title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: Eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs. In the playoff series format instituted in 2014, the first, second, and third place team in each of the four divisions qualify for the playoffs automatically. Two additional teams from each conference, regardless of divisional alignment, also qualify for the playoffs by having the highest point totals out of the remaining teams in the conference. These teams are referred to as the wild cards. Since there is no attention paid to divisional alignment with the wild cards, it is possible for one division in a conference to have five teams in the postseason while the other has just three.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: In the First Round, the teams are split into two separate brackets by division. Each bracket consists of the top three divisional qualifiers and one of the wild cards. The lower seeded wild card plays against the division winner with the best record while the other wild card plays against the other division winner, and both wild cards are de facto 4 seeds. The other two series match the second and third place teams from the divisions.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The winners of both First Round series advance to the Second Round. The reseeding in the previous format, which ensured the top seed would play the lowest remaining seed, was discarded. The winners of these series advance to the Conference Finals and the two Conference Final winners move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: In the first two rounds, the higher-seeded team has home-ice advantage (regardless of point record). Thereafter, it goes to the team with the better regular season record (regardless of seeding); in the case of a tie, the league's standard tie breaking procedure is applied. The team with home-ice advantage hosts games one, two, five, and seven, while the opponent hosts games three, four, and six (games five through seven are played if necessary).


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: Unlike the regular season where a contest could eventually be decided in a shootout, overtime in the playoffs is played in multiple sudden-death, 20-minute five-on-five periods until one team scores. Although a playoff game could theoretically last indefinitely, only two contests have reached six overtime periods, and both of those did not go beyond six. During playoff overtime periods, the only break is to shovel away the loose ice shavings at the first stoppage after the period is halfway finished.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The Stanley Cup was commissioned in 1892 as the "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup" and was named after Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada who donated it as an award to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The entire Stanley family supported the sport, the sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was then awarded in 1893 to Montreal Hockey Club.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: During the period from 1893 to 1914, the champions held the Cup until they lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and subsequently defeated them in a special game or series. The competitive format of each Cup challenge was determined by negotiation between the two clubs. Furthermore, none of the leagues that played for the Cup had a formal playoff system to decide their respective champions; whichever team finished in first place after the regular season won the league title. A playoff would only be played if teams tied for first-place in their leagues at the end of the regular season.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: As the prestige of winning the Cup grew, so did the need to attract top players, and thus professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. Then in 1908, the Allan Cup was introduced as the trophy for Canada's amateurs, and the Stanley Cup became a symbol of professional hockey supremacy. In 1910, the National Hockey Association (NHA) held its inaugural season and soon emerged as the best professional hockey league in Canada, keeping the Cup for the next four years. In 1914, the Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) challenged the NHA and Cup champion Toronto Blueshirts. One year later, the NHA and the PCHA began an agreement in which their respective champions would face each other annually for the Stanley Cup, effectively ending the Cup challenge games.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: After years of the NHA not having an annual playoff tournament to determine its league champion, the 1916–17 NHA season saw the league split its schedule into two halves with the top team from each half moving on to the league finals, which was a two-game total goals series. The PCHA continued to award their league title to the team that finished in first place after the regular season.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in November 1917 as a successor to the NHA. From the NHL's inception until 1920, both NHL and PCHA teams were eligible for the Stanley Cup. The NHL inherited the NHA's regular-season system of dividing it into two halves, with the top team from each half moving on to the league finals. The NHL finals was a two-game total goals series in 1918 and a best-of-seven series in 1919. In 1920, the Ottawa Senators were automatically declared the league champion when the team had won both halves of the regular season. The two halves format was abandoned the next year, and the top two teams faced off for the NHL championship in a two-game total goals series.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: At the time, the NHL champion would later face the winners of the PCHA and, from 1921, the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) in further rounds in order to determine the Stanley Cup champion. During this time, as the rules of the NHL and those of the western leagues differ (the main difference being that NHL rules allowed five skaters while the western leagues allowed six), the rules for each game in the Stanley Cup Finals alternated between those of the NHL and the western leagues. Before the WCHL competed for the Stanley Cup, the Cup championship series was a best-of-five series. Following the involvement of the WCHL, one league champion was given a bye straight to the finals (a best-of-three affair starting in 1922), while the other two competed in a best-of-three semifinal. As travel expenses were high during these times, it was often the case that the NHL champions were sent west to compete. In a dispute between the leagues in 1923 about whether to send one or both western league champions east, the winner of the PCHA/WCHL series would proceed to the Stanley Cup Finals, while the loser of the series would face the NHL champion, both series being best-of-three.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: In 1924 the NHL playoffs expanded from two to three teams (with the top team getting a bye to the two-game total goal NHL finals), but because the first-place Hamilton Tigers refused to play under this format, the second and third place teams played for the NHL championship in a two-game total goals affair. The Stanley Cup Finals returned to a best-of-five format the same year.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: With the merger of the PCHA and WCHL in 1925 and the merged league's collapse in 1926, the NHL took de facto control of the Stanley Cup. While the Cup would not be formally deeded to the league until 1947, from 1926 onward the NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs are considered synonymous. The NHL was subsequently divided into the Canadian and American divisions for the 1927–28 season. For 1927, six teams qualified for the playoffs, three from each division, with the division semifinals and finals being a two-game total goals affair, and the Stanley Cup Finals becoming a best-of-five series. In 1928, the playoff format was changed so that the two teams with identical division ranking would face each other (i.e., the division winners played each other, the second place teams play each other, and likewise for the third place teams). The first place series was a best-of-five affair, with the winner proceeding to the best-of-three Stanley Cup Finals, while the others were a two-game total goals series. The winner of the second and third place series played each other in a best-of-three series, with the winner earning the other berth to the Stanley Cup Finals. This format had a slight modification the following year, where the semifinal series became a two-game total goals affair and the Stanley Cup Finals became a best-of-five series. The two-game total goals format was abolished in 1937, with those series being changed to best-of-three affairs.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The 1930s saw the reduction of teams from ten to seven, which resulted in an end to the Canadian and American divisions. The Stanley Cup playoffs saw the first- and second-place teams play against each other in a best-of-seven series for one berth in the Stanley Cup Finals, while the third- to sixth-place teams battled in a series of best-of-three matches for the other berth (with the third-place team taking on the fourth-place team, and the fifth-place team against the sixth-place team). In 1939, the Stanley Cup Finals became a best-of-seven series, the format still used today.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The 1942–43 season saw the removal of the New York Americans, leaving six remaining teams (now known as the "Original Six"). From 1943 to 1967, all playoff match ups were best-of-seven affairs. The first and third-place teams played in one semifinal, while the second and fourth-place teams played in the other semifinal, with the semifinal winners advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. During this time, Detroit Red Wings fans often threw an octopus onto the ice as a good luck charm, as eight wins were required to win the Stanley Cup.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The 1967 expansion saw the number of teams double from six to twelve for the 1967–68 season, and with it the creation of the Western and Eastern divisions. The playoff format remained largely the same, with four teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs, all series remaining best-of-seven, and the division champions battling for the Stanley Cup. The 1970–71 season, because of fan demand, brought forth the first inter-conference playoff match up outside of the Stanley Cup Finals since the pre-war expansion, which had the winner of the second-place versus fourth-place match up in one conference take on the winner of the first- versus third-place match up in the other conference for a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. The following year had one minor change to its playoff format: a stronger team would face a weaker opponent. Thus, instead of a first-place versus third-place and a second versus fourth-place match up in the first round, the first round had the first-place versus the fourth and the second versus the third-place. This practice of having stronger teams facing weaker opposition has continued to the present day. This change necessitated the need to reseed the winners of the quarterfinals by matching up the highest remaining seed of one division against the lowest remaining seed from the other division in the semifinals.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The 1974–75 season saw another change to the playoff system to accommodate a league that had expanded to 18 teams in two conferences and four divisions. Under this system, twelve teams qualified for the playoffs. The top team from each division would earn a bye to the quarterfinal, while the second- and third-place teams from each division started their playoff run from a best-of-three preliminary round. In each round of the playoffs, the teams remaining were seeded regardless of divisional or conference alignment, with the preliminary-round series being a best-of-three affair while the remainder of the series remained best-of-seven. The 1977–78 season had one minor change in its playoff format: although the second-place finishers from each division would qualify for the preliminary round, the four playoff spots reserved for the third-place teams were replaced by four "wild-card" spots—spots for the four teams with the highest regular-season point total that did not finish first or second in their divisions.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: With the absorption of four teams from the World Hockey Association in the 1979–80 season, a new playoff system was introduced where 16 of the league's 21 teams qualified for postseason play. The four division winners qualified for the playoffs while twelve wild-card positions rounded out the sixteen teams. At the beginning of each round the teams were seeded based on their regular season point totals, with the preliminary round being a best-of-five series while all other playoff series were best-of-seven.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The 1981–82 season brought forth the return of divisional matchups, with the top four teams from each division qualifying for the playoffs. Division champions would be determined, followed by the conference champions, who would meet in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Division Semifinals was a best-of-five affair until the 1986–87 season, when it became a best-of-seven series, while all other series remained best-of seven.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: For the 1993–94 season, the league revamped its playoff structure to become conference-based rather than division-based. Eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs. The first-place teams in each division were seeded first and second in their respective conference playoffs; the next six best teams in each conference also qualified and were seeded third through eighth. All teams played in the Conference Quarterfinals: first-place versus eighth, second versus seventh, third versus sixth, and fourth versus fifth; after each round, the surviving teams were reseeded to play the Conference Semifinals, then a Conference Final, with the conference champions playing against each other in the Stanley Cup Finals. Home ice advantage was determined by higher seed in the first three rounds and by regular-season points of the two teams in the Stanley Cup Finals. All series were best of seven, but the arrangement of home games was changed for Central and Pacific division teams. Instead of the normal 2–2–1–1–1 rotation, a series involving teams from both divisions was 2–3–2, with the higher-seeded team having the option of starting play at home or on the road (the format was used four times in 1994, between 1995 and 1998, all higher-seeded teams opted to start play at home with the 2–2–1–1–1 format).


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: For the 1998–99 season, the league re-organized into two conferences of three divisions apiece, resulting in the playoff format used through the 2012–13 season. The qualifiers remained sixteen, but the seeding changed. The three first-place teams in each division qualified and were seeded first through third for the playoffs; of the other teams in each conference, the top five finishers qualified for the fourth through eighth seeds. The format otherwise remained identical to that of the 1994–1998 system.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The NHL realigned into a four-division, two-conference system for the 2013–14 season. Under the postseason system from 2014 to 2019 and 2022 onward, the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, with two wild-cards in each conference (for a total of eight playoff teams from each conference). The format is division-based, similar to the 1982 system. In the First Round, the top-ranked team in the conference plays against the lowest-ranked wild-card, while the other division winner plays against the higher-ranked wild-card. The second- and third-place teams in each division play each other. The first-round winners then meet in the Second Round. The third round still consists of the Western Conference and Eastern Conference Finals, with those conference winners advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: As a result of the pandemic prematurely ending the 2019–20 regular season, a 24-team, conference-based format (with 12 from each conference) was adopted for the 2020 playoffs. Seeding was based on each team's points percentage at the time the regular season was suspended on March 12. The top four teams competed in a round-robin tournament to determine final seeding in the First Round, while the bottom eight seeds in each conference played in a best-of-five series to determine who advanced to face one of the Round-Robin teams in the First Round. Teams then were reseeded after each round similar to the conference-based formats used from 1994 to 2013.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The closure of the Canada–United States border during the 2020–21 regular season caused the NHL to temporarily abolish both conferences and realign into four different divisions, putting all Canadian teams into one of those divisions. The top four teams in each division then made the 2021 playoffs. All four rounds of the playoffs remained as best-of-seven series, and the first two rounds of the playoffs featured intra-divisional matchups similar to the division-based formats previously used. The four division champions were reseeded based on regular season point total in the Stanley Cup Semifinals. The best-ranked division winner played against the worst-ranked division winner, while the other two division champions faced-off against each other, with the second-best division champion having home-ice advantage. The winners of these series advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, as before.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: Compared to other major professional sports leagues, playoff upsets are relatively common in the NHL. According to NHL broadcaster Darren Eliot, this is because the style of competition in the playoffs is different from the regular season: instead of playing different teams every night, the goal is to advance through four best-of-seven playoff series. The Presidents' Trophy winner may have to go through other playoff clubs who might have a hotter goaltender, a better defensive team, or other players that pose matchup problems. If the regular season champion's primary success was only outscoring others, they may be out of luck facing goaltenders that can shut them out. For the first time, during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, all division winners were eliminated in the first round, which also saw the first instance that a Presidents' Trophy winner was swept 4–0 in the opening round.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: And although rare, another aspect is that the NHL leads the other leagues in game seven comebacks. Only four instances has an NHL team been able to come back from being down 0–3 to win a seven-game series: the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers, and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings. There has been only one such "reverse sweep" comeback in the MLB postseason (the 2004 Boston Red Sox) and none in the NBA playoffs.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: Despite having more American-based teams than Canadian-based ones throughout much of the NHL's existence (dating back to the Original Six era when it was two Canadian clubs to four American ones, and now 7 to 25 since 2021), there have been only two times in league history where none of the Canadian teams qualified for the postseason: 1970 and 2016. However, the 1993 Montreal Canadiens remain the last Canadian club to win the Stanley Cup, as of 2021.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: The Stanley Cup playoffs MVP award, the Conn Smythe Trophy is based on the "entire" NHL postseason instead of just the championship game or series, unlike the playoff MVP awards presented in the other major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada (the Super Bowl MVP, the NBA Finals MVP, and the World Series MVP), although in its history the trophy has never been given to someone that was not in the finals. Doug Gilmour and Peter Forsberg, in 1986 and 1999, respectively, are the only players who have topped the postseason in scoring without making it to the Finals.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: NHL players have often grown beards when their team is in the playoffs, where they do not shave until their team is eliminated or wins the Stanley Cup. The tradition was started in the 1980s by the New York Islanders, and is often mirrored by the fans, as well.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: At the conclusion of a playoff series, players and coaches line up and exchange handshakes with their counterparts on the opposing team, and this has been described by commentators as "one of the great traditions in sports". However, there have been rare occasions that individual players have refused to participate, such as Gerry Cheevers who left the ice without shaking hands with any of the Flyers in 1978, and Billy Smith who avoided handshakes as he was particularly passionate about losses. More recent examples of players refusing the handshake include the 1996 playoffs when several Detroit Red Wings players protested the dirty hit by the Colorado Avalanche's Claude Lemieux, and in the 2008 playoffs when Martin Brodeur refused to shake Sean Avery's hand after Avery screened him in an earlier game.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: It is common among players to never touch or hoist the Prince of Wales Trophy (Eastern Conference champion) or Clarence S. Campbell Bowl (Western Conference champion) after they have won the conference finals; the players feel that the Stanley Cup is the true championship trophy and thus it should be the only trophy that they should be hoisting. However, there have been many exceptions to this. 19 of the conference champions since 1997 have touched the trophy, of which 8 teams went on to win the Stanley Cup – Scott Stevens of the Devils in 2000 and 2003; Sidney Crosby of the Penguins in 2009, 2016, and 2017; Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals in 2018; and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning in 2020. In recent years, the captain of the winning team poses (usually looking solemn) with the conference trophy, and sometimes, the entire team poses as well.


title: Stanley Cup playoffs

text: Because the Ice Hockey World Championships are held in the same time period as the Stanley Cup playoffs, the only NHL players who can participate in the former are those on NHL teams that have been eliminated from Stanley Cup contention. This policy has been in place since a 1977 agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation, which allowed Team Canada to field a team in the World Championships after an-eight year absence.


title: Nikesh Patel

text: Nikesh Patel (born 1985) is a British actor, best known for his role as Aafrin Dalal in the TV series "Indian Summers," Kash Khan in the mini series "Four Weddings and A Funeral", and Tom Kapoor in the sitcom "Starstruck".


title: Nikesh Patel

text: Patel was born in Wembley, London. His parents are pharmacists. He completed his secondary education at the City of London School. He initially wanted to become a journalist but turned to acting while at university.


title: Nikesh Patel

text: Patel started acting during his time reading English at the University of Warwick, where he played Othello in a student production. After graduating with a BA in English Literature, Patel went on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He graduated from Guildhall in 2010 and was awarded the school's gold medal for Acting that year.


title: Nikesh Patel

text: Patel got his professional start in the theatre, appearing in Anupama Chandrasekhar's play "Disconnect" at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010. In 2011, Patel was part of the ensemble of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 50th birthday season and appeared in "The Taming of the Shrew" (Petruchio), "Macbeth" (Donalbain) and "The Merchant of Venice" (Balthasar). He had a role in Rona Munro's play "Donny's Brain" at the Hampstead Theatre in 2012 and returned to the Royal Court Theatre in 2013 to appear in Abhishek Majumdar's play "The Djinns of Eidgah". Also in 2013, Patel had a role in Howard Brenton's play "Drawing the Line" at the Hampstead Theatre. He appeared in "Man", a production of three one-act plays by Tennessee Williams, at the Young Vic in 2015.


title: Nikesh Patel

text: Patel's first television credit was playing the character Dan in the second series of the Sky Living series "Bedlam". This was followed by roles in single episodes of "Midsomer Murders" and "". In 2015, he played Tanvir in the film "Honour". He then had a leading role in the TV series "Indian Summers", which ran for two seasons. In 2016, he played Raghdan Aziz in the film "Halal Daddy" and Pradhan in "London Has Fallen". He played the lead role in BBC Radio 4's 2017 adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel "Midnight's Children". In 2019 he played Arcite, one of the two title characters in the BBC Radio 3 production of William Shakespeare's "Two Noble Kinsmen".


title: Nikesh Patel

text: 2019 saw Patel take on roles in two high-profile television shows: He played Mitch in the "Doctor Who" New Year's Day special episode, "Resolution" as well as Kash Khan, one of the seven lead characters in Mindy Kaling's 2019 miniseries adaptation of "Four Weddings and a Funeral".


title: Nikesh Patel

text: Patel appeared in the 2020 fantasy film "Artemis Fowl", playing tech expert centaur Foaly. The final stage of the audition process was a screen-test in which he had to perform on stilts to realistically emulate being half man, half horse.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats need to communicate with each other for bonding, and relating with each other; they need to collaborate, play, and share resources. When they communicate with people, they do so to get what they need or want, such as food, affection, or play.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats use a range of communication methods such as vocal, visual, tactile and olfactory. Cats mostly meow to communicate with people, rarely with other animals. As such, the cats' communication methods have been significantly affected by domestication. Up to 21 different cat vocalizations have been studied. It is now evident that domestic cats meow more than feral cats.


title: Cat communication

text: Cat vocalizations have been categorized according to a range of characteristics. Originally suggested by Mildred Moelk, cat sounds are often divided into three main classes:


title: Cat communication

text: In 1944, Moelk published the first phonetic study of cat sounds. She listened very carefully to her own cats and organized their sounds into 16 phonetic patterns divided into three main categories. She also used a phonetic alphabet to transcribe or write down the different sounds. She claimed that cats had six different forms of meows to represent friendliness, confidence, dissatisfaction, anger, fear and pain. Moelk classified eight other sounds involved in mating and fighting by listening to the animals in her yard and on the street.


title: Cat communication

text: Brown et al. categorized vocal responses of cats according to the behavioral context: during separation of kittens from mother cats, during food deprivation, during pain, prior to or during threat or attack behavior, as in disputes over territory or food, during a painful or acutely stressful experience, as in routine prophylactic injections and during kitten deprivation. Less commonly recorded calls from mature cats included purring, conspecific greeting calls or murmurs, extended vocal dialogues between cats in separate cages, "frustration" calls during training or extinction of conditioned responses.


title: Cat communication

text: Miller classified vocalizations into five categories according to the sound produced: the purr, chirr, call, meow and growl/snarl/hiss.


title: Cat communication

text: Owens et al. categorized cat vocalizations based on their acoustic structures. There are three categories: tonal sounds, pulse sounds, and broadband sounds. Tonal sounds are further categorized into groups of harmonically structured sounds or regular tonal sounds. Pulse vocalizations are separated into pulse bursts and hybrid pulse bursts with tonal endings. Broadband sounds are separated into four groups: non-tonal broadband sounds, broadband sounds with tonal beginnings, broadband sounds with short tonal elements, and broadband sounds with long tonal endings.


title: Cat communication

text: The purr is a continuous, soft, vibrating sound made in the throat by most species of felines. Domestic kittens can purr as early as two days of age. This tonal rumbling can characterize different personalities in domestic cats. Purring is often believed to indicate a positive emotional state, but cats sometimes purr when they are ill, tense, or experiencing traumatic or painful moments such as giving birth. A more expansive definition is "purring signals a friendly social mood, and it can be given as a signal to, say, a vet from an injured cat indicating the need for friendship, or as a signal to an owner, saying thank you for friendship given." The mechanism behind purring is not fully understood, but it is thought to be produced by the vibration of the animal’s vocal cords. When an animal purrs, its vocal cords vibrate at a low frequency, which creates a distinctive rumbling sound.


title: Cat communication

text: The mechanism of how cats purr is elusive. This is partly because cats do not have a unique anatomical feature that is clearly responsible for this vocalization. One hypothesis, supported by electromyographic studies, is that cats produce the purring noise by using the vocal folds and/or the muscles of the larynx to alternately dilate and constrict the glottis rapidly, causing air vibrations during inhalation and exhalation. Combined with the steady inhalation and exhalation as the cat breathes, a purring noise is produced with strong harmonics. Purring is sometimes accompanied by other sounds, though this varies between individuals. Some may only purr, while others emit low-level outbursts, sometimes called "lurps" or "yowps".


title: Cat communication

text: It was once believed that only the cats of the genus "Felis" could purr. However, cats of the genus "Panthera" (tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards) also produce sounds similar to purring, but only when exhaling. Cats may purr for a variety of reasons, including when they are hungry, happy, or anxious.


title: Cat communication

text: The most familiar sounds of adult cats are "meow" or "miaow" (pronounced ). The meow can be assertive, plaintive, friendly, bold, welcoming, attention-soliciting, demanding, or complaining. It can even be silent, where the cat opens its mouth but does not produce any sound.


title: Cat communication

text: A mew is a high-pitched meow that is often produced by domestic kittens. It is apparently used to solicit attention from their mother, but they are also used by adult cats. By around three to four weeks of age, kittens do not mew when at least one littermate is present, and at four to five months of age, kittens stop mewing altogether. Adult cats rarely meow to each other, and so adult meowing to human beings is likely to be a post-domestication extension of mewing by kittens.


title: Cat communication

text: Although videos which seemingly show cats speaking in human language are frequently shared on the internet, differences in cats' vocal tract prevent them from vocalising human language exactly. Instead, animal behaviour experts explain they are modifying the "meow" vocalisation to mimic certain human words. For example, a cat which frequently hears its owner say "no" may learn to use "mow" in a low tone.


title: Cat communication

text: The chirr or chirrup sounds like a meow rolled on the tongue. It is commonly used by mother cats to call their kittens inside the nest. As such, kittens recognize their own mother's chirp, but they do not respond to the chirps of other mothers. It is also used by friendly cats when they realize that another cat or a human is approaching. Therefore, people can mimic the sound to reassure and greet pet cats.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats sometimes make excited chirping or chattering noises when observing or stalking prey. These sounds range from quiet clicking sounds, to loud but sustained chirping mixed with an occasional meow.


title: Cat communication

text: Some researchers believe this chattering may also be an involuntary instinctual imitation of the moment a killing bite on the neck occurs. This is because it activates a vibration of the feline's jaws to allow the precision to slide between a prey's spine.


title: Cat communication

text: The call is a loud, rhythmic sound, that is made with the mouth closed. It is primarily associated with female cats soliciting males, and sometimes occurs in males when fighting with each other. A "caterwaul" is the cry of a cat in heat (estrus).


title: Cat communication

text: The growl, snarl, and hiss are all sounds associated with either offensive or defensive aggression. They are usually accompanied by a postural display intended to have a visual effect on the perceived threat. The communication may be directed at cats as well as other species: the puffed-up hissing and spitting display of a cat toward an approaching dog is a well-known behavior. As such, cats hiss when they are startled, scared, angry, or in pain; also to scare off intruders into their territory. If the hiss and growl warning does not remove the threat, an attack may follow. Interestingly enough, kittens as young as two to three weeks will hiss and spit when first picked up by a human. Spitting is a shorter but louder and more emphatic version of hissing.


title: Cat communication

text: These sounds are commonly used during threatening situations. Howls are more tonal, while moans are long and slowly modulated. On the other hand, anger wails are combined with growls, while yowls are similar to howls but longer.


title: Cat communication

text: Unlike dogs, panting is a rare occurrence in cats, except in warm weather environments, or after delivery. Some cats may pant in response to anxiety, fear or excitement. It can also be caused by play, exercise, or stress from stimuli, such as car rides. However, if panting is excessive or the cat appears in distress, it may be a symptom of a more serious condition, such as a nasal blockage, heartworm disease, head trauma, or drug poisoning. In many cases, feline panting, especially if accompanied by other symptoms, such as coughing or shallow breathing (dyspnea), is considered to be abnormal and is treated as a medical emergency. More so, panting in cat-moms after delivery is normal and not related to temperature, female cats may pant for several days up to weeks postpartum.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats use postures and movement to communicate a wide range of information. There are various responses such as when cats arch their backs, erect their hairs and adopt a sideward posture to communicate fear or aggression. Other visual communication can be a single behavioral change (as perceived by humans) such as slowly blinking to signal relaxation and comfort in their environment. As such, domestic cats frequently use visual communication with their eyes, ears, mouths, tails, coats and body postures. An interesting fact is that a cat's facial features change the most and are probably the best indicator of their communication.


title: Cat communication

text: A cat's posture communicates its emotions. As such, it is best to observe their natural behavior when they are alone, with humans, or with other animals. Their postures can be friendly or aggressive, depending on the situation. Some of the most basic and familiar cat postures include the following:


title: Cat communication

text: Cats can change the position of their ears very quickly, and continuously: from erect when the cat is alert and focused, slightly relaxed when the cat is calm, and flattened against the head when extremely defensive or aggressive. In cats, flattened ears generally indicate that it feels threatened and may attack.


title: Cat communication

text: A direct stare by a cat usually communicates a challenge or threat and is more likely to be seen in high-ranking cats; lower-ranking cats usually withdraw in response. The direct stare is often used during predation or for territorial reasons.


title: Cat communication

text: In contrast to a direct stare, cats will lower their eyelids or slowly blink them to show trust and affection to their owners. According to Gary Weitzman, a licensed veterinarian and animal author, this type of feline body language is similar to a "kitty kiss". He further explains in his book, "How To Speak Cat: A Guide to Decoding Cat Language," that slow blinking could be a physiological response to lowered stress hormonal levels from being in a calm state.


title: Cat communication

text: "The slow blink is an acceptance gesture," Weitzman says. "They do that when they're absolutely comfortable with you, and they do it with other cats as well." It is not clear why cats do this when they are feeling calm and comfortable, but Weitzman writes, "it's likely an autonomic response: related to low levels of cortisol [stress hormone] in the cat."


title: Cat communication

text: In fact, Weitzman encourages cat owners to mimic this behavior to show affection; but it should reinforce a non-threatening position. However, this behavior is not exclusive to domestic cats, but also to those in the wild. And since in the wild they are territorial, they use this slow blinking with other cats to show a friendly or nonthreatening demeanor.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats often use their tails to communicate. For example, a cat holding its tail vertically generally indicates positive emotions such as happiness or confidence; the vertical tail is often used as a friendly gesture toward people or other cats (usually close relatives). A half-raised tail can indicate less pleasure, and unhappiness is indicated with a tail held low. In addition, a cat's tail may swing from side to side, and if this motion is slow and "lazy", it generally indicates that the cat is in a relaxed state. Cats will twitch the tip of their tails when hunting, alert, or playful. Abrupt, full-tail twitching indicates a state of indecision. A stalking domestic cat will typically hold its tail low to the ground while in a crouch, and twitch it quickly from side to side. This tail behavior is also observed when a cat becomes "irritated" and is about to lash out and attack; typically by biting or scratching with claws extended. Also, a cat may twitch its tail when playing.


title: Cat communication

text: Sometimes when playing, a cat, or more commonly, a kitten, will raise the base of its tail high and stiffen all but the tip into a shape like an upside-down "U". This signals great excitement, to the point of hyperactivity. It may also be seen when younger cats chase each other, or when they run around by themselves. Also, when greeting their owners, cats often hold their tails straight up with a quivering motion that indicates extreme happiness. A scared or surprised cat may erect the hairs on its tail and back. In addition, it may stand more upright and turn its body sideways to increase its apparent size as a threat. On the other hand, tailless cats, such as the Manx, which possess only a small stub of a tail, moves the stub around as if they have a full tail.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats often lick other cats as allogrooming or to bond (this grooming is usually done between familiar cats). They also sometimes lick humans, which may indicate affection.


title: Cat communication

text: Oral grooming for domestic and feral cats is a common behavior; recent studies on domestic cats show that they spend about 8% of resting time grooming themselves. Grooming is extremely important not only to clean themselves but also to control ectoparasites. Fleas tend to be the most common ectoparasite in cats and some studies show indirect evidence that grooming in cats is effective in dislodging fleas from the head and neck. Cats may also use grooming to scratch itchy areas of the body.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats sometimes repeatedly tread their front paws on humans or soft objects with a kneading action. This is instinctive to kittens and adults, and is presumably derived from the action used to stimulate milk let-down from the mother during nursing. Kittens "knead" the breast while suckling, using the forelimbs one at a time in an alternating pattern to push against the mammary glands to stimulate lactation. Kneading may also have an originated in ancient cats in the wild who had to tread down grass or foliage to make a temporary nest in which to rest.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats carry these infantile behaviors beyond nursing and into adulthood. Some cats "nurse", that is, suck on clothing or bedding during kneading. The cat exerts firm downwards pressure with its paw, spreading its toes to expose its claws, then curls its toes as it lifts its paw. The process takes place with alternate paws at intervals of one to two seconds. They may knead while sitting on their owner's lap, which may be painful if the cat has sharp claws.


title: Cat communication

text: Since most of the preferred "domestic traits" are neotenous or juvenile traits that persist in the adults, kneading may be a relic juvenile behavior retained in adult domestic cats. It may also stimulate the cat and make it feel good, similar to a human stretching. Kneading is often a precursor to sleeping, and many cats purr while kneading, usually taken to indicate contentment and affection. They also purr mostly when newborn, when feeding, or when trying to feed on their mother's teat. The common association between the two behaviors may confirm the evidence in favor of the origin of kneading as a remnant instinct.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats have scent glands on the underside of their paws and when they knead or scratch objects or people, it is likely these pheromones are transferred to the person or object being kneaded or scratched.


title: Cat communication

text: Some cats rub their faces on humans, apparently as a friendly greeting or indicating affection. This tactile action is combined with olfactory communication as the contact leaves scent from glands located around the mouth and cheeks. Cats also sometimes "head-bump" humans or other cats with the front part of the head; this action is referred to as "bunting". This communication might have an olfactory component as there are scent glands in this area of the body, and is possibly for seeking attention when the cat turns its head down or to the side.


title: Cat communication

text: Head-bumping and cheek rubbing may be displays of social dominance as they are often exhibited by a dominant cat towards a subordinate.


title: Cat communication

text: Gentle biting (often accompanied by purring and kneading) can communicate affection or playfulness, directed at the human owner or another cat; however, stronger bites that are often accompanied by hissing or growling usually communicate aggression. When cats mate, the tom bites the scruff of the female's neck as she assumes a lordosis position which communicates that she is receptive to mating.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats communicate olfactorily through scent in urine, feces, and chemicals or pheromones from glands located around the mouth, chin, forehead, cheeks, lower back, tail and paws. Their rubbing and head-bumping behaviors are methods of depositing these scents on substrates, including humans. The cat rubs its cheeks on prominent objects in the preferred territory, depositing a chemical pheromone produced in glands in the cheeks. This is known as a contentment pheromone. Synthetic versions of the feline facial pheromone are available commercially.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats have nine different scent glands in their body. These are the pinna (outer ear flaps), temporal (on their temples), cheek (on the sides of their face), perioral (on the mouth corners), submandibular (under the jaw), interdigital (between toes), anal (on the sides of the anus), caudal (all along tail), and supra-caudal (at the base of tail).


title: Cat communication

text: Urine spraying is also a territorial marking. Cats urinate by squatting onto a horizontal surface, while standing up. The cat makes a treading motion with her back feet and quivers her tail, leaving her scent mark on a vertical surface. Unlike a dog's penis, a cat's penis points backward. Although cats may mark with both sprayed and non-sprayed urine, the spray is usually more thick and oily than normally deposited urine, and may contain additional secretions from anal sacs that help the cat make a stronger communication. While cats mark their territory both by rubbing the scent glands, by urine and faecal deposits, spraying seems to be the "loudest" feline olfactory communication. It is most frequently observed in intact male cats in competition with other males. Males neutered in adulthood may still spray after neutering. Female cats also sometimes spray.


title: Cat communication

text: A cat that urinates outside the litter box may indicate dissatisfaction with the box, due to a variety of factors such as substrate texture, cleanliness, and privacy. It can also be a sign of urinary tract problems. Male cats on poor diets are susceptible to crystal formation in the urine which can block the urethra and lead to health problems.


title: Cat communication

text: The urine of mature male cats in particular contains the amino acid known as felinine which is a precursor to 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol (MMB), the sulfur-containing compound that gives cat urine its characteristically strong odor. Felinine is produced in the urine from 3-methylbutanol-cysteinylglycine (3-MBCG) that is excreted peptidase cauxin. It then slowly degrades via bacterial lyase into the more-volatile chemical MMB. Felinine is a possible cat pheromone.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats, domestic or wild, participate in social behaviors, even though it is thought that most cat species (besides lions) are solitary, antisocial animals. These include social learning, socialization between cats, and socialization with humans.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats are observational learners. This type of learning emerges early in a cat's life, and has been shown in many laboratory studies. Young kittens learn to hunt from their mothers by observing their techniques when catching prey. The mother ensures their kittens learn hunting techniques by first bringing dead prey to the litter, followed by live prey. With the live prey, she demonstrates the techniques required for successful capture. Prey-catching behavior of kittens improves at higher levels over time when their mothers are present.


title: Cat communication

text: Observational learning for cats can be described in terms of the drive to complete the behavior, the cue that initiates the behavior, the response to the cue, and the reward for completing the behavior. This is shown when cats learn predatory behavior from their mothers. The drive is hunger, the cue is the prey, the response is to catch the prey, and the reward is to relieve the hunger sensation.


title: Cat communication

text: Kittens also show observational learning when they are socializing with humans. They are more likely to initiate socialization with humans when their mothers are exhibiting non-aggressive and non-defensive behaviors. Even though mothers spend more time with their kittens, male cats play an important role by breaking up fights among littermates.


title: Cat communication

text: Observational learning is not limited to kitten-hood – it can also be observed during adulthood. Studies have shown that adult cats that see others performing a task, such as pressing a lever after a visual cue, learn to perform the same task faster than those who did not witness another cat at that task.


title: Cat communication

text: Usually, when strange cats meet, one of them makes a sudden move that puts the other cat into a defensive mode. The cat will then draw in on itself and prepare to attack if needed. The submissive cat will usually run away before a physical altercation ensues; however, this is not always the case, and what is known as a "tomcat duel" may follow. Dominance is also seen as an underlying factor that depict how conspecifics interact with each other.


title: Cat communication

text: Dominance can be seen among cats in multi-cat households. "Subordinate" cats submit to the "dominant" cat. Dominance includes such behaviors as the submissive cats walking around the dominant cat, waiting for the dominant cat to walk past them, avoiding eye contact, crouching, lying on their side (defensive posture), and retreating when the dominant cat approaches. Dominant cats present a specific body posture as well. The cat displays ears straight up, the base of its tail will be arched, and it looks directly at subordinate cats. These dominant cats are usually not aggressive, but if a subordinate cat blocks the food source they may become aggressive. When this aggressive behavior occurs, it could also lead to the dominant cat preventing subordinate cats from eating and using the litter box. This can cause the subordinate cat to defecate somewhere else and create problems with human interaction.


title: Cat communication

text: Social conflicts among cats depend solely on the behavior of the cats. Some research has shown that cats rarely pick fights, but when they do, it is usually for protecting food and/or litters, and defending their territory.


title: Cat communication

text: The first sign of an imminent tomcat duel is when both cats draw themselves up high on their legs, all hair along the middle of their backs is raised straight up, and they mew and howl loudly as they approach one another. The steps the cats make become slower and shorter, as they get closer to one another. Once they are close enough to attack, they pause slightly, and then one cat leaps and tries to bite the nape of the other cat. The other cat has no choice but to retaliate and both cats roll aggressively on the ground. During such confrontations both cats produce loud intense screams. After some time, the cats separate and stand face to face to begin the attack all over again. This can go on for some time until one remains seated, showing defeat. The defeated cat does not move until the victor completes sniffing the area and moves outside the fighting area. Once this happens, the defeated cat leaves the area, ending the fight.


title: Cat communication

text: Fights can also happen between two females or between a male and a female. Cats may need to be reintroduced or separated to avoid fights in a closed household.


title: Cat communication

text: Cats between the age of three and nine weeks are sensitive to human socialization. After this period, socialization can be less effective. Studies have shown that the earlier the kitten is handled by people, the less fearful the kitten will be towards people. Other factors that can enhance socialization are having many people handle the kitten frequently, the presence of the mother, and feeding. The presence of the mother is important because cats are observational learners. For example, a mother that is comfortable around humans can reduce anxiety in the kitten and promote the kitten-human relationship.


title: Cat communication

text: Feral kittens around two to seven weeks old can be socialized usually within a month of capture. Some species of cats cannot be socialized because of factors such as genetic influence and in some cases specific learning experiences. The best way to get a kitten to socialize is to handle the kitten for many hours a week. The process is made easier if there is another socialized cat present but not necessarily in the same space as the one being socialized. If the handler can get a cat to urinate in the litter tray, then the others in a litter will usually follow. Initial contact with thick gloves is highly recommended until trust is established, usually within the first week. On the other hand, it is a challenge to socialize an adult cat. This is because socialized adult feral cats tend to trust only those who they trusted in their socialization period, and therefore can be very fearful around strangers.


title: Cat communication

text: There are a number of problematic behaviors that affect the human-cat relationship. One behavior is when cats attack people by scratching and biting. This often occurs spontaneously or could be triggered by sudden movements. Another problematic behavior is the "petting and biting syndrome", which involves the cat being petted and then suddenly attacking and running away. Other problems are house soiling, scratching furniture, and bringing dead prey into the house. It is these kinds of behaviors that put a strain on the relationship between cats and people.


title: Cat communication

text: There are 52 measured cat personality traits in cats, with one study showing that five reliable personality factors were found using principal-axis factor-analysis: neuroticism, extroversion, dominance, impulsiveness and agreeableness.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Jerrold Lewis Nadler (; born June 13, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician who since 2013 has served as the U.S. representative for , which includes Manhattan's west side and parts of Brooklyn. A member of the Democratic Party, he is in his 15th term in Congress. He was originally elected to represent the state's 17th congressional district (1992–1993), which was renumbered the 8th congressional district (1993–2013) and now is the 10th. Nadler has chaired the House Judiciary Committee since 2019. He is the dean of New York's delegation to the House of Representatives.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of Miriam (née Schreiber) and Emanuel "Max" Nadler. Nadler described his father as a "dyed-in-the-wool Democrat" who lost his poultry farm in New Jersey when the younger Nadler was seven. In his youth, he attended Crown Heights Yeshiva; he is the only member of Congress with a yeshiva education. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1965 (where his debate team partner was the future philosopher of science Alexander Rosenberg, and Dick Morris managed his successful campaign for student government president).


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler received his B.A. in 1969 from Columbia University, where he became a brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi. After graduating from Columbia, Nadler worked as a legal assistant and clerk, first with Corporation Trust Company in 1970, then the Morris, Levin and Shein law firm in 1971. In 1972, Nadler was a legislative assistant in the New York State Assembly before becoming shift manager at the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation, a position he held until becoming a law clerk with Morgan, Finnegan, Pine, Foley and Lee in 1976.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: While attending evening courses at the Fordham University School of Law, Nadler was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1976. He completed his J.D. at Fordham in 1978.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1977 to 1992, sitting in the 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th and 189th New York State Legislatures.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In 1985, he ran for Manhattan Borough President. He lost the Democratic primary to David Dinkins. In the general election, he ran as the New York Liberal Party nominee, and again lost to Dinkins.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In 1989, he ran for New York City Comptroller. In the Democratic primary, he lost to Kings County D.A. Elizabeth Holtzman.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In 1992, Ted Weiss was expected to run for reelection in the 8th district, which had been renumbered from the 17th after the 1990 U.S. census. But Weiss died a day before the primary election. Nadler was nominated to replace Weiss. He ran in two elections on Election Day—a special election to serve the rest of Weiss's eighth term in the old 17th district, and a regular election for a full two-year term in the new 8th district. He won both handily, and has been reelected 15 times with no substantive opposition. In 2020 Nadler faced a primary challenge from activist Lindsey Boylan; the election was the first time in his tenure that Nadler received less than 75% of the vote. The district was renumbered the 10th district after the 2010 census. A Republican has not represented this district or its predecessors in over a century.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: The 10th district includes Manhattan's west side from the Upper West Side down to Battery Park, including the World Trade Center; the Manhattan neighborhoods of Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen and Greenwich Village; and parts of Brooklyn, such as Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Borough Park and Bay Ridge. It includes many of New York City's most popular tourist attractions, including the Statue of Liberty, New York Stock Exchange, Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In 2022, Nadler defeated his longtime colleague Carolyn Maloney in a three-way primary with 56% of the vote in New York's newly drawn 12th congressional district.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler chairs the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary and is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure committees.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Despite earlier efforts to impeach George W. Bush and more recent requests from fellow representatives, he did not schedule hearings on impeachments for Bush or Dick Cheney, saying in 2007 that doing so would be pointless and would distract from the presidential election. In an interview in "Washington Journal" on July 15, 2008, Nadler reiterated the timing argument and endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, saying that electing an honest candidate would create a greater chance of prosecuting those in the Bush administration who had committed war crimes. Ten days later, after Representative Dennis Kucinich submitted Articles of Impeachment, the full House Judiciary Committee held hearings regarding the process covered solely by C-SPAN. A top Ronald Reagan Justice Department official, Bruce Fein, was among those testifying for impeachment.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: On a similar note, referring to hypothetical impeachment proceedings against President Trump that would begin in the newly elected Democrat-controlled House, he suggested a "three-pronged test" that "would make for a legitimate impeachment proceeding". Such a test would include "the offenses in question must be so grave", and "the evidence so clear", that "even some supporters of the president concede that impeachment is necessary". If it was determined that the president committed an impeachable offense, lawmakers must consider if such an offense would "rise to the gravity where it's worth putting the country through the trauma of an impeachment proceeding," Nadler said.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: On September 24, 2019, Representative Lance Gooden proposed a resolution to remove Nadler from his position as chair of the House Judiciary committee, accusing him of unlawfully beginning impeachment proceedings before the House had given the committee authorization.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: For his tenure as chair of the House Judiciary Committee in the 116th Congress, Nadler earned an "A" grade from the nonpartisan Lugar Center's Congressional Oversight Hearing Index.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: PolitiFact criticized Nadler for falsely claiming in the Kenosha unrest shooting that Kyle Rittenhouse had brought a gun across state lines and might thus be subject to a federal Department of Justice review, when in fact he had not.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler was unhappy with the passage of the surveillance-reform compromise bill, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, saying it "abandons the Constitution's protections and insulates lawless behavior from legal scrutiny".


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler compared Obama's acceptance of Republican demands to extend Bush-era tax cuts at the highest income levels to someone's being roughed up by the mob, asserting that the Republicans would allow the middle class tax cut only if millionaires and billionaires receive a long-term tax cut as well.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler has proposed changing the income tax brackets to reflect different regions and their costs of living, which would have lowered the tax rate for New Yorkers. He has opposed tax breaks for high-income earners, saying that the country cannot afford it.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler sponsored the Freedom of Choice Act in 2004 and 2007. In 2009 he said he might soon reintroduce the bill.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler supports same-sex marriage, and anti-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: On September 15, 2009, Nadler and two other representatives introduced the Respect for Marriage Act, a proposed bill that would have repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and required the federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In 2019, Nadler supported the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In March 2019, as the House debated President Trump's veto of a measure unwinding his declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, Nadler said: "I'm convinced that the president's actions are unlawful and deeply irresponsible. A core foundation of our system of government and of democracies across the world, going back hundreds of years, is that the executive cannot unilaterally spend taxpayer money without the legislature's consent."


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In 2015, Nadler voted to support an agreement to lift economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Iran's compliance with the terms of the agreement which called for substantial dismantling and scaling back of their nuclear program.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Of Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017, Nadler said, "I have long recognized Jerusalem as the historic capital of Israel, and have called for the eventual relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem, the seat of the Israeli government. While President Trump's announcement earlier today rightly acknowledged the unique attachment of the Jewish people to Jerusalem, the timing and circumstances surrounding this decision are deeply worrying."


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In 2020, Nadler praised a judge for a ruling that could lead to the removal of 20 or more stories in an already constructed 52-story luxury high-rise building in the Upper West Side of New York City. The developer had received a permit to construct the building, but the judge said the permit should not have been given.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: In July 2019, Nadler introduced the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act that, among other reforms, seeks to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. He said: "It's past time to right this wrong nationwide and work to view marijuana use as an issue of personal choice and public health, not criminal behavior." In November 2019, the bill passed the House Judiciary Committee by a 24–10 vote, marking the first time that a bill to end cannabis prohibition had ever passed a congressional committee.


title: Jerry Nadler

text: Nadler has a liberal voting record in the House. He gained national prominence during the impeachment of Bill Clinton, when he described the process as a "partisan railroad job".


title: Jerry Nadler

text: His Medicare proposal includes a section that provides for a consortium of organization to study Ground Zero illness.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Keeping Up with the Joneses is a 2016 American action comedy film directed by Greg Mottola and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was written by Michael LeSieur. Its story follows a suburban couple (Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher) who begin to suspect their new neighbors (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot) are secret agents.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Production began in the United States in 2015 and was released on October 21, 2016. It grossed $5,461,475 during its opening week and $29.9 million worldwide, against a $40 million budget. It received generally negative reviews and is considered a box office bomb.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Jeff Gaffney works as a human resources professional at MBI, a defense contractor company based in Atlanta. He and his wife Karen live in a nice cul-de-sac with their two children, who are away at summer camp. They make the acquaintance of their new neighbors, Tim and Natalie Jones. Tim is a travel writer whose hobbies include glassblowing, and Natalie is a social media consultant, cooking blogger and philanthropist. They are both impossibly good-looking, accomplished and stylish, yet overly friendly with the Gaffneys.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Karen starts having suspicions about the Joneses when she catches Tim poking around Jeff's den during a neighborhood block party, then witnesses Natalie doing what looks like a dead drop in a café. Karen follows Natalie to the mall, but Natalie confronts her in a dressing room, defusing the situation with some female bonding. Meanwhile, Tim invites Jeff to an underground Chinese restaurant, where Jeff drinks snake wine and is bitten by a severed snake head, forcing Tim to save his life. In exchange, Jeff takes Tim to indoor skydiving, a passion of his that none of his friends share. All the way through, Tim tries to have Jeff talk about his coworkers at the office. One night, with the help of Natalie, Tim sneaks into the MBI building and looks over Jeff's emails.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Back at their house, Jeff accidentally breaks the glass sculpture made by Tim that was given to them, revealing a bug among the shards. Realizing the Joneses are spies, Karen decides to sneak into their house to find more evidence. They discover files on Jeff and the other MBI employees and Jeff accidentally stuns Karen with a pen gun. They narrowly escape as the Joneses arrive. Natalie is worried Tim might be getting too close to Jeff, but they reveal they are in love with each other, which is also against the rules. Natalie notices the used pen gun on the floor, and they realize the Gaffneys had broken into their house.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: The Gaffneys arrange a private meeting with MBI's head of security, Carl Pronger to expose the Joneses, but before Carl can disclose classified details, he is killed by a sniper who also attacks the Gaffneys. They are rescued by the Joneses and a high-speed chase and shootout ensue. The Gaffneys learn that the Joneses are actually trying to discover whether there is treason within MBI. Back in the cul-de-sac, Jeff gives Tim and Natalie some relationship advice and the two couples bond. After they return to their houses, the Joneses trigger a bomb that blows up their house alone.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Later, after lying to the police about the Joneses, the Gaffneys are frantically preparing to go on the run when the Joneses reappear alive and well in their basement. They kidnapped Jeff's colleague Dan Craverston and his wife Meg, who are revealed to be trying to sell MBI's experimental microchips to an international arms dealer called "The Scorpion". When the Scorpion calls on Dan's phone, Jeff answers posing as Dan and arranges a meeting to deliver the microchips.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Jeff and Karen go to the hotel where the meeting takes place, while the Joneses back them up from the roof. The Scorpion turns out to be a former MBI employee named Bruce Springstine, who recognizes Jeff. With their cover blown, Tim radios for back-up, but the operation is aborted and the Gaffneys are declared collateral damage. The Joneses disobey orders and surrender to the Scorpion, but before the latter gets around to killing them, Karen is able to pass a knife to Natalie, giving the Joneses the opportunity to eliminate half of the Scorpion's henchmen. They escape by jumping out the window into a pool, just before the briefcase containing the chips is detonated by Natalie, and a bomb kills the Scorpion and his remaining henchmen. Proud of their new friends, the Joneses say goodbye and go back to their life of espionage.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: The next summer, the Gaffneys visit the café in Marrakesh where the Joneses used to date and happen upon the Joneses who are in the middle of a new mission, accidentally blowing their cover and triggering yet another gunfight.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: In March 2014, it was announced that Greg Mottola would direct the film, from a screenplay by Michael LeSieur, with Fox 2000 Pictures having their eyes set on Jon Hamm and Zach Galifianakis to star, Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald producing under their Parkes + MacDonald Image Nation banner, and Marc Resteghini serving as an executive producer. In October 2014, Isla Fisher joined the cast of the film, and the casting of Hamm and Galifianakis was confirmed. In February 2015, Gal Gadot was in negotiations to star in the film. In April 2015, Maribeth Monroe and Matt Walsh also joined the cast.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: The film was originally scheduled to be released on April 1, 2016, but was pushed back to October 21, 2016.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: "Keeping Up with the Joneses" grossed $14.9 million in North America and $15 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $29.9 million, against a budget of $40 million.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: The film was expected to gross $7–9 million from about 3,022 theaters in its opening weekend. However, it only grossed $2 million on its first day and $5.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing 7th at the box office, and making $1 million less than Galifianakis' "Masterminds", which debuted to $6.6 million the month before.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19% based on 124 reviews and an average rating of 4.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Keeping Up with the Joneses" squanders a decent premise – and a talented cast full of funny people – on a witless and largely laugh-free suburban spy adventure." On Metacritic, the film has a score 34 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" gave "Keeping Up with the Joneses" a mixed review calling it "An amiable time-killer of an espionage comedy." Jon Frosch of "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "Stale as week-old bread and every bit as bland". Frosch was positive about the cast but critical of the script. Ben Kenigsberg of "The New York Times" wrote, "The absence of laughs can’t be blamed on a lack of talent" and expressed surprise that Mottola did not succeed based on his past films.


title: Keeping Up with the Joneses (film)

text: This film resulted in three nominations at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards. Zach Galifianakis was nominated as Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Comedy, and Gal Gadot was nominated as Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress – Comedy. The film itself was nominated as Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie – Comedy.


title: Project 100,000

text: Project 100,000, also known as McNamara's 100,000, McNamara's Folly, McNamara's Morons, and McNamara's Misfits, was a controversial 1960s program by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to recruit soldiers who would previously have been below military mental or medical standards. Project 100,000 was initiated by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in October 1966 to meet the escalating manpower requirements of the American government's involvement in the Vietnam War. According to Hamilton Gregory, author of the book "McNamara's Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War", inductees of the project died at higher rates than other Americans serving in Vietnam and following their service had lower incomes and higher rates of divorce than their non-veteran counterparts. The project was ended in December 1971 and has been the subject of controversy, especially during the manpower shortages of the Iraq War.


title: Project 100,000

text: At various times in its history, the United States Armed Forces have recruited people who measured below specific mental and medical standards. Those who scored in certain lower percentiles of mental aptitude tests were admitted into service during World War II, though this experience eventually led to a legal floor of IQ 80 to enlist. Another instance occurred in the 1980s due to a misinformed Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.


title: Project 100,000

text: By October 1966, monthly draft calls had been steadily increasing for 15 consecutive months and stood at 49,300, the highest since early 1951, the peak mobilization period of the Korean War, when 80,000 men a month were called up. In a series of decisions, the Pentagon lowered the required score to be inducted to as low as 10th percentile on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (perfect score: 99)—a 6% drop.


title: Project 100,000

text: McNamara thought he could turn below average soldiers into above average soldiers through use of technology and learning by use of video tapes. According to Hamilton Gregory, author of "McNamara's Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War":


title: Project 100,000

text: McNamara was a lover of technology... McNamara believed he could win the war in Vietnam through the use of advanced technology and computerized analysis... And he believed he could raise the intelligence of men through the use of video tapes.


title: Project 100,000

text: Promoted as a response to President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty by giving training and opportunity to the uneducated and poor, the recruited men were classified as “New Standards Men” (or, pejoratively, as the "Moron Corps"). They had scored in Category IV of the Armed Forces Qualification Test, which placed them in the 10th-30th percentile range. The number of soldiers reportedly recruited through the program varies, from more than 320,000 to 354,000, which included both voluntary enlistees and draftees (54% and 46%, respectively). Entrance requirements were loosened, but all the Project 100,000 men were sent through normal training programs with other recruits, and performance standards thus were the same for everyone. The US Army received 71% of recruits, followed by 10% by the Marines, 10% by the Navy, and 9% by the Air Force.


title: Project 100,000

text: Project 100,000 soldiers included those unable to speak English, those who had low mental aptitude or minor physical impairments, and those who were slightly over- or underweight. They also included a special category made up of a control group of "normal" soldiers. Each of the different categories was identified in the soldiers' official personnel records by a large red letter stamped on the first page of their enlistment contracts. Human resources offices had to prepare reports on them, to be submitted monthly to the Department of the Army. The monthly reports did not disclose the identity of the soldiers.


title: Project 100,000

text: While the project was promoted as a response to President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, it has been an object of criticism. Regarding the consequences of the program, a 1989 study sponsored by the DoD concluded:


title: Project 100,000

text: A 1995 review by Myra MacPherson in the "Washington Monthly" of McNamara's book, "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam", severely criticized the project, saying that "the program offered a one-way ticket to Vietnam, where these men fought and died in disproportionate numbers ... the men of the 'Moron Corps' provided the necessary cannon fodder to help evade the political horror of dropping student deferments or calling up the reserves, which were sanctuaries for the lily-white."


title: Project 100,000

text: Project 100,000 was highlighted in a 2006 op-ed in "The New York Times" in which former Wesleyan assistant professor and then Tufts assistant professor Kelly M. Greenhill, writing in the context of a contemporary recruitment shortfall, concluded that "Project 100,000 was a failed experiment. It proved to be a distraction for the military and of little benefit to the men it was created to help." To explain the reason for veterans from the project faring worse in civilian life than their non-veteran peers, Greenhill hypothesized it might be related to the psychological consequences of combat or unpreparedness for the post-military transition.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Sandie Shaw, (born Sandra Ann Goodrich; 26 February 1947) is an English singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (1964), "Long Live Love" (1965) and "Puppet on a String" (1967). With the latter, she became the first British entry to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She returned to the UK Top 40, for the first time in 15 years, with her 1984 cover of the Smiths song "Hand in Glove". Shaw retired from the music industry in 2013.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Sandra Ann Goodrich was born and brought up in Dagenham, then in Essex, England. She attended Robert Clack Technical School in Becontree Heath, Dagenham. On leaving school, she worked at the nearby Ford Dagenham factory, and did some part-time modelling before coming second as a singer in a local talent contest. As a prize, she appeared at a charity concert in London, where her potential was spotted by singer Adam Faith. He introduced her to his manager, Eve Taylor, who won her a contract with Pye Records in 1964 and gave her the stage name of 'Sandie Shaw'.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Taylor teamed Shaw with songwriter Chris Andrews, who wrote her first single, "As Long as You're Happy Baby", which failed to make the charts. However, for her second single Taylor gave her the Bacharach and David song "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", which had been a No. 49 US pop hit for singer Lou Johnson. Shaw's version rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1964, and also charted in the United States at No. 52 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 early the following year.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: "I'd Be Far Better Off Without You" was issued as the follow-up, but DJs preferred its B-side, "Girl Don't Come", also written by Andrews, and the sides were switched. "Girl Don't Come" reached No. 3 in the UK and became her biggest US hit, reaching No. 42. It was followed by further hits in the UK including "I'll Stop at Nothing", "Long Live Love", her second UK No. 1 in 1965, and "Message Understood". The singles were produced by Taylor, Andrews and Shaw herself (though she was never credited), with help from Pye Records arranger Ken Woodman. Another potential follow-up, Les Reed and Gordon Mills's "It's Not Unusual," was originally written for Shaw but never recorded after the singer on the demo, a then-unknown Tom Jones, impressed Shaw so much with his powerful interpretation of the song that she encouraged Jones to release the song himself; it became Jones's breakout hit.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Sandie Shaw was a regular on popular British TV programmes of the time such as "Top of the Pops", "Ready Steady Go!" and "Thank Your Lucky Stars". She was seen as epitomising the "swinging Sixties", and her trademark of performing barefoot endeared her to the public at large. She also recorded most of her hit singles in Italian, French, German and Spanish boosting her popularity in Europe. Shaw also released several original albums in the 1960s: "Sandie" (1965); "Me" (1965); "Puppet on a String" (1967); "Love Me, Please Love Me" (1967); "The Sandie Shaw Supplement" (1968) and "Reviewing the Situation" (1969). These albums generally consisted of Andrews-penned songs mixed with cover versions of songs made popular by other musicians.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: By 1967 Shaw's record sales were declining and her manager decided she should move more towards cabaret. She was invited by the BBC to represent the UK in that year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. She had reservations as she felt it would destroy her credibility, but performed five songs on "The Rolf Harris Show", with the public voting that the one that should represent the country was the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter composition "Puppet on a String". Although she disliked the song and thought it was unrepresentative of her material, the song won the contest by a near-record margin of votes, and made Shaw the first person to win the contest for the UK. It gave her a third UK No. 1 single, a record for a female at the time. "Puppet on a String" also became an international hit (though not in the US) and the largest-selling single of the year in Germany, qualifying for a gold disc for one million plus sales in the UK and Europe. Globally, the single achieved sales in excess of 4 million, making it the biggest selling winning Eurovision track to date. Some estimates suggest this makes the track the biggest selling single by a British female artist of all time. Her Eurovision success almost did not happen; the BBC wanted to drop her because she had been the "other woman" in a divorce case.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Fashion had become another of Shaw's trademarks, and in 1968 she began the Sandie Shaw fashion label, selling her own brand of clothing and shoes and jewellery. In the same year she hosted her own TV show, "The Sandie Shaw Supplement", and issued an LP of the same title. Shaw was to have made her film debut in "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter", but she walked out of the production before filming began. Her last UK Top 10 hit (her eighth in total) came in the form of 1969's "Monsieur Dupont," originally sung by German artist Manuela with German lyrics. At the end of 1969, the single "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now" was released, which would become the inspiration for a hit by the Smiths 15 years later. Shaw also produced her own album, "Reviewing the Situation", which contained versions of songs by less mainstream artists such as Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones and made Shaw the first known artist to cover a Led Zeppelin song. Shaw ended 1969 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the '60s music scene "Pop Go The Sixties", performing "There's Always Something There To Remind Me" and the German version of "Puppet on a String", "Wiedehopf Im Mai", live on the show broadcast on BBC1, 31 December 1969.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Although she began writing songs, her contract with Pye expired in 1972. She retired from life as a pop singer and began working on other ventures, including co-writing a full-length rock musical, songwriting, acting in stage productions (she played Ophelia in "Hamlet" and Joan of Arc in "Saint Joan") and writing children's books. In 1972 she further demonstrated her versatility as an artist appearing on BBC Television's long-running music hall programme, "The Good Old Days". In 1973, Shaw was one of eight artists each given their own TV special in the BBC1 series "Music My Way", where her guests included Blue Mink. By her own choice, Shaw left the music business and took work in a central London restaurant as a waitress, but in 1977, she released two singles on the CBS label and the following year began a lifelong commitment to Sōka Gakkai Buddhism.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Her second husband, Nik Powell, introduced her to BEF. She recorded a version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" for their "Music of Quality And Distinction" album on the Virgin label, which brought her back into the public eye. Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders invited Shaw to perform a duet rendition of "Girl Don't Come" at a Pretenders performance, and the two women began a long-term friendship. The following year Shaw wrote and recorded an album, "Choose Life", to publicise the World Peace Exposition in London in March 1983. Later in the year, a new phase in her career began after she received a letter from "two incurable Sandie Shaw fans" – singer Morrissey and lead guitarist Johnny Marr of the Smiths – telling her that "The Sandie Shaw legend cannot be over yet – there is more to be done." Shaw's husband was a friend of Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records, the label to which the Smiths were signed, and she agreed to record some of their songs.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In April 1984, her version of "Hand in Glove" (the Smiths' first single) was released and peaked just inside the UK Top 30. She recorded a new version of her first hit "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" for the film "Letter to Brezhnev", and then released two singles on the Polydor label. 1986 saw her embark on her first university tour in almost 20 years with a band made up largely of members of the JoBoxers, followed in 1988 by the album "Hello Angel", the name inspired by a postcard from Morrissey. Shaw embarked on two more successful university tours, and made appearances at Gay pride and Peace festivals.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Sandie Shaw appeared at the Sanremo Music Festival 1990, singing "Deep Joy", the English version to Milva's song "Sono Felice". The 1990s saw the release of many compilation albums of Shaw's material on various minor labels, as well as reissues of some of her original albums. Shaw's autobiography, "The World at My Feet", was published in 1991, and the following year she began studying at Oxford and the University of London and qualified as a psychotherapist in 1994. During that time, she recorded new versions of some of her 1960s songs for the album "Nothing Less Than Brilliant", released in 1994. It was also around this time that Shaw divorced Powell and met her third husband, Tony Bedford. Concentrating on a new career as a psychotherapist, Shaw opened the Arts Clinic in 1997 with her husband, to provide psychological healthcare and creative development to those in the creative industries. The clinic is now styled "Barefoot Therapy: The Arts Clinic" and continues to provide psychological support for those in the fields of entertainment, media and sports. In 1998 she was invited to join the Royal Society of Musicians as an Honorary Professor of Music.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Shaw also embarked on a successful legal battle to establish ownership of her entire recording catalogue, and began working with contemporary acts and producers, reworking much of her 1960s and 1980s material. In 2003, Shaw licensed her recording catalogue worldwide to EMI, continued to develop her Arts Clinic, and began executive coaching and mentoring. Meanwhile, EMI released compilations of her French and Italian recordings, and the following year released similar compilations in Spanish and German. Newly remastered versions of "Reviewing the Situation" and "Hello Angel" also were issued with bonus tracks, and toward the end of the year a 4-CD box set entitled "Nothing Comes Easy" was released. Also in 2003, actress Ashley Williams portrayed Shaw on an episode of the American television series "American Dreams", performing "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" on "American Bandstand".


title: Sandie Shaw

text: During this decade, she reneged on previous declarations of hatred for the Eurovision Song Contest and announced that she was proud of her Eurovision past on the BBC show "". She also briefly sat in for Brian Matthew on his long-running BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show "Sounds of the 60s" in December 2006. On 26 February 2007, in honour of her 60th birthday, Shaw released a new version of "Puppet on a String" on her website. The re-tooled version, called "Puppet's Got a Brand New String," had a complete overhaul in sound and vocals under the supervision of her friend Howard Jones and mixer Andy Gray. The schlager style of the song was replaced with a calmer melody.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In April 2010, Shaw appeared on the UK ITV television programme "Loose Women", and revealed that she was returning to recording and would be singing the theme song to the British film, "Made in Dagenham". She also took the opportunity to criticise the Eurovision Song Contest, saying that it was bad when she did it, but had now got even worse.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In August 2010, she appeared at Vintage, an upmarket festival on the Goodwood estate in West Sussex, as a special guest of Wayne Hemingway (Red or Dead) who organised the event. As well as hosting her own main stage set, with numerous female guest singers, she also performed cameos on other stages, including singing "Downtown" with composer Tony Hatch and an orchestra in the cabaret tent.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: On Boxing Day 2010, she appeared on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs". Her choices included "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" by the Shangri-Las, "Barefootin'" by Georgie Fame and "Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: She was Jools Holland's special guest on his 2011 Tour. On New Year's Eve in 2011 Shaw performed on BBC Two's "Hootenanny" backed by Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In August 2012 she was a guest, alongside singers Petula Clark, Helen Shapiro and Jackie Trent, and producer and manager Vicki Wickham, on the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Reunion".


title: Sandie Shaw

text: Shaw was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: On 6 March 1968, Shaw married fashion designer Jeff Banks at the Greenwich Register Office in London. Their daughter Gracie was born in February 1971. The marriage to Banks ended in 1978. In 1982, she married Nik Powell, co-founder of the Virgin Group and chairman of the European Film Academy. They had two children together before divorcing in 1995. She then married her third husband, the psychologist Tony Bedford.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In August 2007, Shaw revealed that she had had corrective surgery on her feet, which she described as "ugly"; the surgery meant she was unable to walk until October 2007.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In April 2012, Shaw joined an Amnesty International campaign to end human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, host country of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, after the journalist Khadija Ismayilova was blackmailed and sex taped. Shaw stated: "That anyone would stoop so low in an attempt to silence an independent journalist is sickening. The people behind this appalling blackmail and smear campaign must be brought to justice. And the persecution of independent journalists in Azerbaijan must stop."


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In August 2014, in the lead up to the Scottish independence referendum which was to take place in September that year, Shaw was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to "The Guardian" expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom.


title: Sandie Shaw

text: In April 2016 she spoke out in opposition to the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, calling it "retrogressive" and warned of the risk of dividing Europe.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: UFO is a 1970 British science fiction television series about the ongoing covert efforts of a government defence organisation to prevent an alien invasion of Earth. It was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: A single series of 26 episodes (including the pilot) was filmed over the course of more than a year; a five-month production break was caused by the closure of MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, where the show was initially made. Production then moved to Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. "UFO" was first broadcast in the UK and Canada in 1970, and in US syndication over the next two years.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: The Andersons' live-action science fiction movie "Doppelgänger" (also known as "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun") is considered an immediate precursor to "UFO", which was their first entirely live-action TV series. (Their previous shows had used marionettes.) The series featured actors, costumes, props, locations and music that had appeared in the film, and 11 cast members of the film appeared in at least one episode of "UFO".


title: UFO (TV series)

text: Following syndication in the US and initial favourable ratings, a possible second series was planned; initially entitled "UFO 1999", this eventually became "".


title: UFO (TV series)

text: The series' premise is that in 1980 (a date indicated repeatedly in the opening credits), Earth is being visited by aliens from a dying planet, who are abducting humans and harvesting their organs for their own bodies. The alien incursions may also be a prelude to a possible full-scale invasion. The series' main cast of characters are the staff of a secret, high-technology international military agency called "SHADO" (an acronym for Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation) established by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, France and Germany (believed to be West Germany as the city of Bonn is mentioned along with Washington, Paris and Moscow) to defend Earth and humanity against the mysterious aliens and learn more about them, while at the same time keeping the threat of an alien invasion hidden from the public.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: "UFO" had a large ensemble cast; many of its members would come and go during the course of the series, with some actors—such as George Sewell and Gabrielle Drake—leaving midway through the series, during the production break necessitated by the change of studio facilities. It is established early on that SHADO personnel rotate between positions, so the occasional disappearance of characters—some of whom would later return in other positions—fits the concept of the series. Also, owing to the scheduling of the series not reflecting the production order, some episodes featuring departed cast members were not broadcast until late in the series, which can give the impression that no major cast changes occurred. Only Ed Bishop appeared in every episode.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: One of the female Moonbase operatives, Joanna, was played by Shakira Baksh, who later married actor Michael Caine. Producer Gerry Anderson later said that he had lost his temper with her so badly on the set of "UFO" that he always feared the idea of running into Michael Caine at some actors' function, and being punched on the nose by him.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: Owing to the fragmented nature of the ITV network in the United Kingdom at the time, the 26 episodes of "UFO" were broadcast out of production order, and every broadcaster showed the episodes in a different sequence. The list below, drawn from Chris Bentley's "The Complete Book of Gerry Anderson's UFO", details the running order shown on ATV (in the Midlands).


title: UFO (TV series)

text: The North American DVD release of the series usually follows the production order, with a few diversions; a website ufoseries.com for the show offers seven possibilities of viewing sequence. According to "The Complete Gerry Anderson", the episode "Exposed" was intended to be aired second, but it was produced fifth and appears as the fifth episode in the American DVD release. It was only when the entire series was repeated by BBC Two in 1996–1997 that the series was shown in chronological production order in the UK for the first time.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: On the website shadolibrary.org, Deborah Rorabaugh has created a timeline of events in chronological order, using a few known dates and facts. For example, "Exposed" should come before all other episodes featuring Paul Foster, and there are a few definitive dates given (two newspaper dates, a death and script date). UFO Episode Timing.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: Invasion: UFO was a 1980 compilation of scenes from "Identified", "Computer Affair", "Reflections in the Water", "Confetti Check A-Ok", "The Man Who Came Back" and "E.S.P." featuring new title music.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: Italian producers KENT and INDIEF made compilation films which met mixed reviews. The films used music tracks from the James Bond films "From Russia with Love" and "Thunderball", for "UFO"s composer, Barry Gray, had his name confused with "Bond" composer John Barry.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: A subtitled "Invasion: UFO" was released in Japan as the first of eight VHS and Betamax tape "UFO" volumes by Emotion Video in 1984, and on Laserdisc format.


title: UFO (TV series)

text: Following poor ratings for "Joe 90" (1968–1969) and the cancellation of children's espionage television series "The Secret Service" (1969) after only one series, Lew Grade approached Gerry Anderson to look into creating his first live-action TV series. Anderson worked with his wife, Sylvia, and producer Reg Hill to create a science fiction adventure series based around UFOs. Anderson said the core idea for the series was that UFO sightings were a common issue during the late 1960s, and that the idea of aliens harvesting human organs came from the work of Christiaan Barnard and his pioneering transplant operations. The creative team initially envisioned an organisation called UFoeDO (Unidentified Foe Defence Organisation), which was to become the secret SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation).


title: UFO (TV series)

text: Many of the props and actors that had appeared in the Anderson-produced 1969 movie "Doppelgänger" were utilised in the series. The creators looked ten years ahead and placed the series in a 1980s future. Sylvia Anderson also designed the costumes for the show, including the Moonbase uniforms and purple wigs that female staff wore; the wigs were to become a major reference point for the series.