title: Spanish naming customs

text: The Catalan-speaking territories also abide by the Spanish naming customs, yet usually the discrete surnames are joined with the word "i" ("and"), instead of the Spanish "y", and this practice is very common in formal contexts. For example, the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) is formally called "El Molt Honorable Senyor Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó". Furthermore, the national language policy enumerated in article 19.1 of Law 1/1998 stipulates that "the citizens of Catalonia have the right to use the proper regulation of their Catalan names and surnames and to introduce the conjunction between surnames".


title: Spanish naming customs

text: The correction, translation, and surname-change are regulated by the "Registro Civil" (Civil Registry) with the Decree 138/2007 of 26 June, modifying the Decree 208/1998 of 30 July, which regulates the accreditation of the linguistic correctness of names. The attributes and functions of Decree 138/2007 of 26 July regulate the issuance of language-correction certificates for translated Catalan names, by the "Institut d'Estudis Catalans" (Institute of Catalan Studies) in Barcelona. Nevertheless, there are Catalan surnames that conform to neither the current spelling rules nor to the traditionally correct Catalan spelling rules; a language-correction certification can be requested from the institute, for names such as these:


title: Spanish naming customs

text: Many Catalan names are shortened to hypocoristic forms using only the final portion of the name (unlike Spanish, which mostly uses only the first portion of the name), and with a diminutive suffix ("-et, -eta/-ita"). Thus, shortened Catalan names taking the first portion of the name are probably influenced by the Spanish tradition. The influence of Spanish in hypocoristics is recent since it became a general fashion only in the twentieth century ; example Catalan names are:


title: Spanish naming customs

text: The Galician-speaking areas also abide by the Spanish naming customs. Main differences are the usage of Galician given names and surnames.


title: Spanish naming customs

text: Most Galician surnames have their origin in local toponymies, being these either Galician regions (Salnés < Salnés, Carnota, Bergantiños), towns (Ferrol, Noia), parishes or villages (as Andrade). Just like elsewhere, many surnames were also generated from jobs or professions (Carpinteiro 'carpenter', Cabaleiro 'Knight', Ferreiro 'Smith', Besteiro 'Crossbowman'), physical characteristics (Gago 'Twangy', Tato 'Stutterer', Couceiro 'Tall and thin', Bugallo 'fat', Pardo 'Swarthy'), or origin of the person (Franco and Francés 'French', Portugués 'Portuguese').


title: Spanish naming customs

text: Although many Galician surnames have been historically adapted into Spanish phonetics and orthography, they are still clearly recognizable as Galician words: Freijedo, Spanish adaptation of "freixedo" 'place with ash-trees'; Seijo from "seixo" 'stone'; Doval from "do Val" 'of the Valley'; Rejenjo from "Reguengo", Galician evolution of local Latin-Germanic word "Regalingo" 'Royal property'.


title: Spanish naming customs

text: Specially relevant are the Galician surnames originated from medieval patronymics, present in local documentation since the 9th century, and popularized from the 12th century on. Although many of them have been historically adapted into Spanish orthography, phonetics and traditions, many are still characteristically Galician; most common ones are:


title: Spanish naming customs

text: Some of them (namely Páez, Méndez, Vázquez) are characteristically Galician due to the drop of intervocalic -l-, -d-, -g- and -n-(although Lugo is the only province in Spain with a majority of people surnamed "López").


title: Spanish naming customs

text: Nicknames are usually obtained from the end of a given name, or through derivation. Common suffixes include masculine -iño, -ito (as in "Sito", from "Luisito"), -echo ("Tonecho", from "Antonecho") and -uco ("Farruco", from "Francisco"); and feminine -iña, -ucha/uxa ("Maruxa", "Carmucha", from "Maria" and "Carme"), -uca ("Beluca", from "Isabeluca"), and -ela ("Mela", from "Carmela").


title: Spanish naming customs

text: As the provincial "Surname distribution" map (above) indicates, Mohamed is an often-occurring surname in the autonomous Mediterranean North African cities of Ceuta and Melilla (respectively registered 10,410 and 7,982 occurrences), Hispanophone Muslims use the Spanish "Mohamed" spelling for "Muhammad". As such, it is often a component of Arabic names for men; hence, many Ceutan and Melillan Muslims share surnames despite not sharing a common ancestry. Furthermore, "Mohamed" (Muhammad) is the most popular name for new-born boys, thus it is not unusual to encounter a man named "Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed": the first occurrence is the given name, the second occurrence is the paternal surname, and the third occurrence is the maternal surname.


title: Spanish naming customs

text: In English, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends that Spanish and Hispanophone names be indexed by the family name. When there are two family names, the indexing is done under the father's family name; this would be the first element of the surname if the father's and mother's or husband's family names are joined by a "y". Depending upon the person involved, the particle "de" may be treated as a part of a family name or it may be separated from a family name. The indexing of Hispanophone names differs from that of Portuguese or Lusophone names, where the final element of the name is indexed because the Portuguese custom is for the father's surname to follow, rather than precede, the mother's. The effect is that the father's surname is the one indexed for both Spanish and Portuguese names.


title: Fancy rat

text: The fancy rat ("Rattus norvegicus domestica") is the domesticated form of "Rattus norvegicus", the brown rat, and the most common species of rat kept as a pet. The name "fancy rat" derives from the use of the noun "fancy" for a hobby, also seen in "animal fancy", a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, or breeding of pet or domestic animals. The offspring of wild-caught specimens, having become docile after having been bred for many generations, fall under the "fancy" type.


title: Fancy rat

text: Fancy rats were originally targets for blood sport in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. Later bred as pets, they now come in a wide variety of coat colors and patterns, and are bred and raised by several rat enthusiast groups around the world. They are sold in pet stores and by breeders. Fancy rats are generally easy to care for, and are quite affordable, even compared to other small pets; this is one of their biggest draws. Additionally, they are quite independent, loyal and easily trained. They are considered more intelligent than other domesticated rodents. Healthy fancy rats typically live 2 to 3 years, but are capable of living a year or so longer.


title: Fancy rat

text: Fancy rats are used widely in medical research, as their physiology is very similar to that of humans. When used in this field, they are referred to as "laboratory rats (lab rats)".


title: Fancy rat

text: Domesticated rats are physiologically and psychologically different from their wild relatives, and typically pose no more of a health risk than other common pets. For example, domesticated brown rats are not considered a disease threat, although exposure to wild rat populations could introduce pathogens like the bacteria "Streptobacillus moniliformis" into the home. Fancy rats have different health risks from their wild counterparts, and thus are unlikely to succumb to the same illnesses as wild rats.


title: Fancy rat

text: The origin of the modern fancy rat begins with the rat-catchers of the 18th and 19th centuries who trapped rats throughout Europe. These rat-catchers would then either kill the rats, or, more likely, sell the rats to be used in blood sport. Rat-baiting was a popular sport until the beginning of the 20th century. It involved filling a pit with several rats and then placing bets on how long it would take a terrier to kill them all. It is believed that both rat-catchers and sportsmen began to keep certain, odd-colored rats during the height of the sport, eventually breeding them and then selling them as pets. The two men thought to have formed the basis of rat fancy are Jack Black, self-proclaimed rat-catcher to Queen Victoria, and Jimmy Shaw, manager of one of the largest sporting public houses in London. These two men are responsible for beginning many of the color varieties present today. Black, specifically, was known for taming the "prettier" rats of unusual color, decorating them with ribbons, and selling them as pets.


title: Fancy rat

text: Rat fancy as a formal, organized hobby began when a woman named Mary Douglas asked for permission to bring her pet rats to an exhibition of the National Mouse Club at the Aylesbury Town Show in England on October 24, 1901. Her black-and-white hooded rat won "Best in Show" and ignited interest in the area. After Douglas' death in 1921, rat fancy soon began to fall back out of fashion. The original hobby formally lasted from 1912 to 1929 or 1931, as part of the National Mouse and Rat Club, at which point "Rat" was dropped from the name, returning it to the original National Mouse Club. The hobby was revived in 1976 with the formation of the English National Fancy Rat Society (NFRS). Pet rats are now commonly available in stores and from breeders, and there exist several rat fancier groups worldwide.


title: Fancy rat

text: While domesticated rats are not removed enough from their wild counterparts to justify a distinct subspecies (like the dog versus grey wolf), there are significant differences that set them apart; the most apparent is coloring. Random color mutations may occur in the wild, but these are rare. Most wild "R. norvegicus" are a dark brown color, while fancy rats may be anything from white to cinnamon to blue.


title: Fancy rat

text: Behaviorally, domesticated pet rats are tamer than those in the wild. They are more comfortable around humans and known to seek out their owners while roaming freely. They have decreased reactions to light and sound, are less cautious of new food, and have better tolerance to overcrowding. Domesticated rats are shown to mate earlier, more readily, and for a longer period of time over their lifespan. Also, domesticated rats exhibit different behaviors when fighting with each other; while wild rats almost always flee a lost battle, caged rats spend protracted amounts of time in a belly-up or boxing position. These behavioral traits are thought to be products of environment as opposed to genetics. However, it is also theorized that there are certain underlying biological reasons for why some members of a wild species are more receptive to domestication than others, and that these differences are then passed down to offspring (compare domesticated silver fox).


title: Fancy rat

text: The body structure of domesticated rats differs from that of a wild rat as well. The body of a fancy rat is smaller, with larger ears and a longer tail than that of its undomesticated counterpart. Domesticated rats have generally smaller and sharper facial features as well.


title: Fancy rat

text: Domesticated rats have a longer lifespan than that of wild rats. Because domesticated rats are protected from predators and have ready access to food, water, shelter, and medical care, their average lifespan is around two to three years, in contrast to wild "R. norvegicus", which average a lifespan of less than one year. However, wild rats generally have larger brains, hearts, livers, kidneys, and adrenal glands than laboratory rats. The fancy rat and wild rat also each face a multitude of differing health concerns; the former is at risk of developing a pneumococcal infection from exposure to humans, while the latter may harbor tapeworms after coming in contact with carriers such as cockroaches and fleas.


title: Fancy rat

text: As in other pet species, a variety of colors, coat types, and other features that do not appear in the wild have either been developed, or have appeared spontaneously. Fancy rats in themselves are a subspecies and as such do not have distinctive breeds. Any individual rat may be defined one or more ways by its color, coat, marking, and non-standard body type. This allows for very specific classifications such as a ruby-eyed cinnamon Berkshire rex Dumbo.


title: Fancy rat

text: While some pet rats retain the agouti coloring of the wild brown rat (three tones on the same hair), others have solid colors (a single color on each hair), a trait derived from rats with black coats. Agouti-based colors include agouti, cinnamon, and fawn. Black-based colors include black, beige, blue, and chocolate.


title: Fancy rat

text: Eye color is considered a subset of coloring, and coat color definitions often include standards for the eyes, as many genes which control eye color will also affect the coat color or "vice versa". The American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association (AFRMA) lists black, pink, ruby, and odd-eyed (two differently colored eyes) as possible eye colors, depending on the variety of rat shown. "Ruby" refers to eyes which at a glance appear black, but on closer observation are a deep, dark red.


title: Fancy rat

text: Color names can vary for more vaguely defined varieties, like lilac and fawn, while the interpretations of standards can fluctuate between (and even within) different countries or clubs.


title: Fancy rat

text: Further dividing the varieties of fancy rats are the many different markings. Fancy rats can appear in any combination of colors and markings. The markings are typically in reference to the patterns and ratios of colored hair versus white hair. Two extremes would be a "self" (completely solid, non-white color) and a Himalayan (completely white except blending into colored areas at the nose and feet, called points, as in a Himalayan cat's markings).


title: Fancy rat

text: Markings have a strict standard, with detailed terminology, for showing in fancy rat pet shows. However, many domestic rats are not closely bred to any color standard; many of those found in pet shops will have "mismarkings" from a formal breeding perspective, which are defined as variations in markings that are not recognized as conforming to a breed standard published by a rat fancier organisation.


title: Fancy rat

text: Other marking varieties include spotted or Dalmatian (named for the spotted Dalmatian dog), Essex, masked, Himalayan (typically a gradient of color along the body, darkest at the base of the tail and nose as in Siamese cats), and Down Under or Downunder (an Australian variety that has a solid color stripe on the belly or a color marking there that corresponds to the markings on the top).


title: Fancy rat

text: Two of the most prominent and standardized physical changes applied to rats through selective breeding are the development of the Manx rat and Dumbo rat. The Dumbo rat, whose origins are in the United States, is characterized by having large, low, round ears on the sides of its head caused by a recessive mutation, and was named for its resemblance to the fictional character Dumbo the Flying Elephant. The Manx rat is tailless due to a genetic mutation, and was named for the Manx cat which shares this feature, though not necessarily due to the same mutation. Breeding Manx rats does raise some ethical and health concerns however, as rats use their tails for both balance and thermoregulation.


title: Fancy rat

text: There is a relatively small variety of coats compared to the number of colors and markings, and not all are internationally standardized. The most common type is the normal or standard, which is allowed variance in coarseness between the sexes; males have a coarse, thick, rough coat, while females' coats are softer and finer. Other standardized coats include: rex, in which all the hairs are curly, even the whiskers; velveteen, a softer variation of the rex; satin or silky coat, which is extra-soft and fine, with a sheen; and Harley, characterized by wispy long straight hairs. Remaining coat types are not defined by the hair itself, but rather by the lack of it, such as hairless rats.


title: Fancy rat

text: Hairless rats are a coat variety characterized by varying levels of hair loss. One type of hairless rat is bred from curly-coated rexes. These range from having areas of very short fur to being completely bald. Since rex is a dominant trait, there only needs to be one rex parent to produce curly rex-coated offspring. However, when two rex parents are bred, two copies of the trait may be present in the offspring. This causes varying levels of hairlessness, and has earned the colloquial name "double rex". The other type of hairless rat is sometimes referred to as a "true hairless". This is caused by a different gene, and is distinguishable from a hairless double rex by the absence of whiskers. Unlike a double rex, this type of hairless rat is incapable of growing hairs on any part of the body. One additional subset of semi-hairless rats, patchwork rex, constantly lose their hair and regrow it in different "patches" several times throughout their life. Hairless rats may be prone to more health problems than their standard- or rex-coated counterparts, including a reduced tolerance for cold, kidney and liver failure, more prone to skin injury, skin conditions, and shortened life span.


title: Fancy rat

text: There is controversy among rat fanciers in regard to selective breeding. On one hand, breeding rats to "conform" to a specific standard or to develop a new one is a large part of what the fancy was founded on. On the other hand, the process results in many rats who do not "conform", and are then either given away, sold as food, or killed—the latter referred to as culling.


title: Fancy rat

text: There are concerns as to whether breeding hairless and tailless rats is ethical. The tail is vital for rats' balance and for adjusting body temperature. Tailless rats have greater risk of heat exhaustion, poor bowel and bladder control, falling from heights, and can be at risk for life-threatening deformities in the pelvic region, like hind leg paralysis and megacolon. Similarly, hairless rats are less protected from scratches and the cold without their coat. Groups such as the NFRS prohibit the showing of these varieties at their events and forbid advertisement through affiliated services.


title: Fancy rat

text: Because "R. norvegicus" and related species are seen as pests, their intentional import into foreign countries is often regulated. For example, the importation of foreign rodents is prohibited in Australia, and so various coat types, colors, and varieties have been bred separately from foreign lines, or are just not obtainable within that country (for example, hairless and Dumbo rats do not exist in Australia). In other areas, like the Canadian province of Alberta, which is considered rat-free, the ownership of domestic fancy rats outside of schools, laboratories, and zoos is illegal.


title: Fancy rat

text: Human-raised "R. norvegicus" are more prone to specific health risks and diseases than their wild counterparts, but they are also far less likely to succumb to certain illnesses that are prevalent in the wild. The major considerations for susceptibility include exposure, living conditions, and diet.


title: Fancy rat

text: Rats that live their entire lives indoors usually are able to avoid disease-causing bacteria such as "Salmonella" and "Pseudomonas aeruginosa"; the latter is absent in treated water. They may also more easily avoid vectors like cockroaches, beetles, and fleas which are essential for the spread of endemic typhus and intestinal parasites like the Rat tapeworm. Additionally, pet or laboratory rats enjoy the intrinsic benefits of having a consistent and well-balanced diet, along with access to medical care.


title: Fancy rat

text: Porphyrin is a browny-red substance that fancy rats can develop around the eyes and nose. It may appear like dried blood, but is a mucus-like substance that is released at times of stress or if the rat has a respiratory infection. It can also be caused by temporary irritation in the eye, such as the rat accidentally scratching its eye while grooming.


title: Fancy rat

text: Mites also pose a health risk. Mites are microscopic bloodsucking parasites that can irritate the skin of fancy rats, and if they have a preexisting health condition, it can cause them to die from their bodies' inability to handle two problems at once.


title: Fancy rat

text: While living indoors decreases the risk of contracting certain diseases, living in close quarters with other rats, lack of proper protection from environmental factors (e.g. temperature, humidity), an unhealthy diet, and the stresses inherently associated with living in an unnatural habitat can all adversely affect a rat's health to make them more prone to specific conditions. Specifically, Tyzzer's disease, protozoic infections (e.g. "Giardia muris"), and pseudotuberculosis are usually seen in stressed or young rats. Additionally, pet rats are exposed to "Streptococcus pneumoniae", a zoonotic disease caught from humans, not the same bacteria associated with pneumonia. A human-associated fungus, "Pneumocystis carinii" (also found in almost all domesticated animals), is usually asymptomatic in the rat, unless the rat's immune system is compromised by illness. If this occurs, the infection can develop into pneumonia.


title: Fancy rat

text: Several diseases, like Rat Coronavirus Infection (RCI), Sendai virus, and Murine Respiratory Mycoplasmosis (MRM, "Mycoplasma pulmonis"), are prevalent simply because their highly contagious natures work in tandem with the way rats are kept in laboratories, pet stores, and by breeders. MRM is far less likely to occur in laboratory rats than in those kept as pets.


title: Fancy rat

text: Pet rats can also develop pituitary tumors if fed high-calorie diets, and ringtail if placed in areas with low humidity or high temperatures. "Staphylococcus" spp. are a mostly benign group of bacteria that commonly reside on the top of the skin, but cuts and scratches from social and hierarchical fighting can open up the pathways for them to cause ulcerative dermatitis.


title: Fancy rat

text: There is some evidence that spayed female rats ("does") are less likely to develop mammary and pituitary tumors than intact females. Research into prevention of common diseases and health issues in rats is ongoing. Dietary changes are among the main suggestions for improved health and longevity in fancy rats, including feeding rat-friendly superfoods in moderation to reduce the risk of cancers, heart disease, and stroke.


title: Fancy rat

text: Keeping rats as pets can come with the stigma that rats supposedly transmit dangerous diseases to their owners. Usually, rats bred as pets are tested and treated for diseases and parasites. One fear is that all rats carry plague, when in fact "R. norvegicus" is not among the list of species considered a threat. In 2004, an outbreak of salmonella in the United States was connected to people who owned pet rats. However, it has been determined that a pet rat's initial exposure to salmonella, along with many other zoonotic rat diseases, typically indicates exposure to wild rodent populations, either from an infestation in the owner's home, or from the pet's contaminated food, water, or bedding.


title: Fancy rat

text: Another risk to rat owners is rat-bite fever. This is a rare disease among domesticated rats and is most often found in rats from large chain pet stores that breed their stock of rats in masses (usually with the intention of being snake food rather than pets) or from breeders with neglectful rat husbandry. This disease is fairly unnoticeable in the rat, but is characterized by swelling of the bite or scratch site, fever, vomiting, and body aches. It is contracted by the bite or scratch of an infected rat. As an early breeder of fancy rats, Jack Black recounted that he nearly died several times after bites.


title: Fancy rat

text: In fiction, pet brown rats are often depicted as "tamed" rather than "domesticated", akin to when a character befriends a wolf. As tamed pets, they have been portrayed in roles that vary from evil to ambiguous to lovable.


title: Fancy rat

text: Samantha Martin, a professional animal trainer for films, commercials, and music videos, has claimed that rats are one of the easiest animals to train due to their adaptability, intelligence, and focus.


title: Fancy rat

text: In the direct-to-video sequels to the 1987 film "The Brave Little Toaster", "The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue" and "The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars", Ratso is the pet rat of Rob McGroarty.


title: Fancy rat

text: The novella "Ratman's Notebooks" by Stephen Gilbert was the basis for the films "Willard" (1971) and "Ben" (1972), and a 2003 remake of the first film. Here, the protagonist befriends the rats found in his home and builds up a close relationship, only to have it end tragically. While these movies generally emphasize the popular perception of malevolence—they kill people and cats and ransack grocery stores—other wild rats who become pets are portrayed in more neutral to positive ways; the television show, "House", briefly featured "Steve McQueen", the pet rat of the titular character.


title: Fancy rat

text: In certain versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, the master and adoptive father of the turtles is Splinter, who was once the pet rat of ninja Hamato Yoshi and learned his martial arts skills by imitating his owner.


title: Fancy rat

text: In the 1996 point-and-click adventure game "", the protagonist Curtis Craig owns a pet rat named Blob, which is seen various times in the game and is even involved in one of the many puzzles that the player must decipher.


title: Fancy rat

text: Pet rats are unofficially allowed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter series, but are not generally seen as desirable pets. Ronald Weasley has a pet rat, Scabbers.


title: Fancy rat

text: Christopher Boone, the autistic protagonist of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" has a pet rat named Toby.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol, brand names Nucynta among others, is a centrally acting opioid analgesic of the benzenoid class with a dual mode of action as an agonist of the μ-opioid receptor and as a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (NRI). Analgesia occurs within 32 minutes of oral administration, and lasts for 4–6 hours.


title: Tapentadol

text: It is similar to tramadol in its dual mechanism of action; namely, its ability to activate the mu opioid receptor and inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine. Unlike tramadol, it has only weak effects on the reuptake of serotonin and is a significantly more potent opioid with no known active metabolites. Tapentadol is not a pro-drug and therefore does not rely on metabolism to produce its therapeutic effects; this makes it a useful moderate-potency analgesic option for patients who do not respond adequately to more commonly used opioids due to genetic disposition (poor metabolizers of CYP3A4 and CYP2D6), as well as providing a more consistent dosage-response range among the patient population.


title: Tapentadol

text: The potency of tapentadol is somewhere between that of tramadol and morphine, with an analgesic efficacy comparable to that of oxycodone despite a lower incidence of side effects. It is generally regarded as a moderately strong opioid.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol was approved by the US FDA in November 2008, by the TGA of Australia in December 2010 and by the MHRA of the UK in February 2011. In India, Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) approved tapentadol immediate-release (IR) preparations (50, 75 and 100 mg) for moderate to severe acute pain and extended-release (ER) preparations (50,100,150 and 200 mg) for severe acute pain in April 2011 and December 2013 respectively.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol is used for the treatment of moderate to severe pain for both acute (following injury, surgery, etc.) and chronic musculoskeletal pain. It is also specifically indicated for controlling the pain of diabetic neuropathy when around-the-clock opioid medication is required. Extended-release formulations of tapentadol are not indicated for use in the management of acute pain.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol is Pregnancy Category C. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies of tapentadol in pregnant women, and tapentadol is not recommended for use in women during and immediately prior to labor and delivery.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol is contraindicated in people with epilepsy or who are otherwise prone to seizures. It raises intracranial pressure so should not be used in people with head injuries, brain tumors, or other conditions which increase intracranial pressure. It increases the risk of respiratory depression so should not be used in people with asthma. As with other mu-opioid agonists, tapentadol may cause spasms of the sphincter of Oddi, and is therefore discouraged for use in patients with biliary tract disease such as both acute and chronic pancreatitis. People who are rapid or ultra rapid metabolizers for the CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6 enzymes may not respond adequately to tapentadol therapy. Due to reduced clearance, tapentadol should be administered with caution to people with moderate liver disease and not at all in people with severe liver disease.


title: Tapentadol

text: The most commonly reported side effects of tapentadol therapy in clinical trials were nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sleepiness, itchiness, dry mouth, headache, and fatigue.


title: Tapentadol

text: According to the World Health Organization there is little evidence to judge the abuse potential of tapentadol. Although early pre-clinical animal trials suggested that tapentadol has a reduced abuse liability compared to other opioid analgesics the US DEA placed tapentadol into Schedule II, the same category as stronger opioids more commonly used recreationally, such as morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol has been demonstrated to reduce the seizure threshold in patients. Tapentadol should be used cautiously in patients with a history of seizures, and in patients who are also taking one or more other drugs which have also been demonstrated to reduce the seizure threshold. Patients at high risk include those using other serotogenic and adrenergic medications, as well as patients with head trauma, metabolic disorders, and those in alcohol and/or drug withdrawals.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol has been demonstrated to potentially produce hypotension (low blood pressure), and should be used with caution in patients with low blood pressure, and patients who are taking one or more other medications which are also known to reduce blood pressure.


title: Tapentadol

text: Combination with SSRIs/SNRIs, SRAs, serotonin receptor agonists may lead to potentially lethal serotonin syndrome. Combination with MAOIs may also result in an adrenergic storm. Use of tapentadol with alcohol or other sedatives such as benzodiazepines, barbiturates, nonbenzodiazepines, phenothiazines, and other opiates may result in increased impairment, sedation, respiratory depression, and death. Tapentadol is partially metabolized by the hepatic enzymes CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6 so it innately has interactions with drugs that enhance or repress the activity/expression of one or more of these enzymes, as well as with substrates of these enzymes (due to competition for the enzyme); some enzyme mediators/substrates require dosing adjustments to one or both medications.


title: Tapentadol

text: The combination of tapentadol and alcohol may result in increased plasma concentrations of tapentadol and produce respiratory depression to a degree greater than the sum of the two drugs when administered separately; patients should be cautioned against alcohol consumption when taking tapentadol as the combination may be fatal.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol should be used with caution in patients who are taking one or more anticholinergic drugs, as this combination may result in urine retention (which can result in serious renal damage and is considered a medical emergency).


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol is an agonist of the μ-opioid receptor and a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (NRI). Analgesia occurs within 32 minutes after oral administration, and lasts for 4–6 hours. It is 18 times less potent than morphine in terms of binding to human mu-opioid receptors in in vitro research on human tissue. In vivo, only 32% of an oral dose of tapentadol will survive first pass metabolism and proceed to the bloodstream to produce its effects on the central and peripheral nervous systems of the patient.


title: Tapentadol

text: It is similar to tramadol in its dual mechanism of action but unlike tramadol, it has much weaker effects on the reuptake of serotonin and is a significantly more potent opioid with no known active metabolites.


title: Tapentadol

text: Commercial preparations contain only the (R,R) stereoisomer, which is the weakest isomer in terms of opioid activity. The free base conversion ratio for salts includes 0.86 for the hydrochloride.


title: Tapentadol

text: The peak plasma concentration (Cmax; amount of active drug in the bloodstream) when taken after eating is increased by 8% and 18% for tapentadol IR and ER preparations, respectively. This difference is not clinically significant, and tapentadol may be administered orally with or without food as circumstances allow, and the patient will generally not notice any change in the efficacy and/or duration of analgesic effects if the drug is not consistently administered in fasting or fed states (patients will receive the same benefits from their dose regardless of what and when they last ate). The plasma concentration of tapentadol differs to a relevant degree based on the administered dose, with the highest tested dose (250 mg) resulting in a higher Cmax than would be expected via the dose-proportionate plasma concentration expectations. Increased doses of tapentadol should be anticipated to be slightly stronger than predicted by linear functions of the previous dose-response relation.


title: Tapentadol

text: Tapentadol was invented at the German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal in the late 1980s led by Helmut Buschmann; the team started by analyzing the chemistry and activity of tramadol, which had been invented at the same company in 1962. Tramadol has several enantiomers, and each forms metabolites after processing in the liver. These tramadol variants have varying activities at the μ-opioid receptor, the norepinephrine transporter, and the serotonin transporter, and differing half-lives, with the metabolites having the best activity. Using tramadol as a starting point, the team aimed to discover a single molecule that minimized the serotonin activity, had strong μ-opioid receptor agonism and strong norepinephrine reuptake inhibition, and would not require metabolism to be active; the result was tapentadol.


title: Tapentadol

text: In 2003 Grünenthal partnered with two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical to develop and market tapentadol; Johnson & Johnson had exclusive rights to sell the drug in the US, Canada, and Japan while Grünenthal retained rights elsewhere. In 2008 tapentadol received FDA approval; in 2009 it was classified by DEA as a Schedule II drug, and entered the US market. Tapentadol was reported to be the "first new molecular entity of oral centrally acting analgesics" class approved in the United States in more than 25 years.


title: Tapentadol

text: In 2010 Grünenthal granted Johnson & Johnson the right to market tapentadol in about 80 additional countries. Later that year, tapentadol was approved in Europe. In 2011, "Nucynta ER", an extended release formulation of tapentadol, was released in the United States for management of moderate to severe chronic pain and received FDA approval the following year for the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.


title: Tapentadol

text: After annual sales of $166 million, in January 2015, Johnson & Johnson sold its rights to market tapentadol in the US to Depomed for $1 billion. The drug was manufactured at a plant located on the island of Puerto Rico that was hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017 causing a major shortage in the drug's availability. In January 2018 Depomed sold off the manufacturing of the drug and licensed it to Collegium Pharmaceutical for $10 million up front with an annual royalty payment of a minimum $135 million for the next 4 years. This combination of events has caused additional short supply of the drug leaving patients who depend on it to seek alternative treatments.


title: Tapentadol

text: There have been calls for Tapentadol to be only marketed in countries where appropriate controls exist, but after performing a critical review, the United Nations Expert Committee on Drug Dependence in 2014 advised that tapentadol "not" be placed under international control but remain under surveillance.


title: Tapentadol

text: Since 2009 the drug has been categorized in the US as a Schedule II narcotic with ACSCN 9780; in 2014 it was allocated a 17,500 kilogram aggregate manufacturing quota.


title: Tapentadol

text: The following year, tapentadol was classified as a Class A controlled drug in the United Kingdom, and was also placed under national control in Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia and Spain.


title: Tapentadol

text: In India (except the state of Punjab), multiple brands of Tapentadol remain available over the counter. Recent reports have suggested increasing Tapentadol abuse and dependence in India, where users have improvised injections with 50 and 100 mg tablets. Furthermore, a large number of listings for Tapentadol sourced from India can be found internationally on illicit marketplaces on the dark web. There have been several reports of Tapentadol from Indian pharmacies being smuggled to the US, the EU and Bangladesh where they are sold on the black market.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: Denys Hennadiyovych Prokopenko (, ; born 27 June 1991) is a Ukrainian military officer, a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard of Ukraine, and Commander of the Azov Regiment. Since 2014 until his capture in May 2022 by Russian forces, he fought against Russia and pro-Russian separatist forces in the Donbas in the ongoing Russo–Ukrainian War.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prokopenko rose as a leader defending Mariupol from the Russian siege. For his leadership role on the frontlines of the war, he was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine in March 2022.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: Prokopenko is also known as Redis (, ) an old football fan nickname which became his military call sign. His subordinates are reported to address him informally as “Brother Redis” or “Comrade Redis” (, (literal translation - “Friend Redis”) ).


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: Denis Prokopenko is of ethnic Finnic Karelian ancestry. His grandfather was the sole member of his family to survive serving in the Finnish Defence Forces when the Soviet Union invaded Finland in the Russo–Finnish Winter War of 1939 and 1940. The Finns fought off the Red Army to preserve national independence, but the resulting Moscow Peace Treaty forced Finland to cede to Russia much of historic Finnish Karelia—leaving the displaced inhabitants and their descendants with questions about the return of their lost homeland. Consequently, the young Prokopenko today considers his fight to defend Ukraine against Russian imperialism from Moscow a personal matter, closely intertwined with his own family history:


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: He graduated from the Department of Germanic Philology at Kyiv National Linguistic University, where he earned a degree with a specialty in teaching English. He also played sports, and was one of the enthusiastic football fans (known as "ultras") of the football club Dynamo Kyiv.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: From 11 July 2014 Prokopenko has participated in the War in Donbas, initially as an enlisted soldier and then as leader of a platoon and a company. In a July 2016 interview he described improvements in the military capabilities of his troops: “Although we lost a lot of experienced guys from the old squad, we've grown in quantity and quality. Discipline and combat efficiency have improved. We used to run with bobby pistols and sawn-off shots; now we have opportunities to work with tactical tank groups, armored vehicles, artillery support. We gradually developed our military science doctrine—starting with practice, not theory. In the course of training and fighting, the lads mastered tactics and small arms proficiency. Many new possibilities opened for us: we can operate independently on the frontlines, free of other subunits that constantly let us down in combat operations.” In July 2017 he was promoted to the rank of major and given control of the Azov Regiment, becoming the youngest commander in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prokopenko recorded a video message on 7 March 2022 in which he called for closing the skies over Ukraine to help avert humanitarian collapse in Mariupol, since “the enemy is breaking the rules of the war by shelling the civilian people and destroying the infrastructure of the city; the enemy is subjecting Mariupol to another genocide.”


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: On 19 March 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded the title Hero of Ukraine to the commanders of two units that led the defense of Mariupol: Prokopenko and the commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, Colonel Volodymyr Baranyuk. Major Denis Prokopenko received the highest honor “for bravery, for effective tactics to repel enemy attacks, and for protection of the hero city of Mariupol.”


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: On 12 April 2022, Prokopenko appeared in a video message, to report on charges that Russian chemical weapons had been dropped onto Mariupol in a drone attack: “yesterday the occupiers used a poisonous substance of unknown origin against military and civilians in Mariupol. The epicenter of the attack was not near the people, so contact with the substance was minimal, which possibly saved lives—but there are still consequences. Currently it's impossible to find out what substance poisoned people, because we are under complete blockade, and the site of the attack is under fire by the Russians to hide evidence of their crime.” Regardless of the sudden international focus on the chemical attack, he went on to claim that thousands of civilians in the city had been killed and continued to be slaughtered by constant ongoing Russian airstrikes, naval bombardment, heavy flamethrower systems, artillery, and phosphorus munitions. On 13 April 2022, it was confirmed by the official Twitter account of the Azov regiment that Prokopenko was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: On 11 May 2022, Pope Francis met in the Vatican with the wives of Azov Regiment soldiers Kateryna Prokopenko and Yulia Fedosyuk. On 16 May 2022, a social media post was released by Prokopenko stating: "In order to save lives, the entire Mariupol garrison is implementing the approved decision of the Supreme Military Command and hopes for the support of the Ukrainian people." This statement follows Russia's decision to "evacuate" wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal plant and for them to be taken to the DPR-controlled town of Novoazovsk for treatment.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: On 20 May 2022, he surrendered to the Russian military along with the last defenders of the Azovstal plant, after stating in a final video message on Telegram: "The higher military command has given the order to save the lives of the soldiers of our garrison and to stop defending the city." Since the Russian Duma was attempting to classify Azov as a terrorist organization, the question of whether Russia considered Prokopenko as a prisoner of war (POW) remained in doubt. On 24 May, his wife Kateryna confirmed that he was in Russian captivity and that she had been able to talk to him on the phone.


title: Denys Prokopenko

text: On 21 September 2022, Prokopenko was released in a prisoner swap. Under the agreement, Prokopenko and four other top Ukrainian commanders from the Azovstal siege will be required to stay in Turkey until the end of the war.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who is regarded as the father of the United States Air Force.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, commanded all American air combat units in that country. After the war, he was appointed deputy director of the Air Service and began advocating increased investment in air power, believing that this would prove vital in future wars. He argued particularly for the ability of bombers to sink battleships and organized a series of bombing runs against stationary ships designed to test the idea.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: He antagonized many administrative leaders of the Army with his arguments and criticism and in 1925, his temporary appointment as a brigadier general was rescinded, and he reverted to his permanent rank of colonel, due to his insubordination. Later that year, he was court-martialed for insubordination after accusing Army and Navy leaders of an "almost treasonable administration of the national defense" for investing in warships. He resigned from the service shortly afterwards.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell received many honors following his death, including a Congressional Gold Medal. He is also the first person for whom an American military aircraft design, the North American B-25 Mitchell, is named. Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is also named after Mitchell.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Born in Nice, France, to John L. Mitchell, a wealthy Wisconsin senator, and his wife Harriet Danforth (Becker), Mitchell grew up on an estate in what is now the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, Wisconsin. Mitchell's father served in the American Civil War as a first lieutenant in the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment along with future general Arthur MacArthur the father of General Douglas MacArthur. The elder Mitchell served as a United States senator from 1883 to 1889.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: His paternal grandfather, Alexander Mitchell, a Scotsman, established what became the Milwaukee Road railroad and the Marine Bank of Wisconsin. Mitchell Park and the shopping precinct of Mitchell Street were named in honor of Alexander. His paternal grandmother, Martha Reed Mitchell, was well known in charity, art and society circles.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell's sister Ruth fought with the Chetniks in Yugoslavia during World War II and later wrote a book about her brother, "My Brother Bill".


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell was accepted into Columbian University (later renamed George Washington University) in Washington, D.C., but dropped out to join the United States Army during the Spanish-American War, though he eventually graduated from the school. While there he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Upon dropping out of Columbian at age 18, he enlisted in the United States Army as a private and was mustered into Company M of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment on May 14, 1898. Mitchell was immediately assigned and mobilized into Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur's command in the Philippines, where MacArthur was placed in charge of the Department of Northern Luzon in the spring of 1899. Mitchell participated in operations against Filipino insurgents in northern and central Luzon at the end of the Spanish-American War and during the Philippine–American War. He quickly gained a commission due to his father's influence and joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Following the cessation of hostilities, Mitchell remained in the Army. From 1900 to 1904, Mitchell was posted in the District of Alaska as a lieutenant in the Signal Corps. On May 26, 1900, the United States Congress appropriated $450,000 to establish a communications system connecting the many isolated and widely separated U.S. Army outposts and civilian Gold Rush camps in Alaska by telegraph. Along with Captain George C. Brunnell, Lieutenant Mitchell oversaw the construction of what became known as the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS). He predicted as early as 1906, while an instructor at the Army's Signal School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, that future conflicts would take place in the air, not on the ground.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In 1908, as a young Signal Corps officer, Mitchell observed Orville Wright's flying demonstration at Fort Myer, Virginia. Mitchell took flight lessons at the Curtiss Flying School at Newport News, Virginia.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In March 1912, after assignments in the Philippines that saw him tour battlefields of the Russo-Japanese War and conclude that war with Japan was inevitable one day, Mitchell was one of 21 officers selected to serve on the General Staff—at the time, its youngest member at age 32. He appeared in August 1913 at legislative hearings considering a bill to make Army aviation a branch separate from the Signal Corps and testified against the bill. As the only Signal Corps officer on the General Staff, he was chosen as temporary head of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, a predecessor of the present day United States Air Force, in May 1916, when its head was reprimanded and relieved of duty for malfeasance in the section. Mitchell administered the section until the new head, Lieutenant Colonel George O. Squier, arrived from attaché duties in London, England, where World War I was in progress, then became his permanent assistant. In June, he took private flying lessons at the Curtiss Flying School because he was proscribed by law from aviator training by age and rank, at an expense to himself of $1,470 (approximately $33,000 in 2015). In July 1916, he was promoted to major and appointed Chief of the Air Service of the First Army.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: When the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, Mitchell was in Spain "en route" to France as an observer. He arrived in Paris on April 10, and set up an office for the Aviation Section from which he collaborated extensively with British and French air leaders such as General Hugh Trenchard, studying their strategies as well as their aircraft. On April 24, he made the first flight by an American officer over German lines, flying with a French pilot. Before long, Mitchell had gained enough experience to begin preparations for American air operations. Mitchell rapidly earned a reputation as a daring, flamboyant, and tireless leader. In May, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was promoted to the temporary rank of colonel on October 10, 1917, to rank from August 5.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In September 1918, he planned and led nearly 1,500 British, French, and Italian aircraft in the air phase of the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, one of the first coordinated air-ground offensives in history. He was elevated to the rank of (temporary) brigadier general on October 14, 1918, and commanded all American air combat units in France. He ended the war as Chief of Air Service and Chief Group of Armies.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Recognized as one of the top American combat airmen of the war alongside aces such as his good friend, Eddie Rickenbacker, he was probably the best-known American in Europe. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the World War I Victory Medal with eight campaign clasps, and several foreign decorations. Despite his superb leadership and his fine combat record, he alienated many of his superiors during and after his 18 months of service in France.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell returned to the United States in January 1919; it had been widely expected throughout the Air Service that he would receive the post-war assignment of Director of Air Service. Instead, he returned to find that Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher, an artilleryman who had commanded the Rainbow Division in France, had been appointed director on the recommendation of his classmate General Pershing, to maintain operational control of aviation by the ground forces.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell received appointment on February 28, 1919, as Director of Military Aeronautics, to head the flying component of the Air Service, but that office was in name only as it was a wartime agency that would expire six months after the signing of a peace treaty. Menoher instituted a reorganization of the Air Service based on the divisional system of the AEF, eliminating the DMA as an organization, and Mitchell was assigned as third assistant executive, in charge of the Training and Operations Group, Office of Director of Air Service (ODAS), in April 1919. He maintained his temporary wartime rank of brigadier general until June 18, 1920, when he was reduced to lieutenant colonel, Signal Corps (Menoher was reduced to brigadier general in the same orders).


title: Billy Mitchell

text: When the Army was reorganized by Congress on June 4, 1920, the Air Service was recognized as a combatant arm of the line, third in size behind the Infantry and Artillery. On July 1, 1920, Mitchell was promoted to the Regular Army (i.e., permanent) rank of colonel in the Signal Corps, but also received a recess appointment (as did Menoher) on July 16 to become Assistant Chief of Air Service with the rank of brigadier general. On July 30, 1920, he was transferred and promoted to the permanent rank of colonel, Air Service, with date of rank from July 1, placing him first in seniority among all Air Service branch officers. On March 4, 1921, Mitchell was appointed Assistant Chief of Air Service by new President Warren G. Harding with consent of the Senate. On April 27, Mitchell was reappointed as a brigadier general with date of rank retroactive to July 2, 1920.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell did not share in the common belief that World War I would be the war to end war. "If a nation ambitious for universal conquest gets off to a flying start in a war of the future", he said, "it may be able to control the whole world more easily than a nation has controlled a continent in the past."


title: Billy Mitchell

text: He returned from Europe with a fervent belief that within a near future, possibly within ten years, air power would become the predominant force of war, and that it should be united entirely in an independent air force equal to the Army and Navy. He found encouragement in a number of bills before Congress proposing a Department of Aeronautics that included an air force separate from either the Army or Navy, primarily legislation introduced concurrently in August 1919 by Senator Harry New of Indiana and Representative Charles F. Curry of California, influenced by the recommendations of a fact-finding commission sent to Europe under the direction of Assistant Secretary of War Benedict Crowell in early 1919 that contradicted the findings of Army boards and advocated an independent air force.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell believed that the use of floating bases was necessary to defend the nation against naval threats, but the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William S. Benson, had dissolved Naval Aeronautics as an organization early in 1919, a decision later reversed by Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, senior naval aviators feared that land-based aviators in a "unified" independent air force would no more understand the requirements of sea-based aviation than ground forces commanders understood the capabilities and potential of air power, and vigorously resisted any alliance with Mitchell.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The Navy's civilian leadership was equally opposed, if for other reasons. On April 3, Mitchell met with Roosevelt and a board of admirals to discuss aviation, and Mitchell urged the development of naval aviation because of the growing obsolescence of the surface fleet. His assurances that the Air Service could develop whatever bomb was needed to sink a battleship, and that a national defense organization of land, sea, and air components was essential and inevitable, were met with cool hostility. Mitchell found his ideas publicly denounced as "pernicious" by Roosevelt. Convinced that within as soon as ten years strategic air bombardment would become a threat to the United States and make the Air Service the nation's first line of defense instead of the Navy, he began to set out to prove that aircraft were capable of sinking ships to reinforce his position.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: His relations with superiors continued to sour as he began to criticize both the War and Navy departments for being insufficiently farsighted regarding air power. He advocated the development of a number of aircraft innovations, including bomb-sights, sled-runner landing gear for winter operations, engine superchargers, and aerial torpedoes. He ordered the use of aircraft in fighting forest fires and border patrols. He also encouraged the staging of a transcontinental air race, a flight around the perimeter of the United States. He also encouraged Army pilots to break aviation records for speed, endurance and altitude. In short, he encouraged anything that would further develop the use of aircraft, and that would keep aviation in the news.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In February 1921, at the urging of Mitchell, who was anxious to test his theories of destruction of ships by aerial bombing, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels agreed to a series of joint Army-Navy exercises, known as Project B, to be held that summer in which surplus or captured ships could be used as targets.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell was concerned that the building of dreadnoughts was taking precious defense dollars away from military aviation. He was convinced that a force of anti-shipping airplanes could defend a coastline with more economy than a combination of coastal guns and naval vessels. A thousand bombers could be built at the same cost as one battleship, and could sink that battleship. Mitchell infuriated the Navy by claiming he could sink ships "under war conditions", and boasted he could prove it if he were permitted to bomb captured German battleships.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The Navy reluctantly agreed to the demonstration after news leaked of its own tests. To counter Mitchell, the Navy had sunk the old battleship near Tangier Island, Virginia, on November 1, 1920, using its own airplanes. Daniels had hoped to squelch Mitchell by releasing a report on the results written by Captain William D. Leahy stating that, "The entire experiment pointed to the improbability of a modern battleship being either destroyed or completely put out of action by aerial bombs." When the "New-York Tribune" revealed that the Navy's "tests" were done with dummy sand bombs and that the ship was actually sunk using high explosives placed on the ship, Congress introduced two resolutions urging new tests and backed the Navy into a corner.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In the arrangements for the new tests, there was to be a news blackout until all data had been analyzed at which point only the official news report would be released; Mitchell felt that the Navy was going to bury the results. The Chief of the Air Corps attempted to have Mitchell dismissed a week before the tests began, reacting to Navy complaints about Mitchell's criticisms, but the new Secretary of War John W. Weeks backed down when it became apparent that Mitchell had widespread public and media support.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: On May 1, 1921, Mitchell assembled the 1st Provisional Air Brigade, an air and ground crew of 125 aircraft and 1,000 men at Langley Field in Hampton, Virginia, using six squadrons from the Air Service:


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell took command on May 27 after testing bombs, fuses, and other equipment at Aberdeen Proving Ground and began training in anti-ship bombing techniques. Alexander Seversky, a veteran Russian pilot who had bombed German ships in the Great War, joined the effort, suggesting the bombers aim "near" the ships so that expanding water pressure from the underwater blasts would stave in and separate hull plates. Further discussion with Captain Alfred Wilkinson Johnson, Commander, Naval Air Force U.S. Atlantic Fleet aboard USS "Shawmut", confirmed that near-miss bombs would inflict more damage than direct hits; near-misses would cause an underwater concussive effect against the hull.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The Navy and the Air Service were at cross purposes regarding the tests. Supported by General Pershing, the Navy set rules and conditions that enhanced the survivability of the targets, stating that the purpose of the tests was to determine how much damage ships could withstand. The ships had to be sunk in at least 100 fathoms of water (so as not to become navigational hazards), and the Navy chose an area off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay rather than either of two possible closer areas, minimizing the effective time the Army's bombers would have in the target area. The planes were forbidden from using aerial torpedoes, would be permitted only two hits on the battleship using their heaviest bombs, and would have to stop between hits so that a damage assessment party could go aboard. Smaller ships could not be struck by bombs larger than 600 pounds, and also were subject to the same interruptions in attacks.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell held to the Navy's restrictions for the tests of June 21, July 13, and July 18, and successfully sank the ex-German destroyer "G-102" and the ex-German light cruiser in concert with Navy aircraft. On each of these demonstrations the ships were first attacked by SE-5 fighters strafing and bombing the decks of the ships with 25-pound anti-personnel bombs to simulate suppression of antiaircraft fire, followed by attacks from Martin NBS-1 (Martin MB-2) twin-engine bombers using high explosive demolition bombs. Mitchell observed the attacks from the controls of his DH-4 aircraft, nicknamed "The Osprey".


title: Billy Mitchell

text: On July 20, 1921, the Navy brought out the ex-German World War I battleship, . On the scheduled day, 230, 550, and bomb attacks by Navy, Marine Corps, and Army aircraft settled the "Ostfriesland" three feet by the stern with a five-degree list to port. She was taking on water. Further bombing was delayed a day, the Navy claiming due to rough seas that prevented their Board of Observers from going aboard, the Air Service countering that as the Army bombers approached, they were ordered not to attack. Mitchell's bombers were forced to circle for 47 minutes, as a result of which they dropped only half their bombs, and none of their large bombs.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: On the morning of July 21, in accordance with a strictly orchestrated schedule of attacks, five Martin NBS-1 bombers led by 1st Lt. Clayton Bissell dropped a single bomb each, scoring three direct hits. The Navy stopped further drops, although the Army bombers had nine bombs remaining, to assess damage. By noon, "Ostfriesland" had settled two more feet by the stern and one foot by the bow.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: At this point, Capt. Walter R. Lawson's flight of bombers, consisting of two Handley-Page O/400 and six Martin NBS-1 bombers loaded with bombs, was dispatched. One Handley Page dropped out for mechanical reasons, but the NBS-1s dropped six bombs in quick succession between 12:18 pm and 12:31 pm. Bomb aiming points were for the water near the ship. Mitchell described Lawson's attack, "Four bombs hit in rapid succession, close alongside the Ostfriesland. We could see her rise eight to ten feet between the terrific blows from under water. On the fourth shot, Capt Streett, sitting in the back seat of my plane stood up and waving both arms shouted, "She is gone!" There were no direct hits but at least three of the bombs landed close enough to rip hull plates as well as cause the ship to roll over. The ship sank at 12:40 pm, 22 minutes after the first bomb, with a seventh bomb dropped by the Handley Page on the foam rising up from the sinking ship. Nearby the site, observing, were various foreign and domestic officials aboard the .


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Although Mitchell had stressed "war-time conditions", the tests were under static conditions and the sinking of the "Ostfriesland" was accomplished by violating rules agreed upon by General Pershing that would have allowed Navy engineers to examine the effects of smaller munitions. Navy studies of the wreck of the "Ostfriesland" show she had suffered little topside damage from bombs and was sunk by progressive flooding that might have been stemmed by a fast-acting damage control party on board the vessel. Mitchell used the sinking for his own publicity purposes, though his results were downplayed in public by General of the Armies John J. Pershing who hoped to smooth Army/Navy relations. The efficacy of the tests remains in debate to this day.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Nevertheless, the test was highly influential at the time, causing budgets to be redrawn for further air development and forcing the Navy to look more closely at the possibilities of naval air power.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Despite the advantages enjoyed by the bombers in the artificial exercise, Mitchell's report stressed points which would later be highly influential in war:


title: Billy Mitchell

text: sea craft of all kinds, up to and including the most modern battleships, can be destroyed easily by bombs dropped from aircraft, and further, that the most effective means of destruction are bombs. [They] demonstrated beyond a doubt that, given sufficient bombing planes—in short an adequate air force—aircraft constitute a positive defense of our country against hostile invasion.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The fact of battleship sinking was indisputable, and Mitchell repeated the performance twice in tests conducted with like results on the U.S. pre-dreadnought battleship in September 1921, and the battleships and in September 1923. The latter two ships were subjected to teargas attacks and hit with specially designed demolition bombs.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The bombing tests had several immediate and turbulent results. Almost immediately the Navy and President Harding were incensed by an apparent demonstration of naval weakness just after Harding had announced, on July 10, invitations to other naval powers to gather in Washington for a conference on the limitation of naval armaments. Statements asserting the obsolescence of the battleship by disarmament proponents in Congress such as Senator William Borah heightened official anxiety. Both services tried to defuse the results by reports from the Joint Board and General Pershing dismissing Mitchell's claims and suppressing his report, but the report was leaked to the press.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In September, General Charles T. Menoher forced a showdown over Mitchell as the bombing tests continued. Menoher confronted Secretary Weeks and demanded that Weeks either relieve Mitchell as Assistant Chief of Air Corps or he would resign. On October 4, Weeks allowed Menoher to resign and return to the ground forces "for personal reasons". A reciprocal resignation offer from Mitchell was refused.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Major General Mason Patrick was again chosen by Pershing to sort out a mess in the Air Service and became the new chief on October 5. Patrick made it clear to Mitchell that although he would accept Mitchell's expertise as counsel, all decisions would be made by Patrick. When Mitchell soon got into a minor but embarrassing protocol rift with Rear Admiral William A. Moffett at the start of the naval arms limitation conference, Patrick assigned him to an inspection tour of Europe with Alfred V. Verville and Lieutenant Clayton Bissell that lasted the duration of the conference over the winter of 1921–22.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell was dispatched by President Harding to West Virginia to stop the warfare that had broken out between the United Mine Workers, Stone Mountain Coal Company, the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency, and other groups after the Matewan Massacre. Miners outraged by the ambush slaying of Matewan Police Chief Sid Hatfield by agents for the coal company marched on Mingo and Logan County leading to the Battle of Blair Mountain, August 25 to September 2, 1921. On August 26, Mitchell commanded Army bombers from Maryland to Charleston, West Virginia. Mitchell told the press that Army bombers alone could end the "Mingo War" by dropping tear gas on the miners. A private army of 3,000 led by Sheriff Don Chafin and financed by the Coal Operators Association engaged in gun battles and used private planes to drop dynamite charges and World War I surplus gas and explosive bombs against an estimated 13,000 miners. Neither side responded to President Harding's August 30 proclamation to cease hostilities. In the last days of the civil disturbance, Mitchell's bombers flew several reconnaissance missions but did not engage in combat; one bomber crashed on a return flight, killing three crew members. On September 3, surrounded by 2,000 Army troops, Chafin's force dispersed and most miners went home although some surrendered to the Army. Later, Mitchell cited the "Mingo War" as an example of the potential for air power in civil disturbances.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The day has passed when armies on the ground or navies on the sea can be the arbiter of a nation's destiny in war. The main power of defense and the power of initiative against an enemy has passed to the air. – November 1918


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In 1922, while in Europe for General Patrick, Mitchell met the Italian air power theorist Giulio Douhet and soon afterwards an excerpted translation of Douhet's "The Command of the Air" began to circulate in the Air Service. In 1924, Gen. Patrick again dispatched him on an inspection tour, this time to Hawaii and Asia, to get him off the front pages. Mitchell came back with a 324-page report that predicted future war with Japan, including the attack on Pearl Harbor. Of note, Mitchell discounted the value of aircraft carriers in an attack on the Hawaiian Islands, believing they were of little practical use because they could not operate effectively on the high seas or deliver "sufficient aircraft in the air at one time to insure a concentrated operation". Instead, Mitchell believed a surprise attack on the Hawaiian Islands would be conducted by land-based aircraft operating from islands in the Pacific. His report, published in 1925 as the book "Winged Defense", foretold wider benefits of an investment in air power, believing it to be, at both that time and in the future, "a dominating factor in the world's development", both for national defense and economic benefit. "Winged Defense" sold only 4,500 copies between August 1925 and January 1926, the months surrounding the publicity of the court martial, and so Mitchell did not reach a wide audience.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell experienced difficulties within the Army, notably with his superiors when he appeared before the Lampert Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and sharply castigated Army and Navy leadership. The War Department had endorsed a proposal to establish a "General Headquarters Air Force" as a vehicle for modernization and expansion of the Air Service, to be funded through shared appropriations for aviation with the Navy, but shelved the plan when the Navy refused, incensing Mitchell.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In March 1925, when Mitchell's term as Assistant Chief of the Air Service expired, he reverted to his permanent rank of colonel and was transferred to San Antonio, Texas, as air officer to a ground forces corps. Although such demotions were not unusual in demobilizations (Patrick himself had gone from major general to colonel upon returning to the Army Corps of Engineers in 1919), the move was widely seen as punishment and exile, since Mitchell had petitioned to remain as Assistant Chief when his term expired, and his transfer to an assignment with no political influence at a relatively unimportant Army base had been directed by Secretary of War John Weeks.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In response to the Navy's first helium-filled rigid airship crashing in a storm in September 1925, killing 14 of the crew, and the loss of three seaplanes on a flight from the West Coast to Hawaii, Mitchell issued a statement accusing senior leaders in the Army and Navy of incompetence and "almost treasonable administration of the national defense." In October 1925, a charge with eight specifications was proffered against Mitchell on the direct order of President Calvin Coolidge, accusing him of violation of the 96th Article of War, an omnibus article that Mitchell's chief counsel, Congressman Frank Reid, declared to be "unconstitutional" as a violation of free speech. The court martial began in early November and lasted for seven weeks.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The youngest of the 13 judges was Major General Douglas MacArthur, who later described the order to sit on Mitchell's court-martial as "one of the most distasteful orders I ever received." Of the thirteen judges, (Charles Pelot Summerall, William S. Graves, Robert L. Howze, MacArthur, Benjamin A. Poore, Fred W. Sladen, Ewing E. Booth, Albert J. Bowley, George Irwin, Edward K. King, Frank R. McCoy, Edwin B. Winans, and Blanton Winship), none had aviation experience and three (Sumerall, Sladen, and Bowley) were removed by defense challenges for bias, including Major General Charles P. Summerall, the president of the court. The case was then presided over by Major General Robert Lee Howze. Among those who testified for Mitchell were Eddie Rickenbacker, Hap Arnold, Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, Robert Olds, Thomas George Lanphier Sr. and Fiorello La Guardia. The trial attracted significant interest, and public opinion supported Mitchell.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The chief prosecutors were Major Allen W. Gullion, Lieutenant Joseph L. McMullen, and Colonel Sherman Moreland.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: The court found the truth or falsity of Mitchell's accusations to be immaterial to the charge and on December 17, 1925, found him "guilty of all specifications and of the charge". The court suspended him from active duty for five years without pay, which President Coolidge later amended to half-pay. The generals' ruling in the case wrote, "The Court is thus lenient because of the military record of the Accused during the World War." MacArthur (who himself in 1951 was removed from duty for similar reasons) later said he had voted to acquit, and Fiorello La Guardia said that MacArthur's "not guilty" ballot had been found in the judges' anteroom. MacArthur felt "that a senior officer should not be silenced for being at variance with his superiors in rank and with accepted doctrine."


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In 1958, Mitchell's son petitioned the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records to reverse his father's conviction. The Board recommended vacating the conviction, but USAF Secretary James H. Douglas Jr. refused on the grounds that while Mitchell's airpower views "have been vindicated," this did not "affect the propriety or impropriety" of Mitchell's insubordinate behavior. According to Douglas, by remaining on active duty, Mitchell "was bound to accept the consequences imposed by his service responsibilities."


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell resigned instead on February 1, 1926, and spent the next decade writing and preaching air power to all who would listen. However, his departure from the service sharply reduced his ability to influence military policy and public opinion.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell viewed the election of his one-time antagonist Franklin D. Roosevelt as advantageous for air power, and met with him early in 1932 to brief him on his concepts for a unification of the military in a Department of Defense. His ideas intrigued and interested Roosevelt. Mitchell believed he might receive an appointment as Assistant Secretary of War for Air or perhaps even Secretary of War in a Roosevelt administration, but neither prospect materialized.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell married his first wife, Caroline Stoddard, on December 2, 1903. They had three children: Harriet, Elizabeth, and John Lendrum III. Although the marriage was initially happy, his behavior became more and more erratic primarily as a result of his heavy drinking. The two had a bitter divorce, rife with accusations on both sides, which was finalized on September 22, 1922. On September 27, after a Milwaukee courtroom trial, the judge decided in Caroline's favor. Lawyers for Caroline and biographers reported that the marital problems were caused by Billy Mitchell, who became so erratic that his wife even considered sending him to a psychiatrist. Caroline won custody of the children and alimony including $400.00 a month in child support.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: A year later, on October 11, 1923, Mitchell married his second wife, Elizabeth Trumbull Miller. They had two children, Lucy and William Jr. In 1926, Mitchell made his home with his wife Elizabeth at the Boxwood Farm in Middleburg, Virginia, which remained his primary residence until his death.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: On February 19, 1936, Mitchell died in New York City at Doctors Hospital of a coronary occlusion. He had been admitted to the hospital on January 28. He was 56 years old.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell was buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. None of Mitchell's children from his first marriage attended the funeral. His widow, Elizabeth, later married Thomas Bolling Byrd, the brother of Virginia governor Harry F. Byrd Sr. and explorer Richard E. Byrd.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell's son, John Lendrum Mitchell III, enlisted in the Army on October 10, 1941. Promoted to first lieutenant in the 4th Armored Division, and stationed at Pine Camp, NY (now Fort Drum), he died from a blood infection on October 27, 1942. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Mitchell's first cousin, the Canadian George Croil, went on to secure an autonomous status for the Royal Canadian Air Force and in 1938 became its first Chief of the Air Staff.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In 1940, a bill was introduced in Congress that sought to posthumously promote Mitchell to the rank of Major General, but it did not pass. A similar bill was drafted in 1942 to promote Mitchell to Brigadier General. According to the Office of Air Force History, "this effort failed to follow the normal process, which called for the War and Navy Departments to submit recommendations to the White House." Instead, only the Senate participated, and passed a joint resolution. Reportedly, "this approach did require the approval of the House, which was not forthcoming." As a result, Mitchell did not actually receive a posthumous promotion, although many misunderstood the Senate resolution as authorizing this. Bills were introduced in 1943 to promote Mitchell to Brigadier General and also to Major General, which did not pass. In 1945, the same legislation was introduced for a promotion to Major General, but it also did not pass. Another bill was introduced in 1947 to the same effect which did not pass either.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: In 2004, Mitchell's posthumous promotion was finally authorized in the FY2005 National Defense Authorization Act. According to the former editor of Air Force Magazine, "neither the Pentagon nor the White House took any action as a result of the authorization," which meant Mitchell was never promoted. That bill was introduced by Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.), himself a relative of Mitchell's, and whose own father, Rep. Perkins Bass (R-N.H.), had also previously sponsored legislation to posthumously promote Mitchell. Reportedly, the promotion authorization drew on "muted support" from the USAF, which may explain why the bill was not acted on. One author wrote that Mitchell's true history was more complicated than the simple narrative that he was a passionate airpower advocate; according to one historian, he was "vain, petulant, racist, overbearing, and egotistical", which may explain reservations about the many attempts to revise his legacy. An air force officer reflected that if Mitchell's promotion were granted, it would be "only a pyrrhic victory", since it would not "erase the questionable actions that proceeded from his passionate advocacy of airpower's independence".


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell is often referred to as a "brigadier general (temporary)" because of his holding temporary rank during World War I and later after the war, although his permanent grade was colonel both during his temporary service as a general officer as well as at the time he resigned. Congress subsequently passed legislation in 1930 that permitted "all commissioned officers who served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and/or Coast Guard of the United States during the World War, and who have been or may be hereafter retired according to law . . . shall . . . be advanced in rank on the retired list to the highest grade held by them during the World War". However, it appears that since this act required the officer to be formally retired, it did not apply to Mitchell because he had resigned his commission rather than be subject to the pay forfeiture from his court martial conviction. Indeed, none of the Army Registers from 1926 to 1932 list him as retired.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: There has been some confusion regarding Mitchell's medal being a Medal of Honor instead of a Congressional Gold Medal, because it was erroneously listed as a Medal of Honor in the Committee on Veterans' Affairs report of 1979 which is often used as a modern index of Medal of Honor listings. According to the Army's Center of Military History, "it seems apparent that the intention was to award the Gold Medal rather than the Medal of Honor," but the Center included Mitchell's award because of the error on the Senate report. The Senate error was a consequence of a drafting mistake when the bill was in committee. The House Committee on Military Affairs confused the Medal of Honor with the Congressional Gold Medal in its first draft of the bill, and then retroactively amended the text to remove "a Medal of Honor" and replace it with "a gold medal," but neglected to correct the title of the bill. However, the Committee clarified that "the legislation under consideration does not authorize an award of the Congressional Medal of Honor," which clearly settled the matter. In spite of these verifiable facts, the U.S. Air Force still lists Mitchell as a Medal of Honor recipient (and also incorrectly claims that he was posthumously promoted to Major General on July 18, 1947), even though he has been removed from the official list published online by the Department of Defense. According to one author, the Air Force's continued representation that Mitchell is a Medal of Honor recipient is "inexplicable, since Congress lists the award as a Gold Medal, the Air Force formally participated in the Gold Medal's design, and the National Museum of the Air Force currently possesses the replica Gold Medal in question." The National Museum of the Air Force displays Mitchell's Gold Medal publicly, with the caption that "This is the Special Congressional Medal of Honor awarded posthumously to Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1946. This medallion, the only one of its kind in existence, was sculpted by Erwin F. Springweiler, and was struck by the Philadelphia Mint." Since the medal in question is on public display, it is easily verifiable as not being a Medal of Honor. Several Medal of Honor historians have also published on this subject due to repeated confusion over Mitchell's award.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Note – Incomplete list. The dates indicate the year the award was presented and not necessarily the date it was earned.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Note – the date listed is the date the promotion was accepted by General Mitchell. The actual date of rank was usually a few days earlier. (Source – Army Register, 1926. p. 423.)


title: Billy Mitchell

text: Mitchell's concept of a battleship's vulnerability to air attack under "war-time conditions" was vindicated after his death. Air power was first shown to be decisive against a capital ship in war conditions during the Spanish Civil War: on May 29, 1937, Republican Government bombers attacked and damaged the German pocket battleship . This new dimension for aerial warfare preceded the attack on Taranto and Pearl Harbor by a good margin.


title: Billy Mitchell

text: During World War II, many warships were sunk solely by air attack. The battleships , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , "Marat", and were all put out of commission or destroyed by aerial attack including bombs, air-dropped torpedoes and missiles fired from aircraft. Some of these ships were destroyed by surprise attacks in harbor, others were sunk at sea after vigorous defense. However, most of the sinkings were carried out by aircraft carrier-based planes, not by land-based bombers as envisioned by Mitchell. The world's navies had responded quickly to the "Ostfriesland" lesson.


title: Kendall Schmidt

text: Kendall Francis Schmidt (born November 2, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, music producer, and actor. He played Kendall Knight in "Big Time Rush", and is a current member of the boyband with the same name, and has had small roles on TV shows such as "ER", "Without a Trace", "Phil of the Future", "Ghost Whisperer", "Gilmore Girls", "School of Rock" and "Frasier".


title: Kendall Schmidt

text: Schmidt was born in Wichita, Kansas, to Kathy and Kent Schmidt. His brothers, Kenneth Schmidt and Kevin Schmidt, are actors. He is of German descent. He began his acting career at age five, appearing in a Chex TV commercial. When he was nine years old, he was one of two young actors who were hired to be Haley Joel Osment's stand-in and body double (they shared the same agent) in the Steven Spielberg film "A.I. Artificial Intelligence". He celebrated his birthday on the set, and Spielberg and the cast surprised him with a birthday cake decorated with "Star Wars" figures. When he was 10 years old, his family finally made the move from Kansas to California.


title: Kendall Schmidt

text: In 2001, Schmidt soon landed recurring roles on "General Hospital", "Titus", "Raising Dad", "Gilmore Girls" and "". He guest-starred on a variety of TV shows, including "ER", "MADtv", "Easy A" "Frasier" and "Phil of the Future". Kendall also guest starred on "Without a Trace" and "Ghost Whisperer". On the big screen, he has appeared in "Minority Report" and "According to Spencer".


title: Kendall Schmidt

text: In 2009, Schmidt was cast as the lead of the TV show "Big Time Rush". Kendall portrays a character like himself with the name of Kendall Knight, the calm and relaxed member of Big Time Rush. He also was a member of boy band Big Time Rush. Nickelodeon signed Big Time Rush and the debut album, titled "BTR", was released on October 11, 2010 and debuted at number 3 on the "Billboard" 200. Later was certified Gold for shipments of 500,000 copies in the U.S. In November 2010, it was announced that a Christmas special of "Big Time Rush" would debut later that month, and that a Christmas EP would be released to coincide with the episode. On November 30, 2010, they released the Holiday EP "Holiday Bundle", with two songs: "Beautiful Christmas" and the cover of "All I Want for Christmas is You", originally performed by Mariah Carey. On February 15, 2011, "Boyfriend" was released as the band's first official single to mainstream US radio and peaked at number seventy-two on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming their most successful song to date.


title: Kendall Schmidt

text: Schmidt and the group announced they would be recording their second studio album, just after Nickelodeon renewed the series for a third season. Their second album, "Elevate", was released on November 21, 2011 and debuted at number 12 on the "Billboard" 200, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week. Though for a lower peaking than their previous, the album sold more copies than the previous album. The first single, "Music Sounds Better with U", was released on November 1, 2011. He announced would be starring in their full-length 2012 film, "Big Time Movie". In 2013 Nickelodeon renewed the "Big Time Rush" series for a 13-episode fourth season, production started on January 7. Their third album, "24/Seven", was released on June 11, 2013 and led many critics to draw comparisons between the band's third album and NSYNC's fourth album "Celebrity". The band ended in 2014.


title: Kendall Schmidt

text: Schmidt announced that he returned to the duo Heffron Drive, which he had before Big Time Rush. Schmidt's first single with Heffron Drive, "Parallel" from the album "Happy Mistakes", was released in March 2014 through his very own record label TOLBooth Records. On January 14, 2017, the band released a new song and music video for their single "Living Room". Their next release was on January 19, 2018, when they released a new song and music video titled "Mad At The World". Their latest release is "Black on Black".


title: Kendall Schmidt

text: On April 20, 2020, Kendall reunited virtually with his former members as they uploaded a video on the band's social media platforms, sharing some wishes to their fans about the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Vesta () is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. She was rarely depicted in human form, and was more often represented by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins, who guarded particular sacred objects within, prepared flour and sacred salt ("mola salsa") for official sacrifices, and tended Vesta's sacred fire at the temple hearth. Their virginity was thought essential to Rome's survival; if found guilty of inchastity, they were punished by burial alive. As Vesta was considered a guardian of the Roman people, her festival, the "Vestalia" (7–15 June), was regarded as one of the most important Roman holidays. During the "Vestalia" privileged matrons walked barefoot through the city to the temple, where they presented food-offerings. Such was Vesta's importance to Roman religion that following the rise of Christianity, hers was one of the last non-Christian cults still active, until it was forcibly disbanded by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in AD 391.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: The myths depicting Vesta and her priestesses were few; the most notable of them were tales of miraculous impregnation of a virgin priestess by a phallus appearing in the flames of the sacred hearth — the manifestation of the goddess combined with a male supernatural being. In some Roman traditions, Rome's founders Romulus and Remus and the benevolent king Servius Tullius were conceived in this way. Vesta was among the "Dii Consentes", twelve of the most honored gods in the Roman pantheon. She was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, and sister of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, and Ceres. Her Greek equivalent is Hestia.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Ovid derived Vesta from Latin – "standing by power". Cicero supposed that the Latin name Vesta derives from the Greek Hestia, which Cornutus claimed to have derived from Greek ("standing for ever"). This etymology is offered by Servius as well. Another etymology is that Vesta derives from Latin ("clothe"), as well as from Greek ("hearth" = "focus urbis"). None, except perhaps the last, are probable.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Georges Dumézil (1898–1986), a French comparative philologist, surmised that the name of the goddess derives from Proto-Indo-European root "*h₁eu-", via the derivative form "*h₁eu-s-" which alternates with "*h₁w-es-". The former is found in Greek εὕειν , Latin , and Vedic "osathi" all conveying 'burning' and the second is found in "Vesta". (Greek goddess-name Ἑστία "Hestia" is probably unrelated). See also Gallic Celtic "visc" "fire."


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Poultney suggests that Vesta may be related to the Umbrian god "Uestisier" (gen.)/"Vestiçe" (dat.) (as if Latin *Vesticius), itself related to Umbrian terms for 'libation' "uestisiar" (gen.sg.), 'pour a libation' "uesticatu" (imv.) from *"westikia" and *"westikato:d" respectively. Perhaps also related to Oscan "Veskeí" from the Oscan Tablet also known as the Agnone Dedication.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: According to tradition, worship of Vesta in Italy began in Lavinium, the mother-city of Alba Longa and the first settlement by the Trojan refugees, after their flight from Troy's destruction, led there by Aeneas and guided by Venus. From Lavinium, the worship of Vesta was transferred to Alba Longa; a belief evident in the custom of Roman magistrates going to Lavinium, when appointed to higher office, and offering sacrifice both to Vesta, and the household gods of the Roman state, known as Penates, whose images were kept in Vesta's temple. Alongside those household gods was Vesta, whom the Roman poet refers to as "Vesta Iliaca" (Vesta of Troy). Vesta's sacred hearth was also named "Ilaci foci" (the hearth of Troy).


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Worship of Vesta, like the worship of many gods, originated in the home, but in Roman historical tradition, it became an established cult of state during the reign of either Romulus, or Numa Pompilius (sources disagree, but most say Numa). The priestesses of Vesta, known as Vestal Virgins, administered her temple and sustained its sacred fire. The existence of Vestal Virgins in Alba Longa is connected with early Roman traditions, for the mother of Romulus' and Remus, Silvia was a priestess of Vesta, impregnated by either Mars or Hercules.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Roman tradition required that the leading priest of the Roman state, the "pontifex maximus" reside in a "domus publicus" ("publicly owned house"). After assuming the office of "pontifex maximus" in 12 BC, Augustus gave part of his private house to the Vestals as public property and incorporated a new shrine of Vesta within it. The old shrine remained in the "Forum Romanum"'s temple of Vesta, but Augustus' gift linked the public hearth of the state with the official home of the "pontifex maximus" and the emperor's Palatine residence. This strengthened the connection between the office of "pontifex maximus" and the cult of Vesta. Henceforth, the office of "pontifex maximus" was tied to the title of emperor; Emperors were automatically priests of Vesta, and the "pontifices" were sometimes referred to as "pontifices Vestae" ("priests of Vesta"). In 12 BC, 28 April (first of the five day "Floralia") was chosen "ex senatus consultum" to commemorate the new shrine of Vesta in Augustus' home on the Palatine. The latter's hearth was the focus of the Imperial household's traditional religious observances. Various emperors led official revivals and promotions of the Vestals' cult, which in its various locations remained central to Rome's ancient traditional cults into the 4th century. Dedications in the Atrium of Vesta, dating predominantly AD 200 to 300, attest to the service of several "Virgines Vestales Maxime". Vesta's worship began to decline with the rise of Christianity. In ca. 379, Gratian stepped down as "pontifex maximus"; in 382 he confiscated the "Atrium Vestae"; simultaneously, he withdrew its public funding. In 391, despite official and public protests, Theodosius I closed the temple, and extinguished the sacred flame. Finally, Coelia Concordia stepped down as the last "Vestalis Maxima" ("chief Vestal") in 394.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Depicted as a good-mannered deity who never involved herself in the quarreling of other gods, Vesta was ambiguous at times due to her contradictory association with the phallus. She is considered the embodiment of the "Phallic Mother" by proponents of 20th Century psychoanalysis: she was not only the most virgin and clean of all the gods, but was addressed as mother and granted fertility. Mythographers tell us that Vesta had no myths save being identified as one of the oldest of the gods who was entitled to preference in veneration and offerings over all other gods. Unlike most gods, Vesta was hardly depicted directly; nonetheless, she was symbolized by her flame, the fire stick, and a ritual phallus (the "fascinus").


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: While Vesta was the flame itself, the symbol of the phallus might relate to Vesta's function in fertility cults, but it maybe also invoked the goddess herself due to its relation to the fire stick used to light the sacred flame. She was sometimes thought of as a personification of the fire stick which was inserted into a hollow piece of wood and rotated – in a phallic manner – to light her flame.


title: Vesta (mythology)

text: Concerning the status of Vesta's hearth, Dionysius of Halicarnassus had this to say: "And they regard the fire as consecrated to Vesta, because that goddess, being the Earth and occupying the central position in the universe, kindles the celestial fires from herself." Ovid agreed, saying: "Vesta is the same as the earth, both have the perennial fire: the Earth and the sacred Fire are both symbolic of home." The sacred flames of the hearth were believed to be indispensable for the preservation and continuity of the Roman State: Cicero states it explicitly. The purity of the flames symbolised the vital force that is the root of the life of the community. It was also because the virgins' ritual concern extended to the agricultural cycle and ensured a good harvest that Vesta enjoyed the title of "Mater" ("Mother").