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"The Streets of Ashkelon" is a science fiction short story by American writer Harry Harrison. It has also been published under the title "An Alien Agony". It was first published in 1962, in Brian Aldiss's New Worlds #122. The story has since been reprinted over 30 times in fourteen languages, in anthologies and also in academic textbooks. Science fiction critic Paul Tomlinson, who helps run Harrison's official website, has estimated that it is Harrison's most widely published story. Its name is a reference to a passage from the Biblical 2 Samuel 1:20, which says "proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon". Harrison wrote the story for a Judith Merril-edited anthology that was to contain original stories that all violated societal taboos in some way: Streets portrayed a heroic atheist, and a naive, foolish missionary. When Merrill's project fell through, Harrison approached other markets; however, no American publisher accepted it, and so Harrison approached British markets instead. Streets was not published by an American company until six years later. An atheist merchant/trader, John Garth, is the only human on an alien planet where the native Weskers, intelligent but painstakingly literal-minded amphibians, live in what seem to be utopian conditions. These Weskers have no concept whatsoever of gods, religion, or sin. Garth has been gradually teaching them the scientific method. One day Garth is surprised by the arrival of Father Mark, a missionary who is intent on proselytizing to the natives. Despite Garth's best efforts to dissuade him, even at gunpoint, the missionary is intent on "saving souls". Weeks pass and Father Mark has been instructing the Weskers in catechism in their newly-constructed church, and he has recently finished teaching the Weskers about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Soon afterwards, Itin, the ostensible leader of the Weskers, approaches Garth about the problem of reconciling the empirical truth of the scientific method with the symbolic truth of revealed religion and asks him to come to the church to debate Father Mark. Once at the church, Garth, who had previously made preparations to leave the planet, sees the Bible open to an illustration and orders the missionary to come with him. Not understanding what's wrong, Father Mark refuses; but before Garth can explain, several natives seize the priest and drag him to a hill upon which is planted a cross. In accordance with what Garth taught them about the scientific method, they are experimentally testing the hypothesis that if they crucify the missionary in accordance with what he taught them about the Gospels, he will miraculously rise from the dead three days later and thereby redeem them. Three days later, after Father Mark has been buried and the hypothesis disproved, Itin asks Garth what went wrong, and arrives at a simple truth: that the Weskers are now murderers. Paul Di Filippo considers "The Streets of Ashkelon" to be a response to James Blish's "A Case of Conscience". Paul Cook describes "The Streets of Ashkelon" as "bitterly ironic" and "one of the saddest science fiction stories ever written", saying that it "gives credence (of a kind) to the spirit of the Prime Directive". The Streets of Ashkelon title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Text of the story at Lightspeed | noise |
Darb-e Kahat (Persian: درب كهت) is a village in Dehaj Rural District, Dehaj District, Shahr-e Babak County, Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 11, in 4 families. | noise |
Fintry is a housing scheme in Dundee, Scotland. Fintry is located in the north of the city with Mill o' Mains to the west and Whitfield to the east. On the north, Fintry is bordered by farmland, including the Powrie Farm and Powrie Castle (from which one of the pubs in the area derives its name). Local parks include Powrie Park (at the north of the scheme) and Finlathen Park (in a deep valley to the south of the scheme, through which runs the Dighty Burn). Fintry had a population of 6592 in 2011. Customarily, the borders of the scheme are accepted as being: Forfar Road on the west side with Mill O'Mains, Longhaugh Road on the east side with Whitfield and the Dighty Burn on the southern side (inside Finlathen Park). On three of the four sides, and (formerly) half of the north side (see section on Cheviot Crescent and Grampian Gardens), Fintry's borders are defined by three to four storey high tenement blocks. Fintry is in the North East ward of Dundee City Council, represented since May 2012 by Councillors Steven Rome and Willie Sawers of the Scottish National Party, and Councillor Gregor Murray, who is an Independent. Fintry has two bars, the Powrie Bar at Cheviot Crescent and the Dolphin on Fintry Road. Fintry also has two chip shops, two Chinese takeaways known as the Blue Lagoon and Friendlies, and three Indian takeaways, often referred to as the Tartan Tandoori, Mazaydar and the Red Chilli. There are two churches, Fintry Parish Church of scotland and Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church. The 22nd Dundee Scouts operates from a hall in the grounds of Fintry Parish Church, and there is also a Girls' Brigade company in the church itself. Mains of Fintry Pipe Band was formed in Fintry in 1972, by Pipe Major William Smith. Other facilities in the community include the Finmill Community Centre on Findcastle Street, and the Library also on Findcastle Street. Fintry is served by three Primary Schools: Fintry Primary (non-denominational, on Findcastle Terrace) and Longhaugh Primary (non-denominational) and St Francis (Catholic school), the latter two both part of the North East campus, opened in 2018, on Lothian Crescent. Fintry is in the catchment area for Braeview Academy Secondary School (non-denominational) and St. Paul's R.C. Academy (Catholic school). There is a Nursery School on the same site as Fintry Primary, and Quarry View nursery is part of the new North East campus on Lothian Crescent. The new Fintry Primary school was completed in around 2010, funded as a Public–private partnership, replacing a "temporary" building originally erected in the 1950s. Construction of the scheme began in the late 1940s; previously the area had been farmland. Two buildings from this time survive, one being a former farm cottage on Longhaugh Road which is in private ownership, the other being a farmhouse which now sits on Fintry Road and was until around 2010 the Fintry Nursery School. This building is owned by Dundee City Council, and is currently vacant (February 2015). At the time of construction, part of the plan was that all streets in Fintry would begin with the prefix "Fin". However, since the scheme was built there have been some deviations from this plan; all of these are detailed in the section below. Cheviot Crescent (formerly Fincraig Street) and Grampian Gardens (formerly Fingarth Street) were renamed in the early 1970s due to their poor image (these two streets were blocks of densely populated tenements with a poor reputation and their names made it difficult for the council to attract new tenants into the flats). Some time after their construction, surveyors found that the tenements had been built with inadequate foundations for the ground conditions, and were beginning to subside. After all the tenants were moved out to houses elsewhere in the city, almost the whole north side of Cheviot Crescent was demolished (two blocks were left standing at the east end of the street). Several blocks on the south side, and in Grampian Gardens, were also demolished. Since these demolitions some limited rebuilding involving small bungalows has taken place on parts of the land formerly occupied by the tenements. Amond Way and Amond Gardens, built in the early 2000s, are named after the late PC Trevor Amond who was known in the area for his community work. These occupy land where nos. 7-12 Grampian Gardens once stood. Cheviot Rise is a small back street behind Cheviot Crescent, where the access road and part of the car parks were behind 45/47/49 Cheviot Crescent. Grampian Close is situated at the west end of Grampian Gardens. The Grahams of Fintry, local landowners until the 19th century Dundee F.C. and Scotland player Charlie Adam was born and grew up in Fintry. Former Dundee F.C. players Kyle Benedictus and Scott Robertson were both brought up in Fintry. Musician Brian Molko grew up in Fintry. Poet and author Gary Robertson resides in Fintry. From Fintry, you can get the following services: Stagecoach Strathtay Service 22 to Dundee Seagate Bus Station or Kirriemuir Xplore Dundee Service 10 to Ninewells Hospital or Broughty Ferry Service 17 to Ninewells Hospital via Dundee Whitehall Street or Whitfield Service 32 to Dundee Crichton Street Service 33 to Dundee Commercial Street or Whitfield Moffat & Williamson Service 88 to Whitfield or Broughty Ferry | noise |
Stanislav Valeryevich Emelyanov (Russian: Станислав Валерьевич Емельянов; born 23 October 1990) is a former Russian race walker. = IAAF announced 28 July 2014 that Emelyanov was sanctioned for doping after his biological passport had shown anomalies. His ban ended 14 December 2014. Emelyanov was the 17th athlete trained by Viktor Chegin to be banned for doping. = In September 2015 IAAF confirmed that Emelyanov was provisionally suspended after a sample from an out-of-competition control in Saransk in June had been found positive for a prohibited substance. Emelyanov had the previous day given interviews saying his B sample had been found negative, and that the substance in question was EPO. Emelyanov was given an 8-year ban for second doping offence, commencing on 7 April 2017 and has been stripped of all results obtained after 2 June 2015. This ban was extended indefinitely in March 2018. | noise |
Contreiras is a surname in Portuguese language. Notable people with this surname include: Carlos Contreiras, Angolan politician Diogo de Contreiras, 16th century Portuguese painter Rogério Contreiras (1922–1990), Portuguese footballer Contreras, Spanish variant of the surname | noise |
Greg Ballora (born 1965, and also known as Gregory Ballora, Gregory B. Ballora and Gregory Bellora) is an American puppeteer. = Men in Black II – Sleeble The Muppets – Additional Muppets The X-Files – Creature #2 The Happytime Murders – Additional Voices The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Random Citizen #5, Additional Voices = Bizaardvark – Hair Puppeteer (in "Pretty Con") Greg the Bunny – Various Muppets Tonight – Additional Muppets Lost on Earth - Philippe The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth – Emmett the Mailbox, Various The Crayon Box - Puppeteer The Mr. Potato Head Show – Baloney Billy & Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure – Grim (puppeteer) Crash & Bernstein – Puppet Captain RoboCop 2 – Robot Monster Crew (movement) Team America: World Police – Lead Puppeteer The Flintstones – Puppeteer Greg Ballora at IMDb | noise |
Clypeostoma is a genus of mostly small deep water sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Chilodontaidae. Species in this genus were previously categorized under the genus Agathodonta Cossmann, 1918 Species within the genus Clypeostoma include: Clypeostoma adelon Vilvens, 2017 Clypeostoma cancellatum (Schepman, 1908) Clypeostoma cecileae (Poppe, Tagaro & Dekker, 2006) Clypeostoma chranos Vilvens, 2017 Clypeostoma elongatum (Vilvens, 2001) Clypeostoma meteorae (Neubert, 1998) Clypeostoma nortoni (McLean, 1984) Clypeostoma reticulatum Herbert, 2012 Clypeostoma salpinx (Barnard, 1964) Clypeostoma townsendianum (Melvill & Standen, 1903) Poppe, G., Tagaro, S. & Dekker, H., 2006. The Seguenziidae, Chilodontidae, Trochidae, Calliostomatidae and Solariellidae of the Philippines Islands. Visaya: 1–128, sér. Supplément 2 Vilvens C., 2017. New species and new records of Chilodontidae (Gastropoda: Vetigastropoda: Seguenzioidea) from the Pacific Ocean. Novapex 18: 1-67, sér. HS 11 World Register of Marine Species Herbert, D. G. (2012). A Revision of the Chilodontidae (Gastropoda: Vetigastropoda: Seguenzioidea) of Southern Africa and the South-Western Indian Ocean. African Invertebrates. 53(2): 381-502. | noise |
Bullock-Dew House is a historic home located near Sims, Wilson County, North Carolina. It was built about 1902, and is a two-story, five-bay, asymmetrical, Greek Revival style frame farmhouse. It has multiple cross gables and ornate and extensive porches. It features stained glass and turned and sawnwork ornament. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. | noise |
Christopher Bell (born July 26, 1971, in St. Pauls, North Carolina) is an American professional poker player from Raleigh, North Carolina who won the 2010 World Series of Poker $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event. He has also made three final tables at the World Poker Tour (WPT). Bell's accolades at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) which includes four final tables with one bracelet. He won his bracelet at the 2010 World Series of Poker in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event, earning $327,040 after defeating professional poker player Dan Shak during heads-up play, other professionals at the final table included English professional Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott (3rd), Eight time bracelet winner and 1988 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Erik Seidel (5th), Dutch Pro Rob Hollink (7th), and three time bracelet winner and 1981 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Perry Green (8th). Bell almost won a bracelet two years earlier at the 2008 World Series of Poker in the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event where he finished second to Davidi Kitai, earning $155,806, that same year he also made the final table in the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em event and finished in 6th place for $157,168. Bell's first WSOP Final table cash was at the 2007 World Series of Poker in the $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better event which he finished in fifth place for $39,109. In December 2010, Bell won a WSOP Circuit event at the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Regional Championship in Atlantic City for $358,295. = Bell's accolades at the World Poker Tour (WPT), include three (Six-Handed) WPT final tables, third at the WPT 2005 Mirage Poker Showdown to winner Gavin Smith and runner-up Ted Forrest. His second WPT final table was at the WPT 2006 Borgata Poker Open finishing fifth for $314,280 and the third was at the WPT Hollywood Poker Open, finishing in fourth for $124,966. He came close to another final table when he finished in ninth place at the 2003 Borgata Poker Open. As of 2023, Bell's total live tournament winnings exceed $3,200,000. Card Player profile Hendon Mob profile WSOP profile WPT profile | noise |
Legal Studies (ISSN 1748-121X) is published on behalf of The Society of Legal Scholars (SLS). It was first published in 1981 by Wiley Press and, since 2018, has been published by Cambridge University Press. Legal Studies is now recognised as "one of the leading generalist journals in the UK". It publishes peer-reviewed scholarly articles, notes, reports, and book reviews. A ranking of UK law journals based on statistical data from the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise uses Legal Studies as the 'benchmark'. The winner of the Society of Legal Scholars' best paper award is published in the journal. In 2023, this award was given to Conall Mallory and Hélène Tyrrell for their article The Extrajudicial Voice, a study of the views of 13 very senior judges as to their role and conduct. Official website | noise |
China Social Sciences Press (CSSP, Chinese: 中国社会科学出版社), also known as Social Sciences in China Press, is a Chinese state-level publishing house sponsored and managed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which publishes academic works in the humanities and social sciences. China Social Sciences Publishing House was proposed by Hu Qiaomu and officially established on 14 June 1978 after the instructions of Deng Xiaoping, Li Xiannian, Hua Guofeng and others of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In October 2020, the United States Department of State designated China Social Sciences Press as a foreign mission of China. Academic publishing in China China Science Publishing & Media Science and technology in the People's Republic of China Official website | noise |
Diana Arismendi (born November 8, 1962) is a Venezuelan composer. Born in Caracas, Arismendi studied at the Escuela de Música "Prudencio Esáa" and at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música Juan José Landaeta, both in the city of her birth. A government scholarship afforded her the opportunity to travel to Paris for further study, and in 1982 she began lessons under Jacques Castérède and Yoshisha Taira at the École Normale de Musique de Paris; she graduated from the institution in 1986. That same year she became a professor at the Conservatorio de Música Simón Bolívar, where she remained until 1990. Another scholarship, this one from OEA, allowed her to attend the Catholic University of America, from which she received a master's degree in 1992 and a doctorate two years later. Arismendi has worked in various forms, including opera, and has composed a number of works for orchestra as well as chamber pieces, piano works, and choral music. She has also worked with electroacoustic media. | noise |
The 1986 WTA Argentine Open was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was part of the Category 1 tier of the 1987 Virginia Slims World Championship Series. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and was held from 1 December until 8 December 1986. First-seeded Gabriela Sabatini won the singles title. = Gabriela Sabatini defeated Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6–1, 6–1 It was Sabatini's only singles title of the year and the 2nd of her career. = Lori McNeil / Mercedes Paz defeated Manon Bollegraf / Nicole Jagerman 6–1, 2–6, 6–1 ITF tournament edition details | noise |
The Fender Mustang is a solid body electric guitar produced by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990. In the 1990s, the Mustang attained cult status largely as a result of its use by a number of alternative rock bands, in particular grunge bands, most notably played by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The Mustang features two single-coil pickups, an unusual pickup switching configuration, and a unique vibrato system. It was originally available in two short scale lengths: 24 inches (609.6 mm) and 22.5 inches (571.5 mm). The Mustang has an offset waist, reminiscent of the Jazzmaster, but its overall styling closely followed the existing student models the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic, the slight waist offset being the main change. After the release of the Mustang, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic were redesigned using the Mustang body. The new versions were branded the Musicmaster II and Duo-Sonic II, but the decals were not consistently applied. All three Mustang-bodied models (Mustang, Musicmaster II and Duo-Sonic II) were offered with the option of two necks: a 21 fret, 22.5-inch (or 3/4 scale) neck, or a 22 fret, 24-inch neck. The 24-inch version was overwhelmingly more popular, and the 22.5-inch scale examples are rare. A 24-inch scale is still relatively short, used in the Fender Jaguar but a full inch and a half shorter than the Stratocaster and three-quarters of an inch shorter than the Gibson Les Paul. The short scale may make playing easier for people with small hands, and also lowers string tension for a given pitch, making string bending easier. Its short scale, combined with a relatively low cost and extremely direct vibrato arm, made the Mustang a cult guitar in the 1990s. Before that, its low cost and marketing as a student guitar made it an obvious candidate for aftermarket upgrades, particularly pickup changes and also amateur finishes. Its wiring with the original pickups also lent itself to custom modifications. In 1966, Fender issued the Fender Mustang Bass. A new bass body was designed with a offset body style similar to that of the Mustang guitar, and a short (30-inch) scale was used. In 1969, Fender released the "Competition" Mustang with a "racing stripe" paint job and painted headstocks. Body contours were also added at this time. The Competition Mustangs came in Competition Red, Competition Blue (known as Competition Burgundy in the Fender catalog) and Competition Orange. This paint scheme was heavily influenced by the Shelby Mustang cars of the late 1960s. In 1982, Fender discontinued both the Mustang and the Musicmaster II. These were the last of the offset student models to be made. Fender replaced the Mustang line with the short-lived Fender Bullet line of guitars and basses before relegating production of their student guitars to their Squier division. = In 1990, Fender reissued the Mustang, largely as a result of the vintage movement prevalent at the time. Among grunge and punk rock guitarists, Fender's discontinued models (budget models such as the Duo-Sonic and high-end models such as the Jazzmaster and Jaguar) had become extremely popular. Such models had Fender quality, but were less expensive secondhand than vintage Stratocasters and Telecasters. The reissued Mustang is made in Japan and available in only the 24-inch scale. While the original Mustangs used mostly poplar wood for the body (with some rarely documented cases of mahogany), MG-72 Mustang reissues are made of the similar basswood, and the newer MG-65 reissues revert to the original poplar. The natural-finished MG-77 reissue is made of ash. In 2011, Fender released a new Mustang model in the Pawn Shop series, called the Mustang Special. The model features an offset Mustang body shape and a 24-inch scale neck, but with humbucking pickups and a hard-tail Stratocaster bridge. In 2012, Fender announced a Kurt Cobain Signature Mustang. This model is based on Cobain's modified Mustangs that he played during the In Utero Tour. Instead of having two single-coil pickups, it had a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge and a normal Mustang single coil in the neck. It also had an angled Fender adjusto-matic bridge instead of the standard Mustang bridge. Originally, finish colors included Fiesta Red, Sonic Blue and Dark Lake Placid Blue with Competition Stripe, however, by 2015, the Kurt Cobain Mustang was produced only in Sonic Blue. It is the first Mustang model to be sold in Europe in both right-handed and left-handed versions. In 2012, Squier released a new Mustang in the Vintage Modified series, with similar specifications to those of the original version, but using more modern materials. There was also a double-humbucker version introduced as a Bullet model. In 2013, Fender released the Modern Player Mustang, a newer take on the old student model. It featured two Fender MP-90 pickups, which are similar to the P-90. It has a modern 9.5" neck radius, and was offered in Daphne Blue and Honeyburst. In 2013, Fender introduced the American Special Mustang, the first production Mustang made in the United States since the original run was discontinued. The American Special Mustang is significantly different from vintage models, and eliminated many unconventional features of the original Mustang. It retains the traditional Mustang shape and scale length, but has two Fender Atomic Humbuckers with conventional three-way wiring, a more conventional Adjusto-matic bridge and a fixed tailpiece. In 2016, Fender released two versions of the Mustang: the Mustang (with two single coil pickups in Olympic White, Black and Olive) and the Mustang 90 (with two MP90 pickups in Olympic White, Torino Red and Silver), both in a 24" scale. They have a string-through-body hardtail 'Strat' bridge (no vibrato system as was found on previous Mustangs), with vintage-like bent-steel saddles. These guitars, and a re-introduced Duo-Sonic range, form the 'Offset Series' and are made in Mexico. The bodies are alder while the necks are maple, with maple or rosewood fretboards. The rosewood fretboards were replaced by pau ferro in 2017, in response to new CITES restrictions on the trading of rosewood. Two colors were also introduced: Shell Pink for the Mustang and 2-Color Sunburst for the Mustang 90. In 2018, Fender introduced an American Performer variant of the Mustang with an updated version of the original style vibrato system, Tim Shaw designed Yosemite pickups, and a three way selector switch instead of the original's on-off and phase switches above the pickups. In 2021, Fender announced the Ben Gibbard Mustang as part of their Artist Signature series, designed to Death Cab for Cutie frontman Gibbard's specifications and inspired by the 1970s Mustangs he uses on tour. The guitar features several unique features including a chambered ash body, custom pickups, modified hardtail bridge, and simplified controls. The Mustang has two angled single-coil pickups, each with an adjacent on-off-on switch, and a master tone and volume control. Many Mustangs have neither a pickup selector nor a circuit selector switch, instead just using the two pickup switches to allow the pickups to be used either singly or in parallel. The second on position reverses the phase of the selected pickup, allowing the pickups to be either in or out of phase when in parallel. This phasing option was also unusual for 1964. It also meant that, as both pickups were floating with respect to ground, it was possible to modify the wiring to put the pickups into series either in or out of phase without excessive noise. The unusual switching could also be replaced with a conventional 3 way pickup selector switch, such as found on the early Fender Duo-Sonic models. However this usually requires modification of the pickguard and routing of the body. Installing an alternative pickup selector switch on the Mustang, like seen on early Duo-Sonics, can thus free up the two, eight-terminal, pickup switches for other uses. Some players choose and prefer this option. As with many student guitars, aftermarket pickup additions and changes are commonly found in many vintage examples. The Mustang introduced the Fender Dynamic Vibrato tailpiece, which together with a floating bridge forms the Mustang vibrato system. The floating bridge concept is common to the Fender floating vibrato developed for the Jazzmaster, but on the Mustang the saddles have only a single string slot, while on other Fender guitars there are multiple slots to allow limited adjustment of the string spacing. The tailpiece was unique when introduced and remains the most unusual feature of the Mustang; Only the Jag-Stang and Fender Custom (Maverick) share this particular mechanism. While not nearly as popular as the Stratocaster synchronized tremolo, some guitarists prefer it over all other vibrato mechanisms. However, some guitarists also claim that the vibrato is too sensitive. Most notably, Fender incorporated it in the custom design which became the Jag-Stang. No previous Fender student guitar had a vibrato system at all, and the subsequent Fender Bronco used a completely different mechanism, without a floating bridge. The Mustang was the last of the Fender floating bridge models to be withdrawn, and the first to be reissued. Mustangs have maintained a popular following in Japan. The Fender Mustang was originally produced in what Fender simply referred to as Blue, White, and Red from 1964–1968. Some now erroneously label these colors as Daphne Blue, Olympic White, and Dakota/Fiesta Red (actually two distinct custom red colors available from Fender) due to their similarity with these custom colors. However, Fender further notes in sales literature of the time that custom colors were not available on Mustangs or other student models of guitar. As such, Daphne Blue, Olympic White, and Dakota or Fiesta Red were never officially offered as Mustang colors. These would have been custom order only colors at the time of the Mustang's initial release, and thus the Mustang was not eligible to receive these finishes according to Fender. Speculation continues that these paint colors may have very well been the same exact custom paint formulations offered on other eligible Fender guitars, but it is not known with 100% certainty, although it is certainly probable. In 1969, Fender made several significant changes to the manufacture of the Mustang. Body and arm contours were added, and the guitars were now offered in several "Competition Colors” for the first time. These were as follows; Competition Burgundy with light blue stripes. The main body color is similar to Lake Placid Blue, and it remains a mystery as to why Fender called this color Burgundy. Some erroneously claim that guitars finished in this color scheme came with a purple burst around the guitar's outline. As observed on some vintage examples, this is due to heavier build up on the body and headstock edges of clear coat and the subsequent yellowing of this clear finish coat over many decades. This differential yellow over blue effect presents as a purple hue over these areas of the body and headstock. When new, these guitars simply did not exhibit this "faux" sunburst effect. Competition Red (essentially Candy Apple Red) with white stripes, and; Competition Orange with red-orange stripes. These were the first three original competition finishes offered. As stated, each were also fitted with a set of “racing stripes” across the arm contour. Competition Mustangs are the only original Fender guitars to be produced with these "racing stripes" which make them very collectible. The competition Mustangs produced from 1969 to mid 1970 came with a matching headstock; from then until the retirement of competition color schemes, an unpainted headstock was standard. The matching headstock models seem to be more desirable with collectors than the non matching models. Mid-to-late 1970s US Mustangs were produced in sunburst and natural finishes as well as blonde, walnut, and black (with a standard black pickguard, updated from the earlier white pearloid or tortoise shell) and the unique Antigua burst scheme. Later Japanese reissues have been made available in a wide variety of color schemes, many with matching headstocks or in variations never seen in the US. These include competition Mustangs in Vintage White (with dark blue stripe), Capri Orange (with Fiesta Red stripe), and Ocean Turquoise Metallic (with light blue stripe), and non-stripe matching headstock Mustangs in Dakota Red, Fiesta Red and Old Lake Placid Blue. The 2012 Fender Mustang (Kurt Cobain Artist Edition) comes in Fiesta Red, Sonic Blue and Dark Lake Placid Blue with competition stripes. The 2016 Offset Series instruments come in Black, Olive, Olympic White, Torino Red and Silver, with Shell Pink and 2-Color Sunburst being released the following year. Mustang Bass Fender Bronco Fender Duo-Sonic Fender Cyclone Fender.com Fender Mustang Story Fender Mustang on Kurt Cobain equipment website Fender Competition Mustang on Vintage Guitar | noise |
Seán O'Casey (Irish: Seán Ó Cathasaigh [ˈʃaːn̪ˠ oː ˈkahəsˠiː]; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. O'Casey was born at 85 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin, as John Casey, the son of Michael Casey, a mercantile clerk (who worked for the Irish Church Missions), and Susan Archer. His parents were Protestants and he was a member of the Church of Ireland, baptised on 28 July 1880 in St. Mary's parish, confirmed at St John the Baptist Church in Clontarf, and an active member of St. Barnabas' Church on Sheriff Street until his mid-20s, when he drifted away from the church. There is a church called 'Saint Burnupus' in his play Red Roses For Me. O'Casey's father died when Seán was just six years of age, leaving a family of thirteen. The family lived a peripatetic life thereafter, moving from house to house around north Dublin. As a child, he suffered from poor eyesight, which interfered somewhat with his early education, but O'Casey taught himself to read and write by the age of thirteen. He left school at fourteen and worked at a variety of jobs, including a nine-year period as a railwayman on the GNR. O'Casey worked in Eason's for a short while, in the newspaper distribution business, but was sacked for not taking off his cap when collecting his wage packet. From the early 1890s, O'Casey and his elder brother, Archie, put on performances of plays by Dion Boucicault and William Shakespeare in the family home. He also got a small part in Boucicault's The Shaughraun in the Mechanics' Theatre, which stood on the site of what was to be the Abbey Theatre. As his interest in the Irish nationalist cause grew, O'Casey joined the Gaelic League in 1906 and learned the Irish language. At this time, he Gaelicised his name from John Casey to Seán Ó Cathasaigh. He also learned to play the Uilleann pipes and was a founder and secretary of the St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and became involved in the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, which had been established by Jim Larkin to represent the interests of the unskilled labourers who inhabited the Dublin tenements. He participated in the Dublin lock-out but was blacklisted and could not find steady work for some time. In 1912 Casey joined James Connolly's Socialist Party of Ireland. In March 1914, he became General Secretary of Larkin's Irish Citizen Army, which would soon be run by James Connolly. On 24 July 1914 he resigned from the ICA, after his proposal to ban dual membership in both the ICA and the Irish Volunteers was rejected. One of his first satirical ballads, "The Grand Oul' Dame Britannia", was published in The Workers' Republic on 15 January 1916 under his penname An Gall Fada. "Ah, what is all the fuss about?", says the grand old dame Britannia,"Is it us you are trying to live without?", Says the grand old dame Britannia."Shut your ears to the Sinn Féin lies, you know every Gael for England dies,""And you'll have Home Rule 'neath the clear blue skies." Says the grand old dame Britannia.From the 1920s onwards, Casey focused on his literary career and was not directly involved in a political movement but remained supportive of socialist causes and was especially enthusiastic about the Soviet Union. Writing in 1958, Casey affirmed his politics: “I am still a Republican, a Communist, and, in a way, a member of the Gaelic League.” In 1917, his friend Thomas Ashe died in a hunger strike and it inspired him to write. He wrote two laments: one in verse and a longer one in prose. Ballads authored around this time by O'Casey featured in the two editions of Songs of the Wren, published by Fergus O'Connor in 1918; these included "The Man from the Daily Mail", which, along with "The Grand Oul' Dame Britannia", became Irish rebel music staples. A common theme was opposition to the possible introduction of conscription in Ireland by the British government during World War I. He spent the next five years writing plays. In 1918, when both his sister and mother died (in January and September, respectively), the St Laurence O'Toole National Club commissioned him to write the play The Frost in the Flower. He had been in the St Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band and played on the hurling team. The club declined to put the play on out of fear that its satirical treatment of several parishioners would cause resentment. O'Casey then submitted the play to the Abbey Theatre, which also rejected it but encouraged him to continue writing. Eventually, O'Casey expanded the play to three acts and retitled it The Harvest Festival. O'Casey's first accepted play, The Shadow of a Gunman, was performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1923. This was the beginning of a relationship that was to be fruitful for both theatre and dramatist but which ended in some bitterness. The play deals with the impact of revolutionary politics on Dublin's slums and their inhabitants, and is understood to be set in Mountjoy Square, where he lived during the 1916 Easter Rising. It was followed by Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926). The former deals with the effect of the Irish Civil War on the working class poor of the city, while the latter is set in Dublin in 1916 around the Easter Rising. Both plays deal realistically with the rhetoric and dangers of Irish patriotism, with tenement life, self-deception, and survival; they are tragi-comedies in which violent death throws into relief the blustering masculine bravado of characters such as Jack Boyle and Joxer Daly in Juno and the Paycock and the heroic resilience of Juno herself or of Bessie Burgess in The Plough and the Stars. Juno and the Paycock became a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The Plough and the Stars was not well received by the Abbey audience and resulted in scenes reminiscent of the riots that greeted J. M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in 1907. There was a riot reported on the fourth night of the show. His depiction of sex and religion offended even some of the actors, who refused to speak their lines. The full-scale riot occurred partly because the play was thought to be an attack on the men in the rising and partly in protest in opposition to the animated appearance of a prostitute in Act 2. W. B. Yeats got onto the stage and roared at the audience: "You have disgraced yourselves again." The takings of the play were substantial compared with the previous week. O'Casey gave up his job and became a full-time writer. After the incident, even though the play was well liked by most of the Abbey goers, Liam O'Flaherty, Austin Clarke and F. R. Higgins launched an attack against it in the press. O'Casey believed it was an attack on Yeats, that they were using O'Casey's play to berate Yeats. In 1952 he appeared in a play by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy, The Wild Goose, in which he played the part of Father Ryan. O'Casey was involved in numerous productions with the Abbey; these can be found in the Abbey Archives. While in London to receive the Hawthornden Prize and supervise the West End production of Juno and the Paycock, O'Casey fell in love with Eileen Carey. The couple were married in 1927 and remained in London until 1938, when they moved to Totnes. In 1928, W. B. Yeats rejected O'Casey's fourth play, The Silver Tassie for the Abbey. It was an attack on imperialist wars and the suffering they cause. The Abbey refused to perform it. The premier production was funded by Charles B. Cochran, who took only eighteen months to put it on stage. It was put on at the Apollo Theatre but lasted for only twenty-six performances. It was directed by Raymond Massey, starred Charles Laughton and with an Act II set design by Augustus John. George Bernard Shaw and Lady Gregory had a favourable opinion of the show. Denis Johnston, who knew O'Casey and spent time with him in London in the 1920s, is certain that the Abbey was right not to stage The Silver Tassie: "Its expressionist second act was at that time far beyond the scope of the Abbey Theatre." A year later Johnston's own The Old Lady Says "No!" was similarly rejected, for the same reason. Nevertheless O'Casey's resentment over this persisted for many years. The plays O'Casey wrote after this included the darkly allegorical Within the Gates (1934), which is set within the gates of a busy city park based on London's Hyde Park. Although it was highly controversial, Eugene O'Neill responded positively to it. The play was originally going to be a film script for Alfred Hitchcock. O'Casey's widow described it in her memoir, Sean (1971):Originally he had imagined it as a film in which everything, from flower-beds to uniforms, would be stylised. Beginning at dawn and ending at midnight, to the soft chime of Big Ben in the distance, it would be "geometrical and emotional, the emotions of the living characters to be shown against their own patterns and the patterns of the Park." Having got so far, he wrote to Alfred Hitchcock, and when Hitchcock and his wife dined with us Sean explained his ideas to an apparently responsive hearer. Hitchcock and he talked excitedly. They parted on the same terms, with the prospect of another immediate meeting, and Sean never heard again. The play was unsuccessful in Northern Ireland and was not produced in the south until 2010. In the autumn of 1934, O'Casey went to the United States to visit the New York City production of Within the Gates, which he admired greatly. It was directed by actor Melvyn Douglas and starred Lillian Gish. This is when he befriended Eugene O'Neill, Sherwood Anderson and George Jean Nathan. The Star Turns Red (1940) is a four-act political allegory in which the Star of Bethlehem turns red. The story follows Big Red (who was based on O'Casey's friend, James Larkin) who is a trade-union leader. The union takes over the unnamed country despite the ruthless efforts of the Saffron Shirts, a fascist organisation openly supported by the Roman Catholic hierarchy of the country. It was staged by the Unity Theatre in London during 1940 (later, in 1978 by the Abbey in Dublin). Purple Dust (1943) follows two wealthy, materialistic English stockbrokers who buy an ancient Irish mansion and attempt to restore it with their wrong notions of Tudor customs and taste. They try to impose upon a community with vastly different customs and lifestyles that are much closer to ancient Gaelic ways and are against such false values. The Englishmen set their opposing standards against those represented by the men employed to renovate the house. In the resulting confrontation the English are satirised and in the end disappointed when a symbolic storm destroys their dream of resettling the old into the present. The hint that is enforced by the conclusion is that the little heap of purple dust that remains will be swept away by the rising winds of change, like the residue of pompous imperialism that abides in Ireland. The show has been compared to Shaw's John Bull's Other Island, which was one of O'Casey's favourites, but aside from a few similarities, there are no real grounds for comparison. He also wrote Red Roses for Me (1943), which saw him move away from his early style in favour of more expressionistic means and overtly socialist content to his writing. It went up at Dublin's Olympia Theatre (which was the first one produced in Ireland in seventeen years). It would move on to London in 1946, where O'Casey himself was able to see it. This was the first show of his own he saw since Within The Gates in 1934. Oak Leaves and Lavender (1945) is a propaganda play commemorating the Battle of Britain and Britain's heroism in the anti-Nazi crusade. It takes place in a manor with shadowy 18th-century figures commenting on the present. These plays have never had the same critical or popular success as the early trilogy. After the Second World War he wrote Cock-a-Doodle Dandy (1949), which is perhaps his most beautiful and exciting work. From The Bishop's Bonfire (1955) O'Casey's late plays are studies on the common life in Ireland, "Irish microcosmos", like The Drums of Father Ned (1958). His play The Drums of Father Ned was supposed to go up at the 1958 Dublin Theatre Festival, but the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, refused to give his blessing (it has been assumed because works of both James Joyce and O'Casey were in the festival). After Joyce's play was quietly dropped, massive changes were required for The Drums of Father Ned, a devious way to get O'Casey to drop. After this, Samuel Beckett withdrew his mime piece in protest. In 1959, O'Casey gave his blessing to a musical adaptation of Juno and the Paycock by American composer Marc Blitzstein. The musical, retitled Juno, was a commercial failure, closing after only 16 Broadway performances. It was also panned by some critics as being too "dark" to be an appropriate musical, a genre then almost invariably associated with light comedy. However, the music, which survives in a cast album made before the show opened, has since been regarded as some of Blitzstein's best work. Although endorsed by the then 79-year-old O'Casey, he did not contribute to the production or even see it during its brief run. Despite general agreement on the brilliance of the underlying material, the musical has defied all efforts to mount any successful revival. Also in 1959, George Devine produced Cock-a-Doodle Dandy at the Royal Court Theatre and it was also successful at the Edinburgh International Festival and had a West End run. His eightieth birthday occurred in 1960, and to celebrate, David Krause and Robert Hogan wrote full-length studies. The Mermaid Theatre in London launched the "O'Casey Festival" in 1962, which in turn made more theatre establishments put on his works, mostly in Britain and Germany. It is in the late years that O'Casey put his creative energy into his six-volume Autobiography. On 18 September 1964 at the age of 84, O'Casey died of a heart attack, in Torquay, Devon. He was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium. In 1965, his autobiography Mirror in My House (the umbrella title under which the six autobiographies he published from 1939 to 1956 were republished, in two large volumes, in 1956) was turned into a film based on his life called Young Cassidy. The film was directed by Jack Cardiff (and John Ford) featuring Rod Taylor (as O'Casey), Flora Robson, Maggie Smith, Julie Christie, Edith Evans and Michael Redgrave. O'Casey was married to Irish actress Eileen Carey Reynolds (1903–1995) from 1927 to his death. The couple had three children: two sons, Breon and Níall (who died in 1957 of leukaemia), and a daughter, Shivaun. In 2005, David H. Greene donated a collection of letters he received from O'Casey from 1944 to 1962 to the Fales Library at New York University. Also in the collection are two letters written by Eileen O'Casey and one letter addressed to Catherine Greene, David Greene's spouse. O'Casey's papers are held in the New York Public Library, the Cornell University Library, the University of California, Los Angeles Library System, the University of London Library, the National Library of Ireland, Colby College, Boston College and the Fales Library. In Dublin, a foot bridge on the Liffey is named after him, as is Sean O'Casey Avenue in Summerhill and 'Sean O'Casey Community Centre' in East Wall. There is a plaque dedicated to O'Casey at the site of his former house on Dorset Street, Dublin and also at the building where he stayed in a flat in Wandsworth, London in England. Lament for Thomas Ashe (1917), as Seán Ó Cathasaigh The Story of Thomas Ashe (1917), as Seán Ó Cathasaigh Songs of the Wren (1918), as Seán Ó Cathasaigh More Wren Songs (1918), as Seán Ó Cathasaigh The Harvest Festival (1918) The Story of the Irish Citizen Army (1919), as Seán Ó Cathasaigh The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) Kathleen Listens In (1923) Juno and the Paycock (1924) Nannie's Night Out (1924) The Plough and the Stars (1926) The Silver Tassie (1927) Within the Gates (1934) The End of the Beginning (1937) A Pound on Demand (1939) The Star Turns Red (1940) Red Roses for Me (1942) Purple Dust (1940/1945) Oak Leaves and Lavender (1946) Cock-a-Doodle Dandy (1949) Hall of Healing (1951) Bedtime Story (1951) Time to Go (1951) The Wild Goose (1952) The Bishop's Bonfire: A Sad Play within the Tune of a Polka (1955) Mirror in My House (two volumes, 1956, reissued as Autobiographies, 1963 and since; combining the six books of memoirs listed next) I Knock at the Door (1939) Pictures in the Hallway (1942) Drums Under the Window (1945) Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well (1949) Rose and Crown (1952) Sunset and Evening Star (1954) The Drums of Father Ned (written 1957, staged 1959) Behind the Green Curtains (1961) Figuro in the Night (1961) The Moon Shines on Kylenamoe (1961) Niall: A Lament (1991) (1926) – Hawthornden Prize for Juno and the Paycock (1949) – Newspaper Guild of New York's "Page One Award" for I Knock at the Door, Pictures in the Hallway, Drums under the Windows, and Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well Order of the British Empire (declined) (1960) – Durham University Honorary Degree (declined) (1960) – University of Exeter Honorary Degree (declined) (1961) – Trinity College, Dublin Honorary Degree (declined) Irish Writers on Writing featuring Seán O'Casey. Edited by Eavan Boland (Trinity University Press, 2007). Igoe, Vivien. A Literary Guide to Dublin. Methuen, 1994; ISBN 0-413-69120-9 Denis Johnston. "Sean O'Casey in the Twenties". In O hAodha, Micheal (ed). The O'Casey Enigma. Dublin: Mercier Press, 1980 ISBN 0-85342-637-6 Krause, David. Seán O'Casey and his World. New York: C. Scribner's, 1976; ISBN 0-500-13055-8 Murray, Christopher. Seán O'Casey, Writer at Work. Gill and MacMillan, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004; ISBN 0-7735-2889-X Ryan, Philip B. The Lost Theatres of Dublin. The Badger Press, 1998; ISBN 0-9526076-1-1 Schrank, Bernice. Sean O'Casey: A Research and Production Sourcebook. Greenwood Press, 1996; ISBN 0-313-27844-X Media related to Sean O'Casey at Wikimedia Commons Quotations related to Seán O'Casey at Wikiquote Link to the Fales library guide to the David H. Greene Collection of Sean O'Casey Letters Sean O'Casey Collection at the Harry Ransom Center Seán O'Casey and the 1916 Easter Rising O'Casey at Today in Literature Robert G. Lowery – Sean O'Casey Collection – at Boston College John J. Burns Library Sean O'Casey letters, 1946–1969 – at Boston College John J. Burns Library Bibliography, Seán O'Casey profile, threemonkeysonline.com "Archival material relating to Seán O'Casey". UK National Archives. Portraits of Sean O'Casey at the National Portrait Gallery, London 'Ireland's Shakespeare': three actors on Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey at The Teresa Deevy Archive Seán O'Casey at The Abbey Theatre Archive | noise |
Leo Joseph Murphy (December 10, 1888 – February 19, 1959) was a merchant and politician in Newfoundland. He represented Placentia West in the Newfoundland House of Assembly from 1930 to 1932. The son of Andrew Murphy, he was born in Oderin and left school in 1904 to work in the offshore bank fishery at Cape St. Mary's. He later went to St. John's where he began work in the grocery and wine business with Edward Sinnott. He later managed James Baird Limited's branch in Marystown. In 1912, he married Annie Power. Murphy was elected as a Liberal in a 1930 by-election but was defeated when he ran for re-election in St. John's West in 1932. Murphy died in St. John's at the age of 70. | noise |
The Kayah State Democratic Party (KySDP) is a de-registered political party in Myanmar seeking to represent the interests of the Karenni people. It was founded in 2017 as a merger between the All Nationals' Democracy Party (Kayah State) and Kayah Unity Democracy Party. The KySDP ran 30 candidates in the 2020 general election and won eight seats. On 28 March 2022, KySDP was officially dissolved by the junta-appointed Union Election Commission, along with 39 other parties. Kayah State Democratic Party on Facebook | noise |
This is a list of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition in the years 1539–1543. In May 1539, de Soto left Havana, Cuba, with nine ships, over 620 men and 220 surviving horses and landed at Charlotte Harbor, Florida. This began his three-year odyssey through the Southeastern North American continent, from which de Soto and a large portion of his men would not return. They met many varied Native American groups, most of them bands and chiefdoms related to the widespread Mississippian culture. Only a few of these ancestral cultures survived into the seventeenth century, or their descendants combined as historic tribes known to later Europeans. Others have been recorded only in the written historical accounts of de Soto's expedition. Uzita Mocoso Urriparacoxi Timucua Ocale Acuera Potano Alachua culture Northern Utina Yustaga Uzachile Anhaica Apalachee Narváez expedition's "Bay of Horses" The peoples the expedition encountered in Georgia were speakers of Muskogean languages. The expedition made two journeys through Georgia - the first heading northeast to Cofitachequi in South Carolina, and the second heading southwest from Tennessee, at which point they visited the Coosa chiefdom. First Leg Capachequi Ichisi Ocute Hitchiti After leaving Ocute, the expedition crossed the "Wilderness of Ocute" (the modern-day Savannah River basin) to arrive in present-day South Carolina. Artifacts from the first leg have been found in Telfair County, Georgia. Second Leg All territory the expedition crossed through during this leg was under the control of Coosa, a paramount chiefdom with territory in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Coosa chiefdom Little Egypt, the likely site of the Coosa capital Sixtoe Mound Bell Field Mound Site Talimachusi Etowah Indian Mounds (Itaba) The primary destination of the expedition in South Carolina was the paramount chiefdom of Cofitachequi. The people of this chiefdom were likely the ancestors of the modern Cherokee and Catawba. Hymahi Cofitachequi, likely located at the present Mulberry Plantation The Lady of Cofitachequi Talimeco Joara, near Morganton, North Carolina Cheraw (tribe) Chelaque Chiska Chiaha Coste Tali Chalahume Satapo Parts of Coosa extended into Alabama. The other primary chiefdom encountered by the expedition was that of Tuscaluza. The peoples encountered in Alabama were likely the ancestors of the modern Creek, Alabama, and Choctaw. Abihka Chief Tuskaloosa Mabila Tali Chicaza Quizquiz Walls phase Quigate Quigualtam Natchez people Aquixo Casqui, believed by many archaeologists to be the same as the site of the Parkin Archeological State Park. Pacaha, believed by many archaeologists to be the Nodena site. Chaguate Coligua Tunica people Tula people Anilco, possibly the Menard complex in the southeastern corner of the state. Guachoya Quapaw Caddoans Aays Caddo confederacy. Naguatex All the peoples which the expedition encountered in Texas were the ancestors of the modern Caddo, especially the Hasinai and Kadohadacho confederacies. Intentionally misled by their Caddo guides, the expedition wandered around Texas while only encountering a few major Caddo centers, though there were many that lay not far beyond where they traveled. Eventually they were forced to turn around after reaching the River of Daycao, variously identified as the Brazos, Trinity, or even the Colorado. Beyond Daycao, the chroniclers of the expedition claimed that people did not grow maize and subsisted off the land as hunter-gatherers. As this leg of the expedition took place after the death of both de Soto and Juan Ortiz, his primary translator, the records are more sparse and reveal less information than in earlier parts of the journey. Caddo Nadaco (Nondacao) Hasinai Soacatino Adai (Native American culture) Alabama language Caddoan languages Cherokee language Chickasaw language Choctaw language Creek language Etowah Indian Mounds Hitchiti Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park Lake Village, Arkansas Mississippian culture Moundville Archaeological Site Ocmulgee National Monument Pisgah phase Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Timucua language Yamasee Yazoo tribe | noise |
Demographics of Washington may refer to: Demographics of Washington (state) Demographics of Washington, D.C. | noise |
Exoprosopa bifurca is a species of bee fly in the family Bombyliidae. | noise |
Wesley Victor Lofts (15 November 1942 – 22 May 2014) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s. A key defender, Lofts represented the Victorian interstate team in both 1963 and 1967. He was a premiership player with Carlton in 1968 and missed out on a second premiership in 1970 when he was dropped for the finals series. Following his retirement, he remained involved with Carlton in an administrative capacity, and in 1998 was inducted into the Carlton Hall of Fame. Wes Lofts died on 22 May 2014 after a long battle with emphysema, aged 71. Wes Lofts's playing statistics from AFL Tables Blueseum profile | noise |
Racopilum cuspidigerum is a moss with a widespread distribution. It is found in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Malesia and Oceania. It also has a variety, Racopilum cuspidigerum var. convolutaceum (Müll.Hal.) Zanten & Dijkstra It is widespread in New Zealand and found in forests on rotting wood, bark, soil and rock. | noise |
"Witchsmeller Pursuivant" is the fifth episode of the first series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder (The Black Adder). It is set in England in the late 15th century and centres on the fictitious Prince Edmund, who finds himself falsely accused of witchcraft by a travelling witch-hunter known as the Witchsmeller Pursuivant. The story satirises mediaeval superstition and religious belief. Academy Award-nominated actor Frank Finlay guest stars in this episode as the Witchsmeller, and Valentine Dyall appears in a cameo. In 1495, Europe is being ravaged by the Black Death, with England being no exception. Even King Richard IV has fallen ill with it, rendering him even more deranged and violent than usual; Prince Edmund goes to visit him and is nearly run through by the plague-addled king, who hallucinates him as a Turk. With the king unable to rule, Harry, Prince of Wales summons the privy council to manage the crisis. The noblemen exchange tales of evil omens from around the kingdom, and before long mass-hysteria sets in and they declare that the realm is in the grip of witchcraft. Ignoring Prince Edmund's objections, they resolve to summon the Witchsmeller Pursuivant. Prince Edmund, accompanied by Percy and Baldrick, goes to find out more about the Witchsmeller from the local village, but discovers the remains of a woman who has already been burned at the stake for witchcraft, along with her cat. Unbeknown to Edmund, the Witchsmeller lurks among the villagers, watching him as he boasts about his plans to give the Witchsmeller "a boot up the backside." Returning to the castle, Edmund is confronted by the Witchsmeller, who invites Edmund to undergo a test to determine if he is a witch. Edmund agrees, but the test is rigged and he is accused of witchcraft. Prince Edmund stands trial; Percy and Baldrick are appointed defence lawyers, but the Witchsmeller silences them before they can even start their case by condemning them also as witches. The proceedings rapidly descend into a farcical show trial. The Witchsmeller interrogates Edmund and presents three pieces of evidence in his case: Prince Edmund, who he dubs "The Great Grumbledook", has a pet cat named Bubbles (which the Witchsmeller says is "short for Beelzebubbles") who supposedly drinks blood (with Edmund having been goaded into saying that it drank "bloody milk" after asked the same question repeatedly); he has allegedly engaged in acts of bestiality with his horse, Black Satin, who supposedly has the ability to talk (the horse later dies during interrogation, but leaves a signed "confession"); and he is accused of having sexual relations with an elderly peasant woman who claims to have then given birth to a poodle. Despite their protests, Edmund, Percy and Baldrick are found guilty and sentenced to burning at the stake. Although the trio manage to somehow escape the courtroom (via a plan devised by Baldrick which is not revealed onscreen), they unwittingly enter King Richard's chambers, and the three end up having to be rescued from the delusional king by the guards. Edmund is visited by his mother, the Queen, and his child wife, Princess Leia of Hungary. To Edmund's dismay, they offer no escape plan but instead present him with a small doll for comfort. On the day of the execution, Edmund and his companions have their heads shaved and are tied to stakes. Edmund rebukes Baldrick's last-minute "cunning plan" and offers a feeble confession before the Witchsmeller in a bid to stall the proceedings. When the pyre is lit, Edmund panics and drops the doll – a small, hooded effigy which bears a striking resemblance to the Witchsmeller. As the doll burns, the Witchsmeller suddenly catches fire and is incinerated, revealing it to be a voodoo-doll. The pyre is mysteriously extinguished and the ropes tying the condemned men break away, freeing them. In the castle, King Richard emerges from his bed-chamber, freshly recuperated from the bubonic plague. Princess Leia begins to tell him about the execution but Queen Gertrude silences her and assures him that all is well. Breaking the fourth wall, the Queen looks at the viewer and winks as magical sparkles fly from her eyes and twitches her nose in a pastiche of Bewitched. Leia quietly gasps in amazement as she realises that the Queen is the (implied) real witch. The closing credits of this episode list the cast members "in order of witchiness". Rowan Atkinson – The Great Grumbledook Frank Finlay – The Witchsmeller Pursuivant Elspet Gray – The Witch Queen Tim McInnerny – Percy, A Witch Tony Robinson – Baldrick, a Witch Richard Murdoch – Ross, A Lord Valentine Dyall – Angus, A Lord Peter Schofield – Fife, A Lord Stephen Frost – Soft, A Guard Mark Arden – Anon, A Guard Perry Benson – Daft Red, A Peasant Bert Parnaby – Dim Cain, A Peasant Roy Evans – Dumb Abel, A Peasant Forbes Collins – Dopey Jack, A Peasant Patrick Duncan – Officer, An Officer Barbara Miller – Jane Firkettle Natasha King – Princess Leia Howard Lew Lewis – Piers, A Yeoman Sarah Thomas – Mrs. Field, A Goodwife Louise Gold – Mrs. Tyler, A Goodwife Brian Blessed – Richard IV, A King Gareth Milne – Stuntman = Patrick Allen – Narrator (voice) Robert East – Harry, Prince of Wales Salo Gardner – Devil This episode features a number of scenes filmed on location at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, the setting for King Richard's castle throughout this series. Due to limitations on budget, only selected actors were filmed on location, including Frank Finlay, who filmed scenes there as the Witchsmeller. A production assistant on the series, Hilary Bevan-Jones, recalls that she forgot to pick up Finlay from the location at the end of a shoot and left him behind, until the make-up team found him wandering in the snow in full Witchsmeller costume and brought him back to the hotel. Despite budgetary limitations, producer John Lloyd's account of this episode was that "it felt more like a huge feature film than a BBC comedy" on account of the construction of a large set for the village scene and the extravagant use of costume, make-up, animals and pyrotechnic stunts. Actor Tony Robinson singles out "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" as the episode in which Baldrick's catchphrase, "I have a cunning plan", was firmly developed. The phrase had featured in previous episodes – it had been used in the pilot episode, and in Episode 2, "Born to be King", Prince Edmund and Baldrick develop it whilst plotting against Dougal McAngus. Robinson recalls that during the filming of episode 5, he realised that re-using the word "cunning" could be an effective comedic device and he inserted it into his line "I have a plan" as Baldrick conspires with Edmund to escape from the dungeon. Although the credits give recognition to William Shakespeare, unlike previous episodes in this series, the script of "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" does not contain any direct references to Shakespeare's plays. The title is a parody of the Vincent Price film, Witchfinder General; a pursuivant (lit. 'follower') is a junior officer of arms (person in charge of heraldry, ceremony and genealogy). Roberts, JF (2012). The True History of the Black Adder : The complete and unadulterated history of the creation of a comedy legend. London: Preface. ISBN 9781848093461. Lewis, Katherine (2007). "8. Accident, my Coddlings". In Marshall, David W. (ed.). Mass Market Medieval : Essays on the Middle Ages in Popular Culture. Jefferson, N.C. [u.a.]: McFarland. ISBN 9780786429226. "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" at BBC Online "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" at IMDb | noise |
Higbee's was a department store founded in 1860 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, Higbee's was sold to the joint partnership of Dillard's department stores and Youngstown-based developer, Edward J. DeBartolo. The stores continued to operate under the Higbee name until 1992, when DeBartolo sold his shares to his partners and the chain was re-branded as Dillard's. Higbee's was founded by Edwin Converse Higbee and John G. Hower on September 10, 1860, as Higbee & Hower Dry Goods. The first day of business saw $100 in sales. It was reorganized as The Higbee Co. in 1902 after the death of Mr. Hower and relocated from its original Public Square location to a new five-story Playhouse Square Center store, directly across from its sworn arch-rival Halle Brothers Co. In 1929 it was acquired by the Van Sweringen brothers, who moved the store to their new $179 million Terminal Tower complex on Public Square, partly in response to pleas from women who wished to occupy homes in their new suburb of Shaker Heights and ride the Vans' new railroads into the city for quality shopping. The store subsequently went bankrupt in 1935 as the Van Sweringen empire collapsed in the Great Depression, but thanks to store executives Charles P. Bradley and John Murphy, the company was reorganized and flourished under their guidance for many years. The 1960s and 1970s saw the addition of several stores in suburbs as well as expansion to Akron and Canton, all under the watch of president Herbert Strawbridge, who also saw the value of giving new life to The Flats district in Downtown Cleveland. In 1984, Industrial Equity, a subsidiary of Brierly Investments, acquired Higbee's, selling it three years later to a joint venture of Dillard's and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. who planned to combine Higbee's with an intended acquisition of Horne's. The deal was cancelled abruptly, resulting in several years of litigation. In 1992 Dillard's bought out DeBartolo's shares and rebadged Higbee's and five of the Northern Ohio Horne's stores with its name. During the 1990s, several inner-ring stores were closed while new far-flung locations opened or expanded. The 192-foot-tall, 11-story Public Square flagship store was famous for its tenth-floor Silver Grille restaurant. It closed in January 2002. The Main Floor, second and third floors were restored in 2007 to house the new offices of the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Partnership, while the Silver Grille was restored for special events. The building was again completely remodeled in 2011 and opened on May 14, 2012 as the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. The building was again renamed, becoming the Jack Cleveland Casino and reopening on May 11, 2016 after Rock Gaming LLC took over management. The store on Public Square was prominently featured in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story and in the 2022 movie A Christmas Story Christmas. Higbee's was referenced in Season 7 Episode 12 of Mad Men. Higbee's was referenced in Season 1 Episode 20 of 30 Rock. Papers relating to the Higbee Company at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School | noise |
Blanchefosse-et-Bay (French pronunciation: [blɑ̃ʃfos e bɛ]) is a commune in the Ardennes department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. It was created in 1974 by the merger of two former communes: Blanchefosse and Bay. Communes of the Ardennes department | noise |
String Quartet No. 1 is a musical composition by Charles Ives. Music historian and theorist Robert P. Morgan wrote that the quartet "was Ives's first mature composition of extended length, and its extraordinary fluency gives ample evidence of his solid control of traditional musical techniques. Moreover, the work is considerably more than a facile exercise based on classical models; there are already indications of the Ives to come, in the extensive quotations and, above all, in the composer's ability to bend the form to suit the idiosyncrasies of his own musical inclinations." The quartet, subtitled "From the Salvation Army" and "A Revival Service," was written in 1896, while Ives was a sophomore at Yale, and was composed under the supervision of Ives's teacher Horatio Parker. Three of the movements have their origins in pieces for organ and strings originally played at a revival service, and were based on gospel hymns. After arranging these for string quartet, Ives prepended a fugue written for Parker's counterpoint class to create a four-movement work. In 1909, Ives removed the first movement and began orchestrating it for inclusion in what would become his Fourth Symphony. He also renumbered the remaining movements, originally II, III, and IV, as I, II, and III. Ives's work list dated 1937–50 lists the quartet in its three-movement form: "Prelude, Offertory, and Postlude." After Ives's death, John Kirkpatrick discovered the original opening movement in the collection of manuscripts bequeathed to Yale, and reattached it to the quartet. This alteration has not been met with universal approval: composer Bernard Hermann, who worked with Ives and conducted a number of his pieces, disagreed with Kirkpatrick's decision, stating: "I still don't know where Kirkpatrick got that fugue which he tacked on, but that's his business. It belongs to the Fourth Symphony. I don't think it fits the First Quartet at all." Ives biographer Jan Swafford wrote: "Ives was probably right to remove the fugue - except in the general sense of being based on a revival hymn, it has no stylistic or thematic connection with the other movements, and it throws off the overall key scheme... And Kirkpatrick was wrong to put it back - as if Ives had no right to revise, and improve, his own music. Performances of the quartet the way Ives intended it will reveal a tighter, more effective piece. The fugue, too spacious and sonorous for a string quartet anyway, belongs in the Fourth Symphony..." The first documented complete performance of the quartet took place at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City on April 24, 1957. It was played, in its three-movement form, by the Kohon String Quartet, who also issued the first recording of the work in 1963 (Vox STDL-501120). The quartet was first published in 1961 by Peer International, in a score which includes all four movements. The piece is composed for the standard string quartet of two violins, viola, and cello. The four published movements are: Jan Swafford wrote: "the First Quartet is 'cyclic' - melodic lines recur from movement to movement, a nineteenth-century formal device going back to Berlioz and Schumann." Regarding movements II, III, and IV, which were intended as I, II, and III as per Ives' 1909 revision, Ives scholar J. Peter Burkholder stated: "There is an extraordinary motivic unity among these three movements, due to innate similarities among the source tunes - similarities Ives carefully exploits - and to the appearance in each movement of material that appears in the others." The first movement (Chorale) is fugal in form. Its subject is based on Lowell Mason's "Missionary Hymn" ("From Greenland's Icy Mountains"), while the countersubject is based on Oliver Holden's "Coronation" ("All hail the power of Jesus' name!"). Burkholder noted that "over the course of the movement, all four phrases of the hymn tune appear in order... this is much more a paraphrase in fugal style than it is a genuine fugue, shaped more directly by its source tune than by the usual fugal expositions and episodes." He concluded that "the presentation of the hymn tune is the focus of the movement. In this sense, it is like the chorale preludes and chorale fantasias of J. S. Bach, and indeed Ives called it 'a kind of Chorale-Prelude,' showing his awareness of Bach's procedures." The second movement (Prelude) is in ABA form. The A section is based on the hymn "Beulah Land" by John R. Sweney, although, according to Burkholder, "[e]ven listeners who know "Beulah Land" are less likely to recognize the opening period as being derived from the hymn than they are to hear it as vaguely familiar." Burkholder cites Ives' use of this tune as an example of how he "reshapes a melody to fit a new function and in the process changes its style as well." The B section of the second movement is based on "Shining Shore" by George Frederick Root, transformations of which serve as the basis of the B sections of movements III and IV. The third movement (Offertory) is also in ABA form. The primary theme of the A section is based on the hymn "Nettleton" ("Come thou Fount of every blessing"), attributed to Asahel Nettleton or John Wyeth. In his Memos, Ives wrote: "'Nettleton' was one of the Gospel and Camp Meeting Hymns, and down in the Redding Camp Meetings I heard it sung... I used it, or partly suggested it, in a string quartet..." The B section is again based largely on transformations of "Shining Shore". The fourth movement (Postlude) is again in ABA form. The primary theme of its A section is based on "Webb" ("Stand up, stand up for Jesus") by George James Webb as well as "Coronation" and "Shining Shore", while its B section is again derived from "Shining Shore". It features one of Ives' first uses of polymeter: composing in 34 over 44 time. Regarding the pervasive use of "Shining Shore" as source material, Burkholder wrote: "When Ives... consistently and obviously presents fragments from a tune, he draws attention to that tune as an idea and makes us expect to hear more of it. In almost every instance where this happens in his music, the tune has a greater importance for the work than we may realize at first." He also noted that "Shining Shore" is "present in all three movements and linked through melodic transformation or resemblance to the... other source tunes. In each movement, it is the main source for the middle-section theme, and its opening motive appears explicitly at some point. Whenever two or more tunes are mixed, it is present..." Burkholder stated that Ives' use of cyclic forms "is apparent not only in his obvious concern to unify this quartet through such means, but also in the many works written over the next two decades that use cyclic unification, including the first three symphonies, the two piano sonatas, and the Third Violin Sonata." = Burkholder, J. Peter (1995). All Made of Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses of Musical Borrowing. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300102123. Ives, Charles E. (1972). Kirkpatrick, John (ed.). Memos. W. W. Norton. ISBN 9780393307566. Sinclair, James B. (1999). A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives. Yale University Press. hdl:10079/fa/music.mss.0014.1. Swafford, Jan (1996). Charles Ives: A Life with Music. W. W. Norton. String Quartet No.1: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project | noise |
Muhammad Ghous Pasha is a Pakistani actor and model. He has appeared in Urdu drama series, telefilms and sitcoms in Pakistan. He appeared in Haseena Moin's Meri Behen Maya and Mehreen Jabbar's Rehai. He made his first Lollywood film, Jalaibee, in 2013. Ghous was born in Karachi, Pakistan. Ghous started working as a model before moving on to acting. He began his television career with a small appearance in "Dil Diya Dehleez" (2009). Some other works include Massi Aur Malika, Chudween Ka Chand, Mannchalay, Kuch Unkahi Batain, Koi Jane Na, Baji, Larkiyan Muhalley Ki and Lamha Lamha Zindagi. He also appeared in telefilms including Pappu Ki Padoosan, Neeli Chatri, Love Hit Tou Life Hit, Haseena Maan Jaye Gi, and "Piano Girl". = Mannchalay Noor Pur Ki Rani Chemistry (drama) Perfume Chowk Kash Mai Teri Beti Na Hoti Kash Main Teri Beti Na Hoti Meri Behan Maya Raju Rocket Rehaai Sannata = Jalaibee (2014) = = Kitni Girhain Baqi Hain – Poshak (2011) Kitni Girhain Baqi Hain – Tere Bina (2012) Kitni Girhain Baqi Hain – Be Rehamam (2013) | noise |
Haji Mohammad Rosanan bin Abdullah Samak (born 18 July 1965) is a Bruneian football coach and former player, who played as a striker most notably with the Brunei team that played in the Malaysian league in the 1990s. He was a member of the team that won the 1999 Malaysia Cup, which is regarded as Brunei football's crowning achievement. Rosanan started his career with the Bruneian team Kota Ranger FC, the team won the domestic championship in 1987 and participated in that year's Asian Champions' Cup (an early edition of the AFC Champions League). Kota Ranger also won the BAFA-Standard Chartered Football League in 1992 and Rosanan was the top scorer. At the turn of the decade, he was selected to play for the Brunei team competing in Liga Semi-Pro Malaysia. His 10-year career with the Wasps culminated in the shock 2–1 win against Sarawak in the final of the 1999 Malaysia Cup. This achievement was chronicled in FIFA 192: The True Story Behind the Legend of Brunei Darussalam National Football Team, a book by British author Stanley Park. Rosanan left the national representative side in 2000. He returned to Kota Ranger as player-coach a year later, and was also given opportunities to coach Bruneian exhibition sides at the time. He hung up his boots in 2003 and moved to AH United a year later, starting a six-year tenure in which he won the Brunei FA Cup in 2006. Hired by BAFA as a coach in 2009, Rosanan was assigned various coaching positions since, such as the Brunei Youth Team that played in the domestic league (2009–2011), the Under-21s (2012), and the Under-15s as assistant coach (2013). He was assistant to Kwon Oh-son for the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy competitions for the U21s in 2012 and 2014. He received the Order of Setia Negara Brunei Fourth Class for his part in winning the competition in 2012. In the 2021 Brunei Super League season, he coached Panchor Murai FC. Between March and September 2022, he was the head coach of the Brunei national football team, taking charge of friendlies against Laos and Malaysia. The following year, he was appointed as head coach of AKSE Bersatu. In May 2025, Rosanan was unveiled as the head coach of newly-established club Gergasi FC who will participate in the 2025 Lela Cheteria League. Rosanan scored a goal against Thailand national football team in a 5–2 defeat at the 17th SEA Games in Singapore on 11 June 1993. Rosanan played for Brunei's national team at the 1999 SEA Games held at home, and played all six matches at the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign without scoring a goal. = Team Kota Ranger Brunei National Championship: 1987 Jasra Trophy League: 1988-89 BAFA-Standard Chartered Football League: 1992 Borneo Inter-Club Cup: 1992 Individual BAFA-Standard Chartered Football League top scorer: 15 goals = Team AH United Brunei FA Cup: 2006 Brunei national under-21 football team Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy: 2012 (as assistant coach) Individual Meritorious Service Medal (PJK; 13 December 1999) Order of Setia Negara Brunei Fourth Class (PSB; 2012) Rosanan Samak at National-Football-Teams.com Rosanan Samak at Soccerway (archived) Rosanan Samak at Scorebar | noise |
Ludmiła Marjańska (26 December 1923 – 17 October 2005) was a Polish poet and translator. She was born Ludmiła Mężnicka on 26 December 1923 in Częstochowa. She married in 1945. She published her first poems in 1953. She studied English philology at the University of Warsaw. She published some poetic books, like Chmurne okna, W koronie drzewa, Blizna, Zmrożone światło, Prześwit, Stare lustro, Żywica, Córka bednarza. She translated poems by, among others, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson and Robert Burns. She was a member of the Polish Writers' Union. | noise |
The Island is an inhabited island in the River Thames in England on the reach above Bell Weir Lock, a part of the Hythe End part of Wraysbury village and civil parish, Berkshire. It is connected to that side of the river and although part of Berkshire was, like the village, part of Buckinghamshire before 1974. The Island lies alongside the course of Egham Regatta. Islands in the River Thames | noise |
The Hampstead Board of Guardians (Hampstead, England) was created in 1800. but from 1837 until 1848 it was absorbed into the Edmonton Union. The Hampstead Board of Guardians regained its independent status in 1848. | noise |
Roberto Fico (Italian pronunciation: [roˈbɛrto ˈfiːko]; born 10 October 1974) is an Italian politician and member of the Five Star Movement. He served as the Chairman of the RAI Supervision Commission from 2013 to 2018 and President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2018 to 2022. Fico was born in Naples in 1974 to a middle-class family. He studied communication studies at the University of Trieste and did an Erasmus exchange at the University of Helsinki, graduating in 2001 with a thesis regarding the social and linguistic identity of Neapolitan neomelodic music. After the university he worked for some press offices, in a hotel, as tour operator manager, in a call-center, in a butcher's shop and as a small importer of fabrics from Morocco. On 18 July 2005, he founded one of the forty "Friends of Beppe Grillo" meetups in Naples, which led to the formation of the Five Star Movement. In 2010, he ran as President of Campania region, but only received 1.35% of the votes in the election. In 2011, he was the M5S candidate for Mayor of Naples, getting only 1.38% of votes, not exceeding the first round. In December 2012, Fico arrived first, with 228 preferences obtained on the web, in the parliamentary primary election of the M5S, and thus he was nominated for the first position on the M5S list of the constituency Campania 1. In February 2013, he was elected to the 17th Italian Parliament. In 2013, Fico was voted by his parliamentary group to the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies without being elected. On 6 June 2013, he was elected Chairman of the RAI Supervision Commission. Fico has renounced the function allowance to which he would have been entitled as Chairman of the RAI Supervision Commission and the personal car. As president of the RAI Supervision Commission, during his presidency, he introduced the live streaming broadcast on the web TV of the Chamber of Deputies of all the auditions, the publication on the Parliament website of the questions addressed by the commissioners to RAI and the related answers and the determination of a maximum of 15 days for the answers to the questions by the public radio and television company. Among the acts approved by the Commission, there was a resolution aimed at resolving and avoiding possible conflicts of interest. As a deputy, he also presented a draft law on the governance of RAI; one of the points, the plan for corporate transparency, has merged into the RAI reform approved in 2015 by the Parliament. Following the implementation of this plan, the company had to make public the remuneration of senior managers, editorial departments and journalistic publications. = In March 2018, he was re-elected in the constituency of Napoli–Fuorigrotta with 57.6% of votes. On 24 March 2018, Fico was elected as President of the Chamber of Deputies, supported by his own party, the League, Forza Italia and Brothers of Italy. On 23 April 2018, after the failure of the mandate to President of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati, to start a government between the M5S and the centre-right coalition, he was given an exploratory mandate by President Sergio Mattarella to try and reconcile the issues between the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party, in order to break the post-election political deadlock and form a fully functional new government. His first year as President was characterized by a strong opposition to the policies promoted by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, which were particularly severe on immigration and security. Fico often stated that he was in favor of extending the right to marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. He also supports euthanasia for the terminally ill and the so-called jus soli, which is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. Fico is considered the leader of the left-wing faction of the Five Star Movement, often in opposition to Luigi Di Maio. = (in Italian) Official website (in Italian) Roberto Fico on Twitter (in Italian) Official website on Facebook | noise |
Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Los Angeles Raiders to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1983 season. The Raiders defeated the Redskins, 38–9. The Raiders' 38 points scored and 29-point margin of victory broke Super Bowl records; it remains the most points scored by an AFC team in a Super Bowl, later matched by the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. This is the first time the city of Tampa hosted the Super Bowl and was the AFC's last Super Bowl win until Super Bowl XXXII, won by the Denver Broncos. The Redskins entered the game as the defending Super Bowl XVII champions, finished the 1983 regular season with a league-best 14–2 record, led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed, and set a then-NFL record in scoring with 541 points. The Raiders posted a 12–4 regular-season record in 1983, their second in Los Angeles, having moved there from Oakland in May 1982. The Raiders dominated Super Bowl XVIII outgaining the Redskins in total yards, 385 to 283, and built a 21–3 halftime lead, aided by touchdowns on Derrick Jensen's blocked punt recovery, and Jack Squirek's 5-yard interception return on a screen pass with seven seconds left in the first half. This is also the second out of five Super Bowls where the winning team outscored the losing team in every quarter. Los Angeles's defense also sacked Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann six times and intercepted him twice. Raiders halfback Marcus Allen, who became the third Heisman Trophy winner to be named the Super Bowl MVP, carried the ball 20 times for a then-record total of 191 yards (breaking the previous record of 166 yards set by John Riggins in Super Bowl XVII the year before) and two touchdowns, including a then-record 74-yard run in the third quarter. He also caught 2 passes for 18 yards. Allen was the first running back who was a halfback to be named Most Valuable Player. All previous running backs who won the MVP were fullbacks. The telecast of the game on CBS was seen by an estimated 77.62 million viewers. The broadcast was notable for airing the famous "1984" television commercial, introducing the Apple Macintosh. The NFL highlight film of this game was the final voiceover work for famous NFL narrator John Facenda. As of the 2024 season, this is the Raiders' most recent Super Bowl championship, and it was also the only time that a Los Angeles–based team had won the Super Bowl until their then cross-town rival Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. = The NFL awarded Super Bowl XVIII to Tampa on June 3, 1981, at the owners' meetings in Detroit. This was the first time Tampa hosted the game, and it was the first Super Bowl to be played in Florida in a city other than Miami. Tampa Stadium won the rights to host the game in a landslide, earning 24 out of the 26 votes (there were two abstentions). Three other cities submitted bids for XVIII: Pasadena (Rose Bowl), Miami (Orange Bowl), and New Orleans (Superdome). Detroit (Silverdome) and Dallas (Cotton Bowl) also made presentations, but stated they were only interested in bidding for Super Bowl XIX. Detroit, in particular, was a long shot, as they were slated to host Super Bowl XVI in just over six months, and owners were not ready to award them a second game before they finished their first. Tampa entered the meeting as a heavy favorite to land the game, representing a new market for the Super Bowl. The representatives led by Tampa mayor Bob Martinez and Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse touted the local hotels, proximity to Walt Disney World, and the availability of luxury boxes at the stadium. They even hired Pat Summerall to narrate their film presentation. They also received praise from the other owners for their fan support. The Buccaneers had joined the league as an expansion team in 1976, but despite starting 0–26, maintained a loyal fanbase. Pasadena received only one vote, owing much to the fact that they were already slated to host XVII. New Orleans fell out of consideration after a lackluster reception five months earlier at XV. Meanwhile, Miami, back in the running, was also voted down, in an apparent effort to continue providing Dolphins owner Joe Robbie with leverage to build a new stadium. With no outstanding options, owners decided to postpone the awarding of XIX until the 1982 meeting. = The Redskins entered the game appearing to be even better than the previous season when they defeated the Miami Dolphins 27–17 in Super Bowl XVII. The Redskins finished the regular season with a 14–2 record, the best in the NFL, and their two losses were only by one point each. In addition, the Redskins set new NFL records with 541 points breaking the previous mark of 513 points set by the 1961 Oilers (since broken by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, the 2007 and 2012 New England Patriots, 2011 Green Bay Packers, 2011 New Orleans Saints, 2013 Denver Broncos, and 2018 Kansas City Chiefs), and also had a turnover margin of +43 and the top-ranked run defense. The Redskins had a number of efficient offensive weapons. Quarterback Joe Theismann won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award for being the second rated passer in the league behind Steve Bartkowski, completing 276 out of 459 (60.1 percent) of his passes for 3,714 yards, 29 touchdowns, and only 11 interceptions. He rushed for 234 yards and another touchdown. Washington's main deep threats were wide receivers Charlie Brown (78 receptions, 1,225 yards, and 8 touchdowns) and Art Monk (47 receptions, 746 yards, and 5 touchdowns), with the latter fully healthy after the previous year's injury that caused him to miss the entire postseason. Wide receiver Alvin Garrett, who replaced Monk during that time, emerged as a significant contributor by catching 25 passes for 332 yards. Fullback John Riggins once again was the team's top rusher with 1,347 yards, and set a then-NFL record by scoring the most rushing touchdowns in a season (24). Multi-talented running back Joe Washington recorded 772 rushing yards, while catching 47 passes for 454 yards and 6 touchdowns. Kicker Mark Moseley led the NFL in scoring with 161 points, while Riggins ranked second with 144, making them the first teammates to finish a season as the NFL's top two scorers since 1951. Washington's powerful offensive line, "The Hogs", were led by two Pro Bowlers, guard Russ Grimm and tackle Joe Jacoby. The Redskins' defense led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed (1,289). Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dave Butz recorded 11.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. On the other side of the line, defensive end Dexter Manley recorded 11 sacks and an interception. Defensive back Mark Murphy led the NFL with 9 interceptions, while the other starters in the secondary, Vernon Dean, Anthony Washington and Ken Coffey, along with rookie cornerback Darrell Green, combined for 13 interceptions. Washington, Coffey and Green filled the void left by the season-long suspension of safety Tony Peters and the season-long holdout by cornerback Jeris White. = The Raiders made it to their fourth Super Bowl in team history after posting a 12–4 regular-season record. Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett completed 230 out of 379 (60.7 percent) passes resulting in 2,935 yards and 20 touchdowns. His favorite target was tight end Todd Christensen, who led the NFL with 92 receptions for 1,247 yards and 12 touchdowns. Wide receivers Cliff Branch and Malcolm Barnwell combined for 74 receptions, 1,209 yards, and 6 touchdowns. But the largest impact on offense was running back Marcus Allen. In just his second NFL season, Allen led the team in rushing yards (1,014) and total yards from scrimmage (1,604), while ranking second on the team in receptions (68) and touchdowns (11). But Allen was not the only key running back on the team. Kenny King and Frank Hawkins combined for 1,119 total rushing and receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns. Los Angeles also had a powerful special teams attack led by Greg Pruitt, who led the NFL in punt returns (58), and punt return yards, setting a new NFL record with 666. He also added another 604 yards returning kickoffs and rushed for 154 yards and two scores. On defense, their three-man front was led by Pro Bowl defensive linemen Howie Long (13 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries) and Lyle Alzado, who had 7 sacks, along with rookie Greg Townsend, who recorded 10.5 sacks and a 66-yard fumble return touchdown. The linebacking corps was led by Pro Bowlers Rod Martin and Matt Millen, along with 15-year veteran Ted Hendricks. Martin had six sacks and four interceptions. Cornerbacks Mike Haynes (acquired in a trade from New England) and Lester Hayes were widely considered to be the best cornerback tandem in the NFL. Pro Bowl Safety Vann McElroy recovered 3 fumbles and ranked second in the NFL with 8 interceptions. The Raiders' head coach was Tom Flores. = The Raiders only allowed a combined total of 24 points in their playoff victories over the Pittsburgh Steelers, 38–10, and the Seattle Seahawks (who had beaten the Raiders twice during the regular season), 30–14. Allen had been particularly effective in the playoffs, gaining a total of 375 combined yards and scoring three touchdowns. The Raiders' defense limited Seahawks running back Curt Warner, who had led the AFC in rushing yards (1,449 yards), to just 26 yards on 11 carries. Meanwhile, the Redskins crushed the Los Angeles Rams 51–7, and then narrowly defeated the San Francisco 49ers 24–21, with Mark Moseley kicking the game-winning field goal with just 40 seconds left. Mirroring the previous postseason, Riggins was a key contributor, rushing for a combined playoff total of 242 yards and five touchdowns in the two games. In doing so, Riggins extended his NFL record of consecutive playoff games with at least 100 rushing yards to six. Brown also was a key contributor in both playoff wins, recording a combined total of 11 receptions for 308 yards and a touchdown. Washington's defense was just as effective at stopping their postseason opponent's rushing attack as they had been during the regular season, limiting running backs Eric Dickerson and Wendell Tyler to a combined total of 60 rushing yards. Dickerson was the NFL's leading rusher with 1,808 yards and 18 touchdowns during the season, but could only gain 16 yards on 10 carries against the Redskins' defense. The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS, the last Super Bowl before ABC was added to the annual broadcasting rotation with the next game the following year (this was added to it as part of a new television contract that began with the 1982 season and a new alternation process that began with the previous game on NBC at the end of that season). The CBS broadcast team consisted of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden. Hosting pregame coverage for The Super Bowl Today was Brent Musburger, Irv Cross, Phyllis George (in her final assignment for CBS), and Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder. Other contributors included Jim Hill, sports director of CBS station KNXT in Los Angeles (which broadcast the game in its market; WDVM aired the game in the Washington, DC area); Charlsie Cantey; Pat O'Brien; Dick Vermeil; Tom Brookshier; Hank Stram; John Tesh; and CBS News correspondent Charles Osgood. During this game, CBS introduced a new theme and open that would later be used for their college football coverage until it was replaced by the current college football theme introduced on Super Bowl XXI (the next Super Bowl CBS aired at the end of the 1986 season). CBS Radio had the game nationally with Jack Buck and Hank Stram. Dick Stockton would serve as pregame host for CBS Radio coverage; while Musburger would also contribute halftime commentary in addition to hosting CBS television coverage Locally, Bill King and Rich Marotta called the game on KRLA in Los Angeles; and Frank Herzog, Sam Huff, and Sonny Jurgensen were on WMAL-AM on Washington, D.C. CBS's Super Bowl lead-out program was the pilot episode of Airwolf. The game was simulcast in Canada on CTV and in the United Kingdom on Channel 4. Apple's famous "1984" television commercial, introducing the Macintosh computer and directed by Ridley Scott, ran during a timeout in the third quarter. The advertisement changed how the Super Bowl would be used as a media advertising platform. The highlight package to Super Bowl XVIII was voiceover artist John Facenda's final project for NFL Films. Facenda died eight months after the game. An expanded version of Black Sunday (the highlight film's title) has appeared on NFL's Greatest Games, containing an additional hour of game footage and more audio play-by-play from both the local KRLA and WMAL radio broadcasts. The pregame festivities, which paid tribute to George Halas, featured the University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band and the Florida State University Marching Chiefs. After a moment of silence for Halas, singer Barry Manilow performed the national anthem. The coin toss ceremony featured Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback and defensive tackle Bronko Nagurski. The halftime show was a "Salute to Superstars of Silver Screen." This was the first Super Bowl to feature the game's logo on the uniforms, but only on the back of the helmets and only Washington wore it. The game logo wouldn't return to the uniforms until 1991's Super Bowl XXV, but this time it was located on the front of the jerseys of both teams. Afterwards, the logo was removed from the jerseys and wouldn't become a regular practice until Super Bowl XXXII in 1998. = During the first half, the Raiders scored on offense, defense, and special teams, becoming the first team to score two non-offensive touchdowns in a Super Bowl. After both teams forced punts to start the game, Los Angeles tight end Derrick Jensen blocked Jeff Hayes' punt deep in Washington territory and recovered the ball in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game to give the Raiders a 7–0 lead. On their ensuing drive, the Redskins were forced to punt, but Raiders cornerback Ted Watts unknowingly deflected the ball with his arm during a block, and Redskins safety Greg Williams recovered the ball at the Raiders 42-yard line. However, Washington was only able to advance to the Los Angeles 27-yard line and came away with no points after kicker Mark Moseley missed a 44-yard field goal attempt wide left. After the teams traded punts again, Raiders running back Marcus Allen ran 20 yards in two plays to reach the Redskins 42 before the end of the first quarter. = However, the Raiders could not go any further than the Washington 39 and were forced to punt again to start the second quarter. During the kick, Los Angeles punter Ray Guy prevented a disaster when he leaped to pull in a high snap one-handed, before punting through the end zone for a touchback. After the Redskins were forced to punt, Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett completed a 50-yard pass to wide receiver Cliff Branch, advancing the ball to the Redskins' 15-yard line. Branch said that the Raiders took advantage of the tailwind after the teams switched sides. Two plays later, Plunkett threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Branch, increasing Los Angeles' lead to 14–0. One of the key contributors on the touchdown play was center Dave Dalby. After snapping the ball, Dalby had no one in front of him to block, so he backpedaled into the backfield and spotted linebacker Rich Milot coming at Plunkett from the left side, managing to throw a block against him just in time to prevent a sack and enable Plunkett to throw the ball. Branch became just the fourth player to catch a touchdown pass in two different Super Bowls (after Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Butch Johnson). On their next drive, the Redskins moved the ball 73 yards in 12 plays to the Raiders 7-yard line, with quarterback Joe Theismann completing a 17-yard pass to wide receiver Alvin Garrett on 3rd-and-17 and three passes to tight end Clint Didier for a total of 50 yards. However, linebacker Rod Martin broke up Theismann's third-down pass attempt, forcing Washington to settle for Moseley's 24-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 14–3. Los Angeles took the ensuing kickoff and drove 41 yards to the Redskins 40-yard line. The drive stalled when Plunkett's third-down pass fell incomplete, but Guy's 27-yard punt pinned Washington back at their own 12-yard line with 12 seconds left in the half. From there, head coach Joe Gibbs had Theismann run a screen play called "Rocket Screen", but Raiders linebacker Jack Squirek intercepted the pass and returned it 5 yards for a touchdown to give Los Angeles a 21–3 halftime lead. The defense was prepared for the play, as Theismann had successfully completed an identical screen pass to running back Joe Washington for a 67-yard gain in their 37–35 victory over the Raiders on October 2. In fact, Los Angeles linebackers coach Charlie Sumner had sent Squirek onto the field as a last-second substitution specifically to cover Washington. "I was mad," said Raiders linebacker Matt Millen, who had to run off the field to avoid a penalty. "I'd called a blitz, and I was cranked up for it, but he told Jack to play the screen and sent him in. I guess Charlie knows what he's doing, huh?" = Washington regrouped in the second half and reached the end zone on their opening drive by marching 70 yards in nine plays. First, Garrett returned the opening kickoff 35 yards from 5 yards deep in the end zone to the Redskins 30-yard line. Then, Theismann completed a 23-yard pass to receiver Charlie Brown to reach the Raiders 47-yard line. Eight plays later, fullback John Riggins finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. (Riggins became the second player to run for touchdowns in back-to-back Super Bowls; he had one in Super Bowl XVII en route to winning that game's Super Bowl MVP award.) Moseley's extra point attempt was blocked by Raiders tight end Don Hasselbeck, but the Redskins had cut the score to 21–9 and were just two touchdowns away from taking the lead. However, the Raiders completely took over the rest of the game, preventing any chance of a Redskins comeback. On the ensuing drive, Washington cornerback Darrell Green was called for a 38-yard pass interference penalty while trying to cover Los Angeles wide receiver Malcolm Barnwell, setting up Allen's 5-yard touchdown run seven plays later to make the score 28–9 in favor of the Raiders. After the next three possessions resulted in punts, the Redskins had an opportunity to score after cornerback Anthony Washington forced and recovered a fumble from Branch at the Raiders 35. They moved the ball 9 yards in their next three plays, and then faced 4th-and-1. Washington attempted to convert the fourth down with a run by Riggins, just like their successful fourth-down conversion against the Miami Dolphins in the previous Super Bowl, but this time, Riggins was tackled by Martin for no gain, giving the ball back to Los Angeles. Immediately after the turnover on downs, on the last play of the third quarter, Plunkett handed the ball off to Allen, who started to run left as the play was designed. But after taking an unusually wide turn in that direction (he later confessed, "I messed up."), Allen saw a lot of defenders in front of him and cut back to the middle before taking off for a then-Super Bowl record 74-yard touchdown run, increasing Los Angeles' lead to 35–9 (Allen's run broke the previous record of 58 yards set by Tom Matte in Super Bowl III). This play would later be immortalized by one of the last great lines from narrator John Facenda, who said, "As Washington's hopes faded into the dying daylight, on came Marcus Allen, running with the night." = After both teams exchanged punts to start the fourth quarter, Theismann completed a 60-yard pass to Brown to reach the Los Angeles 12-yard line. Three plays later, a roughing the passer penalty on defensive end Dave Stalls gave Washington a new set of downs at the 8. On the next play, however, safety Mike Davis strip-sacked Theismann, and Martin recovered the ball for Los Angeles at the 31. The Raiders were forced to punt after a three-and-out, but on the third play of the Redskins' ensuing drive, cornerback Mike Haynes intercepted a pass intended for wide receiver Art Monk at the Raiders 42-yard line. A 39-yard run by Allen set up a 21-yard field goal by kicker Chris Bahr to cap off the scoring, 38–9. Los Angeles then forced Washington to punt, and ran out the clock for the win. Plunkett finished the game with 16 out of 25 pass completions for 172 yards and a touchdown. Theismann threw for more yards than Plunkett (243) but was just 16 out of 35 and was intercepted twice. He was also sacked six times. Branch was the top receiver of the game with six receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown. Guy punted seven times for 299 yards (42.7 average), with 244 net yards (34.8 average) and planted five of his seven punts inside the 20. Martin recorded a sack, a pass deflection, and a fumble recovery. Riggins, who had rushed for over 100 yards in his last six postseason games, was held to 64 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, with his longest gain being just 8 yards. Brown was their top receiver with three receptions for 93 yards. Tight end Clint Didier caught five passes for 65 yards. Garrett recorded 100 yards on kickoff returns, and one reception for 17 yards. Part of both of Allen's touchdown runs were cutbacks, which, according to New York Daily News writer Larry Fox, burned an overpursuing Redskins defense. After the game, Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard said that Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes were the difference in the game. Haynes had played out his contract with the Patriots after the 1982 season, and sat out most of the first part of the 1983 season during contract negotiations. He eventually signed with the Raiders, who were forced to give the Patriots draft picks in compensation. He played the final five games of the regular season; his addition gave the Raiders two shutdown corners. According to Beathard, Hayes and Haynes "changed our whole game plan." Hayes had only one tackle, but had the left side of the field covered so effectively that Theismann hardly bothered to throw there. Haynes had two tackles, one interception, and two pass breakups. Although Brown averaged 31 yards on his 3 receptions, Redskin wide receivers combined for only 5 catches, with none in the first half. Another factor was Guy; he punted seven times for an average of 42.7 yards and 34.8 net yards. Five of those punts pinned the Redskins inside their own 20. This marked the final game in the Hall of Fame career of Raiders linebacker Ted Hendricks, who retired upon earning his fourth Super Bowl ring (three with the Raiders and one with the Baltimore Colts). The Raiders were the first team to score an offensive, defensive, and special teams touchdown in the same Super Bowl. The Redskins became the second defending champion to lose a Super Bowl (their divisional rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, were the first, losing Super Bowl XIII after winning Super Bowl XII). The Redskins would be joined by the Green Bay Packers in 1998 (won Super Bowl XXXI, lost Super Bowl XXXII), the Seattle Seahawks in 2015 (won Super Bowl XLVIII, lost Super Bowl XLIX), the New England Patriots in 2018 (won Super Bowl LI, lost Super Bowl LII), and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021 (won Super Bowl LIV, lost Super Bowl LV) and in 2025 (won Super Bowl LVIII, lost Super Bowl LIX). = Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XVIII, Super Bowl XVIII Play Finder LA, Super Bowl XVIII Play Finder Was = = 1Completions/attempts 2Carries 3Long gain 4Receptions 5Times targeted = The following records were set in Super Bowl XVIII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parentheses). † This category includes rushing, receiving, interception returns, punt returns, kickoff returns, and fumble returns. Source: Hall of Fame‡ Referee: Gene Barth #14 first Super Bowl Umpire: Gordon Wells #89 first Super Bowl Head linesman: Jerry Bergman #17 third Super Bowl (XIII, XVI) Line judge: Bob Beeks #59 third Super Bowl (XIV, XVI) Back judge: Ben Tompkins #52 second Super Bowl (XIV) Side judge: Gil Mace #90 first Super Bowl Field judge: Fritz Graf #34 fourth Super Bowl (V, VIII, XV) Alternate referee: Jim Tunney #32 worked Super Bowls VI, XI, XII on field Alternate umpire: Ed Fiffick #57 did not work Super Bowl on field For the second consecutive Super Bowl, officials wore a black armband in memory of a recently deceased active official. In Super Bowl XVIII, it was number 5 to honor back judge Raymond Douglas, who died on Christmas Day at his home in Baltimore. Douglas officiated in Super Bowl IX and had been an official since 1968. Super Bowl XVIII: NFL Full Game on YouTube Super Bowl official website Super Bowl XVIII Box Score at Pro Football Reference 2006 NFL Record and Fact Book. Time Inc. Home Entertainment. July 25, 2006. ISBN 1-933405-32-5. Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. HarperCollins. July 25, 2006. ISBN 1-933405-32-5. The Sporting News Complete Super Bowl Book 1995. Sporting News Publishing Company. February 1995. ISBN 0-89204-523-X. https://www.pro-football-reference.com – Large online database of NFL data and statistics Super Bowl play-by-plays from USA Today (Last accessed September 28, 2005) All-Time Super Bowl Odds from The Sports Network (Last accessed October 16, 2005) | noise |
Iowa ( EYE-ə-wə) is a state in the upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north. Iowa is the 26th largest in total area and the 31st most populous of the 50 U.S. states, with a population of 3.19 million. The state's capital, most populous city, and largest metropolitan area fully located within the state is Des Moines. A portion of the larger Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan area extends into three counties of southwest Iowa. Other metropolitan statistical areas in Iowa include Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Ames, Dubuque, Sioux City, and the Iowa portion of the Quad Cities. Iowa is home to 940 small towns, though its population is increasingly urbanized as small communities and rural areas decline in population. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, pioneers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy began to transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and green energy production. Politically, Iowa is notable for the Iowa Caucuses, an influential event in national politics, as well as its high levels of voter turnout and foundational leadership in civil rights including early adoption or support of black suffrage. Like many other states, Iowa takes its name from its predecessor, Iowa Territory, whose name in turn is derived from the Iowa River, and ultimately from the ethnonym of the indigenous Ioway people. The Ioway are a Chiwere-speaking Siouan Nation, who were once part of the Ho-Chunk Confederation that inhabited the area now corresponding to several Midwest states. The Ioway were one of the many Native American nations whose territory comprised the future state of Iowa before the time of European colonization. = When Indigenous peoples of the Americas first arrived in what is now Iowa more than 13,000 years ago, they were hunters and gatherers living in a Pleistocene glacial landscape. By the time European explorers and traders visited Iowa, Native Americans were largely settled farmers with complex economic, social, and political systems. This transformation happened gradually. During the Archaic period (10,500 to 2,800 years ago), Native Americans adapted to local environments and ecosystems, slowly becoming more sedentary as populations increased. More than 3,000 years ago, during the Late Archaic period, Native Americans in Iowa began utilizing domesticated plants. The subsequent Woodland period saw an increased reliance on agriculture and social complexity, with increased use of mounds, ceramics, and specialized subsistence. During the Late Prehistoric period (beginning about AD 900) increased use of maize and social changes led to social flourishing and nucleated settlements. The arrival of European trade goods and diseases in the Protohistoric period led to dramatic population shifts and economic and social upheaval, with the arrival of new tribes and early European explorers and traders. There were numerous native American tribes living in Iowa at the time of early European exploration. Tribes which were probably descendants of the prehistoric Oneota include the Dakota, Ho-Chunk, Ioway, and Otoe. Tribes which arrived in Iowa in the late prehistoric or protohistoric periods include the Illiniwek, Meskwaki, Omaha, and Sauk. = The first known European explorers to document Iowa were Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet who traveled the Mississippi River in 1673 documenting several Indigenous villages on the Iowa side. The area of Iowa was claimed for France and remained a French territory until 1763. The French, before their impending defeat in the French and Indian War, transferred ownership to their ally, Spain. Spain practiced very loose control over the Iowa region, granting trading licenses to French and British traders, who established trading posts along the Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers. Iowa was part of a territory known as La Louisiane or Louisiana, and European traders were interested in lead and furs obtained by Indigenous people. The Sauk and Meskwaki effectively controlled trade on the Mississippi in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Among the early traders on the Mississippi were Julien Dubuque, Robert de la Salle, and Paul Marin. Along the Missouri River at least five French and English trading houses were built before 1808. In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte took control of Louisiana from Spain in a treaty. After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, Congress divided the Louisiana Purchase into two parts—the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana, with present-day Iowa falling in the latter. The Indiana Territory, created in 1800, exercised jurisdiction over this portion of the District; William Henry Harrison was its first governor. Much of Iowa was mapped by Zebulon Pike in 1805, but it was not until the construction of Fort Madison in 1808 that the U.S. established tenuous military control over the region. = Fort Madison was built to control trade and establish U.S. dominance over the Upper Mississippi, but it was poorly designed and disliked by the Sauk and Meskwaki, many of whom allied with the British, who had not abandoned claims to the territory. Fort Madison was defeated by British-supported Indigenous people in 1813 during the War of 1812, and Fort Shelby in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, also fell to the British. Black Hawk took part in the siege of Fort Madison. Another small military outpost was established along the Mississippi River in present-day Bellevue. This poorly situated stockade was similarly attacked by hundreds of Indigenous people in 1813, but was successfully defended and later abandoned until settlers returned to the area in the mid-1830s. After the war, the U.S. re-established control of the region through the construction of Fort Armstrong, Fort Snelling in Minnesota, and Fort Atkinson in Nebraska. = The United States encouraged settlement of the east side of the Mississippi and removal of Indians to the west. A disputed 1804 treaty between Quashquame and William Henry Harrison (then governor of the Indiana Territory) that surrendered much of Illinois to the U.S. enraged many Sauk and led to the 1832 Black Hawk War. The Sauk and Meskwaki were forced to sell some of their land in the Mississippi Valley to the U.S. in 1832 in the Black Hawk Purchase Treaty and sold their remaining land in Iowa in 1842, most of them moving to a reservation in Kansas. In 1837, some the Potawatomi from Illinois were resettled in Iowa, while many Meskwaki later returned to Iowa and settled near Tama, Iowa; the Meskwaki Settlement remains to this day. In 1856 the Iowa Legislature passed an unprecedented act allowing the Meskwaki to purchase the land. The federal government, in contrast, used treaties to force the Ho-Chunk and the Dakota from Iowa by 1848 and 1858, respectively. Western Iowa around modern Council Bluffs was used as an Indian Reservation for members of the Council of Three Fires. = The first American settlers officially moved to Iowa in June 1833. Primarily, they were families from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia who settled along the western banks of the Mississippi River, founding the modern day cities of Dubuque and Bellevue near the site of Julien Dubuque's 1785–1810 lead mining operation. On July 4, 1838, the U.S. Congress established the Territory of Iowa. President Martin Van Buren appointed Robert Lucas governor of the territory, which at the time had 22 counties and a population of 23,242. Almost immediately after Iowa achieved territorial status, a clamor arose for statehood. On December 28, 1846, Iowa became the 29th state in the Union when President James K. Polk signed its admission bill into law. Once admitted to the Union, with the state's boundary issues resolved and most of its land purchased from Natives, Iowa set its direction to development and organized campaigns for settlers and investors, boasting the young frontier state's rich farmlands, fine citizens, free and open society, and good government. Iowa has a long tradition of state and county fairs. The first and second Iowa State Fairs were held in the more developed eastern part of the state at Fairfield. The first fair was held October 25–27, 1854, at a cost of around $323. Thereafter, the fair moved to locations closer to the center of the state and in 1886 found a permanent home in Des Moines. The State Fair has been held annually since then, except for a few exceptions: 1898 due to the Spanish–American War and the World's Fair being held in nearby Omaha, Nebraska; from 1942 to 1945, due to World War II, as the fairgrounds were being used as an army supply depot; and in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. = Iowa supported the Union during the Civil War, voting heavily for Abraham Lincoln, though there was an antiwar "Copperhead" movement in the state, caused partially by a drop in crop prices caused by the war. There were no battles in the state, although the Battle of Athens, Missouri, 1861, was fought just across the Des Moines River from Croton, Iowa, and shots from the battle landed in Iowa. Iowa sent large supplies of food to the armies and the eastern cities. Much of Iowa's support for the Union can be attributed to Samuel J. Kirkwood, its first wartime governor. Of a total population of 675,000, about 116,000 men were subjected to military duty. Iowa contributed proportionately more soldiers to Civil War military service than did any other state, north or south, sending more than 75,000 volunteers to the armed forces, over one-sixth of whom were killed before the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox. Most fought in the great campaigns in the Mississippi Valley and in the South. Iowa troops fought at Wilson's Creek in Missouri, Pea Ridge in Arkansas, Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Rossville Gap as well as Vicksburg, Iuka, and Corinth. They served with the Army of the Potomac in Virginia and fought under Union General Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. Many died and were buried at Andersonville. They marched on General Nathaniel Banks' ill-starred expedition to the Red River. Twenty-seven Iowans have been awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government, which was first awarded in the Civil War. Iowa had several brigadier generals and four major generals—Grenville Mellen Dodge, Samuel R. Curtis, Francis J. Herron, and Frederick Steele—and saw many of its generals go on to state and national prominence following the war. = Following the Civil War, Iowa's population continued to grow dramatically, from 674,913 people in 1860 to 1,624,615 in 1880. The American Civil War briefly brought higher profits. In 1917, the United States entered World War I and farmers as well as all Iowans experienced a wartime economy. For farmers, the change was significant. Since the beginning of the war in 1914, Iowa farmers had experienced economic prosperity, which lasted until the end of the war. In the economic sector, Iowa also has undergone considerable change. Beginning with the first industries developed in the 1830s, which were mainly for processing materials grown in the area, Iowa has experienced a gradual increase in the number of business and manufacturing operations. = The transition from an agricultural economy to a mixed economy happened slowly. The Great Depression and World War II accelerated the shift away from smallholder farming to larger farms, and began a trend of urbanization. The period after World War II witnessed a particular increase in manufacturing operations. In 1975, Governor Robert D. Ray petitioned President Ford to allow Iowa to accept and resettle Tai Dam refugees fleeing the Indochina War. An exception was required for this resettlement as State Dept policy at the time forbid resettlement of large groups of refugees in concentrated communities; an exception was ultimately granted and 1200 Tai Dam were resettled in Iowa. Since then Iowa has accepted thousands of refugees from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Bhutan, and Burma. The farm crisis of the 1980s caused a major recession in Iowa, causing poverty not seen since the Depression. The crisis spurred a major, decade-long population decline. = After bottoming out in the 1980s, Iowa's economy began to reduce its dependence on agriculture. By the early 21st century, it was characterized by a mix of manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services. The population of Iowa has increased at a slower rate than the U.S. as a whole since at least the 1900 census, though Iowa now has a predominantly urban population. The Iowa Economic Development Authority, created in 2011 has replaced the Iowa Department of Economic Development and its annual reports are a source of economic information. = Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east along with the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west. The northern boundary is a line along 43 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. The southern border is the Des Moines River and a not-quite-straight line along approximately 40 degrees 35 minutes north, as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Missouri v. Iowa (1849) after a standoff between Missouri and Iowa known as the Honey War. Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are formed almost entirely by rivers. Carter Lake, Iowa, is the only city in the state located west of the Missouri River. Iowa has 99 counties, but 100 county seats because Lee County has two. The state capital, Des Moines, is in Polk County. = Iowa's bedrock geology generally decreases in age from east to west. In northwest Iowa, Cretaceous bedrock can be 74 million years old; in eastern Iowa Cambrian bedrock dates to c. 500 million years ago. The oldest radiometrically dated bedrock in the state is the 2.9 billion year old Otter Creek Layered Mafic Complex. Precambrian rock is exposed only in the northwest of the state. Iowa can be divided into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils, topography, and river drainage. Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick. Northeast Iowa along the Upper Mississippi River is part of the Driftless Area, consisting of steep hills and valleys which appear as mountainous. Several natural lakes exist, most notably Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake, and East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa (see Iowa Great Lakes). To the east lies Clear Lake. Man-made lakes include Lake Odessa, Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, Coralville Lake, Lake MacBride, and Rathbun Lake. Before European settlement, 4 to 6 million acres of the state was covered with wetlands; about 95% of these wetlands have since been drained. = Iowa's natural vegetation is tallgrass prairie and savanna in upland areas, with dense forest and wetlands in flood plains and protected river valleys, and pothole wetlands in northern prairie areas. Most of Iowa is used for agriculture; crops cover 60% of the state, grasslands (mostly pasture and hay with some prairie and wetland) cover 30%, and forests cover 7%; urban areas and water cover another 1% each. The southern part of Iowa is categorized as the Central forest-grasslands transition ecoregion. The Northern, drier part of Iowa is categorized as part of the Central tall grasslands. There is a dearth of natural areas in Iowa; less than 1% of the tallgrass prairie that once covered most of Iowa remains intact; only about 5% of the state's prairie pothole wetlands remain, and most of the original forest has been lost. As of 2005 Iowa ranked 49th of U.S. states in public land holdings. Threatened or endangered animals in Iowa include the interior least tern, piping plover, Indiana bat, pallid sturgeon, the Iowa Pleistocene land snail, Higgins' eye pearly mussel, and the Topeka shiner. Endangered or threatened plants include western prairie fringed orchid, eastern prairie fringed orchid, Mead's milkweed, prairie bush clover, and northern wild monkshood. The explosion in the number of high-density livestock facilities in Iowa has led to increased rural water contamination and a decline in air quality. Other factors negatively affecting Iowa's environment include the extensive use of older coal-fired power plants, fertilizer and pesticide runoff from crop production, and diminishment of the Jordan Aquifer. The 2020–2023 North American drought has affected Iowa particularly: As of January 2024, Iowa was in its 187th consecutive week of at least moderate drought, the longest stretch since the 1950s. 96% of areas are affected by drought. = Iowa has a humid continental climate throughout the state (Köppen climate classification Dfa) with extremes of both heat and cold. The average annual temperature at Des Moines is 50 °F (10 °C); for some locations in the north, such as Mason City, the figure is about 45 °F (7 °C), while Keokuk, on the Mississippi River, averages 52 °F (11 °C). Snowfall is common, with Des Moines getting about 26 days of snowfall a year, and other places, such as Shenandoah, getting about 11 days of snowfall in a year. Spring ushers in the beginning of the severe weather season. As of 2008, Iowa averaged about 50 days of thunderstorm activity per year. As of 2015, the 30-year annual average of tornadoes in Iowa was 47. In 2008, twelve people were killed by tornadoes in Iowa, making it the deadliest year since 1968 and also the second most tornadoes in a year with 105, matching the total from 2001. Iowa summers are known for heat and humidity, with daytime temperatures sometimes near 90 °F (32 °C) and occasionally exceeding 100 °F (38 °C). Average winters in the state have been known to drop well below freezing, even dropping below −18 °F (−28 °C). As of 2018, Iowa's all-time hottest temperature of 118 °F (48 °C) was recorded at Keokuk on July 20, 1934, during a nationwide heat wave; as of 2014, the all-time lowest temperature of −47 °F (−44 °C) was recorded in Washta on January 12, 1912. Precipitation Iowa has had a relatively smooth gradient of varying precipitation across the state; from 1961 to 1990, areas in the southeast of the state received an average of over 38 inches (97 cm) of rain annually, and the northwest of the state receiving less than 28 inches (71 cm). The pattern of precipitation across Iowa is seasonal with more rain falling in the summer months. Virtually statewide, the driest month is January or February, while the wettest month is June due to frequent showers and thunderstorms, some of which produce hail, damaging winds or tornadoes. In Des Moines, roughly in the center of the state, over two-thirds of the 34.72 inches (88.2 cm) of rain falls from April through September, and about half the average annual precipitation falls from May through August peaking in June. = Iowa's population is more urban than rural, with 61 percent living in urban areas in 2000, a trend that began in the early 20th century. Urban counties in Iowa grew 8.5% from 2000 to 2008, while rural counties declined by 4.2%. The shift from rural to urban has caused population increases in more urbanized counties such as Dallas, Johnson, Linn, Polk, and Scott, at the expense of more rural counties. Iowa, in common with other Midwestern states (especially Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), is feeling the brunt of rural flight, although the population of Iowa has been increasing since approximately 1990. Some smaller communities, such as Denison and Storm Lake, have mitigated this population loss through gains in immigrant laborers. Another demographic problem for Iowa is brain drain, in which educated young adults leave the state in search of better prospects in higher education or employment. During the 1990s, Iowa had the second highest exodus rate for single, educated young adults, second only to North Dakota. = The United States Census Bureau determined the population of Iowa was 3,190,369 on April 1, 2020, a 4.73% increase since the 2010 United States census. Of the residents of Iowa, 70.8% were born in Iowa, 23.6% were born in a different U.S. state, 0.6% were born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s), and 5% were foreign born. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 29,386 people, while migration within the country produced a net loss of 41,140 people. 6.5% of Iowa's population were reported as under the age of five, 22.6% under 18, and 14.7% were 65 or older. Males made up approximately 49.6% of the population. The population density of the state is 52.7 people per square mile. As of the 2010 census, the center of population of Iowa is in Marshall County, near Melbourne. The top countries of origin for Iowa's immigrants in 2018 were Mexico, India, Vietnam, China and Thailand. According to a version of Encyclopædia Britannica published in 1999, Germans are the largest ethnic group in Iowa. Other major ethnic groups in Iowa include Irish and English. There are also Dutch communities in state. The Dutch can be found in Pella, in the centre of the state, and in Orange City, in the northwest. There is a Norwegian community in Decorah in northeast Iowa; and there is Czech and Slovak communities in both Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Smaller numbers of Greeks and Italians are scattered in Iowa's metropolitan areas. The majority of Hispanics in Iowa are of Mexican origin. African Americans, who constitute around 2% of Iowa's population, didn't live in the state in any appreciable numbers until the early 20th century. Many blacks worked in the coal-mining industry of southern Iowa. Others blacks migrated to Waterloo, Davenport, and Des Moines, where the black population remained substantial in the early 21st century. The African-American population in Des Moines experienced a significant increase with the establishment of the Colored Officers Training Camp at Fort Des Moines in 1917. Following the conclusion of World War I in 1918, numerous African-American families made the decision to remain in Des Moines. This marked the inception of a thriving community that eventually became a residence for numerous African-American leaders. There is one federally recognized tribe in Iowa, the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, and in 2020, 14,486 identified as being Native American alone, and 41,472 did in combination with one or more other races. As of the 2010 census, the population of Iowa was 3,046,355. The gender makeup of the state was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. 23.9% of the population were under the age of 18; 61.2% were between the ages of 18 and 64; and 14.9% were 65 years of age or older. According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 2,419 homeless people in Iowa. According to the 2016 American Community Survey, 5.6% of Iowa's population were of Hispanic or Latino origin (of any race): Mexican (4.3%), Puerto Rican (0.2%), Cuban (0.1%), and other Hispanic or Latino origin (1.0%). The five largest ancestry groups were: German (35.1%), Irish (13.5%), English (8.2%), American (5.8%), and Norwegian (5.0%). = Note: Births in table don't 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. = A 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 60% of Iowans are Protestant, while 18% are Catholic, and 1% are of non-Christian religions. 21% responded with non-religious, and 1% did not answer. A survey from the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) in 2010 found that the largest Protestant denominations were the United Methodist Church with 235,190 adherents and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 229,557. The largest non-Protestant religion was Catholicism with 503,080 adherents. The state has a great number of Calvinist denominations. The Presbyterian Church (USA) had almost 290 congregations and 51,380 members followed by the Reformed Church in America with 80 churches and 40,000 members, and the United Church of Christ had 180 churches and 39,000 members. According to the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute's study, 26% of the population were irreligious. The study Religious Congregations & Membership: 2000 found that in the southernmost two tiers of Iowa counties and in other counties in the center of the state, the largest religious group was the United Methodist Church; in the northeast part of the state, including Dubuque and Linn counties (where Cedar Rapids is located), the Catholic Church was the largest; and in ten counties, including three in the northern tier, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was the largest. The study also found rapid growth in Evangelical Christian denominations. Dubuque is home to the Archdiocese of Dubuque, which serves as the ecclesiastical province for all three other dioceses in the state and for all the Catholics in Iowa. Historically, religious sects and orders who desired to live apart from the rest of society established themselves in Iowa; for example, the Amish and Mennonites have communities near Kalona and in other parts of eastern Iowa such as Davis County and Buchanan County. Other religious sects and orders living apart include Quakers around West Branch and Le Grand, German Pietists who founded the Amana Colonies, followers of Transcendental Meditation who founded Maharishi Vedic City, and Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance monks and nuns at the New Melleray and Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbeys near Dubuque. By 1878, approximately 1000 Jews, many of whom were immigrants from Poland and Germany, lived in Iowa. As of 2016, about 6,000 Jews lived in Iowa, with about 3,000 in Des Moines alone. = English is the most common language in Iowa, being the sole language spoken by 91.1% of the population. Less common languages include sign language and indigenous languages. About 2.5% of the general population use sign language as of 2017, while indigenous languages are spoken by about 0.5% of the population. William Labov and colleagues, in the monumental Atlas of North American English found the English spoken in Iowa divides into multiple linguistic regions. Natives of northern Iowa—including Sioux City, Fort Dodge, and the Waterloo region—tend to speak the dialect linguists call North Central American English, which is also found in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Natives of central and southern Iowa—including such cities as Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, and Iowa City—tend to speak the North Midland dialect also found in eastern Nebraska, central Illinois, and central Indiana. Natives of East-Central Iowa—including cities such as Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, and Clinton tend to speak with the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, a dialect that extends from this area and east across the Great Lakes Region. After English, Spanish is the second-most-common language spoken in Iowa, with 120,000 people in Iowa of Hispanic or Latino origin and 47,000 people born in Latin America. The third-most-common language is German, spoken by 17,000 people in Iowa; two notable German dialects used in Iowa include Amana German spoken around the Amana Colonies, and Pennsylvania German, spoken among the Amish in Iowa. The Babel Proclamation of 1918 banned the speaking of German in public. Around Pella, residents of Dutch descent once spoke the Pella Dutch dialect. = Iowa hosts RAGBRAI, the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, which is a bike across the state river-to-river that attracts thousands of bicyclists and support personnel. It has crossed the state on various routes each year since 1973. Iowa is home to more than 70 wineries, and hosts five regional wine tasting trails. Many Iowa communities hold farmers' markets during warmer months; these are typically weekly events, but larger cities can host multiple markets. Central Iowa Des Moines is the largest city and metropolitan area in Iowa and the state's political and economic center. It is home to the Iowa State Capitol, the State Historical Society of Iowa Museum, Drake University, Des Moines Art Center, Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, Principal Riverwalk, the Iowa State Fair, Terrace Hill, and the World Food Prize. Nearby attractions include Adventureland and Prairie Meadows Racetrack Casino in Altoona, Living History Farms in Urbandale, Trainland USA in Colfax, the National Balloon Classic and National Balloon Museum in Indianola, and the Iowa Speedway and Valle Drive-In in Newton. Ames is the home of Iowa State University, the Iowa State Center, and Reiman Gardens. Boone hosts the biennial Farm Progress Show and is home to the Mamie Doud Eisenhower museum, the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad, and Ledges State Park. The Meskwaki Settlement west of Tama is the only Native American settlement in Iowa and is host to a large annual Pow-wow. Madison County is known for its covered bridges. Also in Madison County is the John Wayne Birthplace Museum is in Winterset. Other communities with vibrant historic downtown areas include Newton, Indianola, Pella, Knoxville, Marshalltown, Perry, and Story City. Eastern Iowa Iowa City is home to the University of Iowa, which includes the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and the Old Capitol building. Because of the extraordinary history in the teaching and sponsoring of creative writing that emanated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and related programs, Iowa City was the first American city designated by the United Nations as a "City of Literature" in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch. The Amana Colonies are a group of settlements of German Pietists comprising seven villages listed as National Historic Landmarks. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art has collections of paintings by Grant Wood and Marvin Cone. Cedar Rapids is also home to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library and Iowa's only National Trust for Historic Preservation Site, Brucemore mansion. Davenport boasts the Figge Art Museum, River Music Experience, Putnam Museum, Davenport Skybridge, Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Quad Cities, and plays host to the annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, and the Quad City Air Show, which is the largest airshow in the state. Other communities with vibrant historic downtown areas include West Liberty, Fairfield, Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Fort Madison, LeClaire, Mount Vernon, Ottumwa, Washington, and Wilton. Along Interstate 80 near Walcott lies the world's largest truck stop, Iowa 80. Western Iowa Some of the most dramatic scenery in Iowa is found in the unique Loess Hills which are found along Iowa's western border. Sioux City is the largest city in western Iowa and is found on the convergence of the Missouri, Floyd, and Big Sioux Rivers. The Sioux City Metropolitan Area encompasses areas in three states: Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Sioux City boasts a revitalized downtown and includes attractions such as the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Sergeant Floyd Monument, Sergeant Floyd River Museum, the Tyson Events Center, Southern Hills Mall, the Orpheum Theater, and more. The historic downtown area is also filled with multiple restaurants, bars, and other entertainment venues. Sioux City is home to two higher education institutions, Morningside College and Briar Cliff University. Le Mars is in the northeastern part of the Sioux City Metropolitan Area and is the self-proclaimed "Ice Cream Capital of the World". Le Mars is home to Wells Enterprises, one of the largest ice cream manufacturers in the world. Attractions in Le Mars include the Wells Visitor Center and Ice Cream Parlor, Archie's Wayside (steak house), Bob's Drive Inn, Tonsfeldt Round Barn, Plymouth County Fairgrounds, Plymouth County Museum, and Plymouth County Courthouse. Le Mars hosts multiple ice cream-themed community events each year. Council Bluffs, part of the Omaha, Nebraska Metropolitan Area and a hub of southwest Iowa sits at the base of the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway. With three casino resorts, the city also includes such cultural attractions as the Western Hills Trails Center, Union Pacific Railroad Museum, the Grenville M. Dodge House, the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial, and the Lewis and Clark Monument, with clear views of the Downtown Omaha skyline found throughout the city. The Sanford Museum and Planetarium in Cherokee, the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, and the Fort Museum and Frontier Village in Fort Dodge are other regional destinations. The Iowa Great Lakes is made up of multiple small towns, such as Spirit Lake, Arnolds Park, Milford, and Okoboji. Multiple resorts and other tourist attractions are found in and around these towns surrounding the popular lakes. Arnolds Park, one of the oldest amusement parks in the country, is located on Lake Okoboji in Arnolds Park. Every year in early May, the city of Orange City holds the annual Tulip Festival, a celebration of the strong Dutch heritage in the region. Northwest Iowa is home to some of the largest concentrations of wind turbine farms in the world. Other western communities with vibrant historic downtown areas include Storm Lake, Spencer, Glenwood, Carroll, Harlan, Atlantic, Red Oak, Denison, Creston, Mount Ayr, Sac City, and Walnut. Northeast and Northern Iowa The Driftless Area of northeast Iowa has many steep hills and deep valleys, checkered with forest and terraced fields. Effigy Mounds National Monument in Allamakee and Clayton Counties has the largest assemblage of animal-shaped prehistoric mounds in the world. Waterloo is home of the Grout Museum and Lost Island Theme Park and is headquarters of the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area. Cedar Falls is home of the University of Northern Iowa. Dubuque is a regional tourist destination with attractions such as the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium and the Port of Dubuque. Dyersville is home to the famed Field of Dreams baseball diamond. Maquoketa Caves State Park, near Maquoketa, contains more caves than any other state park. Fort Atkinson State Preserve in Fort Atkinson has the remains of an original 1840s Dragoon fortification. Fort Dodge is home of The Fort historical museum and the Blanden Art Museum, and host Frontiers Days which celebrate the town history. Other communities with vibrant historic downtown areas include Decorah, McGregor, Mason City, Elkader, Bellevue, Guttenberg, Algona, Spillville, Charles City, and Independence. = The Clint Eastwood movie The Bridges of Madison County, based on the popular novel of the same name, took place and was filmed in Madison County. What's Eating Gilbert Grape, based on the Peter Hedges novel of the same name, is set in the fictional Iowa town of Endora. Hedges was born in West Des Moines. Des Moines is home to members of the heavy metal band Slipknot. The state is mentioned in the band's songs, and the album Iowa is named after the state. = The state has four major college teams playing in NCAA Division I for all sports. In football, Iowa State University and the University of Iowa compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), whereas the University of Northern Iowa and Drake University compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Although Iowa has no professional major league sports teams, Iowa has minor league sports teams in baseball, basketball, hockey, and other sports. The following table shows the Iowa sports teams with average attendance over 8,000. All the following teams are NCAA Division I football, basketball, or wrestling teams: College sports The state has four NCAA Division I college teams. Two have football teams that play in the top level of college football, the Football Bowl Subdivision: the University of Iowa Hawkeyes play in the Big Ten Conference and the Iowa State University Cyclones compete in the Big 12 Conference. The two intrastate rivals compete annually for the Cy-Hawk Trophy as part of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series. In wrestling, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones have won a combined total of over 30 team NCAA Division I titles. The Northern Iowa and Cornell College wrestling teams have also each won one NCAA Division I wrestling team title. Two other Division I schools play football in the second level of college football, the Football Championship Subdivision. The University of Northern Iowa Panthers play at the Missouri Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference (despite the similar names, the conferences are administratively separate), whereas the Drake University Bulldogs play in the Missouri Valley Conference in most sports and Pioneer League for football. Baseball Des Moines is home to the Iowa Cubs, a Triple-A Minor League Baseball team of the International League and affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Iowa has two High-A minor league teams in the Midwest League: the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins) and the Quad Cities River Bandits (Kansas City Royals) who play in Davenport. The Sioux City Explorers are part of the American Association of Professional Baseball. Ice hockey Des Moines is home to the Iowa Wild, who are affiliated with the Minnesota Wild and are members of the American Hockey League. Coralville has an ECHL team called the Iowa Heartlanders that started playing in the 2021–22 season. The Heartlanders are also an affiliate of the Minnesota Wild. The United States Hockey League has five teams in Iowa: the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Sioux City Musketeers, Waterloo Black Hawks, Des Moines Buccaneers, and the Dubuque Fighting Saints. The North Iowa Bulls of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) and the Mason City Toros of the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) both play in Mason City. Soccer The Des Moines Menace of the USL League Two play their home games at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines, Iowa. The Cedar Rapids Inferno Soccer Club of the Midwest Premier League play their home games at Robert W. Plaster Athletic Complex at Mount Mercy University The Iowa Raptors FC of the United Premier Soccer League play their home games at Prairie High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Union Dubuque F.C. of the Midwest Premier League Other sports Iowa has two professional basketball teams. The Iowa Wolves, an NBA G League team that plays in Des Moines, is owned and affiliated with the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. The Sioux City Hornets play in the American Basketball Association. Iowa has three professional football teams. The Sioux City Bandits play in the Champions Indoor Football league. The Iowa Barnstormers play in the Indoor Football League at Casey's Center in Des Moines. The Cedar Rapids Titans play in the Indoor Football League at the U.S. Cellular Center. The Iowa Speedway oval track in Newton has hosted auto racing championships such as the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Truck Series since 2006. Also, the Knoxville Raceway dirt track hosts the Knoxville Nationals, one of the classic sprint car racing events. The John Deere Classic is a PGA Tour golf event held in the Quad Cities since 1971. The Principal Charity Classic is a Champions Tour event since 2001. The Des Moines Golf and Country Club hosted the 1999 U.S. Senior Open and the 2017 Solheim Cup. In 2016, the total employment of the state's population was 1,354,487, and the total number of employer establishments was 81,563. CNBC's list of "Top States for Business in 2010" has recognized Iowa as the sixth best state in the nation. Scored in 10 individual categories, Iowa was ranked first when it came to the "Cost of Doing Business"; this includes all taxes, utility costs, and other costs associated with doing business. Iowa was also ranked 10th in "Economy", 12th in "Business Friendliness", 16th in "Education", 17th in both "Cost of Living" and "Quality of Life", 20th in "Workforce", 29th in "Technology and Innovation", 32nd in "Transportation" and the lowest ranking was 36th in "Access to Capital". While Iowa is often viewed as a farming state, agriculture is a relatively small portion of the state's diversified economy, with manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services contributing substantially to Iowa's economy. This economic diversity has helped Iowa weather the late 2000s recession better than most states, with unemployment substantially lower than the rest of the nation. If the economy is measured by gross domestic product, in 2005 Iowa's GDP was about $124 billion. If measured by gross state product, for 2005 it was $113.5 billion. Its per capita income for 2006 was $23,340. On July 2, 2009, Standard & Poor's rated Iowa's credit as AAA (the highest of its credit ratings, held by only 11 U.S. state governments). As of September 2021, the state's unemployment rate is 4.0%. = Manufacturing is the largest sector of Iowa's economy, with $20.8 billion (21%) of Iowa's 2003 gross state product. Major manufacturing sectors include food processing, heavy machinery, and agricultural chemicals. Sixteen percent of Iowa's workforce is dedicated to manufacturing. Food processing is the largest component of manufacturing. Besides processed food, industrial outputs include machinery, electric equipment, chemical products, publishing, and primary metals. Companies with direct or indirect processing facilities in Iowa include ConAgra Foods, Wells Blue Bunny, Barilla, Heinz, Tone's Spices, General Mills, and Quaker Oats. Meatpacker Tyson Foods has 11 locations, second only to its headquarter state Arkansas. Major non-food manufacturing firms with production facilities in Iowa include 3M, Arconic, Amana Corporation, Emerson Electric, The HON Company, SSAB, John Deere, Lennox Manufacturing, Pella Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Vermeer Company, and Winnebago Industries. = Industrial-scale, commodity agriculture predominates in much of the state. Iowa's main conventional agricultural commodities are hogs, with about 22.6 million hogs in 8,000 facilities large enough to require manure management plans in March 2018, outnumbering Iowans by more than 7 to 1, corn, soybeans, oats, cattle, eggs, and dairy products. Iowa is the nation's largest producer of ethanol and corn and some years is the largest grower of soybeans. In 2008, the 92,600 farms in Iowa produced 19% of the nation's corn, 17% of the soybeans, 30% of the hogs, and 14% of the eggs. As of 2009 major Iowa agricultural product processors included Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Inc., Diamond V Mills, and Quaker Oats. During the 21st century Iowa has seen growth in the organic farming sector. Iowa ranks fifth in the nation in total number of organic farms. In 2016, there were about 732 organic farms in the state, an increase of about 5% from the previous year, and 103,136 organic acres, an increase of 9,429 from the previous year. Iowa has also seen an increase in demand for local, sustainably-grown food. Northeast Iowa, part of the Driftless Area, has led the state in development of its regional food system and grows and consumes more local food than any other region in Iowa. Iowa's Driftless Region is also home to the nationally recognized Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit seed bank housed at an 890-acre heritage farm near Decorah, in the northeast corner of the state. The largest nongovernmental seed bank of its kind in the United States, Seed Savers Exchange safeguards more than 20,000 varieties of rare, heirloom seeds. As of 2007, the direct production and sale of conventional agricultural commodities contributed only about 3.5% of Iowa's gross state product. In 2002 the impact of the indirect role of agriculture in Iowa's economy, including agriculture-affiliated business, was calculated at 16.4% in terms of value added and 24.3% in terms of total output. This was lower than the economic impact of non-farm manufacturing, which accounted for 22.4% of total value added and 26.5% of total output. = As of 2014, there were 16 organizations offering health insurance products in Iowa, per the State of Iowa Insurance Division. Iowa was fourth out of ten states with the biggest drop in competition levels of health insurance between 2010 and 2011, per the 2013 annual report on the level of competition in the health insurance industry by the American Medical Association using 2011 data from HealthLeaders-Interstudy, the most comprehensive source of data on enrollment in health maintenance organization (HMO), preferred provider organization (PPO), point-of-service (POS) and consumer-driven health care plans. According to the AMA annual report from 2007 Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield had provided 71% of the state's health insurance. The Iowa Insurance Division "Annual report to the Iowa Governor and the Iowa Legislature" from November 2014 looked at the 95% of health insurers by premium, which are 10 companies. It found Wellmark Inc. to dominate the three health insurance markets it examined (individual, small group and large group) at 52–67%. Wellmark HealthPlan of Iowa and Wellmark Inc had the highest risk-based capital percentages of all 10 providers at 1158% and 1132%, respectively. Rising RBC is an indication of profits. = Iowa has a strong financial and insurance sector, with approximately 6,100 firms, including AEGON, Nationwide Group, Aviva USA, Farm Bureau Financial Services, GreatAmerica Financial Services, Voya Financial, Marsh Affinity Group, MetLife, Principal Financial Group, Principal Capital Management, Wells Fargo, and Greenstate Credit Union (formerly University of Iowa Community Credit Union). Iowa is host to at least two business incubators, Iowa State University Research Park and the BioVentures Center at the University of Iowa. The Research Park hosts about 50 companies, among them NewLink Genetics, which develops cancer immunotherapeutics, and the U.S. animal health division of Boehringer Ingelheim, Vetmedica. Ethanol production consumes about a third of Iowa's corn production, and renewable fuels account for eight percent of the state's gross domestic product. A total of 39 ethanol plants produced 3.1 billion US gallons (12,000,000 m3) of fuel in 2009. Renewable energy has become a major economic force in northern and western Iowa, with wind turbine electrical generation increasing exponentially since 1990. In 2019, wind power in Iowa accounted for 42% of electrical energy produced, and 10,201 megawatts of generating capacity had been installed at the end of the year. Iowa ranked first of U.S. states in percentage of total power generated by wind and second in wind generating capacity behind Texas. Major producers of turbines and components in Iowa include Acciona Energy of West Branch, TPI Composites of Newton, and Siemens Energy of Fort Madison. In 2016, Iowa was the headquarters for three of the top 2,000 companies for revenue. They include Principal Financial, Rockwell Collins, and American Equity Investment. Iowa is also headquarters to other companies including Hy-Vee, Pella Corporation, Workiva, Vermeer Company, Kum & Go gas stations, Von Maur, Pioneer Hi-Bred, and Fareway. Gambling in the state is a major section of the Iowa tourism industry. As of 2025, Iowa had 64 data centers; Google in Council Bluffs and Cedar Rapids, Apple in Waukee, Meta in Altoona, Iowa and Microsoft has six data centers in West Des Moines. = Tax is collected by the Iowa Department of Revenue. Iowa imposes taxes on net state income of individuals, estates, and trusts. There are nine income tax brackets, ranging from 0.36% to 8.98%, as well as four corporate income tax brackets ranging from 6% to 12%, giving Iowa the country's highest marginal corporate tax rate. The state sales tax rate is 6%, with non-prepared food having no tax. Iowa has one local option sales tax that may be imposed by counties after an election. Property tax is levied on the taxable value of real property. Iowa has more than 2,000 taxing authorities. Most property is taxed by more than one taxing authority. The tax rate differs in each locality and is a composite of county, city or rural township, school district and special levies. Iowa allows its residents to deduct their federal income taxes from their state income taxes. = Iowa was one of the leading states in the high school movement, and continues to be among the top educational performers today. The four-year graduation rate for high schoolers was 91.3% in 2017. Iowa's schools are credited with the highest graduation rate in the nation as of 2019. Iowa has 333 school districts, 1,329 school buildings and has the 14th lowest student-to-teacher ratio of 14.2. Teacher pay is ranked 22nd, with the average salary being $55,647. As of 2015 transportation spending is a significant part of the budgets of rural school districts as many are geographically large and must transport students across vast distances. This reduces the amount of money spent on other aspects of the districts. The state's oldest functioning school building is located in Bellevue in the historic Jackson County Courthouse which has been in continuous use as a school since 1848. = The Iowa Board of Regents is composed of nine citizen volunteers appointed by the governor to provide policymaking, coordination, and oversight of the state's three public universities, two special K–12 schools, and affiliated centers. The special K–12 schools include the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs and the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton. Both Iowa State University and The University of Iowa are research universities with The University of Iowa also being a member of the Association of American Universities. In addition to the three state universities, Iowa has multiple private colleges and universities. The life expectancy of Iowa is 77.7 years in 2021. The state's rural population are more susceptible to diseases related to food insecurity, due to a lack of healthy food sources. The leading cause of death in Iowa is heart disease. Iowa ranks eleventh among states in terms of proportion of obesity, with 37% of the state being affected by it. Around 9% of Iowans suffer from diabetes, costing the state $2 billion. = Iowa has four primary interstate highways. I-29 travels along the state's western edge through Council Bluffs and Sioux City. I-35 travels from the Missouri state line to the Minnesota state line through the state's center, including Des Moines. I-74 begins at I-80 just northeast of Davenport. I-80 travels from the Nebraska state line to the Illinois state line through the center of the state, including Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Iowa City, and the Quad Cities. I-380 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway, which travels from I-80 near Iowa City through Cedar Rapids ending in Waterloo and is part of the Avenue of the Saints highway. Iowa is among the few jurisdictions where municipalities install speed cameras on interstate highways providing a substantial revenue source from out of state drivers. = Iowa is served by several regional airports including the Des Moines International Airport, the Eastern Iowa Airport, in Cedar Rapids, Quad City International Airport, in Moline, Illinois, and Eppley Airfield, in Omaha, Nebraska. Smaller airports in the state include the Council Bluffs Municipal Airport, Davenport Municipal Airport (Iowa), Dubuque Regional Airport, Fort Dodge Regional Airport, Mason City Municipal Airport, Sioux Gateway Airport, Southeast Iowa Regional Airport, and Waterloo Regional Airport. = Amtrak's California Zephyr serves southern Iowa with stops in Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola, and Creston along its route between Chicago and Emeryville, California. Fort Madison is served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief, running between Chicago and Los Angeles. Both provide daily service through the state. = Iowa is served by a number of local transit providers including Bettendorf Transit, Cambus, Cedar Rapids Transit, Clinton Municipal Transit Administration, Coralville Transit, Cyride, Davenport Citibus, Des Moines Area Regional Transit, Iowa City Transit, The Jule, Mason City Transit, MET Transit, Omaha Metro Transit, Ottumwa Transit Authority, Quad Cities MetroLINK and Sioux City Transit. Intercity bus service in the state is provided by Burlington Trailways, Greyhound Lines, and Jefferson Lines. = As of 2022, the 43rd and current governor of Iowa is Kim Reynolds (R). Other statewide elected officials are: Chris Cournoyer (R), Lieutenant Governor Paul Pate (R), Secretary of State Rob Sand (D), Auditor of State Roby Smith (R), Treasurer of State Mike Naig (R), Secretary of Agriculture Brenna Bird (R), Attorney General The Code of Iowa contains Iowa's statutory laws. It is periodically updated by the Iowa Legislative Service Bureau, with a new edition published in odd-numbered years and a supplement published in even-numbered years. Iowa is an alcohol monopoly or alcoholic beverage control state. = The two U.S. senators: Chuck Grassley (R), in office since 1981 Joni Ernst (R), in office since 2015 The four U.S. representatives: Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), First district Ashley Hinson (R), Second district Zach Nunn (R), Third district Randy Feenstra (R), Fourth district After the 2010 United States census and the resulting redistricting, Iowa lost one seat in Congress, falling to four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Incumbent U.S. representatives Leonard Boswell (D) and Tom Latham (R) ran against each other in 2012 in the third congressional district which had new boundaries; Latham won and retired after the 2014 elections. King represented the old fifth congressional district. = In Iowa, the term "political party" refers to political organizations which have received two percent or more of the votes cast for president or governor in the "last preceding general election". Iowa recognizes three political parties—the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party obtained official political party status in 2017 as a result of presidential candidate Gary Johnson receiving 3.8% of the Iowa vote in the 2016 general election. Third parties, officially termed "nonparty political organizations", can appear on the ballot as well. Four of these have had candidates on the ballot in Iowa since 2004 for various positions: the Constitution Party, the Green Party, the Pirate Party, and the Socialist Workers Party. = As a result of the 2010 elections, each party controlled one house of the Iowa General Assembly: the House had a Republican majority, while the Senate had a Democratic majority. As a result of the 2016 elections, Republicans gained control of the Senate. Incumbent Democratic governor Chet Culver was defeated in 2010 by Republican Terry Branstad, who had served as governor from 1983 to 1999. On December 14, 2015, Branstad became the longest serving governor in U.S. history, serving (at that time) 20 years, 11 months, and 3 days; eclipsing George Clinton, who served 21 years until 1804. Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds succeeded him on May 24, 2017, following Branstad's appointment as U.S. Ambassador to China. In previous eras, Democratic and Republican parties had a balance in state politics and federal representation. By 2024, the two became dominated by the Republican Party. Factors include younger people leaving for more urbanized, more Democratic-leaning states, as well as homogenization of rural voters in the Midwest and in other regions. = The state gets considerable attention every four years because the Iowa caucus, gatherings of voters to select delegates to the state conventions, is the first presidential caucus in the country. The caucuses, held in January or February of the election year, involve people gathering in homes or public places and choosing their candidates, rather than casting secret ballots as is done in a presidential primary election. Along with the New Hampshire primary the following week, Iowa's caucuses have become the starting points for choosing the two major-party candidates for president. The national and international media give Iowa and New Hampshire extensive attention, which gives Iowa voters leverage. In 2007 presidential campaign spending was the seventh highest in the country. = In a 2020 study, Iowa was ranked as the 24th easiest state for citizens to vote in. Racial equality In the 19th century Iowa was among the earliest states to enact prohibitions against race discrimination, especially in education, but was slow to achieve full integration in the 20th century. In the first decision of the Iowa Supreme Court—In Re the Matter of Ralph, decided July 1839—the Court rejected slavery in a decision that found a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War. The state did away with racial barriers to marriage in 1851, more than 100 years before the U.S. Supreme Court would ban miscegenation statutes nationwide. The Iowa Supreme Court decided Clark v. The board of directors in 1868, ruling that racially segregated "separate but equal" schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before Brown v. Board of Education. By 1875, a number of additional court rulings effectively ended segregation in Iowa schools. Social and housing discrimination continued against Blacks at state universities until the 1950s. The Court heard Coger v. The North Western Union Packet Co. in 1873, ruling against racial discrimination in public accommodations 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision. In 1884, the Iowa Civil Rights Act apparently outlawed discrimination by businesses, reading: "All persons within this state shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, restaurants, chophouses, eating houses, lunch counters, and all other places where refreshments are served, public conveyances, barber shops, bathhouses, theaters, and all other places of amusement." However, the courts chose to narrowly apply this act, allowing de facto discrimination to continue. Racial discrimination at public businesses was not deemed illegal until 1949, when the court ruled in State of Iowa v. Katz that businesses had to serve customers regardless of race; the case began when Edna Griffin was denied service at a Des Moines drugstore. Full racial civil rights were codified under the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965. Women's rights As with racial equality, Iowa was a vanguard in women's rights in the mid-19th century, but did not allow women the right to vote until the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1920, Iowa legislature being one of the ratifying votes. In 1847, the University of Iowa became the first public university in the U.S. to admit men and women on an equal basis. In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law, with the Court ruling women may not be denied the right to practice law in Iowa and admitting Arabella A. Mansfield to the practice of law. Several attempts to grant full voting rights to Iowa women were defeated between 1870 and 1919. In 1894 women were given "partial suffrage", which allowed them to vote on issues, but not for candidates. It was not until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment that women had full suffrage in Iowa. Although Iowa supported the Federal Equal Rights Amendment, in 1980 and 1992 Iowa voters rejected an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution. Iowa added the word "women" to the Iowa Constitution in 1998. After the amendment, it reads: "All men and women are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights—among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness." In May 2018 Iowa signed into law one of the country's most restrictive abortion bans: the requirement that a doctor cannot perform an abortion if they can detect a fetal heartbeat, which in many cases would restrict abortions pregnancies less than six weeks old. It was struck down in January 2019, when an Iowa state judge ruled that the "fetal heartbeat" law was unconstitutional. LGBTQ rights The state's law criminalizing same-sex sexual activity was repealed in June 1976, 27 years before Lawrence v. Texas. In 2007, the Iowa Legislature added "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the protected classes listed in the Iowa Civil Rights Act. The Iowa Legislature later struck "gender identity" from these protections in 2025, making Iowa the first U.S. state to remove a protected group from a state anti-discrimination law. On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court decided Varnum v. Brien, holding in a unanimous decision, the state's law forbidding same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. This made Iowa the third state in the U.S. and first in the Midwest to permit same-sex marriage. Iowa has ten official partner jurisdictions: Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (1960) Yucatán, Mexico (1964) Hebei Province, People's Republic of China (1983) Terengganu, Malaysia (1987) Taiwan, Republic of China (1989) Stavropol Krai, USSR/Russia (1989) Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine (1996) Veneto Region, Italy (1997) Republic of Kosovo (2013) A consulate was opened in Des Moines in 2015. Index of Iowa-related articles Outline of Iowa USS Iowa, 4 ships Official website State Data Center of Iowa population, housing, business and government statistics Iowa Travel and Tourism Division Iowa State Facts from USDA Archived February 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Iowa: State Resource Guide, from the Library of Congress Energy Data & Statistics for Iowa—U.S. Department of Energy Iowa State Databases—Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Iowa state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association. U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts Geographic data related to Iowa at OpenStreetMap Conserving the Constitution of the State of Iowa, 1988 | noise |
Gap Filler is a New Zealand non-profit organisation founded after the September 2010 Canterbury earthquake to create temporary public spaces in places that became vacant after the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. Gap Filler was co-founded by artist Coralie Winn and Ryan Reynolds, a theatre and film lecturer at the University of Canterbury. In April 2023 Gap Filler announced that they would reduce their staff to one employee. A mini golf course was opened in 2017 using parts of earthquake-damaged heritage buildings. It also included part of the old Medway Street footbridge, which crossed the Avon River / Ōtākaro. The mini golf course was closed in 2023 to free up space for new homes, and the parts of heritage structures were returned to the Christchurch City Council. Dance-O-Mat is a coin-operating mat that members of the public dance on. It has speakers, a glitter ball and lights. Music can be chosen by connecting a music player to the audio jack. By inserting $2 into an old washing machine, the mat will turn on for 30 minutes. In 2012 Prince Charles danced on it. From 4 July 2014 to 24 July 2015, people danced on the mat for approximately 934 hours. In 2015 Gap Filler was considering franchising it, and was communicating with two cities in Australia and one in Canada to bring a Dance-O-Mat there. In 2016 people gathered on Dance-O-Mat to hold a vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, United States. In 2012 the mat was in the corner of Manchester Street and St Asaph Street, and was later moved to Gloucester Street. In 2021 the mat was moved from to another location, to give space for the construction of the new Court Theatre. In 2017 Gap Filler, in collaboration with Fletcher Living, placed eight giant spray cans in the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Streets. They were originally made for the Spectrum Street Art Festival and kept after the festival ended. Young street artists were allowed to practise on a few of the cans during graffiti art workshops. Beside the cans is half a basketball court, also by Gap Filler. Good Spot, a car park with 67 parking spaces, opened in December 2017. Users had to pay to park their cars there, and the proceeds went to the East Frame, where it was located. A point of the project was that its revenue remained in the local community rather than going overseas, as several landowners of sites that had buildings demolished due to the earthquakes would lease their land to international parking companies. In August 2018 another Good Spot car park opened with 130 parking spaces. After the earthquakes, many venues for performances were closed or demolished. Pallet Pavilion opened in December 2012 on the corner of Durham and Kilmore Streets after about 250 volunteers had spent 3,000 hours making it out of over 3,000 recycled wooden pallets. It hosted events including concerts, had seating for up to 200 people and had a garden. By March 2014, the pavilion had hosted over 250 events. In April 2014 the pavilion was removed, a year later than originally planned, as the public donated $80,000 to the project to keep it running, and did so within 30 days. Over 25,000 people visited the pavilion while it existed. The Super Street Arcade was a giant 1980s-style arcade machine that was placed on Tuam Street in December 2016. It had a big LED screen on the Vodafone (later rebranded One NZ) building, and on the other side of the street was a large joystick over a metre tall as well as two large buttons. The games required two players, where one used the joystick and the other operated the buttons. A tournament was held in May 2017. Eight games were added in September 2017. They were designed by Christchurch high school students and one of them called The Last Kiwi was inspired by the Laser Kiwi flag. The Think Differently Book Exchange is a fridge with glass doors on the corner of Barbadoes and Kilmore Streets. It acts as a book exchange, where the public take books out to read and replace them with other books. The exchange was opened in July 2011. Other projects included #chchswing, a shed for lending tools, a hammock area, a slackline park, public art made from living willow trees, a bicycle pump track, a cycle-powered cinema and five painted pianos placed on empty land. Festival of Transitional Architecture Greening the Rubble | noise |
Silver certificates are a type of representative money issued between 1878 and 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency. They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, which had effectively placed the United States on a gold standard. The certificates were initially redeemable for their face value of silver dollar coins and later (for one year from June 24, 1967, to June 24, 1968) in raw silver bullion. Since 1968 they have been redeemable only in Federal Reserve Notes and are thus obsolete, but still valid legal tender at their face value and thus are still an accepted form of currency. Large-size silver certificates, generally 1.5 in (38 mm) longer and 0.5 in (13 mm) wider than modern U.S. paper currency, (1878 to 1923) were issued initially in denominations from $10 to $1,000 (in 1878 and 1880) and in 1886 the $1, $2, and $5 were authorized. In 1928, all United States bank notes were re-designed and the size reduced. The small-size silver certificate (1928–1964) was only regularly issued in denominations of $1, $5, and $10. The complete type set below is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Coinage Act of 1873 intentionally omitted language authorizing the coinage of "standard" silver dollars and ended the bimetallic standard that had been created by Alexander Hamilton. While the Coinage Act of 1873 stopped production of silver dollars, it was the 1874 adoption of Section 3568 of the Revised Statutes that actually removed legal tender status from silver certificates in the payment of debts exceeding five dollars. By 1875 business interests invested in silver (e.g., Western banks, mining companies) wanted the bimetallic standard restored. People began to refer to the passage of the Act as the Crime of '73. Prompted by a sharp decline in the value of silver in 1876, Congressional representatives from Nevada and Colorado, states responsible for over 40% of the world's silver yield in the 1870s and 1880s, began lobbying for change. Further public agitation for silver use was driven by fear that there was not enough money in the community. Members of Congress claimed ignorance that the 1873 law would lead to the demonetization of silver, despite having had three years to review the bill prior to enacting it to law. Some blamed the passage of the Act on a number of external factors including a conspiracy involving foreign investors and government conspirators. In response, the Bland–Allison Act, as it came to be known, was passed by Congress (over a presidential veto) on February 28, 1878. It did not provide for the "free and unlimited coinage of silver" demanded by Western miners, but it did require the United States Treasury to purchase between $2 million and $4 million of silver bullion per month from mining companies in the West, to be minted into coins. = The first silver certificates (Series 1878) were issued in denominations of $10 through $1,000. Reception by financial institutions was cautious. While more convenient and less bulky than dollar coins, the silver certificate was not accepted for all transactions. The Bland–Allison Act established that they were "receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues," and could be included in bank reserves, but silver certificates were not explicitly considered legal tender for private interactions (i.e., between individuals). Congress used the National Banking Act of July 12, 1882, to clarify the legal tender status of silver certificates by clearly authorizing them to be included in the lawful reserves of national banks. A general appropriations act of August 4, 1886, authorized the issue of $1, $2, and $5 silver certificates. The introduction of low-denomination currency (as denominations of U.S. Notes under $5 were put on hold) greatly increased circulation. Over the 12-year lifespan of the Bland–Allison Act, the United States government would receive a seigniorage amounting to roughly $68 million (between $3 and $9 million per year), while absorbing over 60% of U.S. silver production. = Treasury Secretary Franklin MacVeagh (1909–13) appointed a committee to investigate possible advantages (e.g., reduced cost, increased production speed) to issuing smaller sized United States banknotes. Due in part to the outbreak of World War I and the end of his appointed term, any recommendations may have stalled. On August 20, 1925, Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon appointed a similar committee and in May 1927 accepted their recommendations for the size reduction and redesign of U.S. banknotes. On July 10, 1929, the new small-size currency was issued. In keeping with the verbiage on large-size silver certificates, all the small-size Series 1928 certificates carried the obligation "This certifies that there has (or have) been deposited in the Treasury of the United States of America X silver dollar(s) payable to the bearer on demand" or "X dollars in silver coin payable to the bearer on demand". This required that the Treasury maintain stocks of silver dollars to back and redeem the silver certificates in circulation. Beginning with the Series 1934 silver certificates the wording was changed to "This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States of America X dollars in silver payable to the bearer on demand." This freed the Treasury from storing bags of silver dollars in its vaults, and allowed it to redeem silver certificates with bullion or silver granules, rather than silver dollars. Years after the government stopped the redemption of silver certificates for silver, large quantities of silver dollars intended specifically to satisfy the earlier obligation for redemption in silver dollars were found in Treasury vaults. The 1928 and 1934 series one-dollar silver certificate came to be known as a Funnyback because of the image on the reverse. People called the note the Funnyback based on the dramatically lighter green ink used on the reverse and unusually large font which was used for the word "ONE" in the center of the design. The obverse carries the portrait of the first American president, George Washington. As was usual with currency during this period, the year date on the bill did not reflect when it was printed, but rather a major design change. Under the Silver Purchase Act of 1934, the authority to issue silver certificates was given to the U.S. Secretary of Treasury. Additional changes, particularly when either of the two signatures was altered, led to a letter being added below the date. One notable exception was the Series 1935G $1 silver certificate, which included notes both with and without the motto "In God We Trust" on the reverse. 1935 dated one dollar certificates lasted through the letter "H", after which new printing processes began the 1957 series. In some cases printing plates were used until they wore out, even though newer ones were also producing notes, so the sequencing of signatures may not always be chronological. Thus some of the 1935 dated one dollar certificates were issued as late as 1963. = In response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii overprint note was ordered from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on June 8, 1942 (all were made-over 1934–1935 bills). Issued in denominations of $1, $5, $10, and $20, only the $1 was a silver certificate, the others were Federal Reserve Notes. Stamped "HAWAII" (in small solid letters on the obverse and large hollow letters on the reverse), with the Treasury seal and serial numbers in brown instead of the usual blue, these notes could be demonetized in the event of a Japanese invasion. Additional World War II emergency currency was issued in November 1942 for circulation in Europe and Northern Africa. Printed with a bright yellow seal, these notes ($1, $5, and $10) could be demonetized should the United States lose its position in the European or North African campaigns. = When a bill is damaged in printing it is normally replaced by another one (the star replaces a letter at the edge of the note). To keep the amounts issued consistent, these replacement banknotes are normally indicated by a star in the separately sequenced serial number. For silver certificates this asterisk appears at the beginning of the serial number. = In the nearly three decades since passage of the Silver Purchase Act of 1934, the annual demand for silver bullion rose steadily from roughly 11 million ounces (1933) to 110 million ounces (1962). The Acts of 1939 and 1946 established floor prices for silver of 71 cents and 90.5 cents (respectively) per ounce. Predicated on an anticipated shortage of silver bullion, Public Law 88-36 (PL88-36) was enacted on June 4, 1963, which repealed the Silver Purchase Act of 1934, and the Acts of July 6, 1939, and July 31, 1946, while providing specific instruction regarding the disposition of silver held as reserves against issued certificates and the price at which silver may be sold. It also amended the Federal Reserve Act to authorize the issue of lower denomination notes (i.e., $1 and $2), allowing for the gradual retirement (or swapping out process) of $1 silver certificates and releasing silver bullion from reserve. In repealing the earlier laws, PL88-36 also repealed the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to control the issue of silver certificates. By issuing Executive Order 11110, President John F. Kennedy was able to continue the Secretary's authority. While retaining their status as legal tender, the silver certificate had effectively been retired from use. In March 1964, Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon halted redemption of silver certificates for silver dollar coins; during the following four years, silver certificates were redeemable in uncoined silver "granules". All redemption in silver ceased on June 24, 1968. While there are some exceptions (particularly for some of the very early issues as well as the experimental bills) the vast majority of small sized one dollar silver certificates, especially non-star or worn bills of the 1935 and 1957 series, are worth little or nothing above their face values. They can still occasionally be found in circulation. = Series and varieties Complete typeset = Gold certificate (United States) Silver as an investment Silver certificate (Cuba) Silver standard Agger, Eugene E. (1918). "The Denominations of the Currency". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 32 (2): 257–277. doi:10.2307/1885428. JSTOR 1885428. Ascher, Leonard W. (1964). "The Coming Chaos in Our Coinage". Financial Analysts Journal. 20 (3): 99–102. doi:10.2469/faj.v20.n3.99. JSTOR 4469657. Barnett, Paul (1964). "The Crime of 1873 Re-examined". Agricultural History. 38 (3): 178–181. JSTOR 3740438. Blake, George Herbert (1908). United States paper money. George H. Blake. p. 32. Retrieved March 13, 2014. Carothers, Neil (1932). "A Senate Racket". The North American Review. 233 (1): 4–15. JSTOR 25113955. Cuhaj, George S. (2012). Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money. Krause Publications. ISBN 978-1-4402-3087-5. Retrieved February 14, 2014. Dillon, C. Douglas (1963). Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances (Report). United States Government Printing Office. pp. 400–403. Friedberg, Arthur L.; Friedberg, Ira S. (2013). Paper Money of the United States: A Complete Illustrated Guide With Valuations (20th ed.). Coin & Currency Institute. ISBN 978-0-87184-520-7. Retrieved February 14, 2014. Friedman, Milton (1990). "The Crime of 1873". Journal of Political Economy. 98 (6): 1159–1194. doi:10.1086/261730. JSTOR 2937754. S2CID 153940661. Grey, George B. (2002). Federal Reserve System: Background, Analyses and Bibliography. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59033-053-1. Retrieved February 14, 2014. Knox, John Jay (1888). United States Notes: A history of the various issues of paper money by the government of the United States (3rd ed.). Charles Scribner's Sons. Leavens, Dickson H. (1939). Silver Money. Principia Press, Inc. Retrieved February 13, 2014. Lee, Alfred E. (1886). "Bimetalism in the United States". Political Science Quarterly. 1 (3): 386–399. doi:10.2307/2139359. JSTOR 2139359. McVey, Frank L. (1902). "The Reclassification of the Paper Currency". Journal of Political Economy. 10 (3): 437–442. doi:10.1086/250857. JSTOR 1819565. O'Leary, Paul M. (1960). "The Scene of the Crime of 1873 Revisited: A Note". Journal of Political Economy. 68 (4): 388–392. doi:10.1086/258345. JSTOR 1830011. S2CID 153797690. Schwartz, John; Lindquist, Scott (2011). Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money – 1928 to Date. Krause Publications. ISBN 978-1-4402-1703-6. Retrieved February 14, 2014. Taussig, F. W. (1890). "The Silver Situation in the United States". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 4 (3): 291–315. doi:10.2307/1881888. hdl:2027/uc1.$b245353. JSTOR 1881888. Taussig, F. W. (1892). "The Silver Situation in the United States". Publication of the American Economic Association. 7 (1): 7–118. JSTOR 2485709. Hessler, Gene; Chambliss, Carlson (2006). The Comprehensive Catalog of U.S. Paper Money: All United States Federal Paper Money Since 1812 (7th ed.). BNR Press. ISBN 9780931960666. National Monetary Commission (1910). Huntington, A. T.; Mawhinney, Robert J. (eds.). Laws of the United States concerning money, banking, and loans, 1778–1909. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: 61st Congress. Document #580. Retrieved February 14, 2014. Bureau of Engraving and Printing U.S. Department of the Treasury USPaperMoney.Info | noise |
Pagüey River is a river of Venezuela. It is part of the Orinoco River basin. List of rivers of Venezuela | noise |
Alicia Kempner is an American bridge player from Palm Springs, California. = North American Bridge Championships (5) Wagar Women's Knockout Teams (2) 1962, 1969 Barclay Trophy (1) 1954 Chicago Mixed Board-a-Match (2) 1946, 1960 = North American Bridge Championships Rockwell Mixed Pairs (1) 1955 Whitehead Women's Pairs (1) 1965 "International record for Alicia Kempner". World Bridge Federation. | noise |
Esmaeil Elmkhah (Persian: اسماعیل علمخواه, 30 December 1936 – 1988) was an Iranian featherweight weightlifter. In 1958 he won a silver medal at the Asian Games and set four unofficial world records: one in the snatch, one in the press and two in the total. He later won a bronze medal at the 1960 Olympics. Elmkhah was born in Rasht, but grew up in Tehran. He had a sister, and lost his parents when he was a child. | noise |
MV Yasa Jupiter is a Turkish-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier. It was the first merchant vessel damaged during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yasa Jupiter has a maximum tonnage of 61,000 DWT. It is 199.9 m (656 ft) long, has a beam of 32 m (105 ft), and has a 9.1 m (30 ft) draught. It is operated by a crew of 19 people. The ship On 24 February 2022, Yasa Jupiter was transiting through the Black Sea on its way to Romania after having unloaded its cargo in Odesa, Ukraine. While underway, the vessel was struck by a missile which hit one of its hatch covers and shattered the windows in the bridge. None of the nineteen crew (8 Turks and 11 Filipinos) were injured and the vessel was able to continue on its course to Romania. | noise |
The women's 10 metre air rifle shooting event at the 2011 Pan American Games was held on October 17 at the Pan American Shooting Polygon in Guadalajara. The defending Pan American Games champion is Eglys De La Cruz of Cuba. The event consisted of two rounds: a qualifier and a final. In the qualifier, each shooter fired 40 shots with an air rifle at 10 metres distance from the standing position. Scores for each shot were in increments of 1, with a maximum score of 10. The top 8 shooters in the qualifying round moved on to the final round. There, they fired an additional 10 shots. These shots scored in increments of .1, with a maximum score of 10.9. The total score from all 50 shots was used to determine final ranking. With the win Emily Caruso of the United States qualifies Canada a quota spot for the women's 10 metre air rifle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Great Britain. All times are Central Standard Time (UTC−6). The existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows. = 29 athletes from 16 countries competed. = | noise |
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