foot cutter sloop named Argus. In 1786, Connecticut ceded territory to the U.S. government that became part of the Northwest Territory. The state retained land extending across the northern part of present-day Ohio called the Connecticut Western Reserve. The Western Reserve section was settled largely by people from Connecticut, and they brought Connecticut place names to Ohio. Connecticut made agreements with Pennsylvania and New York which extinguished the land claims within those states' boundaries and created the Connecticut Panhandle. The state then ceded the Western Reserve in 1800 to the federal government, which brought it to its present boundaries (other than minor adjustments with Massachusetts). 19th century For the first time in 1800, Connecticut shipwrights launched more than 100 vessels in a single year. Over the following decade to the doorstep of renewed hostilities with Britain that sparked the War of 1812, Connecticut boatyards constructed close to 1,000 vessels, the most productive stretch of any decade in the 19th century. During the war, the British launched raids in Stonington and Essex and blockaded vessels in the Thames River. Derby native Isaac Hull became Connecticut's best-known naval figure to win renown during the conflict, as captain of the USS Constitution. The British blockade during the War of 1812 hurt exports and bolstered the influence of Federalists who opposed the war. The cessation of imports from Britain stimulated the construction of factories to manufacture textiles and machinery. Connecticut came to be recognized as a major center for manufacturing, due in part to the inventions of Eli Whitney and other early innovators of the Industrial Revolution. The war led to the development of fast clippers that helped extend the reach of New England merchants to the Pacific and Indian oceans. The first half of the 19th century saw as well a rapid rise in whaling, with New London emerging as one of the New England industry's three biggest home ports after Nantucket and New Bedford. The state was known for its political conservatism, typified by its Federalist party and the Yale College of Timothy Dwight. The foremost intellectuals were Dwight and Noah Webster, who compiled his great dictionary in New Haven. Religious tensions polarized the state, as the Congregational Church struggled to maintain traditional viewpoints, in alliance with the Federalists. The failure of the Hartford Convention in 1814 hurt the Federalist cause, with the Democratic-Republican Party gaining control in 1817. Connecticut had been governed under the "Fundamental Orders" since 1639, but the state adopted a new constitution in 1818. Civil War era Connecticut manufacturers played a major role in supplying the Union forces with weapons and supplies during the Civil War. The state furnished 55,000 men, formed into thirty full regiments of infantry, including two in the U.S. Colored Troops, with several Connecticut men becoming generals. The Navy attracted 250 officers and 2,100 men, and Glastonbury native Gideon Welles was Secretary of the Navy. James H. Ward of Hartford was the first U.S. Naval Officer killed in the Civil War. Connecticut casualties included 2,088 killed in combat, 2,801 dying from disease, and 689 dying in Confederate prison camps. A surge of national unity in 1861 brought thousands flocking to the colors from every town and city. However, as the war became a crusade to end slavery, many Democrats (especially Irish Catholics) pulled back. The Democrats took a pro-slavery position and included many Copperheads willing to let the South secede. The intensely fought 1863 election for governor was narrowly won by the Republicans. Second industrial revolution Connecticut's extensive industry, dense population, flat terrain, and wealth encouraged the construction of railroads starting in 1839. By 1840, 102 miles (164 km) of line were in operation, growing to 402 miles (647 km) in 1850 and 601 miles (967 km) in 1860. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, called the New Haven or "The Consolidated", became the dominant Connecticut railroad company after 1872. J. P. Morgan began financing the major New England railroads in the 1890s, dividing territory so that they would not compete. The New Haven purchased 50 smaller companies, including steamship lines, and built a network of light rails (electrified trolleys) that provided inter-urban transportation for all of southern New England. By 1912, the New Haven operated over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of track with 120,000 employees. As steam-powered passenger ships proliferated after the Civil War, Noank would produce the two largest built in Connecticut during the 19th century, with the 332-foot wooden steam paddle wheeler Rhode Island launched in 1882, and the 345-foot paddle wheeler Connecticut seven years later. Connecticut shipyards would launch more than 165 steam-powered vessels in the 19th century. In 1875, the first telephone exchange in the world was established in New Haven. 20th century World War I When World War I broke out in 1914, Connecticut became a major supplier of weaponry to the U.S. military; by 1918, 80% of the state's industries were producing goods for the war effort. Remington Arms in Bridgeport produced half the small-arms cartridges used by the U.S. Army, with other major suppliers including Winchester in New Haven and Colt in Hartford. Connecticut was also an important U.S. Navy supplier, with Electric Boat receiving orders for 85 submarines, Lake Torpedo Boat building more than 20 subs, and the Groton Iron Works building freighters. On June 21, 1916, the Navy made Groton the site for its East Coast submarine base and school. The state enthusiastically supported the American war effort in 1917 and 1918 with large purchases of war bonds, a further expansion of industry, and an emphasis on increasing food production on the farms. Thousands of state, local, and volunteer groups mobilized for the war effort and were coordinated by the Connecticut State Council of Defense. Manufacturers wrestled with manpower shortages; Waterbury's American Brass and Manufacturing Company was running at half capacity, so the federal government agreed to furlough soldiers to work there. Interwar period In 1919, J. Henry Roraback started the Connecticut Light & Power Co. which became the state's dominant electric utility. In 1925, Frederick Rentschler spurred the creation of Pratt & Whitney in Hartford to develop engines for aircraft; the company became an important military supplier in World War II and one of the three major manufacturers of jet engines in the world. On September 21, 1938, the most destructive storm in New England history struck eastern Connecticut, killing hundreds of people. The eye of the "Long Island Express" passed just west of New Haven and devastated the Connecticut shoreline between Old Saybrook and Stonington from the full force of wind and waves, even though they had partial protection by Long Island. The hurricane caused extensive damage to infrastructure, homes, and businesses. In New London, a 500-foot (150 m) sailing ship was driven into a warehouse complex, causing a major fire. Heavy rainfall caused the Connecticut River to flood downtown Hartford and East Hartford. An estimated 50,000 trees fell onto roadways. World War II The advent of lend-lease in support of Britain helped lift Connecticut from the Great Depression, with the state a major production center for weaponry and supplies used in World War II. Connecticut manufactured 4.1% of total U.S. military armaments produced during the war, ranking ninth among the 48 states, with major factories including Colt for firearms, Pratt & Whitney for aircraft engines, Chance Vought for fighter planes, Hamilton Standard for propellers, and Electric Boat for submarines and PT boats. In Bridgeport, General Electric produced a significant new weapon to combat tanks: the bazooka. On May 13, 1940, Igor Sikorsky made an untethered flight of the first practical helicopter. The helicopter saw limited use in World War II, but future military production made Sikorsky Aircraft's Stratford plant Connecticut's largest single manufacturing site by the start of the 21st century. Post-World War II economic expansion Connecticut lost some wartime factories following the end of hostilities, but the state shared in a general post-war expansion that included the construction of highways and resulting in middle-class growth in suburban areas. Prescott Bush represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1952 to 1963; his son George H. W. Bush and grandson George W. Bush both became presidents of the United States. In 1965, Connecticut ratified its current constitution, replacing the document that had served since 1818. In 1968, commercial operation began for the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Haddam; in 1970, the Millstone Nuclear Power Station began operations in Waterford. In 1974, Connecticut elected Democratic Governor Ella T. Grasso, who became the first woman in any state to be elected governor without being the wife or widow of a previous governor. Late 20th century Connecticut's dependence on the defense industry posed an economic challenge at the end of the Cold War. The resulting budget crisis helped elect Lowell Weicker as governor on a third-party ticket in 1990. Weicker's remedy was a state income tax which proved effective in balancing the budget, but only for the short-term. He did not run for a second term, in part because of this politically unpopular move. In 1992, initial construction was completed on Foxwoods Casino at the Mashantucket Pequots reservation in eastern Connecticut, which became the largest casino in the Western Hemisphere. Mohegan Sun followed four years later. Early 21st century In 2000, presidential candidate Al Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate, marking the first time that a major party presidential ticket included someone of the Jewish faith. Gore and Lieberman fell five votes short of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the Electoral College. In the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 65 state residents were killed, mostly Fairfield County residents who were working in the World Trade Center. In 2004, Republican Governor John G. Rowland resigned during a corruption investigation, later pleading guilty to federal charges. Connecticut was hit by three major storms in just over 14 months in 2011 and 2012, with all three causing extensive property damage and electric outages. Hurricane Irene struck Connecticut August 28, and damage totaled $235 million. Two months later, the "Halloween nor'easter" dropped extensive snow onto trees, resulting in snapped branches and trunks that damaged power lines; some areas were without electricity for 11 days. Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey and passed over Connecticut with hurricane-force winds and tides up to 12 feet above normal. Many coastal buildings were damaged or destroyed. Sandy's winds drove storm surges into streets and cut power to 98% of homes and businesses, with more than $360 million in damage. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, and then killed himself. The massacre spurred renewed efforts by activists for tighter laws on gun ownership nationally. In the summer and fall of 2016, Connecticut experienced a drought in many parts of the state, causing some water-use bans. As of November 15, 2016 (2016-11-15), 45% of the state was listed at Severe Drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor, including almost all of Hartford and Litchfield counties. All the rest of the state was in Moderate Drought or Severe Drought, including Middlesex, Fairfield, New London, New Haven, Windham, and Tolland counties. This affected the agricultural economy in the state. Geography Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital and fourth largest city is Hartford, and other major cities and towns (by population) include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Greenwich, and Bristol. There are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut, with cities and villages included within some towns. The highest peak in Connecticut is Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the state. The highest point is just east of where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York meet (42°3′ N, 73°29′ W), on the southern slope of Mount Frissell, whose peak lies nearby in Massachusetts. At the opposite extreme, many of the coastal towns have areas that are less than 20 feet (6.1 m) above sea level. Connecticut has a long maritime history and a reputation based on that history—yet the state has no direct oceanfront (technically speaking). The coast of Connecticut sits on Long Island Sound, which is an estuary. The state's access to the open Atlantic Ocean is both to the west (toward New York City) and to the east (toward the "race" near Rhode Island). Due to this unique geography, Long Island Sound and the Connecticut shoreline are relatively protected from high waves from storms. The Connecticut River cuts through the center of the state, flowing into Long Island Sound. The most populous metropolitan region centered within the state lies in the Connecticut River Valley. Despite Connecticut's relatively small size, it features wide regional variations in its landscape; for example, in the northwestern Litchfield Hills, it features rolling mountains and horse farms, whereas in areas to the east of New Haven along the coast, the landscape features coastal marshes, beaches, and large scale maritime activities. Connecticut's rural areas and small towns in the northeast and northwest corners of the state contrast sharply with its industrial cities such as Stamford, Bridgeport, and New Haven, located along the coastal highways from the New York border to New London, then northward up the Connecticut River to Hartford. Many towns in northeastern and northwestern Connecticut center around a green. Near the green typically stand historical visual symbols of New England towns, such as a white church, a colonial meeting house, a colonial tavern or inn, several colonial houses, and so on, establishing a scenic historical appearance maintained for both historic preservation and tourism. Many of the areas in southern and coastal Connecticut have been built up and rebuilt over the years, and look less visually like traditional New England. The northern boundary of the state with Massachusetts is marked by the Southwick Jog or Granby Notch, an approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) square detour into Connecticut. The origin of this anomaly is clearly established in a long line of disputes and temporary agreements which were finally concluded in 1804, when southern Southwick's residents sought to leave Massachusetts, and the town was split in half. The southwestern border of Connecticut where it abuts New York State is marked by a panhandle in Fairfield County and the Western Connecticut Planning Region, containing the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, and parts of Norwalk and Wilton. This irregularity in the boundary is the result of territorial disputes in the late 17th century, culminating with New York giving up its claim to the area, whose residents considered themselves part of Connecticut, in exchange for an equivalent area extending northwards from Ridgefield to the Massachusetts border, as well as undisputed claim to Rye, New York. Areas maintained by the National Park Service include Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor, and Weir Farm National Historic Site. Climate Connecticut lies at the rough transition zone between the southern end of the humid continental climate, and the northern portion of the humid subtropical climate. Northern Connecticut generally experiences a climate with cold winters with moderate snowfall and hot, humid summers. Far southern and coastal Connecticut has a climate with cool winters with a mix of rain and infrequent snow, and the long hot and humid summers typical of the middle and lower East Coast. Precipitation Connecticut sees a fairly even precipitation pattern with rainfall/snowfall spread throughout the 12 months. Connecticut averages 56% of possible sunshine (higher than the U.S. national average), averaging 2,400 hours of sunshine annually. On average, about one third of days in the state see some amount of precipitation each year. Occasionally, some months may see extremes in precipitation, either much higher or lower than normal, though long term droughts and floods are rare. Early spring can range from slightly cool (40s to low 50s F) to warm (65 to 70 F), while mid and late spring (late April/May) is warm. By late May, the building Bermuda High creates a southerly flow of warm and humid tropical air, bringing hot weather conditions throughout the state. Average highs are 81 °F (27 °C) in New London and 85 °F (29 °C) in Windsor Locks at the peak of summer in late July. On occasion, heat waves with highs from 90 to 100 °F (38 °C) occur across Connecticut. Connecticut's record high temperature is 106 °F (41 °C) which occurred in Danbury on July 15, 1995. Although summers are sunny in Connecticut, quick moving summer thunderstorms can bring brief downpours with thunder and lightning. Occasionally these thunderstorms can be severe, and the state usually averages one tornado per year. During hurricane season, the remains of tropical cyclones occasionally affect the region, though a direct hit is rare. Some notable hurricanes to impact the state include the 1938 New England hurricane, Hurricane Carol in 1954, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and Hurricane Isaias in 2020. Weather commonly associated with the fall season typically begins in October and lasts to the first days of December. Daily high temperatures in October and November range from the 50s to 60s (Fahrenheit) with nights in the 40s and upper 30s. Colorful foliage begins across northern parts of the state in early October and moves south and east reaching southeast Connecticut by early November. Far southern and coastal areas, however, have more oak and hickory trees (and fewer maples) and are often less colorful than areas to the north. By December daytime highs are in the 40s °F for much of the state, and average overnight lows are below freezing. Winters (December through mid-March) are generally cold from south to north in Connecticut. The coldest month (January) has average high temperatures ranging from 38 °F (3 °C) in the coastal lowlands to 33 °F (1 °C) in the inland and northern portions on the state. The lowest temperature recorded in Connecticut is −32 °F (−36 °C) which has been observed twice: in Falls Village on February 16, 1943, and in Coventry on January 22, 1961. The average yearly snowfall ranges from about 60 inches (1,500 mm) in the higher elevations of the northern portion of the state to only 20–25 inches (510–640 mm) along the southeast coast of Connecticut (Branford to Groton). Generally, any locale north or west of Interstate 84 receives the most snow, during a storm, and throughout the season. Most of Connecticut has less than 60 days of snow cover. Snow usually falls from late November to late March in the northern part of the state, and from early December to mid-March in the southern and coastal parts of the state. During winter every few years, Connecticut can occasionally get heavy snowstorms, called nor'easters, which may produce as much as two feet of snow on rare occasions. Ice storms also occur on occasion, such as the Southern New England ice storm of 1973 and the December 2008 Northeastern United States ice storm. These storms can cause widespread power outages and damage. Flora Forests consist of a mix of Northeastern coastal forests of oak in southern areas of the state, to the upland New England-Acadian forests in the northwestern parts of the state. Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is the state flower and is native to low ridges in several parts of Connecticut. Rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) is also native to eastern uplands of Connecticut and Pachaug State Forest is home to the Rhododendron Sanctuary Trail. Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), is found in wetlands in the southern parts of the state. Connecticut has one native cactus (Opuntia humifusa), found in sandy coastal areas and low hillsides. Several types of beach grasses and wildflowers are also native to Connecticut. Connecticut spans USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5b to 7a. Coastal Connecticut is the broad transition zone where more southern and subtropical plants are cultivated. In some coastal communities, Magnolia grandiflora (southern magnolia), crape myrtles, scrub palms (Sabal minor), needle palms (Rhapidophyllum hystrix), and other broadleaved evergreens are cultivated in small numbers. Fauna Largest cities and towns Demographics As of the 2020 United States census, Connecticut has a population of 3,605,944, an increase of 31,847 people (0.9%) from the 2010 United States census. Among the census records, 20.4% of the population was under 18. In 1790, 97% of the population in Connecticut was classified as "rural". The first census in which less than half the population was classified as rural was 1890. In the 2000 census, only 12.3% was considered rural. Most of western and southern Connecticut (particularly the Gold Coast) is strongly associated with New York City; this area is the most affluent and populous region of the state and has high property costs and high incomes. The center of population of Connecticut is located in the town of Cheshire. According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 2,930 homeless people in Connecticut. In common with the majority of the United States, non-Hispanic whites have remained the dominant racial and ethnic group in Connecticut. From being 98% of the population in 1940, however, they have declined to 63% of the population as of the 2020 census. These statistics have represented fewer Americans identifying as non-Hispanic white, which has given rise to the Hispanic and Latino American population and Asian American population overall. As of 2011, 46.1% of Connecticut's population younger than age 1 were minorities. As of 2004, 11.4% of the population (400,000) was foreign-born. In 1870, native-born Americans had accounted for 75% of the state's population, but that had dropped to 35% by 1918. Also as of 2000, 81.69% of Connecticut residents age 5 and older spoke English at home and 8.42% spoke Spanish, followed by Italian at 1.59%, French at 1.31%, and Polish at 1.20%. The largest ancestry groups since 2010 were: 19.3% Italian, 17.9% Irish, 10.7% English, 10.4% German, 8.6% Polish, 6.6% French, 3.0% French Canadian, 2.7% American, 2.0% Scottish, and 1.4% Scotch Irish. The top countries of origin for Connecticut's immigrants in 2018 were India, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Poland and Ecuador. Birth data Note: Births in table do not add up because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number. Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Religion A Pew survey of Connecticut residents' religious self-identification showed the following distribution of affiliations in 2014: Protestant 35%, Mormonism 1%, Jewish 3%, Roman Catholic 33%, Orthodox 1%, Non-religious 28%, Jehovah's Witness 1%, Hinduism 1%, Buddhism 1% and Islam 1%. Jewish congregations had 108,280 (3.2%) members in 2000. The Jewish population is concentrated in the towns near Long Island Sound between Greenwich and New Haven, in Greater New Haven and in Greater Hartford, especially the suburb of West Hartford. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, the largest Christian denominations, by number of adherents, in 2010 were: the Catholic Church, with 1,252,936; the United Church of Christ, with 96,506; and non-denominational Evangelical Protestants, with 72,863. Recent immigration has brought other non-Christian religions to the state, but the numbers of adherents of other religions are still low. Connecticut is also home to New England's largest Protestant church: The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Hartford is seat to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, which is sovereign over the Diocese of Bridgeport and the Diocese of Norwich. By the Public Religion Research Institute's study in 2020, 71% of the population identified as Christian. In contrast to the 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, the irreligious declined from 28% of the population to 21% at the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute's study. Economy Connecticut's economic output in 2019 as measured by gross domestic product was $289 billion, up from $277.9 billion in 2018. Connecticut's per capita personal income in 2019 was estimated at $79,087, the highest of any state. There is, however, a great disparity in incomes throughout the state; after New York, Connecticut had the second largest gap nationwide between the average incomes of the top 1% and the average incomes of the bottom 99%. According to a 2018 study by Phoenix Marketing International, Connecticut had the third-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States, with a ratio of 7.75%. New Canaan is the wealthiest town in Connecticut, with a per capita income of $85,459. Hartford is the poorest municipality in Connecticut, with a per capita income of $13,428 in 2000. As of December 2019, Connecticut's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.8%, with U.S. unemployment at 3.5% that month. Dating back to 1982, Connecticut recorded its lowest unemployment in 2000 between August and October, at 2.2%. The highest unemployment rate during that period occurred in November and December 2010 at 9.3%, but economists expected record new levels of layoffs as a result of business closures in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Taxation Tax is collected by the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services and by local municipalities. As of 2012, Connecticut residents had the second highest rate in the nation of combined state and local taxes after New York, at 12.6% of income compared to the national average of 9.9% as reported by the Tax Foundation. Before 1991, Connecticut had an investment-only income tax system. Income from employment was untaxed, but income from investments was taxed at 13%, the highest rate in the U.S., with no deductions allowed for costs of producing the investment income, such as interest on borrowing. In 1991, under Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr., an independent, the system was changed to one in which the taxes on employment income and investment income were equalized at a maximum rate of 4%. The new tax policy drew investment firms to Connecticut; as of 2019, Fairfield County was home to the headquarters for 16 of the 200 largest hedge funds in the world. As of 2019, the income tax rates on Connecticut individuals were divided into seven tax brackets of 3% (on income up to $10,000); 5% ($10,000–$50,000); 5.5% ($50,000–$100,000); 6% ($100,000–$200,000); 6.5% ($200,000–$250,000); 6.9% ($250,000–$500,000); and 6.99% above $500,000, with additional amounts owed depending on the bracket. All wages of Connecticut residents are subject to the state's income tax, even if earned outside the state. However, in those cases, Connecticut income tax must be withheld only to the extent the Connecticut tax exceeds the amount withheld by the other jurisdiction. Since New York has higher income tax rates than Connecticut, this effectively means that Connecticut residents who work in New York have no Connecticut income tax withheld. Connecticut permits a credit for taxes paid to other jurisdictions, but since residents who work in other states are still subject to Connecticut income taxation, they may owe taxes if the jurisdictional credit does not fully offset the Connecticut tax amount. Connecticut levies a 6.35% state sales tax on the retail sale, lease, or rental of most goods. Some items and services in general are not subject to sales and use taxes unless specifically enumerated as taxable by statute. A provision excluding clothing under $50 from sales tax was repealed as of July 1, 2011. There are no additional sales taxes imposed by local jurisdictions. In 2001, Connecticut instituted what became an annual sales tax "holiday" each August lasting one week, when retailers do not have to remit sales tax on certain items and quantities of clothing that has varied from year to year. State law authorizes municipalities to tax property, including real estate, vehicles and other personal property, with state statute providing varying exemptions, credits and abatements. All assessments are at 70% of fair market value. The maximum property tax credit is $200 per return and any excess may not be refunded or carried forward. According to the Tax Foundation, on a per capita basis in the 2017 fiscal year Connecticut residents paid the 3rd highest average property taxes in the nation after New Hampshire and New Jersey. As of January 1, 2020, gasoline taxes and fees in Connecticut were 40.13 cents per gallon, 11th highest in the United States which had a nationwide average of 36.13 cents a gallon excluding federal taxes. Diesel taxes and fees as of January 2020 in Connecticut were 46.50 cents per gallon, ninth highest nationally with the U.S. average at 37.91 cents. Real estate In 2019, sales of single-family homes in Connecticut totaled 33,146 units, a 2.1 percent decline from the 2018 transaction total. The median home sold in 2019 recorded a transaction amount of $260,000, up 0.4 percent from 2018. Connecticut had the seventh highest rate of home foreclosure activity in the country in 2019 at 0.53 percent of the total housing stock. Industries Finance, insurance and real estate was Connecticut's largest industry in 2018 as ranked by gross domestic product, generating $75.7 billion in GDP that year. Major employers include The Hartford, Travelers, Harman International, Cigna, the Aetna subsidiary of CVS Health, Mass Mutual, People's United Financial, Bank of America, Realogy, Bridgewater Associates, GE Capital, William Raveis Real Estate, and Berkshire Hathaway through reinsurance and residential real estate subsidiaries. The combined educational, health and social services sector was the largest single industry as ranked by employment, with a combined workforce of 342,600 people at the end of 2019, ranking fourth the year before in GDP at $28.3 billion. The broad business and professional services sector had the second highest GDP total in Connecticut in 2018 at an estimated $33.7 billion. Manufacturing was the third biggest industry in 2018 with GDP of $30.8 billion, dominated by Raytheon Technologies formed in the March 2020 merger of Hartford-based United Technologies and Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Co. As of the merger, Raytheon Technologies employed about 19,000 people in Connecticut through subsidiaries Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace. Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft operates Connecticut's single largest manufacturing plant in Stratford, where it makes helicopters. The world's largest audio equipment manufacturing company Harman International is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. It owns many brands like JBL, Akg and Harman kardon. Other major manufacturers include the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics, which makes submarines in Groton, Boehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceuticals manufacturer with its U.S. headquarters in Ridgefield, and ASML, which in Wilton makes precision lithography machines used to create circuitry on semiconductors and flat-screen displays. Connecticut historically was a center of gun manufacturing, and four gun-manufacturing firms continued to operate in the state as of December 2012, employing 2,000 people: Colt, Stag, Ruger, and Mossberg. Marlin, owned by Remington, closed in April 2011. Other large components of the Connecticut economy in 2018 included wholesale trade ($18.1 billion in GDP); information services ($13.8 billion); retail ($13.7 billion); arts, entertainment and food services ($9.1 billion); and construction ($8.3 billion). Tourists spent $9.3 billion in Connecticut in 2017 according to estimates as part of a series of studies commissioned by the state of Connecticut. Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun are the two biggest tourist draws and number among the state's largest employers; both are located on Native American reservations in the southeastern Connecticut. Connecticut's agricultural production totaled $580 million in 2017, with just over half of that revenue the result of nursery stock production. Milk production totaled $81 million that year, with other major product categories including eggs, vegetables and fruit, tobacco and shellfish. Energy Connecticut's economy uses less energy to produce each dollar of GDP than all other states except California, Massachusetts, and New York. It uses less energy on a per-capita basis than all but six other states. It has no fossil-fuel resources, but does have renewable resources. Average retail electricity prices are the highest among the 48 contiguous states. While most of the state's energy consumption is generated using fossil fuels, nuclear power delivered over 40% of state's electricity generation in 2019. Refuse-derived fuels and other biomass provided the largest share of renewable electricity at about a 3% share. Solar and wind generation have grown in recent years. More than three-quarters of solar generation came from distributed small-scale installations such as rooftop solar in 2019, and there is planning underway to significantly increase renewable generation with the state's offshore wind resource. Transport Roads The Interstate highways in the state are Interstate 95 (I-95) traveling southwest to northeast along the coast, I-84 traveling southwest to northeast in the center of the state, I-91 traveling north to south in the center of the state, and I-395 traveling north to south near the eastern border of the state. The other major highways in Connecticut are the Merritt Parkway and Wilbur Cross Parkway, which together form Connecticut Route 15 (Route 15), traveling from the Hutchinson River Parkway in New York parallel to I-95 before turning north of New Haven and traveling parallel to I-91, finally becoming a surface road in Berlin. I-95 and Route 15 were originally toll roads; they relied on a system of toll plazas at which all traffic stopped and paid fixed tolls. A series of major crashes at these plazas eventually contributed to the decision to remove the tolls in 1988. Other major arteries in the state include U.S. Route 7 (US 7) in the west traveling parallel to the New York state line, Route 8 farther east near the industrial city of Waterbury and traveling north–south along the Naugatuck River Valley nearly parallel with US 7, and Route 9 in the east. Between New Haven and New York City, I-95 is one of the most congested highways in the United States. Although I-95 has been widened in several spots, some areas are only three lanes and this strains traffic capacity, resulting in frequent and lengthy rush hour delays. Frequently, the congestion spills over to clog the parallel Merritt Parkway and even US 1. The state has encouraged traffic reduction schemes, including rail use and ride-sharing. Connecticut also has a very active bicycling community, with one of the highest rates of bicycle ownership and use in the United States, particularly in New Haven. According to the U.S. Census 2006 American Community Survey, New Haven has the highest percentage of commuters who bicycle to work of any major metropolitan center on the East Coast. Rail Rail is a popular travel mode between New Haven and New York City's Grand Central Terminal. Southwestern Connecticut is served by the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Metro-North provides commuter service between New York City and New Haven, with branches to New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury. Connecticut lies along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, which features frequent Northeast Regional and Acela Express service from New Haven south to New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Norfolk, VA, as well as north to New London, Providence and Boston. Since 1990, coastal cities and towns between New Haven and New London are also served by the Shore Line East commuter line. In June 2018, a commuter rail service called the Hartford Line began operating between New Haven and Springfield on Amtrak's New Haven-Springfield Line. Hartford Line service is provided by both Amtrak and the Connecticut Department of Transportation's CT Rail, and in addition to its termini serves New Haven State Street, Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, Hartford, Windsor, and Windsor Locks. Several infill stations are planned to be added in the near future as of 2021. Amtrak's Vermonter runs from Washington to St. Albans, Vermont via the same line. In July 2019, Amtrak launched the Valley Flyer, which runs between New Haven and Greenfield, Massachusetts. A proposed commuter rail service, the Central Corridor Rail Line, would connect New London with Norwich, Willimantic, Storrs via the main campus of the University of Connecticut, and Stafford Springs, with service continuing into Massachusetts and Brattleboro, Vermont. The proposal also adds stops to service popular tourist destinations Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun. Bus Statewide bus service is supplied by Connecticut Transit, owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, with smaller municipal authorities providing local service. Bus networks are an important part of the transportation system in Connecticut, especially in urban areas like Hartford, Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport and New Haven. Connecticut Transit also operates CTfastrak, a bus rapid transit service between New Britain and Hartford, which opened to the public on March 28, 2015. Air Connecticut's largest airport is Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, 15 miles (24 km) north of Hartford. Many residents of central and southern Connecticut also make heavy use of JFK International Airport and Newark International Airports, especially for international travel. Smaller regional air service is provided at Tweed New Haven Regional Airport. Larger civil airports include Danbury Municipal Airport and Waterbury-Oxford Airport in western Connecticut, Hartford–Brainard Airport in central Connecticut, and Groton-New London Airport in eastern Connecticut. Sikorsky Memorial Airport is located in Stratford and mostly services cargo, helicopter and private aviation. Ferry Several ferry services cross Long Island Sound and connect the state to Long Island. The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry travels between Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Port Jefferson, New York. Ferry service also operates out of New London to Orient, New York; Fishers Island, New York; and Block Island, Rhode Island, which are popular tourist destinations. Two ferries cross the Connecticut River: the Rocky Hill–Glastonbury ferry and the Chester–Hadlyme ferry, the former of which is the oldest continuously operating ferry in the United States, operating since 1655. Law and government Hartford has been the sole capital of Connecticut since 1875. Before then, New Haven and Hartford alternated as dual capitals. Constitutional history Connecticut is known as the "Constitution State". The origin of this nickname is uncertain, but it likely comes from Connecticut's pivotal role in the federal constitutional convention of 1787, during which Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth helped to orchestrate what became known as the Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise. This plan combined the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan to form a bicameral legislature, a form copied by almost every state constitution since the adoption of the federal constitution. Variations of the bicameral legislature had been proposed by Virginia and New Jersey, but Connecticut's plan was the one that was in effect until the early 20th century, when Senators ceased to be selected by their state legislatures and were instead directly elected. Otherwise, it is still the design of Congress. The nickname also might refer to the Fundamental Orders of 1638–39. These Fundamental Orders represent the framework for the first formal Connecticut state government written by a representative body in Connecticut. The State of Connecticut government has operated under the direction of four separate documents in the course of the state's constitutional history. After the Fundamental Orders, Connecticut was granted governmental authority by King Charles II of England through the Connecticut Charter of 1662. Separate branches of government did not exist during this period, and the General Assembly acted as the supreme authority. A constitution similar to the modern U.S. Constitution was not adopted in Connecticut until 1818. Finally, the current state constitution was implemented in 1965. The 1965 constitution absorbed a majority of its 1818 predecessor, but incorporated a handful of important modifications. Executive The governor heads the executive branch. As of 2020, Ned Lamont is the Governor and Susan Bysiewicz is the Lieutenant Governor; both are Democrats. From 1639 until the adoption of the 1818 constitution, the governor presided over the General Assembly. In 1974, Ella Grasso was elected as the governor of Connecticut. This was the first time in United States history when a woman was a governor without her husband being governor first. There are several executive departments: Administrative Services, Agriculture, Banking, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Correction, Economic and Community Development, Developmental Services, Construction Services, Education, Emergency Management and Public Protection, Energy & Environmental Protection, Higher Education, Insurance, Labor, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Military, Motor Vehicles, Public Health, Public Utility Regulatory Authority, Public Works, Revenue Services, Social Services, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs. In addition to these departments, there are other independent bureaus, offices and commissions. In addition to the governor and lieutenant governor, there are four other executive officers named in the state constitution that are elected directly by voters: secretary of the state, treasurer, comptroller, and attorney general. All executive officers are elected to four-year terms. Legislative Connecticut's legislative branch is known as the General Assembly. It is a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper body, the State Senate (36 senators); and a lower body, the House of Representatives (151 representatives). Bills must pass each house in order to become law. The governor can veto bills, but this veto can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in both houses. Per Article XV of the state constitution, Senators and Representatives must be at least 18 years of age and are elected to two-year terms in November on even-numbered years. There also must always be between 30 and 50 senators and 125 to 225 representatives. The Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate, except when absent from the chamber, when the President pro tempore presides. The Speaker of the House presides over the House. As of 2021, Matthew Ritter is the Speaker of the House of Connecticut. As of 2021, Connecticut's United States Senators are Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) and Chris Murphy (Democrat). Connecticut has five representatives in the U.S. House, all of whom are Democrats. Locally elected representatives also develop local ordinances to govern cities and towns. The town ordinances often include noise control and zoning guidelines. However, the State of Connecticut also provides statewide ordinances for noise control as well. Judicial The highest court of Connecticut's judicial branch is the Connecticut Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of Connecticut. The Supreme Court is responsible for deciding on the constitutionality of laws, or cases as they relate to the law. Its proceedings are similar to those of the United States Supreme Court: no testimony is given by witnesses, and the lawyers of the two sides each present oral arguments no longer than thirty minutes. Following a court proceeding, the court may take several months to arrive at a judgment. As of 2020, the Chief Justice is Richard A. Robinson. In 1818, the court became a separate entity, independent of the legislative and executive branches. The Connecticut Appellate Court is a lesser statewide court, and the Superior Courts are lower courts that resemble county courts of other states. Local government Connecticut does not have county government, unlike all other states except Rhode Island. Connecticut county governments were mostly eliminated in 1960, with the exception of sheriffs elected in each county. In 2000, the county sheriff was abolished and replaced with the state marshal system, which has districts that follow the old county territories. The judicial system is divided into judicial districts at the trial-court level which largely follow the old county lines. The eight counties are still widely used for purely geographical and statistical purposes, such as weather reports and census reporting, although the latter of which will cease in 2024. The state is divided into nine regional councils of government defined by the state Office of Planning and Management, which facilitate regional planning and coordination of services between member towns. The Intragovernmental Policy Division of this Office coordinates regional planning with the administrative bodies of these regions. Each region has an administrative body made up chief executive officers of the member towns. The regions are established for the purpose of planning "coordination of regional and state planning activities; redesignation of logical planning regions and promotion of the continuation of regional planning organizations within the state; and provision for technical aid and the administration of financial assistance to regional planning organizations". By 2015, the State of Connecticut recognized COGs as county equivalents, allowing them to apply for funding and grants made available to county governments in other states. In 2019 the state recommended to the United States Census Bureau that the nine Councils of Governments replace its counties for statistical purposes. This proposal was approved by the Census Bureau in 2022, and will be fully implemented by 2024. Connecticut shares with the rest of New England a governmental institution called the New England town. The state is divided into 169 towns which serve as the fundamental political jurisdictions. There are also 21 cities, most of which simply follow the boundaries of their namesake towns and have a merged city-town government. There are two exceptions: the City of Groton, which is a subsection of the Town of Groton, and the City of Winsted in the Town of Winchester. There are also nine incorporated boroughs which may provide additional services to a section of town. Naugatuck is a consolidated town and borough. Politics Connecticut is generally considered to be a blue state. The last Republican presidential candidate to win Connecticut's votes in the Electoral College was George H. W. Bush in 1988. Registered voters Connecticut residents who register to vote may declare an affiliation to a political party, may become unaffiliated at will, and may change affiliations subject to certain waiting periods. As of 2022, around 58% of registered voters are enrolled in a political party. The Democratic Party of Connecticut is the largest party in the state by voter registration, with 36% of voters, followed by the Connecticut Republican Party with approximately 20%. An additional 1.6% are registered to third parties. As of 2022, 4 third parties have statewide enrollment privileges (meaning any state resident may register as a member), including the Libertarian Party of Connecticut, the Independent Party of Connecticut, the Connecticut Green Party, and the Connecticut Working Families Party. Connecticut allows electoral fusion, where the same candidate can run on the ballot of more than one political party; this is often used by the Connecticut Working Families Party to cross-endorse Democratic candidates. Voting In July 2009, the Connecticut legislature overrode a veto by Governor M. Jodi Rell to pass SustiNet, the first significant public-option health care reform legislation in the nation. In April 2012, both houses of the Connecticut state legislature passed a bill (20 to 16 and 86 to 62) that abolished capital punishment for all future crimes, while 11 inmates who were waiting on the death row at the time could still be executed. Education Connecticut ranked third in the nation for educational performance, according to Education Week's Quality Counts 2018 report. It earned an overall score of 83.5 out of 100 points. On average, the country received a score of 75.2. Connecticut posted a B-plus in the Chance-for-Success category, ranking fourth on factors that contribute to a person's success both within and outside the K-12 education system. Connecticut received a mark of B-plus and finished fourth for School Finance. It ranked 12th with a grade of C on the K-12 Achievement Index. K–12 Public schools Hartford Public High School (1638) is the third-oldest secondary school in the nation after the Collegiate School (1628) in Manhattan and the Boston Latin School (1635). Today, the Connecticut State Board of Education manages the public school system for children in grades K–12. Board of Education members are appointed by the Governor of Connecticut. Private schools Connecticut has a number of private schools. Private schools may file for approval by the state Department of Education, but are not required to. Per state law, private schools must file yearly attendance reports with the state. Notable private schools include Choate Rosemary Hall, The Hotchkiss School, Loomis Chaffee School, and Taft School. Colleges and universities Connecticut was home to the nation's first law school, Litchfield Law School, which operated from 1773 to 1833 in Litchfield. Well known universities in the state include Yale University, Wesleyan University, Trinity College, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield University, Quinnipiac University, and the University of Connecticut. The Connecticut State University System includes 4 state universities, and the state also has 12 community colleges. The United States Coast Guard Academy is located in New London. Sports There are two Connecticut teams in the American Hockey League. The Bridgeport Islanders is a farm team for the New York Islanders which competes at the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport. The Hartford Wolf Pack is an affiliate of the New York Rangers; they play in the XL Center in Hartford. The Hartford Yard Goats of the Double-A Northeast are a AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Also, the Norwich Sea Unicorns play in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. The New Britain Bees play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Connecticut Sun of the WNBA currently play at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville. In soccer, Hartford Athletic began play in the USL Championship in 2019. The state hosts several major sporting events. Since 1952, a PGA Tour golf tournament has been played in the Hartford area. It was originally called the "Insurance City Open" and later the "Greater Hartford Open" and is now known as the Travelers Championship. Lime Rock Park in Salisbury is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) road racing course, home to the International Motor Sports Association, SCCA, United States Auto Club, and K&N Pro Series East races. Thompson International Speedway, Stafford Motor Speedway, and Waterford Speedbowl are oval tracks holding weekly races for NASCAR Modifieds and other classes, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The state also hosts several major mixed martial arts events for Bellator MMA and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Professional sports teams The Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League played in Hartford from 1975 to 1997 at the Hartford Civic Center. They departed to Raleigh, North Carolina, after disputes with the state over the construction of a new arena, and they are now known as the Carolina Hurricanes. A baseball team known as the Hartfords (or Hartford Dark Blues) played in the National Association from 1874 to 1875, before becoming charter members of the National League in 1876. The team moved to Brooklyn, New York, and then disbanded one season later. In 1926, Hartford also had a franchise in the National Football League known as the Hartford Blues. From 2000 until 2006 the city was home to the Hartford FoxForce of World TeamTennis. College sports The Connecticut Huskies are the team of the University of Connecticut (UConn); they play NCAA Division I sports. Both the men's basketball and women's basketball teams have won multiple national championships. In 2004, UConn became the first school in NCAA Division I history to have its men's and women's basketball programs win the national title in the same year; they repeated the feat in 2014 and are still the only Division I school to win both titles in the same year. The UConn women's basketball team holds the record for the longest consecutive winning streak in NCAA college basketball at 111 games, a streak that ended in 2017. Both teams play in the historic Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and XL Center in Hartford. The UConn Huskies football team has played in the Football Bowl Subdivision since 2002, and has played in four bowl games. New Haven biennially hosts "The Game" between the Yale Bulldogs and the Harvard Crimson, the country's second-oldest college football rivalry. Yale alumnus Walter Camp is deemed the "Father of American Football", and he helped develop modern football while living in New Haven. Other Connecticut universities which feature Division I sports teams are Quinnipiac University, Fairfield University, Central Connecticut State University and Sacred Heart University. Etymology and symbols The name "Connecticut" originated with the Mohegan word quonehtacut, meaning "place of long tidal river". Connecticut's official nickname is "The Constitution State", adopted in 1959 and based on its colonial constitution of 1638–1639 which was the first in America and, arguably, the world. Connecticut is also unofficially known as "The Nutmeg State", whose origin is unknown. It may have come from its sailors returning from voyages with nutmeg, which was a very valuable spice in the 18th and 19th centuries. It may have originated in the early machined sheet tin nutmeg grinders sold by early Connecticut peddlers. It is also facetiously said to come from Yankee peddlers from Connecticut who would sell small carved knobs of wood shaped to look like nutmeg to unsuspecting customers. George Washington gave Connecticut the title of "The Provisions State" because of the material aid that the state rendered to the American Revolutionary War effort. Connecticut is also known as "The Land of Steady Habits". According to Webster's New International Dictionary (1993), a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a "Connecticuter". There are numerous other terms coined in print but not in use, such as "Connecticotian" (Cotton Mather in 1702) and "Connecticutensian" (Samuel Peters in 1781). Linguist Allen Walker Read suggests the more playful term "Connecticutie". "Nutmegger" is sometimes used, as is "Yankee". The official state song is "Yankee Doodle". The traditional abbreviation of the state's name is "Conn."; the official postal abbreviation is CT. Commemorative stamps issued by the United States Postal Service with Connecticut themes include Nathan Hale, Eugene O'Neill, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, the whaling ship the Charles W. Morgan, which is docked at Mystic Seaport, and a decoy of a broadbill duck. Notable people See also Index of Connecticut-related articles Outline of Connecticut List of states and territories of the United States USS Connecticut, 7 ships Notes References External links Official website CTVisit.com—Official tourism website Connecticut QuickFacts—U.S. Census Bureau Library of Congress Connecticut: State Resource Guide

Massachusetts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts

Massachusetts ( , MASS-ə-CHOO-sits, -⁠zits; Massachusett: Muhsachuweesut [məhswatʃəwiːsət]), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode Island to its south, New Hampshire and Vermont to its north, and New York to its west. Massachusetts is the sixth-smallest state by land area. With over seven million residents as of 2020, it is the most populous state in New England, the 16th-most-populous in the country, and the third-most densely populated, after New Jersey and Rhode Island. Massachusetts was a site of early English colonization. The Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims of the Mayflower. In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, taking its name from the Indigenous Massachusett people, also established settlements in Boston and Salem. In 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the "Cradle of Liberty" for the agitation there that later led to the American Revolution. In 1786, Shays' Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing, and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. Before the American Civil War, the state was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, and transcendentalist movements. During the 20th century, the state's economy shifted from manufacturing to services; and in the 21st century, Massachusetts has become the global leader in biotechnology, and also excels in artificial intelligence, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade. The state's capital and most populous city, as well as its cultural and financial center, is Boston. Other major cities are Worcester, Springfield and Cambridge. Massachusetts is also home to the urban core of Greater Boston, the largest metropolitan area in New England and a region profoundly influential upon American history, academia, and the research economy. Massachusetts has a reputation for social and political progressivism; becoming the only U.S. state with a right to shelter law, and the first U.S. state, and one of the earliest jurisdictions in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage. Boston is considered a hub of LGBT culture and activism in the United States. Harvard University in Cambridge is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, with the largest financial endowment of any university in the world. Both Harvard and MIT, also in Cambridge, are perennially ranked as either the most or among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts's public-school students place among the top tier in the world in academic performance. Massachusetts is the most educated and one of the most highly developed and wealthiest U.S. states, ranking first in the percentage of population 25 and over with either a bachelor's degree or advanced degree, first on both the American Human Development Index and the standard Human Development Index, first in per capita income, and as of 2023, first in median income. Consequently, Massachusetts typically ranks as the top U.S. state, as well as the most expensive state, for residents to live in. Etymology The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the Indigenous population, the Massachusett or Muhsachuweesut, whose name likely derived from a Wôpanâak word muswachasut, segmented as mus(ây) "big" + wach "mountain" + -s "diminutive" + -ut "locative". This word has been translated as "near the great hill", "by the blue hills", "at the little big hill", or "at the range of hills", in reference to the Blue Hills—namely, the Great Blue Hill, located on the boundary of Milton and Canton. Massachusett has also been represented as Moswetuset. This comes from the name of the Moswetuset Hummock (meaning "hill shaped like an arrowhead") in Quincy, where Plymouth Colony commander Myles Standish (a hired English military officer) and Squanto (a member of the Patuxet band of the Wamponoag people, who have since died off due to contagious diseases brought by colonizers) met Chief Chickatawbut in 1621. Although the designation "Commonwealth" forms part of the state's official name, it has no practical implications in modern times, and Massachusetts has the same position and powers within the United States as other states. John Adams may have chosen the word in 1779 for the second draft of what became the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution; unlike the word "state", the word "commonwealth" had the connotation of a republic at the time. This was in contrast to the monarchy the former colonies were fighting against during the American Revolutionary War. The name "State of Massachusetts Bay" appeared in the first draft, which was ultimately rejected. It was also chosen to include the "Cape Islands" in reference to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket—from 1780 to 1844, they were seen as additional and separate entities confined within the Commonwealth. History Pre-colonization Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family, including Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. While cultivation of crops like squash and corn were an important part of their diet, the people of these tribes hunted, fished, and searched the forest for most of their food. Villagers lived in lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses. Tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems. Colonial period In the early 1600s, European colonizers caused virgin soil epidemics such as smallpox, measles, influenza, and perhaps leptospirosis in what is now known as the northeastern region of the United States. Between 1617 and 1619, a disease that was most likely smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans. The first English colonizers in Massachusetts Bay Colony landed with Richard Vines and spent the winter in Biddeford Pool near Cape Porpoise (after 1820 the State of Maine) in 1616. The Puritans, arrived at Plymouth in 1620. This was the second permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, after the Jamestown Colony. The "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Puritans after their first harvest in the "New World" and lasted for three days. They were soon followed by other Puritans, who colonized the Massachusetts Bay Colony—now known as Boston—in 1630. The Puritans believed the Church of England needed to be further reformed along Protestant Calvinist lines, and experienced harassment due to the religious policies of King Charles I and high-ranking churchmen such as William Laud, who would become Charles's Archbishop of Canterbury, whom they feared were re-introducing "Romish" elements to the national church. They decided to colonize to Massachusetts, intending to establish what they considered an "ideal" religious society. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was colonized under a royal charter, unlike the Plymouth colony, in 1629. Both religious dissent and expansionism resulted in several new colonies being founded, shortly after Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, elsewhere in New England. The Massachusetts Bay banished dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams due to religious and political conflict. In 1636, Williams colonized what is now known as Rhode Island, and Hutchinson joined him there several years later. Religious intolerance continued, and among those who objected to this later that century were the English Quaker preachers Alice and Thomas Curwen, who were publicly flogged and imprisoned in Boston in 1676. By 1641, Massachusetts had expanded inland significantly. The Commonwealth acquired the Connecticut River Valley settlement of Springfield, which had recently disputed with—and defected from—its original administrators, the Connecticut Colony. This established Massachusetts's southern border in the west. However, this became disputed territory until 1803–04 due to surveying problems, leading to the modern Southwick Jog. In 1652 the Massachusetts General Court authorized Boston silversmith John Hull to produce local coinage in shilling, sixpence and threepence denominations to address a coin shortage in the colony. Before that point, the colony's economy had been entirely dependent on barter and foreign currency, including English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and counterfeit coins. In 1661, shortly after the restoration of the British monarchy, the British government considered the Boston mint to be treasonous. However, the colony ignored the English demands to cease operations until at least 1682, when Hull's contract as mintmaster expired, and the colony did not move to renew his contract or appoint a new mintmaster. The coinage was a contributing factor to the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684. In 1691, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were united (along with present-day Maine, which had previously been divided between Massachusetts and New York) into the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Shortly after, the new province's first governor, William Phips, arrived. The Salem witch trials also took place, where a number of men and women were hanged for alleged witchcraft. The most destructive earthquake known to date in New England occurred on November 18, 1755, causing considerable damage across Massachusetts. The Revolutionary War Massachusetts was a center of the movement for independence from Great Britain. Colonists in Massachusetts had long had uneasy relations with the British monarchy, including open rebellion under the Dominion of New England in the 1680s. Protests against British attempts to tax the colonies after the French and Indian War ended in 1763 led to the Boston Massacre in 1770, and the 1773 Boston Tea Party escalated tensions. In 1774, the Intolerable Acts targeted Massachusetts with punishments for the Boston Tea Party and further decreased local autonomy, increasing local dissent. Anti-Parliamentary activity by men such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, followed by reprisals by the British government, were a primary reason for the unity of the Thirteen Colonies and the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought in Massachusetts in 1775, initiated the American Revolutionary War. George Washington, later the first president of the future country, took over what would become the Continental Army after the battle. His first victory was the siege of Boston in the winter of 1775–76, after which the British were forced to evacuate the city. The event is still celebrated in Suffolk County only every March 17 as Evacuation Day. On the coast, Salem became a center for privateering. Although the documentation is incomplete, about 1,700 letters of marque, issued on a per-voyage basis, were granted during the American Revolution. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers, which were credited with capturing or destroying about 600 British ships. Federal period Bostonian John Adams, known as the "Atlas of Independence", was highly involved in both separation from Britain and the Constitution of Massachusetts, which effectively (the Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker cases as interpreted by William Cushing) made Massachusetts the first state to abolish slavery. David McCullough points out that an equally important feature was its placing for the first time the courts as a co-equal branch separate from the executive. (The Constitution of Vermont, adopted in 1777, represented the first partial ban on slavery among the states. Vermont became a state in 1791 but did not fully ban slavery until 1858 with the Vermont Personal Liberty Law. The Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 made Pennsylvania the first state to abolish slavery by statute - the second English colony to do so; the first having been the Colony of Georgia in 1735.) Later, Adams was active in early American foreign affairs and succeeded Washington as the second president of the United States. His son, John Quincy Adams, also from Massachusetts, would go on to become the nation's sixth president. From 1786 to 1787, an armed uprising led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays, now known as Shays' Rebellion, wrought havoc throughout Massachusetts and ultimately attempted to seize the federal Springfield Armory. The rebellion was one of the major factors in the decision to draft a stronger national constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation. On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution. 19th century In 1820, Maine separated from Massachusetts and entered the Union as the 23rd state due to the ratification of the Missouri Compromise. During the 19th century, Massachusetts became a national leader in the American Industrial Revolution, with factories around cities such as Lowell and Boston producing textiles and shoes, and factories around Springfield producing tools, paper, and textiles. The state's economy transformed from one based primarily on agriculture to an industrial one, initially making use of water-power and later the steam engine to power factories. Canals and railroads were being used in the state for transporting raw materials and finished goods. At first, the new industries drew labor from Yankees on nearby subsistence farms, though they later relied upon immigrant labor from Europe and Canada. Although Massachusetts was the first slave-holding colony with slavery dating back to the early 1600s, the state became a center of progressivist and abolitionist (anti-slavery) activity in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Horace Mann made the state's school system a national model. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, both philosophers and writers from the state, also made major contributions to American philosophy. Furthermore, members of the transcendentalist movement within the state emphasized the importance of the natural world and emotion to humanity. Although significant opposition to abolitionism existed early on in Massachusetts, resulting in anti-abolitionist riots between 1835 and 1837, abolitionist views there gradually increased throughout the next few decades. Abolitionists John Brown and Sojourner Truth lived in Springfield and Northampton, respectively, while Frederick Douglass lived in Boston and Susan B. Anthony in Adams. The works of such abolitionists contributed to Massachusetts's actions during the Civil War. Massachusetts was the first state to recruit, train, and arm a Black regiment with White officers, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to pass compulsory education laws. 20th century Although the U.S. stock market had sustained steep losses the last week in October 1929, Tuesday, October 29 is remembered as the beginning of the Great Depression. The Boston Stock Exchange, drawn into the whirlpool of panic selling that beset the New York Stock Exchange, lost over 25 percent of its value in two days of frenzied trading. The BSE, nearly 100 years old at the time, had helped raise the capital that had funded many of the Commonwealth's factories, railroads, and businesses. " Governor of Massachusetts Frank G. Allen appointed John C. Hull the first Securities Director of Massachusetts. Hull would assume office in January 1930, and his term would end in 1936. With the departure of several manufacturing companies, the state's industrial economy began to decline during the early 20th century. By the 1920s, competition from the American South and Midwest, followed by the Great Depression, led to the collapse of the three main industries in Massachusetts: textiles, shoemaking, and precision mechanics. This decline would continue into the latter half of the 20th century. Between 1950 and 1979, the number of Massachusetts residents involved in textile manufacturing declined from 264,000 to 63,000. The 1969 closure of the Springfield Armory, in particular, spurred an exodus of high-paying jobs from Western Massachusetts, which suffered greatly as it de-industrialized during the century's last 40 years. Massachusetts manufactured 3.4 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking tenth among the 48 states. After the world war, the economy of eastern Massachusetts transformed from one based on heavy industry into a service-based economy. Government contracts, private investment, and research facilities led to a new and improved industrial climate, with reduced unemployment and increased per capita income. Suburbanization flourished, and by the 1970s, the Route 128/Interstate 95 corridor was dotted with high-tech companies who recruited graduates of the area's many elite institutions of higher education. In 1987, the state received federal funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Commonly known as "the Big Dig", it was, at the time, the biggest federal highway project ever approved. The project included making the Central Artery, part of Interstate 93, into a tunnel under downtown Boston, in addition to the re-routing of several other major highways. The project was often controversial, with numerous claims of graft and mismanagement, and with its initial price tag of $2.5 billion increasing to a final tally of over $15 billion. Nonetheless, the Big Dig changed the face of Downtown Boston and connected areas that were once divided by elevated highway. Much of the raised old Central Artery was replaced with the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. The project also improved traffic conditions along several routes. Notable 20th century politicians The Kennedy family was prominent in 20th-century Massachusetts politics. The children of businessman and ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. included John F. Kennedy, who was a senator and U.S. president before his assassination in 1963; Ted Kennedy, a senator from 1962 until his death in 2009; and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a co-founder of the Special Olympics. In 1966, Massachusetts became the first state to directly elect an African American to the U.S. senate with Edward Brooke. George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States (1989–1993) was born in Milton in 1924. Other notable Massachusetts politicians on the national level included Joseph W. Martin Jr., Speaker of the House (from 1947 to 1949 and then again from 1953 to 1955) and leader of House Republicans from 1939 until 1959 (where he was the only Republican to serve as Speaker between 1931 and 1995), John W. McCormack, Speaker of the House in the 1960s, and Tip O'Neill, whose service as Speaker of the House from 1977 to 1987 was the longest continuous tenure in United States history. 21st century On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage. This followed the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in November 2003, which determined that the exclusion of same-sex couples from the right to a civil marriage was unconstitutional. In 2004, Massachusetts senator John Kerry, who won the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, lost to incumbent George W. Bush. Eight years later, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (the Republican nominee) lost to incumbent Barack Obama in 2012. Another eight years later, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren became a frontrunner in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election. However, she later suspended her campaign and endorsed presumptive nominee Joe Biden. Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, at around 2:49 pm local time (EDT). The explosions killed three people and injured an estimated 264 others. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later identified the suspects as brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The ensuing manhunt ended on April 19 when thousands of law enforcement officers searched a 20-block area of nearby Watertown. Dzhokhar later said he was motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs and learned to build explosive devices from Inspire, the online magazine of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. On November 8, 2016, Massachusetts voted in favor of the Massachusetts Marijuana Legalization Initiative, also known as Question 4. Geography Massachusetts is the seventh-smallest state in the United States. It is located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of 10,555 square miles (27,340 km2), 25.7% of which is water. Several large bays distinctly shape its coast, giving it the nickname "the Bay State". Boston is its largest city. Despite its small size, Massachusetts features numerous topographically distinctive regions. The large coastal plain of the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern section of the state contains Greater Boston, along with most of the state's population, as well as the distinctive Cape Cod peninsula. To the west lies the hilly, rural region of Central Massachusetts, and beyond that, the Connecticut River Valley. Along the western border of Western Massachusetts lies the highest elevated part of the state, the Berkshires, forming a portion of the northern terminus of the Appalachian Mountains. The U.S. National Park Service administers a number of natural and historical sites in Massachusetts. Along with twelve national historic sites, areas, and corridors, the National Park Service also manages the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. In addition, the Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains a number of parks, trails, and beaches throughout Massachusetts. Ecology The primary biome of inland Massachusetts is temperate deciduous forest. Although much of Massachusetts had been cleared for agriculture, leaving only traces of old-growth forest in isolated pockets, secondary growth has regenerated in many rural areas as farms have been abandoned. Forests cover around 62% of Massachusetts. The areas most affected by human development include the Greater Boston area in the east and the Springfield metropolitan area in the west, although the latter includes agricultural areas throughout the Connecticut River Valley. There are 219 endangered species in Massachusetts. A number of species are doing well in the increasingly urbanized Massachusetts. Peregrine falcons utilize office towers in larger cities as nesting areas, and the population of coyotes, whose diet may include garbage and roadkill, has been increasing in recent decades. White-tailed deer, raccoons, wild turkeys, and eastern gray squirrels are also found throughout Massachusetts. In more rural areas in the western part of Massachusetts, larger mammals such as moose and black bears have returned, largely due to reforestation following the regional decline in agriculture. Massachusetts is located along the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for migratory waterfowl along the eastern coast. Lakes in central Massachusetts provide habitat for many species of fish and waterfowl, but some species such as the common loon are becoming rare. A significant population of long-tailed ducks winter off Nantucket. Small offshore islands and beaches are home to roseate terns and are important breeding areas for the locally threatened piping plover. Protected areas such as the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge provide critical breeding habitat for shorebirds and a variety of marine wildlife including a large population of grey seals. Since 2009, there has been a significant increase in the number of Great white sharks spotted and tagged in the coastal waters off of Cape Cod. Freshwater fish species in Massachusetts include bass, carp, catfish, and trout, while saltwater species such as Atlantic cod, haddock, and American lobster populate offshore waters. Other marine species include Harbor seals, the endangered North Atlantic right whales, as well as humpback whales, fin whales, minke whales, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins. The European corn borer, a significant agricultural pest, was first found in North America near Boston, Massachusetts in 1917. Climate Most of Massachusetts has a humid continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers. Far southeast coastal areas are the broad transition zone to Humid Subtropical climates. The warm to hot summers render the oceanic climate rare in this transition, only applying to exposed coastal areas such as on the peninsula of Barnstable County. The climate of Boston is quite representative for the commonwealth, characterized by summer highs of around 81 °F (27 °C) and winter highs of 35 °F (2 °C), and is quite wet. Frosts are frequent all winter, even in coastal areas due to prevailing inland winds. Boston has a relatively sunny climate for a coastal city at its latitude, averaging over 2,600 hours of sunshine a year. Environmental issues Climate change Climate change in Massachusetts will affect both urban and rural environments, including forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and coastal development. The Northeast is projected to warm faster than global average temperatures; by 2035, according to the U. S. Global Change Research Program, the Northeast is "projected to be more than 3.6°F (2°C) warmer on average than during the preindustrial era". As of August 2016, the EPA reports that Massachusetts has warmed by over two degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.1 degrees Celsius. Shifting temperatures also result in the shifting of rainfall patterns and the intensification of precipitation events. To that end, average precipitation in the Northeast United States has risen by ten percent from 1895 to 2011, and the number of heavy precipitation events has increased by seventy percent during that time. These increased precipitation patterns are focused in the winter and spring. Increasing temperatures coupled with increasing precipitation will result in earlier snow melts and subsequent drier soil in the summer months. The shifting climate in Massachusetts will result in a significant change to the state's built environment and ecosystems. In Boston alone, costs of climate change-related storms will result in $5 to $100 billion in damage. Warmer temperatures will also disrupt bird migration and flora blooming. With these changes, deer populations are expected to increase, resulting in a decrease in underbrush which smaller fauna use as camouflage. Additionally, rising temperatures will increase the number of reported Lyme disease cases in the state. Ticks can transmit the disease once temperatures reach 45 degrees, so shorter winters will increase the window of transmission. These warmer temperatures will also increase the prevalence of Asian tiger mosquitoes, which often carry the West Nile virus. To fight this change, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has outlined a path to decarbonize the state's economy. On April 22, 2020, Kathleen A. Theoharides, the state's Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, released a Determination of Statewide Emissions limits for 2050. In her letter, Theoharides stresses that as of 2020, the Commonwealth has experienced property damage attributable to climate change of more than $60 billion. To ensure that the Commonwealth experiences warming no more than 1.5 °C of pre-industrialization levels, the state will work towards two goals by 2050: to achieve net-zero emissions, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent overall. Power Initiatives The State of Massachusetts has developed a plethora of incentives to encourage the implementation of renewable energy and efficient appliances and home facilities. The Mass Save program, formed in conjunction with the State by several companies that provide power and gas in Massachusetts, provides homeowners and renters with monetary incentives to retrofit their homes with efficient HVAC equipment and other household appliances. Appliances such as water heaters, air conditioners, washers and driers, and heat pumps are eligible for rebates in order to incentivize change. The concept of Mass Save was created in 2008 by the passing of the Green Communities Act of 2008, during Deval Patrick's tenure as governor. The main goal of the Green Communities Act was to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels in the State and to encourage new, more efficient technologies. Among others, one result of this act was a requirement for Program Administrators of utilities to invest in saving energy, as opposed to purchasing and generating additional energy where economically feasible. In Massachusetts, eleven Program Administrators, including Eversource, National Grid, Western Massachusetts Electric, Cape Light Compact, Until, and Berkshire Gas, jointly own the rights to this program, in conjunction with the MA Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC). The State Revenue Service provides incentives for the installation of solar panels. In addition to the Federal Residential Renewable energy credit, Massachusetts residents may be eligible for a tax credit of up to 15 percent of the project. Once installed, arrays are eligible for net metering. Certain municipalities will offer up to $1.20 per watt, up to 50 percent of the system's cost on PV arrays 25 kW or less. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources also offered low-interest, fixed-rate financing with loan support for low-income residents until December 31, 2020. As a part of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources' effort to incentivize the usage of renewable energy, the Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV) initiative was created. With this incentive, residents may qualify for a state-provided incentive of up to $2,500 for the purchase or lease of an electric vehicle, or $1,500 for the purchase or lease of a plug-in hybrid vehicle. This rebate is available in addition to the tax credits offered by the United States Department of Energy for the purchase of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. For income-eligible residents, Mass Save has partnered with Massachusetts Community Action Program Agencies and Low-Income Energy Affordability Network (LEAN) to offer residents assistance with upgrades to their homes that will result in more efficient energy usage. Residents may qualify for a replacement of their heating system, insulation installation, appliances, and thermostats if they meet the income qualifications provided on Mass Save's website. For residents of 5+ family residential buildings, there are additional income-restricted benefits available through LEAN. If at least 50 percent of the residents of the building qualify as low income, energy efficiency improvements like those available through Mass Save are available. Residential structures operated by non-profit organizations, for profit operations, or housing authorities may take advantage of these programs. In late 2020, the administration of Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker released a decarbonization roadmap to aim for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The plan calls for major investments in offshore wind and solar energy. It would also require all new cars sold in the state to be zero-emissions (electric or hydrogen powered) by 2035. Demographics At the 2020 U.S. census, Massachusetts had a population of over 7 million, a 7.4% increase since the 2010 United States Census. As of 2015, Massachusetts was estimated to be the third-most densely populated U.S. state, with 871.0 people per square mile, behind New Jersey and Rhode Island. In 2014, Massachusetts had 1,011,811 foreign-born residents or 15% of the population. As of July 2023, the population is estimated to be 7,001,399. Most Massachusetts residents live within the Boston metropolitan area, also known as Greater Boston, which includes Boston and its proximate surroundings but also extending to Greater Lowell and to Worcester. The Springfield metropolitan area, also known as Greater Springfield, is also a major center of population. Demographically, the center of population of Massachusetts is located in the town of Natick. Like the rest of the Northeastern United States, the population of Massachusetts has continued to grow in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Massachusetts is the fastest-growing state in New England and the 25th fastest-growing state in the United States. Population growth has been driven primarily by the relatively high quality of life and a large higher education system. Foreign immigration is also a factor in the state's population growth, causing the state's population to continue to grow as of the 2010 census (particularly in Massachusetts gateway cities where costs of living are lower). Forty percent of foreign immigrants were from Central or South America, according to a 2005 Census Bureau study, with many of the remainder from Asia. Many residents who have settled in Greater Springfield claim Puerto Rican descent. Many areas of Massachusetts showed relatively stable population trends between 2000 and 2010. Exurban Boston and coastal areas grew the most rapidly, while Berkshire County in far Western Massachusetts and Barnstable County on Cape Cod were the only counties to lose population as of the 2010 census. In 2018, The top countries of origin for Massachusetts' immigrants were China, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, India and Haiti. By sex, 48.4% were male, and 51.6% were female in 2014. In terms of age, 79.2% were over 18 and 14.8% were over 65. According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 15,507 homeless people in Massachusetts. Race and ancestry The state's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic white, has declined from 95.4% in 1970 to 67.6% in 2020. As of 2011, non-Hispanic whites were involved in 63.6% of all the births, while 36.4% of the population of Massachusetts younger than age 1 was minorities (at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white). One major reason for this is that non-Hispanic whites in Massachusetts recorded a total fertility rate of 1.36 in 2017, the second-lowest in the country after neighboring Rhode Island. As late as 1795, the population of Massachusetts was nearly 95% of English ancestry. During the early and mid-19th century, immigrant groups began arriving in Massachusetts in large numbers; first from Ireland in the 1840s; today the Irish and part-Irish are the largest ancestry group in the state at nearly 25% of the total population. Others arrived later from Quebec as well as places in Europe such as Italy, Portugal, and Poland. In the early 20th century, an increasing number of African Americans migrated to Massachusetts, although in somewhat fewer numbers than many other Northern states. Later in the 20th century, immigration from Latin America increased considerably. More than 156,000 Chinese Americans made their home in Massachusetts in 2014, and Boston hosts a growing Chinatown accommodating heavily traveled Chinese-owned bus lines to and from Chinatown, Manhattan in New York City. Massachusetts also has large Dominican, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Cape Verdean and Brazilian populations. Boston's South End and Jamaica Plain are both gay villages, as is nearby Provincetown, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. The largest ancestry group in Massachusetts are the Irish (22.5% of the population), who live in significant numbers throughout the state but form more than 40% of the population along the South Shore in Norfolk and Plymouth counties (in both counties overall, Irish-Americans comprise more than 30% of the population). Italians form the second-largest ethnic group in the state (13.5%), but form a plurality in some suburbs north of Boston and in a few towns in the Berkshires. English Americans, the third-largest (11.4%) group, form a plurality in some western towns. French and French Canadians also form a significant part (10.7%), with sizable populations in Bristol, Hampden, and Worcester Counties, along with Middlesex county especially concentrated in the areas surrounding Lowell and Lawrence. Lowell is home to the second-largest Cambodian community of the nation. Massachusetts is home to a small community of Greek Americans as well, which according to the American Community Survey there are 83,701 of them scattered along the state (1.2% of the total state population). There are also several populations of Native Americans in Massachusetts. The Wampanoag tribe maintains reservations at Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard and at Mashpee on Cape Cod—with an ongoing native language revival project underway since 1993, while the Nipmuc maintain two state-recognized reservations in the central part of the state, including one at Grafton. Massachusetts has avoided many forms of racial strife seen elsewhere in the US, but examples such as the successful electoral showings of the nativist (mainly anti-Catholic) Know Nothings in the 1850s, the controversial Sacco and Vanzetti executions in the 1920s, and Boston's opposition to desegregation busing in the 1970s. Historical racial and ethnic composition Massachusetts – Racial and Ethnic Composition (NH = Non-Hispanic) Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race. Languages The most common varieties of American English spoken in Massachusetts, other than General American, are the cot-caught distinct, rhotic, western Massachusetts dialect and the cot-caught merged, non-rhotic, eastern Massachusetts dialect (popularly known as a "Boston accent"). As of 2010, 78.93% (4,823,127) of Massachusetts residents 5 and older spoke English at home as a first language, while 7.50% (458,256) spoke Spanish, 2.97% (181,437) Portuguese, 1.59% (96,690) Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin), 1.11% (67,788) French, 0.89% (54,456) French Creole, 0.72% (43,798) Italian, 0.62% (37,865) Russian, and Vietnamese was spoken as a primary language by 0.58% (35,283) of the population over 5. In total, 21.07% (1,287,419) of Massachusetts's population 5 and older spoke a first language other than English. Religion Massachusetts was founded and settled by Brownist Puritans in 1620, and soon after by other groups of Separatists/Dissenters, Nonconformists and Independents from 17th century England. A majority of people in Massachusetts today remain Christians. The descendants of the Puritans belong to many different churches; in the direct line of inheritance are the various Congregational churches, the United Church of Christ and congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association, long located on Beacon Hill, is now located in South Boston. Many Puritan descendants also dispersed to other Protestant denominations. Some disaffiliated along with Roman Catholics and other Christian groups in the wake of modern secularization. As of the 2014 Pew study, Christians made up 57% of the state's population, with Protestants making up 21% of them. Roman Catholics made up 34% and now predominate because of massive immigration from primarily Catholic countries and regions—chiefly Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Quebec, and Latin America. Both Protestant and Roman Catholic communities have been in decline since the late 20th century, due to the rise of irreligion in New England. It is the most irreligious region of the country, along with the Western United States; for comparison and contrast however, in 2020, the Public Religion Research Institute determined 67% of the population were Christian reflecting a slight increase of religiosity. A significant Jewish population immigrated to the Boston and Springfield areas between 1880 and 1920. Jews make up 3% of the population. Mary Baker Eddy made the Boston Mother Church of Christian Science serve as the world headquarters of this new religious movement. Buddhists, Pagans, Hindus, Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims, and Mormons may also be found. The Satanic Temple has its headquarters in Salem. Kripalu Center in Stockbridge, the Shaolin Meditation Temple in Springfield, and the Insight Meditation Center in Barre are examples of non-Abrahamic religious centers in Massachusetts. According to 2010 data from The Association of Religion Data Archives, (ARDA) the largest single denominations are the Catholic Church with 2,940,199 adherents; the United Church of Christ with 86,639 adherents; and the Episcopal Church with 81,999 adherents. In 2014, 32% of the population identified as having no religion; in a separate 2020 study, 23% of the population identified as irreligious, and 67% of the population identified as Christians (including 26% as white Protestants and 20% as white Catholics). As of 2022, a plurality of Massachusettsans were irreligious, and the state is considered to be a part of the Unchurched Belt. Native American tribes What is today Massachusetts was originally inhabited by the Wampanoag, the Nipmuc, the Massachusett, the Pocumtuc, the Nauset, the Pennacook and a few other tribes. Some of these tribes are still represented among the population of the state today. The largest Native American tribes in Massachusetts according to the 2010 census are listed in the table below: Education In 2018, Massachusetts's overall educational system was ranked the top among all fifty U.S. states by U.S. News & World Report. Massachusetts was the first state in North America to require municipalities to appoint a teacher or establish a grammar school with the passage of the Massachusetts Education Law of 1647, and 19th century reforms pushed by Horace Mann laid much of the groundwork for contemporary universal public education which was established in 1852. Massachusetts is home to the oldest school in continuous existence in North America (The Roxbury Latin School, founded in 1645), as well as the country's oldest public elementary school (The Mather School, founded in 1639), its oldest high school (Boston Latin School, founded in 1635), its oldest continuously operating boarding school (The Governor's Academy, founded in 1763), its oldest college (Harvard University, founded in 1636), and its oldest women's college (Mount Holyoke College, founded in 1837). Massachusetts is also home to the highest ranked private high school in the United States, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, which was founded in 1778. Massachusetts's per-student public expenditure for elementary and secondary schools was eighth in the nation in 2012, at $14,844. In 2013, Massachusetts scored highest of all the states in math and third-highest in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Massachusetts' public-school students place among the top tier in the world in academic performance. Massachusetts is home to 121 institutions of higher education. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both located in Cambridge, consistently rank among the world's best private universities and universities in general. In addition to Harvard and MIT, several other Massachusetts universities rank in the top 50 at the undergraduate level nationally in the widely cited rankings of U.S. News & World Report: Tufts University (#27), Boston College (#32), Brandeis University (#34), Boston University (#37) and Northeastern University (#40). Massachusetts is also home to three of the top five U.S. News & World Report's best Liberal Arts Colleges: Williams College (#1), Amherst College (#2), and Wellesley College (#4). It is also home to the oldest Catholic liberal arts college, College of the Holy Cross (#33). Boston Architectural College is New England's largest private college of spatial design. The public University of Massachusetts (nicknamed UMass) features five campuses in the state, with its flagship campus in Amherst, which enrolls more than 25,000. As of 2021, Massachusetts has the highest percentage of adults over the age of 25 with a bachelor's degree (46.62%) and a graduate degree (21.27%) of any state in the country. Economy The United States Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that the Massachusetts gross state product in 2020 was $584 billion. The per capita personal income in 2012 was $53,221, making it the third-highest state in the nation. As of January 2023, Massachusetts state general minimum wage is $15.00 per hour while the minimum wage for tipped workers is $6.75 an hour, with a guarantee that employers will pay the difference should a tipped employee's hourly wage not meet or exceed the general minimum wage. This wage was set to increase to a general minimum of $15.00 per hour and a tipped worker minimum of $6.75 per hour in January 2023, as part of a series of minimum wage amendments passed in 2018 that saw the minimum wage increase slowly every January up to 2023. In 2015, twelve Fortune 500 companies were located in Massachusetts: Liberty Mutual, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, TJX Companies, General Electric, Raytheon, American Tower, Global Partners, Thermo Fisher Scientific, State Street Corporation, Biogen, Eversource Energy, and Boston Scientific. CNBC's list of "Top States for Business for 2023" has recognized Massachusetts as the 15th-best state in the nation for business, and for the second year in a row in 2016 the state was ranked by Bloomberg as the most innovative state in America. According to a 2013 study by Phoenix Marketing International, Massachusetts had the sixth-largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States, with a ratio of 6.73 percent. Billionaires living in the state include past and present leaders (and related family) of local companies such as Fidelity Investments, New Balance, Kraft Group, Boston Scientific, and the former Continental Cablevision. Massachusetts has three foreign-trade zones, the Massachusetts Port Authority of Boston, the Port of New Bedford, and the City of Holyoke. Boston-Logan International Airport is the busiest airport in New England, serving 33.4 million total passengers in 2015, and witnessing rapid growth in international air traffic since 2010. Sectors vital to the Massachusetts economy include higher education, biotechnology, information technology, finance, health care, tourism, manufacturing, and defense. The Route 128 corridor and Greater Boston continue to be a major center for venture capital investment, and high technology remains an important sector. In recent years tourism has played an ever-important role in the state's economy, with Boston and Cape Cod being the leading destinations. Other popular tourist destinations include Salem, Plymouth, and the Berkshires. Massachusetts is the sixth-most popular tourist destination for foreign travelers. In 2010, the Great Places in Massachusetts Commission published '1,000 Great Places in Massachusetts' that identified 1,000 sites across the commonwealth to highlight the diverse historic, cultural, and natural attractions. While manufacturing comprised less than 10% of Massachusetts's gross state product in 2016, the Commonwealth ranked 16th in the nation in total manufacturing output in the United States. This includes a diverse array of manufactured goods such as medical devices, paper goods, specialty chemicals and plastics, telecommunications and electronics equipment, and machined components. The more than 33,000 nonprofits in Massachusetts employ one-sixth of the state's workforce. In 2007, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a state holiday, Nonprofit Awareness Day. In February 2017, U.S. News & World Report ranked Massachusetts the best state in the United States based upon 60 metrics including healthcare, education, crime, infrastructure, opportunity, economy, and government. Massachusetts ranked number one in education, number two in healthcare, and number five in the handling of the economy. Agriculture As of 2012, there were 7,755 farms in Massachusetts encompassing a total of 523,517 acres (2,120 km2), averaging 67.5 acres (27.3 hectares) apiece. Greenhouse, floriculture, and sod products – including the ornamental market – make up more than one third of the state's agricultural output. Particular agricultural products of note also include cranberries, sweet corn and apples are also large sectors of production. Fruit cultivation is an important part of the state's agricultural revenues, and Massachusetts is the second-largest cranberry-producing state after Wisconsin. Taxation Depending on how it is calculated, state and local tax burden in Massachusetts has been estimated among U.S. states and Washington D.C. as 21st-highest (11.44% or $6,163 per year for a household with nationwide median income) or 25th-highest overall with below-average corporate taxes (39th-highest), above-average personal income taxes, (13th-highest), above-average sales tax (18th-highest), and below-average property taxes (46th-highest). In the 1970s, the Commonwealth ranked as a relatively high-tax state, gaining the pejorative nickname "Taxachusetts". This was followed by a round of tax limitations during the 1980s—a conservative period in American politics—including Proposition 2½. As of January 1, 2020, Massachusetts has a flat-rate personal income tax of 5.00%, after a 2002 voter referendum to eventually lower the rate to 5.0% as amended by the legislature. There is a tax exemption for income below a threshold that varies from year to year. The corporate income tax rate is 8.8%, and the short-term capital gains tax rate is 12%. An unusual provision allows filers to voluntarily pay at the pre-referendum 5.85% income tax rate, which is done by between one and two thousand taxpayers per year. The state imposes a 6.25% sales tax on retail sales of tangible personal property—except for groceries, clothing (up to $175.00), and periodicals. The sales tax is charged on clothing that costs more than $175.00, for the amount exceeding $175.00. Massachusetts also charges a use tax when goods are bought from other states and the vendor does not remit Massachusetts sales tax; taxpayers report and pay this on their income tax forms or dedicated forms, though there are "safe harbor" amounts that can be paid without tallying up actual purchases (except for purchases over $1,000). There is no inheritance tax and limited Massachusetts estate tax related to federal estate tax collection. Energy Massachusetts's electricity generation market was made competitive in 1998, enabling retail customers to change suppliers without changing utility companies. In 2018, Massachusetts consumed 1,459 trillion BTU, making it the seventh-lowest state in terms of consumption of energy per capita, and 31 percent of that energy came from natural gas. In 2014 and 2015, Massachusetts was ranked as the most energy efficient state the United States while Boston is the most efficient city, but it had the fourth-highest average residential retail electricity prices of any state. In 2018, renewable energy was about 7.2 percent of total energy consumed in the state, ranking 34th. Transportation Massachusetts has 10 regional metropolitan planning organizations and three non-metropolitan planning organizations covering the remainder of the state; statewide planning is handled by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector in Massachusetts. Regional public transportation The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), also known as "The T", operates public transportation in the form of subway, bus, and ferry systems in the Metro Boston area. Fifteen other regional transit authorities provide public transportation in the form of bus services in the rest of the state. Four heritage railways are also in operation: The Cape Cod Central Railroad, operating from Hyannis to Buzzards Bay The Berkshire Scenic Railway, operating from Lee to Great Barrington Edaville Railroad in Carver The Lowell National Historical Park Trolley Line in Lowell Long-distance rail and bus Amtrak operates several inter-city rail lines in Massachusetts. Boston's South Station serves as the terminus for three lines, namely the high-speed Acela Express, which links to cities such as Providence, New Haven, New York City, and eventually Washington DC; the Northeast Regional, which follows the same route but includes many more stops, and also continues further south to Newport News in Virginia; and the Lake Shore Limited, which runs westward to Worcester, Springfield, and eventually Chicago. Boston's other major station, North Station, serves as the southern terminus for Amtrak's Downeaster, which connects to Portland and Brunswick in Maine. Outside of Boston, Amtrak connects several cities across Massachusetts, along the aforementioned Acela, Northeast Regional, Lake Shore Limited, and Downeaster lines, as well as other routes in central and western Massachusetts. The Hartford Line connects Springfield to New Haven, operated in conjunction with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and the Valley Flyer runs a similar route but continues further north to Greenfield. Several stations in western Massachusetts are also served by the Vermonter, which connects St. Albans, Vermont to Washington DC. Amtrak carries more passengers between Boston and New York than all airlines combined (about 54% of market share in 2012), but service between other cities is less frequent. There, more frequent intercity service is provided by private bus carriers, including Peter Pan Bus Lines (headquartered in Springfield), Greyhound Lines, OurBus, BoltBus and Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway. Various Chinatown bus lines depart for New York from South Station in Boston. MBTA Commuter Rail services run throughout the larger Greater Boston area, including service to Worcester, Fitchburg, Haverhill, Newburyport, Lowell, and Kingston. This overlaps with the service areas of neighboring regional transportation authorities. As of the summer of 2013 the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority in collaboration with the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is operating the CapeFLYER providing passenger rail service between Boston and Cape Cod. Ferry Most ports north of Cape Cod are served by Boston Harbor Cruises, which operates ferry services in and around Greater Boston under contract with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Several routes connect the downtown area with Hingham, Hull, Winthrop, Salem, Logan Airport, Charlestown, and some of the islands located within the harbor. The same company also operates seasonal service between Boston and Provincetown. On the southern shore of the state, several different passenger ferry lines connect Martha's Vineyard to ports along the mainland, including Woods Hole, Hyannis, New Bedford, and Falmouth, all in Massachusetts, as well as North Kingstown in Rhode Island, Highlands in New Jersey, and New York City in New York. Similarly, several different lines connect Nantucket to ports including Hyannis, New Bedford, Harwich, and New York City. Service between the two islands is also offered. The dominant companies serving these routes include SeaStreak, Hy-Line Cruises, and The Steamship Authority, the latter of which regulates all passenger services in the region and is also the only company permitted to offer freight ferry services to the islands. Other ferry connections in the state include a water taxi connecting various points in Fall River, seasonal ferry service connecting Plymouth to Provincetown, and a service between New Bedford and Cuttyhunk. Rail freight As of 2018, a number of freight railroads were operating in Massachusetts, with Class I railroad CSX being the largest carrier, and another Class 1, Norfolk Southern serving the state via its Pan Am Southern joint partnership. Several regional and short line railroads also provide service and connect with other railroads. Massachusetts has a total of 1,110 miles (1,790 km) of freight trackage in operation. Air service Boston Logan International Airport served 33.5 million passengers in 2015 (up from 31.6 million in 2014) through 103 gates. Logan, Hanscom Field in Bedford, and Worcester Regional Airport are operated by Massport, an independent state transportation agency. Massachusetts has 39 public-use airfields and more than 200 private landing spots. Some airports receive funding from the Aeronautics Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration; the FAA is also the primary regulator of Massachusetts air travel. Roads There are a total of 36,800 miles (59,200 km) of interstates and other highways in Massachusetts. Interstate 90 (I-90, also known as the Massachusetts Turnpike), is the longest interstate in Massachusetts. The route travels 136 mi (219 km) generally west to east, entering Massachusetts at the New York state line in the town of West Stockbridge, and passes just north of Springfield, just south of Worcester and through Framingham before terminating near Logan International Airport in Boston. Other major interstates include I-91, which travels generally north and south along the Connecticut River; I-93, which travels north and south through central Boston, then passes through Methuen before entering New Hampshire; and I-95, which connects Providence, Rhode Island with Greater Boston, forming a partial loop concurrent with Route 128 around the more urbanized areas before continuing north along the coast into New Hampshire. I-495 forms a wide loop around the outer edge of Greater Boston. Other major interstates in Massachusetts include I-291, I-391, I-84, I-195, I-395, I-290, and I-190. Major non-interstate highways in Massachusetts include U.S. Routes 1, 3, 6, and 20, and state routes 2, 3, 9, 24, and 128. A great majority of interstates in Massachusetts were constructed during the mid-20th century, and at times were controversial, particularly the intent to route I-95 northeastwards from Providence, Rhode Island, directly through central Boston, first proposed in 1948. Opposition to continued construction grew, and in 1970 Governor Francis W. Sargent issued a general prohibition on most further freeway construction within the I-95/Route 128 loop in the Boston area. A massive undertaking to bring I-93 underground in downtown Boston, called the Big Dig, brought the city's highway system under public scrutiny for its high cost and construction quality. Government and politics Massachusetts has a long political history; earlier political structures included the Mayflower Compact of 1620, the separate Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, and the combined colonial Province of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Constitution was ratified in 1780 while the Revolutionary War was in progress, four years after the Articles of Confederation was drafted, and eight years before the present United States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. Drafted by John Adams, the Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest functioning written constitution in continuous effect in the world. It has been amended 121 times, most recently in 2022. Massachusetts politics since the second half of the 20th century have generally been dominated by the Democratic Party, and the state has a reputation for being the most liberal state in the country. In 1974, Elaine Noble became the first openly lesbian or gay candidate elected to a state legislature in US history. The state's 12th congressional district elected the first openly gay member of the United States House of Representatives, Gerry Studds, in 1972 and in 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriage. In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to approve a law that provided for nearly universal healthcare. Massachusetts has a pro-sanctuary city law. In a 2020 study, Massachusetts was ranked as the 11th easiest state for citizens to vote in. Government The Government of Massachusetts is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The governor of Massachusetts heads the executive branch, while legislative authority vests in a separate but coequal legislature. Meanwhile, judicial power is constitutionally guaranteed to the independent judicial branch. Executive branch As chief executive, the governor is responsible for signing or vetoing legislation, filling judicial and agency appointments, granting pardons, preparing an annual budget, and commanding the Massachusetts National Guard. Massachusetts governors, unlike those of most other states, are addressed as His/Her Excellency. The governor is Maura Healey and the incumbent lieutenant governor is Kim Driscoll. The governor conducts the affairs of state alongside a separate Governor's Council made up of the lieutenant governor and eight separately elected councilors. The council is charged by the state constitution with reviewing and confirming gubernatorial appointments and pardons, approving disbursements out of the state treasury, and certifying elections, among other duties. Aside from the governor and Governor's Council, the executive branch also includes four independently elected constitutional officers: a secretary of the commonwealth, an attorney general, a state treasurer, and a state auditor. The commonwealth's incumbent constitutional officers are respectively William F. Galvin, Andrea Campbell, Deb Goldberg and Diana DiZoglio, all Democrats. In accordance with state statute, the secretary of the commonwealth administers elections, regulates lobbyists and the securities industry, registers corporations, serves as register of deeds for the entire state, and preserves public records as keeper of the state seal. Meanwhile, the attorney general provides legal services to state agencies, combats fraud and corruption, investigates and prosecutes crimes, and enforces consumer protection, environment, labor, and civil rights laws as Massachusetts chief lawyer and law enforcement officer. At the same time, the state treasurer manages the state's cash flow, debt, and investments as chief financial officer, whereas the state auditor conducts audits, investigations, and studies as chief audit executive in order to promote government accountability and transparency and improve state agency financial management, legal compliance, and performance. Legislative branch The Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts Senate comprise the legislature of Massachusetts, known as the Massachusetts General Court. The House consists of 160 members while the Senate has 40 members. Leaders of the House and Senate are chosen by the members of those bodies; the leader of the House is known as the Speaker while the leader of the Senate is known as the President. Each branch consists of several committees. Members of both bodies are elected to two-year terms. Judicial branch The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (a chief justice and six associates) are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Governor's Council, as are all other judges in the state. Federal court cases are heard in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and appeals are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Federal representation The Congressional delegation from Massachusetts is entirely Democratic. The Senators are Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey while the Representatives are Richard Neal (1st), Jim McGovern (2nd), Lori Trahan (3rd), Jake Auchincloss (4th), Katherine Clark (5th), Seth Moulton (6th), Ayanna Pressley (7th), Stephen Lynch (8th), and Bill Keating (9th). In U.S. presidential elections since 2012, Massachusetts has been allotted 11 votes in the electoral college, out of a total of 538. Like most states, Massachusetts's electoral votes are granted in a winner-take-all system. Politics For more than 70 years, Massachusetts has shifted from a previously Republican-leaning state to one largely dominated by Democrats; the 1952 victory of John F. Kennedy over incumbent Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. is seen as a watershed moment in this transformation. His younger brother Edward M. Kennedy held that seat until his death from a brain tumor in 2009. Since the 1950s, Massachusetts has gained a reputation as being a politically liberal state and is often used as an archetype of modern liberalism, hence the phrase "Massachusetts liberal". Massachusetts is one of the most Democratic states in the country. Democratic core concentrations are everywhere, except for a handful of Republican leaning towns in the Central and Southern parts of the state. Until recently, Republicans were dominant in the Western and Northern suburbs of Boston, however both areas heavily swung Democratic in the Trump era. The state as a whole has not given its Electoral College votes to a Republican in a presidential election since Ronald Reagan carried it in 1984, and not a single county has voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 . Additionally, Massachusetts provided Reagan with his smallest margins of victory in both the 1980 and 1984 elections. Massachusetts had been the only state to vote for Democrat George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election. In 2020, Biden received 65.6% of the vote, the best performance in over 50 years for a Democrat. Democrats have an absolute grip on the Massachusetts congressional delegation; there are no Republicans elected to serve at the federal level. Both Senators and all nine Representatives are Democrats; only one Republican (former Senator Scott Brown) has been elected to either house of Congress from Massachusetts since 1994. Massachusetts is the most populous state to be represented in the United States Congress entirely by a single party. As of the 2018 elections, the Democratic Party holds a super-majority over the Republican Party in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature). Out of the state house's 160 seats, Democrats hold 127 seats (79%) compared to the Republican Party's 32 seats (20%), an independent sits in the remaining one, and 37 out of the 40 seats in the state senate (92.5%) belong to the Democratic Party compared to the Republican Party's three seats (7.5%). Both houses of the legislature have had Democratic majorities since the 1950s. Despite the state's Democratic-leaning tendency, Massachusetts has generally elected Republicans as Governor: only two Democrats (Deval Patrick and Maura Healey) have served as governor since 1991, and among gubernatorial election results from 2002 to 2022, Republican nominees garnered 48.4% of the vote compared to 45.7% for Democratic nominees. These have been considered to be among the most moderate Republican leaders in the nation; they have received higher net favorability ratings from the state's Democrats than Republicans. A number of contemporary national political issues have been influenced by events in Massachusetts, such as the decision in 2003 by the state Supreme Judicial Court allowing same-sex marriage and a 2006 bill which mandated health insurance for all Massachusetts residents. In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. Voters in Massachusetts also approved a ballot measure in 2012 that legalized the medical use of marijuana. Following the approval of a ballot question endorsing legalization in 2016, Massachusetts began issuing licenses for the regulated sale of recreational marijuana in June 2018. The licensed sale of recreational marijuana became legal on July 1, 2018; however, the lack of state-approved testing facilities prevented the sale of any product for several weeks. However, in 2020, a ballot initiative to implement Ranked-Choice Voting failed, despite being championed by many progressives. Massachusetts is one of the most pro-choice states in the Union. A 2014 Pew Research Center poll found that 74% of Massachusetts residents supported the right to an abortion in all/most cases, making Massachusetts the most pro-choice state in the United States. In 2020, the state legislature overrode Governor Charlie Baker's veto of the ROE Act, a controversial law that codified existing abortion laws in case the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, dropped the age of parental consent for those seeking an abortion from 18 to 16, and legalized abortion after 24 weeks, if a fetus had fatal anomalies, or "to preserve the patient's physical or mental health." The 2023 American Values Atlas by Public Religion Research Institute found that same-sex marriage is supported near-universally by Massachusettsans. Cities, towns, and counties There are 50 cities and 301 towns in Massachusetts, grouped into 14 counties. The fourteen counties, moving roughly from west to east, are Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, Worcester, Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket. Eleven communities which call themselves "towns" are, by law, cities since they have traded the town meeting form of government for a mayor-council or manager-council form. Boston is the state capital in Massachusetts. The population of the city proper is 692,600, and Greater Boston, with a population of 4,873,019, is the 11th largest metropolitan area in the nation. Other cities with a population over 100,000 include Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Cambridge, Brockton, Quincy, New Bedford, and Lynn. Plymouth is the largest municipality in the state by land area, followed by Middleborough. Massachusetts, along with the five other New England states, features the local governmental structure known as the New England town. In this structure, incorporated towns—as opposed to townships or counties—hold many of the responsibilities and powers of local government. Most of the county governments were abolished by the state of Massachusetts beginning in 1997 including Middlesex County, the largest county in the state by population. The voters of these now-defunct counties elect only Sheriffs and Registers of Deeds, who are part of the state government. Other counties have been reorganized, and a few still retain county councils. Arts, culture, and recreation Massachusetts has contributed to American arts and culture. Drawing from its Native American and Yankee roots, along with later immigrant groups, Massachusetts has produced several writers, artists, and musicians. Some major museums and important historical sites are also located there, and events and festivals throughout the year celebrate the state's history and heritage. Massachusetts was an early center of the Transcendentalist movement, which emphasized intuition, emotion, human individuality and a deeper connection with nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was born in Boston but spent much of his later life in Concord, largely created the philosophy with his 1836 work Nature, and continued to be a key figure in the movement for the remainder of his life. Emerson's friend, Henry David Thoreau, who was also involved in Transcendentalism, recorded his year spent alone in a small cabin at nearby Walden Pond in the 1854 work Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Other famous authors and poets born or strongly associated with Massachusetts include Anne Bradstreet, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edith Wharton, e.e. cummings, Herman Melville, W.E.B. Du Bois, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, John Updike, Anne Sexton, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Helen Hunt Jackson, Khalil Gibran, Mary Higgins Clark, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Jack Kerouac and Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as "Dr. Seuss". Famous painters from Massachusetts include Winslow Homer and Norman Rockwell; many of the latter's works are on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Massachusetts is also an important center for the performing arts. Both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops Orchestra are based in Massachusetts. Other orchestras in Massachusetts include the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra in Barnstable, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Tanglewood, in western Massachusetts, is a music venue that is home to both the Tanglewood Music Festival and Tanglewood Jazz Festival, as well as the summer host for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other performing arts and theater organizations in Massachusetts include the Boston Ballet, the Boston Lyric Opera, and the Lenox-based Shakespeare & Company. In addition to classical and folk music, Massachusetts has produced musicians and bands spanning a number of contemporary genres, such as the classic rock bands Aerosmith and Boston, the proto-punk band the Modern Lovers, the new wave band the Cars, and the alternative rock band Pixies. The state has also been the birthplace of the rock bands Staind, Godsmack, and Highly Suspect, since these bands all were formed in Massachusetts cities such Springfield, Lawrence, and Cape Cod respectively. Film events in the state include the Boston Film Festival, the Boston International Film Festival, and a number of smaller film festivals in various cities throughout Massachusetts. Massachusetts is home to a large number of museums and historical sites. The Clark Art Institute, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and the DeCordova contemporary art and sculpture museum in Lincoln are all located within Massachusetts, and the Maria Mitchell Association in Nantucket includes several observatories, museums, and an aquarium. Historically themed museums and sites such as the Springfield Armory National Historic Site in Springfield, Boston's Freedom Trail and nearby Minute Man National Historical Park, both of which preserve a number of sites important during the American Revolution, the Lowell National Historical Park, which focuses on some of the earliest mills and canals of the Industrial Revolution in the US, the Black Heritage Trail in Boston, which includes important African-American and abolitionist sites in Boston, and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park all showcase various periods of Massachusetts's history. Plymouth Rock, marks the disembarkation site of the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. Plimoth Plantation and Old Sturbridge Village are two open-air or "living" museums in Massachusetts, recreating life as it was in the 17th and early 19th centuries, respectively. Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day parade and "Harborfest", a week-long Fourth of July celebration featuring a fireworks display and concert by the Boston Pops as well as a turnaround cruise in Boston Harbor by the USS Constitution, are popular events. The New England Summer Nationals, an auto show in Worcester, draws tens of thousands of attendees every year. The Boston Marathon is also a popular event in the state drawing more than 30,000 runners and tens of thousands of spectators annually. Long-distance hiking trails in Massachusetts include the Appalachian Trail, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, the Midstate Trail, and the Bay Circuit Trail. Other outdoor recreational activities in Massachusetts include sailing and yachting, freshwater and deep-sea fishing, whale watching, downhill and cross-country skiing, and hunting. Massachusetts is one of the states with the largest percentage of Catholics. It has many sanctuaries such as the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy (Stockbridge, Massachusetts). Media There are two major television media markets located in Massachusetts. The Boston/Manchester market is the fifth-largest in the United States. The other market surrounds the Springfield area. WGBH-TV in Boston is a major public television station and produces national programs such as Nova, Frontline, and American Experience. The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Springfield Republican, and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette are Massachusetts's largest daily newspapers. In addition, there are many community dailies and weeklies. The Associated Press maintains a bureau in Boston, and local news wire the State House News Service feeds coverage of state government to other Massachusetts media outlets. There are a number of major AM and FM stations which serve Massachusetts, along with many more regional and community-based stations. Some colleges and universities also operate campus television and radio stations, and print their own newspapers. Health Massachusetts generally ranks highly among states in most health and disease prevention categories. In 2015, the United Health Foundation ranked the state as third-healthiest overall. Massachusetts has the most doctors per 100,000 residents (435.38), the second-lowest infant mortality rate (3.8), and the lowest percentage of uninsured residents (children as well as the total population). According to Business Insider, commonwealth residents have an average life expectancy of 80.41 years, the fifth-longest in the country. 36.1% of the population is overweight and 24.4% is obese, and Massachusetts ranks sixth-highest in the percentage of residents who are considered neither obese nor overweight (39.5%). Massachusetts also ranks above average in the prevalence of binge drinking, which is the 20th-highest in the country. The nation's first Marine Hospital was erected by federal order in Boston in 1799. There are currently a total of 143 hospitals in the state. According to 2015 rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Massachusetts General Hospital is ranked in the top three in two health care specialties. Massachusetts General Hospital was founded in 1811 and serves as the largest teaching hospital for nearby Harvard University. The state of Massachusetts is a center for medical education and research including Harvard affiliates Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Dana–Farber Cancer Institute as well as the New England Baptist Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, and Boston Medical Center which is the primary teaching hospital for Boston University. The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School is located in Worcester. The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has two of its three campuses in Boston and Worcester. Sports Massachusetts is home to five major league professional sports teams: eighteen-time NBA Champions Boston Celtics, nine-time World Series winners Boston Red Sox, six-time Stanley Cup winners Boston Bruins, six-time Super Bowl winners New England Patriots, and five-time MLS Cup finalists New England Revolution. In the late 19th century, the Olympic sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the Western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. The Basketball Hall of Fame is a major tourist destination in the City of Springfield and the Volleyball Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke. The American Hockey League (AHL), the NHL's development league, is headquartered in Springfield. Several universities in Massachusetts are notable for their collegiate athletics. The state is home to two Division I FBS teams, Boston College of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and FBS Independent University of Massachusetts at Amherst. FCS play includes Harvard University, which competes in the famed Ivy League, and College of the Holy Cross of the Patriot League. Boston University, Northeastern University, UMASS Lowell, Stonehill College, and Merrimack College also participate in Division I athletics. Many other Massachusetts colleges compete in lower divisions such as Division III, where MIT, Tufts University, Amherst College, Williams College, and others field competitive teams. Massachusetts is also the home of rowing events such as the Eastern Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond and the Head of the Charles Regatta. A number of major golf events have taken place in Massachusetts, including nine U.S. Opens and two Ryder Cups. Massachusetts has produced several successful Olympians including Thomas Burke, James Connolly, and John Thomas (track and field); Butch Johnson (archery); Nancy Kerrigan (figure skating); Todd Richards (snowboarding); Albina Osipowich (swimming); Aly Raisman (gymnastics); Patrick Ewing (basketball); Stephen Nedoroscik (pommel horse); as well as Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Bill Cleary, Keith Tkachuk (ice hockey). See also Index of Massachusetts-related articles Outline of Massachusetts Massachusetts Bay Colony New England USS Massachusetts, 8 ships USRC Massachusetts, 2 ships Massachusetts portal Notes References Bibliography Further reading Overviews and surveys Hall, Donald. ed. The Encyclopedia of New England (2005) Works Progress Administration. Guide to Massachusetts (1939) Secondary sources Abrams, Richard M. Conservatism in a Progressive Era: Massachusetts Politics, 1900–1912 (1964) Adams, James Truslow. Revolutionary New England, 1691–1776 (1923) Adams, James Truslow. New England in the Republic, 1776–1850 (1926) Andrews, Charles M. The Fathers of New England: A Chronicle of the Puritan Commonwealths (1919), short survey Conforti, Joseph A. Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century (2001) Cumbler, John T. Reasonable Use: The People, the Environment, and the State, New England, 1790–1930 (1930), environmental history Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride (1994), 1775 in depth Flagg, Charles Allcott, A Guide to Massachusetts local history, Salem : Salem Press Company, 1907. Green, James R., William F. Hartford, and Tom Juravich. Commonwealth of Toil: Chapters in the History of Massachusetts Workers and Their Unions (1996) Huthmacher, J. Joseph. Massachusetts People and Politics, 1919–1933 (1958) Labaree, Benjamin Woods. Colonial Massachusetts: A History (1979) Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783–1860 (1921) Peirce, Neal R. The New England States: People, Politics, and Power in the Six New England States (1976), 1960–75 era Porter, Susan L. Women of the Commonwealth: Work, Family, and Social Change in Nineteenth-Century Massachusetts (1996) Sletcher, Michael. New England (2004). Starkey, Marion L. The Devil in Massachusetts (1949), Salem witches Tager, Jack, and John W. Ifkovic, eds. Massachusetts in the Gilded Age: Selected Essays (1985), ethnic groups Zimmerman, Joseph F. The New England Town Meeting: Democracy in Action Archived November 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (1999) External links Official website Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism Massachusetts State Guide from the Library of Congress Massachusetts at Curlie

New_Hampshire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire

New Hampshire ( HAMP-shər) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Of the 50 U.S. states, New Hampshire is the eighth-smallest by land area and the tenth-least populous, with a population of 1,377,529 residents as of the 2020 census. Concord is the state capital and Manchester is the most populous city. New Hampshire's motto, "Live Free or Die", reflects its role in the American Revolutionary War; its nickname, "The Granite State", refers to its extensive granite formations and quarries. It is well known nationwide for holding the first primary (after the Iowa caucus) in the U.S. presidential election cycle, and for its resulting influence on American electoral politics. New Hampshire was inhabited for thousands of years by Algonquian-speaking peoples such as the Abenaki. Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, with the English establishing some of the earliest non-indigenous settlements. The Province of New Hampshire was established in 1629, named after the English county of Hampshire. Following mounting tensions between the British colonies and the crown during the 1760s, New Hampshire saw one of the earliest overt acts of rebellion, with the seizing of Fort William and Mary from the British in 1774. In January 1776, it became the first of the British North American colonies to establish an independent government and state constitution; six months later, it signed the United States Declaration of Independence and contributed troops, ships, and supplies in the war against Britain. In June 1788, it was the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, bringing that document into effect. Through the mid-19th century, New Hampshire was an active center of abolitionism, and fielded close to 32,000 Union soldiers during the U.S. Civil War. After the war, the state saw rapid industrialization and population growth, becoming a center of textile manufacturing, shoemaking, and papermaking; the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester was at one time the largest cotton textile plant in the world. The Merrimack and Connecticut rivers were lined with industrial mills, most of which employed workers from Canada and Europe; French Canadians formed the most significant influx of immigrants, and today roughly a quarter of all New Hampshire residents have French American ancestry, second only to Maine. Reflecting a nationwide trend, New Hampshire's industrial sector declined after World War II. Since 1950, its economy diversified to include financial and professional services, real estate, education, transportation and high-tech, with manufacturing still higher than the national average. Beginning in the 1950s, its population surged as major highways connected it to Greater Boston and led to more commuter towns. New Hampshire is among the wealthiest and most-educated states. It is one of nine states without an income tax and has no taxes on sales, capital gains, or inheritance while relying heavily on local property taxes to fund education; consequently, its state tax burden is among the lowest in the country. It ranks among the top ten states in metrics such as governance, healthcare, socioeconomic opportunity, and fiscal stability. New Hampshire is one of the least religious states and known for its libertarian-leaning political culture; it was until recently a swing state in presidential elections. With its mountainous and heavily forested terrain, New Hampshire has a growing tourism sector centered on outdoor recreation. It has some of the highest ski mountains on the East Coast and is a major destination for winter sports; Mount Monadnock is among the most climbed mountains in the U.S. Other activities include observing the fall foliage, summer cottages along many lakes and the seacoast, motorsports at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, and Motorcycle Week, a popular motorcycle rally held in Weirs Beach in Laconia. The White Mountain National Forest includes most of the Appalachian Trail between Vermont and Maine, and has the Mount Washington Auto Road, where visitors may drive to the top of 6,288-foot (1,917 m) Mount Washington. History Various Algonquian-speaking Abenaki tribes, largely divided between the Androscoggin, Cowasuck and Pennacook nations, inhabited the area before European settlement. Despite the similar language, they had a very different culture and religion from other Algonquian peoples. Indigenous people lived near Keene, New Hampshire 12,000 years ago, according to 2009 archaeological digs, and the Abenaki were present in New Hampshire in pre-colonial times. English and French explorers visited New Hampshire in 1600–1605, and David Thompson settled at Odiorne's Point in present-day Rye in 1623. The first permanent European settlement was at Hilton's Point (present-day Dover). By 1631, the Upper Plantation comprised modern-day Dover, Durham and Stratham; in 1679, it became the "Royal Province". Father Rale's War was fought between the colonists and the Wabanaki Confederacy throughout New Hampshire. New Hampshire was one of the Thirteen Colonies that rebelled against British rule during the American Revolution. During the American Revolution, New Hampshire was economically divided. The Seacoast region revolved around sawmills, shipyards, merchants' warehouses, and established village and town centers, where wealthy merchants built substantial homes, furnished them with luxuries, and invested their capital in trade and land speculation. At the other end of the social scale, there developed a permanent class of day laborers, mariners, indentured servants and slaves. In December 1774, Paul Revere warned Patriots that Fort William and Mary would be reinforced with British troops. The following day, John Sullivan raided the fort for weapons. During the raid, the British soldiers fired at rebels with cannon and muskets, but there were apparently no casualties. These were among the first shots in the American Revolutionary period, occurring approximately five months before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire became the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain, almost six months before the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Continental Congress. The United States Constitution was ratified by New Hampshire on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth state to do so. New Hampshire was a Jacksonian stronghold; the state sent Franklin Pierce to the White House in the election of 1852. Industrialization took the form of numerous textile mills, which in turn attracted large flows of immigrants from Quebec (the "French Canadians") and Ireland. The northern parts of the state produced lumber, and the mountains provided tourist attractions. After 1960, the textile industry collapsed, but the economy rebounded as a center of high technology and as a service provider. Starting in 1952, New Hampshire gained national and international attention for its presidential primary held early in every presidential election year. It immediately became an important testing ground for candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations but did not necessarily guarantee victory. The media gave New Hampshire and Iowa significant attention compared to other states in the primary process, magnifying the state's decision powers and spurring repeated efforts by out-of-state politicians to change the rules. Geography New Hampshire is part of the six-state New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bounded by Quebec, Canada, to the north and northwest; Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east; Massachusetts to the south; and Vermont to the west. New Hampshire's major regions are the Great North Woods, the White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the Seacoast, the Merrimack Valley, the Monadnock Region, and the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee area. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U.S. coastal state, with a length of 18 miles (29 km), sometimes measured as only 13 miles (21 km). The White Mountains range in New Hampshire spans the north-central portion of the state. The range includes Mount Washington, the tallest in the northeastern U.S.—site of the second-highest wind speed ever recorded— as well as Mount Adams and Mount Jefferson. With hurricane-force winds every third day on average, more than a hundred recorded deaths among visitors, and conspicuous krumholtz (dwarf, matted trees much like a carpet of bonsai trees), the climate on the upper reaches of Mount Washington has inspired the weather observatory on the peak to claim that the area has the "World's Worst Weather". The White Mountains were home to the rock formation called the Old Man of the Mountain, a face-like profile in Franconia Notch, until the formation disintegrated in May 2003. Even after its loss, the Old Man remains an enduring symbol for the state, seen on state highway signs, automobile license plates, and many government and private entities around New Hampshire. In southwestern New Hampshire, the landmark Mount Monadnock has given its name to a class of earth-forms—a monadnock—signifying, in geomorphology, any isolated resistant peak rising from a less resistant eroded plain. New Hampshire has more than 800 lakes and ponds, and approximately 19,000 miles (31,000 km) of rivers and streams. Major rivers include the 110-mile (177 km) Merrimack River, which bisects the lower half of the state north–south before passing into Massachusetts and reaching the sea in Newburyport. Its tributaries include the Contoocook River, Pemigewasset River, and Winnipesaukee River. The 410-mile (660 km) Connecticut River, which starts at New Hampshire's Connecticut Lakes and flows south to Connecticut, defines the western border with Vermont. The state border is not in the center of that river, as is usually the case, but at the low-water mark on the Vermont side; meaning the entire river along the Vermont border (save for areas where the water level has been raised by a dam) lies within New Hampshire. Only one town—Pittsburg—shares a land border with the state of Vermont. The "northwesternmost headwaters" of the Connecticut also define part of the Canada–U.S. border. The Piscataqua River and its several tributaries form the state's only significant ocean port where they flow into the Atlantic at Portsmouth. The Salmon Falls River and the Piscataqua define the southern portion of the border with Maine. The Piscataqua River boundary was the subject of a border dispute between New Hampshire and Maine in 2001, with New Hampshire claiming dominion over several islands (primarily Seavey's Island) that include the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2002, leaving ownership of the island with Maine. New Hampshire still claims sovereignty of the base, however. The largest of New Hampshire's lakes is Lake Winnipesaukee, which covers 71 square miles (184 km2) in the east-central part of New Hampshire. Umbagog Lake along the Maine border, approximately 12.3 square miles (31.9 km2), is a distant second. Squam Lake is the second largest lake entirely in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any state in the United States, approximately 18 miles (29 km) long. Hampton Beach is a popular local summer destination. About 7 miles (11 km) offshore are the Isles of Shoals, nine small islands (four of which are in New Hampshire) known as the site of a 19th-century art colony founded by poet Celia Thaxter, and the alleged location of one of the buried treasures of the pirate Blackbeard. It is the state with the highest percentage of timberland area in the country. New Hampshire is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. Much of the state, in particular the White Mountains, is covered by the conifers and northern hardwoods of the New England-Acadian forests. The southeast corner of the state and parts of the Connecticut River along the Vermont border are covered by the mixed oaks of the Northeastern coastal forests. The state's numerous forests are popular among autumnal leaf peepers seeking the brilliant foliage of the numerous deciduous trees. The northern third of the state is locally referred to as the "north country" or "north of the notches", in reference to the White Mountain passes that channel traffic. It contains less than 5% of the state's population, suffers relatively high poverty, and is steadily losing population as the logging and paper industries decline. However, the tourist industry, in particular visitors who go to northern New Hampshire to ski, snowboard, hike and mountain bike, has helped offset economic losses from mill closures. Environmental protection emerged as a key state issue in the early 1900s in response to poor logging practices. In the 1970s, activists defeated a proposal to build an oil refinery along the coast and limited plans for a full-width interstate highway through Franconia Notch to a parkway. Winter season lengths are projected to decline at ski areas across New Hampshire due to the effects of climate change, which is likely to continue the historic contraction and consolidation of the ski industry and threaten individual ski businesses and communities that rely on ski tourism. Flora and fauna Black bears, white-tailed deer, and moose can be found all over New Hampshire. There are also less-common animals such as the marten and the Canadian lynx. Climate New Hampshire experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa in some southern areas, Dfb in most of the state, and Dfc subarctic in some northern highland areas), with warm, humid summers, and long, cold, and snowy winters. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed all year. The climate of the southeastern portion is moderated by the Atlantic Ocean and averages relatively milder winters (for New Hampshire), while the northern and interior portions experience colder temperatures and lower humidity. Winters are cold and snowy throughout the state, and especially severe in the northern and mountainous areas. Average annual snowfall ranges from 60 inches (150 cm) to over 100 inches (250 cm) across the state. Average daytime highs are in the mid 70s°F to low 80s°F (24–28 °C) throughout the state in July, with overnight lows in the mid 50s°F to low 60s°F (13–15 °C). January temperatures range from an average high of 34 °F (1 °C) on the coast to overnight lows below 0 °F (−18 °C) in the far north and at high elevations. Average annual precipitation statewide is roughly 40 inches (100 cm) with some variation occurring in the White Mountains due to differences in elevation and annual snowfall. New Hampshire's highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) in Nashua on July 4, 1911, while the lowest recorded temperature was −47 °F (−44 °C) atop Mount Washington on January 29, 1934. Mount Washington also saw an unofficial −50 °F (−46 °C) reading on January 22, 1885, which, if made official, would tie the record low for New England (also −50 °F (−46 °C) at Big Black River, Maine, on January 16, 2009, and Bloomfield, Vermont on December 30, 1933). Extreme snow is often associated with a nor'easter, such as the Blizzard of '78 and the Blizzard of 1993, when several feet accumulated across portions of the state over 24 to 48 hours. Lighter snowfalls of several inches occur frequently throughout winter, often associated with an Alberta Clipper. New Hampshire, on occasion, is affected by hurricanes and tropical storms—although, by the time they reach the state, they are often extratropical—with most storms striking the southern New England coastline and moving inland or passing by offshore in the Gulf of Maine. Most of New Hampshire averages fewer than 20 days of thunderstorms per year and an average of two tornadoes occur annually statewide. The National Arbor Day Foundation plant hardiness zone map depicts zones 3, 4, 5, and 6 occurring throughout the state and indicates the transition from a relatively cooler to warmer climate as one travels southward across New Hampshire. The 1990 USDA plant hardiness zones for New Hampshire range from zone 3b in the north to zone 5b in the south. Metropolitan areas Metropolitan areas in the New England region are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs). The following is a list of NECTAs fully or partially in New Hampshire: Demographics Population As of the 2020 census, the resident population of New Hampshire was 1,377,529, a 4.6% increase since the 2010 United States Census. The center of population of New Hampshire is in Merrimack County, in the town of Pembroke. The center of population has moved south 12 miles (19 km) since 1950, a reflection of the fact that the state's fastest growth has been along its southern border, which is within commuting range of Boston and other Massachusetts cities. As indicated in the census, in 2020 88.3% of the population were White; 1.5% were Black or African American; 0.2% were Native American or Alaskan Native; 2.6% were Asian; 0.0% were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; 1.7% were some other race; and 5.6% were two or more races. 4.3% of the total population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 18.6% of the population were under 18 years of age; 19.3% were 65 years and over. The female population was 50.5%. The most densely populated areas generally lie within 50 miles (80 km) of the Massachusetts border, and are concentrated in two areas: along the Merrimack River Valley running from Concord to Nashua, and in the Seacoast Region along an axis stretching from Rochester to Portsmouth. Outside of those two regions, only one community, the city of Keene, has a population of over 20,000. The four counties covering these two areas account for 72% of the state population, and one (Hillsborough) has nearly 30% of the state population, as well as the two most populous communities, Manchester and Nashua. The northern portion of the state is very sparsely populated: the largest county by area, Coos, covers the northern one-fourth of the state and has only around 31,000 people, about a third of whom live in a single community (Berlin). The trends over the past several decades have been for the population to shift southward, as many northern communities lack the economic base to maintain their populations, while southern communities have been absorbed by the Greater Boston metropolis. As of the 2010 census, the population of New Hampshire was 1,316,470. The gender makeup of the state at that time was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. 21.8% of the population were under the age of 18; 64.6% were between the ages of 18 and 64; and 13.5% were 65 years of age or older. Additionally, about 57.3% of the population was born out of state. According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 1,605 homeless people in New Hampshire. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.8% of the population in 2010: 0.6% were of Mexican, 0.9% Puerto Rican, 0.1% Cuban, and 1.2% other Hispanic or Latino origin. As of 2020, the Hispanic or Latino population was counted as 4.3%. The Native American/Alaska native population is listed as 0.3% in the 2020 census, but may be higher. According to the 2012–2017 American Community Survey, the largest ancestry groups in the state were Irish (20.6%), English (16.5%), French (14.0%), Italian (10.4%), German (9.1%), French Canadian (8.9%), and American (4.8%). New Hampshire has the highest percentage (22.9%) of residents with French/French Canadian/Acadian ancestry of any U.S. state. In 2018, the top countries of origin for New Hampshire's immigrants were India, Canada, China, Nepal and the Dominican Republic. According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimates from 2017, 2.1% of the population aged 5 and older speak Spanish at home, while 1.8% speak French. In Coos County, 9.6% of the population speaks French at home, down from 16% in 2000. In the city of Nashua, Hillsborough County, 8.02% of the population speaks Spanish at home. Birth data Note: Percentages in the table do not add up to 100, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number. Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. In 2022, New Hampshire had the lowest teen birth rate of any state, at 4.6 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 years of age. Religion A Pew survey in 2014 showed that the religious affiliations of the people of New Hampshire was as follows: nonreligious 36%, Protestant 30%, Catholic 26%, Jehovah's Witness 2%, LDS (Mormon) 1%, and Jewish 1%. A survey suggests people in New Hampshire and Vermont are less likely than other Americans to attend weekly services and only 54% say they are "absolutely certain there is a God" compared to 71% in the rest of the nation. New Hampshire and Vermont are also at the lowest levels among states in religious commitment. In 2012, 23% of New Hampshire residents in a Gallup poll considered themselves "very religious", while 52% considered themselves "non-religious". According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) in 2010, the largest denominations were the Catholic Church with 311,028 members; the United Church of Christ with 26,321 members; and the United Methodist Church with 18,029 members. In 2016, a Gallup Poll found that New Hampshire was the least religious state in the United States. Only 20% of respondents in New Hampshire categorized themselves as "very religious", while the nationwide average was 40%. According to the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute study, 64% of the population was Christian, dominated by Roman Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism. In contrast with varying studies of estimated irreligiosity, the Public Religion Research Institute reported that irreligion declined from 36% at the separate 2014 Pew survey to 25% of the population in 2020. In 2021, the unaffiliated increased to 40% of the population, although Christianity altogether made up 54% of the total population (Catholics, Protestants, and Jehovah's Witnesses). Economy Total employment (2016): 594,243 Number of employer establishments: 37,868 The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Hampshire's total state product in 2018 was $86 billion, ranking 40th in the United States. Median household income in 2017 was $74,801, the fourth highest in the country (including Washington, DC). Its agricultural outputs are dairy products, nursery stock, cattle, apples and eggs. Its industrial outputs are machinery, electric equipment, rubber and plastic products, and tourism is a major component of the economy. New Hampshire experienced a major shift in its economic base during the 20th century. Historically, the base was composed of traditional New England textiles, shoemaking, and small machine shops, drawing upon low-wage labor from nearby small farms and parts of Quebec. Today, of the state's total manufacturing dollar value, these sectors contribute only two percent for textiles, two percent for leather goods, and nine percent for machining. They experienced a sharp decline due to obsolete plants and the lure of cheaper wages in the Southern United States. New Hampshire today has a broad-based and growing economy, with a state GDP growth rate of 2.2% in 2018. The state's largest economic sectors in 2018, based on contribution to GDP, are: 15% real estate and rental and leasing; 13% professional business services; 12% manufacturing; 10% government and government services; and 9% health care and social services. The state's budget in FY2018 was $5.97 billion, including $1.79 billion in federal funds. The issue of taxation is controversial in New Hampshire, which has a property tax (subject to municipal control) but no broad sales tax or income tax. The state does have narrower taxes on meals, lodging, vehicles, business and investment income, and tolls on state roads. According to the Energy Information Administration, New Hampshire's energy consumption and per capita energy consumption are among the lowest in the country. The Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant, near Portsmouth, is the largest individual electrical generating unit on the New England power grid and provided 57% of New Hampshire's electricity generation in 2017. Power generation from wind power increased strongly in 2012 and 2013, but remained rather flat for the next ten years at around 4% of consumption. In 2016, 2017 and at least 2019–2022, New Hampshire obtained more of its electricity generation from wind power than from coal-fired power plants. Hydroelectric power and biomass are other important renewable resources in the state. New Hampshire was a net exporter of electricity, exporting 63 trillion British thermal units (18 TWh). New Hampshire's residential electricity use is low compared with the national average, in part because demand for air conditioning is low during the generally mild summer months and because few households use electricity as their primary energy source for home heating. Nearly half of New Hampshire households use fuel oil for winter heating, which is one of the largest shares in the United States. New Hampshire has potential for renewable energies like wind power, hydroelectricity, and wood fuel. The state has no general sales tax and no personal state income tax (the state currently does tax, at a five percent rate, income from dividends and interest, but this tax is set to expire in 2027.) New Hampshire's lack of a broad-based tax system has resulted in the state's local jurisdictions having the 8th-highest property taxes as of a 2019 ranking by the Tax Foundation. However, the state's overall tax burden is relatively low; in 2010 New Hampshire ranked 8th-lowest among states in combined average state and local tax burden. The (preliminary) seasonally unemployment rate in April 2019 was 2.4% based on a 767,500 person civilian workforce with 749,000 people in employment. New Hampshire's workforce is 90% in nonfarm employment, with 18% employed in trade, transportation, and utilities; 17% in education and health care; 12% in government; 11% in professional and business services; and 10% in leisure and hospitality. Largest employers In March 2018, 86% of New Hampshire's workforce were employed by the private sector, with 53% of those workers being employed by firms with fewer than 100 employees. About 14% of private-sector employees are employed by firms with more than 1,000 employees. According to community surveys by the Economic & Labor Market Information Bureau of NH Employment Security, the following are the largest private employers in the state: New Hampshire's state government employs approximately 6,100 people. Additionally, the U.S. Department of State employs approximately 1,600 people at the National Visa Center and National Passport Center in Portsmouth, which process United States immigrant visa petitions and United States passport applications. Law and government The governor of New Hampshire, since January 5, 2017, is Republican Chris Sununu. New Hampshire's two U.S. senators are Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both of whom are Democrats and former governors. New Hampshire's two U.S. representatives as of January 2019 are Chris Pappas and Ann McLane Kuster, both Democrats. New Hampshire is an alcoholic beverage control state, and through the State Liquor Commission takes in $100 million from the sale and distribution of liquor. New Hampshire is the only state in the U.S. that does not require adults to wear seat belts in their vehicles. It is one of three states that have no mandatory helmet law. Governing documents The New Hampshire State Constitution of 1783 is the supreme law of the state, followed by the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated and the New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules. These are roughly analogous to the federal United States Constitution, United States Code and Code of Federal Regulations respectively. Branches of government New Hampshire has a bifurcated executive branch, consisting of the governor and a five-member executive council which votes on state contracts worth more than $5,000 and "advises and consents" to the governor's nominations to major state positions such as department heads and all judgeships and pardon requests. New Hampshire does not have a lieutenant governor; the Senate president serves as "acting governor" whenever the governor is unable to perform the duties. The legislature is called the General Court. It consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 400 representatives, making it one of the largest elected bodies in the English-speaking world, and 24 senators. Legislators are paid a nominal salary of $200 per two-year term plus travel costs, the lowest in the U.S. by far. Thus most are effectively volunteers, nearly half of whom are retirees. (For details, see the article on Government of New Hampshire.) The state's sole appellate court is the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The Superior Court is the court of general jurisdiction and the only court which provides for jury trials in civil or criminal cases. The other state courts are the Probate Court, District Court, and the Family Division. Local government New Hampshire has 10 counties and 234 cities and towns. New Hampshire is a "Dillon Rule" state, meaning the state retains all powers not specifically granted to municipalities. Even so, the legislature strongly favors local control, particularly concerning land use regulations. New Hampshire municipalities are classified as towns or cities, which differ primarily by the form of government. Most towns generally operate on the town meeting form of government, where the registered voters in the town act as the town legislature, and a board of selectmen acts as the executive of the town. Larger towns and the state's thirteen cities operate either on a council–manager or council–mayor form of government. There is no difference, from the state government's point of view, between towns and cities besides the form of government. All state-level statutes treat all municipalities identically. New Hampshire has a small number of unincorporated areas that are titled as grants, locations, purchases, or townships. These locations have limited to no self-government, and services are generally provided for them by neighboring towns or the county or state where needed. As of the 2000 census, there were 25 of these left in New Hampshire, accounting for a total population of 173 people (as of 2000); several were entirely depopulated. All but two of these unincorporated areas are in Coos County. Politics New Hampshire is known for its fiscal conservatism and cultural liberalism. The state's politics are cited as libertarian leaning. It is the least religious state in the Union as of a 2016 Gallup poll. The state has long had a great disdain for state taxation and state bureaucracy. As of 2023, New Hampshire has a Republican governor (Chris Sununu) and a Republican-controlled legislature, and is one of nine states (the only one in the American Northeast) to have no general state income tax imposed on individuals. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party, in that order, are the two largest parties in the state. A plurality of voters are registered as undeclared, and can choose either ballot in the primary and then regain their undeclared status after voting. The Libertarian Party had official party status from 1990 to 1996 and from 2016 to 2018. A movement known as the Free State Project suggests libertarians move to the state to concentrate their power. As of August 30, 2022, there were 869,863 registered voters, of whom 332,008 (38.17%) did not declare a political party affiliation, 273,921 (31.49%) were Democratic, and 263,934 (30.34%) were Republican. New Hampshire primary New Hampshire is internationally known for the New Hampshire primary, the first primary in the quadrennial American presidential election cycle. State law requires that the Secretary of State schedule this election at least one week before any "similar event". While the Iowa caucus precedes the New Hampshire primary, the New Hampshire election is the nation's first contest that uses the same procedure as the general election, draws more attention than those in other states, and has been decisive in shaping the national contest. In February 2023, the Democratic National Committee awarded that party's first primary to South Carolina, to be held on February 3, 2024, directing New Hampshire and Nevada to vote three days later. New Hampshire political leaders from both parties have vowed to stand by the state's "first in the nation" law and ignore the DNC. State law permits a town with fewer than 100 residents to open its polls at midnight and close when all registered citizens have cast their ballots. As such, the communities of Dixville Notch in Coos County and Hart's Location in Carroll County, among others, have chosen to implement these provisions. Dixville Notch and Hart's Location are traditionally the first places in both New Hampshire and the U.S. to vote in presidential primaries and elections. Nominations for all other partisan offices are decided in a separate primary election. In Presidential election cycles, this is the second primary election held in New Hampshire. Saint Anselm College in Goffstown has become a popular campaign spot for politicians as well as several national presidential debates because of its proximity to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. Elections In the past, New Hampshire has often voted Republican. Between 1856 and 1988, New Hampshire cast its electoral votes for the Democratic presidential ticket six times: Woodrow Wilson (twice), Franklin D. Roosevelt (three times), and Lyndon B. Johnson (once). Beginning in 1992, New Hampshire became a swing state in national and local elections, and in that time has supported Democrats in all presidential elections except 2000. It was the only state in the country to switch from supporting Republican George W. Bush in the 2000 election to supporting his Democratic challenger in the 2004 election, when John Kerry, a senator from neighboring Massachusetts, won the state. The Democrats dominated elections in New Hampshire in 2006 and 2008. In 2006, Democrats won both congressional seats (electing Carol Shea-Porter in the first district and Paul Hodes in the second), re-elected Governor John Lynch, and gained a majority on the Executive Council and in both houses for the first time since 1911. Democrats had not held both the legislature and the governorship since 1874. Neither U.S. Senate seat was up for a vote in 2006. In 2008, Democrats retained their majorities, governorship, and Congressional seats; and former governor Jeanne Shaheen defeated incumbent Republican John E. Sununu for the U.S. Senate in a rematch of the 2002 contest. The 2008 elections resulted in women holding a majority, 13 of the 24 seats, in the New Hampshire Senate, a first for any legislative body in the United States. In the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans made historic gains in New Hampshire, capturing veto-proof majorities in the state legislature, taking all five seats in the Executive Council, electing a new U.S. senator, Kelly Ayotte, winning both U.S. House seats, and reducing the margin of victory of incumbent Governor John Lynch compared to his 2006 and 2008 landslide wins. In the 2012 state legislative elections, Democrats took back the New Hampshire House of Representatives and narrowed the Republican majority in the New Hampshire Senate to 13–11. In 2012, New Hampshire became the first state in U.S. history to elect an all-female federal delegation: Democratic Congresswomen Carol Shea-Porter of Congressional District 1 and Ann McLane Kuster of Congressional District 2 accompanied U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte in 2013. Further, the state elected its second female governor: Democrat Maggie Hassan. In the 2014 elections, Republicans retook the New Hampshire House of Representatives with a 239–160 majority and expanded their majority in the New Hampshire Senate to 14 of the Senate's 24 seats. On the national level, incumbent Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen defeated her Republican challenger, former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown. New Hampshire also elected Frank Guinta (R) for its First Congressional District representative and Ann Kuster (D) for its Second Congressional District representative. In the 2016 elections, Republicans held the New Hampshire House of Representatives with a majority of 220–175 and held onto their 14 seats in the New Hampshire Senate. In the gubernatorial race, retiring Governor Maggie Hassan was succeeded by Republican Chris Sununu, who defeated Democratic nominee Colin Van Ostern. Sununu became the state's first Republican governor since Craig Benson, who left office in 2005 following defeat by John Lynch. Republicans control the governor's office and both chambers of the state legislature, a governing trifecta in which the Republicans have full governing power. In the presidential race, the state voted for the Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, by a margin of 2,736 votes, or 0.3%, one of the closest results the state has ever seen in a presidential race, while Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson received 4.12% of the vote. The Democrats also won a competitive race in the Second Congressional District, as well as a competitive senate race. New Hampshire's congressional delegation currently consists of exclusively Democrats. In the 116th United States Congress, it is one of only seven states with an entirely Democratic delegation, five of which are in New England (the others are Delaware and Hawaii). Free State Project The Free State Project (FSP) is a movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire, was selected in 2003), to concentrate libertarian activism around a single region. The Free State Project emphasizes decentralized decision-making, encouraging new movers and prior residents of New Hampshire to participate in a way the individual mover deems most appropriate. For example, as of 2017, there were 17 so-called Free Staters elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and in 2021, the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, which ranks bills and elected representatives based on their adherence to what they see as libertarian principles, scored 150 representatives as "A−" or above rated representatives. Participants also engage with other like-minded activist groups such as Rebuild New Hampshire, Young Americans for Liberty, and Americans for Prosperity. As of April 2022, approximately 6,232 participants have moved to New Hampshire for the Free State Project. Transportation Highways New Hampshire has a well-maintained, well-signed network of Interstate highways, U.S. highways, and state highways. State highway markers still depict the Old Man of the Mountain despite that rock formation's demise in 2003. Several route numbers align with the same route numbers in neighboring states. State highway numbering is arbitrary, with no overall system as with U.S. and Interstate systems. Major routes include: Interstate 89 runs northwest from near Concord to Lebanon on the Vermont border. Interstate 93 is the main Interstate highway in New Hampshire and runs north from Salem (on the Massachusetts border) to Littleton (on the Vermont border). I-93 connects the more densely populated southern part of the state to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains further to the north. Interstate 95 runs north–south briefly along New Hampshire's seacoast to serve the city of Portsmouth, before entering Maine U.S. Route 1 runs north–south briefly along New Hampshire's seacoast to the east of and paralleling I-95. U.S. Route 2 runs east–west through Coos County from Maine, intersecting Route 16, skirting the White Mountain National Forest passing through Jefferson and into Vermont. U.S. Route 3 is the longest numbered route in the state, and the only one to run completely through the state from the Massachusetts border to the Canada–U.S. border. It generally parallels Interstate 93. South of Manchester, it takes a more westerly route through Nashua. North of Franconia Notch, U.S. 3 takes a more easterly route, before terminating at the Canada–U.S. border. U.S. Route 4 terminates at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle and runs east–west across the southern part of the state connecting Durham, Concord, Boscawen, and Lebanon. New Hampshire Route 16 is a major north–south highway in the eastern part of the state that generally parallels the border with Maine, eventually entering Maine as Maine Route 16. The southernmost portion of NH 16 is a four-lane freeway, co-signed with U.S. Route 4. New Hampshire Route 101 is a major east–west highway in the southern part of the state that connects Keene with Manchester and the Seacoast region. East of Manchester, NH 101 is a four-lane, limited-access highway that runs to Hampton Beach and I-95. Air New Hampshire has 25 public-use airports, three with some scheduled commercial passenger service. The busiest airport by number of passengers handled is Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester and Londonderry, which serves the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The closest airport with international service is Logan International Airport in Boston. Public transportation Long-distance intercity passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak's Vermonter and Downeaster lines. Greyhound, Concord Coach, Vermont Translines, and Dartmouth Coach all provide intercity bus connections to and from points in New Hampshire and to long-distance points beyond and in between. As of 2013, Boston-centered MBTA Commuter Rail services reach only as far as northern Massachusetts. The New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority is working to extend "Capital Corridor" service from Lowell, Massachusetts, to Nashua, Concord, and Manchester, including Manchester-Boston Regional Airport; and "Coastal Corridor" service from Haverhill, Massachusetts, to Plaistow, New Hampshire. Legislation in 2007 created the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority (NHRTA) with the goal of overseeing the development of commuter rail in the state of New Hampshire. In 2011, Governor John Lynch vetoed HB 218, a bill passed by Republican lawmakers, which would have drastically curtailed the powers and responsibilities of NHRTA. The I-93 Corridor transit study suggested a rail alternative along the Manchester and Lawrence branch line which could provide freight and passenger service. This rail corridor would also have access to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. Eleven public transit authorities operate local and regional bus services around the state, and eight private carriers operate express bus services which link with the national intercity bus network. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation operates a statewide ride-sharing match service, in addition to independent ride matching and guaranteed ride home programs. Tourist railroads include the Conway Scenic Railroad, Hobo-Winnipesaukee Railroad, and the Mount Washington Cog Railway. Freight railways Freight railways in New Hampshire include Claremont & Concord Railroad (CCRR), Pan Am Railways via subsidiary Springfield Terminal Railway (ST), the New England Central Railroad (NHCR), the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad (SLR), and New Hampshire Northcoast Corporation (NHN). Education High schools The first public high schools in the state were the Boys' High School and the Girls' High School of Portsmouth, established either in 1827 or 1830, depending on the source. New Hampshire has more than 80 public high schools, many of which serve more than one town. The largest is Pinkerton Academy in Derry, which is owned by a private non-profit organization and serves as the public high school of several neighboring towns. There are at least 30 private high schools in the state. New Hampshire is also the home of several prestigious university-preparatory schools, such as Phillips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School, Proctor Academy, Brewster Academy, and Kimball Union Academy. In 2008, the state tied with Massachusetts as having the highest scores on the SAT and ACT standardized tests given to high school students. Colleges and universities Antioch University New England Colby-Sawyer College Community College System of New Hampshire: Great Bay Community College Lakes Region Community College Manchester Community College Nashua Community College NHTI, Concord's Community College River Valley Community College White Mountains Community College Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business Geisel School of Medicine Thayer School of Engineering Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies Franklin Pierce University Hellenic American University Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences New England College New Hampshire Institute of Art Rivier University Saint Anselm College Southern New Hampshire University Thomas More College of Liberal Arts University System of New Hampshire: University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire School of Law University of New Hampshire at Manchester Granite State College Keene State College Plymouth State University Media Daily newspapers Other publications The Telegraph of Nashua Radio stations Television stations ABC affiliate WMUR, Channel 9, Manchester PBS affiliate Channel 11, Durham (New Hampshire Public Television); repeater stations in Keene and Littleton True Crime Network affiliate WWJE, Channel 50, Derry/Manchester Ion Television station WPXG, Channel 21, Concord (satellite of WBPX in Boston) Sports The following sports teams are based in New Hampshire: The sport of paintball was invented in Henniker in 1981. Sutton was the home of the world's first commercial paintball facility. The New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon is an oval track and road course that has been visited by national motorsport championship series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, American Canadian Tour (ACT), the Champ Car and the IndyCar Series. Other motor racing venues include Star Speedway and New England Dragway in Epping, Lee USA Speedway in Lee, Twin State Speedway in Claremont, Monadnock Speedway in Winchester and Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan. New Hampshire has two universities competing at the NCAA Division I in all collegiate sports: the Dartmouth Big Green (Ivy League) and the New Hampshire Wildcats (America East Conference), as well as three NCAA Division II teams: Franklin Pierce Ravens, Saint Anselm Hawks, and Southern New Hampshire Penmen (Northeast-10 Conference). Most other schools compete in NCAA Division III or the NAIA. Annually since 2002, high-school statewide all-stars compete against Vermont in 10 sports during "Twin State" playoffs. Culture In the spring, New Hampshire's many sap houses hold sugaring-off open houses. In summer and early autumn, New Hampshire is home to many county fairs, the largest being the Hopkinton State Fair, in Contoocook. New Hampshire's Lakes Region is home to many summer camps, especially around Lake Winnipesaukee, and is a popular tourist destination. The Peterborough Players have performed every summer in Peterborough since 1933. The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, founded in 1931, is one of the longest-running professional summer theaters in the United States. In September, New Hampshire is host to the New Hampshire Highland Games. New Hampshire has also registered an official tartan with the proper authorities in Scotland, used to make kilts worn by the Lincoln Police Department while its officers serve during the games. The fall foliage peaks in mid-October. In the winter, New Hampshire's ski areas and snowmobile trails attract visitors from a wide area. After the lakes freeze over they become dotted with ice fishing ice houses, known locally as bobhouses. Funspot, the world's largest video arcade (now termed a museum), is in Laconia. In fiction Theater The fictional New Hampshire town of Grover's Corners serves as the setting of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town. Grover's Corners is based, in part, on the real town of Peterborough. Several local landmarks and nearby towns are mentioned in the text of the play, and Wilder himself spent some time in Peterborough at the MacDowell Colony, writing at least some of the play while in residence there. Comics Al Capp, creator of the comic strip Li'l Abner, used to joke that Dogpatch, the setting for the strip, was based on Seabrook, where he would vacation with his wife. Television In the AMC drama Breaking Bad ("Granite State") series lead Walter White escapes to a cabin in a fictional county in northern New Hampshire. An episode of the NBC drama The West Wing takes place in the fictional Hartsfield's Landing, New Hampshire. In the sixth season of HBO hit series The Sopranos, in an episode named for New Hampshire's famous slogan of "Live Free or Die", character Vito Spatafore flees New Jersey for the small fictional town of Dartford, New Hampshire, because of his inadvertently being outed as a gay man. Notable people Prominent individuals from New Hampshire include 14th President of the United States Franklin Pierce, founding father Nicholas Gilman, Senator Daniel Webster, Revolutionary War hero John Stark, editor Horace Greeley, founder of the Christian Science religion Mary Baker Eddy, poet Robert Frost, sculptor Daniel Chester French, astronaut Alan Shepard, rock musician Ronnie James Dio, author Dan Brown, actor-comedian Adam Sandler, inventor Dean Kamen, comedians Sarah Silverman and Seth Meyers, restaurateurs Richard and Maurice McDonald, WWE wrestler Triple H, and streamer Ludwig Ahgren. See also Outline of New Hampshire List of states and territories of the United States Notes References Further reading External links State government Official website New Hampshire Almanac Visitnh.gov, New Hampshire Office of Travel and Tourism Development U.S. Government New Hampshire State Guide from the Library of Congress Energy Facts for New Hampshire New Hampshire State Facts, USDA Economic Research Service USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of New Hampshire Other New Hampshire at Curlie Internet Movie Database listing of films shot in the state New Hampshire Historical Society NH Rocks New Hampshire Statewide Destination Marketing Organization Geographic data related to New Hampshire at OpenStreetMap

Rhode_Island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island

Rhode Island ( , pronounced "road") is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound; and shares a small maritime border with New York, east of Long Island. Rhode Island is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020; but it has grown at every decennial count since 1790 and is the second-most densely populated state, after New Jersey. The state takes its name from the eponymous island, though nearly all its land area is on the mainland. Providence is its capital and most populous city. Native Americans lived around Narragansett Bay before English settlers began arriving in the early 17th century. Rhode Island was unique among the Thirteen British Colonies in having been founded by a refugee, Roger Williams, who fled religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to establish a haven for religious liberty. He founded Providence in 1636 on land purchased from local tribes, creating the first settlement in North America with an explicitly secular government. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations subsequently became a destination for religious and political dissenters and social outcasts, earning it the moniker "Rogue's Island". Rhode Island was the first colony to call for a Continental Congress, in 1774, and the first to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, on May 4, 1776. After the American Revolution, during which it was heavily occupied and contested, Rhode Island became the fourth state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, on February 9, 1778. Because its citizens favored a weaker central government, it boycotted the 1787 convention that had drafted the United States Constitution, which it initially refused to ratify; it finally ratified it on May 29, 1790, the last of the original 13 states to do so. The state was officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since the colonial era but came to be commonly known as "Rhode Island". On November 3, 2020, the state's voters approved an amendment to the state constitution formally dropping "and Providence Plantations" from its full name. Its official nickname is the "Ocean State", a reference to its 400 mi (640 km) of coastline and the large bays and inlets that make up about 14% of its area. Name Origin of the name Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is on the U.S. mainland. Its official name was State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations from its beginning in 1636 until 2020, and it is referred to in that manner in the United States Constitution. This name was derived from the merger of Colonial settlements around Narragansett Bay, and outside the jurisdiction of Plymouth colony. The settlements of Rhode Island (Newport and Portsmouth) were on Rhode Island, also known as Aquidneck Island. Providence Plantations referred to settlements on the mainland of Providence and Warwick. It is unclear how the island came to be named Rhode Island, but two historical events may have been influential: Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano noted the presence of an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay in 1524 which he likened to the island of Rhodes off the coast of Greece. Subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island Verrazzano described, but the colonists who settled the area assumed that it was this island. Adriaen Block passed by the island during his expeditions in the 1610s, and described it in a 1625 account of his travels as "an island of reddish appearance", which was "een rodlich Eylande" in 17th-century Dutch, meaning a red or reddish island, supposedly evolving into the designation Rhode Island. Historians have theorized that this "reddish appearance" resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore. The earliest documented use of the name "Rhode Island" for Aquidneck was in 1637 by Roger Williams. The name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words: "Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island." The name "Isle of Rodes" is used in a legal document as late as 1646. Dutch maps as early as 1659 call the island "Red Island" (Roodt Eylandt). Changes to the name The first English settlement in Rhode Island was the town of Providence, which the Narragansett granted to Roger Williams in 1636. At that time, Williams obtained no permission from the English crown, as he believed the English had no legitimate claim on Narragansett and Wampanoag territory. Williams traveled to London in 1643, during the English Civil War, to obtain legal recognition of the new settlements. A Patent was granted to "the incorporation of Providence Plantations in Narragansett Bay in New England" by the Parliamentary committee on Foreign Plantations. After the English Civil war, a Royal Charter was granted in 1663, giving the colony an official name of the "Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, in America." Following the American Revolution, in 1790 the new state incorporated as the "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations". However, as matter of convenience, the state came to be commonly known as simply "Rhode Island". The word plantation in the state's name became a contested issue during the 20th century and the increased awareness of slavery and its role in early Rhode Island history. The General Assembly voted in 2009 to hold a referendum in November 2010 on removing "and Providence Plantations" from the official name. Advocates for excising plantation argued that the word symbolized a legacy of disenfranchisement for many Rhode Islanders, as well as the proliferation of slavery in the colonies and in the post-colonial United States. Advocates for retaining the name argued that plantation was simply an archaic synonym for colony and bore no relation to slavery. The people voted overwhelmingly (78% to 22%) to retain the entire original name. In June 2020, State Senator Harold Metts introduced a resolution for another ballot referendum on the subject, saying, "Whatever the meaning of the term 'plantations' in the context of Rhode Island's history, it carries a horrific connotation when considering the tragic and racist history of our nation." Governor Gina Raimondo issued an executive order to remove the phrase from a range of official documents and state websites. In July, amidst the George Floyd protests and nationwide calls to address systemic racism, the resolution referring the question to the voters was passed by both houses of the Rhode Island General Assembly: 69–1 in the House of Representatives, and 35–0 in the Senate. The change was then approved by voters 52.8% to 47.2% as part of the 2020 United States elections, taking effect in November 2020 upon certification of the results. History Colonial era: 1636–1770 At the onset of European colonization what is now Rhode Island was inhabited mainly by five Native American tribes - by far most of the state's territory was inhabited by the Narragansett, eastern borderlands were occupied by the Wampanoag, south-western coast by the Niantic, western borderlands by the Pequot and northern borderlands by the Nipmuc. In 1636, Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, and he settled at the top of Narragansett Bay on land sold or given to him by Narragansett sachem Canonicus. He named the site Providence, "having a sense of God's merciful providence unto me in my distress", and it became a place of religious freedom where all were welcome. In 1638 (after conferring with Williams), Anne Hutchinson, William Coddington, John Clarke, Philip Sherman, and other religious dissenters were allowed to settle on Aquidneck Island (also known as Rhode Island), by the Narragansett Sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi. They were given a few items in reciprocity for their generosity. However, as Roger Williams made clear in a letter to John Winthrop in June 1638: "Sir, concerning the islands Prudence and…Aquedenick…neither of them were sold properly, for a thousand fathom would not have bought either, by strangers. The truth is, not a penny was demanded for either, and what was paid was only gratuity, though I chose, for better assurance and form, to call it sale." This settlement was first called Pocasset and then changed in 1639 to Portsmouth. The town was governed by the Portsmouth Compact. The island's southern part became the separate settlement of Newport after disagreements among the founders. Samuel Gorton purchased lands at Shawomet in 1642 from the Narragansetts, precipitating a dispute with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1644, Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport united for their common independence as the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, governed by an elected council and "president". Gorton received a separate charter for his settlement in 1648 which he named Warwick after his patron. Metacomet was the Wampanoag tribe's war leader, whom the colonists called King Philip. They invaded and burned down several of the towns in the area during King Philip's War (1675–1676), including Providence which was attacked twice. A force of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth militia under General Josiah Winslow invaded and destroyed the fortified Narragansett Indian village in the Great Swamp in South Kingstown, Rhode Island on December 19, 1675. In one of the final actions of the war, an Indian associated with Benjamin Church killed King Philip in Bristol, Rhode Island. The colony was amalgamated into the Dominion of New England in 1686, as King James II attempted to enforce royal authority over the autonomous colonies in British North America, but the colony regained its independence under the Royal Charter after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Slaves were introduced in Rhode Island at this time, although there is no record of any law legalizing slave-holding. The colony later prospered under the slave trade, distilling rum to sell in Africa as part of a profitable triangular trade in slaves and sugar with the Caribbean. Rhode Island's legislative body passed an act in 1652 abolishing the holding of slaves (the first British colony to do so), but this edict was never enforced and Rhode Island continued to be heavily involved in the slave trade during the post-revolution era. In 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3% of the total (nearly twice the ratio of other New England colonies). Brown University was founded in 1764 as the College in the British Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It was one of nine Colonial colleges granted charters before the American Revolution and was the first college in America to accept students regardless of religious affiliation. Revolutionary to Civil War period: 1770–1860 Rhode Island's tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the American Revolution. At approximately 2 a.m. on June 10, 1772, a band of Providence residents attacked the grounded revenue schooner HMS Gaspée, burning it to the waterline for enforcing unpopular trade regulations within Narragansett Bay. Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776. It was also the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790, and only under threat of heavy trade tariffs from the other former colonies and after assurances were made that a Bill of Rights would become part of the Constitution. During the Revolution, the British occupied Newport in December 1776. A combined Franco-American force fought to drive them off Aquidneck Island. Portsmouth was the site of the first African-American military unit, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, to fight for the U.S. in the unsuccessful Battle of Rhode Island of August 29, 1778. A month earlier, the appearance of a French fleet off Newport caused the British to scuttle some of their own ships in an attempt to block the harbor. The British abandoned Newport in October 1779, concentrating their forces in New York City. An expedition of 5,500 French troops under Count Rochambeau arrived in Newport by sea on July 10, 1780. The celebrated march to Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781 ended with the defeat of the British at the Siege of Yorktown and the Battle of the Chesapeake. Rhode Island was also heavily involved in the Industrial Revolution, which began in America in 1787 when Thomas Somers reproduced textile machine plans which he imported from England. He helped to produce the Beverly Cotton Manufactory, in which Moses Brown of Providence took an interest. Moses Brown teamed up with Samuel Slater and helped to create the second cotton mill in America, a water-powered textile mill. The Industrial Revolution moved large numbers of workers into the cities. With the 1663 colonial charter still in effect, voting was restricted to landowners holding at least $134 in property. At the time of the revolution, 80% of White men in Rhode Island could vote; by 1840, only 40% were still eligible. The charter apportioned legislative seats equally among the state's towns, over-representing rural areas and under-representing the growing industrial centers. Additionally, the charter disallowed landless citizens from filing civil suits without endorsement from a landowner. Bills were periodically introduced in the legislature to expand suffrage, but they were invariably defeated. In 1841, activists led by Thomas W. Dorr organized an extralegal convention to draft a state constitution, arguing the charter government violated the Guarantee Clause in Article Four, Section Four of the United States Constitution. In 1842, the charter government and Dorr's supporters held separate elections, and two rival governments claimed sovereignty over the state. Dorr's supporters led an armed rebellion against the charter government, and Dorr was arrested and imprisoned for treason against the state. In response, the legislature drafted a state constitution which replaced property requirements for American-born citizens with a $1 poll tax, equivalent to $32 in 2023. In a heavily boycotted election in November 1842, voters approved the constitution. Voters also declined to limit the change to "white" men, thus re-enfranchising Black men—Black men meeting the property requirements had been able to vote in Rhode Island until 1822. The constitution also ended slavery. Immigrants remained subject to the property requirement, effectively disenfranchising many Irish-Americans and maintaining urban under-representation. In 1849, in Luther v. Borden, the US Supreme Court declined to rule on the constitutional question raised in Dorr's rebellion, holding that it was a political question outside its jurisdiction. In the early 19th century, Rhode Island was subject to a tuberculosis outbreak which led to public hysteria about vampirism. Civil War During the American Civil War, Rhode Island was the first Union state to send troops in response to President Lincoln's request for help from the states. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men, of whom 1,685 died. On the home front, Rhode Island and the other northern states used their industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials it needed to win the war. The United States Naval Academy moved to Rhode Island temporarily during the war. In 1866, Rhode Island abolished racial segregation in the public schools throughout the state. Gilded Age The 50 years following the Civil War were a time of prosperity and affluence that author William G. McLoughlin calls "Rhode Island's halcyon era". Rhode Island was a center of the Gilded Age and provided a home or summer home to many of the country's most prominent industrialists. This was a time of growth in textile mills and manufacturing and brought an influx of immigrants to fill those jobs, bringing population growth and urbanization. In Newport, New York's wealthiest industrialists created a summer haven to socialize and build grand mansions. Thousands of French-Canadian, Italian, Irish, and Portuguese immigrants arrived to fill jobs in the textile and manufacturing mills in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket. World War I During World War I, Rhode Island furnished 28,817 soldiers, of whom 612 died. After the war, the state was hit hard by the Spanish Influenza. In the 1920s and 1930s, rural Rhode Island saw a surge in Ku Klux Klan membership, largely in reaction to large waves of immigrants moving to the state. The Klan is believed to be responsible for burning the Watchman Industrial School in Scituate, which was a school for African-American children. Growth in the modern era: 1929–present Since the Great Depression, the Rhode Island Democratic Party has dominated local politics. Rhode Island has comprehensive health insurance for low-income children and a large social safety net. However, many urban areas still have a high rate of child poverty. Due to an influx of residents from Boston, increasing housing costs have resulted in more homelessness in Rhode Island. The 350th Anniversary of the founding of Rhode Island was celebrated with a free concert held on the tarmac of the Quonset State Airport on August 31, 1986. Performers included Chuck Berry, Tommy James, and headliner Bob Hope. Geography Rhode Island covers an area of 1,034 square miles (2,678 km2) within the New England region of the Northeastern United States and is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Connecticut, and on the south by Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares a narrow maritime border with New York State between Block Island and Long Island. The state's mean elevation is 200 feet (61 m). It is only 37 miles (60 km) wide and 48 miles (77 km) long, yet the state has a tidal shoreline on Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean of 384 miles (618 km). Rhode Island is nicknamed the Ocean State and has a number of oceanfront beaches. It is mostly flat with no real mountains, and the state's highest natural point is Jerimoth Hill, 812 feet (247 m) above sea level. The state has two distinct natural regions. Eastern Rhode Island contains the lowlands of the Narragansett Bay, while Western Rhode Island forms part of the New England upland. Rhode Island's forests are part of the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion. Narragansett Bay is a major feature of the state's topography. There are more than 30 islands within the bay; the largest is Aquidneck Island, which holds the municipalities of Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth. The second-largest island is Conanicut, and the third is Prudence. Block Island lies about 12 miles (19 km) off the southern coast of the mainland and separates Block Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean proper. A rare type of rock called Cumberlandite is found only in Rhode Island (specifically, in the town of Cumberland) and is the state rock. There were initially two known deposits of the mineral, but it is an ore of iron, and one of the deposits was extensively mined for its ferrous content. Geography of Rhode Island Climate Most of Rhode Island has a humid continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. The state's southern coastal portions are the broad transition zone into subtropical climates, with hot summers and cool winters with a mix of rain and snow. Block Island has an oceanic climate. The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island was 104 °F (40 °C), recorded on August 2, 1975, in Providence. The lowest recorded temperature in Rhode Island was −23 °F (−31 °C) on February 5, 1996, in Greene. Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 83 °F (28 °C) to a low of 20 °F (−7 °C). Rhode Island is vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes due to its location in New England, catching the brunt of many storms that blow up the eastern seaboard. Hurricanes that have done significant damage in the state include the 1938 New England hurricane, Hurricane Carol (1954), Hurricane Donna (1960), and Hurricane Bob (1991). Cities and towns Rhode Island is divided into five counties but it has no county governments. The entire state is divided into 39 municipalities, which handle all local government affairs. There are 8 cities and 31 towns in Rhode Island. Major population centers today result from historical factors; development took place predominantly along the Blackstone, Seekonk, and Providence Rivers with the advent of the water-powered mill. Providence is the base of a large metropolitan area. The state's 19 largest municipalities ranked by population are: Some of Rhode Island's cities and towns are further partitioned into villages, in common with many other New England states. Notable villages include Kingston in the town of South Kingstown, which houses the University of Rhode Island; Wickford in the town of North Kingstown, the site of an annual international art festival; and Wakefield where the Town Hall is for the Town of South Kingstown. Major cities of Rhode Island Landmarks The state capitol building is made of white Georgian marble. On top is the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. It houses the Rhode Island Charter granted by King Charles II in 1663, the Brown University charter, and other state treasures. The First Baptist Church of Providence is the oldest Baptist church in the Americas, founded by Roger Williams in 1638. The first fully automated post office in the country is in Providence. There are many historic mansions in the seaside city of Newport, including The Breakers, Marble House, and Belcourt Castle. Also there is the Touro Synagogue, dedicated on December 2, 1763, considered by locals to be the first synagogue within the United States (see below for information on New York City's claim), and still serving. The synagogue showcases the religious freedoms established by Roger Williams, as well as impressive architecture in a mix of the classic colonial and Sephardic style. The Newport Casino is a National Historic Landmark building complex that houses the International Tennis Hall of Fame and features an active grass-court tennis club. Scenic Route 1A (known locally as Ocean Road) is in Narragansett. "The Towers" is also in Narragansett featuring a large stone arch. It was once the entrance to a famous Narragansett casino that burned down in 1900. The Towers now serve as an event venue and host the local Chamber of Commerce, which operates a tourist information center. The Newport Tower has been hypothesized to be of Viking origin, although most experts believe it was a Colonial-era windmill. Environment Environmental legislation On May 29, 2014, Governor Lincoln D. Chafee announced that Rhode Island was one of eight states to release a collaborative Action Plan to put 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads by 2025. The plan's purpose is to reduce greenhouse gas and smog-causing emissions. The plan promotes zero-emissions vehicles and investments in the infrastructure to support them. In 2014, Rhode Island received grants of $2,711,685 from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Brownfield sites in eight locations. The grants provided communities with funding to assess, clean up, and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies, and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment. In 2013, the "Lots of Hope" program was established in the City of Providence to focus on increasing the city's green space and local food production, improve urban neighborhoods, promote healthy lifestyles and improve environmental sustainability. Supported by a $100,000 grant, the program will partner with the City of Providence, the Southside Community Land Trust, and the Rhode Island Foundation to convert city-owned vacant lots into productive urban farms. In 2012, Rhode Island passed bill S2277/H7412, "An act relating to Health and Safety – Environmental Cleanup Objectives for Schools", informally known as the School Siting Bill. Sponsored by Senator Juan Pichardo and Representative Scott Slater, and signed into law by the governor, it made Rhode Island the first US State to prohibit school construction on Brownfield sites where toxic vapors can potentially affect indoor air quality. It also creates a public participation process whenever a city or town considers building a school on any other kind of contaminated site. Environmental monitoring The Invasive Plant Atlas of New England monitors invasive weeds throughout New England. Demographics At the 2020 U.S. census, Rhode Island's population was 1,097,379. The center of population of Rhode Island is in Providence County, in the city of Cranston. A corridor of population can be seen from the Providence area, stretching northwest following the Blackstone River to Woonsocket, where 19th-century mills drove industry and development. According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 1,577 homeless people in Rhode Island. According to the 2020 census, 71.3% of the population was White (68.7% non-Hispanic white), 5.7% was Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.6% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 9.4% from some other race, and 9.3% from two or more races. 16.6% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race). Of the people residing in Rhode Island, 58.7% were born in Rhode Island, 26.6% were born in a different state, 2.0% were born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas or born abroad to American parent(s), and 12.6% were foreign born. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2015, Rhode Island had an estimated population of 1,056,298, which is an increase of 1,125, or 0.10%, from the prior year and an increase of 3,731, or 0.35%, since the year 2010. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 15,220 people (that is 66,973 births minus 51,753 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 14,001 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 18,965 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 4,964 people. In 2018, The top countries of origin for Rhode Island's immigrants were the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Portugal, Cape Verde and India. Hispanics in the state make up 12.8% of the population, predominantly Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Guatemalan populations. Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Dominican Americans in the country at 5.1% according to latest estimates, putting the state at sixth largest Dominican community in the country. According to the 2000 U.S. census, 84% of the population aged 5 and older spoke only American English, while 8.07% spoke Spanish at home, 3.80% Portuguese, 1.96% French, 1.39% Italian and 0.78% speak other languages at home accordingly. The state's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic white, has declined from 96.1% in 1970 to 76.5% in 2011. In 2011, 40.3% of Rhode Island's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white. 6.1% of Rhode Island's population were reported as under 5, 23.6% under 18, and 14.5% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 52% of the population. According to the 2010–2015 American Community Survey, the largest ancestry groups were Irish (18.3%), Italian (18.0%), English (10.5%), French (10.4%), and Portuguese (9.3%). Rhode Island has some of the highest percentages of Irish Americans and Italian Americans. Italian Americans make up a plurality in central and southern Providence County and French-Canadian Americans form a large part of northern Providence County. Irish Americans have a strong presence in Newport and Kent counties. Americans of English ancestry still have a presence in the state as well, especially in Washington County, and are often referred to as "Swamp Yankees". Rhode Island has a notable Lusophone community, having a higher percentage of Americans of Portuguese ancestry than any other state, including Portuguese Americans and Cape Verdean Americans. Additionally, the state also has the highest percentage of Liberian immigrants, with more than 15,000 residing in the state. African immigrants, including those from Cape Verde and Liberia, form significant and growing communities in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is one of the few states where Black people of recent foreign origin outnumber Black people of multigenerational American origin (African Americans). Rhode Island also has a sizable Asian community. There is one federally recognized tribe in Rhode Island, the Narragansett Indian Tribe. Although Rhode Island has the smallest land area of all 50 states, it has the second highest population density, second to that of New Jersey. Birth data Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Religion A Pew survey of Rhode Island residents' religious self-identification in 2014 showed the following distribution of affiliations: Catholic 42%, Protestant 30%, Jewish 1%, Jehovah's Witnesses 2%, Buddhism 1%, Mormonism 1%, Hinduism 1%, and Non-religious 20%. The largest Christian denominations as of 2010 were the Catholic Church with 456,598 adherents, the Episcopal Church with 19,377, the American Baptist Churches USA with 15,220, and the United Methodist Church with 6,901 adherents. Rhode Island has had the highest proportion of Catholic residents of any state according to a study in 2000, mainly due to large Irish, Italian, and French-Canadian immigration in the past; recently, significant Portuguese and various Hispanic or Latino communities have also been established in the state. Though it has the highest overall Catholic percentage of any state, none of Rhode Island's individual counties ranks among the 10 most Catholic in the United States, as Catholics are evenly spread throughout the state. According to the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in 2020, 67% of the population were Christian, spread among evangelical and mainline Protestantism, and Roman Catholicism. In 2022, the Public Religion Research Institute revealed 72% of the population were Christian. Rhode Island's Jewish community, centered in the Providence area, emerged during a wave of Jewish immigration predominantly from Eastern Europeans shtetls between 1880 and 1920. The presence of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, the oldest existing synagogue in the United States, emphasizes that these second-wave immigrants did not create Rhode Island's first Jewish community; a comparatively smaller wave of Spanish and Portuguese Jews immigrated to Newport during the colonial era. In 2022, they made up 2% of the state's population. The religiously unaffiliated since 2014 were 20% of the population, though the separate study by the Public Religion Research Institute determined the irreligious increased to 29% of the adult population. In 2022, the religiously unaffiliated declined to 24% of the population. Native American tribes Today Many inhabitants of Rhode Island identify as being Native American alone (6,058 people in 2010 census and 7,385 in 2020) or Native American in combination with one or more other races (8,336 people in 2010 census and 15,972 in 2020). Many inhabitants of Rhode Island also reported belonging to tribes in 2010 census, the largest of which were the Narragansett (2,820 people), the Cherokee (987), the Wampanoag (559) and the Pequot (424). Other tribes included the Iroquois (278), the Micmac (101), the Abenaki (100), the Nipmuc (99) and more. Economy The Rhode Island economy had a colonial base in fishing. The Blackstone River Valley was a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. It was in Pawtucket that Samuel Slater set up Slater Mill in 1793, using the waterpower of the Blackstone River to power his cotton mill. For a while, Rhode Island was one of the leaders in textiles. However, with the Great Depression, most textile factories relocated to southern U.S. states. The textile industry still constitutes a part of the Rhode Island economy but does not have the same power. Other important industries in Rhode Island's past included toolmaking, costume jewelry, and silverware. An interesting by-product of Rhode Island's industrial history is the number of abandoned factories, many of which are now condominiums, museums, offices, and low-income and elderly housing. Today, much of Rhode Island's economy is based on services, particularly healthcare and education, and still manufacturing to some extent. The state's nautical history continues in the 21st century in the form of nuclear submarine construction. Per the 2013 American Communities Survey, Rhode Island has the highest paid elementary school teachers in the country, with an average salary of $75,028 (adjusted to inflation). The headquarters of Citizens Financial Group, the 14th largest bank in the United States, is in Providence. The Fortune 500 companies CVS Caremark and Textron are based in Woonsocket and Providence, respectively. FM Global, GTECH Corporation, Hasbro, American Power Conversion, Nortek, and Amica Mutual Insurance are all Fortune 1000 companies based in Rhode Island. Rhode Island's 2000 total gross state production was $46.18 billion (adjusted to inflation), placing it 45th in the nation. Its 2000 per capita personal income was $41,484 (adjusted to inflation), 16th in the nation. Rhode Island has the lowest level of energy consumption per capita of any state. Additionally, Rhode Island is rated as the 5th most energy efficient state in the country. In December 2012, the state's unemployment rate was 10.2%. This has gradually reduced to 3.5% in November 2019, however, the coronavirus pandemic brought the unemployment rate to a high of 18.1% in April 2020. This has since reduced to 10.5% in September 2020 and is projected to further decrease to 7% in October 2020. Health services are Rhode Island's largest industry. Second is tourism, supporting 39,000 jobs, with tourism-related sales at $4.56 billion (adjusted to inflation) in the year 2000. The third-largest industry is manufacturing. Its industrial outputs are submarine construction, shipbuilding, costume jewelry, fabricated metal products, electrical equipment, machinery, and boatbuilding. Rhode Island's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs. The largest single product is milk, which in 2017 totaled $4,563,000 in sales. Rhode Island's taxes were appreciably higher than those of neighboring states, because Rhode Island's income tax was based on 25% of the payer's federal income tax payment. Former Governor Donald Carcieri claimed the higher tax rate had an inhibitory effect on business growth in the state and called for reductions to increase the competitiveness of the state's business environment. In 2010, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a new state income tax structure that Governor Carcieri signed into law on June 9, 2010. The income tax overhaul has made Rhode Island competitive with other New England states by lowering its maximum tax rate to 5.99% and reducing the number of tax brackets to three. The state's first income tax was enacted in 1971. Largest employers As of March 2011, Rhode Island's largest employers (excluding employees of municipalities) are: Transportation Bus The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) operates statewide intra- and intercity bus transport from its hubs at Kennedy Plaza in Providence, Pawtucket, and Newport. RIPTA bus routes serve 38 of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns. (New Shoreham on Block Island is not served). RIPTA operates 58 routes, including daytime trolley service (using trolley-style replica buses) in Providence and Newport. Ferry From 2000 through 2008, RIPTA offered seasonal ferry service linking Providence and Newport (already connected by highway) funded by grant money from the United States Department of Transportation. Though the service was popular with residents and tourists, RIPTA was unable to continue after the federal funding ended. Service was discontinued as of 2010. The service resumed in 2016 and has been successful. The privately run Block Island Ferry links Block Island with Newport and Narragansett with traditional and fast-ferry service, while the Prudence Island Ferry connects Bristol with Prudence Island. Private ferry services also link several Rhode Island communities with ports in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail's Providence/Stoughton Line links Providence and T. F. Green Airport with Boston's South Station, with an intermediate stop at Pawtucket/Central Falls and several stations in Massachusetts. The line was later extended southward to Wickford Junction, with service beginning April 23, 2012. The state hopes to extend the MBTA line to Kingston and Westerly, as well as explore the possibility of extending Connecticut's Shore Line East to T.F. Green Airport. Amtrak's Acela Express stops at Providence Station (the only Acela stop in Rhode Island), linking Providence to other cities in the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak's Northeast Regional service makes stops at Providence Station, Kingston, and Westerly. Aviation Rhode Island's primary airport for passenger and cargo transport is T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, though Rhode Islanders who wish to travel internationally on direct flights and those who seek a greater availability of flights and destinations often fly through Logan International Airport in Boston. Limited access highways Interstate 95 (I-95) runs southwest to northeast across the state, linking Rhode Island with other states along the East Coast. I-295 functions as a partial beltway encircling Providence to the west. I-195 provides a limited-access highway connection from Providence (and Connecticut and New York via I-95) to Cape Cod. Initially built as the easternmost link in the (now cancelled) extension of I-84 from Hartford, Connecticut, a portion of U.S. Route 6 (US 6) through northern Rhode Island is limited-access and links I-295 with downtown Providence. Several Rhode Island highways extend the state's limited-access highway network. Route 4 is a major north–south freeway linking Providence and Warwick (via I-95) with suburban and beach communities along Narragansett Bay. Route 10 is an urban connector linking downtown Providence with Cranston and Johnston. Route 37 is an important east–west freeway through Cranston and Warwick and links I-95 with I-295. Route 99 links Woonsocket with Providence (via Route 146). Route 146 travels through the Blackstone Valley, linking Providence and I-95 with Worcester, Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Turnpike. Route 403 links Route 4 with Quonset Point. Several bridges cross Narragansett Bay connecting Aquidneck Island and Conanicut Island to the mainland, most notably the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge and the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge. Bicycle paths The East Bay Bike Path stretches from Providence to Bristol along the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, while the Blackstone River Bikeway will eventually link Providence and Worcester. In 2011, Rhode Island completed work on a marked on-road bicycle path through Pawtucket and Providence, connecting the East Bay Bike Path with the Blackstone River Bikeway, completing a 33.5 miles (54 km) bicycle route through the eastern side of the state. The William C. O'Neill Bike Path (commonly known as the South County Bike Path) is an 8 mi (13 km) path through South Kingstown and Narragansett. The 19 mi (31 km) Washington Secondary Bike Path stretches from Cranston to Coventry, and the 2 mi (3.2 km) Ten Mile River Greenway path runs through East Providence and Pawtucket. Future In late 2019, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority released a draft of the Rhode Island Transit Master Plan, documenting and describing a variety of proposed improvements and additions to be made to the state's public transit network by 2040. Several different proposals were offered and still under consideration as of December 2020, including implementation of a bus rapid transit system, express bus routes, expansion of Amtrak and MBTA services throughout the state, and construction of a new light rail network through downtown Providence. Media Education Primary and secondary schools Colleges and universities Rhode Island has several colleges and universities: Culture Local accent Some Rhode Islanders speak with the distinctive, non-rhotic, traditional Rhode Island accent linguists describe as a cross between New York City and Boston accents (e.g., "water" sounds like "watuh" [ˈwɔəɾə]). Many Rhode Islanders distinguish a strong aw sound [ɔə] (i.e., resist the cot–caught merger of Boston) much like one might hear in New Jersey or New York City; for example, the word coffee is pronounced [ˈkʰɔəfi]. Rhode Islanders sometimes refer to drinking fountains as "bubblers", milkshakes as "cabinets", and overstuffed foot-long sandwiches (of whatever kind) as "grinders". Food and beverages Rhode Island, like the rest of New England, has a tradition of clam chowder. Both the white New England and the red Manhattan varieties are popular, but there is also a unique clear-broth chowder known as Rhode Island Clam Chowder available in many restaurants. A culinary tradition in Rhode Island is the clam cake (also known as a clam fritter outside of Rhode Island), a deep fried ball of buttery dough with chopped bits of clam inside. They are sold by the half-dozen or dozen in most seafood restaurants around the state, and the quintessential summer meal in Rhode Island is chowder and clam cakes. The quahog is a large local clam usually used in a chowder. It is also ground and mixed with stuffing or spicy minced sausage, and then baked in its shell to form a stuffie. Calamari (squid) is sliced into rings and fried as an appetizer in most Italian restaurants, typically served Sicilian-style with sliced banana peppers and marinara sauce on the side. (In 2014, calamari became the official state appetizer.) Clams Casino originated in Rhode Island, invented by Julius Keller, the maître d' in the original Casino next to the seaside Towers in Narragansett. Clams Casino resemble the beloved stuffed quahog but are generally made with the smaller littleneck or cherrystone clam and are unique in their use of bacon as a topping. The official state drink of Rhode Island is coffee milk, a beverage created by mixing milk with coffee syrup. This unique syrup was invented in the state and is sold in almost all Rhode Island supermarkets, as well as its bordering states. Johnnycakes have been a Rhode Island staple since Colonial times, made with corn meal and water then pan-fried much like pancakes. Submarine sandwiches are called grinders throughout Rhode Island, and the Italian grinder, made with cold cuts such as ham, prosciutto, capicola, salami, and Provolone cheese, is especially popular. Linguiça or chouriço is a spicy Portuguese sausage often served with peppers and eaten with hearty bread. Rhode Island state symbols In popular culture The Farrelly brothers and Seth MacFarlane depict Rhode Island in popular culture, often making comedic parodies of the state. MacFarlane's television series Family Guy is based in a fictional Rhode Island city named Quahog, and notable local events and celebrities are regularly lampooned. Peter Griffin is seen working at the Pawtucket brewery, and other state locations are mentioned. The 1956 film High Society (starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra) was set in Newport, Rhode Island. The 1974 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby was also filmed in Newport. Jacqueline Bouvier and John F. Kennedy were married at St. Mary's church in Newport. Their reception took place at Hammersmith Farm, the Bouvier summer home in Newport. Cartoonist Don Bousquet, a state icon, has made a career out of Rhode Island culture, drawing Rhode Island-themed gags in The Providence Journal and Yankee magazine. These cartoons have been reprinted in the Quahog series of paperbacks (I Brake for Quahogs, Beware of the Quahog, and The Quahog Walks Among Us.) Bousquet has also collaborated with humorist and Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin on two books: The Rhode Island Dictionary and The Rhode Island Handbook. The 1998 film Meet Joe Black was filmed at Aldrich Mansion in the Warwick Neck area of Warwick. Brotherhood is set in Rhode Island. Body of Proof's first season was filmed entirely in Rhode Island. The show premiered on March 29, 2011. The 2007 Steve Carell and Dane Cook film Dan in Real Life was filmed in various coastal towns in the state. The sunset scene with the entire family on the beach takes place at Napatree Point. Jersey Shore star Pauly D filmed part of his spin-off The Pauly D Project in his hometown of Johnston. The Comedy Central cable television series Another Period is set in Newport during the Gilded Age. Notable firsts in Rhode Island Rhode Island has been the first in a number of initiatives. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations enacted the first law prohibiting slavery in America on May 18, 1652. The first act of armed rebellion in America against the British Crown was the boarding and burning of the Revenue Schooner HMS Gaspée in Narragansett Bay on June 10, 1772. The idea of a Continental Congress was first proposed at a town meeting in Providence on May 17, 1774. Rhode Island elected the first delegates (Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward) to the Continental Congress on June 15, 1774. The Rhode Island General Assembly created the first standing army in the colonies (1,500 men) on April 22, 1775. On June 15, 1775, the first naval engagement took place in the American Revolution between an American sloop commanded by Capt. Abraham Whipple and an armed tender of the British Frigate Rose. The tender was chased aground and captured. Later in June, the General Assembly created the American Navy when it commissioned the sloops Katy and Washington, armed with 24 guns and commanded by Abraham Whipple who was promoted to Commodore. Rhode Island was the first Colony to declare independence from Britain on May 4, 1776. Slater Mill in Pawtucket was the first commercially successful cotton-spinning mill with a fully mechanized power system in America and was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the US. The oldest Fourth of July parade in the country is still held annually in Bristol, Rhode Island. The first Baptist church in America was founded in Providence in 1638. Ann Smith Franklin of the Newport Mercury was the first female newspaper editor in America (August 22, 1762). Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in America, founded in Newport in 1763. Pelham Street in Newport was the first in America to be illuminated by gaslight in 1806. The first strike in the United States in which women participated occurred in Pawtucket in 1824. Watch Hill has the nation's oldest flying horses carousel that has been in continuous operation since 1850. The motion picture machine was patented in Providence on April 23, 1867. The first lunch wagon in America was introduced in Providence in 1872. The first nine-hole golf course in America was completed in Newport in 1890. The first state health laboratory was established in Providence on September 1, 1894. The Rhode Island State House was the first building with an all-marble dome to be built in the United States (1895–1901). The first automobile race on a track was held in Cranston on September 7, 1896. The first automobile parade was held in Newport on September 7, 1899, on the grounds of Belcourt Castle. Miscellaneous local culture Rhode Island is nicknamed "The Ocean State", and the nautical nature of Rhode Island's geography pervades its culture. Newport Harbor, in particular, holds many pleasure boats. In the lobby of T. F. Green, the state's main airport, is a large life-sized sailboat, and the state's license plates depict an ocean wave or a sailboat. The large number of beaches in Washington County lures many Rhode Islanders south for summer vacation. The state constitution protects shore access, including swimming and gathering of seaweed. The 1982 Rhode Island Supreme Court decision in State v. Ibbison defines the end of private land as the mean high tide line, which is difficult to determine in day-to-day activities, and has resulted in beach access conflicts. Underfunding of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council has resulted in lax enforcement against encroachment on public access and building of illegal structures. The state was notorious for organized crime activity from the 1950s into the 1990s when the Patriarca crime family held sway over most of New England from its Providence headquarters. Rhode Islanders developed a unique style of architecture in the 17th century called the stone-ender. Rhode Island is the only state to still celebrate Victory over Japan Day, which is officially named "Victory Day" but is sometimes referred to as "VJ Day". It is celebrated on the second Monday in August. Nibbles Woodaway, more commonly referred to as "The Big Blue Bug", is a 58-foot-long termite mascot for a Providence extermination business. Since its construction in 1980, it has been featured in several movies and television shows, and has come to be recognized as a cultural landmark by many locals. In more recent times, the Big Blue Bug has been given a mask to remind locals and visitors to mask-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sports Professional Rhode Island is currently home to two professional minor league teams, one being the Providence Bruins ice hockey team of the American Hockey League, who are a top-level minor league affiliate of the Boston Bruins. They play in the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence and won the AHL's Calder Cup during the 1998–99 AHL season. The other is Rhode Island FC, a soccer team that began competing in the second tier USL Championship in 2024 at Beirne Stadium located within Bryant University, awaiting the completion of the soccer-specific Tidewater Stadium in Pawtucket in time for the 2025 season. The Pawtucket Red Sox baseball team was a Triple-A International League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox from 1973 to 2020. They played at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket and had won four league titles, the Governors' Cup, in 1973, 1984, 2012, and 2014. McCoy Stadium also has the distinction of being home to the longest professional baseball game ever played – 33 innings. The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) from 1926 to 1936, and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The team won the Calder Cup in 1938, 1940, 1949, and 1956. The Reds played at the Rhode Island Auditorium, on North Main Street in Providence, Rhode Island from 1926 through 1972, when the team affiliated with the New York Rangers and moved into the newly built Providence Civic Center. The team name came from the state bird, a rooster known as the Rhode Island Red. They moved to New York in 1977, then to Connecticut in 1997, and are now called the Hartford Wolf Pack. The Reds are the oldest continuously operating minor-league hockey franchise in North America, having fielded a team in one form or another since 1926 in the CAHL. It is also the only AHL franchise to have never missed a season. The AHL returned to Providence in 1992 in the form of the Providence Bruins. Before the great expansion of athletic teams all over the country, Providence and Rhode Island in general played a great role in supporting teams. The Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884. The team played their home games at the old Messer Street Field in Providence. The Grays played in the National League from 1878 to 1885. They defeated the New York Metropolitans of the American Association in a best of five-game series at the Polo Grounds in New York. Providence won three straight games to become the first champions in major league baseball history. Babe Ruth played for the minor league Providence Grays of 1914 and hit his only official minor league home run for them before the Grays' parent club, the Boston Red Stockings, recalled him. Rhode Island has deep history with the sport of soccer where the sport was played as early as 1886 when the state's first organized league would be founded, known as the Rhode Island Football Association (RIFA). One of their teams, the Pawtucket Free Wanderers, would establish themselves as a regional power and win the American Cup in 1893. The first championship game of the U.S. Open Cup was also held in 1914 in Pawtucket's Coates Field to a crowd of 10,000. Later, a team known as Pawtucket Rangers F.C. would win the 1941 edition of the U.S. Open Cup (then National Challenge Cup). The Rhode Island Oceaneers would later be founded, and went on to win the 1974 American Soccer League championship. Other former semiprofessional soccer teams of the modern era include the Rhode Island Stingrays of the USL Premier Development League, and the Rhode Island Reds of the National Premier Soccer League, with both leagues regarded as the fourth tier of American soccer. The now-defunct professional football team known as the Providence Steamrollers won the 1928 NFL title. They played in a 10,000 person stadium called the Cycledrome. An unrelated basketball team also known as the Providence Steamrollers played in the Basketball Association of America, which would become the National Basketball Association. Rhode Island's only rugby league team was the Rhode Island Rebellion, a semi-professional team that was a founding member of the USA Rugby League, which was at the time the top competition in the United States for the sport of rugby league. The Rebellion played their home games at Classical High School in Providence. Current professional teams Current semi-professional teams Collegiate and amateur sports There are four NCAA Division I schools in Rhode Island. All four schools compete in different conferences. The Brown University Bears compete in the Ivy League, the Bryant University Bulldogs compete in the America East Conference, the Providence College Friars compete in the Big East Conference, and the University of Rhode Island Rams compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Three of the schools' football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision, the second-highest level of college football in the United States. Brown plays FCS football in the Ivy League, Bryant plays FCS football in the Big South Conference before that league merges its football operations with those of the Ohio Valley Conference in 2023, and Rhode Island plays FCS football in CAA Football, the technically separate football league of the Colonial Athletic Association. All four Division I schools in the state compete in an intrastate all-sports competition known as the Ocean State Cup, with Bryant winning the most recent cup in 2011–12 academic year. From 1930 to 1983, America's Cup races were sailed off Newport, and the extreme-sport X Games and Gravity Games were founded and hosted in the state's capital city. The International Tennis Hall of Fame is in Newport at the Newport Casino, site of the first U.S. National Championships in 1881. The Hall of Fame and Museum were established in 1954 by Jimmy Van Alen as "a shrine to the ideals of the game". Rhode Island is also home to the headquarters of the governing body for youth rugby league in the United States, the American Youth Rugby League Association or AYRLA. The AYRLA has started the first-ever Rugby League youth competition in Providence Middle Schools, a program at the RI Training School, in addition to starting the first High School Competition in the US in Providence Public High School. Government The capital of Rhode Island is Providence. The state's governor is Daniel McKee (D), and the lieutenant governor is Sabina Matos (D). Gina Raimondo became Rhode Island's first female governor with a plurality of the vote in the November 2014 state elections. Its United States senators are Jack Reed (D) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D). Rhode Island's two United States representatives are Gabe Amo (D-1) and Seth Magaziner (D-2). See congressional districts map. Rhode Island is one of a few states that do not have an official governor's residence. See List of Rhode Island Governors. The state legislature is the Rhode Island General Assembly, consisting of the 75-member House of Representatives and the 38-member Senate. The Democratic Party dominates both houses of the bicameral body; the Republican Party's presence is minor in the state government, with Republicans holding a handful of seats in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Elections Rhode Island's population barely crosses the threshold beyond the minimum of three for additional votes in both the federal House of Representatives and Electoral College; it is well represented relative to its population, with the eighth-highest number of electoral votes and second-highest number of House Representatives per resident. Based on its area, Rhode Island has the highest density of electoral votes of any state. Federally, Rhode Island is a reliably Democratic state during presidential elections, usually supporting the Democratic presidential nominee. The state voted for the Republican presidential candidate until 1908. Since then, it has voted for the Republican nominee for president seven times, and the Democratic nominee 17 times. The last 16 presidential elections in Rhode Island have resulted in the Democratic Party winning the Ocean State's Electoral College votes 12 times. In the 1980 presidential election, Rhode Island was one of six states to vote against Republican Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the last Republican to win any of the state's counties in a Presidential election until Donald Trump won Kent County in 2016. In 1988, George H. W. Bush won over 40% of the state's popular vote, something no Republican has done since. Rhode Island was the Democrats' leading state in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1988 and 2000, and second-best in 1968, 1972, 1996, and 2004. Rhode Island's most one-sided Presidential election result was in 1964, with over 80% of Rhode Island's votes going for Lyndon B. Johnson. In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry more than a 20-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 59.4% of its vote. All but three of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The exceptions were East Greenwich, West Greenwich, and Scituate. In 2008, Rhode Island gave Barack Obama a 28-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 63% of its vote. All but one of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate (the exception being Scituate). In a 2020 study, Rhode Island was ranked as the 19th easiest state for citizens to vote in. Legislation and taxes Rhode Island is one of 21 states that have abolished capital punishment; it was second do so, just after Michigan, and carried out its last execution in the 1840s. Rhode Island was the second to last state to make prostitution illegal. Until November 2009 Rhode Island law made prostitution legal provided it took place indoors. In a 2009 study Rhode Island was listed as the 9th safest state in the country. In 2011, Rhode Island became the third state in the United States to pass legislation to allow the use of medical marijuana. On May 25, 2022, Rhode Island fully legalized recreational use of marijuana, becoming the nineteenth state to do so. Additionally, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed legislation that allowed civil unions which Governor Lincoln Chafee signed into law on July 2, 2011. Rhode Island became the eighth state to fully recognize either same-sex marriage or civil unions. Same-sex marriage became legal on May 2, 2013, and took effect August 1. Rhode Island has some of the highest taxes in the country, particularly its property taxes, ranking seventh in local and state taxes, and sixth in real estate taxes. Notable people Thomas Angell (1618–1694) – co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Joshua Babcock (1707–1783) – physician, American Revolution general, state Supreme Court justice, and postmaster John Clarke (1609–1676) – Baptist minister, co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in America William Coddington (1601–1678) – magistrate of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Judge of Portsmouth, Judge of Newport, Governor of Portsmouth and Newport, Deputy Governor of the entire colony, and governor of the colony William Ellery (1727–1820) – a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Rhode Island Samuel Gorton (1593–1677) – settled Warwick Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) – Continental Army officer, considered George Washington's most gifted officer Esek Hopkins (1718–1802) – Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785) – Governor of Rhode Island, RI Supreme Court justice, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) – early settler of Newport, the catalyst of the Antinomian Controversy H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) – author Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) naval commander and hero of the War of 1812, the best-known and most prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty Samuel Slater (1768–1835) – industrialist, "father of the industrial revolution" Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) – painter, one of America's foremost portraitists James Mitchell Varnum (1748–1789) – general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War Samuel Ward (1725–1776) – Supreme Court Justice, Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and a delegate to the Continental Congress Samuel Ward Jr. (1756–1832) – American Revolutionary War soldier and delegate to the secessionist Hartford Convention Roger Williams (1603–1684) – founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, influential author, considered the first proponent of separation of church and state Abraham Whipple (1733–1819) – Continental Navy commander-in-chief See also Index of Rhode Island-related articles Outline of Rhode Island Explanatory notes Citations General bibliography External links Rhode Island at Curlie State of Rhode Island Government website Energy & Environmental Data for Rhode Island USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Rhode Island Archived December 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine U.S. Census Bureau Quickfacts: Rhode Island Rhode Island laws Scituate Art Festival USDA Rhode Island State Facts "Rhode Island" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 248–254. — Detailed Historical Article Indian Place Names Geographic data related to Rhode Island at OpenStreetMap Rhode Island State Databases – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Rhode Island state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association. Rhode Island State Guide from the Library of Congress Rhode Island State Archives Catalog for further information

Vermont

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont

Vermont ( vər-MONT) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the state had a population of 643,503, ranking it the second least populated U.S. state. It is the nation's sixth smallest state in area. The state's capital of Montpelier is the least populous U.S. state capital. No other U.S. state has a most populous city with fewer residents than Burlington. Native Americans have inhabited the area for about 12,000 years. The competitive tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and Iroquoian-speaking Mohawk were active in the area at the time of European encounter. During the 17th century, French colonists claimed the territory as part of New France. Conflict arose when the Kingdom of Great Britain began to settle colonies to the south along the Atlantic coast; France was defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years' War, ceding its territory east of the Mississippi River to Britain. Thereafter, the nearby British Thirteen Colonies disputed the extent of the area called the New Hampshire Grants to the west of the Connecticut River, encompassing present-day Vermont. The provincial government of New York sold land grants to settlers in the region, which conflicted with earlier grants from the government of New Hampshire. The Green Mountain Boys militia protected the interests of the established New Hampshire land grant settlers. Ultimately, a group of settlers with New Hampshire land grant titles established the Vermont Republic in 1777 as an independent state during the American Revolutionary War. The Vermont Republic abolished slavery before any other U.S. state. It was admitted to the Union in 1791 as the 14th state. The geography of the state is marked by the Green Mountains, which run north–south up the middle of the state, separating Lake Champlain and other valley terrain on the west from the Connecticut River Valley that defines much of its eastern border. A majority of its terrain is forested with hardwoods and conifers. The state has warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. Vermont's economic activity of $40.6 billion in 2022 ranked last on the list of U.S. states and territories by GDP but 21st in GDP per capita. Known for its progressivism, the state was one of the first in the U.S. to recognize same-sex civil unions and marriage, has the highest proportion of renewable electricity generation at 99.9%, and is one of the least religious and least racially/ethnically diverse states. Dairy, forestry, maple syrup, and wine are important sectors in Vermont's agricultural economy. Vermont produces approximately 50% of the nation's maple syrup. Toponymy The French explorer Samuel de Champlain is sometimes credited with coining the name Vermont, but it does not in fact appear until 1777, when, at the suggestion of Thomas Young, it was adopted as the name of the Vermont Republic (replacing New Connecticut, the name the republic had borne for the first six months of its existence). It represents a French translation of Green Mountain(s). The latter first appears in 1772 in the context of the Green Mountain Boys. History Pre-Colonial The first humans to inhabit what is now Vermont arrived about 11,000 years ago, as the glaciers of the last ice age receded. Small groups of hunter-gatherers followed herds of caribou, elk, and mastodon through the grasslands of the Champlain Valley. At that time much of region was mixed tundra. The oldest human artifacts are 11,000 year old projectile points found along the eastern shore of the saltwater Champlain Sea. This time is known as the Paleo-Indian period. By about 8,000 years ago, the Champlain Sea had become the freshwater Lake Champlain and the climate was more temperate, bringing increased diversity of flora and fauna. This was the beginning of the Archaic period. By about 4,300 years ago, the forests were as they are today. Large mammals underwent extinction or migrated north, and the human population became reliant on smaller game and plants. People developed fishing equipment and stone cookware, and practiced woodworking and food storage. They had time for travel, leisure, and performed elaborate ceremonies. Most of the state's territory was occupied by the Abenaki, south-western parts were inhabited by the Mohicans and south-eastern borderlands by the Pocumtuc and the Pennacook. About 3,000 years ago, the Woodland period began. Food was increasingly sourced from domesticated plants, including maize, beans, and squash. Agriculture meant a more sedentary life and larger settlements. Pottery was made from local clay, and tools were made from chert found along the Winooski River. Canoes were used for fishing and travel. The arrival of European explorers in the 1600s marked the end of the Woodland period and the beginning of the Abenaki. At that time, there were about 10,000 Indigenous people in what is now Vermont, of whom an estimated 75–90% were killed by European diseases like smallpox. Survivors moved north to New France or assimilated with European settlers. Today, there are no Indian reservations in Vermont. In 2021, 0.2% of live births in Vermont were to American Indian people. Nearly all information about the Pre-Columbian era of Vermont is from found artifacts. About 750 prehistoric sites are known in Vermont, but few have been excavated by archaeologists, and those on private property benefit from no legal protection. About 20 native toponyms survive in the state, including Lake Bomoseen, Lake Memphremagog, Missisquoi River, Monadnock Mountain, and Winooski. Colonial In 1609, Samuel de Champlain led the first European expedition to Lake Champlain. He named the lake after himself and made the first known map of the area. The land that is now Vermont remained part of New France until 1763. The French had a military presence around Lake Champlain, since it was an important waterway, but they did very little colonization. In 1666, they built Fort Sainte Anne on Isle La Motte to defend Canada from the Iroquois. It was abandoned by 1670. A short-lived settlement existed at Pointe à l'Algonquin, now Windmill Point, Alburgh. A village with a church, saw mill and fifty huts existed at the present site of Swanton. Much of the eastern shore of Lake Champlain was mapped out with seigniories, but settlers were unwilling to populate the area, possibly because of continual warfare and raiding there. The English also made unsuccessful attempts to colonize the area in the 1600s. In 1724, they built Fort Dummer near what is now Brattleboro, but it remained a small and isolated outpost, often under attack by the Abenaki. With the 1763 Treaty of Paris, France ceded its claims east of the Mississippi River to the Kingdom of Great Britain, making the area more attractive to settlement. At the same time, New England was overcrowded; new land was needed for settlement. The territory west of the Connecticut River was the last unsettled part of New England, and both the Province of New Hampshire and the Province of New York laid claim to it. In 1749, New Hampshire governor Benning Wentworth began to auction land in an uncolonized area between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River. This area became known as the New Hampshire Grants. This westward expansion was started to increase New Hampshire's tax base and claim the timber there, White Pine in particular. There were eventually 135 New Hampshire Grants. The first of Benning Wentworth's grants included a town named after himself: Bennington. A typical town, it was 6 square miles (16 km2), contained 48 lots, with land set aside for a school, a church, and a town center. Five hundred acres of the best land was kept by Wentworth for later resale. Settlers came from across New England, and were obliged to "Plant and Cultivate Five Acres of Land" within five years. Some settlers kept to the agreement and started farms. Others, like Ethan Allen, did not. They wanted to sell the land for profit. Those who purchased New Hampshire Grants ran into disagreements with New York, which began selling off the same land as land patents. In 1764, King George III proclaimed the territory to be under the jurisdiction of New York, which meant that the New Hampshire Grant landowners did not have legal title. Meanwhile, New York continued selling large tracts of land, many of which overlapped with those already inhabited. The dispute led to Ethan Allen forming the Green Mountain Boys, an illicit militia that attacked New York settlers and speculators through arson and mob violence. They eventually repelled the New Yorkers, and went on, with Benedict Arnold, to fight in the American Revolutionary War, where they captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British. Sovereignty On January 15, 1777, representatives of the New Hampshire Grants declared the independence of Vermont. For the first six months of its existence, it was called the Republic of New Connecticut. On June 2, 1777, a second convention of 72 delegates met and adopted the name "Vermont". This was on the advice of Thomas Young, a mentor of Ethan Allen. He advised them on how to achieve admission into the newly independent United States of America as the 14th state. On July 4, they completed the drafting of the first Constitution of Vermont (in effect from 1777 to 1786) at the Windsor Tavern, and adopted it on July 8. This was the first written constitution in North America to ban adult slavery, stating that male slaves become free at the age of 21 and females at 18. It provided for universal adult male suffrage and established a public school system. Revolutionary War The Battle of Bennington was fought on August 16, 1777. A combined American force under General John Stark, attacked the Hessian column at Hoosick, New York, just across the border from Bennington. It killed or captured virtually the entire Hessian detachment. General John Burgoyne never recovered from this loss and eventually surrendered the remainder of the 6,000-man force at Saratoga, New York, on October 17 of that year. The battles of Bennington and Saratoga together are recognized as the turning point in the Revolutionary War because they were the first major defeat of a British army. The anniversary of the battle is celebrated in Vermont as a legal holiday. The Battle of Hubbardton (July 7, 1777) was the only Revolutionary battle within the present boundaries of Vermont. Although the Continental forces suffered defeat, the British forces were damaged to the point that they did not pursue the Americans (retreating from Fort Ticonderoga) any further. Admission to the Union Vermont continued to govern itself as a sovereign entity based in the eastern town of Windsor for 14 years. The independent state of Vermont issued its own coinage from 1785 to 1788 and operated a national postal service. Thomas Chittenden was the Governor in 1778–1789 and in 1790–1791. Because the state of New York continued to assert that Vermont was a part of New York, Vermont could not be admitted to the Union under Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution until the legislature of New York consented. On March 6, 1790, the legislature made its consent contingent upon a negotiated agreement on the precise boundary between the two states. When commissioners from New York and Vermont met to decide on the boundary, Vermont's negotiators insisted on also settling the property ownership disputes with New Yorkers, rather than leaving that decision to a federal court. The negotiations were successfully concluded in October 1790 with an agreement that Vermont would pay $30,000 to New York to be distributed among New Yorkers who claimed land in Vermont under New York land patents. In January 1791, a convention in Vermont voted 105–4 to petition Congress to become a state in the federal union. Congress acted on February 18, 1791, to admit Vermont to the Union as the 14th state as of March 4, 1791; two weeks earlier on February 4, 1791, Congress had decided to admit Kentucky as the 15th state as of June 1, 1792. Vermont became the first state to enter the Union after the original 13 states. The revised constitution of 1786, which established a greater separation of powers, continued in effect until 1793, two years after Vermont's admission to the Union. Under the Act "To Secure Freedom to All Persons Within This State," slavery was officially outlawed by state law on November 25, 1858, less than three years before the American Civil War. Vermonters provided refuge at several sites for escaped slaves fleeing to Canada, as part of the Underground Railroad. Civil War From the mid-1850s on, some Vermonters became abolitionists, which they had previously worked to contain in the South. Abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens was born in Vermont and later represented a district in Pennsylvania in Congress. He developed as a national leader and later promoted Radical Republican goals after the American Civil War. As the Whig Party declined and the Republican Party grew, Vermont supported Republican candidates. In 1860, it voted for Abraham Lincoln, giving him the largest margin of victory of any state. During the American Civil War, Vermont sent 33,288 troops into United States service, of which 5,224 (more than 15 percent) died. The northernmost land action of the war was the St. Albans Raid—the robbery of three St. Albans banks, perpetrated in October 1864 by Confederate agents. A posse pursued the Confederate raiders into Canada and captured several, before having to turn them over to Canadian officials. Canada reimbursed the banks, released, and later re-arrested some of the perpetrators. Post Civil War to the present Demographic changes Beginning in the mid-19th century, Vermont industries attracted numerous Irish, Scottish, and Italian immigrants, adding to its residents of mostly English and some French Canadian ancestry. Many of the immigrants migrated to Barre, where many worked as stonecutters of granite, for which there was a national market. Vermont granite was used in major public buildings throughout the United States. In this period, many Italian and Scottish women operated boarding houses to support their families. Such facilities helped absorb new residents and taught them the new culture; European immigrants peaked in number between 1890 and 1900. Typically immigrants boarded with people of their own language and ethnicity, but sometimes they boarded with others. Gradually, the new immigrants assimilated into the state. Times of tension aroused divisions. In the early 20th century, some Vermonters were alarmed about the decline of rural areas; people left farming to move to cities and others seemed unable to fit within society. In addition, there was a wave of immigration by French Canadians, and Protestant Anglo-Americans feared being overtaken by the new immigrants, who added to the Catholic population of Irish and Italians. Based on the colonial past, some Yankee residents considered the French Canadians to have intermarried too frequently with Native Americans. In 1970, the population of Vermont stood at 444,732. By 1980, it had increased by over 65,000 to 511,456. That change, an increase of 15 percent, was the largest increase in Vermont's population since the days of the Revolutionary War. In 2002, the State of Vermont incorrectly reported that the Abenaki people had migrated north to Quebec by the end of the 17th century; however, in 2011, the State of Vermont designated the Elnu Abenaki Tribe and the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation as state-recognized tribes; in 2012 it recognized the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi and the Koasek Traditional Band of the Koos Abenaki Nation. In 2016, the state governor proclaimed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. Vermont has no federally recognized tribes. Political changes Vermont approved women's suffrage decades before it became part of the national constitution. Women were first allowed to vote in the elections of December 18, 1880, when they were granted limited suffrage. They were first allowed to vote in town elections, and later in state legislative races. In 1931, Vermont was the 29th state to pass a eugenics law. Vermont, like other states, sterilized some patients in institutions and persons it had identified through surveys as degenerate or unfit. It nominally had permission from the patients or their guardians, but abuses were documented. Two-thirds of the sterilizations were done on women, and poor, unwed mothers were targeted, among others. There is disagreement about how many sterilizations were performed; most were completed between 1931 and 1941, but such procedures were recorded as late as 1970. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reynolds v. Sims required "one man, one vote" redistricting in all states. It had found that many state legislatures had not redistricted and were dominated by rural interests, years after the development of densely populated and industrial urban areas. In addition, it found that many states had an upper house based on geographical jurisdictions, such as counties. This gave disproportionate power to rural and lightly populated counties. The court ruled there was no basis for such a structure. Major changes in political apportionment took place in Vermont and other affected states. In the 21st century, Vermont increasingly became defined by its progressivism. It was the first state to introduce civil unions in 2000 and the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2009, unforced by court challenge or ruling. On January 22, 2018, Vermont became the first state to legalize cannabis for recreational use by legislative action, and the ninth state in the United States to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. This law was signed by Republican Governor Phil Scott. Geography Vermont is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States and comprises 9,614 square miles (24,900 km2), making it the 45th-largest state. It is the only state that does not have any buildings taller than 124 feet (38 m). Land comprises 9,250 square miles (24,000 km2) and water comprises 365 square miles (950 km2), making it the 43rd-largest in land area and the 47th in water area. In total area, it is larger than El Salvador and smaller than Haiti. It is the only landlocked state in New England, and it is the easternmost and the smallest in area of all landlocked states. The Green Mountains in Vermont form a north–south spine running most of the length of the state, slightly west of its center. In the southwest portion of the state are located the Taconic Mountains. In the northwest, near Lake Champlain, is the fertile Champlain Valley. In the south of the valley is Lake Bomoseen. The west bank of the Connecticut River marks the state's eastern border with New Hampshire, though much of the river flows within New Hampshire. 41% of Vermont's land area is part of the Connecticut River's watershed. Lake Champlain, the sixth-largest body of fresh water in the United States, separates Vermont from New York in the northwest portion of the state. From north to south, Vermont is 159 miles (256 km) long. Its greatest width, from east to west, is 89 miles (143 km) at the Canada–U.S. border; the narrowest width is 37 miles (60 km) near the Massachusetts border. The width averages 60.5 miles (97.4 km). The state's geographic center is approximately three miles (4.8 km) east of Roxbury, in Washington County. There are fifteen U.S. federal border crossings between Vermont and Canada. Several mountains have timberlines with delicate year-round alpine ecosystems, including Mount Mansfield, the highest mountain in the state; Killington Peak, the second-highest; Camel's Hump, the state's third-highest; and Mount Abraham, the fifth-highest peak. Areas in Vermont administered by the National Park Service include the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park (in Woodstock) and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. The topography and climate make sections of Vermont subject to large-scale flooding. Incidents include the Great Vermont Flood of 1927, which killed 84 and damaged much of the state's infrastructure, the flood of 1973, which covered many of the state's roads in the southeast, and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, which caused substantial damage throughout the state. In response to the 1927 flood, the federal government funded construction of six flood control dams in the state, run by the Army Corps of Engineers. These extreme rain and flooding events are expected to intensify with climate change. Cities Vermont has ten incorporated cities. The most populous city in Vermont is Burlington. Its metropolitan area is also the most populous in the state, with an estimate of 225,562 as of 2020. Largest towns Although these towns are large enough to be considered cities, they are not incorporated as such. Climate The annual mean temperature for the state is 43 °F (6 °C). Vermont has a humid continental climate, with muddy springs, in general a mild early summer, hot Augusts; it has colorful autumns: Vermont's hills reveal red, orange, and (on sugar maples) gold foliage as cold weather approaches. Winters are colder at higher elevations. It has a Köppen climate classification of Dfb, a temperate continental climate. The rural northeastern section known as the "Northeast Kingdom" often averages 10 °F (5.6 °C) colder than the southern areas of the state during winter. The annual snowfall averages between 60 and 100 inches (1,500 and 2,500 mm) depending on elevation. Vermont is the seventh coldest state in the country. The highest recorded temperature was 105 °F (41 °C), at Vernon, on July 4, 1911. The lowest recorded temperature was −50 °F (−46 °C), at Bloomfield, on December 30, 1933; this is the lowest temperature recorded in New England alongside Big Black River, which recorded a verified −50 °F (−46 °C) in 2009. The agricultural growing season ranges from 120 to 180 days. The United States Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones for the state range between zone 3b, no colder than −35 °F (−37 °C), in the Northeast Kingdom and northern part of the state and zone 5b, no colder than −15 °F (−26 °C), in the southern part of the state. The state receives between 2,200 and 2,400 hours of sunshine annually. New England as a whole receives a range of less than 2,000 hours of sunshine in part of New Hampshire to as much as 2,600 hours of sunshine per year in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Climate change Climate change in Vermont encompasses the effects of climate change, attributed to anthropogenic increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The state is already seeing effects of climate change that affect its ecosystems, economy and public health. According to the state government, rainfall has significantly increased in the last 50 years, storms and flooding have increased, and winters have become warmer and shorter. These changes have affected the winter tourism industry, and caused a decline in critical agricultural and woodland industries like maple sugaring. The state openly acknowledges and is developing programs that respond to global warming. Vermont was one of the first states in the United States to adopt greenhouse gas emissions goals in 2006. Geology There are five distinct physiographic regions of Vermont. Categorized by geological and physical attributes, they are the Northeastern Highlands, the Green Mountains, the Taconic Mountains, the Champlain Lowlands, and the Vermont Piedmont. About 500 million years ago, Vermont was part of Laurentia and located in the tropics. The central and southern Green Mountain range include the oldest rocks in Vermont, formed about one billion years ago during the first mountain building period (or orogeny). Subsequently, about 400 million years ago, the second mountain building period created Green Mountain peaks that were 15,000–20,000 feet (4,600–6,100 m) tall, three to four times their current height and comparable to the Himalayas. The geological pressures that created those peaks remain evident as the Champlain Thrust, running north–south to the west of the mountains (now the eastern shore of Lake Champlain). It is an example of geological fault thrusting where bedrock is pushed over the newer rock formation. As a result of tectonic formation, Vermont east of the Green Mountains tends to be formed from rocks produced in the Silurian and Devonian periods, and western Vermont mainly from the older Pre-Cambrian and Cambrian material. Several large deposits within the state contain granite. The remains of the Chazy Formation can be observed in Isle La Motte which was one of the first tropical reefs. It is the site of the limestone Fisk Quarry, which contains a collection of ancient marine fossils, such as stromatoporoids, that date to 200 million years ago. At one point, Vermont is believed to have been connected to Africa (Pangaea); the fossils found and the rock formations found on the coasts in both Africa and America are evidence affirming the Pangaea theory. In the past four centuries, Vermont has experienced a few earthquakes, rarely centered under the state. The highest ranked, in 1952, had a Richter magnitude scale 6.0 and was based in Canada. Fauna The state contains 41 species of reptiles and amphibians (including the spring peeper), 89 species of fish, of which 12 are nonnative; 193 species of breeding birds, 58 species of mammals (including black bears, eastern chipmunks, coyotes, fishers, red and gray foxes, porcupines, and woodchucks), more than 15,000 insect species (including luna moths), and 2,000 higher plant species, plus fungi, algae, and 75 different types of natural communities. Vermont contains one species of venomous snake, the timber rattlesnake, which is confined to a few acres in western Rutland County. Wildlife has suffered because of human development in the state. By the mid-19th century, wild turkeys were eradicated in the state through hunting and habitat destruction. Sixteen were reintroduced in 1969, and had grown to a flock estimated to number 45,000 in 2009. In 2013, hunters killed 6,968 of these. Since 1970, reduction of farmland has resulted in reduced environment for, and resulted in a decline in, numbers of various shrubland birds, including the American woodcock, brown thrasher, eastern towhee, willow flycatcher, golden-winged warbler, blue-winged warbler, field sparrow, and Baltimore oriole. Ospreys, whose eggs were previously damaged by DDT, began to reappear in 1998 and by 2010, were no longer endangered in the state. Several species have declined or disappeared from the state, including bats, many of which have been killed by white-nose syndrome, the New England cottontail, outcompeted by the eastern cottontail rabbit, and the yellow-banded bumblebee, gone as one of 19 species of bee in decline. Invasive species and organisms include the Asian spotted wing drosophila, a destroyer of crops, and eastern equine encephalitis virus whose antibodies were found in moose or deer in each of Vermont's counties. Flora Vermont is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. Much of the state, in particular the Green Mountains, is covered by the conifers and northern hardwoods of the New England-Acadian forests. The western border with New York and the area around Lake Champlain lies within the Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests. The southwest corner of the state and parts of the Connecticut River are covered by northeastern coastal forests of mixed oak. Invasive wild honeysuckle has been deemed a threat to the state's forests, native species of plants, and wildlife. Many of Vermont's rivers, including the Winooski River, have been subjected to artificial barriers to prevent flooding. Climate change appears to be affecting the maple sugar industry. Sugar maples have been subject to stress by acid rain, asian long-horned beetles, and pear thrips. In 2011, the deer herd had grown too large for the habitat, and many resorted to eating bark to survive the winter, destroying trees in the process. In addition, the sugar maples need a certain period of cold to produce sap for maple syrup. The time to tap these trees has shrunk to one week in recent years. The tree may be replaced by the more aggressive Norway maples, in effect forcing the sugar maples to "migrate" north to Canada. Demographics Population According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state of Vermont had a population of 643,085 in the 2020 U.S. census. Vermont was one of two states with fewer people than the District of Columbia; Wyoming was the other. The center of population of Vermont is located in Washington County, in the town of Warren. The influx of domestic migrants in the 1960s to 1980s brought outlooks different than those of the native-born population. As one example, since 1988, Vermont has consistently voted for Democrats in national elections, despite having been the most Republican state in the nation for more than 100 years after the party's founding in the 1850s. Inward migration to Vermont began to wane during the 2000s, and became emigration during the 2010s. This trend reversed in the 2020s, with about 4,500 new residents domestically migrating to the state between 2020 and 2021. Chittenden County has seen the most rapid population growth, experiencing a 7.5% increase between 2010 and 2020. In 2018, the top countries of origin for immigrants in Vermont were Canada, Nepal, Jamaica, the Philippines and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Race and ethnicity As of 2022, 94% of Vermont's residents identify as racially White, and 92.2% of all residents are White people without Hispanic origin, making it one of the least diverse states in the U.S., except for Maine. When including French Canadians, the French made up the largest ancestral and ethnic group, with 20% of Vermont's population identify as such, with Irish and English also making up large portions of the populace. Vital statistics A total of 5,384 babies were born in 2021, a 4.89% increase from 2020. Of those births, 90.3% were non-Hispanic white. The fertility rate was 1.371, a slight increase from 2020. Dialect Linguists have identified speech patterns found among Vermonters as belonging to Western New England English, a dialect of New England English, which features full pronunciation of all r sounds, pronouncing horse and hoarse the same, and pronouncing vowels in father and bother the same, none of which are features traditionally shared in neighboring Eastern New England English. Some rural speakers realize the t as a glottal stop (mitten sounds like "mi'in" and Vermont like "Vermon' "). A dwindling segment of the Vermont population, generally both rural and male, pronounces certain vowels in a distinctive manner (e.g. cows with a raised vowel as [kʰɛʊz] and ride with a backed, somewhat rounded vowel as [ɹɒɪd]). Eastern New England English—also found in New Hampshire, Maine and eastern Massachusetts—was common in eastern Vermont in the mid-twentieth century and before, but has become rare. This accent drops the r sound in words ending in r (farmer sounds like "farm-uh") and adds an r sound to some words ending in a vowel (idea sounds like "idee-er") was common. Those characteristics in eastern Vermont appear to have been inherited from West Country and Scots-Irish ancestors. Vermont is one of three states (along with Maine and New Hampshire) where French is the second-most spoken language at home, which is largely due to the state's proximity to the province of Quebec. New England French, a unique dialect spoken in many of Vermont's Francophone homes, is derived from Quebec French, in contrast to the Brayon French which predominates in the Francophone regions of northern Maine which were settled primarily by Acadians. Religion According to the Pew Research Center in 2014, 37% reported no religion, the highest rate of irreligion of all U.S. states. The Pew Research Center also determined the largest religion was Christianity; Catholics made up 22% of the population and Protestants were 30%. In contrast with Southern U.S. trends, the majority of Protestants are mainline Protestant, dominated by Methodism. The United Methodist Church was the largest mainline Protestant denomination in Vermont, followed by the American Baptist Churches USA and United Church of Christ. Evangelical Protestants were dominated by independent Baptist churches. Major non-Christian religions were Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other faiths. The largest non-Christian religious group outside of irreligion were Unitarians. An estimated 3.1% of the irreligious were atheist. With the publication of a study by the Public Religion Research Institute in 2020, Christianity spread among Protestantism, Catholicism, and non-mainstream Christians including Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses were approximately 64% of the adult population. The religiously unaffiliated were determined to be an estimated 30% of the total adult population according to the Public Religion Research Institute. As of 2022 per the Public Religion Research Institute, Vermont became plurality irreligious, and consistently ranks as one of the most secular states in the United States. The 2022 study estimated 48% of the population were religiously unaffiliated, while 45% were Christian altogether (Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, and Jehovah's Witness). The Association of Religion Data Archives reported that in 2020, the religiously affiliated population were primarily Christian. The single largest Christian denominations were the following: the Catholic Church (124,208); United Church of Christ (11,882); and the United Methodist Church (9,652). Non-denominational Protestants numbered 29,830. Among the largest Christian denominations at this study, Catholics had an adherence rate of 208.70 per 1,000 people; the United Church of Christ 18.48 per 1,000 people; and United Methodists 15.01 per 1,000 people. ARDA's 2020 membership tabulations reflected the Pew Research Center's 2014 study where 21% of the population attended religious services weekly, 32% once or twice a month, and 47% seldom/never. In a 2018 research article by the National Christian Foundation, non-churchgoing Christians nationwide did not attend religious services often through practicing the faith in other ways, not finding a house of worship they liked, disliking sermons and feeling unwelcomed, and logistics. Economy In 2021, Vermont had a total employment of 239,758, and the total employer establishments were 20,696. As of 2022, Vermont's gross regional domestic product (GRDP) was $40.6 billion, making it the smallest among U.S. states. Its per capita GDP was $63,206, ranking it 21st among the states. In 2008, components of GDP were: Government $3 billion (13.4%) Real estate, rental, and leasing $2.6 billion (11.6%) Durable goods manufacturing $2.2 billion (9.6%) Health care and social assistance $2.1 billion (9.4%) Retail trade $1.9 billion (8.4%) Finance and insurance $1.3 billion (5.9%) Construction $1.2 billion (5.5%) Professional and technical services $1.2 billion (5.5%) Wholesale trade $1.1 billion (5.1%) Accommodations and food services $1 billion (4.5%) Information $958 million (4.2%) Non-durable goods manufacturing $711 million (3.1%) Other services $563 million (2.4%) Utilities $553 million (2.4%) Educational services $478 million (2.1%) Transportation and warehousing $484 million (2.1%) Administrative and waste services $436 million (1.9%) Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting $375 million (1.6%) Arts, entertainment, and recreation $194 million (.8%) Mining $100 million (.4%) Management of companies $35 million (.2%) As of 2019, Canada was Vermont's largest foreign trade partner, followed by Taiwan. Quebec received 75% of the state's exports to Canada. In 2022, 7,457 new businesses were registered in Vermont. Retail sales reached $10.8 billion in 2017, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Personal income In 2021, the state had a median household income of $67,674, with approximately 10.3% of the population at or below the poverty line. The median wage in the state was $22.75 hourly or $47,320 annually in 2022. In 2007, about 80% of the 68,000 Vermonters who qualify for food stamps received them. 40% of seniors 75 years or older live on annual incomes of $21,660 or less. In 2011, 15.2% of Vermonters received food stamps. This compares to 14.8% nationally. In 2011, 91,000 seniors received an annual average of $14,000 from Social Security. This was 59% of the average senior's income. This contributed $1.7 billion to the state's economy. Agriculture As of 2022, agriculture, along with forestry and other animal industry, contributed 0.45% of the state's gross domestic product. As of May 2022, about 0.16% of the state's working population was engaged in agriculture jobs. Dairy farming Dairy farming remains a primary source of agricultural income. In the second half of the 20th century, developers had plans to build condos and houses on what was relatively inexpensive, open land. Vermont's government responded with a series of laws controlling development to prevent the decline of Vermont's dairy industry. This proved ineffective, as the number of Vermont dairy farms has declined nearly 95% from the 11,206 dairy farms operating in 1947. As of December 2021, the state had 568 dairy farms, a decline from 658 in 2019, 1,138 in 2006, and fewer than 1,500 in 2003. The number of dairy farms has been diminishing by roughly 10% annually. Dairy farms control 80% of open land. In 2021, 28.5% (162) of the state's dairy farms were certified organic. The number of cattle in Vermont had declined by 40%; however, milk production has doubled in the same period due to tripling the production per cow. While milk production rose, Vermont's market share declined. Within a group of states supplying the Boston and New York City markets (called "Federal order Class I"), Vermont was third in market share, with 10.6%; New York has 44.9% and Pennsylvania has 32.9%. In 2007, dairy farmers received a record $23.60 for 100 pounds (45 kg) (11.63 gallons at $2.03/gallon) of milk. This dropped in 2008 to $17 ($1.46/gallon). The average dairy farm produced 1.3 million pounds of milk annually in 2008. The dairy barn remains characteristic of Vermont, but the 95% decrease in dairy farms between 1947 and 2021 means that preservation of dairy barns has increasingly become a matter of preserving historic legacy rather than meeting a basic need of an agricultural economy. The Vermont Barn Census, organized in 2009 by educational and nonprofit state and local historic preservation programs, has worked to record the number, condition, and features of barns throughout Vermont. A significant amount of milk is shipped into the Boston market. Therefore, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts certifies that Vermont farms meet Massachusetts sanitary standards. Without this certification, a farmer may not sell milk for distribution into the bulk market. In 2019, two-thirds of all milk in New England was produced by Vermont dairies. Forestry Forestry has always been a staple to the economy, comprising 1% of the total gross state output and 9% of total manufacturing as of 2013. In 2007, Windham County contained the largest concentration of kilns for drying lumber east of the Mississippi River. The decline of farms has resulted in a regrowth of Vermont's forests due to ecological succession. Today, most of Vermont's forests are secondary. The state and non-profit organizations are actively encouraging regrowth and careful forest management. Over 78% of the land area of the state is forested compared to only 37% in the 1880s, when sheep farming was at its peak and large amounts of acreage were cleared for grazing. Over 85% of that area is non-industrial, private forestland owned by individuals or families. In 2013, 73,054 million cubic feet (2,068.7 million cubic meters) of wood was harvested in Vermont. A large amount of Vermont forest products are exports with 21,504 million feet (6.554×109 meters) being shipped overseas plus an additional 16,384 million cubic feet (463.9 million cubic meters) to Canada. Most of it was processed within the state. In this century the manufacture of wood products has fallen by almost half. The annual net growth has been estimated at 172,810 million cubic feet (4,893 million cubic meters). The USDA estimates that 8,584 billion cubic feet (243.1 billion cubic meters) remain in the state. Forest products also add to carbon sequestration since lumber and timber used in houses and furniture hold carbon for long periods of time while the trees that were removed are replaced overtime with new growing stock. In 2017, the price of wood products had either plummeted or remained the same when compared to previous decades, which meant there was cause for concern with jobs in the industry. For example, in 1994, the price of a thousand board feet was $300, the same as it was in 2017. The price of wood chips has halved in the same time frame. In 1980, the price for a cord of wood was $50; in 2017, $25. For lack of demand, Vermont's forests are growing twice as fast as they are being cut. Other As of 2022, Vermont was the leading producer of maple syrup in the United States at 2,550,000 US gallons (9,700,000 L), representing 50.7% of the nation's total production. In 2021, its production value totaled $56.0 million at $32.00/gallon. There were about 2,000 maple products producers in 2010. The wine industry in Vermont started in 1985. As of 2007, there were 14 wineries. As of 2020, apple growing is the third largest contributor to the state's agricultural economy, after dairy and maple syrup. Vermont orchards primarily grow McIntosh apples, and the industry has seen a steady decline as consumer preferences have shifted to newer apple varieties. The number of acres devoted to apple growing decreased from approximately 3,700 in 1997 to just 1,700 in 2017, and many of the orchards now focus on growing apples for cider production and providing Pick-Your-Own orchards to appeal to the state's agritourism market. In 1999, apples and apple pie were named the official state fruit and state pie, respectively. Around 23% of Vermont's vegetable farms are organic. Manufacturing As of 2015, GlobalFoundries was the largest private employer in the state and provided jobs to 3,000 employees at its plant in the village of Essex Junction within Chittenden County. A growing part of Vermont's economy is the manufacture and sale of artisan foods, fancy foods, and novelty items trading in part upon the Vermont "brand", which the state manages and defends. Examples of these specialty exports include Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, Burton Snowboards, Cabot Cheese, Fine Paints of Europe, King Arthur Flour, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, Vermont Creamery, several microbreweries, and ginseng growers. In 2010, a University of Connecticut study reported that Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire tied as the most costly states in the U.S. for manufacturers. Energy Vermont has no fossil fuel reserves, however its forest products industry provides fuel for electricity generation and home heating. Electricity consumption per capita ranks it among the lowest 20% of states, and total electricity consumption was the lowest in the United States. Vermont consumed three times more electricity than it generated in-state in 2019, and imported its largest share of electricity from Canada. Vermont's 99.9% share of electricity generation from renewable sources was the highest among all 50 states. Health An increasingly aging population is expected to increase demand for aging-related services and healthcare. The University of Vermont Medical Center, with more than 8,800 employees, is the largest employer in the state. In 2010, all of Vermont's hospitals billed patients $3.76 billion, and collected $2 billion. 92,000 people are enrolled in Medicare. In 2011, Medicare spent $740 million on health care in the state. Labor In 2009, the state attained a high of 361,290 workers. As of 2006, there were 305,000 workers in Vermont. Eleven percent of these are unionized. Out of a workforce of 299,200 workers, 52,000 were government jobs, federal, state, and local. A modern high unemployment rate of 9% was reached in June 1976. A modern low of 2.4% was measured in February 2000. As of October 2019, the unemployment rate was 2.2%. Employment grew 7.5% from 2000 to 2006. From 1980 to 2000, employment grew by 3.4%; nationally it was up 4.6%. Real wages were $33,385 in 2006 constant dollars and remained there in 2010; the nation, $36,871. As of 2014, the Pew Research Center estimated that farms in the state employed fewer than 5,000 illegal immigrants. In 2017, Vermont Governor Phil Scott announced that the state was "exploring a legal challenge" to the executive order signed by President Donald Trump for Vermont law enforcement authorities to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and "perform the functions of immigration officers in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens". Insurance Captive insurance plays an increasingly large role in Vermont's economy. With this form of alternative insurance, large corporations or industry associations form standalone insurance companies to insure their own risks, thereby substantially reducing their insurance premiums and gaining a significant measure of control over types of risks to be covered. There are also significant tax advantages to be gained from the formation and operation of captive insurance companies. According to the Insurance Information Institute, Vermont in 2009 was the world's third-largest domicile for captive insurance companies, following Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. In 2009, there were 560 such companies. In 2010, the state had 900 such companies. Recreation Summer camps such as Camp Abenaki, Camp Billings, Camp Dudley, and Camp Hochelaga contribute to Vermont's tourist economy. In 2005, visitors made an estimated 13.4 million trips to the state, spending $1.57 billion. In 2012, fall accounted for $460 million of income, about one-quarter of all tourism. In 2011, the state government earned $274 million in taxes and fees from tourism. 89% of the money came from out-of-state visitors. Tourism supported over 26,000 jobs, 7.2% of total employment. According to the 2000 census, almost 15% of all housing units in Vermont were vacant and classified "for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use". This was the second highest percentage nationwide, after Maine. In some Vermont cities, vacation homes owned by wealthy residents of New England and New York constitute the bulk of all housing stock. According to one estimate, as of 2009, 84% of all houses in Ludlow were owned by out-of-state residents. Other notable vacation-home resorts include Manchester and Stowe. Hunting Hunting is controlled for black bear, wild turkeys, deer, and moose. There are 5,500 bears in the state. The goal is to keep the numbers between 4,500 and 6,000. In 2010, there were about 141,000 deer in the state, which is in range of government goals. However, these are distributed unevenly and when in excess of 10–15 per square mile (4–6/km2), reduce timber growth. In 2012, hunting of migratory birds was limited to October 13 to December 16. Waterfowl hunting is also controlled by federal law. Skiing and snowmobiling Some of the largest ski areas in New England are located in Vermont. Skiers and snowboarders visit Burke Mountain Ski Area, Bolton Valley, Smugglers' Notch, Killington Ski Resort, Mad River Glen, Stowe Mountain Resort, Cochrans Ski Area, Sugarbush, Stratton, Jay Peak, Okemo, Saskadena Six, Mount Snow, Bromley, Brattleboro Ski Hill, and Magic Mountain Ski Area. Summer visitors tour resort towns like Stowe, Manchester, Quechee, Wilmington, Woodstock, Mount Snow, and. The effects of global warming have been predicted to shorten the length of the ski season across Vermont, which would continue the contraction and consolidation of the ski industry in Vermont and threaten individual ski businesses and communities that rely on ski tourism. In winter, Nordic and backcountry skiers visit to travel the length of the state on the Catamount Trail. Several horse shows are annual events. Vermont's state parks, historic sites, museums, golf courses, and new boutique hotels with spas were designed to attract tourists. In 2000–2001, there were 4,579,719 skier and snowboarder visits to the state. There were 4,125,082 visits in 2009–2010, a rise from recent years. In 2008, there were 35,000 members of 138 snowmobiling clubs in Vermont. The combined association of clubs maintains 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of trail often over private lands. The industry is said to generate "hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business." Quarrying The towns of Rutland and Barre are the traditional centers of marble and granite quarrying and carving in the U.S. For many years Vermont was also the headquarters of the smallest union in the U.S., the Journeymen Stonecutters' Association of North America, of about 500 members. The first marble quarry in America was on Mount Aeolus overlooking East Dorset. The granite industry attracted numerous skilled stonecutters in the late 19th century from Italy, Scotland, and Ireland. Barre is the location of the Rock of Ages quarry, the largest dimension stone granite quarry in the United States. Vermont is the largest producer of slate in the country. The highest quarrying revenues result from the production of dimension stone. The Rock of Ages quarry in Barre is one of the leading exporters of granite in the country. The work of the sculptors of this corporation can be seen 3 miles (4.8 km) down the road at the Hope Cemetery, where there are gravestones and mausoleums. Nonprofits and volunteerism There were 2,682 nonprofit organizations in Vermont in 2008, with $2.8 billion in revenue. The state ranked ninth in the country for volunteerism for the period 2005–08. 35.6% of the population volunteered during this period. The national average was 26.4%. Education Vermont was named the nation's smartest state in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, there was a gap between state testing standards and national, which is biased in favor of the state standards by 30%, on average. This puts Vermont 11th-best in the nation. Most states have a higher bias. However, when allowance for race is considered, a 2007 U.S. Government list of test scores shows Vermont white fourth graders performed 25th in the nation for reading (229) and 26th for math (247). White eighth graders scored 18th for math (292) and 12th for reading (273). The first three scores were not considered statistically different from average. White eighth graders scored significantly above average in reading. Statistics for black students were not reliable because of their small representation in the testing. In 2017, spending $1.6 billion on education for 76,000 public school children, represents more than $21,000 per student. Education Week ranked the state second in high school graduation rates for 2007. In 2011, 91% of the population had graduated from high school compared with 85% nationally. Almost 34% have at least an undergraduate degree compared with 28% nationally. In 2013, the ratio of pupils to teachers was the lowest in the country. Higher education Vermont's largest university is The University of Vermont (UVM), a public land-grant research university and one of the original eight Public Ivies. In addition, Vermont State University and the Community College of Vermont reside within the Vermont State Colleges system. The state has several other private colleges, including Bennington College, Champlain College, Middlebury College, Norwich University, Saint Michael's College, and Vermont Law and Graduate School. Research at the University of Vermont by George Perkins Marsh and the influence of Vermont-born philosopher and educator John Dewey brought about the concepts of electives and learning-by-doing. Transportation The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is responsible for transportation infrastructure. The principal mode of travel in Vermont is via car, with 93.4% of Vermont households owning a car in 2021. Four car ferry routes operate across Lake Champlain. Passenger rail is provided by Amtrak's daily Vermonter and Ethan Allen Express trains. Intercity bus operators include Vermont Translines, Greyhound Lines, and Megabus. A number of public transit agencies operate bus service at the local, county, and regional levels. Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport is the state's primary airport. Road In 2012, there were 605,000 vehicles registered, nearly one for every person. This is similar to average car ownership nationwide. In 2012, about half of greenhouse gas emissions in the state were from vehicles. In 2010, Vermont owned 2,840 miles (4,570 km) of highway. This was the third smallest quantity among the 50 states. 2.5% of the highways were listed as "congested", the fifth lowest in the country. The highway fatality rate was one per 100,000,000 miles (160,000,000 km), tenth lowest in the nation. The highways cost $28,669 per mile ($17,814/km) to maintain, the 17th highest in the states. 34.4% of its 2,691 bridges were rated deficient or obsolete, the eighth worst in the nation. A 2005–06 study ranked Vermont 37th out of the states for "cost-effective road maintenance", a decline of thirteen places since 2004–05. In 2007, Vermont was ranked the third safest state for highway fatalities. One third of these fatal crashes involved a drunken driver. On average, 20–25 people die each year from drunk driving incidents, and 70–80 people are in fatal car crashes in the state. Collisions with moose constitute a traffic threat, particularly in northern Vermont, and cause several deaths per year. In 2009, 93% of Vermont motorists were insured, tying with Pennsylvania for the highest percentage. In 2008, Vermont was the fifth best state for fewest uninsured motorists at 6%. Trucks weighing less than 80,000 pounds (36,000 kg) can use Vermont's interstate highways. The limit for state roads is 99,000 pounds (45,000 kg). This means that vehicles too heavy for the interstates can legally use only secondary roads. In 1968, Vermont outlawed the use of billboards for advertisement along its roads. It is one of only four states in the U.S. to have done this, along with Hawaii, Maine, and Alaska, and is a source of pride among Vermonters. The consensus from the state's Act 250 commission was that billboards obstruct and distract from scenic views of countryside, critical to Vermont's pastoral image. Major north–south routes Interstate 89 runs a northwest–southeast path through Vermont, beginning in White River Junction and heading northwest to serve the cities of Montpelier, Burlington, and St. Albans en route to the Canada–U.S. border. I-89 intersects I-91 in White River Junction and has a short spur route, Interstate 189, just outside of Burlington. Interstate 91 runs a north–south path from the Massachusetts state line to the Canada–U.S. border, connecting the towns of Brattleboro, White River Junction, St. Johnsbury, and the city of Newport. I-91 intersects I-89 in White River Junction, and I-93 in St. Johnsbury. Interstate 93 runs a short, 11-mile (18 km) distance from the New Hampshire state line to its northern terminus in St. Johnsbury, where it intersects I-91. I-93 connects the Northeast Kingdom region of Vermont with the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, and points south. U.S. Route 5 runs a north–south path in eastern Vermont from the Massachusetts state line to the Canada-U.S. border. U.S. Route 5 is a surface road that runs parallel to I-91 for its entire length in the state, and serves nearly all the same towns. The two routes also parallel the New Hampshire state line between Brattleboro and St. Johnsbury. U.S. Route 7 runs a north–south path in western Vermont from the Massachusetts state line to the Canada-U.S. border. U.S. Route 7 connects the cities and towns of Bennington, Rutland, Middlebury, Burlington, and St. Albans. Between Bennington and Dorset, U.S. Route 7 runs as a Super 2 freeway. It also parallels I-89 between Burlington and the Canada–U.S. border. Vermont Route 30 is a 111.870-mile-long north–south road that runs from Brattleboro to Middlebury. Vermont Route 30 runs through the state's historic West River Valley, where it passes through the colonial towns of Newfane, Townshend, West Townshend, East Jamaica, Jamaica, Rawsonville and Bondville. Vermont Route 100 runs a north–south path directly through the center of the state, along the length of the Green Mountains. VT Route 100 generally parallels both U.S. Route 5 (which runs to its east) and U.S. Route 7 (which runs to its west). Many of the state's major ski areas are located either directly on, or very close to, VT Route 100. The largest town by population along VT Route 100 is Morristown. Major east–west routes U.S. Route 2 runs a generally east–west path across central and northern Vermont, from Alburgh (on the New York state line) to Guildhall (on the New Hampshire state line). U.S. Route 2 connects the Lake Champlain Islands and the Northeast Kingdom to the population centers of Burlington, Montpelier, and St. Johnsbury. U.S. Route 2 runs parallel to I-89 between Colchester and Montpelier. Although the portion of the road from Alburgh to Burlington follows a north–south orientation, U.S. Route 2 in Vermont is entirely signed as east–west. U.S. Route 4 runs east–west across south-central Vermont from Fair Haven (on the New York state line) to White River Junction (on the New Hampshire state line). U.S. Route 4 also connects the city of Rutland and the towns of Killington and Woodstock. Between Fair Haven and Rutland, U.S. Route 4 runs as a four-lane freeway that is mostly up to Interstate design standards. U.S. Route 302 runs an east–west path from its western terminus in Montpelier to the village of Wells River, where it intersects both I-91 and U.S. Route 5, and then crosses into New Hampshire. U.S. Route 302 is one of the main roads connecting Montpelier and Barre in central Vermont. Vermont Route 9 runs an east–west path across the southern part of the state. VT Route 9 connects the towns of Bennington, Wilmington, and Brattleboro. Vermont Route 105 runs a generally east–west path across the northernmost parts of Vermont (sometimes within a few miles of the Canada–U.S. border) from St. Albans to Bloomfield (on the New Hampshire state line). VT Route 105 ultimately connects the cities of St. Albans and Newport. Ferry There is a year-round ferry service to and from New York State across Lake Champlain from Charlotte to Essex and Grand Isle to Plattsburgh. Operated by the Lake Champlain Transportation Company (LCTC), the Grand Isle - Plattsburgh ferry operates 24 hours a day, while the Charlotte ferry serves a limited schedule. Seasonal service from Shoreham to Ticonderoga is provided by the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry. Rail Passenger service is provided by Amtrak's Vermonter and Ethan Allen Express, while freight service is provided by the New England Central Railroad, the Vermont Railway, and the Green Mountain Railroad. The Ethan Allen Express serves Burlington Union Station, Ferrisburgh–Vergennes, Middlebury, Rutland, and Castleton, while the Vermonter serves St. Albans, Essex Junction, Waterbury, Montpelier, Randolph, White River Junction, Windsor, Bellows Falls, and Brattleboro. Intercity bus Greyhound Lines stops in Bennington, Bellows Falls, Brandon, Burlington, Colchester, Ferrisburgh, Manchester, Middlebury, Montpelier, Rutland, Wallingford, and White River Junction. Vermont Translines, an intercity bus company founded by Premier Coach in 2013 partnering with Greyhound and starting service on June 9, 2014, serves Milton, Colchester, Burlington, Middlebury, Brandon, Rutland, Wallingford, Manchester and Bennington. Additionally, Bennington hosts the weekday-operating Albany-Bennington Shuttle, an intercity bus operated by Yankee Trails World Travel. Local bus A patchwork of transit providers operate local bus service in every Vermont county, though route frequency and coverage are often limited outside major cities. Many operators also provide paratransit and regional express bus services. Green Mountain Transit is the largest operator in the state, with weekday ridership of 7,300 as of the second quarter of 2024. Other major systems are Marble Valley Regional Transit District (The Bus), Southeast Vermont Transit (MOOver), Tri-Valley Transit, Rural Community Transportation, Advance Transit, and Green Mountain Community Network. Air Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport is the largest in the state, with regular flights to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Washington Dulles, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Orlando, and Philadelphia. Airlines serving the airport include American, Breeze, Delta, Sun Country, and United. Beta Technologies operates an eVTOL manufacturing and testing facility at the airport. Additionally, the airport houses the 134th fighter squadron of the 158th fighter wing. Known as the "Green Mountain Boys", the squadron is armed with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and is tasked with protecting the Northeastern United States from the air. Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport has three daily flights to Boston via Cape Air. Media Newspapers of record Vermont statute requires the Vermont Secretary of State to designate newspapers that provide general coverage across the state as the Newspapers of Record. As of 2019, these include: Addison Independent Bennington Banner Brattleboro Reformer Burlington Free Press Caledonian Record The Chronicle Islander Newport Daily Express News & Citizen Rutland Herald Seven Days St. Albans Messenger Times Argus Valley News Vermont Lawyer The White River Valley Herald Broadcast and web media Vermont hosts 93 radio broadcast stations. The top categories are talk/information (11), country (9) and classic rock (9). The top owner of radio broadcast stations is Vermont Public Radio (11 broadcast frequencies and 13 low-power, local transmitters). Other companies had five or fewer stations. The state has 15 online radio stations. Vermont hosts 10 high-power television broadcast stations, three of which are satellites of a primary station. Represented are the following networks and number of high-power transmitters, ABC (1), CBS (1), Fox (1), NBC (2), PBS (4), and RTV (1). In addition, it has 17 low-power television broadcast stations, which in several cases are satellites of the high-power stations. The "Rumble Strip" podcast features conversations with everyday Vermonters and in 2021 won a Peabody award. Electrical utilities Vermont electric power needs are served by over twenty utilities. The largest is Green Mountain Power, a subsidiary of Énergir which also took over Central Vermont Public Service. Together this company represents 70% of the retail customers in Vermont. The state is a small electricity consumer compared with other states. Therefore, its electricity sector has the lowest carbon footprint in the country. As of 2010, the state had the lowest wholesale electricity costs in New England. Public health In 2010, Vermont was the sixth highest ranked state for Well-Being in a study by Gallup and Healthways. In 2010, the state stood third in physical well-being of children. In 2010, Vermont was ranked the highest in the country for health outcomes. In 2000, the state implemented the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program to improve preventive services and management of chronic conditions. In 2011, the state ranked third in the nation in child health system performance. In 2011, the March of Dimes gave Vermont an "A", ranking it number one in the country on its Prematurity Report Card. The state scored well in cessation of smoking, obesity, fewer occupational fatalities, prevalence of health insurance, and low infant mortality. A problem area was a high prevalence of binge drinking. While ranking sixth from best for adults in obesity in 2009, the state still had 22% obese with a rate of 27% for children 10–17. The ranking for children was ninth best in the nation. In 1993, the obesity rate for adults was 12%. Vermonters spend $141 million annually in medical costs related to obesity. The combined figures for overweight and obese adults rose from 40.7% in 1990 to 58.4% in 2010. This is better than most other states. In 2011, Vermont led the nation in the rate of young people who had consumed alcohol in the past month; one-third of people aged 11 through 20. One-fifth of that group had binged during that time. The state was second for the use of marijuana by young people; 30% of adults 18 to 25 in the past month. In 2009, Vermont was ranked second in the nation for safety. Crime statistics on violence were used for the criteria. In 2007, Vermont was ranked among the best five states in the country for preventing "premature death" in people under 75 years of age. The rate of survival was twice that of the five lowest performing states. Parts of the state have been declared federal disaster areas on 28 occasions from 1963 to 2008. In 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency cited Chittenden and Bennington as counties with 70 parts per billion of smog which is undesirable. In 2008, about 100,000 Vermonters got their health care through the federal government, Medicare, Tri-Care, and the Veteran's Administration. An additional 10,000 Vermonters work for employers who provide insurance under federal law under ERISA. About 20% of Vermonters receive health care outside of Vermont; 20% of the care provided within the state is to non-Vermonters. In 2008, the state had an estimated 7.6% with no medical insurance, down from 9.8% in 2005. In 2008, the Vermont Health Access Program for low-income, uninsured adults cost from $7 to $49 per month. A "Catamount Health" premium assistance program was available for Vermonters who do not qualify for other programs. Total monthly premiums ranged from $60 to $393 for an individual. There was a $250 deductible. Insured paid $10 toward each generic prescription. 16.9% of residents 18 to 35 were uninsured, the highest group. Health care spending increased from $2.3 billion in 2000 to $4.8 billion in 2009. In 2009, adult day care services cost more in Vermont than any other state—$150 daily. The state started air drops of rabies bait for raccoons in 1997. Known rabies cases in raccoons peaked in 2007 at 165. The program is in cooperation with neighboring states and Canada. Law and government Vermont is federally represented in the United States Congress by two senators and one representative. The state is governed by a constitution which divides governmental duties into legislative, executive, and judicial branches: the Vermont General Assembly, the governor of Vermont and the Vermont Supreme Court. The governorship and the General Assembly serve two-year terms including the governor and 30 senators. There are no term limits for any office. The state capital is in Montpelier. There are three types of incorporated municipalities in Vermont: towns, cities, and villages. Like most of New England, there is slight provision for autonomous county government. Counties and county seats are merely convenient repositories for various government services such as state courts, with several elected officers such as a state's attorney and sheriff. All county services are directly funded by the state of Vermont. The next effective governmental level below state government are municipalities. Most of these are towns. Finances and taxation Vermont is the only state in the union not to have a balanced-budget requirement, yet it has had a balanced budget every year since 1991. In 2007, Moody's gave its top bond credit rating (Aaa) to the state. The state uses enterprise funds for operations that are similar to private business enterprises. The Vermont Lottery Commission, the Liquor Control Fund, and the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, are the largest of the State's enterprise funds. Also in 2007, Vermont was the 14th highest out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for state and local taxation, with a per capita load of $3,681. The national average was $3,447. Vermont collects a state personal income tax in a progressive structure of five different income brackets, with marginal tax rates ranging from 3.6% to 9.5%. In 2008, the top 1% of Vermont residents provided 30% of the income tax revenue; around 2,000 people had sufficient income to be taxed at the highest marginal rate of 9.5%. Vermont's general state sales tax rate is 6%, which is imposed on sales of tangible personal property, amusement charges, fabrication charges, some public utility charges and some service contracts. Some towns and cities impose an additional 1% Local Option Tax. There are 46 exemptions from the sales tax, including exemptions for food, medical items, manufacturing machinery, equipment and fuel, residential fuel and electricity, clothing, and shoes. A use tax is imposed on the buyer at the same rate as the sales tax. The buyer pays the use tax when the seller fails to collect the sales tax or the items are purchased from a source where no tax is collected. The use tax applies to items taxable under the sales tax. Vermont does not collect inheritance taxes, but does impose a state estate tax; a Vermont estate tax return must be filed if the estate must file a federal estate tax return (the requirement for which depends on federal law). Vermont does not collect a gift tax. Property taxes are levied by municipalities for the support of education and municipal services. Vermont does not assess tax on personal property. Property taxes are based on appraisal of the fair market value of real property. Rates vary from 0.97% on homesteaded property in Ferdinand, Essex County, to 2.72% on nonresidents' property in Barre City. Statewide, towns average 1.77% to 1.82% tax rate. In 2007, Vermont counties were among the highest in the country for property taxes. Chittenden ($3,809 median), Windham ($3,412), Addison ($3,352), and Windsor ($3,327) ranked in the top 100, out of 1,817 counties in the nation with populations greater than 20,000. Twelve of the state's 14 counties stood in the top 20%. Median annual property taxes as a percentage of median homeowners income, 5.4%, was rated as the third highest in the nation in 2011. To equitably support education, some towns are required by Act 60 to send some of their collected taxes to be redistributed to school districts lacking adequate support. Politics Vermont is one of four states (Texas, California, and Hawaii) that previously claimed status as independent nations. Vermont is the only state to have voted for a presidential candidate from the Anti-Masonic Party, and Vermont was one of only two states to vote against Franklin D. Roosevelt in all four of his presidential campaigns (the other was Maine). Vermont's history of independent political thought has led to movements for the establishment of the Second Vermont Republic and other plans advocating secession. Vermont is the only state in the United States that requires voters to be sworn in, having established the voter's oath or affirmation in 1777. All white men were granted universal suffrage in 1777. State politics Republicans dominated local Vermont politics from the party's founding in 1854 until the mid-1970s, and at the presidential level until the 1990s. Before the 1960s, rural interests dominated the legislature. As a result, cities, particularly the older sections of Burlington and Winooski, were neglected and fell into decay, and people began to move out to newer suburbs. A series of one man, one vote decisions made by the United States Supreme Court in the 1960s required states to redraw their legislative districts to accurately reflect population. As a result, urban areas in Vermont gained political power. The legislature was redistricted under one-person, one-vote in the 1960s. It passed the Land Use and Development Law (Act 250) in 1970, to discourage suburban sprawl and to limit major growth to already developed areas. The law, the first of its kind in the nation, created nine District Environmental Commissions appointed by the governor, who judged land development and subdivision plans that would affect the state's environment and many small communities significantly. As a result of Act 250, Vermont was the last state to get a Walmart (there are now six Walmarts in the state, as of November 2017, but only three — in Williston, St. Albans, and Derby — were newly built from the ground up). Because of the successful attempts to dilute what is perceived as the original intent of Act 250, and other development pressures, Vermont has been designated one of America's most "endangered historic places" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. From 1856 (the first presidential election after the Republican Party's founding) to 1988, Vermont voted Republican in every presidential election except 1964, when Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson became the first of his party to carry the state amidst a national landslide. Since 1992, Vermont has voted Democratic in every presidential election, marking a massive shift in the state's politics. In 1995, the state banned the spreading of manure from December 15 to April 1, to prevent run-off and protect the water. Therefore, farms must have environmentally approved facilities to store manure during this time frame. While the state voted largely Democratic, Republican governor Douglas won all counties but Windham in the 2006 election. A controversy dating from 1999 has been over the adoption of civil unions, an institution which grants same-sex couples nearly all the rights and privileges of marriage at the state, but not federal, level. In Baker v. Vermont (1999), the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that, under the Constitution of Vermont, the state must either allow same-sex marriage or provide a "separate, but equal" status for them. The state legislature chose the second option, by creating the institution of civil union; the bill was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Howard Dean. In April 2009, the state legislature overrode governor Jim Douglas's veto to allow same-sex marriage, becoming the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage through legislation. In September 2009, Vermont became the fourth state in which same-sex couples could marry. The previous three were Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa. In 2007, the state's House of Representatives rejected a measure which would have legalized assisted suicide for the terminally ill, by a vote of (82–63). With the governor's signature on May 20, 2013, Vermont became the fourth state to pass a "death with dignity" law — the first to be passed through legislation, rather than by ballot initiative. Minor parties and independents flourish. Rules which eliminate smaller parties from the ballot in most states do not exist in Vermont. As a result, voters often have extensive choices for general elections. Among others, this more open policy enabled independents like Bernie Sanders to win election as mayor of Burlington, as a U.S. congressman, and as a U.S. senator. A political issue has been Act 60, which balances taxation for education funding. This has resulted in the town of Killington trying to secede from Vermont and join New Hampshire, due to what the locals say is an unfair tax burden. The Vermont constitution and the courts supports the right of a person to walk (fish and hunt) on any unposted, unfenced land. That is, trespass must be proven by the owner; it is not automatically assumed. Vermont has some of the least restrictive gun control laws in the country. A permit or license is not required for purchasing or carrying firearms. Concealed carry and open carry of a firearm is legal over the age of 16, with those below 16 requiring parental permission. Vermont has a pro-sanctuary city law. The state is an alcoholic beverage control state. In 2007, through the Vermont Department of Liquor Control, it took in over $14 million from the sale and distribution of liquor. In 2013, Vermont became the 17th state to decriminalize marijuana. The statute makes possession of less than an ounce of the drug punishable by a small fine, rather than arrest and possible jail time. In 2014, Vermont became the first state to call for a constitutional convention to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC. In 2014, Vermont became the first state to mandate labeling of genetically modified organisms in the retail food supply. A distinctive law of Vermont is public nudity. The state's legislation calls for nudity in public to be a constitutional right of Vermonters, so long as "lewd and lascivious" acts are not performed in public view, and that the nudist does not undress in the presence of others. One reason this law was implemented is to protect skinny-dippers who frequent swimming holes, a long-time tradition in the state. There are other restrictions and bylaws on the municipal level concerning problematic nudity, but walking in the nude is legally protected in all 251 towns and cities in Vermont. In January 2018, Governor Phil Scott opted to sign H.511, the Vermont marijuana legalization bill, which allows adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to two mature plants starting July 1, 2018. Federal politics Historically, Vermont was considered one of the most reliably Republican states in the country in terms of national elections. From 1856 to 1988, Vermont voted Democratic only once, in Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide victory of 1964 against Barry M. Goldwater. It was also one of only two states—Maine is the other—where Franklin D. Roosevelt was completely shut out in all four of his presidential bids. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Republican presidential candidates frequently won the state with over 70% of the vote. In the 1960s and 1970s, many people moved in from out of state. Much of this immigration included the arrival of more liberal political influences of the urban areas of New York and the rest of New England in Vermont. The brand of Republicanism in Vermont has historically been a moderate one, and combined with the newcomers from out of state, this made Vermont friendlier to Democrats as the national GOP moved to the right. As evidence of this, in 1990 Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, was elected to Vermont's lone seat in the House as an independent. Sanders became the state's junior Senator in 2007. However, for his entire career in the House and Senate, Sanders has caucused with the Democrats and is counted as a Democrat for the purposes of committee assignments and voting for party leadership. After narrowly supporting George H. W. Bush in 1988, it gave Democrat Bill Clinton a 16-point margin in 1992—the first time the state had gone Democratic since 1964. Vermont has voted Democratic in every presidential election since. Since 2004, Vermont has been one of the Democrats' most loyal states. It gave John Kerry his fourth-largest margin of victory in the presidential campaign against George W. Bush; he won the state's popular vote by 20 percentage points, taking almost 59% of the vote. (Kerry, from neighboring Massachusetts, also became the first Northern Democrat ever to carry Vermont; Johnson was from Texas, Clinton from Arkansas and Al Gore, triumphant in Vermont in 2000, from Tennessee.) Essex County in the state's northeastern section was the only county to vote for Bush. Vermont is the only state that did not receive a visit from George W. Bush during his tenure as President of the United States. Indeed, George W. Bush and Donald Trump are the only Republicans to win the White House without carrying Vermont. In 2008, Vermont gave Barack Obama his third-largest margin of victory (37 percentage points) and third-largest vote share in the nation by his winning the state 68% to 31%. Only Obama's birth state of Hawaii and Washington, D.C. were stronger Democratic victories. The same held true in 2012, when Obama carried Vermont 67% of the vote to 31% for Mitt Romney, and in 2016, when Hillary Clinton won with 57% of the vote to 30% for Donald Trump. Vermont's two senators are independent Bernie Sanders and Democrat Peter Welch. The state is represented by an at-large member of the House, Democrat Becca Balint, who succeeded Welch in 2023. Culture Vermont festivals include the Vermont Maple Festival, Festival on the Green, The Vermont Dairy Festival in Enosburg Falls, the Apple Festival (held each Columbus Day Weekend), the Marlboro Music Festival, the Guilford Country fair and the Vermont Brewers Festival. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra is supported by the state and performs throughout the area. Since 1973 the Sage City Symphony, formed by composer Louis Calabro, has performed in the Bennington area. In 1988, a number of Vermont-based composers including Gwyneth Walker formed the Vermont Composers Consortium, which was recognized by the governor proclaiming 2011 as The Year of the Composer. Burlington, Vermont's largest city, hosts the annual Vermont International Film Festival, which presents ten days in October of independent films. The Brattleboro-based Vermont Theatre Company presents an annual summer Shakespeare festival. Brattleboro also hosts the summertime Strolling of the Heifers parade which celebrates Vermont's dairy culture. The annual Green Mountain Film Festival is held in Montpelier. In the Northeast Kingdom, the Bread and Puppet Theatre holds weekly shows in Glover in a natural outdoor amphitheater. One of Vermont's best known musical acts is the rock band Phish, whose members met while attending school in Vermont and spent much of their early years playing at venues across the state. The Vermont-based House of LeMay performs several shows a year, hosts the annual "Winter is a Drag Ball", and performs for fundraisers. Examples of folk art found in Vermont include the Vermontasaurus in Post Mills, a community in Thetford. The rate of volunteerism in Vermont was eighth in the nation with 37% in 2007. The state stood first in New England. In 2011, Vermont residents were ranked as the healthiest in the country. Sports Winter sports Winter sports are popular in New England, and Vermont's winter sports attractions are a big part of Vermont tourism. Some well known attractions include Burke Mountain ski area, Jay Peak Resort, Killington Ski Resort, Stowe Mountain Resort, the Quechee Club Ski Area, and Smugglers' Notch Resort. Vermont natives in the snowboarding profession include Kevin Pearce, Ross Powers, Hannah Teter, and Kelly Clark. Others learned snowboarding in the state, such as Louie Vito and Ellery Hollingsworth. Vermont Olympic gold medalists include Barbara Cochran, Hannah Kearney, Kelly Clark, Ross Powers, and Hannah Teter. Baseball The largest professional franchise is the Vermont Lake Monsters of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, based in Burlington. They were named the Vermont Expos before 2006. Up until the 2011 season, they were the affiliate of the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos). Up until 2020, they played in the New York-Penn League of Single-A and were the Single-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics Basketball Currently the highest-ranked teams in basketball representing Vermont are the NCAA's Vermont Catamounts—male and female. The Vermont Frost Heaves, the 2007 and 2008 American Basketball Association national champions, were a franchise of the Premier Basketball League, and were based in Barre and Burlington from the fall of 2006 through the winter of 2011. Football The Vermont Bucks, an indoor football team, were based in Burlington and began play in 2017 as the founding team in the Can-Am Indoor Football League. For 2018, the Bucks joined the American Arena League, but folded prior to playing in the new league. Hockey Vermont is home to the University of Vermont Men's and Women's hockey teams. Vermont's only professional hockey team was the Vermont Wild who played in the Federal Hockey League during the 2011–12 season, but the team folded before the season ended. Soccer The Vermont Voltage were a USL Premier Development League soccer club that played in St. Albans. Vermont Green FC are a USL League 2 club that will play at University of Vermont's Virtue Field in Burlington. Annually since 2002, high school statewide all stars compete against New Hampshire in ten sports during "Twin State" playoffs. Motorsport Vermont also has a few auto racing venues. The most popular of them is Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vermont. It is well known for its tight racing and has become well known in short track stock car racing. Other racing circuits include the USC sanctioned Bear Ridge Speedway, and the NASCAR sanctioned Devil's Bowl Speedway. Some NASCAR Cup drivers have come to Vermont circuits to compete against local weekly drivers such as Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, and Christopher Bell. Kevin Lepage from Shelburne, Vermont is one of a few professional drivers from Vermont. Racing series in Vermont include NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, American Canadian Tour, and Vermont's own Tiger Sportsman Series. Other Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a sport practiced in several localities in the state. Rugby Union is represented at the collegiate level and adult club level with 5 men's sides and 1 women's side. All compete in the NERFU conference and some have won national championships. Residents The following were either born in Vermont or resided there for a substantial period during their lives and whose names are widely known. Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States Pearl S. Buck, author Jake Burton Carpenter, inventor of the snowboard Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States John Deere, founder of Deere & Company George Dewey, the only Admiral of the Navy in U.S. history John Dewey, philosopher, psychologist, and educator Stephen Douglas, 19th-century politician Carlton Fisk, Baseball Hall of Fame catcher James Fisk, financier Robert Frost, poet Richard Morris Hunt, architect Rudyard Kipling, author Tom Atwood, Award-winning photographer Bill McKibben, environmentalist Samuel Morey, inventor of the steam-powered paddle wheel boat Justin Morrill, U.S. Senator and author of the Morrill Land Grant Acts. Norman Rockwell, painter, author, and illustrator Bernie Sanders, politician and legislator Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian author and Soviet dissident Rudy Vallée, singer and actor Brigham Young, 2nd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints In fiction Vermont was also the home of Dick Loudon, Bob Newhart's character on the 1980s sitcom Newhart. All action supposedly took place in Vermont. Vermont was the home of Pollyanna and her Aunt Polly in the novel Pollyanna, later made into the 1960 Disney film starring Hayley Mills and Jane Wyman. In H. P. Lovecraft's The Whisperer in Darkness, Vermont is the home of folklorist Henry Akeley (and the uninhabited hills of Vermont serve as one of the earth bases of the extraterrestrial Mi-Go). Donna Tartt's novel The Secret History is a story set mostly in a fictitious town of Hampden, Vermont, and college of the same name, where several students conspire to murder a classmate. Sinclair Lewis' 1935 anti-fascist novel It Can't Happen Here is largely set in Vermont, as local newspaper editor Doremus Jessup opposes a newly elected dictatorial government. Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation, Body Awareness, and The Aliens all take place in the fictional town of Shirley, Vermont. See also Outline of Vermont Index of Vermont-related articles French language in the United States Notes References Bibliography External links General Vermont at Curlie Government Official website Energy Data and Statistics for Vermont Vermont Agriculture Vermont League of Cities and Towns USDA Vermont State Facts Roads compared to other states Geology Rodinia to Pangea: The Lithotectonic Record of the Appalachian Region Laurentia-Gondwana connections before Pangea Bedrock Geologic Map of Vermont United States Geological Survey Maps and demographics Earthquake History of Vermont USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Vermont Geographic data related to Vermont at OpenStreetMap Tourism and recreation Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing Business Vermont Chamber of Commerce Culture and history Vermont: State Resource Guide, from the Library of Congress Conservation Corps Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries Central Vermont: Explore History in the Heart of the Green Mountains, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary Vermont Arts Council Vermont Historical Society. Vermont International Film Foundation Vermont Native American Museum & Cultural Center

Australia_at_the_Olympics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_at_the_Olympics

Australia has sent athletes to every Summer Olympic Games, as well as every Winter Olympics except 1924–32 and 1948. In 1908 and 1912 Australia competed with New Zealand under the name Australasia. History Australia has been represented at every Summer Olympics. New Zealander Leonard Cuff, an athletics administrator, organised with both Baron Pierre de Coubertin and head of the English Amateur Athletics Federation Charles Herbert, for Australasia to be represented at the first International Olympic Committee meetings in 1894. While it was initially thought that no Australian (or New Zealand) athlete would be able to compete at the 1896 Summer Olympics, Edwin Flack, an Australian accountant and amateur athlete working in London, was able to obtain leave and travelled to Athens, where he won Gold in the 800 and 1500 metres, representing Australia. Australia and New Zealand were represented by Australasia at the IOC until 1920, although the two nations competed as individual entities at the 1908 and 1912 games. From 1920 onwards, they competed as separate nations. Australia became the first country in the Southern Hemisphere to host the games, hosting the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, before hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Australia is due to host the Summer Olympics for the third time at the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane. While Australia had frequently overachieved at the Summer Olympic Games, this came to a halt at the 1976 Olympic Games. After winning at least five gold medals and seventeen total medals at every Olympics since 1956, Australia won zero gold medals and only five medals in total. This was the first time Australia had not won Gold since the 1936 Summer Olympics. It caused an uproar in Australia, and the government-funded Australian Institute of Sport was subsequently founded in 1981. Since the formation of the AIS, Australia has finished with less than 20 medals only once, in 1988, and has won at least three gold medals at every Summer Olympics since, holding an average of 11 gold medals per Games. While Australia has focused largely on the Summer Olympics, Australia has been represented at the Winter Olympics since 1936 with Ken Kennedy the first Australian Winter Olympian and sole representative. Kennedy competed in the Speed skating in all four events, with a best finish of 29th in the 500 metres. It would take until 1952 for the next representatives, starting an unbroken attendance streak. Despite this long history, it took until the 1994 Winter Olympics to win its first medal: Bronze in the Men's 5000 metre relay. After Zali Steggall won Australia's first individual medal in the Women's Slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia was founded, leading to Australia's first Winter Olympic gold medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics with Steve Bradbury winning the Men's 1000 metres and Alisa Camplin winning the Women's aerials. Olympic bids and hosted Games Hosted Games Australia has hosted the Olympic Games twice and will host again in 2032: Unsuccessful bids Australia has unsuccessfully bid for the Games on three other occasions: Overview of Olympic participation Timeline of participation These totals do not include 11 medals recognised by the Australian Olympic Committee: 10 medals (3 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze) won by Australians competing for the combined Australasia team in 1908 and 1912 (8 by individuals, 1 by an exclusively Australian team and 1 by a combined team) and 1 bronze medal won in tennis by Edwin Flack in 1896. The AOC therefore recognises Australia as having won 611 medals at the Summer Olympics (185 gold, 196 silver and 230 bronze). Medals by individual This is a list of people who have won at least three Olympic gold medals for Australia, based upon data from the International Olympic Committee. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included. It includes top-three placings in 1896 and 1900, before medals were awarded for top-three placings. People in bold are still active competitors Dale Begg-Smith and Torah Bright are the most successful Australian athletes at the Winter Olympics, with one gold medal and one silver each (Steven Bradbury, Alisa Camplin, and Lydia Lassila all won one gold and one bronze medal). Emma McKeon is the most prolific athlete at a single games, winning 7 medals (4 gold, 3 bronze) at the 2020 Olympics. While Lauren Jackson never won a gold medal, she is the only Australian to win medals in five different Olympics. Summary by sport Swimming Australia first competed in swimming at the 1900 Games, with Frederick Lane competing in two events and winning gold medals in both. The sport would become a strength of the nation, which (as of the 2020 Games) has the second-most gold and second-most total medals behind the United States. Athletics Australia first competed in athletics at the inaugural 1896 Games, with 1 athlete (Edwin Flack) competing in 3 events and winning two of them. Canoeing Cycling Rowing Sailing Skateboarding Keegan Palmer won a gold medal - Australia’s first skateboarding medal in the Men’s Park event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. At the 2024 Paris Olympics both Keegan Palmer and Arisa Trew both won gold at the respective Men and Women’s Park events. Tennis Australia first competed in tennis at the inaugural 1896 Games, with one player competing in men's singles and, as part of a mixed team, in men's doubles. Edwin Flack lost in the first round of the singles, but paired with George S. Robertson to earn bronze in the doubles. The mixed team medal is not credited to Australia. The first tennis gold medal won by Australia was by the Woodies in men's doubles in 1996; the pair also won Australia's only silver medal in the sport four years later. In 2024, Matthew Ebden and John Peers won the men's doubles, providing Australia with its second gold medal in tennis. See also List of flag bearers for Australia at the Olympics Australia at the Winter Olympics Australia at the Commonwealth Games Australia at the Universiade Australia at the World Championships in Athletics Category:Olympic competitors for Australia Notes References External links "Australia". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021. "Australia". Olympedia.com. "Olympic Analytics/AUS". olympanalyt.com. Australia NOC

South_Korea_at_the_Olympics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea_at_the_Olympics

The Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea) first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for 1980 which they boycotted. South Korea has also participated in every Winter Olympic Games since 1948, except for the 1952 games. The first ethnic Korean athletes to win medals did so at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, when Sohn Kee-chung and Nam Sung-yong won gold and bronze respectively in the men's marathon as members of the Japanese team. As Korea was under Japanese rule at that time, making them both Japanese subjects, the IOC credits both medals to Japan. South Korea won its first medals as an independent nation at its first appearance in 1948, and won its first gold medal in 1976. South Korean athletes have won a total of 287 medals at the Summer Games, with the most gold medals won in archery, and 79 medals at the Winter Games, a majority in short track speed skating. The nation has won more medals in this winter sport than any other nation since it was introduced to the Olympic program in 1992. The National Olympic Committee for Korea is the Korean Olympic Committee, and was founded in 1946 and recognized in 1947. During the 1998-2007 Sunshine Policy era, South Korea and North Korea symbolically marched as one team at the opening ceremonies of the 2000, 2004 and 2006 Olympics, but competed separately. Hosted games South Korea has hosted the Games on two occasions: Unsuccessful bids Medals * Purple border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil. Most successful Olympians Notes On 11 February 2014, Lee Sang-hwa won the gold medal for the women's 500m longtrack speedskating race at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, having previously won the one at the 2010 Games. She became the third woman and first Korean woman to win back-to-back golds at the 500m. Participated event by competition Summer Olympics d : demonstration sports e : exhibition sports Winter Olympics d : demonstration sports Hosted Olympic logo and motto 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics, held in the capital of Seoul, marked the first time the Olympics were held in South Korea. The logo consists of a rounded tricolor which represents the Olympic rings. The motto of the games was Harmony and Progress (화합과 전진). 2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics saw the Olympics return to Korea when it was held in Pyeongchang. The logo consists of five intertwined wings which represent the continents (Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania). The motto of the games was Passion. Connected. (하나된 열정; Hanadoen, Yeoljeong). References External links "Republic of Korea". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021. "South Korea". Olympedia.com. "Olympic Analytics/KOR". olympanalyt.com. See also South Korea at the Paralympics List of flag bearers for South Korea at the Olympics Category:Olympic competitors for South Korea South Korea at the Asian Games

Brandon_Aiyuk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Aiyuk

Brandon Aiyuk (EYE-yook; born March 17, 1998) is an American professional football wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Sierra College and Arizona State and was selected by the 49ers in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. Early life Aiyuk was born in Rocklin, California and grew up in Reno, Nevada. He is of Cameroonian descent. He attended Robert McQueen High School. He played wide receiver, defensive back and returned kicks for the McQueen high school football team and was named first-team All-Northern Nevada and honorable mention All-State as a senior. College career Sierra College 2016 season Aiyuk began his college football career at Sierra College. As a freshman, he caught 29 passes for 573 yards and five touchdowns and was named All-NorCal Conference. 2017 season He was named a Junior College All-American in his sophomore season after recording 60 receptions for 960 yards and 14 touchdowns while also returning 11 kickoffs for 418 yards and two touchdowns and 14 punts for 313 yards and a touchdown. He finished his junior college career with 2,499 all-purpose yards and 21 touchdowns. He was named First-Team All-NorCal Conference and All-State after the season. Aiyuk committed to transfer to Arizona State for the final two years of his NCAA eligibility over offers from Colorado State, Kansas, Tennessee, and Alabama. He chose Arizona State because it was one of the few schools that recruited him to play wide receiver; others recruited him as only a return specialist or planned to move him to the defensive side of the ball. Arizona State 2018 season In his first year with the Sun Devils, Aiyuk had 33 catches for 474 yards and three touchdowns with an additional 381 total return yards. 2019 season Aiyuk was named third-team preseason All-Pac-12 Conference going into his senior season. He was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after catching seven passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns in a 38–34 win over Washington State on October 12, 2019. Aiyuk was also named the conference Special Teams Player of the Week after posting 44 kickoff return yards and 76 punt return yards, 63 of which came on his first return for a touchdown at ASU, against Oregon State on November 16. He also had a career-high 10 receptions for 173 receiving yards and a touchdown in the game and his 293 all-purpose yards were the fifth-most in a single game in school history. Aiyuk finished the season with 65 receptions for 1,192 yards and eight touchdowns, returned 14 punts for 226 yards and one touchdown and 14 kickoffs for 446 yards, and was named first-team All-Pac-12 as both a wide receiver and as a return specialist. College statistics Professional career 2020 season Aiyuk was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round with the 25th pick in the 2020 NFL draft after they acquired the pick from the Minnesota Vikings in a trade. On June 26, 2020, Aiyuk signed a four-year $12.5 million contract with the team, with a $6.6 million signing bonus. On August 23, 2020, Aiyuk sustained a hamstring injury in training camp, resulting in him being inactive in Week 1. He made his NFL debut in Week 2 against the New York Jets and recorded two receptions for 21 yards in the 31–13 victory. In Week 3 against the New York Giants, Aiyuk recorded 101 yards from scrimmage and his first career rushing touchdown during the 36–9 win. He became the franchise's first wide receiver since 1970 to have a rushing touchdown be their first career score. In Week 4, against the Philadelphia Eagles on NBC Sunday Night Football, he had a 38-yard rushing touchdown in the 25–20 loss. He became the first wide receiver since the NFL-AFL merger to record two rushing touchdowns in his first three professional games. He recorded his first professional 100-yard game with six receptions for 115 yards in a 33–6 victory over the New England Patriots in Week 7. Aiyuk was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on November 4, 2020, and activated two days later. He was placed back on the COVID-19 list on November 20, and activated again on December 2. In Week 14 against the Washington Football Team, Aiyuk recorded 10 catches for 119 yards during the 23–15 loss. As a rookie, he appeared in 12 games and started 11. He finished with 60 receptions for 748 yards and five receiving touchdowns. In addition, he scored two rushing touchdowns. 2021 season Aiyuk started in all 17 games for the 49ers, in which he had 56 receptions for 826 yards and five touchdowns. 2022 season In Week 16, against the Raiders, Aiyuk had nine receptions for 101 yards and a receiving touchdown to go with a 16-yard rushing touchdown in the win. In the 2022 season, Aiyuk appeared in and started all 17 games, recording 78 receptions for 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns. He had two games with two receiving touchdowns and one game going over 100 yards. 2023 season On April 28, 2023, the 49ers picked up the fifth-year option of Aiyuk's rookie contract. In Week 1 of the 2023 season, Aiyuk had eight catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns in a 30–7 win over the Steelers, earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week. On Week 2, against the Los Angeles Rams, Brandon Aiyuk injured his shoulder on his first catch of the game. Despite continuing play, he was designated as inactive following a short turnaround. He was also made inactive for the Week 3 match against the New York Giants. In a Week 4 victory over the Cardinals, he had six receptions for 148 yards. In a Week 11 victory over the Buccaneers, he had five receptions for 156 yards and a touchdown. Aiyuk started in all 16 games he played in. He had seven total games going over 100 receiving yards. He finished with 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and seven receiving touchdowns. In the NFC Championship victory over the Lions, Aiyuk had a receiving touchdown. In the third quarter of the game, Aiyuk recorded a 51-yard reception off a pass that was deflected off of Kindle Vildor's helmet that helped get the 49ers into scoring position. In Super Bowl LVIII, Aiyuk had three receptions for 49 yards in the 25–22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. 2024 season On August 30, 2024, Aiyuk signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension with the 49ers. NFL career statistics Regular season Postseason References External links Career statistics and player information from ESPN · Yahoo! Sports San Francisco 49ers bio Arizona State Sun Devils bio Brandon Aiyuk at IMDb

2020_NFL_draft

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NFL_draft

The 2020 NFL draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The draft concluded with rounds 4–7 on April 25. The NFL originally planned to hold the event live in Paradise, Nevada, before all public events related to it were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, all team selections took place via videoconferencing with league commissioner Roger Goodell broadcasting picks from his home. The Washington Redskins later changed their team name to the Washington Football Team just two months after the 2020 draft, making it the final draft where players were selected under the Redskins moniker. This draft is noteworthy for producing one of the stronger quarterback classes in NFL history, with 5 playoff starters, spearheaded by No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, followed by Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Jalen Hurts along with the undrafted Tyler Huntley. Format The host city was chosen among finalists Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville, and Cleveland/Canton in May 2018 during the NFL Spring League Meeting, when Nashville was chosen to host the 2019 draft. However, the host city for 2020 was deferred. After Denver withdrew, citing scheduling conflicts, Las Vegas was chosen as the original host on December 12, 2018, coinciding with the Las Vegas Raiders' arrival in the city. Plans were announced for a main stage near the Caesars Forum convention center and a "red carpet" stage for arrivals on a floating platform in front of the Bellagio resort, with players being transported to and from the stage by boat. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL announced on March 16 that it had canceled all public festivities associated with the event. Instead, the draft was held remotely, with team coaches and GMs convening via Microsoft Teams due to all team facilities also being closed. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the picks for rounds 1–3 from his home in Bronxville, New York, with the rest of the rounds being announced by Dave Gardi. During the event Goodell announced that Las Vegas would host the 2022 NFL draft. Player selections The following is the breakdown of the 255 players selected by position: Notable undrafted players Trades within the draft (PD) indicates trades completed prior to the start of the draft (i.e. Pre-Draft), while (D) denotes trades which took place during the 2020 draft. Round one Round two Round three Round four Round five Round six Round seven Forfeited picks Notes Media coverage Coverage of all three days of the draft aired on ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN Radio. ESPN and NFL Network aired shared coverage of all three days hosted by Trey Wingo from ESPN's studios in Bristol, which was simulcast by ABC for the third day. Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and Maria Taylor, all from College GameDay, hosted ABC's telecasts for the first two days. Jennifer Hudson was announced to perform as part of a Draft Preshow on the first day, followed by Kelly Clarkson on the second day and OneRepublic on the third. ESPN Deportes provided Spanish language coverage of the draft with Monday Night Football voices Eduardo Varela and Pablo Viruega. ESPN Radio's coverage featured host Dari Nowkhah from ESPN's SEC Network, former general manager Mike Tannenbaum, ESPN New York's Bart Scott (Thursday/Friday), NFL Draft analyst Jim Nagy (Saturday) and reporter Ian Fitzsimmons with updates from Marc Kestecher. Summary Selections by NCAA conference Colleges with multiple draft selections Selections by position References Trade references General references

Justin_Jefferson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Jefferson

Justin Joshua Jefferson (born June 16, 1999) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers, where he won the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship as a junior before being drafted by the Vikings in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. Upon joining the league, Jefferson was named to the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro team in each of his first three seasons and has amassed the most receiving yards through a player's first four seasons in NFL history. In 2022, at 23 years old, he became the youngest player to lead the league in receptions (128) and receiving yards (1,809), earning Offensive Player of the Year honors. Early life Jefferson attended Destrehan High School in Destrehan, Louisiana. A low three-star prospect, ranked by 247Sports as the nation's 308th best wide receiver coming out of high school, he committed to Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college football. College career Jefferson played at LSU for three years under head coach Ed Orgeron. 2017–2018 After appearing in two games and not recording a catch his first year at LSU in 2017, Jefferson was their leading receiver in 2018 with 54 catches for 875 yards and six touchdowns. He scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 65-yard reception from Joe Burrow against Ole Miss on September 29, 2018. He had two games going over the 100-yard mark with 108 in a victory over Georgia and 117 in a victory over Arkansas. 2019 In the Tigers' second game of the 2019 season, Jefferson had nine receptions for 163 yards and three touchdowns in a 45–38 victory on the road against Texas. On October 12, against Florida, he had ten receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown in the 42–28 victory. In the SEC Championship, against Georgia, he had seven receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown in the 37–10 victory. Jefferson and the Tigers qualified for the College Football Playoffs with an undefeated record in the 2019 season. He had a historic performance in the Peach Bowl, catching 14 passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns against the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff Semifinals at the Peach Bowl. All four touchdowns came in the first half, setting a College Football Playoff game record and tying the record for any bowl game. In the National Championship against Clemson, he had nine receptions for 106 yards in the 42–25 victory. In his junior season, Jefferson led the country with 111 receptions. His 18 receiving touchdowns ranked second in the country—behind only teammate Ja'Marr Chase—and his 1,540 receiving yards were ranked third. He had eight games going over the 100-yard mark. On January 15, 2020, Jefferson announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Statistics Professional career 2020 Jefferson was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round with the 22nd overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft. The Vikings previously obtained the 22nd selection as part of a blockbuster trade that sent wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills, a trade that has been considered by many around the league as one of the “top win-win deals ever.” Jefferson signed a four-year, $13.12 million contract with the team, with a $7.1 million signing bonus. Jefferson was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on July 27, 2020, before being cleared and activated a week later. Jefferson made his debut in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, recording two receptions for 26 yards. He made his first start of the season in a Week 3 game against the Tennessee Titans, where he had his first big breakthrough by finishing with 175 receiving yards and a touchdown on seven receptions, but the Vikings lost 31-30. He followed up that performance the next week with four receptions for 103 yards in a 31–23 win over the Houston Texans. In doing so, he became just the fifth rookie wide receiver in Vikings history to have back-to-back games with at least 100 yards receiving. During Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons, Jefferson finished with nine receptions for 166 receiving yards and two touchdowns . In Week 13 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jefferson recorded nine catches for 121 yards and a touchdown during a 27–24 overtime win, in this game he broke the 1,000 receiving yard mark. In Week 15 against the Chicago Bears, Jefferson broke Randy Moss' Vikings rookie receiving record by catching eight passes, putting him at 74 receptions, surpassing the 69 catches Moss had in 1998. By the season's end, Jefferson had set the NFL record for most receiving yards (1,400) by a rookie in NFL history after surpassing Anquan Boldin's 1,377 yards in 2003 (although his record would be broken by his former LSU teammate Ja'Marr Chase the following season). He was one of only two rookies named to the 2021 Pro Bowl, alongside defensive end Chase Young of the Washington Football Team. He was named Rookie of the Year by the Sporting News. He was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team. He was ranked 53rd by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2021. 2021 Jefferson's season started strong, putting up over 100 receiving yards against the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions, and Los Angeles Chargers over the first eight games of the season. In Week 11, Jefferson had eight catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns in a 34–31 win over the Packers, earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week. In Week 13, Jefferson caught 11 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown in a 29–27 loss to the Lions. Jefferson's 464 yards and three touchdowns through four games in the month of November earned him NFC Offensive Player of the Month, the first of his career. During Week 16, Jefferson passed Odell Beckham Jr. for most receiving yards by a player in his first two NFL seasons. Jefferson finished the season with 1,616 receiving yards, good for second-most in the NFL in 2021, and just 16 yards short of Randy Moss's single-season franchise record. Jefferson was named to the 2022 Pro Bowl, joining Randy Moss and Sammy White as the only three Vikings wide receivers to make Pro Bowls in each of their first two professional seasons. For the second consecutive year, Jefferson was named a second-team member of the AP All-Pro team, missing a spot on the first-team by a single vote. He was ranked 17th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022. 2022 Against the Packers in Week 1, Jefferson caught nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns in the 23–7 win. During Week 4 against the New Orleans Saints at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Jefferson finished with 147 receiving yards and a rushing touchdown as the Vikings won 28–25. The following week against Bears, Jefferson caught a career-high 12 catches resulting in 154 yards receiving in the 29–22 win. Jefferson's third catch of the game marked 227 career receptions, surpassing Randy Moss for the franchise record of the most receptions in the first three years of a career. Against the Buffalo Bills in Week 10, Jefferson caught 10 passes for a career-high 193 yards and a touchdown as the Vikings went on to win 33–30 in overtime. One of Jefferson's catches came with two minutes left in the fourth quarter where on 4th down and 18, Jefferson made a one-handed catch for 32 yards, wrestling the ball away from Bills cornerback Cam Lewis on the way to the ground. The catch was widely heralded as one of the greatest of all time, and the play was named the NFL Play of the Year Award at the end of the season. His arm sleeves and gloves from the game were also put on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his game against the Bills. In Week 12, against the New England Patriots, he had nine receptions for 139 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in the 33–26 victory. In the game against the Patriots, Jefferson passed Moss for the most receiving yards in a player's first three seasons. He won NFC Offensive Player of the Month for November. In Week 14 against the Lions, Jefferson recorded 11 receptions for 223 yards, setting the Vikings single-game record for receiving yards, in the 34–23 road loss. Additionally, in week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts, Jefferson recorded 12 receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown, setting his season total to 1,623 yards, a new career high. Against the Packers in Week 17, he was held to one catch on five targets for 15 yards, the lowest stats in a game of his career. During the same game, Jefferson appeared to inadvertently hit a referee with his helmet out of clear frustration, and received no punishment for the incident. He earned first-team All-Pro honors and a third Pro Bowl nomination for his career. Jefferson finished the 2022 regular season with a league-leading 128 receptions for 1,809 yards and nine total touchdowns (eight receiving, one rushing). He won the Offensive Player of the Year award, as well as being a final candidate for the league MVP award. He was ranked second by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2023. 2023 On April 25, 2023, the Vikings picked up the fifth-year option of Jefferson's rookie contract. Jefferson started the 2023 regular season with nine receptions for 150 yards in a 20–17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. Four days later, he had 11 receptions for 159 in a 34–28 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2. In Week 3, against the Los Angeles Chargers, he had seven receptions for 149 yards and a touchdown in the 28–24 loss. In Week 4, he had two receiving touchdowns against the Carolina Panthers in the 21–13 victory. On October 11, 2023, the Vikings placed Jefferson on injured reserve, due to a hamstring injury suffered in Week 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Vikings activated Jefferson off of injured reserve on November 28, 2023. In his return against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 14, Jefferson caught two passes for 27 yards before leaving with a chest injury in the second quarter. Despite missing seven games due to injury, Jefferson still managed to finish the 2023 season with over 1,000 receiving yards. During the season, he set an NFL record for most receiving yards through a player's first four seasons. He was ranked 18th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2024. 2024 On June 3, 2024, Jefferson signed a four-year, $140 million contract extension that includes $110 million guaranteed, keeping him under contract with the Vikings through the 2028 season. The deal made Jefferson the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL at an average of $35 million per year. In Week 2, Jefferson caught a 97-yard touchdown pass and achieved 400 career receptions in a 23–17 win over the San Francisco 49ers. He also tied Lance Alworth as the fastest player in NFL history to achieve 6,000 career receiving yards, doing so in 62 games. NFL career statistics Regular season Postseason Personal life His brothers, Jordan and Rickey, also played college football at LSU. Their father, John, played Division II college basketball. On April 27, 2021, Jefferson was the first NFL player to be added to Fortnite with the dance, the Griddy. References External links Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · ESPN · CBS Sports · Yahoo! Sports · Pro Football Reference Minnesota Vikings bio LSU Tigers bio

Dog_walking

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_walking

Dog walking is the act of a person walking with a dog, typically from the dog's residence and then returning. Leashes are commonly used for this. Both owners and pets receive many benefits, including exercise and companionship. Description Dogs are restrained by a collar around their neck or a harness, or by simply following their guardian with familiarity and verbal control. Commonly, the dog is walked by the guardian or another family member, but there are also professional dog walkers. Dog owners can also go hiking with their dogs. Many trails mandate that the dogs are on leash, in view of the dogs' safety and the safety of other hikers. Health benefits A study by Michigan State University showed that people who walk their dogs are 34% more likely to meet expected goals of exercise, with a recommended level of 150 minutes of activity such as dog walking per week. Matthew Reeves, the co-author of the study said, "There is no magic bullet in getting people to reach those benchmarks but walking a dog has a measurable impact." Research conducted by the University of Western Australia has suggested that a higher rate of dog walking within a community tends to cause more interpersonal relationships within that community. The research suggested that people in the community would acknowledge and greet other people in the street, and exchange favors with neighbors, which could possibly encourage more exercise in the community, by giving pets and owners a chance at a healthier lifestyle. Professional dog walkers Professional dog walkers, both individuals and businesses, are paid by dog owners to walk their dogs for them. Some dog walkers will take many dogs for a walk at once, while others will only take a single dog. The length of a walk might vary by breed or owner's request, ranging from short walks intended to last no longer than the time it takes for the dog to relieve itself of waste, to longer walks with a specific amount of time set by the owner. "The length of walks should take into account the dog's age and health status. Long walks (over 1 hour) should not be undertaken by dogs under 12 months of age for smaller breeds, up to 18 months for large breeds, to protect their bones and joints while they are still growing." Also growing in popularity is "dog running". Dog runners are professionals who run with dogs, rather than walking with them. In some jurisdictions, dog walking businesses must be licensed and have employees trained in animal first aid. Professional dog walking services can be obtained locally or through online referral services. Obtaining a position as a professional dog walker has become more demanding, with applicants having to go through extensive training. However, whether or not licensing or training is required, all dog walkers who walk other people's dogs must be aware of best practices such as using a fixed-length leash and weather considerations. In the United States, the first professional dog walker is believed to have been Jim Buck, who in 1960 launched his dog walking service in New York City. Contested dog walks Much research outlines the benefits of dog walking for the dog and human alike, promoting mental and physical well-being and sociability. However, dogs that display aggression undermines these benefits, “extracting a considerable social and emotional toll for people”. See also Pet sitting Pet taxi Dog daycare References External links Media related to Dog walking at Wikimedia Commons

Leash

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leash

A leash (also called a lead, lead line or tether) is a rope or similar material used to control an animal by attaching it to a collar, harness, or halter. In British English, a leash is generally for a larger (possibly dangerous or aggressive) animal, with lead being more commonly used when walking a dog. Types of leashes Leashes take many forms; for example: A simple metal chain. Very short tab leashes; a clip attached to a loop handle or to a short piece of leather with a knot or similar short handle. Allows very close, tight control of a dog in certain competition or training situations. Short, soft, braided leather leash with a loop handle and a clip to attach to the collar, usually about 4 feet in length, commonly used during obedience training. The softness enables the trainer to fold the leash into a shorter length and the braiding allows a firmer grip. Nylon webbing leash, also known as a tracking/training leash in the UK, usually 4 to 6 feet, with a loop handle and clip, most commonly used for walking dogs casually. Extended-length webbing leashes, 12 to 30 feet or more, also known as a tracking/training leash in the UK, usually with a loop handle and a clip, primarily for training at a distance or during tracking sessions. Slip-leash, usually with a loop handle and an adjustable, slipping loop at the other end that goes around the dog's neck. Often used in work or competitions—such as dog agility—where the leash must be quickly removed and replaced. Retractable, a hook on a thin rope that retracts automatically into a large plastic handle, allowing the dog to wander 15 or 25 feet away while keeping the leash taut (in theory preventing it from tangling around obstacles or the dog's legs) but still allowing the handler to reel in the dog for closer control. There are also bicycle dog leashes, especially designed for people who enjoy taking their pet on a ride with the bike. The leash is an aluminum tube with a plastic coated cable which runs down through the tube. It extends out of the tube end a couple of feet to allow for ease of movement for the dog. One end connects to the bike and the other to the dog's collar. This keeps them safely away from the bike. While bicycle leashes might be suitable for some dogs, they aren't a good idea for all breeds. There are numerous safety considerations before attempting to bike with a dog. Cat leashes and harnesses are also available on the market and are convenient for people who are not comfortable letting their pet free. Leash laws in the United States Many cities have passed legislation that requires dogs to be on leash in public areas; in some areas, cats are also required to be restrained (under control) on a leash, in a kennel, or in a cat-proof yard or house. Purposes of a leash include: preventing animals from frightening or biting people or other animals, defecating and urinating in inappropriate places, endangering traffic, digging up lawns, causing other damage, getting lost, and getting away from owners. Leashes also provide a clear method of communication and ensure control during training of dogs. In the United States, leash laws are different within each state. While some states do not have statewide leash laws and give localities power to make leash law, there are some other states in which leash laws apply statewide. States that do not have statewide leash laws are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. In Connecticut, dogs are not permitted to run at large except in the situation of hunting. Still, if the dog has vicious propensities and the owner still allows it to run at large and a person is bitten, the owner can be fined for up to $1,000 and is also liable for 6 months of prison unless the victim has abused the dog and provoked the harmful behavior. In Delaware, dogs are not allowed to run at large unless in situations when the owner is present and has control over the pet. An exception is for farm dogs. Also, during the night dogs must be kept in an enclosure from which they cannot escape, firmly secured with a collar or chain or other device, so they cannot stray from the premises, or are under the reasonable control of the owner or custodian. If an owner does not respect these laws and if the dog bites someone, the owner is subject to civil liability and for fines of up to $1,500. Dogs in the District of Columbia must be kept on a leash as well. They are also not permitted on school grounds when school is in session or on any public recreation area without a leash. Indiana is one of the states that has a restraint statute, which means that dogs must be restrained at all times. Otherwise, if the dog bites a person when not restrained the owner is subject to civil liability and criminal penalties. Dogs are allowed to run at large during the night in Kentucky only if they are accompanied by and under control of their owner. According to the leash laws of Louisiana, dogs are prohibited to run at large at all times of the day. The same law applies in Maine, where the only exception is for hunting dogs. Missouri legislation requires that dogs are kept in leashes that are no longer than 10 feet when they are in state parks or on historic sites. Also, dogs that have rabies are not permitted to run at large. In Nebraska, dogs may run at large only in counties where the population does not reach 80,000. New Hampshire legislation does not allow dogs to run at large unless they are accompanied by their owner or custodian or when dogs are used for training or are trained for hunting, herding or exhibitions. Illinois legislation prohibits owners from walking their dogs when they are not in a leash. Dogs in New York must be restrained or confined at all times of the day. However, certain NYC parks allow dogs off leash at certain hours. According to the North Carolina law, dogs are allowed to run at large during the night only if they are accompanied by their owner or a person who has received the owner's permission to do so. Ohio law requires one to "keep the dog under the reasonable control of some person," but does not require a leash except for "any female dog … at any time the dog is in heat." There are additional provisions for "dangerous dogs" that have injured a person or killed another dog. Some Oregon counties and cities have leash ordinances that can be used to hold dog owners responsible for injuries resulting from their animal attacking or biting a person while running at large. These ordinances expand upon Oregon law, under which dog owners have limited responsibility for injuries caused by their dogs unless the owner was aware that the animal is abnormally dangerous. Pennsylvania legislation states that dogs must be confined or firmly secured or reasonably controlled by a person, within the property of the owner. Tennessee law prohibits dogs to run at large except in cases in which dogs are engaged in legal hunting or herding. West Virginia and Wisconsin are states that do not have a law that requires dogs to be leashed. Still, they do have laws that hold dog owners and keepers liable for all damages caused by dogs that are permitted to run at large. Different law applies to dangerous dogs and female dogs as in different states they are prohibited to run at large at all times. Also, in states such as Connecticut and Louisiana, guide dogs must also be leashed. Dog leashes Dog leashes are used to walk the dog in public places. Having the dog wear a leash is a way of protecting the dog and other persons (e.g., if the dog runs away and bites someone). The length is one of the important aspects of the leash. The length of the leash must be chosen according to the size of the dog and it is important because it allows a good control. Leashes should not be either too long or too short. Too-long leashes do not provide good control of the pet whereas too-short leashes are uncomfortable for both the dog and the owner. The perfect leash can restrain the dog but at the same time is not viewed as a punishment for the pet. High quality dog leashes have a good quality metal clip and they can be made of leather, nylon or even chain. The metal clip must securely fasten to a metal ring on the collar in order to maintain good control of the dog. The material of which the leash is made of is not of great importance as long as the leash does not show evidence of wear or fraying. Therefore, leashes should be periodically checked to ensure they are maintained in proper condition. An important aspect of dog leashes is their sturdiness. Although rope leashes are quite cheap, they are vulnerable to chewing and fraying and are not amongst the most recommended types of leashes. Nylon leashes are recommended; this material provides a bit of elasticity which is meant to result in more comfort for the dog. On the other hand, nylon leashes can cause chafe or can cut into the skin of the dog. Leather leashes are often preferred over the nylon ones because of the resistance of the material and because it becomes more flexible with age and it is softer. Leather is however more prone to be chewed when compared to nylon. The retractable dog leash is one of the most dangerous leashes for the dogs because they allow them to go as far as they want. Retractable leashes are usually made of nylon and the retractable device is made of plastic or a stronger composite. Although these leashes can be convenient for both the dog and the owner as it allows some control, they make it difficult to keep a dog under control which can result in persons or other dogs being attacked. Aggressive dogs should not be walked with such a leash, and puppies should be kept closely to ensure their protection from various dangers such as cars. Dogs with a tendency to bolt without warning should be walked with caution, as a retractable lead can allow the dog to accelerate to significant speed before being stopped, presenting the possibility of injury to both dog and owner. Some leashes are made of reflective materials and are suitable for walking the dog at night. They are convenient because they make the dog and the owner much more visible in the traffic, reducing the likelihood of accidents. Cat leashes Cat leashes are used with the purpose of preventing the cat getting lost. Unlike dogs, cats rarely attack persons on the street, so cat leashes are mainly a safety measure to protect the pet itself. Very often the collars are replaced with harnesses, because they avoid the dangers of collars which include escaping and running away or choking. Cats are more likely to not be willing to be walked in a harness than dogs are, and are considered to need up to months to be able to adjust to wearing a harness. Cat leashes come in a variety of colors, designs and models and are made of different materials. There are cat leashes made of leather, nylon and rope. Whereas the leather leash is one of the best qualities because of the characteristics of the material, it is also one of the most expensive and not very comfortable for the cat at the same time. Nylon cat leashes and harnesses are, however, more elastic, and thus more comfortable and also provide more control. Leashes for large animals Leashes are used on large animals—such as bovids, camelids, and equids—to lead them so that they will be forced to follow and come to a desired area—as well as to tether them to a specific area, such as to a fencepost or tree trunk, so that they will remain stationary and not run away. Oftentimes, leashes are used to tether such animals when they require separation, examination, or work to be done to them, such as grooming and tacking up. Notes Dog leashes date back a very long time, both in art and written record, as a Proto-cuneiform tablet, Jemdet Nasr period, c. 3100–2900 BC features a "figure guiding two dogs on a leash and hunting or herding boars in a reed marsh". Among hunters, a collection of three hares ("a brace and a half" or tierce) or three creatures of any kind, especially greyhounds, foxes, and deer, is called "a leash". Child leashes, attached to child harnesses, ensure that young children do not wander far away from their guardians. The metal clip is attached to the harness that the child wears, while the other end containing the loop is held by the guardian. See also Child harness Coiling Creance Fiador (tack) == References ==

Trolls_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolls_(film)

Trolls is a 2016 American animated jukebox musical comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox, based on the Good Luck Trolls dolls created by Thomas Dam. The film was directed by Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Walt Dohrn (in his feature directorial debut), from a screenplay by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, based on a story by Erica Rivinoja. It stars the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden, John Cleese and Gwen Stefani. The film follows two trolls named Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) who go on a quest to save their village from destruction by the Bergens, giant creatures who eat Trolls to be happy. Trolls premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 4, by 20th Century Fox. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $347 million worldwide against its $125 million budget. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Can't Stop the Feeling!". It was one of three DreamWorks films to be the last to be distributed by 20th Century Fox alongside The Boss Baby and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. Following NBCUniversal's acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016, Universal Pictures began distributing DreamWorks's films, starting with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). A sequel, Trolls World Tour, was released on April 10, 2020, while a third film, Trolls Band Together, was released on November 17, 2023. Plot The Trolls are small, colorful, perpetually happy creatures who like to sing, dance, and hug all day. They are discovered by the Bergens, large, hideous and miserable creatures who believe they can only feel happy by consuming a Troll. The Bergens imprison the Trolls in a caged tree and eat them every year on a special occasion called "Trollstice". On the year that Bergen Prince Gristle Jr., son of King Gristle Sr., is due to eat his first Troll, the chef in charge of the ceremony discovers that the Trolls' leader, King Peppy, has escaped with his daughter, Princess Poppy, and the rest of the Trolls. King Gristle banishes Chef from Bergen Town, and she vows to find the Trolls, plotting to overthrow the monarchy as revenge. 20 years later, an adult Poppy organizes a gigantic party to celebrate the anniversary of their escape. A serious, gray, survivalist troll named Branch warns that this could expose their home, but everyone ignores him. His forewarnings are realized when Chef locates the Trolls' vibrant, loud, and visible party, and kidnaps Poppy's friends, including her secret crush, a "zen" troll named Creek. While the rest of the Trolls take refuge in Branch's survival bunker, who reluctantly permits them to do so, Poppy sets off alone to rescue her friends. She gets herself into several potentially deadly situations and is finally rescued by Branch, who thinks her quest is hopeless and reluctantly follows her only to escape his crowded bunker. After arriving in Bergen Town, Poppy and Branch sneak into the castle of the now King Gristle Jr. and see Chef serving Creek to him. Gristle appears to eat Creek, but Poppy still holds out hope that he is alive and finds her friends guarded by a young scullery maid named Bridget. After learning that Bridget is secretly in love with Gristle, Poppy and the trolls agree to help her get a date with him in exchange for her help in ascertaining if Creek is alive. When Branch refuses to sing along with the others in the ensuing musical number, he and Poppy argue, and he reveals that he has refused to sing ever since a Trollstice many years ago. On that day, his singing drew the attention of Chef, who found his home and took his grandmother away as she sacrificed herself to save Branch's life, which made him lose his happiness and turn into what he is now. Feeling empathic, Poppy, her friends and Bridget comfort Branch with a hug. The trolls disguise Bridget as "Lady Glittersparkles", and she and Gristle go on a date at a roller rink/arcade restaurant. Poppy spots Creek being held captive inside a jewel on Gristle's mantle, and after the date, the trolls sneak into Gristle's room to free him, but discover the jewel empty. Chef arrives and recaptures them, and Poppy becomes horrified to learn that Creek, in exchange for his own life, betrayed them to Chef. He then steals Poppy's cowbell and later uses it to summon the rest of the trolls, whom Chef captures and places in a pot to be served at the feast. Hurt that her "crush" was nothing but a cowardly traitor, Poppy and the other trolls fall into despair and turn gray. In a moment of compassion, Branch sings to cheer Poppy up, which successfully brings back both theirs and the rest of the Trolls's colors. Bridget secretly releases them from the pot while Chef is not looking, but Poppy refuses to let her take the blame. The trolls return to Bergen Town and reveal to the Bergens that Bridget was in fact Lady Glittersparkles, and that she and Gristle are happily in love with each other, showing the Bergens that they too can find happiness within themselves. Joy is brought to Bergen Town as a result, and the Trolls and the Bergens end their feud. However, Chef refuses to accept the peace, and she and Creek are sent rolling out of Bergen Town into the woods via a flaming serving cart by a well-aimed spoon thrown by Bridget. King Peppy allows Poppy to become Queen of the Trolls, and she begins a friendship with Branch as they share an embrace. In a mid-credits scene, Creek and Chef find themselves on the top of a hill, where Chef attempts to eat Creek, but the hill, which is actually the monster from earlier, eats them. Cast Anna Kendrick as Princess Poppy, the sweet and optimistic princess and later queen of the Trolls Iris Dohrn as Baby Poppy Justin Timberlake as Branch, an over-cautious, unpleasant and cynical survivalist Troll who hates singing, dancing, hugging and music, after he turned gray due to his grandma's death Liam Henry as Young Branch Christopher Mintz-Plasse as King Gristle Jr., son of Gristle Sr, and the second King of the Bergens Zooey Deschanel as Bridget, a kind-hearted Bergen who works as a scullery maid to Chef Christine Baranski as Chef, the sadistic, cruel and power-hungry chef of the Bergens Russell Brand as Creek, a supposedly "zen" troll and Poppy's secret crush, who is actually a fraud. James Corden as Biggie, a large, friendly British Troll and the owner of Mr. Dinkles. Jeffrey Tambor as King Peppy, the king of the Trolls and Poppy's father John Cleese as King Gristle Sr., Gristle Jr's father and the first King of the Bergens. Gwen Stefani as DJ Suki, a Troll who uses DJ equipment made of insects. Ron Funches as Cooper, a giraffe-like Troll who can walk on all fours, he raps and plays the harmonica Icona Pop as Satin and Chenille, twin Trolls with a flair for fashion design and are conjoined by their hair Kunal Nayyar as Guy Diamond, a glittery Troll with a highly auto-tuned voice Quvenzhané Wallis as Harper, a Troll artist with heterochromia who paints with her hair GloZell as Grandma Rosiepuff, Branch's late grandmother who sacrificed herself when she and Branch were discovered by Chef. Dami Im voices the character in the Australian version. Susanna Reid voices the character in the UK version. Meg DeAngelis as Moxie Dewdrop, a dancing Troll Connie Glynn voices the character in the UK version Ricky Dillon as Aspen Heitz, a Troll skitterboarder. Greg James voices the character in the UK version Kandee Johnson as Mandy Sparkledust, a Troll who designs and repairs treasures Abbey Clancy voices the character in the UK version Walt Dohrn as: Smidge, a small, inordinately strong female Troll with a shockingly deep voice Mr. Dinkles, Biggie's pet stuffed worm. Fuzzbert, a Troll whose legs are the only thing visible besides his hair Cloud Guy, an anthropomorphic cloud Karma Grace Helbig as Cookie Sugarloaf, one of the Trolls Carrie Hope Fletcher voices the character in the UK version. Mike Mitchell and Curtis Stone as Chad and Todd, two royal guards that work for the Bergen Royal Family Rhys Darby as Bibbly, a Bergen shopkeeper of the Bib Store Production DreamWorks announced plans for a film based on the Troll toyline as early as 2010. This version was to be written by Adam Wilson and Melanie Wilson LaBracio. By 2012, Chloë Grace Moretz had already been cast in the female lead role and Jason Schwartzman was reported to have been offered the male lead. In September 2012, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation announced that the film with the working title Trolls would be released on June 5, 2015, with Anand Tucker set to direct the film, written by Wallace Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes. By April 2013, DreamWorks Animation had acquired the intellectual property for the Trolls franchise from the Dam Family and Dam Things. Having "big plans for the franchise," DreamWorks Animation became the exclusive worldwide licensor of the merchandise rights, except for Scandinavia, where Dam Things remains the licensor. In May 2013, the film was pushed back for a year to November 4, 2016. The same month, DreamWorks Animation announced that Mike Mitchell and Erica Rivinoja has been hired as a director and screenplay writer to "reimagine" the film as a musical comedy, which would present the origin of the Trolls' colorful hair. On June 16, 2014, Anna Kendrick joined the cast to voice Poppy, a princess. On September 15, 2015, Deadline Hollywood reported that Justin Timberlake would voice a character named Branch. Timberlake previously worked with DreamWorks Animation as the voice of Arthur "Artie" Pendragon in Shrek the Third in 2007. The full cast announced their respective roles via announcements on Twitter on January 6, 2016. Music Justin Timberlake served as an executive producer for the film's music and released the original song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" in conjunction with "Hello Darkness" on May 6, 2016. The song reached No. 1 in the official charts of 17 countries, including the United States and Canada. In addition to Timberlake, the rest of the cast contributed to the film's soundtrack, which also features guest appearances from Earth, Wind & Fire and Ariana Grande. The soundtrack album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Australian Recording Industry Association. Release The film's opening premiere opened at the BFI London Film Festival Opening Celebration on October 8, 2016 as a special BFI presentation, and was theatrically released on November 4, 2016, in the United States by 20th Century Fox, and in the United Kingdom at an earlier date of October 21, 2016. Marketing The first teaser trailer for Trolls was officially unveiled online on January 28, 2016. The following day, it would make its theatrical debut with the opening of Kung Fu Panda 3. On June 29, 2016, a second trailer was then released online. DreamWorks spent an estimated $105 million promoting the film. Home media Trolls was released on Digital HD on January 24, 2017, and on DVD and Blu-ray on February 7, 2017. The film topped the home video sales chart for two consecutive weeks. From June 2017 to December 2018, the film was available on Netflix, and the film returned to the streaming platform after 4 years on December 7, 2022. Reception Box office Trolls grossed $153.9 million in the US and Canada and $193.2 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $347 million, against a budget of $125 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the film made a net profit of $19 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. In the United States and Canada, Trolls was released alongside the releases of Doctor Strange and Hacksaw Ridge, and was projected to gross $35–40 million from 4,060 theaters in its opening weekend. On its first day, the film grossed $12.3 million (including $900,000 made from Thursday night previews). It went on to open to $46.5 million, finishing second at the box office behind Doctor Strange. Critical response On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 165 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Trolls brings its instantly recognizable characters to the big screen in a colorful adventure that, while geared toward the younger set, isn't without rewards for parents." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 55 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 80% overall positive score. Lindsey Bahr of Associated Press gave the film a positive review and said, "Ultimately, the 'get happy' moral of the story, while trite compared to something like Inside Out, is sufficiently sweet enough for its audience. Did you expect more from a piece of candy?" Bill Zwecker of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and said, "You simply will walk out – or perhaps dance out – of the theater feeling very happy yourself." Andy Webster of The New York Times said, "Exuberant, busy and sometimes funny, DreamWorks Animation's Trolls is determined to amuse." Michael Rechtshaffen, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, called the film "an admittedly vibrant-looking but awfully recognizable animated musical comedy concoction." Alonso Duralde of TheWrap said the film "combines the barely-there characterization and irritating cutesiness of The Smurfs with the hideous character design and awful pop covers of Strange Magic." Betsy Bozdech of Common Sense Media gave the movie 4 stars. She said, "Make no mistake: Kids are going to love this movie. Trolls is cute, it's colorful, it has tons of catchy songs, and the messages are positive and easy to understand (happiness is inside everyone, if you know where/how to find it, and you shouldn't have to change who you are to get someone to like you)." Accolades Regarding music award shows, only film-related categories are included on this list. Franchise DreamWorks Trolls: The Experience was the first of multiple mobile pop-up attractions Feld Entertainment and Universal Brand Development had agreed to develop in April 2018. The pop-up attraction opened in New York City on October 22, 2018. Sequels On February 28, 2017, Universal Pictures, the studio's new distributor and parent company since 2016, and DreamWorks Animation announced that a sequel titled Trolls 2 would be released on April 10, 2020, with Kendrick and Timberlake reprising their roles of Poppy and Branch as well as Aibel and Berger returning to write the script. On October 4, 2017, the release date for the sequel was moved up to February 14, 2020, as Fast & Furious 9 took its original April 10, 2020 slot. Along with the new release date, it was announced that Dohrn will be returning to direct and Shay will return to produce the sequel. On December 6, 2017, the film was pushed back to an April 17, 2020 release. On March 4, 2020, No Time to Die got delayed, so the film was pushed to an April 10, 2020 release again. In May 2018, it was confirmed that Sam Rockwell, Chance the Rapper, Anthony Ramos, Karan Soni, Flula Borg, and Jamie Dornan joined the cast. Corden, Icona Pop, Funches, Stefani and Nayyar will also reprise their roles. In October 2018, it was confirmed that Kelly Clarkson had joined the cast, and will perform an original song. A new title for the sequel, Trolls World Tour, was announced in June 2018. In May 2017, podcasters Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy began campaigning for roles in the film via a podcast titled "The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2" (later renamed "The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls: World Tour" after the sequel's subtitle was revealed). Following the podcast's popularity, DreamWorks confirmed in September 2018 that the McElroy brothers would make cameo appearances in World Tour. In June 2019, along with promotional posters, new cast members had been announced, which included: J Balvin, Mary J. Blige, Rachel Bloom, George Clinton, Ester Dean and Gustavo Dudamel. On April 9, 2020, Justin Timberlake expressed interest in participating in future Trolls films during his Apple Music takeover, "I hope we make, like, seven Trolls movies, because it literally is the gift that keeps on giving". On November 22, 2021, it was announced that a third Trolls film would be released in theaters on November 17, 2023. Television specials Trolls Holiday is a half-hour television special that aired on November 24, 2017 on NBC. Poppy realizes that the Bergens have no holidays to celebrate. She enlists Branch and their friends (the Snack Pack) to show their best friend Bridget and other Bergens the importance of holidays. Most of the original cast (including Kendrick, Timberlake, Deschanel, Mintz-Plasse, Corden, Funches, Nayyar and Dohrn) all reprise their roles from the film. The likely-Christmas Special is also directed by Crawford and written by Josh Bycel & Jonathan Fener with music by Jeff Morrow. Its soundtrack album that features seven songs was released on October 27, 2017. It is now available on Netflix and on DVD by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The bonus features of the DVD also include one episode of Spirit Riding Free and two of Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh. A second special, Trolls: Holiday in Harmony, aired on November 26, 2021. Animated series A 52-episode animated series based on the film, entitled Trolls: The Beat Goes On! that airs on Netflix premiered on January 19, 2018 and ran for 8 seasons. The show stars Amanda Leighton as Poppy, Skylar Astin as Branch, and Funches who is reprising his role as Cooper, and Dohrn reprising his role as Cloud Guy. Following the release of Trolls World Tour, another animated series, titled Trolls: TrollsTopia, was released on Peacock and Hulu in 2020. References External links Official website Dreamworks Trolls Party Trolls at IMDb Trolls at Box Office Mojo Trolls at AllMovie

Mike_Mitchell_(director)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Mitchell_(director)

Mike Mitchell (born October 18, 1970) is an American film director, writer, producer, actor and animator. He has directed the films Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Surviving Christmas (2004), Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) (live-action sequences only), Trolls (2016), The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024). Early life Mitchell was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of lawyer and former chairman of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, Robert Mitchell and Julia Baker. According to his father, "Mitchell's gifts for artistic imagery were discovered early." He graduated from Putnam City North High School, and during this time was very much involved in the arts, then subsequently moved to Los Angeles to attend the California Institute of the Arts. During his time there, there was a demand for young animators, which led him into television. Working for such filmmakers as Tim Burton and Spike Jonze, Mitchell became an illustrator. He has one older sister, Suzanne Mitchell Robertson. Career He started his career as director for Matt O'Callaghan's The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He first gained critical attention when he co-wrote, produced and directed the short film Herd, which won several film festival awards, including the Spirit of Slamdance Award at the 1999 Slamdance Festival. The same year, he made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, starring Rob Schneider. He worked for various companies including Disney, DreamWorks, MTV, Nickelodeon, Universal and Sony. He directed the films Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Surviving Christmas and Sky High. The first two received negative reviews, while the third has received positive reviews. In 2006, he joined DreamWorks Animation, and was a story artist for Shrek the Third and Creative Consultant for Kung Fu Panda. He later directed the movie Shrek Forever After and voiced the character Butterpants. Mitchell's short film Frannie's Christmas was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012. He also worked as a voice actor for Advisor Wedgie (known as "Nerd" for most of the film) in Monsters vs. Aliens, and Andy "Jack" Beanstalk in Puss in Boots. He also directed live action sequences on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. He not only works on movies but in television as well. He directed and wrote several episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants. Mitchell will also direct Nightcrawlers, a supernatural action comedy, a sequel to Sky High, a live-action-animated adaptation of the book We're Not From Here, and a live-action/animated adaptation of the song Puff, the Magic Dragon. On April 26, 2023, it was announced that Mitchell is set to direct the fourth installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which was released on March 8, 2024. Awards Sundance Film Festival: "Frannie's Christmas" (1993). Aspen Shortsfest 1999: Won special recognition for "Herd" (1999). Atlanta Film Festival 1999: Won Honorable Mention for Best Narrative Short: "Herd" (1999). Birmingham Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival 1999: Won first prize for "Herd" (1999). Slamdance Film Festival 1999: Won Spirt of Slamdance Award for "Herd" (1999). HI Mom Film Festival 2000: Won first prize for "Herd" (1999). Movieguide Award 2020: Won Best Movie for Families for "The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part" (2019) (with Trisha Gum). Filmography Director Animator Voice roles Other credits Actor Creative consultant Kung Fu Panda (2008) Special thanks Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) Home (2015) Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) Trolls World Tour (2020) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) Executive producer Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023) Television The Itsy Bitsy Spider (1993) Cartoon Sushi (1998) Greg the Bunny (2002) SpongeBob SquarePants (2005–2007) (live action director, storyboard director and writer) The Loop (2007) Trolls: The Beat Goes On! (2018–) (based on characters created by) The Barbarian and the Troll (2021) Critical reception References External links Mike Mitchell at IMDb

Walt_Dohrn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Dohrn

Walter Dohrn (born December 5, 1970) is an American writer, director, animator, musician, and actor. He performed the voice of Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek Forever After (2010), as well as various characters in Shrek the Third (2007). He co-directed the film Trolls (2016) and directed its sequels, and voiced various characters in the franchise. He is directing Shrek 5, set for release in 2026. Dohrn has also worked as writer, director, and storyboard director in Season 2 of SpongeBob SquarePants, and he also worked on 2 episodes from Season 3. In 2020, Dohrn signed a deal with DreamWorks Animation. Filmography Film Television Video games References External links Media related to Walt Dohrn at Wikimedia Commons Walt Dohrn at IMDb

Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Hiy%C5%8D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Hiy%C5%8D

Hiyō (Japanese: 飛鷹, "Flying Hawk") was the name ship of her class of two aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Originally planned as the ocean liner Izumo Maru (出雲丸) in 1939, she was purchased by the Navy Ministry in 1941 for conversion to an aircraft carrier. Completed shortly after the Battle of Midway in June 1942, she participated in the Guadalcanal campaign, but missed the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October because of an electrical generator fire. The carrier's aircraft were disembarked several times and used from land bases in battles in the South West Pacific. Hiyō was torpedoed in mid-1943 and spent three months under repair. She spent most of the next six months training and ferrying aircraft before returning to combat. She was sunk by a gasoline-vapour explosion caused by an American torpedo hit during the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 20 June 1944 with the loss of 247 officers and ratings, about a fifth of her complement. Design and description The ship was ordered as the fast luxury passenger liner Izumo Maru by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Company) in late 1938. In exchange for a Navy Ministry subsidy of 60% of her building costs, she was designed to be converted to an aircraft carrier in the event of war. The designs of Izumo Maru and her sister ship Kashiwara Maru were based on the German ocean liner SS Bremen, although they were only about half that ship's size at 27,700 gross register tons (GRT). If completed as designed, they would have been the largest ocean liners in Japan. The ships were designed to carry a total of 890 passengers; 220 first class, 120 second class and 550 third class. After her conversion, Hiyō had a length of 220 metres (721 ft 9 in) overall. She had a beam of 26.7 metres (87 ft 7 in) and a draught of 8.15 metres (26 ft 9 in). She displaced 24,150 tonnes (23,770 long tons) at standard load. Her crew ranged from 1,187 to 1,224 officers and ratings. The ship was fitted with a pair of Mitsubishi-Curtis geared steam turbine sets with a total of 56,250 shaft horsepower (41,950 kW), each driving one propeller, using steam provided by six Kawasaki-LaMont boilers. Hiyō had a designed speed of 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) and slightly exceeded that during sea trials. The ship carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of 11,700 nautical miles (21,700 km; 13,500 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Flight deck arrangements Hiyō's flight deck was 210.3 metres (690 ft) long and had a maximum width of 27.3 metres (89 ft 7 in). The ship was designed with two superimposed hangars, each approximately 153 metres (502 ft) long, 15 metres (49 ft) wide and 5 metres (16 ft) high. Each hangar could be subdivided by four fire curtains and they had fire fighting foam dispensers on each side. The hangars were served by two aircraft lifts. Her air group was initially intended to consist of 12 Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" fighters, plus four in storage, 18 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers, plus two in storage, and 18 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers. This was revised to substitute a dozen Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters and three in storage for the A5Ms by the time the ship was commissioned in 1942. As a result of the lessons learnt from the Battle of Midway in June, the fighter complement was increased to 21 Zeros and the B5Ns were reduced to 9. By the end of the year, 6 more Zeros replaced an equal number of D3As, giving totals of 27 A6Ms, 12 D3As and 9 B5Ns. Although it was possible to fit all these aircraft into the hangars, 8 or 9 were usually stored on the flight deck to reduce congestion below decks. Armour, armament and sensors As a conversion from an ocean liner, it was not possible to add much armour, although the ship had a double hull. Two plates of Ducol steel, each 25 millimetres (1 in) thick, protected the sides of the ship's machinery spaces. The ship's aviation gasoline tanks and magazines were protected by one layer of Ducol steel. Her machinery spaces were further subdivided by transverse and longitudinal bulkheads to limit any flooding. The ship's primary armament consisted of a dozen 12.7-centimetre (5 in) Type 89 dual-purpose guns in twin mounts on sponsons along the sides of the hull. Hiyō was also initially equipped with eight triple mounts for 2.5 cm Type 96 light AA guns alongside the flight deck. This was the standard Japanese light AA gun during World War II, but it suffered from severe design shortcomings which rendered it a largely ineffective weapon. According to historian Mark Stille, the twin and triple mounts "lacked sufficient speed in train or elevation; the gun sights were unable to handle fast targets; the gun exhibited excessive vibration; the magazine was too small, and, finally, the gun produced excessive muzzle blast". In early 1943, four more triple mounts were added, and another four triple mounts were added late in the year. Two of these last four mounts were mounted on the stern and the others were placed in front of and behind the island. A dozen single mounts were also added, some of which were portable and could be mounted on tie-down points on the flight deck. Two Type 94 high-angle fire-control directors, one on each side of the ship, were fitted to control the Type 89 guns. Four Type 95 directors controlled the 2.5 cm guns, and another pair were added in early 1943. Early warning was provided by two Type 2, Mark 2, Model 1 early-warning radars. The first of these was mounted on the top of the island shortly before she was completed in July 1942 and the other was added later in the year. This latter system was fitted on the port side of the hull, outboard of the aft lift. A smaller Type 3, Mark 1, Model 3 early-warning radar was added in 1944. Construction and career Hiyō was laid down on 30 November 1939 by Kawasaki on Slipway No. 4 at their shipyard in Kobe. She was yard number 660 and had the name Izumo Maru. The ship was purchased on 10 February 1941 by the Navy Ministry, and she was temporarily referred to as No. 1002 Ship (Dai 1002 bankan) to keep her conversion secret. She was launched on 24 June 1941 and commissioned on 31 July 1942 with Captain Akitomo Beppu in command. The ship was assigned to the Second Carrier Division of the 1st Air Fleet after commissioning and became flagship of Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta on 12 August. After spending the next few months working up, Hiyō arrived at Truk, together with her sister Jun'yō, on 9 October, to begin operations against American forces in the Guadalcanal area as part of the 3rd Fleet. On the night of 16 October, the two carriers were ordered to attack the American transports off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, and they moved south to their launching point 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) north of Lunga. At 05:15 local each ship launched nine A6M Zeros and nine B5Ns. One of Jun'yō's B5Ns was forced to turn back with mechanical problems; the rest reached their objective and discovered two destroyers bombarding Japanese supply dumps on Guadalcanal around 07:20. Hiyō's aircraft attacked USS Aaron Ward seven minutes later without effect, and the American ship shot down one B5N and damaged another which was forced to make a crash landing. Jun'yō's eight B5Ns engaged USS Lardner and also failed to hit their target, not least because they were attacked by Marine Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters at 07:32. The Marine pilots shot down three B5Ns on their first pass and severely damaged another pair which were also forced to crash-land. The US fighters then shot down the three remaining bombers after they missed Lardner. The defending Zeros were able to shoot down only one Wildcat at the cost of one of Hiyō's fighters forced to crash land, although they claimed to have shot down thirteen Marine fighters. A fire in the ship's generator room occurred on 21 October and reduced her top speed to 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph), so Kakuta transferred his flag to Jun'yō while Hiyō returned to Truk for repairs. Three Zeros, one D3A and five B5Ns were also transferred to Jun'yō before she left. The remaining aircraft of her air group (16 Zeros and 17 D3As) were flown off for Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, on 23 October, from where the fighters escorted bombers attacking Guadalcanal the following day. A detachment from the air group was transferred to Buin, New Guinea, on 1 November and attacked American ships off Lunga Point on 11 November. Escorted by 18 Zeros from Hiyō and the 204th Naval Air Group, 9 D3As slightly damaged three cargo ships in exchange for 4 dive bombers shot down and another forced to crash land. The Zeros were able to ambush six Wildcats in the heavy cloud and shot down four while losing two of their own. That same day, those aircraft that remained at Rabaul flew back to Truk, but the Buin detachment remained there until 14 December when they were ferried back to Japan. Captain Michio Sumikawa relieved Beppu on 30 November. Hiyō spent November in Truk before returning in early December to Japan, where she was rejoined by the rest of her air group. Aside from a brief refit at Kure from 26 February to 4 March 1943 that saw her anti-aircraft armament augmented and an additional radar installed, the ship was training in the Inland Sea until she sailed for Truk on 22 March. Her air group consisted of 27 Zeros and 12 D3As, and they were detached from Hiyō in early April to participate in Operation I-Go, a land-based aerial offensive against Allied bases in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. On 7 April her aircraft formed most of the third wave of attacks on Guadalcanal. Escorted by 24 Zeros from Hiyō and another 6 from the light carrier Zuihō, the D3As attacked shipping in the Sealark Channel. The escorts claimed to have shot down three American aircraft for the loss of one Zero and three dive bombers. Allied naval losses during the entire day included Aaron Ward, the oil tanker Kanawha, the minesweeper HMNZS Moa and damage to a transport and another tanker, although it is uncertain which aircraft sank or damaged each ship. A second series of attacks was made against Oro Bay, New Guinea, on 11 April. Jun'yō's 9 Zeros, together with Hiyō's 21 fighters, escorted the latter's D3As. One defending fighter was claimed for the loss of a single dive bomber. The following day, 17 of Hiyō's Zeros provided top cover for several waves of attacks on Port Moresby, New Guinea, her pilots claiming nine victories without losing any of their own. On 14 April, the Japanese attacked Milne Bay, New Guinea, with a large force escorted by 75 Zeros contributed by all the carriers involved. Hiyō's fighter pilots claimed to have shot down three Allied aircraft without loss, and the bombers sank two transports. Her air group returned to Truk by 18 April to rejoin the ship. In response to the invasion of Attu Island on 11 May, the Second Carrier Division departed Truk, accompanied by three battleships and two heavy cruisers, and reached Japan on 25 May. The Americans recaptured Attu before the fleet could depart to counter-attack. Now the flagship of the Second Carrier Division under Rear Admiral Munetaka Sakamaki, Hiyō departed Yokosuka on 7 June with Junyō en route for Truk. Later that evening, the ship was torpedoed by the submarine USS Trigger off Miyakejima. Hits in the starboard bow and boiler room knocked out all power but she managed to return to Japan the following day after restoring power. Hiyō's fighters were flown to Truk by 15 July and assigned to the light carrier Ryūhō, as were Sakamaki and his staff. While being repaired at Yokosuka until 15 September, more 2.5 cm Type 96 AA guns were installed, and Sumikawa was relieved by Captain Tamotsu Furukawa on 1 September. Two months later, Hiyō's air group was reconstituted in Singapore with 24 Zeros, 18 D3As and 9 B5Ns; the ship departed Japan for Singapore on 24 November. She arrived on 3 December, loaded her air group and was almost immediately assigned duties as an aircraft ferry. On 9 December, Hiyō left Singapore en route for Truk with several deliveries on the way. The ship arrived there on 22 December and disembarked her aircraft before proceeding to Saipan to deliver more aircraft. The air group was transferred to Kavieng and later Rabaul to provide air cover for Japanese operations there, in which the fighters claimed 80 victories in exchange for 12 losses. Hiyō returned to Japan on 1 January 1944, and Furukawa was relieved by Captain Toshiyuki Yokoi on 15 February. Her air group was reassigned to her on 2 March, albeit without aircraft. The Japanese Navy had restructured its carrier air groups so that one air group was assigned to one carrier division and the 652nd Naval Air Group was assigned to the Second Carrier Division with Hiyō, Jun'yō and Ryūhō. The air group was the last to be rebuilt; it had only 30 Model 21 Zeros, 13 Model 52 Zeros and four D3As on hand on 1 April of its authorised 81 fighters, 36 dive bombers and 27 torpedo bombers. The ship conducted training for her aircraft in the Inland Sea until 11 May when she sailed for Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines. The new base was closer to the oil wells in Borneo on which the Navy relied for fuel and also to the Palau and western Caroline Islands, where the Japanese expected the next American attack. The location lacked an airfield on which to train the green pilots, and American submarines were very active in the vicinity which restricted the ships to the anchorage. Battle of the Philippine Sea The Japanese fleet was en route to Guimaras Island in the central Philippines on 13 June 1944 where it intended to practice carrier operations in an area better protected from submarines, when Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa learnt of the American attack on the Mariana Islands the previous day. Upon reaching Guimaras, the fleet refuelled and sortied into the Philippine Sea where it spotted Task Force 58 on 18 June. The Americans failed to detect the Japanese ships that day. Ozawa decided to launch his air strikes early the following morning, so the Japanese turned south to maintain a constant distance between them and the American carriers. The 652nd Naval Air Group had 81 Zeros, 27 D3As, 9 Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bombers and 18 Nakajima B6N "Jill" torpedo bombers, roughly evenly divided among the three carriers under his command. The carriers began launching their first air strike of 26 bomb-carrying A6M2 Zeros, 7 B6Ns and 16 A6M5 Zeros as escorts around 09:30. Most of these aircraft were misdirected and failed to find any American ships, although a dozen persisted in their search and found one of the American task groups. A B6N, 5 bomb-carrying Zeros and an escort Zero were shot down by the defending fighters, and no damage was inflicted on the American ships. A second air strike of 27 D3As, 9 D4Ys, 2 B6Ns and 26 escorting Zeros was launched around 11:00, accompanied by at least 18 A6Ms and B6Ns from the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku. They had also been given an erroneous spot report and were unable to find any American ships. Some of the aircraft headed for airfields at Rota and Guam to refuel while the remainder headed back to the carriers. A pair of Zeros and six D4Ys bound for Rota spotted the carriers Wasp and Bunker Hill en route, but failed to inflict any damage on them while losing five D4Ys to anti-aircraft fire. Radar had spotted those aircraft headed for Guam, and they were intercepted by 41 Grumman F6F Hellcats. Only an A6M5, a D4Y and seven D3As of the 49 Japanese aircraft survived the encounter and landed. At dusk, the Japanese turned away to the north west to regroup and to refuel, and the Americans turned west to close the distance. They discovered the retiring Japanese fleet during the afternoon of the following day, and Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher ordered an air strike. Hiyō was struck by two bombs, one of which detonated above the bridge and killed or wounded virtually everyone there. More seriously, the ship was struck by one torpedo dropped by a Grumman TBF Avenger from the light carrier Belleau Wood. The torpedo knocked out the starboard engine room and started fires but Hiyō was able to continue, at reduced speed. Two hours later, a large explosion occurred when leaking gasoline vapour ignited and knocked out all power on the ship. The fires raged out of control and Hiyō sank stern first shortly afterwards at 16°20′N 132°32′E. Roughly 1,200 men were rescued by her escorting destroyers, but 247 officers and ratings died aboard the carrier. Footnotes References Brown, J. D. (2009). Carrier Operations in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-108-2. Hata, Ikuhiko; Izawa, Yasuho & Shores, Christopher (2011). Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces 1932–1945. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-906502-84-3. Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X. Lengerer, Hans & Rehm-Takahara, Tomoko (1985). "The Japanese Aircraft Carriers Junyo and Hiyo". In Lambert, Andrew (ed.). Warship IX. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 9–19, 105–114, 188–193. ISBN 978-0-85177-403-9. Lundstrom, John B. (2005). The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8. Polmar, Norman & Genda, Minoru (2006). Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events: 1909–1945. Vol. I. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books. ISBN 978-1-57488-663-4. Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2. Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0. Stille, Mark (2005). Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers 1921–1945. New Vanguard. Vol. CIX. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84176-853-3. Tully, Anthony P. & Casse, Gilbert (2013). "IJN Hiyo: Tabular Record of Movement". Kido Butai. Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 23 January 2018. External links Hiyo in the World War II Database

Family_Guy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy

Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois, their children, Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and their anthropomorphic pet dog, Brian. Set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island, the show exhibits much of its humor in the form of metafictional cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture. The family was conceived by MacFarlane after he developed two animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. MacFarlane redesigned the films' protagonist, Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renamed them Peter and Brian, respectively. MacFarlane pitched a seven-minute pilot to Fox in December 1998, and the show was greenlit and began production. Family Guy's cancellation was announced shortly after the third season had aired in 2002, with one unaired episode eventually premiering on Adult Swim in 2003, finishing the series' original run. Favorable DVD sales and high ratings from syndicated reruns since then convinced Fox to revive the show in 2004; a fourth season began airing the following year, on May 1, 2005. Since its premiere, Family Guy has received generally positive reviews. In 2009, it was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series had been nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961. In 2013, TV Guide ranked Family Guy as the ninth-greatest TV cartoon. The series has also garnered considerable amounts of criticism and controversy, ranging from storylines and character stereotypes, to allegations of racism, homophobia, and misogyny. Many tie-in media based on the show have been released, including Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005; Family Guy: Live in Vegas, a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005, featuring music from the show as well as music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy; a video game and pinball machine, released in 2006 and 2007, respectively; since 2005, six books published by Harper Adult; and Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy (2010), a collection of three episodes parodying the original Star Wars trilogy. A spin-off series, The Cleveland Show, featuring Cleveland Brown, aired from September 27, 2009, to May 19, 2013. On January 26, 2023, Fox announced that the series had been renewed for seasons 22 and 23, taking the show through the 2024–25 television season. Season 22 premiered on October 1, 2023. Family Guy moved to Wednesday nights beginning March 6, 2024, marking the show's first weeknight airings since 2002. Premise Characters The show centers around the adventures and activities of the dysfunctional Griffin family, consisting of father Peter Griffin, a bumbling and clumsy yet well-intentioned blue-collar worker; his wife Lois, a stay-at-home mother and piano teacher (in early episodes) who is a member of the affluent Pewterschmidt family; Meg, their often bullied teenage daughter who is constantly ridiculed or ignored by the family; Chris, their awkward teenage son, who is overweight, unintelligent, unathletic, and in many respects a younger version of his father; and Stewie, their diabolical infant son of ambiguous sexual orientation who is an adult-mannered evil genius and uses stereotypical archvillain phrases. Living with the family is their witty, smoking, martini-swilling, sarcastic, English-speaking anthropomorphic dog Brian, although he is still considered a pet in many ways. Recurring characters appear alongside the Griffin family. These include the family's neighbors: sex-crazed airline pilot bachelor Glenn Quagmire; deli owner/mail carrier Cleveland Brown and his wife Loretta (later Donna); paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson, his wife Bonnie, their son Kevin and their baby daughter Susie; neurotic Jewish pharmacist Mort Goldman, his wife Muriel, and their geeky and annoying son Neil, and elderly child molester Herbert. TV news anchors Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons, Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa, and Blaccu-Weather meteorologist Ollie Williams also make frequent appearances. Actor James Woods guest stars as himself in multiple episodes, as did Adam West, prior to his death. Setting The primary setting of Family Guy is Quahog ( K(W)OH-hog), a fictional city in Rhode Island that was founded by Peter's ancestor, Griffin Peterson. MacFarlane resided in Providence during his time as a student at Rhode Island School of Design, and the show contains distinct Rhode Island landmarks similar to real-world locations. MacFarlane often borrows the names of Rhode Island locations and icons such as Pawtucket and Buddy Cianci for use in the show. MacFarlane, in an interview with Providence's Fox affiliate WNAC-TV, stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island. Episodes Production Development MacFarlane conceived Family Guy in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During college, he created his thesis film titled The Life of Larry, which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry titled Larry and Steve, which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. Executives at Fox saw the Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, titled Family Guy, based on the characters. Fox proposed that MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short and gave him a budget of $50,000. Several aspects of Family Guy were inspired by the Larry shorts. While MacFarlane worked on the series, the characters of Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian. MacFarlane stated that the difference between The Life of Larry and Family Guy was that "Life of Larry was shown primarily in my dorm room and Family Guy was shown after the Super Bowl." After the pilot aired, the series was given the greenlight. MacFarlane drew inspiration from several sitcoms such as The Simpsons and All in the Family. Premises were drawn from several 1980s Saturday-morning cartoons he watched as a child, such as The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang and Rubik, the Amazing Cube. The Griffin family first appeared on the demo that MacFarlane pitched to Fox on May 15, 1998. Family Guy was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show Mad TV, but the plan changed, because MADtv's budget was not large enough to support animation production. MacFarlane noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Fox, as he thought that it was the place to create a prime-time animation show. Family Guy was originally pitched to Fox in the same year as King of the Hill, but the show was not bought until years later, when King of the Hill became successful. Fox ordered 13 episodes of Family Guy to air in midseason after MacFarlane impressed executives with a 14-minute pilot. Executive producers MacFarlane has served as an executive producer throughout the show's entire history. The first executive producers were David Zuckerman, Lolee Aries, David Pritchard, and Mike Wolf. Family Guy has had many executive producers in its history, including Daniel Palladino, Kara Vallow, and Danny Smith. David A. Goodman joined the show as a co-executive producer in season three and eventually became an executive producer. Writing The first team of writers assembled for the show consisted of Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Gary Janetti, Ricky Blitt, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, Matt Weitzman, and Mike Barker. The writing process of Family Guy typically starts with 14 writers that take turns writing the scripts; when a script is finished it is given to the rest of the writers to read. These scripts generally include cutaway gags. Various gags are pitched to MacFarlane and the rest of the staff, and those deemed the funniest are included in the episode. MacFarlane has explained that it normally takes 10 months to produce an episode because the show uses hand-drawn animation. The show rarely comments on current events for this reason. The show's initial writers had never written for an animated show, and most came from live-action sitcoms. MacFarlane explained that he is a fan of 1930s and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology Suspense, which led him to give early episodes ominous titles like "Death Has a Shadow" and "Mind Over Murder." MacFarlane said that the team dropped the naming convention after individual episodes became hard to identify, and the novelty wore off. For the first few months of production, the writers shared one office, lent to them by the King of the Hill production crew. Credited with 19 episodes, Steve Callaghan is the most prolific writer on the Family Guy staff. Many of the writers that have left the show have gone on to create or produce other successful series. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan co-wrote 13 episodes for the NBC sitcom Scrubs during their eight-year run on the show, while also serving as co-producers and working their way up to executive producers. Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman left the show and went on to create the long-running and still ongoing adult animated series American Dad! MacFarlane is also a co-creator of American Dad! On November 4, 2013, it was announced that Barker had departed American Dad! during its run as well, after 10 seasons of serving as producer and co-showrunner over the series. During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, official production of the show halted for most of December 2007 and for various periods afterward. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, which he termed "a colossal dick move" in an interview with Variety. Though MacFarlane refused to work on the show, his contract under Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it would subsequently produce. Production officially resumed after the end of the strike, with regularly airing episodes recommencing on February 17, 2008. According to MacFarlane, in 2009, it cost about $2 million to make an episode of Family Guy. During his September 2017 AMA on Reddit, MacFarlane revealed that he had not written for the show since 2010, choosing instead to focus on production and voice acting. On May 12, 2023, it was announced that the showrunners of Family Guy, including Seth MacFarlane, would temporarily leave the show as a result of the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike. They returned to the show on September 27, 2023, once the strike was declared to be over. Voice cast Main cast Seth MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Stewie Griffin. Since MacFarlane had a strong vision for these characters, he chose to voice them himself, believing it would be easier than for someone else to attempt it. MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady. MacFarlane uses his regular speaking voice when playing Brian. MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time-only characters, most prominently those of the Griffins' neighbor Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker, and Lois' father, Carter Pewterschmidt. Alex Borstein voices Peter's wife Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown, and Lois' mother, Babs Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, Borstein was performing in a stage show in Los Angeles. She played a redheaded mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins. Seth Green primarily voices Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green stated that he did an impression of the character Buffalo Bill from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition. Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both voiced Meg Griffin. Chabert left the series after the first season because of time conflicts with schoolwork (at the time) and her role on Party of Five. When Kunis auditioned for the role, she was called back by MacFarlane, who instructed her to speak slower. He then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. Archival recordings of Lacey Chabert's voice that she provided as Meg Griffin are used in the tenth season episode "Back to the Pilot" in which Brian and Stewie go back in time to the events of "Death Has a Shadow." Mike Henry voices Herbert, Bruce the Performance Artist, Consuela, the Greased-up Deaf Guy, and until 2021, Cleveland Brown. Henry met MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design and kept in touch with him after they graduated. A few years later, MacFarlane contacted him about being part of the show; he agreed and came on as a writer and voice actor. During the show's first four seasons, he was credited as a guest star, but beginning with season five's "Prick Up Your Ears", he has been credited as a main cast member. On June 26, 2020, after twenty years of voicing the character, Mike Henry announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from voicing Cleveland, stating "persons of color should play characters of color." On September 25, 2020, it was announced that Arif Zahir would take over as the voice of Cleveland. Other recurring cast members include Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson, Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson, John G. Brennan as Mort Goldman and Horace the bartender, Carlos Alazraqui as Jonathan Weed, Adam Carolla and Norm Macdonald as Death, Lori Alan as Diane Simmons, Phil LaMarr as Ollie Williams and Judge Dignified Q. Blackman, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Jerome. Fellow cartoonist Butch Hartman has made guest voice appearances in episodes as various characters. Also, writer Danny Smith voices various recurring characters, such as Ernie the Giant Chicken. Alexandra Breckenridge also appears as many various characters. Adam West appeared as the eponymous Mayor Adam West, until his death in 2017. Episodes often feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, bands, musicians, and scientists. Many guest voices star as themselves. Leslie Uggams was the first to appear as herself, in the fourth episode of the first season, "Mind Over Murder". The episode "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" guest starred the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, including Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Marina Sirtis, and even Denise Crosby (season 1 as Tasha Yar), playing themselves; this is the episode with the most guest stars of the seventh season. Early history and cancellation Family Guy officially premiered after Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999, with "Death Has a Shadow". The show debuted to 22 million viewers and immediately generated controversy regarding its adult content. The show returned on April 11, 1999, with "I Never Met the Dead Man". Family Guy garnered decent ratings in Fox's 8:30 pm slot on Sunday, scheduled between The Simpsons and The X-Files. At the end of its first season, the show ranked No. 33 in the Nielsen ratings, with 12.8 million households tuning in. The show launched its second season in a new time slot, Thursday at 9 pm, on September 23, 1999. Family Guy was pitted against NBC's Frasier, and the series' ratings declined sharply. Subsequently, Fox removed Family Guy from its schedule and began airing episodes irregularly. The show returned on March 7, 2000, at 8:30 pm on Tuesdays, where it was constantly beaten in the ratings by ABC's then-new breakout hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, coming in at No. 114 in the Nielsen ratings with 6.32 million households tuning in. Fox announced that the show had been canceled in May 2000, at the end of the second season. However, following a last-minute reprieve, on July 24, 2000, Fox ordered 13 additional episodes of Family Guy to form a third season. The show returned on November 8, 2001, once again in a tough time slot: Thursday nights at 8:00 pm. This slot brought it into competition with Survivor and Friends (a situation that was later referenced in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story). During its second and third seasons, Fox frequently moved the show around to different days and time slots with little or no notice and, consequently, the show's ratings suffered. Upon Fox's annual unveiling of its 2002 fall line-up on May 15, 2002, Family Guy was absent. Fox announced that the show had been officially canceled shortly thereafter. Cult success and revival Fox attempted to sell the rights for reruns of the show, but finding networks that were interested was difficult; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights "basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television. Family Guy premiered in reruns on Adult Swim on April 20, 2003, and immediately became the block's top-rated program, dominating late-night viewing in its time period versus cable and broadcast competition and boosting viewership by 239%. The complete first and second seasons were released on DVD the same week the show premiered on Adult Swim, and the show became a cult phenomenon, selling 400,000 copies within one month. Sales of the DVD set reached 2.2 million copies, becoming the best-selling television DVD of 2003 and the second-highest-selling television DVD ever, behind the first season of Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. The third-season DVD release also sold more than a million copies. The show's popularity in DVD sales and reruns rekindled Fox's interest, and, on May 20, 2004, Fox ordered 35 new episodes of Family Guy, marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales. "North by North Quahog", which premiered May 1, 2005, was the first episode to be broadcast after the show's hiatus. It was written by MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin. MacFarlane believed the show's three-year hiatus was beneficial, because animated shows do not normally have hiatuses, and towards the end of their seasons, "... you see a lot more sex jokes and bodily function jokes and signs of a fatigued staff that their brains are just fried". With "North by North Quahog", the writing staff tried to keep the show "[...] exactly as it was" before its cancellation, and "None of us had any desire to make it look any slicker". The episode was watched by 11.85 million viewers, the show's highest ratings since the airing of the first season episode "Brian: Portrait of a Dog". Lawsuits In March 2007, comedian Carol Burnett filed a $6 million lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that her charwoman cartoon character had been portrayed on the show without her permission. She stated it was a trademark infringement and that Fox violated her publicity rights. On June 4, 2007, United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson rejected the lawsuit, stating that the parody was protected under the First Amendment, citing Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as a precedent. On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing the show of infringing its copyright on the song "When You Wish Upon a Star", through a parody song titled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., the sole United States copyright owner of the song, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of its music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit were 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., Cartoon Network, MacFarlane, and Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages. Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that Family Guy did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode. In December 2007, Family Guy was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act involving absurd "faux" magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy". 20th Century Fox, MacFarlane, Callaghan and Borstein were all named in the suit. In July 2009, a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved – "purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work" and "amount and substantiality of the taking" – counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth – "economic impact" – had to await more fact-finding. In denying the dismissal, the court held that the reference in the scene made light of Jesus and his followers – not Metrano or his act. The case was settled out of court in 2010 with undisclosed terms. Hallmarks "Road to" episodes The "Road to" episodes are a series of hallmark travel episodes. They are a parody of the seven Road to ... comedy films starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. These episodes have always involved Stewie and Brian in some foreign, supernatural or science-fiction location, unrelated to the show's normal location in Quahog. The first, titled "Road to Rhode Island", aired on May 30, 2000, during the second season. The episodes are known for featuring elaborate musical numbers, similar to the Road films. The episodes contain several trademarks, including a special version of the opening sequence, custom musical cues and musical numbers, and parodies of science fiction and fantasy films. The original idea for the "Road to" episodes came from MacFarlane, as he is a fan of the films of Crosby, Hope and Dorothy Lamour. The first episode was directed by Dan Povenmire, who would direct the rest of the "Road to" episodes until the episode "Road to Rupert", at which point he had left the show to create Phineas and Ferb with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. Series regular Greg Colton then took over Povenmire's role as director of the "Road to" episodes. The "Road to" episodes are generally considered by critics and fans to be some of the greatest in the series, thanks to the developing relationship between Stewie and Brian and the strong plotlines of the episodes themselves. Humor Family Guy uses the film-making technique of cutaways, which occur in the majority of Family Guy episodes. Emphasis is often placed on gags which make reference to social phenomena and/or modern cultural icons. Early episodes based much of their comedy on Stewie's "super villain" antics, such as his constant plans for total world domination, his evil experiments, plans and inventions to get rid of things he dislikes, and his constant attempts at matricide. As the series progressed, the writers and MacFarlane agreed that his personality and the jokes were starting to feel dated, so they began writing him with a different personality. Family Guy often includes self-referential humor. The most common form is jokes about the Fox network, and occasions where the characters break the fourth wall by addressing the audience. For example, in "North by North Quahog", the first episode that aired after the show's revival, included Peter telling the family that they had been canceled because Fox had to make room in their schedule for shows like Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, That '80s Show, Wonderfalls, Fastlane, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Skin, Girls Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, FreakyLinks, Wanda at Large, Costello, The Lone Gunmen, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Normal, Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddie, The $treet, The American Embassy, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, The Tick, Luis, and Greg the Bunny. Lois asks whether there is any hope, to which Peter replies that if all these shows are canceled they might have a chance; the shows were indeed canceled during Family Guy's hiatus. The show uses catchphrases, and most of the primary and secondary characters have them. Notable expressions include Quagmire's "Giggity giggity goo", Peter's "Freakin' sweet", Cleveland's "Oh, that's nasty", and Joe's "Bring it on!" The use of many of these catchphrases declined in later seasons. The episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" mocks catchphrase-based humor: when Peter, who has forgotten everything about his life, is introduced to Meg, he exclaims "D'oh!", to which Lois replies, "No, Peter, that's not your catchphrase." Reception and legacy In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that, like other satirical comedies, Family Guy "is most popular in cities. The show's popularity was more correlated with support for Hillary Clinton than any other show". As of 2008, the franchise has generated $1 billion in total revenue, including $400 million from TV syndication, $400 million from DVD sales, and $200 million from merchandise sales. Ratings Family Guy experienced a significant increase in viewership following its availability on various streaming platforms, with a particularly notable rise in popularity on Hulu. In 2018, it ranked among the most-watched TV series on the streaming service Sling TV. In 2020, Hulu announced that Family Guy was one of the top five most-watched non-sports and non-news related live shows on the streaming service. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that the series was watched for 910 million minutes from July 29 to August 4, 2024. The following week, it garnered 881 million minutes of viewing time from August 5 to August 11, 2024, making it the sixth most-streamed television show overall. From August 12 to August 18, 2024, Family Guy generated 834 million minutes of viewership, ranking it as the eighth most-streamed television show overall. From August 26 to September 1, 2024, it amassed more than 1 billion minutes of viewing time, securing its position as the third most-streamed series overall. Critical reception Family Guy has received generally positive reviews, particularly for its pop culture references, blue humor, satire, and non-sequitur storytelling. Catherine Seipp of National Review Online described it as a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon. Caryn James of The New York Times called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" that "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies". The Sydney Morning Herald named Family Guy the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 2009, hailing it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece". Frazier Moore from The Seattle Times called it an "endless craving for humor about bodily emissions". He thought it was "breathtakingly smart" and said a "blend of the ingenious with the raw helps account for its much broader appeal". He summarized it as "rude, crude and deliciously wrong". The New Yorker's Nancy Franklin said that Family Guy is becoming one of the best animated shows; she commented on its ribaldry and popularity. The show has become a hit on Hulu; it is the second-highest viewed show after Saturday Night Live. IGN called Family Guy a great show and commented that it has gotten better since its revival. They stated that they cannot imagine another half-hour sitcom that provides as many laughs as Family Guy. Empire praised the show and its writers for creating really hilarious moments with unlikely material. They commented that one of the reasons they love the show is because nothing is sacred—it makes jokes and gags of almost everything. Robin Pierson of The TV Critic praised the series as "a different kind of animated comedy which clearly sets out to do jokes which other cartoons can't do." Family Guy has proven popular in the United Kingdom, regularly obtaining between 700,000 and 1 million viewers for re-runs on BBC Three. The series has attracted many celebrities. Robert Downey Jr. telephoned the show production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode's creation, as his son is a fan of the show; the producers subsequently created a character for Downey. Lauren Conrad met MacFarlane while recording a Laguna Beach clip for the episode "Prick Up Your Ears" (season 5, 2006). She has watched Family Guy for years and considers Stewie her favorite character. Commenting on his appearance in the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" (season 8, 2010), actor Dwayne Johnson stated that he was a "big fan" of Family Guy. Johnson befriended MacFarlane after he had a minor role in Johnson's 2010 film Tooth Fairy. R&B singer Rihanna has admitted to being a fan of Family Guy, as has pop singer Britney Spears; she tries to imitate Stewie's English accent. Spears, who was mocked for her personal problems in the South Park episode "Britney's New Look" in 2008, offered to appear in a cameo to hit back at the similar animated show, but MacFarlane declined, stating that he did not want to start a feud with the series. Awards Family Guy and its cast have been nominated for 27 Emmy Awards, with 8 wins. MacFarlane won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance award for his performance as Stewie; Murphy and MacFarlane won the Outstanding Music and Lyrics award for the song "You Got a Lot to See" from the episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows"; Steven Fonti won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode "No Chris Left Behind"; and Greg Colton won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode "Road to the Multiverse". The show was nominated for eleven Annie Awards, and won three times, twice in 2006 and once in 2008. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, becoming the first animated program to be nominated in this category since The Flintstones in 1961. The Simpsons was almost nominated in 1993, but voters were hesitant to pit cartoons against live action programs. The show was nominated for a Grammy in 2011. Family Guy has been nominated and has won various other awards, including the Teen Choice Awards and the People's Choice Awards. In the 1,000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Brian Griffin was selected as the dog for "The Perfect TV Family". Wizard Magazine rated Stewie the 95th-greatest villain of all time. British newspaper The Times rated Family Guy the 45th-best American show in 2009. IGN ranked Family Guy number seven in the "Top 100 Animated Series" and number six in the "Top 25 Primetime Animated Series of All Time". Empire named it the twelfth-greatest TV show of all time in 2008. In 2005, viewers of the UK television channel Channel 4 voted Family Guy number 5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Cartoons. Brian was awarded the 2009 Stoner of the Year award by High Times for the episode "420", marking the first time an animated character received the honor. In 2004 and 2007, TV Guide ranked Family Guy number 12 and number 15 in their list of top cult shows ever. Family Guy has garnered six Golden Reel Awards nominations, winning three times. In 2013, TV Guide ranked Family Guy the ninth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time. Criticism and controversy One of the initial critics to give the show negative reviews was Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly; he called it "The Simpsons as conceived by a singularly sophomoric mind that lacks any reference point beyond other TV shows". The Parents Television Council (PTC), a conservative non-profit watchdog, has attacked the series since its premiere and has branded various episodes as "Worst TV Show of the Week". In May 2000, the PTC launched a letter-writing campaign to the Fox network in an effort to persuade the network to cancel the show. The PTC has placed the show on their annual lists of "Worst Prime-Time Shows for Family Viewing" in 2000, 2005, and 2006. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received multiple petitions requesting that the show be blocked from broadcasting on indecency grounds. Tucker and the PTC have both accused the show of portraying religion negatively, and of being racist. Because of the PTC, some advertisers have canceled their contracts after reviewing the content of the episodes, claiming it to be unsuitable. Critics have compared the show's humor and characters with those of The Simpsons. Various episodes of the show have generated controversy. In "420" (season seven, 2009), Brian decides to start a campaign to legalize cannabis in Quahog; the Venezuelan government reacted negatively to the episode and banned Family Guy from airing on their local networks, which generally syndicate American programming. Venezuelan justice minister Tareck El Aissami, citing the promotion of the use of cannabis, stated that any cable stations that did not stop airing the series would be fined; the government showed a clip which featured Brian and Stewie singing the praises of marijuana as a demonstration of how the United States supports cannabis use. In "Extra Large Medium" (season eight, 2010) a character named Ellen (who has Down syndrome) states that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska, which strongly implies that her mother is Sarah Palin, the only woman to have served in the office of governor in the state. Sarah Palin, the mother of a child with Down syndrome, criticized the episode in an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, calling those who made the show "cruel, cold-hearted people". Broadcast and streaming In the United States, the show currently airs on Comedy Central, Freeform, FX, and FXX. The show was syndicated to Adult Swim and TBS from 2003 to 2021, sharing the rights to the first fifteen seasons. It was syndicated to various local stations from 2007 to 2024. In April 2019, FX Networks began airing reruns of season 16 on FXX, with season 17 debuting that October, and shared off-network rights to both seasons with sister channel Freeform. After Adult Swim and TBS' rights expired on September 18, 2021, FXX and Freeform began airing the first fifteen seasons. The show also joined FX's lineup that same month. These deals did not affect the syndication rights held by local broadcast stations. The show's departure from Adult Swim on September 18, 2021, was commemorated with a remembrance bumper created by the network, which played after the final airing (the episode "Stewie is Enceinte"). The bumper showed animations of several Adult Swim characters bidding farewell to Family Guy, including shots of Peter crying at the beginning and the Griffin family waving goodbye towards the end. On August 14, 2024, it was announced that Family Guy would begin airing on Comedy Central as part of a licensing deal between Paramount (parent company of Comedy Central) and Disney (which retains some ownership of Fox and also holds streaming rights to the show). This deal will be effective on September 2, 2024. New episodes will continue to air on Fox, and reruns will continue to air on FX Networks as the Paramount-Disney deal is non-exclusive. In the United States, the series is available for streaming exclusively on Hulu. Additionally, Hulu will launch two holiday specials of Family Guy in late 2024, marking the first time a new episode of the show airs on a streaming platform. Internationally, Family Guy is available to stream on Star on Disney+. The United States is the only country where the show is not available on either Disney+ or Star+. Initially, Family Guy was not available to stream on Disney+ in Latin America, as it had been available on the standalone service Star+, however, Star+ content merged with Disney+ content on June 26, 2024, and Star+ was discontinued altogether on July 24, 2024. Family Guy premiered in Australia on April 9, 1999, on the Seven Network, in 2000 on Fox8, and on 7mate on September 27, 2010. Initially, only 2 seasons were available to stream on Disney+ Star due to pre-existing contracts. The other 17 seasons were added on December 1, 2021, after the contract expired. In Canada, the series premiered January 31, 1999, on Global and September 1, 2003, on Teletoon at Night. Beginning in the 2015–2016 season, the show moved to Citytv; the show would once again return to the channel in 2023. Starting in November 2021, the series moved to Disney+. In addition to Teletoon at Night, the show has been syndicated to TVtropolis (now DTour), Adult Swim Canada, and FX Canada. Since 2024, CHCH and Citytv share the broadcast rights to the series due to scheduling issues. The show airs in India on Star World Premiere, in Ireland on 3e, and in New Zealand on TVNZ Duke; previously it screened on defunct channel Four. In the United Kingdom, Family Guy premiered in September 1999, originally on Channel 4 and Sky One. In January 2005, Fox UK (then known as FX) began broadcasting the show. From October 2005, BBC Two started screening Family Guy before the show moved to BBC Three in September 2006. Beginning with season 14, the show moved to ITV2, premiering on February 29, 2016, while the BBC would continue to hold the rights for past seasons until 2017. In South Korea, the show premiered January 11, 2008, on Tooniverse. Franchise Books Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One was written by executive story editor Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and actress Alex Borstein. The book was first published on May 8, 2007. The book is a biographical monologue by Lois Griffin covering a portion of her life, spanning from her memories of growing up to her attempted run for mayor in the town of Quahog. Though the book primarily consists of a loose narrative monologue by Lois, it is also interspersed with sections from other characters such as Peter Griffin. The book covers events featured in the Family Guy episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", with which it shares a title. It was published in the United Kingdom in 2007 by Orion Books. A comic book based on the Family Guy universe was produced. Published by Titan Comics, edited by Steve White, and illustrated by Anthony Williams and S. L. Gallant, the writing and the illustrations were supervised by the show's producers. The first comic book was released on July 27, 2011. Live performances As promotion for the show and as Newman described "[to] expand interest in the show beyond its diehard fans", Fox organized four Family Guy Live! performances, which featured cast members reading old episodes aloud. The cast also performed musical numbers from the Family Guy: Live in Vegas comedy album. The stage shows were an extension of a performance by the cast during the 2004 Montreal Comedy Festival. The Family Guy Live! performances, which took place in Los Angeles and New York, sold out and were attended by around 1,200 people each. At the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007, MacFarlane performed (as the digitally inserted Stewie and Brian) the ceremony's opening number. He performed a song insulting modern television to the tune of the song "The Fellas at the Freakin' F.C.C." performed in the episode "PTV". The song insulted TV shows such as Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives, and Scrubs, as well as the final scene of The Sopranos. In 2009, a special televised performance show aired, titled Family Guy Presents Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show, in which voice actors Alex Borstein and MacFarlane performed songs from the show, as well as a parody of Lady Gaga's song "Poker Face" in the voice of Marlee Matlin, who appeared on stage as a guest during the performance. Some new animated gags also appeared in the show. Film In a July 22, 2007, interview with The Hollywood Reporter, MacFarlane announced that he may start working on a feature film, although "nothing's official." In TV Week on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released Family Guy feature film sometime "within the next year." He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie." He later went on to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to The Sound of Music, saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel." On October 13, 2011, MacFarlane confirmed that a deal for a Family Guy film had been made, and that it would be written by him and series co-producer Ricky Blitt. On November 30, 2012, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a Family Guy film. The project was put on hold while MacFarlane worked on Ted 2. On August 10, 2018, Fox announced that a live-action/animated film based on the series is in development. In July 2019, MacFarlane confirmed that there will be a Family Guy movie. During PaleyFest in April 2024, MacFarlane revealed that he has known what the plot of the film would be for the past 15 years, but had not had the time to write it. Spin-off MacFarlane co-created—alongside Mike Henry and Richard Appel—the Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, which premiered September 27, 2009. They began discussing the project in 2007. Video games The Family Guy Video Game! is a 2006 action game released by 2K Games and developed by High Voltage Software. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse, which is centered around the episode "Road to the Multiverse", was released on November 20, 2012. Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff launched on iOS and Android on April 10, 2014. Animation Throwdown: The Quest For Cards, a card game with content and characters from five animated television shows from Fox – Family Guy, Futurama, American Dad!, Bob's Burgers and King of the Hill – was released in 2016 by Kongregate. Family Guy: Another Freakin' Mobile Game was released on iOS on April 25, 2017. Warped Kart Racers is a racing game that was released on Apple Arcade in May 2022. The game features the entire Griffin family, and includes characters from American Dad!, King of the Hill and Solar Opposites. Merchandise As of 2009, six books have been released about the Family Guy universe, all published by HarperCollins since 2005. The first, Family Guy: Stewie's Guide to World Domination (ISBN 978-0-06-077321-2) by Steve Callahan, was released on April 26, 2005. Written in the style of a graphic novel, the plot follows Stewie's plans to rule the world. Other books include Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One (ISBN 978-0-7528-7593-4), which covers the events of the episode of the same name; and Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded (ISBN 978-1-4051-6316-3), a collection of 17 essays exploring the connections between the series and historical philosophers. A book written from Brian's point of view (written by Andrew Goldberg) was published in 2006, called Brian Griffin's Guide to Booze, Broads and the Lost Art of Being a Man. Family Guy has been commercially successful in the home market. The show was the first to be resurrected because of high DVD sales. The first volume, covering the show's first two seasons, sold 1.67 million units, topping TV DVD sales in 2003, while the second volume sold another million units. Volumes six and seven debuted at fifth place in United States DVD sales; volume seven was the highest-selling television DVD, selling 171,000 units by June 21, 2009. Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest, the DVD featuring the Star Wars special "Blue Harvest", was released on January 15, 2008, and premiered at the top of United States DVD sales. The DVD was the first Family Guy DVD to include a digital copy for download to the iPod. In 2004, the first series of Family Guy toy figurines was released by Mezco Toyz; each member of the Griffin family had their own toy, with the exception of Stewie, of whom two different figures were made. Over the course of two years, four more series of toy figures were released, with various forms of Peter. In 2008, the character Peter appeared in advertisements for Subway Restaurants, promoting the restaurant's massive feast sandwich. See also Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy References Informational notes Citations Bibliography Lenburg, Jeff (2006a). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television's Award-Winning and Legendary Animators (Illustrated ed.). New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. ISBN 978-1-55783-671-7. Callaghan, Steve (2005). Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide, Seasons 1–3. New York City: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-083305-3. External links Official website Family Guy at Curlie Family Guy at IMDb Family Guy at epguides.com Markstein, Donald D. "Family Guy". Toonopedia.

Seth_MacFarlane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_MacFarlane

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series Family Guy (since 1999) and The Orville (2017–2022), and co-creator of the television series American Dad! (since 2005) and The Cleveland Show (2009–2013). He also co-wrote, directed, and starred in the films Ted (2012) and its sequel Ted 2 (2015), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014). MacFarlane is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied animation. Recruited to Hollywood, he was an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for television series, including Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, and the animated short Larry & Steve for What a Cartoon!. MacFarlane made guest appearances as an actor on television series, such as Gilmore Girls, Star Trek: Enterprise, The War at Home, and FlashForward. In 2008, he created the online series Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. MacFarlane has won several awards for his work on Family Guy, including five Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2009, he won the Webby Award for Film & Video Person of the Year. MacFarlane has performed as a singer at Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Royal Albert Hall in London. He has released eight studio albums, in the vein of Frank Sinatra, with influences from jazz orchestrations, and Hollywood musicals beginning with Music Is Better Than Words in 2011. MacFarlane has received five Grammy Award nominations for his work. He has frequently collaborated with artists such as Sara Bareilles, Norah Jones, and Elizabeth Gillies on his albums. He hosted the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 and was nominated for Best Original Song for "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from Ted. MacFarlane was executive producer of the Neil deGrasse Tyson-hosted Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, an update of the 1980s Cosmos series hosted by Carl Sagan. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2020. Early life and education MacFarlane was born and raised in Kent, Connecticut. His parents, Ronald Milton MacFarlane (b. 1946) and Ann Perry (née Sager; 1947–2010), were born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His younger sister Rachael is also a voice actress. His maternal grandfather, Arthur Sager, competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics in track and field. MacFarlane's parents met in 1970 when they lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts, and married later that year. They moved to Kent in 1972, where Ann began working in the admissions office at South Kent School. She later worked in the college guidance and admissions offices at the Kent School, a selective college preparatory school, where Ronald was a teacher. As a child, MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration, and at the age of two he began drawing cartoon characters such as Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker. By age five, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in animation, and began by creating flip books after his parents found a book on the subject for him. Four years later, at nine, he began publishing a weekly comic strip, Walter Crouton, for The Kent Good Times Dispatch, the local newspaper; it paid him five dollars per week. MacFarlane said in an October 2011 interview that as a child he was always "weirdly fascinated by the Communion ceremony". He created a strip with a character kneeling at the altar taking Communion and asking "Can I have fries with that?" The paper printed it and he got an "angry letter" from the local priest; it led to "sort of a little mini-controversy" in the town. MacFarlane received his high school diploma in 1991 from the Kent School. While there, he continued experimenting with animation, and his parents gave him an 8 mm camera. After graduating from high school, MacFarlane attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he majored in animation. As a student, he intended to work for Disney, but changed his mind after seeing The Simpsons. During his time at RISD, he performed stand-up comedy. He also starred in many student films, meeting future Family Guy cast member Mike Henry, whose brother Patrick was MacFarlane's classmate. In his senior year, he made his thesis film, The Life of Larry, which became the inspiration for Family Guy. A professor submitted his film to the animation studio Hanna-Barbera, where he was later hired. He graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Career Television career Hanna-Barbera years MacFarlane was recruited during the senior film festival by development executive Ellen Cockrill and President Fred Seibert. He went to work at Hanna-Barbera (then Hanna-Barbera Cartoons) based on the writing content of The Life of Larry, rather than on his drawing abilities. He was one of only a few people hired by the company solely based on writing talent. He worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons series. He created a sequel to The Life of Larry entitled Larry & Steve, featuring a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. He described the atmosphere at Hanna-Barbera as resembling an "old-fashioned Hollywood structure, where you move from one show to another or you jump from a writing job on one show to a storyboard job on another". MacFarlane worked on three television series during his tenure at the studio: Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, and Johnny Bravo. Working as both a writer and storyboard artist, MacFarlane spent the most time on Johnny Bravo. He found it easier to develop his own style at Johnny Bravo through the show's process of scriptwriting, which Dexter's Laboratory and Cow and Chicken did not use. As a part of the Johnny Bravo crew, he met actors and voiceover artists such as Adam West and Jack Sheldon of Schoolhouse Rock! fame. These meetings later became significant to the production and success of his Family Guy series. He also did freelance work for Walt Disney Television Animation, writing for Jungle Cubs, and for Nelvana, where he wrote for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Through strict observation of writing elements such as story progression, character stakes and plot points, MacFarlane found the work for Disney was, from a writing standpoint, very valuable in preparation for his career (particularly on Ace Ventura). He also created and wrote a short titled Zoomates for Frederator Studios' Oh Yeah! Cartoons on Nickelodeon. Executives at the Fox Broadcasting Company saw both Larry shorts and negotiations soon began for a prime-time animated series. Family Guy Although MacFarlane enjoyed working at Hanna-Barbera, he felt his real calling was for prime-time animation, which would allow a much edgier style of humor. He first pitched Family Guy to Fox during his tenure at Hanna-Barbera. A development executive there, who was trying to get back into prime-time business, introduced MacFarlane to Leslie Kolins and Mike Darnell, heads of the alternative comedy department at Fox. After the success of King of the Hill in 1997, MacFarlane called Kolins once more to ask about a possible second pitch for the series. Fox offered the young writer a strange deal: They gave him a budget of $50,000 (equivalent to $95,000 in 2023) to produce a pilot that could lead to a series (most episodes of animated prime-time productions cost at least $1 million). Recalling the experience in an interview with The New York Times, MacFarlane said: "I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot." After six months, MacFarlane returned to Fox with a "very, very simply, crudely animated film—with just enough to get the tone of the show across" to present to the executives, who loved the pilot and immediately ordered the series. In July 1998, they announced the purchase of Family Guy for a January 1999 debut. Family Guy was originally intended to be a series of shorts on MADtv, much in the same way The Simpsons had begun on The Tracey Ullman Show a decade earlier. Negotiations for the show's MADtv connection fell through early on as a result of budgetary concerns. At age 24, MacFarlane was television's youngest executive producer. Family Guy first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating Family Guy was influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from The Simpsons and All in the Family. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1", and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices Family Guy's main male characters of Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire, as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and other characters. Bolstered by high DVD sales and fan loyalty, Family Guy developed into a $1-billion franchise. On May 4, 2008, after approximately 2+1⁄2 years of negotiations, MacFarlane reached a $100-million agreement with Fox to keep Family Guy and American Dad! until 2012. It made him the world's highest paid television writer. MacFarlane's success with Family Guy opened doors to other ventures relating to the show. On April 26, 2005, he and composer Walter Murphy created Family Guy: Live in Vegas. The soundtrack features a Broadway show tune theme, and MacFarlane voiced Stewie in the track "Stewie's Sexy Party". A fan of Broadway musicals, MacFarlane comments on using musicals as a component of Family Guy: I love the lush orchestration and old-fashioned melody writing ... it just gets you excited, that kind of music", he said. "It's very optimistic. And it's fun. The one thing that's missing for me from popular music today is fun. Guys like [Bing] Crosby, or [Frank] Sinatra, or Dean Martin, or Mel Tormé [...] these are guys who sounded like they were having a great time. A Family Guy video game was released in 2006. Two years later, in August 2007, MacFarlane closed a digital content production deal with AdSense. He takes cast members on the road to voice characters in front of live audiences. Family Guy Live provides fans with the opportunity to hear future scripts. In mid-2007, Chicago fans had the opportunity to hear the then upcoming sixth-season premiere "Blue Harvest". Shows have played in Montreal, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. On July 22, 2007, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, MacFarlane announced that he might start work on a feature film, although "nothing's official". In September 2007, Ricky Blitt gave TV.com an interview confirming that he had already started working on the script. Then in TV Week on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released Family Guy feature film sometime "within the next year". He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie". He later went on to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to The Sound of Music, saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel". On October 13, 2011, MacFarlane confirmed that a deal for a Family Guy film had been made, and that he would write it with series co-producer Ricky Blitt. On November 30, 2012, he confirmed plans for the project. The project was put on hold while MacFarlane worked on Ted 2. In 2018, Fox announced that a live-action/animated film based on the series is in development. MacFarlane stepped away from the series in 2011 to work on Ted and other projects, and has only been associated with the show as a voice actor since then. Despite its popularity, Family Guy has often been criticized. The Parents Television Council has been a frequent critic. It organized a letter-writing campaign to remove it from Fox's lineup, and filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that some of its episodes contained indecent content. MacFarlane has responded to the PTC's criticism by saying, among other things: "That's like getting hate mail from Hitler. They're literally terrible human beings." Family Guy has been cancelled twice, although strong fan support and DVD sales have caused Fox to reconsider. MacFarlane mentioned how these cancellations affected the lineup of writers: "One of the positive aspects of Family Guy constantly being pulled off [the air] is that we were always having to re staff writers." During its sixth season, episodes of Family Guy and American Dad! were delayed from regular broadcast due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. MacFarlane participated in the strike to support the writers, and Fox aired three Family Guy episodes without his permission. The strike ended on February 12, 2008, and the series resumed airing regularly, beginning with "Back to the Woods". American Dad! MacFarlane has a second long-running, successful adult animated series in American Dad! which has been in production since early 2005. To date, it is his only animated series that has never been cancelled, though it did undergo a network relocation from Fox to TBS on October 20, 2014, following its 11th season. TBS announced on July 16, 2013, that they had picked up the series for a 15-episode 12th season. The purpose of the network relocation was originally to make room for new comedies on FOX, such as Mulaney and another animated series from Seth MacFarlane called Bordertown on Fox's now-defunct "Animation Domination" programming block. While MacFarlane does extensive voice acting work for American Dad!, he has left much of its creative direction up to Matt Weitzman and Mike Barker, feeling it helps give the series its own voice and identity. It was announced on November 4, 2013, that Barker would depart American Dad! after 10 seasons as producer/co-showrunner. American Dad! was first shown after Super Bowl XXXIX, debuting with the episode "Pilot", which MacFarlane co-wrote. This February 6, 2005, series premiere was somewhat of an early sneak preview as the program did not begin airing regularly until May 1, 2005. Because of atypical scheduling of the show's first 7 episodes, American Dad! has a controversial season number discrepancy in which many are divided as to how many seasons the program has had. Beyond division between media journalists and fans, there have been conflicting reports as to what season the show is in even between American Dad! creators and the show's official website—both from its original Fox website and now from TBS website. At San Diego Comic-Con in 2013, Barker hinted that an American Dad! movie—centering on the Roger character and set from his birth planet—is in the works and partially written. However, at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022, Weitzman revealed plans for the film were scrapped. MacFarlane has described the initial seasons of American Dad! as being similar to All in the Family, likening title character Stan Smith's originally bigoted persona to Archie Bunker. MacFarlane has also stated that his inspiration to create American Dad! derived from his and Weitzman's exasperation with George W. Bush's policies as former United States President. After the early couple of seasons however, the series discontinued using these elements of political satire and began to serve up its own brand of entertainment and humor. MacFarlane was described as having difficulty understanding the series in its early going; however, he heavily warmed up to the series after its early seasons once he felt the show truly came into its own. His fellow co-creators have sensed this through MacFarlane's greatly increased attention to the series after its early seasons. MacFarlane has also revealed he is an American Dad! fan himself. He has taken note of the positive reaction to the "Roger" character by fans via his Twitter. The show focuses on the Smith family: Stan Smith, the endangering, dog-eat-dog, rash and inconsiderate head of the household. He has an exaggeratedly large chin and masculine manner about him. As the family's breadwinner, he works as a CIA officer and was initially portrayed in the series as an old-fashioned conservative bigot but has since grown out of these traits (the show is known for its story arc elements and other distinguishing plot techniques); Stan's paradoxically moralistic yet simultaneously inappropriate, corrupt wife, Francine; and their two children, new-age hippie daughter Hayley and nerdy son Steve. Accompanying the Smith family are three additional main characters, two of which belong to non-human species: zany, shocking, blithely cruel and rascally alien Roger, who's full of disguises/alter egos and has few if any limits on his behaviors. He was rescued by Stan from Area 51; Klaus, the man-in-a-fish-body pet. Klaus's unenviable situation came about from the brain of an East German Olympic skier being shrunk and transplanted into a fish body; and Jeff Fischer, Hayley's boyfriend turned "whipped" husband, known for his infatuation with Hayley's mom, Francine. Together, the Smiths and their three housemates run what is only at a first glance the typical middle-class American lifestyle, but is anything but. MacFarlane provides the voices of Stan and Roger, basing Roger's voice on Paul Lynde (who played Uncle Arthur in Bewitched). His sister Rachael MacFarlane provides the voice of Hayley. The Cleveland Show MacFarlane developed a Family Guy spin-off called The Cleveland Show, which focuses on the character of Cleveland Brown and his family. The idea for the show originated from a suggestion by Family Guy writer and voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry. Fox ordered 22 episodes and the series first aired on September 27, 2009. The show, which was picked up to air a first season consisting of 22 episodes, was picked up by Fox for a second season, consisting of 13 episodes, bringing the total number to 35 episodes. The announcement was made on May 3, 2009, before the first season even premiered. Due to strong ratings, Fox picked up the back nine episodes of season 2, making a 22-episode season and bringing the total episode count of the show to 44. The series ended on May 19, 2013, with a total of 4 seasons and 88 episodes. The character of Cleveland and his family returned to Family Guy in the episode "He's Bla-ack!". This is the only animated series created by MacFarlane that does not have him voicing the main character. MacFarlane did, however, play the character Tim the Bear until season 3 episode 10. Jess Harnell voiced Tim from season 3 episode 11 onwards. Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy In 2008, MacFarlane released a series of webisodes known as Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy with its animated shorts sponsored by Burger King and released weekly. The Orville In 2016, MacFarlane began producing the sci-fi comedy-drama series The Orville, in which he also stars as Captain Edward "Ed" Mercer. MacFarlane originally wrote The Orville as a spec script, which was given a 13-episode order by Fox in May 2016, making it the first live-action television series created by MacFarlane. The series premiered on September 10, 2017. Despite the first season receiving negative reviews, it was renewed for a second season. The second season premiered on December 30, 2018, and received better reviews. The series was renewed for a third season by Fox, however the series would move over to Hulu. This season is the show's first on Hulu, after airing its previous two seasons on Fox, as well as the first to premiere since The Walt Disney Company's March 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox. The season was originally scheduled to premiere in 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The third season titled as The Orville: New Horizons premiered on June 2, 2022. Due to the pandemic, an episode of third season was scrapped, which MacFarlane subsequently turned into a novel, titled The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil. Television producing MacFarlane was the executive producer of a live-action sitcom starring Rob Corddry called The Winner. The plot has a man named Glen discussing the time he matured at 32 and has him pursuing his only love after she moves in next door. Glen meets her son and both become good friends. The show ran on Fox for six episodes in Spring 2007. In August 2011, Fox ordered a 13-part updated series of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. MacFarlane co-produced the series with Ann Druyan and Steven Soter. The new series is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson and began airing on the channel in March 2014, with repeats airing on the National Geographic Channel on the next night. In addition to serving as one of the executive producers, MacFarlane provided voices for characters during the animated portions of the series. MacFarlane returned to executive produce and provide voices to its sequel series, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, which aired in 2020. In 2013 and 2014, MacFarlane produced one season of a live-action sitcom called Dads. The series, revolves around Eli, played by Seth Green, and Warner, played by Giovanni Ribisi, two successful guys in their 30s whose world is turned upside down when their dads move in with them. MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild executive-produced the series, with Sulkin and Wild writing. In 2014, MacFarlane executive produced a two-season, 20-episode series called Blunt Talk for Starz. The series followed an English newscaster who moves to Los Angeles with his alcoholic manservant and the baggage of several failed marriages to host a sanctimonious talk show. In 2009, MacFarlane began work on the animated series Bordertown. The series is set in Texas and follows a border patrol agent and a Mexican immigrant, satirizing America's changing cultural landscape. It ran for 13 episodes in the first half of 2016, on Fox. Television hosting MacFarlane has participated in the Comedy Central Roasts. MacFarlane is the only person to serve as roastmaster for more than one roast. In 2010, he filled this role for the roast of David Hasselhoff. The following year he was roastmaster at the roasts of Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen. On October 1, 2012, it was announced that MacFarlane would host the 85th Academy Awards on February 24, 2013. He also presented the nominees with actress Emma Stone, on January 10, 2013. In addition to hosting, MacFarlane was also nominated in the Academy Award for Best Original Song category for co-writing the theme song "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" for his film Ted with Walter Murphy. Critical response to MacFarlane's performance was mixed. Columnist Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly commented "By calling constant attention to the naughty factor," MacFarlane created "an echo chamber of outrage, working a little too hard to top himself with faux-scandalous gags about race, Jews in Hollywood, and the killing of Abraham Lincoln." Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter praised MacFarlane's performance saying that he did "impressively better than one would have wagered." He also noted that he added "plenty of niceties with a little bit of the Ricky Gervais bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you thing and worked the juxtaposition rather nicely." He stirred up controversy in the form of a musical number titled "We Saw Your Boobs". On October 29, 2014, it was announced that MacFarlane would host the Breakthrough Prize ceremony. The event was held in Silicon Valley and televised on November 15, 2014, on Discovery Channel and Science, and globally on November 22, 2014, on BBC World News. He returned to host the following year. Film career Ted MacFarlane made his directorial live-action film debut with the release of Ted in 2012. He announced that he was directing it on an episode of Conan that aired on February 10, 2011. Along with directing the film, he also wrote the screenplay, served as producer, and starred as the title character. Ted tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and his talking teddy bear (MacFarlane) who keeps John and his girlfriend Lori Collins (Mila Kunis) from moving on with their lives. The film received generally favorable reviews from both critics and audiences, and was a box office success, opening with the highest weekend gross of all time for an original R-rated comedy. Internationally, the movie is currently the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy of all time, beating The Hangover. A sequel, Ted 2, was released on June 26, 2015. It was announced in June 2021 that Peacock had given a straight to series order for a prequel series. In addition to serving as executive producer for the series, MacFarlane reprises his role as Ted. Due to its prequel nature, Wahlberg and Kunis do not reprise their roles. A Million Ways to Die in the West MacFarlane co-wrote and starred in his second film, A Million Ways to Die in the West. Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild were also co-writers for the film. The film follows a cowardly sheep farmer (MacFarlane) who loses a gunfight and sees his girlfriend leave him for another man. When a mysterious woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage. But when her outlaw husband arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test. The film was met with mixed to negative reviews from critics. On January 27, 2014, MacFarlane announced that he wrote a companion novel based on the film's script, which was released on March 4, 2014. An audio-book version was also made available, narrated by Jonathan Frakes. MacFarlane wrote the book on weekends during shooting for the film, partially due to boredom. Music career Record deal and albums In 2010, MacFarlane signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records. He released his debut album, Music Is Better Than Words, in 2011. The album is a big band/standards album drawing on his training in and attraction to "the Great American Songbook and particularly the early- to late-'50s era of orchestration". The album featured duets with Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles. It was nominated in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical categories at the 54th Grammy Awards. It received a score of 52 out of 100 on Metacritic's compilation of music critic reviews. In 2014, he released his second studio album and first Christmas album Holiday for Swing. It received mostly positive reviews. In 2015, his third studio album No One Ever Tells You was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In 2016, he was honored by Barbara Sinatra at the 28th annual Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational. He released his fourth studio album, In Full Swing, in 2017, again featuring songs composed by Joel McNeely. Three singles were released from it: "That Face", "Almost Like Being in Love", and "Have You Met Miss Jones?" The album was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. In 2019, for his fifth studio album Once in a While, MacFarlane worked with composer Andrew Cottee. In 2020, MacFarlane released his sixth studio album, Great Songs from Stage & Screen, with composer Bruce Broughton, who he works with on The Orville, to compose the album. Like his previous four albums, he recorded a majority of the songs at Abbey Road Studios. However, much of the albums post-production work was done at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, he released his seventh studio album, Blue Skies. In November 2023, MacFarlane released a collaborative Christmas album with Gillies titled We Wish You the Merriest. The lead single of the same name was dropped on the day of the announcement. Collaborations He was featured on Calabria Foti's 2013 single "Let's Fall in Love". In 2016, he recorded the song "Pure Imagination" as a duet with Barbra Streisand for her album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. MacFarlane sang numerous show tunes with Ariana Grande on an episode of Carpool Karaoke: The Series in 2017. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, MacFarlane and Elizabeth Gillies collaborated on a series of songs, eight in total, on a playlist entitled, Songs from Home on Spotify. MacFarlane was featured in Meghan Trainor’s Christmas album, A Very Trainor Christmas and did a cover of "White Christmas". The single debuted at number 24 on the Adult Contemporary chart issued dated November 14, 2020, the third holiday entry for both, and it later peaked at number 1 on the chart. In 2023, MacFarlane was co-featured alongside Redman and Statik Selektah on the album track "Self Medication", from Logic's eighth studio album College Park. Other projects MacFarlane was executive producer of a 2020 feature film adapting Clive Barker’s novel Books of Blood for Hulu, directed by Brannon Braga. In 2020, he signed a $200 million deal with NBCUniversal to develop television projects for both internal and external networks, including the company’s then-developing streaming service Peacock. Among these projects is The End is Nye, hosted by Bill Nye, a six episode series exploring and explaining six apocalyptic scenarios. MacFarlane is executive producer and will make small appearances in each episode. It premiered on the service on August 25, 2022. In January 2021, it was announced that MacFarlane had been hired to develop a reboot of The Naked Gun. After MacFarlane had previously expressed interest in casting Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. in 2015, the filmmaker was hired by the studio. Neeson revealed that the filmmaker alongside Paramount Pictures had approached him with a pitch to star in the movie. In June of the same year, Neeson stated that MacFarlane was working on a new draft of the script, with the studio additionally negotiating the filmmaker's potential role as director. He expressed excitement for the project and the opportunity to explore a more comedic role, should he decide to star in the movie; while stating that development on the project is ongoing. In October 2022, the film was officially greenlit with Neeson in the lead role. The film will be directed by Akiva Schaffer, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand were hired to write a new draft of the script, from a previous draft with contributions from Mark Hentemann, Alec Sulkin and MacFarlane himself. MacFarlane and Erica Huggins will serve as producers. Guest appearances MacFarlane has appeared in sitcoms, comedy and news programs, independent films, and other animated shows. In 2002, MacFarlane appeared in the Gilmore Girls episode "Lorelai's Graduation Day". On November 5, 2006, MacFarlane guest starred on Fox's The War at Home as "Hillary's Date", an unnamed 33-year-old man who secretly dates teenaged Hillary in the episode "I Wash My Hands of You". MacFarlane also appeared as the engineer Ensign Rivers on Star Trek: Enterprise in the third-season episode "The Forgotten" and the fourth-season episode "Affliction". During 2006, MacFarlane had a role in the independent film Life is Short. He has been a frequent guest on the radio talkshow Loveline, hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky. MacFarlane appeared on the November 11, 2006, episode of Fox's comedy show MADtv. MacFarlane has also appeared on news shows and late night television shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Show with David Letterman. Three months later on March 24, 2007, MacFarlane was interviewed on Fox's Talkshow with Spike Feresten, and closed the show by singing the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young". He also provided Stewie's voice when he appeared as a brain tumor-induced hallucination to Seeley Booth in an episode of Bones, writing his own dialogue for the episode. On May 8, 2009, MacFarlane was a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher. Other than Family Guy and American Dad!, MacFarlane voices characters in other cartoon shows and films. He voiced Wayne "The Brain" McClain in an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He has also voiced various characters on Adult Swim's Robot Chicken, including a parody of Lion-O and Emperor Palpatine as well as Peter Griffin in the Season 2 premiere – he even parodied himself in the Season 4 premiere, in which he renewed the show simply by mentioning it in a Family Guy-like cutaway after its fictitious cancellation at the end of Season 3. He also played the villain "The Manotaur" in Bob Boyle's animated kids series Yin Yang Yo!. In addition, MacFarlane voiced Johann Kraus in the 2008 film Hellboy II: The Golden Army. He also had a guest appearance in the animated film Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder where he sings "That Was Then (And This is Too)", the opening theme. He had also starred in a commercial for Hulu in which he plays an alien presenting Hulu as an "evil plot to destroy the world", progressively as his famous Family Guy and American Dad! characters. He also lent his voice to the series finale movie of the Comedy Central series, Drawn Together. MacFarlane played Ziggy in the 2010 film Tooth Fairy. In August 2010, he appeared as a guest voice-over in a sci-fi themed episode of Disney's Phineas and Ferb entitled "Nerds of a Feather". On September 15, 2012, MacFarlane hosted the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Frank Ocean. The episode was MacFarlane's first appearance on the show. MacFarlane had a cameo in the 2013 film Movie 43. MacFarlane collaborated with Matt Groening on an episode of The Simpsons and Futurama. In 2016, he had a voice role in the animated film Sing, as well as serving as a major performer on the film's soundtrack. In 2017, he appeared in Steven Soderbergh's heist comedy Logan Lucky, alongside Channing Tatum and Adam Driver. In 2019, MacFarlane appeared in the Showtime limited series The Loudest Voice. Artistry Musical style MacFarlane has a baritone voice. He is a pianist and singer who, in his early years, trained with Lee and Sally Sweetland, the vocal coaches of Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra. In an interview with NPR, he commented on their training style: "They really drill you. They teach you the old-style way of singing, back when you had no electronic help ... [They teach you to] show your teeth. If you look at old photos of Sinatra while he's singing, there's a lot of very exposed teeth. That was something Lee Sweetland hit on day in and day out, and correctly so, because it just brightens the whole performance." In 2009, MacFarlane appeared as a vocalist at the BBC Proms with the John Wilson Orchestra in Prom 22, A Celebration of Classic MGM Film Musicals. In 2010, he reappeared at the Proms with the John Wilson Orchestra in a Christmas concert special. In 2012, it was announced he would again appear at the Proms with the John Wilson Orchestra in a concert celebrating Broadway musicals. In 2015, MacFarlane again appeared at The Proms as a vocalist with the John Wilson Orchestra, this time in a Sinatra program. Regarding his musical passion, MacFarlane has said, "I love and am fascinated by exciting orchestration—what you can do with a band that size—and I think in many ways it's a lost art." His music is predominantly vocal jazz, show tunes and swing. He also uses musical comedy in his shows and movies. Influences MacFarlane has said that his comedy influences include Woody Allen, Jackie Gleason, Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Matt Groening, and Norman Lear; while his musical influences include Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Vic Damone, Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin, Gordon MacRae and the Rat Pack. Activism Political views MacFarlane is a supporter of the Democratic Party. He has donated over $200,000 to various Democratic congressional committees and to the 2008 presidential campaign of then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama. He has stated that he supports the legalization of cannabis. In 2015, MacFarlane endorsed Bernie Sanders for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and he introduced Sanders onstage at a Los Angeles rally. After the primaries, he supported Hillary Clinton for president during the general election. In 2019, he supported Pete Buttigieg in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. After the primaries, he endorsed Joe Biden for president during the general election. He endorsed Biden again for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. After Biden withdrew his candidacy, MacFarlane endorsed Kamala Harris. Gay rights advocacy MacFarlane is a supporter of gay rights. In 2008, prior to the holding of the Obergefell v. Hodges case by the United States Supreme Court, MacFarlane called it "infuriating and idiotic" that two gay partners "have to go through this fucking dog and pony act when they stop at a hotel and the guy behind the counter says, 'You want one room or two?'" He went on to say: "I'm incredibly passionate about my support for the gay community and what they're dealing with at this current point in time." In recognition of "his active, passionate commitment to humanist values, and his fearless support of equal marriage rights and other social justice issues", MacFarlane was named the Harvard Humanist of the Year in 2011. Speaking engagements MacFarlane is a frequent speaking guest on college campuses. On April 16, 2006, he was invited by Stanford University's ASSU Speakers' Bureau to address an audience of over 1,000 at Memorial Auditorium. He was invited by Harvard University's class of 2006 to deliver the "class day" address on June 7, 2006. He spoke as himself, and also as Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin and Glenn Quagmire. He has also spoken at George Washington University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Missouri, Bowling Green State University, Loyola Marymount University, and University of California, Los Angeles. 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, MacFarlane publicly sided with the Writers Guild, and fully participated in the strike. Official production of Family Guy was halted for most of December 2007 and various periods afterwards. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, and although he refused to work on the show during the strike, his contract with Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it subsequently produced. Rumors of continued production on Family Guy prompted the statement from MacFarlane that ".....it would just be a colossal dick move if they did that". During the strike, MacFarlane wrote an inside joke into an episode of Family Guy about Jon Stewart's choice to return to the air and undermine the writers of The Daily Show, causing Stewart to respond with an angry phone-call, harassing MacFarlane and arguing his point. The strike ended on February 12, 2008. 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike During the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, MacFarlane donated $1 million to The Entertainment Community Fund to Support Film and Television Workers During Strikes. The Entertainment Community, formerly The Actors Fund, is there to help provide financial assistance for industry workers during the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive In 2012, MacFarlane donated money to create The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive at the Library of Congress. MacFarlane said, "The work of Carl Sagan has been a profound influence in my life, and the life of every individual who recognizes the importance of humanity's ongoing commitment to the exploration of our universe [...] The continuance of our journey outward into space should always occupy some part of our collective attention, regardless of whatever Snooki did last week." The collection opened on November 12, 2013. Film preservation On April 20, 2024 MacFarlane partnered with Martin Scorsese to showcase Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts at the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival. MacFarlane and Scorsese funded the restoration, and worked with the UCLA Film and Television Archive and The Film Foundation with Paramount Pictures Archives. Personal life MacFarlane lives in Beverly Hills, California. He is not married nor does he have any children. In a 2004 interview with The Daily Princetonian, he noted his similarities to Brian Griffin from Family Guy: "I have some Brian type issues from time to time—looking for the right person—but I date as much as the next guy." MacFarlane gave a speech at his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design, on September 10, 2001; the next morning he was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11, one of the planes hijacked in the September 11 attacks. Due to a hangover after the previous night's celebrations and an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) from his travel agent, he arrived at Logan International Airport about ten minutes too late to board the flight, as the gates had been closed. Speaking of his experience of missing the fatal trip, MacFarlane said:The only reason it hasn't really affected me as it maybe could have is I didn't really know that I was in any danger until after it was over, so I never had that panic moment. After the fact, it was sobering, but people have a lot of close calls; you're crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car... This one just happened to be related to something massive. I really can't let it affect me because I'm a comedy writer. I have to put that in the back of my head. The Family Guy episode "Boy (Dog) Meets Girl (Dog)" references the incident. On July 16, 2010, MacFarlane's mother, Ann Perry Sager, died from cancer. Her death was reported by Larry King on his show Larry King Live, who acknowledged a conversation he had with her during an interview with MacFarlane in May 2010. From 2012 to 2013, MacFarlane was in a relationship with the British actress Emilia Clarke. MacFarlane is a self-described atheist, explaining his beliefs, "I do not believe in God. I'm an atheist. I consider myself a critical thinker, and it fascinates me that in the 21st century most people still believe in, as George Carlin puts it, 'the invisible man living in the sky'." Lawsuits On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing Family Guy of infringing its copyright on the song "When You Wish Upon a Star", through a parody song titled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., which holds the copyright, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of their music with anti semitic lyrics. Named in the suit were MacFarlane, 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., Cartoon Network and Walter Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages. Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that Family Guy did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode. In December 2007, Family Guy was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature magic parody act, involving absurd faux magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy". MacFarlane, 20th Century Fox, Steve Callaghan, and Alex Borstein were all named in the suit. In July 2009, a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved—"purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work", and "amount and substantiality of the taking"—counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth—"economic impact"—had to await more fact-finding. In denying the dismissal, the court held that the reference in the scene made light of Jesus and his followers—not Metrano or his act. The case was settled out of court in 2010 with undisclosed terms. On July 16, 2014, MacFarlane was served with a lawsuit from the production company of a series of Internet videos called Charlie the Abusive Teddy Bear claiming that Ted infringes on the copyright of its videos due to the Ted bear largely matching the background story, persona, voice tone, attitude, and dialogue of the Charlie bear. The suit was dismissed with prejudice on March 23, 2015, after the plaintiffs conceded Ted was independently created and withdrew the suit. Awards and nominations MacFarlane has been nominated for twenty-four Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on Family Guy and has won five times, in 2000, 2002, 2016, 2017 and 2019. He has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for his work in Family Guy: Live in Vegas, Music Is Better Than Words, Family Guy, No One Ever Tells You and In Full Swing. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing the opening song, "Everybody Needs a Best Friend", from his film Ted with the film's composer Walter Murphy. He has received numerous awards from other organizations, including the Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production and the Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation for the Family Guy episode titled "Blue Harvest", the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo and the Empire Award for Best Comedy for Ted. In 2019, MacFarlane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6259 Hollywood Blvd. In 2020, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. In 2022, a new species of Hyloscirtus frog (Hyloscirtus sethmacfarlanei) was described from Ecuador and named after him. Filmography Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005) Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009) The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! (2010) Tooth Fairy (2010) Ted (2012) Movie 43 (2013) A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) Ted 2 (2015) Sing (2016) Logan Lucky (2017) Discography Music Is Better Than Words (2011) Holiday for Swing (2014) No One Ever Tells You (2015) In Full Swing (2017) Once in a While (2019) Great Songs from Stage & Screen (2020) Blue Skies (2022) We Wish You the Merriest (with Elizabeth Gillies) (2023) Written works MacFarlane, Seth (2014). A Million Ways to Die in the West. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-553-39167-1. MacFarlane, Seth (2022). The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil. Hyperion Avenue. ISBN 978-1-368-09263-0. References External links Official website Seth MacFarlane at IMDb Seth MacFarlane at AllMusic Seth MacFarlane on Hollywood Bowl

American_Airlines_Flight_11

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_11

American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, killing everyone still alive aboard the flight and resulting in the deaths of more than one thousand people in the top 18 stories of the skyscraper in addition to causing the demise of numerous others below the trapped floors, making it not only the deadliest of the four suicide attacks executed that morning in terms of both plane and ground fatalities, but also the single deadliest act of terrorism in human history and the deadliest plane crash of all time. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 767-200(ER) (registration N334AA) with 92 passengers and crew, was flying American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental service from Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts to Los Angeles International Airport in California. The airplane left the runway at 07:59. Not more than 15 minutes after takeoff, the hijackers injured two people, murdered one, and breached the cockpit while forcing the passengers and crew to the rear of the aircraft against their will. The assailants quickly overpowered both the captain and the first officer and possibly killed them, allowing lead hijacker Mohamed Atta to take over the controls, having intensively trained as a pilot in the lead-up to the attacks. Air traffic controllers suspected that the flight was in distress because the crew were no longer responding. They realized the plane had been hijacked when Atta's falsely reassuring announcements for the hostages were transmitted to air traffic control instead of the cabin's PA system as intended. Two flight attendants were able to contact American Airlines and passed along information relevant to the situation, in particular casualties suffered by the passengers and crew. Atta flew the plane into the tower's north face from floors 93 through 99 at 08:46 local time. The impact was witnessed by countless people in the streets of New York City as well as the nearby state of New Jersey, but few video recordings captured the moment. Jules Naudet captured the only known footage clearly depicting Flight 11's impact. The media quickly began reporting on the incident and speculated that the crash had been an accident. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center's South Tower at 09:03, instantly dispelling any notion it was accidental. The damage caused by the plane and the fires ignited by its crash caused the North Tower to collapse at 10:28 that morning, resulting in hundreds of additional casualties. While the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site did lead to the discovery and identification of body fragments from certain individuals who boarded Flight 11, many have not been identified. Flight The aircraft involved in the hijacking was a Boeing 767-200ER with registration number N334AA. The capacity of the aircraft was 158 passengers (9 in first class, 30 in business class and 119 in economy class), but the September 11 flight carried 81 passengers and 11 crew members. This was a light load at 58 percent capacity, but higher than the average load factor for Flight 11 on Tuesday mornings of 39 percent in the months preceding September 11. The crew members were Captain John Ogonowski (50), First Officer Thomas McGuinness Jr. (42) (a former Navy fighter pilot), purser Karen Martin and flight attendants Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder, and Amy Sweeney. All 92 people on board were killed, including Frasier creator and executive producer David Angell, his wife Lynn Angell, actress Berry Berenson, and Akamai Technologies co-founder Daniel Lewin. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane had been scheduled to be on the flight but overslept due to a hangover and arrived at the airport too late. Actor Mark Wahlberg was also scheduled to be on the flight but changed his plans and canceled his ticket the day before. Actress Leighanne Littrell, wife of Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell, had also previously been booked on the flight but, like Wahlberg, changed her plans. Boarding Portland, Maine Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the attacks, and fellow hijacker Abdulaziz al-Omari arrived at Portland International Jetport in Maine at 05:41 Eastern Daylight Time on September 11, 2001. At the Portland ticket counter, Atta asked ticket agent Mike Tuohey for his boarding pass for Flight 11. When Tuohey told Atta he would have to check in a second time when he reached Logan, Atta appeared on the verge of anger, telling Tuohey that he had been assured he would have "one-step check-in." Out of concern he was racially profiling Atta as an Arab terrorist, Tuohey did not budge or rise to his hostility, and simply told him that he would better hurry if he did not want to miss the flight. Although Atta still looked cross, he and Omari left the ticket counter for the Portland airport's security checkpoint. They boarded Colgan Air Flight 5930, which was scheduled to depart at 06:00 and fly to Boston. Both hijackers had first class tickets with a connecting flight to Los Angeles; Atta checked in two bags, while Omari checked in none. When they checked in, the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) selected Atta for extra luggage scrutiny, but he boarded without incident. The flight from Portland departed on time and arrived in Boston at 06:45. Three other hijackers, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, and Satam al-Suqami, arrived at Logan Airport at the same time, having left their rental car in the airport parking facility. At 06:52, Marwan al-Shehhi, the hijacker pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, made a call from a pay phone in Logan Airport to Atta's cell phone. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin. Boston, Massachusetts Since they were not given boarding passes for Flight 11 in Portland, Atta and Omari checked in and went through security in Boston. Suqami, Wail al-Shehri, and Waleed al-Shehri also checked in for the flight in Boston. Wail al-Shehri and Suqami each checked one bag; Waleed al-Shehri did not check any bags. CAPPS selected all three for a detailed luggage check. As the CAPPS' screening was only for luggage, the three hijackers did not undergo any extra scrutiny at the passenger security checkpoint. First Officer Lynn Howland had just arrived in Boston after copiloting the flight from San Francisco that would be redesignated American Flight 11. As she walked off the aircraft and entered the passenger lounge, Atta approached her and asked if she would be flying the plane back across the country. When Howland told him she just brought the aircraft in, Atta turned his back and walked away. As he boarded Flight 11, Atta asked a gate agent whether the two bags he had checked earlier in Portland had been loaded onto the plane. In the rushed check-in after the flight from Portland, airline officials did not load Atta's bags on Flight 11. By 07:40, all five hijackers were aboard the flight, scheduled to depart at 07:45. Atta sat in business class seat 8D with al-Omari in 8G and Suqami in 10B. Waleed and Wail al-Shehri sat in first class seats 2B and 2A. Shortly before takeoff, American Airlines flight service manager Michael Woodward walked aboard for a final check. He briefly passed Atta, making note of this passenger's brooding expression, and then left the plane. At 07:46, one minute behind schedule, the aircraft received clearance to push back from Gate B32, and was cleared to taxi to the runway at 07:50. The aircraft began its takeoff roll from Logan International Airport at 07:59 from runway 4R. Hijacking The 9/11 Commission estimated that the hijacking began at 08:14 when the pilots stopped responding to requests from the Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center (Boston ARTCC). At 08:13:29, as the aircraft was passing over central Massachusetts at 26,000 feet (7,900 m), the pilots responded to a request from Boston ARTCC to make a 20-degree turn to the right. At 08:13:47, Boston ARTCC told the pilots to ascend to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet (11,000 m), but received no response. At 08:16, the aircraft leveled off at 29,000 feet (8,800 m) and shortly thereafter deviated from its scheduled path. At 08:17:59, flight controllers at Boston Center heard a brief, unknown sound on the radio frequency used by Flight 11 and other nearby flights, a noise that was later described as sounding like a scream. Boston ARTCC made multiple attempts to talk to Flight 11 without reply. The commission believes that the hijackers were in absolute control of the aircraft by 08:20,: 51  six minutes after launching their assault. The flight's Mode-C transponder signal was then switched off by someone in the cockpit at 08:21. At 08:23 and 08:25, Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) tried to contact the flight. The first message read, "Good morning, ATC looking for you on 135.32"; the other read, "Please contact Boston Center ASAP. They have lost radio contact and your transponder signal." Flight 11 did not reply. Reports from flight attendants According to flight attendants Amy Sweeney and Betty Ong, who contacted American Airlines during the hijacking, the hijackers had stabbed flight attendants Karen Martin and Barbara Arestegui and slashed passenger Daniel Lewin's throat. It is unknown how the hijackers gained access to the cockpit; FAA rules at the time required that the doors remain closed and locked during flight. Ong said she thought that the hijackers had "jammed their way" in. The commission suggested they attacked the flight attendants to get a cockpit key, to force one of them to open the cockpit door, or to lure the captain or first officer out of the cockpit. It is theorized that the al-Shehri brothers made the first move by attacking Martin and Arestegui. Sweeney said that Martin was badly injured and being given oxygen. Sweeney and Ong said Arestegui's injuries were not as serious. Ong said she heard loud arguing after the hijackers entered the cockpit. It is believed that the hijackers either killed or incapacitated Ogonowski and McGuinness. Sweeney said that one of the hijackers had shown her a device with red and yellow wires that appeared to be a bomb. Ong and Sweeney said that the coach passengers did not seem to fully understand the peril, and were under the impression that there was a routine medical emergency in the front section of the plane, and that the other flight attendants were helping passengers and finding medical supplies. Ong said Lewin appeared to be dead, while Sweeney said that Suqami had attacked Lewin. Lewin was seated in 9B, and Suqami sat directly behind him in 10B. One assumption is that Suqami attacked Lewin, unprovoked, to frighten other passengers and crew into compliance. Alternatively, Lewin, an American-Israeli Internet entrepreneur who understood Arabic, and had served as an officer in the elite Sayeret Matkal special operations unit of the Israel Defense Forces, may have attempted to stop the hijacking, and confronted one of the hijackers in front of him, unaware of Suqami behind him. Lewin is believed to be the first fatality in the 9/11 attacks. During a four-minute call to the American Airlines operations center, Ong provided information about lack of communication with the cockpit, lack of access to the cockpit, and that she thought someone had sprayed Mace in the business class cabin. She also provided the seat locations of the hijackers, which later helped investigators to determine their identities. Hijacker's transmissions At 08:24:38, a hijacker broadcast to Boston ARTCC. Air traffic controllers heard the hijacker announce, "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you'll be O.K. We are returning to the airport." At 08:24:56 he announced, "Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." As Atta spoke English fluently, he likely made the transmissions. It is also possible that Atta's seatmate, al-Omari, accompanied him into the cockpit. Atta apparently tried to make an announcement to the passengers, but keyed the wrong switch and instead his voice was picked up and recorded by air traffic controllers. After Atta's transmissions and the inability to contact the airliner, air traffic controllers at Boston ARTCC realized that Flight 11 was being hijacked. At 08:26, after crossing the Massachusetts-New York border, the plane turned 100 degrees to the south, following the Hudson River that would lead directly to New York City. At 08:32, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Command Center in Herndon, Virginia, notified FAA headquarters. At 08:33:59, the hijacker announced a third and final transmission: "Nobody move, please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves." At 08:37:08, the pilots of United Airlines Flight 175 verified Flight 11's location and heading to flight control. Seconds before their plane was also hijacked, at 8:42 a.m., the pilots of Flight 175 informed New York Center that they previously heard a suspicious announcement over the radio as they were climbing out of Logan 28 minutes earlier, which would have been around the same time Flight 11 was hijacked. This particular transmission was never picked up by controllers on the ground unlike the other three, but the pilots reported hearing the words, "Everyone, stay in your seats.": 38 Fighter jets dispatched Boston ARTCC bypassed standard protocols and directly contacted the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) in Rome, New York. NEADS called on two F-15 fighter jets at Otis Air National Guard Base in Mashpee, Massachusetts, to intercept. Officials at Otis spent a few minutes getting authorization for the fighters to take off. The order to dispatch the fighters at Otis was given at 08:46, and the F-15s took off at 08:53, roughly seven minutes after American Airlines Flight 11 had already crashed into the North Tower. Of the four hijacked aircraft on 9/11, the nine minutes of advance notification about the hijacking of Flight 11 was the most time that NORAD had to respond before the aircraft crashed into its intended target. Crash At 8:37 a.m., Flight 11 began a rapid descent of 3,200 feet per minute toward New York City, gradually losing speed. Three minutes before impact, Atta completed his final turn toward Manhattan, flying south over the city in the direction of the World Trade Center. At 08:46, flight attendant Amy Sweeney panicked that her plane was "flying way too low" just as Atta deliberately crashed into the North Tower. The airplane, traveling about 440 miles per hour (710 km/h; 200 m/s; 380 kn) and loaded with around 10,000 U.S. gallons (38,000 L; 8,300 imp gal) of jet fuel, struck the skyscraper's northern façade between floors 93 and 99, its nose impacting the 96th floor. Hundreds were killed instantly, including everyone on the aircraft and numerous workers in the North Tower. Many who had been outside of the path of the crashing airliner were incinerated as its fuel exploded.: 73  Studies suggest that as many as 1,426 people may have been present on the top 18 floors of the North Tower when it was struck almost midway into its central core. The core housed three stairwells (A, B and C) extending from the roof to the ground floor, with a distance of just 70 feet (21 metres) between each one in the impact region. The size of the hijacked 767 easily severed all three, trapping close to a thousand crash survivors. All stairwells from floors 93 up to 99 were destroyed or blocked and elevator service was disrupted from the 50th floor upward.: 74  The airplane descended downward at an angle of about 10 degrees at impact, pushing rubble into stairwells as many as six stories below where it hit; consequently, the 92nd floor was also sealed off from the rest of the tower when falling debris from Flight 11's impact zone walled off each of its stairwells. The highest survivors in the North Tower came from the 91st floor, while anyone above was left to burn alive, asphyxiate, succumb to toxic exposure from ignited chemicals or be killed in the tower's eventual collapse. Some 100–200 people plummeted from the upper floors, most of whom died by jumping to escape the intense heat, smoke and flames. Light-to-moderate damage was reported on every floor from ground level to the 92nd, including collapsed walls, missing ceiling tiles, severed wires and smashed windows. The sprinkler system was severed by the impact, causing flooding on various floors throughout the tower. Moreover, burning jet fuel was channeled through the building via elevator shafts and ductwork, igniting small-scale fires on many floors between the 77th and 91st. Three major flash fires occurred in the 78th and 44th floor skylobbies as well as the main lobby at the base, causing fatal burns nearly a hundred floors below the impact. The shockwave was felt in both towers.: 87  The northern and western façades of the South Tower were battered by debris and a limited number of windows were broken by the explosion. Prevailing winds from the northwest caused the top of the South Tower to become engulfed by the thick smoke pouring southeast, and a number of employees at that altitude reported that the fumes began filtering into their floors alongside the intense heat. Countless people in both the city and state of New York as well as the adjacent state of New Jersey saw first-hand what had happened to the North Tower, and the smoke billowing over the horizon very quickly became visible from parts of Connecticut as well. Despite this, only four people happened to be recording at 08:46. French cameraman Jules Naudet, who was filming a documentary about the FDNY, rode with Battalion 1 to investigate a suspected gas leak in a storm drain at the intersection of Church and Lispenard streets, where he caught the only known clear footage of the plane flying into the tower. Pavel Hlava, a Czech immigrant, unknowingly taped the plane from far away while preparing to drive into the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel from Brooklyn. Just south of the World Trade Center, the New York City-based television station WNYW had been filming in nearby City Hall Park when Flight 11 crashed into the tower offscreen. Reporter Dick Oliver picked up the camera and recorded the immediate aftermath. A webcam set up by Wolfgang Staehle at an art exhibit in Brooklyn to take images of Lower Manhattan every four seconds also captured stills of Flight 11 flying towards the North Tower and the explosion that followed. Some reporters claimed that the plane that struck the North Tower was a "small, twin-engine jet," despite the size of the hole in the skyscraper. At 08:55, senior advisor to the president Karl Rove conveyed this misleading information to President George W. Bush as he arrived at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida; the president's surmise was that the crash "must have been caused by pilot error." Shortly after, in an on-air phone call from his office at the CNN New York bureau, CNN vice president of finance Sean Murtagh reported that a large passenger commercial jet had hit the World Trade Center, and other television networks began interrupting regular broadcasting with news of the crash within minutes. The general assumption was that Flight 11's crash was a tragic accident, although some news stations suggested it could have been on purpose. Though many people in the South Tower chose to evacuate after seeing what had happened in the North Tower, the Port Authority made the decision not to initiate an immediate full-scale evacuation of the South Tower immediately following the first plane crash, operating under the assumption that it was an accident. Seventeen minutes after the first impact, the World Trade Center's South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175, confirming to the entire world that it was in fact deliberate. Aftermath After the crash, the North Tower burned for 102 minutes before collapsing at 10:28. Although the impact itself caused extensive structural damage, the long-lasting fire ignited by jet fuel was blamed for the structural failure of the tower. In addition to the aircraft passengers and building occupants, hundreds of rescue workers also died when the tower collapsed. Despite being the first of the two buildings to be hit, the North Tower was the second to collapse. Furthermore, it stood for nearly twice as long after being struck as the South Tower, with the latter burning for only 56 minutes before collapsing. This is because Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower at a lower speed and much higher up than Flight 175 did into the South Tower, leading to there being far less structural weight above the impact zone; the North Tower had 11 floors above the point of impact while the South Tower had more than twice that amount. Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on floors 101–105 of the North Tower, lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer. Rescue workers at the World Trade Center site began to discover body fragments from Flight 11 victims within days of the attack. Some workers found bodies strapped to airplane seats and discovered the remains of a flight attendant with her hands bound, suggesting the hijackers might have used plastic handcuffs. Within a year, medical examiners had identified the remains of 33 victims who had been on board Flight 11. They identified two other Flight 11 victims, including purser Karen Martin, in 2006, while other unrelated body fragments were discovered near Ground Zero around the same time. In April 2007, examiners using newer DNA technology identified another Flight 11 victim. The remains of two hijackers, potentially from Flight 11, were also identified and removed from Memorial Park in Manhattan. The remains of the other hijackers have not been identified and are buried with other unidentified remains at this park. Suqami's passport survived the crash and landed in the street below. Soaked in jet fuel, it was picked up by a passerby who gave it to a New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective shortly before the South Tower collapsed. Investigators retrieved Mohamed Atta's luggage, which had not been loaded onto the flight. In it, they found Omari's passport and driver's license, a videocassette for a Boeing 757 flight simulator, a folding knife, and pepper spray. In a recording, a few months later in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, took responsibility for the attack. The attack on the World Trade Center exceeded even bin Laden's expectations: he had expected only the floors above the plane strikes to collapse. The flight recorders for Flight 11 and Flight 175 were never found.After the attacks, the flight number for the scheduled flight on the same route with the same takeoff time was changed, and as of 2024, is flown using an Airbus A321 instead of a Boeing 767. An American flag is flown on the jet bridge of gate B32 from which Flight 11 departed Logan Airport. In 2002, the first recipients of the annual Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery were Sweeney and Ong. Ogonowski also received a posthumous award. They were all residents of Massachusetts. Relatives of all three accepted the awards on their behalf. On April 26, 2013, a piece of the wing flap mechanism from a Boeing 767 was discovered wedged between two buildings at Park Place, near where other landing gear parts were found. The onboard defibrillator from Flight 11 was found in 2014 during roadworks near Liberty Street. At the National September 11 Memorial, the names of the 87 victims of Flight 11 are inscribed on the North Pool, on Panels N-1 and N-2, and Panels N-74 – N-76. See also American Airlines Flight 77 United Airlines Flight 93 List of aircraft hijackings List of tenants in 1 World Trade Center (1971–2001) Notes References Works cited Final Report of the 9/11 Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (PDF) (Report). National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. July 22, 2004. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2021. External links The Final 9/11 Commission Report 9-11 NTSB Report "Victims of the American Airlines Flight 11". Archived from the original on January 12, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2007. American Airlines site explaining that all aircraft are accounted for at the Wayback Machine (archived September 11, 2001), September 11, 2001 American Airlines site with condolences for deceased at the Wayback Machine (archived September 12, 2001), September 12, 2001

Roald_Dahl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl

Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". Dahl was born in Wales to affluent Norwegian immigrant parents, and lived for most of his life in England. He served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He became a fighter pilot and, subsequently, an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children and for adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling authors. His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008, The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945". In 2021, Forbes ranked him the top-earning dead celebrity. Dahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic mood, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. His children's books champion the kindhearted and feature an underlying warm sentiment. His works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits, George's Marvellous Medicine and Danny, the Champion of the World. His works for older audiences include the short story collections Tales of the Unexpected and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. Early life and education Childhood Roald Dahl was born in 1916 at Villa Marie, Fairwater Road, in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales, to Norwegians Harald Dahl (1863–1920) and Sofie Magdalene Dahl (née Hesselberg) (1885–1967). Dahl's father, a wealthy shipbroker and self-made man, had emigrated to Britain from Sarpsborg, Norway and settled in Cardiff in the 1880s with his first wife, Frenchwoman Marie Beaurin-Gresser. They had two children together (Ellen Marguerite and Louis) before her death in 1907. Roald's mother belonged to a well-established Norwegian family of lawyers, priests in the state church and wealthy merchants and estate owners, and emigrated to Britain when she married his father in 1911. Dahl was named after Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen. His first language was Norwegian, which he spoke at home with his parents and his sisters Astri, Alfhild, and Else. The children were raised in Norway's Lutheran state church, the Church of Norway, and were baptised at the Norwegian Church, Cardiff. His maternal grandmother Ellen Wallace was a granddaughter of the member of parliament Georg Wallace and a descendant of an early 18th-century Scottish immigrant to Norway. Dahl's sister Astri died from appendicitis at age seven in 1920 when Dahl was three years old, and his father died of pneumonia at age 57 several weeks later. Later in the same year, his youngest sister, Asta, was born. Upon his death, Harald Dahl left a fortune assessed for probate of £158,917 10s. 0d. (equivalent to £8,062,873 in 2023). Dahl's mother decided to remain in Wales instead of returning to Norway to live with relatives, as her husband had wanted their children to be educated in English schools, which he considered the world's best. When he was six years old, Dahl met his idol Beatrix Potter, author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit featuring the mischievous Peter Rabbit, the first licensed fictional character. The meeting, which took place at Potter's home, Hill Top in the Lake District, north west England, was dramatised in the 2020 television film, Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse. Dahl first attended The Cathedral School, Llandaff. At age eight, he and four of his friends were caned by the headmaster after putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local sweet shop, which was owned by a "mean and loathsome" old woman named Mrs Pratchett. The five boys named their prank the "Great Mouse Plot of 1924". Mrs Pratchett inspired Dahl's creation of the cruel headmistress Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, and a prank, this time in a water jug belonging to Trunchbull, would also appear in the book. Gobstoppers were a favourite sweet among British schoolboys between the two World Wars, and Dahl referred to them in his fictional Everlasting Gobstopper which was featured in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl transferred to St Peter's boarding school in Weston-super-Mare. His parents had wanted him to be educated at an English public school, and this proved to be the nearest because of the regular ferry link across the Bristol Channel. Dahl's time at St Peter's was unpleasant; he was very homesick and wrote to his mother every week but never revealed his unhappiness to her. After her death in 1967, he learned that she had saved every one of his letters; they were broadcast in abridged form as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in 2016 to mark the centenary of his birth. Dahl wrote about his time at St Peter's in his autobiography Boy: Tales of Childhood. Excelling at conkers—a traditional autumnal children's game in Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of horse chestnut trees—Dahl recollected, "at the ages of eight, nine and ten, conkers brought sunshine to our lives during the dreary autumn term". Repton School From 1929, when he was 13, Dahl attended Repton School in Derbyshire. Dahl disliked the hazing and described an environment of ritual cruelty and status domination, with younger boys having to act as personal servants for older boys, frequently subject to terrible beatings. His biographer Donald Sturrock described these violent experiences in Dahl's early life. Dahl expresses some of these darker experiences in his writings, which is also marked by his hatred of cruelty and corporal punishment. According to Dahl's autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood, a friend named Michael was viciously caned by headmaster Geoffrey Fisher. Writing in that same book, Dahl reflected: "All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed literally to wound other boys, and sometimes quite severely... I couldn't get over it. I never have got over it." Fisher was later appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, and he crowned Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. However, according to Dahl's biographer Jeremy Treglown, the caning took place in May 1933, a year after Fisher had left Repton; the headmaster was in fact J. T. Christie, Fisher's successor as headmaster. Dahl said the incident caused him to "have doubts about religion and even about God". He viewed the brutality of the caning as being the result of the headmaster's enmity towards children, an attitude Dahl would later attribute to the Grand High Witch in his dark fantasy The Witches, with the novel's main antagonist exclaiming that "children are rrreee-volting!". Dahl was never seen as a particularly talented writer in his school years, with one of his English teachers writing in his school report, "I have never met anybody who so persistently writes words meaning the exact opposite of what is intended." He was exceptionally tall, reaching 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) in adult life. Dahl played sports including cricket, football and golf, and was made captain of the squash team. As well as having a passion for literature, he developed an interest in photography and often carried a camera with him. During his years at Repton, the Cadbury chocolate company occasionally sent boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by the pupils. Dahl dreamt of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr Cadbury himself; this inspired him in writing his third children's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and to refer to chocolate in other children's books. Throughout his childhood and adolescent years, Dahl spent most of his summer holidays with his mother's family in Norway. He wrote about many happy memories from those visits in Boy: Tales of Childhood, such as when he replaced the tobacco in his half-sister's fiancé's pipe with goat droppings. He noted only one unhappy memory of his holidays in Norway: at around the age of eight, he had to have his adenoids removed by a doctor. His childhood and first job selling kerosene in Midsomer Norton and surrounding villages in Somerset are subjects in Boy: Tales of Childhood. After school After finishing his schooling, in August 1934 Dahl crossed the Atlantic on the RMS Nova Scotia and hiked through Newfoundland with the British Public Schools Exploring Society. In July 1934, Dahl joined the Shell Petroleum Company. Following four years of training in the United Kingdom, he was assigned first to Mombasa, Kenya, then to Dar es Salaam in the British colony of Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania). Dahl explains in his autobiography Going Solo that only three young Englishmen ran the Shell company in the territory, of which he was the youngest and junior. Along with the only two other Shell employees in the entire territory, he lived in luxury in the Shell House outside Dar es Salaam, with a cook and personal servants. While out on assignments supplying oil to customers across Tanganyika, he encountered black mamba snakes and lions, among other wildlife. Fighter pilot In August 1939, as the Second World War loomed, the British made plans to round up the hundreds of Germans living in Dar-es-Salaam. Dahl was commissioned as a lieutenant into the King's African Rifles, commanding a platoon of Askari men, indigenous troops who were serving in the colonial army. In November 1939, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an aircraftman with service number 774022. After a 600-mile (970 km) car journey from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, he was accepted for flight training with sixteen other men, of whom only three survived the war. With seven hours and 40 minutes experience in a De Havilland Tiger Moth, he flew solo; Dahl enjoyed watching the wildlife of Kenya during his flights. He continued to advanced flying training in Iraq, at RAF Habbaniya, 50 miles (80 km) west of Baghdad. Following six months' training on Hawker Harts, Dahl was commissioned as a pilot officer on 24 August 1940, and was judged ready to join a squadron and face the enemy. He was assigned to No. 80 Squadron RAF, flying obsolete Gloster Gladiators, the last biplane fighter aircraft used by the RAF. Dahl was surprised to find that he would not receive any specialised training in aerial combat or in flying Gladiators. On 19 September 1940, Dahl and another pilot were ordered to fly their Gladiators by stages from Abu Sueir (near Ismailia, in Egypt) to 80 Squadron's forward airstrip 30 miles (48 km) south of Mersa Matruh. On the final leg, they could not find the airstrip and, running low on fuel and with night approaching, Dahl was forced to attempt a landing in the desert. The undercarriage hit a boulder and the aircraft crashed. Dahl's skull was fractured and his nose was smashed; he was temporarily blinded. He managed to drag himself away from the blazing wreckage and lost consciousness. His colleague, Douglas McDonald, had landed safely and was able to comfort Dahl until they were rescued. He wrote about the crash in his first published work. Dahl came to believe that the head injury he sustained in the crash resulted in his creative genius. Dahl was rescued and taken to a first-aid post in Mersa Matruh, where he regained consciousness, but not his sight. He remained blind for six weeks due to massive swelling of the brain. He was transported by train to the Royal Navy hospital in Alexandria. There he fell in and out of love with a nurse, Mary Welland. An RAF inquiry into the crash revealed that the location to which he had been told to fly was completely wrong, and he had mistakenly been sent instead into the no man's land between the Allied and Italian forces. In February 1941, Dahl was discharged from the hospital and deemed fully fit for flying duties. By this time, 80 Squadron had been transferred to the Greek campaign and based at Eleusina, near Athens. The squadron was now equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. Dahl flew a replacement Hurricane across the Mediterranean Sea in April 1941, after seven hours' experience flying Hurricanes. By this stage in the Greek campaign, the RAF had only 18 combat aircraft in Greece: 14 Hurricanes and four Bristol Blenheim light bombers. Dahl flew in his first aerial combat on 15 April 1941, while flying alone over the city of Chalcis. He attacked six Junkers Ju 88s that were bombing ships and shot one down. On 16 April in another air battle, he shot down another Ju 88. On 20 April 1941, Dahl took part in the Battle of Athens, alongside the highest-scoring British Commonwealth ace of World War II, Pat Pattle, and Dahl's friend David Coke. Of 12 Hurricanes involved, five were shot down and four of their pilots killed, including Pattle. Greek observers on the ground counted 22 German aircraft downed, but because of the confusion of the aerial engagement, none of the pilots knew which aircraft they had shot down. Dahl described it as "an endless blur of enemy fighters whizzing towards me from every side". In May, as the Germans were pressing on Athens, Dahl was evacuated to Egypt. His squadron was reassembled in Haifa to take part in Operation Exporter. From there, Dahl flew sorties every day for a period of four weeks, shooting down a Vichy French Air Force Potez 63 on 8 June and another Ju 88 on 15 June. In a memoir, Dahl recounts in detail an attack by him and his fellow Hurricane pilots on the Vichy-held Rayak airfield. He says that as he and his fellow Hurricane pilots swept in: ... low over the field at midday we saw to our astonishment a bunch of girls in brightly coloured cotton dresses standing out by the planes with glasses in their hands having drinks with the French pilots, and I remember seeing bottles of wine standing on the wing of one of the planes as we went swooshing over. It was a Sunday morning and the Frenchmen were evidently entertaining their girlfriends and showing off their aircraft to them, which was a very French thing to do in the middle of a war at a front-line aerodrome. Every one of us held our fire on that first pass over the flying field and it was wonderfully comical to see the girls all dropping their wine glasses and galloping in their high heels for the door of the nearest building. We went round again, but this time we were no longer a surprise and they were ready for us with their ground defences, and I am afraid that our chivalry resulted in damage to several of our Hurricanes, including my own. But we destroyed five of their planes on the ground. Despite this somewhat light-hearted account, Dahl also noted that, ultimately, Vichy forces killed four of the nine Hurricane pilots in his squadron. Describing the Vichy forces as "disgusting", he stated that "... thousands of lives were lost, and I for one have never forgiven the Vichy French for the unnecessary slaughter they caused." When he began to get severe headaches that caused him to black out, he was invalided home to Britain where he stayed with his mother in Buckinghamshire. Although at this time Dahl was only a pilot officer on probation, in September 1941 he was simultaneously confirmed as a pilot officer and promoted to war substantive flying officer. Diplomat, writer and intelligence officer After being invalided home, Dahl was posted to an RAF training camp in Uxbridge. He attempted to recover his health enough to become an instructor. In late March 1942, while in London, he met the Under-Secretary of State for Air, Major Harold Balfour, at his club. Impressed by Dahl's war record and conversational abilities, Balfour appointed the young man as assistant air attaché at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. Initially resistant, Dahl was finally persuaded by Balfour to accept, and took passage on the MS Batory from Glasgow a few days later. He arrived in Halifax, Canada, on 14 April, after which he took a sleeper train to Montreal. Coming from war-starved Britain (in what was a wartime period of rationing in the United Kingdom), Dahl was amazed by the wealth of food and amenities to be had in North America. Arriving in Washington a week later, Dahl found he liked the atmosphere of the US capital. He shared a house with another attaché at 1610 34th Street, NW, in Georgetown. But after ten days in his new posting, Dahl strongly disliked it, feeling he had taken on "a most ungodly unimportant job". He later explained, "I'd just come from the war. People were getting killed. I had been flying around, seeing horrible things. Now, almost instantly, I found myself in the middle of a pre-war cocktail party in America." Dahl was unimpressed by his office in the British Air Mission, attached to the embassy. He was also unimpressed by the ambassador, Lord Halifax, with whom he sometimes played tennis and whom he described as "a courtly English gentleman". Dahl socialised with Charles E. Marsh, a Texas publisher and oilman, at his house at 2136 R Street, NW, and the Marsh country estate in Virginia. As part of his duties as assistant air attaché, Dahl was to help neutralise the isolationist views still held by many Americans by giving pro-British speeches and discussing his war service; the United States had entered the war only the previous December, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. At this time Dahl met the noted British novelist C. S. Forester, who was also working to aid the British war effort. Forester worked for the British Ministry of Information and was writing propaganda for the Allied cause, mainly for American consumption. The Saturday Evening Post had asked Forester to write a story based on Dahl's flying experiences; Forester asked Dahl to write down some RAF anecdotes so that he could shape them into a story. After Forester read what Dahl had given him, he decided to publish the story exactly as Dahl had written it. In reality a number of changes were made to the original manuscript before publication. He originally titled the article as "A Piece of Cake" but the magazine changed it to "Shot Down Over Libya" to make it sound more dramatic, although Dahl had not been shot down; it was published on 1 August 1942 issue of the Post. Dahl was promoted to flight lieutenant (war-substantive) in August 1942. Later he worked with such other well-known British officers as Ian Fleming (who later published the popular James Bond series) and David Ogilvy, promoting Britain's interests and message in the US and combating the "America First" movement. This work introduced Dahl to espionage and the activities of the Canadian spymaster William Stephenson, known by the codename "Intrepid." During the war, Dahl supplied intelligence from Washington to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. As Dahl later said: "My job was to try to help Winston to get on with FDR, and tell Winston what was in the old boy's mind." Dahl also supplied intelligence to Stephenson and his organisation, known as British Security Coordination, which was part of MI6. Dahl was once sent back to Britain by British Embassy officials, supposedly for misconduct—"I got booted out by the big boys", he said. Stephenson promptly sent him back to Washington—with a promotion to wing commander rank. Toward the end of the war, Dahl wrote some of the history of the secret organisation; he and Stephenson remained friends for decades after the war. Upon the war's conclusion, Dahl held the rank of a temporary wing commander (substantive flight lieutenant). Owing to the severity of his injuries from the 1940 accident, he was pronounced unfit for further service and was invalided out of the RAF in August 1946. He left the service with the substantive rank of squadron leader. His record of five aerial victories, qualifying him as a flying ace, has been confirmed by post-war research and cross-referenced in Axis records. It is most probably that he scored more than those victories during 20 April 1941, when 22 German aircraft were shot down. Post-war life Dahl married American actress Patricia Neal on 2 July 1953 at Trinity Church in New York City. Their marriage lasted for 30 years and they had five children: Olivia Twenty (1955–1962); Chantal Sophia "Tessa" (born 1957), who became an author, and mother of author, cookbook writer and former model Sophie Dahl (after whom Sophie in The BFG is named); Theo Matthew (born 1960); Ophelia Magdalena (born 1964); Lucy Neal (born 1965). On 5 December 1960, four-month-old Theo was severely injured when his baby carriage was struck by a taxicab in New York City. For a time, he suffered from hydrocephalus. As a result, Dahl became involved in the development of what became known as the "Wade-Dahl-Till" (or WDT) valve, a device to improve the shunt used to alleviate the condition. The valve was a collaboration between Dahl, hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade, and London's Great Ormond Street Hospital neurosurgeon Kenneth Till, and was used successfully on almost 3,000 children around the world. In November 1962, Dahl's daughter Olivia died of measles encephalitis, age seven. Her death left Dahl "limp with despair", and feeling guilty about not having been able to do anything for her. Dahl subsequently became a proponent of immunisation—writing "Measles: A Dangerous Illness" in 1988 in response to measles cases in the UK—and dedicated his 1982 book The BFG to his daughter. After Olivia's death and a meeting with a Church official, Dahl came to view Christianity as a sham. In mourning he had sought spiritual guidance from Geoffrey Fisher, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and was dismayed being told that, although Olivia was in Paradise, her beloved dog Rowley would never join her there. Dahl recalled years later: I wanted to ask him how he could be so absolutely sure that other creatures did not get the same special treatment as us. I sat there wondering if this great and famous churchman really knew what he was talking about and whether he knew anything at all about God or heaven, and if he didn't, then who in the world did? In 1965, Dahl's wife Patricia Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant with their fifth child, Lucy. Dahl took control of her rehabilitation over the next months; Neal had to re-learn to talk and walk, but she managed to return to her acting career. This period of their lives was dramatised in the film The Patricia Neal Story (1981), in which the couple were played by Glenda Jackson and Dirk Bogarde. In 1972, Roald Dahl met Felicity d'Abreu Crosland, niece of Lt.-Col. Francis D'Abreu who was married to Margaret Bowes Lyon, the first cousin of the Queen Mother, while Felicity was working as a set designer on an advert for Maxim coffee with the author's then wife, Patricia Neal. Soon after the pair were introduced, they began an 11-year affair. In 1983 Neal and Dahl divorced and Dahl married Felicity, at Brixton Town Hall, South London. Felicity (known as Liccy) gave up her job and moved into Gipsy House, Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, which had been Dahl's home since 1954. In the 1986 New Years Honours List, Dahl was offered an appointment to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), but turned it down. He reportedly wanted a knighthood so that his wife would be Lady Dahl. Dahl's last significant involvement in medical charities during his lifetime was with dyslexia. In 1990, the year which saw the UN launch International Literacy Year, Dahl assisted with the British Dyslexia Association's Awareness Campaign. That year saw Dahl write one of his last children's books, The Vicar of Nibbleswicke, which features a vicar who has a fictitious form of dyslexia that causes him to pronounce words backwards. Called "a comic tale in the best Dahl tradition of craziness" by Waterstones, Dahl donated the rights of the book to the Dyslexia Institute in London. In 2012, Dahl was featured in the list of The New Elizabethans to mark the diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Dahl among the group of people in Britain "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character". In September 2016, Dahl's daughter Lucy received the BBC's Blue Peter Gold badge in his honour, the first time it had ever been awarded posthumously. Writing Dahl's first published work, inspired by a meeting with C. S. Forester, was "A Piece of Cake", on 1 August 1942. The story, about his wartime adventures, was bought by The Saturday Evening Post for US$1,000 (equivalent to $19,000 in 2023) and published under the title "Shot Down Over Libya". His first children's book was The Gremlins, published in 1943, about mischievous little creatures that were part of Royal Air Force folklore. The RAF pilots blamed the gremlins for all the problems with the aircraft. The protagonist Gus—an RAF pilot, like Dahl—joins forces with the gremlins against a common enemy, Hitler and the Nazis. While at the British Embassy in Washington, Dahl sent a copy to the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who read it to her grandchildren, and the book was commissioned by Walt Disney for a film that was never made. Dahl went on to write some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits and George's Marvellous Medicine. Dahl also had a successful parallel career as the writer of macabre adult short stories, which often blended humour and innocence with surprising plot twists. The Mystery Writers of America presented Dahl with three Edgar Awards for his work, and many were originally written for American magazines such as Collier's ("The Collector's Item" was Collier's Star Story of the week for 4 September 1948), Ladies' Home Journal, Harper's, Playboy and The New Yorker. Works such as Kiss Kiss subsequently collected Dahl's stories into anthologies, and gained significant popularity. Dahl wrote more than 60 short stories; they have appeared in numerous collections, some only being published in book form after his death. His three Edgar Awards were given for: in 1954, the collection Someone Like You; in 1959, the story "The Landlady"; and in 1980, the episode of Tales of the Unexpected based on "Skin". One of his more famous adult stories, "The Smoker", also known as "Man from the South", was filmed twice as both 1960 and 1985 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, filmed as a 1979 episode of Tales of the Unexpected, and also adapted into Quentin Tarantino's segment of the film Four Rooms (1995). This oft-anthologised classic concerns a man in Jamaica who wagers with visitors in an attempt to claim the fingers from their hands. The original 1960 version in the Hitchcock series stars Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre. Five additional Dahl stories were used in the Hitchcock series. Dahl was credited with teleplay for two episodes, and four of his episodes were directed by Alfred Hitchcock himself, an example of which was "Lamb to the Slaughter" (1958). Dahl acquired a traditional Romanichal vardo in the 1960s, and the family used it as a playhouse for his children at home in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. He later used the vardo as a writing room, where he wrote Danny, the Champion of the World in 1975. Dahl incorporated a similar caravan into the main plot of the book, where the young English boy, Danny, and his father, William (played by Jeremy Irons in the film adaptation) live in a vardo. Many other scenes and characters from Great Missenden are reflected in his work. For example, the village library was the inspiration for Mrs Phelps' library in Matilda, where the title character devours classic literature by the age of four. His short story collection Tales of the Unexpected was adapted to a successful TV series of the same name, beginning with "Man from the South". When the stock of Dahl's own original stories was exhausted, the series continued by adapting stories written in Dahl's style by other authors, including John Collier and Stanley Ellin. Another collection of short stories, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, was published in 1977, and the eponymous short story was adapted into a short film in 2023 by director Wes Anderson with Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular character Henry Sugar and Ralph Fiennes as Dahl. Some of Dahl's short stories are supposed to be extracts from the diary of his (fictional) Uncle Oswald, a rich gentleman whose sexual exploits form the subject of these stories. In his novel My Uncle Oswald, the uncle engages a temptress to seduce 20th century geniuses and royalty with a love potion secretly added to chocolate truffles made by Dahl's favourite chocolate shop, Prestat of Piccadilly, London. Memories with Food at Gipsy House, written with his wife Felicity and published posthumously in 1991, was a mixture of recipes, family reminiscences and Dahl's musings on favourite subjects such as chocolate, onions and claret. The last book published in his lifetime, Esio Trot, released in January 1990, marked a change in style for the author. Unlike other Dahl works (which often feature tyrannical adults and heroic/magical children), it is the story of an old, lonely man trying to make a connection with a woman he has loved from afar. In 1994, the English language audiobook recording of the book was provided by Monty Python member Michael Palin. Screenwriter Richard Curtis adapted it into a 2015 BBC television comedy film, Roald Dahl's Esio Trot, featuring Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench as the couple. Written in 1990 and published posthumously in 1991, Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety was one of the last things he ever wrote. In a response to rising levels of train-related fatalities involving children, the British Railways Board had asked Dahl to write the text of the booklet, and Quentin Blake to illustrate it, to help young people enjoy using the railways safely. The booklet is structured as a conversation with children, and it was distributed to primary school pupils in Britain. According to children's literature critic Deborah Cogan Thacker, Dahl's tendency in his children's books is to "put child characters in powerful positions" and so, the idea of "talking down" to children was always an anathema to him, therefore Dahl, in the introduction of the booklet, states; "I must now regretfully become one of those unpopular giants who tells you WHAT TO DO and WHAT NOT TO DO. This is something I have never done in any of my books." Children's fiction Dahl's children's works are usually told from the point of view of a child. They typically involve adult villains who hate and mistreat children, and feature at least one "good" adult to counteract the villain(s). These stock characters are possibly a reference to the abuse that Dahl stated that he experienced in the boarding schools he attended. In a biography of Dahl, Matthew Dennison wrote that "his writing frequently included protests against unfairness". Dahl's books see the triumph of the child; children's book critic Amanda Craig said, "He was unequivocal that it is the good, young and kind who triumph over the old, greedy and the wicked." Anna Leskiewicz in The Telegraph wrote, "It's often suggested that Dahl's lasting appeal is a result of his exceptional talent for wriggling his way into children's fantasies and fears, and laying them out on the page with anarchic delight. Adult villains are drawn in terrifying detail, before they are exposed as liars and hypocrites, and brought tumbling down with retributive justice, either by a sudden magic or the superior acuity of the children they mistreat." While his whimsical fantasy stories feature an underlying warm sentiment, they are often juxtaposed with grotesque, darkly comic and sometimes harshly violent scenarios. The Witches, George's Marvellous Medicine and Matilda are examples of this formula. The BFG follows, with the good giant (the BFG or "Big Friendly Giant") representing the "good adult" archetype and the other giants being the "bad adults". This formula is also somewhat evident in Dahl's film script for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Class-conscious themes also surface in works such as Fantastic Mr Fox and Danny, the Champion of the World where the unpleasant wealthy neighbours are outwitted. Dahl also features characters who are very fat, usually children. Augustus Gloop, Bruce Bogtrotter and Bruno Jenkins are a few of these characters, although an enormous woman named Aunt Sponge features in James and the Giant Peach and the nasty farmer Boggis in Fantastic Mr Fox is an enormously fat character. All of these characters (with the possible exception of Bruce Bogtrotter) are either villains or simply unpleasant gluttons. They are usually punished for this: Augustus Gloop drinks from Willy Wonka's chocolate river, disregarding the adults who tell him not to, and falls in, getting sucked up a pipe and nearly being turned into fudge. In Matilda, Bruce Bogtrotter steals cake from the evil headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and is forced to eat a gigantic chocolate cake in front of the school; when he unexpectedly succeeds at this, Trunchbull smashes the empty plate over his head. In The Witches, Bruno Jenkins is lured by the witches (whose leader is the Grand High Witch) into their convention with the promise of chocolate, before they turn him into a mouse. Aunt Sponge is flattened by a giant peach. When Dahl was a boy his mother used to tell him and his sisters tales about trolls and other mythical Norwegian creatures, and some of his children's books contain references or elements inspired by these stories, such as the giants in The BFG, the fox family in Fantastic Mr Fox and the trolls in The Minpins. Receiving the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, Dahl encouraged his children and his readers to let their imagination run free. His daughter Lucy stated "his spirit was so large and so big he taught us to believe in magic." She said her father later told her that if they had simply said goodnight after a bedtime story, he assumed it wasn't a good idea. But if they begged him to continue, he knew he was on to something, and the story would sometimes turn into a book. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it. Dahl was also famous for his inventive, playful use of language, which was a key element to his writing. He invented over 500 new words by scribbling down his words before swapping letters around and adopting spoonerisms and malapropisms. The lexicographer Susan Rennie stated that Dahl built his new words on familiar sounds, adding: He didn't always explain what his words meant, but children can work them out because they often sound like a word they know, and he loved using onomatopoeia. For example, you know that something lickswishy and delumptious is good to eat, whereas something uckyslush or rotsome is definitely not! He also used sounds that children love to say, like squishous and squizzle, or fizzlecrump and fizzwiggler. As marketing director of Penguin Books in the 1980s, Barry Cunningham travelled the UK with Dahl on a promotional book tour, during which he asked Dahl what the secret of his success was, with Dahl responding, "the thing you've got to remember, is that humour is delayed fear, laughter is delayed fear." Cunningham later recollected, "if you look at the way he uses humour and the way that children use humour, perhaps sometimes it's the only weapon they have against terrifying circumstances or people. That's very indicative of his stories and the style of those stories." A UK television special titled Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book which was hosted by Richard E. Grant and aired on 22 September 2007, commemorated Dahl's 90th birthday and also celebrated his impact as a children's author in popular culture. It also featured eight main rules he applied on all his children's books: Just add chocolate Adults can be scary Bad things happen Revenge is sweet Keep a wicked sense of humour Pick perfect pictures Films are fun...but books are better! Food is fun! In 2016, marking the centenary of Dahl's birth, Rennie compiled The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary which includes many of his invented words and their meaning. Rennie commented that some of Dahl's words have already escaped his world, for example, Scrumdiddlyumptious: "Food that is utterly delicious". In his poetry, Dahl gives a humorous re-interpretation of well-known nursery rhymes and fairy tales, parodying the narratives and providing surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after. Dahl's collection of poems, Revolting Rhymes, is recorded in audiobook form, and narrated by actor Alan Cumming. Screenplays For a brief period in the 1960s, Dahl wrote screenplays. Two, the James Bond film You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, were adaptations of novels by Ian Fleming. Dahl also began adapting his own novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was completed and rewritten by David Seltzer after Dahl failed to meet deadlines, and produced as the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). Dahl later disowned the film, saying he was "disappointed" because "he thought it placed too much emphasis on Willy Wonka and not enough on Charlie". He was also "infuriated" by the deviations in the plot devised by David Seltzer in his draft of the screenplay. This resulted in his refusal for any more versions of the book to be made in his lifetime, as well as an adaptation for the sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. He wrote the script for a film that began filming but was abandoned, Death, Where is Thy Sting-a-ling-ling?. Influences A major part of Dahl's literary influences stemmed from his childhood. In his younger days, he was an avid reader, especially awed by fantastic tales of heroism and triumph. He met his idol, Beatrix Potter, when he was six years old. His other favourite authors included Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and former Royal Navy officer Frederick Marryat, and their works made a lasting mark on his life and writing. He named Marryat's Mr Midshipman Easy as his favourite novel. Joe Sommerlad in The Independent writes, "Dahl's novels are often dark affairs, filled with cruelty, bereavement and Dickensian adults prone to gluttony and sadism. The author clearly felt compelled to warn his young readers about the evils of the world, taking the lesson from earlier fairy tales that they could stand hard truths and would be the stronger for hearing them." Dahl was also influenced by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The "Drink Me" episode in Alice inspired a scene in Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine where a tyrannical grandmother drinks a potion and is blown up to the size of a farmhouse. Finding too many distractions in his house, Dahl remembered the poet Dylan Thomas had found a peaceful shed to write in close to home. Dahl travelled to visit Thomas's hut in Carmarthenshire, Wales in the 1950s and, after taking a look inside, decided to make a replica of it to write in. Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in October 1979, Dahl named Thomas "the greatest poet of our time", and as one of his eight chosen records selected Thomas's reading of his poem "Fern Hill". Dahl liked ghost stories, and claimed that Trolls by Jonas Lie was one of the finest ghost stories ever written. While he was still a youngster, his mother, Sofie Dahl, related traditional Norwegian myths and legends from her native homeland to Dahl and his sisters. Dahl always maintained that his mother and her stories had a strong influence on his writing. In one interview, he mentioned: "She was a great teller of tales. Her memory was prodigious and nothing that ever happened to her in her life was forgotten." When Dahl started writing and publishing his famous books for children, he included a grandmother character in The Witches, and later said that she was based directly on his own mother as a tribute. Television In 1961, Dahl hosted and wrote for a science fiction and horror television anthology series called Way Out, which preceded the Twilight Zone series on the CBS network for 14 episodes from March to July. One of the last dramatic network shows shot in New York City, the entire series is available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles. He also wrote for the satirical BBC comedy programme That Was the Week That Was, which was hosted by David Frost. The British television series, Tales of the Unexpected, originally aired on ITV between 1979 and 1988. The series was released to tie in with Dahl's short story anthology of the same name, which had introduced readers to many motifs that were common in his writing. The series was an anthology of different tales, initially based on Dahl's short stories. The stories were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly comedic and usually had a twist ending. Dahl introduced on camera all the episodes of the first two series, which bore the full title Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected. Death and legacy Roald Dahl died on 23 November 1990, at the age of 74 of a rare cancer of the blood, myelodysplastic syndrome, in Oxford, and was buried in the cemetery at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England. His obituary in The Times was titled "Death silences Pied Piper of the macabre". According to his granddaughter, the family gave him a "sort of Viking funeral". He was buried with his snooker cues, some very good burgundy, chocolates, HB pencils and a power saw. Today, children continue to leave toys and flowers by his grave. In 1996, the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery was opened at the Buckinghamshire County Museum in nearby Aylesbury. The main-belt asteroid 6223 Dahl, discovered by Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos, was named in his memory in 1996. In 2002, one of Cardiff Bay's modern landmarks, the Oval Basin plaza, was renamed Roald Dahl Plass. Plass is Norwegian for "place" or "square", alluding to the writer's Norwegian roots. There have also been calls from the public for a permanent statue of him to be erected in Cardiff. In 2016, the city celebrated the centenary of Dahl's birth in Llandaff. Welsh Arts organisations, including National Theatre Wales, Wales Millennium Centre and Literature Wales, came together for a series of events, titled Roald Dahl 100, including a Cardiff-wide City of the Unexpected, which marked his legacy. Dahl's charitable commitments in the fields of neurology, haematology and literacy during his life have been continued by his widow since his death, through Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity, formerly known as the Roald Dahl Foundation. The charity provides care and support to seriously ill children and young people throughout Britain. In June 2005, the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in the author's home village Great Missenden was officially opened by Cherie Blair, wife of then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to celebrate the work of Roald Dahl and advance his work in literacy education. Over 50,000 visitors from abroad, mainly from Australia, Japan, the United States and Germany, travel to the village museum every year. In 2008, the UK charity Booktrust and Children's Laureate Michael Rosen inaugurated The Roald Dahl Funny Prize, an annual award to authors of humorous children's fiction. On 14 September 2009 (the day after what would have been Dahl's 93rd birthday) the first blue plaque in his honour was unveiled in Llandaff. Rather than commemorating his place of birth, however, the plaque was erected on the wall of the former sweet shop (and site of "The Great Mouse Plot of 1924") that features in the first part of his autobiography Boy. It was unveiled by his widow Felicity and son Theo. In 2018, Weston-super-Mare, the town described by Dahl as a "seedy seaside resort", unveiled a blue plaque dedicated to him, on the site of the since-demolished boarding school Dahl attended, St Peter's. The anniversary of Dahl's birthday on 13 September is celebrated as "Roald Dahl Day" in Africa, the United Kingdom and Latin America. In honour of Dahl, the Royal Gibraltar Post Office issued a set of four stamps in 2010 featuring Quentin Blake's original illustrations for four of the children's books written by Dahl during his long career; The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda. A set of six commemorative Royal Mail stamps was issued in 2012, featuring Blake's illustrations for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, The Twits, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox, and James and the Giant Peach. Dahl's influence has extended beyond literary figures. For instance, the film director Tim Burton recalled from childhood "the second layer [after Dr. Seuss] of connecting to a writer who gets the idea of the modern fable—and the mixture of light and darkness, and not speaking down to kids, and the kind of politically incorrect humour that kids get. I've always like that, and it's shaped everything I've felt that I've done." Steven Spielberg read The BFG to his children when they were young, stating the book celebrates the fact that it's OK to be different as well as to have an active imagination: "It's very important that we preserve the tradition of allowing young children to run free with their imaginations and magic and imagination are the same thing." Actress Scarlett Johansson named Fantastic Mr Fox one of the five books that made a difference to her. Dahl has an incredibly distinctive style: his subversive, unpredictable plots, musical prose and caustic wit are impossible to imitate. And yet his stories have proved astonishingly malleable. Often adapted by equally idiosyncratic writers and directors, when translated onto stage and screen, his works seamlessly take on the impression of their new maker. Like in many of his stories, Dahl offers a narrative where troublemaking is rewarded, and games and tricks are more successful than following rules. Perhaps this, more than anything, is the reason why Dahl's stories excite the imagination of so many adults and children, and why so many storytellers across stage and screen can't resist remaking his tales in their own individual style. Right across his body of work, playfulness and inventiveness are always prized over boring qualities like obedience and deference. In Dahl's world, creative disruption is presented in such an appealing, delicious light, that you can't help but join in the fun. Regarded as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century", Dahl was named by The Times one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. He ranks amongst the world's best-selling fiction authors with sales estimated at over 300 million, and his books have been published in 63 languages. In 2000, Dahl topped the list of Britain's favourite authors. In 2003, four books by Dahl, led by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at number 35, ranked among the Top 100 in The Big Read, a survey of the British public by the BBC to determine the "nation's best-loved novel" of all time. In surveys of British teachers, parents and students, Dahl is frequently ranked the best children's writer. He won the first three Australian BILBY Younger Readers Award; for Matilda, The BFG, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In a 2006 list for the Royal Society of Literature, Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling named Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one of her top ten books every child should read. Critics have commented on the similarities between the Dursley family from Harry Potter and the nightmarish guardians seen in many of Dahl's books, such as Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker from James and the Giant Peach, Grandma from George's Marvellous Medicine, and the Wormwoods from Matilda. Barry Cunningham, who as publisher of Bloomsbury signed Rowling, cited his experiences travelling with Dahl in promotional book tours of the UK as helping him see the potential of Rowling's work, stating, "I think it was because I didn't come from a traditional background. I'd come from marketing and promotion. I'd seen how children relate to books". In 2012, Matilda was ranked number 30 among all-time best children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily US audience. The Top 100 included four books by Dahl, more than any other writer. The American magazine Time named three Dahl books in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time, more than any other author. Dahl is one of the most borrowed authors in British libraries. In 2012, Dahl was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover—to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life he most admires. In 2016 Dahl's enduring popularity was proved by his ranking in Amazon's the top five best-selling children's authors on the online store over the last year, looking at sales in print and on the Kindle store. In a 2017 UK poll of the greatest authors, songwriters, artists and photographers, Dahl was named the greatest storyteller of all time, ranking ahead of Dickens, Shakespeare, Rowling and Spielberg. In 2017, the airline Norwegian announced Dahl's image would appear on the tail fin one of their Boeing 737-800 aircraft. He is one of the company's six "British tail fin heroes", joining Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, England World Cup winner Bobby Moore, novelist Jane Austen, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson and aviation entrepreneur Freddie Laker. In September 2021, Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company in a deal worth more than £500 million ($686 million). A film adaptation of Matilda the Musical was released by Netflix and Sony Pictures Releasing in December 2022, and the cast includes Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull. The next Dahl adaptation for Netflix, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, was released in September 2023, with its director Wes Anderson also adapting three additional Dahl short stories for Netflix in 2024. Criticism and controversies Opposition to Israel and antisemitic comments on Jews Dahl reviewed Australian author Tony Clifton's God Cried, a picture book about the siege of West Beirut by the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon War. The article appeared in the August 1983 issue of the Literary Review and was the subject of much media comment and criticism at the time. According to Dahl, until this point in time "a race of people", meaning Jews, had never "switched so rapidly from victims to barbarous murderers". The empathy of all after the Holocaust had turned "into hatred and revulsion". Dahl wrote that Clifton's book would make readers "violently anti-Israeli", saying, "I am not anti-Semitic. I am anti-Israel." He asked, "must Israel, like Germany, be brought to her knees before she learns how to behave in this world?". The United States, he said, was "so utterly dominated by the great Jewish financial institutions" that "they dare not defy" Israelis. Following the Literary Review article, Dahl told a journalist from the New Statesman: "There's a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it's a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean there is always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason." In 1990, during an interview with The Independent, Dahl explained that his issue with Israel began when they invaded Lebanon in 1982: they killed 22,000 civilians when they bombed Beirut. It was very much hushed up in the newspapers because they are primarily Jewish-owned. I'm certainly anti-Israeli and I've become antisemitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism. I think they should see both sides. It's the same old thing: we all know about Jews and the rest of it. There aren't any non-Jewish publishers anywhere, they control the media—jolly clever thing to do—that's why the president of the United States has to sell all this stuff to Israel. Responding in 1990 to a journalist from The Jewish Chronicle, whom he considered rude, he said, "I am an old hand at dealing with you buggers." Jeremy Treglown, in his 1994 biography, writes of Dahl's first novel Sometime Never (1948), "plentiful revelations about Nazi anti-Semitism and the Holocaust did not discourage him from satirising 'a little pawnbroker in Hounsditch called Meatbein who, when the wailing started, would rush downstairs to the large safe in which he kept his money, open it and wriggle inside on to the lowest shelf where he lay like a hibernating hedgehog until the all-clear had gone'." In a short story entitled "Madame Rosette", the eponymous character is termed "a filthy old Syrian Jewess". Dahl had Jewish friends, including the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who commented, "I thought he might say anything. Could have been pro-Arab or pro-Jew. There was no consistent line. He was a man who followed whims, which meant he would blow up in one direction, so to speak." Amelia Foster, director of the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden, says, "This is again an example of how Dahl refused to take anything seriously, even himself. He was very angry at the Israelis. He had a childish reaction to what was going on in Israel. Dahl wanted to provoke, as he always provoked at dinner. His publisher was a Jew, his agent was a Jew... and he thought nothing but good things of them. He asked me to be his managing director, and I'm Jewish." In 2014, the Royal Mint decided not to produce a coin to commemorate the centenary of Dahl's birth, saying that it considered him to be "associated with antisemitism and not regarded as an author of the highest reputation". In 2020, Dahl's family published a statement on the official Roald Dahl website apologising for his antisemitism. The statement says, "The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologise for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl's statements. Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl's stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations. We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words." The apology was received with appreciation by some Jewish groups but not others. The Campaign Against Antisemitism, for example, said that, "For his family and estate to have waited thirty years to make an apology, apparently until lucrative deals were signed with Hollywood, is disappointing and sadly rather more comprehensible." Use of racial and sexist stereotypes In 1972, Eleanor Cameron, also a children's book author, published an article in The Horn Book criticising Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for being self-referentially hypocritical: "What I object to in Charlie is its phony presentation of poverty and its phony humor, which is based on punishment with overtones of sadism; its hypocrisy which is epitomized in its moral stuck like a marshmallow in a lump of fudge — that TV is horrible and hateful and time-wasting and that children should read good books instead, when in fact the book itself is like nothing so much as one of the more specious television shows." Cameron also took issue with Dahl's depiction of the African-derived Oompa-Loompas, who "have never been given the opportunity of any life outside of the chocolate factory", and suggested that teachers look for better literature to use in the classroom. In 1973, Dahl posted a reply, calling Cameron's accusations "insensitive" and "monstrous". The Horn Book published Cameron's response, where she clarified that she intended her article not to be a personal attack on Dahl, but rather to point out that, although the book is a work of fiction, it still influences reality. Herein, she again objected to the characterization of the Oompa-Loompas, stating, "[T]he situation of the Oompa-Loompas is real; it could not be more so, and it is anything but funny." The debate between the two authors sparked much discussion and a number of letters to the editor. A 1991 Washington Post article echoed Cameron's comments, with Michael Dirda writing, "the Oompa-Loompas... reveal virtually every stereotype about blacks." Dirda's article also discussed many of the other criticisms of Dahl's writing, including his alleged sexism, of which Dirda wrote, "The Witches verges on a general misogyny." In a 1998 article for Lilith, Michele Landsberg analysed the alleged issues in Dahl's work and concluded that, "Throughout his work, evil, domineering, smelly, fat, ugly women are his favorite villains." In 2008, Una Mullally wrote an article for The Irish Times that described Dahl's short story collection Switch Bitch as "a collection better forgotten, laden with crude and often disturbing sexual fantasy writing". Nonetheless, Mullally argued that there are feminist messages in Dahl's work, even if they may be obscured, "The Witches offers up plenty of feminist complexities. The witches themselves are terrifying and vile things, and always women... The book is often viewed as sexist, but that assessment ignores one of the heroines of the story, the child narrator's grandmother." 2023 revisions In 2023, Puffin Books, which holds the rights to all Dahl's children's books, ignited controversy after they hired sensitivity readers to go through the original text of Dahl's works, which led to hundreds of revisions to his books; The Telegraph published a list of many of these changes. The move was supported by a number of authors, most notably by Joanne Harris, chair of the Society of Authors, and Diego Jourdan Pereira at Writer's Digest, but drew many more critical responses. Several public figures, including then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and author Salman Rushdie, spoke out against the changes. It was reported that when Dahl was alive, he had spoken out very strongly against any changes ever being made to any of his books. On 23 February 2023, Puffin announced it would release an unedited selection of Dahl's children's books as 'The Roald Dahl Classic Collection', stating, "We've listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl's books" and "recognise the importance of keeping Dahl's classic texts in print". Filmography Writing roles Presenting roles Non-presenting appearances Publications Notes References Sources Further reading External links Official website Roald Dahl's darkest hour (biography excerpt) Roald Dahl at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Roald Dahl at IMDb Works by Roald Dahl at Open Library Radio interview by NRK (1975) (in Norwegian) "The Devious Bachelor", Sunday Book Review of The Irregulars, Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant, The New York Times, 17 October 2008 Profile of Patricia Neal (2011) on Voice of America (VOAnews.com), with transcript Footage of one Whitbread Book Prize presentation by Dahl (1982) Michael Coren, How I outed Roald Dahl as a venomous antisemite

August_1942

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_1942

The following events occurred in August 1942: August 1, 1942 (Saturday) The Germans cut the railway line linking Stalingrad to Krasnodar. 1942–1944 musicians' strike: The American Federation of Musicians went on strike against the major U.S. recording companies because of disagreements over royalty payments. Andrey Yeryomenko met with Joseph Stalin at the Kremlin and accepted command of one of Stalingrad's southern fronts. German submarines U-226 and U-448 were commissioned. Born: Jerry Garcia, singer, songwriter and guitarist for the Grateful Dead, in San Francisco, California (d. 1995); Giancarlo Giannini, actor and dubber, in La Spezia, Italy Brianda Domecq, writer and environmentalist, in New York, USA. August 2, 1942 (Sunday) The German 4th Panzer Army captured Kotelnikovo. After spending most of the day studying maps of Stalingrad and the surrounding area, Andrey Yeryomenko had a second conference with Stalin. Yeryomenko protested that two Russian fronts in the same area meant that trying to co-ordinate Stalingrad's defence with another commander would be "utterly confusing, if not tragically impossible," and asked to command the Stalingrad Front in the north rather than the Southeastern Front. Stalin firmly said that everything would be left as it was already outlined. A man named José Gallardo Díaz was found unconscious and dying on a road near a swimming hole in Commerce, California. He was rushed to the hospital but died shortly after. 17 Mexican-American youths were soon arrested in a case that came to be known as the Sleepy Lagoon murder. Born: Isabel Allende, writer, in Lima, Peru August 3, 1942 (Monday) The British launched Operation Pedestal, an effort to get desperately needed supplies to Malta. German submarine U-335 was torpedoed and sunk southeast of the Faroe Islands by the British submarine Saracen. American destroyer USS Tucker struck a mine off Espiritu Santo late in the day and sank early on August 4. Died: James Cruze, 58, American film actor and director; Richard Willstätter, 69, German organic chemist August 4, 1942 (Tuesday) The German 4th Panzer Army crossed the Aksay River in its drive on Stalingrad. Yeremenko flew down to Stalingrad in a Douglas transport aircraft. Commissar Nikita Khrushchev met him at the airport with a car and they drove to the city's headquarters. The Bracero program was initiated when the United States signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement with Mexico. German submarine U-372 was depth charged and sunk off Haifa by a Vickers Wellington bomber. Citing documents seized in a raid on Indian National Congress headquarters in Allahabad, the British government accused Mahatma Gandhi and the majority of his party of working toward "appeasement" of Japan. The musical film Holiday Inn starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire with music by Irving Berlin premiered in New York City. Born: David Lange, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand, in Ōtāhuhu, New Zealand (d. 2005) August 5, 1942 (Wednesday) German forces took Voroshilovsk. Anthony Eden announced in the House of Commons that the Munich Agreement of 1938 would play no part in the postwar settlement of Czechoslovakia's borders, because the British government no longer considered itself bound to that agreement since the Germans destroyed it. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands visited the White House and addressed U.S. Congress. German submarines U-188, U-304 and U-415 were commissioned. August 6, 1942 (Thursday) German forces on the Eastern Front captured Tikhoretsk and Armavir. Dzyatlava massacre: During the liquidation of the Zdzięcioł Ghetto several thousand Jews were murdered at the local Jewish cemetery. For aiding an escaped German prisoner of war, Detroit restaurant owner Max Stephan became the first American sentenced to execution for treason since the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. The British submarine HMS Thorn went missing off southern Crete, probably sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Pegaso. The Germans lost three submarines in one day. U-210 was rammed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by the Canadian destroyer Assiniboine, U-612 sank off Gotenhafen, Germany after colliding with U-444, and U-578 went missing in the Bay of Biscay. Her fate remains unknown. German submarine U-634 was commissioned. Born: Evelyn Hamann, actress, in Hamburg, Germany (d. 2007) August 7, 1942 (Friday) The Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo began. Allied forces consisting mostly of U.S. Marines made amphibious landings in the southern Solomon Islands in the first major offensive by the Allies against Japan. The German 6th Army crossed the Don at Kalach. Winston Churchill visited the British troops at El Alamein. Alfonso López Pumarejo became the 16th President of Colombia. Born: Tobin Bell, actor, in Queens, New York City; Garrison Keillor, author and radio personality, in Anoka, Minnesota Sir Richard Sykes, British microbiologist, chair of the Vaccine Taskforce, in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England Caetano Veloso, Brazilian musician, in Santo Amaro, Bahia Died: William Gott, 44, British Army officer (plane shot down in North Africa); Janusz Korczak, 63 or 64, Polish-Jewish educator, children's author and pediatrician (killed at Treblinka) August 8, 1942 (Saturday) U.S. Marines captured the unfinished Japanese airbase on Guadalcanal. The base was named Henderson Field after the Battle of Midway hero Lofton R. Henderson. The Battle of Savo Island, the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal Campaign, began. German Army Group B captured Surovikino. The American attack transport USS George F. Elliott was bombed and sunk in Ironbottom Sound by a Mitsubishi G4M. German submarine U-379 was depth charged and sunk southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland by the Royal Navy corvette Dianthus. Mahatma Gandhi made the Quit India speech. Died: Edward H. Ahrens, 22, United States Marine Raider (killed in action during the Guadalcanal campaign) August 9, 1942 (Sunday) The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo ended in Allied victory. The Battle of Savo Island ended in tactical Japanese victory. American cruisers Astoria, Quincy and Vincennes and the Australian cruiser Canberra were all sunk while three Japanese cruisers were damaged. American destroyer Jarvis was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Guadalcanal. German Army Group A captured Krasnodar and the Soviet oil centre of Maykop. The Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 occurred while the city was still under siege by German forces. Bombay police arrested Mahatma Gandhi and fifty other members of the Indian National Congress a few hours before a massive civil disobedience campaign was to begin. Five people were killed later in the day when police fired on crowds of people who were jeering and throwing stones. Ahmad Qavam became Prime Minister of Iran for the third time. The Walt Disney animated film Bambi had its world premiere in London. The New York Times Best Seller list switched from a local survey to a national one compiled from booksellers in 22 cities. The first Fiction Best Seller under the new system was And Now Tomorrow by Rachel Field. Died: Edith Stein, 50, German Jewish philosopher and Catholic saint (murdered at Auschwitz) August 10, 1942 (Monday) The German 6th Army crossed the lower Don River and reached the outskirts of Stalingrad. Forward elements of German Army Group A reached Pyatigorsk. In the second phase of the Battle of Kokoda, Australian troops which had briefly recaptured Kokoda on the 8th are now forced to withdraw, ending the engagement. Japanese cruiser Kako was torpedoed and sunk off Simbari Island, New Ireland by the American submarine USS S-44. The Italian submarine Scirè was sunk off Haifa by the British armed trawler Islay. While on his way to Moscow, Winston Churchill stopped at Tehran and had lunch with the Shah of Iran. August 11, 1942 (Tuesday) Pierre Laval reached an agreement with the Germans that 150,000 French workers would go to Germany in exchange for 50,000 French prisoners of war. The British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-73 during Operation Pedestal. Eleven died in riots in New Delhi. Al Milnar of the Cleveland Indians and Tommy Bridges of the Detroit Tigers had one of the most epic pitchers' duels in baseball history. With the game locked in a scoreless tie in the top of the ninth inning, Milnar lost a no-hitter with two out when Doc Cramer singled to right field. Both pitchers maintained their shutouts until the fifteenth inning when the game was finally called in a 0–0 tie. Died: Sabina Spielrein, 56, Russian physician and psychoanalyst (murdered by an SS death squad) August 12, 1942 (Wednesday) The Second Moscow Conference began. In attendance were Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and U.S. representative W. Averell Harriman. Elements of German Army Group A reached Slavyansk. During Operation Pedestal the British cruiser Cairo and British destroyer Foresight were sunk, and the tanker Ohio was severely damaged and had to be taken under tow. Movie star Clark Gable entered a U.S. Army recruiting station in Los Angeles and enlisted as a private at the age of 41. German submarines U-468, U-526, U-527 and U-709 were commissioned. Died: Phillips Holmes, 35, American film actor (mid-air plane collision) August 13, 1942 (Thursday) Bernard Montgomery took over command of the British Eighth Army following the death of William Gott. On the Eastern Front, German forces captured Elista. During Operation Pedestal the British cruiser Manchester was torpedoed and heavily damaged by two Italian motor torpedo boats and then scuttled. Japan passed the Enemy Airmen's Act, stating that Allied airmen participating in bombing raids against Japanese-held territory would be treated as "violators of the law of war" and subject to trial and punishment if captured. German submarine U-635 was commissioned. The play Flare Path by Terence Rattigan premiered at the Apollo Theatre in London. Born: Arthur K. Cebrowski, admiral, in Passaic, New Jersey (d. 2005) August 14, 1942 (Friday) Dwight D. Eisenhower was named Anglo-American commander for Operation Torch. British Commandos carried out Operation Barricade, an overnight raid on an anti-aircraft gun and radar site northwest of Pointe de Saire, France. Born: Molefi Kete Asante, leading scholar of African-American Studies, in Valdosta, Georgia August 15, 1942 (Saturday) Operation Pedestal ended in tactical disaster but strategic victory for the British. German troops captured Georgiyevsk and reached the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. 5,000 Jews were arrested in Vichy France. German submarines U-189, U-358 and U-759 were commissioned. Born: Friede Springer, publisher and spouse of Axel Springer, in Oldsum, Germany August 16, 1942 (Sunday) The Kriegsmarine began Operation Wunderland with the objective of entering the Kara Sea and destroying as many Russian vessels as possible. The Russians evacuated Maykop. Axis positions in Egypt were bombed by American warplanes for the first time. In Bilbao, Spain, a mass was held at the Basilica of Begoña to commemorate members of the Begoña Regiment who died in the Civil War. After the service there was some shouting between the Falangist and Carlist factions, and during the ensuing scuffle a Falangist threw two hand grenades and wounded 30 people. August 17, 1942 (Monday) U.S. Marines conducted the Makin Island raid. The Second Moscow Conference ended. 1,700 Jews were massacred in the Polish village of Łomazy by Reserve Police Battalion 101. German Army Group A established bridgeheads across the Kuban River. The USAAF made its first air raid on occupied Europe, bombing railroad marshaling yards at Sotteville-lès-Rouen. Died: Clyde A. Thomason, 28, United States Marine and posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor (killed in action during the Makin Island raid) August 18, 1942 (Tuesday) 900 Japanese troops landed at Taivu Point on Guadalcanal, while another 500 landed at Kokumbona. These landings were the first run of what the U.S. Marines nicknamed the Tokyo Express. In Stalingrad Oblast, Soviet forces withdrew southwest of Kletskaya while the Germans renewed their offensive northeast of Kotelnikovo. Hitler issued Directive No. 46, Instructions for Intensified Action Against Banditry in the East. Born: Judith Keppel, £1,000,000 winner on the UK edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England; Wu Ma, filmmaker, in Tianjin, China (d. 2014) August 19, 1942 (Wednesday) The Dieppe Raid took place on the northern coast of France. The operation was virtually a complete failure and almost 60% of the 6,086 men who made it ashore were killed, wounded or captured. The British destroyer Berkeley was crippled by Focke-Wulf Fw 190s and scuttled. The Soviets began the Sinyavino Offensive on the southern shore of Lake Ladoga. The Battle of Kupres ended with the forces of the Independent State of Croatia successfully defending the town against the Yugoslav Partisans. Mahatma Gandhi's son Devdas was arrested in New Delhi for publishing an article on the Indian civil disobedience campaign in violation of the Defence of India Act. German submarine U-269 was commissioned. Born: Fred Thompson, politician and actor, in Sheffield, Alabama (d. 2015) Died: Heinrich Rauchinger, 84, Kraków-born painter, in Theresienstadt (b. 1858) August 20, 1942 (Thursday) Chinese forces recaptured Guangfeng and Shangrao in Jiangxi Province from the Japanese. German submarine U-464 was depth charged and crippled in the Atlantic Ocean by a Consolidated PBY Catalina and then scuttled. U.S. Twelfth Air Force was established. German submarine U-636 was commissioned. The comedy-drama film The Talk of the Town starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman was released. Born: Isaac Hayes, soul singer, songwriter and actor, in Covington, Tennessee (d. 2008) Died: István Horthy, 37, Hungarian politician, fighter pilot and son of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy (plane crash) August 21, 1942 (Friday) The Battle of the Tenaru was fought on Guadalcanal, resulting in Allied victory. German infantry companies of LI Army Corps crossed the Don in inflatable boats and quickly established a bridgehead near the village of Luchinsky. Chinese forces recaptured Yingtan. August 22, 1942 (Saturday) Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy after the sinking of several Brazilian ships. The German 16th Panzer Division began crossing the Don as soon as the bridgehead was ready. The American destroyer USS Blue was torpedoed and crippled at Ironbottom Sound during the Battle of Guadalcanal by the Japanese destroyer Kawakaze. She was scuttled the next day after salvage attempts failed. Chinese forces captured Yujiang. German submarine U-654 was depth charged and sunk in the Caribbean by an American Douglas B-18 Bolo bomber. The American destroyer USS Ingraham sank off the coast of Nova Scotia after colliding in heavy fog with the oil tanker Chemung. German submarines U-227 and U-449 were commissioned. Died: Michel Fokine, 62, Russian choreographer and dancer August 23, 1942 (Sunday) The Battle of Stalingrad began. The Luftwaffe conducted the first major bombing raid on Stalingrad. A rain of incendiary and explosive bombs killed more than 40,000 civilians and reduced most of the city to rubble. The German 16th Panzer Division came within striking distance of the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, the Soviet Union's largest producer of T-34 tanks. At about 1:45 am, 45-year-old Martha Hansen of Twin Falls, Idaho, was fatally mauled by a brown bear or grizzly bear she encountered while walking from her cabin at Yellowstone National Park to the ladies' restroom. Hansen would die of her injuries on August 27. Died: Heinrich-Wilhelm Ahnert, 27, German flying ace (shot down over Koptevo, USSR) August 24, 1942 (Monday) The German 6th Army attacked the northern suburbs of Stalingrad. The Battle of the Eastern Solomons began. The Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō was sunk by aircraft from USS Saratoga. The Charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Isbuscenskij occurred, one of the last cavalry charges in history. An earthquake in Peru killed 30 people. Winston Churchill returned to England from Moscow. German submarine U-193 was commissioned. The war film Wake Island, recounting the December 1941 Battle of Wake Island, premiered at the U.S. Marine base at Camp Elliott in San Diego, California. Born: Hans Peter Korff, actor, in Hamburg, Germany August 25, 1942 (Tuesday) The Battle of the Eastern Solomons ended in a draw, but strategic Allied success. The Japanese destroyer Mutsuki was crippled by four B-17s and had to be scuttled. The Battle of Milne Bay began in eastern New Guinea. A citywide evacuation effort began in Stalingrad. First priority went to specialists and workers whose factories had been destroyed. German submarine U-339 was commissioned. Born: Ivan Koloff, born Oreal Perras, professional wrestler, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (d. 2017) Died: Prince George, Duke of Kent, 39, British royal (plane crash) August 26, 1942 (Wednesday) The Battle of Isurava, part of the Kokoda Track Campaign, begins, with Japanese forces attacking the Australian positions there. A round-up of Jews began in Nazi-occupied France. The British government lifted the ban on the communist newspaper The Daily Worker. Died: Junichi Sasai, 24, Japanese fighter ace (killed during the Battle of Guadalcanal) August 27, 1942 (Thursday) German Army Group B captured Prokhladny, pushing closer to the oil prize of Grozny. British and American bombers raided Rotterdam. German submarine U-637 was commissioned. Born: "Captain" Daryl Dragon, keyboardist and one-half of the pop music duo Captain & Tennille, in Los Angeles, California (d. 2019) August 28, 1942 (Friday) Japanese destroyer Asagiri was sunk en route to Guadalcanal by American SBD Dauntless dive bombers. German submarine U-94 was sunk off Haiti by depth charges from an American PBY Catalina flying boat and ramming by the Canadian corvette Oakville. A German fighter-bomber flying at 20,000 feet dropped a 500lb bomb into the centre of the English city of Bristol, killing 45 and wounding 56 people. 1942 Suō-nada Typhoon, a violence 935 to 942 hectopascal level, violence wind and tidal wave hit around Suō-nada, Yatsushiro Sea, Ariake Sea, southwestern Honshu and Kyushu Island, Japan. According to Japanese government official document figures, killing 1,158 persons, injures 1,438 persons. Born: José Eduardo dos Santos, President of Angola, in Luanda, Angola (d. 2022) August 29, 1942 (Saturday) British destroyer Eridge was permanently disabled off El Daba, Egypt by an Italian torpedo boat. The German Tiger I tank made its battlefield debut southeast of Leningrad. Japanese submarine Ro-33 was depth charged and sunk near Port Moresby by the Australian destroyer Arunta. The Red Cross announced that Japan had refused free passage of ships carrying food, medicine and other necessities for American prisoners of war. German submarine U-385 was commissioned. Died: Charles Urban, 75, American-born British film producer and distributor August 30, 1942 (Sunday) The Battle of Alam el Halfa began south of El Alamein. The U.S. Army occupied Adak Island. Runways would be constructed there over the next two weeks allowing for air strikes against the nearby Japanese-held islands of Attu and Kiska. Born: Jonathan Aitken, politician, in Dublin, Ireland August 31, 1942 (Monday) The Battle of Isurava ends in a Japanese victory, as Australian forces conduct a strategic withdrawal under Japanese pressure. The American aircraft carrier USS Saratoga was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-26 and had to undergo three months of repairs. Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen of the anti-Nazi resistance group known as the Red Orchestra were arrested by the Gestapo. British Commandos began Operation Anglo, a raid on the island of Rhodes. Born: Isao Aoki, golfer, in Abiko, Chiba, Japan == References ==

Jerry_Garcia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Garcia

Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead. As one of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for the band's entire 30-year career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders–Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), the Jerry Garcia Band, Old & In the Way, the Garcia/Grisman and Garcia/Kahn acoustic duos, Legion of Mary, and New Riders of the Purple Sage (which he co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known for his distinctive guitar playing, and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story in 2003. In the 2015 version of the list he was ranked at #46. In 2023, Garcia was ranked 34th by Rolling Stone. Garcia was renowned for his musical and technical ability, particularly his ability to play a variety of instruments and sustain long improvisations. Garcia believed that improvisation took stress away from his playing and allowed him to make spur of the moment decisions that he would not have made intentionally. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Garcia noted that "my own preferences are for improvisation, for making it up as I go along. The idea of picking, of eliminating possibilities by deciding, that's difficult for me". Originating from the days of the "Acid Tests", these improvisations were a form of exploration rather than playing a song already written. Later in life, Garcia struggled with diabetes. In 1986, he went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after the incident, he continued to struggle with obesity, smoking, and long-standing heroin and cocaine addictions. He was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995, at age 53. Early life Garcia's ancestors on his father's side were from Galicia in northwest Spain. His mother's ancestors were Irish and Swedish. He was born in the Excelsior District of San Francisco, California, on August 1, 1942, to Jose Ramon "Joe" Garcia and Ruth Marie "Bobbie" (née Clifford) Garcia, who was herself born in San Francisco. His parents named him after composer Jerome Kern. Jerome John was their second child, preceded by Clifford Ramon "Tiff", who was born in 1937. Shortly before Clifford's birth, their father and a partner leased a building in downtown San Francisco and turned it into a bar, partly in response to Jose being blackballed from a musicians' union for moonlighting. Garcia was raised as a Catholic. He was influenced by music at an early age, taking piano lessons for much of his childhood. His father was a retired professional musician and his mother enjoyed playing the piano. His father's extended family—which had immigrated from Spain in 1919—would often sing during reunions. In 1946, two-thirds of four-year-old Garcia's right middle finger was cut off by his brother in a wood splitting accident, while the family was vacationing in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Garcia later confessed that he often used it to his advantage in his youth, showing it off to other children in his neighborhood. Less than a year after this incident his father died in a fly fishing accident when the family was vacationing near Arcata in Northern California. He slipped after entering the Trinity River, part of the Six Rivers National Forest, and drowned before other fishermen could reach him. Although Garcia claimed he saw the incident, Dennis McNally, author of the book A Long Strange Trip: The Inside Story of the Grateful Dead, argues Garcia formed the memory after hearing others repeat the story. Blair Jackson, who wrote Garcia: An American Life, notes that a local newspaper article describing Jose's death did not mention Jerry being present when he died. Excelsior District Following his father's death, Garcia's mother Ruth took over her husband's bar, buying out his partner for full ownership. She began working full-time there, sending Jerry and his brother to live nearby with her parents, Tillie and William Clifford. During the five-year period in which he lived with his grandparents, Garcia enjoyed a large amount of autonomy and attended Monroe Elementary School. At the school, Garcia was greatly encouraged in his artistic abilities by his third grade teacher: through her, he discovered that "being a creative person was a viable possibility in life." According to Garcia, it was around this time that he was opened up to country and bluegrass music by his grandmother, whom he recalled enjoyed listening to the Grand Ole Opry. His elder brother, Clifford, however, staunchly believed the contrary, insisting that Garcia was "fantasizing all [that] ... she'd been to Opry, but she didn't listen to it on the radio." It was at this point that Garcia started playing the banjo, his first stringed instrument. Menlo Park In 1953, Garcia's mother married Wally Matusiewicz. Subsequently, Garcia and his brother moved back home with their mother and new stepfather. However, due to the roughneck reputation of their neighborhood at the time, Garcia's mother moved their family to Menlo Park. During their stay in Menlo Park, Garcia became acquainted with racism and antisemitism, things he disliked intensely. The same year, Garcia was also introduced to rock and roll and rhythm and blues by his brother, and enjoyed listening to Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Hank Ballard, and, later, Chuck Berry. Clifford often memorized the vocals for his favorite songs, and would then make Garcia learn the harmony parts, a move to which Garcia later attributed much of his early ear training. In mid-1957, Garcia began smoking cigarettes and was introduced to marijuana. Garcia would later reminisce about the first time he smoked marijuana: "Me and a friend of mine went up into the hills with two joints, the San Francisco foothills, and smoked these joints and just got so high and laughed and roared and went skipping down the streets doing funny things and just having a helluva time". During this time, Garcia also studied at what is now the San Francisco Art Institute. At San Francisco Art Institute, Garcia was taught by Wally Hedrick, an artist who came to prominence during the 1960s. During the classes, he often encouraged Garcia to draw and paint, noting that Garcia had skill in both areas. Hedrick also introduced Garcia to the fiction of Jack Kerouac, whom Garcia later cited as a major influence. San Francisco In June, Garcia graduated from the local Menlo Oaks school. He then moved with his family back to San Francisco, where they lived in an apartment above the family bar, a newly built replacement for the original, which had been torn down to make way for a freeway entrance. Two months later, on Garcia's fifteenth birthday, his mother bought an accordion for him, to his great disappointment. Garcia had long been captivated by many rhythm and blues artists, especially Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, leaving him craving an electric guitar. After some pleading, his mother exchanged the accordion for a Danelectro with a small amplifier at a local pawnshop. Garcia's stepfather, who was somewhat proficient with instruments, helped tune his guitar to an unusual open tuning. Cazadero After a short stint at Denman Junior High School, Garcia attended tenth grade at Balboa High School in 1958, where he often got into trouble for skipping classes and fighting. Consequently, in 1959, Garcia's mother again moved the family to a safer environment, to Cazadero, a small town in Sonoma County, 90 miles (140 km) north of San Francisco. This turn of events did not sit well with Garcia, who had to travel by bus thirty miles (50 km) to Analy High School in Sebastopol, the nearest school. Garcia did, however, join a band at his school known as the Chords. After performing in and winning a contest, the band's reward was recording a song. They chose "Raunchy" by Bill Justis. Recording career Relocation and band beginnings Garcia stole his mother's car in 1960 and was given the option of joining the U.S. Army in lieu of prison. He received basic training at Fort Ord. After training, he was transferred to Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio of San Francisco. Garcia spent most of his time in the army at his leisure, missing roll call and accruing many counts of being AWOL. As a result, Garcia was given a general discharge on December 14, 1960. In January 1961, Garcia drove to East Palo Alto to see Laird Grant, an old friend from middle school. He had purchased a 1950 Cadillac sedan from a cook in the army, which barely made it to Grant's residence before it broke down. Garcia spent the next few weeks sleeping where friends would allow, eventually using his car as a home. Through Grant, Garcia met Dave McQueen in February, who, after hearing Garcia perform some blues music, introduced him to local people and to the Chateau, a rooming house located near Stanford University which was then a popular hangout. On February 20, 1961, Garcia got into a car with Paul Speegle, a sixteen-year-old artist and acquaintance of Garcia; Lee Adams, the house manager of the Chateau and driver of the car; and Alan Trist, a companion of theirs. After speeding past the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, the driver encountered a curve and, speeding around 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), crashed into the guard rail, sending the car rolling turbulently. Garcia was hurled through the windshield of the car into a nearby field with such force that he was literally dislodged from his shoes and later unable to recall the ejection. Lee Adams, the driver, and Alan Trist, who was seated in the back, were thrown from the car as well, resulting in abdominal injuries and a spine fracture, respectively. Garcia escaped with a broken collarbone, while Speegle, still in the car, was fatally injured. Lee's reckless driving and crash served as an awakening for Garcia, who later said, "That's where my life began. Before then I was always living at less than capacity. I was idling. That was the slingshot for the rest of my life. It was like a second chance. Then I got serious". It was at this time that Garcia began to realize that he needed to begin playing the guitar in earnest—a move which meant giving up his love of drawing and painting. In April 1961, Garcia first met Robert Hunter, who would become a long-time friend of and lyricist for the Grateful Dead, collaborating principally with Garcia. The two involved themselves in the South Bay and San Francisco art and music scenes, sometimes playing at Menlo Park's Kepler's Books. Garcia performed his first concert with Hunter, each earning five dollars. Garcia and Hunter also played in bands (the Wildwood Boys and the Hart Valley Drifters) with David Nelson, who would later play with Garcia in the New Riders of the Purple Sage and contribute to several Grateful Dead album songs. In 1962, Garcia met Phil Lesh, the eventual bassist of the Grateful Dead, during a party in Menlo Park's bohemian Perry Lane neighborhood (where author Ken Kesey lived). Lesh would later write in his autobiography that Garcia reminded him of pictures he had seen of the composer Claude Debussy, with his "dark, curly hair, goatee, Impressionist eyes". While attending another party in Palo Alto, Lesh approached Garcia to suggest they record Garcia on Lesh's tape recorder and produce a radio show for the progressive, community-supported Berkeley radio station KPFA. Using an old Wollensak tape recorder, they recorded "Matty Groves" and "The Long Black Veil", among several other tunes. The recordings became a central feature of a 90-minute KPFA special broadcast, "The Long Black Veil and Other Ballads: An Evening with Jerry Garcia". The link between KPFA and the Grateful Dead continues to this day, having included many fundraisers, interviews, live concert broadcasts, taped band performances and all-day or all-weekend "Dead-only" marathons. Garcia soon began playing and teaching acoustic guitar and banjo. One of Garcia's students was Bob Matthews, who later engineered many of the Grateful Dead's albums. Matthews attended Menlo-Atherton High School and was friends with Bob Weir, and on New Year's Eve 1963, he introduced Weir and Garcia. Between 1962 and 1964, Garcia sang and performed mainly bluegrass, old-time, and folk music. One of the bands Garcia performed with was the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, a bluegrass act. The group consisted of Garcia on guitar, banjo, vocals, and harmonica, Marshall Leicester on banjo, guitar, and vocals, and Dick Arnold on fiddle and vocals. Soon after this, Garcia, Weir, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and several of their friends formed a jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. Around this time, the psychedelic drug LSD was gaining popularity. Garcia first began using LSD in 1964; later, when asked how it changed his life, he remarked: "Well, it changed everything [...] the effect was that it freed me because I suddenly realized that my little attempt at having a straight life and doing that was really a fiction and just wasn't going to work out. Luckily I wasn't far enough into it for it to be shattering or anything; it was like a realization that just made me feel immensely relieved." In 1965, Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions evolved into the Warlocks, with the addition of Dana Morgan, Jr. (soon replaced by Phil Lesh) on bass guitar and Bill Kreutzmann on percussion. However, the band discovered a record by another group (possibly the future Velvet Underground or Z.Z. Top, both of which used the name in their early days) called The Warlocks. In response, Garcia came up with "Grateful Dead" by opening a Funk & Wagnalls dictionary to an entry for "Grateful dead". The definition for "Grateful dead" was "a dead person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial". The band's first reaction was disapproval. Garcia later explained the group's reaction: "I didn't like it really, I just found it to be really powerful. [Bob] Weir didn't like it, [Bill] Kreutzmann didn't like it and nobody really wanted to hear about it." Despite their dislike of the name, it quickly spread by word of mouth, and soon became their official title. Career with the Grateful Dead Garcia served as lead guitarist and one of the principal vocalists and songwriters of the Grateful Dead for the band's entire career. Garcia composed songs such as "Uncle John's Band", "Dark Star", "Franklin's Tower", and "Scarlet Begonias", among many others. Robert Hunter, an ardent collaborator with the band, wrote the lyrics to all but a few of Garcia's songs. Garcia was known for his "soulful extended guitar improvisations", which would frequently feature interplay between him and his fellow band members. His fame, as well as the band's, arguably rested on their ability to never play a song the same way twice. Often, Garcia would take cues from rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, remarking that "there are some [...] kinds of ideas that would really throw me if I had to create a harmonic bridge between all the things going on rhythmically with two drums and Phil [Lesh's] innovative bass playing. Weir's ability to solve that sort of problem is extraordinary. [...] Harmonically, I take a lot of my solo cues from Bob." When asked to describe his approach to soloing, Garcia commented: "It keeps on changing. I still basically revolve around the melody and the way it's broken up into phrases as I perceive them. With most solos, I tend to play something that phrases the way the melody does; my phrases may be more dense or have different value, but they'll occur in the same places in the song. [...]" Garcia and the band toured almost constantly from their formation in 1965 until Garcia's death in 1995. Periodically, there were breaks due to exhaustion or health problems, often due to Garcia's drug use. During their three-decade span, the Grateful Dead played 2,314 shows. Garcia's guitar-playing was eclectic. He melded elements from the various kinds of music that influenced him. Echoes of bluegrass playing (such as Arthur Smith and Doc Watson) could be heard. There was also early rock (like Lonnie Mack, James Burton, and Chuck Berry), contemporary blues (Freddie King and Lowell Fulsom), country and western (Roy Nichols and Don Rich), and jazz (Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt) to be heard in Garcia's style. Don Rich was the sparkling country guitar player in Buck Owens's "the Buckaroos" band of the 1960s, but besides Rich's style, both Garcia's pedal steel guitar playing (on Grateful Dead records and others) and his standard electric guitar work, were influenced by another of Owens's Buckaroos of that time, pedal steel player Tom Brumley. And as an improvisational soloist, John Coltrane was one of his greatest personal and musical influences. Garcia later described his playing style as having "descended from barroom rock and roll, country guitar. Just 'cause that's where all my stuff comes from. It's like that blues instrumental stuff that was happening in the late Fifties and early Sixties, like Freddie King." Garcia's style could vary with the song being played and the instrument he was using, but his playing had a number of so-called "signatures". Among these were lead lines based on rhythmic triplets (examples include the songs "Good Morning Little School Girl", "New Speedway Boogie", "Brokedown Palace", "Deal", "Loser", "Truckin'", "That's It for the Other One", "U.S. Blues", "Sugaree", and "Don't Ease Me In"). Side projects In addition to the Grateful Dead, Garcia participated in numerous musical side projects, including the Jerry Garcia Band. He was also involved with various acoustic projects such as Old & In the Way and other bluegrass bands, including collaborations with noted bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman. The documentary film Grateful Dawg, co-produced by Gillian Grisman and former NBC producer Pamela Hamilton chronicles the deep, long-term friendship between Garcia and Grisman. When Garcia and Grisman released Not For Kids Only, Hamilton produced their interview and concert for NBC. After several years of producing stories on the Grateful Dead and band members' side projects, Hamilton interviewed Bob Weir for a feature on Garcia's death marking the end of an era. Other groups in which Garcia participated at one time or another include Jerry & Sara (with his first wife), the Zodiacs (on bass), the Black Mountain Boys, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Garcia was also a fan of jazz artists and improvisation: he played with jazz keyboardists Merl Saunders and Howard Wales for many years in various groups and jam sessions, and he appeared on saxophonist Ornette Coleman's 1988 album, Virgin Beauty. His collaboration with Merl Saunders and Muruga Booker on the world music album Blues From the Rainforest launched the Rainforest Band. Garcia spent a lot of time in the recording studio helping out fellow musician friends in session work, often adding guitar, vocals, pedal steel, sometimes banjo and piano and even producing. He played on over 50 studio albums, the styles of which were eclectic and varied, including bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, electronic music, gospel, funk, and reggae. Artists who sought Garcia's help included the likes of Jefferson Airplane (most notably Surrealistic Pillow, Garcia being listed as their "spiritual advisor"). Garcia himself recalled in a mid-1967 interview that he'd played the high lead on "Today," played on "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "Comin' Back to Me" on that album. Others include Tom Fogerty, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter (Liberty, on Relix Records), Paul Pena, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Pete Sears, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Dylan, It's a Beautiful Day, and many more. In 1995 Garcia played on three tracks for the CD Blue Incantation by guitarist Sanjay Mishra, making it his last studio collaboration. Throughout the early 1970s, Garcia, Lesh, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, and David Crosby collaborated intermittently with MIT-educated composer and biologist Ned Lagin on several projects in the realm of early ambient music; these include the album Seastones (released by Ned Lagin on the Round Records subsidiary) and L, an unfinished dance work composed by Ned Lagin. In 1970, Garcia participated in the soundtrack for the film Zabriskie Point. Garcia also played pedal steel guitar for fellow-San Francisco musicians New Riders of the Purple Sage from their initial dates in 1969 to October 1971, when increased commitments with the Dead forced him to opt out of the group. He appears as a band member on their debut album New Riders of the Purple Sage, and produced Home, Home on the Road, a 1974 live album by the band. He also contributed pedal steel guitar to the enduring hit "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Garcia also played steel guitar licks on Brewer & Shipley's 1970 album Tarkio. Despite considering himself a novice on the pedal steel, Garcia routinely ranked high in player polls. After a long lapse from playing the pedal steel, he played it once more during several of the Dead's concerts with Bob Dylan in the summer of 1987. In 1988, Garcia agreed to perform at several major benefits including the "Soviet American Peace Walk" concert at the Band Shell, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, that drew 25,000 people. He was asked to play by longtime friend and fellow musician, Pete Sears, who played piano with all the bands that day, and also procured all the other musicians. Garcia, Mickey Hart and Steve Parish played the show, then were given a police escort to a Grateful Dead show across the bay later that night. Garcia also played with Nick Gravenites and Pete Sears at a benefit given for Vietnam Veteran and peace activist Brian Willson, who lost both legs below the knee when he attempted to block a train carrying weapons to military dictatorships in El Salvador. Having previously studied at the San Francisco Art Institute as a teenager, Garcia embarked on a second career in the visual arts in the late 1980s. He created a number of drawings, etchings, and water colors. Garcia's artistic endeavors were represented by the Weir Gallery in Berkeley, California from 1989 to 1996. During this period, Roberta Weir (unrelated to Garcia's bandmate Bob Weir) provided Garcia with new art techniques to use, sponsored his first solo show in 1990, and prepared blank etching plates for him to draw on. These would then be processed and printed by gallery staff and brought back to Garcia for approval and signature, usually with a passing of stacks of paper backstage at a Dead show. His annual shows at the Weir Gallery garnered much attention, leading to further shows in New York and other cities. Garcia was an early adopter of digital art media; his artistic style was as varied as his musical output, and he carried small notebooks for pen and ink sketches wherever he toured. Roberta Weir continues to maintain an archive of the artwork of Jerry Garcia. Perhaps the most widely seen pieces of Jerry Garcia's art are the many editions of men's neckties produced by Stonehenge Ltd. and Mulberry Neckware. Some began as etchings, other designs came from his drawings, paintings, and digital art. Garcia's artwork has since expanded into everything from hotel rooms, wet suits, men's sport shirts, a women's wear line, boxer shorts, hair accessories, cummerbunds, silk scarves and wool rugs. Personal life Garcia met his first wife, Sara Ruppenthal, in 1963. She was working at the coffee house in the back of Kepler's Books, where Garcia, Hunter, and Nelson regularly performed. They married on April 23, 1963, and on December 8 of that year, their daughter Heather was born. They divorced in 1967. Carolyn Adams, a Merry Prankster also known as "Mountain Girl" or "M.G.," had a daughter, Sunshine, with Ken Kesey in 1966. Adams married another Prankster, George Walker, but they soon separated. She and Sunshine then moved into 710 Ashbury with Garcia in late 1966 where they would ultimately live together until 1975. Adams gave birth to Garcia's second and third daughters, Annabelle Walker Garcia (February 2, 1970) and Theresa Adams "Trixie" Garcia (September 21, 1974). In August 1970, Garcia's mother Ruth was involved in a car crash near Twin Peaks in San Francisco. Garcia, who was recording the album American Beauty at the time, often left the sessions to visit his mother with his brother Clifford. She died on September 28, 1970. In the midst of a March 1973 Grateful Dead engagement at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum, Garcia met Deborah Koons, an aspiring filmmaker from a wealthy Cincinnati, Ohio-based family who would much later marry him and become his widow. After a brief correspondence, he began his relationship with her in mid-1974. This gradually strained his relationship with Adams and culminated in Garcia leaving Adams for Koons in late 1975. The end of his relationship with Koons in 1977 precipitated a brief reconciliation with Adams, including the reestablishment of their household. However, she did not agree with the guitarist's persistent use of narcotics and moved with the children to the Eugene, Oregon area, living near Kesey, in 1978. Following Adams' departure, Garcia had an affair with Amy Moore. She was a Kentucky-born member of the extended "Grateful Dead family", and the mistress of Texas oil heir Roy Cullen. Their affair lasted circa 1980–1981, and inspired the Garcia-Hunter song "Run for the Roses." Adams and Garcia were married on December 31, 1981, largely as a result of mutual tax exigencies. Despite the legal codification of their union, she remained in Oregon, while Garcia continued to live near the Grateful Dead's offices in San Rafael, California. Garcia lived with a variety of housemates, including longtime Grateful Dead employee and Jerry Garcia Band manager Rock Scully. Scully, who co-managed the Grateful Dead throughout the mid-to-late 1960s before serving as the band's "advance man" and publicist, was dismissed by the group in 1984 for enabling Garcia's addictions and for allegedly embezzling the Garcia Band's profits. Another housemate was Nora Sage, a Deadhead who became Garcia's housekeeper while studying at the Golden Gate University School of Law. The exact nature of their relationship remains unclear, although it is believed to have been platonic due to Garcia's addictions. She later became his art representative. While they would briefly reunite following his diabetic coma, Garcia and Adams ultimately divorced in 1994. Phil Lesh has subsequently stated that he rarely saw Adams on any of the band tours. In a 1991 Rolling Stone interview, Garcia stated that "we haven't really lived together since the Seventies". During the autumn of 1978, Garcia developed a friendship with Shimer College student Manasha Matheson, an artist and music enthusiast. They remained friends over the following nine years before initiating a romantic relationship in Hartford, Connecticut on the Grateful Dead's spring 1987 tour. Jerry and Manasha became parents with the birth of their daughter, Keelin Noel Garcia, on December 20, 1987. On August 17, 1990, Garcia and Matheson married at their San Anselmo, California home in a spiritual ceremony free of legal convention. In 1991, Garcia expressed his delight in finding the time to "actually be a father" to Keelin in contrast to his past relationships with his children. A year later, Garcia dedicated his first art book, Paintings, Drawings and Sketches, "For Manasha, with love, Jerry." In January 1993, Barbara "Brigid" Meier, a former girlfriend from the early 1960s, reentered Garcia's life for a brief period. Meier claimed that Garcia had considered her to be the "love of his life" and proposed to her during a Hawaiian vacation shortly after their relationship recommenced. Garcia's "love of his life" sentiment was not reserved for one lover, as he expressed the same feelings to several other women in his life. At Garcia's 1995 funeral, Koons declared that she was "the love of his life" while paying her final respects, whereupon Meier and Ruppenthal, who were both in attendance, simultaneously exclaimed, "He said that to me!" The affair with Meier marked the breakup of Garcia's family life with Matheson and Keelin. Garcia ended the affair with Meier forty-five days later while on tour in Chicago with the Grateful Dead after she confronted him about his drug use. Shortly thereafter, Garcia renewed his acquaintance with Deborah Koons in the spring of 1993. They married on February 14, 1994, in Sausalito, California. Garcia and Koons were married at the time of his death. Lifestyle and health Because of their public profile, Garcia and his collaborators were occasionally singled out in the American government's war on drugs. On October 2, 1967, 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco (where the Grateful Dead had taken up residence the year before) was raided after a police tip-off. Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan were apprehended on marijuana charges which were later dropped, although Garcia himself was not arrested. The following year, Garcia's picture was used in a campaign commercial for Richard Nixon. Most of the band was arrested again in January 1970, after it flew to New Orleans from Hawaii. After returning to their hotel from a performance, the band checked into their rooms, only to be quickly raided by police. Approximately fifteen people were arrested on the spot, including many of the road crew, management, and nearly all of the Grateful Dead except for Garcia, who arrived later, outgoing keyboardist Tom Constanten, who abstained from all drugs as a member of the Church of Scientology, and McKernan, who eschewed illegal drugs in favor of alcohol. According to Bill Kreutzmann, the band's use of cocaine accelerated throughout the early 1970s. After using heroin in a brothel in 1974 (likely on the band's second European tour), Garcia was introduced to a smokeable form of the drug (initially advertised as refined opium) colloquially known as "Persian" or "Persian Base" during the group's 1975 hiatus. Influenced by the stresses of creating and releasing The Grateful Dead Movie and the acrimonious collapse of the band's independent record labels over the next two years, Garcia became increasingly dependent upon both substances. These factors, combined with the alcohol and drug abuse of several other members of the Grateful Dead, resulted in a turbulent atmosphere. By 1978, the band's chemistry began "cracking and crumbling", resulting in poor group cohesion. As a result, Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux left the band in February 1979. With the addition of keyboardist/vocalist Brent Mydland that year amid the ongoing coalescence of the Deadhead subculture, the band reached new commercial heights as a touring group on the American arena circuit in the early 1980s, enabling them to forsake studio recording for several years. Nevertheless, this was offset by such factors as the band's atypically large payroll and Garcia's $700-a-day (equivalent to $2,200 in 2023) drug addiction, resulting in the guitarist taking on a frenetic slate of solo touring outside of the Grateful Dead's rigorous schedule, including abbreviated acoustic duo concerts with Jerry Garcia Band bassist John Kahn that were widely rumored to be a funding conduit for their respective addictions. Though things seemed to be getting better for the band, Garcia's health was declining. By 1983, Garcia's demeanor onstage had appeared to change. Despite still playing the guitar with great passion and intensity, there were times that he would appear disengaged; as such, shows were often inconsistent. Years of heavy tobacco smoking had affected his voice, and he gained considerable weight. By 1984, he would often rest his chin on the microphone during performances. The so-called "endless tour"—the result of years of financial risks, drug use, and poor business decisions—had taken its toll. Garcia's decade-long heroin addiction culminated in the rest of the band holding an intervention in January 1985. Given the choice between the band or the drugs, Garcia agreed to check into a rehabilitation center in Oakland, California. A few days later in January, before the start of his program in Oakland, Garcia was arrested for drug possession in Golden Gate Park; he subsequently attended a drug diversion program. Throughout 1985, he tapered his drug use on tour and at home with the assistance of Nora Sage; by the spring of 1986, he was completely abstinent. Precipitated by an unhealthy weight, dehydration, bad eating habits, and a recent relapse on the Grateful Dead's first stadium tour, Garcia collapsed into a diabetic coma in July 1986, waking up five days later. He later spoke about this period of unconsciousness as surreal: "Well, I had some very weird experiences. My main experience was one of furious activity and tremendous struggle in a sort of futuristic, space-ship vehicle with insectoid presences. After I came out of my coma, I had this image of myself as these little hunks of protoplasm that were stuck together kind of like stamps with perforations between them that you could snap off." Garcia's coma had a profound effect on him: it forced him to have to relearn how to play the guitar, as well as other, more basic skills. Within a handful of months, he had recovered, playing with the Jerry Garcia Band and the Grateful Dead again later that year. After Garcia's recovery, the band released a comeback album In the Dark in 1987, which became their best-selling studio album. Inspired by Garcia's improved health, a successful album and the continuing emergence of Mydland as a third frontman, the band's energy and chemistry reached a new peak in the late 1980s. Amid a litany of personal problems, Mydland died of a speedball overdose in July 1990. His death greatly affected Garcia, leading him to believe that the band's chemistry would never be the same. Before beginning the fall tour, the band acquired keyboardists Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby. As the band continued through 1991, Garcia became concerned with the band's future. He was exhausted from five straight years of touring. He thought a break was necessary, mainly so that the band could come back with fresh material. The idea was put off by the pressures of management, and the touring continued. Garcia began using heroin again after several years of intermittent prescription opiate use. Though his relapse was brief, the band was quick to react. Soon after the last show of the tour in Denver, Garcia was confronted by the band with another intervention. After a disastrous meeting, Garcia invited Phil Lesh over to his home in San Rafael, California, where he explained that after the meeting he would start attending a methadone clinic. Garcia said that he wanted to clean up in his own way and return to making music. After returning from the band's 1992 summer tour, Garcia became sick, a throwback to his diabetic coma in 1986. Manasha Garcia nursed Garcia back to health and organized a team of health professionals which included acupuncturist Yen Wei Choong and Randy Baker, MD, a holistic family physician to treat him at home. Garcia recovered over the following days, despite the Grateful Dead having to cancel their fall tour to allow him time to recuperate. Garcia reduced his cigarette smoking and began losing weight. He also became a vegetarian. Despite these improvements, Garcia's physical and mental condition continued to decline throughout 1993 and 1994. He began to use narcotics again to dull the pain. In light of his second drug relapse and current condition, Garcia checked himself into the Betty Ford Center during July 1995. His stay was limited, lasting only two weeks. Motivated by the experience, he then checked into the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Forest Knolls, California, where he died. Death Garcia died in his room at the rehabilitation clinic on August 9, 1995. The cause of death was a heart attack. Garcia had long struggled with drug addiction, weight problems, sleep apnea, heavy smoking, and diabetes—all of which contributed to his physical decline. Lesh remarked that, upon hearing of Garcia's death, "I was struck numb. I had lost my oldest surviving friend, my brother." Garcia's funeral was held on August 12, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere. It was attended by his family, the remaining Grateful Dead members, and their friends, including Bill Walton and Bob Dylan. Deborah Koons barred two of Garcia's former wives from the ceremony. On August 13, about 25,000 people attended a municipally sanctioned public memorial at the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Crowds produced hundreds of flowers, gifts, images, and a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" in remembrance. In the Haight, a single white rose was reportedly tied to a tree near the Dead's former Haight-Ashbury house, where a group of followers gathered to mourn. On the morning of April 4, 1996, after a total lunar eclipse earlier that day, Weir and Deborah Koons, accompanied by Sanjay Mishra, spread half of Garcia's ashes into the Ganges at the holy city of Rishikesh, India, a site sacred to Hindus. The remaining ashes were poured into the San Francisco Bay. Koons did not allow former wife Carolyn Garcia to attend the spreading of the ashes. Musical equipment Garcia played many guitars during his career, which ranged from student and budget models to custom-made instruments. During his thirty-five-year career as a professional musician, Garcia used about 25 guitars. In 1965, when Garcia was playing with the Warlocks, he used a Guild Starfire, which he also used on the début album of the Grateful Dead. Beginning in late 1967 and ending in 1968, Garcia played black or gold mid-1950s Gibson Les Paul guitars with P-90 pickups. In 1969, he picked up the Gibson SG and used it for most of that year and 1970, except for a small period in between where he used a sunburst Fender Stratocaster. During Garcia's "pedal steel flirtation period" (as Bob Weir referred to it in Anthem to Beauty), from approximately 1969 to 1972, he initially played a Fender instrument before upgrading to the ZB Custom D-10, especially in his earlier public performances. Although this was a double neck guitar, Garcia used the "E9 neck and the three pedals to raise the tone and two levers to lower it." He employed an Emmons D-10 at the Grateful Dead's and New Riders of the Purple Sage's final appearances at the Fillmore East in April 1971. In 1969, Garcia played pedal steel on three notable outside recordings: the track "The Farm" on the Jefferson Airplane album Volunteers, the track "Oh Mommy" by Brewer and Shipley and the hit single "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young from their album Déjà Vu, released in 1970. Garcia played on the latter album in exchange for harmony lessons for the Grateful Dead, who were at the time recording Workingman's Dead. In 1971, Garcia began playing a sunburst Les Paul. In March and April 1971 – the time period during which the Grateful Dead recorded its second live album, Grateful Dead – Garcia played the "Peanut," a guitar he had received from Rick Turner, who had custom built the guitar's body and incorporated the neck, pickups, and hardware from an early '60s Les Paul. In May, Garcia began using a 1955 natural finish Stratocaster that had been given to him by Graham Nash in 1969. Garcia added an alligator sticker to the pickguard in the fall of 1971, and the thusly-named "Alligator" would remain Garcia's principal electric guitar until August 1973. In the summer of 1971, Garcia also played a double-cutaway Les Paul TV Junior. While Alligator was in the shop in the summer of 1972, he briefly reverted to the sunburst Stratocaster; this can be seen in Sunshine Daydream. In late 1972, Garcia purchased the first guitar ("Eagle") made by Alembic luthier Doug Irwin for $850 (equivalent to $6,200 in 2023). Enamored of Irwin's talents, he immediately commissioned his own custom instrument. This guitar, nicknamed "Wolf" for a sticker Garcia added below the tailpiece, was delivered in May 1973 and replaced Alligator on stage in September. It cost $1,500 (equivalent to $10,300 in 2023), an extremely high price for the era. Wolf was made with an ebony fingerboard and featured numerous embellishments like alternating grain designs in the headstock, ivory inlays, and fret marker dots made of sterling silver. The body was composed of western maple wood which had a core of purpleheart. Garcia later had Irwin (who ultimately left Alembic to start his own business) replace the electronics inside the guitar, at which point he added his own logo to the headstock alongside the Alembic logo. The system included two interchangeable plates for configuring pickups: one was made for strictly single coils, while the other accommodated humbuckers. Shortly after receiving the modified instrument, Garcia commissioned another custom guitar from Irwin with one caveat: "Don't hold back." During the Grateful Dead's 1974 European tour, Wolf was dropped on several occasions, one of which caused a minor crack in the headstock. Following filming of The Grateful Dead Movie (in which the guitar is prominently visible) a month later, Garcia returned it to Irwin for repairs. Throughout its absence, Garcia predominantly played several Travis Bean guitars, including the TB1000A (1975) and the TB500 (1976-1977). On September 28, 1977, Irwin delivered the refurbished Wolf back to Garcia. The wolf sticker which gave the guitar its name had now been inlaid into the instrument; it also featured an effects loop between the pick-ups and controls (so inline effects would "see" the same signal at all times) which was bypassable. Irwin also put a new face on the headstock with only his logo (he later claimed to have built the guitar himself, though pictures through time clearly show the progression of logos, from Alembic, to Alembic & Irwin, to only Irwin). The Grateful Dead began using McIntosh Labs amplifiers in the mid-1960s at the insistence and funding of sound technician and prolific LSD chemist Owsley Stanley. Garcia began using a specific McIntosh MC 2300 in 1973, eventually christened with a Budweiser Budman sticker placed on the front in 1974 and making it a unique way of identifying Garcia's specific MC 2300 out of the many that powered the Wall of Sound. "Budman" was one of the only components from the Wall to continue traveling with Garcia until 1993 when it was replaced with a cab simulation system. The Budman amp is the longest continuously used piece of gear in Grateful Dead history. On 14 October 2021 during a Sotheby's auction titled "From the Vault: Property from the Grateful Dead and Friends". Garcia's last stage rack containing a MC2300 sold for $226,800 USD. The MC2300 Budman sold for $378,000 USD. Nearly seven years after he commissioned it, Garcia received his second custom guitar ("Tiger") from Irwin in the summer of 1979. He first employed the instrument in concert at a Grateful Dead performance at the Oakland Auditorium Arena on August 4, 1979. Its name was derived from the inlay on the preamp cover. The body of Tiger was of rich quality: the top layer was cocobolo, with the preceding layers being maple stripe, vermilion, and flame maple, in that order. The neck was made of western maple with an ebony fingerboard. The pickups consisted of a single coil DiMarzio SDS-1 and two humbucker DiMarzio Super IIs; these were easily removable, accommodating Garcia's preference for replacing his pickups every year or two. The electronics were composed of an effects bypass loop (which allowed Garcia to control the sound of his effects through the tone and volume controls on the guitar) and a preamplifier/buffer, which rested behind a plate in the back of the guitar. Fully outfitted, Tiger weighed 13+1⁄2 pounds (6.1 kg). This was Garcia's principal guitar for the next eleven years, and his most played. Due to the ongoing repair and retrofitting of other instruments, Garcia played Tiger during the last song ("Box of Rain") of his final performance with the Grateful Dead at Chicago's Soldier Field on July 9, 1995. In the late 1980s Garcia, Weir and CSN (along with many others) endorsed Alvarez Yairi acoustic guitars. There are many photographs circulating (mostly promotional) of Garcia playing a DY99 Virtuoso Custom with a Modulus graphite neck. He opted to play with the less decorated model but the promotional photo from the Alvarez Yairi catalog has him holding the "tree of life" model. This hand-built guitar was notable for the collaboration between Japanese luthier Kazuo Yairi and Modulus Graphite of San Rafael. Since Garcia's death, the DY99 model has remained highly valued among collectors. In 1990, Irwin completed "Rosebud", Garcia's fourth custom guitar. While similar to Tiger in many respects, it featured different inlays and electronics in addition to a slightly lighter weight. Rosebud, unlike Tiger, was configured with three humbuckers; the neck and bridge pickups shared a tone control, while the middle had its own. Atop the guitar was a Roland GK-2 pickup which fed the controller set inside the guitar. The GK2 was used in conjunction with the Roland GR-50 rack mount synthesizer. In turn, the GR-50 synthesizer drove a Korg M1R synthesizer that produced MIDI effects during live performances of this period, as heard on the Grateful Dead's Without a Net (1990) and other contemporaneous recordings. Sections of the guitar were hollowed out to bring the weight down to 11+1⁄2 pounds (5.2 kg). The inlay, a dancing skeleton holding a rose, covers a plate just below the bridge. The final cost of the instrument was $11,000 (equivalent to $25,700 in 2023). In 1993, carpenter and aspiring luthier Stephen Cripe tried his hand at making a speculative instrument for Garcia. After researching Tiger through pictures and films, Cripe set out on what would soon become known as "Lightning Bolt", again named for its inlay. The guitar used Brazilian rosewood for the fingerboard and East Indian rosewood for the body, which, with admitted irony from Cripe, had been taken from a 19th-century bed used by opium smokers. Built purely from guesswork, Lightning Bolt was gifted by Cripe to Garcia, who began using the guitar exclusively. However, as Cripe had little background in electronics, Garcia hired San Francisco-based repairman Gary Brawer to reconfigure the pickups and make the instrument MIDI-compatible. Additionally, Cripe "hadn't known that the oval-shaped body inlays on Tiger and Rosebud concealed their batteries, so Brawer had to remove his inlay and put it on a cover-plate." A new bridge also was installed during the final Grateful Dead tour. Soon after, Garcia requested that Cripe build a backup of the guitar. Cripe, who had not measured or photographed the original, was told simply to "wing it." Cripe later delivered the backup, which was known by the name "Top Hat", in April 1995. Garcia bought it from him for $6,500, making it the first guitar that Cripe had ever sold. Still infatuated with Lightning Bolt, Garcia rarely used the backup. After Garcia's death, the ownership of Wolf and Tiger came into question. According to Garcia's will, his guitars were bequeathed to Doug Irwin, who had constructed them. The remaining Grateful Dead members disagreed – they considered his guitars to be property of the band, leading to a lawsuit between the two parties. In 2001, Irwin won the case. However, nearly having been left destitute from a traffic accident in 1998, he decided to place the guitars up for auction in hopes of being able to start another guitar workshop. On May 8, 2002, Wolf and Tiger, among other memorabilia, were placed for auction at Studio 54 in New York City. Tiger was sold for $957,500, and Wolf for $789,500. Together, the pair sold for $1.74 million, setting a new world record. Wolf went into in the private collection of Daniel Pritzker who kept it in a secure climate controlled room in a private residence at Utica, New York. Tiger went to the private collection of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. In May 2017, Wolf was again auctioned, but this time for charity. Pritzker decided to sell the guitar and donate all proceeds to the Montgomery, Alabama based Southern Poverty Law Center. Brian Halligan placed the winning bid totaling $1.9 million. For the majority of 2019 Wolf and Tiger were included in the Play it Loud exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. On June 23, 2019 John Mayer played Wolf with Dead & Company at Citi Field. Legacy Garcia was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead in 1994. He declined to attend the ceremony; the band jokingly brought a cardboard cutout of Garcia out on stage in his absence. In 1987, Vermont ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's introduced their Cherry Garcia flavor dedicated to him. It was the first ice cream flavor dedicated to a musician. Shortly after Garcia's death, astronomers Simon Radford and Ed Olszewski named an asteroid that orbits between Mars and Jupiter after him in November 1995. Tom Gehrels, who had originally discovered the asteroid in 1985 but never named it, offered it to them for the occasion. In 1998, a newly discovered species of roach was named Cryptocercus garciai after Garcia. In 2000, the network NBC broadcast an animated sitcom, God, the Devil and Bob, which featured a "God" character based on Garcia's appearance. Amid backlash from religious groups and low ratings, the series was cancelled after four episodes. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Jerry Garcia 13th in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. According to fellow Bay Area guitar player Henry Kaiser, Garcia is "the most recorded guitarist in history. With more than 2,200 Grateful Dead concerts, and 1,000 Jerry Garcia Band concerts captured on tape – as well as numerous studio sessions – there are about 15,000 hours of his guitar work preserved for the ages." On July 30, 2004, Melvin Seals was the first Jerry Garcia Band (JGB) member to headline an outdoor music and camping festival called "The Grateful Garcia Gathering". Jerry Garcia Band drummer David Kemper joined Melvin Seals and JGB in 2007. Other musicians and friends of Garcia include Donna Jean Godchaux, Mookie Siegel, Pete Sears, G.E. Smith, Chuck Hammer, Barry Sless, Jackie Greene, Brian Lesh, Sanjay Mishra, and Mark Karan. On July 21, 2005, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission passed a resolution to name the amphitheater in McLaren Park the "Jerry Garcia Amphitheater." The amphitheater is located in the Excelsior District, where Garcia grew up. The first show to happen at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater was Jerry Day 2005 on August 7, 2005. Jerry's brother, Tiff Garcia, was the first person to welcome everybody to the "Jerry Garcia Amphitheater." Jerry Day is an annual celebration of Garcia in his childhood neighborhood. The dedication ceremony (Jerry Day 2) on October 29, 2005, was officiated by mayor Gavin Newsom. On September 24, 2005, the Comes a Time: A Celebration of the Music & Spirit of Jerry Garcia tribute concert was held at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. The concert featured Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Michael Kang, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Mark Karan, Robin Sylvester, Kenny Brooks, Melvin Seals, Merl Saunders, Marty Holland, Stu Allen, Gloria Jones, and Jackie LaBranch. Georgia-based composer Lee Johnson released an orchestral tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead, recorded with the Russian National Orchestra, entitled "Dead Symphony: Lee Johnson Symphony No. 6." Johnson was interviewed on NPR on the July 26, 2008 broadcast of Weekend Edition, and gave much credit to the genius and craft of Garcia's songwriting. A live performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Johnson himself, was held Friday, August 1. In 2010, the Santa Barbara Bowl in California opened Jerry Garcia Glen along the walk up to the venue. There is a statue of Garcia's right hand along the way. Seattle rock band Soundgarden wrote and recorded the instrumental song "Jerry Garcia's Finger", dedicated to the singer, which was released as a b-side with their single "Pretty Noose". Numerous music festivals across the United States and Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK hold annual events in memory of Jerry Garcia. On May 14, 2015, an all-star lineup held a tribute concert for Garcia at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The event was called "Dear Jerry". In 2015, Hunter and Garcia were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Hunter accepted the award along with Garcia's daughter, Trixie Garcia, who accepted on behalf of her father. In 2015, Jerry Garcia's wife, Manasha Garcia and their daughter, Keelin Garcia launched The Jerry Garcia Foundation, a nonprofit charity that supports projects for artistic, environmental, and humanitarian causes. The Foundation's Board members are Bob Weir, Peter Shapiro, Glenn Fischer, Irwin Sternberg, Daniel Shiner, TRI Studios CEO, Christopher McCutcheon and Fender Music Foundation Executive Director, Lynn Robison. Keelin Garcia said, "It is a tremendous honor to participate in nonprofit work that is in accordance with my father's values." In 2017 Garcia's music was featured in Red Roses, Green Gold, an off-Broadway musical featuring the music of Garcia and Robert Hunter, with additional music by Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Hunter's longtime collaborator Greg Anton. The production was directed and choreographed by Rachel Klein, featured a book by Michael Norman Mann, had Jeff Chimenti serving as music supervisor, and was performed at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. In 2018, Jerry Garcia family members, Keelin Garcia and Manasha Garcia launched the Jerry Garcia Music Arts independent music label. On November 18, 2021, it was announced Jonah Hill would portray Garcia in a forthcoming Grateful Dead biopic written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski directed by Martin Scorsese for Apple TV+. Discography New Riders of the Purple Sage – New Riders of the Purple Sage – 1971 Hooteroll? – Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia – 1971 Garcia – Jerry Garcia – 1972 Live at Keystone – Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bill Vitt – 1973 Compliments – Jerry Garcia – 1974 Old & In the Way – Old & In the Way – 1975 Reflections – Jerry Garcia – 1976 Cats Under the Stars – Jerry Garcia Band – 1978 Run for the Roses – Jerry Garcia – 1982 Vintage NRPS – New Riders of the Purple Sage – 1986 Keystone Encores – Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bill Vitt – 1988 Almost Acoustic – Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band – 1988 Jerry Garcia / David Grisman – Jerry Garcia and David Grisman – 1991 Jerry Garcia Band – Jerry Garcia Band – 1991 Not for Kids Only – Jerry Garcia and David Grisman – 1993 Notes References Sources "Jerome John Garcia", Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., August 5, 2019, retrieved May 2, 2020 Greenfield, Robert (2012), Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia, Harper Collins, ISBN 9780062268310 Groer, Annie; Gerhart, Ann (April 9, 1996), "Jerry Garcia's Last Trip", The Washington Post Higashi, April, ed. (2005), Jerry Garcia: The Collected Artwork, Thunder's Mouth Press, ISBN 9781560257929 Jackson, Blair (1999). Garcia: An American Life. Viking. ISBN 0670886602. Lesh, Phil (2005), Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead, Little, Brown and Company, ISBN 0-316-00998-9 McNally, Dennis (2007), A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, Crown, ISBN 9780307418777 Ashes of Jerry Garcia sprinkled into Ganges, London: The Orlando Sentinel, April 8, 1996 Ruhlmann, William (n.d.), "Jerry Garcia", AllMusic, Netaktion LLC, retrieved May 7, 2020 Stratton, Jerry (May 2, 2010), "News Accounts First", Negative Space, retrieved April 26, 2020 Troy, Sandy (1994). Captain Trips: A Biography of Jerry Garcia (1st ed.). New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560250909. External links The official homepage of Jerry Garcia The Jerry Site Jerry Garcia discography at deaddisc.com Jerry Day: A Civic and Cultural Celebration of Jerry Garcia held in San Francisco FBI Records: The Vault - Jerry Garcia at vault.fbi.gov Jerry Garcia's Army personnel file Archived October 17, 2020, at the Wayback Machine at the National Archives Equipment Guitars listed with details, chronology and current owner Replica Wolf Guitar and Replica Rosebud by original maker, Alembic Replica Alligator Guitar by original maker Fender. Mcintosh Labs MC2300 Page

Duane_Allman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Allman

Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock and blues guitarist and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Allman began playing the guitar at age 14. He formed the Allman Brothers Band with his brother Gregg in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. The group achieved its greatest success in the early 1970s. Allman is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in the band and in particular for his expressive slide guitar playing and inventive improvisational skills. A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Duane Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Mann, Wilson Pickett, and Boz Scaggs. He also contributed greatly to the only studio album by Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Allman died following a motorcycle crash on October 29, 1971, at the age of 24. In 2003, he was ranked number 2 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, second only to Jimi Hendrix. In 2011, he was ranked number 9 and in 2023 he was ranked 10th. His guitar tone (achieved with a Gibson Les Paul and two 50-watt bass Marshall amplifiers) was named one of the greatest of all time by Guitar Player. Early years Duane Allman was born on November 20, 1946, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the elder son of Willis Allman (1918–1949) who, at the time of his death, was a second lieutenant on active duty in the United States Army, having served as an Army non-commissioned officer during World War II; and Geraldine Allman (née Robbins) (1917–2015). His brother, Gregg, was born on December 8, 1947. On December 26, 1949, when the family was living near Norfolk, Virginia, where he was stationed, Willis Allman was murdered. So that she could retrain as an accountant, Geraldine "Mama A" Allman sent Duane and Gregg to Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, which they both disliked intensely. In 1957, the family moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, where the boys attended Seabreeze High School. The boys returned to Nashville to spend summers with their grandmother, and there Gregg learned guitar basics from a neighbor. In 1960, he had saved enough money to buy his first guitar, a Japanese-made Teisco Silvertone, while Duane acquired a Harley 165 motorbike. Despite Duane being left-handed, he played the guitar right-handed. Duane began to take an interest in the guitar, and the boys would sometimes fight over it, until Duane wrecked the motorbike and traded it for a Silvertone of his own. His mother eventually bought Duane a Gibson Les Paul Junior. It was also in Nashville that the boys became musically inspired by a rhythm-and-blues concert where they saw blues guitarist B.B. King perform. Duane told Gregg, "We got to get into this." Duane learned to play very quickly and soon became the better guitarist of the two. Career 1961–1968: Allman Joys and Hour Glass The brothers started playing publicly in 1961, joining or forming a number of local groups. Around this time, Duane left school to focus on his guitar playing. His early band "The Escorts" opened for the Beach Boys in 1965 but disbanded, some of its members eventually forming the Allman Joys. After Gregg graduated from Seabreeze High School in 1965, the Allman Joys went on the road, performing throughout the Southeast, and eventually were based in Nashville. The Allman Joys became Hour Glass and moved to Los Angeles in early 1967. There Hour Glass recorded two albums for Liberty Records, but the band was unsatisfied. Liberty tried to market them as a pop band, ignoring the band's desire to play more blues-oriented material. Hour Glass broke up in early 1968. Duane and Gregg went back to Florida, where they played on demo sessions with the 31st of February, a folk rock outfit whose drummer was Butch Trucks. Gregg returned to California to fulfill Hour Glass obligations, while Duane jammed around Florida for months but did not get another band going. Duane began to learn to play slide guitar on his birthday in 1968. He was recovering from an injury to his left elbow, suffered in a fall from a horse. Gregg brought him a birthday present, the debut album by Taj Mahal, and a bottle of Coricidin pills. He left them on the front porch and rang the bell, as Duane was angry with him about the injury. "About two hours after I left, my phone rang," Gregg recalled. "'Baby brother, baby brother, get over here now!'" Duane had poured the pills out of the Coricidin bottle, washed off the label and was using it as a slide to play along with the album track "Statesboro Blues" (on the recording, the slide guitar is played by Jesse Ed Davis). "Duane had never played slide before," Gregg later said, but "he just picked it up and started burnin'. He was a natural." The song became a part of the Allman Brothers Band's repertoire, and Duane's slide guitar became crucial to their sound. Because of his use of the early-1970s-era Coricidin medicine bottle, which is no longer manufactured, replica Coricidin bottles are now popular with slide guitar players who like its glassy feel and sound. 1966–1969: Session musician Allman's first major recording session occurred in early 1966 at Nashville's RCA Studio "B", two years before his famed tenure at Muscle Shoals' FAME Studios. Producer Tony Moon was recording The Vogues' first album after his successful "5"O'Clock World" had reached the Top 5, and had been recorded in that same studio. He hired Allman to play on several sides, as he wanted a more rock sound. At the time, The Allman Joys were the house band at The Briar Patch in Nashville. Allman's playing on the two Hour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME. In November 1968 Hall bought Allman's contract for $10,000. Allman, tired of the studio limitation, was able to play on his first album as a sessions ace with Wilson Pickett. Allman's work on that album, Hey Jude (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of other musicians, notably Eric Clapton, who later said, "I remember hearing Wilson Pickett's 'Hey Jude' and just being astounded by the lead break at the end. I had to know who that was immediately—right now." Allman's performance on "Hey Jude" impressed Atlantic Records producer and executive Jerry Wexler when Hall played it over the phone for him. Wexler immediately bought Allman's recording contract from Hall and wanted to use him on sessions with Atlantic R&B artists. While at Muscle Shoals, Allman played on recordings by numerous artists, including Clarence Carter, King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Laura Nyro, Wilson Pickett, Otis Rush, Percy Sledge, Johnny Jenkins, Boz Scaggs, Delaney & Bonnie, Doris Duke and jazz flautist Herbie Mann. For his first sessions with Franklin, Allman traveled to New York where, in January 1969, he went as an audience member to the Fillmore East to see Johnny Winter and told Muscle Shoals guitarist Jimmy Johnson that in a year he'd be on that stage. That December, the Allman Brothers Band indeed played the Fillmore. Coincidentally, the Fillmore East performances recorded for the Allman Brothers album At Fillmore East in March 1971—often considered the high water mark for the band—were on the same bill as Johnny Winter. 1968: Formation of the Allman Brothers Band When asked how the band came together Duane stated: "Very slowly. I was in Muscle Shoals and I went down to Jacksonville and was jamming with Berry and Dickey. Jaimoe came with me from Muscle Shoals, he's originally from Macon. Gregg was in California and Butch was in Jacksonville where we all got together and jammed for a couple of months putting together songs and stuff. We just needed a singer and Gregg was the guy. Two weeks after Gregg got back from California we went up to New York and recorded there. We played live gigs before our first album was released in November [of 1969]." While visiting St. Louis, Allman met Donna Roosman, who bore his second child, Galadrielle. The couple's relationship soon ended. He had an earlier relationship with Patti Chandlee which resulted in the birth of a daughter who was born deaf. 1969–1971: Success with Layla and At Fillmore East The Allman Brothers Band went on to become one of the most influential rock groups of the 1970s. George Kimball, writing in Rolling Stone in 1971, described the group as "the best damn rock and roll band this country has produced in the past five years." After months of nonstop rehearsing and gigging without Gregg, including free shows in Central City Park in Macon and Piedmont Park in Atlanta, all they needed was a singer/organist and Duane knew who he wanted. When Gregg got back from California the group settled on the name of the band and was ready to record. Their debut album, The Allman Brothers Band, was recorded in New York in September 1969 and released a few months later. In the midst of intense touring, work began in Macon and Miami (at Atlantic South–Criteria Studios), and a little bit in New York, on the band's second album, Idlewild South. Produced mostly by Tom Dowd, Idlewild South was released in August 1970 and broke new ground for them by getting into the Billboard charts. After a concert in Miami, in August, watched by Eric Clapton and the other members of Derek and the Dominos, the two bands went back to Criteria studios in Miami, where the Dominoes were recording Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Members of both jammed, after which Allman and Clapton stayed up all night trading and showing one another favorite licks, discovering they had a deep and instinctive rapport. Allman participated in the recording of most of the album's tracks, contributing some of his best-known work. He never left the Allman Brothers Band, though, despite being offered a permanent position with Clapton. Allman never toured with Derek and the Dominos, but he did make at least two appearances with them, on December 1, 1970, at the Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa (Soulmates LP), and on the following day at Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, New York. It is unclear whether he also appeared with them on November 20, 1970, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, in Santa Monica, California, when guitarist Delaney Bramlett performed with the band. In an interview, Allman told listeners how to tell who played what: Eric played the Fender parts and Duane played the Gibson parts. He continued by nonchalantly noting that the Fender had a sparklier sound, while the Gibson produced more of a "full-tilt screech". Clapton wrote later in his autobiography that he and Allman were inseparable during the sessions in Florida; he talked about Allman as the "musical brother I'd never had but wished I did." The Allman Brothers went on to record At Fillmore East in March 1971. Meanwhile, Allman continued contributing session work to other artists' albums whenever he could. According to Skydog: The Duane Allman Story, he would spontaneously drop in at recording sessions and contribute to whatever was being taped that day. He received cash payments but no recording credits, making it virtually impossible to compile a complete discography of his works. Allman was well known for his melodic, extended and attention-holding guitar solos. During this period two of his stated influences were Miles Davis and John Coltrane. He said that he had listened intently to Davis's Kind of Blue for two years. As Allman's distinctive electric bottleneck sound began to mature, it evolved into the musical voice of what would come to be known as Southern rock, being picked up by other slide guitarists, including his bandmate Dickey Betts (after Allman's death), Derek Trucks, Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Joe Walsh. Duane also taught a young Don Felder to play slide. Personal life Allman had a daughter, Galadrielle Allman, with Donna Roosman in 1969. In 2014, Galadrielle Allman published a reflection on her father, mother, family, and the culture of the 1960s, called Please Be with Me: A Song for My Father. Death Allman was killed in a motorcycle crash shortly after the release and initial success of At Fillmore East. On October 29, 1971, while the band was on a break from touring and recording, Allman was riding his Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle at high speed on Hillcrest Avenue, in the western part of Macon. As he approached Bartlett Street, a flatbed boom truck stopped suddenly in the intersection, forcing him to swerve sharply. He struck either the back of the truck or the ball on the crane and was thrown from the motorcycle, which landed on top of him and skidded another 90 feet (27 m) with him pinned underneath it, crushing his internal organs. He was alive when he arrived at a hospital, but despite immediate medical treatment, he died several hours later from massive internal injuries. Memorial Allman's funeral service was held on Monday, November 1, 1971, at Snow's Memorial Chapel in Macon, Georgia. In the chapel, packed with family and friends, many of the musicians who had been part of Allman's life were in attendance to mourn his death. Record producer Jerry Wexler gave the eulogy. Wexler praised Allman's musical achievements; his uncompromising dedication to Southern gospel, country, and blues music; and the place he attained alongside the great black musicians and blues singers from the South. The band, joined by others, played several tunes, concluding with a group rendition of the Southern spiritual "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", a band favorite. Legacy After Allman's funeral and some weeks of mourning, the five surviving members of the Allman Brothers Band carried on, resuming live performances and finishing the recording work interrupted by Allman's death. They named their next album Eat a Peach for Allman's response to an interviewer's question: "How are you helping the revolution?" Allman replied, "I'm hitting a lick for peace, and every time I'm in Georgia I eat a peach for peace. But you can't help the revolution, because there's just evolution. I'm a player. And players don't give a damn for nothing but playing...." Released as a double album in February 1972, it contains a side of live and studio tracks with Allman, two sides of "Mountain Jam", recorded with Allman at the same time as At Fillmore East in March, and a side of tracks by the surviving five members of the band. Allman Brothers Band bassist Berry Oakley died less than 13 months later, also at the age of 24, in a similar motorcycle crash with a city bus, three blocks from the site of Allman's fatal accident. Oakley was buried beside Allman in Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia. The variety of Allman's session work and Allman Brothers Band bandleading can be heard to good effect on two posthumous Capricorn releases, An Anthology (1972) and An Anthology Volume II (1974). There are also several archival releases of live Allman Brothers Band performances from what the band calls "Duane's era". Shortly after Allman's death, Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd dedicated the song "Free Bird" to Allman's memory. Van Zant would sometimes allude to this in concert; in the band's 1976 performance of "Free Bird" in Knebworth, England, Van Zant said to pianist Billy Powell, "Play it for Duane Allman." The song was written well before Allman died and was not written with him in mind. (Allen Collins wrote the song after his then girlfriend asked him the question "if I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?") In 1973, four boys who were Hinds Junior College students living in Vicksburg, Mississippi carved the very large letters "REMEMBER DUANE ALLMAN" into a vertical excavation face beside Interstate Highway 20 between Vicksburg and the school's campus in Raymond on the route they travelled together while commuting between their homes and campus. A photograph was published in Rolling Stone magazine and in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll; the carving lasted for over 10 years. In 1998, the Georgia State Legislature passed a resolution designating a stretch of State Highway 19, U.S. Route 41, within Macon, as Duane Allman Boulevard in his honor. The route, which passes near The Allman Brothers Band Museum (at "The Big House", where the band once lived) and the H&H Restaurant, where the band members often dined, crosses the Raymond Berry Oakley III Bridge. Country singer Travis Tritt, in the song "Put Some Drive in Your Country" on his debut album, sings "Now I still love old country / I ain't tryin' to put it down / But damn I miss Duane Allman / I wish he was still around." Skydog, a seven-CD box set tracing the virtuosity of Allman on the guitar, was released in 2013 with the help of his daughter, Galadrielle Allman. A March 16 interview with her on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday by Scott Simon runs over eight minutes, includes many details, and is highlighted with clips of his playing, including links to an audio file prepared for the broadcast. Duane Allman was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 as a member of the Allman Brothers Band. Equipment Allman Joys, Hour Glass Fender Telecaster, modified with a Stratocaster neck Marshall amplifier, with six 10-inch speakers and two horns Early session work 1954 Fender Stratocaster, used on the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio sessions, now at the Hard Rock Cafe in London at the Vault Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, with old 9-volt batteries for enhanced distortion Fender Twin Reverb with JBL speakers Maestro Echoplex 1959 Fender Bassman Allman Brothers Band, Layla, later session work 1961 Fender Stratocaster (for early session work, overlapping with the formation of the Allman Brothers Band) 1958–1962 Gibson ES-345 semi-hollow body (first album) 1957 Gibson Les Paul Standard goldtop, serial no. 7 3312, traded on September 16, 1970, for a: 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst, except for the pickups 1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard tobacco sunburst, acquired in June 1971 1961 Gibson SG, used for slide, given by Dickey Betts Marshall 50-watt head, two Marshall 4x12 cabinets with JBL speakers Fender Champ combo amplifier (Layla) Other Gibson L-00 acoustic guitar Fender Rock N' Roll 150 strings (Hour Glass) Coricidin medicine bottle (slide) Discography The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band (1969) Idlewild South (1970) At Fillmore East (1971) Eat a Peach (1972) on tracks 4–9 Derek & the Dominos Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) on tracks 4–14 See also List of deaths by motorcycle crash References Further reading External links Duane Allman.com Duane Allman on allmanbrothersband.com Duane Allman.info DuaneAllmanJournal.blogspot.com In memory of Duane Allman: 35 years after his death, Skydog still among rock's very best guitarists, on MSNBC The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time Georgia House of Representatives SR653, designating Duane Allman Boulevard and Raymond Berry Oakley Bridge Macon, GA Motorcycle Accident Kills Duane Allman, Oct 1971Archived 2013-10-23 at the Wayback Machine, GenDisasters.com Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1995 Archived August 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine How to play like Duane Allman

Greg_Rusedski

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Rusedski

Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British former professional tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 May 1998 to 21 June 1998. In 1997, he was the US Open finalist, which led to him receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. Also, he scored 30 wins and 13 losses with the Great Britain Davis Cup team. Personal life Rusedski was born in Montreal, Quebec, to a British mother and a father of Polish and Ukrainian descent. He was a very promising junior player in Canada in the 1980s, and subsequently caused some anger in Canada when he decided to adopt British citizenship and play for Great Britain in 1995. Rusedski made the decision for "lifestyle reasons", noting that his girlfriend — who later became his wife — lived in Britain. Rusedski has been with his wife Lucy Connor since 1991, they met while he was competing in a junior tournament where she was a ball girl. They married in a Catholic ceremony at Douai Abbey in West Berkshire in December 1999. They have two children: a daughter born in 2006, and a son born in 2009. Career Rusedski's first career singles tournament title was at the Hall of Fame Championship in Newport, Rhode Island in 1993. He opted to compete for the United Kingdom rather than Canada from 22 May 1995 onwards, a decision which was received poorly by Canadian fans; it was reported that he was given a "traitor's reception" by the crowd when he competed in his first Canadian Open after the switch. Rusedski reached the singles final of the US Open in 1997, where he lost to Pat Rafter in four sets (shortly thereafter reaching his career high rank of world No. 4). He also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. In 1998, Tim Henman eclipsed Rusedski as the UK number one tennis player. Rusedski, however, won the Grand Slam Cup in 1999. In the 1999 US Open, Rusedski reached the fourth round where he was eliminated 5–7, 0–6, 7–6 (7–3), 6–4, 6–4, by Todd Martin; Rusedski had a two-sets-to-none advantage and was serving for the match in the third set, then in the fifth set he was up 4–1, but lost 20 of the final 21 points including a stretch of 18 consecutive points. In the 2002 US Open, after losing to Pete Sampras in the third round in a grueling five-set match, Rusedski described Sampras as "a half-step slow" and predicted that Sampras would lose his fourth-round match to young German star Tommy Haas. Sampras, however, went on to win the tournament. At Wimbledon in 2003, Rusedski was playing in a second-round match against Andy Roddick. Roddick had won the first two sets, but Rusedski was 5–2 up in the third set. During a point on Roddick's service game, a member of the crowd loudly called one of Roddick's shots long, causing Rusedski to stop playing the point as he believed it was a line judge. The umpire ruled that the ball was good and that, as Roddick's next shot landed in court, Roddick was awarded the point. Rusedski, believing the point should have been replayed, launched into a long and expletive-riddled tirade at the umpire and, never regaining his composure, went on to lose the next five games without reply to concede the match. Rusedski apologized after the match, and Roddick reached the semifinals. Rusedski tested positive for nandrolone in January 2004, but he was cleared of the charges in a hearing on 10 March 2004. Rusedski was defeated in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005 by Joachim Johansson of Sweden. Later that year, he defended his title at the Hall of Fame Championship, defeating Vince Spadea in the final. This was the first time he had successfully defended a title and the third time he had won the championship. He then reached the semifinals at both the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, losing to Taylor Dent, and the Canada Masters tournament in Montreal, losing to Andre Agassi. Towards the end of 2005, Rusedski's ranking had risen to the high 30s. A defeat for Rusedski in the first round of the Challenger event in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, left him ranked 38th, just one place short of regaining the UK top spot. Rusedski reclaimed the UK number-one spot on 15 May 2006, overtaking Andy Murray by getting to the third round of the Rome Masters. He lost the top UK ranking again after a first-round exit at Wimbledon. On 7 April 2007, Rusedski officially retired from tennis after partnering with Jamie Murray to a doubles victory over the Netherlands in a Davis Cup match, a result which gave Great Britain a winning 3–0 lead in the tie. He announced his retirement immediately after the win during a live interview with Sue Barker on BBC Television. Rusedski has stayed involved with professional tennis in his retirement, and currently works for the Lawn Tennis Association as a talent and performance ambassador. Rusedski held the record for fastest serve at 149 miles per hour until Andy Roddick broke it. On 24 January 2009, Rusedski confirmed he had been seeking a return to professional tennis. However, Davis Cup captain John Lloyd turned down his offer to compete in the Davis Cup, and Rusedski was unable to obtain any wild-card tournament entries. Because of this, Rusedski quickly retracted his announcement and is still retired. Rusedski vs. Henman Rusedski was often overshadowed in the British press by Henman, especially at Wimbledon. They were generally closely matched over their careers; both reached a highest world ranking of 4. Rusedski won 15 singles titles compared to Henman's eleven, and also reached the final of the US Open in 1997, whereas Henman never made it past the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. However, Henman reached six Grand Slam semifinals and an additional four quarterfinals, whereas Rusedski reached two Grand Slam quarterfinals in total: at the US Open where he reached the final, and at Wimbledon the same year. Neither Rusedski nor Henman ever reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Henman reached the semifinals of the French Open, while Rusedski never made it past the fourth round at that tournament. His Davis Cup singles record was considerably poorer than Henman's. In Great Britain's two key Davis Cup ties in the World Group knockout stage, Rusedski lost all four singles rubbers, despite home advantage (against the US in 1999 and Sweden in 2002). However, as a doubles partnership, Rusedski and Henman won several Davis Cup matches, as well as other tournaments. Rusedski's final match at a Grand Slam was against Henman, at the 2006 US Open. Henman won 7–6, 6–2, 6–3. Over their careers, in head-to-head encounters, Henman won 8–2. Media career Rusedski has an active media career, having written columns for The Sun, The Daily Mirror and The Daily Telegraph. He also works for the television channel British Eurosport providing analysis during the stations' coverage of the Australian Open. He provided commentary and analysis for Sky Sports for their coverage of the US Open and ATP World Tour Events, and for the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon. He has done some acting, appearing in an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple as a tennis player. In 2008, he appeared as a contestant on the reality TV shows Dancing on Ice and Beat the Star. He has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show Countdown. Grand Slam tournament finals Singles: 1 (0–1) Other significant finals Grand Slam Cup Singles: 1 (1–0) Masters Series Singles: 2 (1–1) Career finals Singles: 27 (15 titles, 12 runners-up) Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups) Singles performance timeline 1 This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001. 2 Rusedski was granted British citizenship in May 1995, and competed for Great Britain from 22 May 1995 onwards. Top 10 wins References External links Official website Greg Rusedski at the Association of Tennis Professionals Greg Rusedski at the International Tennis Federation Greg Rusedski at the Davis Cup BBC Sport – Greg Rusedski profile Greg Rusedski at IMDb

Karol_Kučera

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Kučera

Karol Kučera (born 4 March 1974) is a Slovak tennis coach and former professional player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 in September 1998, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open the same year. In 2020, Kučera was elected an MP of the National Council of Slovakia representing the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities movement, along with fellow former tennis players Ján Krošlák and Romana Tabak. Tennis career Kučera turned professional in 1992. He was a member of the Czechoslovakian Galea Cup teams in 1991 and 1992 and the 1992 European championship squad. In 1993 he qualified for his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros. In 1995 when Kučera won his first ATP title in Rosmalen. In 1996 he played in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta where he lost to eventual gold medalist Andre Agassi. A year later he won his second ATP title in Ostrava defeating Magnus Norman. He was runner-up in two other tournaments in Nottingham on grass to Greg Rusedski and Stuttgart Outdoor to Álex Corretja on clay. Kučera's best year was in 1998, where he finished the year in the top 10, ranked World No. 8, which qualified him in the ATP Tour World Championship in Hannover. During the year Kučera won 2 titles in Sydney defeating Tim Henman and New Haven defeating Goran Ivanišević. He reached another two finals, losing to Gustavo Kuerten in Stuttgart Outdoor and to World No. 1 Pete Sampras in Vienna. Overall in 1998, Kučera compiled a career high 53 match victories and earning $1,402,557. Kučera achieved his best Grand Slam result in 1998 reaching the semi-finals of Australian Open where on his way he defeated Sergi Bruguera, Daniel Vacek, Daniel Nestor, Richard Fromberg and defending champion Pete Sampras in the quarter-finals, losing to eventual champion Petr Korda in 4 sets. Later the same year he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open. In 1999, Kučera won his fifth ATP title in Basel defeating Tim Henman in the final. After 1999, Kučera struggled with form due to a right wrist and arm injury. After some injury plagued years, Kučera found some form again in 2003 when he finished in the top 50 for the first time since 1999. During the year he won his sixth and final tour title in Copenhagen defeating Olivier Rochus in the final. Later, Kučera was one of the contributing members on the Slovakian team which reached the final of the Davis Cup in 2005, eventually losing to Croatia 2–3. He announced his retirement after the final. Style of play Miloslav Mečíř known as the "Big Cat" was Kučera's coach from 1997 to 2001. Kučera was nicknamed the "Little Cat" because of his deceptive style of play and his fluid movement around the court resembling his coach. Kučera was also coached for a time by Novak Djokovic's coach Marian Vajda. Career finals Singles 12 (6–6) Doubles: 4 (0–4) Singles performance timeline 1This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001. Top 10 wins References External links Karol Kučera at the Association of Tennis Professionals Karol Kučera at the International Tennis Federation Karol Kučera at the Davis Cup Karol Kučera at Olympedia Karol Kučera at Olympics.com Karol Kučera at Olympic.sk (in Slovak)

2003_US_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_singles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_US_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_singles

Andy Roddick defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final, 6–3, 7–6(7–2), 6–3 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 2003 US Open. It was his first and only major title. Roddick remains the most recent American to win a major men's singles title. Roddick saved a match point en route to the title, in the semifinals against David Nalbandian. He also completed the "Summer Slam," having won Masters titles in Canada and Cincinnati in the lead-up to the US Open. Pete Sampras was the reigning champion, but he retired from professional tennis in August 2003. This tournament marked the first US Open main draw appearance for future four-time champion Rafael Nadal, as well as the first major main draw appearance for future world No. 4 and Wimbledon finalist Tomáš Berdych. It also marked the final major appearances for former major champions Michael Chang and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Seeds Qualifying Draw Key Finals Top half Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Bottom half Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 External links Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – 2003 US Open Men's Singles draw 2003 US Open – Men's draws and results at the International Tennis Federation

Alexander_Popp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Popp

Alexander Popp (born 4 November 1976) is a former German professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2000 and 2003. Personal life Popp was born in Heidelberg to parents Rainer and Jennifer, and started playing tennis at the age of 8. He was coached by Helmut Luthy, from 1994 until retirement. He holds a British passport through his mother, who was born in Wolverhampton. Tennis career Popp turned professional in 1997 at the age of 21. Popp's career highlights are making the quarterfinals of Wimbledon (by far his most successful tournament) in 2000 (defeating Gustavo Kuerten and Michael Chang en route), and in 2003 (defeating Jiří Novák). He also reached the fourth round in 2004, losing to the eventual runner-up in each of these three runs (Patrick Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Andy Roddick respectively), and the third round in 2005. Popp also reached the final of Newport in 2004 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 74. In doubles, Popp made the final of Newport in 2002 (partnering Jürgen Melzer) and the semifinals of the Ho Chi Minh City championships in 2005 (partnering Jiří Vaněk). ATP career finals Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up) ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals Singles: 16 (13–3) Doubles: 2 (2–0) Performance timeline Singles References External links Alexander Popp at the Association of Tennis Professionals Alexander Popp at the International Tennis Federation

Queens_of_the_Stone_Age

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_of_the_Stone_Age

Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Seattle, Washington. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple lineup changes. Since 2013, the lineup has consisted of Homme alongside Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). The band also has a large pool of contributors and collaborators. Queens of the Stone Age are known for their blues, Krautrock and electronica-influenced style of riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock music, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales. Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the spread of the Palm Desert music scene. Their self-titled debut album was recorded with former Kyuss members Alfredo Hernández on drums and Homme on all other instruments. Bass guitarist Nick Oliveri joined the band for its accompanying tour and became the band's co-lead vocalist alongside Homme. The band's second studio album, Rated R, which featured Mark Lanegan as a guest vocalist, was their major label debut, being released on Interscope Records. It was commercially and critically successful, and featured their breakout single "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret". The band's third studio album, Songs for the Deaf, featuring Dave Grohl on drums alongside contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, was released in 2002. After Oliveri's and Lanegan's departures in 2004 and 2005, respectively, Homme became the band's sole lead vocalist, with multi-instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo collaborating on 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze and 2007's electronic-influenced Era Vulgaris. After several years of inactivity, the band signed to independent label Matador Records in 2013 and released a loose trilogy of albums over ten years: ...Like Clockwork (2013), Villains (2017), and In Times New Roman... (2023). The trilogy brought further critical acclaim and a new height of commercial success, with ...Like Clockwork becoming the band's first number-one album in the U.S. The band has been nominated for Grammy Awards nine times: four times for Best Hard Rock Performance, three for Best Rock Album, and once for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. History Formation and debut album (1996–1999) After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996, they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on Roadrunner Records' compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners. It featured guitarist Dave Catching as well as the bassist and drummer of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver, owing to connections Homme made while living in Amsterdam for a few months following Kyuss' breakup. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Catching, a former Kyuss guitar tech, joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands. Rated R (2000–2001) Released in 2000, Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer." The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated: There's a robotic element to our albums, like the repetition of riffs. We also wanted to do a record that had a lot of dynamic range. We wanted to set it up in this band so we could play anything. We don't want to get roped in by our own music. If anyone has a good song (regardless of style) we should be able to play it. During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil. Following his work on Rated R, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005. Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained: Me, Mark [Lanegan], Josh [Homme] and Hutch, our soundman, have the same tattoo, it's from Rock am Ring festival. The time we had to play was 4:15 in the afternoon and it was just a terrible show. It sucked, it was horrible. That's why I tattooed it on my ribs, where it would hurt, so I'd never forget. Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004) Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, joined in late 2001 to record drums for the band's third album, Songs for the Deaf. It was released in August 2002 and again featured Lanegan. The final track on the album, "Mosquito Song", featured former A Perfect Circle member Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano along with Dean Ween on guitar. Another former A Perfect Circle member, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, joined the touring line-up following the album's release. This record was supposed to sound bizarre—like lightning in a bottle. We also were extremely fucked up. It even sounds that way to me, like a crazy person. The radio interludes are supposed to be like the drive from L.A. to Joshua Tree, a drive that makes you feel like you're letting go—more David Lynch with every mile. Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). Furthermore, the latter track was featured in the popular video game Fortnite as a song in Fortnite Festival. The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured in the video game, Tony Hawk's Underground. It was also used as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "Song for the Dead". The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork. Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006) In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted. Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005, as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005, in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013. On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band. On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005. Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004. Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008) On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album. Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied: I wanted to try some shit that was downright embarrassing at first. This record is a grower, not about what isn't there, but what is. Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time. The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring. In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released. On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and PJ Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha's illness. On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album. Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011) During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000. In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection which his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork. After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo. Matador Records trilogy (2011–present) ...Like Clockwork (2011–2014) Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs." In November 2011, Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start." On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album. In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch. In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan. A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John. In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Homme's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack. In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013. ...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013, on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking. Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated: He has his security frisking the bands on the way in. I just told them if you open up my bag I'm not playing so I guess it's up to you whether we are playing or not ... The idea they frisked all my guys, means you're in some different place, no-one has ever done that [to me] ... He also gave us some champagne and wanted us to take a photo with it. And I thought, "That's not a gift, that is a marketing tool." So I destroyed it. Because I thought it was rude overall. And you shouldn't frisk my guys, you should fuck off. The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. The band's performance featured an appearance from Oliveri who played songs with them during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless" which had not been performed in a decade. Villains (2014–2018) The band performed with Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014. In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break. During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year." In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July. On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains which was released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017. On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway. On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed." In Times New Roman... (2019–present) In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he has contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that is set to be further announced by Homme later in the future. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl is involved in the recording sessions. Grohl denied the rumors, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles." In early May 2023, rumors began to surface of the album when a product listing appeared on the band's website titled In Times New Roman..., including an album cover and tracklist. The listing was initially removed. On May 11, the album's first single "Emotion Sickness" was released, along with an official announcement of the album. On May 31, the album's second single "Carnavoyeur" was released. On June 14, the third and final single "Paper Machete" was released, immediately followed by the release of the album on June 16. In early June, Queens of the Stone Age announced an extensive North American tour called "The End Is Nero Tour", immediately followed by a full European leg with dates until late November 2023. This was followed a 2024 tour that included Australia, New Zealand and North America, and Europe. On July 9, the band cancelled several European shows that month so Homme could have emergency surgery, and they cancelled more later that month. Jack White filled in their slot for some festivals. On August 23, the remainder of the band's 2024 shows were cancelled or postponed to 2025 due to Homme needing "essential medical care for the remainder of the year". Musical style Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, and hard rock. Homme has called the band's self-titled debut album driving music, angular and recorded dry; its songs feature solid, repetitive riffs. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's next album, Rated R, has a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests, and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has said, "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on its third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a lineup of three lead vocalists, many guest appearances, and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has called Lullabies to Paralyze a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme said, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me". The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, in large part due to Oliveri's departure. The band almost exclusively used semi-hollow body guitars on the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop its signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme became the only lead vocalist and used more distinct vocal melodies. Homme has on numerous occasions described the band's music as "rock versions of electronic music", saying he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. He called this heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the 2001 Roskilde Festival. Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the "Josh Homme scale", which he said was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (b2) omitted. In the same interview, Homme referenced some earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix. Members Discography Studio albums Queens of the Stone Age (1998) Rated R (2000) Songs for the Deaf (2002) Lullabies to Paralyze (2005) Era Vulgaris (2007) ...Like Clockwork (2013) Villains (2017) In Times New Roman... (2023) Tours Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999) Rated R Tour (2000–2001) Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004) Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006) Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008) Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011) ...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14) Villains World Tour (2017–2018) The End Is Nero Tour (2023) Awards and nominations See also Palm Desert Scene References External links Official website Queens of the Stone Age at AllMusic Queens of the Stone Age discography at Discogs

Them_Crooked_Vultures

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Them_Crooked_Vultures

Them Crooked Vultures is an American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2009 with American musician Josh Homme on lead vocals and guitar, English musician John Paul Jones on bass and keyboards, and American musician Dave Grohl on drums and backing vocals. Chilean-American guitarist Alain Johannes also joins the group during live performances. The band began recording in February 2009, and performed its first gig in Chicago on August 9, 2009, followed by a European debut on August 19. On October 1, the group embarked on the worldwide (excluding Africa, South America, and most Asia) Deserve the Future Tour with dates going into 2010. The band's first single "New Fang" was released in October 2009, followed by its self-titled debut album the following month, which debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200. The group won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for "New Fang". After going on hiatus in 2010, each member of the band has expressed interest in reuniting to record a new album, with conflicting schedules being cited as the primary delay of a full-scale reunion. In September 2022, Them Crooked Vultures reunited for a pair of performances at both London's Wembley Stadium and the Los Angeles Kia Forum, both as part of tribute shows in honour of Foo Fighters' late drummer Taylor Hawkins. In both shows, the group were also joined by Greg Kurstin on keyboards. History Beginnings and Them Crooked Vultures (2005–2009) A collaboration between Josh Homme, John Paul Jones, and Dave Grohl was first publicly mentioned by Grohl in a 2005 interview with Mojo, in which he declared "The next project that I'm trying to initiate involves me on drums, Josh Homme on guitar, and John Paul Jones playing bass." In a 2019 post on his Facebook page, Jimmy Page suggested that he could have been part of the band as well, based on conversations he had with Grohl. Of the nascent project, Homme's ex-wife Brody Dalle commented in July 2009 that "I'm not at liberty to talk about it [...] but I think [the project] is pretty amazing. Just beats and sounds like you've never heard before." After finding that the name Caligula was already taken, the members arbitrarily chose "Them Crooked Vultures" as a name with no significance. British music magazine NME reported in July 2009 that the trio had begun recording in Los Angeles. The band performed its first show at the Metro, Chicago on August 9, 2009, at midnight. The band played all original material during its 80-minute set, debuting such songs as opener "Elephants", "Scumbag Blues", "Caligulove" and closing song "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I". The band made its European debut on August 19 with a performance at Melkweg in the Netherlands, the same day on which a short video clip of studio footage was uploaded by the band, featuring the song "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I". With subsequent festival performances in Europe at Pukkelpop and Lowlands, the band first performed in the United Kingdom at London's Brixton Academy supporting English alternative rock band Arctic Monkeys on August 26. The trio subsequently performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals on August 28 and 29, playing the Leeds Festival first then moving onto Reading the next day. Them Crooked Vultures was released by Interscope Records in North America, and Sony Music internationally. On October 21, radio personality Alan Cross announced the lead single for Them Crooked Vultures debut album to be "New Fang" which premiered on October 26. The single was released on November 2 worldwide as a free download. Icon vs. Icon subsequently announced that the album would be released on November 17, 2009. On November 3, the band gave a free copy of "Mind Eraser (No Chaser)" to fans that had bought tickets to a live performance and offered it on iTunes as a free download. On November 9, Them Crooked Vultures started streaming their full album on their website, and also through a link to their mailing list with the title "Fuck Patience, Let's Dance." On September 1, the band announced two 2009 tours of North America and the United Kingdom, in October and December respectively. The 2009 tour was titled Deserve the Future Tour and the UK leg sold out in just under 12 minutes, making it one of the quickest sold tours in the UK — without the band even officially releasing a song to date. On September 21, the band also announced three Germany dates for December 2009. On November 17, 2009, the single "New Fang" was released as a downloadable song for Rock Band 2. On October 26, 2010, the song titled "Dead End Friends" was included as an on-disc track for the game Rock Band 3. On January 25, 2010, it was confirmed that the band would perform at the Download Festival 2010. On February 6, 2010, the band performed the songs "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" (now the second single) and "New Fang" as musical guests on Saturday Night Live. Dave Grohl also appeared in a sketch near the end of the show. A week later, the band appeared on the PBS show Austin City Limits broadcast February 13, 2010. The band appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 13–14, 2010. The band also confirmed a series of festival appearances for 2010, including the Coachella Music Festival on April 16, Roskilde Festival, the Peace & Love Festival in Borlange, Sweden on July 1, 2010, and Hove Festival in Arendal, Norway on June 30, 2010. The band closed the show on the Alternastage at Rock Am Ring, Nürburg, Germany, playing after midnight on June 7, 2010. In March, it was announced that the group were to play at The Royal Albert Hall in aid of The Teenage Cancer Trust with support coming from Little Fish. On April 20, 2010, Them Crooked Vultures released a digital 45 onto iTunes featuring the songs "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" and the song "Hwy 1" on the A side. "Hwy 1" wasn't featured on the band's self-titled album but was usually played live. For those reasons, the version of "Hwy 1" featured was recorded live in Sydney, Australia. The B-side featured "Vulture Speak", an interview with the band members. Hiatus and possible second album (2010–2022) Grohl said in an interview that they are working on a second album that will be "more powerful than the first one". John Paul Jones also stated in an interview while touring in New Zealand that they will be recording a new album. When asked about the futures of Grohl and Homme's bands Jones said that they will get their frontmen back "eventually". A video was uploaded to the band's official YouTube channel entitled 'Fresh Pots' which NME claimed was filmed during recording for their follow-up album. Grohl clarified after the video's release that it was filmed a year prior, during the self-titled album's recording sessions. On November 12, 2010, in an interview with BBC 6 Music, John Paul Jones has confirmed that the band is ready to resume working on putting together new material for a fresh release, and will go into the studio very soon. Jones has also stated that they are tentatively a year or so away from completing the CD, hinting on a possible late 2011 release. In November 2011, touring member Alain Johannes noted that there are definitely plans to record a second studio album, stating: "The way that the cycles happen, you know, Dave jumped right into Foos, and then Josh toured more than a solid year with Queens for the self-titled album. So I expect at some point after the Queens cycle that there will be [another album]." In December 2012, when asked about the band's future, Dave Grohl stated: "We've talked about it, I know that someday we'll get back together and do stuff, because we love playing with each other." Grohl once again mentioned a possible reunion in an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio station in June 2017. In an interview with The Guardian in August 2019, Grohl stated: "It's still hard to accept that I got to play in a band with [John Paul Jones]. Technically we're still a band. [...] We practice once every decade, and we're coming up on another decade aren't we? I don't have any official news but there's always something cooking." In a further interview with NME, Grohl elaborated: "We've talked. We've got together. I never say never. If you want me to be your drummer, we either have to be best fucking friends or you have to be better than Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. If those guys call and say that it's time to go, then I'm gonna go because that's the band. That's the band that I want to be the drummer of forever. Josh and I talk about it all the time. I know that John would love to as well. It's also like herding cats. So, we'll see." Reunion for tribute shows (2022) In September 2022, the band reunited for two tribute shows dedicated to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. At Wembley Stadium, the group performed "Gunman" as well as covers of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and Queens of the Stone Age's "Long Slow Goodbye". At the KIA Forum show, they reprised the same set, albeit with "Dead End Friends" played instead of "Gunman". During both performances, the group was also joined by Greg Kurstin on keyboards and Alain Johannes on guitar. Musical style Them Crooked Vultures has been described as hard rock and alternative rock. According to Louder Sound, "Them Crooked Vultures is loaded with ample elements of sludge metal, noise rock, grunge, stoner rock, and a generous dash of classic psychedelic rock sensibilities." Band members Official members Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitars, slide guitar John Paul Jones – bass, keyboards, clavinet, piano, keytar, lap steel guitar, slide bass guitar, mandolin, violin, backing vocals Dave Grohl – drums, backing vocals Touring members Alain Johannes – guitars, slide guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals Greg Kurstin – keyboards (2022) Discography Studio albums Singles Notes Awards and nominations Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. References External links Official website Them Crooked Vultures discography at Discogs Them Crooked Vultures's channel on YouTube Live Review at Club Nokia on ARTISTdirect.com Archived April 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine

Kyuss

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyuss

Kyuss ( KY-əs) was an American stoner rock band formed in Palm Desert, California, in 1987, and considered one of the pioneers of the genre. After disbanding in 1995, a number of band members have gone on to form or play in several notable bands including Queens of the Stone Age, Screaming Trees, Fu Manchu, Dwarves, Eagles of Death Metal, Mondo Generator, Hermano, Unida, Slo Burn and Them Crooked Vultures. In November 2010, three former members of the band (minus Homme, who declined to participate) reunited under the adapted moniker "Kyuss Lives!" for a world tour with plans to record a new album. A federal lawsuit subsequently filed by Homme resulted in Oliveri leaving the band in March 2012. Five months later, a court ruled that Garcia and Bjork were not allowed to release audio recordings under the Kyuss Lives! moniker. As a result, they changed their name to Vista Chino. History As Katzenjammer and Sons of Kyuss (1987–1991) The band formed in 1987 jamming under the name Katzenjammer (German slangword for "Hangover" [archaic], literally "moaning of a cat") before eventually deciding upon Sons of Kyuss. Brant Bjork selected the name from the undead monster found in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. In 1989 the band recorded their eponymous debut EP, Sons of Kyuss, which was their only release to feature Chris Cockrell on bass. After self-releasing the EP in 1990, the band recruited Nick Oliveri – who had previously played second guitar in Katzenjammer – to replace Cockrell on bass, and shortened their name to Kyuss. As Kyuss (1991–1995) Kyuss' first line-up consisted of vocalist John Garcia, guitarist Josh Homme, bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Brant Bjork. The band gradually built a local following in Palm Desert, California and frequently performed at parties in and around the isolated towns of Southern California's desert areas. These impromptu and predominantly outdoor shows, referred to locally as "generator parties", consisted of small crowds of people, beer drinking, and the use of gasoline-powered generators to provide electricity for the equipment. Homme commented that playing in the desert "was the shaping factor for the band" noting that "there's no clubs here, so you can only play for free. If people don't like you, they'll tell you. You can't suck." The band then signed with independent record label Dali, a subsidiary of the Elektra Records-distributed Chameleon Records, who released their debut album, Wretch, in September 1991. Several songs on the album were re-recorded versions of those that appeared on the Sons of Kyuss EP. Album sales were sluggish, though the band was quickly making a name for itself as a live act. Guitarist Josh Homme soon gained a reputation for his unique downtuned, psychedelic style of guitar playing, and his convention of playing electric guitars through bass guitar amplifiers to create a bass-heavy sound. In 1992, the band, along with new producer Chris Goss, began work on their next album, Blues for the Red Sun. Goss understood the band, and was able to accurately capture their live sound in the studio. Released in June that year, the album was critically hailed and is today widely regarded as a pioneering stoner rock record. By the end of 1993, they were invited to open nine dates for Metallica touring Australia. Comparisons to stoner rock godfathers Black Sabbath became common, though Homme claimed to have little knowledge of the band at the time but Bjork asserted he and Oliveri were hugely influenced by the British group. Oliveri left the band following completion of the album and Scott Reeder, who had been approached about joining Kyuss five to six months earlier during a West Coast tour with The Obsessed, made his debut at the release party for Blues for the Red Sun. In 1993, Kyuss were moved from Dali to the main Chameleon label, and recorded their third album, Welcome to Sky Valley. Once again produced by Chris Goss, it demonstrated a much more psychedelic and mature sound. However, personal problems emerged and drummer Brant Bjork left the band following completion of the recording sessions. Bjork cited his extreme distaste for touring, particularly band relationship problems that develop during long periods on the road. He was replaced by Alfredo Hernández, who had previously played with Reeder in the band Across the River during the mid-80s. The album was initially scheduled to be released in January 1994, but Chameleon went under in November 1993. Elektra opted to pick up the band's contract from Chameleon, and issued the album in June 1994 to critical acclaim. One of the album's singles, "Demon Cleaner", reached number 78 on the UK Singles Chart. In July 1995, Kyuss released their fourth and final album, ...And the Circus Leaves Town. The band's only album recorded for a major label, it featured a simpler sound, in contrast to the instrumentally based Welcome to Sky Valley. "One Inch Man" was released as the album's only single in June 1995, and a music video was also made for the song. The album was not as successful commercially as Sky Valley, receiving mixed reviews. Kyuss broke up during the late summer of 1995. After the band's breakup in 1995, there had been frequent and persistent speculation among fans regarding the possibility of a Kyuss reunion. When asked in late 2004 about whether the band would ever re-unite, Homme replied that this was unlikely to happen in the near future. However, on December 20, 2005, Garcia made a guest appearance onstage with Queens of the Stone Age during their encore at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles. They performed three Kyuss songs together: "Thumb", "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop". The band has reportedly received numerous offers to reform, all of which have been turned down: "The offers come in all the time. They're getting more and more expensive, and more and more elaborate. The money is crazy, but I've never been tempted – I don't really care about the money, I never have. That's not what KYUSS was about, so to punctuate the end of our sentence with that would be blasphemy. KYUSS fans are so fuckin' rad, they're fuckin' badass – but to me, reunions are just not necessary. It's not what it was, it's what it is, and KYUSS was a really magical thing – and if you weren't there, well, you weren't. That's just the luck of the draw. I don't feel the urge to do it for somebody who didn't have the opportunity to see us, or just didn't take the opportunity to see us. I'll let other bands alter their great legacies. KYUSS has such a great history that it would be a total error. I like that nobody saw KYUSS, and that it was largely misunderstood. That sounds like a legend forming to me. I'm too proud of it to rub my dick on it." Scott Reeder also commented on a possible Kyuss reunion in early 2008, saying "I think everyone but Josh would do it in a heartbeat". Reeder also noted that he would "do it for free beer again". Post-breakup (1996–present) Shortly after the breakup, Homme toured as the rhythm guitarist with Screaming Trees and began work on ongoing The Desert Sessions recording series. In December 1997, a transitional split EP was released, featuring three songs by Kyuss (the Black Sabbath cover "Into the Void," "Fatso Forgotso", and "Flip the Phase") and three songs by Queens of the Stone Age ("If Only Everything", "Born to Hula" and "Spiders & Vinegaroons"). Homme and Hernandez formed Queens of the Stone Age in 1998, and recruited Oliveri as bassist after completion of their debut album. Hernandez later played with Yawning Man, Ché and Orquesta del Desierto, while Oliveri formed the band Mondo Generator, named after the only Kyuss song credited solely (words and music) to him. Drummer Brant Bjork went on to form the band Brant Bjork and the Bros, recorded and performed with Fu Manchu and Mondo Generator, and has recorded several solo albums. John Garcia went on to form Slo Burn, although the band was short-lived and released only one EP, Amusing the Amazing, before disbanding in September 1997. He was also briefly associated with the band Karma to Burn. In 1998, he began working with the band Unida, recording one EP, one LP and an unreleased album. At the same time he started working with the band Hermano, having released three LP's and one live album to date. Garcia had more recently been working on a solo album. In 1997, Homme, Bjork, and Oliveri recorded three songs together ("13th Floor", "Simple Exploding Man", & "Cocaine Rodeo") for Mondo Generator's debut album Cocaine Rodeo, released in 2000. Also featuring Garcia and Chris Goss on one track, the songs are regarded by many fans as the true final Kyuss recordings. In 2000, a compilation album, Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss, was released. The album is a collection of the band's singles, as well as B-sides and live material. Although Kyuss left behind some "rarities", many of them were released on Muchas Gracias, and further releases from the band appear unlikely. Singer John Garcia told Billboard in a 2005 interview: "There are so many untitled songs that have never been heard, that I have up in my little crawl space up above my bed. I don't see those songs coming out anytime in the near future. Everybody's too busy to do stuff like that. It's a job to go back and listen to it, and then if you want to re-record them." In 2010, a European "John Garcia plays Kyuss" tour was announced. In June 2010, former Kyuss members Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork joined Garcia onstage to perform "Green Machine" and "Gardenia" during a headlining appearance by "Garcia Plays Kyuss" at Hellfest in Clisson, France, and they also appeared onstage with Garcia in other concerts on the tour. In November 2010, Garcia, Oliveri and Bjork announced plans to tour under the moniker "Kyuss Lives!" with guitarist Bruno Fevery. In reference to the new band name, Garcia stated that "there is never going to be a Kyuss without Josh Homme" and that "hopefully in the future him and I can get together and do some writing." The band went on to tour Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and North and South America. The band then announced plans to record a new studio album for a summer 2012 release in addition to a live album. However, in March 2012, it was revealed that Josh Homme, after persuading bassist Scott Reeder to support him, had filed a federal lawsuit against John Garcia and Brant Bjork alleging "trademark infringement and consumer fraud" over the use of the Kyuss name despite the fact Brant Bjork had originally created the name. Nick Oliveri left the project later that month after it was revealed that Garcia and Bjork had tried to take control of the Kyuss trademark. In August 2012, the courts ruled that Garcia and Bjork could not release any recordings, studio or live, under the Kyuss Lives! moniker. While they were allowed to continue using the moniker for live shows (as long as, unlike the band's current logo, Lives! is written in the same size and next to the word Kyuss to avoid confusion), the judge stated that they may face issues in the future and that "it may be in Defendants' best interest to begin re-branding under a new name". On November 29, 2012, it was announced that Kyuss Lives! had changed their name to Vista Chino. In July 2020, Homme stated that he was open to the possibility of participating in a Kyuss reunion. "There have been times I thought it cannot end that way, and the only real way to end it correctly now would be to play." In 2021, Bjork stated he had reached out to Homme in regards to his comments, however, the probability of a reunion has been put into question due to a lack of communication from Homme. Discography Wretch (1991) Blues for the Red Sun (1992) Welcome to Sky Valley (1994) ...And the Circus Leaves Town (1995) Band members Josh Homme – guitars, backing vocals (1987–1995) John Garcia – lead vocals (1987–1995) Brant Bjork – drums, percussion (1987–1994) Chris Cockrell – bass (1987–1991) Nick Oliveri – rhythm guitar (1987–1988), bass, backing and lead vocals (1991–1992) Scott Reeder – bass, backing vocals (1992–1995) Alfredo Hernández – drums, percussion (1994–1995) Lineups Timeline References External links Kyuss at AllMusic Kyuss discography at Discogs

Homme

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homme

Homme may refer to: People Homme, the French language word for "man" or "human" Homme (surname), a list of people with the surname Homme Places Homme, Agder, a village in the municipality of Valle in Agder county, Norway Homme dam, a dam which created Homme lake near Park River, North Dakota, USA Other Bête, a historical French card game originally known as jeu de l'homme, l'homme or homme Homme (duo), a South Korean musical duo Homme by David Beckham, a men's eau de toilette fragrance endorsed by English footballer David Beckham

Screaming_Trees

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screaming_Trees

Screaming Trees were an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1984 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel was replaced by Barrett Martin in 1991. Screaming Trees became known as one of the pioneers of grunge along with Melvins, Mudhoney, U-Men, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, Green River, and Malfunkshun, among others. Although widely associated with grunge, the band's sound incorporated hard rock and psychedelic elements. After releasing a string of EPs and albums in the 1980s on independent labels, Screaming Trees signed with Epic Records in 1990. They released their major label debut album in 1991, Uncle Anesthesia, which spawned their first charting single "Bed of Roses". After Martin replaced Pickerel on drums, Screaming Trees released their most successful album in 1992, Sweet Oblivion. "Dollar Bill" became a minor radio hit, but the lead single "Nearly Lost You" vastly increased the band's popularity as it peaked at No. 5 on the Modern Rock Tracks Chart, No. 12 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, No. 50 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 96 on the ARIA Chart. After an extended hiatus and various recording sessions, the band's follow-up album was eventually released in 1996, entitled Dust. Although the lead single "All I Know" peaked at No. 9 on both the Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, the album did not match its predecessor's success. After difficulties in recording another album, the band announced their official breakup in 2000. Their aborted album from the late 1990s was later released in 2011 as Last Words: The Final Recordings. Lanegan died aged 57 on February 22, 2022. Van Conner died aged 55 on January 17, 2023. History 1984–1989: Formation and early releases The Conner brothers formed Screaming Trees with Mark Lanegan and Mark Pickerel in 1984 in Ellensburg, Washington, a small town a little over 100 miles from Seattle. The band was drawn together in high school by an interest in punk, garage, and classic rock. The band rehearsed at the Conner family's video rental store and recorded their demo tape Other Worlds in the summer of 1985 with Steve Fisk at Creative Fire recording studio in Ellensburg. It was initially distributed by the independent label K Records. Other Worlds then got a wider release through the independent label, Velvetone Records (also based out of Ellensburg). In 1986, they released their debut full-length album, Clairvoyance, also on the Velvetone label. Musically, the album combined psychedelic rock and hard rock with the band's aforementioned influences. With Fisk's help, the LP caught the attention of Greg Ginn, and the band were signed to SST Records. In 1987, the band released their second LP, and their first for SST, Even If and Especially When. After the release of the album in 1987, the band began working the American indie circuit, playing shows across the US with other SST bands such as Firehose and Meat Puppets. In early 1988, Screaming Trees collaborated with the indie pop band Beat Happening on the EP Beat Happening/Screaming Trees. Screaming Trees' next album, Invisible Lantern, was released later on in 1988. SST also decided to re-release Other Worlds that same year. Screaming Trees then released the album Buzz Factory in 1989. While attempting to tour behind Buzz Factory, SST had difficulties in releasing the album. By the tour's conclusion, the band became frustrated and departed from the label. Towards the end of 1989, Screaming Trees briefly became a part of the roster for the prominent independent label Sub Pop. The label released the band's EP Change Has Come in December 1989. Half of it was produced by Fisk and the other half was produced by Jack Endino. Drummer Pickerel later described the EP, in his own opinion, as "our best recorded moment". 1990–2000: Major label years In 1990 the band signed a major label contract with Epic Records. The band released their fifth full-length album the following year, and first for a major label, Uncle Anesthesia. The album was produced by Terry Date and Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell and included the single "Bed of Roses", which gained considerable airtime on alternative rock radio stations and peaked at No. 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks Chart. The single was the first Screaming Trees release to chart. Although Uncle Anesthesia sold better than their previous efforts, the band remained a cult act. After the release of Uncle Anesthesia Van Conner went on hiatus from the band, choosing to tour as bass player for Dinosaur Jr. instead, with Donna Dresch filling in for him during Screaming Trees performances. Late in 1991, Nirvana's Nevermind became an unexpected commercial success, opening the gates for the rest of the Seattle scene. Barrett Martin replaced previous drummer Pickerel and the new lineup recorded Sweet Oblivion in 1992. Sweet Oblivion was the band's breakout album and included the hit single "Nearly Lost You". The video for "Nearly Lost You" became an MTV and alternative radio hit in the fall of 1992, thanks to its inclusion in the soundtrack for the film Singles. "Nearly Lost You" peaked at No. 5 on the Modern Rock Tracks Chart, No. 12 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, No. 96 on the ARIA Chart, and No. 50 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's first single to chart outside the United States. "Dollar Bill" was also released as a single and it peaked at No. 28 on the Modern Rock Tracks Chart and at No. 40 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart. Overall, Sweet Oblivion sold a total of 300,000 copies in the United States. Screaming Trees were chosen by Nirvana band leader Kurt Cobain to appear on the final day of the Reading Festival in the United Kingdom on August 30, 1992, which Nirvana headlined. Screaming Trees also played at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 1992 which Nirvana headlined as well. The band supported Sweet Oblivion with a year-long tour, during which tension developed among the members. After the tour was finished, the group took an extended hiatus. During that time, Lanegan recorded his second solo album, Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, which was released in 1994. The following year, Lanegan was featured as a guest vocalist in the Barrett Martin (alongside Layne Staley and Mike McCready) side project Mad Season. Lanegan co-wrote and sang on two songs. Mad Season would only release one album because of Staley's deteriorating health and the 1999 death of bassist John Baker Saunders. In early 1995, Screaming Trees toured Australia for the only time as part of the Big Day Out festival, before beginning work on their follow-up to Sweet Oblivion. Following one stillborn attempt at the album, the band hired producer George Drakoulias, who had previously worked with the Black Crowes and the Jayhawks. The resulting album, Dust, was released in 1996, nearly four years after its predecessor. The album peaked at No. 134 on the Billboard 200 Chart, No. 32 on the UK Albums Chart, and No. 39 on the RPM Top 100 Albums Chart. Dust gained favorable reviews while the singles "Sworn and Broken" peaked at No. 76 on the UK Singles Chart and "All I Know" peaked at No. 9 on both the Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts; however, the album ultimately did not match the sales of Sweet Oblivion. After the release of the album, Josh Homme, formerly from Kyuss, was hired as rhythm guitarist. Following the Dust tour in the United States, Screaming Trees took another hiatus for Lanegan to begin his work on his third solo album, Scraps At Midnight, which was released in 1998. The band headed back into the studio in 1999 and recorded several demos including the song "Ash Grey Sunday" and shopped them around to labels, but no label was interested. The band played a few surprise shows in early 2000 to try to gain a label's attention but they were unsuccessful. They did however release the song "One Way Conversation" on the Musicblitz Records internet label. In 2000, after a concert to celebrate the opening of Seattle's Experience Music Project, the band announced their official breakup. Final album and deaths of Lanegan and Van Conner On June 22, 2011, it was announced that an unreleased album that Screaming Trees recorded in 1998 and 1999 would finally see the light of day. Titled Last Words: The Final Recordings, the album was mixed by Jack Endino and Martin. It was released digitally on Martin's self-owned label Sunyata Productions on August 2, 2011, with CD and vinyl versions released in the following months. In 2021, when asked about his time with Screaming Trees, Lanegan replied, "It's kind of like looking back at grade school. I definitely have fond memories and it's really how I learned to sing — through trial and error, with those guys." Lanegan died on February 22, 2022, at his home in Killarney, Ireland. Gary Lee Conner revealed on January 18, 2023 that Van Conner had died aged 55. He had previously been in a coma due to stomach surgery, followed by contracting COVID-19. It was reported that pneumonia had ultimately led to his death. On Black Friday 2023, Wrong Turn to Jahannam: Live From Egg Studio 1991 was released. It consisted of an in-studio rehearsal session by the band which was unreleased up to that point. Dan Peters of Mudhoney played drums on the recording as it was during his brief time in the band as a touring member. Related projects Mark Lanegan released a solo album in May 2001 entitled Field Songs. Also in that year, he became a member of the alternative rock group Queens of the Stone Age with Homme. Lanegan recorded two albums as one of the group's three vocalists before leaving the group in late 2005. His sixth solo album Bubblegum was released in 2004 and became his best-selling album and his first solo album to chart. He went on to work with Greg Dulli in the Gutter Twins and the Twilight Singers. Lanegan also received critical acclaim for his albums with Isobel Campbell, one of which, Ballad of the Broken Seas, was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize. Gary Lee Conner started the bands the Purple Outside and Microdot Gnome as the vocalist. He has also done session work with other musicians. In 1999, he released the single "Grasshopper's Daydream/Behind the Smile" on Sub Pop, which featured his former bandmates Homme and Pickerel along with his brother Van as producer. Gary Lee later released four solo albums between 2016 and 2021. Initially, Van Conner turned his efforts to his side-project Gardener with Aaron Stauffer (formerly of Seaweed, and later VALIS). In 2001, he contributed to Lanegan's album Field Songs. Van has produced and contributed to several other projects over the years, including Kitty Kitty, VALIS, Gardener, and Gary Lee's Sub Pop single "Grasshopper's Daydream/Behind the Smile". Van's band VALIS released several recordings between 2002 and 2012. Barrett Martin became a touring member for several bands after the breakup of Screaming Trees, including Stone Temple Pilots and R.E.M., and has released two solo albums with limited success. He later contributed to Lanegan's solo album I'll Take Care of You and the album Rated R by Queens of the Stone Age. He later became the drummer for Tuatara and also the drummer/vocalist in The Minus 5. Martin contributed playing drums on two albums by Nando Reis, a Brazilian musician: Para Quando O Arco Irís Encontrar O Pote de Ouro (2000) together with Peter Buck from R.E.M., and A Letra A (2003). Almost immediately after departing from Screaming Trees in 1991, Mark Pickerel formed the band Truly alongside Robert Roth, original Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto, and Chris Quinn. Truly released their debut EP Heart and Lungs in 1991, followed by Quinn's departure shortly after. The band stayed as a trio and they released two full-length albums plus a compilation, followed by a hiatus in 1998. Pickerel also played drums on three of Lanegan's solo albums throughout the 1990s. Pickerel released his debut solo album in 2006, Snake in the Radio. He eventually followed it up with three additional solo albums. Members Gary Lee Conner – guitar, backing vocals (1984–2000) Van Conner – bass, backing vocals (1984–2000; died 2023) Mark Lanegan – lead vocals (1984–2000; died 2022) Mark Pickerel – drums, percussion (1984–1991) Barrett Martin – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1991–2000) Josh Homme – rhythm guitar (1996–1998) Touring members Donna Dresch – bass (1988, 1991) Sean Hollister – drums (1991) Dan Peters – drums (1991) Timeline Discography Clairvoyance (1986) Even If and Especially When (1987) Invisible Lantern (1988) Buzz Factory (1989) Uncle Anesthesia (1991) Sweet Oblivion (1992) Dust (1996) Last Words: The Final Recordings (2011) References External links The official Screaming Trees page Official Facebook page Screaming Trees discography at Discogs Screaming Trees at AllMusic Screaming Trees at IMDb

Joel_Dyck

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Dyck

Joel Oshiro Dyck (born July 28, 1971) is a retired Japanese-Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 15 seasons in the Japan Ice Hockey League and the Asia League Ice Hockey with the Nippon Paper Cranes, and competed at the 2002, 2003, and 2004 IIHF World Championships as a member of the Japan men's national ice hockey team. Career statistics References External links Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

Nippon_Paper_Cranes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Paper_Cranes

The Nippon Paper Cranes (日本製紙クレインズ, Nippon Seishi Kureinzu) were an Asia League Ice Hockey team based in Kushiro City in Hokkaidō, Japan. History The club was founded as Jūjō Paper Kushiro Ice Hockey Club in 1949. They adopted the new name Nippon Paper Cranes in 1993 when Jūjō Paper and Sanyō Kokusaku Pulp merged to form Nippon Paper. They won the inaugural Asia League Ice Hockey title in the 2003–04 season, and have won it four times overall. They also have won the All Japan Ice hockey Championship seven times. After the 2018–19 season, the team was dissolved due to financial difficulties, and was replaced by the East Hokkaido Cranes. Honours Asia League: Winners (4): 2003–04, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2013–14 All Japan Championship: Winners (7): 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 Season-by-season record Asia League *prior to the 2008–2009 season, there were no shoot-outs and games ended in a tie Past import players Georgy Yevtyukhin, 1996–97 C Joel Dyck 2003–2009, D Chris Lindberg 2004–05, LW Derek Plante 2005–07, D Jamie McLennan 2007–08, G Tyson Nash 2007–08, LW Kelly Fairchild 2008–09, C Brad Tiley 2008–09, D Pierre-Olivier Beaulieu 2009–10, D Ash Goldie 2010–11, FW Mike Madill 2010–11, D Ray DiLauro 2011, D Tyler Mosienko 2011–12, C John Hecimovic 2011–12, RW == References ==

Avukana_Buddha_statue

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avukana_Buddha_statue

The Avukana statue is a standing statue of the Buddha near Kekirawa in North Central Sri Lanka. The statue, which has a height of more than 14 m (46 ft), depicts the Buddha with a hand raised in reassurance, a variation of the Abhaya mudra. The Avukana statue is one of the best examples of a standing statue built in Sri Lanka. It is now a popular tourist attraction. Location and appearance The Avukana statue is located in the village of Avukana (also spelled Aukana) near Kekirawa. It figure is set in a slight hollow and faces east, looking toward the Kala Wewa reservoir. It was carved out of a large granite rock face, but is not completely separated. A narrow strip of rock has been left at the back of the statue, connecting it to the rock to support it. The rock face behind the image is carved like Cyclopean masonry, to give the appearance of a mountain. The pedestal on which the Buddha stands takes the form of a lotus flower. The statue alone is 11.84 metres (38 ft 10 in) in height, and with the pedestal, the total height of the Avukana statue reaches over 14 metres (46 ft). The statue was set within a large image house or shrine, of which parts of the lower walls remain. The structure had a stone foundation with the upper portions made of brick. It was 23 metres (74 ft) long and 19 metres (63 ft) wide. Characteristics The Avukana statue is considered to be one of the best examples of a standing statue of the Buddha from ancient Sri Lanka. The Avukana statue shows some influence of the Gandhara school of art, as well as the Amaravati School of India. The robe is worn tightly, clearly outlining the shape of the body, and its pleats are carved clearly and delicately. It is worn over the left shoulder, and the right shoulder is bare, as is the tradition in Buddha statues of Sri Lanka. The Buddha's body is straight, and the left-hand clutches the robe at the left shoulder. The right hand is raised to the right shoulder, with the palm facing the left. This position is known as the Asisa mudra, a variation of the Abhaya mudra. Dating The Avukana statue is widely believed to have been constructed in the 5th century, but several opinions have been expressed from the time of Harry Charles Purvis Bell, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and Senarath Paranavithana. A comprehensive review of the evidence, and a close assessment of the sculpture's style, were undertaken by Diran K. Dohanian, who concluded, based on comparisons with Buddhas elsewhere in Sri Lanka and those produced for the Amaravati school, that the Aukana Buddha belongs to the 8th century. This is confirmed by a donative inscription, found in 1951 on the north wall of the shrine, that is written in Sinhala and dates to the 8th century. Legends While the statue is often said to have been made at the behest of King Dhatusena, another theory is that it was done by an individual named Barana. There is another nearby standing statue of the Buddha, quite similar to the Avukana statue, at Sasseruwa. According to legend, the two statues are the result of a competition between a stone sculpting guru (master) and a goal (pupil). The story goes that the master constructed the Avukana statue, while the pupil made the statue at Sasseruwa. The first to complete his statue had to notify the other by ringing a bell. The master managed to complete his statue first and won the competition. This is said to be why the Sasseruwa statue is unfinished. The Avukana statue is considered to be the better of the two, and the similarities between them have led historians to believe that the story is true. However, that is a mere legend as the Sasseruwa statue was built nearly four hundred years before the Avukana Buddha image. Reswehera Rajamaha Vihara is an ancient temple that was built by King Devanampiyatissa (307-267 BC). Current situation Today, pilgrims visit the statue from all parts of the country and the Avukana statue has become a popular tourist attraction. Although the site lacked many facilities, it has now been improved by the Department of Archaeology and the Civil Defence Force. See also Buduruvagala Maligawila Buddha statue Samadhi statue Toluvila statue List of colossal sculptures in situ References Further reading von Schroeder, Ulrich (1990). Buddhist Sculptures of Sri Lanka. (752 p.; 1620 illustrations). Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, Ltd. ISBN 962-7049-05-0 == External links ==

Kala_Wewa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kala_Wewa

Kala Wewa (Sinhala:කලා වැව), built by the King Datusena in 460 CE, is a reservoir complex consisting of two reservoirs, Kala Wewa and Balalu Wewa. It has the capacity to store 123 million cubic meters of water. This reservoir complex has facilitated with a stone made spillway and three main sluices. From the central major sluice, a 40 feet wide central conveys water to feed thousands of acres of paddy lands and ends at the historical capital Anuradhapura city tank Tissa Wewa meandering over 87 km (54 mi) at a slope of 6 inches per mile and is another wonder of primeval hydraulic engineering facility in ancient Ceylon. History This reservoir was built by King Dhatusena, who ruled the country from 454 to 473 CE. Tamil invaders who arrived from South India ruled the north part of the country during the period from 429 to 455 CE. King Dhatusena repelled the invaders and united the country. He wanted to rebuild the irrigation system by constructing several tanks and canals in and around the city of Anuradhapura. After the construction of Kala Wewa was completed, the king built another tank called Balalu Wewa (Sinhala: බලලු වැව) nearby and connected the two tanks together, with the resulting combined tank being the largest in Sri Lanka. King Mahinda II, who ruled the country during from 777 to 797 CE, expanded the tank further. Water of the tank was transferred to Tissa Wewa (Sinhala: තිසා වැව) in Anuradhapura by an ancient 54-mile (86.9 km) canal, Yodha Ela (Sinhala: යෝධ ඇල), with an average gradient of 6 inches per mile (9.5 cm/km) over the first 17 miles (27 km). Legends King Dhathusena was very keen on information with regard to a spot very suitable to construct a tank to be the massive one in the history of Sri Lanka. There are some folklore on how the king was able to find a place for the tank he imagined. There was a man called Kadawara who left his family and went to live in the jungle due to his wife's unbearable and repeated insults and disrespects towards him. After some years in the jungle he was well accustomed with wild animals and lived with a flock of deer. One day a hunter suddenly noticed this strange man living with animals in the jungle; went to the palace and told the king that it seems that this strange man lives in the forest in order to guard an unknown treasure there. King sent his army to catch him. Kadawara was caught and brought to the palace. When the king questioned him of the treasure, Kadawara revealed his true story and told real reason for his leaving the city and living in the jungle. Then king asked him of any interesting thing he had seen while living in the jungle. Kadawa said, "No sir, I have not seen anything interesting but in a brook somewhere in the jungle, water is being blocked by the flora called Kala that has been grown across that stream. According to this legend, it was the spot wherein the king created the Kala Wewa. Renovation First restoration to the tank is done by King Parakramabahu I in the 12th century. The tank was renovated several times in the past as in the period of British Governor Sir William Henry Gregory (1872–1877 and Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon (1883–1890). After the British rule in the country and in 1958, the tank's bund was reconstructed connecting the tank with Balalu Wewa. Size Its circumference is 40 miles (64.4 km) and has a total area of 7 square miles (18.1 km2) at full capacity. Length of the dam is 22,572 feet (6,879.9 m) and the height is 48 feet (14.6 m). Attraction There is a 12 meter high standing statue of Buddha created by same ruler. This statue is named after the village it is situated so it is called Avukana Buddha statue (Sinhala: අව්කන බුදු පිළිමය) and it can be seen over-looking at the tank near by. Purpose The reservoir served as one of largest irrigation tanks in ancient time. While supplying water also for the small tanks in rural areas on the way, the canal Jaya Ganga carried water from Kala Wewa and stored enough water in the Thisā Wewa for the population of then capital city of Anuradhapura.well Being one of main storages in the Mahaweli Irrigation Scheme since 1976, the tank serves to the population in the North Central Sri Lanka. It is used for fresh water fishing and the flora, specially the grasses in its valley, is the main sources of silage for the herds of cattle in the area. Route The way to Anuradhapura via Dambulla reaches Kekirawa in the Kekirawa Divisional Secretariat and from there the distance to the tank is 6 miles (9.7 km). Kalawewa Railway Station can be reached by train from Colombo Fort to Trincomalee or from Colombo Fort to Batticaloa via Maho Junction Railway Station. See also Dhatusena of Anuradhapura Yodha Ela (Jaya Ganga) == References ==

Dhatusena_of_Anuradhapura

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhatusena_of_Anuradhapura

Dhatusena was a king of Sri Lanka who reigned from 455 to 473 AD. He was the first king of the Moriyan dynasty. In some records, he is also identified as Dasenkeli. Dhatusena reunited the country under his rule after twenty six years of anarchy, defeating the six Dravidians that were ruling the country at that time. Dhatusena built large reservoirs and canals to augment the agriculture in the country. Early life and becoming king Dhatusena's ancestry is uncertain. The Cūḷavaṃsa, the ancient chronicle of Sri Lanka, tells us that he was of royal lineage whose ancestors had fled the royal capital about three hundred seventy-five years earlier. According to Mahavamsa, His grandfather had lived in Nandivapi Grama (Village) and his father in the name of "Dhata" had lived in Ambilayagugama. He had two sons, Dhatusena (the eldest and future king) and Silathisbodhi. The country was invaded in 433 by Tamils apparently of or related to the Pandyan dynasty from South India, known as "the Six Dravidians". They overthrew Mittasena and ruled the Anuradhapura Kingdom for twenty-six years, from 433 to 459. During this time, Sinhalese leaders abandoned Rajarata and fled to the Ruhuna principality in the south of the country. Ruhuna was used as the base for resistance against the invading rulers. Dhatusena was raised by his uncle, a Buddhist monk named Mahanama. The Pandyan invaders were searching for Dhatusena, and his uncle ordained him as a Buddhist monk to disguise him. Dhatusena later organised a resistance movement against the Tamil invaders and led a rebellion against them. Dhatusena claimed the kingship of the country in 455. By the time Dhatusena started the rebellion, three of the six Pandayn invaders were already dead, and in the battles that occurred during the rebellion, two more were killed. The final battle took place in circa 459, where the last king, Pithiya, was killed. Having defeated the Parindyan invaders, Dhatusena was crowned as the king of Sri Lanka in 459, taking Anuradhapura as his capital. After his coronation, he had had the villages of the fervent supporters of the former Dravidian kings confiscated as a penalty for their disloyalty. Services as king After being enthroned, he persuaded the people who have fled to Ruhuna to re-populace their abandoned regions in Anuradhapura. Dhatusena built eighteen massive irrigation tanks and eighteen small irrigation tanks in order to develop agriculture in the country. Among these tanks are the Kala Wewa and Balaluwewa, which are interconnected and cover an area of 6,380 acres (2,580 ha) and 7000 acres are/were cultivated from this huge volume of water. He had also built Padaviya Wewa(Dana Wewa), Yodha wewa(Manamuthu Wewa), Meddaketiya Wewa and Maeliya Wewa. He also constructed the Yodha Ela, also known as Jayaganga, an irrigation canal carrying water from Kala Wewa to Tissawewa tank in a journey of approx. 54 miles from Anuradhapura. Yoda Ela descends 95 millimeters at each kilometer. This is regarded as a great technological achievement. The Avukana Buddha statue, a 13-metre (43 ft) high statue of Gautama Buddha, is also a creation of Dhatusena.Lahugala Magulmahaviharaya was also built by this king. Further reports suggest that there was a tradition of crowning a Buddha sculpture and thus having the king's powers under the auspices of Buddhism which would make it possible for the king to govern the country in unity. He also had installed Vajra-Chumbhatas(lightning rod) on the top of the three main dagobas in Anuradhapura. The Culavamsa describes this king as the builder of 18 vihara (temple complexes). For an example, he restored the ''Mahapalidhanasala'' into its original state. During his reign a redaction of the Pali Tipitaka ("3 baskets", the theravada canon) took place. Death Dhatusena had two sons, Kasyapa I, Moggallana I and a daughter. Moggallana was the son of the royal consort and the rightful heir to the throne, while Kasyapa was born to a non-royal concubine. Dhatusena’s daughter was married to his sister’s son and the general of his army, Migara. Later, as a consequence of an argument between his daughter and her husband, Migara, she was severely tortured by him which in turn enraged Dhatusena who then ordered his mother (Dhatusena's sister) to be burned alive. In reprisal, Migara encouraged and assisted Kasyapa to overthrow the king and take the throne. Kasyapa eventually rebelled against Dhatusena and overthrew him. Dhatusena was imprisoned and Kasyapa became the king of the country in 473. Migara led Kasyapa to believe that Dhatusena had hidden treasures of great wealth and persuaded him to find these. When asked to lead Kasyapa to where these treasures were hidden, Dhatusena led him to the Kalavewa and taking water into his hands, claimed that this was the only treasure he had. Enraged at this, Kasyapa had him murdered by immuring him in a wall. (an alternate story is that he was buried alive in the bund of the Kalaweva). He went and wrought a castle on Sigiriya Rock. See also Kala Wewa Mahavamsa List of Sri Lankan monarchs History of Sri Lanka == References ==

Cypress_Provincial_Park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Provincial_Park

Cypress Provincial Park is a provincial park on the North Shore of Metro Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia. The park has two sections: a 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi) southern section which is accessible by road from West Vancouver, and a 9 km2 (3.5 sq mi) northern section which is only accessible by hiking trails. The two sections are linked by a narrow strip of park along the mountainous Howe Sound Crest Trail. The southern section of Cypress Provincial Park contains a ski area (Cypress Mountain Ski Area) that is operated under a Park Use Permit by a private company called Cypress Bowl Recreations Ltd, owned by Boyne Canada, a subsidiary of US-based Boyne Resorts. Etymology The name Cypress refers to the tree Cupressus nootkatensis, also known as yellow cedar or yellow cypress, which is common in the park at altitudes over 800 metres. Cypress Bowl is the name of the bowl between the three mountains that make up the Cypress Mountain Ski Area (Mount Strachan, Black Mountain, and Hollyburn Mountain). History Evidence of Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations use has been documented in the park, including 350-400 year old bark-stripping scars on old-growth yellow cedar trees above Yew Lake. Logging first began in 1870 to clear cut dense forests on Mount Vaughan, later renamed to Hollyburn Mountain in 1912. In 1918, James Nasmyth started a logging operation and built a mill on Rodgers Creek which operated until 1923. In the 1920s, Hollyburn Mountain became a popular recreation area for hikers and skiers utilizing the old logging roads. In 1926, the Hollyburn Lodge was built on First Lake, becoming the first commercial ski camp on the North Shore when it opened as the Hollyburn Ski Camp on January 16, 1927. In 1933, the West Lake Ski Camp also opened. By the late 1930s, Heaps Timber Company acquired timber leases in the Hollyburn and Cypress Bowl area. Public controversy forced the provincial government to set aside Cypress Bowl as a park reserve in 1944, after 40 hectares had already been logged. On January 17, 1951, the Hollyburn Aerial Tram (HAT) chairlift and HAT Inn opened near Hi-View Lookout. With rising popularity of skiing, nearly 300 cabins were built on Hollyburn Ridge by the 1960s. Clear-cut logging resumed in 1966, affecting portions of Black Mountain and Strachan Mountain. The controversy about logging in the park, under the oversight of the Social Credit government, was debated in the BC Legislature and reported on in the media.[citation needed] Public outrage caused the province to take over development of winter recreation in 1971, resulting in the creation of Alpine and Nordic skiing facilities in 1972 and the construction of Cypress Bowl Road in 1973. Cypress Provincial Park was granted Class A Provincial Park status in 1975. The park was expanded north in 1982 to its current boundaries. The expansion included a narrow ridge running from Cypress Bowl to Brunswick Mountain, along what is now the Howe Sound Crest Trail, and a valley of subalpine mountain lakes (Brunswick Lake, Hanover Lake, and Deeks Lake). The Howe Sound Crest Trail linking the two park sections was completed by the late 1980s. In 1984, the ski resorts, formerly operated by BC Parks, were privatized and now operate under a Park Use Permit. Beginning in 1986, the ski resort operator began attempts to block public access to winter activities in the provincial park without a day pass, resulting in protests. Hiker access trails were later developed to ensure public access to park areas outside of the resort area. The resort has unsuccessfully petitioned to expanded their Park Use Permit area numerous times but in 2002, 40 hectares of second growth forest on Black Mountain were added to the permit area, while a similar area of mostly old-growth forest and subalpine meadow on Hollyburn and Strachan was removed from the permit area. Cypress Creek Lodge opened in 2008. In 2010, Cypress helped host the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver where it hosted Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding competitions. The original Hollyburn Lodge, first constructed in 1926, completed renovations and reopened in 2018. Climate Winter season During the winter, this is a ski area for both cross-country and alpine skiers. The ski operation has four quad (2 are high speed) and two double chairlifts, as well as a tube tow and a magic carpet for their ski school participants. With 53 downhill runs (beginner 23%, intermediate 37%, advanced 40%) and over 19 km (12 mi) of cross-country trails, Cypress Mountain is the largest ski area on Vancouver's North Shore. It also has the highest vertical rise, 613 m (2,011 ft), of the three North Shore ski resorts. Summer use In summer and fall, the park is usually free of snow and is popular with hikers. Its trail system includes sections of the Baden-Powell Trail in the southern section of the park, as well as the Howe Sound Crest Trail in the northern section. Parkbus offers a seasonal shuttle service to the park. Beginning in the summer of 2005, Cypress Mountain Resort has created a lift-assisted mountain bike park, as set out in the 1997 Cypress Provincial Park Master Plan. Even though the lift accessed biking has now been closed for Olympic preparations and they have not yet bothered to restore the trails Cypress still hold many non-lift accessed bike trails. Most of these trails are situated lower down the mountain and are actually not a part of the park because of this they are under threat to development. These Trails on Cypress (Black Mountain Side) are known around the world for being some of the most technically challenging in the world, more challenging than the other two shore mountains (Seymour and Fromme). Trails on Cypress are known as being steep, eroded, and very dangerous. It has multiple rock faces that are close to vertical also having large jumps and drops. Most famous of these is the Brutus Gap, (appearing in many large bike films) it is a step-down drop in excess of 20 ft (6.1 m) in both length and height. That being said Cypress does house some more easily ridable trails, still not easy by any means but more accessible. Some of these include: Mystery DH, Stupid Grouse, Slippery Canoe, Upper Tall Cans, Firehose, and Pull Tab. Some of the legendary and most difficult trails are: 5th Horseman, Sex Girl, Shoreplay. One of the original trails is pre-reaper and reaper these are steep trails that used to have some very difficult man made features, sadly most of these were sawed down and destroyed by the government. For more information regarding trails on Cypress there are mountain bike specific maps that include many of the trails and is a great place to start for riding on the mountain. Major mountains in the park The lower section of the park contains three main mountains that form Cypress Bowl. The upper, smaller, section includes a series of mountains along a north–south ridge from St. Mark's in the south to Gotha Peak in the far north of the park. Cypress Bowl (South) Mt. Strachan Black Mountain Hollyburn Mountain. Howe Sound Crest (North) St. Mark's Summit Unnecessary Mountain The Lions Thomas Peak David Peak James Peak Mt. Harvey Brunswick Mountain Hat Mountain Mt. Hanover Wettin Peak Coburg Peak Gotha Peak 2010 Olympics A significant part of Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics was hosted by Cypress in February 2010, including the snowboard (half-pipe, snowboard cross and parallel giant slalom) and freestyle skiing (moguls and aerials) events, as well as the recently added Skiercross, which used the snowboardcross run, with some modifications. The Freestyle Venue was completed in the Fall of 2006. References External links Friends of Cypress Provincial Park

The_Two_Sisters_(British_Columbia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Sisters_(British_Columbia)

The Lions, known as Ch'ích'iyúy Elx̱wíḵn ("The Twin Sisters") in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) language, are a pair of pointed peaks (West Lion – 1,646 m (5,400 ft); East Lion – 1,606 m (5,269 ft)) along the North Shore Mountains in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They can be seen from much of the Greater Vancouver area, as far as Robert Burnaby Park in East Burnaby, south to parts of Surrey, and from the west on the Howe Sound Islands and the Sunshine Coast. Along with the Lions Gate Bridge named in their honour, these twin summits have become one of the most recognizable Vancouver landmarks. The city's BC Lions CFL football team is also named in their honour. Lions Gate Entertainment which was founded in Vancouver in July, 1997 is also named for the peaks. Geology The Lions are composed of hornblende diorite, the oldest plutonic rock on the West Coast of Canada. Hiking and rock climbing routes Hikers can climb up to the ridge between the East and West Lion peaks using either the Binkert Trail leading up from Lions Bay, or the Howe Sound Crest Trail. The Binkert Trail, named after Paul Binkert of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club, is one of the most popular in the Lower Mainland. Hiking to the ridge from Lions Bay takes approximately four hours and gains 1,280 m (4,199 ft) in elevation. Most hikers stop there as both the East and West Lion peaks require rock climbing equipment and expertise. The East Lion is out-of-bounds for climbing as it is located in the Greater Vancouver watershed. Early ascents According, to an article by Steven Threndyle in The Greater Vancouver Book, "the earliest recorded climb of the West Lion in 1889 happened almost by accident. A group of hunters following a herd of goats found themselves at the top with no place to go but down. The hunting party was guided by Squamish First Nations Chief Joe Capilano. One of the members of the hunting team was Doctor Henry Bell-Irving, who asked Chief Capilano if he could time one of the chief's young natives to see how long it would take him to run from the base of the West Lion to the summit. The youth stripped completely naked, made the round trip ascent and descent in under 20 minutes. The first recorded ascent, and the account with more certainty, is the August 11, 1903, ascent by celebrated BCMC climbers Atwell King (1877–1947) (after whom Atwell Peak on Mt. Garibaldi is named), George Martin, and Arthur Tinniswood Dalton (1883–1962) (after whom Dalton Dome is named). They took the Terminal Steamship boat from Vancouver to Hood Point on Bowen Island, and then sailed with the innkeeper across to the east shore of Howe Sound, near present-day Lions Bay. They then commenced what would have been a shredding bushwhack up to West Lion, roped together for safety during much of the ascent. Atwell King reported to the Vancouver Daily Province that he had “...been on Crown Mountain and thought the view from there was exceedingly fine, but the prospect from The Lions is infinitely more magnificent.” With its steep granitic face, the East Lion was believed to be impossible to scale. That did not deter John Latta and his two brothers from setting out to climb the East Lion in 1903. Hearing that climbers often used ropes for mountaineering ascents, they packed one along but actually had no idea of how to use it. Their technique was to grasp the small shrubs and bushes growing out of the cracks in the rock. The Latta brothers also climbed the West Lion on their way out. "The Sisters" The Indigenous Squamish people named these two prominent peaks "Ch'ích'iyúy Elx̱wíḵn" (translates as 'Twin Sisters'). These mountains remain sacred for their legal marker of a peace treaty, family lineage histories, and spiritual value. The two peaks were transformed by the Sky Brothers, or Transformers, after twin sisters that had married with Haida twins created the path for the war to end between the Squamish and Haida people. The families that made the Peace Treaty and married together still live in the Squamish and Haida Nations. In another version of the myth, the Haida (Stek’in in Squamish), the mortal enemies of the Squamish, travelled down the coast to raid and enslave the Squamish. Among the Haida raiders were young twin brothers who were the son of a Haida chief. The brothers were given the task of guarding the canoes while the elder raiders scouted out the target village. The Haida boys grew restless and climbed up a ridge to view the Squamish village themselves. At sunrise they were surprised to see that the first Squamish villagers up were twin sisters. The Haida raided, killing many Squamish. The twin sisters were spared and given over to the brothers as wives, who returned to the north with them. Among the Haida the Squamish wives were admired but sad. They persuaded their new Haida family to seek peace with the Squamish, which the Squamish accepted. The Creator commemorated their peacekeeping by making them into immortal mountains. Sometime around 1890, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice John Hamilton Gray proposed that Canada rename the mountain peaks to lions couchant from heraldry, or in reference to the lion statues in Trafalgar Square sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer. Gallery References External links "The Lions". BC Geographical Names. The Lions-Binkert Trail hiking route

Unnecessary_Mountain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnecessary_Mountain

Unnecessary Mountain, also called Mount Unnecessary, is a peak in the North Shore Mountains near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and a popular hiking destination. Its two summits are within Cypress Provincial Park, accessible via the Howe Sound Crest Trail and the Unnecessary Mountain Trail from Lions Bay. The taller south summit has an elevation of 1,548 m (5,079 ft) and its north summit is slightly lower at 1,543 m (5,062 ft). The mountain is so named because of an "unnecessary" ascent over this mountain to reach The Lions. In December 2014, a rockslide killed 7-year-old Erin Kate Moore as she was hiking with a group on Unnecessary Mountain. A second peak, also named Unnecessary Mountain, is located in Alberta northwest of the town of Pincher Creek. == References ==

Falklands_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War

The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities. The conflict was a major episode in the protracted dispute over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina asserted (and maintains) that the islands are Argentine territory, and the Argentine government thus described its military action as the reclamation of its own territory. The British government regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841. Falkland Islanders, who have inhabited the islands since the early 19th century, are predominantly descendants of British settlers, and strongly favour British sovereignty. Neither state officially declared war, although both governments declared the islands a war zone. The conflict had a strong effect in both countries and has been the subject of various books, articles, films, and songs. Patriotic sentiment ran high in Argentina, but the unfavourable outcome prompted large protests against the ruling military government, hastening its downfall and the democratisation of the country. In the United Kingdom, the Conservative government, bolstered by the successful outcome, was re-elected with an increased majority the following year. The cultural and political effect of the conflict has been less in the UK than in Argentina, where it has remained a common topic for discussion. Diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina were restored in 1989 following a meeting in Madrid, at which the two governments issued a joint statement. No change in either country's position regarding the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was made explicit. In 1994, Argentina adopted a new constitution, which declared the Falkland Islands as part of one of its provinces by law. However, the islands continue to operate as a self-governing British Overseas Territory. Prelude Failed diplomacy In 1965, the United Nations called upon Argentina and the United Kingdom to reach a settlement of the sovereignty dispute. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) regarded the islands as a nuisance and barrier to UK trade in South America. Therefore, while confident of British sovereignty, the FCO was prepared to cede the islands to Argentina. When news of a proposed transfer broke in 1968, elements sympathetic with the plight of the islanders were able to organise an effective parliamentary lobby to frustrate the FCO plans. Negotiations continued, but in general failed to make meaningful progress; the islanders steadfastly refused to consider Argentine sovereignty on one side, whilst Argentina would not compromise over sovereignty on the other. The FCO then sought to make the islands dependent on Argentina, hoping this would make the islanders more amenable to Argentine sovereignty. A Communications Agreement signed in 1971 created an airlink and later YPF, the Argentine oil company, was given a monopoly in the islands. In 1977, the British prime minister, James Callaghan, in response to heightened tensions in the region and the Argentine occupation of Southern Thule, secretly sent a force of two frigates and a nuclear-powered submarine, HMS Dreadnought, to the South Atlantic, codenamed Operation Journeyman. It is unclear whether the Argentines were aware of their presence, but British sources state that they were advised of it through informal channels. Nevertheless, talks with Argentina on Falklands sovereignty and economic cooperation opened in December of that year, though they proved inconclusive. In 1980, a new UK Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Nicholas Ridley, went to the Falklands trying to sell the islanders the benefits of a leaseback scheme, which met with strong opposition from the islanders. On his return to London in December 1980, he reported to parliament but was viciously attacked at what was seen as a sellout. (It was unlikely that leaseback idea would have progressed further anyway since the British had sought a long-term lease of 99 years, whereas Argentina was pressing for a much shorter period of only thirty years.) At a private committee meeting that evening, it was reported that Ridley said: "If we don't do something, they will invade. And there is nothing we could do." The Argentine junta In the period leading up to the war—and, in particular, following the transfer of power between the military dictators General Jorge Rafael Videla and General Roberto Eduardo Viola late in March 1981—Argentina had been in the midst of devastating economic stagnation and large-scale civil unrest against the National Reorganization Process, the military junta that had been governing the country since 1976. In December 1981, there was a further change in the Argentine military regime, bringing to office a new junta headed by General Leopoldo Galtieri (acting president), Air Brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo and Admiral Jorge Anaya. Anaya was the main architect and supporter of a military solution for the long-standing claim over the islands, expecting that the United Kingdom would never respond militarily. By opting for military action, the Galtieri government hoped to mobilise the long-standing patriotic feelings of Argentines towards the islands, diverting public attention from the chronic economic problems and the ongoing human rights violations of its Dirty War, bolstering the junta's dwindling legitimacy. The newspaper La Prensa speculated on a step-by-step plan beginning with cutting off supplies to the islands, ending in direct actions late in 1982, if the UN talks were fruitless. The ongoing tension between the two countries over the islands increased on 19 March, when a group of Argentine scrap metal merchants (which had been infiltrated by Argentine Marines) raised the Argentine flag at South Georgia Island, an act that would later be seen as the first offensive action in the war. The Royal Navy ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance was dispatched from Stanley to South Georgia on the 25th in response. The Argentine military junta, suspecting that the UK would reinforce its South Atlantic Forces, ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands to be brought forward to 2 April. The UK was initially taken by surprise by the Argentine attack on the South Atlantic islands, despite repeated warnings by Royal Navy captain Nicholas Barker (Commanding Officer of the Endurance) and others. Barker believed that Defence Secretary John Nott's 1981 Defence White Paper (in which Nott described plans to withdraw the Endurance, the UK's only naval presence in the South Atlantic) had sent a signal to the Argentines that the UK was unwilling, and would soon be unable, to defend its territories and subjects in the Falklands. Argentine invasion On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces mounted amphibious landings, known as Operation Rosario, on the Falkland Islands. The invasion was met with a fierce but brief defence organised by the Falkland Islands' Governor Sir Rex Hunt, giving command to Major Mike Norman of the Royal Marines. The garrison consisted of 68 marines and eleven naval hydrographers, assisted by 23 volunteers of the Falkland Islands Defence Force (FIDF), who had few weapons and were used as lookouts. The invasion started with the landing of Lieutenant Commander Guillermo Sanchez-Sabarots' Amphibious Commandos Group, who attacked the empty Moody Brook barracks and then moved on Government House in Stanley. When the 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion with Assault Amphibious Vehicles arrived, the governor ordered a ceasefire and surrendered. The governor, his family and the British military personnel were flown to Argentina that afternoon and later repatriated to the United Kingdom. Initial British response The British had already taken action prior to the 2 April invasion. In response to events on South Georgia, on 29 March, Ministers decided to send the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Fort Austin south from the Mediterranean to support HMS Endurance, and the nuclear-powered fleet submarine HMS Spartan from Gibraltar, with HMS Splendid ordered south from Scotland the following day.: 75  Lord Carrington had wished to send a third submarine, but the decision was deferred due to concerns about the impact on operational commitments. Coincidentally, on 26 March, the submarine HMS Superb left Gibraltar and it was assumed in the press she was heading south. There has since been speculation that the effect of those reports was to panic the Argentine junta into invading the Falklands before submarines could be deployed; however, post-war research has established that the final decision to proceed was made at a junta meeting in Buenos Aires on 23 March. The following day, during a crisis meeting headed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Henry Leach, advised that "Britain could and should send a task force if the islands are invaded". On 1 April, Leach sent orders to a Royal Navy force carrying out exercises in the Mediterranean to prepare to sail south. Following the invasion on 2 April, after an emergency meeting of the cabinet, approval was given to form a task force to retake the islands. This was backed in an emergency sitting of the House of Commons the next day. Word of the invasion first reached the UK from Argentine sources. A Ministry of Defence operative in London had a short telex conversation with Governor Hunt's telex operator, who confirmed that Argentines were on the island and in control. Later that day, BBC journalist Laurie Margolis spoke with an islander at Goose Green via amateur radio, who confirmed the presence of a large Argentine fleet and that Argentine forces had taken control of the island. British military operations in the Falklands War were given the codename Operation Corporate, and the commander of the task force was Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse. Operations lasted from 1 April 1982 to 20 June 1982. On 6 April, the British Government set up a War Cabinet to provide day-to-day political oversight of the campaign. This was the critical instrument of crisis management for the British with its remit being to "keep under review political and military developments relating to the South Atlantic, and to report as necessary to the Defence and Overseas Policy Committee". The War Cabinet met at least daily until it was dissolved on 12 August. Although Margaret Thatcher is described as dominating the War Cabinet, Lawrence Freedman notes in the Official History of the Falklands Campaign that she did not ignore opposition or fail to consult others. However, once a decision was reached, she "did not look back". United Nations Security Council Resolution 502 On 31 March 1982, the Argentine ambassador to the UN, Eduardo Roca, began attempting to garner support against a British military build-up designed to thwart earlier UN resolutions calling for both countries to resolve the Falklands dispute through discussion.: 134  On 2 April, the night of the invasion, a banquet was held at Roca's official residence for the US ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and several high-ranking officials of the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Defense. This led British diplomats to view Kirkpatrick, who had earlier called for closer relationships with South American dictatorships, with considerable suspicion. On 1 April, London told the UK ambassador to the UN, Sir Anthony Parsons, that an invasion was imminent and he should call an urgent meeting of the Security Council to get a favourable resolution against Argentina. Parsons had to get nine affirmative votes from the 15 Council members (not a simple majority) and to avoid a blocking vote from any of the other four permanent members. The meeting took place at 11:00 am on 3 April, New York time (4:00 pm in London). United Nations Security Council Resolution 502 was adopted by 10 to 1 (with Panama voting against) and 4 abstentions. Significantly, the Soviet Union and China both abstained. The resolution stated: This was a significant win for the UK, giving it the upper hand diplomatically. The draft resolution Parsons submitted had avoided any reference to the sovereignty dispute (which might have worked against the UK): instead it focused on Argentina's breach of Chapter VII of the UN Charter which forbids the threat or use of force to settle disputes. The resolution called for the removal only of Argentine forces: this freed Britain to retake the islands militarily, if Argentina did not leave, by exercising its right to self-defence allowed under the UN Charter.: 141 Argentine occupation The Argentine Army unit earmarked for the occupation was the 25th Infantry Regiment, a unit of about 681 men specially trained from all the regions of Argentina; it was flown into Port Stanley Airport as soon as the runway had been cleared. Once it became clear that the British were sending an amphibious task force, there was a general recall of reservists and two brigades of eight infantry regiments and their supporting units were dispatched to the islands. The total Argentine garrison numbered some 13,000 troops by the beginning of May. The conscripts born in 1963 had only recently been called-up, so they were supplemented by the recall of the previous year's intake. Brigadier General Mario Benjamín Menéndez was appointed Military Governor of the Malvinas. Argentine military police arrived with detailed files on many islanders, allowing intelligence officer Major Patricio Dowling to arrest and interrogate islanders who he suspected might lead opposition to the occupation. Initially, Islanders suspected of holding anti-Argentine views were expelled, including the Luxton family (who had lived in the islands since the 1840s) and David Colville, editor of the Falklands Times. This proved to be counter-productive, as those expelled gave interviews to the press. Subsequently, fourteen other community leaders, including the senior medical officer, were interned at Fox Bay on West Falkland. Concerned by Dowling's actions, senior Argentine officers had him removed from the islands. For almost a month, the civilian population of Goose Green was detained in the village hall in "unpleasant conditions". Less well known are similar detentions in other outlying settlements, including one islander who died after being denied access to his medication. As the war's end approached, some troops began to place booby traps in civilian homes, defiled homes with excrement, destroyed civilian property and committed arson against civilian properties. Argentine officers and NCOs have been accused of handing out rough Field punishment to their conscript soldiers. Ration packs from the Moody Brook depot were found to have foodstuff missing according to Private Alan Craig from the 7th Regiment, and troops garrisoning Port Howard were starved, and according to Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins in their book The Battle for the Falklands (Norton, 1984), "Attempts to go absent without leave were punished by beatings or forcing the offender to sit for hours with his naked feet in the freezing water on the mountainside." Private Rito Portillo from the 1st Marine Anti-Aircraft Battalion and Private Remigio Fernández from the 5th Regiment were reported to have been executed or died because of mistreatment by their own officers. Soldiers were made to sign non-disclosure documents on their return from the Islands. Shuttle diplomacy On 8 April, Alexander Haig, the United States Secretary of State, arrived in London on a shuttle diplomacy mission from President Ronald Reagan to broker a peace deal based on an interim authority taking control of the islands pending negotiations. After hearing from Thatcher that the task force would not be withdrawn unless the Argentines evacuated their troops, Haig headed for Buenos Aires. There he met the junta and Nicanor Costa Méndez, the foreign minister. Haig was treated coolly and told that Argentine sovereignty must be a pre-condition of any talks. Returning to London on 11 April, he found the British cabinet in no mood for compromise. Haig flew back to Washington before returning to Buenos Aires for a final protracted round of talks. These made little progress, but just as Haig and his mission were leaving, they were told that Galtieri would meet them at the airport VIP lounge to make an important concession; however, this was cancelled at the last minute. On 30 April, the Reagan administration announced that they would be publicly supporting the United Kingdom. British task force The nuclear-powered submarine Conqueror set sail from Faslane, Scotland on 4 April. The two aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes and their escort vessels left Portsmouth, England only a day later. On its return to Southampton from a world cruise on 7 April, the ocean liner SS Canberra was requisitioned and set sail two days later with the 3 Commando Brigade aboard. The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was also requisitioned, and left Southampton on 12 May, with the 5th Infantry Brigade on board. The whole task force eventually comprised 127 ships: 43 Royal Navy vessels, 22 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, and 62 merchant ships. The retaking of the Falkland Islands was considered extremely difficult. The chances of a British counter-invasion succeeding were assessed by the US Navy, according to historian Arthur L. Herman, as "a military impossibility". Firstly, the British were significantly constrained by the disparity in deployable air cover. The British had 42 aircraft (28 Sea Harriers and 14 Harrier GR.3s) available for air combat operations, against approximately 122 serviceable jet fighters, of which about 50 were used as air superiority fighters and the remainder as strike aircraft, in Argentina's air forces during the war. Crucially, the British lacked airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft. Planning also considered the Argentine surface fleet and the threat posed by Exocet-equipped vessels or the two Type 209 submarines. By mid-April, the Royal Air Force had set up an airbase on RAF Ascension Island, co-located with Wideawake Airfield, on the mid-Atlantic British overseas territory of Ascension Island. They included a sizeable force of Avro Vulcan B Mk 2 bombers, Handley Page Victor K Mk 2 refuelling aircraft, and McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR Mk 2 fighters to protect them. Meanwhile, the main British naval task force arrived at Ascension to prepare for active service. A small force had already been sent south to recapture South Georgia. Encounters began in April; the British Task Force was shadowed by Boeing 707 aircraft of the Argentine Air Force during their travel to the south. Several of these flights were intercepted by Sea Harriers outside the British-imposed Total Exclusion Zone; the unarmed 707s were not attacked because diplomatic moves were still in progress and the UK had not yet decided to commit itself to armed force. On 23 April, a Brazilian commercial Douglas DC-10 from VARIG Airlines en route to South Africa was intercepted by British Harriers who visually identified the civilian plane. Recapture of South Georgia and the attack on Santa Fe The South Georgia force, Operation Paraquet, under the command of Major Guy Sheridan RM, consisted of Marines from 42 Commando, a troop of the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) troops who were intended to land as reconnaissance forces for an invasion by the Royal Marines, a total of 240 men. All were embarked on RFA Tidespring. First to arrive was the Churchill-class submarine HMS Conqueror on 19 April, and the island was over-flown by a Handley Page Victor aircraft with radar-mapping equipment on 20 April, to establish that no Argentine ships were in the vicinity. The first landings of SAS and SBS troops took place on 21 April, but an ill-advised mission to establish an SAS observation post on the Fortuna Glacier had to be withdrawn after two helicopters crashed in fog and high winds. On 23 April, a submarine alert was sounded and operations were halted, with Tidespring being withdrawn to deeper water to avoid interception. On 24 April, British forces regrouped and headed in to attack. On 25 April, after resupplying the Argentine garrison in South Georgia, the submarine ARA Santa Fe was spotted on the surface by a Westland Wessex HAS Mk 3 helicopter from HMS Antrim, which attacked the Argentine submarine with depth charges. HMS Plymouth launched a Westland Wasp HAS.Mk.1 helicopter, and HMS Brilliant launched a Westland Lynx HAS Mk 2. The Lynx launched a torpedo, and strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted general purpose machine gun; the Wessex also fired on Santa Fe with its GPMG. The Wasp from HMS Plymouth as well as two other Wasps launched from HMS Endurance fired AS-12 ASM antiship missiles at the submarine, scoring hits. Santa Fe was damaged badly enough to prevent her from diving. The crew abandoned the submarine at the jetty at King Edward Point on South Georgia. With Tidespring now far out to sea and the Argentine forces augmented by the submarine's crew, Major Sheridan decided to gather the 76 men he had and make a direct assault that day. After a short forced march by the British troops and a naval bombardment demonstration by two Royal Navy vessels (Antrim and Plymouth), the Argentine forces, a total of 190 men, surrendered without resistance to the Royal Marines. The message sent from the naval force at South Georgia to London was, "Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God Save the Queen." The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, broke the news to the media, telling them to "Just rejoice at that news, and congratulate our forces and the Marines!" Black Buck raids On 1 May, British operations on the Falklands opened with the "Black Buck 1" attack (of a series of five) on the airfield at Stanley. A Vulcan bomber from Ascension flew an 8,000-nautical-mile (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) round trip, dropping conventional bombs across the runway at Stanley. The mission required repeated aerial refuelling using several Victor K2 tanker aircraft operating in concert, including tanker-to-tanker refuelling. The overall effect of the raids on the war is difficult to determine. The runway was cratered by only one of the twenty one bombs, but as a result, the Argentines realised that their mainland was vulnerable and fighter aircraft were redeployed from the theatre to bases further north. Historian Lawrence Freedman, who was given access to official sources, comments that the significance of the Vulcan raids remains a subject of controversy. Although they took pressure off the small Sea Harrier force, the raids were costly and used a great deal of resources. The single hit to the edge of the runway was probably the best that could have been expected. Contrary to some reports, this reduced the capability of the runway to operate Mirage III fast jets but not other, smaller jet fighters, the Pucara, and the Hercules C-130. Nor did it cause the Argentine air force to deploy Mirage IIIs to defend the capital. Latest Argentine sources confirm that the Vulcan raids did not influence Argentina's decision to move some of its Mirage IIIs from southern Argentina to the Buenos Aires Defence Zone. This dissuasive effect was watered down when British officials made clear that there would not be strikes on air bases in Argentina. The raids were later dismissed as propaganda by Falklands veteran Commander Nigel Ward. Of the five Black Buck raids, three were against Stanley Airfield, with the other two being anti-radar missions using Shrike anti-radiation missiles. Escalation of the air war The Falklands had only three airfields. The longest and only paved runway was at the capital, Stanley, and even that was too short to support fast jets. Therefore, the Argentines were forced to launch their major strikes from the mainland, severely hampering their efforts at forward staging, combat air patrols, and close air support over the islands. The effective loiter time of incoming Argentine aircraft was low, limiting the ability of fighters to protect attack aircraft, which were often compelled to attack the first target of opportunity, rather than selecting the most lucrative target. The first major Argentine strike force comprised 36 aircraft (A-4 Skyhawks, IAI Daggers, English Electric Canberras, and Mirage III escorts), and was sent on 1 May, in the belief that the British invasion was imminent or landings had already taken place. Only a section of Grupo 6 (flying IAI Dagger aircraft) found ships, which were firing at Argentine defences near the islands. The Daggers managed to attack the ships and return safely. This greatly boosted the morale of the Argentine pilots, who now knew they could survive an attack against modern warships, protected by radar ground clutter from the islands and by using a late pop up profile. Meanwhile, other Argentine aircraft were intercepted by BAE Sea Harriers operating from HMS Invincible. A Dagger and a Canberra were shot down. Combat broke out between Sea Harrier FRS Mk 1 fighters of No. 801 Naval Air Squadron and Mirage III fighters of Grupo 8. Both sides refused to fight at the other's best altitude, until two Mirages finally descended to engage. One was shot down by an AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile (AAM), while the other escaped but was damaged and without enough fuel to return to its mainland airbase. The plane made for Stanley, where it fell victim to friendly fire from the Argentine defenders. As a result of this experience, Argentine Air Force staff decided to employ A-4 Skyhawks and Daggers only as strike units, the Canberras only during the night, and Mirage IIIs (without air refuelling capability or any capable AAM) as decoys to lure away the British Sea Harriers. The decoying would be later extended with the formation of the Escuadrón Fénix, a squadron of civilian jets flying 24 hours a day, simulating strike aircraft preparing to attack the fleet. On one of these flights on 7 June, an Air Force Learjet 35A was shot down by HMS Exeter, killing the squadron commander, Vice Commodore Rodolfo de la Colina, the highest-ranking Argentine officer to die in the war. Stanley was used as an Argentine strongpoint throughout the conflict. Despite the Black Buck and Harrier raids on Stanley airfield (no fast jets were stationed there for air defence) and overnight shelling by detached ships, it was never out of action entirely. Stanley was defended by a mixture of surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems (Franco-German Roland and British Tigercat) and light anti-aircraft guns, including Swiss-built Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannons and 30 mm Hispano-Suiza cannon and German Rheinmetall 20 mm twin anti-aircraft cannons. More of the anti-aircraft guns were deployed to the airstrip at Goose Green. Lockheed Hercules transport night flights brought supplies, weapons, vehicles, and fuel, and airlifted out the wounded up until the end of the conflict. The only Argentine Hercules shot down by the British was lost on 1 June when TC-63 was intercepted by a Sea Harrier in daylight as it was searching for the British fleet north-east of the islands, after the Argentine Navy retired its last SP-2H Neptune due to unreliability. Various options to attack the home base of the five Argentine Étendards at Río Grande were examined and discounted (Operation Mikado); subsequently five Royal Navy submarines were lined up, submerged, on the edge of Argentina's 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial limit to provide early warning of bombing raids on the British task force. Operation Folklore was a plan to deploy two Canberra PR.9 aircraft of No. 39 Squadron RAF, disguised in Chilean Air Force markings, to the Chilean air base at Punta Arenas, with the intention of undertaking high-level photo-reconnaissance flights over the Falklands; however the Canberras had reached Belize when the operation was abandoned after part of the plan had been reported in the British press. Operation Acme was the deployment of a single Nimrod R.1 surveillance aircraft of No. 51 Squadron RAF to the Chilean base at Isla San Félix to gather signals intelligence from Argentinian forces in the Falklands; three sorties were conducted, the last on 17 May narrowly avoided being shot down by the Chileans, leading to the cancellation of the operation. More successful was Operation Fingent, the placement of a Marconi S259 radar on high ground in Tierra del Fuego from where it could monitor movements at southern Argentinian air bases; the RAF crew wore civilian clothes in the guise of a sales team. Information was passed to Northwood and the Task Force by means of Operation Shutter, a US supplied SATCOM system installed at the Chilean Air Force headquarters in Santiago and operated by two soldiers of the Royal Corps of Signals. Sinking of ARA General Belgrano On 30 April, the British government had brought into force a 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres; 230 miles) Total Exclusion Zone (TEZ) to replace the previous Maritime Exclusion Zone; aircraft as well as ships of any nation were liable to be attacked inside it, if they were aiding the Argentine occupation. Admiral Sandy Woodward's carrier battle group of twelve warships and three supply ships entered the TEZ on 1 May, shortly before the first Black Buck raid, intending to degrade Argentine air and sea forces before the arrival of the amphibious group two weeks later. In anticipation, Admiral Anaya had deployed all his available warships into three task groups. The first was centred around the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo with two old but missile-armed destroyers, and a second comprised three modern frigates. Both these groups were intended to approach the TEZ from the north. A third group approaching from the south was led by the Second World War-vintage Argentine light cruiser ARA General Belgrano; although old, her large guns and heavy armour made her a serious threat, and she was escorted by two modern Type 42 guided-missile destroyers, armed with Exocet missiles. On 1 May, the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror (one of three patrolling the TEZ) located the Belgrano group and followed it until the following day, when it was about 12 hours away from the Task Force and just outside the Total Exclusion Zone. Admiral Woodward was aware of the Argentine carrier group approaching from the other direction and ordered the cruiser to be attacked to avoid being caught in a pincer movement; he was unaware that the Veinticinco de Mayo had failed to gain enough headwind to launch her aircraft. The order to sink the cruiser was confirmed by the War Cabinet in London and the General Belgrano was hit by two torpedoes at 4 pm local time on 2 May, sinking an hour later. 321 members of General Belgrano's crew, along with two civilians on board the ship, died in the incident. More than 700 men were eventually rescued from the open ocean despite cold seas and stormy weather, enduring up to 30 hours in overcrowded life rafts. The loss of General Belgrano drew heavy criticism from Latin American countries and from opponents of the war in Britain; support for the British cause wavered amongst some European allies, but the United States remained supportive. Regardless of controversies over the sinking — including disagreement about the exact nature of the exclusion zone and whether General Belgrano had been returning to port at the time of the sinking — it had a crucial strategic effect: the elimination of the Argentine naval threat. After her loss, the entire Argentine fleet, with the exception of the diesel-powered submarine ARA San Luis, returned to port and did not leave again during the fighting. This had the secondary effect of allowing the British to redeploy their nuclear submarines to the coast of Argentina, where they were able to provide early warning of outgoing air attacks leaving mainland bases. However, settling the controversy in 2003, the ship's captain, Hector Bonzo, stated to a documentary crew that General Belgrano had actually been manoeuvring, not sailing away from the exclusion zone, and that he had orders to sink any British ship he could find. In a separate incident later that night, British forces engaged an Argentine patrol gunboat, the ARA Alferez Sobral, that was searching for the crew of an Argentine Air Force Canberra light bomber shot down on 1 May. Two Royal Navy Lynx helicopters, from HMS Coventry and HMS Glasgow, fired four Sea Skua missiles at her. Badly damaged and with eight crew dead, Alferez Sobral managed to return to Puerto Deseado two days later. The Canberra's crew were never found. Sinking of HMS Sheffield On 4 May, two days after the sinking of General Belgrano, the British lost the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield to fire following an Exocet missile strike from the Argentine 2nd Naval Air Fighter/Attack Squadron. Sheffield had been ordered forward with two other Type 42s to provide a long-range radar and medium-high altitude missile picket far from the British carriers. She was struck amidships, with devastating effect, ultimately killing 20 crew members and severely injuring 24 others. The ship was abandoned several hours later, gutted and deformed by fires. For four days she was kept afloat for inspections and the hope that she might attract Argentine submarines which could be hunted by helicopter. The decision was then taken to tow her to Ascension, but while under tow by HMS Yarmouth, she finally sank east of the Falklands on 10 May. The incident is described in detail by Admiral Woodward in his book One Hundred Days, in Chapter One. Woodward was a former commanding officer of Sheffield. The destruction of Sheffield, the first Royal Navy ship sunk in action since the Second World War, had a profound impact on the War Cabinet and the British public as a whole, bringing home the fact that the conflict was now an actual shooting war. Diplomatic activity The tempo of operations increased throughout the first half of May as the United Nations' attempts to mediate a peace were rejected by the Argentines. The final British negotiating position was presented to Argentina by UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar on 18 May 1982. In it, the British abandoned their previous "red-line" that British administration of the islands should be restored on the withdrawal of Argentine forces, as supported by United Nations Security Council Resolution 502. Instead, it proposed a UN administrator should supervise the mutual withdrawal of both Argentine and British forces, then govern the islands in consultation with the representative institutions of the islands, including Argentines, although no Argentines lived there. Reference to "self-determination" of the islanders was dropped and the British proposed that future negotiations over the sovereignty of the islands should be conducted by the UN. However, the proposals were rejected by the Argentines on the same day. Special forces operations Given the threat to the British fleet posed by the Étendard-Exocet combination, plans were made to use C-130s to fly in SAS troops to attack the home base of the five Étendards at Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego. The operation was codenamed "Mikado". The operation was later scrapped, after acknowledging that its chances of success were limited, and replaced with a plan to use the submarine HMS Onyx to drop SBS marines several miles offshore at night for them to make their way to the coast aboard rubber inflatables and proceed to destroy Argentina's remaining Exocet stockpile - which did not exist at their objective. An SAS reconnaissance team was dispatched to carry out preparations for a seaborne infiltration. A Westland Sea King helicopter carrying the assigned team took off from HMS Invincible on the night of 17 May, but bad weather forced it to land 50 miles (80 km) from its target and the mission was aborted. The pilot flew to Chile, landed south of Punta Arenas, and dropped off the SAS team. The helicopter's crew of three then destroyed the aircraft, surrendered to Chilean police on 25 May, and were repatriated to the UK after interrogation. The discovery of the burnt-out helicopter attracted considerable international attention. Meanwhile, the SAS team crossed the border and penetrated into Argentina, but cancelled their mission after the Argentines suspected an SAS operation and deployed some 2,000 troops to search for them. The SAS men were able to return to Chile and took a civilian flight back to the UK. On 14 May, the SAS carried out a raid on Pebble Island on the Falklands, where the Argentine Navy had taken over a grass airstrip map for FMA IA 58 Pucará light ground-attack aircraft and Beechcraft T-34 Mentors, which resulted in the destruction of several aircraft. On 15 May, SBS teams were inserted by HMS Brilliant at Grantham Sound to reconnoitre and observe the landing beaches at San Carlos Bay. On the evening of 20 May, the day before the main landings, an SBS troop and artillery observers were landed by Wessex helicopters for an assault on an Argentine observation post at Fanning Head which overlooked the entrance of the bay; meanwhile, the SAS conducted a diversionary raid at Darwin. Air attacks In the landing zone, the limitations of the British ships' anti-aircraft defences were demonstrated in the sinking of HMS Ardent on 21 May which was hit by nine bombs, and HMS Antelope on 24 May when attempts to defuze unexploded bombs failed. Out at sea with the carrier battle group, MV Atlantic Conveyor was struck by an air-launched Exocet on 25 May, which caused the loss of three out of four Chinook and five Wessex helicopters as well as their maintenance equipment and facilities, together with runway-building equipment and tents. This was a severe blow from a logistical perspective. Twelve of her crew members were killed. Also lost on 25 May was HMS Coventry, a sister to Sheffield, whilst in company with HMS Broadsword after being ordered to act as a decoy to draw away Argentine aircraft from other ships at San Carlos Bay. HMS Argonaut and HMS Brilliant were moderately damaged. Many British ships escaped being sunk because of limitations imposed by circumstances on Argentine pilots. To avoid the highest concentration of British air defences, Argentine pilots released bombs at very low altitude, and hence those bomb fuzes did not have sufficient time to arm before impact. The low release of the retarded bombs (some of which the British had sold to the Argentines years earlier) meant that many never exploded, as there was insufficient time in the air for them to arm themselves. The pilots would have been aware of this—but due to the high concentration required to avoid surface-to-air missiles, anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA), and British Sea Harriers, many failed to climb to the necessary release point. The Argentine forces solved the problem by fitting improvised retarding devices, allowing the pilots to effectively employ low-level bombing attacks on 8 June. Thirteen bombs hit British ships without detonating. Lord Craig, the retired Marshal of the Royal Air Force, is said to have remarked: "Six better fuzes and we would have lost" although Ardent and Antelope were both lost despite the failure of bombs to explode, and Argonaut was put out of action. The fuzes were functioning correctly, and the bombs were simply released from too low an altitude. The Argentines lost 22 aircraft in the attacks. In his autobiographical account of the Falklands War, Admiral Woodward blamed the BBC World Service for disclosing information that led the Argentines to change the retarding devices on the bombs. The World Service reported the lack of detonations after receiving a briefing on the matter from a Ministry of Defence official. He describes the BBC as being more concerned with being "fearless seekers after truth" than with the lives of British servicemen. Colonel 'H'. Jones levelled similar accusations against the BBC after they disclosed the impending British attack on Goose Green by 2 Para. On 30 May, two Super Étendards, one carrying Argentina's last remaining Exocet, escorted by four A-4C Skyhawks each with two 500 lb bombs, took off to attack Invincible. Argentine intelligence had sought to determine the position of the carriers from analysis of aircraft flight routes from the task force to the islands. However, the British had a standing order that all aircraft conduct a low level transit when leaving or returning to the carriers to disguise their position. This tactic compromised the Argentine attack, which focused on a group of escorts 40 miles (64 km) south of the carrier group. Two of the attacking Skyhawks were shot down by Sea Dart missiles fired by HMS Exeter, with HMS Avenger claiming to have shot down the Exocet missile with her 4.5" gun (although this claim is disputed). No damage was caused to any British vessels. During the war, Argentina claimed to have damaged Invincible and continues to do so, although no evidence of any such damage has been produced or uncovered. Land battles San Carlos – "Bomb Alley" During the night of 21 May, the British Amphibious Task Group under the command of Commodore Michael Clapp (Commodore, Amphibious Warfare – COMAW) mounted Operation Sutton, the amphibious landing on beaches around San Carlos Water, on the northwestern coast of East Falkland facing onto Falkland Sound. The bay, known as Bomb Alley by British forces, was the scene of repeated air attacks by low-flying Argentine jets. The 4,000 men of 3 Commando Brigade were put ashore as follows: 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 Para) from the RORO ferry Norland and 40 Commando Royal Marines from the amphibious ship HMS Fearless were landed at San Carlos (Blue Beach), 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (3 Para) from the amphibious ship HMS Intrepid was landed at Port San Carlos (Green Beach) and 45 Commando from RFA Stromness was landed at Ajax Bay (Red Beach). Notably, the waves of eight LCUs and eight LCVPs were led by Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour, who had commanded the Falklands detachment NP8901 from March 1978 to 1979. 42 Commando on the ocean liner SS Canberra was a tactical reserve. Units from the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, etc. and armoured reconnaissance vehicles were also put ashore with the landing craft, the Round Table-class LSL and mexeflote barges. Rapier missile launchers were carried as underslung loads of Sea Kings for rapid deployment. By dawn the next day, they had established a secure beachhead from which to conduct offensive operations. Brigadier Julian Thompson established his brigade headquarters in dugouts near San Carlos Settlement. Goose Green From early on 27 May until 28 May, 2 Para approached and attacked Darwin and Goose Green, which was held by the Argentine 12th Infantry Regiment. 2 Para’s 500 men had naval gunfire support from HMS Arrow and artillery support from 8 Commando Battery of the Royal Artillery. After a tough struggle that lasted all night and into the next day, the British won the battle; in all, 18 British and 47 Argentine soldiers were killed. A total of 961 Argentine troops (including 202 Argentine Air Force personnel of the Condor airfield) were taken prisoner. The BBC announced the taking of Goose Green on the BBC World Service before it had actually happened. During this attack Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones, the commanding officer of 2 Para, was killed at the head of his battalion while charging into the well-prepared Argentine positions. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. With the sizeable Argentine force at Goose Green out of the way, British forces were now able to break out of the San Carlos beachhead. On 27 May, men of 45 Cdo and 3 Para started a loaded march across East Falkland towards the coastal settlement of Teal Inlet. Special forces on Mount Kent Meanwhile, 42 Commando prepared to move by helicopter to Mount Kent. Unbeknownst to senior British officers, the Argentine generals were determined to tie down the British troops in the Mount Kent area, and on 27 and 28 May they sent transport aircraft loaded with Blowpipe surface-to-air missiles and commandos (602nd Commando Company and 601st National Gendarmerie Special Forces Squadron) to Stanley. This operation was known as Autoimpuesta ("Self-imposed"). For the next week, the SAS and the Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre (M&AWC) of 3 Commando Brigade waged intense patrol battles with patrols of the volunteers' 602nd Commando Company under Major Aldo Rico, normally second in Command of the 22nd Mountain Infantry Regiment. Throughout 30 May, Royal Air Force Harriers were active over Mount Kent. One of them, Harrier XZ963, flown by Squadron Leader Jerry Pook—in responding to a call for help from D Squadron, attacked Mount Kent's eastern lower slopes, which led to its loss through small-arms fire. Pook was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. On 31 May, the M&AWC defeated Argentine Special Forces at the skirmish at Top Malo House. A 13-strong Argentine Army Commando detachment (Captain José Vercesi's 1st Assault Section, 602nd Commando Company) found itself trapped in a small shepherd's house at Top Malo. The Argentine commandos fired from windows and doorways and then took refuge in a stream bed 200 metres (700 ft) from the burning house. Completely surrounded, they fought 19 M&AWC marines under Captain Rod Boswell for 45 minutes until, with their ammunition almost exhausted, they elected to surrender. Three Cadre members were badly wounded. On the Argentine side, there were two dead, including Lieutenant Ernesto Espinoza and Sergeant Mateo Sbert (who were posthumously decorated for their bravery). Only five Argentines were left unscathed. As the British secured Top Malo House, Lieutenant Fraser Haddow's M&AWC patrol came down from Malo Hill, brandishing a large Union Flag. One wounded Argentine soldier, Lieutenant Horacio Losito, commented that their escape route would have taken them through Haddow's position. 601st Commando tried to move forward to rescue 602nd Commando Company on Estancia Mountain. Spotted by 42 Commando, they were engaged with L16 81mm mortars and forced to withdraw to Two Sisters mountain. The leader of 602nd Commando Company on Estancia Mountain realised his position had become untenable and after conferring with fellow officers ordered a withdrawal. The Argentine operation also saw the extensive use of helicopter support to position and extract patrols; the 601st Combat Aviation Battalion also suffered casualties. At about 11:00 am on 30 May, an Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma helicopter was brought down by a shoulder-launched FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missile (SAM) fired by the SAS in the vicinity of Mount Kent. Six Argentine National Gendarmerie Special Forces were killed and eight more wounded in the crash. As Brigadier Thompson commented: It was fortunate that I had ignored the views expressed by Northwood HQ that reconnaissance of Mount Kent before insertion of 42 Commando was superfluous. Had D Squadron not been there, the Argentine Special Forces would have caught the Commando before de-planing and, in the darkness and confusion on a strange landing zone, inflicted heavy casualties on men and helicopters. Bluff Cove and Fitzroy By 1 June, with the arrival of a further 5,000 British troops of the 5th Infantry Brigade, the new British divisional commander, Major General Jeremy Moore RM, had sufficient force to start planning an offensive against Stanley. During this build-up, the Argentine air assaults on the British naval forces continued, killing 56. Of the dead, 32 were from the Welsh Guards on RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram on 8 June. According to Surgeon-Commander Rick Jolly of the Falklands Field Hospital, more than 150 men suffered burns and injuries of some kind in the attack, including Simon Weston. The Guards were sent to support an advance along the southern approach to Stanley. On 2 June, a small advance party of 2 Para moved to Swan Inlet house in a number of Army Westland Scout helicopters. Telephoning ahead to Fitzroy, they discovered that the area was clear of Argentines and (exceeding their authority) commandeered the one remaining RAF Chinook helicopter to frantically ferry another contingent of 2 Para ahead to Fitzroy (a settlement on Port Pleasant) and Bluff Cove (a settlement on Port Fitzroy). This uncoordinated advance caused great difficulties in planning for the commanders of the combined operation, as they now found themselves with 30 miles (48 km) of indefensible positions, strung along their southern flank. Support could not be sent by air as the single remaining Chinook was already heavily oversubscribed. The soldiers could march, but their equipment and heavy supplies would need to be ferried by sea. Plans were drawn up for half the Welsh Guards to march light on the night of 2 June, whilst the Scots Guards and the second half of the Welsh Guards were to be ferried from San Carlos Water in the Landing Ship Logistics (LSL) Sir Tristram and the landing platform dock (LPD) Intrepid on the night of 5 June. Intrepid was planned to stay one day and unload itself and as much of Sir Tristram as possible, leaving the next evening for the relative safety of San Carlos. Escorts would be provided for this day, after which Sir Tristram would be left to unload using a Mexeflote (a powered raft) for as long as it took to finish. Political pressure from above to not risk the LPD forced Commodore Michael Clapp to alter this plan. Two lower-value LSLs would be sent, but with no suitable beaches to land on, Intrepid's landing craft would need to accompany them to unload. A complicated operation across several nights with Intrepid and her sister ship Fearless sailing half-way to dispatch their craft was devised. The attempted overland march by half the Welsh Guards failed, possibly as they refused to march light and attempted to carry their equipment. They returned to San Carlos and landed directly at Bluff Cove when Fearless dispatched her landing craft. Sir Tristram sailed on the night of 6 June and was joined by Sir Galahad at dawn on 7 June. Anchored 1,200 feet (370 m) apart in Port Pleasant, the landing ships were near Fitzroy, the designated landing point. The landing craft should have been able to unload the ships to that point relatively quickly, but confusion over the ordered disembarkation point (the first half of the Guards going direct to Bluff Cove) resulted in the senior Welsh Guards infantry officer aboard insisting that his troops should be ferried the far longer distance directly to Port Fitzroy/Bluff Cove. The alternative was for the infantrymen to march via the recently repaired Bluff Cove bridge (destroyed by retreating Argentine combat engineers) to their destination, a journey of around seven miles (11 km). There are conflicting accounts of the causes for the delay in disembarking the Welsh Guards contingent. One narrative posits that on Sir Galahad's stern ramp there was an argument about what to do. The officers on board were told that they could not sail to Bluff Cove in daylight. They were told that they had to get their men off ship and onto the beach as soon as possible as the ships were vulnerable to enemy aircraft. It would take 20 minutes to transport the men to shore using the LCU and Mexeflote. They would then have the choice of walking the seven miles to Bluff Cove or wait until dark to sail there. The officers on board said that they would remain on board until dark and then sail. They refused to take their men off the ship. They possibly doubted that the bridge had been repaired due to the presence on board Sir Galahad of the Royal Engineer Troop whose job it was to repair the bridge. The Welsh Guards were keen to rejoin the rest of their Battalion, who were potentially facing the enemy without their support. They had also not seen any enemy aircraft since landing at San Carlos and may have been overconfident in the air defences. Royal Marines Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour gave a direct order for the men to leave the ship and go to the beach; the order was ignored. However, a contemporary Royal Navy report, partially declassified in 2024, throws into question the validity of this account. The investigative report states that "At no time was a direct order to disembark given to...[the officer commanding the Welsh Guards]...by a superior officer". Additionally, it is claimed that Sir Tristram, although receiving signals advising of Sir Galahad's arrival, failed to pass these onto the officers responsible for her unloading, who "...had not been warned of the arrival of the ship, nor of the nature of her cargo...no preparation had been made for the timely off-load of the new arrival." The longer journey time of the landing craft taking the troops directly to Bluff Cove and the ambiguity over orders being issued to this effect caused an enormous delay in unloading. This had disastrous consequences, since the ships were visible to Argentine troops on Mount Harriet, some ten miles (16 km) distant. Without escorts, having not yet established their air defence, and still almost fully laden, the two LSLs in Port Pleasant were sitting targets for eight Argentine A-4 Skyhawks. A coordinated sortie by six Daggers attacked HMS Plymouth, which had the effect of drawing off the patrolling Sea Harriers. At 17.00, the Skyhawks attacked from seaward, hitting Sir Galahad with three bombs; although none exploded, they caused fierce fires which quickly grew out of control. Two bombs hit Sir Tristram, also starting fires and causing the ship to be abandoned, but the damage was not as serious. Three Sea King and a Wessex helicopter ferried the wounded to an advanced dressing station which was set up on the shore. British casualties were 48 killed and 115 wounded. Three Argentine pilots were also killed. The air strike delayed the scheduled British ground attack on Stanley by two days. The British casualties amounted to two infantry companies, but it was decided not to release detailed casualty figures because intelligence indicated that Argentine commanders believed that a much more severe reverse had been inflicted. However, the disaster at Port Pleasant (although often known as Bluff Cove) would provide the world with some of the most sobering images of the war as ITV News video showed helicopters hovering in thick smoke to winch survivors from the burning landing ships. Fall of Stanley On the night of 11 June, after several days of painstaking reconnaissance and logistic build-up, British forces launched a brigade-sized night attack against the heavily defended ring of high ground surrounding Stanley. Units of 3 Commando Brigade, supported by naval gunfire from several Royal Navy ships, simultaneously attacked in the Battle of Mount Harriet, Battle of Two Sisters, and Battle of Mount Longdon. Mount Harriet was taken at a cost of 2 British and 18 Argentine soldiers. At Two Sisters, the British faced both enemy resistance and friendly fire but managed to capture their objectives. The toughest battle was at Mount Longdon. British forces were bogged down by rifle, mortar, machine gun, artillery and sniper fire, and ambushes. Despite this, the British continued their advance. During this battle, 14 were killed when HMS Glamorgan, straying too close to shore while returning from the gun line, was struck by an improvised trailer-based Exocet MM38 launcher taken from the destroyer ARA Seguí by Argentine Navy technicians. On the same day, Sergeant Ian McKay of 4 Platoon, B Company, 3 Para died in a grenade attack on an Argentine bunker; he received a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions. After a night of fierce fighting, all objectives were secured. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The second phase of attacks began on the night of 13 June, and the momentum of the initial assault was maintained. 2 Para, with light armour support from the Blues and Royals, captured Wireless Ridge, with the loss of 3 British and 25 Argentine lives, and the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards captured Mount Tumbledown at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown, which cost 10 British and 30 Argentine lives. A simultaneous special forces raid by the SAS and SBS in fast boats to attack the oil tanks in Stanley Harbour was beaten off by anti-aircraft guns. With the last natural defence line at Mount Tumbledown breached, the Argentine town defences of Stanley began to falter. In the morning gloom, one company commander got lost and his junior officers became despondent. Private Santiago Carrizo of the 3rd Regiment described how a platoon commander ordered them to take up positions in the houses and "if a Kelper resists, shoot him", but the entire company did nothing of the kind. A daylight attack on Mount William by the Gurkhas, delayed from the previous night by the fighting at Tumbledown, ended in anticlimax when the Argentine positions were found to be deserted. A ceasefire was declared on 14 June and Thatcher announced the commencement of surrender negotiations. The commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, Brigade General Mario Menéndez, surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore the same day. Recapture of South Sandwich Islands On 20 June, the British retook the South Sandwich Islands, which involved accepting the surrender of the Southern Thule Garrison at the Corbeta Uruguay base and declared hostilities over. Argentina had established Corbeta Uruguay in 1976, but prior to 1982 the United Kingdom had contested the existence of the Argentine base only through diplomatic channels. Foreign involvement Commonwealth The UK received political support from member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand withdrew their diplomats from Buenos Aires. New Zealand The New Zealand government expelled the Argentine ambassador following the invasion. The Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, was in London when the war broke out and in an opinion piece published in The Times he said: "The military rulers of Argentina must not be appeased … New Zealand will back Britain all the way." Broadcasting on the BBC World Service, he told the Falkland Islanders: "This is Rob Muldoon. We are thinking of you and we are giving our full and total support to the British Government in its endeavours to rectify this situation and get rid of the people who have invaded your country." On 20 May 1982, he announced that New Zealand would make HMNZS Canterbury, a Leander-class frigate, available for use where the British thought fit to release a Royal Navy vessel for the Falklands. In the House of Commons afterwards, Margaret Thatcher said: "…the New Zealand Government and people have been absolutely magnificent in their support for this country [and] the Falkland Islanders, for the rule of liberty and of law". Australia Encouraged by the generous response of New Zealand, the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, was rushed into offering to cancel the intended purchase of HMS Invincible, which was quickly accepted by the British. However, this left the Royal Australian Navy without a replacement for their only aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne, which was in the process of decommissioning. France The French president, François Mitterrand, declared an embargo on French arms sales and assistance to Argentina. In addition, France allowed UK aircraft and warships use of its port and airfield facilities at Dakar in Senegal and France provided dissimilar aircraft training so that Harrier pilots could train against the French aircraft used by Argentina. French intelligence also cooperated with Britain to prevent Argentina from obtaining more Exocet missiles on the international market. In a 2002 interview, and in reference to this support, John Nott, the then British Defence Secretary, had described France as Britain's 'greatest ally'. In 2012, it came to light that while this support was taking place, a French technical team, employed by Dassault and already in Argentina, remained there throughout the war despite the presidential decree. The team had provided material support to the Argentines, identifying and fixing faults in Exocet missile launchers. John Nott said he had known the French team was there but said its work was thought not to be of any importance. An adviser to the then French government denied any knowledge at the time that the technical team was there. The French DGSE did know the team was there as they had an informant in the team but decried any assistance the team gave: "It's bordering on an act of treason, or disobedience to an embargo". John Nott, when asked if he felt let down by the French said "If you're asking me: 'Are the French duplicitous people?' the answer is: 'Of course they are, and they always have been". Four Exocet missiles that had been ordered by Peru were prevented by the French government from being delivered by air and, after pressure from Britain who suspected that they would be passed on to Argentina, delayed their release to a Peruvian ship until the conflict was over. United States Declassified cables show the United States both felt that Thatcher had not considered diplomatic options and feared that a protracted conflict could draw the Soviet Union on Argentina's side. The US initially tried to mediate an end to the conflict through shuttle diplomacy, but when Argentina refused the American peace overtures, US Secretary of State Alexander Haig announced that the United States would prohibit arms sales to Argentina and provide material support for British operations. Both houses of the US Congress passed resolutions supporting the American action siding with the United Kingdom. The US provided the United Kingdom with 200 Sidewinder missiles for use by the Harrier jets, eight Stinger surface-to-air missile systems, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and mortar bombs. On Ascension Island, the underground fuel tanks were empty when the British Task Force arrived in mid-April 1982 and the leading assault ship, HMS Fearless, did not have enough fuel to dock when it arrived off the island. The United States diverted a supertanker to replenish both the fuel tanks of ships at anchor there and the storage tanks on the island with approximately 2,000,000 US gallons (7,600,000 L; 1,700,000 imp gal) of fuel. The Pentagon further committed to providing additional support in the event that the war dragged on into the Southern Hemisphere's winter. In that scenario, the US committed tanker aircraft to support Royal Air Force missions in Europe, releasing RAF aircraft to support operations over the Falklands. The United States allowed the United Kingdom to use American communication satellites for secure communications between submarines in the Southern Ocean and Naval HQ in Britain. The US also passed on satellite imagery (which it publicly denied) and weather forecast data to the British Fleet. US President Ronald Reagan approved the Royal Navy's request to borrow a Sea Harrier-capable Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship (the US Navy had earmarked USS Guam (LPH-9) for this) in the event a British aircraft carrier was lost. The US Navy developed a plan to help the British man the ship with American military contractors, who would likely be retired sailors with knowledge of the ship's systems. Other OAS members Cuba Argentina itself was politically backed by a number of countries in Latin America (though, notably, not Chile). Several members of the Non-Aligned Movement also backed Argentina's position; notably, Cuba and Nicaragua led a diplomatic effort to rally non-aligned countries from Africa and Asia to Argentina's position. This initiative came as a surprise to Western observers, as Cuba had no diplomatic relations with Argentina's right-leaning military junta. British diplomats complained that Cuba had "cynically exploited" the crisis to pursue its normalization of relations with Latin American countries; Argentina eventually resumed relations with Cuba in 1983; Brazil did so in 1986. Peru Peru attempted to purchase 12 Exocet missiles from France, to be delivered to Argentina in a failed secret operation. Peru also openly sent "Mirages, pilots and missiles" to Argentina during the war.That nation also supplied the Argentine forces with 40 Strela-2M shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile launchers and three experienced operators to help train in the use of those weapons.Peru had earlier transferred ten Hercules transport planes to Argentina soon after the British Task Force had set sail in April 1982. Nick van der Bijl records that, after the Argentine defeat at Goose Green, Venezuela and Guatemala offered to send paratroopers to the Falklands. Chile At the outbreak of the war, Chile was in negotiations with Argentina for control over the Beagle Channel and feared Argentina would use similar tactics to secure the channel. During this conflict, Argentina had already rejected two attempts at international mediation and tried to exert military pressure on Chile with an operation to occupy the disputed territory. Considering the situation, Chile refused to support the Argentine position during the war and gave support to the UK in the form of intelligence about the Argentine military and early warning intelligence on Argentine air movements. Throughout the war, Argentina was afraid of a Chilean military intervention in Patagonia and kept some of its best mountain regiments away from the Falklands near the Chilean border as a precaution. The Chilean government also allowed the United Kingdom to requisition the refuelling vessel RFA Tidepool, which Chile had recently purchased and which had arrived at Arica in Chile on 4 April. The ship left port soon afterwards, bound for Ascension Island through the Panama Canal and stopping at Curaçao en route. Brazil At the end of May, Brazilian authorities allowed FAA Boeing 707s to refuel at Recife International Airport carrying arms shipments from Libya. When the British Embassy in Brasilia became aware of this, the British Secret Intelligence Service devised a plan to sabotage the next flight on the ground, but diplomatic pressure on the Brazilian government to observe their legal duties as a neutral country resulted in no further flights being accepted. On 3 June, an RAF Vulcan on returning from a Black Buck raid on the Falklands, was forced to make an emergency landing at Rio de Janeiro International Airport after damage to its refuelling probe prevented it returning to Ascension Island. The Vulcan and her crew were interned and released seven days later, although an unused Shrike missile that the aircraft had been carrying was retained. Soviet Union The Soviet Union described the Falklands as "a disputed territory", recognising Argentina's ambitions over the islands, and called for restraint on all sides. Soviet media frequently criticised the UK and US during the war. Significantly, however, the Soviet Union refrained from vetoing and thus made possible UN Security Council Resolution 502 demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Argentine troops from the Falklands. However, the Soviet Union mounted some clandestine logistics operations to assist the Argentines. Days after the invasion by the Argentine forces, the Soviets launched additional intelligence satellites into low Earth orbit covering the southern Atlantic Ocean. Conflicting reports exist on whether Soviet ocean surveillance data might have played a role in the sinking of HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry. Spain Spain's position was one of ambiguity, underpinning the basic dilemma of the Spanish foreign policy regarding the articulation of relationships with Latin America and European communities. On 2 April 1982, the Council of Ministers issued an official note defending principles of decolonisation and against the use of force. Spain abstained in the vote of UN Security Council Resolution 502, a position that Spanish UN representative Jaime de Piniés justified by pointing out that the resolution did not mention the underlying problem of decolonisation. The Spanish stance throughout the conflict contrasted with those of the countries in its immediate vicinity (EEC members and Portugal). Spanish authorities also foiled a covert attack by the Argentine Naval Intelligence Service on a British warship at Gibraltar, code named Operation Algeciras. Three frogmen, recruited from a former anti-government insurgent group, were to plant mines on a ship's hull. The divers travelled to Spain through France, where French security services noted their military diving equipment and alerted their Spanish counterparts. They were covertly monitored as they moved from the Argentine embassy in Madrid to Algeciras, where they were arrested on 17 May by the Guardia Civil and deported. Portugal Portugal supported its long-standing ally Britain and the facilities of the Azores were offered to the Royal Navy. EEC The European Economic Community provided economic support by imposing economic sanctions on Argentina. In a meeting on Good Friday, 9 April, at the Egmont Palace, the EEC Political Committee proposed a total import ban from Argentina. Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Luxembourg and Ireland agreed immediately; France, Germany and the Netherlands were persuaded before the meeting ended. Italy, which had close cultural ties with Argentina, consented on the next day. Other countries Ireland Ireland's position altered during the war. As a rotating member of the United Nations Security Council, it supported Resolution 502. However, on 4 May, the Fianna Fáil government led by Charles Haughey decided to oppose EEC sanctions and called for a ceasefire. Haughey justified this as complying with Irish neutrality. Historians have suggested it was an opportunistic appeal to anti-British sentiment and reaction to Haughey's being sidelined during the 1981 republican hunger strike. The strain on British–Irish relations eased when Haughey's government fell in November 1982. Israel According to the book Operation Israel, advisers from Israel Aerospace Industries were already in Argentina and continued their work during the conflict. The book also claims that Israel sold weapons and drop tanks to Argentina in a secret operation via Peru. Sierra Leone The Government of Sierra Leone allowed British task force ships to refuel at Freetown. The Gambia VC10 transport aircraft landed at Banjul in The Gambia while flying between the UK and Ascension Island. Libya Through Libya, under Muammar Gaddafi, Argentina received 20 launchers and 60 SA-7 missiles (which Argentina later described as "not effective"), as well as machine guns, mortars and mines. To retrieve the weapons, four trips were made using two Argentine Air Force Boeing 707s which refuelled in Recife with the consent of the Brazilian government. Casualties In total, 907 people were killed during the 74 days of the conflict. Additionally, there were 1,188 Argentine and 777 British injured or wounded. Argentina A total of 649 Argentine servicemen were killed: Ejército Argentino (Army) – 194 (16 officers, 35 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and 143 conscript privates) Armada de la República Argentina (Navy) – 341 (including 321 in ARA General Belgrano and 4 naval aviators) IMARA (Marines) – 34 Fuerza Aérea Argentina (Air Force) – 55 (including 31 pilots and 14 ground crew) Gendarmería Nacional Argentina (Border Guard) – 7 Prefectura Naval Argentina (Coast Guard) – 2 United Kingdom A total of 255 British servicemen were killed: Royal Navy – 86 + 2 Hong Kong laundrymen (see below) Royal Marines – 27 (2 officers, 14 NCOs and 11 marines) Royal Fleet Auxiliary – 4 + 6 Hong Kong sailors Merchant Navy – 6 British Army – 123 (7 officers, 40 NCOs and 76 privates) Royal Air Force – 1 (1 officer) Of the 86 Royal Navy personnel, 22 were lost in HMS Ardent, 19 + 1 lost in HMS Sheffield, 19 + 1 lost in HMS Coventry and 13 lost in HMS Glamorgan. Fourteen naval cooks were among the dead, the largest number from any one branch in the Royal Navy. Thirty-three of the British Army's dead came from the Welsh Guards (32 of whom died on the RFA Sir Galahad in the Bluff Cove Air Attacks), 21 from the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, 18 from the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, 19 from the Special Air Service, 3 each from Royal Signals and Royal Army Medical Corps and 8 from each of the Scots Guards and Royal Engineers. The 1st battalion/7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles lost one man. Civilians Three civilians on the Falkland Islands were accidentally killed by British shelling during the night of 11/12 June. It was also reported that HMS Brilliant, on an anti-submarine patrol, detected and torpedoed three whales by accident. Red Cross Box Before British offensive operations began, the British and Argentine governments agreed to establish an area on the high seas where both sides could station hospital ships without fear of attack by the other side. This area, a circle 20 nautical miles in diameter, was referred to as the Red Cross Box (48°30′S 53°45′W) and located about 45 miles (72 km) north of Falkland Sound. Ultimately, the British stationed four ships (HMS Hydra, HMS Hecla and HMS Herald and the primary hospital ship SS Uganda) within the box, while the Argentines stationed three (ARA Almirante Irízar, ARA Bahía Paraíso and Puerto Deseado). The hospital ships were non-warships converted to serve as hospital ships. The three British naval vessels were survey vessels and Uganda was a passenger liner. Almirante Irizar was an icebreaker, Bahia Paraiso was an Antarctic supply transport and Puerto Deseado was a survey ship. British and Argentine vessels operating within the Box were in radio contact and there was some transfer of patients between hospital ships. For example, the Uganda transferred patients to an Argentine hospital ship on four occasions. Hydra worked with Hecla and Herald to take casualties from Uganda to Montevideo, Uruguay, where a fleet of Uruguayan ambulances met them. RAF VC10 aircraft then flew the casualties to the UK for transfer to the Princess Alexandra Hospital at RAF Wroughton, near Swindon. Throughout the conflict, officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) conducted inspections to verify that all concerned were abiding by the rules of the Geneva Conventions. Argentine naval officers also inspected the British casualty ferries in the estuary of the River Plate. Aftermath This brief war brought many consequences for all the parties involved, besides the considerable casualty rate and large materiel loss, especially of shipping and aircraft, relative to the deployed military strengths of the opposing sides. In the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher's popularity increased. The success of the Falklands campaign was widely regarded as a factor in the turnaround in fortunes for the Conservative government, who had been trailing behind the SDP–Liberal Alliance in the opinion polls for months before the conflict began. Following the success in the Falklands, the Conservatives returned to the top of the opinion polls by a wide margin and went on to win the following year's general election by a landslide. Subsequently, Defence Secretary Nott's proposed cuts to the Royal Navy were abandoned. The islanders had full British citizenship restored in 1983; their quality of life improved through investments made by the UK after the war and by economic liberalisation that had been stalled for fear of angering Argentina. In 1985, a new constitution was enacted, promoting self-government which has continued to devolve power to the islanders. The result of the 2013 Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum was 99.8% of the electorate voting for the islands to remain a British territory, with a voter turnout of 92%. In Argentina, defeat in the Falklands War meant that a possible war with Chile was avoided. Further, Argentina returned to a democratic government in the 1983 general election, the first free general election since 1973. It also had a major social impact, destroying the military's image as the "moral reserve of the nation" that they had maintained through most of the 20th century. A detailed study of 21,432 British veterans of the war commissioned by the UK Ministry of Defence found that between 1982 and 2012, 95 had died from "intentional self-harm and events of undetermined intent (suicides and open verdict deaths)", a proportion lower than would be expected within the general population over the same period. However, a study of British combat veterans conducted five years after the conflict found that half of the sample group had suffered some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while 22% were assessed to have the complete syndrome. "Fortress Falklands" In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, the British government embarked on a long-term policy of providing the islands with a viable military garrison, known informally as "Fortress Falklands". Initially, an aircraft carrier was kept in the area until the runway at Stanley Airport could be improved to take conventional RAF fighters. A permanent military complex with a runway designed to take long-haul airliners was constructed in the south of East Falkland, RAF Mount Pleasant, which opened in 1985; an associated deep-water port at Mare Harbour was also constructed. A small military outpost was established at King Edward Point on South Georgia, but it was closed in 2001. Military analysis Militarily, the Falklands conflict remains one of the largest air-naval combat operations between modern forces since the end of the Second World War. As such, it has been the subject of intense study by military analysts and historians. Significant takeaways include the vulnerability of surface ships to anti-ship missiles and submarines, the challenges of co-ordinating logistical support for long-distance projections of power, and reconfirmation of the importance of tactical air power, including helicopters. In 1986, the BBC broadcast the Horizon programme In the Wake of HMS Sheffield, which discussed lessons learned from the conflict, and measures taken to implement them, such as incorporating greater stealth capabilities and providing better close-in weapon systems for the fleet. The principal British military responses to the Falklands War were the measures adopted in the December 1982 Defence White Paper. Memorials There are several memorials on the Falkland Islands themselves, the most notable of which is the 1982 Liberation Memorial, unveiled in 1984 on the second anniversary of the end of the war. It lists the names of the 255 British military personnel who died during the war and is located in front of the Secretariat Building in Stanley, overlooking Stanley Harbour. The Memorial was funded entirely by the Islanders and is inscribed with the words "In Memory of Those Who Liberated Us". During the war, British dead were put into plastic body bags and buried in mass graves. After the war, the bodies were recovered; 14 were reburied at Blue Beach Military Cemetery and 64 were returned to the United Kingdom. Many of the Argentine dead are buried in the Argentine Military Cemetery two kilometers northeast of the small settlement of Darwin, approximately 82 kilometers west of Stanley. The Argentine government declined an offer by the UK to have the bodies repatriated to Argentina. In addition to memorials on the islands, there is a memorial in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London to the British war dead. At the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, a Falklands War memorial was unveiled in May 2012 in a service attended by 600 veterans and their families; the names of the fallen were also inscribed on the Armed Forces Memorial at the arboretum, which commemorates all British servicemen killed in action since the end of the Second World War. A memorial to the seamen of the Merchant Navy who died in the war stands at the Tower Hill Memorial in Trinity Square Gardens, London. A memorial to the Royal Marines, known as "The Yomper" was unveiled by Margaret Thatcher in 1992 outside the former Eastney Barracks near Portsmouth. The Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel at Pangbourne College was opened in March 2000 as a commemoration of the lives and sacrifice of all those who served and died in the South Atlantic in 1982. In Argentina, there are many memorials, museums and murals all over the country. The most important are a cenotaph at Plaza San Martín in Buenos Aires, and a memorial in Ushuaia, declared National Monument. Minefields In 2011 there were 113 uncleared minefields plus unexploded ordnance (UXOs) covering an area of 13 km2 (3,200 acres) on the Falkland Islands. Of this area, 5.5 km2 (1,400 acres) on the Murrell Peninsula were classified as being "suspected minefields"—the area had been heavily pastured for 25 years without incident. It was estimated that these minefields had 20,000 anti-personnel mines and 5,000 anti-tank mines. The UK reported six military personnel injured by mines or UXO in 1982, then two more in 1983. Most military accidents took place in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, while clearing minefields or trying to establish the extent of minefield perimeters, particularly where no detailed records existed. No civilian mine casualties have ever occurred on the islands, and no human casualties from mines or UXO have been reported since 1984. On 9 May 2008, the Falkland Islands Government asserted that the minefields, which represent 0.1% of the available farmland on the islands "present no long term social or economic difficulties for the Falklands", and that the impact of clearing the mines would cause more problems than containing them. However, the British Government, in accordance with its commitments under the Mine Ban Treaty had a commitment to clear the mines by the end of 2019. In May 2012, it was announced that 3.7 km2 (1.4 sq mi) of Stanley Common (which lies between the Stanley – Mount Pleasant road and the shoreline) was made safe and had been opened to the public, opening up a 3 km (1.9 mi) stretch of coastline and a further two kilometres of shoreline along Mullet Creek. In November 2020, after a final clearance campaign by contractors from Zimbabwe, it was declared that the Falkland Islands were now free of all landmines. A celebration of the event took place on the weekend of 14 November where the final landmine was detonated. Press and publicity Argentina Selected war correspondents were regularly flown to Port Stanley in military aircraft to report on the war. Back in Buenos Aires, newspapers and magazines reported on "the heroic actions of the largely conscript army and its successes". Officers from the intelligence services were attached to the newspapers and 'leaked' information corroborating the official communiqués from the government. The glossy magazines Gente and Siete Días swelled to 60 pages with colour photographs of British warships in flames—many of them faked—and bogus eyewitness reports of the Argentine commandos' guerrilla war on South Georgia (6 May) and an already dead Pucará pilot's attack on HMS Hermes (Lt. Daniel Antonio Jukic had been killed at Goose Green during a British air strike on 1 May). Most of the faked photos actually came from the tabloid press. One of the best remembered headlines was "Estamos ganando" ("We're winning") from the magazine Gente, that would later use variations of it. The Argentine troops on the Falkland Islands could read Gaceta Argentina—a newspaper intended to boost morale among the servicemen. Some of its untruths could easily be unveiled by the soldiers who recovered corpses. The Malvinas cause united the Argentines in a patriotic atmosphere that protected the junta from critics, and even opponents of the military government supported Galtieri; Ernesto Sabato said: In Argentina, it is not a military dictatorship that is fighting. It is the whole people, her women, her children, her old people, regardless of their political persuasion. Opponents to the regime like myself are fighting for our dignity, fighting to extricate the last vestiges of colonialism. Don't be mistaken, Europe, it is not a dictatorship that is fighting for the Malvinas; it is the whole nation. In the Argentine press, false reports that HMS Hermes was sunk and HMS Invincible had been damaged were circulated after the weekly magazines Gente and La Semana had received information of naval action from an air force officer in the president's office. On 30 April 1982 the Argentine magazine Tal Cual showed Prime Minister Thatcher with an eyepatch and the text: Pirate, witch and assassin. Guilty! Three British reporters sent to Argentina to cover the war from the Argentine perspective were jailed until the end of the war. The Madres de Plaza de Mayo were even exposed to death threats from ordinary people. United Kingdom Seventeen newspaper reporters, two photographers, two radio reporters and three television reporters with five technicians sailed with the Task Force to the war. The Newspaper Publishers' Association selected them from among 160 applicants, excluding foreign media. The hasty selection resulted in the inclusion of two journalists among the war reporters who were interested only in Queen Elizabeth II's son Prince Andrew, who was serving in the conflict. The prince flew a helicopter on multiple missions, including Exocet missile decoy and casualty evacuation. Merchant vessels had the civilian Inmarsat uplink, which enabled written telex and voice report transmissions via satellite. SS Canberra had a facsimile machine that was used to upload 202 pictures from the South Atlantic over the course of the war. The Royal Navy leased bandwidth on the U.S. Defense Satellite Communications System for worldwide communications. Television demands a thousand times the data rate of telephone, but the Ministry of Defence was unsuccessful in convincing the U.S. to allocate more bandwidth. TV producers suspected that the enquiry was half-hearted, since the Vietnam War television pictures of casualties and traumatised soldiers were recognised as having negative propaganda value. However, the technology only allowed uploading a single frame per 20 minutes—and only if the military satellites were allocated 100% to television transmissions. Videotapes were shipped to Ascension Island, where a broadband satellite uplink was available, resulting in TV coverage being delayed by three weeks. The press was very dependent on the Royal Navy and was censored on site. Many reporters in the UK knew more about the war than those with the Task Force. Ministry of Defence press briefings in London were characterised by the restrained dictation-speed delivery of its spokesman, Ian McDonald. The Royal Navy expected Fleet Street to conduct a Second World War-style positive news campaign but the majority of the British media, especially the BBC, reported the war in a neutral fashion. These reporters referred to "the British troops" and "the Argentinian troops" instead of "our lads" and the "Argies". The two main tabloid papers presented opposing viewpoints: The Daily Mirror was decidedly anti-war, whilst The Sun became well known for headlines such as "Stick It Up Your Junta!", which, along with the reporting in other tabloids, led to accusations of xenophobia and jingoism. The Sun was criticised for its "Gotcha" headline following the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano. The British Ministry of Defence operated a psychological warfare operation under the codename "Moonshine", which took the form of a spurious radio station purporting to be from a neutral South American country, but was actually in London, broadcasting to the Falklands and Argentina via a transmitter on Ascension which had been requisitioned from the BBC. Under the name of Radio Atlántico del Sur ("Radio South Atlantic"), the station was operated by a small team of civilians and Spanish-speaking military officers. The first three-hour broadcast was on 19 May and a total of 47 had been made by 15 June when the operation was cancelled. There is some evidence that the Argentines attempted to jam the broadcasts and that some civilian radio receivers were confiscated from soldiers, but the results overall were difficult to assess. Cultural impact There were wide-ranging influences on popular culture in both the UK and Argentina, from the immediate postwar period to the present. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges described the war as "a fight between two bald men over a comb." The words yomp and Exocet entered the British vernacular as a result of the war. The Falklands War also provided material for theatre, film and TV drama and influenced the output of musicians. In Argentina, the military government banned the broadcasting of music in the English language, giving way to the rise of local rock musicians, like the famous "Trova Rosarina" movement as well as solo musicians such as Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Fito Paez and Gustavo Santaolalla. See also London Victory Parade of 1982, victory parade held in London in October 1982 to celebrate the victory. Beagle conflict, a border dispute between Chile and Argentina that involved island territory. Hope Bay incident and Deception Island incident, confrontations between Argentine and British forces in Antarctica, 1952–53 Operation Algeciras, a failed Argentine plan to send Montoneros to sabotage British military facilities in Gibraltar Operation Soberanía, plans for Argentina's invasion of Chile in 1978 and later. Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833) Argentina–United Kingdom relations British naval forces in the Falklands War British ground forces in the Falklands War British nuclear weapons and the Falklands War List of leaders of the Falklands War Notes References Bibliography Historiography Bluth, Christoph (1987). "The British Resort to Force in the Falklands/Malvinas Conflict 1982: International Law and Just War Theory". Journal of Peace Research. 24 (1): 5–20. doi:10.1177/002234338702400102. S2CID 145424339. Caviedes, César N (1994). "Conflict over the Falkland Islands: A never-ending story?". Latin American Research Review. 29 (2): 172–87. doi:10.1017/S0023879100024171. S2CID 252749716. Little, Walter. "The Falklands Affair: A Review of the Literature," Political Studies, (June 1984) 32#2 pp 296–310 Tulchin, Joseph S (1987). "The Malvinas War of 1982: An Inevitable Conflict That Never Should Have Occurred". Latin American Research Review. 22 (3): 123–141. doi:10.1017/S0023879100037079. S2CID 252936590. Further reading Gibson, Chris (2023). "Meanwhile... An Ocean Apart: The British Perspective". The Aviation Historian (44): 87–90. ISSN 2051-1930. Privratsky, Kenneth L.: Logistics in the Falklands War - A Case Study in Expeditionary Warfare, 2017, Pen & Sword, Great Britain, ISBN 978-1473899049 Sciaroni, Mariano & Gibson, Chris (2023). "The Vulcans are Coming! Argentina's Mainland Air Defences, Falklands 1982". The Aviation Historian (44): 78–86. ISSN 2051-1930. Shields, John: Air Power in the Falklands Conflict - An Operational Level Insight into Air Warfare in the South Atlantic, 2021, Pen & Sword, Great Britain, ISBN 9781399007528 External links Argentine website with opinion pieces and photos of the war Interview with the then British UN ambassador about initial post invasion peace efforts Archived 17 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine "Falkland Islands History Roll of Honour". Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015. "The Falkland Islands Conflict 1982". falklandswar.org.uk. Schumann, Peter B. "Argentiniens unbewältigte Vergangenheit" [Argentina's unresolved past]. Deutschlandfunk (in German). "The South Atlantic Medal Association 1982". sama82.org.uk. "Battle atlas of the Falklands war 1982 by land, sea and air". naval-history.net. "No. 49134". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 October 1982. pp. 12831–12861. Victoria Cross and other decorations "No. 48999". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1982. pp. 7421–7422. Decorations specifically for the defence of South Georgia "ITB Batería Costera Exocet en Malvinas: Entrevista con el CL (R) Ing. Julio Pérez" [ITB Exocet battery: Interview with Julio Pérez]. Fuerzas Navales Magazine (in Spanish) (14). 2002. Archived from the original on 2 March 2008. ex-7th Argentine Infantry Regiment veterans (in Spanish) "Coverage of the Falklands war". RadioTapes.com. Rey, Carlos Alberto; Rattenbach, Benjamín; et al. Report Rattenbach: Report of the commission for analysis and evaluation of responsibility in the conflict 'South Atlantic' (in Spanish) – via Wikisource. A Olsen, Paul (17 May 2012). Operation Corporate: Operational Art and Implications for the Joint Operational Access Concept (PDF). School of Advanced Military Studies (Report). DTIC. ADA566546. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Lessons of the Falklands. Department of the Navy (Report). DTIC. February 1983. ADA133333. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015.

1982_FIFA_World_Cup

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_FIFA_World_Cup

The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in the final held in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the capital, Madrid. It was Italy's third World Cup title, but their first since 1938. The defending champions, Argentina, were eliminated in the second round (finishing third and last in their group). Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait and New Zealand made their first appearances in the finals. The tournament featured the first penalty shoot-out in World Cup competition. This was the third and last World Cup to feature two rounds of group stages. It was also the third time (after 1934 and 1966) that all four semi-finalists were European. In the first round of Group 3, Hungary defeated El Salvador 10–1, equalling the largest margin of victory recorded in the finals (Hungary over South Korea 9–0 in 1954, and Yugoslavia over Zaire 9–0 in 1974). Although successful and filled with compelling and entertaining matches, this tournament also was blighted by violent fouls, some poor officiating and some overcrowded stadiums. One particular incident of note was West German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher's foul of French player Patrick Battiston during a semi-final match in Seville, and another was Italian player Claudio Gentile's intense and often violent match-long fouling and marking of Argentine player Diego Maradona. FIFA changed the regulations to somewhat prevent this kind of brutality on the pitch for the subsequent tournament in Mexico. Host selection Spain was chosen as the host nation by FIFA in London on 6 July 1966. Hosting rights for the 1974 and 1978 tournaments were awarded at the same time. West Germany and Spain agreed a deal whereby Spain would support West Germany for the 1974 tournament and West Germany would allow Spain to bid for the 1982 World Cup unopposed. At the time of Spain being selected, the country was under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco's regime, but his regime had ended before the start of the tournament, and the World Cup had its effects on Spanish society after the democratic transition. Qualification For the first time, the World Cup finals expanded from 16 to 24 teams. This allowed more countries to participate from Africa and Asia. Teams absent from the finals were 1974 and 1978 runners-up Netherlands (eliminated by Belgium and France), Mexico (eliminated by Honduras and El Salvador), and the three times 1970s participants Sweden (eliminated by Scotland and Northern Ireland). Northern Ireland qualified for the first time since 1958. Belgium, Czechoslovakia, El Salvador, England and the Soviet Union were all back in the finals after 12-year absences. England had its first successful World Cup qualifying campaign in 20 years, having qualified automatically as hosts in 1966 and as defending champions in 1970, then failing to qualify in 1974 and 1978. Yugoslavia and Chile were also back after missing the 1978 tournament. Algeria, Cameroon, Honduras, Kuwait, and New Zealand all participated in the World Cup for the first time. As of 2022, this was the last time that El Salvador and Kuwait qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals, as well as the last time that South Korea failed to qualify. This is also the last time that Mexico failed to qualify by playing (they were banned from the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification). This was the first time that all six confederations (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA) sent representative teams to the tournament, which would happen again in 2006 and 2010, and will be happening in 2026: Australia would also participate in the 2010-2022 tournaments, but as a representative of the AFC. There was some consideration given as to whether England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland would withdraw from the tournament because of the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom. A directive issued by the British sports minister Neil Macfarlane in April, at the start of the conflict, suggested that there should be no contact between British representative teams and Argentina. This directive was not rescinded until August, following the end of the tournament and of the hostilities. Macfarlane reported to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that some players and officials were uneasy about participating because of the casualties suffered by British forces, and the strong diplomatic ties between Argentina and Spain. FIFA later advised the British Government that there was no prospect that Argentina (the defending champions) would be asked to withdraw, and it also became apparent that no other countries would withdraw from the tournament. It was decided by Cabinet Secretary Robert Armstrong to allow the British national teams to participate so that Argentina could not use their absence for propaganda purposes, reversing the intended effect of applying political pressure onto Argentina. List of qualified teams The following 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. Summary Format The first round was a round-robin group stage containing six groups of four teams each. Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw, with goal difference used to separate teams equal on points. The top two teams in each group advanced. In the second round, the twelve remaining teams were split into four groups of three teams each, with the winner of each group progressing to the knockout semi-final stage. The composition of the groups in the second round was determined before the start of the tournament. Groups A and B were to include one team from each of Groups 1 through 6, and Groups C and D included the remaining six teams. The winners of Groups 1 and 3 were in Group A whilst the runners-up were in Group C. The winners of Groups 2 and 4 were in Group B whilst the runners-up were in Group D. The winner of Group 5 was in Group D whilst the runner-up was in Group B. The winner of Group 6 was in Group C whilst the runner-up was in Group A. Thus, Group A mirrored Group C, and Group B mirrored Group D with the winners and runners-up from the first round being placed into opposite groups in the second round. The second-round groups that mirrored each other (based on the first-round groupings) faced off against each other in the semifinals. Thus, the Group A winner played the Group C winner, and the Group B winner played the Group D winner. This meant that if two teams which played in the same first-round group both emerged from the second round, they would meet for the second time of the tournament in a semifinal match. It also guaranteed that the final match would feature two teams that had not previously played each other in the tournament. As it turned out, Italy and Poland who were both in Group 1 in the first round, each won their second-round groups and played each other in a semifinal match. First group stage In Group 1, newcomers Cameroon held both Poland and Italy to draws, and were denied a place in the next round on the basis of having scored fewer goals than Italy (the sides had an equal goal difference). Poland and Italy qualified over Cameroon and Peru. Italian journalists and tifosi criticised their team for their uninspired performances that managed three draws; the squad was reeling from the recent Serie A scandal, where national players were suspended for match fixing and illegal betting. Group 2 saw one of the great World Cup upsets on the first day with the 2–1 victory of Algeria over reigning European Champions West Germany. In the final match in the group, West Germany met Austria in a match later dubbed as the "Disgrace of Gijón". Algeria had already played their final group game on the previous day, and West Germany and Austria knew that a West German win by 1 or 2 goals would qualify them both, while a larger German victory would qualify Algeria over Austria, and a draw or an Austrian win would eliminate the Germans. After 10 minutes of all-out attack, West Germany scored through a goal by Horst Hrubesch. After that solitary goal was scored, the two teams kicked the ball around aimlessly for the rest of the match. Chants of "Fuera, fuera" ("Out, out") were screamed by the Spanish crowd, while angry Algerian supporters waved banknotes at the players. This performance was widely deplored, even by the German and Austrian fans. One German fan was so upset by his team's display that he burned his German flag in disgust. Algeria protested to FIFA, who ruled that the result would stand; FIFA introduced a revised qualification system at subsequent World Cups in which the final two games in each group were played simultaneously. Group 3, where the opening ceremony and first match of the tournament took place, saw Belgium beat defending champions Argentina 1–0. The Camp Nou stadium was the home of Barcelona, and many fans had wanted to see the club's new signing, Argentinian star Diego Maradona, who did not perform to expectations. Both Belgium and Argentina ultimately advanced at the expense of Hungary and El Salvador despite Hungary's 10–1 win over the Central American nation – which, with a total of 11 goals, is the second highest scoreline in a World Cup game (equal with Brazil's 6–5 victory over Poland in the 1938 tournament and Hungary's 8–3 victory over West Germany in the 1954 tournament). Group 4 opened with England midfielder Bryan Robson's goal against France after only 27 seconds of play. England won 3–1 and qualified along with France over Czechoslovakia and Kuwait, though the tiny Gulf emirate held Czechoslovakia to a 1–1 draw. In the game between Kuwait and France, with France leading 3–1, France midfielder Alain Giresse scored a goal vehemently contested by the Kuwait team, who had stopped play after hearing a piercing whistle from the stands, which they thought had come from Soviet referee Miroslav Stupar. Play had not yet resumed when Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, brother of the then-Kuwaiti Emir and president of the Kuwait Football Association, rushed onto the pitch to remonstrate with the referee. Stupar reversed his initial decision and disallowed the goal to the fury of the French. Maxime Bossis scored another valid goal a few minutes later and France won 4–1. In Group 5, Honduras held hosts Spain to a 1–1 draw. Northern Ireland won the group outright, eliminating Yugoslavia and beating hosts Spain 1–0; Northern Ireland had to play the majority of the second half with ten men after Mal Donaghy was dismissed. Spain narrowly avoided elimination due to a huge referee error, securing a contentious 2–1 victory over Yugoslavia, largely attributed to a disputed penalty decision. At 17 years and 41 days, Northern Ireland forward Norman Whiteside was the youngest player to appear in a World Cup match. Brazil were in Group 6. With Zico, Sócrates, Falcão, Éder and others, they boasted an offensive firepower that promised a return to the glory days of 1970. They beat the USSR 2–1 thanks to a 20-metre Éder goal two minutes from time, then Scotland and New Zealand with four goals each. The Soviets took the group's other qualifying berth on goal difference at the expense of the Scots. Second group stage Poland opened Group A with a 3–0 defeat of Belgium thanks to a Zbigniew Boniek hat-trick. The Soviet Union prevailed 1–0 in the next match over Belgium. The Poles edged out the USSR for the semi-final spot on the final day on goal difference thanks to a 0–0 draw in a politically charged match, as Poland's then-Communist government had imposed a martial law a few months earlier to quash internal dissent. In Group B, a match between England and West Germany ended in a goalless draw. West Germany put the pressure on England in their second match by beating Spain 2–1. The home side drew 0–0 against England, denying Ron Greenwood's team a semi-final place and putting England in the same position as Cameroon, being eliminated without losing a game. In Group C, with Brazil, Argentina and Italy, in the opener, Italy prevailed 2–1 over Diego Maradona and Mario Kempes's side after a game in which Italian defenders Gaetano Scirea and Claudio Gentile proved themselves equal to the task of stopping the Argentinian attack. Argentina now needed a win over Brazil on the second day, but lost 3–1 – Argentina only scoring in the last minute. Maradona kicked Brazilian player João Batista in the groin and was sent off in the 85th minute. The match between Brazil and Italy pitted Brazil's attack against Italy's defence, with the majority of the game played around the Italian area, and with the Italian midfielders and defenders returning the repeated set volleys of Brazilian shooters such as Zico, Sócrates and Falcão. Italian centre back Gentile was assigned to mark Brazilian striker Zico, earning a yellow card and a suspension for the semi-final. Paolo Rossi opened the scoring when he headed in Antonio Cabrini's cross with just five minutes played. Sócrates equalised for Brazil seven minutes later. In the twenty-fifth minute Rossi stepped past Júnior, intercepted a pass from Cerezo across the Brazilians' goal, and drilled the shot home. The Brazilians threw everything in search of another equaliser, while Italy defended bravely. On 68 minutes, Falcão collected a pass from Júnior and as Cerezo's dummy run distracted three defenders, fired home from 20 yards out. Now Italy had gained the lead twice thanks to Rossi's goals, and Brazil had come back twice; at 2–2, Brazil would have been through on goal difference, but in the 74th minute, a poor clearance from an Italian corner kick went back to the Brazilian six-yard line where Rossi and Francesco Graziani were waiting. Both aimed at the same shot, Rossi connecting to get a hat trick and sending Italy into the lead for good. In the 86th minute Giancarlo Antognoni scored an apparent fourth goal for Italy, but it was wrongly disallowed for offside. In the dying moments Dino Zoff made a miraculous save to deny Oscar a goal, ensuring that Italy advanced to the semi-final. In the last group, Group D, France dispatched Austria 1–0 with a free kick goal by Bernard Genghini, and then defeated Northern Ireland 4–1 to reach their first semi-final since 1958. Semi-finals, third-place match and final In a re-match of the encounter in the first round, Italy beat Poland in the first semi-final through two goals from Paolo Rossi. In the game between France and West Germany, the Germans opened the scoring through a Pierre Littbarski strike in the 17th minute, and the French equalised nine minutes later with a Michel Platini penalty. In the second half a long through ball sent French defender Patrick Battiston racing clear towards the German goal. With both Battiston and the lone German defender trying to be the first to reach the ball, Battiston flicked it past German keeper Harald Schumacher from the edge of the German penalty area and Schumacher reacted by jumping up to block. Schumacher did not seem to go for the ball, however, and clattered straight into the oncoming Battiston – which left the French player unconscious and knocked two of his teeth out. Schumacher's action has been described as "one of history's most shocking fouls". The ball went just wide of the post and Dutch referee Charles Corver deemed Schumacher's tackle on Battiston not to be a foul and awarded a goal kick. Play was interrupted for several minutes while Battiston, still unconscious and with a broken jaw, was carried off the field on a stretcher. After French defender Manuel Amoros had sent a 25-metre drive crashing onto the West German crossbar in the final minute, the match went into extra time. On 92 minutes, France's sweeper Marius Trésor fired a swerving volley under Schumacher's crossbar from ten metres out to make it 2–1. Six minutes later, an unmarked Alain Giresse drove in an 18-metre shot off the inside of the right post to finish off a counter-attack and put France up 3–1. But West Germany would not give up. In the 102nd minute a counter-attack culminated in a cross that recent substitute Karl-Heinz Rummenigge turned in at the near post from a difficult angle with the outside of his foot, reducing France's lead to 3–2. Then in the 108th minute Germany took a short corner and after France failed to clear, the ball was played by Germany to Littbarski whose cross to Horst Hrubesch was headed back to the centre towards Klaus Fischer, who was unmarked but with his back to goal. Fischer in turn volleyed the ball past French keeper Jean-Luc Ettori with a bicycle kick, levelling the scores at 3–3. The resulting penalty shootout was the first at a World Cup finals. Giresse, Manfred Kaltz, Manuel Amoros, Paul Breitner and Dominique Rocheteau all converted penalties until Uli Stielike was stopped by Ettori, giving France the advantage. But then Schumacher stepped forward, lifted the tearful Stielike from the ground, and saved Didier Six's shot. With Germany handed the lifeline they needed Littbarski converted his penalty, followed by Platini for France, and then Rummenigge for Germany as the tension mounted. France defender Maxime Bossis then had his kick parried by Schumacher who anticipated it, and Hrubesch stepped up to score and send Germany to the World Cup final yet again with a victory on penalties, 5–4. In the third-place match, Poland edged the French side 3–2 which matched Poland's best performance at a World Cup previously achieved in 1974. France would go on to win the European Championship two years later. In the final, Antonio Cabrini fired a penalty wide of goal in the first half. In the second half, Paolo Rossi scored first for the third straight game by heading home Gentile's bouncing cross at close range. Exploiting the situation, Italy scored twice more on quick counter-strikes, all the while capitalising on their defence to hold the Germans. With Gentile and Gaetano Scirea holding the centre, the Italian strikers were free to counter-punch the weakened German defence. Marco Tardelli's shot from the edge of the area beat Schumacher first, and Alessandro Altobelli, the substitute for injured striker Francesco Graziani, made it 3–0 at the end of a solo sprint down the right side by the stand-out winger Bruno Conti. Italy's lead appeared secure, encouraging Italian president Sandro Pertini to wag his finger at the cameras in a playful "not going to catch us now" gesture. In the 83rd minute, Paul Breitner scored for West Germany, but it was only a consolation goal as Italy won 3–1 to claim their first World Cup title in 44 years, and their third in total. Records Italy became the first team to advance from the first round without winning a game, drawing all three (while Cameroon were eliminated in the same way by virtue of having only one goal scored against Italy's two), and also the first of two World Cup winners to draw or lose three matches at the Finals (Argentina matched this by drawing two games and losing one in 2022). By winning, Italy equalled Brazil's record of winning the World Cup three times. Italy's total of twelve goals scored in seven matches set a new low for average goals scored per game by a World Cup winning side (subsequently exceeded by Spain in 2010), while Italy's aggregate goal difference of +6 for the tournament remains a record low for a champion, equalled by Spain. Italy's 40-year-old captain-goalkeeper Dino Zoff became the oldest player to win the World Cup. This was the first World Cup in which teams from all six continental confederations participated in the finals, something that did not happen again until 2006. Venues Seventeen stadiums in fourteen cities hosted the tournament, a record that stood until the 2002 tournament, which was played in twenty stadiums in two countries. The most used venue was FC Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium, which hosted five matches, including a semi-final; it was the largest stadium used for this tournament. With Sarrià Stadium also hosting three matches, Barcelona was the Spanish city with the most matches in España 1982 with eight; Madrid, the nation's capital, followed with seven. This particular World Cup was organised in such a way that all of the matches of each of the six groups were assigned stadiums in cities near to each other, in order to reduce the stress of travel on the players and fans. For example, Group 1 matches were played in Vigo and A Coruña, Group 2 in Gijón and Oviedo, Group 3 in Elche and Alicante (except for the first match, which was the opening match of the tournament, which was played at the Camp Nou), Group 4 in Bilbao and Valladolid, Group 5 (which included hosts Spain) in Valencia and Zaragoza, and Group 6 in Seville and Malaga (of the three first-round matches in Seville, the first match between Brazil and the Soviet Union was played in the Pizjuán Stadium, and the other two were played in the Villamarín Stadium). Group stage matches in the milder northern cities like Bilbao or Gijón would start at 17:00, while the matches in the southern cities like Seville or Valencia would start at 21:00, in an attempt to avoid the intense southern Spanish summer heat. When the tournament went into the round-robin second round matches, all the aforementioned cities excluding Barcelona, Alicante and Seville did not host any more matches in España 1982. Both the Santiago Bernabéu and Vicente Calderón stadiums in Madrid and the Sarrià Stadium in Barcelona were used for the first time for this tournament for the second round matches. Madrid and Barcelona hosted the four second round group matches; Barcelona hosted Groups A and C (Camp Nou hosted all three of Group A's matches, and Sarrià did the same with Group C's matches) and Madrid hosted Groups B and D (Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium hosted all three of Group B's matches, and Atlético Madrid's Calderon Stadium did the same with the Group D matches) The two semi final matches were held at Camp Nou and the Pizjuán Stadium in Seville, the third largest stadium used for the tournament (one of only two España 1982 matches it hosted), the third place match was held in Alicante and the final was held at the Bernabeu, the second largest stadium used for this tournament. Match officials Squads For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1982 FIFA World Cup squads. Groups Seeding The 24 qualifiers were divided into four groupings which formed the basis of the draw for the group stage. FIFA announced the six seeded teams on the day of the draw and allocated them in advance to the six groups; as had become standard, the host nation and the reigning champions were among the seeds. The seeded teams would play all their group matches at the same venue (with the exception of World Cup holders Argentina who would play in the opening game scheduled for the Camp Nou, the largest of the venues). The remaining 18 teams were split into three pots based on FIFA's assessment of the team's strength, but also taking in account geographic considerations. The seedings and group venues for those teams were tentatively agreed at an informal meeting in December 1981 but not officially confirmed until the day of the draw. FIFA executive Hermann Neuberger told the press that the seeding of England had been challenged by other nations but they were to be seeded as "the Spanish want England to play in Bilbao for security reasons"*. As well as security the footballing grounds that they were winners in 1966 and reached the quarter-final as holders in 1970, as the 1970 in Mexico and 1974 in West Germany tournaments were taken into consideration for seeding with West Germany seeded for their 1980 European Championship win (due to the Netherlands failing to qualify) having won in 1974. However, due to England's seeding for security reasons, if the Netherlands had qualified, West Germany would not have been seeded as West Germany were eliminated in the second group stage in 1978, while the Netherlands were runners up. Final draw On 16 January 1982, the draw was conducted at the Palacio de Congresos in Madrid, where the teams were drawn out from the three pots to be placed with the seeded teams in their predetermined groups. Firstly a draw was made to decide the order in which the three drums containing pots A, B and C would be emptied; this resulted in the order being pot B, C and A. The teams were then drawn one-by-one out of the respective pot and entered in the groups in that order. A number was then drawn to determine the team's "position" in the group and hence the fixtures. The only stipulation of the draw was that no group could feature two South American teams. As a result, Pot B – which contained two South American teams – was initially drawn with only the four Europeans in the pot. These first two European teams drawn from pot B were then to be immediately allocated to Groups 3 and 6 which contained the two South American seeds Argentina and Brazil. Once these two groups had been filled with the entrants from Pot B, Chile and Peru would be added to the pot and the draw would continue as normal. In the event, FIFA executives Sepp Blatter and Hermann Neuberger conducting the draw initially forgot this stipulation and therefore immediately placed the first team drawn from this pot (Belgium) into Group 1, rather than Group 3 as planned, before then placing the second team drawn out (Scotland) into Group 3; they then had to correct this by moving Belgium to Group 3 and Scotland into Group 6. The ceremony suffered further embarrassment when one of the revolving drums containing the teams broke down. Results All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) First group stage The group winners and runners-up advanced to the second round. Teams were ranked on the following criteria: Greater number of points in all group matches Goal difference in all group matches Greater number of goals scored in all group matches Drawing of lots Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Second group stage The second round of the tournament consisted of four groups of three teams, each played at one stadium in one of Spain's two largest cities: two in Madrid and two in Barcelona. The winners of each group progressed to the semi-finals. Teams were ranked on the following criteria: Greater number of points in all group matches Goal difference in all group matches Greater number of goals scored in all group matches Whether the team finished first or second in their first round group Drawing of lots Although the fixtures were provisionally determined in advance, the teams competing in each fixture depended on the result of the opening match in each group: Should a team lose their opening game of the group, that team would then have to play in the second fixture against the third team in the group and the winner would, by contrast, be rewarded by not needing to play again until the final fixture of the group and therefore gained extra recovery time. If the opening game was a draw, the predetermined order of games would proceed as planned. These regulations helped ensure that the final group games were of importance as no team could already have progressed to the semi-finals by the end of the second fixtures. The 43,000-capacity Sarria Stadium in Barcelona, used for the Group C round-robin matches between Italy, Argentina and Brazil was, unlike any of the other matches (except 1) in the other groups, severely overcrowded for all three matches. The venue was then heavily criticised for its lack of space and inability to handle such rampant crowds; although no one had foreseen such crowds at all; the Group A matches held at the nearby and much larger 121,401-capacity Camp Nou stadium never went past 65,000 and hosted all European teams; it was anticipated there would be larger crowds for the Camp Nou-hosted second round matches between Belgium, the Soviet Union and Poland. Group A Group B Group C Group D Knockout stage Semi-finals Third place play-off Final Statistics Goalscorers Paolo Rossi received the Golden Boot for scoring six goals. In total, 146 goals were scored by 100 players, with only one of them credited as own goal. 6 goals Paolo Rossi 5 goals Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 4 goals Zico Zbigniew Boniek 3 goals Falcão Alain Giresse László Kiss Gerry Armstrong 2 goals 1 goal Own goals Jozef Barmoš (against England) Red cards Américo Gallego Diego Maradona Ladislav Vízek Gilberto Yearwood Mal Donaghy Awards Source: FIFA retrospective ranking In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition. The rankings for the 1982 tournament were as follows: Branding Mascot The official mascot of this World Cup was Naranjito, a male anthropomorphised orange, a typical fruit in Spain, wearing the kit of the host's national team. It was designed by José María Martín and María Dolores Salto from the marketing agency Publicidad Bellido. Its name comes from naranja, the Spanish word for orange, and the diminutive suffix "-ito". Television series Football in Action (Spanish: Fútbol en acción) is an educational animated television series about football produced by BRB Internacional and Televisión Española (TVE). The main character is a twelve-year-old Naranjito, who is accompanied on his adventures by his friends: Clementina (a mandarin orange), Citronio (a lemon), and Imarchi (a robot). The series talks about the rules of football and the history of the World Cup. Its 26 episodes of 25 minutes each were first aired in 1981–82 on TVE 1. Poster The official poster was designed by Joan Miró. Match ball The match ball for 1982 World Cup, manufactured by Adidas, was the Tango España. References External links 1982 FIFA World Cup Spain, FIFA.com Details at RSSSF FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2) and (Part 3) FIFA Awards – World Cup 1982 "Golden Ball"

Inauguration_of_John_F._Kennedy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inauguration_of_John_F._Kennedy

The inauguration of John F. Kennedy as the 35th president of the United States was held on Friday, January 20, 1961, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 44th inauguration and marked the commencement of John F. Kennedy's and Lyndon B. Johnson's only term as president and vice president. Kennedy was assassinated 2 years, 306 days into this term, and Johnson succeeded to the presidency. Kennedy had narrowly defeated Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president, in the presidential election. Kennedy was the first Catholic to become president, the youngest person elected to the office, and the first U.S. president to have been born in the 20th century. His inaugural address encompassed the major themes of his campaign and would define his presidency during a time of economic prosperity, emerging social changes, and diplomatic challenges. This inauguration was the first in which a poet, Robert Frost, participated in the program. For this inauguration, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies was chaired by Senator John Sparkman, and included Senators Carl Hayden and Styles Bridges, and Representatives Sam Rayburn, John W. McCormack, and Charles A. Halleck. Sinatra inaugural ball Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford organized and hosted a pre-inaugural ball at the D.C. Armory on the eve of Inauguration day, January 19, 1961, considered one of the biggest parties ever held in the history of Washington, D.C. Sinatra recruited many Hollywood stars who performed and attended, and went as far as convincing Broadway theatres to suspend their shows for the night to accommodate some of their actors attending the gala. With tickets ranging from $100 per person to $10,000 per group, Sinatra hoped to raise $1.7 million ($17.3 million in today's dollars) for the Democratic Party to eliminate its debt brought on by a hard-fought campaign. Many Hollywood stars gave brief speeches or performed acts, rehearsed by Kay Thompson and directed by Roger Edens, and stayed at the Statler-Hilton Hotel where preparations and rehearsals were photographed by Phil Stern. Performances and speeches included Fredric March, Sidney Poitier, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Kelly, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Bill Dana, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante, Harry Belafonte, and Sinatra himself. Sammy Davis Jr., a long-time friend of Sinatra, supporter of the Democratic Party, and member of the Rat Pack, was asked by John F. Kennedy not to attend the gala at the behest of his father Joseph, fearing that his interracial marriage to Swedish actress May Britt was too controversial for the time and occasion, much to Sammy's and Sinatra's dismay. Davis had already postponed his wedding to Britt until after the election, also at the request of the Kennedy campaign via Sinatra. Davis eventually switched his support to the Republican Party and Richard Nixon in the early 1970s. Harry Belafonte expressed sadness at the controversy, stating "It was the ambassador, [but] we didn't know that until after. Sammy not being there was a loss." At the end of the ball, Kennedy spoke to thank Sinatra on the festivities and his support of the Democratic Party throughout his life and the 1960 campaign, adding "The happy relationship between the arts and politics which has characterized our long history I think reached culmination tonight." Jacqueline retired to the White House before the ball ended at 1:30 am (ET), and John went to a second pre-inaugural ball hosted by his father Joseph Kennedy, and would finally return to the White House at around 3:30 am. The inaugural nor'easter A major winter storm occurred the day before the inauguration, with temperatures at 20 °F (−7 °C) and snowfall at 1–2 inches (2.5–5.1 cm) per hour and a total of 8 inches (20 cm) during the night, causing transportation and logistical problems in Washington and serious concern for the inauguration. On inauguration day, January 20, 1961, the skies began to clear but the snow created chaos in Washington, almost canceling the inaugural parade. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was put in charge of clearing the streets during the evening and morning before the inauguration, and were assisted by more than 1,000 District of Columbia employees and 1,700 Boy Scouts. This task force employed hundreds of dump trucks, front-end loaders, sanders, plows, rotaries, and flamethrowers to clear the route. Over 1,400 cars which had been stranded due to the conditions and lack of fuel had to be removed from the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue. The snowstorm dropped visibility at Washington National Airport to less than half a mile, preventing former president Herbert Hoover from flying into Washington and attending the inauguration. Inauguration proceedings Before proceeding to the Capitol in company with outgoing president Dwight D. Eisenhower, Kennedy went to a morning Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. Cardinal Richard Cushing gave the invocation at the inaugural which lasted for 12 minutes. Additional prayers were recited by Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Church and Reverend Dr. John Barclay of the Central Christian Church of Austin, Texas, and a blessing was offered by Rabbi Nelson Glueck. The invocation and prayers lasted a total of 28 minutes. Marian Anderson sang "The Star-Spangled Banner", and a composition by Leonard Bernstein titled "Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy" was played. The oath of office for vice president was administered by Speaker of the House of Representatives Sam Rayburn to Lyndon Johnson. This marked the first time a House speaker administered the oath, which had been given in previous inaugurations by either the president pro tempore of the Senate, the outgoing vice president, or a United States senator. Robert Frost, then 86 years old, recited his poem "The Gift Outright". Kennedy requested Frost to read a poem at the inauguration, suggesting "The Gift Outright", considered an act of gratitude towards Frost for his help during the campaign. Kennedy would later state that he admired the "courage, the towering skill and daring" of Frost, and adding that "I've never taken the view the world of politics and the world of poetry are so far apart. I think politicians and poets share at least one thing, and that is their greatness depends upon the courage with which they face the challenges of life." American poet William Meredith would say that the request "focused attention on Kennedy as a man of culture, as a man interested in culture." Frost composed a new poem titled Dedication specifically for the ceremony as a preface to the poem Kennedy suggested, to the surprise of Kennedy's friends. On the morning of the inauguration, Frost asked Stewart Udall, Kennedy's future Secretary of the Interior, to have his handwritten draft type scripted for easier reading, to which Udall obliged. Once at the presidential podium, however, the glare of the sun and snow prevented him from reading his papers. When Frost started reading, he stumbled on the first three lines, squinting at his papers in view of the crowd and cameras. Vice President Johnson tried to assist by using his top hat as a shade, however Frost waved the offer aside, took the hat and jokingly said "I'll help you with that", sparking laughter and applause from the crowd and President Kennedy. Understanding the immediacy of the situation, Frost stated to the microphones that "this [the poem] was to have been a preface to a poem which I do not have to read", and began to recite "The Gift Outright" from memory before the "nearly one million people in the nation's capital". This marks the first time a poem was read at a presidential inauguration, a feature repeated by future presidents Bill Clinton (1993 and 1997), Barack Obama (2009 and 2013), and Joe Biden (2021) at their respective ceremonies. Frost gave the type scripted version of the undelivered "Dedication" poem to Udall after the ceremony, who eventually donated the document to the Library of Congress where it is stored today. The original manuscript version, personally dedicated by Frost, was provided to the president and currently held by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Kennedy's wife Jacqueline framed this manuscript version, writing on the back of the frame: For Jack. First thing I had framed to be put in your office. First thing to be hung there. Frost officially presented the poem, retitled to For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration and expanded from 42 to 77 lines, to Kennedy in March 1962. The unread poem (published in 1962 as part of Frost's In the Clearing poetry collection) was finally recited at the U.S. Capitol by Chaplain Daniel P. Coughlin during the 50th anniversary celebrations of Kennedy's inauguration. Oath of office The oath of office of the president was administered to Kennedy by Chief Justice Earl Warren using a closed family Bible at 12:51 (ET) although he officially became president at the stroke of noon. Kennedy did not wear an overcoat when taking the oath of office and delivering the inaugural address, despite the cold conditions of 22 °F (−6 °C) with windchill at 7 °F (−14 °C) at noon. Inaugural address Immediately after reciting the oath of office, President Kennedy turned to address the crowd gathered at the Capitol. His 1366-word inaugural address, the first delivered to a televised audience in color, is considered one of the best presidential inaugural speeches in American history. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. Drafting The speech was crafted by Kennedy and his speech writer Ted Sorensen. Kennedy had Sorensen study President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as well as other inaugural speeches. Kennedy began collecting thoughts and ideas for his inauguration speech in late November 1960. He took suggestions from various friends, aides and counselors, including suggestions from clergymen for biblical quotations. Kennedy then made several drafts using his own thoughts and some of those suggestions. Kennedy included in his speech several suggestions made by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith and by the former Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson II. Kennedy's line "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." is nearly identical to Galbraith's suggestion "We shall never negotiate out of fear. But we shall never fear to negotiate." Stevenson's suggestion "if the free way of life doesn't help the many poor of this world it will never save the few rich." was the basis for Kennedy's line "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." Main ideas of the speech Kennedy came into power at the height of the Cold War with the difficult goals of maintaining peaceful international relations and representing the United States as a strong global force. These themes dominated his inaugural address. Kennedy highlighted the newly discovered dangers of nuclear power and the accelerating arms race, making the point that a focus on firepower should be replaced with a focus on international relations and helping the impoverished of the world. According to speechwriter Ted Sorensen, the most important sentence in the speech, expressing the core of Kennedy's policy, was: "For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed." Sorensen revealed in 2007 that John F. Kennedy had five objectives in mind with his speech, all of which, according to Sorensen, were achieved. Sorensen called Kennedy's speech "wise and courageous" and concluded: "Kennedy's inaugural address was world-changing, heralding the commencement of a new American administration and foreign policy determined upon a peaceful victory in the west's long cold war struggle with the Soviet Union over the world's future direction. [...] It was a statement of core values - his and the nation's at that time - that he very much believed needed to be conveyed." Rhetorical elements The central theme of the speech is the relationship between duty and power. This is emphasized by the strong use of juxtaposition in the first part of the speech: "... Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life". Similarly, in the fifth passage, he says: "United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do." Both passages appeal to the idea of refocusing international values. Again, after exhorting "both sides" to action, he calls on all of "us" "to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle ... against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself," though the phrase "long twilight struggle" came to be associated with the Cold War struggle against communism. Kairos – to say or do what is fitting in a given situation – is a main component of classical rhetoric and is used prominently in this address. Kennedy recognized the American people's anxiety about the Cold War and chose an optimistic tone. He accomplishes this by talking about the future, and repeats the phrase "Let both sides ..." to indicate a way to deal with strained relations while appealing to the goal of international unity. He also phrases negative ideas as opportunities—a challenge, appealing to innately American ideals. In the fourth from last passage he states, "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger". It was also in his inaugural address that John F. Kennedy spoke his famous words, "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." This use of antimetabole can be seen even as a thesis statement of his speech—a call to action for the public to do what is right for the greater good. This may be an elegant rephrasing of Franklin D. Roosevelt's acceptance speech at the 1936 Democratic National Convention: "To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." It is also similar to Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' 1884 Memorial Day speech, in which Holmes said, "[Memorial Day] is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for the country in return." Invited guests Along with official presidential guests and honorees, including former presidents, vice presidents, cabinet members, and other Washington officials, the Kennedys invited famous men and women of the arts, including Carl Sandburg, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Brendan Behan, Mark Rothko, and fashion icon and future Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. Congressman Tip O'Neill sat next to wealthy Boston businessman George Kara: O'Neill recalled that Kara had nudged him and said, "Years from now, historians will wonder what was on the young man's mind as he strode to take his oath of office. I bet he's asking himself how George Kara got such a good seat." That night, O'Neill and his wife danced over to the president's box at the ball in the Mayflower Hotel to congratulate him, and sure enough, Kennedy asked, "Was that George Kara sitting beside you?" O'Neill told Kennedy what Kara had said, and J.F.K replied, "Tip, you'll never believe it. I had my left hand on the Bible and my right hand in the air, and I was about to take the oath of office, and I said to myself, 'How the hell did Kara get that seat?'" Presidents and first ladies in attendance Five first ladies, Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy attended the event, as did future first ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and Betty Ford. Former president Harry S Truman joined presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy on the platform, as did future presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford, making this, retroactively, the largest conclave of the "presidential fraternity" prior to the opening of the Reagan Library in 1991. Parade to the White House A vast parade along Pennsylvania Avenue followed the inauguration ceremony, bearing the new president from Capitol Plaza to the White House. Upon his arrival, Kennedy mounted a reviewing stand shared with honored guests such as former president Harry Truman and former first ladies Edith Wilson and Eleanor Roosevelt. Throngs of onlookers and millions of television viewers also watched the procession; it took three hours to pass by. Sixteen thousand members of the US armed forces marched with displays of modern weaponry like the Minuteman missile and the supersonic B-70 bomber. A further sixteen thousand marchers were civilians ranging from federal and state officials to high school bands and Boy Scouts, accompanied by forty floats. Impact Kennedy's inauguration marked many firsts for the United States. Kennedy was the first Catholic inaugurated as commander-in-chief. At the inauguration, Kennedy, then 43, was the youngest elected president and was replacing the oldest president in American history at that time, Eisenhower. The age difference and visual impact of the turnover from Eisenhower's presence to Kennedy's was noticeable at the inauguration. In addition, Kennedy was the first person born in the 20th century to have been inaugurated as president. The claim that Kennedy did not wear a hat to his inauguration, and so single-handedly killed the men's hat industry, is false. Kennedy wore a top hat to the inauguration and to the balls in the evening, removing it only to be sworn in and give his address. He in fact restored the tradition, after Eisenhower broke with it by wearing a homburg instead of a top hat to both of his inaugurations. Johnson, at his inauguration in 1965, was the first president to go completely hatless. References Bibliography Clarke, Thurston Ask Not : The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7213-6. Rhetorical Terms and Techniques of Persuasion from Kennedy’s Inaugural Address Archived 2013-04-18 at the Wayback Machine. United States Department of Education and Public Programs, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. External links John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Library of Congress, John F. Kennedy Presidential Inauguration President Kennedy 1961 Inaugural Address (with audio) on YouTube As delivered text of Kennedy's Inaugural Address Audio of Kennedy's Inaugural Address

List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number_ones_of_1991

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number_ones_of_1991

This is a list of the U.S. Billboard magazine Hot 100 number-ones of 1991. The longest running number-one single of 1991 is "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams, which attained seven weeks at number-one. ("Black or White" by Michael Jackson would also spend a total of seven weeks at #1, but only four of those weeks were in the 1991 calendar year.) That year, 14 acts earn their first number one song, such as Surface, C+C Music Factory, Freedom Williams, Timmy T, Londonbeat, Hi-Five, Extreme, EMF, Color Me Badd, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, Loleatta Holloway, Karyn White, The New Power Generation, and P.M. Dawn. Mariah Carey and Paula Abdul were the only acts to hit number one more than once, with Mariah Carey having the most with three and Paula Abdul having two. The November 30 chart ("Set Adrift on Memory Bliss") was the first Hot 100 to be compiled with Soundscan data. Chart history An asterisk (*) by a date indicates an unpublished, "frozen" week, due to the special double issues that Billboard published in print at the end of the year for their year-end charts. This was the final year that there was no Hot 100 during this unpublished week. While the double issues continued beyond 1991, the charts themselves would still be compiled, available through their electronic and online services. Number-one artists See also 1991 in music List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1991 List of Billboard number-one singles List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 1990s References Additional sources Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 5th Edition (ISBN 0-8230-7677-6) Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2008, 12 Edition (ISBN 0-89820-180-2) Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Nineties (ISBN 0-89820-137-3) Additional information obtained can be verified within Billboard's online archive services and print editions of the magazine.

J%C3%BCrgen_Warnke

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Warnke

Jürgen Warnke (20 March 1932 – 27 April 2013) was a German lawyer and politician who served in various capacities at the Bundestag and German cabinets. Early life and education Warnke was born in Berlin on 20 March 1932. His family were from Mecklenburg, and in 1945 settled in Upper Franconia. His father was a jurist and served as the chief executive of the association of ceramic industry. He studied law and economics and held a PhD. Career Warnke, a lawyer by profession, was a member of the Christian Social Union. He was a member of the Bavarian Parliament from 1962 to 1970. He entered the Bundestag in 1969 and represented the Hof district from 1983 to 1998. He served as a cabinet member in the governments led by the Prime Minister Helmut Kohl between 1982 and 1991. Warnke was first appointed minister of economic cooperation in 1982 and was in office until 1987. Then he became the minister of transport which he held from 1987 to 1989. Lastly he was reappointed minister of economic cooperation in a cabinet reshuffle in April 1989. His term ended in 1991. In 1998 he retired from politics. He was also the managing director of the Bavarian chemical industry association and then the chief executive of the association of ceramic industry. In addition, he was on the council of the Evangelical Church of Germany. Personal life and death Warnke was married and had six children. He began to live in Dagebüll on the North Sea after retiring from politics. He died at the age of 81 in Selb on 27 April 2013. A funeral service for him was held in St. Andrew's Church in Selb with the attendance of German politicians and family members. Honors Warnke was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. Foreign honor Malaysia: Honorary Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (P.M.N.) (1986) References External links Media related to Jürgen Warnke at Wikimedia Commons

Upper_Franconia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Franconia

Upper Franconia (German: Oberfranken) is a Regierungsbezirk (administrative [Regierungs] region [bezirk]) of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia, the others being Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia, which are all now part of the German Federal State of Bayern (Bavaria). With more than 200 independent breweries which brew approximately 1000 different types of beer, Upper Franconia has the world's highest brewery-density per capita. A special Franconian beer route (Fränkische Brauereistraße) runs through many popular breweries. Geography The administrative region borders on Thuringia (Thüringen) to the north, Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) to the west, Middle Franconia (Mittelfranken) to the south-west, and Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) to the south-east, Saxony (Sachsen) to the north-east and the Czech Republic to the east. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally reorganized and, in 1808, divided into 15 administrative government regions (German: Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk)), in Bavaria called Kreise (singular: Kreis). They were created in the fashion of the French departements, quite even in size and population, and named after their main rivers. In the following years, due to territorial changes (e. g. loss of Tyrol, addition of the Palatinate), the number of Kreise was reduced to 8. One of these was the Mainkreis (Main District). In 1837 king Ludwig I of Bavaria renamed the Kreise after historical territorial names and tribes of the area. This also involved some border changes or territorial swaps. Thus the name Mainkreis changed to Upper Franconia. Main sights Next to the former episcopal residence city of Bamberg, the capital Bayreuth, the former residence city of Coburg and the classicist centre of Hof, as well as the towns of Lichtenfels, Kronach, Gößweinstein and Kulmbach, the Weißenstein Palace, Banz Abbey and the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, the scenic attractions of the River Main and the low mountain ranges of the Fichtel Mountains with the town of Wunsiedel and the Franconian Forest belong among the region's major tourist attractions. There are also numerous spas like Bad Rodach, Bad Steben, Bad Staffelstein, Bad Berneck and Bad Alexandersbad. Coat of arms Administrative subdivisions Oberfranken is subdivided into nine Landkreise (districts) and four Kreisfreie Städte (district-free or independent cities). The lowest level is divided into 214 municipalities (including four cities). Landkreise: Bamberg Bayreuth Coburg Forchheim Hof Kronach Kulmbach Lichtenfels Wunsiedel Kreisfreie Städte: Bamberg Bayreuth Coburg Hof Historical population Economy The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 40.6 billion € in 2018, accounting for 1.2% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €34,900 or 116% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 96% of the EU average. See also Middle Franconia (Mittelfranken) Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) Kleinziegenfelder Tal Krassach (River) References External links Official website Archived 2020-10-28 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Sights in Frankonia (in German)

Lion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion

The lion (Panthera leo) is a large cat of the genus Panthera, native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on medium-sized and large ungulates. The lion is an apex and keystone predator; although some lions scavenge when opportunities occur and have been known to hunt humans, lions typically do not actively seek out and prey on humans. The lion inhabits grasslands, savannahs, and shrublands. It is usually more diurnal than other wild cats, but when persecuted, it adapts to being active at night and at twilight. During the Neolithic period, the lion ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia, from Southeast Europe to India, but it has been reduced to fragmented populations in sub-Saharan Africa and one population in western India. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 because populations in African countries have declined by about 43% since the early 1990s. Lion populations are untenable outside designated protected areas. Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are the greatest causes for concern. One of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture, the lion has been extensively depicted in sculptures and paintings, on national flags, and in literature and films. Lions have been kept in menageries since the time of the Roman Empire and have been a key species sought for exhibition in zoological gardens across the world since the late 18th century. Cultural depictions of lions were prominent in Ancient Egypt, and depictions have occurred in virtually all ancient and medieval cultures in the lion's historic and current range. Etymology The English word lion is derived via Anglo-Norman liun from Latin leōnem (nominative: leō), which in turn was a borrowing from Ancient Greek λέων léōn. The Hebrew word לָבִיא lavi may also be related. The generic name Panthera is traceable to the classical Latin word 'panthēra' and the ancient Greek word πάνθηρ 'panther'. Taxonomy Felis leo was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the lion in his work Systema Naturae. The genus name Panthera was coined by Lorenz Oken in 1816. Between the mid-18th and mid-20th centuries, 26 lion specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, of which 11 were recognised as valid in 2005. They were distinguished mostly by the size and colour of their manes and skins. Subspecies In the 19th and 20th centuries, several lion type specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, with about a dozen recognised as valid taxa until 2017. Between 2008 and 2016, IUCN Red List assessors used only two subspecific names: P. l. leo for African lion populations, and P. l. persica for the Asiatic lion population. In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group revised lion taxonomy, and recognises two subspecies based on results of several phylogeographic studies on lion evolution, namely: P. l. leo (Linnaeus, 1758) − the nominate lion subspecies includes the Asiatic lion, the regionally extinct Barbary lion, and lion populations in West and northern parts of Central Africa. Synonyms include P. l. persica (Meyer, 1826), P. l. senegalensis (Meyer, 1826), P. l. kamptzi (Matschie, 1900), and P. l. azandica (Allen, 1924). Multiple authors referred to it as 'northern lion' and 'northern subspecies'. P. l. melanochaita (Smith, 1842) − includes the extinct Cape lion and lion populations in East and Southern African regions. Synonyms include P. l. somaliensis (Noack 1891), P. l. massaica (Neumann, 1900), P. l. sabakiensis (Lönnberg, 1910), P. l. bleyenberghi (Lönnberg, 1914), P. l. roosevelti (Heller, 1914), P. l. nyanzae (Heller, 1914), P. l. hollisteri (Allen, 1924), P. l. krugeri (Roberts, 1929), P. l. vernayi (Roberts, 1948), and P. l. webbiensis (Zukowsky, 1964). It has been referred to as 'southern subspecies' and 'southern lion'. However, there seems to be some degree of overlap between both groups in northern Central Africa. DNA analysis from a more recent study indicates that Central African lions are derived from both northern and southern lions, as they cluster with P. leo leo in mtDNA-based phylogenies whereas their genomic DNA indicates a closer relationship with P. leo melanochaita. Lion samples from some parts of the Ethiopian Highlands cluster genetically with those from Cameroon and Chad, while lions from other areas of Ethiopia cluster with samples from East Africa. Researchers, therefore, assume Ethiopia is a contact zone between the two subspecies. Genome-wide data of a wild-born historical lion sample from Sudan showed that it clustered with P. l. leo in mtDNA-based phylogenies, but with a high affinity to P. l. melanochaita. This result suggested that the taxonomic position of lions in Central Africa may require revision. Fossil records Other lion subspecies or sister species to the modern lion existed in prehistoric times: P. l. sinhaleyus was a fossil carnassial excavated in Sri Lanka, which was attributed to a lion. It is thought to have become extinct around 39,000 years ago. P. fossilis was larger than the modern lion and lived in the Middle Pleistocene. Bone fragments were excavated in caves in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Czech Republic. P. spelaea, or the cave lion, lived in Eurasia and Beringia during the Late Pleistocene. It became extinct due to climate warming or human expansion latest by 11,900 years ago. Bone fragments excavated in European, North Asian, Canadian and Alaskan caves indicate that it ranged from Europe across Siberia into western Alaska. It likely derived from P. fossilis, and was genetically isolated and highly distinct from the modern lion in Africa and Eurasia. It is depicted in Paleolithic cave paintings, ivory carvings, and clay busts. P. atrox, or the American lion, ranged in the Americas from Canada to possibly Patagonia during the Late Pleistocene. It diverged from the cave lion around 165,000 years ago. A fossil from Edmonton dates to 11,355 ± 55 years ago. Evolution The Panthera lineage is estimated to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the Felidae around 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago to 11.75 to 0.97 million years ago. Results of analyses differ in the phylogenetic relationship of the lion; it was thought to form a sister group with the jaguar that diverged 3.46 to 1.22 million years ago, but also with the leopard that diverged 3.1 to 1.95 million years ago to 4.32 to 0.02 million years ago. Hybridisation between lion and snow leopard ancestors possibly continued until about 2.1 million years ago. The lion-leopard clade was distributed in the Asian and African Palearctic since at least the early Pliocene. The earliest fossils recognisable as lions were found at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and are estimated to be up to 2 million years old. Estimates for the divergence time of the modern and cave lion lineages range from 529,000 to 392,000 years ago based on mutation rate per generation time of the modern lion. There is no evidence for gene flow between the two lineages, indicating that they did not share the same geographic area. The Eurasian and American cave lions became extinct at the end of the last glacial period without mitochondrial descendants on other continents. The modern lion was probably widely distributed in Africa during the Middle Pleistocene and started to diverge in sub-Saharan Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Lion populations in East and Southern Africa became separated from populations in West and North Africa when the equatorial rainforest expanded 183,500 to 81,800 years ago. They shared a common ancestor probably between 98,000 and 52,000 years ago. Due to the expansion of the Sahara between 83,100 and 26,600 years ago, lion populations in West and North Africa became separated. As the rainforest decreased and thus gave rise to more open habitats, lions moved from West to Central Africa. Lions from North Africa dispersed to southern Europe and Asia between 38,800 and 8,300 years ago. Extinction of lions in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East interrupted gene flow between lion populations in Asia and Africa. Genetic evidence revealed numerous mutations in lion samples from East and Southern Africa, which indicates that this group has a longer evolutionary history than genetically less diverse lion samples from Asia and West and Central Africa. A whole genome-wide sequence of lion samples showed that samples from West Africa shared alleles with samples from Southern Africa, and samples from Central Africa shared alleles with samples from Asia. This phenomenon indicates that Central Africa was a melting pot of lion populations after they had become isolated, possibly migrating through corridors in the Nile Basin during the early Holocene. Hybrids In zoos, lions have been bred with tigers to create hybrids for the curiosity of visitors or for scientific purpose. The liger is bigger than a lion and a tiger, whereas most tigons are relatively small compared to their parents because of reciprocal gene effects. The leopon is a hybrid between a lion and leopard. Description The lion is a muscular, broad-chested cat with a short, rounded head, a reduced neck, and round ears; males have broader heads. The fur varies in colour from light buff to silvery grey, yellowish red, and dark brown. The colours of the underparts are generally lighter. A new-born lion has dark spots, which fade as the cub reaches adulthood, although faint spots may still be seen on the legs and underparts. The tail of all lions ends in a dark, hairy tuft that, in some lions, conceals an approximately 5 mm (0.20 in)-long, hard "spine" or "spur" that is formed from the final, fused sections of tail bone. The functions of the spur are unknown. The tuft is absent at birth and develops at around 5+1⁄2 months of age. It is readily identifiable at the age of seven months. Its skull is very similar to that of the tiger, although the frontal region is usually more depressed and flattened and has a slightly shorter postorbital region and broader nasal openings than those of the tiger. Due to the amount of skull variation in the two species, usually only the structure of the lower jaw can be used as a reliable indicator of species. The skeletal muscles of the lion make up 58.8% of its body weight and represent the highest percentage of muscles among mammals. The lion has a high concentration of glycolytic fast-twitch muscle fibers. Size Among felids, the lion is second only to the tiger in size. The size and weight of adult lions vary across its range and habitats. Accounts of a few individuals that were larger than average exist from Africa and India. Mane The male lion's mane is the most recognisable feature of the species. It may have evolved around 320,000–190,000 years ago. It grows downwards and backwards, covering most of the head, neck, shoulders, and chest. The mane is typically brownish and tinged with yellow, rust, and black hairs. It starts growing when lions enter adolescence, when testosterone levels increase, and reach their full size at around four years old. Cool ambient temperatures in European and North American zoos may result in a heavier mane. On average, Asiatic lions have sparser manes than African lions. This feature likely evolved to signal the fitness of males to females. Males with darker manes appear to have greater reproductive success and are more likely to remain in a pride for longer. They have longer and thicker hair and higher testosterone levels, but they are also more vulnerable to heat stress. Unlike in other felid species, female lions consistently interact with multiple males at once. Another hypothesis suggests that the mane also serves to protect the neck in fights, but this is disputed. During fights, including those involving maneless females and adolescents, the neck is not targeted as much as the face, back, and hindquarters. Injured lions also begin to lose their manes. Almost all male lions in Pendjari National Park are either maneless or have very short manes. Maneless lions have also been reported in Senegal, in Sudan's Dinder National Park and in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. Castrated lions often have little to no mane because the removal of the gonads inhibits testosterone production. Rarely, both wild and captive lionesses have manes. Increased testosterone may be the cause of maned lionesses reported in northern Botswana. Mutations in the genes microphthalmia-associated transcription factor and tyrosinase are possibly responsible for the colour of manes. Colour variation The white lion is a rare morph with a genetic condition called leucism, which is caused by a double recessive allele. It is not albino; it has normal pigmentation in the eyes and skin. White lions have occasionally been encountered in and around Kruger National Park and the adjacent Timbavati Private Game Reserve in eastern South Africa. They were removed from the wild in the 1970s, thus decreasing the white lion gene pool. Nevertheless, 17 births have been recorded in five prides between 2007 and 2015. White lions are selected for breeding in captivity. They have reportedly been bred in camps in South Africa for use as trophies to be killed during canned hunts. Distribution and habitat African lions live in scattered populations across sub-Saharan Africa. The lion prefers grassy plains and savannahs, scrub bordering rivers, and open woodlands with bushes. It rarely enters closed forests. On Mount Elgon, the lion has been recorded up to an elevation of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) and close to the snow line on Mount Kenya. Savannahs with an annual rainfall of 300 to 1,500 mm (12 to 59 in) make up the majority of lion habitat in Africa, estimated at 3,390,821 km2 (1,309,203 sq mi) at most, but remnant populations are also present in tropical moist forests in West Africa and montane forests in East Africa. The Asiatic lion now survives only in and around Gir National Park in Gujarat, western India. Its habitat is a mixture of dry savannah forest and very dry, deciduous scrub forest. Historical range In Africa, the range of the lion originally spanned most of the central African rainforest zone and the Sahara desert. In the 1960s, it became extinct in North Africa, except in the southern part of Sudan. During the mid-Holocene, around 8,000-6,000 years ago, the range of lions expanded into Southeastern and Eastern Europe, partially re-occupying the range of the now extinct cave lion. In Hungary, the modern lion was present from about 4,500 to 3,200 years Before Present. In Ukraine, the modern lion was present from about 6,400 to 2,000 years Before Present. In Greece, it was common, as reported by Herodotus in 480 BC; it was considered rare by 300 BC and extirpated by AD 100. In Asia the lion once ranged in regions where climatic conditions supported an abundance of prey. It was present in the Caucasus until the 10th century. It lived in Palestine until the Middle Ages and in Southwest Asia until the late 19th century. By the late 19th century, it had been extirpated in most of Turkey. The last live lion in Iran was sighted in 1942, about 65 km (40 mi) northwest of Dezful, although the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of the Karun river in Khuzestan province in 1944. It once ranged from Sind and Punjab in Pakistan to Bengal and the Narmada River in central India. Behaviour and ecology Lions spend much of their time resting; they are inactive for about twenty hours per day. Although lions can be active at any time, their activity generally peaks after dusk with a period of socialising, grooming, and defecating. Intermittent bursts of activity continue until dawn, when hunting most often takes place. They spend an average of two hours a day walking and fifty minutes eating. Group organisation The lion is the most social of all wild felid species, living in groups of related individuals with their offspring. Such a group is called a "pride". Groups of male lions are called "coalitions". Females form the stable social unit in a pride and do not tolerate outside females. The majority of females remain in their birth prides while all males and some females will disperse. The average pride consists of around 15 lions, including several adult females and up to four males and their cubs of both sexes. Large prides, consisting of up to 30 individuals, have been observed. The sole exception to this pattern is the Tsavo lion pride that always has just one adult male. Prides act as fission–fusion societies, and members will split into subgroups that keep in contact with roars. Nomadic lions range widely and move around sporadically, either in pairs or alone. Pairs are more frequent among related males. A lion may switch lifestyles; nomads can become residents and vice versa. Interactions between prides and nomads tend to be hostile, although pride females in estrus allow nomadic males to approach them. Males spend years in a nomadic phase before gaining residence in a pride. A study undertaken in the Serengeti National Park revealed that nomadic coalitions gain residency at between 3.5 and 7.3 years of age. In Kruger National Park, dispersing male lions move more than 25 km (16 mi) away from their natal pride in search of their own territory. Female lions stay closer to their natal pride. Therefore, female lions in an area are more closely related to each other than male lions in the same area. The evolution of sociability in lions was likely driven both by high population density and the clumped resources of savannah habitats. The larger the pride, the more high-quality territory they can defend; "hotspots" being near river confluences, where the cats have better access to water, prey and shelter (via vegetation). The area occupied by a pride is called a "pride area" whereas that occupied by a nomad is a "range". Males associated with a pride patrol the fringes. Both males and females defend the pride against intruders, but the male lion is better-suited for this purpose due to its stockier, more powerful build. Some individuals consistently lead the defense against intruders, while others lag behind. Lions tend to assume specific roles in the pride; slower-moving individuals may provide other valuable services to the group. Alternatively, there may be rewards associated with being a leader that fends off intruders; the rank of lionesses in the pride is reflected in these responses. The male or males associated with the pride must defend their relationship with the pride from outside males who may attempt to usurp them. Dominance hierarchies do not appear to exist among individuals of either sex in a pride. Asiatic lion prides differ in group composition. Male Asiatic lions are solitary or associate with up to three males, forming a loose pride while females associate with up to 12 other females, forming a stronger pride together with their cubs. Female and male lions associate only when mating. Coalitions of males hold territory for a longer time than single lions. Males in coalitions of three or four individuals exhibit a pronounced hierarchy, in which one male dominates the others and mates more frequently. Hunting and diet The lion is a generalist hypercarnivore and is considered to be both an apex and keystone predator due to its wide prey spectrum. Its prey consists mainly of medium-sized to large ungulates, particularly blue wildebeest, plains zebra, African buffalo, gemsbok and giraffe. It also frequently takes common warthog despite it being much smaller. In India, chital and sambar deer are the most common wild prey, while livestock contributes significantly to lion kills outside protected areas. It usually avoids fully grown adult elephants, rhinoceros and hippopotamus and small prey like dik-dik, hyraxes, hares and monkeys, however there have been several occasions of lions taking calves of African elephants, white rhinoceros and hippopotamus, and even uncommon cases of prides taking down an adult hippopotamus. Unusual prey include porcupines and small reptiles. Lions kill other predators but seldom consume them. Young lions first display stalking behaviour at around three months of age, although they do not participate in hunting until they are almost a year old and begin to hunt effectively when nearing the age of two. Single lions are capable of bringing down zebra and wildebeest, while larger prey like buffalo and giraffe are riskier. In Chobe National Park, large prides have been observed hunting African bush elephants up to around 15 years old in exceptional cases, with the victims being calves, juveniles, and even subadults. In typical hunts, each lioness has a favoured position in the group, either stalking prey on the "wing", then attacking, or moving a smaller distance in the centre of the group and capturing prey fleeing from other lionesses. Males attached to prides do not usually participate in group hunting. Some evidence suggests, however, that males are just as successful as females; they are typically solo hunters who ambush prey in small bushland. They may join in the hunting of large, slower-moving prey like buffalo; and even hunt them on their own. Moderately-sized hunting groups generally have higher success rates than lone females and larger groups. Lions are not particularly known for their stamina. For instance, a lioness's heart comprises only 0.57% of her body weight and a male's is about 0.45% of his body weight, whereas a hyena's heart comprises almost 1% of its body weight. Thus, lions run quickly only in short bursts at about 48–59 km/h (30–37 mph) and need to be close to their prey before starting the attack. One study in 2018 recorded a lion running at a top speed of 74.1 km/h (46.0 mph). They take advantage of factors that reduce visibility; many kills take place near some form of cover or at night. The lion accelerates at the start of the chase by 9.5 m/s², whereas plains zebras, wildebeest and Thomson's gazelle accelerate by 5 m/s², 5.6 m/s² and 4.5 m/s², respectively; acceleration appears to be more important than steady displacement speed in lion hunts. The lion's attack is short and powerful; it attempts to catch prey with a fast rush and final leap, usually pulls it down by the rump, and kills with a clamping bite to the throat or muzzle. It can hold the prey's throat for up to 13 minutes, until the prey stops moving. It has a bite force of 1314.7 Newton at the canine tip and 2023.7 Newton at the carnassial notch. Lions typically consume prey at the location of the hunt but sometimes drag large prey into cover. They tend to squabble over kills, particularly the males. Cubs suffer most when food is scarce but otherwise all pride members eat their fill, including old and crippled lions, which can live on leftovers. Large kills are shared more widely among pride members. An adult lioness requires an average of about 5 kg (11 lb) of meat per day while males require about 7 kg (15 lb). Lions gorge themselves and eat up to 30 kg (66 lb) in one session. If it is unable to consume all of the kill, it rests for a few hours before continuing to eat. On hot days, the pride retreats to shade with one or two males standing guard. Lions defend their kills from scavengers such as vultures and hyenas. Lions scavenge on carrion when the opportunity arises, scavenging animals dead from natural causes such as disease or those that were killed by other predators. Scavenging lions keep a constant lookout for circling vultures, which indicate the death or distress of an animal. Most carrion on which both hyenas and lions feed upon are killed by hyenas rather than lions. Carrion is thought to provide a large part of lion diet. Predatory competition Lions and spotted hyenas occupy a similar ecological niche and compete for prey and carrion; a review of data across several studies indicates a dietary overlap of 58.6%. Lions typically ignore hyenas unless they are on a kill or are being harassed, while the latter tend to visibly react to the presence of lions with or without the presence of food. In the Ngorongoro crater, lions subsist largely on kills stolen from hyenas, causing them to increase their kill rate. In Botswana's Chobe National Park, the situation is reversed as hyenas there frequently challenge lions and steal their kills, obtaining food from 63% of all lion kills. When confronted on a kill, hyenas may either leave or wait patiently at a distance of 30–100 m (98–328 ft) until the lions have finished. Hyenas may feed alongside lions and force them off a kill. The two species attack one another even when there is no food involved for no apparent reason. Lions can account for up to 71% of hyena deaths in Etosha National Park. Hyenas have adapted by frequently mobbing lions that enter their home ranges. When the lion population in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve declined, the spotted hyena population increased rapidly. Lions tend to dominate cheetahs and leopards, steal their kills and kill their cubs and even adults when given the chance. Cheetahs often lose their kills to lions or other predators. A study in the Serengeti ecosystem revealed that lions killed at least 17 of 125 cheetah cubs born between 1987 and 1990. Cheetahs avoid their competitors by hunting at different times and habitats. Leopards, by contrast, do not appear to be motivated by an avoidance of lions, as they use heavy vegetation regardless of whether lions are present in an area and both cats are active around the same time of day. In addition, there is no evidence that lions effect leopard abundance. Leopards take refuge in trees, though lionesses occasionally attempt to climb up and retrieve their kills. Lions similarly dominate African wild dogs, taking their kills and dispatching pups or adult dogs. Population densities of wild dogs are low in areas where lions are more abundant. However, there are a few reported cases of old and wounded lions falling prey to wild dogs. Reproduction and life cycle Most lionesses reproduce by the time they are four years of age. Lions do not mate at a specific time of year and the females are polyestrous. Like those of other cats, the male lion's penis has spines that point backward. During withdrawal of the penis, the spines rake the walls of the female's vagina, which may cause ovulation. A lioness may mate with more than one male when she is in heat. Lions of both sexes may be involved in group homosexual and courtship activities. Males will also head-rub and roll around with each other before mounting each other. Generation length of the lion is about seven years. The average gestation period is around 110 days; the female gives birth to a litter of between one and four cubs in a secluded den, which may be a thicket, a reed-bed, a cave, or some other sheltered area, usually away from the pride. She will often hunt alone while the cubs are still helpless, staying relatively close to the den. Lion cubs are born blind, their eyes opening around seven days after birth. They weigh 1.2–2.1 kg (2.6–4.6 lb) at birth and are almost helpless, beginning to crawl a day or two after birth and walking around three weeks of age. To avoid a buildup of scent attracting the attention of predators, the lioness moves her cubs to a new den site several times a month, carrying them one-by-one by the nape of the neck. Usually, the mother does not integrate herself and her cubs back into the pride until the cubs are six to eight weeks old. Sometimes the introduction to pride life occurs earlier, particularly if other lionesses have given birth at about the same time. When first introduced to the rest of the pride, lion cubs lack confidence when confronted with adults other than their mother. They soon begin to immerse themselves in the pride life, however, playing among themselves or attempting to initiate play with the adults. Lionesses with cubs of their own are more likely to be tolerant of another lioness's cubs than lionesses without cubs. Male tolerance of the cubs varies—one male could patiently let the cubs play with his tail or his mane, while another may snarl and bat the cubs away. Pride lionesses often synchronise their reproductive cycles and communal rearing and suckling of the young, which suckle indiscriminately from any or all of the nursing females in the pride. The synchronisation of births is advantageous because the cubs grow to being roughly the same size and have an equal chance of survival, and sucklings are not dominated by older cubs. Weaning occurs after six or seven months. Male lions reach maturity at about three years of age and at four to five years are capable of challenging and displacing adult males associated with another pride. They begin to age and weaken at between 10 and 15 years of age at the latest. When one or more new males oust the previous males associated with a pride, the victors often kill any existing young cubs, perhaps because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die. Females often fiercely defend their cubs from a usurping male but are rarely successful unless a group of three or four mothers within a pride join forces against the male. Cubs also die from starvation and abandonment, and predation by leopards, hyenas and wild dogs. Male cubs are excluded from their maternal pride when they reach maturity at around two or three years of age, while some females may leave when they reach the age of two. When a new male lion takes over a pride, adolescents both male and female may be evicted. Health and mortality Lions may live 12–17 years in the wild. Although adult lions have no natural predators, evidence suggests most die violently from attacks by humans or other lions. Lions often inflict serious injuries on members of other prides they encounter in territorial disputes or members of the home pride when fighting at a kill. Crippled lions and cubs may fall victim to hyenas and leopards or be trampled by buffalo or elephants. Careless lions may be maimed when hunting prey. Nile crocodiles may also kill and eat lions, evidenced by the occasional lion claw found in crocodile stomachs. Ticks commonly infest the ears, neck and groin regions of the lions. Adult forms of several tapeworm species of the genus Taenia have been isolated from lion intestines, having been ingested as larvae in antelope meat. Lions in the Ngorongoro Crater were afflicted by an outbreak of stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) in 1962, resulting in lions becoming emaciated and covered in bloody, bare patches. Lions sought unsuccessfully to evade the biting flies by climbing trees or crawling into hyena burrows; many died or migrated and the local population dropped from 70 to 15 individuals. A more recent outbreak in 2001 killed six lions. Captive lions have been infected with canine distemper virus (CDV) since at least the mid-1970s. CDV is spread by domestic dogs and other carnivores; a 1994 outbreak in Serengeti National Park resulted in many lions developing neurological symptoms such as seizures. During the outbreak, several lions died from pneumonia and encephalitis. Feline immunodeficiency virus and lentivirus also affect captive lions. Communication When resting, lion socialisation occurs through a number of behaviours; the animal's expressive movements are highly developed. The most common peaceful, tactile gestures are head rubbing and social licking, which have been compared with the role of allogrooming among primates. Head rubbing, nuzzling the forehead, face and neck against another lion appears to be a form of greeting and is seen often after an animal has been apart from others or after a fight or confrontation. Males tend to rub other males, while cubs and females rub females. Social licking often occurs in tandem with head rubbing; it is generally mutual and the recipient appears to express pleasure. The head and neck are the most common parts of the body licked; this behaviour may have arisen out of utility because lions cannot lick these areas themselves. Lions have an array of facial expressions and body postures that serve as visual gestures. A common facial expression is the "grimace face" or flehmen response, which a lion makes when sniffing chemical signals and involves an open mouth with bared teeth, raised muzzle, wrinkled nose, closed eyes and relaxed ears. Lions also use chemical and visual marking; males spray urine and scrape plots of ground and objects within the territory. The lion's repertoire of vocalisations is large; variations in intensity and pitch appear to be central to communication. Most lion vocalisations are variations of growling, snarling, meowing and roaring. Other sounds produced include purring, puffing, bleating and humming. Roaring is used to advertise its presence. Lions most often roar at night, a sound that can be heard from a distance of 8 kilometres (5 mi). They tend to roar in a very characteristic manner starting with a few deep, long roars that subside into grunts. Conservation The lion is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The Indian population is listed on CITES Appendix I and the African population on CITES Appendix II. In Africa Several large and well-managed protected areas in Africa host large lion populations. Where an infrastructure for wildlife tourism has been developed, cash revenue for park management and local communities is a strong incentive for lion conservation. Most lions now live in East and Southern Africa; their numbers are rapidly decreasing, and fell by an estimated 30–50% in the late half of the 20th century. Primary causes of the decline include disease and human interference. In 1975, it was estimated that since the 1950s, lion numbers had decreased by half to 200,000 or fewer. Estimates of the African lion population range between 16,500 and 47,000 living in the wild in 2002–2004. In the Republic of the Congo, Odzala-Kokoua National Park was considered a lion stronghold in the 1990s. By 2014, no lions were recorded in the protected area so the population is considered locally extinct. The West African lion population is isolated from the one in Central Africa, with little or no exchange of breeding individuals. In 2015, it was estimated that this population consists of about 400 animals, including fewer than 250 mature individuals. They persist in three protected areas in the region, mostly in one population in the W A P protected area complex, shared by Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. This population is listed as Critically Endangered. Field surveys in the WAP ecosystem revealed that lion occupancy is lowest in the W National Park, and higher in areas with permanent staff and thus better protection. A population occurs in Cameroon's Waza National Park, where between approximately 14 and 21 animals persisted as of 2009. In addition, 50 to 150 lions are estimated to be present in Burkina Faso's Arly-Singou ecosystem. In 2015, an adult male lion and a female lion were sighted in Ghana's Mole National Park. These were the first sightings of lions in the country in 39 years. In the same year, a population of up to 200 lions that was previously thought to have been extirpated was filmed in the Alatash National Park, Ethiopia, close to the Sudanese border. In 2005, Lion Conservation Strategies were developed for West and Central Africa, and or East and Southern Africa. The strategies seek to maintain suitable habitat, ensure a sufficient wild prey base for lions, reduce factors that lead to further fragmentation of populations, and make lion–human coexistence sustainable. Lion depredation on livestock is significantly reduced in areas where herders keep livestock in improved enclosures. Such measures contribute to mitigating human–lion conflict. In Asia The last refuge of the Asiatic lion population is the 1,412 km2 (545 sq mi) Gir National Park and surrounding areas in the region of Saurashtra or Kathiawar Peninsula in Gujarat State, India. The population has risen from approximately 180 lions in 1974 to about 400 in 2010. It is geographically isolated, which can lead to inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity. Since 2008, the Asiatic lion has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. By 2015, the population had grown to 523 individuals inhabiting an area of 7,000 km2 (2,700 sq mi) in Saurashtra. In 2017, about 650 individuals were recorded during the Asiatic Lion Census. The presence of numerous human settlements close to Gir National Park resulted in conflict between lions, local people and their livestock. Some consider the presence of lions a benefit, as they keep populations of crop damaging herbivores in check. Captive breeding Lions imported to Europe before the middle of the 19th century were possibly foremost Barbary lions from North Africa, or Cape lions from Southern Africa. Another 11 animals thought to be Barbary lions kept in Addis Ababa Zoo are descendants of animals owned by Emperor Haile Selassie. WildLink International in collaboration with Oxford University launched an ambitious International Barbary Lion Project with the aim of identifying and breeding Barbary lions in captivity for eventual reintroduction into a national park in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. However, a genetic analysis showed that the captive lions at Addis Ababa Zoo were not Barbary lions, but rather closely related to wild lions in Chad and Cameroon. In 1982, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums started a Species Survival Plan for the Asiatic lion to increase its chances of survival. In 1987, it was found that most lions in North American zoos were hybrids between African and Asiatic lions. Breeding programs need to note origins of the participating animals to avoid cross-breeding different subspecies and thus reducing their conservation value. Captive breeding of lions was halted to eliminate individuals of unknown origin and pedigree. Wild-born lions were imported to American zoos from Africa between 1989 and 1995. Breeding was continued in 1998 in the frame of an African lion Species Survival Plan. About 77% of the captive lions registered in the International Species Information System in 2006 were of unknown origin; these animals might have carried genes that are extinct in the wild and may therefore be important to the maintenance of the overall genetic variability of the lion. Interactions with humans In zoos and circuses Lions are part of a group of exotic animals that have been central to zoo exhibits since the late 18th century. Although many modern zoos are more selective about their exhibits, there are more than 1,000 African and 100 Asiatic lions in zoos and wildlife parks around the world. They are considered an ambassador species and are kept for tourism, education and conservation purposes. Lions can live over twenty years in captivity; for example, three sibling lions at the Honolulu Zoo lived to the age of 22 in 2007. The first European "zoos" spread among noble and royal families in the 13th century, and until the 17th century were called seraglios. At that time, they came to be called menageries, an extension of the cabinet of curiosities. They spread from France and Italy during the Renaissance to the rest of Europe. In England, although the seraglio tradition was less developed, lions were kept at the Tower of London in a seraglio established by King John in the 13th century; this was probably stocked with animals from an earlier menagerie started in 1125 by Henry I at his hunting lodge in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where according to William of Malmesbury lions had been stocked. Lions were kept in cramped and squalid conditions at London Zoo until a larger lion house with roomier cages was built in the 1870s. Further changes took place in the early 20th century when Carl Hagenbeck designed enclosures with concrete "rocks", more open space and a moat instead of bars, more closely resembling a natural habitat. Hagenbeck designed lion enclosures for both Melbourne Zoo and Sydney's Taronga Zoo; although his designs were popular, the use of bars and caged enclosures prevailed in many zoos until the 1960s. In the late 20th century, larger, more natural enclosures and the use of wire mesh or laminated glass instead of lowered dens allowed visitors to come closer than ever to the animals; some attractions such as the Cat Forest/Lion Overlook of Oklahoma City Zoological Park placed the den on ground level, higher than visitors. Lion taming has been part of both established circuses and individual acts such as Siegfried & Roy. The practice began in the early 19th century by Frenchman Henri Martin and American Isaac Van Amburgh, who both toured widely and whose techniques were copied by a number of followers. Van Amburgh performed before Queen Victoria in 1838 when he toured Great Britain. Martin composed a pantomime titled Les Lions de Mysore ("the lions of Mysore"), an idea Amburgh quickly borrowed. These acts eclipsed equestrianism acts as the central display of circus shows and entered public consciousness in the early 20th century with cinema. In demonstrating the superiority of human over animal, lion taming served a purpose similar to animal fights of previous centuries. The ultimate proof of a tamer's dominance and control over a lion is demonstrated by the placing of the tamer's head in the lion's mouth. The now-iconic lion tamer's chair was possibly first used by American Clyde Beatty (1903–1965). Hunting and games Lion hunting has occurred since ancient times and was often a royal tradition, intended to demonstrate the power of the king over nature. Such hunts took place in a reserved area in front of an audience. The monarch was accompanied by his men and controls were put in place to increase their safety and ease of killing. The earliest surviving record of lion hunting is an ancient Egyptian inscription dated circa 1380 BC that mentions Pharaoh Amenhotep III killing 102 lions in ten years "with his own arrows". The Assyrian emperor Ashurbanipal had one of his lion hunts depicted on a sequence of Assyrian palace reliefs c. 640 BC, known as the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal. Lions were also hunted during the Mughal Empire, where Emperor Jahangir is said to have excelled at it. In Ancient Rome, lions were kept by emperors for hunts, gladiator fights and executions. The Maasai people have traditionally viewed the killing of lions as a rite of passage. Historically, lions were hunted by individuals, however, due to reduced lion populations, elders discourage solo lion hunts. During the European colonisation of Africa in the 19th century, the hunting of lions was encouraged because they were considered pests and lion skins were sold for £1 each. The widely reproduced imagery of the heroic hunter chasing lions would dominate a large part of the century. Trophy hunting of lions in recent years has been met with controversy, notably with the killing of Cecil the lion in mid-2015. Man-eating Lions do not usually hunt humans but some (usually males) seem to seek them out. One well-publicised case is the Tsavo maneaters; in 1898, 28 officially recorded railway workers building the Uganda Railway were taken by lions over nine months during the construction of a bridge in Kenya. The hunter who killed the lions wrote a book detailing the animals' predatory behaviour; they were larger than normal and lacked manes, and one seemed to suffer from tooth decay. The infirmity theory, including tooth decay, is not favoured by all researchers; an analysis of teeth and jaws of man-eating lions in museum collections suggests that while tooth decay may explain some incidents, prey depletion in human-dominated areas is a more likely cause of lion predation on humans. Sick or injured animals may be more prone to man-eating but the behaviour is not unusual, nor necessarily aberrant. Lions' proclivity for man-eating has been systematically examined. American and Tanzanian scientists report that man-eating behaviour in rural areas of Tanzania increased greatly from 1990 to 2005. At least 563 villagers were attacked and many eaten over this period. The incidents occurred near Selous Game Reserve in Rufiji River and in Lindi Region near the Mozambican border. While the expansion of villages into bush country is one concern, the authors argue conservation policy must mitigate the danger because in this case, conservation contributes directly to human deaths. Cases in Lindi in which lions seize humans from the centres of substantial villages have been documented. Another study of 1,000 people attacked by lions in southern Tanzania between 1988 and 2009 found that the weeks following the full moon, when there was less moonlight, were a strong indicator of increased night-time attacks on people. According to Robert R. Frump, Mozambican refugees regularly crossing Kruger National Park, South Africa, at night are attacked and eaten by lions; park officials have said man-eating is a problem there. Frump said thousands may have been killed in the decades after apartheid sealed the park and forced refugees to cross the park at night. For nearly a century before the border was sealed, Mozambicans had regularly crossed the park in daytime with little harm. Cultural significance The lion is one of the most widely recognised animal symbols in human culture. It has been extensively depicted in sculptures and paintings, on national flags, and in contemporary films and literature. It is considered to be the monarch of the beasts; symbolizing power, royalty and protection. Several leaders have had "lion" in their name including Sundiata Keita of the Mali Empire, who was called "Lion of Mali", and Richard the Lionheart of England. The male's mane makes it a particularly recognisable feature and thus has been represented more than the female. Nevertheless, the lioness has also had importance as a guardian. In sub-Saharan Africa, the lion has been a common character in stories, proverbs and dances, but rarely featured in visual arts. In the Swahili language, the lion is known as simba which also means "aggressive", "king" and "strong". In parts of West and East Africa, the lion is associated with healing and provides the connection between seers and the supernatural. In other East African traditions, the lion represents laziness. In much of African folklore, the lion is portrayed as having low intelligence and is easily tricked by other animals. In Nubia, The lion-god Apedemak was associated with the flooding of the Nile. In Ancient Egypt, lions were linked both with the sun and the waters of the Nile. Several gods were conceived as being partially lion including the war deities Sekhmet and Maahes, and Tefnut the goddess of moisture. Shu, god of the air, was depicted kneeing between two lions while holding a headrest. The lions mark where the sun rises and sets and symbolise yesterday and tomorrow. The lion was a prominent symbol in ancient Mesopotamia from Sumer up to Assyrian and Babylonian times, where it was strongly associated with kingship. The big cat was a symbol and steed of fertility goddess Inanna. Lions decorate the Processional Way leading to the Ishtar Gate in Babylon which was built by Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BCE. The Lion of Babylon symbolized the power of the king and protection of the land against enemies, but was also invoked for good luck. The constellation Leo the lion was first recognised by the Sumerians around 4,000 years ago and is considered to be the fifth sign of the zodiac. In ancient Israel, a lion represented the tribe of Judah. Lions are frequently mentioned in the Bible, notably in the Book of Daniel, in which the eponymous hero refuses to worship King Darius and is forced to sleep in the lions' den where he is miraculously unharmed (Dan 6). Indo-Persian chroniclers regarded the lion as keeper of order in the realm of animals. The Sanskrit word mrigendra signifies a lion as king of animals in general or deer in particular. In India, the Lion Capital of Ashoka, erected by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century CE, depicts four lions standing back to back. In Hindu mythology, the half-lion Narasimha, an avatar of the deity Vishnu, battles and slays the evil ruler Hiranyakashipu. In Buddhist art, lions are associated with both arhats and bodhisattvas and may be ridden by the Manjushri. Though they were never native to the country, lions have played important roles in Chinese culture. Statues of the beast have guarded the entrances to the imperial palace and many religious shrines. The lion dance has been performed in China and beyond for over a thousand years. In ancient Greece, the lion is featured in several of Aesop's fables, notably The Lion and the Mouse. In Greek mythology, the Nemean lion is slain by the hero Heracles who wears its skin. Lancelot and Gawain were also heroes slaying lions in medieval Europe. In some medieval stories, lions were portrayed as allies and companions. Lions continue to appear in modern literature such as the Cowardly Lion in L. Frank Baum's 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and in C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The lion's role as king of the beasts has been used in the 1994 Disney animated feature film The Lion King. See also Notes References Citations Books External links Media related to Lion at Wikimedia Commons IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. "Lion Panthera leo". "Lion Conservation Fund". "Rare desert lion killed in Angola after supplying unprecedented data". The Portugal News. 2014. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018. "Lion" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.

Anglo-Zanzibar_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was a military conflict fought between the United Kingdom and the Sultanate of Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted between 38 and 45 minutes, marking it as the shortest recorded war in history. The immediate cause of the war was the suspicious death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. The British authorities preferred Hamoud bin Mohammed, who was more favourable to British interests, as sultan. The agreement of 14 June 1890, instituting a British protectorate over Zanzibar, specified that a candidate for accession to the sultanate should obtain the permission of the British consul; Khalid had not fulfilled this requirement. The British considered this a casus belli and sent an ultimatum to Khalid demanding that he order his forces to stand down and leave the palace. In response, Khalid called up his palace guard and barricaded himself inside the palace. The ultimatum expired at 09:00 local time on 27 August, by which time the British had gathered two cruisers, three gunboats, 150 marines and sailors, and 900 Zanzibaris in the harbour area. The Royal Navy contingent were under the command of Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson and the pro-Anglo Zanzibaris were commanded by Brigadier-General Lloyd Mathews of the Zanzibar army (who was also the First Minister of Zanzibar). Around 2,800 Zanzibaris defended the palace; most were recruited from the civilian population, but they also included the sultan's palace guard and several hundred of his servants and slaves. The defenders had several artillery pieces and machine guns, which were set in front of the palace sighted at the British ships. A bombardment, opened at 09:02, set the palace on fire and disabled the defending artillery. A small naval action took place, with the British sinking the Zanzibari royal yacht HHS Glasgow and two smaller vessels. Some shots were also fired ineffectually at the pro-British Zanzibari troops as they approached the palace. The flag at the palace was shot down and fire ceased at 09:46. The sultan's forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured. Sultan Khalid received asylum in the German consulate before escaping to German East Africa (in the mainland part of present Tanzania). The British quickly placed Sultan Hamoud in power at the head of a puppet government. The war marked the end of the Sultanate of Zanzibar as a sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence. Background Zanzibar was an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Tanganyika; today it forms part of Tanzania. The main island, Unguja (or Zanzibar Island), had been under the nominal control of the Sultans of Oman since 1698 when they expelled the Portuguese settlers who had claimed it in 1499. Sultan Majid bin Said declared the island independent from Oman in 1858, which was recognised by the United Kingdom, and split the sultanate from that of Oman. Barghash bin Said, the second sultan and Khalid's father, had been forced by British ultimatum and a threat of blockade to abolish the Zanzibar slave trade in June 1873, though it was later discovered that instructions from London would have prohibited aggressive action being taken immediately if that ultimatum had been rejected. The subsequent sultans established their capital and seat of government at Zanzibar Town where a palace complex was built on the sea front. By 1896, this consisted of the palace itself; the Beit al-Hukm, an attached harem; and the Beit al-Ajaib or "House of Wonders"—a ceremonial palace said to be the first building in East Africa to be provided with electricity. The complex was mostly constructed of local timber and was not designed as a defensive structure. All three main buildings were adjacent to one another in a line and linked by wooden covered bridges above street height. Britain had recognised Zanzibar's sovereignty and its sultanate in 1886, after a long period of friendly interaction, and generally maintained good relations with the country and its sultans. However, Germany was also interested in East Africa, and the two powers vied for control of trade rights and territory in the area throughout the late 19th century. Sultan Khalifah had granted rights to the land of Kenya to Britain and that of Tanganyika to Germany, a process resulting in the prohibition of slavery in those lands. Many of the Arab ruling classes were upset by this interruption of a valuable trade, which resulted in some unrest. In addition, the German authorities in Tanganyika refused to fly the flag of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which led to armed clashes between German troops and the local population. One such conflict in Tanga claimed the lives of 20 Arabs. Sultan Khalifah sent Zanzibari troops led by Brigadier-General Lloyd Mathews, a former lieutenant of the Royal Navy, to restore order in Tanganyika. The operation was largely successful, but anti-German feeling among the Zanzibari people remained strong. Further conflicts erupted at Bagamoyo, where 150 natives were killed by German military forces, and at Ketwa, where German officials and their servants were murdered. Khalifah then granted extensive trade rights to the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) who, with German assistance, established a naval blockade to halt the continuing domestic slave trade. Upon Khalifah's death in 1890 Ali bin Said ascended to the sultanate. Sultan Ali banned the domestic slave trade (but not slave ownership), declared Zanzibar a British protectorate and appointed Lloyd Mathews as First Minister to lead his cabinet. The British were also guaranteed a veto over the future appointment of sultans. The year of Ali's ascension also saw the signing of the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty between Britain and Germany. This treaty officially demarcated the spheres of interest in East Africa and ceded Germany's rights in Zanzibar to the United Kingdom. This granted the British government more influence in Zanzibar, which they intended to use to eradicate slavery there, an objective they had held as early as 1804. Sultan Ali's successor was Hamad bin Thuwaini, who became sultan in 1893. Hamad maintained a close relationship with the British, but there was dissent among his subjects over the increasing British control over the country, the British-led army and the abolition of the valuable slave trade. In order to control this dissent, the British authorities authorised the sultan to raise a Zanzibari palace bodyguard of 1,000 men, but these troops were soon involved in clashes with the British-led police. Complaints about the bodyguards' activities were also received from the European residents in Zanzibar Town. 25 August 1896 Sultan Hamad died suddenly at 11:40 EAT (08:40 UTC) on 25 August 1896. His 29-year-old nephew Khalid bin Bargash, who was suspected by some of his assassination, moved into the palace complex at Zanzibar Town without British approval, in contravention of the treaty agreed with Ali. The British government preferred an alternative candidate, Hamoud bin Muhammed, who was more favourably disposed towards them. Khalid was warned by the consul and diplomatic agent to Zanzibar, Basil Cave, and General Mathews to think carefully about his actions. This course of action had proved successful three years earlier when Khalid had tried to claim the sultanate after the death of Ali, and the British consul-general, Rennell Rodd, had persuaded him of the dangers of such an action. Khalid ignored Cave's warning, and his forces began mustering in the Palace Square under the command of Captain Saleh of the palace bodyguard. By the end of the day, they numbered 2,800 men armed with rifles and muskets. The majority were civilians, but the force included 700 Zanzibari Askari soldiers who had sided with Khalid. The sultan's artillery, which consisted of several Maxim machine guns, a Gatling gun, a 17th-century bronze cannon, and two 12-pounder field guns, was aimed at the British ships in the harbour. The 12-pounders had been presented to the sultan by Wilhelm II, the German emperor. The sultan's troops also took possession of the Zanzibari Navy, which consisted of one wooden sloop, the HHS Glasgow, based on the British frigate Glasgow and built as a royal yacht for the sultan in 1878. Mathews and Cave also began to muster their forces, already commanding 900 Zanzibari askaris under Lieutenant Arthur Edward Harington Raikes of the Wiltshire Regiment who was seconded to the Zanzibar Army and held the rank of brigadier-general. 150 sailors and marines were landed from the Pearl-class protected cruiser Philomel and the gunboat Thrush, which were anchored in the harbour. The naval contingent, under the command of Captain O'Callaghan, came ashore within fifteen minutes of being requested to deal with any rioting caused by the general population. A smaller contingent of sailors under Lieutenant Watson of Thrush were put ashore to guard the British consulate, where British citizens were requested to gather for protection. HMS Sparrow, another gunboat, entered the harbour and was anchored opposite the palace next to Thrush. Some concerns were raised among the British diplomats as to the reliability of Raikes' askaris, but they proved to be steady and professional troops hardened by military drill and several expeditions to East Africa. They later became the only land troops to be fired upon by the defenders. Raikes' troops were armed with two Maxim guns and a nine pounder cannon, and were stationed at the nearby customs house. The sultan attempted to have the US consul, Richard Dorsey Mohun, recognise his accession, but the messenger was told: ...as his accession had not been verified by Her Majesty's government, it is impossible to reply. Cave continued to send messages to Khalid requesting that he stand down his troops, leave the palace and return home, but these were ignored, and Khalid replied that he would proclaim himself sultan at 15:00. Cave stated that this would constitute an act of rebellion and that Khalid's sultanate would not be recognised by the British government. At 14:30, Sultan Hamad was buried, and exactly 30 minutes later a royal salute from the palace guns proclaimed Khalid's succession. Cave could not open hostilities without government approval and telegraphed the following message to the Foreign Office of Lord Salisbury's administration in London: Are we authorised in the event of all attempts at a peaceful solution proving useless, to fire on the Palace from the men-of-war? Meanwhile, Cave informed all other foreign consuls that all flags were to remain at half mast in honour of the late Hamad. The only one that did not was a large red flag flying from Khalid's palace. Cave also informed the consuls not to recognise Khalid as sultan, to which they agreed. 26 August At 10:00 on 26 August, the Archer-class protected cruiser Racoon arrived at Zanzibar Town and was anchored in line with Thrush and Sparrow. At 14:00, the Edgar-class protected cruiser St George, flagship of the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, steamed into the harbour. On board were Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson, the commander-in-chief, and further British marines and sailors. At around the same time Lord Salisbury's reply arrived authorising Cave and Rawson to use the resources at their disposal to remove Khalid from power. The telegraph read: "You are authorised to adopt whatever measures you may consider necessary, and will be supported in your action by Her Majesty's Government. Do not, however, attempt to take any action which you are not certain of being able to accomplish successfully." Cave attempted further negotiations with Khalid, but these failed and Rawson sent an ultimatum, requiring him to haul down his flag and leave the palace by 09:00 on 27 August or he would open fire. During the afternoon, all merchant vessels were cleared from the harbour and the British women and children removed to St George and a British-India Steam Navigation Company vessel for their safety. That night, Consul Mohun noted that: "The silence which hung over Zanzibar was appalling. Usually drums were beating or babies cried but that night there was absolutely not a sound." War 27 August At 08:00 on the morning of 27 August, after a messenger sent by Khalid requested parley from Cave, the consul replied that he would only have salvation if he agreed to the terms of the ultimatum. At 08:30 a further messenger from Khalid declared that "We have no intention of hauling down our flag and we do not believe you would open fire on us"; Cave replied that "We do not want to open fire, but unless you do as you are told we shall certainly do so." At 08:55, having received no further word from the palace, aboard St George Rawson hoisted the signal "prepare for action". At exactly 09:00, General Lloyd Mathews ordered the British ships to commence the bombardment. At 09:02 Her Majesty's Ships Racoon, Thrush and Sparrow opened fire at the palace simultaneously. Thrush's first shot immediately dismounted an Arab 12-pounder cannon. Three thousand defenders, servants and slaves were present in the largely wooden palace, and even with barricades of crates, bales and rubber, there were many casualties from the high explosive shells. Despite initial reports that he had been captured and was to be exiled to India, Sultan Khalid escaped from the palace. A Reuters news correspondent reported that the sultan had "fled at the first shot with all the leading Arabs, who left their slaves and followers to carry on the fighting", but other sources state that he remained in the palace for longer. The shelling ceased at around 09:40, by which time the palace and attached harem had caught fire, the Sultan's artillery had been silenced and his flag cut down. During the bombardment a small naval engagement occurred when, at 09:05, the obsolete Glasgow fired upon the St George using her armament of 7 nine-pounder guns and a Gatling gun, which had been a present from Queen Victoria to the sultan. The return fire caused Glasgow to sink, though the shallow harbour meant that her masts remained out of the water. Glasgow's crew hoisted a British flag as a token of their surrender, and they were all rescued by British sailors in launches. Thrush also sank two steam launches whose Zanzibari crews shot at her with rifles. Some land fighting occurred when Khalid's men fired on Raikes' askaris, with little effect, as they approached the palace. The fighting ceased with the end of the shelling. The British controlled the town and the palace, and by the afternoon Hamoud bin Muhammed, an Arab favourable to the British, had been installed as sultan with much reduced powers. The British ships and crews had fired around 500 shells, 4,100 machine gun rounds and 1,000 rifle rounds during the engagement. Aftermath Approximately 500 Zanzibari men and women were killed or wounded during the bombardment, most of the dead a result of the fire that engulfed the palace. It is unknown how many of these casualties were combatants, but Khalid's gun crews were said to have been "decimated". British casualties amounted to one petty officer severely wounded aboard Thrush who later recovered. Although the majority of the Zanzibari townspeople sided with the British, the town's Indian quarter suffered from opportunistic looting, and around twenty inhabitants died in the chaos. To restore order, 150 British Sikh troops were transferred from Mombasa to patrol the streets. Sailors from St George and Philomel were landed to form a fire brigade to contain the fire, which had spread from the palace to the nearby customs sheds. There was some concern about the fire at the customs sheds as they contained a sizeable store of explosives, but no explosion occurred. Sultan Khalid, Captain Saleh and around forty followers sought refuge in the German consulate following their flight from the palace, where they were guarded by ten armed German sailors and marines while Mathews stationed men outside to arrest them if they tried to leave. Despite extradition requests, the German consul, the recently posted Albrecht von Rechenberg, later Governor of German East Africa, refused to surrender Khalid to the British as his country's extradition treaty with Britain specifically excluded political prisoners. Instead, the German consul promised to remove Khalid to German East Africa without him "setting foot on the soil of Zanzibar". At 10:00 on 2 October, SMS Seeadler of the Imperial German Navy arrived in port; at high tide, one of Seeadler's boats made it up to the consulate's garden gate, and Khalid stepped directly from consular grounds to a German war vessel and hence was free from arrest. He was transferred from the boat onto Seeadler and was then taken to Dar es Salaam in German East Africa. Khalid was captured by British forces in 1916, during the East African Campaign of World War I, and exiled to Seychelles and Saint Helena before being allowed to return to East Africa, where he died at Mombasa in 1927. The British punished Khalid's supporters by forcing them to pay reparations to cover the cost of shells fired against them and for damages caused by the looting, which amounted to 300,000 rupees. Sultan Hamoud was loyal to the British and acted as a figurehead for an essentially British-run government, the sultanate only being retained to avoid the costs involved with running Zanzibar directly as a crown colony. Several months after the war, Hamoud, with British prompting, abolished slavery in all its forms. The emancipation of slaves required them to present themselves to a government office and proved a slow process—within ten years only 17,293 slaves had been freed, from an estimated population of 60,000 in 1891. The badly damaged palace complex was completely changed by the war. The harem, lighthouse and palace were demolished as the bombardment had left them unsafe. The palace site became an area of gardens, while a new palace was erected on the site of the harem. The House of Wonders was almost undamaged and would later become the main secretariat for the British governing authorities. During renovation work on the House of Wonders in 1897, a clocktower was added to its frontage to replace the lighthouse lost to the shelling. The wreck of Glasgow remained in the harbour in front of the palace, where the shallow waters ensured that her masts would remain visible for several years to come; it was eventually broken up for scrap in 1912. The British protagonists were highly regarded by the governments in London and Zanzibar for their actions leading up to and during the war, and many were rewarded with appointments and honours. General Raikes, leader of the askaris, was appointed a First Class (Second Grade) member of the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar on 24 September 1896, a First Class member of the Zanzibari Order of Hamondieh on 25 August 1897 and later promoted to Commander of the Zanzibar armies. General Mathews, the Zanzibari army commander, was appointed a member of the Grand Order of Hamondieh on 25 August 1897 and became First Minister and Treasurer to the Zanzibari government. Basil Cave, the consul, was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1897 and promoted to consul-general on 9 July 1903. Harry Rawson was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for his work in Zanzibar and would later be Governor of New South Wales in Australia. Rawson was also appointed a first class member of the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar on 8 February 1897 and the Order of Hamondieh on 18 June 1898. There were no further rebellions against British influence during the remaining 67 years of the protectorate. Duration The war, lasting less than three-quarters of an hour, is sometimes considered the shortest in recorded history. Several durations are given by sources, including 38, 40 and 45 minutes, but the 38-minute duration is the most often quoted. The variation is due to confusion over what actually constitutes the start and end of a war. Some sources take the start of the war as the order to open fire at 09:00 and some with the start of actual firing at 09:02. The end of the war is usually put at 09:37, when the last shots were fired and the palace flag struck, but some sources place it at 09:45. The logbooks of the British ships also suffer from this uncertainty with St George indicating that cease-fire was called and Khalid entered the German consulate at 09:35, Thrush at 09:40, Racoon at 09:41, and Philomel and Sparrow at 09:45. See also List of conflicts by duration References Bibliography Bakari, Mohammed Ali (2001), The Democratisation Process in Zanzibar: A Retarded Transition, Hamburg: Institut für Afrika-Kunde, ISBN 978-3-928049-71-9. Bennett, Norman Robert (1978), A History of the Arab State of Zanzibar, London: Methuen Publishing, ISBN 978-0-416-55080-1. Cohen, John; Jacopetti, Gualtiero; Prosperi, Franco (1966), Africa Addio, New York: Ballantine Books, OCLC 230433. Frankl, P.J.L. (2006), "The Exile of Sayyid Khalid bin Barghash Al-BuSa'idi", British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 33 (2): 161–177, doi:10.1080/13530190600603675, ISSN 1469-3542, S2CID 159934039. Gordon, Philip H. (2007), Winning the Right War: The Path to Security for America and the World, New York: Times Books, ISBN 978-0-8050-8657-7. Haws, Duncan; Hurst, Alexander Anthony (1985), The Maritime History of the World: A Chronological Survey of Maritime Events from 5,000 B.C. until the Present Day, Brighton, Sussex: Teredo Books, ISBN 978-0-903662-10-9. Hernon, Ian (2003), Britain's Forgotten Wars: Colonial Campaigns of the 19th Century, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7509-3162-5. Hernon, Ian (2000), The Savage Empire: Forgotten Wars of the 19th Century, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7509-2480-1. Hoyle, Brian (2002), "Urban Waterfront Revitalization in Developing Countries: The Example of Zanzibar's Stone Town", Geographical Journal, 168 (2): 141–162, Bibcode:2002GeogJ.168..141H, doi:10.1111/1475-4959.00044. Ingrams, William H. (1967), Zanzibar: Its History and Its People, London: Cass, OCLC 722777. Lyne, Robert Nunez (1905), Zanzibar in Contemporary Times, London: Hurst and Blackett, OCLC 251506750. Owens, Geoffrey R. (2007), "Exploring the Articulation of Governmentality and Sovereignty: The Chwaka Road and the Bombardment of Zanzibar, 1895–1896", Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 7 (2), Johns Hopkins University Press: 1–55, doi:10.1353/cch.2007.0036, ISSN 1532-5768, OCLC 45037899, S2CID 162991362, archived from the original on 3 March 2016, retrieved 25 August 2008. Patience, Kevin (1994), Zanzibar and the Shortest War in History, Bahrain: Kevin Patience, OCLC 37843635. Thompson, Cecil (1984), "The Sultans of Zanzibar", Tanzania Notes and Records (94). Tucker, Alfred R. (1970), Eighteen Years in Uganda and East Africa (New ed.), Westport, Connecticut: Negro Universities Press, ISBN 978-0-8371-3280-8. Further reading Appiah, K. Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis Jr., eds. (1999), Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 978-0-465-00071-5. Ayany, Samuel G. (1970), A History of Zanzibar: A Study in Constitutional Development, 1934–1964, Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, OCLC 201465. Keane, Augustus H. (1907), Africa, vol. 1 (2nd ed.), London: Edward Stanford, OCLC 27707159. Scientific American (26 September 1896), "Zanzibar", Scientific American, 42 (1082): 17287–17292.

1988_Summer_Olympics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Summer_Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics (Korean: 1988년 하계 올림픽; RR: 1988-nyeon Hagye Ollimpik), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad (제24회 올림픽경기대회; Je-24-hoe Ollimpik-Gyeonggidaehoe) and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (서울 1988), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represented at the games by a total of 8,391 athletes (6,197 men and 2,194 women). 237 events were held and 27,221 volunteers helped to prepare the Olympics. The 1988 Seoul Olympics were the second summer Olympic Games held in Asia, after Tokyo 1964, and the first held in South Korea. As the host country, South Korea ranked fourth overall, winning 12 gold medals and 33 medals in the competition. 11,331 media (4,978 written press and 6,353 broadcasters) showed the Games all over the world. These were the last Olympic Games of the Cold War, as well as for the Soviet Union and East Germany, as both ceased to exist before the next Olympic Games in 1992. The Soviet Union dominated the medal count, winning 55 gold and 132 total medals. The results that got closest to that medal haul in the years since are China's and the United States's 48 gold medals in 2008 and 2012, respectively, and the United States's 126 total medals in 2024. Compared to the 1980 Summer Olympics (Moscow) and the 1984 Summer Olympics (Los Angeles), which were divided into two camps by ideology, the 1988 Seoul Olympics was a competition in which the boycotts virtually disappeared, although they were not completely over. North Korea boycotted the 1988 Seoul Olympics, as did five socialist countries including Cuba, an ally of North Korea. Albania, Ethiopia, and Seychelles did not respond to the invitation sent by the IOC. Nicaragua did not participate due to athletic and financial considerations, while the expected participation of Madagascar was withdrawn for financial reasons. Nonetheless, the much larger boycotts seen in the three previous editions were avoided, resulting in the largest number of participating nations during the Cold War era. For South Korea, the 1988 Olympics was a symbolic event that elevated its international image while also contributing to national pride. Only thirty-five years after the Korean War which devastated the nation, and during a decade of social unrest in South Korea, the Olympics was successfully held and became the culmination of what was deemed the "Miracle on the Han River". Host city selection Seoul was chosen to host the Summer Games through a vote held on 30 September 1981, finishing ahead of Nagoya, Japan. The awarding to Seoul was internationally considered to be surprising, with Nagoya having been considered a favourite. Below was the vote count that occurred at the 84th IOC Session and 11th Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, West Germany. Seoul had previously hosted many international events, but the most noteworthy ones were the Miss Universe 1980 and the 1986 Asian Games, thus demonstrating that it had the appropriate capability. Logo Evolution Highlights Soviet Vladimir Artemov won four gold medals in gymnastics. Daniela Silivaş of Romania won three and equalled compatriot Nadia Comăneci's record of seven perfect 10s in one Olympic Games. After having demolished the world record in the 100-metre dash at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis, sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner set an Olympic record (10.62) in the 100-metre dash and a still-standing world record (21.34) in the 200-metre dash to capture gold medals in both events. To these medals, she added a gold in the 4×100 relay and a silver in the 4×400. This was the first Olympic Games where women's sailing was its own event. It was won by Americans Allison Jolly and Lynne Jewell. Canadian Ben Johnson won the 100-metre final with a world-record time of 9.79 seconds, but was disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol. Johnson has since claimed that his positive test was the result of sabotage. In the women's artistic gymnastics team all-around competition, the United States women's team was penalized five-tenths of a point from their team score by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) after the compulsory round. East German judge Ellen Berger noticed that Rhonda Faehn, who was the American team alternate and not competing, had been standing on the uneven bars podium for the duration of Kelly Garrison-Steve's compulsory uneven bars routine. Although Faehn was not a coach, Berger assessed the penalty under a rule prohibiting coaches from remaining on the podium while an athlete competes. The deduction caused the United States to fall to fourth place with a combined score of 390.575, three-tenths of a point behind East Germany. This incident remains controversial in the sport of gymnastics, as the United States outperformed the East German team and would have taken the bronze medal in the team competition had they not been penalized. Phoebe Mills won an individual bronze medal on the balance beam, shared with Romania's Gabriela Potorac, making history as the first medal (team or individual) ever won by a US woman in artistic gymnastics at a fully attended games. The USSR won their final team gold medals in artistic gymnastics on both the men's and women's sides with scores of 593.350 and 395.475 respectively. The men's team was led by Vladimir Artemov, while Elena Shushunova led the women's team. Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor in the Finn class, was in second place and poised to win a silver medal when he abandoned the race to save an injured competitor in mortal peril. He finished in 21st place, but was recognized by the International Fair Play Committee with the Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy honoring his bravery and sacrifice. American diver Greg Louganis won back-to-back titles on both diving events despite striking his head on the springboard during his third-round dive and suffering a concussion. Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany won the silver medal in the women's sprint event in cycling. Combined with the two medals she won in speed skating in the Winter Games in Calgary, she became the first athlete to win medals in two Olympics held in the same year; this feat is no longer possible due to the current scheduling of the Olympic Games. Anthony Nesty of Suriname won his country's first Olympic medal by winning the men's 100-metre butterfly, prevailing over American Matt Biondi by .01 of a second (thwarting Biondi's attempt to match Mark Spitz's record seven golds in one Olympics). Nesty was the first black person to win an individual swimming gold. Swimmer Kristin Otto of East Germany won six gold medals. Other multi-gold medalists in the pool were Matt Biondi (five) and Janet Evans (three). Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm became the first woman to take part in seven Olympics. Mark Todd of New Zealand won his second consecutive individual gold medal in the three-day event in equestrian on Charisma, only the second time in eventing history that a gold medal has been won consecutively. Baseball and Taekwondo were demonstration sports. The opening ceremony featured a mass demonstration of taekwondo with hundreds of adults and children performing moves in unison. This was the last time the United States was represented by an all-amateur basketball team that did not feature NBA players; the team won the bronze medal after losing to the Soviet Union (that was represented by veteran professionals) which went on to win the gold medal. For the first time in history, all the dressage events were won by women. Women's judo was held for the first time, as a demonstration sport. Bowling was held as a demonstration sport, with Kwon Jong Yul of South Korea and Arianne Cerdeña from the Philippines winning the men's and women's gold medals, respectively. Table tennis was introduced at the Olympics, with China and South Korea both winning two titles. Tennis returned to the Olympics after a 64-year absence. Steffi Graf of West Germany added to her four Grand Slam victories in the year by also winning the Olympic title in women's singles, beating Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina in the final. Graf became the first person to win all four Grand Slams and the Olympic gold in a calendar year, known as the golden slam. Two Bulgarian weightlifters were stripped of their gold medals after failing doping tests, and the team withdrew after this event. In boxing, Roy Jones Jr. of the United States dominated his opponents, never losing a single round en route to the final. In the final, he controversially lost a 3–2 decision to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun despite pummeling Park for three rounds and landing 86 punches to Park's 32. In another boxing controversy, Riddick Bowe of the United States lost a controversial match in the final to Canadian future world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Bowe had a dominant first round, landing 33 of 94 punches thrown (34%) while Lewis landed 14 of 67 (21%). In the first round the referee from East Germany gave Bowe two cautions for headbutts and deducted a point for a third headbutt, although replay clearly showed there was none. Commentator Ferdie Pacheco disagreed with the deduction, saying they did not hit heads. In the second round, Lewis landed several hard punches. The referee gave Bowe two standing eight counts and waved the fight off after the second one, even though Bowe seemed able to continue. Pacheco disagreed with the stoppage, calling it "very strange". Soviet weightlifter Yury Zakharevich won the men's heavyweight (up to 110 kg class) with a 210 kg (460 lb) snatch and 245 kg (540 lb) clean and jerk for a 455 kg (1,003 lb) total. Zakhareivich had dislocated his elbow in 1983 attempting a world record and had it rebuilt with synthetic tendons. Indonesia gained its first medal in Olympic history when the women's team won a silver medal in archery. Ceremonies Live doves were released during the opening ceremony as a symbol of world peace, but a number of the doves were burned alive or suffered major trauma by the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. As a result of protests following the incident, the last time live doves were released during the opening ceremony was in 1992 in Barcelona, at the start of the ceremony. Balloon doves were released in 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1998 Winter Olympics and paper doves were used at the Atlanta Ceremony in 1996. These were also the last Summer Olympic Games to hold the opening ceremony during the daytime. The opening ceremony featured a skydiving team descending over the stadium and forming the five-colored Olympic Rings, as well as a mass demonstration of taekwondo. The skydiving team trained at SkyDance SkyDiving and had hoped the opening ceremony appearance would set the stage for skydiving becoming a medal event by 2000. Domestic historical significance The idea for South Korea to place a bid for the 1988 Games emerged during the last days of the Park Chung Hee administration in the late 1970s, as hosting the Olympics was a big opportunity to bring international attention to South Korea. But before that, it was necessary to prove the country's capacity, as South Korea was seen as an exotic and risky destination for large events. The project continued to run even after President Park's assassination in 1979. With the successful staging of Miss Universe 1980 and the 1986 Asian Games, Chun Doo-hwan, Park's successor, submitted Korea's bid to the IOC in September 1981, in hopes that the increased international exposure brought by the Olympics would legitimize his authoritarian regime amidst increasing political pressure for democratization and less rigidity in state policies. Further, he hoped it would provide protection from increasing threats from North Korea, and showcase the economic strength that the country was experiencing to the world. Seoul was awarded the bid on 30 September 1981, becoming the 16th nation in the Summer Olympics, as well as the second Asian nation (following Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics) and the first mainland Asian nation to host the Olympics. Influenced by the model of 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, which served as a rite of passage for the Japanese economy and re-integration of Japan in the international community in the post-war era, the South Korean government hoped to use the Olympics as a "coming-out party". The Olympics gave a powerful impetus to the development of South Korea's relations with Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and with China. In January 1982, South Korea's curfew that had been in place since 1945 was lifted. In utilizing media events theory, Larson and Park investigated the Seoul Olympics as a form of political communication. They revealed the significance of South Korea's military government throughout the period of the Olympic bid and preparation, followed by the many advantages of the hosting the Games: rapid economic modernization, social mobilization and the legitimization of the military dictatorship. Homeless camp expansion Existing camps for "vagrants" (homeless persons) were ramped up before the 1988 Olympics. An Associated Press article states that homeless and alcoholic persons, "but mostly children and the disabled" were arrested and sent to these camps to prepare for the Olympics. In addition, a prosecutor had his investigation into the Brothers Home camp limited at a number of levels of government "in part out of fear of an embarrassing international incident on the eve of the Olympics." In 1975, the previous president of South Korea had begun a policy of rounding up vagrants. According to government documents obtained by the Associated Press, from 1981 to 1986 the number of people held increased from 8,600 to more than 16,000. Police officers often received promotions based on the number of vagrants they had arrested, and owners of facilities received a subsidy based on the number of people held. There were multiple reports of inmates raped or beaten, and sometimes beaten to death. 4,000 of these "vagrants" were held at the Brothers Home facility. Many of the guards were former inmates who had been "promoted" because of loyalty to the camp's owner. Various money-making operations were conducted such as manufacturing ball-point pens and fishing hooks, as well as clothing for Daewoo. Only a few inmates were paid belatedly for this work. By accident while on a hunting trip, prosecutor Kim Yong-won heard about and visited a work detail of prisoners in ragged clothes overseen by guards with wooden bats and dogs. In his words, he knew immediately that "a very serious crime" was occurring, and in January 1987, he led a raid on the facility and found beaten and malnourished inmates. He was politically pressured at various levels to reduce the charges against the owner, managers, and guards. In the end, the owner only served 2+1⁄2 years in prison. The Brothers Home was a religious facility based on the Christian faith. There were in fact inspections by both city officials and church officials. However, these were scheduled inspections in which healthier inmates were presented in carefully planned and orchestrated circumstances. There were no unannounced inspections. In the 1990s, construction workers found about 100 human bones on a mountainside outside the location of the former Brothers Home. Victims of the Brothers Home are seeking a government investigation into the crimes committed and accountability. Boycott In preparation for the 1988 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee worked to prevent another Olympic boycott by the Eastern Bloc as had happened at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. This was made more difficult by the lack of diplomatic relations between South Korea and communist countries. This prompted action by the IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who was committed to the participation of these countries. Thus, at the Assembly of National Olympic Committees in Mexico City in November 1984, the "Mexico Declaration" was adopted. The declaration offered support for participation in the 1988 Olympics by all members of the Association of National Olympic Committees. The agreement with the Soviet Union was reached in 1987. After the Los Angeles games, East Germany had already decided to participate again in Seoul. The IOC also decided that it would send invitations to the 1988 Games itself and did not leave this task to the organizing committee as had been done before. Despite these developments, behind the scenes, the IOC did consider relocating the Games and explored the suitability of Munich as an alternative. Another point of conflict was the involvement of North Korea in hosting the Games, something that had been encouraged by Cuban president Fidel Castro, who called for North Korea to be considered joint host of the Games. As a result, on 8 and 9 January 1986 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC President chaired a meeting of the North and South Korean Olympic Committees. North Korea demanded that eleven of the 23 Olympic sports be carried out on its territory, and also demanded special opening and closing ceremonies. It wanted a joint organizing committee and a united team. The negotiations were continued into another meeting, but were not successful. The IOC did not meet the demands of North Korea and only about half of the desired sporting events were offered to the North. So the focus thereafter was solely on Seoul and South Korea. The games were boycotted by North Korea and its ally Cuba. Ethiopia, Albania and the Seychelles did not respond to the invitations sent by the IOC. Nicaragua did not participate due to athletic and financial considerations. Madagascar had been expected to participate before withdrawing for financial reasons. Official theme song In 1988, the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) produced and distributed an official song of the Seoul Games to publicize the Games to all the IOC member nations, encouraging their participation in the festival and consolidating the harmony and friendship of the entire world citizens through the song. The song "Hand in Hand" was written by Italian composer Giorgio Moroder and American songwriter Tom Whitlock, and performed by singing group Koreana. Venues Seoul Sports Complex venues Seoul Olympic Stadium[E] – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian (jumping individual final), football (final) Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool[E] – diving, modern pentathlon (swimming), synchronized swimming, swimming, water polo Jamsil Gymnasium[E] – basketball, volleyball (final) Jamsil Students' Gymnasium[E] – boxing Jamsil Baseball Stadium[E] – baseball (demonstration) Olympic Park venues Olympic Velodrome[N] – cycling (track) Olympic Weightlifting Gymnasium[N] – weightlifting Olympic Fencing Gymnasium[N] – fencing, modern pentathlon (fencing) Olympic Gymnastics Hall[N] – gymnastics Olympic Tennis Center[N] – tennis Mongchon Tosong[N] – modern pentathlon (running) Other venues in metropolitan Seoul Seoul Equestrian Park– equestrian (all but jumping individual final), modern pentathlon (riding) Han River Regatta Course/Canoeing Site Course[N] – canoeing, rowing Saemaul Sports Hall[N] – volleyball preliminaries Hanyang University Gymnasium[N] – volleyball preliminaries Changchung Gymnasium[E] – judo, taekwondo (demonstration) Seoul National University Gymnasium – badminton (demonstration), table tennis Royal Bowling Center[E] – bowling (demonstration) Dongdaemun Stadium[E] – football preliminaries Hwarang Archery Field[E], Nowon-gu – archery Taenung International Shooting Range[E], Taenung – modern pentathlon (shooting), shooting Streets of Seoul – athletics (20 km/ 50 km walk, marathon) Jangchung Gymnasium – taekwondo (demonstration), judo Venues outside Seoul Sangmu Gymnasium[N], Seongnam – wrestling Daejeon Stadium[E], Daejeon – football preliminaries Daegu Stadium[E], Daegu – football preliminaries Busan Stadium[E], Busan – football preliminaries Gwangju Stadium[E], Gwangju – football preliminaries Suwon Gymnasium[N], Suwon – handball Seongnam Stadium[E], Seongnam – field hockey Busan Yachting Center[N], Busan – sailing Tongillo Road Course – cycling (individual road race, road team time trial) E Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games. N New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. Cost According to The Oxford Olympics Study data is not available to establish the cost of the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics. the cost of the stadium was 491 billion won, approximately US$354 million. Sports The 1988 Summer Olympics featured 23 different sports encompassing 31 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 237 events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses. Demonstration Baseball () Women's Judo () Taekwondo () Exhibition Badminton and bowling were held as exhibition sports, which did not require IOC approval and were not part of the official Olympic schedule. Badminton () Bowling () Calendar All times are local KST (UTC+10) Note: between May 8 and October 9, 1988,all the clocks in the country were advanced by one hour as a test of the possibility of adopting the daylight summer time in the country in the future. This advance also enabled the development of a sports calendar in which the main events were scheduled to be broadcast in major Western markets in television prime time. Participating National Olympic Committees Athletes from 160 nations competed at the Seoul Games. Aruba, American Samoa, Brunei, Cook Islands, Maldives, Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Yemen made their first Olympic appearance at these Games. Guam made their first Summer Olympic appearance at these games having participated in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. In the following list, the number in parentheses indicates the number of athletes from each nation that competed in Seoul: When the team from the Dominican Republic marched in during the Parade of Nations, the superimposed map erroneously showed the location of Cuba, a nation that did not take part at the Games. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee 8,453 athletes from 159 NOCs Medal table These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1988 Games. * Host nation (South Korea) Mascot The official mascot for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games was Hodori. It was a stylized tiger designed by Kim Hyun as an amicable Amur tiger, portraying the friendly and hospitable traditions of the Korean people. Hodori's female version was called Hosuni. The name 호돌이 Hodori was chosen from 2,295 suggestions sent in by the public. It is a compound of 호 ho, the Sino-Korean bound morpheme for "tiger" (appearing also in the usual word 호랑이 horangi for "tiger"), and 돌이 dori, a diminutive for "boys". Broadcasting In the United States, NBC became the telecast provider hereafter for the Summer Games, after a five-Olympics run by the American Broadcasting Company from 1968 to 1984. NBC's coverage was their first sporting event to feature the new Quantel Cypher to generate the on-screen graphics. However, the network would continue to use Chyron Corporation for the rest of the year with Quantel being used again for the 1988 World Series. The Cypher would be implemented permanently starting with Super Bowl XXIII in January 1989. Doping In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, released documents that showed Carl Lewis had tested positive three times at the 1988 United States Olympic trials for minimum amounts of pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, which were banned stimulants. Bronchodilators are also found in cold medication. Due to the rules, his case could have led to disqualification from the Seoul Olympics and suspension from competition for six months. The levels of the combined stimulants registered in the separate tests were 2 ppm, 4 ppm and 6 ppm. Lewis defended himself, claiming that he had accidentally consumed the banned substances. After the supplements that he had taken were analyzed to prove his claims, the USOC accepted his claim of inadvertent use, since a dietary supplement he ingested was found to contain "Ma huang", the Chinese name for Ephedra (ephedrine is known to help weight loss). Fellow Santa Monica Track Club teammates Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard were also found to have the same banned stimulants in their systems, and were cleared to compete for the same reason. The highest level of the stimulants Lewis recorded was 6 ppm, which was regarded as a positive test in 1988 but is now regarded as negative test. The acceptable level has been raised to ten parts per million for ephedrine and twenty-five parts per million for other substances. According to the IOC rules at the time, positive tests with levels lower than 10 ppm were cause of further investigation but not immediate ban. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who is an expert on ephedrine and other stimulants, agreed that "These [levels] are what you'd see from someone taking cold or allergy medicines and are unlikely to have any effect on performance." Following Exum's revelations the IAAF acknowledged that at the 1988 Olympic Trials the USOC indeed followed the correct procedures in dealing with eight positive findings for ephedrine and ephedrine-related compounds in low concentration. Additionally, in 1988 the federation reviewed the relevant documents with the athletes' names undisclosed and stated that "the medical committee felt satisfied, however, on the basis of the information received that the cases had been properly concluded by the USOC as 'negative cases' in accordance with the rules and regulations in place at the time and no further action was taken". See also 1988 Summer Paralympics 1988 Winter Paralympics 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic Games held in South Korea 1988 Summer Olympics – Seoul 2018 Winter Olympics – Pyeongchang List of IOC country codes 1988 Summer Olympics Album: One Moment in Time Use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Olympic Games – 1988 Seoul Notes External links "Seoul 1988". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. 88 Seoul Olympics, Seoul Olympics memorial hall "Olympic Review 1988 – Official results" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2009. Official Report Vol. 1 Official Report Vol. 2 17 September 1988 Newsdesk broadcasting 2 October 1988 Newsdesk broadcasting The program of the 1988 Seoul Olympics "1988 Seoul Olympic Archive". Seoul Olympic Sports Promotion Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 August 2009.

Nadja_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadja_(film)

Nadja is a 1994 American horror film written and directed by Michael Almereyda, starring Elina Löwensohn in the title role and Peter Fonda as Abraham Van Helsing. Nadja is a vampire film which draws many characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula, yet treats genre elements in an understated arthouse style. It received mixed reviews from critics. Plot Count Dracula dies from a stake in his heart. His daughter, Nadja, shows up to claim the body, hoping that his death will free her from the life he has forced on her. She has the body cremated and prepares to take the ashes to Brooklyn and pay a visit to her twin brother Edgar. Before she departs, she stops for a drink and meets Lucy, a similarly disillusioned young woman. They leave the bar and have sex. Following his killing of Dracula, Van Helsing has been jailed, and his nephew, Jim (who is also Lucy's husband) bails him out. When Van Helsing learns that Dracula's body has been removed from the morgue, he enlists his nephew's help to destroy it properly, and thus ensure Dracula will never return. Meanwhile, Nadja visits Edgar, who is sick, and meets his nurse and live-in lover, Cassandra. Nadja persuades Cassandra to move Edgar to her apartment and plans to heal him by transfusing him with plasma from the blood of shark embryos; Edgar revives enough to drink some of Nadja's blood. Lucy has fallen under Nadja's trance. She leads Jim and Van Helsing to Edgar's house, where Nadja is staying with Renfield. Edgar awakens and warns Cassandra that she is in danger. Cassandra, revealed to be Van Helsing's daughter, attempts to escape with Nadja pursuing her, Lucy pursuing Nadja, and Jim pursuing Lucy. Cassandra runs into a gas station, where two mechanics attempt to protect her, but Nadja mesmerizes them and kills one of them. A policeman enters the gas station and shoots Nadja in the abdomen. Edgar, who is improving, unites with the Van Helsings to stop Nadja. He receives a "psychic fax" from Nadja, telling him that she is injured and must return to Transylvania with Cassandra. As they approach the castle, Nadja begins a transfusion of Cassandra's blood while she sleeps. Edgar and Helsing drive a stake through Nadja's heart. Lucy is released, Nadja is destroyed, and Cassandra awakens. Despite the assumed happy ending, Nadja narrates the epilogue: "They cut off my head... burned my body... no one knew... no one suspected that I was now alive in Cassandra's body. Edgar and I were married at City Hall... there is a better way to live." Cast Elina Löwensohn as Nadja Peter Fonda as Van Helsing Suzy Amis as Cassandra Galaxy Craze as Lucy Martin Donovan as Jim Karl Geary as Renfield Jared Harris as Edgar David Lynch (also Executive Producer) as Morgue Attendant (cameo) Nic Ratner as Bar Victim Jack Lotz as Boxing Coach Isabel Gillies as Waitress Jose Zuniga as Bartender Bernadette Jurkowski as Dracula's Bride Jeff Winner as Young Dracula Bob Gosse as Garage Mechanics Rome Neal as Garage Mechanics Giancarlo Roma as Romanian Kid Anna Roma as Romanian Mother Thomas Roma as Romanian Policemen Aleksandar Rasic as Romanian Policemen Miranda Russell as Lucy's Baby Production Nadja was written by Michael Almereyda after a planned project called Fever (centered around Edgar Allan Poe) failed to attract financing. The 1928 surrealist novel Nadja by André Breton served as an inspiration for the thematic approach, with Almereyda also studying several classic vampire films and lore. Even with a comparatively more commercial script than Fever, the production still faced hurdles in acquiring financing due to the decision to film Nadja in black and white rather than color, which was deemed necessary as both a cost-saving measure and thematically important. When financing fell through, Lynch financed the entire film himself. To attain a "blurry, out of focus" look to convey the point of view of the living dead, Almereyda shot the film using a Fisher-Price PixelVision camcorder. Almereyda attempted to make the film in a similar style to Roger Corman, with the Corman-produced Poe films a particular source of inspiration for not only style and tone, but frugal film-making. The movie was filmed over the course of five and a half weeks in New York City. An abandoned hospital on Central Park West was used to simulate a Transylvanian castle. Reception On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Nadja holds an approval rating of 64% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "Nadja approaches the Dracula legend from an idiosyncratic angle - and with just enough visual style to overcome uneven storytelling." Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film a rating of two-and-a-half out of four stars, characterizing it as "an example of a genre we can call Deadpan Noir. It's the kind of movie that deals with unspeakable subjects while keeping a certain ironic distance and using dialogue that seems funny, although the characters never seem in on the joke." References External links Nadja at IMDb Nadja at Rotten Tomatoes Nadja at Box Office Mojo

Palm_Springs_Walk_of_Stars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Springs_Walk_of_Stars

The Palm Springs Walk of Stars is a walk of fame in downtown Palm Springs, California, where "Golden Palm Stars", honoring various people who have lived in the greater Palm Springs area, are embedded in the sidewalk pavement. The walk includes portions of Palm Canyon Drive, Tahquitz Canyon Way, La Plaza Court and Museum Drive. Among those honored are presidents of the United States, showbusiness personalities, literary figures (authors, playwrights, screenwriters), pioneers and civic leaders (early settlers, tribal leaders, civic personalities), humanitarians and Medal of Honor recipients. The Palm Springs Walk of Stars was established in 1992 by Gerhard Frenzel and Barbara Foster-Henderson. The first induction ceremony was held on February 26, 1992 and included Walk of Fame chairman Johnny Grant. The first five Golden Palm Stars were dedicated to Earle C. Strebe, William Powell, Ruby Keeler, Charles Farrell and Ralph Bellamy.: 13  In May 2017, the Walk of Stars and the city of Palm Springs announced a temporary suspension on installing new stars while they reviewed the selection criteria. Additions resumed later that year. Honorees Medal of Honor recipients Five Medal of Honor recipients from the Coachella Valley were honored during the 1999 Veterans Day holiday. Former presidents These former presidents of the United States lived in the Palm Springs area after their retirement. Showbusiness Palm Springs has been famous as a winter resort and second-home community for personalities in showbusiness. These honorees include actors, performers, directors, producers and cinematographers of film, radio, stage and television. Pioneers, civic leaders and other contributors Early pioneers and other contributors to the community are also honored. Literary These honorees include authors, playwrights, screenwriters, singers, composers and musicians. See also List of people from Palm Springs, California List of walks of fame List of mayors of Palm Springs, California Notes References Further reading Bogert, Frank M. (2003). Palm Springs: First Hundred Years. Palm Springs: Palm Springs Library. p. 288. ISBN 978-0961872427. OCLC 17171891. Bogert, Frank M. (2006). View From the Saddle: Characters Who Crossed My Trail. Palm Springs: ETC Publications. pp. 232. ISBN 978-0882801582. OCLC 62110026. LCC F869.P18B65 2006 Johns, Howard (2006). Hollywood Celebrity Playground. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books. p. 320. ISBN 978-1569803035. LCCN 2006047650. OCLC 69104355. Turner, Mary L.; Turner, Cal A. (photographer) (2006) [1999]. Beautiful People of Palm Springs. Turner. p. 154. ISBN 978-1411634886. OCLC 704086361. Wenzell, Nicolette (January 2, 2016). "Palm Springs has rich history of celebs, architects". The Desert Sun. Retrieved 12 January 2016. External links Palm Springs Walk of Stars Chamber of Commerce – official website for Walk of Stars

Peter_Fonda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fonda

Peter Henry Fonda (February 23, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, both for acting and screenwriting, and a two-time Golden Globe Award winner for his acting. He was a member of the Fonda acting family, as the son of actor Henry Fonda, the brother of actress and activist Jane Fonda, and the father of actress Bridget Fonda. Fonda began his career on stage, winning a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Theatre World Award for his performance in the play Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. He became a prominent figure in the counterculture of the 1960s, starring in and co-writing the film Easy Rider (1969), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He then made his directorial debut with the Revisionist Western film The Hired Hand (1971), in which he also starred. During the following decade, he established himself as an action star, appearing in a variety of productions including Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) and Futureworld (1976). Fonda achieved a major critical comeback with his starring role in the drama film Ulee's Gold (1997), receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He also won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999). In 2003, Fonda received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Blvd, for his contributions to the film industry. Early life Fonda was born by caesarean section on February 23, 1940 at LeRoy Hospital in New York City, the only son of actor Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour; his older sister is actress Jane Fonda. He and Jane had a half-sister, Frances de Villers Brokaw (1931–2008), from their mother's first marriage. Their mother committed suicide in a mental hospital when Peter, her youngest, was ten. He did not discover the circumstances or location of her death until he was fifteen. One month prior to his eleventh birthday, he accidentally shot himself in the abdomen and nearly died. He went to the hill station of Nainital, India and stayed for a few months for recovery. Years later, while taking LSD with John Lennon and George Harrison, he referred to this incident, saying, "I know what it's like to be dead." This inspired The Beatles' song "She Said She Said". Peter attended the Fay School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and was a member of the Class of 1954. He then matriculated in Westminster School, a Connecticut boarding school in Simsbury, where he graduated in 1958. Once he graduated, Fonda studied acting in Omaha, Nebraska, his father's hometown. While attending the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Fonda joined the Omaha Community Playhouse. Career Early years and film work Upon his return to New York, Fonda joined the Cecilwood Theatre in 1960. Afterwards, he found work on Broadway and gained notice in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, written by James and William Goldman, which ran for 84 performances in 1961. Fonda began guest starring on television shows like Naked City, The New Breed, Wagon Train, and The Defenders. Fonda's first film came when producer Ross Hunter was looking for a new male actor to romance Sandra Dee in Tammy and the Doctor (1963). He was cast in the role, in what was a minor hit. He followed this with a support part in The Victors (1963), a bleak look at American soldiers in World War II, directed by Carl Foreman. Fonda's performance won him a Golden Globe Award for most promising newcomer. Fonda continued to work in television, guest starring in Channing, Arrest and Trial, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and 12 O'Clock High. He also tested for the role of John F. Kennedy in PT-109. Fonda impressed Robert Rossen who cast him in what would be Rossen's last movie, Lilith (1964), alongside Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg and Gene Hackman. Fonda's performance was well reviewed. Shortly before dying, Rossen signed him to a seven-film contract which was to start with an adaptation of Bang the Drum Slowly. Fonda graduated to a starring role in The Young Lovers (1964), about out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the sole directorial effort of Samuel Goldwyn Jr. Counterculture figure and Roger Corman By the mid-1960s, Fonda was not a conventional "leading man" in Hollywood. As Playboy magazine reported, Fonda had established a "solid reputation as a dropout". He had become outwardly nonconformist and grew his hair long and took LSD regularly, alienating the "establishment" film industry. Desirable acting work became scarce. Through his friendships with members of the band The Byrds, Fonda visited The Beatles in their rented house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles in August 1965. While John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and Fonda were under the influence of LSD, Lennon heard Fonda say, "I know what it's like to be dead." Lennon used the phrase in the lyrics for his song, "She Said She Said", which was included on their 1966 album, Revolver. In August 1966 Fonda was charged with possession of marijuana, and was later acquitted in December of that year. In November 1966 Fonda was arrested in the Sunset Strip riot, which the police ended forcefully. The band Buffalo Springfield protested the department's handling of the incident in their song "For What It's Worth". In 1967, Fonda recorded "November Night", a 45-rpm single written by Gram Parsons for the Chisa label, backed with "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, produced by Hugh Masekela. Fonda's first counterculture-oriented film role was as a biker in Roger Corman's B movie The Wild Angels (1966). Fonda originally was to support George Chakiris, but graduated to the lead when Chakiris revealed he could not ride a motorcycle. In the film, Fonda delivered a "eulogy" at a fallen Angel's funeral service. The movie was a big hit at the box office, screened at the Venice Film Festival, launched the biker movie genre, and established Peter Fonda as a movie name. Fonda made a television pilot, High Noon: The Clock Strikes Noon Again, filmed in December 1965. It was based on the film High Noon (1952), starring Gary Cooper, with Fonda in the Cooper role. However, it did not become a series. Fonda next played the male lead in Corman's film The Trip (1967), a take on the experience and "consequences" of consuming LSD, which was written by Jack Nicholson. His co-stars included Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern, and Dennis Hopper. The movie was a hit. Fonda then traveled to France to appear in the portmanteau horror movie Spirits of the Dead (1968). His segment co-starred his sister Jane and was directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim. For American television, he appeared in a movie, Certain Honorable Men (1968), alongside Van Heflin, written by Rod Serling. Easy Rider Fonda produced, co-wrote and starred in Easy Rider (1969), directed by Dennis Hopper. Easy Rider is about two long-haired bikers traveling through the southwestern and southern United States where they encounter intolerance and violence. Fonda played "Wyatt", a charismatic, laconic man whose motorcycle jacket bore a large American flag across the back. Dennis Hopper played the garrulous "Billy". Jack Nicholson played George Hanson, an alcoholic civil rights lawyer who rides along with them. Fonda co-wrote the screenplay with Terry Southern and Hopper. Fonda tried to secure financing from Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP), with whom he had made The Wild Angels and The Trip, but they were reluctant to finance a film directed by Hopper. They succeeded in getting money from Columbia Pictures. Hopper filmed the cross-country road trip depicted almost entirely on location. Fonda had secured funding of around $360,000, largely based on the fact he knew that it was the budget Roger Corman needed to make The Wild Angels. The guitarist and composer Robbie Robertson, of The Band, was so moved by an advance screening that he approached Fonda and tried to convince him to let him write a complete score, even though the film was nearly due for wide release. Fonda declined the offer, instead using Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" sung by The Byrds' Roger McGuinn, and Robertson's own composition "The Weight", performed by The Band, among many other tracks. The film was released to international success. Jack Nicholson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Fonda, Hopper and Southern were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film grossed over $40 million. Director and action star After the success of Easy Rider, both Hopper and Fonda were sought for film projects. Hopper directed the film The Last Movie (1971), in which Fonda co-starred along with singer Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas. Fonda directed and starred in the Western film The Hired Hand (1971). He took the lead role in a cast that also featured Warren Oates, Verna Bloom and Beat Generation poet Michael McClure. The film received mixed reviews and failed commercially upon its initial release, but many years later, in 2001, a fully restored version was shown at various film festivals and was re-released by the Sundance Channel on DVD that same year in two separate editions. Fonda later directed the science fiction film Idaho Transfer (1973). He did not appear in the film, and the film received mixed reviews upon its limited release. Around the same time, he co-starred with Lindsay Wagner in Two People (also 1973) for director Robert Wise, in which he portrayed a Vietnam War deserter. Fonda starred alongside Susan George and longtime-friend (and frequent co-star) Adam Roarke in the film Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), a film about two NASCAR hopefuls who execute a supermarket heist to finance their jump into big-time auto racing. The film was a box-office hit that year. It led to Fonda's making a series of action movies: Open Season (1974), with William Holden; Race with the Devil (1975), fleeing devil worshippers with Warren Oates (another hit); 92 in the Shade (1975), again with Oates, for writer-director Thomas McGuane; Killer Force (1976) for director Val Guest; Futureworld (1976), a sequel to Westworld (1973), financed by AIP; Fighting Mad (1976), a reuniting with Roger Corman, directed by Jonathan Demme. Outlaw Blues (1977) was a drama, with Fonda playing a musician opposite Susan Saint James. After some more action with High-Ballin' (1978), Fonda returned to directing, with the controversial drama Wanda Nevada (1979), wherein the 39-year-old Fonda starred as the "love" interest of the then 13-year-old Brooke Shields. His father, Henry Fonda, made a brief appearance as well, and it is the only film in which they performed together. 1980s and 1990s Fonda was top billed in The Hostage Tower (1980), a television movie based on a story by Alistair MacLean. Fonda appeared in the hit film The Cannonball Run (1981) as the "chief biker", a tongue-in-cheek nod to his earlier motorcycle films. He also played a charismatic cult leader in Split Image (1982), a film that also starred James Woods, Karen Allen and Brian Dennehy. Despite the strong cast and positive reviews, the film failed to find an audience. Fonda later appeared in a series of films in the 1980s of varying genres — Daijōbu, My Friend (1983), shot in Japan; Dance of the Dwarfs (1983); Peppermint Peace (1983), shot in Germany; Spasms (1983), a Canadian horror film with Oliver Reed; A Reason to Live (1985), a TV movie; Certain Fury (1985), with Tatum O'Neal; Mercenary Fighters (1988); Hawken's Breed (1988), a Western; Sound (1988); Gli indifferenti (1989) with Liv Ullmann; and The Rose Garden (1989). In the early 1990s Fonda also contributed to the script of Enemy (1990), in which he starred. He had the lead in Family Express (1991) and South Beach (1993), but then drifted into supporting roles in many independent films: Deadfall (1993), directed by Christopher Coppola; Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993), starring his daughter Bridget; Molly & Gina (1994) with Frances Fisher and Natasha Gregson; Love and a .45 (1994) with Renée Zellweger; Nadja (1994), produced by David Lynch. He had a good supporting role in Escape from L.A. (1996) from John Carpenter and was in Don't Look Back (1996). He also guest starred on In the Heat of the Night. After years of films of varying success, Fonda received high-profile critical recognition and universal praise for his performance in Ulee's Gold (1997). He portrayed a taciturn North Florida beekeeper and Vietnam veteran who tries to save his son and granddaughter from a life of drug abuse. For his performance, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He had the lead in Painted Hero (1997). In 1998, Fonda starred in the TV movie The Tempest, based in part on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was directed by Jack Bender and starred Fonda, John Glover, Harold Perrineau, and Katherine Heigl. He played Frank O'Connor in The Passion of Ayn Rand (1998), a performance for which he received a Golden Globe Award in 2000, then appeared in the crime film The Limey (1999) as Terry Valentine, an aging rock music producer who accidentally kills his younger girlfriend. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh. Fonda wrote an autobiography, Don't Tell Dad (1998). In the 1990s, Fonda appeared in an advertisement for American Express. 2000s Fonda's work in the 2000s included parts in South of Heaven, West of Hell (2000), Second Skin (2000), Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000) Wooly Boys (2001), The Laramie Project (2001), The Maldonado Miracle (2003), Capital City (2004), The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004), A Thief of Time (2004), Back When We Were Grownups (2004), Supernova (2005), and El cobrador: In God We Trust (2006). In 2002, Fonda was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. In 2004, he provided the voice of aging hippie weed grower "The Truth" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was one of the best-selling video games of all time. In a 2007 interview, Fonda said that riding motorcycles helped him to focus, stating, I ride an MV Agusta. This is an Italian racing motorcycle. It forces focus. You have to be focused and in my life, in this business, focus is hard to find sometimes. So I need to force focus and that's great. The bike takes you on a free road. There's no fences on the roads I ride and I don't ride freeways. That's as much as I can tell you, because there are more lands waiting for this little Christian boy. That's not true. I'm an atheist, but what the heck. Fonda made a return to the big screen as the bounty hunter Byron McElroy in 3:10 to Yuma (2007), a remake of the 1957 Western. He appeared with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. The film received two Academy Award nominations and positive reviews from critics. He also appeared in the last scenes of the biker comedy Wild Hogs as Damien Blade, founder of the biker gang Del Fuegos and father of Jack, played by Ray Liotta. Fonda also portrayed Mephistopheles, one of two main villains in the film Ghost Rider (also 2007). Although he wanted to play the character in the sequel, he was replaced by Ciarán Hinds. He appeared in Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), Japan (2008), and The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll (2009) and as "The Roman", the main villain in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (also 2009), the sequel to The Boondock Saints. Fonda also appeared on the television series Californication. Later career Fonda's later appearances include American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James (2010) for Fred Olen Ray; The Trouble with Bliss (2011); episodes of CSI: NY; Smitty (2012); Harodim (2012); As Cool as I Am (2013); Copperhead (2013); The Ultimate Life (2013); The Harvest (2013); HR (2014); House of Bodies (2014); Jesse James: Lawman (2015); The Runner (2015) with Nicolas Cage; The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017); The Most Hated Woman in America (2017); Borderland (2017); You Can't Say No (2018); and Boundaries (2018) with Christopher Plummer. He was an executive producer of the documentary The Big Fix (2012). His final portrayal was in the Vietnam War movie The Last Full Measure, whose director Todd Robinson, has recounted that Peter Fonda was able to view that film in its entirety before his death, and got emotional upon viewing it. Honors In 2000, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. Personal life Fonda was married three times, he married his first wife Susan Brewer in 1961; together they had two children, Bridget and Justin. They divorced in 1974 after 13 years of marriage. Fonda married his second wife Portia Rebecca Crockett, in 1975. The marriage lasted for 36 years until they divorced in 2011. Fonda married his third wife Margaret DeVogelaere, in 2011. The marriage lasted for eight years until Fonda's death in 2019. Political views In 2011, Fonda and Tim Robbins produced The Big Fix, a documentary that examined the role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its effects on the Gulf of Mexico. At a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Fonda stated that he had written to President Barack Obama about the spill and attacked him as a "fucking traitor" for allowing "foreign boots on our soil telling our military—in this case the Coast Guard—what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do.'" In June 2018, Fonda went on Twitter to criticize President Donald Trump's administration's enforcement of U.S. immigration policy by Jeff Sessions for separating children from their parents at the Mexican border, writing that "We should rip Barron Trump from the arms of First Lady Melania Trump and put him in a cage with pedophiles." He also suggested that Americans should seek out names of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in order to protest outside of their homes and the schools of their children. The Secret Service opened an investigation based on a report from the Trump family. Huckabee's daughter, White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was also the object of Fonda's tweets, in which he suggested that "Maybe we should take her (Sanders') children away..." In another later deleted tweet, Fonda targeted United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen by calling her a "vulgar" name and calling for Nielsen to be "put in a cage and poked at by passersby ..." Fonda stated that he deleted his tweet regarding Barron Trump, saying that he "immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused." Backlash to Fonda's tweets resulted in a call for a boycott of his newest film, Boundaries, and other Sony projects. Sony Pictures released Boundaries as planned on June 22, 2018, but released a statement stating that Fonda's comments "are abhorrent, reckless and dangerous, and we condemn them completely." Death Fonda died from respiratory failure caused by lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles on August 16, 2019, at the age of 79. Following Fonda's death, his older sister Jane Fonda made the following statement: "I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby younger brother, the talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing." Awards and nominations References Further reading External links Official website Peter Fonda at IMDb Peter Fonda at the Internet Broadway Database Peter Fonda at the TCM Movie Database

Mind_Fusion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Fusion

Mind Fusion is a 5-volume series of albums produced by Madlib. Volume 1 Mind Fusion Vol. 1 is the first of the Mind Fusion series of mixtapes and remixes by West Coast hip hop producer Madlib. As every mixtape follows a different genre of music, the first in the series focuses on hip hop songs produced and remixed by Madlib. It was released in CD format independently on Madlib's Mind Fusion imprint. It also features vocals from fellow Stones Throw artists. Track list All tracks are produced, remixed, and arranged by Madlib. "Mind Fusions (Intro)" "All Night" (featuring Wildchild, Declaime and MED) "The Omen (Madlib Remix)" (featuring Aim) "I Got A Right Ta (Madlib Remix)" (featuring Common) "Money Folder (12-inch Remix)" (featuring Madvillain) "Never Saw It Coming" (from Push Comes to Shove) - (featuring MED) "Galt Suite No. 7" "Uh Huh (Madlib Remix)" (featuring Method Man) "Stomp the Shit Out You (Madlib Remix)" (featuring M.O.P.) "Steal This Beat (Instrumental)" "Yo’ Soul" (featuring Dudley Perkins) "Hydrant Game" (from The Further Adventures of Lord Quas) - (featuring Quasimoto) "Ain’t Right" (featuring Diverse) "Who You Be? (Madlib Remix)" (featuring Outsidaz) "Beer Games" (featuring Madvillain and Jaylib) "Feel It" (from Secondary Protocol) - (featuring Wildchild) "The Payback (Gotta)" (from Beat Konducta Vol 1–2: Movie Scenes) "WTF (Madlib Remix)" (featuring Oh No and Wildchild) "Montara (Remix)" (featuring Bobby Hutcherson) "Keeps It Krisp" (featuring Kazi) "Now U Know" (from Push Comes to Shove) - (featuring MED) "Space Goat (Madlib Remix)" (featuring Diverse) "Home Turf (Madlib Remix)" (featuring Charizma) "Offbeat (Groove)" (from Beat Konducta Vol 1–2: Movie Scenes) "Right Now" (featuring Oh No) "Duck Sex (Outro)" Volume 2 Mind Fusion Vol. 2 is second of the Mind Fusion series. This mixtape was released by Madlib under his Mind Fusion imprint. It is a compilation of many songs from different genres from the '60s to the '80s. Like other Mind Fusion mixtapes, this mixtape was released in very limited quantities and is a very rare and collectible item today. Track listing All tracks are compiled and mixed by Madlib. Volume 3 Mind Fusion Vol. 3 is compilation mixtape by hip hop producer Madlib independently released in 2005. This album is a mix-up of Funk, Jazz, Dub and hip hop instrumentals released in a total of 8 tracks on CD format. Track list "Just A" - 5:25 "Collection" - 6:33 "Of The" - 8:25 "Hottest" - 5:02 "Shit" - 11:49 "Madlib" - 10:07 "Has Ever" - 7:02 "Produced" - 3:23 Volume 4 Mind Fusion Vol. 4 is a remix album by hip hop producer Madlib independently released in 2007. This album features remixes of songs by Nas and Jay-Z and others. Track list Track list adapted from Rappcats.com. Volume 5 Mind Fusion Vol. 5 is the fifth and last mixtape of the Mind Fusion series by hip hop producer Madlib. This mixtape focuses on "dirty hip hop crates" from around the world as stated on the back cover. Following tradition, this mixtape was also independently released by Madlib on his Mind Fusion imprint in CD format. Track list The whole album features only two lengthy tracks which have about 10 to 15 different beats each mixed together. Track 1 - Dirty Crates From Around The World (35:58) Track 2 - Live At The Do-Over (36:55)

Common_(rapper)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_(rapper)

Lonnie Rashid Lynn (born March 13, 1972), known professionally as Common (formerly known as Common Sense), is an American rapper and actor from Chicago, Illinois. He is the recipient of three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. At the age of 20, he signed with the independent label Relativity Records to release his debut studio album Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992), which was met with critical acclaim along with its follow-ups, Resurrection (1994) and One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997). He maintained an underground following into the late 1990s, and achieved mainstream success through his work with the Black music collective, Soulquarians. After attaining a major label record deal, he released his fourth and fifth albums, Like Water for Chocolate (2000) and Electric Circus (2002), to continued acclaim and modest commercial response. His guest performance on fellow Soulquarian, Erykah Badu's 2003 single, "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)", won Best R&B Song at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards. He signed with fellow Chicago rapper Kanye West's record label GOOD Music, in a joint venture with Geffen Records to release his sixth album Be (2005), which was met with both critical and commercial success and yielded a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. His seventh album, Finding Forever (2007), became his first to debut atop the Billboard 200, while a song from the album, "Southside" (featuring Kanye West) won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. His eighth album, Universal Mind Control (2008), was met with mixed critical reception and served as his final release with GOOD. Common's own label imprint, Think Common Entertainment, was founded in 2011 and entered a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records to release his ninth album, The Dreamer/The Believer (2011), and later No I.D.'s ARTium Recordings, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings to release his tenth album, Nobody's Smiling (2014). Both received critical praise and further discussed social issues in Black America; his eleventh album, Black America Again (2016) saw widespread critical acclaim and served as his final release on a major label. Lynn won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for his song "Glory" (with John Legend), which he released for the film Selma (2014), wherein he co-starred as civil rights leader James Bevel. His other film roles include Smokin' Aces (2006), Street Kings (2008), American Gangster (2007), Wanted (2008), Date Night (2010), Just Wright (2010), Happy Feet Two (2011), Run All Night (2015), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), and Smallfoot (2018). In television, he starred as Elam Ferguson in AMC western series Hell on Wheels from 2011 to 2014. His song "Letter to the Free" was released for the Ava DuVernay-directed Netflix documentary 13th (2017), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. He made his Broadway acting debut on the play Between Riverside and Crazy (2023), which won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Early life Common was born on March 13, 1972, at the Chicago Osteopathic Hospital in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. He is the son of educator and former principal of John Hope College Preparatory High School, Mahalia Ann Hines, and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn. He was raised in the Calumet Heights neighborhood. Lynn's parents divorced when he was six years old, resulting in his father moving to Denver, Colorado. This left Lynn to be raised by his mother; however, his father remained active in his life, and was able to get him a job with the Chicago Bulls as a teenager. Lynn attended Florida A&M University for two years under a scholarship and majored in business administration. Music career 1987–1996: Career beginnings Lynn began rapping in the late 1980s, while a student at Luther High School South in Chicago, when he, along with two of his friends, formed C.D.R., a rap trio that opened for acts such as N.W.A and Big Daddy Kane. When C.D.R dissolved by 1991, Lynn began a solo career under the stage name of Common Sense. After being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source magazine, he debuted as a solo artist in 1992 with the single "Take It EZ", followed by the album Can I Borrow a Dollar?. With the 1994 release of Resurrection, Common Sense achieved a much larger degree of critical acclaim which extended beyond the Chicago music scene. The album sold relatively well and received a strong positive reaction among alternative and underground hip hop fans at the time. Resurrection was Common Sense's last album produced almost entirely by his long-time production partner, No I.D., who would later become a mentor to a young Kanye West. In 1996, Common Sense appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America Is Dying Slowly (A.I.D.S.), alongside Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, and Fat Joe, among many other prominent hip hop artists. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as "a masterpiece" by The Source magazine. He would later also contribute to the Red Hot Organization's Fela Kuti tribute album, Red Hot and Riot in 2002. He collaborated with Djelimady Tounkara on a remake of Kuti's track, "Years of Tears and Sorrow". The song "I Used to Love H.E.R." from Resurrection ignited a feud with West Coast rap group Westside Connection. The lyrics of the song criticized the path hip hop music was taking, utilizing a metaphor of a woman to convey hip hop and were interpreted by some as directing blame towards the popularity of West Coast gangsta rap. Westside Connection first responded with the 1995 song "Westside Slaughterhouse," with the lyrics "Used to love H.E.R., mad cause I f*cked her". "Westside Slaughterhouse" also mentioned Common Sense by name, prompting the rapper to respond with the scathing Pete Rock-produced attack song "The Bitch in Yoo". Common Sense and Westside Connection continued to insult each other back and forth before finally meeting with Louis Farrakhan and setting aside their dispute. Following the popularity of Resurrection, Common Sense was sued by an Orange County-based reggae band with the same name, and was forced to shorten his moniker to simply Common. 1996–1999: One Day It'll All Make Sense Initially scheduled for an October 1996 release, Common released his third album, One Day It'll All Make Sense, in September 1997. The album took a total of two years to complete and included collaborations with artists such as Lauryn Hill, De La Soul, Q-Tip, Canibus, Black Thought, Chantay Savage, and Questlove – a future fellow member of the Soulquarians outfit. The album, which made a point of eschewing any gangsterism (in response to questions about his musical integrity), was critically acclaimed and led to a major label contract with MCA Records. In addition to releasing One Day, Common's first child, daughter Omoye Assata Lynn, was born shortly after the release of the album. As documented by hip-hop journalist Raquel Cepeda, in the liner notes for the album, this event had a profound spiritual and mental effect on Common and enabled him to grow musically while becoming more responsible as an artist. She writes: Rashid found out that he was going to become a daddy in about 8 months. Stunned and confused, Rashid had life-altering decisions to make with his girlfriend, Kim Jones. The situation led to the composition of his favorite cut on One Day... that offers a male slant on abortion. "Retrospect for Life", produced by James Poyser and No I.D. featuring Lauryn Hill (who was due on the same day as Rashid's girlfriend), is the song that is the driving force behind the project. Rashid listens to "Retrospect for Life" today at the mastering session geeked as if it were for the first time. He tells me as we listen to L-Boogie wail the chorus, "when I listen to the song now, I think about how precious her (Omoye's) life is". Common addresses family ethics several times on One Day..., and the album sleeve is decorated with old family photos, illustrating the rapper's childhood, as well a quote from 1 Corinthians 13:11, which summarizes the path to manhood: When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 1999–2003: Soulquarians era Following One Day..., Common signed a major label record deal with MCA Records and relocated from Chicago to New York City in 1999. He began recording almost exclusively with a loose collective of musicians and artists (dubbed the "Soulquarians" by central figure Questlove) throughout 1999, and made a few sporadic guest appearances on The Roots' Things Fall Apart, and the Rawkus Records compilation, Soundbombing 2. In 2000, his fourth album, Like Water for Chocolate, was released to mass critical acclaim. Executive produced by Questlove and featuring significant contributions by J Dilla, (who helmed every track except – "Cold Blooded", "Geto Heaven Part II", "A Song For Assata", "Pop's Rap Part 3...All My Children" & the DJ Premier-produced track "The 6th Sense"), Like Water for Chocolate transpired to be a considerable commercial breakthrough for Common, earning the rapper his first gold record, and greatly expanding his fanbase among critics and listeners alike. With both artists hailing from the Great Lakes region of the United States (Chicago and Detroit, respectively), Common and J Dilla established their chemistry early on. Both became members of the Soulquarians collective, and collaborated on numerous projects together, even placing one song, "Thelonius", on both the Slum Village album Fantastic, Vol. 2, and Common's Like Water for Chocolate. As Dilla's health began to decline from the effects of Lupus Nephritis, he relocated to Los Angeles, and asked Common to make the move with him as a roommate (Dilla would later lose his battle with the rare disease). This album saw Common exploring themes (musically and lyrically), which were uncommon for a hip-hop record, as he does on the song "Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela)"; a homage to Nigerian music legend, and political activist Fela Kuti. The most popular single from the album "The Light" was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2002, Common released his fifth album, Electric Circus. The album was highly anticipated and praised by many critics for its ambitious vision. However, it was not as commercially successful as his previous album, Like Water for Chocolate, selling under 300,000 copies. An eclectic album, Electric Circus featured fusions of several genres such as hip hop, pop, rock, electronic, and neo-soul. The album's style tended to divide critics; some praised its ambitious vision while others criticized it for the same reason. Most of the criticism tended to revolve around the album's experimental nature; some felt Common had strayed too far from his previous sound. This was Common's second and last album for MCA, and the label's final release prior to its absorption into Geffen Records. Around this time, Common appeared as a guest performer on singer and fellow Soulquarian Bilal's Love for Sale album, recording a remake of the 1977 Fela Kuti song "Sorrow, Tears & Blood". Bilal also featured on Electric Circus, the first of many future collaborations with Common. 2004–2011: GOOD Music era In early 2004, Common made an appearance on fellow Chicagoan Kanye West's multi-platinum debut album, The College Dropout (on the song "Get Em High"), and announced his signing to West's then-newfound label GOOD Music. West had been a longtime fan of Common and the two even participated in a friendly on-air MC battle, where West took jabs at his lyrical idol for "going soft" and wearing crochet pants (as he does for his appearance in the video for the Mary J. Blige song "Dance for Me"). The pair worked together on Common's next album, Be, almost entirely produced by Kanye West, with some help from Common's longtime collaborator James Yancey (J Dilla) – also a favorite of West. The album was released in May 2005, and performed very well, boosted by Kanye's involvement and the singles "The Corner", and "Go". Be earned Common the second gold record of his career, with sales topping out at around 800,000 copies. The Source magazine gave it a near-perfect 4.5 mic rating, XXL magazine gave it their highest rating of "XXL", and AllHipHop gave the album 4 stars. The album was also nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2006. Following the release of Be in 2005, several mixed-race artists from the UK hip-hop scene took exception to Common's comments about interracial relationships on the song "Real People." Yungun, Doc Brown and Rising Son recorded a track over an instrumental version of "The Corner" named "Dear Common (The Corner Dub)." Common states that he has heard of the track but never actually taken the time to listen to it, and has not retaliated in song. Common's seventh LP titled Finding Forever was released on July 31, 2007. For this album, he continued his work with Kanye West, as well as other producers such as Will.i.am, Devo Springsteen, Derrick Hodge, and Karriem Riggins, as well as the only J Dilla-produced track, "So Far To Go". The album features guest spots from artists such as Dwele, Bilal, D'Angelo, and UK pop starlet Lily Allen. The first single from the album was "The People" b/w "The Game". West predicted that Finding Forever would win the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The album was nominated for Best Rap Album, but did not win, losing to West's Graduation; however, Common did win his second Grammy for "Southside," which won the 2008 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group. On July 31, 2007, Common performed a free concert in Santa Monica, California, on the 3rd Street Promenade to promote the release of Finding Forever. Common explained to the audience that the title "Finding Forever" represented his quest to find an eternal place in hip-hop and also his wishes to be an artist for the rest of his life. The album debuted at #1 on the national Billboard 200 charts. In an August 2007 interview with XXL, rapper Q-Tip of the group A Tribe Called Quest stated that he and Common were forming a group called 'The Standard', and were planning to record an album to be produced by Q-Tip; however, this never came to fruition. Common was instrumental in bridging the trans-Atlantic gap by signing UK's Mr. Wong and J2K to Kanye West's Getting Out Our Dreams recording outfit. Common met the pair during his tour in the UK earlier on in the year. It is speculated that the deal is not only to bring the UK and US hip hop genres together but that to rival Syco Music's cross-Atlantic success with Leona Lewis. He also has a deal with Zune mp3 players. In 2008 Common made an estimated 12 million dollars, making him equal in earnings to Eminem and Akon, tied for the 13th highest grossing Hip-Hop artist. The eighth album from Chicago hip-hop artist Common was originally scheduled to be released on June 24, 2008, under the name Invincible Summer, but he announced at a Temple University concert that he would change it to Universal Mind Control. The release date was pushed back to September 30, 2008, due to Common filming Wanted. The release date was set for November 11, 2008, however, it was once again pushed back to December 9, 2008. The album's eponymous lead single "Universal Mind Control", was officially released on July 1, 2008, via the US iTunes Store as part of The Announcement EP (sold as Universal Mind Control EP in the UK). The song features Pharrell, who also produced the track. The Announcement EP included an additional track titled "Announcement", also featuring Pharrell. The video for the lead single was filmed in September by director Hype Williams. In 2009, Common was prominently featured throughout his GOOD Music label-mate Kid Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, as a narrator and featured artist. In late 2009, it was revealed Common was nominated for two Grammys at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Make Her Say", alongside Kid Cudi and Kanye West, as well as Best Rap Album for Universal Mind Control. 2011–present: Think Common Ent. The Dreamer/The Believer and feud with Drake American producer No I.D., stated that he and Kanye West would be producing Common's album The Dreamer/The Believer. In July 2011, it was announced that No I.D. would be the album's sole producer. Common made an appearance on The Jonas Brothers' most recent album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times as a guest rapper for the group's 2009 song, "Don't Charge Me for the Crime." On July 6, 2011, Common released his first single, titled "Ghetto Dreams", from his next album. A second single, "Blue Sky", was released on October 4, 2011. On December 20, 2011, Common released his ninth solo album, titled The Dreamer, The Believer. Although he left GOOD Music in 2011, Common was featured on the label's first compilation album, 2012's Cruel Summer. Common released a song entitled "Sweet", from The Dreamer/The Believer, which included lyrics critical of rappers who sing, although this criticism was not aimed specifically at Canadian recording artist Drake. Drake took offense and responded by releasing "Stay Schemin'", a song with Rick Ross and French Montana. Common fans only had to wait two-and-a-half days for him to respond to Drake's diss track. On February 13, 2012, Common commented on the feud by saying "It's over. But it was all in the art of hip hop. He said some things to me so I had to say some things back...I wouldn't say [he started it] but I know I heard something that I felt was directed to me so I addressed it. That's all. But you know, thank God we were able to move forward from it and all is good." Artium Recordings and further albums After a quiet 2012, Common announced he would release an extended play (EP) in January 2013, and his first mixtape in April. In February 2013, Common announced his tenth solo studio album would be released in September 2013 and will feature Kanye West and production from Kanye West and No I.D. Later on September 8, 2013, he gave an update to his projects saying the previously announced EP would be released soon, and would feature a song with new Def Jam signee Vince Staples. He also told HipHopDX, his tenth solo studio album would be released in early 2014. On January 6, 2014, Common announced his tenth studio album to be titled Nobody's Smiling and would be produced entirely by longtime collaborator 'No I.D.'. The album, which Common revealed was originally going to be an EP, is set to feature Vince Staples, James Fauntleroy and "some new artists from Chicago." The concept of the album was inspired by his troubled hometown of Chicago: "We came up with this concept 'nobody's smiling.' It was really a thought that came about because of all the violence in Chicago," he says. "It happens in Chicago, but it's happening around the world in many ways." He continues, "We was talking about the conditions of what's happening, when I say 'nobody's smiling.' But it's really a call to action." On June 4, 2014, it was announced Common signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings and No I.D.'s Artium Records. It was also announced Nobody's Smiling would be released July 22, 2014. Lonnie "Pops" Lynn was to be featured on this album as well but the recording fell through as Lonnie's health declined. A recording was indeed made and is in process of being released on Dirty Laboratory Productions featuring production by AwareNess. In 2016 Common released his eleventh studio album titled Black America Again under Def Jam Recordings, the album featured guest appearances by Stevie Wonder, Bilal, Marsha Ambrosius, BJ The Chicago Kid, John Legend, PJ, Syd, Elena & Tasha Cobbs. The album was primarily produced by Karriem Riggins alongside many other contributors including Robert Glasper. In 2018, Common also announced he would be forming a jazz group called August Greene with Karriem Riggins & Robert Glasper, shortly after this announcement an August Greene album was released through a partnership with Amazon Music. The album featured guest vocals (credited and uncredited) by male singer Samora Pinderhughes and featured award-winning singer Brandy Norwood on two songs titled "Optimistic" and "Time" respectively. On August 30, 2019, Common released his twelfth solo studio album titled Let Love, the album was released by Loma Vista Recordings and Concord Records. The album features guest appearances from Samora Pinderhughes, Daniel Caesar, Swizz Beatz, Leikeli47, BJ the Chicago Kid, A-Trak, Jill Scott, Leon Bridges and Jonathan McReynolds and production of the album was primarily handled by Karriem Riggins and the song titled "HER Love (feat. Daniel Caesar was produced by J. Dilla. In 2020 Common released a nine-track album titled A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1. The album features female singer PJ on seven tracks and also features guest vocals from Black Thought and Lenny Kravitz. In 2021 he released a sequel album, A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2, which features guest vocals from Jessica Care Moore, PJ, Black Thought, Seun Kuti, Marcus King, Isaiah Sharkey, Brittany Howard, and Morgan Parker. Production of both albums was handled primarily by long-time collaborator Karriem Riggins, with various other producers credited as session musicians. On August 1 of 2023, Common was featured in Men's Health's Hip-Hop 50th Anniversary edition alongside Method Man, Wiz Khalifa, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, and 50 Cent. In 2024, it was announced that Common would be releasing a collaborative album with Pete Rock titled The Auditorium Vol. 1, and released the album's first single, "Wise Up". Other work Acting In 2003, Common appeared on the American UPN sitcom Girlfriends. In the episode "Take This Poem and Call Me in the Morning", he appeared as Omar, a slam poet who competes with fellow poet Sivad (played by Saul Williams) for the affection of Lynn Searcy (played by Persia White). He also had a cameo appearance on an episode of UPN's One on One, where he played a drama class instructor named Darius. He also made an appearance on the ABC show Scrubs. In 2007, Common appeared with Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, and Alicia Keys in the crime film Smokin' Aces, making his big screen debut as villainous Mob enforcer Sir Ivy. He appeared alongside Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, The RZA and T.I. in the 2007 crime thriller American Gangster. On January 20, 2007, one week before the opening of Smokin Aces, he appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch as himself. The show's host was Piven, his Aces co-star. In 2007, Common played the role of Smokin' Aces co-star Alicia Keys's boyfriend in the music video "Like You'll Never See Me Again". In 2008, he had a supporting role in the film adaptation of the comic book Wanted alongside Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie. Common also appeared in the movie Street Kings with Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, The Game, and Forest Whitaker. Common also starred in the 2010 movie Just Wright as a basketball player who falls in love with his physical therapist Queen Latifah. He appeared in the 2009 film Terminator Salvation as John Connor's lieutenant Barnes. In 2009, Common was cast as John Stewart/Green Lantern in the unproduced film Justice League: Mortal. Common starred as a corrupt cop in the 2010 comedy Date Night with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. He was also featured in the role of deployed soldier Chino in 2011's New Year's Eve, the husband of Halle Berry's character, Nurse Aimee. He was part of the ensemble cast of AMC's Hell on Wheels, as one of the lead characters, Elam Ferguson, a recently freed slave trying to find his place in the world. In 2013, Common played the role of Agent Evans, an FBI agent in Now You See Me along with Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco. In the 2014 film Selma, for which he also co-wrote the Oscar-winning song "Glory", Common co-starred as 1960s civil rights movement leader James Bevel. In 2015, he played a hitman in Run All Night. Common appeared as a gangster in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer and part of the DC Extended Universe. In December 2015, Common appeared in the NBC TV special The Wiz Live!, as the Bouncer guarding the Emerald City. In 2016, he co-starred in the film Barbershop: The Next Cut, alongside former rival Ice Cube. In February 2017, he appeared alongside Keanu Reeves again, this time as professional hitman/bodyguard Cassian in John Wick: Chapter 2. In August 2017, Common began voicing Kiburi the crocodile in Disney Junior's The Lion Guard. Common played opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Eva Vives's debut feature, All About Nina, which had its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. It was a major, breakout role for which he has received much critical acclaim (Variety's Peter Debruge calling his performance "easily the strongest of the half-dozen supporting roles he's had this year"). That same year, he appeared as Rear Admiral John Fisk in the action thriller film Hunter Killer. In 2018, Common starred in the film adaptation of The Hate U Give, playing Starr's uncle Carlos, a black police officer that is forced to defend his colleague that is involved in the shooting of a black teen. In September 2022, it was announced that Common would make his Broadway debut in Second Stage Theater’s Between Riverside and Crazy in the winter of 2022. Film production On October 27, 2015, Common signed a two-year deal with HBO that allowed to start his own film production company, Freedom Road Productions. He stated in an interview in February 2012 that one of his big career goals was to start his own film production company. In 2016 Common also worked with Amazon Studios and American Girl, serving as an executive producer for the direct-to-video feature An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has to Win. Modeling and clothing In 2006, Common was a model for photos of The Gap's fall season collection, appearing on posters in stores. Later that year, he performed in The Gap's "Holiday in Your Hood" themed Peace Love Gap. In February 2007, Common signed a deal with New Era to promote their new line of Layers fitted caps. Common also stars in a television commercial for the 2008 Lincoln Navigator. He appears in NBA 2K8 in NBA Blacktop mode. In the fall of 2008, Common appeared in an ad for Microsoft's Zune, comparing his new song, "Universal Mind Control", to "Planet Rock", a song from hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. Also, he featured in the Diesel campaign for a new fragrance called "Only The Brave". His song "Be (intro)" is featured in a commercial for BlackBerry as of January 2011. In December 2008, Common launched a new clothing line in partnership with Microsoft titled "Softwear", based on 1980s computing. Writing Common was invited by First Lady Michelle Obama to appear at a poetry reading on May 11, 2011, at the White House. His poetry was found to be greatly influenced by Maya Angelou's works. This invitation caused furor with the New Jersey State Police and their union, who cited some of Common's previous lyrical content, most notably the song "A Song For Assata" about Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army (and step-aunt of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur) who was convicted in 1977 of the first-degree murder of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster. At another poetry reading, Common had stated, "flyers say 'free Mumia' on my freezer", a reference to Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was controversially convicted of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary at the time, stated that President Obama opposed these particular lyrics, but supported what Common stood for more broadly. Common responded by saying: "I guess Sarah Palin and Fox News doesn't like me." On Facebook, he also stated, "The one thing that shouldn't be questioned is my support for the police officers and troops that protect us every day." Common later discussed the matter with Jon Stewart during a September 14, 2011, appearance on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. In September 2011, Common published his memoir, One Day It'll All Make Sense, through Atria Books. As the book details how his close relationship with his mother influenced his life, it is partially narrated by her. Common released his second memoir, Let Love Have The Last Word, in May 2019. The book highlights his relationship with his daughter Omoye, romantic relationships, his parents, and his struggle to cement his perspective in the concept of love. Activism Common is a former vegan and he is a supporter of animal rights and PETA. He appeared in a print advertisement for PETA titled "Think Before You Eat," and in a documentary titled Holistic Wellness for the Hip-Hop Generation where he promoted vegetarianism. Common is also part of the "Knowing Is Beautiful" movement, which supports HIV/AIDS awareness. He is featured in the video for "Yes We Can," a song in support of the candidacy of Barack Obama, which made its debut on the internet on February 2, 2008. Common has pledged to stop using anti-gay lyrics in his music. Common is the founder of the Common Ground Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to empower underprivileged youth to be contributing citizens and strong leaders in the world. The foundation includes programs dedicated to leadership development & empowerment, educational development, creative expression, as well as a book club. In 2014, Common Ground inaugurated the AAHH! Fest music festival in Chicago's Union Park. After a one-year hiatus, AAHH! Fest returned in 2016, but was canceled one week before showtime in 2017. An official announcement stated the fest would return September 15, 2018. In 2017, Common performed concerts in several California prisons, as well as on the grounds of the California State Capitol. This concert tour inspired him to found Imagine Justice, another non-profit organization, devoted to empowering communities and fighting injustice. The organization intends to address mental health and wellness, civic engagement, and leveraging the power of art to inspire and spark change; it plans to execute high impact initiatives. In May 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Common launched a social media campaign through Imagine Justice, dubbed #WeMatterToo, with dozens of advocacy and activist groups calling attention to the threat that the pandemic poses for incarcerated men and women and intended to create greater public awareness about conditions facing incarcerated populations. The campaign includes the production of short films that will include recordings of inmates expressing their concern about the coronavirus spreading inside prisons. Along with other rappers and activists, Common appeared in the award-winning documentary short film #Bars4Justice, which was shot in Ferguson, Missouri and produced by Nation19 Magazine. Common performed with Andra Day in the opening musical performance for the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. He also performed at the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death in Memphis, at an event co-hosted by the labor union UNITE HERE. Common was later accused of joining anti-union efforts by crossing a UNITE HERE picket line in Boston. Personal life Common was a vegan, now he’s a pescatarian. He is a lifelong fan of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears. He is a Christian, attending Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. On May 4, 2019, Common served as spring commencement speaker at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) and after his address, was awarded an honorary DFA degree. While at FAMU, he studied in the School of Business and Industry. Common has a daughter named Omoye Assata Lynn (b. 1997), conceived from a previous relationship with his ex-fiancé Kim Jones. Omoye graduated from Howard Law School in 2022. Common was in a relationship with comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish from mid-2020 to November 2021. In 2022, while working on the film Breathe, Common met and subsequently began dating fellow Chicago native, singer and actress, Jennifer Hudson. The two confirmed their relationship with an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show in January 2024. When discussing their romance, Common stated: "I'm in a relationship that is with one of the most beautiful people I've met in life," he admitted. "She's smart, she loves God, she has something real down to earth about her. She's talented." Discography Studio albums Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992) Resurrection (1994) One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997) Like Water for Chocolate (2000) Electric Circus (2002) Be (2005) Finding Forever (2007) Universal Mind Control (2008) The Dreamer/The Believer (2011) Nobody's Smiling (2014) Black America Again (2016) Let Love (2019) A Beautiful Revolution (Pt. 1) (2020) A Beautiful Revolution (Pt. 2) (2021) The Auditorium Vol. 1 with Pete Rock (2024) Filmography Film Television Video games Documentary Awards and nominations References External links Official website Common: Geffen Records Site Common at AllMusic Common at IMDb Common on Democracy Now! – video interview

Florida_A%26M_University

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_A%26M_University

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the United States by enrollment and the only public historically black university in Florida. It is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, as well as one of the state's land grant universities, and is accredited to award baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. FAMU sports teams are known as the Rattlers, and compete in Division I of the NCAA. They are a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). History Black abolitionist Jonathan C. Gibbs first introduced legislation to create the State Normal College for Colored Students in 1885, one year after being elected to the Florida Legislature. The date also reflects the new Florida Constitution of 1885, which prohibited racial integration in schools. The college was located in Tallahassee because Leon County and adjacent counties led the state in African-American population, reflecting Tallahassee's former status as the center of Florida's slave trade. (See Tallahassee's black history.) The site of the university is the 375-acre slave plantation: 94  of Florida governor William Pope Duval, whose mansion, today the site of the Carnegie Library, burned in 1905. On October 3, 1887, the State Normal College for Colored Students began classes, and became a land-grant college four years later when it received $7,500 under the Second Morrill Act, and its name was changed to State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students. However, it was not an official institution of higher learning until the 1905 Buckman Act, which transferred control from the Department of Education to the Board of Control, creating what was the foundation for the modern Florida A&M University. This same act is responsible for the creation of the University of Florida and Florida State University from their previous institutions. In 1909, the name of the college was once again changed, to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes, and in 1953 the name was finally changed to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Florida A&M is the only surviving publicly funded historically black college or university in the state of Florida. (Twelve publicly-funded junior colleges serving primarily the African-American population of Florida existed for different periods between 1949 and 1966.) In 1923, there was a student strike that led to the destruction of multiple campus buildings. The strike was a response to Governor Cary A. Hardee's attempts to eliminate the liberal arts program at the university and convert it to a purely vocational school. Hardee believed that a more educated black populace would be more likely to leave the state, which would negatively impact Florida's economy, and thus believed it was necessary to prevent African-American Floridians from being able to access non-vocational education. The conflict led to the resignation of university president Nathan B. Young, which in turn sparked a student protest that burned down multiple campus buildings. Ultimately, the liberal arts program was restored after the end of Hardee's term and the appointment of J. R. E. Lee as the fourth president of the university. In 1951, the university started a pharmacy and nursing program. In order to give these students hands-on experience, the university built a hospital. Until 1971 Florida A&M Hospital was the only one within 150 miles (240 km) of Tallahassee to serve African Americans. It closed in 1971, after then-Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, under federal pressure, started serving African Americans. On May 26, 1956, Wilhemina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, two Florida A&M University students, were arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department for "placing themselves in a position to incite a riot" which lead to the Tallahassee bus boycott which sought to end racial segregation in the employment and seating arrangements of city buses. In 1963, FAMU students demonstrated against segregation in the city. In 1992, 1995, and 1997, FAMU successfully recruited more National Achievement Scholars than Harvard. FAMU tied with Harvard in 2000, recruiting 62 new National Achievement Scholars, although by 2006 that number had declined to one. The National Achievement Scholarship Corporation discontinued naming scholars in 2015. In the fall of 1997, FAMU was selected as the Time-Princeton Review "College of the Year" and was cited in 1999 by Black Issues in Higher Education for awarding more baccalaureate degrees to African-Americans than any institution in the nation. In 2011 Robert Champion, a band member, was beaten to death in a hazing incident. Two faculty members resigned in connection with a hazing investigation and thirteen people were charged with felony or misdemeanor hazing crimes; one student, a band member, was convicted of manslaughter and hazing charges and sentenced to six years in prison. The scandal resulted in the resignation of FAMU's president and played a role in the university's regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, placing FAMU on probation for one year. In 2019, FAMU and other HBCUs developed a partnership with Adtalem Global Education and its for-profit Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados. In May 2024, FAMU administrators announced during a commencement ceremony that it had received a $237 million donation, the largest single personal donation to FAMU in its 136-year history and the largest gift ever to a HBCU, from Gregory Gerami, CEO of Batterson Farms Corporation. The gift quickly came under scrutiny due to questions about its legitimacy. The donation was stock from Gerami's private company and its value could not be determined. In response to the public skepticism, FAMU paused the acceptance of the gift and initiated an external investigation to determine the soundness of the Gerami donation. The following month, university president Larry Robinson resigned. His resignation followed the May 2024 resignation of Shawnta Friday-Stroud, FAMU's former vice president for university advancement and executive director of the FAMU Foundation, who played a key role in negotiating the Gerami donation. In August 2024, FAMU released a final report prepared by Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney that concluded that the Gerami donation was of no real cash value. The report suggested that the proposed donor may have knowingly misrepresented his financial holdings and outlined how much the failed gift cost the university in actual travel and entertainment expenses as well as negative impact on the university's reputation. University presidents Academics The university offers 54 bachelor's degree programs, 29 master's degree programs, one professional degree, and 12 doctoral degree programs. It has 14 schools and colleges. Florida A&M also has an honors program for high-achieving undergraduate students who meet the high performance criteria. FAMU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. In 2012, FAMU implemented the Medical Scholars Program (MSP) in partnership with the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. MSP is a pre-medical program designed to prepare academically talented undergraduate students for success in medical school and beyond. There is a cap of 10 freshmen accepted into this competitive four-year program each year. FAMU has nine fully funded, endowed, eminent-scholars chairs, including two in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communications, four in the School of Business & Industry, one in the College of Education, one in Arts and Sciences, and one in its School of Pharmacy. FAMU's law school is one of five in the United States where twice as many women enroll as men. Colleges and schools FAMU offers undergraduate and graduate degrees through the following colleges and schools: Undergraduate admissions The fall 2020 incoming freshmen class had an average high school GPA of 3.44 and an average SAT score of 1082. Demographics Florida A&M University student enrollment population consists primarily of undergraduates. 83% of the school's enrolled students are African-American. The next largest demographic group is White (non-Hispanic) students at 7%, followed by Hispanic students at 6%. Multiracial, Asian, Native American, and international students round out the remaining 4%. Accreditation Florida A&M University has been accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) since 1935. Graduation rate In 2020, FAMU's four-year graduation rate was 21%, while its six-year graduation rate was 55%. Rankings The 2024 edition of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings placed FAMU 170th among national universities, 91st among public universities, third among HBCUs, and first among public HBCUs. FAMU was also named 21st in the Top Performers in Social Mobility category. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". For 2017, the National Science Foundation ranked Florida A&M University 216th nationally and 2nd among HBCUs for total research and development expenditures. Research FAMU's annual research funding is $44.5 million. The university has access to research funding from many Federal agencies. FAMU's two largest research areas are agriculture and health sciences. The Pharmacy College's research funding is $20.2 million ($20.2 million in federal, $300k in state support, and from $300k in private industry support) with $29,281,352 committed. Campus FAMU's main campus is in Tallahassee, Florida, just south of the State Capitol and the campus of Florida State University. It also has a law school campus in Orlando, Florida, and the Research and Development Center in Quincy, Florida. The College of Pharmacy has extension campuses in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Crestview, Florida. Residential facilities FAMU requires all first-year students to live on campus, if their families are over 35 miles (56 km) from the FAMU campus. Exceptions to this rule include married students, students with dependents, and students who are of age 21 by the start of classes. FAMU's residential living community consists of eight on-campus residence halls housing over 2,500 students. The university offers a diverse number of living options including traditional dorms, suite-style halls, and on-campus apartments. In 2020, FAMU opened the FAMU Towers, a residence hall offering co-ed floors and 700 double rooms, in close proximity to campus eatery, The Hub. National historic district The Florida A&M Tallahassee Campus consists of 132 buildings spread across 420 acres (1.7 km2). Part of the campus is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College Historic District. It received that designation on May 9, 1996. The district is centered along the section of Martin Luther King Boulevard that goes through the campus. According to the National Register, it covers 370 acres (1.5 km2), and contains 14 historic buildings and 1 object. One campus building, the old Carnegie Library, is listed separately on the National Register. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed Lee Hall at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places. Research centers and institutes The Division of Research houses 17 different research centers and institutes: Center for Biological Control Center for Disability Access and Resources Center for Environmental Equity and Justice Environmental Cooperative Sciences Center (ECSC) Center for Intelligent Systems, Control, and Robotics (CISCOR) Center for International Agricultural Trade, Developmentg Research and Training Center for International Law and Justice Center for Plasma Science and Technology Center for Viticulture Science and Small Fruit Research Center for Water and Air Quality Center for Secure Computing and Information Assistance Meek-Eaton Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum Small Business Development Center Institute for Building Sciences Juvenile Justice Research Institute Institute for Research in Music and Entertainment Industry Studies Institute of Public Health Libraries The Samuel H. Coleman Memorial Library is the university's main library, named for the man who served as the university's general alumni president for 14 years. After the university's main building containing administrative offices, cafeteria, and library were destroyed by fire, Andrew Carnegie donated a $10,000 gift for the construction of a new library facility. The construction of Coleman Library began during the post-World War II era. The new library was officially dedicated during FAMU's 1949 annual Founders Day celebration in honor of civil leader Samuel H. Coleman. The library was built in 1948, renovated in 1972, expanded in 1990 and again in 2004. The 88,964 square feet (8,265.0 m2) facility includes study rooms, a student study lounge and cafe, graduate and faculty study carrels, teleconference rooms, and a state-of-the-art information literacy classroom. The libraries hold nearly 2 million volumes, over 155,000 e-books and e-journals, and 256,126 microforms. Carnegie Library The library of what was then the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students was located in the grandest building on the campus, Duval Hall, the former mansion of Florida Governor William Pope Duval, which also held the university's administrative offices and cafeteria. It was destroyed by fire in 1905. Andrew Carnegie donated a $10,000 gift for the construction of a new library facility. In 1907, when the city of Tallahassee turned down philanthropist Andrew Carnegie's offer of a library building, because by his rules it would have had to serve black patrons, Carnegie funded instead the Carnegie Library at FAMU. It no longer serves as a library, but instead houses the Southeastern Regional Black Archives Research Center and Museum. Athletics Florida A&M University is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and participates in NCAA Division I-FCS. FAMU's sports teams are called the Rattlers. FAMU offers men's sports in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis and track and field. It offers women's sports in basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross country, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball. From 1938 to 1961, the football team won the Black College National Championship eight times, including six times under head coach Jake Gaither, in 1950, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1959 and 1961. When Gaither retired after 25 years of coaching in 1969, his FAMU teams had a 203-36-4 (wins-losses-ties) record, for a .844 winning percentage. Thirty-six players from Gaither's teams were All-Americans, and 42 went on to play in the National Football League. During his 25 years as head coach, FAMU won 22 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships. Gaither was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975. FAMU went on to win the first NCAA D1-AA National Championship in 1978 after defeating the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The men's basketball team has qualified for the opening round game of the NCAA men's basketball tournament three times (1999, 2004 and 2007). The FAMU Wrestling Team placed third in their region and had several national placers in 2008 under Coach Sharif. Student life FAMU is one of the largest HBCUs in the nation with a student body of nearly 10,000 students hailing from all regions of the United States and several foreign countries. Individuals part of the FAMU community are affectionately referred to as "FAMUly" or members of "Rattler Nation". FAMU has over 100 student organizations on campus. Notable student organizations Student Government Association The Student Government Association (SGA) is the official voice of the student body and is divided into three branches: Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. FAMU Royal Court Miss FAMU, Mister FAMU, and other students represent the university in its royal court. Miss FAMU, Mister FAMU, and female students known as "attendants", are elected by the student body; there is a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Graduate attendant and Queen of Orange and Green. The male "escorts" of the attendants are appointed by Mister FAMU through an application process. The only male escort that wears a crown besides Mister FAMU is the King of Orange and Green. The attendants and escorts are undergraduate students, except for one attendant and one escort who are graduate students. Gospel Choir The FAMU Gospel Choir was established in 1957. Reserve Officers Training Corps FAMU is home to both Army ROTC and Naval ROTC units, permitting students to pursue careers as commissioned officers in the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps, upon graduation. For those FAMU students desiring to become commissioned officers in the U.S. Air Force, a cross-campus arrangement permits their taking Air Force ROTC training with the AFROTC detachment at nearby Florida State University (FSU). Likewise, Florida State students desiring to become Navy and Marine Corps officers may also enroll with FAMU's NROTC unit under a similar arrangement. Marching band The FAMU marching band, The Marching 100, received national recognition in January 1993 when it performed in the 42nd Presidential Inauguration Parade by invitation of Bill Clinton. The band has also performed in the Super Bowl and in the 44th Presidential Inauguration Parade for Barack Obama. In 2019, the marching band performed in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year's Day. Student media The FAMUAN – The student newspaper Journey Magazine – The student magazine FAMU 20 TV – The FAMU TV news broadcast network WANM 90.5 FM – The university owned and operated radio station. Notable alumni Cannonball Adderley (born 1928) music educator and one of the most pre-eminent prestigious jazz saxophonists in jazz history, performed on the pivotal album Kind of Blue with Miles Davis Frederick S. Humphries (born 1935), the eighth president of Florida A&M University from June 1, 1985 to December 31, 2001. Under the Humphries administration, FAMU was selected as "College of the Year" by the TIME/Princeton Review in 1997 and recognized in the State University System as a Comprehensive/Doctoral University in 1999. Sybil C. Mobley (born 1925), the founding dean of Florida A&M University'sSchool of Business and Industry. Mobley served on the boards of directors of Anheuser-Busch Company, Champion International Corporation, Hershey Foods Corporation, Sears Roebuck & Company, Southwestern Bell Corporation, Dean Witter, and Discover. Althea Gibson (born 1927), The first African American to win a Grand Slam title (the French Championships). In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. Bob Hayes (born 1942), the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. He was once considered the "world's fastest human" by virtue of his multiple world records in the 60-yard, 100-yard, 220-yard, and Olympic 100-meter dashes. Bernard Kinsey (born 1943), Los Angeles philanthropist and entrepreneur with a passion for African-American history and art of the 19th and 20h centuries David Scott (Georgia politician) (born 1945), politician and businessman who has served as the U.S. representative for Georgia's 13th congressional district since 2003 Shirley Kinsey (born 1946), Los Angeles-based philanthropist, art collector, and former school teacher known, along with husband Bernard and son Khalil, as the owner of Kinsey Collection, one of the largest private collections of African-American history and art in the world. Al Lawson (born 1948), politician who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 5th congressional district, serving from 2017 to 2023 John W. Thompson (born 1949), technology executive who was the chair of Microsoft from 2014 until June 2021 Andre Dawson (born 1954), 8-time National League All-Star, NL MVP, and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Pam Oliver (born 1960/1961), sportscaster known for her work on the sidelines for various National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) games T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh (born 1962), actress and singer Kimberly Godwin, former professor at Florida A&M University. In April 2021, Godwin was named president of ABC News. She is the first Black woman to lead a major American network's broadcast news division Sidney August Anthony Miller Jr. Publisher Black Radio Exclusive magazine, BRE Radio Conference. Keisha Lance Bottoms (born 1970), attorney and politician who served as the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2018 to 2022 Winsome Sinclair (1965–2024), casting director and film producer Common (rapper) (born 1972), known by his stage name Common (also known as Common Sense), is rapper and actor Anika Noni Rose (born 1972), actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, as seen in The Princess and the Frog (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011 Will Packer (born 1974), film producer often known for hit big-screen comedies including Think Like a Man (2012), Ride Along (2014), Think Like a Man Too (2014), The Wedding Ringer (2015), Girls Trip (2017), Night School (2018), and What Men Want (2019) Sylvia Lyons Render (1913–1986), English professor and manuscript curator at the Library of Congress; first African American to receive a doctoral degree from the Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development Andrew Gillum (born 1979), nominee for governor of Florida from the Democratic Party and 126th mayor of Tallahassee, Florida Karamo Brown (born 1980), host of Queer Eye K. Michelle (born 1982), R&B singer, songwriter, and television personality Ibram X Kendi (born 1982), author, professor, anti-racist activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in America Amin Stevens (born 1990), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League Roy Wood Jr. (born 1978), comedian, actor, Daily Show correspondent Notable faculty D. Antoinette Handy, flautist and music scholar See also List of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University alumni Florida Classic Explanatory notes References External links Official website Official athletics website

Global_Engine_Alliance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Engine_Alliance

Global Engine Alliance LLC, began as a joint venture of Chrysler, Mitsubishi Motors, and Hyundai Motor Company for developing a line of shared engines. In September 2009, Chrysler purchased Mitsubishi and Hyundai's shares, after 5 years of allied research and development, making its Dundee, Michigan plant a wholly owned subsidiary of what was then Chrysler Group LLC. Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance, LLC (GEMA) was the manufacturing arm of the Global Engine Alliance and consisted of five factories worldwide. Production began in 2005, with an annual capacity of approximately two million engines; each plant was capable of producing 420,000. Twenty different automobile models from the three companies were to use the engines. Chrysler had expected to use GEMA engines in ten models and projects, and buy up to 840,000 GEMA engines annually. The Dundee plants were purchased by Chrysler in December, 2012, and renamed the Chrysler Dundee Engine Plant(s). After Chrysler's assimilation into FCA, the plant simply became known as the Dundee Engine Plant. Design Hyundai was initially responsible for leading the design of the base engine, while the Chrysler Group and Mitsubishi were involved in making other important engineering contributions pertaining to the design. The design features Siamese bores, an aluminium block with cast-iron cylinder liners, and an aluminium head. Different cylinder liners could be fitted to increase or decrease displacement depending on manufacturers needs. Each manufacturer configured their variants of the initial design differently based on their engineering needs and standards, so consumers may experience very different power, fuel efficiency, and "feel" from each manufacturer. See also Chrysler World engine - Chrysler's GEMA built engines Mitsubishi 4B1 engine - Mitsubishi's GEMA built engines Hyundai Theta engine - Hyundai's GEMA built engines References External links Official site

Strategic_Offensive_Reductions_Treaty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Offensive_Reductions_Treaty

The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions (SORT), also known as the Treaty of Moscow, was a strategic arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia that was in force from June 2003 until February 2011 when it was superseded by the New START treaty. At the time, SORT was positioned as "represent[ing] an important element of the new strategic relationship" between the two countries with both parties agreeing to limit their nuclear arsenal to between 1,700 and 2,200 operationally deployed warheads each. It was signed in Moscow on 24 May 2002. After ratification by the U.S. Senate and the State Duma, SORT came into force on 1 June 2003. It would have expired on 31 December 2012 if not superseded by New START. Either party could have withdrawn from the treaty upon giving three months written notice to the other. Mutual nuclear disarmament SORT was one in a long line of treaties and negotiations on mutual nuclear disarmament between Russia (and its predecessor, the Soviet Union) and the United States, which includes SALT I (1969–1972), the ABM Treaty (1972), SALT II (1972–1979), the INF Treaty (1987), START I (1991), START II (1993) and New START (2010). The Moscow Treaty was different from START in that it limited operationally deployed warheads, whereas START I limited warheads through declared attribution to their means of delivery (ICBMs, SLBMs, and Heavy Bombers). Russian and U.S. delegations met twice a year to discuss the implementation of the Moscow Treaty at the Bilateral Implementation Commission (BIC). Ratification The treaty was submitted for ratification in December 2002. However, the passage of the agreement took about a year because the bill had to be resubmitted after its rejection in committee due to concerns about funding for nuclear forces and about cutting systems that had not yet reached the end of their service lives. Further, the deputies were concerned about the U.S.'s ability to upload reserve nuclear warheads for a first strike (upload potential). The ratification was also problematic because the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Duma, Dmitry Rogozin, disagreed with his Federation Council counterpart Margelov. Deputy Rogozin argued that the Moscow Treaty should be delayed because of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. In the end, however, this delay never happened. The final vote was similar to START II with nearly a third of the deputies voting against. The ratification resolution mandated presidential reporting on nuclear force developments and noted that key legislators should be included in interagency planning. Implementation Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reported that President Bush directed the US military to cut its stockpile of both deployed and reserve nuclear weapons in half by 2012. The goal was achieved in 2007, a reduction of US nuclear warheads to just over 50 percent of the 2001 total. A further proposal by Bush would have brought the total down another 15 percent. Criticism While President Bush said the treaty "liquidates the Cold War legacy of nuclear hostility" and his security advisor Condoleezza Rice said it should be considered "the last treaty of the last century," others criticized the treaty for various reasons: There were no verification provisions to give confidence, to either the signatories or other parties, that the stated reductions have in fact taken place. The arsenal reductions were not required to be permanent; warheads are not required to be destroyed and may therefore be placed in storage and later redeployed. The arsenal reductions were required to be completed by 31 December 2012, which is also the day on which the treaty loses all force unless extended by both parties. There was a clause in the treaty which provided that withdrawal can occur upon the giving of three months' notice and since no benchmarks are required in the treaty, either side could feasibly perform no actions in furtherance of the treaty and then withdraw in September 2012. See also There have been several other treaties known as the Treaty of Moscow Russia and weapons of mass destruction United States and weapons of mass destruction New START Treaty Further reading Nuclear Files.org Archived 18 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Text of the SORT == Footnotes ==

Battle_of_the_Milvian_Bridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Milvian_Bridge

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October AD 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle; his body was later taken from the river and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets of Rome on the day following the battle before being taken to Africa. According to Christian chroniclers Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision sent by the Christian God. This was interpreted as a promise of victory if the sign of the Chi Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, was painted on the soldiers' shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine's success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism. Historical background The underlying causes of the battle were the rivalries inherent in Diocletian's Tetrarchy. After Diocletian stepped down on 1 May 305, his successors began to struggle for control of the Roman Empire almost immediately. Although Constantine was the son of the Western Emperor Constantius, the Tetrarchic ideology did not necessarily provide for hereditary succession. When Constantius died on 25 July 306, his father's troops proclaimed Constantine as Augustus in Eboracum (York). In Rome, the favorite was Maxentius, the son of Constantius' imperial colleague Maximian, who seized the title of emperor on 28 October 306. But whereas Constantine's claim was recognized by Galerius, ruler of the Eastern provinces and the senior emperor in the Empire, Maxentius was treated as a usurper. Galerius, however, recognized Constantine as holding only the lesser imperial rank of Caesar. Galerius ordered his co-Augustus, Severus, to put Maxentius down in early 307. Once Severus arrived in Italy, however, his army defected to Maxentius. Severus was captured, imprisoned, and executed. Galerius himself marched on Rome in the autumn, but failed to take the city. Constantine avoided conflict with both Maxentius and the Eastern emperors for most of this period. By 312, however, Constantine and Maxentius were engaged in open hostility with one another, although they were brothers-in‑law through Constantine's marriage to Fausta, sister of Maxentius. In the spring of 312, Constantine gathered an army of 40,000 soldiers and decided to oust Maxentius himself. He easily overran northern Italy, winning two major battles: the first near Turin, the second at Verona, where the praetorian prefect Ruricius Pompeianus, Maxentius' most senior general, was killed. Vision of Constantine It is commonly understood that on the evening of 27 October with the armies preparing for battle, Constantine had a vision which led him to fight under the protection of the Christian God. Some details of that vision, however, differ between the sources reporting it. Lactantius states that, in the night before the battle, Constantine was commanded in a dream to "delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers" (On the Deaths of the Persecutors 44.5). He followed the commands of his dream and marked the shields with a sign "denoting Christ". Lactantius describes that sign as a "staurogram", or a Latin cross with its upper end rounded in a P-like fashion. There is no certain evidence that Constantine ever used that sign, opposed to the better known Chi-Rho sign described by Eusebius. From Eusebius, two accounts of the battle survive. The first, shorter one in the Ecclesiastical History promotes the belief that the Christian God helped Constantine but does not mention any vision. In his later Life of Constantine, Eusebius gives a detailed account of a vision and stresses that he had heard the story from the Emperor himself. According to this version, Constantine with his army was marching (Eusebius does not specify the actual location of the event, but it clearly is not in the camp at Rome), when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words " Ἐν Τούτῳ Νίκα", En toutōi níka, usually translated into Latin as "in hoc signo vinces". The literal meaning of the phrase in Greek is "in this (sign), conquer" while in Latin it's "in this sign, you shall conquer"; a more free translation would be "Through this sign [you shall] conquer". At first he was unsure of the meaning of the apparition, but in the following night he had a dream in which Christ explained to him that he should use the sign against his enemies. Eusebius then continues to describe the labarum, the military standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius, showing the Chi-Rho sign. The accounts of the two contemporary authors, though not entirely consistent, have been merged into a popular notion of Constantine seeing the Chi-Rho sign on the evening before the battle. Both authors agree that the sign was not widely understandable to denote Christ (although among the Christians, it was already being used in the catacombs along with other special symbols to mark and/or decorate Christian tombs). Its first imperial appearance is on a Constantinian silver coin from c. 317, which proves that Constantine did use the sign at that time, though not very prominently. He made more extensive use of the Chi-Rho and the Labarum later, during the conflict with Licinius. Some have considered the vision in a solar context (e.g. as a solar halo phenomenon called a sun dog), which may have preceded the Christian beliefs later expressed by Constantine. Coins of Constantine depicting him as the companion of a solar deity were minted as late as 313, the year following the battle. The solar deity Sol Invictus is often pictured with a nimbus or halo. Various emperors portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends, only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the emperor, used with particular frequency by Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol until 325/6. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile jugate with Sol Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS. The official cults of Sol Invictus and Sol Invictus Mithras were popular amongst the soldiers of the Roman Army. Statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine. Constantine's triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from the direction of the main approach towards the arch. Events of the battle Constantine reached Rome at the end of October 312 approaching along the Via Flaminia. He camped at the location of Malborghetto near Prima Porta, where remains of a Constantinian monument, the Arch of Malborghetto, in honour of the occasion are still extant. It was expected that Maxentius would remain within Rome and endure a siege; he had successfully employed this strategy twice before, during the invasions of Severus and Galerius. Indeed, Maxentius had organised the stockpiling of large amounts of food in the city in preparation for such an event. Surprisingly, he decided otherwise, choosing to meet Constantine in open battle. Ancient sources commenting on these events attribute this decision either to divine intervention (e.g. Lactantius, Eusebius) or superstition (e.g. Zosimus). They also note that the day of the battle was the same as the day of his accession (28 October), which was generally thought to be a good omen. Additionally, Maxentius is reported to have consulted the oracular Sibylline Books, which stated that "on October 28 an enemy of the Romans would perish". Maxentius interpreted this prophecy as being favourable to himself. Lactantius also reports that the populace supported Constantine with acclamations during circus games. Maxentius chose to make his stand in front of the Milvian Bridge, a stone bridge that carries the Via Flaminia road across the Tiber River into Rome (the bridge stands today at the same site, somewhat remodelled, named in Italian Ponte Milvio or sometimes Ponte Molle, "soft bridge"). Holding it was essential if Maxentius was to keep his rival out of Rome, where the Senate would surely favour whoever held the city. As Maxentius had probably partially destroyed the bridge during his preparations for a siege, he had a wooden or pontoon bridge constructed to get his army across the river. The sources vary as to the nature of the bridge central to the events of the battle. Zosimus mentions it, vaguely, as being constructed in two parts connected by iron fastenings, while others indicate that it was a pontoon bridge; sources are also unclear as to whether the bridge was deliberately constructed as a collapsible trap for Constantine's forces or not. The next day, the two armies clashed, and Constantine won a decisive victory. The dispositions of Maxentius may have been faulty as his troops seem to have been arrayed with the River Tiber too close to their rear, giving them little space to allow re-grouping in the event of their formations being forced to give ground. Already known as a skillful general, Constantine first launched his cavalry at the cavalry of Maxentius and broke them. Constantine's infantry then advanced; most of Maxentius's troops fought well but they began to be pushed back toward the Tiber. Maxentius then decided to order a retreat, intending to make another stand at Rome itself. However, there was only one escape route, via the bridge. Constantine's men inflicted heavy losses on the retreating army. Finally, the temporary bridge set up alongside the Milvian Bridge, over which many of the Maxentian troops were escaping, collapsed, and those stranded on the north bank of the Tiber were either taken prisoner or killed. Maxentius' Praetorian Guard, who had originally acclaimed him emperor, seem to have made a stubborn stand on the northern bank of the river; "in despair of pardon they covered with their bodies the place which they had chosen for combat." Maxentius was among the dead, having drowned in the river while trying to swim across it in an attempt to escape or, alternatively, he is described as having been thrown by his horse into the river. Lactantius describes the death of Maxentius in the following manner: "The bridge in his rear was broken down. At sight of that the battle grew hotter. The hand of the Lord prevailed, and the forces of Maxentius were routed. He fled towards the broken bridge; but the multitude pressing on him, he was driven headlong into the Tiber." Aftermath Constantine entered Rome on 29 October. He staged a grand arrival ceremony in the city (adventus), and was met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated. His head was paraded through the streets for all to see. After the ceremonies, Maxentius' head was sent to Carthage as proof of his downfall; Africa then offered no further resistance. The battle gave Constantine undisputed control of the western half of the Roman Empire. The descriptions of Constantine's entry into Rome omit mention of him ending his procession at the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, where sacrifice was usually offered. Though often employed to show Constantine's Christian sensibilities, this silence cannot be taken as proof that Constantine was a Christian at this point. He chose to honour the Senatorial Curia with a visit, where he promised to restore its ancestral privileges and give it a secure role in his reformed government: there would be no revenge against Maxentius' supporters. Maxentius was condemned to damnatio memoriae; all his legislation was invalidated and Constantine usurped all of Maxentius' considerable building projects within Rome, including the Temple of Romulus and the Basilica of Maxentius. Maxentius' strongest supporters in the military were neutralized when the Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard (equites singulares) were disbanded. Constantine is thought to have replaced the former imperial guards with a number of cavalry units termed the Scholae Palatinae. Significance Paul K. Davis writes, "Constantine’s victory gave him total control of the Western Roman Empire paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion for the Roman Empire and ultimately for Europe." The following year, 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity an officially recognised and tolerated religion in the Roman Empire. Notes References Berrens, Stephan (2004), Sonnenkult und Kaisertum von den Severern bis zu Constantin I. (193–337 n. Chr.), Geschichte (Franz Steiner Verlag); Historia (Wiesbaden, Germany) (in German), F. Steiner, ISBN 978-3-515-08575-5, OCLC 57010712 Cowan, Ross (2016). Milvian Bridge AD 312: Constantine's battle for Empire and Faith. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-1381-7. Gerberding R. and J.H. Moran Cruz. Medieval Worlds. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. ISBN 0-395-56087-X Lactantius. On the Deaths of the Persecutors. Translated at Intratext CT. Lieu, Samuel N.C., and Dominic Montserrat, eds. From Constantine to Julian. London: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0-415-09336-8 Nixon, C.E.V. and Barbara Saylor Rodgers. In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini, with the Latin Text of R.A.B. Mynors. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. ISBN 0-520-08326-1 Odahl, Charles Matson. Constantine and the Christian Empire. London: Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0-415-17485-6 Pohlsander, H. A. (1996), The Emperor Constantine, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-13178-2 Smith, John Holland. Constantine the Great. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1971. ISBN 0-684-12391-6 Speidel, Michael. Ancient Germanic warriors: warrior styles from Trajan's column to Icelandic sagas, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-31199-3 Stephenson, Paul. Constantine Unconquered Emperor, Christian Victor. London: Quercus, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84916-002-5 Zosimus. Historia Nova. Translated by R.T. Ridley. Canberra: Byzantina Australiensia, 1982. The most important ancient sources for the battle are Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum 44; Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History ix, 9 and Life of Constantine i, 28–31 (the vision) and i, 38 (the actual battle); Zosimus ii, 15–16; and the Panegyrici Latini of 313 (anonymous) and 321 (by Nazarius). Further reading G. Costa, 'La battaglia di Costantino a Ponte Milvio', Bilychnis 2 (1913), 197–208 Ross Cowan, Milvian Bridge AD 312: Constantine's Battle for Empire and Faith (Oxford 2016) F. Grossi-Gondi, 'La battaglia di Costantino Magno a "Saxa Rubra"’, Civiltà Cattolica 63.4 (1912), 385–403 W. Kuhoff, 'Ein Mythos in der römischen Geschichte: Der Sieg Konstantins des Großen über Maxentius vor den Toren Roms am 28. Oktober 312 n. Chr.', Chiron 21 (1991), 127–174 W. Kuhoff, 'Die Schlacht an der Milvische Brücke – Ein Ereignis von weltgeschichtlicher Tragweite' in K. Ehling & G. Weber (eds), Konstantin der Grosse: Zwischen Sol und Christus (Darmstadt 2011), 10–20 K. von Landmann, 'Konstantin der Grosse als Feldherr' in J. F. Dölger (ed.), Konstantin der Grosse und seine Zeit (Freiburg 1913), 143–154 J. Moreau, 'Pont Milvius ou Saxa Rubra?’, Nouvelle Clio 4 (1952), 369–373 = J. Moreau, Scripta Minora (Heidelberg 1964), 72–75 M.P. Speidel, 'Maxentius and his Equites Singulares at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge', Classical Antiquity 5 (1986), 253–262 = Speidel, Roman Army Studies II (Stuttgart 1992), 272–289 M.P. Speidel, 'Les prétoriens de Maxence', Mélanges de l'École française de Rome, Antiquité 100 (1988), 183–188 M.P. Speidel, 'Maxentius' Praetorians' in Roman Army Studies II (Stuttgart 1992),385–389 – a revised English version of Speidel 1988 F. Toebelmann, Der Bogen von Malborghetto (Heidelberg 1915) External links Milvian Bridge AD 312: Constantine's Battle for Empire and Faith Lactantius' account Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History Eusebius, Life of Constantine Milvian Bridge 312 – Rise of Christianity video documentary on YouTube

Civil_wars_of_the_Tetrarchy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_wars_of_the_Tetrarchy

The civil wars of the Tetrarchy were a series of conflicts between the co-emperors of the Roman Empire, starting from 306 AD with the usurpation of Maxentius and the defeat of Severus to the defeat of Licinius at the hands of Constantine I in 324 AD. Background The Tetrarchy was the administrative division of the Roman Empire instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD, marking the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and the recovery of the Roman Empire. The first phase, sometimes referred to as the Diarchy ("the rule of two"), involved the designation of the general Maximian as co-emperor – firstly as Caesar (junior emperor) in 285, followed by his promotion to Augustus in 286. Diocletian took care of matters in the Eastern regions of the Empire while Maximian similarly took charge of the Western regions. In 293, feeling more focus was needed on both civic and military problems, Diocletian, with Maximian's consent, expanded the imperial college by appointing two Caesars (one responsible to each Augustus) – Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. The senior emperors jointly abdicated and retired in 305 AD, allowing Constantius and Galerius to be elevated in rank to Augusti. They in turn appointed two new Caesars, Severus in the west under Constantius, and Maximinus Daza in the east under Galerius. Opening gambits The death of Constantius at Eburacum (now York) in 306 AD saw the first crack in the political edifice of the Tetrarchy. Rather than accepting the elevation of Severus from Caesar to Augustus, the troops at Eburacum elevated Constantius’ son, Constantine, to the position of Augustus. Galerius, the senior emperor, was sent a portrait of Constantine wearing a crown of laurels; by accepting this symbol, Galerius would be acknowledging Constantine as heir to his father's throne. Constantine passed off responsibility for his unlawful ascension on his army, claiming they had "forced it upon him". Galerius was put into a fury by the message; he almost set the portrait on fire. His advisers calmed him, and argued that outright denial of Constantine's claims would mean certain war. Galerius was compelled to compromise: he granted Constantine the title "Caesar" rather than "Augustus" (the latter office went to Severus instead). Wishing to make it clear that he alone gave Constantine legitimacy, Galerius personally sent Constantine the emperor's traditional purple robes. Constantine accepted the decision, knowing that it would remove doubts as to his legitimacy. This act motivated Maxentius, the son of Maximian, to also declare himself Emperor at Rome in 306 AD. Galerius, by now fearful that others would also attempt to become emperor, ordered Severus into Italy to deal with the usurper. Severus moved from his capital, Mediolanum, towards Rome, at the head of an army previously commanded by Maximian. Fearing the arrival of Severus, Maxentius offered Maximian the co-rule of the empire. Maximian accepted, and when Severus arrived under the walls of Rome and besieged it, his men deserted him and passed to Maximian, their old commander. Severus fled to Ravenna, an impregnable position: Maximian offered to spare his life and treat him humanely if the latter surrendered peaceably, which he did in March or April 307. Despite Maximian's assurance, Severus was nonetheless displayed as a captive and later imprisoned at Tres Tabernae, before being eventually killed. The joint rule of Maxentius and Maximian in Rome was tested further when Galerius himself marched to Italy in the summer of 307 with an even larger army. While negotiating with the invader, Maxentius would repeat what he did to Severus: by the promise of large sums of money, and the authority of Maximian, many soldiers of Galerius defected to him. Galerius was forced to withdraw, plundering Italy on his way. Some time during the invasion, Severus was put to death by Maxentius, probably at Tres Tabernae near Rome (the exact circumstances of his death are not certain). After the failed campaign of Galerius, Maxentius' reign over Italy and Africa was firmly established. Beginning in 307 already, he tried to arrange friendly contacts with Constantine, and in the summer of that year, Maximian travelled to Gaul, where Constantine married his daughter Fausta and was in turn appointed Augustus by the senior emperor. However, Constantine tried to avoid breaking with Galerius, and did not openly support Maxentius during the invasion. In 308, probably April, Maximian tried to depose his son in an assembly of soldiers in Rome; surprisingly to him, the present troops remained faithful to his son, and he had to flee to Constantine. In the conference of Carnuntum in the autumn of 308, Maxentius was once again denied recognition as legitimate emperor, and Licinius was appointed Augustus with the task of regaining the usurper's domain. In 310, Maximian rebelled against Constantine while the emperor was on campaign against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with part of Constantine's army to defend against attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. In Arles, Maximian announced that Constantine was dead and took up the imperial purple. Despite offering bribes to any who would support him as emperor, most of Constantine's army remained loyal, and Maximian was compelled to leave. Constantine soon heard of the rebellion, abandoned his campaign against the Franks, and moved quickly to southern Gaul, where he confronted the fleeing Maximian at Massilia. The town was better able to withstand a longer siege than Arles, but it made little difference as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine. Maximian was captured, reproved for his crimes, and stripped of his title for the third and last time. Constantine granted Maximian some clemency but strongly encouraged his suicide. In July 310, Maximian hanged himself. War of Constantine and Maxentius By the middle of 310, Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in imperial politics. His final act survives: a letter to the provincials posted in Nicomedia on 30 April 311, proclaiming an end to the persecutions of Christians, and the resumption of religious toleration. He died soon after the edict's proclamation, destroying what little stability remained in the tetrarchy. Maximinus mobilized against Licinius, and seized Asia Minor. A hasty peace was signed on a boat in the middle of the Bosphorus. While Constantine toured Britain and Gaul, Maxentius prepared for war. He fortified northern Italy, and strengthened his support in the Christian community by allowing it to elect a new Bishop of Rome, Eusebius. Maxentius' rule was nevertheless insecure. His early support dissolved in the wake of heightened tax rates and depressed trade; riots broke out in Rome and Carthage; and Domitius Alexander was able to briefly usurp his authority in Africa. By 312, he was a man barely tolerated, not one actively supported, even among Christian Italians. In the summer of 311, Maxentius mobilized against Constantine while Licinius was occupied with affairs in the East. He declared war on Constantine, vowing to avenge his father's death. To prevent Maxentius from forming an alliance against him with Licinius, Constantine forged his own alliance with Licinius over the winter of 311–12, and offered him his sister Constantia in marriage. Maximinus considered Constantine's arrangement with Licinius an affront to his authority. In response, he sent ambassadors to Rome, offering political recognition to Maxentius in exchange for a military support. Maxentius accepted. According to Eusebius, inter-regional travel became impossible, and there was military buildup everywhere. There was "not a place where people were not expecting the onset of hostilities every day". Constantine's advisers and generals cautioned against preemptive attack on Maxentius; even his soothsayers recommended against it, stating that the sacrifices had produced unfavourable omens. Constantine, with a spirit that left a deep impression on his followers, inspiring some to believe that he had some form of supernatural guidance, ignored all these cautions. Early in the spring of 312, Constantine crossed the Cottian Alps with a quarter of his army, a force numbering about 40,000. The first town his army encountered was Segusium (Susa, Italy), a heavily fortified town that shut its gates to him. Constantine ordered his men to set fire to its gates and scale its walls. He took the town quickly. Constantine ordered his troops not to loot the town, and advanced with them into northern Italy. At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum (Turin, Italy), Constantine encountered a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry. In the ensuing battle Constantine's army encircled Maxentius' cavalry, flanked them with his own cavalry, and dismounted them with blows from his soldiers' iron-tipped clubs. Constantine's armies emerged victorious. Turin refused to give refuge to Maxentius' retreating forces, opening its gates to Constantine instead. Other cities of the north Italian plain sent Constantine embassies of congratulation for his victory. He moved on to Milan, where he was met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. Constantine rested his army in Milan until mid-summer 312, when he moved on to Brixia (Brescia). Brescia's army was easily dispersed, and Constantine quickly advanced to Verona, where a large Maxentian force was camped. Ruricius Pompeianus, general of the Veronese forces and Maxentius' praetorian prefect, was in a strong defensive position, since the town was surrounded on three sides by the Adige. Constantine sent a small force north of the town in an attempt to cross the river unnoticed. Ruricius sent a large detachment to counter Constantine's expeditionary force, but was defeated. Constantine's forces successfully surrounded the town and laid siege. Ruricius gave Constantine the slip and returned with a larger force to oppose Constantine. Constantine refused to let up on the siege, and sent only a small force to oppose him. In the desperately fought encounter that followed, Ruricius was killed and his army destroyed. Verona surrendered soon afterwards, followed by Aquileia, Mutina (Modena), and Ravenna. The road to Rome was now wide open to Constantine. Maxentius prepared for the same type of war he had waged against Severus and Galerius: he sat in Rome and prepared for a siege. He still controlled Rome's praetorian guards, was well-stocked with African grain, and was surrounded on all sides by the seemingly impregnable Aurelian Walls. He ordered all bridges across the Tiber cut, reportedly on the counsel of the gods, and left the rest of central Italy undefended; Constantine secured that region's support without challenge. Constantine progressed slowly along the Via Flaminia, allowing the weakness of Maxentius to draw his regime further into turmoil. Maxentius' support continued to weaken: at chariot races on 27 October, the crowd openly taunted Maxentius, shouting that Constantine was invincible. Maxentius, no longer certain that he would emerge from a siege victorious, built a temporary boat bridge across the Tiber in preparation for a field battle against Constantine. On 28 October 312, the sixth anniversary of his reign, he approached the keepers of the Sibylline Books for guidance. The keepers prophesied that, on that very day, "the enemy of the Romans" would die. Maxentius advanced north to meet Constantine in battle. Maxentius organized his forces—still twice the size of Constantine's—in long lines facing the battle plain, with their backs to the river. Constantine's army arrived at the field bearing unfamiliar symbols (the "Chi-Rho") on either its standards or its soldiers' shields. According to Lactantius, Constantine was visited by a dream the night before the battle, wherein he was advised "to mark the heavenly sign of God on the shields of his soldiers...by means of a slanted letter X with the top of its head bent round, he marked Christ on their shields." Eusebius describes another version, where, while marching at midday, "he saw with his own eyes in the heavens a trophy of the cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message, In Hoc Signo Vinces or 'Conquer By This'"; in Eusebius's account, Constantine had a dream the following night, in which Christ appeared with the same heavenly sign, and told him to make a standard, the labarum, for his army in that form. Eusebius is vague about when and where these events took place, but it enters his narrative before the war against Maxentius begins. Eusebius describes the sign as Chi (Χ) traversed by Rho (Ρ), or ☧ a symbol representing the first two letters of the Greek spelling of the word Christos or Christ. The Eusebian description of the vision has been explained as a "solar halo", a meteorological phenomenon which can produce similar effects. In 315 a medallion was issued at Ticinum showing Constantine wearing a helmet emblazoned with the Chi-Rho, and coins issued at Siscia in 317/18 repeat the image. The figure was otherwise rare, however, and is uncommon in imperial iconography and propaganda before the 320s. Constantine deployed his own forces along the whole length of Maxentius' line. He ordered his cavalry to charge, and they broke Maxentius' cavalry. He then sent his infantry against Maxentius' infantry, pushing many into the Tiber where they were slaughtered and drowned. The battle was brief: Maxentius' troops were broken before the first charge. Maxentius' horse guards and praetorians initially held their position, but broke under the force of a Constantinian cavalry charge; they also broke ranks and fled to the river. Maxentius rode with them, and attempted to cross the bridge of boats, but he was pushed by the mass of his fleeing soldiers into the Tiber, and drowned. Constantine entered Rome on 29 October. He staged a grand adventus in the city, and was met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated. His head was paraded through the streets for all to see. After the ceremonies, Maxentius' disembodied head was sent to Carthage; at this Carthage would offer no further resistance. War of Licinius and Maximinus Daza Meanwhile, to the east, on Galerius’ death in 311 the eastern provinces were divided between Maximinus Daza and Licinius. Daza was unhappy that Licinius had been made senior emperor by Galerius, and took the first available opportunity to declare himself as emperor. Licinius held the eastern European provinces, while Daza took possession of the Asiatic provinces. In 312, while Constantine was fighting Maxentius, Daza was busy campaigning against the Armenians. He had returned to Syria by February 313 when he discovered the alliance that had been forged by Constantine and Licinius in Mediolanum. Deciding to take the initiative, Daza left Syria with 70,000 men and reached Bithynia, although harsh weather he encountered along the way had gravely weakened his army. In April 313, he crossed the Bosporus and went to Byzantium, which was held by Licinius' troops. Undeterred, he took the town after an eleven-day siege. He moved to Heraclea, which he captured after a short siege, before moving his forces to the first posting station. With a much smaller body of men, possibly around 30,000, Licinius arrived at Adrianople while Daza was still besieging Heraclea. On 30 April 313, the two armies clashed at the Battle of Tzirallum, and in the ensuing battle Daza's forces were crushed. Ridding himself of the imperial purple and dressing like a slave, Daza fled to Nicomedia. Believing he still had a chance to come out victorious, Daza attempted to stop the advance of Licinius at the Cilician Gates by establishing fortifications there. Unfortuately for Daza, Licinius' army succeeded in breaking through, forcing Daza to retreat to Tarsus where Licinius continued to press him on land and sea. The war between them only ended with Daza's death in August 313. Wars of Constantine and Licinius After Maxentius’ defeat, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine's half-sister Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan, officially granting full tolerance to "Christianity and all" religions in the Empire. The document had special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian's persecution. It repudiates past methods of religious coercion and used only general terms to refer to the divine sphere — "Divinity" and "Supreme Divinity", summa divinitas. The conference was cut short, however, when news reached Licinius that his rival Maximinus had crossed the Bosporus and invaded European territory. Licinius departed and eventually defeated Maximinus, gaining control over the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Relations between the two remaining emperors deteriorated, though, and in 316, hostilities were prompted by Constantine's appointment of his brother-in-law, Bassianus, as Caesar. Bassianus was discovered to be intriguing against Constantine, perhaps at the prodding of his own brother Senecio, a close associate of Licinius. When Constantine demanded that Licinius hand over Senecio, Licinius refused. Constantine marched against Licinius, and the two fought against one another in the war of Cibalae, with Constantine being victorious. They clashed again in the Battle of Campus Ardiensis in 317, and agreed to a settlement in which Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine II, and Licinius' son Licinianus were made caesars. In 320, Licinius reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313 and began to oppress Christians anew. It became a challenge to Constantine in the west, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Licinius, aided by Goth mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient Pagan faiths. Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard of the labarum, and both sides saw the battle in religious terms. Supposedly outnumbered but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople. Licinius fled across the Bosphorus and appointed Martius Martinianus, the commander of his bodyguard, as Caesar, but Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont, and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on 18 September 324. Licinius and Martinianus surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia respectively, but in 325 Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged; Licinius's son (the son of Constantine's half-sister) was also eradicated. Thus Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire, ending the civil wars of the Tetrarchy. Notes References === Sources ===

List_of_popes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popes

This chronological list of popes of the Catholic Church corresponds to that given in the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi Pontefici Romani" (The Roman Supreme Pontiffs), excluding those that are explicitly indicated as antipopes. Published every year by the Roman Curia, the Annuario Pontificio no longer identifies popes by regnal number, stating that it is impossible to decide which pope represented the legitimate succession at various times. The 2001 edition of the Annuario Pontificio introduced "almost 200 corrections to its existing biographies of the popes, from St Peter to John Paul II". The corrections concerned dates, especially in the first two centuries, birthplaces and the family name of one pope. The term pope (Latin: papa, lit. 'father') is used in several churches to denote their high spiritual leaders (for example Coptic pope). This title in English usage usually refers to the head of the Catholic Church. The Catholic pope uses various titles by tradition, including Summus Pontifex, Pontifex Maximus, and Servus servorum Dei. Each title has been added by unique historical events and unlike other papal prerogatives, is not incapable of modification. Hermannus Contractus may have been the first historian to number the popes continuously. His list ends in 1049 with Leo IX as number 154. Several changes were made to the list during the 20th century. Christopher was considered a legitimate pope for a long time but was removed due to how he obtained the papacy. Pope-elect Stephen was listed as Stephen II until the 1961 edition, when his name was removed. The decisions of the Council of Pisa (1409) were reversed in 1963 in a reinterpretation of the Western Schism, extending Gregory XII's pontificate to 1415 and classifying rival claimants Alexander V and John XXIII as antipopes. A significant number of these popes have been recognized as saints, including 48 out of the first 50 consecutive popes, and others are in the sainthood process. Of the first 31 popes, 28 died as martyrs. Chronological list of popes 1st millennium 1st century The chronology of the early popes is heavily disputed. The first ancient lists of popes were not written until the late 2nd century, after the monarchical episcopate had already developed in Rome. These first lists combined contradictory traditions, and even the succession of the first popes is disputed. The first certain dates are AD 222 and 235, the elections of Urban I and Liberius. The years given for the first 30 popes follow the work of Richard Adelbert Lipsius, which often show a 3-year difference with the traditional dates given by Eusebius of Caesarea. These are also the dates used by the Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd century 3rd century 4th century 5th century 6th century 7th century 8th century 9th century 10th century 2nd millennium 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 3rd millennium 21st century Religious orders 51 popes and 6 antipopes (in italics) have been members of religious orders, including 12 members of third orders. They are listed by order as follows: Numbering of popes Regnal numbers follow the usual convention for European monarchs. The first pope who chooses a unique name is not usually identified by an ordinal, John Paul I being the exception. Antipopes are treated as pretenders, and their numbers are reused by those considered to be legitimate popes. However, there are anomalies in the numbering of the popes. Several numbers were mistakenly increased in the Middle Ages because the records were misunderstood. Several antipopes were also kept in the sequence, either by mistake or because they were previously considered to be true popes. Alexander: Antipope Alexander V (1409–1410) was listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a legitimate pope until the 20th century, when the Pisan popes were reclassified as antipopes. There had already been three more Alexanders by then, so there is now a gap in the numbering sequence. Benedict: Antipope Benedict X (1058–1059) was kept in the numbering sequence. Boniface: Antipope Boniface VII (974 and 984–985) was kept in the numbering sequence. Donus: The name has only been used by one pope. The apocryphal Pope Donus II resulted from confusion between the Latin word dominus (lord) and the name Donus. Felix: Antipope Felix II (356–357) was kept in the numbering sequence. John: The numbering of the Popes John is particularly confused. In the modern sequence, they are identified by the numbers they used during their reigns. Antipope John XVI (997–998) was kept in the numbering sequence. Pope John XXI (1276–1277) chose to skip the number XX, believing that there had been another Pope John between XIV and XV. In reality, John XIV had been counted twice. By the 16th century, the numbering error had been conflated with legends about a female Pope Joan, whom some authors called John VIII. She was never listed in the Annuario Pontificio. Antipope John XXIII (1410–1415) was listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a legitimate pope until the 20th century. After the Pisan popes were classified as antipopes, Pope John XXIII (1958–1963) chose to reuse the number, citing "twenty-two [sic] Johns of indisputable legitimacy." Martin: Pope Martin I (649–655) is followed by Martin IV (1281–1285). Due to the similarity between the Latin names Marinus and Martinus, Marinus I and Marinus II were mistakenly considered to be Martin II and III. Stephen: Pope-elect Stephen (752) died before being consecrated. He was previously known as Stephen II, but the Vatican removed him from the official list of popes in 1961. The remaining Stephens are now numbered Pope Stephen II (752–757) to Pope Stephen IX (1057–1058). See also Lists Notes References Sources External links Catholic Online: The List of Popes Popes & Anti-Popes (2019 archived copy)

Tate_McRae

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tate_McRae

Tate Rosner McRae (born July 1, 2003) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and dancer. At the age of 13, she gained prominence as the first Canadian finalist on the American reality television series So You Think You Can Dance. McRae was signed by RCA Records in 2019 after her songs had gained traction online—including her 2017 viral hit "One Day"—and she released her debut extended play (EP), All the Things I Never Said (2020), in January of the following year. Her 2020 single, "You Broke Me First", became an international hit and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2021, McRae was the youngest musician to be featured on the Forbes' 30 Under 30 list. Her second EP, Too Young to Be Sad (2021) was the most streamed female EP of 2021 on Spotify. Her debut studio album, I Used to Think I Could Fly (2022) was met with favorable critical response and peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard 200, also reaching the top ten in several countries. Developing a more pop-oriented image, McRae's 2023 single, "Greedy" saw her furthest commercial success; it peaked atop the Canadian Hot 100 and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Its follow-up, "Exes", peaked at numbers nine and 34 on the charts, respectively, and preceded the release of her second studio album, Think Later (2023), which debuted in the top five in various countries. Early life and education Tate Rosner McRae was born in Calgary, Alberta, on Canada Day in 2003, to a Canadian father of Scottish descent and mother of German descent. At the age of four, due to her father's work, she moved with her family to Oman, where her mother taught dance lessons, and she lived there for three years. During her time in Oman, McRae attended The American International School Muscat (TAISM). McRae began recreational dance training at age six. Having returned to Calgary, at the age of eight, she began to train more intensively in dance and competed with Drewitz Dance Productions. From age 11, she began training in all styles of dance at YYC Dance Project, a dance company owned by her mother, and underwent ballet training at the School of Alberta Ballet, the training school for the Alberta Ballet Company. McRae attended Western Canada High School and graduated online in 2022. Career 2013–2018: Dance career McRae was awarded Mini Best Female Dancer at the 2013 Dance Awards in New York City. After gaining some prominence, she became a brand ambassador for the American dance manufacturer Capezio. She became a finalist at the New York City Dance Alliance's 2014 National Gala. She also voiced Spot Splatter Splash for the Lalaloopsy (2013-2015) franchise. In 2015, McRae was awarded a two-week scholarship at the Berlin State Ballet company after winning the silver medal as a soloist and the bronze medal for her duet at the 2015 Youth America Grand Prix. She danced in the music video for Walk off the Earth's platinum-certified single "Rule The World". For the second time, McRae was awarded the Best Female Dancer award at the 2015 Dance Awards, this time in the Junior category. In June 2016, she performed at Justin Bieber's concert in Calgary for the Purpose World Tour during Bieber's performance of "Children". In April 2016, McRae performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as part of the DancerPalooza troupe. In June 2016, she took part in the thirteenth season of American television show So You Think You Can Dance. While competing for the America's Favorite Dancer title as a non-American, she was mentored by American dancer and actress Kathryn McCormick. She advanced further in the competition than any other Canadian in the show's history, placing third on the final episode. Canadian TV host Murtz Jaffer from Toronto Sun reacted, "The fact that Canadians couldn't vote for Tate makes her third-place finish all the more impressive. While she might not have been voted America's favourite dancer, she certainly might be Canada's." She performed at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards as a finalist from the SYTYCD cast. She performed again on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2016 as part of the Jump Dance Convention troupe. She was featured on the cover of Dance Spirit Magazine in April 2017. In May 2017, she was featured in a pas de deux in Alberta Ballet Company's production, "Our Canada" choreographed by Jean Grand-Maître. In November 2017, after performing a dance to Demi Lovato's song Tell Me You Love Me she was invited by Lovato to rehearse with their dancers for their performance at the American Music Awards. For the third time, she won Best Female Dancer at the 2018 Dance Awards in Las Vegas, this time in the Teen category, making her the first dancer in the competition's history to win in all categories from mini to teen. In April 2018, she choreographed and danced in the music video for the song "Just Say When" by American rock band Nothing More. 2017–2019: Music career beginnings Since its creation in 2011, McRae's YouTube channel has featured a fairly consistent stream of primarily dance videos. In 2017 she started Create With Tate, a video series, focused on showcasing original songs she wrote and recorded in her bedroom. Her upload of the series' first song "One Day" which she wrote at the age of 14, attracted over 40 million views, prompting her to self-release the song as an independent single. The song would eventually be certified gold in Canada, making it the first certification of her career. From 2017 to 2019, McRae continued to upload and release independent singles as part of her Create With Tate series. Notable songs include "Dear Ex Best Friend" which has over 50 million views and "Dear Parents" with over 20 million views. The series led to her being named a YouTube Artist on the Rise. Her earlier upload of "One Day" caught the attention of 11 record labels. She eventually signed with RCA Records, in August 2019, because they supported her in maintaining a dance career alongside her music. Following her signing, McRae announced her debut EP All the Things I Never Said in December 2019. She released the five-track EP on January 24, 2020, and announced her first headlining tour of Europe and North America. Each stop on the tour was sold out. The tour received a four out of five star rating from Roisin O'Connor of The Independent who described McRae as an impressive performer. The EP's lead single, "Tear Myself Apart", was co-written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell. The EP's final single, "Stupid" charted in Ireland and Canada, earning significant radio airplay performance in the latter, peaking within the top 15 of the Canadian pop radio charts. "Stupid" was certified gold in Canada. "That Way", a track from the EP experienced a resurgence in 2021 after going viral on TikTok and charted in the UK and Ireland. McRae released a remix of "That Way" with Jeremy Zucker on September 3, 2021. By December 2023, the EP had amassed over 729 million streams on Spotify. 2020–2021: Too Young to Be Sad In April 2020, McRae released the single "You Broke Me First" as the lead single for her second EP titled Too Young to Be Sad. The song was an international success, peaking within the top ten of the charts in several countries and becoming her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also the longest charting song released by a female artist in 2020 on the Billboard Hot 100, at 38 weeks. It peaked at number 1 on the Mediabase Top 40 chart, breaking the record for the longest climb to number 1 by a female solo artist at 28 weeks. McRae released the single "Vicious" featuring American rapper Lil Mosey in June 2020 and "Don't Be Sad" in August 2020. She was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Push Best New Artist, and performed "You Broke Me First" at the VMAs pre-show. In September 2020, she was featured on the cover of Dork Magazine. McRae made her first late night TV appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October 21 performing "You Broke Me First". The same month, she released the single "Lie to Me" with Canadian singer Ali Gatie. She again performed "You Broke Me First" in November 2020 at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards. She appeared on the cover of Notion in November 2020. In December 2020, she released "r u ok", the second single from her upcoming EP. McRae gained notable recognition as a rising artist in 2020, being named YouTube's Artist on the Rise, MTV's Push Artist for July, and a Vevo DSCVR artist. She was featured in Billboard's 21 Under 21 One to Watch list and named by Pandora, The Independent, NME, Amazon Music, and Uproxx as an artist to watch in 2021. In December 2020, she was the youngest person listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the music category. In the same month, she was named one of Rolling Stone's top ten biggest breakthrough artists of 2020 and featured on TikTok's "The Come Up: Emerging Artists" list as one of the top emerging artists on the platform. She was also featured on Harper's Bazaar's On the Rise series. Towards the end of the year, following the success of "You Broke Me First", she signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV. In January 2021, McRae performed "You Broke Me First" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The following day, she released the song "Rubberband" as the third single from her upcoming EP. On March 3, 2021, she released the single "Slower" and announced her second EP called Too Young to Be Sad, which was released on March 26, 2021. On that same day, she was announced as an Apple Music Up Next artist. In March 2021, McRae appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing "Slower", and received two Juno Award nominations. On April 16, 2021, McRae released the track "You" alongside Regard and Troye Sivan. On May 8, 2021, McRae performed a global virtual show, "Too Young to Be Sad". The show was praised by Ali Shutler of NME, who gave it a four star rating and described the show as slick, impressive, constant spectacle with pop star ambition. Later that month, she signed her first endorsement deal with Essentia Water. In May 2021, McRae was nominated for the Social Star Award at the IHeartRadio Music Awards, and performed "You" with Regard and Troye Sivan on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. At the end of the month, she was featured on the soundtrack of the Amazon original series Panic with the track "Darkest Hour". In June 2021, she was featured on the song "U love U" by Blackbear, performed "Lie to Me" at the 2021 Juno Awards, and released the track "Working", a collaboration with Khalid. In August 2021, McRae was featured on the cover of Hunger. In October 2021, she was featured on Billboard's 21 under 21 list for 2021 and People's One to Watch list for 2021. McRae was featured on the cover of Numéro in November 2021. By the end of 2021, Too Young to Be Sad had amassed over 1 billion Spotify streams, becoming the most streamed EP of 2021 by a female artist on Spotify. The EP was nominated for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year at the 2022 Juno Awards. 2021–2022: I Used to Think I Could Fly On November 11, 2021, McRae released "Feel Like Shit", the lead single from her debut studio album I Used to Think I Could Fly, which was released on May 27, 2022. In January 2022, she was nominated for three iHeart Radio Awards. "She's All I Wanna Be", the second single from the album, was released on February 4, 2022. The song reached the top 10 in Canada, Ireland, Norway, Singapore, and Belgium. It also charted in the Top 40 in several countries. It debuted at number 52 in the US, becoming her highest debut on the Hot 100 at the time. In February 2022, McRae was announced as a brand ambassador for Maybelline and the face of their new Vinyl Ink liquid lip color. McRae released "Chaotic", the third single from the album on March 25, 2022, and released "What Would You Do?" as the fourth single on May 13, 2022. On June 3, 2022, Tate released a music video for her single "Don't Come Back" exclusively via TikTok, and later released the vertical version of the video on July 11, 2022, on YouTube. In September 2022, McRae released the single "Uh Oh". In November 2022, Tate was featured on "10:35" by Tiësto, a promo-single for the opening of the luxury resort Atlantis The Royal, Dubai. The song became her second UK Top 10. It reached the Top 10 in ten other countries. 2023–present: Think Later McRae was nominated for five Juno Awards in 2023, and performed at the show. In March 2023, McRae teamed up with MCM Worldwide for their Spring/Summer 2023 Campaign, performing "uh oh" and "She's All I Wanna Be". On September 15, 2023, she released "Greedy" as the lead single for her sophomore studio album Think Later. Greedy became her biggest debut to date on Spotify, and her first top 10 on the Global Spotify Charts. It debuted at number 1 in Norway and Denmark and peaked at number 1 in several countries including Canada, Denmark, Austria, and the Netherlands, as well as the Billboard Global 200, making it her first official number 1 single worldwide. McRae’s second studio album Think Later was officially released on December 8, 2023. The album received mixed to positive appraisal from both fans and critics, with Rolling Stone noting M.I.A. and Ariana Grande’s influences on the project, stating that in terms of the latter, Think Later "represented a career-defining shift for McRae as she pulled herself from the rubble of grief, heartbreak, and internal turmoil."Think Later debuted in the top 5 of the charts in US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium and Norway. The second single from Think Later, "Exes", was released on November 17, 2023, and peaked in the top 10 in Canada and the Netherlands, top 20 in the UK and Australia, and top 40 in the US. On November 18, 2023, she performed "Greedy" and a then-unreleased song titled "Grave" on Saturday Night Live. She also made her debut American award show performance with "Greedy" at the Billboard Music Awards on November 19, 2023. McRae performed a medley at the 2024 NHL All-Star game in Toronto in February 2024. In March 2024, she made her debut performance at the Brit Awards with "Greedy" and subsequently performed a medley of "Greedy" and "Exes" at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in April. McRae won the Juno Award for Artist of the Year, and Single of the Year for "Greedy" at the 2024 Juno Awards. On September 13, 2024, McRae released the song "It's OK I'm OK". Personal life McRae is a fan of the Calgary Flames of the NHL, and has attended numerous games. From late 2021 to early 2023, McRae was in a relationship with Columbus Blue Jackets player Cole Sillinger. In April 2024, Australian rapper and singer the Kid Laroi confirmed his relationship with McRae. Artistry and public image McRae has named Post Malone, the Weeknd, Khalid, Jessie Reyez, Ariana Grande and Jeremy Zucker as her biggest musical influences. She cites Zendaya and Dua Lipa as all-around influences, and has described both women as her biggest idols, noting that she looks up to them in all aspects of life. She has also named Bruno Mars, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Ciara, Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake as inspirations for bringing dance into her performances, while naming Taylor Swift, Julia Michaels and Alec Benjamin as songwriting inspirations. Further, McRae has called herself a "huge fan" of Swift and described her as "one of the greatest songwriters." McRae has also expressed an admiration for Billie Eilish and Rosalía. McRae has been described as "the teen dance star turned future pop idol" by i-D, "the new teen queen" by Notion, "Canada's answer to Billie Eilish" by Elle, and "one of pop's bright young hopes" by The Independent. She has also been noted for her honest lyrics, “impressive” vocals and relatable music. Additionally, McRae has received considerable acclaim as a dancer, and has been praised by artist, dancer and choreographer Paula Abdul who declared her a "gift from God", and choreographers such as Stacey Tookey and Blake McGrath, both of whom stated that she's talented beyond her years, with the latter describing her as "one of the best dancers he has ever worked with" as well as two-time Emmy winner Travis Wall, who has named her as one of his muses. Margaret Furher of Dance Spirit Magazine described her dancing as virtuosic both technically and artistically. As of March 2024, her YouTube channel has amassed over 1.5 billion views and she has garnered more than 8.4 billion career streams across all platforms. Discography Studio albums I Used to Think I Could Fly (2022) Think Later (2023) Filmography Film Television Awards and nominations Listicles Tours All the Things I Never Said Tour (2020) Tate McRae Live Tour (2022) Are We Flying Tour (2023) Think Later World Tour (2024) See also List of So You Think You Can Dance finalists List of YouTubers References External links Official website Tate McRae at IMDb Tate McRae at AllMusic Tate McRae discography at Discogs

So_You_Think_You_Can_Dance:_The_Next_Generation_(American_TV_series)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You_Think_You_Can_Dance:_The_Next_Generation_(American_TV_series)

So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation is the 13th season of So You Think You Can Dance, an American dance competition show. The show premiered on Monday, May 30, 2016, in a new format featuring dancers between ages 8 to 13 at the time of their auditions. The season was broadcast on Fox in the United States, one show each week on Mondays, as it was the previous season. The top prize remained $250,000, and Cat Deeley continued as host. Auditions were held in Los Angeles, CA, Chicago, IL and New York City. 100 dancers were selected by the judges for the Dance Academy portion of the season, in which 10 contestants were selected by, and paired with, "all-stars" from previous seasons, who mentored and performed with them during the live performance episodes. Judges Series creator and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, along with new permanent members Paula Abdul and Jason Derulo, returned as members of the permanent judging panel and judge the audition rounds. After this, the fourth judge, dancer Maddie Ziegler, who was then 13 years old, joined the show. Format Season 13 featured a significant shift in format in that the contestants were all between the ages of 8 and 13 at the time of their auditions. Approximately 100 dancers were selected from the auditions for the next segment of the season, the Dance Academy. From these, the top 50 were chosen, and finally the top 10 were selected as contestants by a So You Think You Can Dance "all-star" who provided mentorship during the live shows and participated as a duet partner with his or her contestant in performances. Auditions Open auditions for season 13 were held in three cities beginning in February 2016. During the audition round, the judges interviewed each auditioner, watched a brief audition and gave feedback, while the auditioner's family sat at the side of the stage and often participated in the interviews. Offstage, Cat Deeley chatted with contestants and judges. Approximately 100 dancers were sent through to the academy. Dance Academy Dance Academy week was split among two episodes. The June 20 episode covered the first day of the academy. The first task for the 10 all-stars was to watch solo dances by each of the contestants were sent through from the auditions. From these, each all-star selected five dancers (three from their own dance style and two wildcards), from the large number of auditioners, to join their "team". If a dancer was selected by more than one all-star, he or she could choose which all-star's team to join. Choreographer Warren Carlyle and the all-stars then taught the 50 remaining competitors a Broadway couples dance routine in 90 minutes, and dancers from each team were paired with dancers from another team. After all of the couples danced, each all-star was required to cut one dancer from his or her team, leaving a total of 40 contestants. Throughout the episode, Maddie Ziegler and Cat Deeley interviewed successful competitors. The June 27 episode covered days two and three of academy week. On day two, the all-stars each narrowed down their teams to three and then two dancers, based first on a hip-hop routine for pairs choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo, and then on a contemporary routine, created by Travis Wall, danced simultaneously by the remaining three members of each team. On the last day, the last two dancers from each team danced a solo just for their own all-star. Each all-star then selected one contestant, making a total of 10 contestants that he or she will mentor through the finals round. The all-stars and their contestants are: Finals Top 10 Contestants Elimination chart Performances Top 10 (July 11, 2016) The live shows were all two-hour broadcasts. The first live show, on July 11, 2016, opened with a group dance by all ten contestants dancing with their all-stars and all together, futuristically dressed in white. In the middle of the show there was a contemporary group dance by the all-stars, and the show ended with a group hip-hop dance by all of the top-ten contestants. During the show, each contestant performed one solo and one duet with his or her all-star; both dances were in the contestant's primary dance style. At the beginning of the show, host Cat Deeley announced that all-star Joshua Allen has been replaced by Marko Germar, to mentor and partner with hip-hop dancer Sheaden Gabriel. Maddie Ziegler observed the contestants' rehearsals and joined the judging panel, during the broadcast, giving the contestants "relatable feedback" and offering encouraging words about their performances. Solos: July 18, 2016 Derulo was unavailable this week, but all-star Stephen "tWitch" Boss took his place at the judging table; Ziegler continued to attend and comment at the contestants' rehearsals. The show opened with a group Bollywood-style number danced by all of the contestants and all-stars. In the middle of the show, the all-stars performed a piece inspired by Romeo and Juliet. Contestants were paired with each other to dance two routines; each dancer performed at least one routine outside of his or her primary style. The kids also performed duets with their all-stars. Daniela and her partner Sheaden were ranked in the bottom two, based on the previous week's voting, and Daniela was eliminated. Duets choreographed by all-stars: July 25, 2016 (final 9) The show began again with a dance that included all the contestants and all-stars. During the course of the broadcast, there was also a group number for the kids and later one for the all-stars. The remaining nine contestants performed full-length routines with their all-stars in their own primary styles (or similar styles), and each did a short solo in his or her primary style. The kids each gave a campaign speech as if they were running for US president. Tate McRae, who is Canadian, quipped in her speech: "The only wall that should be shared between Canada and the United States should be Travis Wall." Sheaden was eliminated, based on the previous week's voting. The show has been promoting the sixth annual National Dance Day, "an annual celebration that encourages Americans to embrace dance as a fun and positive way to maintain good health and combat obesity", which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 30, 2016. Solos: August 1, 2016 (final 8) The show began with a group toy-themed hip-hop routine for all of the contestants and all-stars. Later, all 10 all-stars danced a contemporary routine based on a snow-globe. Each of the contestants danced a routine in their primary style with their all-star and then paired with another contestant for a routine in a new genre. Jake and Jordan were eliminated, based on the previous week's voting. Contestant duets August 22, 2016 (final 6) The show began with a group contemporary routine for all of the contestants and all-stars. Later, four of the female all-stars danced a contemporary routine, and Comfort and the five male all-stars danced a hip-hop number. Each of the contestants danced a routine in their primary style with their all-star, paired with another contestant for a routine in a new genre, and also performed a short solo dance in their own genre. Ruby was eliminated, based on the previous week's voting. Contestant duets Solos: August 29, 2016 (final 5) The show began with a group routine for all of the contestants and all-stars. Each of the contestants then danced with his or her all-star in their primary style. Two groups of all-stars danced separately: first a contemporary routine and then a Broadway number. In the second half of the show, the contestants each choreographed a duet with his or her all-star in their own genre, choosing the concept, music, costumes and make-up. Finally, judge Maddie Ziegler performed a dramatic contemporary routine paired with choreographer Travis Wall. Tahani was eliminated based on the previous week's voting. Duets choreographed by the contestants September 5, 2016 (final 4): No elimination The final four competed on Labor Day. Audience voting after this show was combined with the votes from the August 29 show to determine the results of the season, so there was no elimination this week. The show again opened with a group number for the remaining contestants and the all-stars. The four contestants danced another routine, and later so did the all-stars. Each contestant performed a duet with an all-star who was not his or her mentor, in a new genre, and each also danced a solo in his or her own genre. Finally, the contestants each reprised their favorite routine of the season with their usual all-stars. Solos: September 12, 2016: Finale – Results The episode began with a group dance for all the contestants and all-stars that began with the Top 4 contestants waking up and getting ready for the big day. There were also new group dances for the hip-hop finalists and their all-stars; the ballroom finalists and their all-stars; and the contemporary finalists (plus Emma) and their all stars. In addition, there was a new group routine for all the finalists plus Maddie Ziegler, and Cat Deely chose to reprise her favorite all-stars routine. During the course of the broadcast, each of the Top 4 reprised their favorite solo of the season, each judge chose two favorite routines to see again, each of the all-stars chose a favorite duet to reprise, and other duets were reprised as described below. Results were announced during the last hour of the show as follows: Emma placed 4th, Tate was 3rd, J. T. was runner-up, and Kida won the $250,000 top prize and will be featured on the cover of Dance Spirit magazine. Solos (contestants' choice): Ratings U.S. Nielsen ratings Notes: July 4, 2016: broadcast was a rerun of academy #2. August 8, 2016: broadcast was a rerun of Top 9 Perform + Elimination. August 15, 2016: broadcast was a rerun of Top 8 Perform + Elimination. See also List of So You Think You Can Dance finalists References External links Episode 1 All-star group number, Episode 6 Top 10 group number, Episode 6 Maddie Ziegler and Travis Wall duet, Episode 11

Rennington

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennington

Rennington is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England about 4 miles (6 km) north of Alnwick. The parish includes the village of Rock and the hamlets of Broxfield and Stamford. In 2011 the parish had a population of 366. Governance Rennington is in the parliamentary constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From 1974 to 2009 it was in Alnwick district. Rennington was formerly a township and chapelry in the parish of Embleton, in 1866 Rennington became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1955 the parishes of Broxfield, Rock and Stamford were abolished and merged with Rennington. References External links Media related to Rennington at Wikimedia Commons GENUKI (Accessed: 27 November 2008)

Lydbrook

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydbrook

Lydbrook is a civil parish in the Forest of Dean, a local government district in the English county of Gloucestershire and is located in the Wye Valley. It is on the north west edge of the Forest of Dean's present legal boundary proper. It comprises the districts of Lower Lydbrook, Upper Lydbrook, Joys Green and Worrall Hill. It has a mile and a half long high street, reputed to be the longest high street of any village in England. Early history The area now forming the present village of Lydbrook has been inhabited throughout history. Artifacts from Hangerberry and Eastbach on the south west corner of the parish, and Lower Lydbrook show evidence of widespread activity from the Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age 10,000–4000 BC) to the present. Flint stone tools from surrounding fields confirm that the area was occupied and farmed for more than 4,000 years. Lydbrook was inhabited by the Romans as there is evidence of a Roman homestead along Proberts Barn Lane, Lower Lydbrook. The timber building detected on the site may date from the 1st century AD. A later building with stone walls was still inhabited in the 4th century. The site was a farming and agricultural centre in the Roman period. There is also evidence of Roman activity at Hangerberry with traces of a Roman pavement. A Roman road came from Ruardean through Lower Lydbrook (tracing the Wye) to English Bicknor. A further ancient road existed between Joys Green and English Bicknor via Bell Hill. Traces of a Roman Road also exist from Worrall Hill to Edge End. These Roman track ways show evidence of following previous prehistoric paths. In 1881 it was reported a large quantity of Roman coins were found at Lower Lydbrook. The Dean Archaeological Group's recent excavations in and around Lydbrook have recovered other coins from the Roman period, as well as other artefacts pre-dating and post dating this period. Parish boundaries For those living today there may be differences as to what comprises Lydbrook. There is the village of Lydbrook which for many would include Worrall Hill, Hangerberry and Stowfield. There is also the Parish of Lydbrook which includes Joys Green, Hawsley and High Beech. The complexities of boundaries for Lydbrook have been greater in the past. Before becoming part of Gloucestershire, prior to the 12th century, the Forest of Dean lay in Herefordshire. For example, Ruardean was an extension of the parish of Walford in Herefordshire and St John's church at Ruardean was a daughter church of Walford Church. In the same time as the Forest of Dean came into Gloucestershire the Forest had become the preserve of the Crown. The area now covered by Upper Lydbrook and Joys Green, would have been served in times past by the church at Mitcheldean. However, from Norman times until the mid 19th century, it came under the Forest's Bailiff for Mitcheldean (in other words 'the Magna or Great Dean Bailiwick'), and thus was extra-parochial, or outside of a parish. Lower Lydbrook was divided between the parishes of English Bicknor and Walford (served by the Church of St John the Baptist at Ruardean), with the Lyd forming the boundary. The mid-19th century saw the parochialisation of the Forest. Each area within the legal boundaries of the Forest came under both a church district and a civic district. In 1816 Upper Lydbrook and Joys Green came under the newly created church of Holy Trinity at Harrow Hill, with a mission chapel built in Upper Lydbrook in 1821. By 1842 this arrangement was formalised by the newly created ecclesiastical district of Holy Trinity (Harrow Hill, Drybrook). The civic boundaries of the Forest differed from the church boundaries and from 1842 Lower Lydbrook and Upper Lydbrook became part of the Township of West Dean, with Joys Green coming within the westmost boundary of the Township of East Dean, the Railway line (constructed later in the 1860s) ran along this boundary. In 1852 Lower Lydbrook, Upper Lydbrook and Joys Green all became part of the newly created ecclesiastical parish of Lydbrook. It was much later in 1935 that the civic parish of Lydbrook was created. Lower Lydbrook and Upper Lydbrook had developed as separate communities prior to the 17th century and remained so legally until the 19th century. A few of the older inhabitants of the village reported that a toll gate once existed between Lower and Upper Lydbrook. Lower Lydbrook was settled as part of the parishes of English Bicknor and Ruardean, and was the focus of the iron industry. You only have to look at the location of housing in Lower Lydbrook to see a defined community adjacent to the Wye River and Lyd brook. The pond also served as a focal point, as well a community meeting places. Lower Lydbrook people were buried in the churchyards of Ruardean and English Bicknor (as well as a number being buried at Welsh Bicknor across the Wye). Upper Lydbrook lay within the Forest boundary which had been part of the Bailiwick of Mitcheldean, and had been encroached (housing being built within what was once strictly a Crown preserve), serving as a focus for the mining community. Governance Lydbrook falls in 'Lydbrook and Ruardean' electoral ward. This ward starts in the south east at Lydbrook and stretches to the north east at Ruardean. The total parish population taken at the 2011 census was 4,819. Present community The present community of Lydbrook seems to have had its beginnings in the 13th century. In a record of a sale of trees in 1256, mention is made of 'the Mill of Lydbrook'. Further early notes on Lydbrook occur in a survey of the Forest of Dean in 1282. The Lyd (a brook, which flows into the River Wye, and not the one that flows to Lydney) formed, for part of its travels, the boundary between the Bailiwicks of Bikenore (English Bicknor) and Rywardin (Ruardean). Today many maps call the Lyd, Hough Brook, or Great Hough Brook, and How Brook which joins the Lyd is known on modern maps as Little Hough Brook. Listed in the 1282 entries of those who possessed cultivated land, William of Ludebrok (Lydbrook), appears under the parish of Bikenore, and under the parish of Rywardin. Rather than being two separate pieces of land in differing localities, it was probably that William's land will have included the brook, hence his inclusion in the records for both parishes. In addition, under the entry for Bikenore is recorded, Robert of Stoufeld (Stowfield). Thus the development of Lydbrook began at Lower Lydbrook. The village takes its name from the brook running its entire length – the 'loud brook' or lud brook to become Lyd Brook. The village developed as a site for the local iron and coal industries with the houses as an encroachment into the Forest tracing the Lyd brook which provided the water needed for industry and domestic use. The development of the encroachment, continued into the Bailiwick of Magna Dean (Mitcheldean), the area which became known as Upper Lydbrook and Joys Green. The village only became a place of population of any size 17th century onwards, but grew steadily since to remain static for almost a century and a half at a population of about 2,500 between the 1850s and the beginning of the 1990s. However, from the beginning of the 1990s the community has begun to slowly depopulate. One call to fame of the recent past, which now is thankfully no longer true, is that Humphrey Phelps, in his book on the Forest of Dean recalls that in the 1950s Lydbrook had the highest incidence of tuberculosis in England. Lydbrook presently Lydbrook has a shop and Post Office, a fish and chip shop, many local businesses and pubs which include; The Jovial Colliers Inn and Bunkhouse (recently rebranded in house as The Colliers Inn), The Royal Spring Inn, The Forge Hammer Inn, Waterloo Business Park and Lydbrook Valley Garage/Autospray as well as the River Wye Lodge which replaced former The Courtfield Arms. The village is home to the Lydbrook brass band, a flourishing ensemble whose TV appearances include the Lotto Advert in 2014 and Countryfile in 2019. In 2012 Lydbrook was featured on ITV and BBC news due to the fact that the centre of Lydbrook was flooded and under up to 4 feet (1.2 m) of water. This was despite being nearly 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) away from the local River Wye which is situated at the bottom of Lydbrook. This was due to a blockage of an old culvert under the road which contains a stream and the surface drainage for the entire village. In 2017, the Forestry Commission commenced a project to introduce Eurasian beavers into an enclosed area of land uphill of the village, as part of a habitat-management programme: among the anticipated outcomes is the reduction in likelihood of further flash floods occurring. Lydbrook Parish Council In 1935, with the creation of the civic parish of Lydbrook, Joys Green became a full part of the parish. Industry Although Lydbrook is now developing as a useful centre for exploring both the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean with its several hotels and bed and breakfast establishments, its traditional connection is with industry especially with the iron, coal and timber industries. The arrival of the Romans brought with them the iron industry into the forest. The proven presence of a Roman community in Lydbrook provides for the possibility of an early iron industry. There will certainly have been iron ore and coal mines, at low or outcrop level. Records for industry in the post Roman and pre Norman periods are scarce and it is only from the 13th century that numerous records can be found. However, details about Lydbrook can be difficult to isolate, as Lydbrook was not a parish in its own rights, and activity at Lydbrook, is activity at Ruardean or English Bicknor. One attraction of Lydbrook was the northward fast flowing Lyd. In the 1590s records exist of what became known as the Upper Forge at Lydbrook built by Thomas Bainham and later owned by Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex. In 1628 it was described as standing on "Hangerbury Common, below the King's Forge". By 1668 the Upper Forge had disappeared. Three other forges existed. The Middle Forge built in the 1590s was opposite what is now Beard's bakery building. After the demise of the original Upper Forge, the Middle Forge eventually took on the name of Upper Forge. The Lower Forge was built in 1610 (standing within two hundred yards from the Wye). Standing up-stream from the Upper Forge was the King's Howbrook Forge (also known as the Lydbrook Forge) built in 1612/13. This stood opposite what is now Brook House (was once the Yew Tree Inn). In March 1650 the Forge was demolished. Not far away and built in the same period was the King's Furnace powered by the Lyd (where the How brook joins the Lyd) this ceased by 1674. By the early 18th century only two forges existed, the Upper Forge (the renamed old Middle Forge) and the Lower Forge. In 1702 a further forge existed, although its location is now unknown, the New Forge. This forge was somewhere between the two others as it took on the name of 'Middle Forge'. By 1818 after many changes of hands both owners and tenants, the Partridge family dominated the iron works at Lydbrook. In 1622 there are details of a grist mill and a battering works nearby a disused cornmill. The Lower Forge became in its turn a Corn Mill. Existing also in Lydbrook around the 1690s was an Anvil making works. Roaring Meg (cannon), on display at Goodrich Castle, was made in Lydbrook in 1649. By 1798 tinplate production began in Lydbrook through the agency of the Partridge and Allaway families (Thomas Allaway was a tenant of the Patridges). The Upper and Lower Forges had been converted to tinplate works by the Partridges and then were leased by Allaway in 1817. It has been argued that tinplate production began in Lydbrook in 1760, which would have made it the earliest centre for tinplate production. The Allaways firm became 'Pearce & Allaway' in 1820, and then in 1850 'Allaways, Partridge & Co'. In 1871 the business was leased to Richard Thomas who moved into the village and lived at the Poplars, Upper Lydbrook. Thomas expanded his business taking over Lydbrook Colliery and Waterloo Colliery. Richard Thomas died in 1916. The works were closed during the First World War and ceased operating in 1925. The early tin works and rolling mills stood where Meredith & Sons and Lydwood works are today. In 1818 James Russell purchased the Ironworks upstream of the Upper Forge, opposite the Bell Inn, where he created a wireworks. The enterprise was run by the family until its closure between 1890 and 1900. In 1912, Harold J Smith purchased land at Stowfield and erected the Lydbrook Cable Works. The First World War provided a number of contracts with employee numbers expanding from 40 to 650 with double shifts being worked. With the end of the War, came a slump in business, and in 1920 the Official Receiver was brought in ending Smith's connection with the factory. The business was bought in 1925 by Edison Swan Electric Company. With the greater resources available the plant at Stowfield further expanded, and was well placed to help with the Second World War possessing one of only four machines for making lead alloy tube needed for P.L.U.T.O. – (Petroleum Lines Under The Ocean), which allowed fuel to be supplied to the Allied invasion force in Europe from Britain. In the late 1940s, Edison Swan was swallowed up by Associated Electrical Industries. Integrated with the Siemens Brothers Cable Works at Woolwich the Stowfield Factory at its height employed approximately 1,100 people. The Cable Works came to an end in 1966 when the factory was bought by Reed Paper Group, which in its turn was taken over by a Swedish Company SCA. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the village grow through the rise of industry. The first commercially successful blast furnace was sited in Lydbrook and was working as early as 1608. By the 18th century, Lydbook was an important location for the production of tin plate, and a book published in 1861 compared Lydbrook to Sheffield. At the beginning of the 19th century the iron trade was in decline but the coal industry was growing fast. Lydbrook having its own collieries – Arthur & Edward (also called Waterloo as it opened in 1815), The Deep Level, The Old Soot Bag, The Old Engine, Worrall Hill Mine. Lower Lydbrook's situation by the Wye brought about its importance as being a loading place for coal to be taken by barge to Hereford. The flat bottomed barges were dragged originally by men – until the construction of a tow path in 1811. This trade declined after the construction of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal, but the canal was soon superseded by the railways, which as far as Lydbrook is concerned has 'come and gone'. The community was served by two railway stations and a halt, Upper Lydbrook (the Halt), Lower Lydbrook and Lydbrook Junction. Not even the famous Lower Lydbrook Viaduct remains which enabled the Severn and Wye Railway from Cinderford via Bilston and Serridge to connect with the Ross and Monmouth Railway. The viaduct rose some 87 feet above the roadway below, linking Forge Hill on the east with Randor on the west. It was built in 1872 and first used 26 August 1874. The line was closed to passengers in 1929 and to goods in 1951. It was dismantled in 1966. New industries replaced the old with the rise of a cable works, but this closed in 1965, replaced by Reed Corrugated Cases (since mid-1991 renamed SCA Packaging Ltd). Others in Lydbrook found employment with Rank Xerox at Mitcheldean. Other employment in the village is offered through the existence of a small number of light engineering works and three saw mills. The new industries differ from the old because they did not grow out of the Forest because of the minerals, but because of the availability of a work force. Only the saw mills (employing a small number of people) represent a connection with traditional Forest industry. Modern road communications with the surrounding areas has opened the village up to outsiders with the new phenomenon of holiday homes, being once the cottages of the Foresters. Local schools Almost forgotten as a fact is the place the churches played in providing education in Lydbrook. Situated in Lower Lydbrook was a school provided by the Goff Endowment Charity. The venture lasted from 1820 to the late 1830s. The school in Upper Lydbrook was founded by the Church of England, which had provided a series of schools throughout the Forest in Mitcheldean, Christ Church, Drybrook, Woodside, the Hawthornes, Lydbrook, Park End, and Cinderford. The local school was founded by the Reverend Henry Berkin, as part of the National Schools, who erected a chapel schoolroom in 1822. The original building measured 50 feet long by 30 feet wide, and was fitted with benches with railed backs, and in the words of Henry Berkin "will contain about 400 persons". After 1851, with the erection of Holy Jesus Church, the chapel continued as a school and also served as the church hall. In 1872, fifty years on from 1822, the allocation of space being more generous per person, the school was (according to the record of the time) enlarged to "seat 250 pupils". On 20 January 1908 the beginnings of a new school had been erected as the 'Lydbrook Temporary Council School' to 'relieve the Lydbrook National School', with an intake of 35 boys. These will have been the senior boys. The new buildings were being erected across the main road from the old school on the west side of the village. By the autumn of 1909 the new school had been completed. The Headmaster, Mr Bishop transferred with the pupils on 6 September 1909. The school was due to be opened 30 August 1909, but the building work had not been completed so the children had the benefit of being granted an extra week's holiday. The registered number of 26937 belonging to the Lydbrook Church of England Infant School (allotted in April 1897) was transferred to the Lydbrook Council Infants' School, 30 August 1909. Joys Green school was erected in 1882 as a result of the Education Act of 1870, and was implemented by the Dean School Board which in those years had the management of the schools in the area. School meals began in both schools in the early 1940s. Currently now, Joys Green Primary School was closed and is now a Young Persons Directorate. All students were transferred to Lydbrook when this happened. Lydbrook School is still headed by Executive Headteacher Simon Lusted. The past two Ofsted reports that Lydbrook School have had have given them ratings of Outstanding and Good with Outstanding features. Other notable buildings The Priory The oldest surviving building in Lydbrook is today known as The Priory, which in fact had never been a Priory, but was originally known as Lidbrook Farm. Once the home of the Probert family. The architectural design requires a date in the mid-16th century for this building, owing to the close timbered framework when oak was more plentiful, as opposed to square timbered style of the later period. There is a secret room in this building and claims for tunnels extending from Courtfield and the Anchor Inn. A Priest hole has been argued for, but smuggling has been suggested as an alternative. The house is also reputed to be haunted. The Old House Further up the village, in Central Lydbrook, opposite The Anchor Inn is the second oldest house in the village. This is (rather confusingly) called The Old House, and is a red-bricked and square-timbered house which at one stage belonged to Roger Kemble, father of Sarah Siddons (née Kemble – a famous actress 1755–1831). It has an extension built on the side which boasts the date '1718'. It is a Grade II* listed building. Both The Priory and The Old House are situated in the oldest parts of the village in Lower and Central Lydbrook. It would not be surprising if even older structures were eventually discovered within other houses in Lower Lydbrook. Outlying neighbourhoods The two largest centres of housing positioned west and east of the valley are Worrall Hill and Joys Green. The former district took its name from the Worrall family of English Bicknor and the name 'Joys Green' came from Jay's Green on account of the numerous Jays seen in that locality. Centres of community Old School Rooms The Church of England mission chapel completed in 1822, not only provided a place of Christian worship, but provided a school (hence its title of the old school rooms) and a church hall. After 1909 with a new school replacing the building, and a parish church replacing it as a chapel, the mission hall served as a parish hall with all manner of activities taking place. Reading Rooms Another early meeting place was the old 1 penny reading rooms in Mill Lane. The reading rooms were provided by the owners of the tinplate works which began in the mid-19th century. The reading rooms closed down in 1928/9. Anchor Hall The Anchor Hall adjacent to the Anchor public house provided a meeting place in the early part of the 20th century. A cinema was installed in 1914 run by the Albany Ward Company. The Anchor Hall closed in the mid-1920s. Memorial Hall During the Great War a committee was formed to provide items for the welfare of the servicemen on leave. After the War the committee was left with £100. The committee and the Men's Institute (founded in 1892) formed a general committee and proposed the building of a Memorial Hall. Public subscriptions were sought, and a grant from the United Services Fund of £88 was obtained. The local Women's Institute had an original aim of erecting their own headquarters but joined in with the Memorial Hall committee providing from their own funds £100. In 1920 the committee purchased the building and lands known as 'The Poplars', and on 11 November 1926 the Lydbrook Memorial Hall, Men's and Women's Institute came into being at a cost of £3,150 opened by the blind Victoria Cross holder of Coleford, Captain Angus Buchanan. History of Christian worship in Lydbrook Church of England and the Lydbrook Mission Chapel In 1809 the Reverend Henry Berkin began his appointment as an assistant curate of the parish of Mitcheldean. Adjoining this parish were Forest areas which have since become the parishes of Drybrook and Lydbrook. Henry Berkin became concerned as to the plight of the Foresters "destitute of churches or ministers whom they could call their own". In 1812 he travelled around the areas of Forest adjoining his parish, visiting cottages where families would gather to hear him teach. Large crowds of up to 200, would gather in some places to hear him explaining the Holy scriptures. In 1814 Henry Berkin moved to a curacy at Weston-under-Penyard, but maintained a connection with the Forest. At Harry Hill, the Foresters encouraged him to build a large place for a regular meeting. After meeting with the Bishop Dr Ryder, Henry Berkin set about building a church, the Foresters could call their own and in 1817 Holy Trinity Church was built, serving both Drybrook and Lydbrook, Henry Berkin becoming the first perpetual curate (now styled 'Vicar'). The missionary work still continued in the cottages at Lydbrook, but it was not too long before Henry Berkin built a small mission chapel to serve Lydbrook in 1821, completed in 1822 (on the site of the present vicarage). The chapel functioned as a school, a place of worship, and as a place for social gatherings. It was served by the assistant priests appointed by Henry Berkin, with residence in Lydbrook. The salary of the curate at Lydbrook was at least in 1835, according to the records, supplied by a gentleman who was above 90 years of age. Lydbrook chapel was the fourth church in the Forest. (Upper Lydbrook being within the Forest boundary). The first church within the Forest was Christ Church in 1816. The second being Holy Trinity. The third church within the Forest was St Paul's, Park End completed at the beginning of 1822. Curates of Holy Trinity serving at the Lydbrook Mission Chapel 1821 – Isaac Bridgeman 1822 – J. Herbert 1822 – W. Marshall 1824 – W. Burkitt 1827 – J. Chell 1840 – R. T. Budd 1844 – W. C. Badger 1846 – J. G. Croker 1848 – G. Tatam 1851 – H. Algar Methodist Church In the second decade of the 19th century, the Reverend William Woodall, Wesleyan Methodist minister of Monmouth had established a preaching circuit within the Forest of Dean and as part of this venture, a house was registered for worship in Lydbrook on 15 May 1813. Despite this early foothold, it took until 1864 to build a small chapel in Lower Lydbrook. The chapel was situated almost under the viaduct. From 1824, James Roles of the Oakengates Primitive Methodist circuit had established a circuit of cottage meetings at Pillowell, Lydbrook, Broad Oak, Little Birch, West Hide, Shecknal, Coppice Wood, Garroway Common, and Yorkley. The usual custom of the Primitive Methodists was to name the chapels after Old Testament place names. By 1828 the Primitive Methodists had built the 'Ebenezer Chapel' at Upper Lydbrook. It had the honour of being the first Methodist church in the Forest. It was first enlarged in 1852 (the same year the new parish church was opened). The year after, in 1853 Charles Dickens had published his 'Christmas Stories' containing the 'Christmas Carol' which portrayed the character 'Ebenezer Scrooge' associating the name with a foreboding character. The chapel was further enlarged bringing about the present building completed in 1912, with the name 'Ebenezer' being omitted. A second primitive Methodist chapel 'Mount Tabor' was built at the Reddings in 1862. Schoolrooms were added in 1892. The Wesleyan chapel closed in 1956. The congregation and cause of the Wesleyans had never been very large in Lydbrook. The redundant Wesleyan chapel served as a warehouse until its demolition in 1966. After 1934 with the Methodist Church Union all the chapels belonged to the same denomination and were served by the same minister and two chapels still served the area. Mount Tabor chapel closed in 1960 and was sold and is currently being turned into flats. Sadly on Sunday 28 July 1991 the last of the Methodist chapels in Lydbrook closed. One consolation was that the Sunday school – 'Sandra's group' as it was known, transferred to the parish church to become 'The Sunday Club'. Baptist Church The Baptist church at Lower Lydbrook did not owe its impulse to the Coleford mission but to work carried on in Herefordshire. Mr Edward Goff who died in 1813 had left eleven thousand pounds to establish schools for the benefit of poor children in Herefordshire and places contingent. Schoolmasters were employed during the week for the education of the children, and on the Sunday were employed for preaching. A Mr Wright had established a schoolroom in 1820. The building doubled up for Baptist worship and preaching on Sundays and was licensed as such on 7 November 1823. The work continued in Lydbrook until sometime in the late 1830s. For nearly two decades there existed two chapel schoolrooms. The mission chapel at Upper Lydbrook would have been the larger of the two and by 1935 had grown to such a large size in congregation, thoughts were on enlarging the building. The fortunes of the Baptist cause may not have fared so well as the endowment grant was transferred to Lay Hill Baptist church in Herefordshire proper. Whilst the loss of the schoolmaster meant the loss of a full-time worker for the Baptist cause in Lydbrook, the main concern of the Goff Charity was education, and this was probably being served by the Anglican mission chapel founded a little after. In addition by the middle 1820s the Baptist were competing for the affections of the resident population with four other denominations (Anglican, Wesleyan Methodist, Primitive Methodist, Independent). The church did not survive the loss of the school and schoolmaster. In 1857 twelve members separated from Lays Hill Baptist and re-formed the Lydbrook Baptist Church in the old reading rooms. In 1863 the church appointed its first Minister, and the services at the Old Reading Room were packed to capacity, so land was purchased at Lower Lydbrook, and a church completed and opened in November 1864 at the cost of £700-0-0. In the spring of 1872 a foundation stone of an enlarged chapel was laid, but the work was held up owing to the local navvies taking up work with the creation of Lydbrook branch railway (presumably better paid!). The line was completed in August 1874 and allowed the building of the enlarged chapel to continue, and this was completed in September 1875. United Reformed Church/Congregational The founding of an Independent chapel in Lydbrook may well owe itself to a former Anglican priest. On 11 March 1821, the Reverend Isaac Bridgeman was appointed assistant curate to the Reverend Henry Berkin. In addition to the mission work at Lydbrook, Henry Berkin had founded a chapel-schoolroom at Littledean Hill. Curates to Berkin served at both mission chapels, but were based at Littledean. Bridgeman had developed an affection for nonconformists and often worshipped and worked with them. Due to this 'irregularity' on 4 November 1822, the Bishop of Gloucester revoked his licence and interdicted him from officiating in any church in the Diocese of Gloucester. Bridgeman stayed within the Forest and by 1823 had built up five congregations, one of which was sufficiently large enough to build a chapel 'The Tabernacle' at Brains Green, Blakeney Hill, this becoming Bridgeman's mission base. The congregation at Lydbrook met at the house of James Russell, ironmaster. Bridgeman will have used the following he built up at the Lydbrook Mission Chapel to create the independent congregation. Initially Bridgeman used the Church of England Liturgy but by 1825 had joined himself to the Congregationalists and thus further their missionary endeavours within the Forest of Dean. It was a further sixty one years before the Congregational chapel was built at Worrall Hill in 1884. The chapel was enlarged in 1888. In 1972 it became part of the United Reformed Church with the Union of the Congregational church and Presbyterian church. Mission Chapel, Forge Hill The last of the seven church buildings to be erected in Lydbrook was the Independent mission chapel on Forge Hill, built in 1889. The Reverend Arthur William Latham, Baptist minister at Lydbrook 1883–1900 appears on the Deeds as a Trustee and is also mentioned throughout the account rendered by the solicitor to the Trustees. The Baptist involvement was probably due to a dispute between the founders of the mission as to whether there should be a Trust Deed or not. Mr Latham, Baptist minister for Lydbrook was called in to advise on the Trust Deed. The mission seems to have been, and remained a joint venture between Non-conformists. It certainly always remained an independent venture. Once full to capacity, over the length of years the congregation declined to such a point where only occasional services were held, and the building eventually fell into disuse. Previously to this decline services were held most Sunday afternoons, with an average attendance of 8. A ladies' meeting was held on Thursday evenings. The chapel closed in 1980. When the last remaining Trustee of the mission died (Alderman Stan Hatton), the Charity Commission approached the vicar of Lydbrook (the Reverend Stuart Parker) who organised four new trustees (one from each of the four Lydbrook Churches) to consider the charity's future. Church at Joys Green On 20 August 1989 the first of a series of monthly church services was held at 6 pm at Joys Green School, sponsored by the parish church. The frequency was increased to fortnightly in October 1991. In the summer of 1991 the Baptist followed holding a monthly morning service in the school. Church of Holy Jesus and the Parish of Lydbrook In 1842 the Crown divided the Forest into ecclesiastical districts, one of which was the Holy Trinity district. Within that district, the Forest Church, served the village of Drybrook and the daughter church, the mission chapel served Upper Lydbrook. By the middle 1830s the congregation at the Lydbrook mission chapel had so grown, that in 1835 at a meeting of the Dean Forest Commissioners, following representations from the Bishop of the Diocese and clergy of the Forest, it was recommended that the mission chapel at Lydbrook be enlarged to the status of a church. Although this recommendation was not followed through, in the late 1840s a new church was planned. The work on Lydbrook parish church began in 1850 and was completed in 1851, when Lydbrook became a parish in its own rights and with its own vicar. Although the first building for worship in Lydbrook was erected in 1822, the church began well before then with Henry Berkin's itinerant preaching starting in 1812. On Sunday 12 August 1850 the foundation stone of the new church was laid. The Reverend J Burdon, Rector of English Bicknor (who was responsible for the spiritual welfare of those living in the area of Lower Lydbrook within his parish) had worked hard to accomplish the building of the church, collaborating with the Reverend H G Nicholls, perpetual curarte of Drybrook, the Reverend William Penfold, perpetual curate of Ruardean (appointed March 1851, Ruardean having become an ecclesiastical parish in its own rights in 1844), and the Reverend E Machen, rector of Mitcheldean. The building cost the grand sum of £3,500. The largest proportion of this money -a generous donation of £2,000 was a gift from Edward T Machen, Deputy surveyor of the Royal Forest (father of the Rector of Mitcheldean) and his relatives. Messrs Allaway-Partridge gave £250 and a grant of £230 given by the 'Incorporated Society for Promoting the Enlargement, Building and Repairing of Churches and Chapels' on the condition that the seats were to be free for the use of the poor for ever. The word 'free' was to be painted in a conspicuous manner on each seat. As the foundation stone was laid just after the feast of the Name of Jesus (7 August 1850) the dedication became 'The Holy Jesus'. The dedication was once thought to be unique, but two other churches have been discovered of similar dedication although having been built later; a Roman Catholic church in Manchester built in 1869–1872 by the architects J.A. & J.S. Harrison which was dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus and the Church of the Holy Name, Cumbernauld New Town, Glasgow, part of the Scottish Episcopal Church and dedicated in 1958. The Church at Lydbrook was consecrated on 4 December 1851 by Dr Ollivant, Bishop of Llandaff (Dr Monk, the Bishop of Gloucester being to ill to attend). Upwards of a 1,000 people attended, 50 of these being clergy. From then on Lydbrook was a parish on its own. In 1858 the reported attendance was 150 attending Matins and 250 attending Evensong! The number of communicants for the parish in that year is given as 40 per week. The present day figure stands at around 35, with a higher average throughout the year of about 40 per week. The original chapel served as a National Day School until 1909 and was used for church functions until its dilapidation in the 1960s. In 1975 it was demolished to make way for the present vicarage, which is the third in the village. The first vicarage, built in stone stands to the south east of the church 500 yards south, down the course of the old railway line. In May 1879, the vicar, the Reverend Henry Hoitt applied for permission to walk on the line from the vicarage to the church and schools. The Severn & Wye Railway granted this request but limited to Sundays only. The vicarage was sold in 1961 due to extensive repairs needed. The house now serves as a Bed and Breakfast establishment under the name 'The Old Vicarage'. A new house was purchased, 'Mirey Stock' in 1962, 3/4-mile south of the church. This served as the second vicarage. Its distance from the church in severe weather proved impracticable, hence the building of the present vicarage in 1975. The patronage (or the right to present a priest for appointment as vicar) originally belonged jointly to the Crown and Queen's College, Oxford. The two patrons took turns in presenting new vicars. In 1884 the alternate right of patronage was transferred from Queen's College to the Bishop of Gloucester. In 1961 the Crown transferred its interest in the patronage to the Bishop, leaving the Bishop of the Diocese as the sole patron. Although legally, the Bishop has the right to appoint, advice has to be sought from representatives of the parochial church council. Railways Lydbrook Junction was a former station on the Ross and Monmouth Railway between Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth Troy running through the scenic Wye Valley which ran from 1873 to 1959. The station was constructed in the hamlet of Stowfield approximately half a mile from Lydbrook and its viaduct on the Severn and Wye Railway. It was located approximately 4 miles and 34 chains along the railway from Ross-on-Wye station. In 1874 the Severn and Wye Railway opened a branch from Serridge Junction and Cinderford, passenger services commenced in 1875. All passenger trains along the S&W branch were withdrawn from 1929. See also Lower Lydbrook Viaduct References External links Old photos of Lydbrook Lydbrook Band The Pubs of Lydbrook photos of Lydbrook and surrounding area on geograph Holy Jesus Church Website

Stow-on-the-Wold

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stow-on-the-Wold

Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman origin. The town was founded by Norman lords to absorb trade from the roads converging there. Fairs have been held by royal charter since 1330; a horse fair is still held on the edge of town nearest to Oddington in May and October each year. History Early Stow-on-the-Wold, originally called Stow St Edward or Edwardstow after the town's patron saint Edward, probably Edward the Martyr, is said to have originated as an Iron Age fort on this defensive position on a hill. Indeed, there are many sites of similar forts in the area, and Stone Age and Bronze Age burial mounds are common throughout the area. It is likely that Maugersbury was the primary settlement of the parish before Stow was built as a marketplace on the hilltop nearer to the crossroads, to take advantage of passing trade. Originally the small settlement was controlled by abbots from the local abbey, and when the first weekly market was set up in 1107 by Henry I, he decreed that the proceeds go to Evesham Abbey. In 1330, a royal charter by Edward III set up an annual 7-day market to be held in August. The royal charter granted a fair where sheep and horses were allowed to be sold. In 1476, Edward IV replaced that with two 5-day fairs, two days before and two days after the feast of St Philip and St James in May, and similarly in October on the feast of Edward the Confessor (the saint associated with the town). The aim of the annual charter fairs was to establish Stow as a place to trade and alleviate the unpredictability of the passing trade. These fairs were located in the square, which is still the town centre. Civil war Stow played a role in the English Civil War. A number of engagements took place in the area, the local church of St Edward being damaged in one skirmish. On 21 March 1646, the Royalists, commanded by Sir Jacob Astley, were defeated at the Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold, with hundreds of prisoners being confined for some time in St Edwards. This battle took place one mile north of Stow-on-the-Wold. After initial royalist success, the superiority of the parliamentary forces overwhelmed and routed the royalist forces. Fleeing the field, the royalists fought a running fight back into the streets of Stow, where the final action took place, culminating in surrender in the market square. Modern As the fairs grew in fame and importance, so did the town. Traders dealing in livestock added many handmade goods, and the wool trade was always prominent. Daniel Defoe reported in the 18th century that 20,000 sheep were sold in one day. Many alleys known as 'tures' that run between buildings into the market square were used in herding sheep to be sold. From the mid-19th century, the Talbot Hotel was the venue for corn merchants carrying out their trade. Most of the buildings around the market square dated from the 18th to 19th century including St Edward's Hall (the present-day library). As the wool trade declined, people began to trade in horses. The practice continues, although the fair has been moved from the square to a large field near the village of Maugersbury every May and October. It remains popular, with roads around Stow blocked by the extra traffic for many hours. However, there has been controversy surrounding Stow Fair. The many visitors and traders have attracted more vendors not dealing in horses. Local businesses used to profit from the increased custom, but in recent years most pubs and shops close for 2–3 miles around due to the risks of theft or vandalism. Governance The town belongs to the Stow electoral ward, which covers the parishes of Stow-on-the-Wold, Maugersbury and Swell. In 2010 these parishes had a total population of 2,594. Stow-on-the-Wold has an active Parish Council with 10 members. Stow-on-the-Wold ward is represented on Cotswold District Council by the Liberal Democrat Councillor Dilys Neill, who was first elected in the 2016 local elections. The Stow Division is represented on Gloucestershire County Council by the Conservative Councillor Mark Mackenzie-Charrington. Stow Ward Gloucestershire County Council Economy Scotts of Stow, a mail order company, also has two shops in the town. Media Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Oxford and local relay transmitters. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Heart West, Greatest Hits Radio South West and Cotswolds Radio, community based radio station The town is served by the local newspaper, Cotswold Journal. Popular culture Given its exposed spot on the top of Stow Hill, the town is often referred to as "Stow on the Wold, where the winds blow cold." Stow-on-the-Wold, Where the wind blows cold. Where horses young and old are sold, Where farmers come to spend their gold, Where men are fools and women are bold, And many a wicked tale is told. High on the freezing Cotswold. Stow-on-the-Wold featured prominently in the eleventh episode of series 6 of Top Gear, when Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the Ford F-Series there. He chose it as a venue because it is a typical community in the English countryside, which Clarkson compares to the American countryside in the episode. The town, in the year 1067, is the setting of Kurt Vonnegut's short story "The Unicorn Trap", published in the posthumous collection Armageddon in Retrospect. Transport The following roads pass through the town: The Fosse Way (A429) runs from the M4 motorway, just north of Chippenham, to the M40 motorway at Warwick The A424 links the town centre to the A44, near Bourton-on-the-Hill, which continues to Evesham The A436 connects Brockworth with Salford, Oxfordshire. From 1881 until 1962, the town was served by Stow-on-the-Wold railway station on the Great Western Railway's Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. The nearest station is now at Moreton-in-Marsh, which is 4 miles (6.4 km) away, on the Cotswold Line between Hereford and London Paddington; services are provided by Great Western Railway. An alternative is at Kingham, 5 miles (8.0 km) away from Stow on the same line. Local bus services are operated predominantly by Pulhams Coaches; key routes that serve the town lead to Moreton-in-Marsh, Hook Norton and Bourton-on-the-Water. Notable people Clement Barksdale (1609–1687), writer and poet, was Rector of Stow-on-the-Wold from 1660 to 1687. Edmund Chilmead (1610–1654), writer, translator and musician, was born in the town. George Wilkinson (1814–1890), was the architect of Stow-on-the-Wold Workhouse in 1836. George Pepall (1876–1953), county cricketer, was born in the town. Harry Ferguson (1884–1960), engineer and inventor of the Ferguson tractor, died in the town. Frederic Bartlett (1886–1969), experimental psychologist and academic, was born in the town. John Howland (1895–1958), county cricketer, was born in the town. John Entwistle (1944–2002), musician, producer and bass guitarist of the Who, bought Quarwood in Stow-on-the-Wold in 1976. His funeral was held at St Edward's Church. David Loder (born 1964), racehorse trainer, was born in the town. References External links Town council's web site Stow-on-the-Wold at Curlie

Witney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witney

Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is 12 miles (19 km) west of Oxford. History The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as Wyttannige in a Saxon charter of 969. The Domesday Book of 1086 records it as Witenie, in the ancient hundred of Bampton. The Church of England parish church of St Mary the Virgin was originally Norman. The north porch and north aisle were added in this style late in the 12th century, and survived a major rebuilding in about 1243. In this rebuilding the present chancel, transepts, tower and spire were added and the nave was remodelled, all in the Early English style. In the 14th century a number of side chapels and some of the present windows were added in the Decorated style. In the 15th century the south transept was extended and the present west window of the nave were added in the Perpendicular style. The tower has a peal of eight bells. The tower of the church is 69 feet (21 metres) high, topped by a tall and slender spire, which brings the total height of the church to 154 feet (47 metres). Holy Trinity Church, Wood Green, was built in 1849 in a Gothic Revival rendition of Early English Gothic. St Mary the Virgin and Holy Trinity are now members of a single team parish. The Friends Meeting House in Wood Green was built in the 18th century. Since 1997 Quakers in Witney have met at the Corn Exchange. The Methodist church in the High Street was built in 1850. It is now one of five Methodist churches and chapels in Witney. The Roman Catholic parish of Our Lady and Saint Hugh was founded in 1913. It originally used a chapel in West End built in 1881 but now has its own modern building. The old chapel in West End is now Elim Christian Fellowship. Witney High Street still has several older buildings, which are protected by the Witney and Cogges conservation area. Witney Market began in the Middle Ages. Thursday is the traditional market day but there is also a market on Saturday. The buttercross in the market square is so called because people from neighbouring towns would gather there to buy butter and eggs. It was built in about 1600 and its clock was added in 1683. Witney Town Hall, which is arcaded on the ground floor and has an assembly room on the first floor, was completed in 1786. Witney has long been an important crossing over the River Windrush. The architect Thomas Wyatt rebuilt the bridge in Bridge Street in 1822. Witney workhouse was on Razor Hill (now Tower Hill). It was designed by the architect George Wilkinson and built in 1835–36. It had four wings radiating from an octagonal central building, similar to the Chipping Norton workhouse, which also was built by Wilkinson. His younger brother William Wilkinson added a separate chapel to Witney Workhouse in 1860. In the First World War the workhouse held prisoners of war. In 1940 the workhouse was converted into Crawford Collets engineering factory under the direction of Leonard Frank Eve. The chapel was made the factory canteen. In 1979 Crawford Collets had the main buildings demolished and replaced with a modern factory, but preserved the entrance gate and former chapel. In 2004 the modern factory was demolished for redevelopment. The gate and chapel have again been preserved and the former chapel converted into offices. Industry Witney has been famous for its woollen blankets since the Middle Ages. The water for the production of these blankets is drawn from the River Windrush, which was believed to be the secret of Witney's high-quality blankets. The cloth industry dominated life in Witney where one 17th-century observer noted that "almost 3,000 people from 8 years old to old age worked" in the manufacture of blankets. Mops were also traditionally made by the blanket manufacturers; at one time every ship in the Royal Navy had Witney mops aboard. The Blanket Hall in High Street was built in 1721 for weighing and measuring blankets. At one time there were five blanket factories in the town but with the closure of the largest blanket maker Early's, in 2002, the town's blanket industry completely ceased production. Early's factory, once a vital and important part of the town's history, has now been demolished, and is the site of several new housing estates. One of the oldest mill sites in the town, New Mill, where there has been a mill since the Domesday Book, now houses the head office of Audley Travel. For many years Witney had its own brewery and maltings: J.W. Clinch and Co, which founded the Eagle Maltings in 1841. In 1961, Courage bought Clinch's for its pub estate and closed down the brewery. Paddy Glenny founded the Glenny Brewery at the former Clinch's site in 1983, but it was renamed to Wychwood Brewery in 1990. Wychwood brewed real ales, including Hobgoblin, its flagship brand. Refresh UK, a subsidiary of Marston's Brewery, took over the brewery in 2002, and Marston's bought Refresh UK and Wychwood Brewery outright in 2008. Marston's brewing operations, including Wychwood Brewery, were merged into Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company in 2020, and Wychwood Brewery was shut down in November 2023, its brands continuing to be brewed elsewhere in the CMBC network. Railways The Witney Railway opened Witney's first station in 1861, linking the town to Yarnton where the line joined the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. In 1873 the East Gloucestershire Railway opened from a new station, linking Witney with Lechlade and Fairford. The Great Western Railway operated services on both lines and eventually took them over. In 1962 British Railways closed the EGR completely and withdrew passenger services from the Witney Railway. In 1970 British Railways closed the Witney Railway completely and it was dismantled. Reopening proposal In 2015 Witney Oxford Transport Group (WOT) proposed the reopening of the railway, with a station at Witney, as an alternative to improvements to the A40 road proposed by Oxfordshire County Council. In 2016 WOT and West Oxfordshire Green Party cited chronic traffic congestion on roads linking Witney with Oxford as a reason to reopen the railway. In 2021 WOT Group submitted a bid to the Department for Transport's 'Restoring Your Railway' Ideas Fund for a grant to develop the case for a new railway in the A40 corridor 'Building a better-connected West Oxfordshire, transforming the wider Oxford economic region' as part of an Oxford Metro advocated by Railfuture. Museums Witney has four museums. Cogges Manor Farm Museum, in the 13th-century manor house and farm of Cogges, represents farming and countryside history. Witney and District Museum has many artefacts and documents representing the history of the town. Witney Blanket Hall, built in the 18th century, showcases both the history of the Hall and of Witney's blanket industry and has Witney blankets for sale. The Wychwood Brewery has a museum open at weekends. Education Witney has three county secondary schools: Henry Box School, Wood Green School and Springfield School. In 1660 Henry Box founded Witney Grammar School. In 1968 it became the comprehensive Henry Box School. In 1970 new school buildings were added to the original 17th-century premises beside Church Green. Wood Green School was founded in 1954 and is at the top of Woodstock Road. Springfield School was founded in 1967 and is a special-needs school for pupils with severe learning difficulties. Springfield School senior section is a self-contained unit, with some shared facilities, within the grounds of Wood Green School. Wood Green was substantially expanded from 2000 to 2004; an additional block with 15 teaching rooms was added, together with a purpose-built sixth form centre, school restaurant and new AstroTurf pitch. 2009 saw part of the old Lower School being remodelled to provide new changing and shower facilities for the AstroTurf pitch and its many users from local community sports clubs. The King's School is independent of Oxfordshire Local Education Authority. It was founded by Oxfordshire Community Churches, an evangelical Christian organisation, in 1984. Cokethorpe School is an independent secondary school, founded in 1957. St. Mary's School beside Church Green was established in 1813. It was a Church of England primary school but in 1953 it became a Church of England controlled School for Infant children, and the Junior children transferred to the Batt School premises. Witney now has two Church of England primary schools: The Batt School in Corn Street and The Blake School in Cogges Hill Road. Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School is a Roman Catholic school founded in 1958. Witney has five community primary schools: Madley Park Community Primary School, Queen's Dyke Primary School, Tower Hill Community Primary School, West Witney Primary School and Witney Community Primary School. It also has one SEN primary school, Springfield School, which is part of the same school as Springfield secondary School. Springfield school (Primary) shares a building with Madley Brook Primary, but aside from sharing a building, some resources and integration, the schools run independently of one another. The former Witney Technical College is now part of Abingdon and Witney College. A complete rebuilding of its premises began in September 2008. Sports Witney United Football Club, formerly known as Witney Town and nicknamed the Blanketmen, played in the Hellenic League Premier Division, until they dissolved in the 2012–2013 season. Witney and District League is a local association football league with about 32 clubs in five divisions. Witney Rugby Football Club first XV plays in the RFU South West 1 East. Wychwood Ladies Hockey Club's first team play in the Trysport Hockey League Division 1; Witney Hockey Club men's first XI plays in the England Hockey Men's Conference East division and its ladies' first XI plays in South Clubs' Women's Hockey League Division 3A. Witney Swifts Cricket Club first XI plays in Oxfordshire Cricket Association Division Three. Witney Wolves Basketball Club plays in the Oxford and Chiltern Basketball League. The Toleman Group Motorsport racing team was once based in Witney until it was rebranded Benetton Formula in 1986. The team itself stayed in Witney until 1992 when they moved to Enstone eventually being rebranded in 2002 as Renault F1 when the team was purchased by the French Renault car company. The team competed as Renault F1 until 2011, when it was again rebranded this time under the "Lotus Renault GP" name after forging a partnership with the British Lotus Cars company. The subsequent year the team became Lotus F1 after they dropped the Renault name. The team was later re-purchased by Renault in late 2015 to become the Renault Sport F1 Team for 2016. Politics Witney was, until recently, a safe seat for the Conservative Party. Former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and former leader of the Conservatives and Prime Minister David Cameron were both MPs for Witney. In the 1997 General Election, Shaun Woodward stood and won the seat as a Conservative, after Hurd retired. Woodward switched to the Labour Party in 1999. In the 2001 General Election Woodward stood as the Labour candidate in the St Helens South constituency, and David Cameron retook Witney for the Conservatives. He became Prime Minister in coalition with the Liberal Democrats in May 2010 and continued after the 2015 election, in which the Conservative Party gained a majority, but retired to the backbenches after the referendum that rejected his government's recommendation to remain in the European Union. He stood down as an MP soon afterwards, triggering a by-election held on 20 October 2016, in which Robert Courts was elected for the Conservatives. Courts was re-elected in 2017. For elections to Oxfordshire County Council Witney is covered by the electoral wards of 'Witney North and East' and 'Witney South and Central'. The west of the town is included in the ward of 'Witney West and Bampton' which includes villages of Bampton and Ducklington. The wards were created in 2013, with the new Witney South and Central won by the Labour Party and the other two wards won by the Conservatives. At the 2021 Oxfordshire County Council election Labour held Witney South and Central and gained Witney North and East from the Conservatives. For elections to West Oxfordshire District Council Witney is divided into the wards of Witney Central, Witney East, Witney North, Witney South and Witney West electing a total of 12 district councillors. As of 2023 the majority of Witney town councillors represent The Labour Party. The Mayor of Witney for 2023 is The Labour Party's Owen Collins, along with Deputy Mayor Georgia Meadows. Twinning Witney is twinned with: Unterhaching, Germany Le Touquet, France Floods In July 2007 Witney saw its worst flooding in more than 50 years. Homes and businesses were evacuated and Bridge Street, a major road into the town and the only road across the Windrush, was closed. About 200 properties in central Witney were flooded, with areas around Bridge Street, Mill Street and West End the worst affected. The new and incomplete housing development Aquarius also suffered substantial flooding. In 2008 further flooding contributed to the death of a 17-year-old boy who drowned in a culvert. Climate Witney has a maritime climate type typical to the British Isles, with evenly spread rainfall, a narrow temperature range, and comparatively low sunshine totals. The nearest official weather station is Brize Norton, about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Witney. The absolute maximum recorded was 35.4c(95.7f) in August 1990, although in a typical year the warmest day should only reach 29.5c(85.1f) with an average of 14.6 days reporting a maximum temperature of 25.1c(77.2f) or above. The absolute minimum is −20.7c(−5.3f), recorded in January 1982. In a more typical year the annual minimum temperature should be −8.1c(17.4f), although a total of 47.1 nights should report an air frost. Rainfall averages slightly under 644mm per year with more than 1mm of rain falling on just under 115 days of the year. Media The town receives its television signals from the Oxford TV transmitter. In May 2010, WitneyTV was launched as a non-profit online broadcaster with a weekly show that features local news and upcoming events within West Oxfordshire for the benefit of the community. An archive of videos featuring local attractions, clubs, organisations and previous shows is also available. A small-scale music festival, Witney Music festival, is held annually on The Leys Recreation Ground. While mostly hosting smaller local artists and tribute bands, it has previously hosted acts such as EMF, The Farm and N-Trance. Witney has a number of recording studios, including The Witney Music Rooms and GreenRoomStudios. There are also several small venues for music, including Fat Lil's, a music and comedy venue, Langdale Hall, a function venue that regularly hosts music acts, and Studio Se7en, a live music venue sited at GreenRoomStudios. Witney has an independent record shop which was established in 2004 as Rapture. In 2011, Rapture's owner, Gary Smith, collaborated with Truck Festival co-founder Robin Bennett to open Truck Store, a sister store on Cowley Road in Oxford. Rapture adopted the Oxford store's name and branding in 2022 and now operates as Truck Witney. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Oxford on 95.2 FM, Heart South on 102.6 FM, and Greatest Hits Radio South on 106.4 FM. On 30 November 2012 Witney Radio was launched, providing hyper-local news, music and current affairs to the people of Witney and West Oxfordshire. A licence to broadcast on FM radio was granted in April 2016 by the licensing authority Ofcom. On 14 July 2017 Witney Radio began to broadcast on 99.9fm to Witney and West Oxfordshire. The station broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with over 30 presenters from the local area. The station also broadcasts online for listeners online via TuneIn. An Internet radio station, Windrush Radio, was established in 2018. It broadcasts mostly pop and electronic music in the daytime, but has a number of hosts that present specific genres, including a showcase of local artists. Windrush Radio has announced plans to broadcast over DAB radio, and a small-scale radio multiplex license has been submitted to Ofcom. The local newspapers are the Oxford Times, Oxfordshire Guardian and Witney Gazette. Notable people Notable people associated with Witney include: Steve Fletcher, horologist and TV personality Emma Appleton, actress David Cameron, former MP for Witney and former Prime Minister of the UK and former Foreign Secretary Jamie Cook, footballer Alan Dapre, children's TV show writer Lawson D'Ath, footballer Jorge Grant, footballer Darrell Griffin, rugby league footballer Douglas Hurd, former MP for Witney and former Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary Charlie Hutchison, British communist Martin Jones, concert pianist Simon King, footballer Graham Leonard, 130th Bishop of London Rhys Lewis, singer-songwriter Andrew Logan, artist Gugu Mbatha-Raw, TV and film actress Maddie Moate, television presenter and YouTuber David Moss, footballer Robbie Mustoe, footballer Lorraine Pascal, model and TV chef Miss Read (Dora Saint), author Larry Sanders, Green party councillor William Smith, cricketer James Allen Shuffrey, watercolour artist Leonard Shuffrey, architect and architectural designer Patrick Steptoe, pioneer of fertility treatment Dan Tomlinson, Labour politician Shaun Woodward, Conservative and then Labour MP for Witney, then Labour MP for St Helens South See also West Oxfordshire District References Sources and further reading Jenkins, Stanley (2013). The Witney & Fairford Branch Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-1649-0. Jenkins, Stanley (2010). Witney: A History. Phillimore & Co. ISBN 978-1-86077-620-5. Monk, William J (1894). History of Witney. Witney: Witney Gazette. Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 843–851. ISBN 0-14-071045-0. Townley, Simon C.; Baggs, A. P.; Chance, Eleanor; Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Janet; Day, C. J.; Selwyn, Nesta; Williamson, Elizabeth; Yates, Margaret, eds. (2004). A History of the County of Oxford. Victoria County History. Vol. 14: Witney and its Townships: Bampton Hundred (Part Two). Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer for the Institute of Historical Research. pp. 1–170. ISBN 978-1-904356-25-7. External links British History Online Witney entry Official Witney Town Council website Witney website – Witney website This is Witney website Archived 22 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine "Witney" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 761–762. The Book Of Witney Archived 15 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine – by Charles and Joan Gott Witney & District Historical and Archaeological Society – Talks, articles and photo galleries relating to Witney and local area. Archival material relating to Witney listed at the UK National Archives

Jenna_Lyons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenna_Lyons

Jenna Lyons (born June 8, 1968) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and television personality. Lyons was the executive creative director and president of retailer J.Crew from 2010 until April 2017, when she announced her departure from the company. Lyons began working for J.Crew in 1990 and held various positions throughout her twenty-seven years at the company. In 2013, Lyons was referred to as the "Woman Who Dresses America". She is the CEO and co-founder of LoveSeen, a false eyelash beauty brand. She is also known for starring in the reality television series Stylish with Jenna Lyons and The Real Housewives of New York City, which she joined in the show's fourteenth season. Early life and education Lyons was born Judith Agar Lyons in Boston, Massachusetts. She moved to Palos Verdes, California when she was four. Here, she grew up being subjected to heavy bullying, due to her gawkiness and health problems. She suffered from incontinentia pigmenti, a genetic disorder which scarred her skin, caused her hair to fall out in patches, and caused her teeth to be malformed, which is the reason she wears dentures. Much of Lyons' outlooks and interests stem from her childhood experiences. About her childhood, she states that her genetic condition "made me introverted, but it was also the reason I loved fashion, because it can change who you are and how you feel, and that can be magical." Her mother was a piano teacher who encouraged her to get involved creatively, leading to her interest in fashion. She loved to rebel against her school uniform, and she learned to sew in seventh grade, which granted her more confidence. One of her personal motivations for success stems from witnessing her parents' divorce and having to never rely on a man to get by. After high school Lyons enrolled at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, before soon transferring to Parsons’ BFA Fashion Design program in New York City. Lyons graduated in 1990, alongside classmate designer Derek Lam. During her senior year at Parsons Lyons interned for fashion designer Donna Karan. Career J.Crew Lyons landed her first job at J.Crew when she was 21. She began as an assistant designer in men's wear, and her first assignment was redesigning men's rugby shirts for the company. By 2003, she was J.Crew's Vice President of Women's Design. When former CEO and chairman Millard Drexler was hired in 2003, he and Lyons began to form a close relationship. The two were key players in helping J.Crew triple its revenue from just short of $690 million in 2003 to just shy of $2 billion in 2011. In April 2010, Lyons was appointed executive creative director of J.Crew. In July of that same year she was also appointed president of the company. Lyons has said of her holding both of these roles, "no financial decision weighs heavier than a creative decision. They are equal." In this role, Lyons oversaw the over one hundred designers of J.Crew and directed the layouts, designs, and looks for the J.Crew catalog, or as the company calls it, its Style Guide. One of the biggest changes Lyons made at the company was reinventing their Style Guide. Lyons wanted it to have the feel of a fashion magazine, and the amount of editorial content increased drastically. This included a section entitled "Jenna's Picks" that looked at her opinions and revealed more about her everyday life. It also highlighted Lyons' personal clothing style, described by The New York Times as "geek-chic quirkiness, which mixed camouflage and sequins for day, and denim and taffeta for evening, all of it layered with big costume jewelry". Lyons crafted the brand and style of J.Crew around her trademark style. She made J.Crew a tastemaker in the industry, though Lyons herself does not like to refer to herself as a tastemaker. While Lyons' work at J. Crew contributed to her fame, she also faced controversy in 2011 when she was featured painting her then 4-year-old son's toenails hot pink. Some called this act "an attack on masculinity." Others, however, viewed it as a breaking from gender norms. Despite it gaining national attention, such as being featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where it was labeled "Toemaggedon", both Lyons and J.Crew initially declined to comment. Lyons later stated that her son was watching her paint her nails and simply requested that she paint his as well. Lyons exited J.Crew in April 2017. Her departure was connected to declining sales and financial problems at the company. Her overarching role overseeing all aesthetic aspects of the brand (including store design and marketing) was not maintained, with the new chief design officer, Somsack Sikhounmuong, focusing more narrowly on women's, men's and children's clothing. Television In early 2014, Lyons made her acting debut in the third season of the HBO series Girls, where she played the role of a GQ editor that series creator Lena Dunham said was inspired by Lyons. Lyons executive produced and starred in Stylish with Jenna Lyons, an unscripted reality competition series where contestants competed for a creative assistant job with Lyons, which debuted on HBO Max in December 2020. In October 2022, it was announced that Lyons was joining the cast of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City. The fourteenth season of the series, Lyons's first, premiered on July 16, 2023. Other projects In September 2020, Lyons launched LoveSeen, a false eyelash beauty brand. She is co-creator and CEO of the company. Personal life Lyons was married to artist Vincent Mazeau from 2002 until 2011. Together they have a son, Beckett Lyons Mazeau, who was born on October 3, 2006. Lyons is a lesbian. During the midst of her divorce from Mazeau in 2011, Lyons was outed by the New York Post. Lyons later recounted that the publication contacted her while she was at work to tell her that they would be running a story about her being in a relationship with a woman, Courtney Crangi. Lyons expressed that the experience was traumatic for her because she wasn't ready to publicly come out and hadn't even told her friends and family about the relationship at the time. In 2012, Lyons publicly acknowledged Crangi as her girlfriend. Lyons and Crangi split up in December 2017. In 2023, Lyons announced that she is currently in a relationship with photographer Cass Bird. Awards and accolades Lyons won Glamour's 2012 Women of the Year award. She is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America Board of Directors. In 2013 Lyons was selected for the Time 100 list of top 100 most influential people as a Tastemaker, noted for how "she has made fashion relatable... She understands our zeitgeist. Being fashionable doesn’t mean being trendy; it means having a sense of style." References External links Jenna Lyons at IMDb Jenna Lyons on Instagram

The_Real_Housewives_of_New_York_City

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Housewives_of_New_York_City

The Real Housewives of New York City, abbreviated RHONY, is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on March 4, 2008. Developed as the second installment of The Real Housewives franchise, it has aired fifteen seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women residing in New York City. The cast of the first season consisted of Bethenny Frankel, Luann de Lesseps, Alex McCord, Ramona Singer, and Jill Zarin. Other housewives that starred in multiple of the first thirteen seasons include Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Sonja Morgan, Carole Radziwill, Heather Thomson, Dorinda Medley and Tinsley Mortimer. The series was rebooted in its fourteenth season, making it the first series in the franchise to be completely recast. The cast of the current fifteenth season consists of Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank, Brynn Whitfield and Racquel Chevremont, with Rebecca Minkoff serving as a "friend of the housewives". The success of the show has resulted in three spin-offs: Bethenny Ever After, Bethenny & Fredrik and Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake. Production Seasons 1–4 While in pre-production, the show was initially titled Manhattan Moms. It was later rebranded to become the second installment of the then-new Real Housewives franchise. The first season premiered on March 4, 2008, and starred Bethenny Frankel, Luann de Lesseps, Alex McCord, Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin. Cast members were paid for their appearances on the series. Bethenny Frankel, for example, was paid $7,250 for the season. Kelly Killoren Bensimon was added to the cast for the second season, which premiered on February 17, 2009. The third season premiered March 4, 2010 and saw the addition of Sonja Morgan as a main cast member, along with Jennifer Gilbert in a recurring capacity. In August 2010, Frankel left the show in order to expand her Skinnygirl product line. Cindy Barshop replaced Frankel for the show's fourth season, which premiered on April 7, 2011. After the fourth season, McCord, Zarin, Killoren Bensimon and Barshop were effectively let go from the show. Seasons 5–8 In April 2012, Bravo announced a revamp to the cast for its fifth season, integrating Aviva Drescher, Carole Radziwill, and Heather Thomson into the main cast. The season premiered on June 4, 2012. Production for the sixth season was set to begin on May 8, 2013, but the cast instead chose to go into salary negotiations with Bravo, effectively delaying shooting. Drescher, Morgan, Radziwill, Singer, and Thomson renewed their contract in May 2013, while de Lesseps was demoted to a recurring role. The sixth season premiered on March 11, 2014, a year later than planned with Kristen Taekman as the latest housewife. Drescher was dismissed after the sixth season. The seventh season premiered on April 7, 2015, featuring the return of Frankel and addition of Dorinda Medley, while de Lesseps returned in a full-time role. Taekman and Thomson exited the series after the season ended. For the eighth season, which premiered on April 6, 2016, Jules Wainstein was added to the cast, while Thomson returned in a guest appearance, Taekman did not return. Wainstein left the show in September 2016 for personal reasons. Seasons 9–13 The ninth season premiered on April 5, 2017. Tinsley Mortimer joined the cast, while former housewives Thomson and Zarin appeared as guests. The tenth season premiered on April 4, 2018, with the cast of the ninth season returning. Drescher, Killoren Bensimon, Thomson and Zarin all appeared as guests. It served as Radziwill's final appearance on the show. The eleventh season premiered on March 6, 2019. Barbara Kavovit joined as a friend of the housewives, and Zarin appeared as a guest. Frankel departed the series after the season for a second time. The twelfth season featured Leah McSweeney joining the cast, which premiered on April 2, 2020. Zarin and Thomson appeared as guests in the twelfth season. Mortimer and Medley announced their departure from the series in June 2020 and August 2020 respectively. Mortimer coincided her announcement with her relocation to Chicago, to pursue her romantic relationship with Scott Kluth, while Medley later stated she was fired from the show. The thirteenth season premiered on May 4, 2021, with Eboni K. Williams joining the series, in addition to Heather Thomson and Bershan Shaw appearing as friends of the housewives. In September 2021, it was confirmed by Bravo that the thirteenth season reunion was officially cancelled. In 2022, the Jewish Journal named Frankel and Zarin as two of "The Top 10 Jewish Reality TV Stars of All Time." Season 14–present On March 23, 2022, it was announced that following the thirteenth season's negative reception, the showrunners had made the decision to 'most likely' recast the show from scratch for the fourteenth season, and create a second version of the show following some of the show's original housewives, referred to as RHONY: Legacy or RHONY: Throwback. It was later announced that veteran housewives de Lesseps and Morgan would star in their own spin-off series titled Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake. Filming for the spin-off began in July 2022 in the small town of Benton, Illinois. The series premiered on July 9, 2023. The fifth season of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, a spin-off featuring various women from The Real Housewives franchise, being billed as 'RHONY Legacy' premiered in December 2023 on Peacock. Taking place in Saint Barthélemy in the same villa that was featured in the fifth season of The Real Housewives of New York, the cast includes Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Dorinda Medley, Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer and Kristen Taekman. In September 2021, it was confirmed by Bravo that the thirteenth season reunion was officially cancelled. In March 2022, it was announced that following the thirteenth season's negative reception, the series would see its primary cast retooled, with members of its original cast relegated to a separate show. Although the series has partially shifted its cast before, this marked the first time that the network had decided to completely replace the cast. As a result, the series’s fourteenth season was billed as a series reboot, with little to no connections to the original cast of the series. On October 16, 2022, Andy Cohen revealed the new cast for the show's fourteenth season by announcing that Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Lizzy Savetsky, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield would be leading the rebooted series. On November 16, 2022, Bravo confirmed that Savetsky was departing the series midway into filming the season. Savetsky claims that the reason behind her decision to quit was that she had received anti-Semitic hate across her social media accounts. The fourteenth season premiered on July 16, 2023. In March 2024, Bravo announced that the show was renewed for a fifteenth season, with all six housewives from the fourteenth season returning. In April 2024, it was announced that Rebecca Minkoff would be joining the series in a friend of capacity. In June 2024, it was announced that Racquel Chevremont would also be joining the fifteenth season of the series as a full-time housewife. The fifteenth season premiered on October 1, 2024. Cast Timeline of cast members Episodes Critical reception Then-current cast member Frankel stated in 2017 that she would like to see the series "represent New York more." Writing for The New York Times in October 2019, author Tracie Egan Morrissey posed the question, "If less than half of the city is white, why is 100 percent of the cast of The Real Housewives of New York City white?" Former cast member Heather Thomson also stated that during her time on the series she had pitched several women of color to the show's producers to diversify its cast members due to her concerns about the issue. The women also received backlash for highlighting the class divide in America through the ignorance and mistreatment of staff featured on the show. The announcements of both the reboot and new cast of the show's fourteenth season have been criticized by some long-time viewers of the series, who argued that these were rash and poor decisions on Bravo's part. The reboot's cast has been deemed unappealing by these viewers, many of whom appreciated the franchise's specific focus on established spheres of older, upper-class New York socialites, labeling the choice to fill the new cast with "influencers" as a deviation from the show's original subject matter. The decision has been labeled as another move in Bravo's larger attempt to appeal the network to a younger and more social media-oriented audience. Broadcast history The Real Housewives of New York City airs regularly on Bravo in the United States; most episodes are approximately forty-two minutes in length, and are broadcast in standard definition and high definition. Since its premiere, the series has alternated airing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and has been frequently shifted between the 8:00, 9:00, and 10:00 PM timeslots. Other media In July 2012, Bravo released a social networking video game version of The Real Housewives of New York City titled as Real Housewives: The Game. Following weekly new episodes, a new game was available based on the story. In 2016, On Location Tours hosted an official The Real Housewives of New York-themed tour in New York City. The tour is centered around giving passengers an almost four-hour trip to visit numerous places where current and former housewives "have dined, shopped, dated or had a fight or two," and is described as the "ultimate, one-of-a-kind Real Housewives experience." References External links Official website The Real Housewives of New York City at IMDb

List_of_modernist_writers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modernist_writers

Literary modernism has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. Modernism is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and prose. Modernists experimented with literary form and expression, adhering to Ezra Pound's maxim to "Make it new". The modernist literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to overturn traditional modes of representation and express the new sensibilities of their time. It is debatable when the modernist literary movement began, though some have chosen 1910 as roughly marking the beginning and quote novelist Virginia Woolf, who declared that human nature underwent a fundamental change "on or about December 1910." But modernism was already stirring by 1899, with works such as Joseph Conrad's (1857–1924) Heart of Darkness, while Alfred Jarry's (1873–1907) absurdist play, Ubu Roi appeared even earlier, in 1896. Knut Hamsun's (1859–1952) Hunger (1890) is a groundbreaking modernist novel and Mysteries (1892) pioneers modernist stream of consciousness method. When modernism ends is debatable. Though The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature sees Modernism ending by c.1939, with regard to British and American literature, "When (if) Modernism petered out and postmodernism began has been contested almost as hotly as when the transition from Victorianism to Modernism occurred". Clement Greenberg sees Modernism ending in the 1930s, with the exception of the visual and performing arts. In fact many literary modernists lived into the 1950s and 1960s, though generally speaking they were no longer producing major works. The term late modernism is also sometimes applied to modernist works published after 1930. Among modernists (or late modernists) still publishing after 1945 were Wallace Stevens, Gottfried Benn, T. S. Eliot, Anna Akhmatova, William Faulkner, Dorothy Richardson, John Cowper Powys, and Ezra Pound. Basil Bunting, born in 1901, published his most important modernist poem Briggflatts in 1965. In addition Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil was published in 1945 and Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus in 1947. Samuel Beckett, who died in 1989, has been described as a "later modernist". Beckett is a writer with roots in the expressionist tradition of modernism, who produced works from the 1930s until the 1980s, including Molloy (1951), En attendant Godot (1953), Happy Days (1961), Rockaby (1981). The poets Charles Olson (1910-1970) and J. H. Prynne (1936- ) are, amongst other writing in the second half of the 20th century, who have been described as late modernists. List The following is a list of significant modernist writers: References See also List of modernist women writers List of modernist poets Modernist literature English literature American literature European literature French literature German literature

James_Joyce

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922) is a landmark in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, particularly stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, letters, and occasional journalism. Joyce was born in Dublin into a middle-class family. He attended the Jesuit Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, then, briefly, the Christian Brothers–run O'Connell School. Despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's unpredictable finances, he excelled at the Jesuit Belvedere College and graduated from University College Dublin in 1902. In 1904, he met his future wife, Nora Barnacle, and they moved to mainland Europe. He briefly worked in Pula and then moved to Trieste in Austria-Hungary, working as an English instructor. Except for an eight-month stay in Rome working as a correspondence clerk and three visits to Dublin, Joyce resided there until 1915. In Trieste, he published his book of poems Chamber Music and his short story collection Dubliners, and he began serially publishing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the English magazine The Egoist. During most of World War I, Joyce lived in Zürich, Switzerland, and worked on Ulysses. After the war, he briefly returned to Trieste and then moved to Paris in 1920, which became his primary residence until 1940. Ulysses was first published in Paris in 1922, but its publication in the United Kingdom and the United States was prohibited because of its perceived obscenity. Copies were smuggled into both countries and pirated versions were printed until the mid-1930s, when publication finally became legal. Joyce started his next major work, Finnegans Wake, in 1923, publishing it sixteen years later in 1939. Between these years, Joyce travelled widely. He and Nora were married in a civil ceremony in London in 1931. He made a number of trips to Switzerland, frequently seeking treatment for his increasingly severe eye problems and psychological help for his daughter, Lucia. When France was occupied by Germany during World War II, Joyce moved back to Zürich in 1940. He died there in 1941 after surgery for a perforated ulcer, at age 58. Ulysses frequently ranks high in lists of great books, and the academic literature analysing his work is extensive and ongoing. Many writers, film-makers, and other artists have been influenced by his stylistic innovations, such as his meticulous attention to detail, use of interior monologue, wordplay, and the radical transformation of traditional plot and character development. Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, his fictional universe centres on Dublin and is largely populated by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there. Ulysses in particular is set in the streets and alleyways of the city. Joyce is quoted as saying, "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal." Early life Joyce was born on 2 February 1882 at 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland, to John Stanislaus Joyce and Mary Jane "May" (née Murray). He was the eldest of ten surviving siblings. He was baptised with the name James Augustine Joyce according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church in the nearby St Joseph's Church in Terenure on 5 February 1882 by Rev. John O'Mulloy. His godparents were Philip and Ellen McCann. John Stanislaus Joyce's family came from Fermoy in County Cork, where they owned a small salt and lime works. Joyce's paternal grandfather, James Augustine, married Ellen O'Connell, daughter of John O'Connell, a Cork alderman who owned a drapery business and other properties in Cork City. Ellen's family claimed kinship with the political leader Daniel O'Connell, who had helped secure Catholic emancipation for the Irish in 1829. Joyce's father was appointed rate collector by Dublin Corporation in 1887. The family moved to the fashionable small town of Bray, 12 miles (19 km) from Dublin. Joyce was attacked by a dog around this time, leading to his lifelong fear of dogs. He later developed a fear of thunderstorms, which he acquired through a superstitious aunt who had described them as a sign of God's wrath. In 1891, nine-year-old Joyce wrote the poem "Et Tu, Healy" on the death of Charles Stewart Parnell that his father printed and distributed to friends. The poem expressed the sentiments of the elder Joyce, who was angry at Parnell's apparent betrayal by the Irish Catholic Church, the Irish Parliamentary Party, and the British Liberal Party that resulted in a collaborative failure to secure Irish Home Rule in the British Parliament. This sense of betrayal, particularly by the church, left a lasting impression that Joyce expressed in his life and art. That year, his family began to slide into poverty, worsened by his father's drinking and financial mismanagement. John Joyce's name was published in Stubbs' Gazette, a blacklist of debtors and bankrupts, in November 1891, and he was temporarily suspended from work. In January 1893, he was dismissed with a reduced pension. Joyce began his education in 1888 at Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school near Clane, County Kildare, but had to leave in 1891 when his father could no longer pay the fees. He studied at home and briefly attended the Christian Brothers O'Connell School on North Richmond Street, Dublin. Joyce's father then had a chance meeting with the Jesuit priest John Conmee, who knew the family. Conmee arranged for Joyce and his brother Stanislaus to attend the Jesuits' Dublin school, Belvedere College, without fees starting in 1893. In 1895, Joyce, now aged 13, was elected by his peers to join the Sodality of Our Lady. Joyce spent five years at Belvedere, his intellectual formation guided by the principles of Jesuit education laid down in the Ratio Studiorum (Plan of Studies). He displayed his writing talent by winning first place for English composition in his final two years before graduating in 1898. University years Joyce enrolled at University College in 1898 to study English, French and Italian. While there, he was exposed to the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas, which had a strong influence on his thought for the rest of his life. He participated in many of Dublin's theatrical and literary circles. His closest colleagues included leading Irish figures of his generation, most notably, George Clancy, Tom Kettle and Francis Sheehy-Skeffington. Many of the acquaintances he made at this time appeared in his work. His first publication—a laudatory review of Henrik Ibsen's When We Dead Awaken—was printed in The Fortnightly Review in 1900. Inspired by Ibsen's works, Joyce sent him a fan letter in Norwegian and wrote a play, A Brilliant Career, which he later destroyed. In 1901 the National Census of Ireland listed Joyce as a 19-year-old Irish- and English-speaking unmarried student living with his parents, six sisters and three brothers at Royal Terrace (now Inverness Road) in Clontarf, Dublin. During this year he became friends with Oliver St. John Gogarty, the model for Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. In November, Joyce wrote an article, The Day of the Rabblement, criticising the Irish Literary Theatre for its unwillingness to produce the works of playwrights like Ibsen, Leo Tolstoy, and Gerhart Hauptmann. He protested against nostalgic Irish populism and argued for an outward-looking, cosmopolitan literature. Because he mentioned Gabriele D'Annunzio's novel Il fuoco (The Flame), which was on the Roman Catholic list of prohibited books, his college magazine refused to print it. Joyce and Sheehy-Skeffington—who had also had an article rejected—had their essays jointly printed and distributed. Arthur Griffith decried the censorship of Joyce's work in his newspaper United Irishman. Joyce graduated from the Royal University of Ireland in October 1902. He considered studying medicine and began attending lectures at the Catholic University Medical School in Dublin. When the medical school refused to provide a tutoring position to help finance his education, he left Dublin to study medicine in Paris, where he received permission to attend the course for a certificate in physics, chemistry, and biology at the École de Médecine. By the end of January 1903, he had given up plans to study medicine but he stayed in Paris, often reading late in the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. He frequently wrote home claiming ill health due to the water, the cold weather, and his change of diet, appealing for money his family could ill-afford. Post-university years in Dublin In April 1903, Joyce learned his mother was dying and immediately returned to Ireland. He would tend to her, reading aloud from drafts that would eventually be worked into his unfinished novel Stephen Hero. During her final days, she unsuccessfully tried to get him to make his confession and to take communion. She died on 13 August. Afterwards, Joyce and Stanislaus refused to kneel with other members of the family praying at her bedside. John Joyce's drinking and abusiveness increased in the months following her death, and the family began to fall apart. Joyce spent much of his time carousing with Gogarty and his medical school colleagues, and tried to scrape together a living by reviewing books. Joyce's life began to change when he met Nora Barnacle on 10 June 1904. She was a twenty-year-old woman from Galway city, who was working in Dublin as a chambermaid. They had their first outing together on 16 June 1904, walking through the Dublin suburb of Ringsend, where Nora masturbated him. This event was commemorated as the date for the action of Ulysses, known in popular culture as "Bloomsday" in honour of the novel's main character Leopold Bloom. This began a relationship that continued for thirty-seven years until Joyce died. Soon after this outing, Joyce, who had been carousing with his colleagues, approached a young woman in St Stephen's Green and was beaten up by her companion. He was picked up and dusted off by an acquaintance of his father's, Alfred H. Hunter, who took him into his home to tend to his injuries. Hunter, who was rumoured to be a Jew and to have an unfaithful wife, became one of the models for Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses. Joyce was a talented tenor and explored becoming a musical performer. On 8 May 1904, he was a contestant in the Feis Ceoil, an Irish music competition for promising composers, instrumentalists and singers. In the months before the contest, Joyce took singing lessons with two voice instructors, Benedetto Palmieri and Vincent O'Brien. He paid the entry fee by pawning some of his books. For the contest, Joyce had to sing three songs. He did well with the first two, but when he was told he had to sight read the third, he refused. Joyce won the third-place medal anyway. After the contest, Palmieri wrote Joyce that Luigi Denza, the composer of the popular song "Funiculì, Funiculà" who was the judge for the contest, spoke highly of his voice and would have given him first place but for the sight-reading and lack of sufficient training. Palmieri even offered to give Joyce free singing lessons afterwards. Joyce refused the lessons, but kept singing in Dublin concerts that year. His performance at a concert given on 27 August may have solidified Nora's devotion to him. Although Joyce did not ultimately pursue a singing career, he would include thousands of musical allusions in his literary works. Throughout 1904, Joyce sought to develop his literary reputation. On 7 January he attempted to publish a prose work examining aesthetics called A Portrait of the Artist, but it was rejected by the intellectual journal Dana. He then reworked it into a fictional novel of his youth that he called Stephen Hero that he labored over for years but eventually abandoned. He wrote a satirical poem called "The Holy Office", which parodied W. B. Yeats's poem "To Ireland in the Coming Times" and once more mocked the Irish Literary Revival. It too was rejected for publication; this time for being "unholy". He wrote the collection of poems Chamber Music at this time; which was also rejected. He did publish three poems, one in Dana and two in The Speaker, and George William Russell published three of Joyce's short stories in the Irish Homestead. These stories—"The Sisters", "Eveline", and "After the Race"—were the beginnings of Dubliners. In September 1904, Joyce was having difficulties finding a place to live and moved into a Martello tower near Dublin, which Gogarty was renting. Within a week, Joyce left when Gogarty and another roommate, Dermot Chenevix Trench, fired a pistol in the middle of the night at some pans hanging directly over Joyce's bed. With the help of funds from Lady Gregory and a few other acquaintances, Joyce and Nora left Ireland less than a month later. 1904–1906: Zürich, Pula and Trieste Zürich and Pula In October 1904, Joyce and Nora went into self-imposed exile. They briefly stopped in London and Paris to secure funds before heading on to Zürich. Joyce had been informed through an agent in England that there was a vacancy at the Berlitz Language School, but when he arrived there was no position. The couple stayed in Zürich for a little over a week. The director of the school sent Joyce on to Trieste, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the First World War. There was no vacancy there either. The director of the school in Trieste, Almidano Artifoni, secured a position for him in Pola, then Austria-Hungary's major naval base, where he mainly taught English to naval officers. Less than one month after the couple had left Ireland, Nora had already become pregnant. Joyce soon became close friends with Alessandro Francini Bruni, the director of the school at Pola, and his wife Clothilde. By the beginning of 1905, both families were living together. Joyce kept writing when he could. He completed a short story for Dubliners, "Clay", and worked on his novel Stephen Hero. He disliked Pola, calling it a "back-of-God-speed place—a naval Siberia", and soon as a job became available, he went to Trieste. First stay in Trieste Joyce moved to Trieste in March 1905 aged 23. He taught English at the Berlitz school. That June he published the satirical poem "Holy Office". After Nora gave birth to their first child, Giorgio, on 27 July 1905, He convinced Stanislaus to move to Trieste and attained a position for him at the Berlitz school. Stanislaus moved in with Joyce as soon as he arrived that October, although most of his salary went directly to supporting Joyce's family. In February 1906, the Joyce household once more shared an apartment with the Francini Brunis. During this period Joyce completing 24 chapters of Stephen Hero and all but the final story of Dubliners, but was unable to get Dubliners published. Although the London publisher Grant Richards had a contract with Joyce, the printers were unwilling to print passages they found controversial; English law could not protect them if brought to court for circulating indecent language. Richards and Joyce went back and forth trying to find a solution where the book could avoid legal liability while preserving Joyce's artistic integrity. As they negotiated, Richards began to scrutinise the stories more carefully. He became concerned that the book might damage his publishing house's reputation and eventually backed down from his agreement. Trieste was Joyce's main residence until 1920. Although he would temporarily stay in Rome, travel to Dublin and emigrating to Zürich during World War I— it became a second Dublin for him and played an important role in his development as a writer. He completed Dubliners, reworked Stephen Hero into A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, wrote his only published play Exiles and decided to make Ulysses a full-length novel as he worked through his notes and jottings, working out the characters of Leopold and Molly Bloom in Trieste. Many of the novel's details were taken from Joyce's observation of the city and its people, and some of its stylistic innovations appear to have been influenced by Futurism. There are even words of the Triestine dialect in Finnegans Wake. Joyce was introduced to the Greek Orthodox liturgy in Trieste. Under its influence, he rewrote his first short story and would later draw on it in creating the liturgical parodies in Ulysses. 1906–1915: Rome, Trieste, and sojourns to Dublin Rome In late May 1906, the head of the Berlitz school ran away after embezzling its funds. Artifoni took over the school but let Joyce know that he could only afford to keep one brother on. Tired of Trieste and discouraged that he could not get a publisher for Dubliners, Joyce found an advertisement for a correspondence clerk in a Roman bank that paid twice his current salary. He was hired for the position and went to Rome at the end of July. Joyce felt he accomplished very little during his brief stay in Rome, but it had a large impact on his writing. Though his new job took up most of his time, he revised Dubliners and worked on Stephen Hero. Rome was the birthplace of the idea for "The Dead", which would become the final story of Dubliners, and for Ulysses, which was originally conceived as a short story. His stay in the city was one of his inspirations for Exiles. While there, he read the socialist historian Guglielmo Ferrero in depth. Ferrero's anti-heroic interpretations of history, arguments against militarism, and conflicted attitudes toward Jews would find their way into Ulysses, particularly in the character of Leopold Bloom. In London, Elkin Mathews published Chamber Music on the recommendation of the British poet Arthur Symons. Nonetheless, Joyce was dissatisfied with his job, had exhausted his finances, and realised he would need additional support when he learned Nora was pregnant again. He left Rome after only seven months. Second stay in Trieste Joyce returned to Trieste in March 1907, but was unable to find full-time work. He went back to being an English instructor, working part-time for Berlitz and giving private lessons. The author Ettore Schmitz, better known by pen name Italo Svevo, was one of his students. Svevo was a Catholic of Jewish origin who became one of the models for Leopold Bloom. Joyce learned much of what he knew about Judaism from him. The two became lasting friends and mutual critics. Svevo supported Joyce's identity as an author, helping him work through his writer's block with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Roberto Prezioso, editor of the Italian newspaper Piccolo della Sera, was another of Joyce's students. He helped Joyce financially by commissioning him to write for the newspaper. Joyce quickly produced three articles aimed toward the Italian irredentists in Trieste. He indirectly paralleled their desire for independence from Austria-Hungary with the struggle of the Irish from British rule. Joyce earned additional money by giving a series of lectures at Trieste's Università Popolare on Ireland and the arts, as well as on William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. In May, Joyce was struck by an attack of rheumatic fever, which left him incapacitated for weeks. The illness exacerbated eye problems that plagued him for the rest of his life. While Joyce was still recovering from the attack, Lucia was born on 26 July 1907. During his convalescence, he was able to finish "The Dead", the last story of Dubliners. Although a heavy drinker, Joyce gave up alcohol for a period in 1908. He reworked Stephen Hero as the more concise and interior A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He completed the third chapter by April and translated John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea into Italian with the help of Nicolò Vidacovich. He even took singing lessons again. Joyce had been looking for an English publisher for Dubliners but was unable to find one, so he submitted it to a Dublin publisher, Maunsel and Company, owned by George Roberts. Visits to Dublin In July 1909, Joyce received a year's advance payment from one of his students and returned to Ireland to introduce Giorgio to both sides of the family, his own in Dublin and Nora's in Galway. He unsuccessfully applied for the position of Chair of Italian at his alma mater, which had become University College Dublin. He met with Roberts, who seemed positive about publishing the Dubliners. He returned to Trieste in September with his sister Eva, who helped Nora run the home. Joyce only stayed in Trieste for a month, as he almost immediately came upon the idea of starting a cinema in Dublin, which unlike Trieste had none. He quickly got the backing of some Triestine businessmen and returned to Dublin in October, launching Ireland's first cinema, the Volta Cinematograph. It was initially well-received, but fell apart after Joyce left. He returned to Trieste in January 1910 with another sister, Eileen. From 1910 to 1912, Joyce still lacked a reliable income. This brought his conflicts with Stanislaus, who was frustrated with lending him money, to their peak. In 1912, Prezioso arranged for him to lecture on Hamlet for the Minerva Society between November 1912 and February 1913. Joyce once more lectured at the Università Popolare on various topics in English literature and applied for a teaching diploma in English at the University of Padua. He performed very well on the qualification tests, but was denied because Italy did not recognise his degree from an Irish university. In 1912, Joyce and his family returned to Dublin briefly in the summer. While there, his three-year-long struggle with Roberts over the publication of Dubliners came to an end as Roberts refused to publish the book due to concerns of libel. Roberts had the printed sheets destroyed, though Joyce was able to obtain a copy of the proof sheets. When Joyce returned to Trieste, he wrote an invective against Roberts, "Gas from a Burner". He never went to Dublin again. Publication of Dubliners and A Portrait Joyce's fortunes changed for the better in 1913 when Richards agreed to publish Dubliners. It was issued on 15 June 1914, eight and a half years since Joyce had first submitted it to him. Around the same time, he found an unexpected advocate in Ezra Pound, who was living in London. On the advice of Yeats, Pound wrote to Joyce asking if he could include a poem from Chamber Music, "I Hear an Army Charging upon the Land" in the journal Des Imagistes. They struck up a correspondence that lasted until the late 1930s. Pound became Joyce's promoter, helping ensure that Joyce's works were both published and publicized. After Pound persuaded Dora Marsden to serially publish A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the London literary magazine The Egoist, Joyce's pace of writing increased. He completed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by 1914; resumed Exiles, completing it in 1915; started the novelette Giacomo Joyce, which he eventually abandoned; and began drafting Ulysses. In August 1914, World War I broke out. Although Joyce and Stanislaus were subjects of the United Kingdom, which was now at war with Austria-Hungary, they remained in Trieste. Even when Stanislaus, who had publicly expressed his sympathy for the Triestine irredentists, was interned at the beginning of January 1915, Joyce chose to stay. In May 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, and less than a month later Joyce took his family to Zürich in neutral Switzerland. 1915–1920: Zürich and Trieste Zürich Joyce arrived in Zürich as a double exile: he was an Irishman with a British passport and a Triestine on parole from Austria-Hungary. To get to Switzerland, he had to promise the Austro-Hungarian officials that he would not help the Allies during the war, and he and his family had to leave almost all of their possessions in Trieste. During the war, he was kept under surveillance by both the British and Austro-Hungarian secret services. Joyce's first concern was earning a living. One of Nora's relatives sent them a small sum to cover the first few months. Pound and Yeats worked with the British government to provide a stipend from the Royal Literary Fund in 1915 and a grant from the British civil list the following year. Eventually, Joyce received large regular sums from the editor Harriet Shaw Weaver, who operated The Egoist, and the psychotherapist Edith Rockefeller McCormick, who lived in Zürich studying under Carl Jung. Weaver financially supported Joyce throughout the entirety of his life and even paid for his funeral. Between 1917 and the beginning of 1919, Joyce was financially secure and lived quite well; the family sometimes stayed in Locarno in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. However, health problems remained a constant issue. During their time in Zürich, both Joyce and Nora suffered illnesses that were diagnosed as "nervous breakdowns" and he had to undergo many eye surgeries. Ulysses During the war, Zürich was the centre of a vibrant expatriate community. Joyce's regular evening hangout was the Cafe Pfauen, where he got to know a number of the artists living in the city at the time, including the sculptor August Suter and the painter Frank Budgen. He often used the time spent with them as material for Ulysses. He made the acquaintance of the writer Stefan Zweig, who organised the premiere of Exiles in Munich in August 1919. He became aware of Dada, which was coming into its own at the Cabaret Voltaire. He may have even met the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin at the Cafe Odeon, a place they both frequented. Joyce kept up his interest in music. He met Ferruccio Busoni, staged music with Otto Luening, and learned music theory from Philipp Jarnach. Much of what Joyce learned about musical notation and counterpoint found its way into Ulysses, particularly the "Sirens" section. Joyce avoided public discussion of the war's politics and maintained strict neutrality. He made few comments about the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland; although he was sympathetic to the Irish independence movement, he disagreed with its violence. He stayed intently focused on Ulysses and the ongoing struggle to get his work published. Some of the serial instalments of "The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" in The Egoist had been censored by the printers, but the entire novel was published by B. W. Huebsch in 1916. In 1918, Pound got a commitment from Margaret Caroline Anderson, the owner and editor of the New York-based literary magazine The Little Review, to publish Ulysses serially. The English Players Joyce co-founded an acting company, the English Players, and became its business manager. The company was pitched to the British government as a contribution to the war effort, and mainly staged works by Irish playwrights, such as Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and John Millington Synge. For Synge's Riders to the Sea, Nora played a principal role and Joyce sang offstage, which he did again when Robert Browning's In a Balcony was staged. He hoped the company would eventually stage his play, Exiles, but his participation in the English Players declined in the wake of the Great Influenza epidemic of 1918, though the company continued until 1920. Joyce's work with the English Players involved him in a lawsuit. Henry Wilfred Carr, a wounded war veteran and British consul, accused Joyce of underpaying him for his role in The Importance of Being Earnest. Carr sued for compensation; Joyce countersued for libel. The cases were resolved in 1919, with Joyce winning the compensation case but losing the one for libel. The incident ended up creating acrimony between the British consulate and Joyce for the rest of his time in Zürich. Third stay in Trieste By 1919, Joyce was in financial straits again. McCormick stopped paying her stipend, partly because he refused to submit to psychoanalysis from Jung, and Zürich had become expensive to live in after the war. Furthermore, he was becoming isolated as the city's emigres returned home. In October 1919, Joyce's family moved back to Trieste, but it had changed. The Austro-Hungarian empire had ceased to exist, and Trieste was now an Italian city in post-war recovery. Eight months after his return, Joyce went to Sirmione, Italy, to meet Pound, who made arrangements for him to move to Paris. Joyce and his family packed their belongings and headed for Paris in June 1920. 1920–1941: Paris and Zürich Paris When Joyce and his family arrived in Paris in July 1920, their visit was intended to be a layover on their way to London. For the first four months, he stayed with Ludmila Savitzky and met Sylvia Beach, who ran the Rive Gauche bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. Beach quickly became an important person in Joyce's life, providing financial support, and becoming one of Joyce's publishers. Through Beach and Pound, Joyce quickly joined the intellectual circle of Paris and was integrated into the international modernist artist community. Joyce met Valery Larbaud, who championed Joyce's works to the French and supervised the French translation of Ulysses. Paris became the Joyces' regular residence for twenty years, though they never settled into a single location for long. Publication of Ulysses Joyce finished writing Ulysses near the end of 1921, but had difficulties getting it published. With financial backing from the lawyer John Quinn, Margaret Anderson and her co-editor Jane Heap had begun serially publishing it in The Little Review in March 1918 but in January and May 1919, two instalments were suppressed as obscene and potentially subversive. In September 1920, an unsolicited instalment of the "Nausicaa" episode was sent to the daughter of a New York attorney associated with the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, leading to an official complaint. The trial proceedings continued until February 1921, when both Anderson and Healy, defended by Quinn, were fined $50 each for publishing obscenity and ordered to cease publishing Ulysses. Huebsch, who had expressed interest in publishing the novel in the United States, decided against it after the trial. Weaver was unable to find an English printer, and the novel was banned for obscenity in the United Kingdom in 1922, where it was blacklisted until 1936. Almost immediately after Anderson and Healy were ordered to stop printing Ulysses, Beach agreed to publish it through her bookshop. She had books mailed to people in Paris and the United States who had subscribed to get a copy; Weaver mailed books from Beach's plates to subscribers in England. Soon, the postal officials of both countries began confiscating the books. They were then smuggled into both countries. Because the work had no copyright in the United States at this time, "bootleg" versions appeared, including pirate versions from publisher Samuel Roth, who only ceased his actions in 1928 when a court enjoined publication. Ulysses was not legally published in the United States until 1934 after Judge John M. Woolsey ruled in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses that the book was not obscene. Finnegans Wake In 1923, Joyce began his next work, an experimental novel that eventually became Finnegans Wake. It would take sixteen years to complete. At first, Joyce called it Work in Progress, which was the name Ford Madox Ford used in April 1924 when he published its "Mamalujo" episode in his magazine, The Transatlantic Review. In 1926, Eugene and Maria Jolas serialised the novel in their magazine, transition. When parts of the novel first came out, some of Joyce's supporters—like Stanislaus, Pound, and Weaver— wrote negatively about it, and it was criticised by writers like Seán Ó Faoláin, Wyndham Lewis, and Rebecca West. In response, Joyce and the Jolases organised the publication of a collection of positive essays titled Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress, which included writings by Samuel Beckett and William Carlos Williams. An additional purpose of publishing these essays was to market Work in Progress to a larger audience. Joyce publicly revealed the novel's title as Finnegans Wake in 1939, the same year he completed it. It was published in London by Faber and Faber with the assistance of T. S. Eliot. Joyce's health problems afflicted him throughout his Paris years. He had over a dozen eye operations, but his vision severely declined. By 1930, he was practically blind in the left eye and his right eye functioned poorly. He even had all of his teeth removed because of infection. At one point, Joyce became worried that he could not finish Finnegans Wake, asking the Irish author James Stephens to complete it if something should happen. Joyce's financial problems continued. Although he was now earning a good income from his investments and royalties, his spending habits often left him without available money. Despite these issues, he published Pomes Penyeach in 1927, a collection of thirteen poems that he wrote in Trieste, Zürich and Paris. Marriage in London In 1930, Joyce began thinking of establishing a residence in London once more, primarily to assure that Giorgio, who had just married Helen Fleischmann, would have his inheritance secured under British law. Joyce moved to London, obtained a long-term lease on a flat, registered on the electoral roll, and became liable for jury service. After living together for twenty-seven years, Joyce and Nora got married at the Register Office in Kensington on 4 July 1931. Joyce stayed in London for at least six months to establish his residency, but abandoned his flat and returned to Paris later in the year when Lucia showed signs of mental illness. He planned to return, but never did and later became disaffected with England. In later years, Joyce lived in Paris but frequently travelled to Switzerland for eye surgery or for treatment for Lucia, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Lucia was analysed by Carl Jung, who had previously written that Ulysses was similar to schizophrenic writing. Jung suggested that she and her father were two people going into a river, except that Joyce was diving and Lucia was falling. In spite of Joyce's attempts to help Lucia, she remained permanently institutionalised after his death. Final return to Zürich In the late 1930s, Joyce became increasingly concerned about the rise of fascism and antisemitism. As early as 1938, Joyce was involved in helping a number of Jews escape Nazi persecution. After the fall of France in 1940, Joyce and his family fled from Nazi occupation, returning to Zürich a final time. Death On 11 January 1941, Joyce underwent surgery in Zürich for a perforated duodenal ulcer. He fell into a coma the following day. He awoke at 2 am on 13 January 1941, and asked a nurse to call his wife and son. They were en route when he died 15 minutes later, at age 58. His body was buried in the Fluntern Cemetery in Zürich. Swiss tenor Max Meili sang "Addio terra, addio cielo" from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the burial service. Joyce had been a subject of the United Kingdom all of his life, and although two senior Irish diplomats were in Switzerland at the time, only the British consul attended the funeral. When Joseph Walshe, secretary at the Department of External Affairs in Dublin, was informed of Joyce's death by Frank Cremins, chargé d'affaires at Bern, Walshe responded, "Please wire details of Joyce's death. If possible find out did he die a Catholic? Express sympathy with Mrs Joyce and explain inability to attend funeral." Buried originally in an ordinary grave, Joyce was moved in 1966 to a more prominent "honour grave", with a seated portrait statue by American artist Milton Hebald nearby. Nora, whom he had married in 1931, survived him by 10 years. She is buried by his side, as is their son Giorgio, who died in 1976. After Joyce's death, the Irish government declined Nora's request to permit the repatriation of Joyce's remains, despite being persistently lobbied by the American diplomat John J. Slocum. In October 2019, a motion was put to Dublin City Council to plan and budget for the costs of the exhumations and reburials of Joyce and his family somewhere in Dublin, subject to his family's wishes. The proposal immediately became controversial, with the Irish Times commenting: " ... it is hard not to suspect that there is a calculating, even mercantile, aspect to contemporary Ireland's relationship to its great writers, whom we are often more keen to 'celebrate', and if possible monetise, than read". Political views Throughout his life, Joyce stayed actively interested in Irish national politics and in its relationship to British colonialism. He studied socialism and anarchism. He attended socialist meetings and expressed an individualist view influenced by Benjamin Tucker's philosophy and Oscar Wilde's essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism". He described his opinions as "those of a socialist artist". Joyce's direct engagement in politics was strongest during his time in Trieste, when he submitted newspaper articles, gave lectures, and wrote letters advocating for Ireland's independence from British rule. After leaving Trieste, Joyce's direct involvement in politics waned, but his later works still reflect his commitment. He remained sympathetic to individualism and critical of coercive ideologies such as nationalism. His novels address socialist, anarchist and Irish nationalist issues. Ulysses has been read as a novel critiquing the effect of British colonialism on the Irish people. Finnegans Wake has been read as a work that investigates the divisive issues of Irish politics, the interrelationship between colonialism and race, and the coercive oppression of nationalism and fascism. Joyce's politics is reflected in his attitude toward his British passport. He wrote about the negative effects of British occupation in Ireland and was sympathetic to the attempts of the Irish to free themselves from it. In 1907, he expressed his support for the early Sinn Féin movement before the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. However, throughout his life, Joyce refused to exchange his British passport for an Irish one. When he had a choice, he opted to renew his British passport in 1935 instead of obtaining one from the Irish Free State, and he chose to keep it in 1940 when accepting an Irish passport could have helped him to leave Vichy France more easily. His refusal to change his passport was partly due to the advantages that a British passport gave him internationally, his being out of sympathy with the violence of Irish politics, and his dismay over the Irish Free State's political alignment with the Catholic Church. Religious views Joyce had a complex relationship with religion. Firsthand statements by him and Stanislaus, attest that he did not consider himself a Catholic, though his work is deeply influenced by Catholicism. In particular, his intellectual foundations were grounded in his early Jesuitical education. Even after he left Ireland, he sometimes went to church. When living in Trieste, he woke up early to attend Catholic Mass on Holy Thursday and Good Friday or occasionally attended Eastern Orthodox services, stating that he liked the ceremonies better. Some critics have argued that Joyce firmly rejected the Catholic faith. He lapsed from the Church early in life and Nora refused to allow a Catholic service when he died. His works frequently critique, ridicule, and blaspheme Catholicism, and he appropriates Catholic rituals and concepts for his own artistic purposes. Nevertheless, Catholic critics have argued that Joyce never fully abandoned his faith, wrestling with it in his writings and becoming increasingly reconciled with it. They argue that Ulysses and Finnegans Wake are expressions of a Catholic sensibility, insisting that the critical views of religion expressed by the characters in his novel do not represent the views of Joyce the author. Other critics have suggested that Joyce's apparent apostasy was less a denial of faith than a transmutation, a criticism of the Church's adverse impact on spiritual life, politics, and personal development. Joyce's attitude toward Catholicism has been described as an enigma in which there are two Joyces: a modern one who resisted the power of Catholicism and another who maintained his allegiance to its traditions. He has been compared to the medieval episcopi vagantes (wandering bishops), who left their discipline but not their cultural heritage of thought. Joyce's responses to questions about his faith were often ambiguous. For example, during an interview after the completion of Ulysses, Joyce was asked, "When did you leave the Catholic Church?" He answered, "That's for the Church to say." Major works Dubliners Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories first published in 1914, that form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle-class life in and around the city in the early 20th century. The tales were written when Irish nationalism and the search for national identity was at its peak. Joyce holds up a mirror to that identity as a first step in the spiritual liberation of Ireland. The stories centre on Joyce's idea of an epiphany: a moment when a character experiences a life-changing self-understanding or illumination. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appear in minor roles in Joyce's novel Ulysses. The initial stories are narrated by child protagonists. Later stories deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This aligns with Joyce's tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence, and maturity. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is a shortened rewrite of the novel Stephen Hero, which was abandoned in 1905. It is a Künstlerroman, a kind of coming-of-age novel depicting the childhood and adolescence of the protagonist Stephen Dedalus and his gradual growth into artistic self-consciousness. It functions both as an autobiographical fiction of the author and a biography of the fictional protagonist. Some hints of the techniques Joyce frequently employed in later works, such as stream of consciousness, interior monologue, and references to a character's psychic reality rather than to his external surroundings are evident throughout this novel. Exiles and poetry Despite early interest in the theatre, Joyce published only one play, Exiles, begun shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and published in 1918. A study of a husband-and-wife relationship, the play looks back to "The Dead" (the final story in Dubliners) and forward to Ulysses, which Joyce began around the time of the play's composition. He published three books of poetry. The first full-length collection was Chamber Music (1907), which consisted of 36 short lyrics. It led to his inclusion in the Imagist Anthology, edited by Ezra Pound, a champion of Joyce's work. Other poetry Joyce published in his lifetime includes "Gas from a Burner" (1912), Pomes Penyeach (1927), and "Ecce Puer" (written in 1932 to mark the birth of his grandson and the recent death of his father). These were published by the Black Sun Press in Collected Poems (1936). Ulysses The action of Ulysses starts on 16 June 1904 at 8 am and ends sometime after 2 am the following morning. Much of it occurs inside the minds of the characters, who are portrayed through techniques such as interior monologue, dialogue, and soliloquy. The novel consists of 18 episodes, each covering roughly one hour of the day using a unique literary style. Joyce structured each chapter to refer to an individual episode in Homer's Odyssey, as well as a specific colour, a particular art or science, and a bodily organ. Ulysses sets the characters and incidents of the Odyssey in 1904 Dublin, representing Odysseus (Ulysses), Penelope, and Telemachus in the characters of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus. It uses humour– including parody, satire and comedy– to contrast the novel's characters with their Homeric models. Joyce played down the mythic correspondences by eliminating the chapter titles so the work could be read independently of its Homeric structure. Ulysses can be read as a study of Dublin in 1904, exploring various aspects of the city's life, dwelling on its squalor and monotony. Joyce claimed that if Dublin were to be destroyed in some catastrophe, it could be rebuilt using his work as a model. To achieve this sense of detail, he relied on his memory, what he heard other people remember, and his readings to create a sense of fastidious detail. Joyce regularly used the 1904 edition of Thom's Directory—a work that listed the owners and tenants of every residential and commercial property in the city—to ensure his descriptions were accurate. This combination of kaleidoscopic writing, reliance on a formal schema to structure the narrative, and exquisite attention to detail represents one of the book's major contributions to the development of 20th-century modernist literature. Finnegans Wake Finnegans Wake is an experimental novel that pushes stream of consciousness and literary allusion to their extremes. Although the work can be read from beginning to end, Joyce's writing transforms traditional ideas of plot and character development through his wordplay, allowing the book to be read nonlinearly. Much of the wordplay stems from the work being written in peculiar and obscure English, based mainly on complex multilevel puns. This approach is similar to, but far more extensive than, that used by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky and draws on a wide range of languages. The associative nature of its language has led to it being interpreted as the story of a dream. The metaphysics of Giordano Bruno of Nola, who Joyce had read in his youth, plays an important role in Finnegans Wake, as it provides the framework for how the identities of the characters interplay and are transformed. Giambattista Vico's cyclical view of history—in which civilisation rises from chaos, passes through theocratic, aristocratic, and democratic phases, and then lapses back into chaos—structures the text's narrative, as evidenced by the opening and closing words of the book: Finnegans Wake opens with the words "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs" and ends "A way a lone a last a loved a long the". In other words, the book ends with the beginning of a sentence and begins with the end of the same sentence, turning the narrative into one great cycle. Legacy Joyce's work still has a profound influence on contemporary culture. Ulysses is a model for fiction writers, particularly its explorations into the power of language. Its emphasis on the details of everyday life has opened up new possibilities of expression for authors, painters and film-makers. It retains its prestige among readers, often ranking high on 'Great Book' lists. Joyce's innovations extend beyond English literature: his writing has been an inspiration for Latin American writers, and Finnegans Wake has become one of the key texts for French post-structuralism. The open-ended form of Joyce's novels keeps them open to constant reinterpretation. They inspire an increasingly global community of literary critics. Joyce's studies—based on a relatively small canon of three novels, a small short story collection, one play, and two small books of poems—have generated over 15,000 articles, monographs, theses, translations, and editions. In popular culture, the work and life of Joyce is celebrated annually on 16 June, known as Bloomsday, in Dublin and in an increasing number of cities worldwide. Collections, museums, and study centres The National Library of Ireland holds a large collection of Joycean material including manuscripts and notebooks, much of it available online. A joint venture between the library and University College Dublin, the Museum of Literature Ireland, the majority of whose exhibits are about Joyce and his work, has both a small permanent Joyce-related collection, and borrows from its parent institutions; its displays include "Copy No. 1" of Ulysses. Dedicated centres in Dublin include the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street, the James Joyce Tower and Museum in Sandycove at the Martello tower where Joyce briefly lived and where he set the opening scene in Ulysses, and the Dublin Writers Museum. University College London holds the only major research collection of Joyce's work in the United Kingdom, including first editions of all of Joyce's major works, many other editions and translations, as well as critical and background literature. Bibliography Novel Series Stephen Dedalus Stephen Hero (precursor to A Portrait; written 1904–06, published posthumously 1944) A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (novel, 1916) Ulysses (novel, 1922) Finnegan Finn's Hotel (Ithys Press, 2013) Finnegans Wake (1939, restored 2012) Short Stories Dubliners (short-story collection, 1914) The Cat and the Devil (London: Faber and Faber, 1965) The Cats of Copenhagen (Ithys Press, 2012) Poetry collections Chamber Music (poems, Elkin Mathews, 1907) Giacomo Joyce (written 1907, published by Faber and Faber, 1968) Pomes Penyeach (poems, Shakespeare and Company, 1927) Collected Poems (poems, Black Sun Press, 1936, which includes Chamber Music, Pomes Penyeach and other previously published works) Play Exiles (play, 1918) Posthumous Non-fiction The Critical Writings of James Joyce (Eds. Ellsworth Mason and Richard Ellmann, 1959) Letters of James Joyce Vol. 1 (Ed. Stuart Gilbert, 1957) Letters of James Joyce Vol. 2 (Ed. Richard Ellmann, 1966) Letters of James Joyce Vol. 3 (Ed. Richard Ellmann, 1966) Selected Letters of James Joyce (Ed. Richard Ellmann, 1975) Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce: A Critical Edition (Eds. Angus McFadzean, Morris Beja, Sangam Macduff). University Press of Florida, 2024 Notes References Citations Sources Books Journal articles Online sources Primary sources Literary works External links Joyce Papers, National Library of Ireland The Joyce Papers 2002, c. 1903–1928 The James Joyce – Paul Léon Papers, 1930–1940 Hans E. Jahnke Bequest at the Zurich James Joyce Foundation online at the National Library Of Ireland, 2014 Electronic editions Works by James Joyce in eBook form at Standard Ebooks Works by James Joyce at Faded Page (Canada) Works by James Joyce at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) Works by James Joyce at Project Gutenberg Resources James Joyce Collection at University College London "Archival material relating to James Joyce". UK National Archives. The James Joyce Scholars' Collection from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center James Joyce from Dublin to Ithaca Exhibition from the collections of Cornell University Bibliography of Joycean Scholarship, Articles and Literary Criticism

Shizuoka_Prefecture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shizuoka_Prefecture

Shizuoka Prefecture (静岡県, Shizuoka-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. As of September 2023, Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of 7,777.42 km2 (3,002.88 sq mi). Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northeast, Nagano Prefecture to the north, and Aichi Prefecture to the west. Shizuoka is the capital and Hamamatsu is the largest city in Shizuoka Prefecture, with other major cities including Fuji, Numazu, and Iwata. Shizuoka Prefecture is located on Japan's Pacific Ocean coast and features Suruga Bay formed by the Izu Peninsula, and Lake Hamana which is considered to be one of Japan's largest lakes. Mount Fuji, the tallest volcano in Japan and cultural icon of the country, is partially located in Shizuoka Prefecture on the border with Yamanashi Prefecture. Shizuoka Prefecture has a significant motoring heritage as the founding location of Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha, and is home to the Fuji International Speedway. History Shizuoka Prefecture was established from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces. The area was the home of the first Tokugawa shōgun. Tokugawa Ieyasu held the region until he conquered the lands of the Hōjō clan in the Kantō region and placed land under the stewardship of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After becoming shōgun, Tokugawa took the land back for his family and put the area around modern-day Shizuoka City under the direct supervision of the shogunate. With the creation of the Shizuoka han from the Sunpu Domain in 1868, it once again became the residence of the Tokugawa family. Geography Shizuoka Prefecture is an elongated region following the coast of the Pacific Ocean at the Suruga Bay. In the west, the prefecture extends deep into the Japan Alps. In the east, it becomes a narrower coast bounded in the north by Mount Fuji, until it comes to the Izu Peninsula, a popular resort area pointing south into the Pacific. As of April 2012, 11% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as natural parks, namely the Fuji-Hakone-Izu and Minami Alps National Parks; Tenryū-Okumikawa Quasi-National Park; and four Prefectural Natural Parks. Climate In Shizuoka prefecture, the temperature, over the course of the year, typically varies from 34 °F to 87 °F and is rarely below 28 °F or above 93 °F. The summers in Shizuoka are warm, oppressive, and mostly cloudy; the winters are very cold, windy, and mostly clear. Disaster On 15 March 2011, Shizuoka Prefecture was hit with a magnitude 6.2 earthquake approximately 42 km (26 mi) NNE of Shizuoka City. It is said, that throughout history, Shizuoka area has experienced a large earthquake every 100 to 150 years. Demographics 3,635,220 people live in Shizuoka Prefecture, according to the 2020 census. Municipalities Since 2010, Shizuoka has consisted of 35 municipalities: 23 cities and 12 towns. Mergers After the introduction of modern municipalities in 1889, Shizuoka consisted of 337 municipalities: 1 (by definition: district-independent) city and 23 districts with 31 towns and 305 villages. The Great Shōwa mergers of the 1950s reduced the total from 281 to 97 between 1953 and 1960, including 18 cities by then. The Great Heisei mergers of the 2000s combined the 74 remaining municipalities in the year 2000 into the current 35 by 2010. List of governors of Shizuoka (since 1947) Industry Motorcycles Shizuoka-based companies are world leaders in several major industrial sectors. Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki all have their roots in Shizuoka prefecture and are still manufacturing here. Thanks to this, Shizuoka pref. accounts for 28% of Japanese motorcycle exports. Musical instruments Yamaha and Kawai are both global piano brands. Yamaha has the largest share in the global piano market. Kawai has the second largest share. They both got their start in Shizuoka pref. in the early twentieth century. Yamaha and Roland are major brand for electronic musical instruments. In the electronic piano world market, Yamaha has the world's largest share. Roland and Kawai have the second and third place share. Roland and Yamaha also manufacture high-quality synthesizers and drum machines for professional musicians. In addition, various instruments such as wind instruments and guitars are manufactured in this prefecture. There are about 200 companies that manufacture musical instruments, in this prefecture. Most of these musical instruments are especially produced in Hamamatsu City. Transportation Rail Enshū Railway Gakunan Railway Izuhakone Railway Daiyūzan Line Sunzu Line Izukyū JR Central Tōkaidō Shinkansen Iida Line Gotenba Line Minobu Line Tōkaidō Line (Atami–Toyohashi) JR East Tōkaidō Line (Atami–Odawara) Itō Line Ōigawa Railway Shizuoka Railway Tenryū Hamanako Railroad Roads Expressways Chūbu-Ōdan Expressway Izu-Jūkan Expressway San-en Nanshin Expressway Shin-Tōmei Expressway Tōmei Expressway Toll roads Fujinomiya Road Nishi-Fuji Road Shizuoka East-West Road Shizuoka South-North Road West Fuji Road (not a toll road anymore as of 2012) National highways Airports Shizuoka Airport Ports Shimizu Port Atami Port and Shimoda Port – Mainly ferry route to Izu Island Numazu Port Education Universities National universities Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Mishima Campus, National Institute of Genetics) Hamamatsu University School of Medicine Shizuoka University Public universities Shizuoka University of Art and Culture University of Shizuoka Private universities Fuji Tokoha University Hamamatsu University Hamamatsu Gakuin University Juntendo University (Mishima Campus) Nihon University (Mishima Campus) Seirei Christopher University Shizuoka Eiwa Gakuin University Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology Shizuoka Sangyo University Shizuoka University of Welfare Tokai University (Shimizu and Numazu Campuses) Tokoha Gakuen University Tokyo Women's Medical University (Daito Campus) Senior high schools Hiryū High School Numazu Commercial High School Shizuoka Prefectural High School Shizuoka Prefectural Susono High School Sports The sports teams listed below are based in Shizuoka. Basketball San-en NeoPhoenix Motorsport Fuji International Speedway Rugby Yamaha Júbilo (Iwata) Football Shimizu S-Pulse (Shimizu, Shizuoka) Júbilo Iwata (Iwata) Matches between the above two teams, both currently in the top flight of the J. League, are known as the Shizuoka Derby. Honda F.C. (Hamamatsu) Azul Claro Numazu (Numazu) Fujieda MYFC (Fujieda) Volleyball Toray Arrows (men's volleyball team) (Mishima city) Tourism Museums Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art Theme parks Air Park Japan Air Self-Defense Force Hamamatsu Public Information Building) Shimizu Sushi Museum Festivals and events Daidogei World Cup in central Shizuoka City, held in November Enshu Daimyo Festival in Iwata, held in April Mishima Festival, held in August Numazu Festival, held in July Shimizu Port Festival, held on 5 to 7 August Shimoda Black Ship Festival, held in May Shizuoka Festival, held in April Notable people Motoo Kimura (木村 資生, 1924–1994), biologist and theoretical population geneticist, died in Shizuoka Prefecture Notes References Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128 External links Official Shizuoka Prefecture website Official Shizuoka Guide

Yoshinobu_Ishikawa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshinobu_Ishikawa

Yoshinobu Ishikawa (石川 嘉延, Ishikawa Yoshinobu, born November 24, 1940) was the governor of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 1993. A native of Kakegawa, Shizuoka, formerly known as Daitō, Shizuoka, and graduate of the University of Tokyo, Department of Law, he had worked at the Ministry of Home Affairs since 1964 before being elected governor. Early career After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Department of Law in 1964, he joined the Ministry of Home Affairs and began work in the government bureaucracy. He worked within the ministry for 20 years before being given a position as Head of the Shizuoka Prefecture Home Affairs Office. Following a two-year stint there, he climbed the ladder of the Ministry, was briefly transferred to the National Land Agency, and eventually became Head of the Civil Servant Department in the Home Affairs Ministry in 1992. Only a year after, he decided to run for governor of his home prefecture of Shizuoka and resigned from the ministry in June 1993. He was elected for his first of four terms in August 1993. Resignation Due to repeated delays in the opening of Shizuoka Airport, Governor Ishikawa announced at a news conference on March 25, 2009 that he would resign. The airport was the largest construction project in the prefecture at the time but the opening was delayed until June 2009. The main cause of the delay was due to the flawed original survey for the runway. The original survey placed the runway near some trees that were too high and could not be removed. It was decided in March 2009 that the runway would be shortened and therefore, the airport would not open on time. References 政治家情報 〜石川 嘉延〜. JANJAN (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2007. 静岡県知事 空港問題で辞職へ (in Japanese). NHK. Retrieved March 25, 2009. 静岡県/知事プロフィールへ (in Japanese). 静岡県. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2009.

List_of_mountain_peaks_by_prominence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_peaks_by_prominence

This is a list of mountain peaks ordered by their topographic prominence. Terminology The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or from sea level if there is no higher peak. The lowest point on that route is the col. For full definitions and explanations of topographic prominence, key col, and parent, see topographic prominence. In particular, the different definitions of the parent of a peak are addressed at length in that article. Height on the other hand simply means elevation of the summit above sea level. Regarding parents, the prominence parent of peak A can be found by dividing the island or region in question into territories, by tracing the runoff from the key col (mountain pass) of every peak that is more prominent than peak A. The parent is the peak whose territory peak A resides in. The encirclement parent is found by tracing the contour below peak A's key col and picking the highest mountain in that region. This is easier to determine than the prominence parent; however, it tends to give non-intuitive results for peaks with very low cols such as Jabal Shams which is #110 in the list. Either sort of parent of a typical very high-prominence peak such as Denali will lie far away from the peak itself, reflecting the independence of the peak. Most sources (and the table below) define no parent for island and landmass highpoints; others treat Mount Everest as the parent of every such peak with the world ocean as the "key col". Prominence table The following table lists the Earth's 125 most topographically prominent summits. Of these, Indonesia has the most, with 13. Close behind it are China and the United States with 12. Additional peaks The list of peaks that follows is not complete, but the peaks are all notable. Island high points (whose prominence is equal to their elevation) can be found at the List of islands by highest point; hence most are not included below. Some well-known peaks listed here do not score highly by prominence. All peaks with a prominence of more than 1,500 metres rank as an Ultra. For a complete listing of all 1,524 peaks with prominence greater than this level, see the lists of Ultras. In the table, the prominence parent is marked "1", and the encirclement parent "2". Where a single parent is listed, the different definitions agree. See also Lists of Ultras List of mountain lists List of islands by highest point Summit Topographic elevation Topographic isolation Topographic prominence Ultra-prominent summit Notes *.^ By convention, cols created by human activity are not counted. Therefore, the Suez, Panama and other canals are ignored in these calculations. Cuts that lower the natural elevations of mountain passes are also ignored. Towers, monuments and similar on the peaks are also ignored. References External links World peaks with 4000 meters of prominence from peakbagger.com World top 50 most prominent peaks, originally compiled by David Metzler and Eberhard Jurgalski, and updated with the help of others as new elevation information, especially SRTM, has become available. World top 100 most prominent peaks, from the same authors as the top 50. Map of the top 50 by Ken Jones Lists and/or maps covering all peaks in the world with 1500 m+ prominence. Compiled by Aaron Maizlish. The latest estimate is that there are 1,516.

Mauna_Kea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea

Mauna Kea (, Hawaiian: [ˈmɐwnə ˈkɛjə]; abbreviation for Mauna a Wākea) is a dormant shield volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi. Its peak is 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft) above sea level, making it the highest point in Hawaii and the island with the second highest high point, behind New Guinea, the world's largest tropical island with multiple peaks that are higher. The peak is about 38 m (125 ft) higher than Mauna Loa, its more massive neighbor. Mauna Kea is unusually topographically prominent for its height: its prominence from sea level is fifteenth in the world among mountains, at 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft); its prominence from under the ocean is 9,330 m (30,610 ft), rivaled only by Mount Everest. This dry prominence is greater than Everest's height above sea level of 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft), and some authorities have labeled Mauna Kea the tallest mountain in the world, from its underwater base. Mauna Kea is ranked 8th by topographic isolation. It is about one million years old and thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, resulting in a steeper profile. Late volcanism has also given it a much rougher appearance than its neighboring volcanoes due to construction of cinder cones, decentralization of its rift zones, glaciation on its peak, and weathering by the prevailing trade winds. Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now thought to be dormant. In Hawaiian religion, the peaks of the island of Hawaiʻi are sacred. An ancient law allowed only high-ranking aliʻi to visit its peak. Ancient Hawaiians living on the slopes of Mauna Kea relied on its extensive forests for food, and quarried the dense volcano-glacial basalts on its flanks for tool production. When Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, settlers introduced cattle, sheep, and game animals, many of which became feral and began to damage the volcano's ecological balance. Mauna Kea can be ecologically divided into three sections: an alpine climate at its summit, a Sophora chrysophylla–Myoporum sandwicense (or māmane–naio) forest on its flanks, and an Acacia koa–Metrosideros polymorpha (or koa–ʻōhiʻa) forest, now mostly cleared by the former sugar industry, at its base. In recent years, concern over the vulnerability of the native species has led to court cases that have forced the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources to work towards eradicating all feral species on the volcano. With its high elevation, dry environment, and stable airflow, Mauna Kea's summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation. Since the creation of an access road in 1964, thirteen telescopes funded by eleven countries have been constructed at the summit. The Mauna Kea Observatories are used for scientific research across the electromagnetic spectrum and comprise the largest such facility in the world. Their construction on a landscape considered sacred by Native Hawaiians continues to be a topic of debate to this day. Topographic prominence Mauna Kea is unusually topographically prominent for its height, with a wet prominence fifteenth in the world among mountains, and a dry prominence second in the world, after only Mount Everest. It is the highest peak on its island, so its wet prominence matches its height above sea level, at 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft). Because the Hawaiian Islands slope deep into the ocean, Mauna Kea has a dry prominence of 9,330 m (30,610 ft). This dry prominence is taller than Mount Everest's height above sea level of 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft), so Everest would have to include whole continents in its foothills to exceed Mauna Kea's dry prominence. Given how much Mauna Kea protrudes from the Hawaiian Trough, some authorities have called it the tallest (as opposed to highest) mountain in the world, as measured from base to peak. Unlike prominence, base is loosely defined, which has resulted in numbers ranging from 9,966 m (32,696 ft) (roughly to the deepest point in the Hawaiian Trough) to 17,205 m (56,447 ft) (to the root of the mountain deep underground). Those calculations have produced rivaling claims for other mountains, such as higher climb from base for Mount Lamlam (11,528 m (37,820 ft), starting from nearby Challenger Deep), and the tremendously deep roots of the Himalayan Mountains. Greater rises could be measured from the Atacama Trench to the Andes Mountains, for example, the bottom of Richard's Deep (8,065 m (26,460 ft) deep) to the peak of the nearby Llullaillaco (6,739 m (22,110 ft) high) is 14,804 m (48,570 ft). Neither Mount Lamlam nor Llullaillaco have the dry prominence of Mauna Kea, because they do not extend into trenches in every direction. Geology Mauna Kea is one of five volcanoes that form the island of Hawaiʻi, the largest and youngest island of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain. Of these five hotspot volcanoes, Mauna Kea is the fourth oldest and fourth most active. It began as a preshield volcano driven by the Hawaiʻi hotspot around one million years ago, and became exceptionally active during its shield stage until 500,000 years ago. Mauna Kea entered its quieter post-shield stage 250,000 to 200,000 years ago, and is currently active, having last erupted between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago. Mauna Kea does not have a visible summit caldera, but contains a number of small cinder and pumice cones near its summit. A former summit caldera may have been filled and buried by later summit eruption deposits. Mauna Kea is over 32,000 km3 (7,680 cu mi) in volume, so massive that it and its neighbor, Mauna Loa, depress the ocean crust beneath it by 6 km (4 mi). The volcano continues to slip and flatten under its own weight at a rate of less than 0.2 mm (0.01 in) per year. Much of its mass lies east of its present summit. It stands 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft) above sea level, about 38 m (125 ft) higher than its neighbor Mauna Loa, and is the highest point in the state of Hawaii. Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Mauna Kea has been created as the Pacific tectonic plate has moved over the Hawaiian hotspot in the Earth's underlying mantle. The Hawaii island volcanoes are the most recent evidence of this process that, over 70 million years, has created the 6,000 km (3,700 mi)-long Hawaiian Ridge–Emperor seamount chain. The prevailing, though not completely settled, view is that the hotspot has been largely stationary within the planet's mantle for much, if not all of the Cenozoic Era. However, while Hawaiian volcanism is well understood and extensively studied, there remains no definite explanation of the mechanism that causes the hotspot effect. Lava flows from Mauna Kea overlapped in complex layers with those of its neighbors during its growth. Most prominently, Mauna Kea is built upon older flows from Kohala to the northwest, and intersects the base of Mauna Loa to the south. The original eruptive fissures (rift zones) in the flanks of Mauna Kea were buried by its post-shield volcanism. Hilo Ridge, a prominent underwater rift zone structure east of Mauna Kea, was once believed to be a part of the volcano; however, it is now understood to be a rift zone of Kohala that has been affected by younger Mauna Kea flows. The shield-stage lavas that built the enormous main mass of the volcano are tholeiitic basalts, like those of Mauna Loa, created through the mixing of primary magma and subducted oceanic crust. They are covered by the oldest exposed rock strata on Mauna Kea, the post-shield alkali basalts of the Hāmākua Volcanics, which erupted between 250,000 and 70–65,000 years ago. The most recent volcanic flows are hawaiites and mugearites: they are the post-shield Laupāhoehoe Volcanics, erupted between 65,000 and 4,000 years ago. These changes in lava composition accompanied the slow reduction of the supply of magma to the summit, which led to weaker eruptions that then gave way to isolated episodes associated with volcanic dormancy. The Laupāhoehoe lavas are more viscous and contain more volatiles than the earlier tholeiitic basalts; their thicker flows significantly steepened Mauna Kea's flanks. In addition, explosive eruptions have built cinder cones near the summit. These cones are the most recent eruptive centers of Mauna Kea. Its present summit is dominated by lava domes and cinder cones up to 1.5 km (0.9 mi) in diameter and hundreds of meters tall. Mauna Kea is the only Hawaiian volcano with distinct evidence of glaciation. Similar deposits probably existed on Mauna Loa, but have been covered by later lava flows. Despite Hawaii's tropical location, during several past ice ages a drop of a degree in temperature allowed snow to remain at the volcano's summit through summer, triggering the formation of an ice cap. There are three episodes of glaciation that have been recorded from the last 180,000 years: the Pōhakuloa (180–130 ka), Wāihu (80–60 ka) and Mākanaka (40–13 ka) series. These have extensively sculpted the summit, depositing moraines and a circular ring of till and gravel along the volcano's upper flanks. Subglacial eruptions built cinder cones during the Mākanaka glaciation, most of which were heavily gouged by glacial action. The most recent cones were built between 9,000 and 4,500 years ago, atop the glacial deposits, although one study indicates that the last eruption may have been around 3,600 years ago. At their maximum extent, the glaciers extended from the summit down to between 3,200 and 3,800 m (10,500 and 12,500 ft) of elevation. A small body of permafrost, less than 25 m (80 ft) across, was found at the summit of Mauna Kea before 1974, and may still be present. Small gullies etch the summit, formed by rain- and snow-fed streams that flow only during winter melt and rain showers. On the windward side of the volcano, stream erosion driven by trade winds has accelerated erosion in a manner similar to that on older Kohala. Mauna Kea is home to Lake Waiau, the highest lake in the Pacific Basin. At an altitude of 3,969 m (13,022 ft), it lies within the Puʻu Waiau cinder cone and is the only alpine lake in Hawaii. The lake is very small and shallow, with a surface area of 0.73 ha (1.80 acres) and a depth of 3 m (10 ft) when fullest. Radiocarbon dating of samples at the base of the lake indicates that it was clear of ice 12,600 years ago. Hawaiian lava types are typically permeable, preventing lake formation due to infiltration. Either sulfur-bearing steam altered the volcanic ash to low-permeability clays, or explosive interactions between rising magma and groundwater or surface water during phreatic eruptions formed exceptionally fine ash that reduced the permeability of the lake bed. No artesian water was known on the island of Hawaiʻi until 1993 when drilling by the University of Hawaiʻi tapped an artesian aquifer more than 300 m (980 ft) below sea level, that extended more than 100 m (330 ft) of the borehole's total depth. The borehole had drilled through a compacted layer of soil and lava where the flows of Mauna Loa had encroached upon the exposed Mauna Kea surface and had subsequently been subsided below sea level. Isotopic composition shows the water present to have been derived from rain coming off Mauna Kea at higher than 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above mean sea level. The aquifer's presence is attributed to a freshwater head within Mauna Kea's basal lens. Scientists believe there may be more water in Mauna Kea's freshwater lens than current models may indicate. Two more boreholes were drilled on Mauna Kea in 2012, with water being found at much higher elevations and shallower depths than expected. Donald Thomas, director of the University of Hawaiʻi's Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes believes one reason to continue study of the aquifers is due to use and occupancy of the higher elevation areas, stating: "Nearly all of these activities depend on the availability of potable water that, in most cases, must be trucked to the Saddle from Waimea or Hilo — an inefficient and expensive process that consumes a substantial quantity of our scarce liquid fuels." Future activity The last eruption of Mauna Kea was about 4,600 years ago (about 2600 BC); because of this inactivity, Mauna Kea is assigned a United States Geological Survey hazard listing of 7 for its summit and 8 for its lower flanks, out of the lowest possible hazard rating of 9 (which is given to the extinct volcano Kohala). Since 8000 BC lava flows have covered 20% of the volcano's summit and virtually none of its flanks. Despite its dormancy, Mauna Kea is expected to erupt again. Based on earlier eruptions, such an event could occur anywhere on the volcano's upper flanks and would likely produce long lava flows, mostly of ʻaʻā, 15–25 km (9–16 mi) long. Long periods of activity could build a cinder cone at the source. Although not likely in the next few centuries, such an eruption would probably result in little loss of life but significant damage to infrastructure. Human history Native history The first Ancient Hawaiians to arrive on Hawaiʻi island lived along the shores, where food and water were plentiful. Settlement expanded inland to the Mauna Loa – Mauna Kea region in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Archaeological evidence suggests that these regions were used for hunting, collecting stone material, and possibly for spiritual reasons or for astronomical or navigational observations. The mountain's plentiful forest provided plants and animals for food and raw materials for shelter. Flightless birds that had previously known no predators became a staple food source. Early settlement of the Hawaiian islands led to major changes to local ecosystems and many extinctions, particularly amongst bird species. Ancient Hawaiians brought foreign plants and animals, and their arrival was associated with increased rates of erosion. The prevailing lowland forest ecosystem was transformed from forest to grassland; some of this change was caused by the use of fire, but the prevailing cause of forest ecosystem collapse and avian extinction on Hawaiʻi appears to have been the introduction of the Polynesian (or Pacific) rat. The five volcanoes of Hawaiʻi are revered as sacred mountains; and Mauna Kea's summit, the highest, is the most sacred. For this reason, a kapu (ancient Hawaiian law) restricted visitor rights to high-ranking aliʻi. Hawaiians associated elements of their natural environment with particular deities. In Hawaiian mythology, the summit of Mauna Kea was seen as the "region of the gods", a place where benevolent spirits reside. Poliʻahu, deity of snow, also resides there. "Mauna Kea" is an abbreviation for Mauna a Wākea and means "white mountain," in reference to its seasonally snow-capped summit. Around AD 1100, natives established adze quarries high up on Mauna Kea to extract the uniquely dense basalt (generated by the quick cooling of lava flows meeting glacial ice during subglacial eruptions) to make tools. Volcanic glass and gabbro were collected for blades and fishing gear, and māmane wood was preferred for the handles. At peak quarry activity after AD 1400, there were separate facilities for rough and fine cutting; shelters with food, water, and wood to sustain the workers; and workshops creating the finished product. Lake Waiau provided drinking water for the workers. Native chiefs would also dip the umbilical cords of newborn babies in its water, to give them the strength of the mountain. Use of the quarry declined between this period and contact with Americans and Europeans. As part of the ritual associated with quarrying, the workers erected shrines to their gods; these and other quarry artifacts remain at the sites, most of which lie within what is now the Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve. This early era was followed by cultural expansion between the 12th and late 18th century. Land was divided into regions designed for the immediate needs of the populace. These ahupuaʻa generally took the form of long strips of land oriented from the mountain summits to the coast. Mauna Kea's summit was encompassed in the ahupuaʻa of Kaʻohe, with part of its eastern slope reaching into the nearby Humuʻula. Principal sources of nutrition for Hawaiians living on the slopes of the volcano came from the māmane–naio forest of its upper slopes, which provided them with vegetation and bird life. Bird species hunted included the ʻuaʻu (Pterodroma sandwichensis), nēnē (Branta sandvicensis), and palila (Loxioides bailleui). The lower koa–ʻōhiʻa forest gave the natives wood for canoes and ornate bird feathers for decoration. Modern era There are three accounts of foreigners visiting Hawaiʻi before the arrival of James Cook, in 1778. However, the earliest Western depictions of the isle, including Mauna Kea, were created by explorers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Contact with Europe and America had major consequences for island residents. Native Hawaiians were devastated by introduced diseases; port cities including Hilo, Kealakekua, and Kailua grew with the establishment of trade; and the adze quarries on Mauna Kea were abandoned after the introduction of metal tools. In 1793, cattle were brought by George Vancouver as a tribute to King Kamehameha I. By the early 19th century, they had escaped confinement and roamed the island freely, greatly damaging its ecosystem. In 1809 John Palmer Parker arrived and befriended Kamehameha I, who put him in charge of cattle management on the island. With an additional land grant in 1845, Parker established Parker Ranch on the northern slope of Mauna Kea, a large cattle ranch that is still in operation today. Settlers to the island burned and cut down much of the lower native forest for sugarcane plantations and houses. The Saddle Road, named for its crossing of the saddle-shaped plateau between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, was completed in 1943, and eased travel to Mauna Kea considerably. The Pohakuloa Training Area on the plateau is the largest military training ground in Hawaiʻi. The 108,863-acre (44,055 ha) base extends from the volcano's lower flanks to 2,070 m (6,790 ft) elevation, on state land leased to the US Army since 1956. There are 15 threatened and endangered plants, three endangered birds, and one endangered bat species in the area. Mauna Kea has been the site of extensive archaeological research since the 1980s. Approximately 27 percent of the Science Reserve had been surveyed by 2000, identifying 76 shrines, 4 adze manufacturing workshops, 3 other markers, 1 positively identified burial site, and 4 possible burial sites. By 2009, the total number of identified sites had risen to 223, and archaeological research on the volcano's upper flanks is ongoing. It has been suggested that the shrines, which are arranged around the volcano's summit along what may be an ancient snow line, are markers for the transition to the sacred part of Mauna Kea. Despite many references to burial around Mauna Kea in Hawaiian oral history, few sites have been confirmed. The lack of shrines or other artifacts on the many cinder cones dotting the volcano may be because they were reserved for burial. Ascents In pre-contact times, natives traveling up Mauna Kea were probably guided more by landscape than by existing trails, as no evidence of trails has been found. It is possible that natural ridges and water sources were followed instead. Individuals likely took trips up Mauna Kea's slopes to visit family-maintained shrines near its summit, and traditions related to ascending the mountain exist to this day. However, very few natives reached the summit, because of the strict kapu placed on it. In the early 19th century, the earliest notable recorded ascents of Mauna Kea included the following: On August 26, 1823, Joseph F. Goodrich, an American missionary, made the first recorded ascent in a single day; however, a small arrangement of stones he observed suggested he was not the first human on the summit. He recorded four ecosystems as he travelled from base to summit, and also visited Lake Waiau. On June 17, 1825, an expedition from HMS Blonde, led by botanist James Macrae, reached the summit of Mauna Kea. Macrae was the first person to record the Mauna Kea silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense), saying: "The last mile was destitute of vegetation except one plant of the Sygenisia tribe, in growth much like a Yucca, with sharp pointed silver coloured leaves and green upright spike of three or four feet producing pendulous branches with brown flowers, truly superb, and almost worth the journey of coming here to see it on purpose." In January 1834, David Douglas climbed the mountain and described extensively the division of plant species by altitude. On an unrelated traverse, from Kamuela to Hilo in July, he was found dead in a pit intended to catch wild cattle. Although murder was suspected, it was probably an accidental fall. The site, Ka lua kauka 19°53′17″N 155°20′17″W, is marked by the Douglas fir trees named for him. In 1881, Queen Emma traveled to the peak to bathe in the waters of Lake Waiau during competition for the role of ruling chief of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. On August 6, 1889, E.D. Baldwin left Hilo and followed cattle trails to the summit. In February 2021, Victor Vescovo and Clifford Kapono made the first ascent of Mauna Kea from its subaerial base 16,785 ft below sea level using the submersible Limiting Factor, then ocean kayaks from above the mountain base 27 miles to the shoreline, then bicycles to a camp at about 9000 ft altitude from which they then walked to the 13,802 ft summit (a total gain of 30,587 ft). In the late 19th and early 20th centuries trails were formed, often by the movement of game herds, that could be traveled on horseback. However, vehicular access to the summit was practically impossible until the construction of a road in 1964, and it continues to be restricted. Today, multiple trails to the summit exist, in various states of use. Ecology Background Hawaiʻi's geographical isolation strongly influences its ecology. Remote islands like Hawaiʻi have a large number of species that are found nowhere else (see Endemism in the Hawaiian Islands). The remoteness resulted in evolutionary lines distinct from those elsewhere and isolated these endemic species from external biotic influence, and also makes them especially vulnerable to extinction and the effects of invasive species. In addition the ecosystems of Hawaiʻi are under threat from human development including the clearing of land for agriculture; an estimated third of the island's endemic species have already been wiped out. Because of its elevation, Mauna Kea has the greatest diversity of biotic ecosystems anywhere in the Hawaiian archipelago. Ecosystems on the mountain form concentric rings along its slopes due to changes in temperature and precipitation with elevation. These ecosystems can be roughly divided into three sections by elevation: alpine–subalpine, montane, and basal forest. Contact with Americans and Europeans in the early 19th century brought more settlers to the island, and had a lasting negative ecological effect. On lower slopes, vast tracts of koa–ʻōhiʻa forest were converted to farmland. Higher up, feral animals that escaped from ranches found refuge in, and damaged extensively, Mauna Kea's native māmane–naio forest. Non-native plants are the other serious threat; there are over 4,600 introduced species on the island, whereas the number of native species is estimated at just 1,000. Alpine environment The summit of Mauna Kea lies above the tree line, and consists of mostly lava rock and alpine tundra. An area of heavy snowfall, it is inhospitable to vegetation, and is known as the Hawaiian tropical high shrublands. Growth is restricted here by extremely cold temperatures, a short growing season, low rainfall, and snow during winter months. A lack of soil also retards root growth, makes it difficult to absorb nutrients from the ground, and gives the area a very low water retention capacity. Plant species found at this elevation include Styphelia tameiameiae, Taraxacum officinale, Tetramolopium humile, Agrostis sandwicensis, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Trisetum glomeratum, Poa annua, Sonchus oleraceus, and Coprosma ernodiodes. One notable species is Mauna Kea silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense var. sandwicense), a highly endangered endemic plant species that thrives in Mauna Kea's high elevation cinder deserts. At one stage reduced to a population of just 50 plants, Mauna Kea silversword was thought to be restricted to the alpine zone, but in fact has been driven there by pressure from livestock, and can grow at lower elevations as well. The Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve on the southern summit flank of Mauna Kea was established in 1981. The reserve is a region of sparsely vegetated cinder deposits and lava rock, including areas of aeolian desert and Lake Waiau. This ecosystem is a likely haven for the threatened ʻuaʻu (Pterodroma sandwichensis) and also the center of a study on wēkiu bugs (Nysius wekiuicola). Wēkiu bugs feed on dead insect carcasses that drift up Mauna Kea on the wind and settle on snow banks. This is a highly unusual food source for a species in the genus Nysius, which consists of predominantly seed-eating insects. They can survive at extreme elevations of up to 4,200 m (13,780 ft) because of natural antifreeze in their blood. They also stay under heated surfaces most of the time. Their conservation status is unclear, but the species is no longer a candidate for the Endangered Species List; studies on the welfare of the species began in 1980. The closely related Nysius aa lives on Mauna Loa. Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and forest tent caterpillar moths have also been observed in the same Mauna Kea ecosystem; the former survive by hiding under heat-absorbing rocks, and the latter through cold-resistant chemicals in their bodies. Several native moths are also present near the summit including Agrotis helela and Agrotis kuamauna. Māmane–naio forest The forested zone on the volcano, at an elevation of 2,000–3,000 m (6,600–9,800 ft), is dominated by māmane (Sophora chrysophylla) and naio (Myoporum sandwicense), both endemic tree species, and is thus known as māmane–naio forest. Māmane seeds and naio fruit are the chief foods of the birds in this zone, especially the palila (Loxioides bailleui). The palila was formerly found on the slopes of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualālai, but is now confined to the slopes of Mauna Kea—only 10% of its former range—and has been declared critically endangered. The largest threat to the ecosystem is grazing by feral sheep, cattle (Bos primigenius), and goats (Capra hircus) introduced to the island in the late 18th century. Feral animal competition with commercial grazing was severe enough that a program to eradicate them existed as far back as the late 1920s, and continued through to 1949. One of the results of this grazing was the increased prevalence of herbaceous and woody plants, both endemic and introduced, that were resistant to browsing. The feral animals were almost eradicated, and numbered a few hundred in the 1950s. However, an influx of local hunters led to the feral species being valued as game animals, and in 1959 the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, the governing body in charge of conservation and land use management, changed its policy to a sustained-control program designed to facilitate the sport. Mouflon (Ovis aries orientalis) was introduced from 1962 to 1964, and a plan to release axis deer (Axis axis) in 1964 was prevented only by protests from the ranching industry, who said that they would damage crops and spread disease. The hunting industry fought back, and the back-and-forth between the ranchers and hunters eventually gave way to a rise in public environmental concern. With the development of astronomical facilities on Mauna Kea commencing, conservationists demanded protection of Mauna Kea's ecosystem. A plan was proposed to fence 25% of the forests for protection, and manage the remaining 75% for game hunting. Despite opposition from conservationists the plan was put into action. While the land was partitioned no money was allocated for the building of the fence. In the midst of this wrangling the Endangered Species Act was passed; the National Audubon Society and Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, claiming that they were violating federal law, in the landmark case Palila v. Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (1978). The court ruled in favor of conservationists and upheld the precedence of federal laws before state control of wildlife. Having violated the Endangered Species Act, Hawaiʻi state was required to remove all feral animals from the mountainside. This decision was followed by a second court order in 1981. A public hunting program removed many of the feral animals, at least temporarily. An active control program is in place, though it is not conducted with sufficient rigor to allow significant recovery of the māmane-naio ecosystem. There are many other species and ecosystems on the island, and on Mauna Kea, that remain threatened by human development and invasive species. The Mauna Kea Forest Reserve protects 52,500 acres (212 km2) of māmane-naio forest under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. Ungulate hunting is allowed year-round. A small part of the māmane–naio forest is encompassed by the Mauna Kea State Recreation Area. Lower environment A band of ranch land on Mauna Kea's lower slopes was formerly Acacia koa – Metrosideros polymorpha (koa-ʻōhiʻa) forest. Its destruction was driven by an influx of European and American settlers in the early 19th century, as extensive logging during the 1830s provided lumber for new homes. Vast swathes of the forest were burned and cleared for sugarcane plantations. Most of the houses on the island were built of koa, and those parts of the forest that survived became a source for firewood to power boilers on the sugarcane plantations and to heat homes. The once vast forest had almost disappeared by 1880, and by 1900, logging interests had shifted to Kona and the island of Maui. With the collapse of the sugar industry in the 1990s, much of this land lies fallow but portions are used for cattle grazing, small-scale farming and the cultivation of eucalyptus for wood pulp. The Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge is a major koa forest reserve on Mauna Kea's windward slope. It was established in 1985, covering 32,733 acres (13,247 ha) of ecosystem remnant. Eight endangered bird species, twelve endangered plants, and the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) have been observed in the area, in addition to many other rare biota. The reserve has been the site of an extensive replanting campaign since 1989. Parts of the reserve show the effect of agriculture on the native ecosystem, as much of the land in the upper part of the reserve is abandoned farmland. Bird species native to the acacia koa–ʻōhiʻa forest include the Hawaiian crow (Corvus hawaiiensis), the ʻakepa (Loxops coccineus), Hawaii creeper (Oreomystis mana), ʻakiapōlāʻau (Hemignathus munroi), and Hawaiian hawk (Buteo solitarius), all of which are endangered, threatened, or near threatened; the Hawaiian crow in particular is extinct in the wild, but there are plans to reintroduce the species into the Hakalau reserve. Summit observatories Mauna Kea's summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation due to favorable observing conditions. The arid conditions are important for submillimeter and infrared astronomy for this region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The summit is above the inversion layer, keeping most cloud cover below the summit and ensuring the air on the summit is dry, and free of atmospheric pollution. The summit atmosphere is exceptionally stable, lacking turbulence for some of the world's best astronomical seeing. The very dark skies resulting from Mauna Kea's distance from city lights are preserved by legislation that minimizes light pollution from the surrounding area; the darkness level allows the observation of faint astronomical objects. These factors historically made Mauna Kea an excellent spot for stargazing. In the early 1960s, the Hawaiʻi Island Chamber of Commerce encouraged astronomical development of Mauna Kea, as economic stimulus; this coincided with University of Arizona astronomer Gerard Kuiper's search for sites to use newly improved detectors of infrared light. Site testing by Kuiper's assistant Alika Herring in 1964 confirmed the summit's outstanding suitability. An intense three-way competition for NASA funds to construct a large telescope began between Kuiper, Harvard University, and the University of Hawaiʻi (UH), which only had experience in solar astronomy. This culminated in funds being awarded to the "upstart" UH proposal. UH rebuilt its small astronomy department into a new Institute for Astronomy, and in 1968 the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources gave it a 65-year lease for all land within a 4 km (2.5 mi) radius of its telescope, essentially that above 11,500 ft (3,505 m). On its completion in 1970, the UH 88 in (2.2 m) was the seventh largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. By 1970, two 24 in (0.6 m) telescopes had been constructed by the US Air Force and Lowell Observatory. In 1973, Canada and France agreed to build the 3.6 m CFHT on Mauna Kea. However, local organisations started to raise concerns about the environmental impact of the observatory. This led the Department of Land and Natural Resources to prepare an initial management plan, drafted in 1977 and supplemented in 1980. In January 1982, the UH Board of Regents approved a plan to support the continued development of scientific facilities at the site. In 1998, 2,033 acres (823 ha) were transferred from the observatory lease to supplement the Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve. The 1982 plan was replaced in 2000 by an extension designed to serve until 2020: it instituted an Office of Mauna Kea Management, designated 525 acres (212 ha) for astronomy, and shifted the remaining 10,763 acres (4,356 ha) to "natural and cultural preservation". This plan was further revised to address concern expressed in the Hawaiian community that a lack of respect was being shown toward the cultural values of the mountain. Today the Mauna Kea Science Reserve has 13 observation facilities, each funded by as many as 11 countries. There are nine telescopes working in the visible and infrared spectrum, three in the submillimeter spectrum, and one in the radio spectrum, with mirrors or dishes ranging from 0.9 to 25 m (3 to 82 ft). In comparison, the Hubble Space Telescope has a 2.4 m (7.9 ft) mirror, similar in size to the UH88, now the second smallest telescope on the mountain. A "Save Mauna Kea" movement believes development of the mountain to be sacrilegious. Native Hawaiian non-profit groups such as Kahea, concerned with cultural heritage and the environment, also oppose development for cultural and religious reasons. The multi-telescope "outrigger" proposed in 2006 was eventually canceled. A planned new telescope, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), has attracted controversy and protests. The TMT was approved in April 2013. In October 2014, the groundbreaking ceremony for the telescope was interrupted by protesters causing the project to temporarily halt. In late March 2015, demonstrators blocked access of the road to the summit again. On April 2, 2015, 300 protestors were gathered near the visitor's center when 12 people were arrested with 11 more arrested at the summit. Among the concerns of the protest groups are the land appraisals and Native Hawaiians consultation. Construction was halted on April 7, 2015, after protests expanded over the state. After several halts, the project has been voluntarily postponed. Governor Ige announced substantial changes to the management of Mauna Kea in the future but stated the project can move forward. The Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi approved the resumption of construction on October 31, 2018. Protestors have posted online petitions as a reaction against the Thirty Meter Telescope. The online petition titled "The Immediate Halt to the Construction of the TMT Telescope" was posted to Change.org on July 14, 2019. The online petition has currently gathered over 278,057 signatures worldwide. Some protesters have also called for the impeachment of Hawaiian Governor David Ige because of his support for the Thirty Meter Telescope. On July 18, 2019, an online petition titled "Impeach Governor David Ige" had been posted to Change.org and has currently gathered over 62,562 signatures. As of late 2021, construction plans are currently on hold due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a shift in funding for the project that may see federal funds made available through the National Science Foundation. The controversy surrounding construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope continues. Independent polls commissioned by local media organizations show consistent support for the project in the islands with over two thirds of local residents supporting the project. These same polls indicate Native Hawaiian community support remains split with about half of Hawaiian respondents supporting construction of the new telescope. A July 2022 state law responds to the protests by shifting control over the master land lease from the University of Hawaii to the new Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority (MKSOA). The MKSOA is a 12-member board (11 voting members and 1 non-voting member) which includes representatives from the university, astronomers and native Hawaiians and it was created with the aim of finding a balance between the conflicting interests of astronomers and native Hawaiians. It is placed within the Hawaii department of land and natural resources and will be the principal authority for the management of state-managed lands within the Mauna Kea lands after a 5-year transition period from the university starting on July 1, 2023. During the transition period, the MKSOA and the university will jointly manage the land while the authority develops a management plan to govern land uses, human activities, and overall operations. Once the transition period is up in 2028, the authority's responsibilities will include issuing new land use permits which will be important as the current master lease ends in 2033, and any observatories which don't come up with new leases by the time of its expiration will be decommissioned. Climate Mauna Kea has an alpine climate (ET). Due to the influence of its tropical latitude, temperature swings are very low. Frosts are common year round, but the average monthly temperature remains above freezing throughout the year. Snow may fall at an altitude of 11,000 ft (3,353 m) and above in any month, but occurs most often from October to April. A weather station was operated from 1972 to 1982; however, only 33 months within this period have temperature records; many years only have data for two months. The temperatures presented below are smoothed averages, not the raw numbers recorded by NOAA. Recreation Mauna Kea's coastline is dominated by the Hamakua Coast, an area of rugged terrain created by frequent slumps and landslides on the volcano's flank. The area includes several recreation parks including Kalopa State Recreation Area, Wailuku River State Park and Akaka Falls State Park. There are over 3,000 registered hunters on Hawaii island, and hunting, for both recreation and sustenance, is a common activity on Mauna Kea. A public hunting program is used to control the numbers of introduced animals including pigs, sheep, goats, turkey, pheasants, and quail. The Mauna Kea State Recreation Area functions as a base camp for the sport. Birdwatching is also common at lower levels on the mountain. A popular site is Kīpuka Puʻu Huluhulu, a kīpuka on Mauna Kea's flank that formed when lava flows isolated the forest on a hill. Mauna Kea's great height and the steepness of its flanks provide a better view and a shorter hike than the adjacent Mauna Loa. The height with its risk of altitude sickness, weather concerns, steep road grade, and overall inaccessibility make the volcano dangerous and summit trips difficult. Until the construction of roads in the mid-20th century, only the hardy visited Mauna Kea's upper slopes; hunters tracked game animals, and hikers traveled up the mountain. These travelers used stone cabins constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s as base camps, and it is from these facilities that the modern mid-level Onizuka Center for International Astronomy telescope support complex is derived. The first Mauna Kea summit road was built in 1964, making the peak accessible to more people. Today, multiple hiking trails exist, including the Mauna Kea Trail, and by 2007 over 100,000 tourists and 32,000 vehicles were going each year to the Visitor Information Station (VIS) adjacent to the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy. The Mauna Kea Access Road is paved up to the Center at 2,804 m (9,199 ft). One study reported that around a third of visitors and two-thirds of professional astronomers working on the mountain have experienced symptoms of acute altitude sickness. Visitors to the mountain should prepare ahead of time by acclimating at a lower elevation or using a prescription medicine like Diamox. It is strongly recommended to use a four-wheel drive vehicle to drive all the way to the top. Brakes often overheat on the way down and there is no fuel available on Mauna Kea. A free Star Gazing Program was previously held at the VIS every night from 6-10 pm, with the program canceled due to both a change in operating hours and closure due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Between 5,000 and 6,000 people visit the summit of Mauna Kea each year, and to help ensure safety, and protect the integrity of the mountain, a ranger program was implemented in 2001. See also List of mountain peaks of the United States List of volcanoes of the United States List of mountain peaks of Hawaiʻi List of the highest major summits of the United States List of the most prominent summits of the United States List of the most isolated major summits of the United States List of Ultras of Oceania Evolution of Hawaiian volcanoes List of tallest mountains in the Solar System Mount Everest Footnotes References Further reading Ciotti, Joseph E. "Historical Views of Mauna Kea: From the Vantage Points of Hawaiian Culture and Astronomical Research," Hawaiian Journal of History, 45 (2011), 147–66. External links Geology http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/maunakea/ Archived October 21, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Mauna Kea Summary — Global Volcanism Program Mauna Kea. Hawaii Center for Volcanology. Astronomy and culture Mauna Kea Observatories. Tour of Mauna Kea's summit facilities. Mauna Kea Visitor Information. Information pertaining to visiting the summit telescopes. Ecology and management Office of Mauna Kea Management. Plan for land management. Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve. Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Klyuchevskaya_Sopka

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klyuchevskaya_Sopka

Klyuchevskaya Sopka (Russian: Ключевская сопка; also known as Klyuchevskoi, Russian: Ключевской) is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain of Siberia and the highest active volcano of Eurasia. Its steep, symmetrical cone towers about 100 kilometres (60 mi) from the Bering Sea. The volcano is part of the natural Volcanoes of Kamchatka UNESCO World Heritage Site. Klyuchevskaya Sopka is ranked 15th in the world by topographic isolation. Klyuchevskaya appeared 7,000 years ago. Its first recorded eruption occurred in 1697, and it has been almost continuously active ever since, as have many of its neighboring volcanoes. It was first climbed in 1788 by Daniel Gauss and two other members of the Billings Expedition. No other ascents were recorded until 1931, when several climbers were killed by flying lava on the descent. As similar dangers still exist today, few ascents are made. Eruptions Klyuchevskaya Sopka has erupted 110 times during the Holocene Epoch. 2007 eruption Beginning in early January 2007, Klyuchevskaya Sopka began another eruption cycle. Students from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and scientists of the Alaska Volcano Observatory traveled to Kamchatka in the spring to monitor the eruption. On 28 June 2007, the volcano began to experience the largest explosions so far recorded in this eruption cycle. An ash plume from the eruption reached a height of 10 km (33,000 ft) before drifting eastward, disrupting air traffic between the United States and Asia and causing ashfalls on Alaska's Unimak Island. 2010 eruption As early as 27 February 2010, gas plumes had erupted from Klyuchevskaya Sopka, reaching elevations of 7,000 m (22,966 ft). During the first week of March 2010, both explosive ash eruptions and effusive lava eruptions occurred until March 9th; the ash cloud was reported to have reached an elevation of 6,000 m (19,685 ft). As well, significant thermal anomalies have been reported, and gas-steam plumes extended roughly 50 km (31 mi) to the north-east from the volcano beginning on March 3rd. 2012 eruptions On 15 October 2012, the volcano had a weak eruption that stopped the following day. A weak thermal eruption occurred on 29 November 2012, then stopped again, as all of its neighboring volcanoes Bezymianny, Karymsky, Kizimen, Shiveluch, and Tolbachik erupted more actively and continuously, taking a major magma supply load off of Klyuchevskaya Sopka. 2013 eruptions On 25 January 2013, the volcano had a weak Strombolian eruption that stopped the following day. During January 2013, all volcanoes in the eastern part of Kamchatka—Bezymianny, Karymsky, Kizimen, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Shiveluch, and Tolbachik—erupted, with the exception of Kamen. On 15 August 2013, the volcano had another weak Strombolian eruption with some slight lava flow that put on an excellent fireworks display before stopping on 21 August 2013, when Gorely Volcano woke up and started erupting again in relief of Klyuchevskaya Sopka. On 12 October, Klyuchevskaya Sopka had another three days of on-and-off eruptions with anomalies and a short ash plume, possibly indicating Strombolian and weak Vulcanian activity. An explosion from a new cinder cone low on Kliuchevskoi's southwest flank occurred on 12 October. An ash plume rose to altitudes of 6–7 km (20,000–23,000 ft), and drifted eastward. The eruptions weakened and paused by 16 October 2013. On 19 November, a strong explosion occurred, and observers reported that ash plumes rose to altitudes of 10–12 km (33,000–39,000 ft) and drifted southeast. The Aviation Color Code was raised to Red. Later that day, the altitudes of the ash plumes were lower and the eruptions weakened and stopped again. On 7 December, activity at Kliuchevskoi significantly increased, having continued during 29 November – 7 December, prompting KVERT to raise the Alert Level to Red. Ash plumes rose to altitudes of 5.5–6 km (18,000–20,000 ft) above sea level and drifted more than 212 km (132 mi) northeast and over 1,000 km (621 mi) east. According to a news article, a warning to aircraft was issued for the area around the volcanoes. Video showed gas-and-steam activity, and satellite images detected a daily weak thermal anomaly. On 9 December, the Alert Level was lowered to Green when the eruptions abruptly stopped. 2015 eruptions On 2 January 2015, after a one-year period of inactivity, the volcano had a Strombolian eruption which stopped on 16 January 2015. Minor eruptions resumed on 10 March 2015 and stopped on 24 March 2015. On 27 August 2015, the volcano had another Strombolian eruption which ended 16 hours later. 2019 eruptions Kluchevskaya Sopka saw renewed eruption activity beginning in 2019. On 25 October 2019, the volcano had another weak Strombolian eruption which ended some 30 hours later. 2020 eruption A volcanic eruption occurred on 9 December 2020. 2022 eruption A volcanic eruption started on 20 November 2022. 2023 eruptions A volcanic eruption started on 22 June 2023. The June eruption follows nearby eruptions on 11 April 2023 in other volcanoes in the area. A significant eruptive event occurred as part of ongoing activity on 1 November 2023, sending ash as high as 13 km (8.1 mi) above sea level and causing flight delays as far away as Vancouver, BC, on 4–5 November 2023. 2022 climbing accidents In September 2022, nine people died while climbing Kluchevskaya Sopka. They were part of a 12-strong group of Russian nationals, which included two guides. Five climbers were killed after a fall at about 4,000 meters. Another four, including a guide, died on the mountainside afterwards. A rescue helicopter managed to land at 1,663 meters at the fourth attempt, bringing rescuers who faced a two-day climb to reach a volcanologists' hut at 3,300 meters where the three survivors were sheltering. Images See also List of volcanoes in Russia Kronotsky Nature Reserve Valley of Geysers Kamchatka Peninsula Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team List of highest points of Russian federal subjects References External links Klyuchevskaya Sopka (Climbing). on author's site sgan2009.ru "Russia begins here" (in Russian) "Klyuchevskoy". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2008-12-18. Klyuchevskoy Volcano live webcam "Klyuchevskaya Sopka". Peakware.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. – photos Science Daily article on the 2007 eruption's disruption of air traffic

List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States

The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and various minor islands. Both the states and the United States as a whole are each sovereign jurisdictions. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution allows states to exercise all powers of government not delegated to the federal government. Each state has its own constitution and government, and all states and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state is represented by two senators, while representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census. Additionally, each state is entitled to select a number of electors to vote in the Electoral College, the body that elects the president of the United States, equal to the total of representatives and senators in Congress from that state. The federal district does not have representatives in the Senate, but has a non-voting delegate in the House, and it is also entitled to electors in the Electoral College. Congress can admit more states, but it cannot create a new state from territory of an existing state or merge two or more states into one without the consent of all states involved, and each new state is admitted on an equal footing with the existing states. The United States has control over fourteen territories. Five of them (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands) have a permanent, nonmilitary population, while nine of them (the United States Minor Outlying Islands) do not. With the exception of Navassa Island, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which are located in the Caribbean, all territories are located in the Pacific Ocean. One territory, Palmyra Atoll, is considered to be incorporated, meaning the full body of the Constitution has been applied to it; the other territories are unincorporated, meaning the Constitution does not fully apply to them. Ten territories (the Minor Outlying Islands and American Samoa) are considered to be unorganized, meaning they have not had an organic act enacted by Congress; the four other territories are organized, meaning an organic act has been enacted by Congress. The five inhabited territories each have limited autonomy in addition to having territorial legislatures and governors, but residents cannot vote in federal elections, although all are represented by non-voting delegates in the House. The largest state by population is California, with a population of 39,538,223 people, while the smallest is Wyoming, with a population of 576,851 people; the federal district has a larger population (689,545) than both Wyoming and Vermont. The largest state by area is Alaska, encompassing 665,384 square miles (1,723,340 km2), while the smallest is Rhode Island, encompassing 1,545 square miles (4,000 km2). The most recent states to be admitted, Alaska and Hawaii, were admitted in 1959. The largest territory by population is Puerto Rico, with a population of 3,285,874 people (larger than 21 states), while the smallest is the Northern Mariana Islands, with a population of 47,329 people. Puerto Rico is the largest territory by area, encompassing 5,325 square miles (13,790 km2); the smallest territory, Kingman Reef, encompasses only 0.005 square miles (0.013 km2). States Federal district Territories Inhabited territories Uninhabited territories Disputed territories See also Aboriginal title in the United States Historic regions of the United States List of Indian reservations in the United States List of regions of the United States Lists of U.S. state topics Local government in the United States Organized incorporated territories of the United States Proposals for a 51st state Territorial evolution of the United States U.S. territorial sovereignty Compact of Free Association Explanatory notes References Radan, Peter (2007). Creating New States: Theory and Practice of Secession. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9780754671633. External links State Resource Guides, from the Library of Congress State and Territorial Governments on USA.gov

List_of_United_States_senators_from_Maryland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_senators_from_Maryland

This is a list of United States senators from Maryland, which ratified the United States Constitution April 28, 1788, becoming the seventh state to do so. To provide for continuity of government, the framers divided senators into staggered classes that serve six-year terms, and Maryland's senators are in the first and third classes. Before the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, which allowed for direct election of senators, Maryland's senators were chosen by the Maryland General Assembly, which ratified the amendment on April 1, 2010. Until the assembly appointed George L. Wellington of Cumberland in 1897, senators in class 3 were chosen from the Eastern Shore while senators in class 1 were chosen from the remainder of the state. Barbara Mikulski has been Maryland's longest-serving senator (1987–2017). List of senators See also United States congressional delegations from Maryland List of United States representatives from Maryland Elections in Maryland References Byrd, Robert C. (October 1, 1993). Wolff, Wendy (ed.). The Senate, 1789-1989: Historical Statistics, 1789-1992. United States Senate Historical Office (volume 4 Bicentennial ed.). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 9780160632563.

Ben_Cardin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Cardin

Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Maryland's 3rd congressional district from 1987 to 2007. Cardin served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1967 to 1987 and as its speaker from 1979 to 1987. Cardin was elected as U.S. Senator to succeed Paul Sarbanes in 2006, defeating Republican Michael Steele, the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, by a margin of 54% to 44%. He was reelected in 2012 taking 56% of the vote. He became Maryland's senior U.S. senator on January 3, 2017, upon Barbara Mikulski's retirement. Cardin won reelection to a third term in 2018, taking 65% of the vote. Cardin will retire rather than run for reelection in 2024. Early life and career Benjamin Louis Cardin was born in Baltimore, Maryland. The family name was originally "Kardonsky", before it was changed to "Cardin". Cardin's grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Green, operated a neighborhood grocery store that later turned into a wholesale food distribution company. His mother Dora was a schoolteacher and his father, Meyer Cardin, served in the Maryland House of Delegates (1935–1937) and later sat on the Baltimore City Supreme Bench (1961–1977). Cardin and his family attended the Modern Orthodox Beth Tfiloh Congregation near their home, with which the family had been affiliated for three generations. Cardin attended Baltimore City College, graduating in 1961. In 1964, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1967, graduating first in his class. Cardin was admitted to the Maryland Bar that same year, and joined the private practice of Rosen and Esterson until 1978. Early political career Maryland House of Delegates While still in law school, Cardin was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in November 1966. He held the seat once held by his uncle, Maurice Cardin, who had decided to not run for re-election so that his nephew could instead pursue the seat. He was chairman of the Ways & Means Committee from 1974 to 1979, then served as the 103rd Speaker of the House until he left office. At age 35, he was the youngest Speaker in Maryland history at the time. As Speaker, he was involved with reform efforts involving Maryland's property tax system, school financing formula, and ethical standards for elected officials. U.S. House of Representatives In 1986, with Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski mounting what would be a successful bid for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Charles Mathias, Cardin ran for Mikulski's seat representing the 3rd congressional district, which covered a large slice of inner Baltimore, as well as several close-in suburbs. Cardin won the Democratic nomination with 82 percent of the vote—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district. He won the general election with 79 percent of the vote against a perennial candidate, Republican Ross Z. Pierpont. Cardin served as one of the House impeachment managers that successfully prosecuted the case in the 1989 impeachment trial of Judge Walter Nixon. Cardin was reelected nine times, rarely facing serious opposition and even running unopposed in 1992. In the 2000 round of redistricting, his district was redrawn to add significant portions of Anne Arundel County, including the state capital of Annapolis. His last two opponents hailed from Anne Arundel and nearly carried the district's portion of that county. In the House, Cardin was involved with fiscal issues, pension reform, and health care. His legislation to increase the amount individuals can store in their 401k plans and IRAs was passed in 2001. His bill to expand Medicare to include preventive benefits such as colorectal, prostate, mammogram, and osteoporosis screening was also enacted. He also authored legislation to provide a Medicare prescription drug benefit for chronic illnesses; fund graduate medical education; and guarantee coverage for emergency services. Cardin has also advocated, via proposed legislation, welfare reform. His bill to increase education and support services for foster children between ages 18 and 21 was signed into law in 1999. He authored bills to expand child support, improve the welfare-to-work program, and increase the child care tax credit. In 1998, Cardin was appointed Chairman of the Special Study Commission on Maryland Public Ethics Law by the Maryland General Assembly. In 1997, he co-chaired the Bipartisan Ethics Task Force in an effort to reform ethics procedures in the House of Representatives. He also held leadership positions on the Organization, Study and Review Committee and the Steering Committee of the House Democratic Caucus, and served as Senior Democratic Whip. Cardin has been commended for his work with fiscal policy. He has been honored by Worth magazine and by Treasury and Risk Management for his work protecting retirement plans and government-supported medical care for the elderly. He has also received scores of 100 percent from the League of Conservation Voters and the NAACP, indicating stances that are in favor of environmental protection and civil rights. Cardin was also one of 133 members of Congress to vote against the 2002 Iraq Resolution. House committee assignments As of May 2006, Cardin served on the following House committees: Member of the Ways and Means Committee. Ranking member of the Trade Subcommittee. Member of the Human Resources Subcommittee. Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. U.S. Senate Elections 2006 On April 26, 2005, Cardin announced that he would seek the U.S. Senate seat of long-standing senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), following the announcement by Sarbanes that he would not be running for re-election in 2006. On September 12, 2006, Cardin faced a challenging primary battle with other Maryland Democrats, including Allan Lichtman, Josh Rales, Dennis F. Rasmussen, and his former House colleague Kweisi Mfume. Cardin won, however, with 44 percent of the vote, compared to 40 percent for Mfume, five percent for Rales, and two percent for Rasmussen. Cardin won election on November 7, 2006, defeating Republican challenger Michael Steele 54 percent to 44 percent. Cardin became the third consecutive Representative from Maryland's 3rd congressional district to be elected Senator (following Sarbanes and Mikulski). John Sarbanes, Paul's son, succeeded Cardin in the 3rd district. 2012 Cardin ran for re-election to a second term in 2012. He turned back a primary challenge from State Senator C. Anthony Muse, defeating him 74% to 16%, with seven other candidates taking the remaining 10%. In the general election, he faced Republican Dan Bongino, a former United States Secret Service agent, Independent Rob Sobhani, an economist and businessman, and Libertarian Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, President of the Minaret of Freedom Institute. Cardin easily won the election, taking 56% of the vote to Bongino's 26.3%, Sobhani's 16.4% and Ahmad's 1%. 2018 Cardin was re-elected for a third term in 2018. 2024 On May 1, 2023, Cardin announced that he would retire and not seek re-election in 2024. Tenure Cardin was participating in the certification of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when the January 6 United States Capitol attack happened. Cardin was on the Senate chamber floor when the rioters breached the Capitol. He was "ushered quickly — and I do mean quickly — away from the Capitol" after Vice President Mike Pence was removed from the chambers. During the attack, while Cardin hid with other senators in a safe location, he tweeted, blaming President Donald Trump for encouraging the rioters. He called for Trump to stop the protestors so the event would end "peacefully." Cardin also compared the police involvement during the attack to that seen during Black Lives Matter protests, calling it a "stark contrast." After the Capitol was secure, Cardin joined Congress to certify the count. After, he said that Trump should be held accountable for the insurrection and called for Republican leaders to tell Trump that he needs to resign. Two days later, on January 8, Cardin called for the invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution or impeachment to remove Trump. In 2024, Cardin advocated for the federal government to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after it collapsed when a ship crashed into it. Senate committee assignments Source: Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Finance Subcommittee on Health Care (Chair) Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight Committee on Foreign Relations (Chair) Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development (Chair) Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's Issues Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Cardin was selected by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to fill in for Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee until she returned. In 2015, Cardin became the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the departure of Senator Robert Menendez as ranking Democrat and Chairman. Two weeks after Menendez departure, Cardin was credited with facilitating achievement of a unanimous committee vote in favor of the markup for the bill on the USA's involvement in the negotiations with Iran on nuclear technology. Senator Menendez returned to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2021. Caucus membership Senate Oceans Caucus Senate Military Family Caucus Senate Ukraine Caucus Congressional Coalition on Adoption Legislation sponsored The following is an incomplete list of legislation that Cardin has sponsored: Affordable College Textbook Act (S. 1864; 115th Congress) International experience Cardin has been a Commissioner on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the U.S. Helsinki Commission) since 1993, serving as Ranking Member from 2003 to 2006. He subsequently served two terms as co-chair of the commission, from 2007 to 2008, and 2011 to 2012; and also two terms as chair, from 2009 to 2010, and 2013 to 2014. From 2015 to 2016 he was again ranking member. In 2006 he was elected vice president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, and served through 2014. Honors Cardin holds honorary degrees from several institutions, including the University of Baltimore School of Law (1990); University of Maryland, Baltimore (1993); Baltimore Hebrew University (1994); Goucher College (1996); and Villa Julie College (2007). As of 2016 Cardin sits on the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland School of Law, his law school alma mater. From 1988 to 1995, he chaired the Maryland Legal Services Corp. Through much of his political career, he has continued to work with law policy. From 1988 to 1999, Cardin served on the St. Mary's College of Maryland Board of Trustees, and in 2002, he was appointed to the St. Mary's Advisory Board for the Study of Democracy. In 1999, he was appointed to the Goucher College Board of Trustees. Cardin has been awarded the following foreign honor: Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania, Romania (June 8, 2017) Political positions On a list by Congressional Quarterly of the members of Congress who were most supportive of President Barack Obama's legislative agenda in 2009, Cardin was tied for fifth most supportive senator with five other senators. In 2013, National Journal rated him as tied with six other Democratic senators for fifth most liberal Senator. The American Conservative Union gave him a 4% lifetime conservative rating in 2020. Agriculture In June 2019, Cardin and eighteen other Democratic senators sent a letter to USDA Inspector General (IG) Phyllis K. Fong with the request that the IG investigate USDA instances of retaliation and political decision-making and asserted that not conducting an investigation would mean these "actions could be perceived as a part of this administration's broader pattern of not only discounting the value of federal employees, but suppressing, undermining, discounting, and wholesale ignoring scientific data produced by their own qualified scientists." Death penalty Senator Cardin is a supporter of the death penalty but says it should only be applied to the "worst of the worst". Economy In March 2019, Cardin was one of six senators to sign a letter to the Federal Trade Commission requesting it "use its rulemaking authority, along with other tools, in order to combat the scourge of non-compete clauses rigging our economy against workers" and espousing the view that such provisions "harm employees by limiting their ability to find alternate work, which leaves them with little leverage to bargain for better wages or working conditions with their immediate employer." The senators furthered that the FTC had the responsibility of protecting both consumers and workers and needed to "act decisively" to address their concerns over "serious anti-competitive harms from the proliferation of non-competes in the economy." Education In 2007, Cardin supported the United States Public Service Academy Act. The Act would serve to create "an undergraduate institution devoted to developing civilian leaders." Like the Military Academies, this would give students 4 years of tuition-free education in exchange for 5 years of public service upon graduation. Environment Liberal environmentalists criticized Cardin for compromising too much while working with conservative James Inhofe on an amendment to Cardin's Chesapeake Bay legislation. Josh Saks, senior legislative representative for water resources campaigns with the National Wildlife Federation, praised Cardin as "the lead voice for clean water and the restoration of America's great waters in Congress." In November 2018, Cardin was one of twenty-five Democratic senators to cosponsor a resolution specifying key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report and National Climate Assessment. The resolution affirmed the senators' acceptance of the findings and their support for bold action toward addressing climate change. In March 2019, Cardin was one of eleven senators to sponsor the Climate Security Act of 2019, legislation forming a new group within the State Department that would have the responsibility for developing strategies to integrate climate science and data into operations of national security as well as restoring the post of special envoy for the Arctic, which had been dismantled by President Trump in 2017. The proposed envoy would advise the president and the administration on the potential effects of climate on national security and be responsible for facilitating all interagency communication between federal science and security agencies. Elections In October 2018, Cardin cosponsored, together with Chris Van Hollen and Susan Collins, a bipartisan bill that if passed would block "any persons from foreign adversaries from owning or having control over vendors administering U.S. elections." Protect Our Elections Act would make companies involved in administering elections reveal foreign owners, and informing local, state and federal authorities if said ownership changes. Companies failing to comply would face fines of $100,000. Equal Rights Amendment Cardin has sponsored legislation in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Gun control Cardin has an "F" rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund. In 2013, he co-sponsored the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act in an effort to ban large-capacity ammunition. In response to the Orlando nightclub shooting, Cardin questioned the legality of military style assault weapons stating that "in my observations in Maryland, I don't know too many people who need to have that type of weapon in order to do hunting in my state or to keep themselves safe." Cardin opposed the 2016 sale of approximately 26,000 assault rifles to the national police of the Philippines. His opposition led to the U.S. State Department halting the sale. In the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Cardin stated that thoughts and prayers were not going to save more people from dying in mass shootings. He also made a call for action to change gun laws, stating on Twitter that "Automatic weapons aren't needed to hunt deer or ducks; they're meant to kill people." In response to the shooting, Cardin sponsored Dianne Feinstein's proposal to ban bump stocks, which were used by the shooter to kill 58 individuals and injure over 500. Journalism In July 2019, Cardin and Rob Portman introduced the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act, a bill that would create a new memorial that would be privately funded and constructed on federal lands within Washington, D.C. in order to honor journalists, photographers, and broadcasters that have died in the line of duty. Healthcare In the 111th Congress, Cardin helped secure dental benefits in the State Children's Health Insurance Plan. In August 2019, Cardin was one of nineteen senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar requesting data from the Trump administration in order to aid in the comprehension of states and Congress on potential consequences in the event that the Texas v. United States Affordable Care Act (ACA) lawsuit prevailed in courts, citing that an overhaul of the present health care system would form "an enormous hole in the pocketbooks of the people we serve as well as wreck state budgets". In October 2019, Cardin was one of twenty-seven senators to sign a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer advocating for the passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act, which was set to expire the following month. The senators warned that if the funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) was allowed to expire, it "would cause an estimated 2,400 site closures, 47,000 lost jobs, and threaten the health care of approximately 9 million Americans." Housing In April 2019, Cardin was one of forty-one senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program as authorizing "HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country" and expressing disappointment that President Trump's budget "has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development." The senators wrote of their hope that the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020. International policy On October 31, 2011, Cardin endorsed the proposal for the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA). He is one of only six persons who served as members of the United States Congress ever to do so and is the only one who did so while in office. Cardin has often supported positions that aim to strengthen America's relationship with Israel. In 2017, Cardin sponsored a bill, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720), that would penalize commercial businesses that wanted to aid International NGOs and/or organizations in boycotting Israel. Cardin has argued that Israel's human rights record should not be considered in regard to sending U.S. military aid to Israel. He supported civilian nuclear cooperation with India. Weeks after the 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign and Umbrella Movement broke out which demands genuine universal suffrage among other goals, Cardin among bipartisan colleagues joined U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Rep. Chris Smith's effort to introduce Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act which would update the United States–Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 and U.S. commitment to Hong Kong's freedom and democracy. "Civil society and democratic freedoms are under attack around the world and Hong Kong is on the front lines. The United States has a responsibility to protect human rights and defend against these threats," Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee said. In July 2017, Cardin voted in favor of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that placed sanctions on Iran together with Russia and North Korea. On October 11, 2017, in a joint statement, Cardin and Senator John McCain questioned the Trump administration's commitment to the sanctions bill. In October 2017, Cardin condemned the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis. In August 2018, Cardin and 16 other lawmakers urged the Trump administration to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against Chinese officials who are responsible for human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in western China's Xinjiang region. They wrote: "The detention of as many as a million or more Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in 'political reeducation' centers or camps requires a tough, targeted, and global response." Cardin condemned President Erdoğan's wide-ranging crackdown on dissent following a failed July 2016 coup in America's NATO ally Turkey. In April 2019, Cardin was one of thirty-four senators to sign a letter to President Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" through preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S., citing the funding's helping to improve conditions in those countries. In 2023 Senator Cardin became the chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. According to Jewish Insider, Cardin's office communicated to some activists that it does not have a plan to move the Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) forward through the committee, likely killing the bipartisan Iran sanctions bill. Online privacy Cardin supports Net Neutrality, as shown by his vote during the 109th Congress in favor of the Markey Amendment to H.R. 5252 which would add Net Neutrality provisions to the federal telecommunications code. Cardin also supports Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which gives DOJ the tools to target those site owners who are engaged in illegal digital piracy. Taxes Cardin is opposed to eliminating the tax deduction for charitable donations and supports raising taxes on higher-income earners. During a December 20, 2012, interview with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC, Cardin stated, "We're now a few days away from Christmas. The easiest way to get the revenues is to get the rates from the higher income, uh, taxpayers." In response to the question, "Are you prepared to vote to limit the loophole of charitable deductions?" Cardin responded, "No." Cardin has, on multiple occasions, introduced a bill to adopt a "Progressive Consumption Tax", which is a variation of Michael J. Graetz's Competitive Tax Plan. This tax reform would abolish income tax for a large portion of American taxpayers, replacing the lost revenue with a 10% value-added tax. As of 2022, the Progressive Consumption Tax has not made it out of committee. Cardin spoke out after the Pandora Papers were revealed in 2021. Cardin said, "The Pandora Papers are a wake-up call to all who care about the future of democracy. Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, it is time for democracies to band together and demand an end to the unprecedented corruption that has come to be the defining feature of the global order. We must purge the dirty money from our systems and deny kleptocrats safe haven." Whistleblowers In November 2011, Cardin's intended update of the 1917 Espionage Act upset some public disclosure advocates. They complained that it "would make it harder for federal employees to expose government fraud and abuse." Israel Cardin is a co-sponsor of a Senate resolution expressing objection to the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as a violation of international law. Cardin said that "Congress will take action against efforts at the UN, or beyond, that use Resolution 2334 to target Israel." Cardin supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel and the location of the US Embassy should reflect this fact." Cardin and Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) proposed the Israel Anti-Boycott Act in late 2018 which would make it illegal for companies to engage in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories. The bill would expand the Export Administration Act (EAA) to foreign boycotts imposed by international organizations like the European Union, Arab League and the United Nations. Cardin and Portman were strongly in promotion of the bill, and worked to integrate it into larger spending legislation to be signed by then-President Trump. In January 2024, Cardin rejected Bernie Sanders' resolution that would have required the State Department to report to Congress on any evidence of human rights violations by Israel in Gaza. In May 2024, Cardin stated that "Israel has not violated International Humanitarian Law" and "military assistance to support Israel's security remains in the U.S. interest and should continue." Personal life Cardin married high school sweetheart Myrna Edelman, a teacher, on November 24, 1964. They have a daughter, Deborah. Their son Michael (born 1967 or 1968) died of suicide on March 24, 1998, at age 30. In 2002, Cardin's 32-year-old nephew, Jon S. Cardin, was elected as a Delegate representing the 11th district of western Baltimore County. With the 11th legislative district overlapping the 3rd congressional district, there were two Cardins on the ticket in this area in 2002. Present at Jon's swearing in was the oldest living former member of the House of Delegates at 95 years of age, Meyer Cardin, Jon's grandfather and Ben's father. Also in attendance was Cardin, who remarked, "The next generation's taking over." Volunteer service For many years Cardin served on the board of trustees for St. Mary's College of Maryland. He was very active on the board and also played key roles in the establishment of the Center for the Study of Democracy at the college, where he also served on the advisory board. Electoral history Notes and references Notes References See also List of Jewish members of the United States Congress Further reading Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress Profile at Vote Smart External links Senator Ben Cardin official U.S. Senate website Ben Cardin for Senate Ben Cardin at Curlie Appearances on C-SPAN

Maurice_Cardin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Cardin

Maurice Cardin (July 19, 1909 – March 23, 2009) was an American politician who served in the Maryland House of Delegates from Baltimore City's 5th district from 1951 to 1966. His nephew is current Maryland U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, who took over his seat in the Maryland House of Delegates when he retired from politics. He died of heart failure on March 23, 2009, in Lake Worth Beach, Florida at age 99. == References ==

Mons_Hansteen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mons_Hansteen

Mons Hansteen is a mountain on the Moon, also known as Hansteen Alpha (α), named after Christopher Hansteen. It is roughly triangular in shape and occupies an area about 30 km across on the western margin of Oceanus Procellarum, southeast of the crater Hansteen and north of the dark-floored crater Billy. It is thought to be an extrusion of volcanic material that is younger than the crater Hansteen, with most of surface volcanic ash been deposited 3.5-3.74 billion years ago. The Mons Hansteen belongs to rare class of non-mare moon volcanoes. Composition The extruded material is significantly enriched in silica, and strongly depleted in iron and titanium oxides compared to surrounding mare terrain. Initially, it was believed its lavas are not as evolved as in Compton–Belkovich Thorium Anomaly, but by 2004 the low thorium enrichment signal was attributed to small size of volcanic complex, making it composition compatible with highly processed silicic lavas. By 2013, a patchy deposits of magnesium spinel were detected in the central and western parts of the volcanic dome. The spinel-rich areas are associated with boulder fields, and fringed by areas showing a sign of hydration, with 4-8% of mineral by weight been hydroxylated. The average bulk density of material in Mons Hansteen is extremely low, been equal only to 1500–2000 kg/m3. See also Volcanism on the Moon References External links Mons Hansteen: A Window into Lunar Magmatic Processes, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) article, Posted by Brett Denevi on April 10, 2017

Christopher_Hansteen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hansteen

Christopher Hansteen (26 September 1784 – 11 April 1873) was a Norwegian geophysicist, astronomer and physicist, best known for his mapping of Earth's magnetic field. Early life and career Hansteen was born in Christiania as the son of Johannes Mathias Hansteen (1744–1792) and his wife Anne Cathrine Treschow (1754–1829). He was the younger brother of writer Conradine Birgitte Dunker, and through her the uncle of Bernhard Dunker and Vilhelmine Ullmann, and granduncle of Mathilde Schjøtt, Ragna Nielsen and Viggo Ullmann. His mother was a first cousin of Niels Treschow. The intention was for Hansteen to become a naval officer, but since his father died when Hansteen was young, this plan did not materialize. Instead, he attended Oslo Cathedral School from the age of nine. Niels Treschow was the principal of this school. Hansteen took the examen artium in 1802, and in 1803 he enrolled at the University of Copenhagen, where he originally studied law. He later took more interest in mathematics, estranged by the lack of universal validity of a country's laws compared to the mathematical laws. He had also been inspired by the lectures of Hans Christian Ørsted. He was hired as the tutor of a young noble, Niels Rosenkrantz von Holstein, who lived at Sorø. Here, he also met his future wife Johanne Cathrine Andrea Borch, a daughter of professor Caspar Abraham Borch. In 1806 he was hired as a mathematics teacher in the gymnasium of Frederiksborg. Academic career In 1807 Hansteen began the inquiries in terrestrial magnetism with which his name is especially associated. His first scientific publication was printed in Journal de Physique, following a contest on magnetic axes created in 1811 by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. In 1813 he was given a research scholarship by the recently established (in 1811) Royal Frederick University in Christiania, with a promise of a future academic position. After marrying Johanne Cathrine Andrea Borch in May 1814, they left for Norway in the summer. Due to the Swedish campaign against Norway in 1814, they opted to travel by sea, and was threatened by a Swedish privateer as well as seized by a British fregate en route. Reaching Norway after five days, they settled in the street Pilestredet. Working as a lecturer from 1814, in 1816 Hansteen was promoted to professor of astronomy and applied mathematics. He was the editor of the official Norwegian almanac from 1815, manager of the city astronomical observatory from the same year and co-director of the Norwegian Mapping Authority (then known as Norges Geografiske Oppmåling) from 1817. In 1819 he published a volume of researches on terrestrial magnetism, which was translated into German under the title of Untersuchungen über den Magnetismus der Erde, with a supplement containing Beobachtungen der Abweichung und Neigung der Magnetnadel and an atlas. By the rules there framed for the observation of magnetical phenomena Hansteen hoped to accumulate analyses for determining the number and position of the magnetic poles of the Earth. In 1822 he co-founded Norway's first journal on natural sciences, Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne. He sat as editor-in-chief for eight years. In the course of his research he travelled over Finland and the greater part of his own country; and from 1828 to 1830 he undertook, in company with Georg Adolf Erman and with the co-operation of Russia, a government-funded mission to Western Siberia. A narrative of the expedition soon appeared (Reise-Erinnerungen aus Siberien, 1854; Souvenirs d’un voyage en Sibérie, 1857); but the chief work was not issued until 1863 (Resultate magnetischer Beobachtungen). He did not conclude on the issue at hand, but his work was later completed by Carl Friedrich Gauss. Shortly after the return of the mission, in 1833 Hansteen moved with his family into the observatory, which was created from drawings by the architect Christian Heinrich Grosch. A magnetic observatory was added in 1839. From 1835 to 1838 he published textbooks on geometry and mechanics, largely a reaction to his former research assistant Bernt Michael Holmboe's textbooks. Compared to Holmboe's method of teaching, Hansteen's books were more practically oriented. After Holmboe wrote a review of the first textbook for the newspaper Morgenbladet, in which he advised schools not to use it, a public debate followed, with contributions from other mathematicians. It has been claimed that this was the first debate on the subject of school textbooks in Norway. Holmboe's textbooks proved more lasting, with Hansteen's textbook not being reprinted. In 1842 Hansteen wrote his Disquisitiones de mutationibus, quas patitur momentum acus magneticae. He also contributed various papers to different scientific journals, especially Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne. Hansteen was a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters from 1818 and of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1857, as well as several learned societies in other countries, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1822) and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1863). He was a member of the board of the Royal Norwegian Society for Development for many years, and also chaired the board of the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry. Later life For health reasons, Hansteen stopped holding lectures in 1856. In 1861 he retired from active work, but still pursued his studies, his Observations de l'inclination magnetique and Sur les variations séculaires du magnetisme appearing in 1865. He left the position as observatory manager in 1861 as well, but continued as editor of the Norwegian almanac until 1863 and as director of the Norwegian Mapping Authority until 1872. His wife died in 1840. Their daughter Aasta Hansteen became a notable women's rights campaigner. He was the paternal great-grandfather of Kristofer Hansteen and Edvard Heiberg Hansteen; trade unionist Viggo Hansteen was a later descendant. Christopher Hansteen died in April 1873 in Christiania, and is buried at Gamle Aker kirkegård. The funeral took place at the University. Awards and legacy Hansteen was appointed a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1847, and received the Grand Cross in 1855. He was also appointed a Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog and a Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star, as well as other foreign orders of knighthood. A bust of Hansteen was raised at his observatory in the 1850s. The crater Hansteen and the mountain Mons Hansteen on the Moon is named after him. In Oslo, the road Christopher Hansteens vei at Blindern has been named after Hansteen. In addition, a street at Majorstuen was named Hansteens gate, but in 1879 it was renamed Holmboes gate in honour of Bernt Michael Holmboe. In the Møhlenpris neighbourhood in Bergen, the street Professor Hansteens gate was named after Hansteen in 1881. See also Scandinavian Scientist Conference == References ==

Niels_Treschow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Treschow

Niels Nicolas Treschow (5 September 1751 – 22 September 1833) was a Norwegian philosopher, educator and politician. Biography Treschow was born in Strømsø, now part of Drammen in Buskerud. He was the son of Peter Treschow (1718-1773) who was a merchant. He took his student examation in 1766 and was awarded a Master's Degree in philosophy in 1774. Treschow was rector at the Trondheim Cathedral School from 1774-1780 and later served as an educator in Oslo and Copenhagen. He became a professor at the newly established University of Oslo in 1813 and as one of initially only five professors was influential in forming the university during its first period. Today, the main building of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo bears his name. He served as Minister of Education and Church Affairs 1814–1816, 1817–1819, 1820–1822 and 1823–1825, and member of the Council of State Division in Stockholm 1816–1817, 1819–1820, and 1822–1823. He was elected a member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters in 1790. In 1825, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was decorated with both theCommander's Cross of the Order of the North Star and the Knight's Cross of Order of the Dannebrog. Selected works Forsøg om Guds tilværelse af theoretiske grunde: i anledning af den kantiske philosophie (1794) Philosophiske Forsøg (1805) Moral for Folk og Stat (1810–12) Om Philosophiens Natur og Dele: en dogmatisk og historisk Indledning til denne Videnskab (1811) Om den menneskelige Natur i Almindelighed, især dens aandelige Side (1812) Almindelig Logik (1813) Christendommens Aand, eller Den evangeliske Lære: frimodig og upartisk beskreven (1828) References Other sources Christophersen, H. O (1977) Niels Treschow, 1751-1833: En tenker mellom to tidsaldrer (Grøndahl & Søn Forlag) ISBN 978-8250402706 Norway and the Norwegians, Treschow —His writings — Anthropology — Eilschow by Robert Gordon Latham, (published 1840 by R. Bentley in London) pp. 149–153. External links Treschows gate (Oslo)

Dyatlov_Pass_incident

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

The Dyatlov Pass incident (Russian: Гибель тургруппы Дятлова, romanized: Gibel turgruppy Dyatlova, lit. 'Death of the Dyatlov Hiking Group') is an event in which nine Soviet hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains between February 1 and 2, 1959, under uncertain circumstances. The experienced trekking group from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, led by Igor Dyatlov, had established a camp on the eastern slopes of Kholat Syakhl in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union. Overnight, something caused them to cut their way out of their tent and flee the campsite while inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall and subzero temperatures. After the group's bodies were discovered, an investigation by Soviet authorities determined that six of them had died from hypothermia while the other three had been killed by physical trauma. One victim had major skull damage, two had severe chest trauma, and another had a small crack in his skull. Four of the bodies were found lying in running water in a creek, and three of these four had damaged soft tissue of the head and face – two of the bodies had missing eyes, one had a missing tongue, and one had missing eyebrows. The investigation concluded that a "compelling natural force" had caused the deaths. Numerous theories have been put forward to account for the unexplained deaths, including animal attacks, hypothermia, an avalanche, katabatic winds, infrasound-induced panic, military involvement, or some combination of these factors. Russia opened a new investigation into the incident in 2019, and its conclusions were presented in July 2020: that an avalanche had led to the deaths. Survivors of the avalanche had been forced to suddenly leave their camp in low-visibility conditions with inadequate clothing and had died of hypothermia. Andrey Kuryakov, deputy head of the regional prosecutor's office, said, "It was a heroic struggle. There was no panic. But they had no chance to save themselves under the circumstances." A study led by scientists from EPFL and ETH Zürich, published in 2021, suggested that a type of avalanche known as a slab avalanche could explain some of the trekkers' injuries. A mountain pass in the area was later named "Dyatlov Pass" in memory of the group. In many languages, the incident is now referred to as the "Dyatlov Pass incident". However, the incident occurred about 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) away, on the eastern slope of Kholat Syakhl. A prominent rock outcrop in the area now serves as a memorial to the group. It is located about 500 metres (1,600 ft) to the east-southeast of the actual site of the final camp. Background In 1959, a group was formed for a skiing expedition across the northern Urals in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union. According to Prosecutor Tempalov, documents that were found in the tent of the expedition suggest that the expedition was named for the 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was possibly dispatched by the local Komsomol organization. Igor Dyatlov, a 23-year-old radio engineering student at the Ural Polytechnical Institute (now Ural Federal University), the leader, assembled a group of nine others for the trip, most of whom were fellow students and peers at the university. The initial group consisted of eight men and two women, but one member later returned due to health issues. Each member of the group was an experienced Grade II-hiker with ski tour experience and would be receiving Grade III certification upon their return. At the time, Grade III was the highest certification available in the Soviet Union and required candidates to traverse 300 kilometres (190 mi). The route was designed by Dyatlov's group to reach the far northern regions of the Sverdlovsk Oblast and the upper streams of the Lozva river. The Sverdlovsk city route commission approved the route. This was a division of the Sverdlovsk Committee of Physical Culture and Sport, and they confirmed the group of 10 people on January 8, 1959. The goal of the expedition was to reach Otorten (Отортен), a mountain 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the site where the incident occurred. This route, estimated as Category III, was undertaken in February, the most difficult time to traverse. On 23 January 1959, the Dyatlov group was issued their route book, which listed their course following the No.5 trail. At that time, the Sverdlovsk City Committee of Physical Culture and Sport listed approval for 11 people. The 11th person listed was Semyon Zolotaryov, who was previously certified to go with another expedition of similar difficulty (the Sogrin expedition group). The Dyatlov group left Sverdlovsk city (today Yekaterinburg) on the same day they received the route book. Expedition The group arrived by train at Ivdel (Ивдель), a town at the centre of the northern province of Sverdlovsk Oblast in the early morning hours of January 25, 1959. They then took a truck to Vizhai (Вижай), a lorry village that is the last inhabited settlement to the north. On January 27, they began their trek toward Gora Otorten. On January 28, one member, Yuri Yudin, who had several health ailments (including rheumatism and a congenital heart defect), turned back due to knee and joint pain that made him unable to continue the hike. The remaining nine hikers continued the trek. Diaries and cameras found around their last campsite made it possible to track the group's route up to the day preceding the incident. On 31 January, the group arrived at the edge of a highland area and began to prepare for climbing. In a wooded valley, they cached surplus food and equipment that would be used for the trip back. The next day, the hikers started to move through the pass. It seems they planned to get over the pass and make camp for the next night on the opposite side, but because of worsening weather conditions—snowstorms and decreasing visibility—they lost their direction and deviated west, toward the top of Kholat Syakhl. When they realised their mistake, the group decided to set up camp there on the slope of the mountain, rather than move 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) downhill to a forested area that would have offered some shelter from the weather. Yudin speculated, "Dyatlov probably did not want to lose the altitude they had gained, or he decided to practice camping on the mountain slope." Search and discovery Before leaving, Dyatlov had agreed he would send a telegram to their sports club as soon as the group returned to Vizhai. It was expected that this would happen no later than 12 February, but Dyatlov had told Yudin, before he departed from the group, that he expected it to be longer. When the 12th passed and no messages had been received, there was no immediate reaction, as delays of a few days were common with such expeditions. On 20 February, the travellers' relatives demanded a rescue operation, and the head of the institute sent the first rescue groups, consisting of volunteer students and teachers. Later, the army and militsiya (police) forces became involved, with planes and helicopters ordered to join the operation. On 26 February, the searchers found the group's abandoned and badly damaged tent on Kholat Syakhl. The campsite baffled the search party. Mikhail Sharavin, the student who found the tent, said "the tent was half torn down and covered with snow. It was empty, and all the group's belongings and shoes had been left behind." Investigators said the tent had been cut open from inside. Nine sets of footprints, left by people wearing only socks or a single shoe or even barefoot, could be followed, leading down to the edge of a nearby wood, on the opposite side of the pass, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) to the north-east. After 500 metres (1,600 ft) these tracks were covered with snow. At the forest's edge, under a large Siberian pine, the searchers found the visible remains of a small fire. There were the first two bodies, those of Krivonishenko and Doroshenko, shoeless and dressed only in underwear. The branches on the tree were broken up to five meters high, suggesting that one of the skiers had climbed up to look for something, perhaps the camp. Between the pine and the camp, the searchers found three more corpses: Dyatlov, Kolmogorova, and Slobodin, who died in poses suggesting that they were attempting to return to the tent. They were found at distances of 300, 480, and 630 metres (980, 1,570, and 2,070 ft) from the tree. Finding the remaining four travelers took more than two months. They were finally found on 4 May under four metres (13 ft) of snow in a ravine 75 metres (246 ft) further into the woods from the pine tree. Three of the four were better dressed than the others, and there were signs that some clothing of those who had died first had been removed for use by the others. Dubinina was wearing Krivonishenko's burned, torn trousers, and her left foot and shin were wrapped in a torn jacket. Investigation A legal inquest started immediately after the first five bodies were found. A medical examination found no injuries that might have led to their deaths, and it was concluded that they had all died of hypothermia. Slobodin had a small crack in his skull, but it was not thought to be a fatal wound. An examination of the four bodies found in May shifted the narrative of the incident. Three of the hikers had fatal injuries: Thibeaux-Brignolles had major skull damage, and Dubinina and Zolotaryov had major chest fractures. According to Boris Vozrozhdenny, the force required to cause such damage would have been extremely high, comparable to that of a car crash. Notably, the bodies had no external wounds associated with the bone fractures, as if they had been subjected to a high level of pressure. All four bodies found at the bottom of the creek in a running stream of water had soft tissue damage to their head and face. For example, Dubinina was missing her tongue, eyes, part of the lips, as well as facial tissue and a fragment of skullbone, while Zolotaryov had his eyeballs missing, and Aleksander Kolevatov his eyebrows. V. A. Vozrozhdenny, the forensic expert performing the post-mortem examination, judged that these injuries happened post-mortem due to the location of the bodies in a stream. There was initial speculation that the indigenous Mansi people, reindeer herders local to the area, had attacked and murdered the group for encroaching upon their lands. Several Mansi were interrogated, but the investigation indicated that the nature of the deaths did not support this hypothesis: only the hikers' footprints were visible, and they showed no sign of hand-to-hand struggle. Although the temperature was very low, around −25 to −30 °C (−13 to −22 °F) with a storm blowing, the dead were only partially dressed. Some had only one shoe, while others wore only socks. Some were found wrapped in snips of ripped clothes that seemed to have been cut from those who were already dead. Journalists reporting on the available parts of the inquest files claim that it states: Six of the group members died of hypothermia and three of fatal injuries. There were no indications of other people nearby on Kholat Syakhl apart from the nine travelers. The tent had been ripped open from within. The victims had died six to eight hours after their last meal. Traces from the camp showed that all group members left the campsite of their own accord, on foot. Some levels of radiation were found on one victim's clothing. To dispel the theory of an attack by the indigenous Mansi people, Vozrozhdenny stated that the fatal injuries of the three bodies could not have been caused by human beings, "because the force of the blows had been too strong and no soft tissue had been damaged". Released documents contained no information about the condition of the skiers' internal organs. There were no survivors. At the time, the official conclusion was that the group members had died because of a compelling natural force. The inquest officially ceased in May 1959 as a result of the absence of a guilty party. The files were sent to a secret archive. In 1997, it was revealed that the negatives from Krivonishenko's camera were kept in the private archive of one of the investigators, Lev Nikitich Ivanov. The film material was donated by Ivanov's daughter to the Dyatlov Foundation. The diaries of the hiking party fell into Russia's public domain in 2009. On 12 April 2018, Zolotaryov's remains were exhumed on the initiative of journalists of the Russian tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. Contradictory results were obtained: one of the experts said that the character of the injuries resembled a person knocked down by a car, and the DNA analysis did not reveal any similarity to the DNA of living relatives. In addition, it turned out that Zolotaryov's name was not on the list of those buried at the Ivanovskoye Cemetery. Nevertheless, the reconstruction of the face from the exhumed skull matched postwar photographs of Zolotaryov, although journalists expressed suspicions that another person was hiding under Zolotaryov's name after World War II. In February 2019, Russian authorities reopened the investigation into the incident, although only three possible explanations were being considered: an avalanche, a slab avalanche, or a hurricane. The possibility of a crime had been discounted. Related reports Yuri Kuntsevich, who was 12 years old at the time and who later became the head of the Yekaterinburg-based Dyatlov Foundation, attended five of the hikers' funerals. He recalled that their skin had a "deep brown tan". Another group of hikers (about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of the incident) reported that they saw strange orange spheres in the sky to the north on the night of the incident. Similar spheres were observed in Ivdel and adjacent areas continually during the period from February to March 1959, by various independent witnesses (including the meteorology service and the military). These sightings were not noted in the 1959 investigation, and the various witnesses came forward years later. Aftermath Anatoly Gushchin (Анатолий Гущин) summarized his research in the book The Price of State Secrets Is Nine Lives (Цена гостайны – девять жизней, Sverdlovsk, 1990) Some researchers criticised the work for its concentration on the speculative theory of a Soviet secret weapon experiment, but its publication led to public discussion, stimulated by interest in the paranormal. Indeed, many of those who had remained silent for thirty years reported new facts about the accident. One of them was the former police officer, Lev Nikitich Ivanov (Лев Никитич Иванов), who led the official inquest in 1959. In 1990, he published an article that included his admission that the investigation team had no rational explanation for the incident. He also stated that, after his team reported that they had seen flying spheres, he then received direct orders from high-ranking regional officials to dismiss this claim. In 2000, a regional television company produced the documentary film The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass (Тайна перевала Дятлова). With the help of the film crew, a Yekaterinburg writer, Anna Matveyeva (Анна Матвеева), published a docudrama novella of the same name. A large part of the book includes broad quotations from the official case, diaries of victims, interviews with searchers and other documentaries collected by the film-makers. The narrative line of the book details the everyday life and thoughts of a modern woman (an alter ego of the author herself) who attempts to resolve the case. Despite its fictional narrative, Matveyeva's book remains the largest source of documentary materials ever made available to the public regarding the incident. Also, the pages of the case files and other documentaries (in photocopies and transcripts) are gradually being published on a web forum for enthusiastic researchers. The Dyatlov Foundation was founded in 1999 at Yekaterinburg, with the help of Ural State Technical University, led by Yuri Kuntsevich (Юрий Кунцевич). The foundation's stated aim is to continue investigation of the case and to maintain the Dyatlov Museum to preserve the memory of the dead hikers. On 1 July 2016, a memorial plaque was inaugurated in Solikamsk in Ural's Perm Region, dedicated to Yuri Yudin (the sole survivor of the expedition group), who died in 2013. Explanations Avalanche On 11 July 2020, Andrey Kuryakov, deputy head of the Urals Federal District directorate of the Prosecutor-General's Office, announced an avalanche to be the "official cause of death" for the Dyatlov group in 1959. Later independent computer simulation and analysis by Swiss researchers also suggest avalanche as the cause. Summarizing Kuryakov's report in The New Yorker, Douglas Preston writes, The most appealing aspect of Kuryakov's scenario is that the Dyatlov party's actions no longer seem irrational. The snow slab, according to Greene, would probably have made loud cracks and rumbles as it fell across the tent, making an avalanche seem imminent. Kuryakov noted that although the skiers made an error in the placement of their tent, everything they did subsequently was textbook: they conducted an emergency evacuation to ground that would be safe from an avalanche, they took shelter in the woods, they started a fire, they dug a snow cave. Had they been less experienced, they might have remained near the tent, dug it out, and survived. But avalanches are by far the biggest risk in the mountains in winter, and the more experience you have, the more you fear them. The skiers' expertise doomed them. Original explanation Reviewing a sensationalist "Yeti" hypothesis, American skeptic author Benjamin Radford suggests an avalanche as more plausible: that the group woke up in a panic (...) and cut their way out the tent either because an avalanche had covered the entrance to their tent or because they were scared that an avalanche was imminent (...) (better to have a potentially repairable slit in a tent than risk being buried alive in it under tons of snow). They were poorly clothed because they had been sleeping, and ran to the safety of the nearby woods where trees would help slow oncoming snow. In the darkness of night, they got separated into two or three groups; one group made a fire (hence the burned hands) while the others tried to return to the tent to recover their clothing since the danger had passed. But it was too cold, and they all froze to death before they could locate their tent in the darkness. At some point, some of the clothes may have been recovered or swapped from the dead, but at any rate, the group of four whose bodies was most severely damaged were caught in an avalanche and buried under 4 meters (13 ft) of snow (more than enough to account for the 'compelling natural force' the medical examiner described). Dubinina's tongue was likely removed by scavengers and ordinary predation. Contradictory evidence Evidence contradicting the avalanche theory includes: The location of the incident did not have any obvious signs of an avalanche having taken place. An avalanche would have left certain patterns and debris distributed over a wide area. The bodies found within a month of the event were covered with a very shallow layer of snow, and had there been an avalanche of sufficient strength to sweep away the second party, these bodies would have been swept away as well; this would have caused more serious and different injuries in the process and would have damaged the tree line. Over 100 expeditions to the region had been held since the incident, and none of them ever reported conditions that might create an avalanche. A study of the area using up-to-date terrain-related physics revealed that the location was entirely unlikely for such an avalanche to have occurred. The "dangerous conditions" found in another nearby area (which had significantly steeper slopes and cornices) were observed in April and May when the snowfalls of winter were melting. During February, when the incident occurred, there were no such conditions. An analysis of the terrain and the slope showed that even if there could have been a very specific avalanche that found its way into the area, its path would have gone past the tent. The tent had collapsed from the side but not in a horizontal direction. Dyatlov was an experienced skier, and the much older Zolotaryov was studying for his master's certificate in ski instruction and mountain hiking. Neither of these two men would have been likely to camp anywhere in the path of a potential avalanche. Footprint patterns leading away from the tent were inconsistent with someone, let alone a group of nine people, running in panic from either real or imagined danger. All the footprints leading away from the tent and towards the woods were consistent with individuals who were walking at a normal pace. Repeated 2015 investigation A review of the 1959 investigation's evidence completed in 2015–2019 by experienced investigators from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) on request of the families confirmed the avalanche with several important details added. First of all, the ICRF investigators (one of them an experienced alpinist) confirmed that the weather on the night of the tragedy was very harsh, with wind speeds up to hurricane force, 20–30 metres per second (45–67 mph; 72–108 km/h), a snowstorm and temperatures reaching −40 °C (−40 °F). These factors were not considered by the 1959 investigators who arrived at the scene of the accident three weeks later when the weather had much improved and any remains of the snow slide had settled and been covered with fresh snowfall. The harsh weather at the same time played a critical role in the events of the tragic night, which have been reconstructed as follows: On 1 February, the group arrives at the Kholat Syakhl mountain and erects a large, nine-person tent on an open slope, without any natural barriers such as forests. On the day and a few preceding days, a heavy snowfall persisted, with strong wind and frost. The group traversing the slope and digging a tent site into the snow weakened the snow base. During the night, the snowfield above the tent started to slide down slowly under the weight of the new snow, gradually pushing on the tent fabric, starting from the entrance. The group wakes up and starts evacuation in panic, with only some able to put on warm clothes. With the entrance blocked, the group escapes through a hole cut in the tent fabric and descends the slope to find a place perceived as safe from the avalanche only 1500 m down, at the forest border. Because some of the members have only incomplete clothing, the group splits. Two of the group, only in their underwear and pajamas, were found at the Siberian pine tree, near a fire pit. Their bodies were found first and confirmed to have died from hypothermia. Three hikers, including Dyatlov, attempted to climb back to the tent, possibly to get sleeping bags. They had better clothes than those at the fire pit, but still quite light and with inadequate footwear. Their bodies were found at various distances 300–600 m from the campfire, in poses suggesting that they had fallen exhausted while trying to climb in deep snow in extremely cold weather. The remaining four, equipped with warm clothing and footwear, were trying to find or build a better camping place in the forest further down the slope. Their bodies were found 70 m from the fireplace, under several meters of snow and with traumas indicating that they had fallen into a snow hole formed above a stream. These bodies were found only after two months. According to the ICRF investigators, the factors contributing to the tragedy were extremely bad weather and lack of experience of the group leader in such conditions, which led to the selection of a dangerous camping place. After the snow slide, another mistake of the group was to split up, rather than building a temporary camp down in the forest and trying to survive through the night. Negligence of the 1959 investigators contributed to their report creating more questions than answers, as well as inspiring numerous alternative and conspiracy theories. Support from 2021 model In 2021, a team of physicists and engineers led by Alexander Puzrin and Johan Gaume published a new model in Communications Earth & Environment that demonstrates how even a relatively small slide of snow slab on the Kholat Syakhl slope could cause tent damage and injuries consistent with those suffered by the Dyatlov team. Katabatic wind In 2019, a Swedish-Russian expedition was made to the site, and after investigations, they proposed that a violent katabatic wind was a plausible explanation for the incident. Katabatic winds are somewhat rare events and can be extremely violent. They were implicated in a 1978 case at Anaris Mountain in Sweden, where eight hikers were killed and one was severely injured. The topography of these locations was noted to be very similar according to the expedition. A sudden katabatic wind would have made it impossible to remain in the tent, and the most rational course of action would have been for the hikers to cover the tent with snow and seek shelter behind the tree line. On top of the tent, there was also a flashlight left turned on, possibly left there intentionally so that the hikers could find their way back to the tent once the winds subsided. The expedition proposed that the group of hikers constructed two bivouac shelters, one of which collapsed, leaving four of the hikers buried with the severe injuries observed. Infrasound Another hypothesis popularised by Donnie Eichar's 2013 book Dead Mountain is that wind going around Kholat Syakal created a Kármán vortex street, which can produce infrasound capable of inducing panic attacks in humans. According to Eichar's theory, the infrasound generated by the wind as it passed over the top of the Holatchahl mountain was responsible for causing physical discomfort and mental distress in the hikers. Eichar claims that, because of their panic, the hikers were driven to leave the tent by whatever means necessary and fled down the slope. By the time they were further down the hill, they would have been out of the infrasound's path and would have regained their composure, but in the darkness would have been unable to return to their shelter. The traumatic injuries suffered by three of the victims were the result of their stumbling over the edge of a ravine in the darkness and landing on the rocks at the bottom. Military tests In one speculation, the campsite fell within the path of a Soviet parachute mine exercise. This theory alleges that the hikers, woken by loud explosions, fled the tent in a shoeless panic and found themselves unable to return for supply retrieval. After some members froze to death attempting to endure the bombardment, others commandeered their clothing only to be fatally injured by subsequent parachute mine concussions. There are indeed records of parachute mines being tested by the Soviet military in the area around the time the hikers were there. Parachute mines detonate while still in the air rather than upon striking the Earth's surface and produce signature injuries similar to those experienced by the hikers: heavy internal damage with relatively little external trauma. The theory coincides with reported sightings of glowing, orange orbs floating or falling in the sky within the general vicinity of the hikers and allegedly photographed by them, potentially military aircraft or descending parachute mines. This theory (among others) uses scavenging animals to explain Dubinina's injuries. Some speculate that the bodies were unnaturally manipulated, on the basis of characteristic livor mortis markings discovered during an autopsy, as well as burns to hair and skin. Photographs of the tent allegedly show that it was erected incorrectly, something the experienced hikers were unlikely to have done. A similar theory alleges the testing of radiological weapons and is based partly on the discovery of radioactivity on some of the clothing as well as the descriptions of the bodies by relatives as having orange skin and grey hair. However, radioactive dispersal would have affected all, not just some, of the hikers and equipment, and the skin and hair discoloration can be explained by a natural process of mummification after three months of exposure to the cold and wind. The initial suppression by Soviet authorities of files describing the group's disappearance is sometimes mentioned as evidence of a cover-up, but the concealment of information about domestic incidents was standard procedure in the USSR and thus far from peculiar. And by the late 1980s, all Dyatlov files had been released in some manner. Paradoxical undressing International Science Times posited that the hikers' deaths were caused by hypothermia, which can induce a behavior known as paradoxical undressing in which hypothermic subjects remove their clothes in response to perceived feelings of burning warmth. It is undisputed that six of the nine hikers died of hypothermia. However, others in the group appear to have acquired additional clothing (from those who had already died), which suggests that they were of a sound enough mind to try to add layers. Other Keith McCloskey, who has researched the incident for many years and has appeared in several TV documentaries on the subject, traveled to the Dyatlov Pass in 2015 with Yuri Kuntsevich of the Dyatlov Foundation and a group. At the Dyatlov Pass he noted: There were wide discrepancies in distances quoted between the two possible locations of the snow shelter where Dubinina, Kolevatov, Zolotaryov, and Thibeaux-Brignolles were found. One location was approximately 80 to 100 meters from the pine tree where the bodies of Doroshenko and Krivonishenko were found and the other suggested location was so close to the tree that anyone in the snow shelter could have spoken to those at the tree without raising their voices to be heard. This second location also has a rock in the stream where Dubinina's body was found and is the more likely location of the two. However, the second suggested location of the two has a topography that is closer to the photos taken at the time of the search in 1959. The location of the tent near the ridge was found to be too close to the spur of the ridge for any significant buildup of snow to cause an avalanche. Furthermore, the prevailing wind blowing over the ridge had the effect of blowing snow away from the edge of the ridge on the side where the tent was. This further reduced any buildup of snow to cause an avalanche. This aspect of the lack of snow on the top and near the top of the ridge was pointed out by Sergey Sogrin in 2010. McCloskey also noted: Lev Ivanov's boss, Evgeny Okishev (Deputy Head of the Investigative Department of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Prosecution Office), was still alive in 2015 and had given an interview to former Kemerovo prosecutor Leonid Proshkin in which Okishev stated that he was arranging another trip to the Pass to fully investigate the strange deaths of the last four bodies when Deputy Prosecutor General Urakov arrived from Moscow and ordered the case shut down. Evgeny Okishev also stated in his interview with Leonid Proshkin that Klinov, head of the Sverdlovsk Prosecutor's Office, was present at the first post mortems in the morgue and spent three days there, something Okishev regarded as highly unusual and the only time, in his experience, it had happened. Donnie Eichar, who investigated and made a documentary about the incident, evaluated several other theories that are deemed unlikely or have been discredited: They were attacked by Mansi or other local tribesmen. The local tribesmen were known to be peaceful, and there was no track evidence of anyone approaching the tent. They were attacked and chased by animal wildlife. There were no animal tracks, and the group would not have abandoned the relative security of the tent. High winds blew one member away, and the others attempted to rescue the person. A large, experienced group would not have behaved like that, and winds strong enough to blow away people with such force would have also blown away the tent. An argument, possibly related to a romantic encounter that left some of them only partially clothed, led to a violent dispute. Eichar states that this is "highly implausible. By all indications, the group was largely harmonious, and sexual tension was confined to platonic flirtation and crushes. There were no drugs present and the only alcohol was a small flask of medicinal alcohol, found intact at the scene. The group had even sworn off cigarettes for the expedition." Furthermore, a fight could not have left the massive injuries that one body had suffered. See also Chivruay Pass incident, a lesser known tragedy occurring in 1973, also involving a group of explorers mysteriously dying in the Russian wilderness during the Soviet era Khamar-Daban incident, a lesser known 1993 tragedy also involving a group of explorers mysteriously dying in the Russian wilderness Yuba County Five, known as the "American Dyatlov Pass", a 1978 incident in which five men mysteriously died or disappeared on their way back from a basketball game in Yuba County, California Devil's Pass, a 2013 horror film inspired by the Dyatlov Pass Incident Kholat, a 2015 horror videogame inspired by the incident. Notes References Works cited Anderson, Launton (2019). Death of Nine: The Dyatlov Pass Mystery. KDP Print. ISBN 978-0-578-44522-9. Eichar, Donnie (2013). Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-1-4521-2956-3. McCloskey, Keith (2013). Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-9148-6. McCloskey, Keith (2020). Journey to Dyatlov Pass: An Explanation of the Mystery 2nd Edition. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 979-86-5779267-6. Further reading Irina Lobatcheva, Vladislav Lobatchev, Amanda Bosworth (2013). Dyatlov Pass Keeps Its Secret. Parallel Worlds' Books ISBN 9780992055943 Svetlana Oss (2015). Don't Go There: The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass. CreateSpace ISBN 978-1517755591 External links Full investigation of the case including original documents, autopsy reports, morgue photos and detailed information on possible causes Map of the Dyatlov Pass region (sheet P-40-83,84) scale 1:100000 (in Russian) Deathly Urals location draws in tourists Archived 9 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine Complete photo gallery including search party photos (in Russian) Some photos and text Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian) Photo gallery including: party photos, photos of some investigator's documents including termination of criminal case act (in Russian) The Dyatlov Pass Accident Photo-video site with English Atlas Obscura article on the Dyatlov Pass Incident Death on the trail. Controlled delivery theory by A. Rakitin (in Russian) The DNA mystery (in Russian) The Documentary Podcast: The Dyatlov Pass mystery (BBC World Service, 14 July 2019) Revisited: how a Disney movie helped solve a decades-old mystery (Guardian podcast, 7 March 2021)

Devil%27s_Pass

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Pass

Devil's Pass (originally titled The Dyatlov Pass Incident) is a 2013 horror film directed by Renny Harlin, written by Vikram Weet, and starring Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright, Ryan Hawley, and Gemma Atkinson as Americans who investigate the Dyatlov Pass incident. It is shot in the style of found footage. Plot Five Oregon college students set off to find out what happened to the nine hikers who mysteriously died in the Dyatlov Pass incident. Holly and Jensen are co-directors, J.P. and Andy are expert climbers, and Denise is the sound engineer. After the film introduces the characters, Russian-language news, Russia-24, discusses the students' disappearance. The Russian government recovers video footage but refuses to release it to the public; however, hackers obtain and release the footage, which forms the rest of the film. In Russia, the students first try to contact a member of the initial 1959 expedition who turned back after becoming ill on the first day. However, the man has been hospitalized following a nervous breakdown. The administrators at the hospital claim that he is dead and attempt to turn away the filmmakers. In an upstairs window, the students see a man they assume to be the survivor; he holds up a sign in Russian and is dragged away by orderlies. At a bar, the students recruit Sergei, who translates the sign as a warning to "stay away". Undeterred, Sergei introduces them to his aunt, Alya, who was part of the first rescue team. She tells them that a strange machine and eleven bodies were found at the site, not nine, as is commonly reported. The final two bodies had something wrong with them. At their campsite, Holly hears howling. The next morning, the group notices barefoot prints in the snow that start and stop suddenly. Jensen claims the footprints are from yeti, but the others claim that Holly is messing with them. After hiking further, they again hear howling and find footprints that lead to a weather tower. Inside the weather tower, they find a human tongue. Denise wants to leave, but the others convince her to continue. Jensen reveals that as a teenager he had heard the howling during a bad acid trip that ended with him being arrested while yelling incoherently about demons. Holly attempts to comfort Jensen by relating that she has had recurring dreams about Dyatlov Pass, which she interprets as fate. Unnoticed by the group, two mysterious creatures move through the snow in the distance. The group arrives at Dyatlov Pass unsettlingly ahead of schedule. J.P. and Andy are further spooked when their navigational equipment exhibits strange malfunctions. Using a Geiger counter, Holly and Jensen are led to a bunker that locks from the outside. The door is already unlocked but frozen shut; they manage to open the door. They return to the camp without telling anyone about the bunker. The next morning, the group is awakened by explosions that cause an avalanche. Denise is killed, and Andy suffers a severe fracture. After they fire a flare, Russian soldiers posing as a rescue party arrive, kill Andy, and chase the three survivors to the bunker. J.P. is shot and wounded as they enter. Moving into a tunnel system, a mysterious creature moves through one tunnel while the three enter another. Holly and Jensen leave the wounded J.P. as they explore the bunker. Inside, they discover evidence of teleportation experiments, a dead soldier who is missing his tongue, a camcorder identical to theirs that has footage of their present conversation, dead bodies stacked in a pile, and files relating to the Philadelphia Experiment. Jensen and Holly hear J.P. screaming, and find him under attack by mutants who seem to be able to teleport. The mutants kill J.P. and chase Jensen and Holly into a sealed room with a strange-looking tunnel that leads further into a natural cave. Jensen theorizes this is a wormhole. Unwilling to starve to death or face the mutants, Jensen and Holly choose to step into the wormhole. Since there are no controls, Jensen suggests that they visualize a nearby destination. Holly suggests the bunker entrance, and they enter the wormhole. In 1959, Soviet military personnel discover two bodies near the bunker's entrance. Soldiers chase away a younger version of Sergei's aunt Alya, who had just stumbled across the bodies. They recover their video camera. They drag the bodies inside the bunker, which is fully staffed and operational. The commanding officer orders the bodies to be stripped and hung on meat hooks. As the soldiers leave, the mutated bodies of Jensen and Holly, identified by Holly's neck tattoo, begin to revive. Cast Holly Goss as Holly King, co-director Matt Stokoe as Jensen Day, co-director and conspiracy theorist Luke Albright as J. P. Hauser, Jr., expert climber Ryan Hawley as Andy Thatcher, expert climber Gemma Atkinson as Denise Evers, audio engineer Richard Reid as Sgt. Smirnov, the Russian soldier Nikolay Butenin as Sergei Nelly Nielsen as Alya, age 73 Valeriya Fedorovich as Alya, age 20 Production Director Renny Harlin spent time in Moscow researching the government archives. His own theory of what happened at the Dyatlov Pass incident is that a government experiment went wrong. The casting for the film was intentionally kept to unknowns. Shooting took place in northern Russia. Release Devil's Pass was released 23 August 2013. It was released on DVD in the UK 26 August 2013. It was released on DVD in the US 17 December 2013. Reception Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 48% of 23 surveyed critics gave it a positive review; the average rating is 4.91/10. Metacritic rated it 49/100. Miriam Bale of The New York Times called the film "an upgraded Blair Witch Project" that is hilarious, though it is not clear whether this is intentional or not. Scott Foundas of Variety called it unoriginal yet watchable. SFX rated it 2/5 stars and called it "a scare-free thriller" with an underwhelming twist. Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg of Twitch Film called for a moratorium on found footage films and stated that the film should have been about the real-life incident. Mark Adams of Screen Daily called it "shrewdly constructed" and "smartly made". Philip French of The Guardian wrote that it "adds nothing to a real-life mystery from the Soviet era" and that the explanation is too outlandish. Bloody Disgusting rated the film 3/5 stars and recommended the film to enthusiasts of the real-life event but warned that the generic story would probably not excite people tired of found footage films. Gareth Jones of Dread Central rated it 3.5/5 stars and called it "a thoroughly intriguing mash-up of sci-fi, horror and real-life mystery." Matt Glasby of Total Film rated it 3/5 stars and called it a cheesy midnight movie that requires a forgiving audience. Owen Williams of Empire called it a "smartly-executed" film with a "satisfyingly circular conclusion". Nigel Floyd of Time Out London rated it 2/5 stars and wrote that the film becomes more unbelievable and silly as time goes on. Scott Weinberg of Fearnet called it a "simple but crafty little horror tale" with a payoff that can "come off as ridiculous or novel". Chris Holt of Starburst rated it 7/10 stars and wrote that it is "a fascinating and gripping film that despite being fundamentally flawed, is well worth your time." References External links Devil's Pass at IMDb Devil's Pass at Rotten Tomatoes Devil's Pass at Metacritic Dunning, Brian (8 July 2008). "Skeptoid #108: Mystery at Dyatlov Pass". Skeptoid. – for information on the actual incident

1955_Le_Mans_disaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster

The 1955 Le Mans disaster was a major crash that occurred on 11 June 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Large pieces of debris flew into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh, and injuring around 120 more. It was the most catastrophic crash in motorsport history, prompting multiple countries in Europe to ban motorsports nationwide; Switzerland only lifted its ban in 2022. The crash started when Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn pulled to the right side of the track in front of Austin-Healey driver Lance Macklin and started braking for his pit stop. Macklin swerved out from behind the slowing Jaguar into the path of Levegh, who was passing on the left in his much faster Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Levegh rear-ended Macklin at high speed, overriding Macklin's car and launching his own car through the air. Levegh's car skipped over a protective earthen berm at 200 km/h (125 mph) and made at least two impacts within the spectator area, the last of which caused the car to disintegrate, throwing him onto the track where he was instantly killed. Large pieces of debris, including the Mercedes' engine block, radiator, front suspension, and bonnet (hood), were sent flying into the packed spectator area in front of the grandstand. The rear of Levegh's car landed on the berm and exploded into flames. There was much debate over blame for the disaster. The official inquiry held none of the drivers specifically responsible and criticised the layout of the 30-year-old track, which had not been designed for cars as fast as those involved in the crash. Before the crash There was great anticipation for the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Ferrari, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz had all won the race previously and all three automakers had arrived with new and improved cars. The Ferraris, current champions at the time, were very fast but fragile and prone to mechanical failure. Jaguar concentrated their racing almost exclusively on Le Mans and had a very experienced driver lineup including Formula 1 (F1) Ferrari driver Mike Hawthorn. After conquering F1, Mercedes-Benz had debuted its new 300 SLR in that year's World Sportscar Championship, including a record-setting win at the Mille Miglia for Stirling Moss. The 300 SLR featured a body made of an ultra-lightweight magnesium alloy called Elektron. The car lacked the more effective state-of-the-art disc brakes featured on the rival Jaguar D-Type, instead incorporating inboard drum brakes and a large air brake behind the driver that could be raised to increase drag and slow the car. Mercedes team manager Alfred Neubauer assembled a multinational team for the race: pairing his two best drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss in the lead car, 1952 race winner Karl Kling with Frenchman André Simon (both also in the current F1 team), and American John Fitch with one of the elder statesmen of French motor racing, Pierre Levegh. It had been Levegh's unprecedented solo drive in the 1952 race that failed in the last hour, which allowed Mercedes-Benz their first Le Mans victory. Aside from two layout changes to make the circuit shorter, the Circuit de la Sarthe was largely unaltered since the inception of the race in 1923, when top speeds of cars were typically in the region of 100 km/h (60 mph). By 1955, top speeds for the leading cars were over 270 km/h (170 mph). That said, the circuit had been resurfaced and widened after the Second World War. The pits and grandstands had been reconstructed, but there were no barriers between the pit lane and the racing line, and only a 4 ft (1.2 m) earthen bank between the track and the spectators. The cars had no seat belts; the drivers reasoned that it was preferable to be thrown clear in a collision rather than be crushed or trapped in a burning car. The 1955 race began at 4pm on Saturday, and, as predicted, the lead cars of Eugenio Castellotti (Ferrari), Hawthorn (Jaguar), and Fangio (Mercedes-Benz) were at the head of the field in the first hour. The other team cars were being kept on tighter leashes to conserve the cars, but still racing in the top ten. Going into the second hour, Castellotti started dropping back, but Hawthorn and Fangio continued the duel, swapping the lead and dropping the lap record further and further, lapping most of the field. The accident happened at 6:26 pm, at the end of lap 35, when the first pit stops for the leading cars were starting. The Crash Immediate cause On lap 35, Hawthorn and Fangio were racing as hard as ever. In his biography, Hawthorn said he was "momentarily mesmerized by the legend of the Mercedes superiority ... Then I came to my senses and thought 'Damn it, why should a German car beat a British car.'" The lap before, Hawthorn's pit crew had signalled for him to come in the next lap. He had just lapped Levegh (running sixth) after Arnage (one of the corners of the race track) and was determined to keep Fangio at bay for as long as he could. Coming out of the Maison Blanche portion of the course, he rapidly caught Lance Macklin in his Austin Healey 100S, who had seen him and moved over to the right to let him pass. Putting another lap on Macklin coming up to the main straight, Hawthorn then raised his hand to indicate he was pitting and pulled across to the right (from Hawthorn's testimony). What caught Macklin out though was that Hawthorn, using the Jaguar's advanced disc brakes, braked hard enough to slow his Jaguar from such a speed in time. Collision There were two key factors regarding the track layout at that time – first, there was no designated deceleration lane for cars coming into the pits, and second, that just before the main straight, there was a very slight right-hand kink in the road just after which Hawthorn started braking. Macklin, who also braked hard, ran off the right-hand edge of the track, throwing up dust. Noticing that Hawthorn was slowing down, Macklin swerved left to avoid Hawthorn, whether it was an instinctive reaction, a loss of control from going onto the change of road-surface, or his car's disc brakes operating unevenly. As a result, Macklin's car veered across to the centre of the track, briefly out of control. This put him into the way of Levegh's Mercedes, closing in at over 200 km/h (120 mph), intent on doing another lap and in front of Fangio, who was patiently waiting to pass. Levegh had no time to evade, and with possibly his last action, raised his hand, warning Fangio, thereby probably saving Fangio's life. With his eyes shut, Fangio – with his own quick reflexes – squeezed through the carnage and brushed Hawthorn's then-stationary Jaguar in the pits, allowing him to pass unscathed. Levegh's front-right wheel rode up onto the rear-left corner of Macklin's car, which acted as a ramp and launched Levegh's car into the air, flying over spectators and rolling end over end for 80 metres (260 ft). Levegh was thrown out of his tumbling car and hit the ground, crushing his skull upon impact and killing him instantly. The critical kink in the road put the car on a direct trajectory toward the packed terraces and grandstand. The car landed on the earthen embankment between the spectators and the track, bounced, then slammed into a concrete stairwell structure and disintegrated. The momentum of the heaviest components of the car – the engine block, radiator, and front suspension – hurtled straight on into the crowd for almost 100 metres (330 ft), crushing all in their path. The bonnet lid scythed through the air, "decapitating tightly jammed spectators like a guillotine". Spectators who had climbed onto ladders and scaffolding to get a better view of the track, and those crowding to use the underpass to get to the pits, found themselves in the way of the lethal debris. Jaguar driver Duncan Hamilton, watching from the pit wall, recalled, "The scene on the other side of the road was indescribable. The dead and dying were everywhere; the cries of pain, anguish, and despair screamed catastrophe. I stood as if in a dream, too horrified to even think." When the rest of Levegh's car landed on the embankment, the rear-mounted fuel tank exploded. The fuel fire raised the temperature of the remaining Elektron bodywork past its ignition temperature, which was lower than that of other metal alloys due to its high magnesium content. The alloy burst into white-hot flames, showering the track and crowd with magnesium embers, made worse by rescue workers unfamiliar with magnesium fires who poured water onto the inferno, greatly intensifying the flames. As a result, the car burned for several hours. Meanwhile, Macklin's car, heavily damaged, rammed the left-side barrier, then veered to the right of the track into the pit lane, narrowly missing Kling's Mercedes-Benz, Roberto Mieres's Maserati, and Don Beauman's Jaguar, all of which were already in the pits refuelling before the accident. Macklin's car hit the unprotected pit-wall, just short of the Cunningham and Mercedes-Benz pits where Shell and Lockheed equipment were stationed, running down a policeman, a photographer and two officials (all seriously injured), then rebounded back across the track again to end up skating down the left-side fence for a second time. Macklin survived the incident without serious injury, jumping out of the wreck and over the bank. Aftermath Following hours Hawthorn had overshot his pits and stopped. Getting out, he was immediately ordered by his team to get back in and do another lap to get away from the total confusion and danger. When he pit stopped during the next lap, he staggered out of the car completely distraught, adamant that he had caused the catastrophe. Ivor Bueb and Norman Dewis, both Le Mans debutants, had to step into their respective cars for their first driver stints. Bueb in particular was very reluctant, but given Hawthorn's condition had no choice, as Dewis firmly pointed out to him. John Fitch, Levegh's American co-driver, had suited up and was ready to take over the car at the upcoming pit stop, and was standing with Levegh's wife, Denise Bouillin. They saw the whole catastrophe unfold. Levegh's lifeless body, severely burned, lay in full view on the pavement until a gendarme hauled down a banner to cover it. Levegh's wife was inconsolable and Fitch stayed with her until she could be comforted. Half an hour after the crash Fitch realised that news was probably being broadcast on the radio, and he needed to telephone his family to reassure them that he was not the driver of the crashed car. When he got to the media centre to use a telephone, he got his first inkling of the sheer enormity of the disaster, overhearing a reporter filing that 48 deaths were already confirmed. When Fitch returned to his pit, he urged the Mercedes team to withdraw from the race, as continuing to compete would be a public relations disaster for Mercedes-Benz regardless of whether they won or lost. Team manager Alfred Neubauer had already reached the same conclusion, but did not have the authority to make such a decision. Despite expectations for the race to be red-flagged and stopped entirely, race officials, led by race director Charles Faroux, kept the race running. In the days after the disaster, several explanations were offered by Faroux for this course of action. They included: that if the huge crowd of spectators had tried to leave en masse, they would have choked the main roads around, severely impeding access for medical and emergency crews trying to save the injured; that firms participating in the race could have sued the race organizers for huge sums of money; that "the rough law of sport dictates that the race shall go on", with Faroux specifically pointing to the 1952 Farnborough Airshow crash as precedent for doing so; and that he did not, in fact, have the authority to stop the race at all, and that Prefect Pierre Trouille was the only individual empowered to do so, as France's onsite representative to the Ministry of the Interior. After an emergency meeting and vote of Mercedes-Benz company directors by telephone in Stuttgart, West Germany, Neubauer finally got the call approving his team's withdrawal just before midnight. Waiting until 1:45 am, when many spectators had left, he stepped onto the track and quietly called his cars into the pits, at the time running first and third. Their retirement was briefly announced over the public address system. The Mercedes trucks were packed up and gone by morning. Chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut had gone to the Jaguar pits to ask if the Jaguar team would respond in kind, out of respect for the crash victims. Jaguar team manager "Lofty" England declined. Conclusion of the race Hawthorn and the Jaguar team kept racing. With the Mercedes team withdrawn and the Ferraris all out of commission, Jaguar's main competition had gone. Hawthorn and Bueb won the race by a margin of five laps from Aston Martin. The weather had closed in on Sunday morning and there was no victory celebration. However, a press photograph showed Hawthorn smiling on the podium drinking from the victor's bottle of champagne. The French magazine L'Auto-Journal published it with the sarcastic caption, "À votre santé, Monsieur Hawthorn!" (In English, "To your health ('Cheers'), Mr. Hawthorn!") After the race Accounts put the death toll at 80 to 84 (spectators plus Levegh), either by flying debris or from the fire, with a further 120 to 178 injured. Other observers estimated the toll to be much higher. It has remained the most catastrophic crash in motorsport history. A special Mass was held in the morning in the Le Mans Cathedral for the first funerals of the victims. The death toll led to an immediate temporary ban on motorsports in France, Spain, Switzerland, West Germany, and other nations, until racetracks could be brought to a higher safety standard. In the United States, the American Automobile Association (AAA) dissolved their Contest Board that had been the primary sanctioning body for motorsport in the US (including the Indianapolis 500) since 1904. It decided that auto racing detracted from its primary goals, and the United States Automobile Club was formed to take over the race sanctioning and officiating. Most countries lifted their racing bans within a year after the disaster. France in particular, as the host of Le Mans, lifted their complete ban on 14 September 1955. On that date, the Ministry of the Interior released new regulations for racing events and codified the approval process that future racing events would need to follow. In contrast, Switzerland's ban persisted for decades. This forced Swiss racing promoters to organize circuit events in foreign countries including France, Italy, and West Germany. In 2003, the Federal Assembly of Switzerland started a lengthy discussion about whether this ban should be lifted. The discussion focused on traffic policy and environmental questions rather than on safety. On 10 June 2009, the Ständerat (upper house of the Swiss parliament) defeated a proposal to lift the ban for the second time. In 2015, the ban was relaxed for electric vehicles only, such as cars involved in Formula E electric racing. The ban was lifted in May 2022. The next round of the World Sportscar Championship at the Nürburgring was cancelled, as was the non-championship Carrera Panamericana. The rest of the 1955 World Sportscar Championship season was completed, with the remaining two races at the British RAC Tourist Trophy and the Italian Targa Florio, although they were not run until September and October, several months after the catastrophe. Mercedes-Benz won both of these events, and was able to secure the constructors championship for the season. Having achieved that, Mercedes withdrew from motorsport. The horror of the crash caused some drivers present, including Americans Fitch (after completing the season with Mercedes), Phil Walters (who had been offered a drive with Ferrari for the rest of the season), and Sherwood Johnston, to retire from racing. Macklin also decided to retire after being involved in another fatal crash, during the 1955 RAC Tourist Trophy race at Dundrod Circuit. Fangio never raced at Le Mans again. At the Circuit de la Sarthe, the audience stands at the pits were demolished. Much recrimination was directed at Hawthorn, saying that he had suddenly cut in front of Macklin and slammed on the brakes near the entrance to the pits, forcing Macklin to take desperate evasive action into the path of Levegh. This became the semi-official pronouncement of the Mercedes team and Macklin's story. The Jaguar team in turn questioned the fitness and competence of Macklin and Levegh as drivers. The initial media accounts were wildly inaccurate, as shown by subsequent analysis of photographic evidence conducted by Road & Track editor (and 1955 second-place finisher) Paul Frère in 1975. Additional details emerged when the stills reviewed by Frère were converted to video form. The media also speculated on the violent fire that engulfed the wreck, which intensified when fire marshals poured their water-based extinguishers on the flames. They suggested that Mercedes-Benz had tampered with the official fuel-supply with an explosive additive, but the intensity of the fire was due instead to the magnesium-alloy construction of the chassis. Neubauer got the French authorities to test residual fuel left in the wreck's fuel injection and the result vindicated the company. Opinions differed widely amongst the other drivers as to who was directly to blame for the crash, and such differences remain even today. Macklin claimed that Hawthorn's move to the pits was sudden, causing an emergency that led him to swerve into Levegh's path. Years later Fitch claimed, based on his own recollection and from what he heard from others, that Hawthorn had caused it. Dewis ventured the opinions that Macklin's move around Hawthorn was careless and that Levegh was not competent to meet the demands of driving at the speeds the 300SLR was capable of. Both Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz issued official statements, mainly in self-defence against the accusations levelled against them and their drivers. Neubauer limited himself to suggesting improvements to the pit straight and making pit-stops safer. Macklin, on reading Hawthorn's 1958 autobiography, Challenge Me the Race, was embittered when he found that Hawthorn now disclaimed all responsibility for the crash without identifying who had caused it. With Levegh dead, Macklin presumed that Hawthorn's implication was that he (Macklin) had been responsible, and he began a libel action. The action was still unresolved when Hawthorn was killed in a non-racing crash on the Guildford bypass in 1959, coincidentally while overtaking a Mercedes-Benz in his Jaguar. The official government inquiry into the accident called officials, drivers, and team personnel to be questioned and give evidence. The wreckage was examined and tested and, finally, returned to Mercedes-Benz nearly twelve months after the catastrophe. In the end the enquiry ruled that no specific driver was responsible for the crash, and that it was merely a terrible racing incident. The death of the spectators was blamed on inadequate safety standards for the track design. Tony Rolt and other drivers had been raising concerns about the pit straight since 1953. Legacy Over the next year, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) set about making extensive track improvements and infrastructure changes at the Circuit de la Sarthe—the pit straight was redesigned and widened to remove the kink just before the start-finish line, and to give room for a deceleration lane. The pits complex was pulled down and rebuilt, giving more room to the teams, but thereby limiting spaces to only 52 starters rather than the previous 60. The grandstand was demolished and rebuilt with new spectator terraces and a wide ditch between them and the racetrack. Track safety technology and practices evolved slowly until F1 driver Jackie Stewart organized a campaign to advocate for better safety measures ten years later. Stewart's campaign gained momentum after the deaths of Lorenzo Bandini and Jim Clark. Fitch became a major safety advocate and began active development of safer road cars and racing circuits. He invented traffic safety devices currently in use on highways, including the sand-and-air-filled Fitch barrels. Macklin's Austin-Healey 100 was sold to several private buyers before appearing on the public auction block. In 1969, it was bought for £155 (equivalent to £3,222 in 2023). In December 2011, the car, estimated to raise £800,000 before the auction, was sold for £843,000. The car retained the original engine SPL 261-BN, but was reported to be in 'barn find' condition. It was then restored to its original condition. After the accident Mercedes-Benz withdrew from motorsports until 1985, although the withdrawal had already been decided before the race and had not been caused by the accident. After returning to sports car racing in the mid 1980s, initially as an engine supplier, Mercedes went on to win the 1989 Le Mans race in partnership with Sauber Motorsport. Mercedes went on to compete in the championship during the 1990s as a works team before withdrawing for a second and final time in 1999, following a series of spectacular but non-fatal crashes of the Mercedes-Benz CLR. See also Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster, 2009 TV documentary for the BBC Le Mans 1955 (film), CG animated short film about the disaster 1909 Botanischer Garten disaster, in which a pace-setting motorcycle flew into the stands, killing 9 spectators References Citations Bibliography Anderson, Gary G. (2000). Austin-Healey 100, 100-6, 3000 Restoration Guide. MotorBooks International. ISBN 978-1-61060-814-5. "Le Mans 1965" in Automobile Historique, no. 48, May 2005 (in French). "24 heures du Mans 1973" in Automobile Historique no. 49, June/July 2005 (in French). Cannell, Michael (2011). The Limit. London: Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-184887-224-0. Clarke, R. M., ed. (1997). Le Mans "The Jaguar Years 1949–1957". Cobham, Surrey: Brooklands Books. ISBN 1-85520-357X. Foster, Frank (2013). F1: A History of Formula One Racing. BookCaps Study Guides. ISBN 978-1-62107-573-8. Hamilton, Duncan (1964). Touch Wood. London: Motoraces Book Club. ISBN 1-78219-773-7 Hilton, Christopher (2004). Le Mans '55: The Crash That Changed the Face of Motor Racing. Derby: Breedon. ISBN 1-859-83441-8. Laban, Brian (2001). Le Mans 24 Hours. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-971-0. Nixon, Chris (1991). Mon Ami Mate. Transport Bookman Publications. ISBN 978-0-85184-047-5. Spurring, Quentin (2011). Le Mans 1949–59. Sherborne, Dorset: Evro Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84425-537-5. Whitaker, Sigur E. (2014). Tony Hulman: The Man Who Saved the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7882-8. External links Le Mans 1955 from The Mike Hawthorn Tribute Site – Extensive 1955 Le Mans coverage – reports, analysis, photos/video of race & crash. Retrieved 10 December 2016 Video of accident and aftermath. Retrieved 10 December 2016 British Pathé film clips from the race on YouTube (no sound) Newsreel footage of the race and crash on YouTube, Pathé News Catastrophe aux 24 heures du Mans en 1955 (France 3 Ouest, 2008) on YouTube (in French) Apokalypse in Le Mans – Das Rennen in den Tod (Arte, 2010) on YouTube (in German) Pierre Levegh at motorsportmemorial.org Remember Le Mans 1955 (English) Life Magazine report of the 1955 Le Mans Disaster 1955 Le Mans Disaster depicted and analyzed in depth by a witness (in French) Archived 11 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine BBC: On This Day: 11 June 1955

List_of_Tour_de_France_general_classification_winners

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tour_de_France_general_classification_winners

The Tour de France is an annual road bicycle race held over 23 days in July. Established in 1903 by newspaper L'Auto, the Tour is the best-known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours"; the others are the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. The race usually covers approximately 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi), passing through France and neighbouring countries such as Belgium. The race is broken into day-long stages. Individual finishing times for each stage are totalled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The course changes every year, but has always finished in Paris; since 1975, it has finished along the Champs-Élysées. The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears the yellow jersey, representing the leader of the general classification. There are other jerseys as well: the green jersey, worn by the leader of the points classification; the polka dot jersey, worn by the leader of the mountains classification; and the white jersey, worn by the leader of the young rider classification. Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain, have won the most Tours with five each. Indurain is the only man to win five consecutive Tours. Henri Cornet is the youngest winner; he won in 1904, just short of his 20th birthday. Firmin Lambot is the oldest winner, he was 36 years, 4 months old when he won in 1922. French cyclists have won the most Tours; 21 cyclists have won 36 Tours among them. Belgian cyclists are second with 18 victories, and Spanish riders are third with 12 wins. The most recent winner is Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar, who won the 2024 Tour. After it emerged that Lance Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs, in October 2012, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) stripped Armstrong of the seven consecutive Tour general classification titles between 1999 and 2005. History The Tour de France was established in 1903 by the newspaper L'Auto, in an attempt to increase its sales. The first race was won by Frenchman Maurice Garin. He won again the next year, but was disqualified after allegations that he had been transported by car or rail arose. Henri Cornet became the winner after the dispute was settled; he is the youngest to win the Tour. Following the scandals in 1904, the scoring system was changed from being time-based to a point-based system, in which the cyclist who has the fewest points at the end of the race is victorious. This system lasted until 1912, when the time-based system was re-introduced. French cyclists were successful in the early Tours; the first non-Frenchman to win the Tour was François Faber of Luxembourg, who won in 1909. Belgian riders were more successful before and after the First World War (which suspended the Tour from 1915 to 1918). In the 1920s, trade teams dominated the Tour; cyclists such as Nicolas Frantz won the Tour with the Alcyon team. However, when Alcyon cyclist Maurice De Waele won the Tour in 1929 while ill, the organisers decided to introduce national teams the following year, to stop team tactics from undermining the race. Because of the Second World War, the Tour de France was suspended from 1940 to 1946. After the Second World War, no one dominated the Tour until Louison Bobet, who won three consecutive Tours from 1953 to 1955—he was the first person to achieve this feat. This was bettered by the French cyclist Jacques Anquetil, who won four successive Tours from 1961 to 1964. Anquetil, who also won in 1957, became the first to win five Tours. Anquetil's five victories were matched when Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx won four successive Tours from 1969 to 1972 and the 1974 Tour. Merckx is the only person to have won the general, points and king of the mountains classifications in the same Tour. He achieved this in 1969, when he won his first Tour. Merckx looked to be heading for a record sixth Tour victory in 1975, but Bernard Thévenet beat him, becoming the first French winner in seven years. Thévenet won again in 1977; however, he was eclipsed in following years by fellow Frenchman Bernard Hinault, who won consecutive Tours in 1978 and 1979. Hinault won the Tour at his first attempt in 1978; becoming one of 11 cyclists (including Anquetil, Merckx, Hugo Koblet and Fausto Coppi) managed to do so. In 1980, Hinault was going for a third consecutive win, but had to pull out because of tendinitis, and the Tour was won by Joop Zoetemelk. Hinault returned in 1981 and won that race as well as the one after that. Hinault sat out the Tour in 1983, and another Frenchman—Laurent Fignon—achieved victory. Fignon won again the following year, beating Hinault; Hinault recovered in 1985 to win his fifth Tour. American Greg LeMond became the first non-European to win the Tour in 1986. LeMond missed out in 1987 and 1988, but returned in 1989 to win the Tour by finishing eight seconds ahead of Laurent Fignon, the smallest winning margin in the Tour's history. LeMond also won in 1990. In 1991, Spaniard Miguel Indurain won his first Tour. Indurain came to dominate the Tour, winning four more Tours consecutively—making him the first person to win five consecutive Tours. He tried to win a record-high sixth Tour in 1996, but was beaten by Bjarne Riis, who later admitted to using Erythropoietin. Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani won in 1997 and 1998, respectively; however, Pantani's victory was overshadowed by doping scandals. The 1999 Tour saw the first victory of Lance Armstrong, which was followed by six more, for a total of seven consecutive victories. He was later stripped of his titles in October 2012, when it emerged he had used performance-enhancing drugs throughout much of his career, including the Tour de France victories. Floyd Landis won the Tour in 2006, but was later stripped of his title, after a drug-control test demonstrated the presence of a skewed testosterone/epitestosterone ratio. Óscar Pereiro was subsequently awarded the victory. Alberto Contador won the 2007 Tour with the Discovery Channel. The 2007 Tour was also marred by doping scandals, thus Contador was unable to defend his title in 2008, as his Astana team was banned for its part in the controversy. Fellow Spaniard Carlos Sastre of Team CSC won. Contador and Astana returned in 2009 to regain the title. He won the Tour again in 2010, but was later stripped of his title after he was found guilty of doping. Runner-up Andy Schleck was awarded the victory. Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Tour in 2011. The following year, Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour. Chris Froome became the second successive British winner in 2013, which was the 100th edition of the race. He could not defend his title the following year, as he crashed out in stage 5, with Vincenzo Nibali winning his first Tour. Froome regained the title in 2015 and then successfully defended it in 2016, the first rider in over 20 years to do so. Froome won the Tour for a third consecutive year in 2017. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to win a fourth Tour in succession in 2018 edition, Froome's teammate, Geraint Thomas, was the winner instead. Thomas was unable to win for a second year in succession in 2019. He finished second behind his teammate Egan Bernal, who became the first Colombian cyclist to win the Tour. The 2020 Tour was postponed to commence on 29 August, following the French government's extension of a ban on mass gatherings after the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak. This was the first time since the end of World War II that the Tour de France was not held in the month of July. It was won by Tadej Pogačar, who became the first Slovenian rider to win the race as well as one of the youngest winners in Tour history. He repeated as champion in the 2021 edition. The following year, Jonas Vingegaard became the first Danish rider since 1996 to win the race. Vingegaard won again the following year; he won the 2023 edition by 7 minutes and 29 seconds from Pogačar. Pogačar regained the general classification in 2024 and became the first person to win the Giro and Tour in the same year since Pantani in 1998. Winners The "Year" column refers to the year the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season. The "Distance" column refers to the distance over which the race was held. The "Margin" column refers to the margin of time or points by which the winner defeated the runner-up. The "Stage wins" column refers to the number of stage wins the winner had during the race. Multiple winners The following riders have won the Tour de France on more than one occasion. Alberto Contador won three Tours, but was stripped of one following an anti-doping violation.[D] Lance Armstrong was removed from the head of the list after having all seven of his Tour victories stripped when he was found guilty of repeated doping offences. By nationality See also List of Tour de France secondary classification winners Yellow jersey statistics List of Grand Tour general classification winners Footnotes == References ==

La_Llorona

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Llorona

La Llorona (Latin American Spanish: [la ʝoˈɾona]; 'the Crying Woman, the Wailer') is a vengeful ghost in Mexican folklore who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children whom she drowned in a jealous rage after discovering her husband was unfaithful to her. Whoever hears her crying either suffers misfortune or death and their life becomes unsuccessful in every field. Origins Known for being Maltinzin in her original nomenclature, today, the lore of La Llorona is well known in Mexico and the southwestern United States. The earliest documentation of La Llorona is traced back to 1550 in Mexico City . But there are theories about her story being connected to specific Aztec mythological creation stories. "The Hungry Woman" includes a wailing woman constantly crying for food, which has been compared to La Llorona's signature nocturnal wailing for her children. The motherly nature of La Llorona's tragedy has been compared to Chihuacoatl, an Aztec goddess deity of motherhood. Her seeking of children to keep for herself is significantly compared to Coatlicue, known as "Our Lady Mother" or Tonantsi (who's also comparable to the Virgen de Guadalupe, another significant mother figure in Mexican culture), also a monster that devours filth or sin. The legend of La Llorona is traditionally told throughout Mexico, Central America and northern South America. La Llorona is sometimes conflated with La Malinche, the Nahua woman who served as Hernán Cortés' interpreter and also bore his son. La Malinche is considered both the mother of the modern Mexican people and a symbol of national treachery for her role in aiding the Spanish. Stories of weeping female phantoms are common in the folklore of both Iberian and Amerindian cultures. Scholars have pointed out similarities between La Llorona and the Cihuacōātl of Aztec mythology, as well as Eve and Lilith of Hebrew mythology. Author Ben Radford's investigation into the legend of La Llorona, published in Mysterious New Mexico, found common elements of the story in the German folktale "Die Weisse Frau" dating from 1486. La Llorona also bears a resemblance to the ancient Greek tale of the demigoddess Lamia, in which Hera, Zeus' wife, learned of his affair with Lamia and killed all the children Lamia had with Zeus. Out of jealousy over the loss of her own children, Lamia kills other women's children. The Florentine Codex is an important text that originated in late Mexico in 1519 , a quote from which is, "The sixth omen was that many times a woman would be heard going along weeping and shouting. She cried out loudly at night, saying, "Oh my children, we are about to go forever." Sometimes she said, "Oh my children, where am I to take you?" While the roots of the La Llorona legend appear to be pre-Hispanic, the earliest published reference to the legend is a 19th-century sonnet by Mexican poet Manuel Carpio. The poem makes no reference to infanticide, rather La Llorona is identified as the ghost of a woman named Rosalia who was murdered by her husband. Regional versions The legend has a wide variety of details and versions. In a typical version of the legend, a beautiful woman named María marries a rich ranchero / conquistador to whom she bears two children. One day, María sees her husband with another woman and in a fit of blind rage, she drowns their children in a river, which she immediately regrets. Unable to save them and consumed by guilt, she drowns herself as well but is unable to enter the afterlife, forced to be in purgatory and roam this earth until she finds her children. In another version of the story, her children are illegitimate, and she drowns them so that their father cannot take them away to be raised by his new wife. Recurring themes in variations on the La Llorona myth include a white, wet dress, nocturnal wailing, and an association with water. Mexico The legend of La Llorona is deeply rooted in Mexican popular culture. Her story is told to children to encourage them not to wander off in the dark and near bodies of water such as rivers and lakes alone. Her spirit is often evoked in artwork, such as that of Alejandro Colunga. La Cihuacoatle, Leyenda de la Llorona is a yearly waterfront theatrical performance of the legend of La Llorona set in the canals of the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City, which was established in 1993 to coincide with the Day of the Dead. Guatemala According to the local legend, in Guatemala City lived a woman who had an affair with a lover. She became pregnant and gave birth to a child named Juan de la Cruz who she drowned so her husband would not know. The woman was condemned in the afterlife to search for her murdered son in every place where there is a pool of water. She does that by crying out for him—hence her moniker of the Wailing Woman (La Llorona). It is a popular scary legend that in one iteration or another has been told to generations of children. The terrifying cry of "Oh, my children!!" (¡Ay mis hijos!) is well known due to the story. Additionally, one peculiar detail is that when a person hears the cry from afar means that the ghost is nearby, but if the cry is heard nearby, it means the ghost is afar. Someone unlucky enough to face the specter is "won over" to the afterlife, never to be seen again.. The legend is deeply rooted in Antigua Guatemala, the former capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala (current Central America and southern state of Chiapas, Mexico) United States In the Southwestern United States, the story of La Llorona is told to scare children into good behavior, sometimes specifically to deter children from playing near dangerous water. Also told to them is that her cries are heard as she walks around the street or near bodies of water to scare children from wandering around, resembling the stories of El Cucuy. In Chumash mythology indigenous to Southern California, La Llorona is linked to the nunašɨš, a mythological creature with a cry similar to that of a newborn baby. It is a very popular story. Venezuela The tale of La Llorona is set in the Venezuelan Llanos during the colonial period. La Llorona is said to be the spirit of a woman that died of sorrow after her children were killed, either by herself or by her family. Families traditionally place wooden crosses above their doors to ward off such spirits. Other mythologies In Eastern Europe, the modern Rusalka is a type of water spirit in Slavic mythology. They come to be after a woman drowns due to suicide or murder, especially if they had an unwanted pregnancy. Then they must stay in this world for a period of time. The Greek legend of Jason and Medea also features the motif of a woman who murders her children as an act of revenge against her husband, who has left her for another woman. In popular culture Film The story of La Llorona first appeared on film in 1933's La Llorona, filmed in Mexico. René Cardona's 1960 film La Llorona was also shot in Mexico, as was the 1963 horror film The Curse of the Crying Woman, directed by Rafael Baledón. In a pivotal scene in the 2001 film Mulholland Drive, Rebekah Del Rio plays La Llorona de Los Angeles, a mysterious singer who performs Llorando, a Spanish language version of Crying by Roy Orbison. In keeping with the legend, the characters who witness this performance suffer severe consequences. The 2008 Mexican horror film Kilometer 31 is inspired by the legend of La Llorona. Additionally the early 2000s saw a spate of low-budget movies based on La Llorona, including: The River: The Legend of La Llorona Revenge of La Llorona The Wailer: La Llorona The Curse of La Llorona La Llorona is the primary antagonist in the 2007 movie J-ok'el. In the 2011 Mexican animated film La Leyenda de la Llorona, she is portrayed as a more sympathetic character, whose children die in an accident rather than at their mother's hands. In the 2017 Pixar film Coco, "La Llorona", the Mexican folk song popularized by Andres Henestrosa in 1941 is sung by Alanna Ubach in her role as Mamá Imelda, joined by Antonio Sol as the singing voice of Ernesto de la Cruz. In July 2019, James Wan, Gary Dauberman and Emilie Gladstone produced a film titled The Curse of La Llorona for Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was directed by Michael Chaves and stars Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velasquez and Marisol Ramirez as La Llorona. Also in 2019, Jayro Bustamante directed the Guatemalan film La Llorona, starring María Mercedes Coroy, which screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The Legend of La Llorona was a film released in January 2022 and stars Danny Trejo, Autumn Reeser, and Antonio Cupo. Theater Mexican playwright Josefina López wrote Unconquered Spirits, which uses the myth of La Llorona as a plot device. The play premiered at California State University, Northridge's Little Theatre in 1995. Literature Nancy Farmer's 2002 science fiction novel, The House of the Scorpion includes references to La Llorona. The legend of La Llorona is discussed in Jaquira Díaz's 2019 memoir, Ordinary Girls: The scariest part was not that La Llorona was a monster, or that she came when you called her name three times in the dark, or that she could come into your room at night and take you from your bed like she'd done with her own babies. It was that once she'd been a person, a woman, a mother. And then a moment, an instant, a split second later, she was a monster. The novel Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, the first part of a young adult trilogy by Tehlor Kay Mejia, is based on the legend of La Llorona. Rodolfo Anaya's novel Bless Me, Ultima references La Llorona, describing her as a spirit of the river without mentioning her origins. "Advice from La Llorona" by Deborah A. Miranda is a poem exploring grief and loss. In Summer of the Mariposas, by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, she serves as a mentor to the Garza Sisters. Music "La Llorona" is a Mexican folk song popularized by Andres Henestrosa in 1941. It has since been covered by various musicians, including Chavela Vargas, Joan Baez, Lila Downs, and Rosalía. North American singer-songwriter Lhasa de Sela's debut album La Llorona (1997) explored the dark mysteries of Latin folklore. She combined a variety of musical genres including klezmer, gypsy jazz and Mexican folk music, all in the Spanish language. The album was certified Platinum in Canada, and it earned her a Canadian Juno Award for Best Global Artist in 1998. Manic Hispanic, a rock band from Los Angeles, California, have a song titled "She Turned Into Llorona" on their 2003 album Mijo Goes To Jr. College. Television La Llorona is an antagonist in the TV series Supernatural, portrayed by Sarah Shahi in the pilot episode and by Shanae Tomasevich in "Moriah" and season 15. La Llorona is an antagonist in a 2012 second-season episode of the TV series Grimm. La Llorona appears in the Victor and Valentino episode "The Lonely Haunts 3: La Llorona" voiced by Vanessa Marshall. Contrary to the usual depictions, this version of La Llorona is good and simply lonely and claims to have had twenty kids who had all grown up and left her; implying that she suffers from Empty nest syndrome. La Llorona appears in the Craig of the Creek episode "The Legend of the Library" voiced by Carla Tassara. Craig and the Stump Kids visit their friend Stacks at the local library to get out of the rain. When the power goes out and their fellow Creek Kids begin disappearing, Stacks believes that La Llorona is to blame. In the end, it is revealed that the "ghost" was actually Lorraine, the substitute librarian who is very serious about her job. She makes the kids promise to take good care of the library along with a warning, showing a ghostly face at the same time. Whether or not Lorraine was in fact La Llorona or the face was imagined is left ambiguous. La Llorona appears in the Riverdale episode "Chapter 97: Ghost Stories". The characters tell ghost stories about people related to them or the town that had died. La Llorona is one. She haunts Sweetwater River and she also manages to possess Toni and take Betty's unborn child away. La Llorona is portrayed by drag queen, Mirage, during the 3rd episode of Season 16 of Rupaul's Drag Race. During this episode the queens had to show three different looks in the runway and she portrayed La Llorana in the second theme named "Significant Mother" where they needed to show an outfit based on a iconic mother. Video games La Llorona appears as a collectible demon in Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei series of role-playing games, making her first appearance in the 1997 installment, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers for the Sega Saturn. Comics La Llorona is the name of a fictional punk band in the alternative comic book Love and Rockets. They are known for their song, 'Two Faces Have I', the title of which is generally misheard as 'Do Vases Have Eyes(?)'. See also References Bibliography Perez, Domino Renee. (2008). There Was a Woman: La Llorona from Folklore to Popular Culture. Austin: U of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0292718128. Mathews, Holly F. 1992. The directive force of morality tales in a Mexican community. In Human motives and cultural models, edited by R.G.D'Andrade and C. Strauss, 127–62. New York: Cambridge University Press. Norget, Kristin (2006). Days of Death, Days of Life: Ritual in the Popular Culture of Oaxaca. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13688-9. Ray John de Aragon, The Legend of La Llorona, Sunstone Press, 2006. ISBN 9781466429796. Belinda Vasquez Garcia, The Witch Narratives Reincarnation, Magic Prose Publishing, 2012. ISBN 978-0-86534-505-8 Werner, Michael S. (1997). Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture - Vol. 1. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1-884964-31-1.

The_House_of_the_Scorpion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Scorpion

The House of the Scorpion is a 2002 science fiction young adult novel by Nancy Farmer. It is set in the future and mostly takes place in Opium, a country which separates Aztlán (formerly Mexico) and the United States. The main character, Matteo Alacrán, or Matt, is a young clone of a drug lord of the same name, usually called "El Patrón". It is a story about the struggle to survive as a free individual and the search for a personal identity. Background The idea was originally from a short story that Farmer wrote for an anthology, which she withdrew and then expanded after realizing it was too closely tied to her own life. The novel is partly inspired by Farmer's experience of rescuing a Mexican immigrant from dying in the desert, as is evidenced in the theme of illegal immigration. On her personal website, Farmer says she wrote the novel for her son, who is dyslexic. Also on her website, Farmer notes that swear words were removed from the manuscript before publication, and that she wished the novel were 50 pages longer. Farmer chose the scorpion symbol because El Patrón, a main character in the novel, is from the Mexican state of Durango. Farmer based many of the novel's characters on figures from her life, both in childhood and present day. Plot This story is set in the country of Opium, a narrow strip of land between Mexico (now called Aztlán), and the United States, which is ruled by the original Matteo Alacrán, or El Patrón, an incredibly powerful drug lord, who is over 140 years old. Opium consists of several drug-producing Farms, the Alacrán estate (which produces opium poppies) being the largest and where some of the Alacrán family stay. The protagonist, Matt, is a clone of El Patrón. For the first six years of his life, he lives in a small house on the edge of the poppy fields with Celia, a cook working in El Patrón's mansion. When he is discovered by three children, Emilia, Steven, and Maria, he smashes a window and jumps out of the house. Unaware of the danger of jumping barefoot onto smashed glass, he has to be carried to El Patrón's mansion to be treated for his injuries. Matt is treated kindly until Mr. Alacrán, El Patrón's great-grandson, recognizes him as a clone, which results in a few months of him being locked in a room and treated like an animal. When he finds out, El Patrón is furious and gives Matt clothes and his own room and commands everyone to treat him with respect. Matt is also given a bodyguard, Tam Lin, a reformed terrorist who becomes a father figure to Matt. During the seven years that Matt lives in the house, he befriends María, which gradually blossoms into romance. Matt is kept in the dark about his identity, however, until a cruel joke reveals to him that he is a clone. Matt also discovers that all clones are supposed to be injected when "harvested" (born) with a compound that cripples their brains and turns them into little more than thrashing, drooling animals meant to donate organs. In denial, he convinces himself that El Patrón would not hire tutors for him and keep him entertained if he wanted to kill him and that instead, he must be wanted to run the country when El Patrón dies. At Steven and Emilia's wedding, El Patrón has a nearly-fatal heart attack. Matt and María attempt to flee in the ensuing chaos but are betrayed by the newlyweds. María is taken back to the convent in which she studies, and Matt is taken to the hospital, where El Patrón finally confirms that Matt was created only as an organ donor to keep him alive. At that moment, Celia reveals that she has been giving Matt doses of arsenic, which were not large enough to kill Matt but would be deadly to one as frail as El Patrón. The resulting rage of El Patrón causes him to have a fatal heart attack. Mr. Alacrán calls doctors to take him to emergency surgery, and after El Patrón dies, he orders Tam Lin to dispose of Matt. Tam Lin pretends to comply but gives Matt supplies and sets him on a path to Aztlán. Arriving in Aztlán, Matt comes across a group of orphans, the "Lost Boys," who live in an orphanage operated by the "Keepers," a group of fervent Marxists who preach the "Five Principles of Good Citizenship" and the "Four Attitudes Leading to Right-Mindfulness". The Keepers operate plankton farms, force the orphans to do manual labor and to subsist on plankton, while they themselves enjoy luxurious quarters and food. At first, Matt is an outcast because the other boys think he is a spoiled aristocrat. However, he becomes a hero when he defies the Keepers and leads the boys in a rebellion. He then is shut up in a closet for the night after the incident, until the next morning. Here, he is dumped in the "Boneyard", a dried lake full of whale bones, delicately balanced. After he manages to get free, he and Chacho are rescued by Ton-Ton and Fidelito, who drive the shrimp harvester to San Luis to find María and her mother, the politically powerful Esperanza Mendoza. Esperanza thanks the boys for giving her the ability to take down the Keepers. Matt learns that Opium is in a country-wide lockdown but manages to re-enter the country, only to learn that the entire Alacrán family is dead, and the estate is empty except for servants, including Celia. Those at El Patrón's wake, including Tam Lin, who promised El Patrón, drank poisoned wine, which El Patrón saved to be served at his funeral since he never intended to die and wanted to run the business forever or to have it and everyone else die with him. Matt takes on the role of El Patrón to become the new ruler of Opium, with intentions to dismantle the current regime. Main Characters Matteo (Matt) Alacrán: The protagonist, Matt is the most recent clone of El Patrón. Raised in close proximity to the Alacrán estate, Matt is constantly reminded of his position as a clone, being of equal status to cattle. As such, Matt grows up wanting to prove himself better than anyone else, so they will be forced to acknowledge him. The House of the Scorpion follows Matt's journey from a young boy growing up in a small house with his caretaker, Celia, to his subsequent realization of his autonomy and self-worth. Throughout much of the book, Matt struggles to find balance between his selfishness and desire to prove himself, with being kind and moral to others. At first, Matt views El Patrón as a very dear man whom he cares about deeply, yet slowly starts to realize the cruel nature of the man. Helped along the way with family and friends, Matt realizes the corrupt nature of Opium and eventually seeks to change the drug-powered land for the better. Matteo (El Patrón) Alacrán: A powerful drug-lord in the land of Opium. El Patrón extends his life by replacing his body parts with those of younger clones. By doing so, he has lived far longer than the average person at 140 years old. He likes to give his clones what he considers a luxurious life, because he lives vicariously through his clones experiencing a life of privilege he never had growing up. When Matt expresses musical talent, he immediately hires a music teacher so he can enjoy the talent he never got to foster. Though he is affectionate to Matt, he is cruel and domineering towards everyone else, including his own family. He is quick to turn people into eejits, the mindless slaves that work his fields and tend to other manual work. He is widely feared for his cruelty and power. Everything, from the land, wealth, power, and people, belongs to him and him alone. When he has a heart attack due to Matt's failure to provide a heart, he poisons his entire family to ensure his empire and all his possessions fall with him. Celia: Matt's caretaker and mother figure, Celia is a kind, caring woman who protects Matt fiercely from any threat. She goes so far to protect him that when she finds out Matt's heart is due to replace El Patrón's, she begins to poison Matt with tiny amounts of arsenic. Not enough to kill Matt, but certainly kill someone with a weaker system. Described as a hardworking woman, Celia always made sure to make time for Matt, carrying him to bed every night, even past the point of exhaustion where she almost collapsed after working all day. Matt grows up in her care learning love despite being treated negatively by others, describing her snores to be a comforting, familiar sound. Tam Lin: Both Matt and El Patrón's body guard, he is described as having curly brown hair, blue eyes, and covered in scars. He has a tough, unfriendly exterior, though he proves on multiple occasions he cares for Matt, such as when he saves him from choking while he is young and later, helping Matt escape into the mountains to avoid a fate of dying as a clone. Tam Lin spends a lot of time at Celia's house with Matt, teaching him survival skills such as cooking and camping. Before working for El Patrón, Tam Lin was a Scottish nationalist, described by others as a terrorist for attempting to blow up a government official. Instead, he accidentally killed 20 children. Deciding to make amends for the wrongs he committed at the end, Tam Lin allows El Patrón to poison and kill him along with the rest of the Alacrán family. Themes The House of the Scorpion is a story about the struggle to survive as a free individual and the search for a personal identity. The novel deals with issues and ethics around human cloning. Technology: Matt wrestles with his status as a clone, as well as what being El Patrón's clone means for his future. Trained as a scientist, Nancy Farmer recognized the positives of modern technology, as well as human's ability to "pervert" it, particularly where it concerns cloning drug lords and making powerful bombs and other weapons. Discussing cloning, Nancy Farmer disclosed she has "consciously not really judged" cloning humans, so long as it's not for their body parts, and does not mind when animals are cloned. Further, though Matt is a direct clone of El Patrón, he is not a complete duplicate, and possesses qualities unique to an upbringing surrounded by love and certain circumstances. Though clones possess the same DNA and physical appearance, there are certain traits that only appear if they were nurtured. For example, Matt proves to be musically gifted, a talent encouraged by Celia. El Patrón possesses the same talent, yet it "withered and died" due to lack of training. Coming of Age: As a clone, Matt's value is in the health of his organs, as to prolong the life of his benefactor, El Patrón. Clones share the same status as cattle, and Matt is "regarded as property whose value extends only as far as the usefulness of his body parts." In The House of the Scorpion, coming of age for Matt means "claiming humanity", and rising above his status as livestock. The book centers around Matt's journey to claim independence, self-worth, and sense of purpose in an environment surrounded by hate. Literary style Though the novel details moral issues involved with human cloning, in his review for The New York Times, Roger Sutton argued that the novel is only nominally science fiction, and is more often a realistic fiction tale with elements of the adventure story. Reception Reviewing the novel in The New York Times, Roger Sutton traced the novel's roots back to Pinocchio, as both novels feature non-human characters desperate to become human. Sutton called the novel "a big, ambitious tale." Publishers Weekly, in a starred review of the novel, noted that "Farmer grippingly demonstrates that there are no easy answers. The questions she raises will haunt readers long after the final page." Kirkus Reviews, also in a starred review, called The House of the Scorpion "a must-read for SF fans." The Lord of Opium As The House of the Scorpion drew on so much of her childhood, Farmer found it difficult to write the sequel, The Lord of Opium. The sequel was published on September 3, 2013. The story begins a few hours after the final events of the first book. Largely centered around Matt's new regime in Opium, it explores the temptation of absolute power and Matt's struggle to not become the same type of ruler as the original El Patrón. As a 15 year-old boy, once a victim of hatred and disdain, he now finds himself in a position of wealth, power, and complete control over people. Farmer discussed her interest in exploring the temptation of power and control Matt struggled with, stating, "I don't know if that's a particularly popular way for the book to go but it was what interested me." Awards It won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and was named a Newbery Honor Book and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. In the speculative fiction field, it was a runner-up for the Locus Award in the young adult category and the Mythopoeic Award in the children's category. National Book Award for Young People's Literature (United States), 2002—winner Northern California Book Award 2002 Newbery Honor, 2003—runner-up for Newbery Medal Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, 2003 Buxtehuder Bulle, Germany, 2003 ALA Best Book for Young Adults 2003 IRA Young Adults' Choices for 2004 Volunteer State Young Adult Book Award, 2004–05 Nevada Young Reader's Award in the Young Adult category, 2005 Senior Young Readers Choice Award, Pacific Northwest Library Association, 2005 Sequoyah Young Adult Award for 2005 Grand Canyon Reader Teen Award, 2005 South Carolina Association of School Librarians Junior Book Award, 2005–2006 Young Hoosier Book Award Middle Grades, 2006 Further reading Kerr, R. (2010). "The Father, Son, and the Holy Clone: Revision of Biblical Genesis in 'The House of the Scorpion.'" The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, 43(1), 99. References External links Nancy Farmer at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database