title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: Avant-funk track "Apple Pie à la Mode" features "percolating" beats and harmonies, while the dance track "Sexy Daddy" is infused with discordant harmonies and "thundering" ragga beats. "Independent Women Part II" sonically differs from its counterpart, featuring modified lyrics against a cartoonish bounce background. The "sunny day" pop track "Happy Face" promotes self-esteem; Sylvia Patterson from NME classified its genre as "cajun-R&B-yodel-pop". A string of ballads subsequently appears, including a "slow jam" cover version of Samantha Sang's 1977 song "Emotion", as well as the "soft" "Dangerously in Love" and the easy listening love song "Brown Eyes". Brian Hiatt from MTV described the latter as "a gently harmonized love song, with production reminiscent of the Janet Jackson hit "Again."" "The Story of Beauty" lyrically differs from the rest of Survivor, telling a story about a victim of sexual abuse; it was based on a fan who wrote a letter to the group. Beyoncé described it as "a pretty controversial yet realistic song that deals with something that happens in most families that no one wants to talk about." A cappella gospel track "Gospel Medley" comprises the Beyoncé-written "You've Been So Good", Kirk Franklin's "Now Behold the Lamb", the Christian hymn "Jesus Loves Me", and Richard Smallwood's "Total Praise". The album closes with "Outro (DC-3) Thank You", on which the members congratulate, praise and thank each other.


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: Survivor was originally slated for February 13, 2001, before being postponed to April, and afterwards to its ultimate release date of May 1. Its promotional activities commenced on February 28, when Destiny's Child performed the lead single "Survivor" for the first time at the 2001 Soul Train Music Awards. The song was subsequently performed on the April 6 episode of Top of the Pops in the United Kingdom, with "Emotion" on Saturday Night Live on May 5, on Late Show with David Letterman on May 10, and with "Bootylicious" on Today on May 11. The group additionally performed the album's first three singles "Survivor", "Bootylicious" and "Emotion" on The Early Show on June 6. They subsequently opened the inaugural BET Awards with "Bootylicious" on June 19, later performing the song on the August 3 episode of Top of the Pops and the September 7 Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration show. In the meantime, the group had embarked on the co-headlining Total Request Live Tour with 3LW, Dream, Eve and Nelly with the St. Lunatics, which ran throughout North America from July 18 until September 21. Afterwards, their own European tour was scheduled to run from October 24 to November 20, but was postponed in the wake of the September 11 attacks.


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: Following the tour's postponement, Destiny's Child performed "Survivor", "Emotion" and "Gospel Medley" during the benefit concert United We Stand: What More Can I Give, led by Michael Jackson in tribute to victims of the September 11 attacks, on October 21. Within subsequent months, the group focused on the overseas promotion of Survivor, performing "Emotion" on the November 23 episode of Top of the Pops in the UK and the December 15 episode of Wetten, dass..? in Germany, "Survivor" during the Sanremo Music Festival 2002 in Italy on March 8, and "Bootylicious" at the Logie Awards of 2002 in Australia on April 28. Also, their first remix album, titled This Is the Remix, was released on March 12 and included remixes of several tracks from Survivor among other tracks; it debuted at number 29 on the US Billboard 200. The postponed Destiny's Child World Tour commenced on April 29, being expanded from solely Europe to Oceania and Japan as well, and finished on June 24. Its Rotterdam show was filmed and released via video album Destiny's Child World Tour on July 8, 2003.


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: "Survivor" was released as the lead single from Survivor on March 6, 2001, to mixed critical reception. A commercial success, it became Destiny's Child's fourth consecutive US Billboard Hot 100 top-three single, peaking at number two. The digital single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in July 2020. Internationally, the song reached the summit in Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom, and the top ten in 15 additional countries. Despite a mixed critical response, it won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards , marking Destiny's Child's third and final Grammy Award win as a group. Its Darren Grant-directed accompanying music video depicts the members as shipwreck survivors on a desert island. The video was released as the group's first DVD single, which peaked at number nine on the US Top Music Videos and was certified gold by the RIAA. At the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won Best R&B Video, also being nominated for Best Pop Video and Best Group Video.


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: Survivor received generally favorable reviews from music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63 out of 100, based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, David Browne praised the record, calling it "the divas' premature, but inevitable growing pains album." Spin commented that "Survivor is relentlessly inventive in its recombinations." Ethan Brown from New York was less impressed, writing: "All fifteen tracks are one-dimensional disses and dismissals of scantily clad women, vengeful boyfriends, and the group's assorted doubters." Sylvia Patterson from NME summarized the album as "Multi-platinum booty-shakers in boundary-pushing nil-shit-taking exercise", while highlighting "Independent Women Part I". Natalie Nichols from Los Angeles Times described it as a "generic hip-hop music box of ticking percussion, pulsing bass and uninspiring samples barely allows a moment to breathe, let alone stretch out".


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: Despite criticizing its length, lyrical content and balladry, Alexis Petridis from The Guardian wrote that Survivor "has a rare individuality, and a hint of genius, hidden in its grooves". Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club shared Petridis' negative sentiments, concluding his review by saying: "if the group wants to survive the stormy seas of the pop world for more than a few years, it should call its stable of songwriting wizards ASAP". In a positive review, Cristín Leach from RTÉ highlighted "The Story of Beauty" while dismissing the album's closing tracks "Gospel Medley" and "Outro (DC-3) Thank You". Laura Sinagra from Blender wrote: "Aside from disposable ballads and the sappy "Perfect Man," Survivor blasts haters, child molesters and "been-around-the-block-females," keeping the blood up as they whup ass." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine expressed that "for the most part Survivor rises to the occasion, and while the album isn't groundbreaking, it at least shows the new trio breaking out on their own." Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone praised the album but singled "the self-righteous tone creeping into the songs" out as its sole weakness.


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: In the United States, Survivor debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart dated May 19, 2001, with first-week sales of 663,000 copies. It also debuted atop the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, selling over 87,000 copies at the R&B core stores within its first week. Destiny's Child's first number-one album on both charts, it registered the highest first-week sales for any Columbia Records artist at the time. Despite a 46% sales decline to 358,979 units, the album remained at the summit in its second week, reaching the one-million sales mark. In its third week, the album descended to number three, selling 221,884 copies; in total, it spent 14 consecutive weeks within the top ten. By the end of 2001, Survivor had sold over 3.7 million copies, becoming the seventh best-selling album of the year. It was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 7, 2002. By November 2005, the album had sold over 4.7 million units in the US, being one of the best-selling girl group albums ever in the country. In Canada, the album debuted atop the Canadian Albums Chart, spending four weeks at the summit. In October 2003, it was certified quadruple platinum by Music Canada.


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: Retrospectively, Survivor has received mixed to positive critical commentary, with criticism directed towards its lyrical content, and praise towards its thematic impact on mainstream music of the 2000s. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote for AllMusic: "Survivor, their first album as full-fledged superstars – also their first album since most of the group disappeared due to managerial conflicts – is as contrived and calculated as a Mariah Carey record, only without the joy. This is a determined, bullheaded record, intent on proving Destiny's Child has artistic merit largely because the group survived internal strife." On the contrary, J'na Jefferson from Vibe declared the album "a seminal force in the female empowerment trend of the 21st century, serving as a love letter to body-positive, independent and fierce women all over the globe." Furthermore, Vincent Anthony from The 97 credited the record for "unbiasedly R&B inspirations and hip-hop nuances into an unique brand of pop that defined the early 2000s". From a standpoint concerning pop culture, Nathan Brackett and Christian Hoard wrote that the album "helped establish as an American institution" in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide . Its second single "Bootylicious" popularized the portmanteau term "bootylicious", a combination of the words "booty" and "delicious", although the term had already been used by Snoop Dogg on Dr. Dre's 1992 song "Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')" as a pejorative. As Destiny's Child brought the term's neologism of approval to prominence, it consequently entered the mainstream English language, thus being added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004, referring to a sexually attractive woman in its definition. Following the September 11 attacks, the lead single "Survivor" received new lyrical interpretations from the public, being called a "tool for national grief in a way to show solidarity and strength". "Emotion", which was released as the third single around the time of the attacks, was also branded a "healing song", which contributed to its commercial success in the United States.


title: Survivor (Destiny's Child album)

text: As previously announced, following the completion of promotional duties for Survivor, Destiny's Child embarked on a hiatus in 2002, in order for its members to release solo albums. Michelle Williams was first to release a solo album, titled Heart to Yours, in April 2002. It features the "Gospel Medley" first released on Survivor. The critically acclaimed gospel record debuted at number 57 on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 17,000 copies and later peaked at number-one on the Top Gospel Albums chart. It became the biggest-selling gospel album of the year, with 220,000 copies sold in the US. At the 2002 MOBO Awards, Wiliams won an award for "Best Gospel Act", before making her Broadway debut, as the lead in the musical Aida in November 2003. Although Beyoncé Knowles' solo album was initially scheduled for October 2002, its release was postponed due to the success of Kelly Rowland's collaboration with Nelly, "Dilemma". The song reached the summit of the US Billboard Hot 100, thus Rowland's pop rock-oriented solo debut Simply Deep was moved up to October from its original early 2003 release date. Simply Deep debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200, selling 77,000 units within its first week and going on to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Dilemma" additionally won Rowland her first Grammy Award outside the group, for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards . Following numerous postponements, Beyoncé was the last to release a solo album. Titled Dangerously in Love, it was released in June 2003 to widespread critical acclaim. The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and registered the highest first-week sales among the members with 317,000 units. It was preceded by the lead single "Crazy in Love", which spent eight consecutive weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100. "Crazy in Love" was followed by "Baby Boy", which surpassed its predecessor's reign at the summit by one week, and the top-five hits "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl". At the 46th Annual Grammy Awards , Dangerously in Love and its tracks won five awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album; Beyoncé consequently tied with Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones for the record of most Grammy Awards won by a woman at a single ceremony. Following the release of her sixth solo studio album Lemonade , Sasha Geffen from MTV claimed "Survivor marked 's turning point from musician to global phenomenon", drawing parallels between lyrical themes of tracks from Survivor and those from Lemonade.


title: José Manuel Fortuny

text: During the fall of Jorge Ubico and the beginning of the Guatemalan Revolution in 1944, Fortuny was vice president of the Student Association Law. He became a member of the Popular Front, and when that merged into the Revolutionary Action Party (Partido Acción Revolucionaria, or PAR) in 1945, he became the leader of the radical wing of the new organization. In 1946, several radical figures within the PAR made a successful effort to take over important leadership positions within the party. Fortuny, who was a member of this push, became the secretary general of the PAR. One year later, Fortuny and other young radical figures founded a covert group within the PAR called the Democratic Vanguard. In 1949, frustrated because he was unable to take complete control of the PAR, Fortuny founded the Partido Comunista de Guatemala (Communist Party of Guatemala). In 1952, this party merged with another communist faction led by Victor Manuel Gutierrez to form the Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo (PGT), or the Guatemalan Party of Labor. Fortuny was General Secretary of the PGT until 1954.


title: Tomato

text: The Aztecs raised several varieties of tomato, with red tomatoes called xitomatl and green tomatoes (physalis) called tomatl (tomatillo). Bernardino de Sahagún reported seeing a great variety of tomatoes in the Aztec market at Tenochtitlán (Mexico City): "large tomatoes, small tomatoes, leaf tomatoes, sweet tomatoes, large serpent tomatoes, nipple-shaped tomatoes", and tomatoes of all colors from the brightest red to the deepest yellow. Bernardino de Sahagún mentioned Aztecs cooking various sauces, some with and without tomatoes of different sizes, serving them in city markets: "foods sauces, hot sauces; fried , olla-cooked , juices, sauces of juices, shredded with chile, with squash seeds , with tomatoes, with smoked chile, with hot chile, with yellow chile, with mild red chile sauce, yellow chile sauce, hot chile sauce, with "bird excrement" sauce, sauce of smoked chile, heated , bean sauce; toasted beans, cooked beans, mushroom sauce, sauce of small squash, sauce of large tomatoes, sauce of ordinary tomatoes, sauce of various kinds of sour herbs, avocado sauce."


title: Tomato

text: The recorded history of tomatoes in Italy dates back to at least 31 October 1548, when the house steward of Cosimo de' Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany, wrote to the Medici private secretary informing him that the basket of tomatoes sent from the grand duke's Florentine estate at Torre del Gallo "had arrived safely". Tomatoes were grown mainly as ornamentals early on after their arrival in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty", and were grown only in gardens or flower beds. The tomato's ability to mutate and create new and different varieties helped contribute to its success and spread throughout Italy. However, in areas where the climate supported growing tomatoes, their habit of growing to the ground suggested low status. They were not adopted as a staple of the peasant population because they were not as filling as other fruits already available. Additionally, both toxic and inedible varieties discouraged many people from attempting to consume or prepare any other varieties. In certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as a tabletop decoration, until it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources.: 17


title: Tomato

text: Evidence has been found that 10–20% of the total carbon fixed in the fruit can be produced by photosynthesis in the developing fruit of the normal U phenotype. The u genetic mutation encodes a factor that produces defective chloroplasts with lower density in developing fruit, resulting in a lighter green colour of unripe fruit, and repression of sugars accumulation in the resulting ripe fruit by 10–15%. Perhaps more important than their role in photosynthesis, the fruit chloroplasts are remodelled during ripening into chlorophyll-free chromoplasts that synthesize and accumulate the carotenoids lycopene, β-carotene, and other metabolites that are sensory and nutritional assets of the ripe fruit. The potent chloroplasts in the dark-green shoulders of the U phenotype are beneficial here, but have the disadvantage of leaving green shoulders near the stems of the ripe fruit, and even cracked yellow shoulders, apparently because of oxidative stress due to overload of the photosynthetic chain in direct sunlight at high temperatures. Hence genetic design of a commercial variety that combines the advantages of types u and U requires fine tuning, but may be feasible.


title: Tomato

text: This is not the same as self-pollination, despite the common claim that tomatoes do so. That tomatoes pollinate themselves poorly without outside aid is clearly shown in greenhouse situations, where pollination must be aided by artificial wind, vibration of the plants (one brand of vibrator is a wand called an "electric bee" that is used manually), or more often today, by cultured bumblebees. The anther of a tomato flower is shaped like a hollow tube, with the pollen produced within the structure, rather than on the surface, as in most species. The pollen moves through pores in the anther, but very little pollen is shed without some kind of externally-induced motion. The ideal vibratory frequencies to release pollen grains are provided by an insect, such as a bumblebee, or the original wild halictid pollinator, capable of engaging in a behavior known as buzz pollination, which honey bees cannot perform. In an outdoors setting, wind or animals usually provide sufficient motion to produce commercially viable crops.


title: Trolleybuses in Wolverhampton

text: Prior to 1923, Wolverhampton had run a tramway system and a number of motorbuses. Included in the motorbus fleet were a small number of petrol-electric vehicles, manufactured by Tilling-Stevens of Maidstone. The General Manager of the municipal transport section was Charles Owen Silvers, and he was sufficiently impressed by the performance of the vehicles that he pressed for a system where the petrol engines were replaced by overhead wires. The short, single-track tramway route from Princes Square to Rookery Bridge in Wednesfield was in need of reconstruction, and in April 1923 the town council approved the conversion of the route to their first trolleybus line. Although the Corporation had no powers to run trolleybuses, the Ministry of Transport allowed the scheme to be implemented, providing a clause to permit such operation was included in their next Parliamentary Bill. Rookery Bridge was widened and the route was extended from the original 1.75 miles (2.82 km) to 2.25 miles (3.62 km), terminating at Pinfold Bridge. Tramcars over the route were withdrawn, to be replaced by motor buses while the conversion work took place. The route was hampered by a low railway bridge, and so six single-deck vehicles were obtained from Tilling-Stevens, which were fitted with Dodson centre-entrance bodies. A formal opening ceremony for the service was held on 29 October 1923.


title: Trolleybuses in Wolverhampton

text: The Corporation next turned their attention to the single-track tramway route from Waterloo Road to Bushbury, which was to be extended by about 1 mile (1.6 km) along Stafford Road. The extension would serve a developing area, but since part of the tramway and all of the extension were outside of the Corporation's area of responsibility, agreement had to be reached with Staffordshire County Council. Trams on the route were withdrawn in August 1924, with motor buses being used while the conversion took place. 3 miles (4.8 km) of new trolleybus route were opened on 9 March 1925, and again, single-deck vehicles from Tilling-Stevens were used. The tramway had used double-deck trams, but there was an arched bridge on the route, with the tram tracks placed centrally in the road. Because trolleybuses were not constrained by tracks, double-deck vehicles would have collided with the bridge if they did not use the centre of the road. At the opening ceremony for the new route, the chairman of the Tramways Committee was able to report that the fortunes of the Wednesfield line had been turned around, and it was now a profitable route, whereas the tramway had made a loss.


title: Trolleybuses in Wolverhampton

text: The Corporation rectified their lack of formal operating powers for the trolleybuses when they obtained the Wolverhampton Corporation Act , which gave them powers to build and run trolleybus routes within the borough and outside it, as well as giving them powers to take over tram routes which were operated by the Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways Company. The tram routes served Dudley, Bilston and Willenhall, and the intention was to replace the trams with trolleybuses. The conversion work took place in stages, with the first part from Snow Hill to the Fighting Cocks public house on the borough boundary opening on 26 October 1925. This was extended to Sedgley Bull Ring on 10 November 1925, and then to Sedgley Depot on 11 May 1927. Shortly afterwards, the changeover was complete, when the service reached Dudley on 8 July 1927. The initial vehicle, which carried civic officials from Coseley, Dudley, Sedgley, Willenhall and Wolverhampton, was one of a batch of 3-axle double-deck trolleybuses manufactured by Guy Motors of Wolverhampton. They had produced their first such vehicle in 1926, which had 61 seats and a covered top but an open staircase at the rear. Wolverhampton ordered a further 58 similar vehicles from Guy Motors over the next five years, although they all had an enclosed rear staircase.


title: Trolleybuses in Wolverhampton

text: Expansion of the network continued through 1927, with trolleybuses reaching Neachells Lane, Willenhall on 15 May. This route was extended to Willenhall Market Place on 16 September, as there were plans for through running onto the Walsall system. A route to Penn Fields opened on 11 July, and another to Tettenhall on 29 October. The last trams ran in August 1928, which allowed the route to Bilston to be opened on 19 November 1928, and this was extended on 28 May 1929 to reach Darlaston. It was at this point that the system became the largest in the world, with around 25 miles (40 km) of route, and the service being used by 36 million passengers a year. The tramcar route to Bradley was to have been converted, but motor buses replaced the trams instead. In 1930 a circular service to Whitmore Reans began operating, which included a branch specifically to serve the Courtauld's textile works. A new departure was the route from Willenhall to Fighting Cocks, which did not involve the trolleybuses starting at the town centre. In late 1931, through working with the Walsall system began, when the Willenhall line was extended, enabling Walsall trolleybuses to reach Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton trolleybuses to reach Walsall. The joint working began on 16 November 1931, after a low bridge on the Willenhall route was modified to allow the running of double-deck vehicles.


title: Trolleybuses in Wolverhampton

text: Wolverhampton Corporation began a process of fitting new bodies to the utility vehicles in 1952, when 16 vehicles were refurbished by Park Royal Vehicles. Charles H. Roe of Leeds built new bodies for a further 16 in 1958/59, and a final batch of 22 were rebodied in 1961/62. Although the future of the trolleybus system was considered in 1957, no action was taken at the time. On 22 January 1961, motor buses replaced the trolleybuses on the Penn Road routes, because major roadworks were under way at the in-town end of the service, and although some of the routes were reinstated on 21 May, that along Oxbarn Avenue was not, with motor buses continuing in service. In 1961 there were some 150 vehicles operational, but the Transport Committee decided that the trolleybuses should be withdrawn, and the routes were progressively closed. Those to Penn and Penn Fields were the first to go, on 9 June 1963, followed by the Tettenhall route on 30 June. Major closures took place on 3 November, when services to Finchfield and Low Hill, Merry Hill and Low Hill, Amos Lane and Jeffcock Road, and Wednesfield were all withdrawn.


title: Dixon Bridge Disaster

text: Many of the eyewitnesses reported hearing a sharp crack between the end of the bridge and the first pier. The heavy weight of the crowd on the west side seemed to tip the bridge over, as that part of the bridge dropped quickly. The crowd then uttered "one wild fearful shriek" as they plummeted about 18 feet (5.5 m) into the water, which was reported to be 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 m) deep. While the north span was the first to fall, the other four spans also quickly collapsed, with each span twisting in different directions. The Chicago Tribune reported, "Some sank to rise no more. Some were killed before they touched the water. Some were entangled in the debris. Some jumped from the bridge to the river, and swam ashore. The weak generally succumbed." The 15 foot (4.6 m) truss "fell over with the weight, and imprisoned the doomed in an iron cage, with which they sunk, and from which there was no escape." The hands and faces of some victims could be felt only six inches (150 mm) below the surface of the water, trapped under the debris.


title: Dixon Bridge Disaster

text: As the mass of bodies were thrown into the river, several citizens quickly brought ropes, planks, and boats to rescue the living and recover the dead. One boat retrieved two little sisters who had clung to each other and to a portion of the ironwork of the bridge. When the bridge collapsed, long wooden planks that made up the bridge floor were released into the water, becoming life rafts for those who grabbed one. Others used the planks to extend a lifeline to those in the water. William Dailey was reported to have saved 16 victims using one of these planks. Several men worked tirelessly with rescue efforts, while many homes along the river were opened up to the dead and the wounded. As reported by the Dixon Sun, many citizens "did not spare their substance during our trouble. Blankets, shawls, clothing, sheets, quilts, cloths, cotton, woolen goods, and materials of every description were demanded and were freely given and without a question. The houses were filled with the dead, the dying, and with a thousand anxious enquirers. Carpets and beds were given up freely, and services rendered that ought to give us a nobler estimate of humanity than has ever entered our conceptions."


title: Dixon Bridge Disaster

text: While these harshly negative stories were being published, Truesdell's brother, W. H. Truesdell had been living in Belvidere, Ill., where much of Truesdell's operations had been based, about 50 miles (80 km) from Dixon. (Belvidere also had a Truesdell bridge of its own.) Finally, on May 13, W. H. Truesdell defended the bridge in an interview to the Belvidere newspaper: "Since the fall of the Dixon bridge, of course any number of 'experts' come to the surface with their 'I told you so's,' and there has been the wildest newspaper exaggeration and abuse on the subject." Truesdell's brother claimed that over 1,000 Truesdell bridges had been in daily use for 17 years around the country. (The claim was highly unlikely, since it implied that Truesdell had produced more than one bridge per week over that time period.) He added, "The Dixon bridge could never have broken by any such weight as 200 or 250 persons, unless some important parts of the iron work had been fractured by the frosts of the past severe winter. … If the city authorities had exercised due diligence in looking after its condition, the accident would never have happened, in all probability."


title: Dixon Bridge Disaster

text: The rumors that L. E. Truesdell was dead proved false when he emerged from silence from his home in Massachusetts, sending a letter to the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, seeking "to vindicate his honesty and conscientious thoroughness in the construction of the bridge." His defense was published elsewhere, including the New-York Tribune. He indignantly denied the charges of paying bribes and defied anyone to bring forth proof of such. "I know that I never made a better bridge than the one at Dixon in every particular," he said, claiming that the 1869 test of the bridge weighed "at least 200,000 pounds … and yet it is said to have fallen with less than 15,000 pounds." The only way the bridge could have fallen, he said, was if some of the bolts had been loosened." He also claimed that an inspection of the Elgin bridge showed that "some of the bolts were missing and others were loosened." He concluded his defense, saying, "It is nearly 18 years since I began building iron bridges, and the Elgin and Dixon bridges are the only ones that have fallen, and no loss of life except at Dixon. Can as much be said of any other plan?"


title: Stan Collymore

text: After his release from Wolves' academy, Collymore signed for non-league Stafford Rangers, where he caught the eye of First Division side Crystal Palace who signed him in January 1991. He failed to break into the first team and subsequently dropped down to the Second Division with Southend United, for whom his goalscoring record helped save from relegation and attract attention from Nottingham Forest, who he joined in the summer of 1993 for £2.25 million. Collymore enjoyed two prolific seasons at Forest, earning promotion to the Premier League in his first season and scoring 22 goals as Forest finished in third place during the 1994–95 season. Perennial title challengers Liverpool signed him in 1995, where he initially formed a successful partnership with Robbie Fowler, but was eventually ousted in favour of younger striker Michael Owen and sold on to boyhood club Aston Villa in 1997, where his form dipped and he struggled to break into the first team. After two unsuccessful years with Villa, he joined Leicester City in 2000 where he saw a brief career resurgence under Martin O'Neill, but struggled under his successor Peter Taylor and was sold to Bradford City in October 2000, but would leave the club after just 10 weeks due to his high wage bill. He then joined Real Oviedo of the Primera Liga, where he finished his career in March 2001 after just five weeks with the club.


title: Stan Collymore

text: He made his first appearance for Forest in the Premiership on 22 August 1994, scoring a 26th minute equaliser in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United at City Ground. Collymore scored 22 goals as Forest remained a consistent challenger for a top 3 finish in 1994–95, and a thirteen game unbeaten run from February–May saw them finish third and earn a place in the next season's UEFA Cup. Despite success on the field, Collymore became an unpopular figure among his teammates, to the point that they refused to celebrate with him when he scored a goal. Midway through the season, his impressive goalscoring record had attracted attention from Manchester United, who were looking to replace ageing striker Mark Hughes with a younger talent. Collymore spent almost the entirety of late 1994 linked with a move to Old Trafford, with himself and Newcastle United's Andy Cole named as Sir Alex Ferguson's most wanted targets. Eventually, Cole was signed by United for an English transfer record deal worth £7 million, while Collymore stayed at Forest for the remainder of the season; by the end of the campaign, however, he had received offers from Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle, with all three battling to earn his signature in the summer of 1995.


title: Stan Collymore

text: Roy Evans would sign the deal to bring Collymore to Liverpool on 3 July 1995 for £8.5 million, shattering the English transfer record set earlier in the year by Andy Cole's move to Manchester United. Collymore was initially placed in a forward partnership with veteran Ian Rush, though Rush was soon replaced with the younger Robbie Fowler early in the season. The up front pairing of Collymore and Fowler proved to be successful, as they scored a combined 55 goals in 1995–96 and established Evans' Liverpool side as serious contenders for that year's Premiership trophy. On 3 April 1996, with the title still very much up for grabs, Liverpool met league leaders Newcastle in a thrilling 4–3 win at Anfield, with Collymore scoring the winner in the second minute of stoppage time to severely weaken Newcastle's grip on first place and eventually play a part in them falling to second as Manchester United would take the trophy on the final day. This was later voted as the best match of the decade by the Premier League in 2003. Along with a strong league finish, Collymore was part of the Liverpool side that reached the 1996 FA Cup Final, played against Manchester United on 11 May 1996. Though he started the game, Collymore failed to get on the scoresheet and was subbed off in the 74th minute for Ian Rush, in what went on to be Rush's final appearance for the club. Collymore watched from the sidelines as Eric Cantona fired home the winning goal with five minutes left on the clock, consigning Liverpool to another year with no major silverware. It would be the closest that Collymore would come to winning a major trophy in his playing career.


title: Stan Collymore

text: Rumours of his exit from Liverpool were confirmed on 16 May 1997 when Collymore was signed by boyhood club Aston Villa, then under Brian Little, for a club record £7 million. Collymore debuted for the Villans on 9 August 1997 in a 1–0 loss to Leicester City. He scored his first club goal on 27 August, in a 3–2 loss against Tottenham. On 4 October, he was sent off after getting into a fistfight with Bolton Wanderers' Andy Todd and subsequently handed a three match ban by the F.A. His debut season for Villa coincided with a major dip in form, as well as injury and disciplinary problems, as he managed just six goals all season and struggled to break into the starting lineup ahead of longtime main striker Dwight Yorke. During a match against Liverpool on 28 February 1998, Collymore accused former teammate Steve Harkness of racist abuse, an incident that was later picked up by the Professional Footballer's Association (PFA), but went unresolved and was closed after both players met in private and agreed to move on without charges. Off the field, Collymore was involved in an incident on 9 June 1998 where he assaulted girlfriend Ulrika Jonsson in a Paris bar, which he later apologised for.


title: Stan Collymore

text: The 1998–99 season saw Collymore score just once in 19 appearances, as his issues off the field came to a head. In a match against Liverpool on 20 November 1998, Collymore was given a yellow card for a 9th minute tackle on defender Steve Harkness that caused the latter to be carried off the pitch and suffer ligament damage; Collymore was later shown a second yellow and sent off for another rash challenge on Michael Owen. Given his history with Harkness, Collymore was accused of holding a grudge and purposely trying to injure his former teammate; he denied the allegations. Shortly after this, he began to publicly struggle with his mental health, and was diagnosed with clinical depression, stress and anxiety in January 1999. Following this, he announced he would seek counselling and checked himself into the Priory Group Hospital in Roehampton, where he stayed for several weeks. He returned to the Villa side later in the season, but after a 3–0 loss to Chelsea on 21 March 1999, manager John Gregory dropped him from the first team for the rest of the season. This would go on to be his last appearance for Aston Villa.


title: Stan Collymore

text: Collymore and Aston Villa mutually agreed to separate after he returned from his loan spell at Fulham, and he spent the rest of 1999 training with the youth team and looking for a new club. Ligue 1 outfit Montpellier HSC showed interest, but rescinded their offer after Collymore refused to play in a practice match before signing. Newly promoted Bradford City also tried and failed to sign him, put off by Villa's £3 million asking price. He eventually joined Leicester City for free on a pay-as-you-play basis on 11 February 2000. Just days after signing for the club, he made front page news during a team break in Spain, when he set off a fire extinguisher during a night of drinking inside La Manga Club, which resulted in £700 of damage to the bar and the entire team being sent home. Collymore was fined £30,000 and ordered to undertake community work by boss Martin O'Neill for the incident; O'Neill also warned Collymore that he would terminate his contract if any more incidents like this would occur. After returning to England, his second appearance and home debut for the club saw him score a hat-trick in a 5–2 drubbing of Sunderland. He would score four times in six appearances in his debut campaign for the Foxes, a season that saw them reach the League Cup Final, where they defeated Tranmere Rovers 2–1, though Collymore, having turned out for Fulham earlier in the season, was cup-tied and unable to feature. Collymore was stretchered off the pitch during a game against Derby County on 2 April after just 17 minutes, having audibly screamed and collapsed in the middle of the pitch. Scans later revealed he had suffered a broken left leg after an awkward landing, and he missed the rest of the season.


title: Stan Collymore

text: Having fully recovered, Collymore remained with Leicester through the summer transfer window and was thought to be the club's new first choice striker after Emile Heskey had left for Liverpool in the summer; however, with Martin O'Neill having departed Leicester to manage Celtic, he was dropped by replacement manager Peter Taylor in favour of new signing Ade Akinbiyi and instead often brought on as a midfield substitute. He scored once more for the Foxes, in a 2–0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 17 September 2000. On 24 September, during a 1–1 draw against Everton, Collymore was alleged to have "stamped on, and later elbowed" Paul Gascoigne. While referee Alan Wiley claimed he did not see the incident and Collymore was not punished during the game, he was later ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing by the FA on 28 November. Two days after the incident with Gascoigne, Collymore submitted a transfer request to Leicester. He would later retract this request, but manager Peter Taylor still placed him on the transfer list, citing Collymore's poor fitness, lack of commitment and attitude problems. Having fallen out of favour with another manager, and demoted to the reserve squad, where he was involved in a half time altercation with teammate Trevor Benjamin, Collymore and Leicester would eventually agree to part ways, and he was allowed to leave on a free transfer in October 2000.


title: Stan Collymore

text: Collymore was immediately signed by longtime admirers Bradford City on 26 October 2000, a move described as "desperate" by BBC Sport pundit Mark Lawrenson. He made his Bradford debut in a West Yorkshire derby against Leeds United at Valley Parade on 29 October, scoring a memorable overhead kick in a 1–1 draw, however, his controversial celebration in front of the away crowd caused uproar and led to two Leeds fans being restrained by stewards. Collymore subsequently faced additional charges from the F.A. for the incident. He was substituted at half-time in his second game as Bradford lost 4–3 to Newcastle United in the League Cup, and missed the following game at Charlton Athletic because of flu and a sore wisdom tooth. In Collymore's absence, City lost 2–0, and manager Chris Hutchings was sacked two days later. Jim Jefferies soon took over as new City manager, and Collymore once again led the front line in Jefferies' first home game in charge against Coventry City, scoring Bradford's first goal. On 28 November, he attended a disciplinary hearing for the incident with Paul Gascoigne while he was still at Leicester, and upon video review of the incident, he was handed a three match ban, which meant he would miss key games against Liverpool, Sunderland and Chelsea. After returning from his ban, Collymore, and other highly paid players Benito Carbone and Dan Petrescu were transfer-listed in January 2001 by chairman Geoffrey Richmond in a bid to reduce the club's high wage bill. VFB Stuttgart and Celtic both made offers for Collymore, but he would eventually choose to sign with Spanish outfit Real Oviedo after just 8 games and 10 weeks with Bradford.


title: Stan Collymore

text: Collymore signed an 18 month contract with Primera Liga side Real Oviedo on 31 January 2001. He made his debut for Oviedo as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 defeat to Las Palmas on 4 February 2001. He was again brought on during the second half of his home debut a week later in a loss against Villarreal, but was dropped by coach Radomir Antić after the game and told to improve his fitness. He played just one more game for Oviedo, another loss against Celta Vigo on 3 March, before announcing his retirement on 7 March 2001 at the age of 30, just five weeks after he had joined Oviedo; he did not tell the club of his plans beforehand and they only found out through the Spanish tabloids. A statement issued through his spokesman said, "Stan Collymore has decided, after discussions with his family and close friends, to give up playing professional football. He has just turned 30 and believes that the time is right to explore other career opportunities which are available to him." He was offered a chance to return to Southend United and was also approached by Boston United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, but never made a return to football, however, he applied but was turned down for the manager's position at Bradford City following the dismissal of Jim Jefferies in December 2001. Before the end of the year, Oviedo had begun court proceedings against Collymore for breach of his contract, unsuccessfully suing him for £7 million.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was a member of the prominent and wealthy American Roosevelt and Livingston families and a niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. She had an unhappy childhood, having suffered the deaths of both parents and one of her brothers at a young age. At 15, she attended Allenswood Boarding Academy in London and was deeply influenced by its founder and director Marie Souvestre. Returning to the U.S., she married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1905. Between 1906 and 1916 she gave birth to six children, one of whom died in infancy. The Roosevelts' marriage became complicated after Eleanor discovered her husband's affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer, in 1918. Due to mediation by her mother-in-law, Sara, who was a strong financial supporter of the family, the liaison was ended officially. After that, both partners started to keep independent agendas, and Eleanor joined the Women's Trade Union League and became active in the New York state Democratic Party.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was, in her time, one of the world's most widely admired and powerful women. Nevertheless, in her early years in the White House she was a controversial first lady for her outspokenness, particularly with respect to her promotion of civil rights for African Americans. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. On a few occasions, she publicly disagreed with her husband's policies. She launched an experimental community at Arthurdale, West Virginia, for the families of unemployed miners, later widely regarded as a failure. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. Following her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate to the committee on Human Rights. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later, she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. By the time of her death, Roosevelt was regarded as "one of the most esteemed women in the world"; The New York Times called her "the object of almost universal respect" in her obituary.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was tutored privately and with the encouragement of her aunt Anna "Bamie" Roosevelt, she was sent to Allenswood Academy at the age of 15, a private finishing school in Wimbledon, London, England, where she was educated from 1899 to 1902. The headmistress, Marie Souvestre, was a noted educator who sought to cultivate independent thinking in young women. Souvestre took a special interest in Roosevelt, who learned to speak French fluently and gained self-confidence. Roosevelt and Souvestre maintained a correspondence until March 1905, when Souvestre died, and after this Roosevelt placed Souvestre's portrait on her desk and brought her letters with her. Roosevelt's first cousin Corinne Douglas Robinson, whose first term at Allenswood overlapped with Roosevelt's last, said that when she arrived at the school, Roosevelt was "'everything' at the school. She was beloved by everybody." Roosevelt wished to continue at Allenswood, but she was summoned home by her grandmother in 1902 to make her social debut.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Returning to the U.S., the newlyweds settled in a New York City house that was provided by Franklin's mother, as well as in a second residence at the family's estate overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. From the beginning, Roosevelt had a contentious relationship with her controlling mother-in-law. The townhouse that Sara gave to them was connected to her own residence by sliding doors, and Sara ran both households in the decade after the marriage. Early on, Roosevelt had a breakdown in which she explained to Franklin that "I did not like to live in a house which was not in any way mine, one that I had done nothing about and which did not represent the way I wanted to live", but little changed. Sara also sought to control the raising of her grandchildren, and Roosevelt reflected later that "Franklin's children were more my mother-in-law's children than they were mine". Roosevelt's eldest son James remembered Sara telling her grandchildren, "Your mother only bore you, I am more your mother than your mother is."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: This proved a turning point in Eleanor and Sara's long-running struggle, and as Eleanor's public role grew, she increasingly broke from Sara's control. Tensions between Sara and Eleanor over her new political friends rose to the point that the family constructed a cottage at Val-Kill, in which Eleanor and her guests lived when Franklin and the children were away from Hyde Park. Roosevelt herself named the place Val-Kill, loosely translated as "waterfall-stream" from the Dutch language common to the original European settlers of the area. Franklin encouraged his wife to develop this property as a place where she could implement some of her ideas for work with winter jobs for rural workers and women. Each year, when Roosevelt held a picnic at Val-Kill for delinquent boys, her granddaughter Eleanor Roosevelt Seagraves assisted her. She was close to her grandmother throughout her life. Seagraves concentrated her career as an educator and librarian on keeping alive many of the causes Roosevelt began and supported.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt's son Elliott authored numerous books, including a mystery series in which his mother was the detective. However, these murder mysteries were researched and written by William Harrington. They continued until Harrington's death in 2000, ten years after Elliott's death. With James Brough, Elliott also wrote a highly personal book about his parents called The Roosevelts of Hyde Park: An Untold Story, in which he revealed details about the sexual lives of his parents, including his father's relationships with mistress Lucy Mercer and secretary Marguerite ("Missy") LeHand, as well as graphic details surrounding the illness that crippled his father. Published in 1973, the biography also contains valuable insights into FDR's run for vice president, his rise to the governorship of New York, and his capture of the presidency in 1932, particularly with the help of Louis Howe. When Elliott published this book in 1973, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. led the family's denunciation of him; the book was fiercely repudiated by all Elliott's siblings. Another of the siblings, James, published My Parents, a Differing View , which was written in part as a response to Elliott's book. A sequel to An Untold Story with James Brough, published in 1975 and titled A Rendezvous With Destiny, carried the Roosevelt saga to the end of World War II. Mother R.: Eleanor Roosevelt's Untold Story, also with Brough, was published in 1977. Eleanor Roosevelt, with Love: A Centenary Remembrance, came out in 1984.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt also had a close relationship with Associated Press (AP) reporter Lorena Hickok , who covered her during the last months of the presidential campaign and "fell madly in love with her." During this period, Roosevelt wrote daily 10- to 15-page letters to "Hick," who was planning to write a biography of the First Lady. The letters included such endearments as, "I want to put my arms around you & kiss you at the corner of your mouth," and, "I can't kiss you, so I kiss your 'picture' good night and good morning!" At Franklin's 1933 inauguration, Roosevelt wore a sapphire ring Hickok had given her. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover despised Roosevelt's liberalism, her stance regarding civil rights, and criticisms of Hoover's surveillance tactics by both her and her husband, and so Hoover maintained a large file on Roosevelt, which the filmmakers of the biopic J. Edgar indicate included compromising evidence of this relationship, with which Hoover intended to blackmail Roosevelt. Compromised as a reporter, Hickok soon resigned her position with the AP to be closer to Roosevelt, who secured her a job as an investigator for a New Deal program.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: There is considerable debate about whether or not Roosevelt had a sexual relationship with Hickok. It was known in the White House press corps at the time that Hickok was a lesbian. Scholars, including Lillian Faderman and Hazel Rowley, have asserted that there was a physical component to the relationship, while Hickok biographer Doris Faber has argued that the insinuative phrases have misled historians. Doris Kearns Goodwin stated in her 1994 Pulitzer Prize–winning account of the Roosevelts that "whether Hick and Eleanor went beyond kisses and hugs" could not be determined with certainty. Roosevelt was close friends with several lesbian couples, such as Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman, and Esther Lape and Elizabeth Fisher Read, suggesting that she understood lesbianism; Marie Souvestre, Roosevelt's childhood teacher and a great influence on her later thinking, was also a lesbian. Faber published some of Roosevelt and Hickok's correspondence in 1980, but concluded that the lovestruck phrasing was simply an "unusually belated schoolgirl crush" and warned historians not to be misled. Researcher Leila J. Rupp criticized Faber's argument, calling her book "a case study in homophobia" and arguing that Faber unwittingly presented "page after page of evidence that delineates the growth and development of a love affair between the two women." In 1992, Roosevelt biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook argued that the relationship was in fact romantic, generating national attention. A 2011 essay by Russell Baker reviewing two new Roosevelt biographies in the New York Review of Books (Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage, by Hazel Rowley, and Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady, by Maurine H. Beasley) stated, "That the Hickok relationship was indeed erotic now seems beyond dispute considering what is known about the letters they exchanged."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Following the onset of Franklin's paralytic illness in 1921, Roosevelt began serving as a stand-in for her incapacitated husband, making public appearances on his behalf, often carefully coached by Louis Howe. She also started working with the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), raising funds in support of the union's goals: a 48-hour workweek, minimum wage, and the abolition of child labor. Throughout the 1920s, Roosevelt became increasingly influential as a leader in the New York State Democratic Party while Franklin used her contacts among Democratic women to strengthen his standing with them, winning their committed support for the future. In 1924, she campaigned for Democrat Alfred E. Smith in his successful re-election bid as governor of New York State against the Republican nominee and her first cousin Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Franklin had spoken out on Theodore's "wretched record" as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Teapot Dome scandal, and in return, Theodore said of him, "He's a maverick! He does not wear the brand of our family," which infuriated her. She dogged Theodore on the New York State campaign trail in a car fitted with a papier-mâché bonnet shaped like a giant teapot that was made to emit simulated steam (to remind voters of Theodore's supposed, but later disproved, connections to the scandal), and countered his speeches with those of her own, calling him immature. She would later decry these methods, admitting that they were below her dignity but saying that they had been contrived by Democratic Party "dirty tricksters." Theodore was defeated by 105,000 votes, and he never forgave her. By 1928, Roosevelt was promoting Smith's candidacy for president and Franklin's nomination as the Democratic Party's candidate for governor of New York, succeeding Smith. Although Smith lost the presidential race, Franklin won and the Roosevelts moved into the governor's mansion in Albany, New York. During Franklin's term as governor, Roosevelt traveled widely in the state to make speeches and inspect state facilities on his behalf, reporting her findings to him at the end of each trip.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Also in 1927, she established Val-Kill Industries with Cook, Dickerman, and Caroline O'Day, three friends she met through her activities in the Women's Division of the New York State Democratic Party. It was located on the banks of a stream that flowed through the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New York. Roosevelt and her business partners financed the construction of a small factory to provide supplemental income for local farming families who would make furniture, pewter, and homespun cloth using traditional craft methods. Capitalizing on the popularity of the Colonial Revival, most Val-Kill products were modeled on eighteenth-century forms. Roosevelt promoted Val-Kill through interviews and public appearances. Val-Kill Industries never became the subsistence program that Roosevelt and her friends imagined, but it did pave the way for larger New Deal initiatives during Franklin's presidential administration. Cook's failing health and pressures from the Great Depression compelled the women to dissolve the partnership in 1938, at which time Roosevelt converted the shop buildings into a cottage at Val-Kill, that eventually became her permanent residence after Franklin died in 1945. Otto Berge acquired the contents of the factory and the use of the Val-Kill name to continue making colonial-style furniture until he retired in 1975. In 1977, Roosevelt's cottage at Val-Kill and its surrounding property of 181 acres (0.73 km2), was formally designated by an act of Congress as the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, "to commemorate for the education, inspiration, and benefit of present and future generations the life and work of an outstanding woman in American history."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Since 1982, the Siena College Research Institute has periodically conducted surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, intelligence, value to the country, being their "own women", integrity, accomplishments, courage, leadership, public image, and value to the president. Roosevelt has been ranked by participating historians as the best-regarded first lady in each of the five such surveys to be conducted. In the 2003 survey, Roosevelt was ranked the highest in nine of the ten criteria (background, value to the country, intelligence, being her "own woman", integrity, accomplishments, courage, leadership, and value to the president). She was ranked the second-highest in the remaining category (public image) behind only Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. In the 2008 survey, Roosevelt placed first in eight of the ten criteria (intelligence, courage, value to the country, being her "own woman", integrity, accomplishments, value to the president, and leadership) and second in the two remaining categories (background and public image) behind only Jacqueline Kennedy. In additional questions included in the 2014 survey, Roosevelt was assessed by historians as having been the greatest among 20th and 21st century first ladies in regards to advancing women's issues, being a political asset, being a strong public communicator, public service performed after leaving office, and creating a lasting legacy. She was also found to be the second-easiest first lady for historians to imagine serving as president herself. In the 2014 survey, Roosevelt and her husband were also ranked the highest among first couples in terms of being a "power couple".


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: The American Youth Congress (AYC) was formed in 1935 to advocate for youth rights in U.S. politics, and it was responsible for introducing the American Youth Bill of Rights to the U.S. Congress. Roosevelt's relationship with the AYC eventually led to the formation of the National Youth Administration, a New Deal agency in the United States, founded in 1935, that focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. The NYA was headed by Aubrey Willis Williams, a prominent liberal from Alabama who was close to Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins. Speaking of the NYA in the 1930s, Roosevelt expressed her concern about ageism, stating that "I live in real terror when I think we may be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary." In 1939 the Dies Committee subpoenaed leaders of the AYC, who, in addition to serving the AYC, also were members of the Young Communist League. Roosevelt was in attendance at the hearings and afterward invited the subpoenaed witnesses to board at the White House during their stay in Washington D.C. Joseph P. Lash was one of her boarders. On February 10, 1940, members of the AYC, as guests of Roosevelt in her capacity as first lady, attended a picnic on the White House lawn where they were addressed by Franklin from the South Portico. The President admonished them to condemn not merely the Nazi regime but all dictatorships. The President was reportedly booed by the group. Afterwards, many of the same youth picketed the White House as representatives of the American Peace Mobilization. Among them was Joseph Cadden, one of Roosevelt's overnight boarders. Later in 1940, despite Roosevelt's publication of her reasons "Why I still believe in the Youth Congress," the American Youth Congress was disbanded. The NYA was shut down in 1943.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: During the war, however, Roosevelt failed to help labor leader A. Philip Randolph after E.H. Crump, the Democratic Boss of Memphis and a close ally and friend of the president, quite openly violated his constitutional rights. In 1943, Randolph had launched a personal campaign for free speech in Memphis in response to Crump's use of strong-arm and political pressure tactics to drive two prominent local black Republicans, J.B. Martin and Randolph's friend Robert Church Jr. from the city. When Randolph came to the city, Crump had denied him venues and intimidated local black leaders by threatening them with jail into withdrawing speaking invitations. Randolph urged Roosevelt, who had also friendly political ties with Crump, to do something to counter Crump's "fascist" denial of free speech, but she refused. Her reply to Randolph on December 18 read in full: "I referred your letter to a friend of mine when I received it and I am sorry it has not been answered before. I was advised not to do anything, as it might do more harm than good."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was an unprecedentedly outspoken First Lady who made far more use of the media than her predecessors; she held 348 press conferences over the span of her husband's 12-year presidency. Inspired by her relationship with Hickok, Roosevelt placed a ban on male reporters attending the press conferences, effectively forcing newspapers to keep female reporters on staff in order to cover them. She relaxed the rule only once, on her return from her 1943 Pacific trip. Because the Gridiron Club banned women from its annual Gridiron Dinner for journalists, Roosevelt hosted a competing event for female reporters at the White House, which she called "Gridiron Widows". She was interviewed by many newspapers; the New Orleans journalist Iris Kelso described Roosevelt as her most interesting interviewee ever. In the early days of her all-female press conferences, she said they would not address "politics, legislation, or executive decision", since the role of the First Lady was expected to be non-political at that time. She also agreed at first that she would avoid discussing her views on pending congressional measures. Still, the press conferences provided a welcome opportunity for the women reporters to speak directly with the first lady, access that had been unavailable in previous administrations.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Just before Franklin assumed the presidency in February 1933, Roosevelt published an editorial in the Women's Daily News that conflicted so sharply with his intended public spending policies that he published a rejoinder in the following issue. On entering the White House, she signed a contract with the magazine Woman's Home Companion to provide a monthly column, in which she answered mail sent to her by readers; the feature was canceled in 1936 as another presidential election approached. She continued her articles in other venues, publishing more than sixty articles in national magazines during her tenure as first lady. Roosevelt also began a syndicated newspaper column, titled "My Day", which appeared six days a week from 1936 to her death in 1962. In the column, she wrote about her daily activities but also her humanitarian concerns. Hickok and George T. Bye, Roosevelt's literary agent, encouraged her to write the column. From 1941 to her death in 1962, she also wrote an advice column, If You Ask Me, first published in Ladies Home Journal and then later in McCall's. A selection of her columns was compiled in the book If You Ask Me: Essential Advice from Eleanor Roosevelt in 2018.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt also made extensive use of radio. She was not the first first lady to broadcast—her predecessor, Lou Henry Hoover, had done that already. But Hoover did not have a regular radio program, whereas Roosevelt did. She first broadcast her own programs of radio commentary beginning on July 9, 1934. On that first show, she talked about the effect of movies on children, the need for a censor who could make sure movies did not glorify crime and violence, and her opinion about the recent All-Star baseball game. She also read a commercial from a mattress company, which sponsored the broadcast. She said she would not accept any salary for being on the air, and that she would donate the amount ($3,000) to charity. Later that year, in November 1934, she broadcast a series of programs about children's education; it was heard on the CBS Radio Network. Sponsored by a typewriter company, Roosevelt once again donated the money, giving it to the American Friends Service Committee, to help with a school it operated. During 1934, Roosevelt set a record for the most times a first lady had spoken on radio: she spoke as a guest on other people's programs, as well as the host of her own, for a total of 28 times that year. In 1935, Roosevelt continued to host programs aimed at the female audience, including one called "It's A Woman's World." Each time, she donated the money she earned to charity. The association of a sponsor with the popular first lady resulted in increases in sales for that company: when the Selby Shoe Company sponsored a series of Roosevelt's programs, sales increased by 200%. The fact that her programs were sponsored created controversy, with her husband's political enemies expressing skepticism about whether she really did donate her salary to charity; they accused her of "profiteering." But her radio programs proved to be so popular with listeners that the criticisms had little effect. She continued to broadcast throughout the 1930s, sometimes on CBS and sometimes on NBC.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, marking the end of the relatively conflict-free "Phoney War" phase of World War II. As the U.S. began to move toward war footing, Roosevelt found herself again depressed, fearing that her role in fighting for domestic justice would become extraneous in a nation focused on foreign affairs. She briefly considered traveling to Europe to work with the Red Cross, but was dissuaded by presidential advisers who pointed out the consequences should the president's wife be captured as a prisoner of war. She soon found other wartime causes to work on, however, beginning with a popular movement to allow the immigration of European refugee children. She also lobbied her husband to allow greater immigration of groups persecuted by the Nazis, including Jews, but fears of fifth columnists caused Franklin to restrict immigration rather than expanding it. Roosevelt successfully secured political refugee status for eighty-three Jewish refugees from the S.S. Quanza in August 1940, but was refused on many other occasions. Her son James later wrote that "her deepest regret at the end of her life" was that she had not forced Franklin to accept more refugees from Nazism during the war.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt supported increased roles for women and African-Americans in the war effort, and began to advocate for women to be given factory jobs a year before it became a widespread practice. In 1942, she urged women of all social backgrounds to learn trades, saying: "if I were of a debutante age I would go into a factory–any factory where I could learn a skill and be useful." Roosevelt learned of the high rate of absenteeism among working mothers, and she campaigned for government-sponsored day care. She notably supported the Tuskegee Airmen in their successful effort to become the first black combat pilots, visiting the Tuskegee Air Corps Advanced Flying School in Alabama. She also flew with African-American chief civilian instructor C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson. Anderson had been flying since 1929 and was responsible for training thousands of rookie pilots; he took her on a half-hour flight in a Piper J-3 Cub. After landing, she cheerfully announced, "Well, you can fly all right." The subsequent brouhaha over the first lady's flight had such an impact it is often mistakenly cited as the start of the Civilian Pilot Training Program at Tuskegee, even though the program was already five months old. Roosevelt did use her position as a trustee of the Julius Rosenwald Fund to arrange a loan of $175,000 to help finance the building of Moton Field.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Franklin died on April 12, 1945, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt later learned that her husband's mistress Lucy Mercer (now named Rutherfurd) had been with him when he died, a discovery made more bitter by learning that her daughter Anna had also been aware of the ongoing relationship between the President and Rutherfurd. It was Anna who told her that Franklin had been with Rutherfurd when he died; in addition, she told her that Franklin had continued the relationship for decades, and people surrounding him had hidden the information from his wife. After the funeral, Roosevelt temporarily returned to Val-Kill. Franklin left instructions for her in the event of his death; he proposed turning over Hyde Park to the federal government as a museum, and she spent the following months cataloging the estate and arranging for the transfer. After Franklin's death, she moved into an apartment at 29 Washington Square West in Greenwich Village. In 1950, she rented suites at the Park Sheraton Hotel (202 West 56th Street). She lived here until 1953 when she moved to 211 East 62nd Street. When that lease expired in 1958, she returned to the Park Sheraton as she waited for the house she purchased with Edna and David Gurewitsch at 55 East 74th Street to be renovated. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum opened on April 12, 1946, setting a precedent for future presidential libraries.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt lived in a stone cottage at Val-Kill, which was two miles east of the Springwood Estate. The cottage had been her home after the death of her husband and was the only residence she had ever personally owned. In 1977, the home was formally designated by an act of Congress as the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, "to commemorate for the education, inspiration, and benefit of present and future generations the life and work of an outstanding woman in American history." In 1998, Save America's Treasures (SAT) announced Val-Kill cottage as a new official project. SAT's involvement led to the Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt (HER) project, initially run by private volunteers and now a part of SAT. The HER project has since raised almost $1 million, which has gone toward restoration and development efforts at Val-Kill and the production of Eleanor Roosevelt: Close to Home, a documentary about Roosevelt at Val-Kill. Due in part to the success of these programs, Val-Kill was given a $75,000 grant and named one of 12 sites showcased in Restore America: A Salute to Preservation, a partnership between SAT, the National Trust and HGTV. The Roosevelt Study Center, a research institute, conference center, and library on twentieth-century American history located in the twelfth-century Abbey of Middelburg, the Netherlands, opened in 1986. It is named after Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, all of whose ancestors emigrated from Zeeland, the Netherlands, to the United States in the seventeenth century.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: In 1979, NBC televised the miniseries Backstairs at the White House based on the 1961 book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks. The series portrayed the lives of the Presidents, their families, and the White House staff who served them from the administrations of William Howard Taft through Dwight D. Eisenhower . Much of the book was based on notes by Parks's mother, Maggie Rogers, a White House maid. Parks credits Eleanor Roosevelt for encouraging her mother to start a diary about her service on the White House staff. The series won the Writers Guild of America award for Long Form Television Series, received a Golden Globe nomination for Dramatic Television Series, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. Among the 10 additional Emmy nominations was Eileen Heckart for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt. She received an Emmy nomination again the following year for her performance as Eleanor Roosevelt in the NBC television movie F.D.R.: The Last Year.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: In 1996, Washington Post writer Bob Woodward reported that Hillary Clinton had been having "imaginary discussions" with Eleanor Roosevelt from the start of Clinton's time as first lady. Following the Democrats' loss of congressional control in the 1994 elections, Clinton had engaged the services of Human Potential Movement proponent Jean Houston. Houston encouraged Clinton to pursue the Roosevelt connection, and while no psychic techniques were used with Clinton, critics and comics immediately suggested that Clinton was holding séances with Roosevelt. The White House stated that this was merely a brainstorming exercise, and a private poll later indicated that most of the public believed these were indeed just imaginary conversations, with the remainder believing that communication with the dead was actually possible. In her 2003 autobiography Living History, Clinton titled an entire chapter "Conversations with Eleanor", and stated that holding "imaginary conversations actually a useful mental exercise to help analyze problems, provided you choose the right person to visualize. Eleanor Roosevelt was ideal."


title: Ricardo de la Espriella

text: But by 1984, de la Espriella was pressured by the National Defense Forces, according to close friends, to reorganize his Cabinet to include supporters of an official candidate. Publicity speculated he stepped down in order to keep the election from being unfairly slanted, or most likely, driven out by the Forces under personal threat. In In the Time of Tyrants by R.M. Koster & Guillermo Sanchez, 1990, W.W. Norton & Co., N.Y., pages 302-303 state (not verbatim): " ...de la Espriella was given a list of replacements for his cabinet, but balked at naming them... On 13 February, he was with his family in Chiriquí Province. Noriega sent a plane to bring him to an urgent council of state in the capital, at which only he and Colonel Díaz Herrera were present. Díaz Herrera talked while Noriega looked on. Why hadn't de la Espriella made the appointments? "They weren't good for the country", de la Espriella replied, and that was surely true...but sixteen years had passed since the good of the country had mattered a fig in the decisions of the Panamanian leaders, and that hadn't bothered de la Espriella before. So he wanted to end his term with a few scraps of dignity, but that wasn't to be and he should have known it. "You should think of your family", said Herrera..."do you know where they are?" "


title: Tree topping

text: Large pruning wounds, such as those left behind in trees after topping, may become entry points for pathogens and may result in extensive decay. Decay undermines, to greater or lesser extent, the long-term health and physical stability of trees; most notably in those species which compartmentalize decay less effectively. Should a tree survive topping, tissue regrowth at the site of the original topping wound(s) is generally profuse. These new multiple leaders are less well-attached than was the original treetop, partly due to the effect of advancing decay at the wound site. As these weakly attached trunks increase in size, they become more prone to fall from the tree. Wind can increase this potential. Previously topped trees can present significant hazards and should be inspected by a qualified arborist, who can recommend possible solutions, such as removal, cabling, bracing, or ongoing inspection. Aesthetic appeal is also compromised by topping, as the natural shapes of trees are lost.


title: Seinfeld

text: The pilot was filmed at Stage 8 of Desilu Cahuenga studios, the same studio where The Dick Van Dyke Show was filmed (seen by the crew as a good omen), and was recorded at Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood. The pilot was first screened to a group of two dozen NBC executives in Burbank, California, in early 1989. It did not yield the explosion of laughter garnered by the pilots for the decade's previous NBC successes like The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls. Brandon Tartikoff was not convinced the show would work. A Jewish man from New York himself, Tartikoff characterized it as "Too New York, too Jewish" (a sentiment which would also lead to the Cosmo character's later surname change from the more Jewish-sounding Kessler to Kramer). Test audiences were even harsher. NBC's practice at the time was to recruit 400 households by phone to ask them to evaluate pilots it aired on an unused channel on its cable system. An NBC research department memo summarized the pilot's performance among the respondents as "weak," which Warren Littlefield, then second-in-command in NBC's entertainment division, called "a dagger to the heart." Comments included, "You can't get too excited about two guys going to the laundromat," "Jerry's loser friend George isn't a forceful character," "Jerry needs a stronger supporting cast," and "Why are they interrupting the stand-up for these stupid stories?" Seinfeld and David did not see the memo for several years, but after they became aware of it, they hung it in a bathroom on the set. Seinfeld comments, "We thought, if someone goes in to use this bathroom, this is something they should see. It fits that moment."


title: Seinfeld

text: When NBC announced its 1989–90 (primetime) schedule in May 1989, The Seinfeld Chronicles was not included, but the show's supporters did not give up. The pilot first aired on July 5, 1989, and finished second in its time slot against the CBS police drama Jake and the Fatman, receiving a Nielsen rating of 10.9/19. The ratings did not exhibit the regional skew Tartikoff predicted, much to the encouragement of the show's supporters. Ludwin canceled one of the Bob Hope specials budgeted for that season so the entertainment division had the money to order four more episodes of The Seinfeld Chronicles, which formed the rest of the show's first season (the series was by then retitled to Seinfeld)—a move without which Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal later said there "would be no Seinfeld". Although this was a very low order number for a new series—and the smallest sitcom order in TV history—Castle Rock failed to find any other buyers when it shopped the show to other networks, and accepted the order. Seinfeld did not return to the airwaves until May 30, 1990, and it was another three years before it became a Top 5-rated show. Preston Beckman, in charge of NBC's research department at the time, reminisced, "The show was different. Nobody had seen anything like it. It wasn't unusual for poor-testing shows to get on the air, but it was very rare that they became hits."


title: Seinfeld

text: Various locations used for establishing shots included Tom's Restaurant at 112th Street and Broadway (Monk's Cafe), Midtown West's Roosevelt Hospital (recurring exterior emergency room scene and indoor scenes in 'The Junior Mint' and 'The Bris'), Cornell Medical Centre at 525 East 68th Street, 22-39 37th Street, Queens (The Costanza's house), the Taconic State Parkway exit to the Hopewell Junction, Dutchess County, New York (driving scene in 'The Bubble Boy'), and the Amagansett farmers market, Long Island ('The Hamptons'). The exterior shot used for Jerry's New York apartment building was actually located at 757 S New Hampshire Avenue, Los Angeles. The real-life exterior of Pendant Publishing, Elaine's workplace, is located at 1325 Ave of the Americas, New York. The live stand-up comedy performed by Seinfeld at the beginning of most episodes was truly filmed at The Improv, a comedy club at 358 West 44th Street, Manhattan; though it closed in 1993, another comedy club operates at the site today. The Yankee Stadium exterior seen in the show has now been demolished. Most office building establishing shots are real businesses and locations. Various real street locations can be gleaned from the car windows during driving scenes.


title: Seinfeld

text: Many Seinfeld episodes are based on the writers' real-life experiences, with the experiences reinterpreted for the characters' storylines. For example, George's storyline in "The Revenge" is based on Larry David's experience at Saturday Night Live. "The Contest" is also based on David's experiences. "The Smelly Car" storyline is based on Peter Mehlman's lawyer friend, who could not get a bad smell out of his car. "The Strike" is based on Dan O'Keefe's dad, who made up his own holiday: Festivus. Other stories take a variety of turns. "The Chinese Restaurant" consists of George, Jerry, and Elaine waiting for a table throughout the entire episode. "The Boyfriend", revolving around Keith Hernandez, extends through two episodes. "The Betrayal" is famous for using reverse chronology and was inspired by a similar plot device in a Harold Pinter play, Betrayal. Some stories were inspired by headlines and rumors, as explained in the DVD features "Notes About Nothing", "Inside Look" and "Audio Commentary." In "The Maestro," Kramer's lawsuit is roughly similar to the McDonald's coffee case. "The Outing" is based primarily on rumors that Larry Charles heard about Jerry Seinfeld's sexuality.


title: Seinfeld

text: In "The Note," the first episode of Season 3, the bumper music featured a scatting female jazz singer who sang a phrase that sounded like the tune Easy To Beat. Jerry Seinfeld and executive producer Larry David both liked Wolff's additions, and three episodes were produced with this new style of music. However, they had neglected to inform NBC and Castle Rock executives of the change, and when the season premiere aired, the executives were surprised and unimpressed and requested that they return to the original style. The subsequent two episodes were redone, leaving this episode as the only one with additional music elements. In the commentary of "The Note," Louis-Dreyfus facetiously suggests it was removed because the perceived lyric related closely to the low ratings at the time. In the final three seasons, the bits were tweaked slightly with more frantic rhythms; a bass guitar was added in addition to the sampled bass from earlier seasons. Throughout the show, the main theme could be restyled in different ways depending on the episode. For instance, in "The Betrayal," part of which takes place in India, the theme is heard played on a sitar. The soundtrack was given a digital release on July 2, 2021.


title: Seinfeld

text: The show premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles on July 5, 1989. After it aired, a pickup by NBC seemed unlikely, and the show was offered to Fox, which declined to pick it up. Rick Ludwin, head of late night and special events for NBC, however, diverted money from his budget by canceling a Bob Hope television special, and the next four episodes were filmed. These episodes were highly rated as they followed summer re-runs of Cheers on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m., and the series was finally picked up. At one point, NBC considered airing these episodes on Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. but gave the slot to a short-lived sitcom called FM instead. The series was renamed simply Seinfeld as a precautionary measure due to the failure of the short-lived 1990 ABC series with a similarly sounding title, The Marshall Chronicles. After airing the remaining four episodes of its first season the summer of 1990, NBC ordered 13 more episodes. David believed that he and Seinfeld had no more stories to tell and advised Seinfeld to turn down the order, but Seinfeld agreed to the additional episodes. Season 2 was bumped off its scheduled premiere of January 16, 1991, due to the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War. It settled into a regular time slot on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. and eventually flipped with veteran series Night Court to 9 p.m.


title: Seinfeld

text: Much publicity followed the controversial episode "The Contest," an Emmy Award-winning episode written by David, whose subject matter was considered inappropriate for prime-time network TV. To circumvent this taboo, the word "masturbation" was never used in the script, instead substituted for by a variety of oblique references. Midway through that season, Seinfeld was moved from its original 9:00 p.m. time slot on Wednesdays to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, following Cheers again, which gave the show even more popularity. Ratings also sparked the move, as Tim Allen's sitcom Home Improvement on ABC had aired at the same time, and Home Improvement kept beating Seinfeld in the ratings. NBC moved the series after Ted Danson announced the end of Cheers and Seinfeld quickly surpassed the ratings of the 9:00 p.m. Cheers reruns that spring. The show won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993, beating out its family-oriented, time-slot competitor Home Improvement, which was only in its second season on rival network ABC.


title: Seinfeld

text: Seinfeld's final two seasons were considered distinct from the earlier seasons. Most noticeably, David left the writing crew , resulting in Seinfeld taking over David's duties as showrunner, and, under the direction of a new writing staff, Seinfeld became a faster-paced show. The show no longer contained extracts of Jerry performing stand-up comedy—Jerry had no time or energy for this with his new responsibilities—and storylines occasionally delved into fantasy and broad humor. For example, in "The Bizarro Jerry", Elaine is torn between exact opposites of her friends and Jerry dates a woman who has the now-famous "man hands". Some notable episodes from Season 8 include "The Little Kicks" showing Elaine's horrible dancing, and "The Chicken Roaster" which portrays the Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken restaurant which opened during that time. A story arc in this season involves Peterman going to Burma in "The Foundation" until he recovered from a nervous breakdown in "The Money", followed by Elaine writing Peterman's biography in "The Van Buren Boys", which leads to Kramer's parody of Kenny Kramer's Reality Tour seen in "The Muffin Tops".


title: Seinfeld

text: Seinfeld is suffused with postmodern themes. To begin with, the boundary between reality and fiction is frequently blurred: this is illustrated in the central device of having Jerry Seinfeld play the character Jerry Seinfeld. In the show's fourth season, several episodes revolved around the narrative of Jerry and George (whose character is co-creator Larry David's alter ego) pitching 'a show about nothing' based on the everyday life of a stand-up comedian to NBC. By all accounts, the fictional NBC executives' reaction mirrored the initial responses of those who eventually commissioned Seinfeld. The fourth season ends with 'The Pilot', an episode focusing on the casting, taping, and screening of the show-within-the-show, Jerry. This episode also neatly illustrates the self-referential quality, which is one of Seinfeld's hallmarks. The series finale was so replete with references to earlier shows that it could have been more comprehensible to those not already well-versed in the personae and preoccupations of the Seinfeld universe.


title: Songs People Actually Liked – Volume 1 – The First 10 Years (1994–2003)

text: On February 17, 2014, the band announced they teamed up with PledgeMusic again, this time to launch a fully fan-funded campaign to record a greatest hits album. The band would be reaching their 20th anniversary later that year and the album would cover the band's first 10 years together. The album was to contain re-recordings of 17 songs plus one new one. Like their previous Pledge campaign, exclusive pre-order items would include shirts, posters, autographed items, and lithographs. The campaign would also include the rare "Drunk Enough To Dance Demos" CD and a book of every Bowling For Soup song lyrics hand-written lyrics with commentary and notes. 5% of the pledges would again be donated to Sweet Relief an organization that provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. The band would post monthly updates to their pledgers throughout the process. The track listing was announced with a total listing of 18 songs which included the title for their new song "20 years (That's A Lot Of Beer)" and "Shut Up And Smile" which ended up not being included on the final release, instead the song "Suckerpunch" was. In June and July the band would perform several dates at Warped Tour and at Download Fest. A video announcement from Chandler gave news that the album was going to be delayed due to an injury he received. Because of Erik's injury The album was supposed to be released in June to commemorate their 20th anniversary but would be pushed back to January 2015. An October 2014 update showed Burney recording guitar solos for "Thirteen" and "Cody". Vocals were also recorded and artwork was being approved that month. Vocals, mixing and mastering were being finished in November. Reddick informed pledgers that they wanted lyric videos for every song from the album and asked fans to choose a songs and submit it. If the submission was chosen and allowed it would be posted on BFStv and the winners would be sent at least $100 in free goodies. Over a year had past since the project began when on May 20, 2015, the commentary for each track was given to pledgers.


title: Ngapi

text: Ngapi has a long history in Myanmar, as continental Southeast Asia has the widest variety of fermented fish products. The earliest extant record referencing "ngapi" is a Mon stone inscription dating to the 1st century CE. Ngapi makers are also listed in Burmese stone and marble inscriptions dating to 1100s to 1400s. The Mon established a trading pattern for ngapi by the 1400s, trading ngapi, salt, and rice in exchange for rubies, benzoin, and musk from the Bamars in Upper Myanmar. The trade of ngapi was economically significant in pre-colonial era, and was submitted as a tributary gift by Mon kingdoms to the Konbaung kingdom. In 1880, Pho Hlaing, a Konbaung era scholar, noted the purported health effects of ngapi, including enhanced diffusion and digestion of phlegm and bile in the Utubojanasaṅgaha treatise (ဥတုဗောဇနသင်္ဂဟကျမ်း). During British rule in Burma, European observers noted that the importance of ngapi in Burmese cuisine, and characterized its smell as "very self-offensive" and "offensive".


title: Demographics of Venezuela

text: Approximately 50% of Venezuelans identify themselves as mixed-race, indicating mixed ancestry with intermediate features reflecting indigenous, European, and/or African phenotypes (to a lesser extent, this category can include individuals with Arab or Asian ancestry mixed with the aforementioned groups). The intermingling of races in Venezuela commenced in the 16th century when Spanish conquerors and settlers intermarried with indigenous women, owing to the absence of European women in the region. Subsequently, with the introduction of enslaved Africans, a process of racial fusion emerged among the indigenous, European, and African populations. This process persisted over the decades as additional waves of migration from Europe, the Middle East, North America, Latin America, and Asia contributed to Venezuela's diverse genetic landscape. Diverses genetic studies indicate that the mestizo Venezuelan population predominantly possesses a European genetic component (54 - 71.9%), followed by Amerindian (18.6 - 32%), and to a lesser extent, African (9.5 - 16.3%) ancestry, with notable regional variations.


title: Demographics of Venezuela

text: Mestizos are distributed throughout most of the country, with significant concentrations primarily along the northern strip of the Orinoco River (the northern half of the country). Noteworthy towns in the Los Llanos region, such as El Pao (Cojedes), San Antonio (Barinas), Trinidad de La Capilla - Guanarito (Portuguesa), La Union (Barinas), Florida (Portuguesa), and Libertad de Orituco (Guárico), boast a majority of residents belonging to this ethnic group, with over 75% mestizo population. States with the highest proportion of mestizos include Apure, Cojedes, Guárico, and Portuguesa, all part of the Los Llanos region in the central-western interior, with slightly over 60% of their population identifying as mestizo. Conversely, areas with minimal mestizo presence are observed in jungle regions of the Upper Orinoco in Amazonas, as well as portions of the Orinoco Delta and Alta Guajira (Zulia), where they represent less than 1% of the total population. States with the lowest percentage of mestizo population include Amazonas (less than 10%) and Delta Amacuro (less than 35%), both situated in the Guayana region of southern Venezuela, characterized by low population density historically dominated by Native American Indians.


title: Man's World (song)

text: Throughout the summer months, Marina teased that she was close to finishing the album and had plans to release new material soon. Former interviews claimed that her next studio album would feature a team of female musicians, in contrast to her experience with Love + Fear in 2019. Behind her intentions, she stated that she was startled to learn "that only two per cent of producers and three per cent of engineers across popular music are women". In September 2020, Marina shared a snippet of a previously unreleased song called "Happy Loner", leaving critics to assume that new music from the singer would arrive shortly. On 13 November 2020, she officially confirmed the release of a new song, titled "Man's World", when she posted the single's cover artwork to her social media accounts. She also posted a photograph of herself containing the lyric "I don't wanna live in a man's world anymore". Mike Wass, a contributor to Idolator, remarked that "Marina has traditionally spent several years on projects" so the announcement of "Man's World" was unexpected.


title: Man's World (song)

text: "Man's World" was produced by American musician Jennifer Decilveo, and written and co-produced by Marina. Marina revealed in an interview with Vogue that the song was intended to be released in April 2020 to coincide with her performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, but the cancellation of the festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented it. Ultimately, it was released for digital download and streaming in various countries on 18 November 2020, through Atlantic Records. That same day, Marina created a pre-order link for a limited edition 7" single on her official merchandise website, limited to 3,000 copies, pressed on pink-coloured vinyl, and containing a previously unreleased B-side. The release was originally scheduled for 12 March 2021, but was delayed until 9 April. On 11 December 2020, a stripped-down version of "Man's World" was released to digital retailers, featuring a black and white variant of the cover artwork. On that same day via Spotify in the US, the "Stripped" version was bundled with the original version of the song as part of a digital extended play to stream. Additionally, Atlantic commissioned several remixes of the song that were first announced in November 2020. The first remix, by American group Muna, was digitally released on 6 January 2021. A second remix, produced by Empress Of and featuring Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar, was released on 4 February 2021.


title: Man's World (song)

text: Lyrically, "Man's World" finds Marina criticising the poor treatment of "women and other minority groups throughout history". In the first verse she sings: "Burnt me at the stake, you thought I was a witch / Centuries ago, now you just call me a bitch". Some lyrics reference former actress Marilyn Monroe or controversial subject matters, such as Hassanal Bolkiah, the current Sultan of Brunei. Marina criticises Bolkiah and name-drops the Beverly Hills Hotel, which he owns, where she references "a sheik who killed thousands of gay men" and concludes "I guess that's why he bought the campest hotel in LA then". Her decision to blast "his use of Sharia law against homosexuals" was considered to be an effort to bring attention to the highly-contested issue, according to a contributor to Contactmusic.com. Derrick Rossignol from Uproxx said that the song's chorus ("Mother Nature's dying, nobody's keeping score / I don't want to live in a man's world anymore") confirms that "Marina put her money where her mouth is", in regards to her decision to work with female musicians on her fifth album.