title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Megatech Body, a shell manufacturer with suspected close ties to the government, is hacked and assembles a shell. As it escapes, the shell is hit by a truck. As Section 9 examines the shell, they find a human ghost inside it. Unexpectedly, Section 6's department chief Nakamura arrives to reclaim the shell. He claims that the ghost inside is the Puppet Master himself, lured into the shell by Section 6. The shell reactivates itself, claims to be a sentient being, and requests political asylum.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: After the Puppet Master initiates a brief argument about what constitutes a human, a camouflaged agent accompanying Nakamura starts a diversion and steals away the shell. Having suspected foul play, Kusanagi's team is prepared and immediately pursues the agent. Meanwhile, Section 9 researches "Project 2501", mentioned earlier by the Puppet Master, and finds a connection with Daita, whom Section 6 tries to keep from defecting the country. Facing the discovered information, Daisuke Aramaki, chief of Section 9, concludes that Section 6 created the Puppet Master itself for various political purposes, and now seek to reclaim the body that it currently inhabits.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Kusanagi follows the car carrying the shell to an abandoned building, where it is guarded by a robotic, spider-like tank. Anxious to face the Puppet Master's ghost, Kusanagi engages the tank without backup, resulting in her body being mostly dismembered. Her partner Batou arrives in time to save her, and helps connect her brain to the Puppet Master's.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: The Puppet Master explains to Kusanagi that he was created by Section 6. While wandering various networks, he became sentient and began to contemplate his existence. Deciding the essence of life is reproduction and mortality, he wants to exist within a physical brain that will eventually die. As he could not escape Section 6's network, he had to download himself into a cybernetic body. Having interacted with Kusanagi (without her knowledge), he believes she is also questioning her humanity, and they have a lot in common. He proposes merging their ghosts, in return, Kusanagi would gain all of his capabilities. Kusanagi agrees to the merge.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Snipers from Section 6 approach the building, intending to destroy the Puppet Master's and Kusanagi's brains to cover up Project 2501. The Puppet Master's shell is destroyed, but Batou shields Kusanagi's head in time to save her brain. As Section 9 closes in on the site, the snipers retreat.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: "Kusanagi" wakes up in Batou's safe house in a new cyborg body. She tells Batou that the entity within her body is neither Kusanagi nor the Puppet Master, but a combination of both. She promises Batou they will meet again, leaves the house and wonders where to go next.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Mamoru Oshii's originally wanted to direct after he finished . He proposed to Bandai Visual about the project but was asked to direct an adaptation of Shirow's 1989 manga, Ghost in the Shell, instead. Oshii would later get to work on Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, but only as a writer.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Oshii stated, "My intuition told me that this story about a futuristic world carried an immediate message for our present world. I am also interested in computers through my own personal experience with them. I had the same feeling about "Patlabor" and I thought it would be interesting to make a film that took place in the near future. There are only a few movies, even out of Hollywood, which clearly portray the influence and power of computers. I thought this theme would be more effectively conveyed through animation." Oshii expanded on these thoughts in a later interview, noting that technology changes people and had become a part of the culture of Japan. He commented that his use of philosophy caused producers to become frustrated because of sparing use of action scenes. Oshii also acknowledged that a movie with more action would sell better, but he continued to make these movies anyway. When Oshii went back to make changes to the original "Ghost in the Shell" to re-release it as "Ghost in the Shell 2.0", one of the reasons he gave was that the film did not resemble the sequel. He wanted to update the film to reflect changes in perspective.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Hiroyuki Okiura, the character designer and key animation supervisor, designed Motoko to be more mature and serious than Masamune Shirow's original portrayal of the character in the manga. Okiura chose to depict a physically mature person to match Motoko's mental age, instead of her youthful twenty-something appearance in the manga. Motoko's demeanor lacks the comedic facial expressions and rebellious nature depicted in the manga, instead taking on a more wistful and contemplative personality. Oshii based the setting for "Ghost in the Shell" on Hong Kong. Oshii commented that his first thought to find an image of the future setting was an Asian city, but finding a suitable cityscape of the future would be impossible, and so chose to use the real streets of Hong Kong as his model. He also said that Hong Kong was the perfect subject and theme for the film with its countless signs and the cacophony of sounds. The film's mecha designer Takeuchi Atsushi noted that while the film does not have a chosen setting, it is obviously based on Hong Kong because the city represented the theme of the film, the old and the new which exist in a strange relationship in an age of an information deluge. Before shooting the film, the artists drew sketches that emphasized Hong Kong's chaotic, confusing and overwhelming aspects.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: "Ghost in the Shell" used a novel process called "digitally generated animation" (DGA), which is a combination of cel animation, computer graphics (CG), and audio that is entered as digital data. In 1995, DGA was thought to be the future of animation, as it allowed traditional animation to be combined with computer graphics and digital cel work with visual displays. Editing was performed on an AVID system of Avid Technology, which was chosen because it was more versatile and less limiting than other methods and worked with the different types of media in a single environment. The digital cel work included both original illustrations, compositions and manipulation with traditional cel animation to create a sense of depth and evoke emotion and feelings. Utilized as background, filters like a lens effect were used to create a sense of depth and motion, by distorting the front background and making the far background out of focus throughout the shot. "Ghost in the Shell" used a unique lighting system in which light and darkness were integrated into the cels with attention to light and shadow sources instead of using contrast to control the light. Art director Hiromasa Ogura described this as "a very unusual lighting technique".


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Some special effects, like Motoko's "thermo-optical camouflage", were rendered through the use of TIMA software. The process uses a single illustration and manipulates the image as necessary to produce distortions for effect in combination with a background without altering the original illustration. The effect is re-added back into the shot to complete the scene. While the visual displays used in the film were technically simple to create, the appearance of the displays underwent numerous revisions by the production team to best represent visual displays of the future. Another aspect of the CG use was to create images and effects that looked as if they were "perceived by the brain" and were generated in video and added to the film in its final stages. The opening credits of the film were produced by the CG director, Seichi Tanaka. Tanaka converted code in a computer language displayed in romanized Japanese letters to numbers before inserting them into the computer to generate the credits. The origin of this code is the names of the film's staff as written in a computer language. Animation director Mizuho Nishikubo was responsible for the realism and strove for accurate depictions of movement and effects. The pursuit of realism included the staff conducting firearms research at a facility in Guam. Nishikubo has highlighted the tank scene as an example of the movie's realism, noting that bullets create sparks when hitting metal, but do not spark when a bullet strikes stone.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: "Ghost in the Shell"s recording was done with a high-end studio to achieve superior sound throughout the film. A spatializer was used to alter the sound, specifically in the electronic brain conversations, to modify the voices. Composer Kenji Kawai scored the film. For the main theme, Kawai tried to imagine the setting and convey the essence of that world in the music. He used classical Japanese in the opening theme "Making of a Cyborg". The composition is a mixture of Bulgarian harmony and traditional Japanese notes; the haunting chorals are a wedding song sung to dispel all evil influences. Symphony conductor Sarah Penicka-Smith notes that the song's lyrics are fitting for the union between Kusanagi and Project 2501 at the climax of the movie. Kawai originally wanted to use Bulgarian folk music singers, but used Japanese folk singers instead. "See You Everyday" is different from the rest of the soundtrack, being a pop song sung in Cantonese by Fang Ka Wing.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: The ending credits theme of the film's English version is "One Minute Warning" by Passengers, a collaboration between U2 and Brian Eno. The song appeared on the album "Original Soundtracks 1", and was one of three songs on that album to actually be featured in a film. Andy Frain, the founder of Manga Entertainment and an executive producer on the film, was a former marketing director for Island Records, the record label that publishes U2's songs.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October 1995, before its general release in November. The premiere in the United Kingdom happened on 11 November 1995 as part of the London Film Festival in Leicester Square. It was originally rated R by the MPAA due to full nudity and graphic violence, when it was first released in the United States.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: The film grossed in global box office revenue, but this fell short of the film's budget, thus failing to recoup production costs. However, the film drew a cult following on home video, with the film grossing approximately in total box office and home video sales revenue. The English dub of the film was released in United Kingdom on 8 December 1995 by Metrodome Distribution and in United States on 29 March 1996 by Palm Pictures. The "2.0" version was released in theatres in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo on 12 July 2008.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: In Japan, the film was released on VHS on 26 April 1996. The DVD version was released on 25 February 2004 as a Special Edition release. For the 2004 Special Edition release, the film was fully restored and digitally remastered from the original film elements in 4x3 original fullscreen form and in 16x9 anamorphic letterboxed widescreen form, and the audio was digitally remixed in English & Japanese 6.1 DTS-ES and 5.1 Dolby Digital EX Surround Sound for superior picture and sound quality and for optimum home theater presentation. "Ghost in the Shell" was released on Blu-ray on 24 August 2007. A special edition was released in December 2004. The special edition contains an additional disc containing character dossiers, a creator biography, the director's biography, "Ghost in the Shell" trailers and previews. The film was re-released in DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on 19 December 2008.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: In the United States, the film was released on VHS on 18 June 1996, through Manga Entertainment, and on DVD on 31 March 1998, by PolyGram Video. Like the much later Japanese "Special Edition", the DVD is a fully restored and digitally remastered cut with multiple language tracks, but unlike the Japanese release, it includes a 30-minute documentary on the making of the film. Manga Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray on 24 November 2009; this version contains the original film and the remastering, but omits the audio commentary and face-to-face interview with Oshii, which are listed on its box. Manga Entertainment and Anchor Bay Entertainment re-released the film on Blu-ray with a brand new HD film print on 23 September 2014. The release was met with criticism for its poorly-translated English subtitles and lack of special features. In August 1996, "Ghost in the Shell" became the first Japanese film to top the "Billboard" video sales chart, with over 200,000 VHS copies sold. By 2002, the film's home video releases sold more than 1.6million units worldwide, including over 100,000 units in Japan and more than 1million units in the United States. At a retail price of $19.95, the film grossed approximately in video sales revenue. In 2017, the Blu-ray release sold 26,487 copies and grossed $675,002 in the United States, bringing the film's total worldwide video sales to 1.63million units and approximately gross revenue. The film was the first anime video to reach "Billboard"s video slot at the time of its release. The film ranked as the ninth top selling anime DVD movie in North America in 2006. On 29 July 2020, it was announced that Lionsgate will re-release the film on Blu-ray on 8 September 2020. It had also been released on UHD 4K.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Kenji Kawai's original soundtrack for the film was released on 22 November 1995. The last track included Yoshimasa Mizuno's pop song "See You Everyday". After the release of "Ghost in the Shell 2.0", an updated version of the soundtrack was released on 17 December 2008. A Photo-CD of the film was released in Japan on 20 November 1995. A spin-off novel written by Endo Akira, titled , was published by Kodansha and released in November 1995. It was followed by a sequel, titled , released in January 1998. A book titled "Analysis of Ghost in the Shell" was released on 25 September 1997, by Kodansha.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: An updated version of the original film, titled , was made in celebration for the release of "The Sky Crawlers" in 2008. The "Ghost in the Shell 2.0" release combines original footage with updated animations, created using new digital film and animation technologies such as 3D-CG. It includes a new opening, digital screens and holographic displays, and omits several brief scenes. The original soundtrack was also re-arranged and re-recorded. Kenji Kawai remixed the "Version 2.0" soundtrack in 6.1 Channel Surround. Randy Thom of Skywalker Sound reprised his role as sound designer, having worked previously on "". In the new soundtrack, the Japanese voice dialogue was also re-recorded, with some variation from the original script to modernize the speech. Yoshiko Sakakibara replaced Iemasa Kayumi as the voice of the Puppet Master.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that of critics have given the film a positive review based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, "A stunning feat of modern animation, "Ghost in the Shell" offers a thoughtful, complex treat for anime fans, as well as a perfect introduction for viewers new to the medium." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: Niels Matthijs of Twitch Film praised the film, stating, "Not only is "Kokaku Kidotai" an essential film in the canon of Japanese animation, together with Kubrick's "" and Tarkovsky's "Solaris" it completes a trio of book adaptations that transcend the popularity of their originals and [give] a new meaning to an already popular brand." He ranked it #48 of his personal favorites. Clark Collis of "Empire" opined that the film was predictable, but praised its production values. Johnathan Mays of Anime News Network praised the animation combined with the computer effects, calling it "perhaps the best synthesis ever witnessed in anime". Helen McCarthy in "500 Essential Anime Movies" describes the film as "one of the best anime ever made", praising its screenplay and "atmospheric score", and adding that "action scenes as good as anything in the current Hollywood blockbuster are supported by CGI effects that can still astonish". In a 1996 review, film critic Roger Ebert rated the film three out of four stars, praising the visuals, soundtrack and themes, but felt that the film was "too complex and murky to reach a large audience ... it's not until the second hour that the story begins to reveal its meaning". In February 2004, "Cinefantastique" listed the anime as one of the "10 Essential Animations". It ranked 35 on Total Film's 2010 top list of 50 Animated Films. The film ranked on "Wizards Anime" Magazine on their "Top 50 Anime released in North America".


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: "Ghost in the Shell" has also influenced a number of prominent filmmakers. The Wachowskis, creators of "The Matrix" and its sequels, showed it to producer Joel Silver, saying, "We wanna do that for real." "The Matrix" series took several concepts from the film, including the Matrix digital rain, which was inspired by the film's opening credits, and the way characters access the Matrix through holes in the back of their necks. Other parallels have been drawn to James Cameron's "Avatar", Steven Spielberg's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence", and Jonathan Mostow's "Surrogates". James Cameron cited "Ghost in the Shell" as a source of inspiration for "Avatar", calling it "the first truly adult animation film to reach a level of literary and visual excellence." Visual style in the opening credits of the Westworld series, as well as in movies like Ex Machina borrow heavily from the Ghost in the Shell, which became one of the most influential sci-fi movies of the 20th century.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: The film explores nature of human cyborgs, consciousness, self-aware computer programs and memory alteration. In one of the monologues delivered by the Puppet Master throughout the film, it is argued that the human DNA is nothing more than a program designed to self-preserve. There are also multiple mentions of the act of granting political asylum to self-aware computer programs.


title: Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)

text: The film depicts Motoko's identity and ontological concerns and ends with the evolution of the Puppet Master, a being without reproduction. Austin Corbett characterized the lack of sexualization from her team as freedom from femininity, noting that Motoko is "overtly feminine, and clearly non-female". In describing Motoko as a "shapely" and "strong [female protagonist] at the center of the story" who is "nevertheless almost continuously nude", Roger Ebert noted that "an article about anime in a recent issue of "Film Quarterly" suggests that to be a 'salary man' in modern Japan is so exhausting and dehumanizing that many men (who form the largest part of the animation audience) project both freedom and power onto women, and identify with them as fictional characters". Carl Silvio has called "Ghost in the Shell" a "resistant film", due to its inversion of traditional gender roles, its "valorization of the post-gendered subject", and its de-emphasis of the sexual specificity of the material body.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Louis Alexander Slotin (1 December 1910 – 30 May 1946) was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project. Born and raised in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Slotin earned both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Manitoba, before obtaining his doctorate in physical chemistry at King's College London in 1936. Afterwards, he joined the University of Chicago as a research associate to help design a cyclotron.


title: Louis Slotin

text: In 1942, Slotin was invited to participate in the Manhattan Project, and subsequently performed experiments with uranium and plutonium cores to determine their critical mass values. After World War II he continued his research at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. On 21 May 1946, he accidentally began a fission reaction which released a burst of hard radiation. He was rushed to the hospital and died nine days later on 30 May. Slotin had become the victim of the second criticality accident in history following Harry Daghlian, who had been fatally exposed to radiation by the same "demon core" that killed Slotin.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Slotin was hailed as a hero by the United States government for reacting quickly enough to prevent the deaths of his colleagues. However, some physicists argue that Slotin's behavior preceding the accident was reckless and that his death was preventable. The accident and its aftermath have been dramatized in several fictional and non-fiction accounts.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Louis Slotin was the first of three children born to Israel and Sonia Slotin, Yiddish-speaking Jewish refugees who had fled the pogroms of Russia to Winnipeg, Manitoba. He grew up in the North End neighborhood of Winnipeg, an area with a large concentration of Eastern European immigrants. From his early days at Machray Elementary School through his teenage years at St. John's High School, Slotin was academically exceptional. His younger brother, Sam, later remarked that his brother "had an extreme intensity that enabled him to study long hours."


title: Louis Slotin

text: At age 16, Slotin entered the University of Manitoba to pursue a degree in science. During his undergraduate years, he received a University Gold Medal in both physics and chemistry. Slotin received a B.Sc. degree in geology from the university in 1932 and a M.Sc. degree in 1933. With the assistance of one of his mentors, he obtained a fellowship to study at King's College London under the supervision of Arthur John Allmand, the chair of the chemistry department, who specialized in the field of applied electrochemistry and photochemistry.


title: Louis Slotin

text: While at King's College London, Slotin distinguished himself as an amateur boxer by winning the college's amateur bantamweight boxing championship. Later, he gave the impression that he had fought for the Spanish Republic and trained to fly a fighter with the Royal Air Force. Author Robert Jungk recounted in his book "", the first published account of the Manhattan Project, that Slotin "had volunteered for service in the Spanish Civil War, more for the sake of the thrill of it than on political grounds. He had often been in extreme danger as an anti-aircraft gunner." During an interview years later, Sam stated that his brother had gone "on a walking tour in Spain" and he "did not take part in the war" as previously thought.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Slotin earned a Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from King's College London in 1936. He won a prize for his thesis entitled "An Investigation into the Intermediate Formation of Unstable Molecules During some Chemical Reactions." Afterwards, he spent six months working as a special investigator for Dublin's Great Southern Railways, testing the Drumm nickel-zinc rechargeable batteries used on the Dublin–Bray line.


title: Louis Slotin

text: In 1937, after he unsuccessfully applied for a job with Canada's National Research Council, the University of Chicago accepted Slotin as a research associate. There, he gained his first experience with nuclear chemistry, helping to build the first cyclotron in the midwestern United States. The job paid poorly and Slotin's father had to support him for two years. From 1939 to 1940, Slotin collaborated with Earl Evans, the head of the university's biochemistry department, to produce radiocarbon (carbon-14 and carbon-11) from the cyclotron. While working together, the two men also used carbon11 to demonstrate that plant cells had the capacity to use carbon dioxide for carbohydrate synthesis, through carbon fixation.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Slotin might have been present at the start-up of Enrico Fermi's "Chicago Pile-1", the first nuclear reactor, on 2 December 1942; the accounts of the event do not agree on this point. During this time, he also contributed to several papers in the field of radiobiology. His expertise on the subject garnered the attention of the United States government, and as a result he was invited to join the Manhattan Project, an effort to develop an atomic bomb. Slotin worked on the production of plutonium under future Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner at the university and later at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He moved to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in December 1944 to work in the bomb physics group of Robert Bacher.


title: Louis Slotin

text: At Los Alamos, Slotin's duties consisted of dangerous criticality testing, first with uranium in Otto Robert Frisch's experiments, and later with plutonium cores. Criticality testing involved bringing masses of fissile materials to near-critical levels to establish their critical mass values. Scientists referred to this flirting with the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction as "tickling the dragon's tail", based on a remark by physicist Richard Feynman, who compared the experiments to "tickling the tail of a sleeping dragon". On 16 July 1945, Slotin assembled the core for Trinity, the first detonated atomic device, and became known as the "chief armorer of the United States" for his expertise in assembling nuclear weapons. Slotin received two small circular lead and silver commemorative pins for his work on the project.


title: Louis Slotin

text: In the winter of 1945–1946, Slotin shocked some of his colleagues with a bold action by repairing an instrument under water inside the Clinton Pile while it was operating, rather than wait an extra day for the reactor to be shut down. He did not wear his dosimetry badge, but his dose was estimated to be at least 100 roentgen. A dose of 1 Gy (~100 roentgen) can cause nausea and vomiting in 10% of cases, but is generally survivable.


title: Louis Slotin

text: On 21 August 1945, laboratory assistant Harry Daghlian, one of Slotin's close colleagues, was performing a criticality experiment when he accidentally dropped a heavy tungsten carbide brick onto a plutonium–gallium alloy bomb core. The 24-year-old Daghlian was irradiated with a large dose of neutron radiation. Later estimates suggested that this dose might not have been fatal on its own, but he then received additional delayed gamma radiation and beta burns while disassembling his experiment. He quickly collapsed with acute radiation poisoning and died 25 days later in the Los Alamos base hospital.


title: Louis Slotin

text: After World War II, Slotin expressed growing disdain for his personal involvement in the project. He remarked, "I have become involved in the Navy tests, much to my disgust." Unfortunately for Slotin, his participation at Los Alamos was still required because, as he said, "I am one of the few people left here who are experienced bomb putter-togetherers." He looked forward to resuming teaching and research into biophysics and radiobiology at the University of Chicago. He began training a replacement, Alvin C. Graves, to take over his role at Los Alamos.


title: Louis Slotin

text: On 21 May 1946, with seven colleagues watching, Slotin performed an experiment that involved the creation of one of the first steps of a fission reaction by placing two half-spheres of beryllium (a neutron reflector) around a plutonium core. The experiment used the same plutonium core that had irradiated Daghlian, later called the "demon core" for its role in the two accidents. Slotin grasped the upper 228.6 mm (9-inch) beryllium hemisphere with his left hand through a thumb hole at the top while he maintained the separation of the half-spheres using the blade of a screwdriver with his right hand, having removed the shims normally used. Using a screwdriver was not a normal part of the experimental protocol.


title: Louis Slotin

text: At 3:20 p.m., the screwdriver slipped and the upper beryllium hemisphere fell, causing a "prompt critical" reaction and a burst of hard radiation. At the time, the scientists in the room observed the blue glow of air ionization and felt a heat wave. Slotin experienced a sour taste in his mouth and an intense burning sensation in his left hand. He jerked his left hand upward, lifting the upper beryllium hemisphere, and dropped it to the floor, ending the reaction. He had already been exposed to a lethal dose of neutron radiation. At the time of the accident, dosimetry badges were in a locked box about from where the reaction occurred. Realizing that no one in the room had their film badges on, "immediately after the accident Dr. Slotin asked Dr. Raemer E. Schreiber to have the badges taken from the lead box and placed on the critical assembly". This peculiar response was of no value for determining the actual doses received by the men in the room and put Schreiber at "great personal risk" of additional exposure. A report later concluded that a heavy dose of radiation may produce vertigo and can leave a person "in no condition for rational behavior." As soon as Slotin left the building he vomited, a common reaction from exposure to extremely intense ionizing radiation. Slotin's colleagues rushed him to the hospital, but the radiation damage was irreversible.


title: Louis Slotin

text: The seven other men present at the time of the reaction included Alvin Cushman Graves, Samuel Allan Kline, Marion Edward Cieslicki, Dwight Smith Young, Theodore P. Perlman, and Pvt. Patrick J. Cleary. By 25 May 1946, four of these seven men had been discharged from hospital. The United States Army physician responsible for the Los Alamos base hospital, Captain Paul Hageman, said that Slotin's, Graves', Kline's and Young's "immediate condition is satisfactory."


title: Louis Slotin

text: Despite intensive medical care and offers from numerous volunteers to donate blood for transfusions, Slotin's condition was incurable. He called his parents and they were flown at Army expense from Winnipeg to be with him. They arrived on the fourth day after the incident, and by the fifth day his condition started to deteriorate rapidly.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Over the next four days, Slotin suffered an "agonizing sequence of radiation-induced traumas", including severe diarrhea, reduced urine output, swollen hands, erythema, "massive blisters on his hands and forearms", intestinal paralysis and gangrene. He had internal radiation burns throughout his body, which one medical expert described as a "three-dimensional sunburn." By the seventh day, he was experiencing periods of "mental confusion." His lips turned blue and he was put in an oxygen tent. He ultimately experienced "a total disintegration of bodily functions" and slipped into a coma. Slotin died at 11 a.m. on 30 May, in the presence of his parents. He was buried in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in Winnipeg on 2 June 1946.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Graves, Kline and Young remained hospitalized after Slotin's death. Graves, who was standing the closest to Slotin, also developed acute radiation sickness and was hospitalized for several weeks. He survived, although he lived with chronic neurological and vision problems. Young also suffered from acute radiation syndrome, but recovered. By 28 January 1948 Graves, Kline and Perlman sought compensation for damages suffered during the incident. Graves settled his claim for $3,500.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Three of the observers eventually died of conditions that are known to be promoted by radiation: Graves of a heart attack twenty years later at age 55; Cieslicki of acute myeloid leukemia nineteen years later at age 42; and Young of aplastic anemia and bacterial infection of the heart lining twenty-nine years later at age 83. Some of the deaths may have been a consequence of the incident. However, it is not possible to establish a causal relation between the incident and the specifics of the death from such a small sample.


title: Louis Slotin

text: The core involved was intended to be used in the Able detonation, during the Crossroads series of nuclear weapons testing. Slotin's experiment was said to be the last conducted before the core's detonation and was intended to be the final demonstration of its ability to go critical. After the accident it needed time to cool. It was therefore rescheduled for the third test of the series, provisionally named "Charlie", but this was cancelled due to the unexpected level of radioactivity after the underwater "Baker" test and the inability to decontaminate the target warships. The core was eventually melted down and reused in a later core.


title: Louis Slotin

text: The radiation doses received in these two accidents are not known with any accuracy. A large part of the dose was due to neutron radiation, which could not be measured by dosimetry equipment of the day. The available film badges were not worn by personnel during the accident, and badges that were supposed to be planted under tables in case of disasters like these were not found. Disaster badges hung on the walls provided some useful data about gamma radiation.


title: Louis Slotin

text: A "tentative" estimate of the doses involved was made in 1948, based on dozens of assumptions, some of which are now known to be incorrect. In the absence of personal dosimetry badges, the study authors relied on measurements of sodium activation in the victims' blood and urine samples as their primary source of data. This activation would have been caused by neutron radiation, but they converted all doses to equivalent doses of gamma or X-ray radiation. They concluded that Daghlian and Slotin had probably received doses equivalent to 290 and 880 rem, respectively, of gamma rays. Minimum and maximum estimates varied from about 50% to 200% of these values. The authors also calculated doses equivalent to a mix of soft 80 keV X-rays and gamma rays, which they believed gave a more realistic picture of the exposure than the gamma equivalent. In this model, the equivalent X-ray doses were much higher, but would be concentrated in the tissues facing the source, whereas the gamma component penetrated the whole body. Slotin's equivalent dose was estimated to be 1930 R (roentgen) of X-ray with 114 R of gamma, while Daghlian's equivalent dose was estimated to be 480 R of X-ray with 110 R of gamma. Five hundred roentgen equivalent man (rem) is usually a fatal exposure for humans.


title: Louis Slotin

text: In modern times dosimetry is done very differently. Equivalent doses would not be reported in roentgen; they would be calculated with different weighting factors, and they are not considered as relevant to acute radiation syndrome as absorbed doses. Recent documents have made various interpretations of Slotin's dose, ranging from to . Based on citations and supporting reasoning, the most reliable estimate may be a 1978 Los Alamos memo which suggested 10 Gy(n) + 1.14 Gy(γ) for Slotin and 2 Gy(n) + 1.1 Gy(γ) for Daghlian. These doses are consistent with the symptoms they experienced.


title: Louis Slotin

text: After the accident, Los Alamos ended all hands-on critical assembly work. Subsequent criticality testing of fissile cores was done with remotely controlled machines, such as the "Godiva" series, with the operator located a safe distance away to prevent harm in case of accidents.


title: Louis Slotin

text: On 14 June 1946, the associate editor of the "Los Alamos Times", Thomas P. Ashlock, penned a poem entitled "Slotin – A Tribute":


title: Louis Slotin

text: The official story released at the time was that Slotin, by quickly removing the upper hemisphere, was a hero for ending the reaction and protecting seven other observers in the room: "Dr. Slotin's quick reaction at the immediate risk of his own life prevented a more serious development of the experiment which would certainly have resulted in the death of the seven men working with him, as well as serious injury to others in the general vicinity." This interpretation of events was endorsed at the time by Graves, who stood closest to Slotin when the accident occurred. Graves, like Slotin, had previously displayed a low concern for nuclear safety and later alleged that fallout risks were "concocted in the minds of weak malingerers." Schreiber, another witness to the accident, spoke out publicly decades later, arguing that Slotin was using improper and unsafe procedures, endangering the others in the lab along with himself. Robert B. Brode had reported hearsay to that effect back in 1946.


title: Louis Slotin

text: Slotin's accident is echoed in the 1947 film "The Beginning or the End", in which a scientist assembling the bomb destined for Hiroshima dies after coming into contact with radioactive material.


title: Louis Slotin

text: It was recounted in Dexter Masters' 1955 novel "The Accident", a fictional account of the last few days of the life of a nuclear scientist suffering from radiation poisoning. Depictions of the criticality incident include the 1989 film "Fat Man and Little Boy", in which John Cusack plays a fictional character named Michael Merriman based on Slotin, and the "Louis Slotin Sonata", a 2001 off-Broadway play directed by David P. Moore.


title: Louis Slotin

text: In 1948, Slotin's colleagues at Los Alamos and the University of Chicago initiated the "Louis A. Slotin Memorial Fund" for lectures on physics given by distinguished scientists such as Robert Oppenheimer, Luis Walter Alvarez, Hans Bethe. The memorial fund lasted until 1962. In 2002, an asteroid discovered in 1995 was named 12423 Slotin in his honour.


title: Louis Slotin

text: According to Weinberg and Wigner, Slotin was the first to propose the name dollar for the interval of reactivity between delayed and prompt criticality; 0 is the point of self-sustaining chain reaction, a dollar is the point at which slowly released, delayed neutrons are no longer required to support chain reaction, and enters the domain called "prompt critical". Stable nuclear reactors operate between 0 and a dollar; excursions and nuclear explosives operate above a dollar. The hundredth part of a dollar is called a cent. When speaking of purely prompt critical events, some users refer to cents "over critical" as a relative unit.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The Mexican Empire (, ) was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, independent monarchies that have existed in the Americas, along with the Brazilian Empire. It is typically denominated as the First Mexican Empire to distinguish it from the Second Mexican Empire.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Agustín de Iturbide, the sole monarch of the empire, was originally a Mexican military commander under whose leadership independence from Spain was gained in September 1821. His popularity culminated in mass demonstrations on 18 May 1822, in favour of making him emperor of the new nation, and the very next day congress hastily approved the matter. A sumptuous coronation ceremony followed in July.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The empire was plagued throughout its short existence by questions about its legality, conflicts between congress and the emperor, and a bankrupt treasury. Iturbide dissolved the congress in October 1822, replacing it with a junta of supporters, and by December of that year had begun to lose support of the army, which revolted in favor of restoring congress. After failing to put down the revolt, Iturbide reconvened congress in March 1823, and offered his abdication, upon which power passed to a provisional government which ultimately abolished the monarchy.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The Spanish Empire disintegrated in the wake of Napoleon's invasion of Spain and the overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons in 1808. Throughout Spain and her colonies there was a widespread refusal to recognize Napoleon's brother Joseph II as the new French-backed king of Spain. The cleric Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who had long been part of a circle of intellectuals who sought to reform the colonial system triggered the Mexican War of Independence in 1810 by accusing the Spanish ruling classes of seeking to recognize Joseph Bonaparte, while proclaiming loyalty to the imprisoned Ferdinand VII. The subsequent uprising would go on to seriously threaten the capital yet it was ultimately defeated within a year and Hidalgo was captured and executed. The insurgency survived however, and the cause of absolute independence from Spain was adopted by insurgent leaders such as José María Morelos. He was also defeated and after Morelos' execution in 1815, the remaining rebels were reduced to waging guerilla warfare in the countryside. Agustín de Iturbide was a Mexican officer in the Spanish army, representative of the Mexican elite who were initially loyal to Spain, but later saw their interests threatened by the liberal 1820 Revolution in Spain. In view of this, Iturbide began to lead a movement to pact with the remaining insurgents and support the separation of Mexico from the Spanish metropole.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The movement involved three principles, or "guarantees": that Mexico would be an independent constitutional monarchy governed by a Spanish prince; that "Americanos", that is all those Mexican-born and those Spanish-born would henceforth enjoy equal rights and privileges; and that the Roman Catholic Church would retain its privileges and position as the official and exclusive religion of the land. These Three Guarantees formed the core of the Plan of Iguala, the revolutionary blueprint which, by combining the goal of independence and a constitution with the preservation of Catholic monarchy, brought together all Mexican factions. Under the 24 February 1821 Plan of Iguala, to which most of the provinces subscribed, the Mexican Congress established a regency council which was headed by Iturbide.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Viceroy Juan O'Donojú acceded to the Mexican demands, and signed the Treaty of Córdoba on 24 August 1821. The Mexican Congress intended to establish a personal union, whereby King Fernando VII of Spain would also be king of Mexico, but both countries would be governed by separate laws and through separate legislative bodies. If the king refused the position, the law provided for another member of the House of Bourbon to accede to the Mexican throne. Commissioners from Mexico were sent to Spain to offer the Mexican throne, but the Spanish government refused to recognise Mexico's independence and would not allow any other Spanish prince to accept the throne.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: With Ferdinand VII having rejected the Treaty of Cordoba, Iturbide's supporters saw an opportunity to place their candidate on the throne. On the night of 18 May, the 1st infantry regiment, stationed at the ex Convent of San Hipólito, and led by sergeant Pio Marcha began a public demonstration in favor of Iturbide being made emperor. The demonstration was joined by other barracks and many civilians as well. When the public demonstration reached his home, Iturbide himself was able to address the demonstrators from his balcony. He consulted with members of the regency on what course to follow, and eventually acquiesced to the demonstrator's demands, agreeing that he should be made emperor. The crowd celebrated the rest of the night with fireworks and celebratory gunfire.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: An extraordinary session of congress was held the following morning to deal with the subject of Iturbide's coronation. At the opening of the session, the military addressed a manifesto to congress, endorsing Iturbide to be emperor. The deliberations then started with a few deputies expressing concern that congress was not entirely free in the present circumstances to proceed on the matter. A pro-Iturbide crowd outside of the hall was making so much noise that it was interfering with the deliberations, and congress asked Iturbide to show up in an unsuccessful attempt to calm the crowds. The opposition brought up concerns that a popular demonstration in the capital was not enough of a basis upon which to elect Iturbide and that the provinces ought to be consulted first. A proposal was made to gain the consent of two thirds of the provinces, and this succeeding then to appoint a commission to write a provisional constitution in order to avoid constitutional crises.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Deputy Valentín Gómez Farías, future president of Mexico, stood up for the legality of congress to elect an emperor. He praised Iturbide's services to the nation, and argued that as Spain had rejected the Treaty of Córdoba, Congress was now authorized by that very treaty to hold an election to decide who the emperor was to be.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The vote then proceeded. In the final results, sixty-seven deputies voted in favor of making Iturbide Emperor, while fifteen voted against. The vote however was short of a legal quorum of one hundred and two deputies. Congress, nonetheless resigned itself to the situation, and a plan to establish a constitutional monarchy united both conservatives and liberals at a time when it was uncertain which form of government would be best for independent Mexico.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Congress published an oath binding the emperor to obey the constitution, which Iturbide subsequently took, and Congress also declared the Mexican monarchy to be hereditary, granting titles of nobility to Iturbide's family. His son and heir became Prince Imperial of Mexico. The 19th of May was made a national holiday, and a royal household was organized. 21 July 1822 was set as the date of the official coronation.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Iturbide's court was being set up to be more luxurious than that of the former Spanish Viceroy, a situation which provoked opposition in a new nation that was essentially bankrupt. To remedy the financial difficulties, the Mexican government prohibited the exportation of money, and exacted a forced loan of 600,000 pesos in Mexico City, Puebla, Guadalajara, and Veracruz. During this time, a council of state was also formed, being made up of thirteen members selected by the Emperor from a list of thirty one nominees submitted by congress.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The coronation took place on 21 July. The capital was decked out in floral arrangements, banners, streamers, and flags. The government could not afford to forge a crown, and therefore jewels and gems had to be borrowed, but ultimately a signet ring, a scepter and crowns were produced. Costumes were made based on drawings of Napoleon's coronation. Congress met on the morning of the coronation, and then divided itself into two deputations to escort the emperor and the empress to the National Cathedral. In the cathedral, the emperor and the empress were to be seated on thrones next to the newly ennobled Mexican princes and princesses. Upon reaching the cathedral, the emperor and empress were escorted to their thrones, and the imperial regalia was placed on the altar. The regalia was blessed and Iturbide was crowned by the president of the congress.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Congress and the Emperor immediately began to clash, in large part because their respective legal powers had not at this point been clearly delineated. By mid 1822 the three major issues were whether Iturbide had a right to appoint members to a Supreme Court, whether he had the right to veto legislation as the Spanish King had under the Spanish Constitution of 1812, and his wish to establish rural military tribunals. The latter measure was in response to the lapse in law and order that was spreading throughout the country. Iturbide wished to establish in provincial capitals special courts made up of two military officers assisted by a lawyer. They were to keep track of seditious plots, but also in cases of murder, robbery or injury, and with the permission of the district captain general, the courts would be allowed to disregard statutes that would interfere with quickly carrying out judicial processes. Congress however, was opposed to the project. All the while, work on a constitution for the Empire was being neglected. Iturbide's greatest enemy in congress was deputy Servando Teresa de Mier, a staunch republican, who would often ridicule the Emperor and his pageantry.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: In August 1822, a conspiracy to overthrow the Emperor was discovered. The conspirators, claiming that Iturbide's election was illegal, plotted to rise up in the capital, move the congress to Texcoco and declare the establishment of a Republic. On 26 and 27 August, fifteen deputies suspected of being involved with the plot, including Mier, Carlos Maria Bustamante, , Jose del Valle, and José Joaquín de Herrera were arrested. Congress was shocked by the arrests, which had included some of its most prominent deputies, and on the morning of 27 August, the legislature sent a letter to the military upholding the immunity of congress, and accusing the arresting authorities of acting in an extra-legal fashion. Secretary of Interior Relations, Andrés Quintana Roo replied that by virtue of the Spanish Constitution of 1812, the government had the authority to arrest deputies suspected of being involved in a treasonous conspiracy, and that congress would remain informed on the results of the ongoing investigation. Congress preferred to try the suspected deputies itself, but the matter was rejected. The prosecution against the accused did not get very far and a few were liberated around Christmas, 1822. One of the arrested, Jose del Valle would actually go on to be appointed foreign minister by Iturbide a few months later.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Afterwards followed controversies over reconstituting Congress. The convocation that had established congress had also directed it to divide itself into two chambers, which had not been done. The body remained united on the pretext of drafting a new constitution and it considered itself a sovereign constitutional congress. It did not view itself bound in any way by the 1812 Spanish Constitution which remained the de facto constitution of Mexico. At this point no consistent relationship had been established between population and the number of deputies, and the congress as it stood was starting to become a burdensome expense. Deputy Lorenzo de Zavala brought up these concerns and proposed to reduce the number of deputies and also to divide the body into two chambers, a proposal which the emperor found very agreeable. On October 16, Iturbide gathered several deputies and generals at his home, and began to discuss the measure of dissolving congress under the pretext that it did not as it stood, proportionally represent the provinces.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The following day, members of the council of state, the generals based in Mexico City, and more than forty deputies gathered at Iturbide's home for a conference regarding the problems with congress. He addressed them and accused congress of not having taken a single step in eight months towards writing a constitution, of not passing a single law regarding finances or the military, and of rather focusing their time on attacking the emperor. Various deputies added to the discussion, and brought forth the point that if congress needed to be reformed, the proposal ought to come from congress itself. The ultimate result of this conference was a proposal to reduce congress to seventy deputies. On October 17, 1822, the latter proposal was presented to congress. Congress rejected the measure, but a compromise was reached by which the legislature agreed to abide by the Spanish Constitution of 1812 as a provisional constitution, allowing Iturbide a veto over legislation, and the right to select members of the supreme court.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Iturbide however then sought for more concessions, arguing that his veto ought to extend to any article of any new constitution that congress would draft, and also continued to insist on reducing the number of deputies in congress. These grabs for power alienated even conservatives, and Iturbide's proposals were rejected, which Iturbide then responded to by dissolving congress on 31 October 1822. Brigadier was placed in charge of dissolving the congress, and the deputies dispersed without protest or violence. Iturbide's pretext was that congress had accomplished nothing in the eight months it had been in session, work on a constitution had not begun despite that being the main purpose for its convocation, and that the matters of justice and finance had been completely neglected.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: To replace congress, Iturbide established a National Institutional Junta made up of forty five members, chosen from among friendly deputies. The junta was installed officially on 2 November 1822, and vested with the legislative power, until a new congress could be formed. Iturbide entrusted the body with writing up regulations for producing a new congress, but also began to focus on the grave financial issues that the Empire was facing. On 5 November 1822, the junta authorized a forced loan of over two million pesos, and the seizure of more than one million pesos waiting for exportation out of the country in the port of Veracruz.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Iturbide also began to issue paper currency, and on 20 December, the government authorized the printing of four million pesos worth of banknotes, in denominations of one, two, and ten. These were issued to all financial offices of the Empire, where they were to be used in a ratio of 1:2 with silver coin in payment of all government of obligations. Anyone who owed money to the government was allowed to make one third of the payment in notes and two thirds in coin.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The last Spanish stronghold in Mexico, was Fort of San Juan de Ullua on a small island off the coast of Veracruz. There had been a change in command at the fort during this time, and general Antonio López de Santa Anna, stationed in Veracruz planned a scheme of taking possession of it


title: First Mexican Empire

text: by feigning the surrender of Veracruz to its new commander. When Echevarri, the captain-general of the local provinces, arrived in Veracruz, he approved of the plan, and agreed to join in on it, positioning his troops in Veracruz to ambush the landing Spaniards, having been promised support by Santa Anna. On 26 October 1822, as the Spaniards landed however, Santa Anna's troops failed to arrive, and Echevarri barely defeated the landing party, and the Spanish ultimately kept control of the fort. Echevarri expressed his suspicion to Iturbide that it had all been a scheme by Santa Anna to get Echeverri killed as revenge for Santa Anna not having been appointed Captain-General himself. Iturbide himself went to Veracruz to dismiss Santa Anna from his command, not overtly however but rather under the pretext of simply moving him to a different post in Mexico City. However, Santa Anna suspecting his ruin, instead took command of his troops and in December, 1822 started a rebellion in favour of a republican form of government.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Vicente Guerrero and Nicolas Bravo, defected from the ranks of the imperialists, and proceeded to Chilapa on 5 January 1823 to join the revolution, but experienced a disastrous defeat at Almolonga. The insurrection was mostly being suppressed at this time, Victoria being held in check at Puente del Rey, and Santa Anna still confined at Veracruz.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Echevarri was sent to take care of the rebellion in Veracruz, with more than three thousand well supplied troops, but ended up defecting. At this point, the opposition to the government began to negotiate with the military. On 1 February 1823 a junta including many military chiefs, and the liberal diplomat met in Veracruz to proclaim the Plan of Casa Mata. The army pledged itself to restore Congress while disavowing any intention of harming the person of the Emperor, or of overthrowing the Mexican monarchy. On 14 February, Puebla proclaimed for the plan, followed by San Luis Potosí, and Guadalajara. By March, most of Mexico had proclaimed in favour of the plan. A military junta was formed in Jalapa, to represent the Plan of Casa Mata.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: On 4 March 1823, Iturbide issued a decree reconvening Congress, and the deputies met on 7 March. Iturbide addressed the session, hoping to reach a negotiation and avoid conflict, but the deputies listened coldly. The military junta refused to recognize the Congress until its liberty was guaranteed. On 19 March, Iturbide fearing his imminent overthrowal, summoned congress to an extraordinary session and presented his abdication. Congress proposed that the military junta meet with Iturbide about the matter, but the junta refused, instead proposing that Iturbide remove himself from the capital, and await the decision of Congress. On 26 March, an agreement was reached by which the junta would recognize Iturbide on whatever terms Congress would grant him. Iturbide also agreed to remove himself from the capital, and the command of the capital was handed over to the revolutionary troops and power passed over to the Provisional Government of Mexico.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: The territory of the Mexican Empire corresponded to the borders of Viceroyalty of New Spain, excluding the Captaincies General of Cuba, Santo Domingo and the Philippines. The Central American lands of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala were annexed to the Empire shortly after its establishment.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: Under the First Empire, Mexico reached its greatest territorial extent, stretching from northern California to the provinces of Central America (excluding Panama, which was then part of Colombia), which had not initially approved becoming part of the Mexican Empire but joined the Empire shortly after their independence.


title: First Mexican Empire

text: After the emperor abdicated, on March 29 the departing Mexican general Vicente Filísola called for a new Central American Congress to convene and on July 1, 1823 the Central American provinces formed the Federal Republic of Central America, with only the province of Chiapas choosing to remain a part of Mexico as a state. Subsequent territorial evolution of Mexico over the next several decades (principally cessions to the United States) would eventually reduce Mexico to less than half its maximum extent.


title: Beats Electronics

text: Beats Electronics LLC (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre, or simply Beats by Dre) is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded by music producer Dr. Dre and record company executive Jimmy Iovine. Since 2014, it has been an Apple subsidiary.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The subsidiary's product line is primarily focused on headphones and speakers. The company's original product line was manufactured in partnership with the AV equipment company Monster Cable Products. Following the end of its contract with the company, Beats took further development of its products in-house. In 2014, the company expanded into the online music market with the launch of a subscription-based streaming service, Beats Music.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In 2011, NPD Group reported that Beats' market share was 64% in the U.S. for headphones priced higher than $100, and the brand was valued at $1billion in September 2013.


title: Beats Electronics

text: For a period, the company was majority-owned by Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC. The company reduced its stake to 25% in 2012, and sold its remaining stake back to the company in 2013. Concurrently, Carlyle Group replaced HTC as a minority shareholder, alongside Dr. Dre and Iovine in late 2013. On August 1, 2014, Apple acquired Beats for $3 billion in a cash and stock deal, the largest acquisition in Apple's history.


title: Beats Electronics

text: Beats was established in 2006 by music producer Dr. Dre and record company executive Jimmy Iovine. Iovine perceived two key problems in the music industry: the impact of piracy on music sales and the substandard audio quality provided by Apple's plastic earbuds. Iovine recalled that Dre said to him: "Man, it's one thing that people steal my music. It's another thing to destroy the feeling of what I've worked on." Iovine sought the opinions of musicians with "great taste", such as M.I.A., Pharrell Williams, will.i.am, and Gwen Stefani during the early developmental stage. Beats initially partnered with inventor Noel Lee and his company Monster Cable, an audio and video component manufacturer based in Brisbane, California, to manufacture and develop the first Beats-branded products, and debuted its first product, "Beats by Dr. Dre Studio" headphones, on July 25, 2008.


title: Beats Electronics

text: To promote its products, Beats primarily relied on celebrity endorsements by pop and hip-hop music performers, including product placement within music videos, and partnering with musicians and other celebrities to develop co-branded products. Beats' use of endorsements by musicians helped the company aggressively target the young adult demographics.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In August 2010, mobile phone manufacturer HTC acquired a 50.1% majority share in Beats for $309 million. The purchase was intended to allow HTC to compete with other cellphone makers by associating themselves with the Beats brand, as the purchase also granted HTC exclusive rights to manufacture smartphones with Beats-branded audio systems. Despite its majority acquisition, HTC allowed Beats to operate as an autonomous company. Luke Wood, President of Beats in May 2014, joined the company in January 2010, when the company was a "licensing business". Wood had previously worked under Iovine at Interscope Records.


title: Beats Electronics

text: On January 19, 2012, "BusinessWeek" reported that Beats and Monster would not renew their production contract and their partnership ceased at the end of 2012. Dre and Iovine subsequently decided to oversee the entire operation of the company, from manufacturing to R&D, and aimed to double its workforce to around 300 employees. Monster would ultimately begin marketing its own competing line of premium headphones aimed towards an older demographic. At the time, neither Dre, Iovine or Wood were experienced in the operation of a company at such a grand level, but Wood explained in 2014:I didn't have manufacturing experience, but I had experience of building something from scratch… Every time we put out an album, it was basically like building a new business--a unique cast of characters, unique challenges and opportunities, and trying to figure out a unique path to market.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In October 2012, Beats unveiled its first two self-developed products, "Beats Executive" headphones and "Beats Pill" wireless speakers—Iovine believed that the company would now have to "control [its] own destiny" in order to continue its growth. Iovine also commented on how other headphone makers had attempted to emulate Beats' celebrity endorsement business model (including Monster themselves, who unveiled Earth, Wind and Fire and Miles Davis-themed headphones at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show), stating that "some of our competitors are cheap engineers who have never been to a recording studio. You can't just stick someone's name on a headphone that doesn't know anything about sound." Following the decision to transform Beats into an autonomous entity, the company's revenues reached the $1 billion mark, according to Iovine.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In July 2012, HTC sold back half of its stake in Beats for $150 million, remaining the largest shareholder with 25.1 percent. The sale was intended to provide "flexibility for global expansion while maintaining HTC's major stake and commercial exclusivity in mobile". In August 2013, reports surfaced that Beats' founders planned to buy back HTC's remaining minority stake in the company, and pursue a new, unspecified partner for a future investment.


title: Beats Electronics

text: On September 27, 2013, HTC confirmed that it would sell its remaining 24.84% stake in Beats back to the company for $265 million. Concurrently, Beats announced that the Carlyle Group would make a $500 million minority investment in the company. The overall deal valued Beats Electronics at $1 billion and helped HTC turn a net profit of $10.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2013, following HTC's first quarterly loss in company history.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The appointment of a new chief operating officer (COO), a role previously filled by Wood, was announced in early November 2013. Matthew Costello, formerly of IKEA and HTC, was formally appointed to the role in May 2014.


title: Beats Electronics

text: On January 21, 2014, the company launched Beats Music, a subscription-based online music streaming service. Prior to the launch of the service, Beats stated that it intends to provide a different type of streaming experience to what was available on the market at the time. Additionally, the service would only be available to consumers in the U.S. at inception.


title: Beats Electronics

text: On May 8, 2014, the "Financial Times" reported that Apple was in negotiations with Beats to purchase the company for $3.2 billion—the largest purchase in Apple's history and well ahead of its $429 million purchase of NeXT in 1996. The impending deal was prematurely and indirectly revealed in a photo and YouTube video posted to Facebook by Tyrese Gibson on May 8, 2014; the video documented a celebration in which Gibson and Dr. Dre made boasting remarks about the acquisition, with Dre declaring himself the "first billionaire in hip hop", while Gibson declared that the "Forbes list" had changed. Both the photo and video were removed from Facebook the following morning, but both remain on Gibson's YouTube channel. Indeed, analysts estimated that the rumored deal would make Dr. Dre the first billionaire in the hip-hop music industry in terms of net worth, assuming that he held at least 15% ownership in the company prior to the deal. Dr. Dre was listed with a net worth of $550 million on Forbes' "The World's Billionaires" 2014 list. It was also estimated that the Carlyle Group would receive a profit of $1 billion from the sale of its minority stake in the company.


title: Beats Electronics

text: On May 28, 2014, Apple officially announced its intention to acquire Beats Electronics for $3 billion—with $400 million to be paid in Apple stock and the remainder in cash. Some reports suggested that the reduction in value may have been a result of lower-than-expected subscriber numbers for the Beats Music service. Iovine felt that Beats had always "belonged" with Apple, as the company modeled itself after Apple's "unmatched ability to marry culture and technology". In regard to the deal, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that "Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple. That's why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world." Beyond stocking Beats products at its retail outlets, Apple did not provide any further indications over how Beats would be integrated into its product line at the time, and whether Beats Music, which competed with Apple's own iTunes Radio service, would continue to operate after the acquisition.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The acquisition closed on August 1, 2014. Dr. Dre and Iovine were hired as executive employees, and worked at Apple for years afterward. To eliminate redundancy, Apple planned to lay off 200 workers from Beats' workforce of around 700. Beats Music was discontinued effective with the launch of Apple Music on June 30, 2015.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In July 2014, Bose Corporation sued Beats Electronics, alleging that its "Studio" line incorporated noise cancellation technology that infringed five patents held by the company. Bose has also sought an injunction which would ban the infringing products from being imported or sold in the United States. The lawsuit was settled out of court. Apple pulled all Bose products from its retail outlets, although it is unclear whether it was in response to the lawsuit, an ambush marketing conflict involving Beats and the NFL (which had recently named Bose as one of its official sponsors, and thus fined a player for displaying the Beats logo during an official activity), or as a result of Apple's acquisition of Beats. However, two months later, Bose products returned to the shelves of Apple Stores. The companies settled in October 2014: details were not disclosed.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In January 2015, Monster Inc. sued Beats for fraud, alleging that the company had used illicit tactics to force Monster out of the venture whilst retaining rights to the technologies and products that it had co-developed, and engaged in collusion to harm Monster's own audio products business. Monster argued that the acquisition of Beats by HTC and its founders' subsequent buyback was a "sham" to take control of Monster's stake in the company—which could have been valued at over $100 million in the Apple purchase, that the company had "concealed" the role of Monster and its CEO Noel Lee in the design and engineering of its products, and that "had the partnership expired on its own terms, there would have been no transfer of Monster's years of work [onto the company]". Monster also alleged that Beats had partaken in anti-competitive practices with retailers to force those offering Beats products to not offer Monster's competing products.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In June 2015, "The Wall Street Journal" reported that in retaliation for the lawsuit, Apple Inc. revoked Monster's membership in the MFi Program on May 5, 2015, meaning that Monster can no longer manufacture licensed accessories for iPhone, iPod and iPad products, and must cease the sale of existing licensed products that contain the certification or technology licensed through the program by September 2015.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The case was dismissed in August 2016, with a Supreme Court ruling that Beats "had the right to terminate the agreement as of January 7th, 2013 or when there was a transaction resulting in a change of control of Beats", and that Monster "did not obtain the right to approve the change of control. Nor did the agreement require that any change of control had to be objectively reasonable".


title: Beats Electronics

text: Beats' original product line were "Beats by Dre" headphones. In promotional materials, Dre outlined the line's advantages by alleging that listeners were not able to hear "all" of the music with most headphones, and that Beats would allow people to "hear what the artists hear, and listen to the music the way they should: the way I do". In comparison to most headphones, "Beats" products were characterized by an emphasis towards producing larger amounts of bass, and are particularly optimized towards hip-hop and pop music. In October 2012, Beats unveiled its first two self-developed products, the Beats Executive noise-cancelling headphones (to compete with similar offerings by Bose and Sennheiser) and the Beats Pill portable speaker. In October 2015, Beats launched a new collection of speakers including the upgraded Beats Pill+ Speaker.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The Beats Solo Pro is an on-the-ear style headphone. Along with the Powerbeats Pro true-wireless earphones, they are part of a new generation of Beats products made from the ground up with Apple. They are the first on-ear headphones made by Beats to feature active noise canceling. They were sold alongside the Solo 3 until November 1, 2021.


title: Beats Electronics

text: This is an on-ear style headphone. It can last for 40 hours on a single charge or indefinitely when plugged in via the headphone jack.


title: Beats Electronics

text: These are currently the high-end wireless headphones that Beats offers. They connect by Bluetooth and have 40 hours of battery life, with 22 hours of battery life with adaptive noise cancelling on. They feature Apple's W1 chip for quick connection to Apple devices running iOS 10, macOS Sierra, or watchOS 4 or later. They also feature pure adaptive noise cancelling technology, which uses microphones both inside and outside the ear cups to measure sound levels based on the environment. If there is any headgear or eyewear on the user's head, it calibrates the noise cancelling and volume level accordingly. The headphones come in a wide range of colors and editions, including black, blue and special collections such as the "NBA Collection".


title: Beats Electronics

text: On September 7, 2016, Powerbeats³ were released. On February 10, 2017, BeatsX neckband-style headphones were released. Powerbeats Pro were released on May 10, 2019, in the United States and 2 weeks later for UK and Europe. The latest iteration of Powerbeats was released on March 18, 2020, sharing design concepts similar to that of the Powerbeats Pro from the year prior. On October 14, 2020, Beats Flex neckband-style headphones were released as the evolution of BeatsX. On June 14, 2021, Beats Studio Buds were released, and priced at US$149.99. On November 5, 2021, the Beats Fit Pro were released, featuring a novel "wingtip" earbud design to enhanced stability during fitness workouts.


title: Beats Electronics

text: In 2012, Beats introduced their first speaker product, the Pill. In 2013, the Pill was replaced by the Pill 2 and a larger model, Pill XL, was introduced.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The Pill 2 had a number of accessories available, including a bike mount and a speaker stand - the "Dude" - shaped like a small wide-mouthed person.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The Pill 2 was replaced by the Pill+, which was introduced in late 2015 and was discontinued in early 2021.


title: Beats Electronics

text: The company has also licensed the Beats brand, under the name "Beats Audio" (stylized in lowercase as "beats audio"), and technology to other manufacturers. In 2009, HP began to offer personal computers equipped with "Beats Audio" systems, beginning with its HP Envy line. The system features a software equalizer with a preset that HP marketed as being optimized for higher quality sound output. Beats Electronics ceased its partnership with HP following its purchase by Apple Inc.; HP subsequently entered into a similar agreement with Bang & Olufsen.


title: Beats Electronics

text: Following its acquisition of a stake in the company, most new HTC smartphones began to be released with Beats Audio software, beginning with the HTC Sensation XE/XL with Beats Audio in September 2011. The software was to be included in most new HTC devices, such as the One series. The Sensation XE and Rezound were also bundled with Beats by Dre earbuds, but HTC abandoned the practice on future devices. An HTC product executive claimed that despite the prominence of the Beats brand, "an accessory like the headphone doesn't factor in when someone is buying a smartphone".


title: Beats Electronics

text: In 2011, Beats reached a deal with Chrysler LLC to feature Beats-branded audio systems in its vehicles. The first vehicle under the partnership was its 2012 Chrysler 300S luxury vehicle, which included a 10-speaker "Beats by Dr. Dre" sound system. Beats audio systems have also been available in models from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' other brands, including Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep.


title: Beats Electronics

text: Automobile brands that currently have Beats audio systems available in its vehicles are Fiat, Volkswagen, and SEAT.


title: Beats Electronics

text: On July 2, 2012, Beats announced it had acquired the online music service MOG, in a purchase reported to have been between $10 million and $16 million. Beats stated that the acquisition was part of the company's goal to develop a "truly end-to-end music experience". The acquisition did not include the company's blog and advertising network, the MOG Music Network, which was sold in a separate transaction to the broadcasting company Townsquare Media in August 2012.


title: Beats Electronics

text: While MOG indicated that it would continue to operate independently with no immediate change in service, Beats subsequently announced a new subscription-based online music service, known as Beats Music, which launched in January 2014. In comparison to its competitors, such as Spotify and Google Play Music, the service emphasizes recommendations by music professionals alongside algorithmic recommendations. MOG was shut down on May 31, 2014, and existing users were directed to Beats Music. Beats Music was in turn replaced by Apple Music in June 2015; the service also incorporated a Beats-branded online radio station, called "Beats 1", but the name was later changed to "Apple Music 1".


title: Beats Electronics

text: In May 2021, Apple announced spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support. Apple Music will automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and all Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip.


title: Beats Electronics

text: Some critics claim that Beats products emphasize appearance over quality and function, arguing that more durable and better-sounding products are available for the same price or lower. Tests done on an HTC smartphone with Beats Audio indicated that the audio technology is a combination of audio equalization that boosts the low (bass) and high ends of the audio range, audio compression, and audio amplification. In 2015, Beats president Luke Wood disagreed with accusations that Beats' products were "bass heavy", citing that their products were not for reference but rather for playback.


title: 42nd Golden Raspberry Awards

text: The 42nd Golden Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, was an awards ceremony that honored the worst the film industry had to offer in 2021. It took place on March 26, 2022, in its traditional slot on the day before the Oscars. The awards were based on votes from members of the Golden Raspberry Foundation. The nominations were announced on February 7, 2022.


title: 42nd Golden Raspberry Awards

text: This year introduced a special category titled "Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie", which consists of all eight films that Willis appeared in from 2021. On March 30, 2022, Willis's family announced he was retiring from acting following an aphasia diagnosis. The Razzies originally stood by their decision, tweeting "perhaps this explains why he wanted to go out with a bang in 2021. Our best wishes to Bruce and family", but later rescinded the award in the wake of public backlash, stating that it would be unfair to Willis or any other performer to award a Razzie if the poor performance is due to a medical condition beyond the performer's control.


title: 42nd Golden Raspberry Awards

text: Prior to the ceremony, the Razzies were heavily criticized for overlooking critically panned performances and films, including "He's All That" and "Thunder Force" among others, while also nominating mostly unknown films. They also received criticism for lacking actual actor couples in the Worst Screen Combo category and its inclusion for performances by Ben Affleck in the critically acclaimed film "The Last Duel" and Jared Leto in "House of Gucci" for Worst Supporting Actor; both performances were nominated, with Leto winning the award. Conversely, Leto received nominations for Best Supporting Actor from the Critics Choice Association and Screen Actors Guild. A reviewer for the website "The Avocado" was particularly critical of Affleck's nomination, stating that he "gave one of the year's best performances" in "The Last Duel", writing: "Was it silly? Of course it was and it was perfect for the role." The same reviewer also criticized Leto's nomination, writing that he "doesn't deserve to be on here either" and arguing that he was "perfectly cast as a pathetic little moron that's in over his head" in "House of Gucci".


title: 42nd Golden Raspberry Awards

text: In March 2022, after it was announced that Bruce Willis would retire from acting following his diagnosis with aphasia, the special category "Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie" incurred criticism as being insensitive. The awards organization initially defended the category, but later announced that they would rescind the category and its nominations, saying "If someone's medical condition is a factor in their decision making and/or their performance, we acknowledge that it is not appropriate to give them a Razzie".


title: Saucy Santana

text: Rashad Spain (born October 8, 1993), known professionally as Saucy Santana, is an American rapper. After beginning his career as a makeup artist for the hip hop duo City Girls, he started rapping in February 2019, and released his debut single "Walk Em Like A Dog" that same year. After becoming a recurring guest on the reality television franchise "", Santana gained further prominence in 2021 when his singles "Walk", and "Here We Go" spawned viral challenges on TikTok. That same year, he released the song "Material Girl", and later released the song's remix "Material Gworrllllllll!" alongside Madonna.


title: Saucy Santana

text: Santana was born to Teresa Harris on October 8, 1993. He grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, before moving to Florida when he was 10 years old. He started his career in the music industry through working as a makeup artist for City Girls, and started rapping in February 2019 when he created a theme song for the podcast that he hosted with his friends at the time.


title: Saucy Santana

text: Santana uploaded his debut single "Walk 'Em Like a Dog" to the audio distribution platform SoundCloud in August 2019. This release was followed by his debut EP, "Dog Walkers", in September 2019, and then the mixtape "Imma Celebrity" in January 2020. Santana featured as a recurring guest on of the reality television franchise "", which aired on VH1 from January 6, 2020, to April 6, 2020. In July 2020, Santana released his second mixtape "Pretty Little Gangsta", bolstered by the singles "Up & Down" featuring American rapper Latto, and "Back It Up" featuring American rapper LightSkinKeisha. Santana featured on American rapper Sukihana's single "Food Stamp Hoe" in August 2021. His 2020 single "Walk" went viral in 2021 after being used for the popular TikTok #WalkChallenge, and earned him a cosign from American rapper Nicki Minaj. His singles "Here We Go" and "Material Girl" also gained prominence on the platform throughout the year; the latter of which received a cosign from Madonna, who performed a medley of both her song "Material Girl" and Santana's "Material Girl" with him at NYC Pride in 2022. They would later release the version they performed as a single, entitled "Material Gworrllllllll!" His debut studio album "Keep It Playa" was released on December 16, 2021, and featured the single "Shisha", his first collaboration with City Girls, with whom he originally began his career as a makeup artist.


title: Saucy Santana

text: In June 2022, Santana received widespread backlash for tweets from 2014 about singer Beyoncé's daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, after Santana claimed to have compared her to Kanye West's daughter North West, and calling Carter's hair, "nappy".


title: Saucy Santana

text: In August 2022, Santana made his debut on "The Tonight Show", performing "Booty". Santana also performed "Booty" at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards "Pre-Show".


title: Saucy Santana

text: Santana and two others were shot in a drive-by shooting in Miami in December 2019. Santana, who was hospitalized for his injuries, stated that he believes the shooting was motivated by homophobia. He said of the shooting, "I got shot in the top of my shoulder, you was aiming at my face or at my head, that's an instant kill." This incident inspired him to write the song "You Can't Kill Me".


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America, in the early 17th century. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony between September 1608 and August 1609, and he led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, during which he became the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area. Later, he explored and mapped the coast of New England. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Jamestown was established on May 14, 1607. Smith trained the first settlers to work at farming and fishing, thus saving the colony from early devastation. He publicly stated, "He that will not work, shall not eat", alluding to . Harsh weather, lack of food and water, the surrounding swampy wilderness, and attacks from Native Americans almost destroyed the colony. With Smith's leadership, however, Jamestown survived and eventually flourished. Smith was forced to return to England after being injured by an accidental explosion of gunpowder in a canoe.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Smith's books and maps were important in encouraging and supporting English colonization of the New World. Having named the region of New England, he stated: "Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land. ...If he have nothing but his hands, he may...by industries quickly grow rich." Smith died in London in 1631.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Smith's exact birth date is unclear. He was baptized on 6 January 1580 at Willoughby, near Alford, Lincolnshire, where his parents rented a farm from Lord Willoughby. He claimed descent from the ancient Smith family of Cuerdley, Lancashire, and was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth, from 1592 to 1595.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Smith set off to sea at age 16 after his father died. He served as a mercenary in the army of Henry IV of France against the Spaniards, fighting for Dutch independence from King Philip II of Spain. He then went to the Mediterranean where he engaged in trade and piracy, and later fought against the Ottoman Turks in the Long Turkish War. He was promoted to a cavalry captain while fighting for the Austrian Habsburgs in Hungary in the campaign of Michael the Brave in 1600 and 1601. After the death of Michael the Brave, he fought for Radu Șerban in Wallachia against Ottoman vassal Ieremia Movilă.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Smith reputedly killed and beheaded three Ottoman challengers in single-combat duels, for which he was knighted by the Prince of Transylvania and given a horse and a coat of arms showing three Turks' heads. However, in 1602 he was wounded in a skirmish with the Crimean Tatars, captured, and sold as a slave. He claimed that his master was a Turkish nobleman who sent him as a gift to his Greek mistress in Constantinople, Charatza Tragabigzanda, who fell in love with Smith. He then was taken to the Crimea, where he escaped from Ottoman lands into Muscovy, then on to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth before travelling through Europe and North Africa, returning to England in 1604.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In 1606, Smith became involved with the Virginia Company of London's plan to colonize Virginia for profit, and King James had already granted a charter. The expedition set sail in the "Discovery", the "Susan Constant", and the "Godspeed" on 20 December 1606. His page was a 12-year-old boy named Samuel Collier.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: During the voyage, Smith was charged with mutiny, and Captain Christopher Newport (in charge of the three ships) had planned to execute him. These events happened approximately when the expedition stopped in the Canary Islands for resupply of water and provisions. Smith was under arrest for most of the trip. However, they landed at Cape Henry on 26 April 1607 and unsealed orders from the Virginia Company designating Smith as one of the leaders of the new colony, thus sparing him from the gallows.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: By the summer of 1607, the colonists were still living in temporary housing. The search for a suitable site ended on 14 May 1607 when Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, president of the council, chose the Jamestown site as the location for the colony. After the four-month ocean trip, their food stores were sufficient only for each to have a cup or two of grain-meal per day, and someone died almost every day due to swampy conditions and widespread disease. By September, more than 60 had died of the 104 who left England.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In early January 1608, nearly 100 new settlers arrived with Captain Newport on the First Supply, but the village was set on fire through carelessness. That winter, the James River froze over, and the settlers were forced to live in the burned ruins. During this time, they wasted much of the three months that Newport and his crew were in port loading their ships with iron pyrite (fool's gold). Food supplies ran low, although the Native Americans brought some food, and Smith wrote that "more than half of us died". Smith spent the following summer exploring Chesapeake Bay waterways and producing a map that was of great value to Virginia explorers for more than a century.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In October 1608, Newport brought a second shipment of supplies along with 70 new settlers, including the first women. Some German, Polish, and Slovak craftsmen also arrived, but they brought no food supplies. Newport brought a list of counterfeit Virginia Company orders which angered Smith greatly. One of the orders was to crown Indian leader Powhatan emperor and give him a fancy bedstead. The Company wanted Smith to pay for Newport's voyage with pitch, tar, sawed boards, soap ashes, and glass.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: After that, Smith tried to obtain food from the local Indians, but it required threats of military force for them to comply. Smith discovered that there were those among both the settlers and the Indians who were planning to take his life, and he was warned about the plan by Pocahontas. He called a meeting and threatened those who were not working "that he that will not work shall not eat." After that, the situation improved and the settlers worked with more industry.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Native Americans led by Opechancanough captured Smith in December 1607 while he was seeking food along the Chickahominy River, and they took him to meet Chief Powhatan (Opechancanough's older brother) at Werowocomoco, the main village of the Powhatan Confederacy. The village was on the north shore of the York River about 15 miles north of Jamestown and 25 miles downstream from where the river forms from the Pamunkey River and the Mattaponi River at West Point, Virginia. Smith was removed to the hunters' camp, where Opechancanough and his men feasted him and otherwise treated him like an honoured guest. Protocol demanded that Opechancanough inform Chief Powhatan of Smith's capture, but the paramount chief also was on a hunt and therefore unreachable. Absent interpreters or any other means of effectively interviewing the Englishman, Opechancanough summoned his seven highest-ranking kwiocosuk, or shamans, and convened an elaborate, three-day divining ritual to determine whether Smith's intentions were friendly. Finding it a good time to leave camp, Opechancanough took Smith and went in search of his brother, at one point visiting the Rappahannock tribe who had been attacked by a European ship captain a few years earlier.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In 1860, Boston businessman and historian Charles Deane was the first scholar to question specific details of Smith's writings. Smith's version of events is the only source and scepticism has increasingly been expressed about its veracity. One reason for such doubt is that, despite having published two earlier books about Virginia, Smith's earliest surviving account of his rescue by Pocahontas dates from 1616, nearly 10 years later, in a letter entreating Queen Anne to treat Pocahontas with dignity. The time gap in publishing his story raises the possibility that Smith may have exaggerated or invented the event to enhance Pocahontas' image. However, professor Leo Lemay of the University of Delaware points out that Smith's earlier writing was primarily geographical and ethnographic in nature and did not dwell on his personal experiences; hence, there was no reason for him to write down the story until this point.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Henry Brooks Adams attempted to debunk Smith's claims of heroism. He said that Smith's recounting of the story of Pocahontas had been progressively embellished, made up of "falsehoods of an effrontery seldom equaled in modern times". There is consensus among historians that Smith tended to exaggerate, but his account is consistent with the basic facts of his life. Some have suggested that Smith believed that he had been rescued, when he had in fact been involved in a ritual intended to symbolize his death and rebirth as a member of the tribe. David A. Price notes in "Love and Hate in Jamestown" that this is purely speculation, since little is known of Powhatan rituals and there is no evidence for any similar rituals among other Native American tribes. Smith told a similar story in "True Travels" (1630) of having been rescued by the intervention of a young girl after being captured in 1602 by Turks in Hungary. Karen Kupperman suggests that he "presented those remembered events from decades earlier" when telling the story of Pocahontas. Whatever really happened, the encounter initiated a friendly relationship between the Native Americans and colonists near Jamestown. As the colonists expanded farther, some of the tribes felt that their lands were threatened, and conflicts arose again.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In 1608, Pocahontas is said to have saved Smith a second time. Chief Powhatan invited Smith and some other colonists to Werowocomoco on friendly terms, but Pocahontas came to the hut where they were staying and warned them that Powhatan was planning to kill them. They stayed on their guard and the attack never came. Also in 1608, Polish craftsmen were brought to the colony to help it develop. Smith wrote that two Poles rescued him when he was attacked by an Algonquian tribesman.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In the summer of 1608, Smith left Jamestown to explore the Chesapeake Bay region and search for badly needed food, covering an estimated 3,000 miles. These explorations are commemorated in the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, established in 2006. In his absence, Smith left his friend Matthew Scrivener as governor in his place, a young gentleman adventurer from Sibton Suffolk who was related by marriage to the Wingfield family, but he was not capable of leading the people. Smith was elected president of the local council in September 1608.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: Some of the settlers eventually wanted Smith to abandon Jamestown, but he refused. Some deserted to the Indian villages, but Powhatan's people also followed Smith's law of "he who works not, eats not". This lasted "till they were near starved indeed", in Smith's words, and they returned home.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In the spring of 1609, Jamestown was beginning to prosper, with many dwellings built, acres of land cleared, and much other work done. Then in April, they experienced an infestation of rats, along with dampness which destroyed all their stored corn. They needed food badly and Smith sent a large group of settlers to fish and others to gather shellfish downriver. They came back without food and were willing enough to take the meager rations offered them. This angered Smith and he ordered them to trade their guns and tools for fruit from the Indians and ordered everyone to work or be banished from the fort.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: The weeks-long emergency was relieved by the arrival of an unexpected ship captained by Samuel Argall. He had items of food and wine which Smith bought on credit. Argall also brought news that the Virginia Company of London was being reorganized and was sending more supplies and settlers to Jamestown, along with Lord De la Warr to become the new governor.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In a May 1609 voyage to Virginia, Virginia Company treasurer Sir Thomas Smith arranged for about 500 colonists to come along, including women and children. A fleet of nine ships set sail. One sank in a storm soon after leaving the harbour, and the "Sea Venture" wrecked on the Bermuda Islands with flotilla admiral Sir George Somers aboard. They finally made their way to Jamestown in May 1610 after building the "Deliverance" and "Patience" to take most of the passengers and crew of the "Sea Venture" off Bermuda, with the new governor Thomas Gates on board.


title: John Smith (explorer)

text: In August 1609, Smith was quite surprised to see more than 300 new settlers arrive, which did not go well for him. London was sending new settlers with no real planning or logistical support. Then in May 1610, Somers and Gates finally arrived with 150 people from the "Sea Venture". Gates soon found that there was not enough food to support all in the colony and decided to abandon Jamestown. As their boats were leaving the Jamestown area, they met a ship carrying the new governor Lord De la Warr, who ordered them back to Jamestown. Somers returned to Bermuda with the "Patience" to gather more food for Jamestown but died there. The "Patience" then sailed for England instead of Virginia, captained by his nephew.