title: Sylvia Browne

text: Browne was frequently condemned by skeptics. Robert S. Lancaster maintained an exhaustive record of her inaccurate predictions and criminal activity, and described her pronouncements relating to missing children as "incredibly offensive". Jon Ronson, who called Browne "America's most controversial psychic", wrote that she was often "psychically wrong" and made "a fortune saying very serious, cruel, show-stopping things to people in distress". Fox News noted that she was "often criticized for her predictions"; Browne also garnered disapproval from others who claim to be psychics.


title: Sylvia Browne

text: In a 2019 segment of HBO's "Last Week Tonight", John Oliver criticized the media for promoting Browne and other psychics and enabling them to prey on grieving families. Oliver said, "When psychic abilities are presented as authentic, it emboldens a vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures, more than happy to make money by offering an open line to the afterlife, as well as many other bullshit services."


title: Sylvia Browne

text: Browne's most vocal critic within the skeptical movement was James Randi, a retired stage magician and investigator of paranormal claims; Randi claimed that Browne's accuracy rate was no better than educated guessing. On September 3, 2001, Browne stated on "Larry King Live" that she would prove her legitimacy by accepting the James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge to demonstrate supernatural abilities in a controlled scientific test. By April 2003, however, Browne had not contacted Randi to make testing arrangements.


title: Sylvia Browne

text: On May 16, 2003, in another appearance on King's show, Browne said she had not taken the test because Randi refused to place the prize money in escrow. Randi responded by mailing a notarized copy of the prize account status showing a balance in excess of one million dollars; Browne refused to accept the letter. In late 2003, despite challenge rules that money could not be placed in escrow, Randi announced that he was willing to do so for Browne; she did not accept or acknowledge this offer. In 2005, Browne posted a message online that she had never received confirmation of the prize money's existence, despite Randi's claim that he had a certified mail receipt showing Browne's refusal of the package. In 2007, on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°", Browne's business manager Linda Rossi stated that Browne would not be taking Randi's challenge "because she has nothing to prove to James Randi".


title: Sylvia Browne

text: During the late 1980s, the FBI and local authorities began investigating Browne and her businesses over several bank loans that caused "sustained losses" to banks. In 1992, Browne and her then-husband Kenzil Dalzell Brown were indicted on several charges of investment fraud and grand theft. The Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California, found Browne and her husband had sold securities in a gold-mining venture under false pretenses. In at least one instance, they told a couple that their $20,000 investment was to be used for immediate operating costs. Instead, the money was transferred to an account for their Nirvana Foundation for Psychic Research. Browne pleaded no contest to securities fraud and was indicted on grand larceny in Santa Clara County on May 26, 1992. The couple each received one year probation. In addition, Browne was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.


title: Sylvia Browne

text: Browne married four times. Her first marriage, from 1959 to 1972, was to Gary Dufresne. The couple had two sons, Paul and Christopher. She took the surname Brown upon her third marriage, and later changed it to Browne. Her fourth marriage took place on February 14, 2009, to Michael Ulery, the owner of a jewelry store.


title: Sylvia Browne

text: In March 2011, the Society of Novus Spiritus, the Gnostic Christian Church founded by Browne, announced that she had suffered a heart attack on March 21 in Hawaii, requesting donations on her behalf.


title: Sylvia Browne

text: Browne died on November 20, 2013, aged 77, at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, California. Her interment was at Oak Hill Memorial Park.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for the American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has been covered by many artists. Two of the covers were transatlantic hits, the first in 1965 by The Animals, which was a blues rock version; and a 1977 by the disco group Santa Esmeralda, which was a four-on-the-floor rearrangement. A 1986 cover by new wave musician Elvis Costello found success in Britain and Ireland.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: Composer and arranger Horace Ott came up with the melody and chorus lyrics after a temporary falling out with his girlfriend (and wife-to-be), Gloria Caldwell. Ott then brought it to writing partners Bennie Benjamin and Sol Marcus to complete. However, when it came time for songwriting credits, rules of the time prevented BMI writers (Ott) from officially collaborating with ASCAP members (Benjamin and Marcus), so Ott listed Caldwell's name instead of his own on the credits.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was one of five songs written by Benjamin and Marcus and presented for Nina Simone's 1964 album "Broadway-Blues-Ballads". There, the song was taken at a very slow tempo and arranged around the harp and other orchestral elements including a backing choir that appears at several points. Simone sings it in her typically difficult-to-categorize style.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: To some writers, this version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" carried the subtext of the Civil Rights Movement that concerned much of Simone's work of the time; while to others this was more personal, and was the song, and phrase, that best exemplified Simone's career and life.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: The Animals' lead singer Eric Burdon would later say of the song, "It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it immediately."


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: The song was recorded in November 1964. The band became a trans-Atlantic hit in early 1965 for their rendition of the song, rising to No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 15 on the U.S. pop singles chart, and No. 4 in Canada.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: "Cash Box" described it as "a striking combination of R&B and English-rock touches." This single was ranked by "Rolling Stone" at No. 322 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: During Animals concerts at the time, the group maintained the recorded arrangement, but Burdon sometimes slowed the vocal line down to an almost spoken part, recapturing a bit of the Simone flavor.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: At the South by Southwest festival in 2012, Bruce Springsteen credited the song as the inspiration and the riff for his song "Badlands".


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: A disco version of the song by the group Santa Esmeralda, which took The Animals' arrangement and transformed into a disco, flamenco, and other Latin rhythm and ornamentation elements to it, also became a hit in the late 1970s. Their version of the song was first released in summer 1977 as a 16-minute epic that took up an entire side of their "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" album which was picked up for greater worldwide distribution by their label at the time, Casablanca Records. The 12-inch club remix was extremely popular, reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Club Play Singles chart and in some European countries as well. Though, the single peaked at No. 4 on the Hot Dance/Disco-Club Play chart.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: Instrumental sections of this version were used in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film "", during the final fight between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii.


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: British new wave musician Elvis Costello, under the label "The Costello Show", covered "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" for his 1986 album, "King of America". The song was a late addition to the album; Costello had originally intended to record "I Hope You're Happy Now", but throat problems during the final sessions prevented him from doing so. Costello recalled,


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: Against Costello's wishes, his American record company, Columbia, insisted on releasing the song as the first single from "King of America". The single reached No. 33 in the UK and No. 22 in Ireland, but did not chart in the US. He explained, "My US record company, Columbia, showed their customary imagination in releasing the safe 'cover' song as a single ahead of any of the more unusual and heartfelt balladry I had composed. 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' made little impression, and my mounting debt to the company seemed to make them unwilling to risk any further effort on my behalf".


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: Martin Chilton of "The Telegraph" ranked the song as Costello's 26th best song out of 40, stating that Costello "sings it really well".


title: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

text: "Stereogum" reviewed cover versions of the song in 2015, including renditions by Joe Cocker, Yusuf Islam, and Lana Del Rey. A version by Cocker for his "With a Little Help from My Friends" album is "a thoroughly '60s rock reading, [...] even if it dispenses with the organ intro the Animals introduced into the equation, it does have a big organ solo section and that crying blues guitar intro". Cat Stevens converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam; when he returned to popular music, he recorded an allusion to controversies in his life by way of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", as featured on his 2006 album "An Other Cup". Del Rey created a "burnt-out Pop Art take on Americana" version of the song for her album "Honeymoon".


title: Dump truck

text: A dump truck, known also as a dumping truck, dump trailer, dumper trailer, dump lorry or dumper lorry or a dumper for short, is used for transporting materials (such as dirt, gravel, or demolition waste) for construction as well as coal. A typical dump truck is equipped with an open-box bed, which is hinged at the rear and equipped with hydraulic rams to lift the front, allowing the material in the bed to be deposited ("dumped") on the ground behind the truck at the site of delivery. In the UK, Australia, South Africa and India the term applies to off-road construction plants only and the road vehicle is known as a tip lorry, tipper lorry (UK, India), tipper truck, tip truck, tip trailer or tipper trailer or simply a tipper (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa).


title: Dump truck

text: The dump truck is thought to have been first conceived in the farms of late 19th century western Europe. Thornycroft developed a steam dust-cart in 1896 with a tipper mechanism. The first motorized dump trucks in the United States were developed by small equipment companies such as The Fruehauf Trailer Corporation, Galion Buggy Co. and Lauth-Juergens among many others around 1910. Hydraulic dump beds were introduced by Wood Hoist Co. shortly after. Such companies flourished during World War I due to massive wartime demand. August Fruehauf had obtained military contracts for his semi-trailer, invented in 1914 and later created the partner vehicle, the semi-truck for use in World War I. After the war, Fruehauf introduced hydraulics in his trailers. They offered hydraulic lift gates, hydraulic winches and a dump trailer for sales in the early 1920s. Fruehauf became the premier supplier of dump trailers and their famed "bathtub dump" was considered to be the best by heavy haulers, road and mining construction firms.


title: Dump truck

text: Companies like Galion Buggy Co. continued to grow after the war by manufacturing a number of express bodies and some smaller dump bodies that could be easily installed on either stock or converted (heavy-duty suspension and drivetrain) Model T chassis prior to 1920. Galion and Wood Mfg. Co. built all of the dump bodies offered by Ford on their heavy-duty AA and BB chassis during the 1930s. Galion (now Galion Godwin Truck Body Co.) is the oldest known truck body manufacturer still in operation today.


title: Dump truck

text: The first known Canadian dump truck was developed in Saint John, New Brunswick, when Robert T. Mawhinney attached a dump box to a flatbed truck in 1920. The lifting device was a winch attached to a cable that fed over sheave (pulley) mounted on a mast behind the cab. The cable was connected to the lower front end of the wooden dump box which was attached by a pivot at the back of the truck frame. The operator turned a crank to raise and lower the box.


title: Dump truck

text: From the 1930s Euclid, International-Harvester and Mack contributed to ongoing development. Mack modified its existing trucks with varying success. In 1934 Euclid became the first manufacturer in the world to successfully produce a dedicated off-highway truck.


title: Dump truck

text: Today, virtually all dump trucks operate by hydraulics and they come in a variety of configurations each designed to accomplish a specific task in the construction material supply chain.


title: Dump truck

text: A "standard dump truck" is a truck chassis with a dump body mounted to the frame. The bed is raised by a vertical hydraulic ram mounted under the front of the body (known as a front post hoist configuration), or a horizontal hydraulic ram and lever arrangement between the frame rails (known as an underbody hoist configuration), and the back of the bed is hinged at the back of the truck. The tailgate (sometimes referred to as an end gate) can be configured to swing up on top hinges (and sometimes also to fold down on lower hinges) or it can be configured in the "High Lift Tailgate" format wherein pneumatic or hydraulic rams lift the gate open and up above the dump body. Some bodies, typically for hauling grain, have swing-out doors for entering the box and a metering gate/chute in the center for a more controlled dumping.


title: Dump truck

text: In the United States most standard dump trucks have one front steering axle and one (4x2 "4-wheeler")) or two (6x4 "6-wheeler") rear axles which typically have dual wheels on each side. Tandem rear axles are almost always powered, front steering axles are also sometimes powered (4x4, 6x6). Unpowered axles are sometimes used to support extra weight. Most unpowered rear axles can be raised off the ground to minimize wear when the truck is empty or lightly loaded, and are commonly called "lift axles".


title: Dump truck

text: European Union heavy trucks often have two steering axles. Dump truck configurations are two, three, and four axles. The four-axle "eight wheeler" has two steering axles at the front and two powered axles at the rear and is limited to gross weight in most EU countries. The largest of the standard European dump trucks is commonly called a "centipede" and has seven axles. The front axle is the steering axle, the rear two axles are powered, and the remaining four are lift axles.


title: Dump truck

text: The shorter wheelbase of a standard dump truck often makes it more maneuverable than the higher capacity semi-trailer dump trucks.


title: Dump truck

text: A "semi end dump" is a tractor-trailer combination wherein the trailer itself contains the hydraulic hoist. In the US a typical semi end dump has a 3-axle tractor pulling a 2-axle trailer with dual tires, in the EU trailers often have 3 axles and single tires. The key advantage of a semi end dump is a large payload. A key disadvantage is that they are very unstable when raised in the dumping position limiting their use in many applications where the dumping location is uneven or off level. Some end dumps make use of an articulated arm (known as a stabilizer) below the box, between the chassis rails, to stabilize the load in the raised position.


title: Dump truck

text: A transfer dump truck is a standard dump truck pulling a separate trailer with a movable cargo container, which can also be loaded with construction aggregate, gravel, sand, asphalt, klinkers, snow, wood chips, triple mix, etc.


title: Dump truck

text: The second aggregate container on the trailer ("B" box), is powered by an electric motor, a pneumatic motor or a hydraulic line. It rolls on small wheels, riding on rails from the trailer's frame into the empty main dump container ("A" box). This maximizes payload capacity without sacrificing the maneuverability of the standard dump truck. Transfer dump trucks are typically seen in the western United States due to the peculiar weight restrictions on highways there.


title: Dump truck

text: Another configuration is called a triple transfer train, consisting of a "B" and "C" box. These are common on Nevada and Utah Highways, but not in California. Depending on the axle arrangement, a triple transfer can haul up to with a special permit in certain American states. , a triple transfer costs a contractor about $105 an hour, while a A/B configuration costs about $85 per hour.


title: Dump truck

text: Transfer dump trucks typically haul between of aggregate per load, each truck is capable of 3–5 loads per day, generally speaking.


title: Dump truck

text: A "truck and pup" is very similar to a transfer dump. It consists of a standard dump truck pulling a dump trailer. The pup trailer, unlike the transfer, has its own hydraulic ram and is capable of self-unloading.


title: Dump truck

text: A "super dump" is a straight dump truck equipped with a trailing axle, a liftable, load-bearing axle rated as high as . Trailing behind the rear tandem, the trailing axle stretches the outer "bridge" measurement—the distance between the first and last axles—to the maximum overall length allowed. This increases the gross weight allowed under the federal bridge formula, which sets standards for truck size and weight. Depending on the vehicle length and axle configuration, Superdumps can be rated as high as GVW and carry of payload or more. When the truck is empty or ready to offload, the trailing axle toggles up off the road surface on two hydraulic arms to clear the rear of the vehicle. Truck owners call their trailing axle-equipped trucks Superdumps because they far exceed the payload, productivity, and return on investment of a conventional dump truck. The Superdump and trailing axle concept were developed by Strong Industries of Houston, Texas.


title: Dump truck

text: A semi bottom dump, bottom hopper, or belly dump is a (commonly) 3-axle tractor pulling a 2-axle trailer with a clam shell type dump gate in the belly of the trailer. The key advantage of a semi bottom dump is its ability to lay material in a windrow, a linear heap. In addition, a semi bottom dump is maneuverable in reverse, unlike the double and triple trailer configurations described below. These trailers may be found either of the windrow type shown in the photo or may be of the cross spread type, with the gate opening front to rear instead of left and right. The cross spread type gate will actually spread the cereal grains fairly and evenly from the width of the trailer. By comparison, the windrow-type gate leaves a pile in the middle. The cross spread type gate, on the other hand, tends to jam and may not work very well with coarse materials.


title: Dump truck

text: "Double" and "triple bottom dumps" consist of a 2-axle tractor pulling one single-axle semi-trailer and an additional full trailer (or two full trailers in the case of triples). These dump trucks allow the driver to lay material in windrows without leaving the cab or stopping the truck. The main disadvantage is the difficulty in backing double and triple units.


title: Dump truck

text: The specific type of dump truck used in any specific country is likely to be closely keyed to the weight and axle limitations of that jurisdiction. Rock, dirt, and other types of materials commonly hauled in trucks of this type are quite heavy, and almost any style of truck can be easily overloaded. Because of that, this type of truck is frequently configured to take advantage of local weight limitations to maximize the cargo. For example, within the United States, the maximum weight limit is throughout the country, except for specific bridges with lower limits. Individual states, in some instances, are allowed to authorize trucks up to . Most states that do so require that the trucks be very long, to spread the weight over more distance. It is in this context that double and triple bottoms are found within the United States.


title: Dump truck

text: A "side dump truck" (SDT) consists of a 3-axle tractor pulling a 2-axle semi-trailer. It has hydraulic rams that tilt the dump body onto its side, spilling the material to either the left or right side of the trailer. The key advantages of the side dump are that it allows rapid unloading and can carry more weight in the western United States. In addition, it is almost immune to upset (tipping over) while dumping, unlike the semi end dumps which are very prone to tipping over. It is, however, highly likely that a side dump trailer will tip over if dumping is stopped prematurely. Also, when dumping loose materials or cobble sized stone, the side dump can become stuck if the pile becomes wide enough to cover too much of the trailer's wheels. Trailers that dump at the appropriate angle (50° for example) avoid the problem of the dumped load fouling the path of the trailer wheels by dumping their loads further to the side of the truck, in some cases leaving sufficient clearance to walk between the dumped load and the trailer.


title: Dump truck

text: Many "winter service vehicles" are based on dump trucks, to allow the placement of ballast to weigh the truck down or to hold sodium or calcium chloride salts for spreading on snow and ice-covered surfaces. Plowing is severe service and needs heavy-duty trucks.


title: Dump truck

text: A "Roll-off" has a hoist and subframe, but no body, it carries removable containers. The container is loaded on the ground, then pulled onto the back of the truck with a winch and cable. The truck goes to the dumpsite, after it has been dumped the empty container is taken and placed to be loaded or stored. The hoist is raised and the container slides down the subframe so the rear is on the ground. The container has rollers on the rear and can be moved forward or back until the front of it is lowered onto the ground. The containers are usually open-topped boxes used for rubble and building debris, but rubbish compactor containers are also carried. A newer hook-lift system ("roller container" in the UK) does the same job, but lifts, lowers, and dumps the container with a boom arrangement instead of a cable and hoist.


title: Dump truck

text: Off-highway dump trucks are heavy construction equipment and share little resemblance to highway dump trucks. Bigger off-highway dump trucks are used strictly off-road for mining and heavy dirt hauling jobs. There are two primary forms: rigid frame and articulating frame.


title: Dump truck

text: The term "dump" truck is not generally used by the mining industry, or by the manufacturers that build these machines. The more appropriate U.S. term for this strictly off-road vehicle is "haul truck" and the equivalent European term is "dumper".


title: Dump truck

text: Haul trucks are used in large surface mines and quarries. They have a rigid frame and conventional steering with drive at the rear wheel. As of late 2013, the largest ever production haul truck is the 450 metric ton BelAZ 75710, followed by the Liebherr T 282B, the Bucyrus MT6300AC and the Caterpillar 797F, which each have payload capacities of up to . Most large-size haul trucks employ Diesel-electric powertrains, using the Diesel engine to drive an AC alternator or DC generator that sends electric power to electric motors at each rear wheel. The Caterpillar 797 is unique for its size, as it employs a Diesel engine to power a mechanical powertrain, typical of most road-going vehicles and intermediary size haul trucks.


title: Dump truck

text: Other major manufacturers of haul trucks include SANY, XCMG, Hitachi, Komatsu, DAC, Terex, and BelAZ.


title: Dump truck

text: An articulated dumper is an all-wheel-drive, off-road dump truck. It has a hinge between the cab and the dump box but is distinct from a semi-trailer truck in that the power unit is a permanent fixture, not a separable vehicle. Steering is accomplished via hydraulic cylinders that pivot the entire tractor in relation to the trailer, rather than rack and pinion steering on the front axle as in a conventional dump truck. By this way of steering, the trailer's wheels follow the same path as the front wheels. Together with all-wheel drive and low center of gravity, it is highly adaptable to rough terrain. Major manufacturers include Volvo CE, Terex, John Deere, and Caterpillar.


title: Dump truck

text: U-shaped dump trucks, also known as tub-body trucks, is used to transport construction waste, it is made of high-strength super wear-resistant special steel plate directly bent, and has the characteristics of impact resistance, alternating stress resistance, corrosion resistance and so on.


title: Dump truck

text: U-shaped dump truck, there is no dead angle at the corners of the cargo box, it is not easy to stick to the box when unloading, and the unloading is cleaner.


title: Dump truck

text: The U-shaped cargo box reduces its own weight through structural optimization. Now the most common U-shaped dump is to use high-strength plates. Under the premise of ensuring the strength of the car body, the thickness of the plate is reduced by about 20%, and the self-weight of the car is reduced by about 1 ton, which effectively improves the utilization factor of the load mass.


title: Dump truck

text: 3. Strong carrying capacity.Using high-strength steel plate, high yield strength, better impact resistance and fatigue resistance. For users of ore transportation, it can reduce the damage of ore to the container.


title: Dump truck

text: 4. Low center of gravity The U-shaped structure has a lower center of gravity, which makes the ride more stable, especially when cornering, and avoids spilling cargo.


title: Dump truck

text: 5. Save tires The U-shaped cargo box can keep the cargo in the center, and the tires on both sides are more evenly stressed, which is beneficial to improve the life of the tires.


title: Dump truck

text: Dump trucks are normally built for some amount of off-road or construction site driving; as the driver is protected by the chassis and height of the driver's seat, bumpers are either placed high or omitted for added ground clearance. The disadvantage is that in a collision with a standard car, the entire motor section or luggage compartment goes under the truck. Thus, the passengers in the car could be more severely injured than would be common in a collision with another car. Several countries have made rules that new trucks should have bumpers approximately above ground in order to protect other drivers. There are also rules about how long the load or construction of the truck can go beyond the rear bumper to prevent cars that rear-end the truck from going under it.


title: Dump truck

text: Another safety consideration is the leveling of the truck before unloading. If the truck is not parked on relatively horizontal ground, the sudden change of weight and balance due to lifting of the body and dumping of the material can cause the truck to slide, or even to tip over. The live bottom trailer is an approach to eliminate this danger.


title: Dump truck

text: Because of their size and the difficulty of maintaining visual contact with on-foot workers, dump trucks can be a threat, especially when backing up. Mirrors and back-up alarms provide some level of protection, and having a spotter working with the driver also decreases back-up injuries and fatalities.


title: Pork pie hat

text: A pork pie hat is one of several different styles of hat that have been popular since the mid-19th century. It features a flat crown that resembles a traditional pork pie.


title: Pork pie hat

text: The pork pie began to appear in Britain as a man's hat not long after the turn of the century in the fashion style of the "man-about-town". Silent film actor Buster Keaton converted fedoras into straw boater-like felt pork pies by stiffening their brims with a dried sugar-water solution. This kind of pork pie had a very flat top and similar short flat brim.


title: Pork pie hat

text: The heyday of the pork pie hat occurred during the Great Depression, following the straw boater era that peaked in the Roaring Twenties. In this incarnation, the pork pie regained its snap brim and increased slightly in height. Its dished crown became known among milliners as "telescopic crowns" or "tight telescopes" because when worn the top could be made to pop up slightly. Furthermore, as stated in a newspaper clipping from the mid-1930s: "The true pork pie hat is so made that it cannot be worn successfully except when telescoped." The same clipping refers to the hat also as "the bi crowned". Among famous wearers of the pork pie during this era are Frank Lloyd Wright, whose pork pie hat had a very wide brim and rather tall crown. Lester Young, whose career as a jazz saxophonist spanned from the mid-1920s to the late 1950s, regularly wore a pork pie hat during his performances, and after his death Charles Mingus composed a musical elegy in Young's honor entitled "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Young's pork pie had a broader brim than seen in earlier styles but retained the definitive round, flat, creased crown.


title: Pork pie hat

text: A porkpie hat was a trademark of physicist Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the World WarII project that developed the atomic bomb.


title: Pork pie hat

text: In African American culture in the 1940s the pork pie—flashy, feathered, color-coordinated—became associated with the zoot suit. By 1944 the hat was even prevalent in New Guinea.


title: Pork pie hat

text: After the end of World War II the pork pie's broad popularity declined somewhat, though as a result of the zoot suit connection it continued its association with African American music culture, particularly jazz, blues, and ska. In television between 1951 and 1955, Art Carney frequently wore one in his characterization of Ed Norton in "The Honeymooners", and in Puerto Rico the actor Joaquín Monserrat, known as "Pacheco", was the host of many children's 1950s TV shows and was known for his straw pork pie hat and bow tie—in this incarnation, the pork pie returned to its Buster Keaton style with rigidly flat brim and extremely low flat crown.


title: Pork pie hat

text: In the 1960s in Jamaica, the "rude boy" subculture popularized a hat known as a pork-pie, and brought it back into style in the United Kingdom, thereby influencing its occasional appearance in the mod and rave subculture. However the rude boy hat is really a tall trilby, and doesn't resemble other pork pie hats.


title: Pork pie hat

text: The porkpie hat enjoyed a slight resurgence in exposure and popularity after Gene Hackman's character Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle wore one in the 1971 film "The French Connection". Doyle was based on real-life policeman Eddie Egan, who played the captain in the film, and his exploits. Egan was famous all his life for wearing a pork pie hat. At about the same time, Robert De Niro wore a pork pie hat in the 1973 film "Mean Streets" (the same hat he wore when he auditioned for the film).


title: Pork pie hat

text: A frequent wearer of pork pie hats is Panamanian Salsa singer and composer Ruben Blades. Today the wearing of a pork pie hat retains some of its 1930s and 40s associations. Fashion writer Glenn O'Brien says,


title: Pork pie hat

text: Bryan Cranston's character Walter White wears a pork pie hat in the AMC series "Breaking Bad" when he appears as his alter ego "Heisenberg", whose persona is associated with the hat. Sony Pictures Television donated "Heisenberg's" hat to the Smithsonian Institution.


title: Pork pie hat

text: xkcd character "Black Hat" is known for wearing a black pork pie hat - a distinguishing visual as xkcd creator Randall Munroe portrays his characters in typical "stick figure" style.


title: Wetback (slur)

text: Wetback is a derogatory term used in the United States to refer to foreign nationals residing in the U.S., most commonly Mexicans. The word mostly targets illegal immigrants in the United States. Generally used as an ethnic slur, the term was originally coined and applied only to Mexicans who entered the U.S. state of Texas from Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande, which is the U.S. border, presumably by swimming or wading across the river and getting wet in the process.


title: Wetback (slur)

text: The first use of the term "wetback" in "The New York Times" is dated June 20, 1920. It was used officially by the US government, including Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, with 'Operation Wetback', a project that involved the mass deportation of illegal Mexican immigrants. Usage of the term appeared in mainstream media outlets until the 1960s.


title: Wetback (slur)

text: The term can also be used as an adjective or verb. As an adjective, it pertains to activities involving Mexican illegal aliens in the United States. The earliest known recorded use in this way is by John Steinbeck in the novel "Sweet Thursday", the sequel to "Cannery Row", with the sentence, "How did he get in the "wet-back" business?" It was originally used as a verb in 1978 in Thomas Sanchez's "Hollywoodland" with the meaning, "to gain illegal entry into the United States by swimming the Rio Grande".


title: Wetback (slur)

text: The equivalent Spanish language term used in Mexico, Central America, and by Latinos in the United States is "espalda mojada", and is often shortened to "mojado". It is not normally considered derisive in those contexts. For example, Guatemalan Latin Pop singer Ricardo Arjona's song Mojado uses the word inoffensively, as he describes a migrant seeking a better life in another country, suggesting a reclaiming of the word.


title: Cycad

text: Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow very slowly and live very long. Because of their superficial resemblance, they are sometimes mistaken for palms or ferns, but they are not closely related to either group.


title: Cycad

text: Cycads are gymnosperms (naked-seeded), meaning their unfertilized seeds are open to the air to be directly fertilized by pollination, as contrasted with angiosperms, which have enclosed seeds with more complex fertilization arrangements. Cycads have very specialized pollinators, usually a specific species of beetle. Both male and female cycads bear cones (strobili), somewhat similar to conifer cones.


title: Cycad

text: Cycads have been reported to fix nitrogen in association with various cyanobacteria living in the roots (the "coralloid" roots). These photosynthetic bacteria produce a neurotoxin called BMAA that is found in the seeds of cycads. This neurotoxin may enter a human food chain as the cycad seeds may be eaten directly as a source of flour by humans or by wild or feral animals such as bats, and humans may eat these animals. It is hypothesized that this is a source of some neurological diseases in humans. Other defence mechanisms against herbivores is the accumulation of toxins in seeds and vegetative tissues, and through horizontal gene transfer they have acquired a family of genes from a microbial organism, most likely fungi, which gives them the ability to produce an insecticidal toxin.


title: Cycad

text: Cycads all over the world are in decline, with four species on the brink of extinction and seven species having fewer than 100 plants left in the wild. The plant has a very long fossil history, with evidence that they existed in greater abundance and in greater diversity before the Jurassic and late Triassic mass extinction events.


title: Cycad

text: Cycads have a cylindrical trunk which usually does not branch. However, some types of cycads, such as "Cycas zeylanica," can branch their trunks. The apex of the stem is protected by modified leaves called cataphylls. Leaves grow directly from the trunk, and typically fall when older, leaving a crown of leaves at the top. The leaves grow in a rosette form, with new foliage emerging from the top and center of the crown. The trunk may be buried, so the leaves appear to be emerging from the ground, so the plant appears to be a basal rosette. The leaves are generally large in proportion to the trunk size, and sometimes even larger than the trunk.


title: Cycad

text: The leaves are pinnate (in the form of bird feathers, pinnae), with a central leaf stalk from which parallel "ribs" emerge from each side of the stalk, perpendicular to it. The leaves are typically either compound (the leaf stalk has leaflets emerging from it as "ribs"), or have edges (margins) so deeply cut () so as to appear compound. The Australian genus Bowenia and some Asian species of Cycas, like Cycas multipinnata, Cycas micholitzii and Cycas debaoensis, have leaves that are bipinnate, which means the leaflets each have their own subleaflets, growing in the same form on the leaflet as the leaflets grow on the stalk of the leaf (self-similar geometry).


title: Cycad

text: Due to superficial similarities in foliage and plant structure, cycads and palms are often mistaken for each other. They also can occur in similar climates. However, they belong to different phyla and as such are not closely related. The similar structure is the product of convergent evolution.


title: Cycad

text: Beyond those superficial resemblances, there are a number of differences between cycads and palms. For one, both male and female cycads are gymnosperms and bear cones (strobili), while palms are angiosperms and so flower and bear fruit. The mature foliage looks very similar between both groups, but the young emerging leaves of a cycad resemble a fiddlehead fern before they unfold and take their place in the rosette, while the leaves of palms are just small versions of the mature frond. Another difference is in the stem. Both plants leave some scars on the stem below the rosette where there used to be leaves, but the scars of a cycad are helically arranged and small, while the scars of palms are a circle that wraps around the whole stem. The stems of cycads are also in general rougher and shorter than those of palms.


title: Cycad

text: The three extant families of cycads all belong to the order Cycadales, and are the Cycadaceae, Stangeriaceae, and Zamiaceae. These cycads have changed little since the Jurassic in comparison to some other plant divisions. Five additional families belonging to the Medullosales became extinct by the end of the Paleozoic Era.


title: Cycad

text: Based on genetic studies, cycads are thought to be more closely related to "Ginkgo" than other living gymnosperms. Both are thought to have diverged from each other during the early Carboniferous.


title: Cycad

text: The probable former range of cycads can be inferred from their global distribution. For example, the family Stangeriaceae contains only three extant species in Africa and Australia. Diverse fossils of this family have been dated to 135 mya, indicating that diversity may have been much greater before the Jurassic and late Triassic mass extinction events. However, the cycad fossil record is generally poor and little can be deduced about the effects of each mass extinction on their diversity.


title: Cycad

text: Instead, correlations can be made between the number of extant gymnosperms and angiosperms. It is likely that cycad diversity was affected more by the great angiosperm radiation in the mid-Cretaceous than by extinctions. Very slow cambial growth was first used to define cycads, and because of this characteristic the group could not compete with the rapidly growing, relatively short-lived angiosperms, which now number over 250,000 species, compared to the 1080 remaining gymnosperms.


title: Cycad

text: The cycad fossil record dates to the early Permian, (mya). There is controversy over older cycad fossils that date to the late Carboniferous period, . This clade probably diversified extensively within its first few million years, although the extent to which it radiated is unknown because relatively few fossil specimens have been found. The regions to which cycads are restricted probably indicate their former distribution in the Pangaea supercontinent before the supercontinents Laurasia and Gondwana separated. Recent studies have indicated that the common perception of existing cycad species as living fossils is largely misplaced, with only "Bowenia" dating to the Cretaceous or earlier. Although the cycad lineage itself is ancient, most extant species have evolved in the last 12 million years. Although the Mesozoic is sometimes called the "Age of Cycads," the foliage of cycads is very similar to other groups of extinct seed plants, such as Bennettitales and Nilssoniales, that are not closely related, and cycads were probably only a minor component of mid-Mesozoic floras.


title: Cycad

text: The family Stangeriaceae (named for Dr. William Stanger, 1811–1854), consisting of only three extant species, is thought to be of Gondwanan origin, as fossils have been found in Lower Cretaceous deposits in Argentina, dating to . The family Zamiaceae is more diverse, with a fossil record extending from the middle Triassic to the Eocene () in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Antarctica, implying the family was present before the break-up of Pangea. The family Cycadaceae is thought to be an early offshoot from other cycads, with fossils from Eocene deposits () in Japan, China, and North America, indicating this family originated in Laurasia. "Cycas" is the only genus in the family and contains 99 species, the most of any cycad genus. Molecular data have recently shown "Cycas" species in Australasia and the east coast of Africa are recent arrivals, suggesting adaptive radiation may have occurred. The current distribution of cycads may be due to radiations from a few ancestral types sequestered on Laurasia and Gondwana, or could be explained by genetic drift following the separation of already evolved genera. Both explanations account for the strict endemism across present continental lines.


title: Cycad

text: The living cycads are found across much of the subtropical and tropical parts of the world. The greatest diversity occurs in South and Central America. They are also found in Mexico, the Antilles, southeastern United States, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and southern and tropical Africa, where at least 65 species occur. Some can survive in harsh desert or semi-desert climates (xerophytic), others in wet rain forest conditions, and some in both. Some can grow in sand or even on rock, some in oxygen-poor, swampy, bog-like soils rich in organic material. Some are able to grow in full sun, some in full shade, and some in both. Some are salt tolerant (halophytes).


title: Cycad

text: Species diversity of the extant cycads peaks at 17˚ 15"N and 28˚ 12"S, with a minor peak at the equator. There is therefore not a latitudinal diversity gradient towards the equator but towards the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. However, the peak near the northern tropic is largely due to "Cycas" in Asia and "Zamia" in the New World, whereas the peak near the southern tropic is due to "Cycas" again, and also to the diverse genus "Encephalartos" in southern and central Africa, and "Macrozamia" in Australia. Thus, the distribution pattern of cycad species with latitude appears to be an artifact of the geographical isolation of the remaining cycad genera and their species, and perhaps because they are partly xerophytic rather than simply tropical.


title: Cycad

text: In Vanuatu, the cycad is known as "namele" and is an important symbol of traditional culture. It serves as a powerful taboo sign, and a pair of "namele" leaves appears on the national flag and coat of arms. Together with the nanggaria plant, another symbol of Vanuatu culture, the "namele" also gives its name to Nagriamel, an indigenous political movement.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Brandon Dawayne Roy (born July 23, 1984) is an American basketball coach and former player. He serves as the head coach of the boys' basketball team at Garfield High School in Seattle. Roy played six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves. He was selected sixth in the 2006 NBA draft, having completed four years playing for the Washington Huskies. His nickname was "B-Roy", but he was also referred to as "the Natural" by Trail Blazers announcer Brian Wheeler. On December 10, 2011, Roy announced his retirement from basketball due to a degenerative knee condition, though he returned in 2012 to play five games for the Timberwolves.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Born in Seattle, Roy became known for his immediate impact on the Trail Blazers. Zach Randolph, then the team captain, was traded to the New York Knicks at the end of Roy's first season in 2006–07 season, which cleared the way for Roy to take on a leadership role on the team. That season, Roy won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in a near-unanimous vote. He was selected as a reserve to the 2008, 2009, and 2010 All-Star games.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy attended the African-American Academy elementary school. He first started taking basketball seriously while playing for the Amateur Athletic Union, one of the largest sports organizations in the United States. He attended Garfield High School in Seattle, and was considered one of the state's best high school players. He was an early-entry candidate for the 2002 NBA draft straight out of high school, but he withdrew his name after consideration.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Considered a four-star recruit by Scout.com, Roy was listed as the No. 6 shooting guard and the No. 36 player in the nation in 2002.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy faced challenges before entering college. His parents and his older brother had not attended college, and due to a learning disability, Roy had difficulty with the SAT; his reading comprehension was slow, which increased the time he needed for tests. He had taken the test four times (with tutors) before finally meeting the NCAA requirements. Unsure whether he would be able to attend a four-year college, Roy worked on the Seattle docks, cleaning shipping containers for $11 per hour.


title: Brandon Roy

text: In 2002, Roy started to play for the University of Washington (UW). He remained there for four years under head coach Lorenzo Romar. He majored in American Ethnic Studies. After his junior year, Roy considered entering the draft, but changed his mind when he learned that teammate Nate Robinson and high school senior and UW signee Martell Webster intended to enter the draft. He saw an opportunity to rise in the ranks on his college team, and improve his draft position.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On December 29, 2005, Roy led the Huskies to victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils with a college career-high 35 points and became the 31st Washington player to score 1,000 points in a career. The following game he equalled his career high of 35 points in a double overtime loss to the Arizona Wildcats.


title: Brandon Roy

text: During his senior year, Roy averaged 20.2 points per game while leading the Huskies to a 26–7 season and a second straight Sweet Sixteen appearance. Roy was named Pac-10 player of the year and received All-American honors at the end of the season, while also being a finalist for the Wooden, Naismith, Oscar Robertson, and Adolph Rupp awards. Roy had a 2006 pre-draft workout with the Trail Blazers prior to being selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves as the sixth overall pick. However, he was immediately traded to the Trail Blazers for the draft rights of Randy Foye.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On January 22, 2009, before a University of Washington Huskies home game versus the USC Trojans, his number 3 uniform was retired.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy's NBA debut was in his hometown against the Seattle SuperSonics. He scored 20 points in that game, and 19 in the following game. An impingement in his left heel kept him out of 20 games early in the season, but he scored his first career double-double shortly after his return, on December 22, 2006, against the Toronto Raptors. At the end of January 2007, Roy led all NBA rookies with 14.5 points per game. He became the fourth Trail Blazer to be selected for the rookie squad of the NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge since its inception in 1994. He was the first Trail Blazer to participate in the All-Star Weekend since Rasheed Wallace's selection as an All-Star reserve in 2001.


title: Brandon Roy

text: He was the Western Conference's Rookie of the Month in January, February, and March 2007. After averaging 16.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game during the 2006–07 NBA season, Roy was named NBA Rookie of the Year. He received 127 out of 128 first-place votes. Due to injury, he played in only 57 games in that season, the second-fewest games for a Rookie of the Year. He was the third Trail Blazer to win the award, the first two being Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy started in the first 48 games of the 2007–08 season, averaging 19.1 points, 5.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds. He also led the Blazers to a 13-game winning streak in the month of December. Roy was selected as a reserve for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game. He scored 18 points in that game, and also had 9 rebounds. He injured his right ankle in the final game before the All-Star Weekend. Although he earned accolades for his play over the weekend, the injury impacted his play in the following weeks. He played in the Rookie Challenge for the second time, this time as a "sophomore"; teammate LaMarcus Aldridge was also on the sophomore squad. Roy played about 29 minutes in the All-Star game, the most of any Western Conference player. He also tied Chris Paul and Amar'e Stoudemire for the most points with 18.


title: Brandon Roy

text: In the 2008 preseason, Roy underwent a 20-minute medical procedure in Vancouver, Washington, during which team physician Don Roberts removed a piece of cartilage that was causing irritation in Roy's left knee. Roy missed several weeks of action because of the rehabilitation, but was ready on the opening day of the season against the Los Angeles Lakers. On November 6, against the Houston Rockets, Roy hit a game-winning 30-foot jumper in overtime with eight tenths of a second left.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On December 18, Roy scored a career-high 52 points against the Phoenix Suns. He made 14 of 27 shots from the field, 19 of 21 from the free-throw line, and 5 of 7 from the three-point line. He also added six assists, five rebounds and a blocked shot, all without a turnover. On January 24, Roy tied a Blazers franchise record with 10 steals against the Washington Wizards. On February 8 with the Blazers trailing by 1 against the Knicks, Roy made a layup at the buzzer to win it 109–108. As of February 16, 2009, Roy has had 24 shots which tied or won the games with 35 seconds or less. Roy was again selected as a reserve in the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, where he scored 14 points in 7-for-8 shooting, grabbed 5 boards, and dished out 5 assists in a game-high 31 minutes of action. On April 13, Roy was named Western Conference Player of the Week for his fourth time. At the time, Clyde Drexler was the only other Portland Trail Blazers to have won the award four times. Roy finished 9th in MVP voting for the 2008–09 season, garnering one 4th-place vote and four 5th-place votes for a total of 7 points. Roy was named to the All-NBA Second Team on May 13, and was the first Blazer to make an All-NBA team since the 1991–92 season.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On August 5, 2009, it was confirmed that Roy had agreed to a four-year maximum-salary contract with a fifth-year player option, keeping him a Trail Blazer until at least the 2013–14 season.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy was selected to compete in the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, marking his third selection as an NBA All-Star. However, Roy was sidelined because of a right hamstring injury he sustained on January 13 against the Milwaukee Bucks, and re-aggravated on January 20 against the Philadelphia 76ers.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On April 11, 2010, Roy injured his right knee. Magnetic resonance imaging that night confirmed a right knee bone contusion (bone bruise) and on April 12, further examination of the MRI showed a slight meniscus tear. Roy underwent surgery on April 16 and was expected to miss at least the first round of the 2010 NBA playoffs, but returned for Game 4 after eight days of recovery time to lead the Blazers to a win.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy was named to the All-NBA Third Team on May 6, and this was his second season in a row to be named to an All-NBA Team. Shortly before the next season began, conference rival Kobe Bryant called Roy the hardest player to guard in the Western Conference, claiming he had "no weaknesses in his game."


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy started the first month of the season scoring at his normal rate, but by December it started showing that his knees, which have bothered him since college and were injured in April, were ailing due to lack of cartilage. He missed nine games before the Trail Blazers announced that he would be out indefinitely.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On January 17, 2011, Roy underwent arthroscopic surgery on both of his knees. He returned to the lineup on February 25, scoring 18 points off the bench, including a clutch three-pointer to force overtime, and helping the Blazers win the game 107–106.


title: Brandon Roy

text: The Blazers then faced the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 2011 NBA playoffs. Roy shot 1-for-8 the first 2 games, including a Game 2 where he saw only 8 minutes of playing time and went scoreless. The Blazers lost both games and trailed 0–2 in the series. He expressed his frustration about being the last substitution during the first 2 quarters, and playing for 8 minutes after getting 26 minutes in Game 1.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Both the Blazers and Mavericks started Game 4 with a quiet first half, with Dallas leading slightly. The Blazers then missed their first 15 shots after halftime as the Mavs' lead grew as big as 67–44. Roy then made a three-pointer near the end of the third to cut the lead to 67–49. In the fourth quarter, Roy scored 18 points after going 1-for-3 the previous 3 quarters, including a clutch 4-point play to tie the game and a bank shot from the middle of the paint with 49 seconds left to give his team the lead for good, finishing with 24 points to lead the Blazers to an improbable 84–82 win to tie the series.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Just before NBA training camp opened following the resolution of the 2011 NBA lockout, Roy announced that his knees had degenerated so much—he lacked cartilage between the bones of both knees—that he was retiring from basketball.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Following his announcement of retirement, the Portland Trail Blazers used their amnesty clause on Roy for salary cap flexibility.


title: Brandon Roy

text: In June 2012, Roy announced that he was planning to make a comeback to the NBA. He said he had recovered enough to play after having the platelet-rich plasma procedure that Kobe Bryant also had to keep his knees healthy. He could not play for Portland under the current NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement because of Portland's amnesty of him in 2011. Roy entered the free agent market on July 1, 2012. Roy reportedly had expressed interest in signing with the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers, or Chicago Bulls.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On July 31, 2012, Roy signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The deal put Roy with All-Star forward Kevin Love and point guard Ricky Rubio. He decided to wear No. 3, the number he wore during his college years at Washington. He felt well during training camp but suffered an injury after a collision during a preseason game on October 26, 2012. He played in five regular season games before needing season-ending surgery on his right knee. He averaged 5.8 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game, and 4.6 assists per game in 24.4 minutes during the 2012–13 season. Roy was waived by Minnesota on May 10, 2013. Afterwards, he said, "Any time you walk away from the game, you have 'what-ifs'. I feel like I was able to answer those questions last year by going out there and giving it a try."


title: Brandon Roy

text: After ending his playing career, Roy joined Nathan Hale High School as the head coach of the boys' basketball team in 2016. In March 2017, he received the Naismith National High School Coach of the Year award after his team posted a perfect 29–0 record during the regular season. With the departure of Michael Porter Jr., Jontay Porter, and P. J. Fuller, Roy was named as head coach of Garfield High School's boys' basketball team in May 2017. He stepped down as head coach during the 2018–19 season for undisclosed reasons but returned in 2019.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy's longtime girlfriend Tiana Bardwell delivered their first child, Brandon Jr., whom they nicknamed BJ, on March 27, 2007, in Seattle.


title: Brandon Roy

text: Roy and Bardwell had their second child, Mariah Leilani, in January 2009. They were married on September 4, 2010, in West Linn, Oregon.


title: Brandon Roy

text: On April 29, 2017, Roy was shot and received non-life-threatening injuries while attending a party at his grandmother's home in Compton, California.


title: Tritone

text: In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three adjacent whole tones F–G, G–A, and A–B.


title: Tritone

text: Narrowly defined, each of these whole tones must be a step in the scale, so by this definition, within a diatonic scale there is only one tritone for each octave. For instance, the above-mentioned interval F–B is the only tritone formed from the notes of the C major scale. More broadly, a tritone is also commonly defined as any interval with a width of three whole tones (spanning six semitones in the chromatic scale), regardless of scale degrees. According to this definition, a diatonic scale contains two tritones for each octave. For instance, the above-mentioned C major scale contains the tritones F–B (from F to the B above it, also called augmented fourth) and B–F (from B to the F above it, also called diminished fifth, semidiapente, or semitritonus); the latter is decomposed as a semitone B–C, a whole tone C–D, a whole tone D–E, and a semitone E–F, for a total width of three whole tones, but composed as four steps in the scale. In twelve-equal temperament, the tritone divides the octave exactly in half as 6 of 12 semitones or 600 of 1,200 cents.


title: Tritone

text: In classical music, the tritone is a harmonic and melodic dissonance and is important in the study of musical harmony. The tritone can be used to avoid traditional tonality: "Any tendency for a tonality to emerge may be avoided by introducing a note three whole tones distant from the key note of that tonality." The tritone found in the dominant seventh chord can also drive the piece of music towards resolution with its tonic. These various uses exhibit the flexibility, ubiquity, and distinctness of the tritone in music.


title: Tritone

text: The condition of having tritones is called tritonia; that of having no tritones is atritonia. A musical scale or chord containing tritones is called tritonic; one without tritones is atritonic.


title: Tritone

text: Since a chromatic scale is formed by 12 pitches (each a semitone apart from its neighbors), it contains 12 distinct tritones, each starting from a different pitch and spanning six semitones. According to a complex but widely used naming convention, six of them are classified as "augmented fourths", and the other six as "diminished fifths".


title: Tritone

text: Under that convention, a "fourth" is an interval encompassing four staff positions, while a "fifth" encompasses five staff positions (see interval number for more details).


title: Tritone

text: The augmented fourth ("A4") and diminished fifth ("d5") are defined as the intervals produced by widening the perfect fourth and narrowing the perfect fifth by one chromatic semitone.


title: Tritone

text: They both span six semitones, and they are the inverse of each other, meaning that their sum is exactly equal to one perfect octave (A4 + d5 = P8).


title: Tritone

text: In twelve-tone equal temperament, the most commonly used tuning system, the A4 is equivalent to a d5, as both have the size of exactly half an octave. In most other tuning systems, they are not equivalent, and neither is exactly equal to half an octave.


title: Tritone

text: Any augmented fourth can be decomposed into three whole tones. For instance, the interval F–B is an augmented fourth and can be decomposed into the three adjacent whole tones F–G, G–A, and A–B.


title: Tritone

text: It is not possible to decompose a diminished fifth into three adjacent whole tones. The reason is that a whole tone is a major second, and according to a rule explained elsewhere, the composition of three seconds is always a fourth (for instance, an A4). To obtain a fifth (for instance, a d5), it is necessary to add another second. For instance, using the notes of the C major scale, the diminished fifth B–F can be decomposed into the four adjacent intervals


title: Tritone

text: Notice that the last diminished second is formed by two enharmonically equivalent notes (E and F). On a piano keyboard, these notes are produced by the same key. However, in the above-mentioned naming convention, they are considered different notes, as they are written on different staff positions and have different diatonic functions within music theory.


title: Tritone

text: A tritone (abbreviation: "TT") is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. As the symbol for whole tone is "T", this definition may also be written as follows:


title: Tritone

text: Only if the three tones are of the same size (which is not the case for many tuning systems) can this formula be simplified to:


title: Tritone

text: In a chromatic scale, the interval between any note and the previous or next is a semitone. Using the notes of a chromatic scale, each tone can be divided into two semitones:


title: Tritone

text: For instance, the tone from C to D (in short, C–D) can be decomposed into the two semitones C–C and C–D by using the note C, which in a chromatic scale lies between C and D. This means that, when a chromatic scale is used, a tritone can be also defined as any musical interval spanning six semitones:


title: Tritone

text: According to this definition, with the twelve notes of a chromatic scale it is possible to define twelve different tritones, each starting from a different note and ending six notes above it. Although all of them span six semitones, six of them are classified as "augmented fourth"s, and the other six as "diminished fifths".


title: Tritone

text: Within a diatonic scale, whole tones are always formed by adjacent notes (such as C and D) and therefore they are regarded as incomposite intervals. In other words, they cannot be divided into smaller intervals. Consequently, in this context the above-mentioned "decomposition" of the tritone into six semitones is typically not allowed.


title: Tritone

text: If a diatonic scale is used, with its 7 notes it is possible to form only one sequence of three adjacent whole tones ("T+T+T"). This interval is an A4. For instance, in the C major diatonic scale (C–D–E–F–G–A–B–...), the only tritone is from F to B. It is a tritone because F–G, G–A, and A–B are three adjacent whole tones. It is a "fourth" because the notes from F to B are four (F, G, A, B). It is "augmented" (i.e., widened) because it is wider than most of the fourths found in the scale (they are perfect fourths).


title: Tritone

text: According to this interpretation, the d5 is not a tritone. Indeed, in a diatonic scale, there is only one d5, and this interval does not meet the strict definition of tritone, as it is formed by one semitone, two whole tones, and another semitone:


title: Tritone

text: For instance, in the C major diatonic scale, the only d5 is from B to F. It is a "fifth" because the notes from B to F are five (B, C, D, E, F). It is "diminished" (i.e. narrowed) because it is smaller than most of the fifths found in the scale (they are perfect fifths).


title: Tritone

text: In twelve-tone equal temperament, the A4 is exactly half an octave (i.e., a ratio of :1 or 600 cents. The inverse of 600 cents is 600 cents. Thus, in this tuning system, the A4 and its inverse (d5) are equivalent.


title: Tritone

text: The half-octave or equal tempered A4 and d5 are unique in being equal to their own inverse (each to the other). In other meantone tuning systems, besides 12-tone equal temperament, A4 and d5 are distinct intervals because neither is exactly half an octave. In any meantone tuning near to -comma meantone the A4 is near to the ratio 7:5 (582.51) and the d5 to 10:7 (617.49), which is what these intervals are in septimal meantone temperament. In 31 equal temperament, for example, the A4 is 580.65 cents, whereas the d5 is 619.35 cents. This is perceptually indistinguishable from septimal meantone temperament.


title: Tritone

text: Since they are the inverse of each other, by definition A4 and d5 always add up to exactly one perfect octave:


title: Tritone

text: On the other hand, two A4 add up to six whole tones. In equal temperament, this is equal to exactly one perfect octave:


title: Tritone

text: In just intonation several different sizes can be chosen both for the A4 and the d5. For instance, in 5-limit tuning, the A4 is either 45:32 or 25:18,and the d5 is either 64:45 or 36:25. The 64:45 just diminished fifth arises in the C major scale between B and F, consequently the 45:32 augmented fourth arises between F and B.


title: Tritone

text: These ratios are not in all contexts regarded as strictly just but they are the justest possible in 5-limit tuning. 7-limit tuning allows for the justest possible ratios (ratios with the smallest numerator and denominator), namely 7:5 for the A4 (about 582.5 cents, also known as septimal tritone) and 10:7 for the d5 (about 617.5 cents, also known as Euler's tritone).


title: Tritone

text: These ratios are more consonant than 17:12 (about 603.0 cents) and 24:17 (about 597.0 cents), which can be obtained in 17-limit tuning, yet the latter are also fairly common, as they are closer to the equal-tempered value of 600 cents.


title: Tritone

text: The ratio of the eleventh harmonic, 11:8 (551.318 cents; approximated as F4 above C1), known as the lesser undecimal tritone or undecimal semi-augmented fourth, is found in some just tunings and on many instruments. For example, very long alphorns may reach the twelfth harmonic and transcriptions of their music usually show the eleventh harmonic sharp (F above C, for example), as in Brahms's First Symphony. This note is often corrected to 4:3 on the natural horn in just intonation or Pythagorean tunings, but the pure eleventh harmonic was used in pieces including Britten's "Serenade for tenor, horn and strings". Ivan Wyschnegradsky considered the major fourth a good approximation of the eleventh harmonic.


title: Tritone

text: ... Although this ratio [45/32] is composed of numbers which are multiples of 5 or under, they are excessively large for a 5-limit scale, and are sufficient justification, either in this form or as the tempered "tritone," for the epithet "diabolic," which has been used to characterize the interval. This is a case where, because of the largeness of the numbers, none but a temperament-perverted ear could possibly prefer 45/32 to a small-number interval of about the same width.


title: Tritone

text: In the Pythagorean ratio 81/64 both numbers are multiples of 3 or under, yet because of their excessive largeness the ear certainly prefers 5/4 for this approximate degree, even though it involves a prime number higher than 3. In the case of the 45/32 "tritone" our theorists have gone around their elbows to reach their thumbs, which could have been reached simply and directly and non-"diabolically" via the number 7...


title: Tritone

text: The augmented fourth (A4) occurs naturally between the fourth and seventh scale degrees of the major scale (for example, from F to B in the key of C major). It is also present in the natural minor scale as the interval formed between the second and sixth scale degrees (for example, from D to A in the key of C minor). The melodic minor scale, having two forms, presents a tritone in different locations when ascending and descending (when the scale ascends, the tritone appears between the third and sixth scale degrees and the fourth and seventh scale degrees, and when the scale descends, the tritone appears between the second and sixth scale degrees). Supertonic chords using the notes from the natural minor mode thus contain a tritone, regardless of inversion. Containing tritones, these scales are tritonic.


title: Tritone

text: The dominant seventh chord in root position contains a diminished fifth (tritone) within its pitch construction: it occurs between the third and seventh above the root. In addition, augmented sixth chords, some of which are enharmonic to dominant seventh chords, contain tritones spelled as augmented fourths (for example, the German sixth, from A to D in the key of A minor); the French sixth chord can be viewed as a superposition of two tritones a major second apart.


title: Tritone

text: The diminished triad also contains a tritone in its construction, deriving its name from the diminished-fifth interval (i.e. a tritone). The half-diminished seventh chord contains the same tritone, while the fully diminished seventh chord is made up of two superposed tritones a minor third apart.


title: Tritone

text: In all of the sonorities mentioned above, used in functional harmonic analysis, the tritone pushes towards resolution, generally resolving by step in contrary motion. This determines the resolution of chords containing tritones.


title: Tritone

text: The augmented fourth resolves outward to a minor or major sixth (the first measure below). The inversion of this, a diminished fifth, resolves inward to a major or minor third (the second measure below). The diminished fifth is often called a tritone in modern tonal theory, but functionally and notationally it can only resolve inwards as a diminished fifth and is therefore not reckoned a tritone—that is, an interval composed of three adjacent whole tones—in mid-renaissance (early 16th-century) music theory.


title: Tritone

text: The tritone is also one of the defining features of the Locrian mode, being featured between the and fifth scale degrees.


title: Tritone

text: The half-octave tritone interval is used in the musical/auditory illusion known as the tritone paradox.


title: Tritone

text: The tritone is a restless interval, classed as a dissonance in Western music from the early Middle Ages through to the end of the common practice period. This interval was frequently avoided in medieval ecclesiastical singing because of its dissonant quality. The first explicit prohibition of it seems to occur with the development of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal system, who suggested that rather than make B a diatonic note, the hexachord be moved and based on C to avoid the F–B tritone altogether. Later theorists such as Ugolino d'Orvieto and Tinctoris advocated the inclusion of B.


title: Tritone

text: From then until the end of the Renaissance the tritone was regarded as an unstable interval and rejected as a consonance by most theorists.


title: Tritone

text: The name "diabolus in musica" () has been applied to the interval from at least the early 18th century, or the late Middle Ages, though its use is not restricted to the tritone, being that the original found example of the term "diabolus en musica" is "Mi Contra Fa est diabolus en musica" (Mi against Fa is the devil in music). Andreas Werckmeister cites this term in 1702 as being used by "the old authorities" for both the tritone and for the clash between chromatically related tones such as F and F, and five years later likewise calls "diabolus in musica" the opposition of "square" and "round" B (B and B, respectively) because these notes represent the juxtaposition of "mi contra fa". Johann Joseph Fux cites the phrase in his seminal 1725 work "Gradus ad Parnassum", Georg Philipp Telemann in 1733 describes, "mi against fa", which the ancients called "Satan in music"—and Johann Mattheson, in 1739, writes that the "older singers with solmization called this pleasant interval 'mi contra fa' or 'the devil in music'." Although the latter two of these authors cite the association with the devil as from the past, there are no known citations of this term from the Middle Ages, as is commonly asserted. However Denis Arnold, in the "New Oxford Companion to Music", suggests that the nickname was already applied early in the medieval music itself:


title: Tritone

text: It seems first to have been designated as a "dangerous" interval when Guido of Arezzo developed his system of hexachords and with the introduction of B flat as a diatonic note, at much the same time acquiring its nickname of "Diabolus in Musica" ("the devil in music").


title: Tritone

text: That original symbolic association with the devil and its avoidance led to Western cultural convention seeing the tritone as suggesting "evil" in music. However, stories that singers were excommunicated or otherwise punished by the Church for invoking this interval are likely fanciful. At any rate, avoidance of the interval for musical reasons has a long history, stretching back to the parallel organum of the "Musica Enchiriadis". In all these expressions, including the commonly cited ""mi contra fa est diabolus in musica"", the "mi" and "fa" refer to notes from two adjacent hexachords. For instance, in the tritone B–F, B would be "mi", that is the third scale degree in the "hard" hexachord beginning on G, while F would be "fa", that is the fourth scale degree in the "natural" hexachord beginning on C.


title: Tritone

text: Later, with the rise of the Baroque and Classical music era, composers accepted the tritone, but used it in a specific, controlled way—notably through the principle of the tension-release mechanism of the tonal system. In that system (which is the fundamental musical grammar of Baroque and Classical music), the tritone is one of the defining intervals of the dominant-seventh chord and two tritones separated by a minor third give the fully diminished seventh chord its characteristic sound. In minor, the diminished triad (comprising two minor thirds, which together add up to a tritone) appears on the second scale degree—and thus features prominently in the progression ii–V–i. Often, the inversion ii is used to move the tritone to the inner voices as this allows for stepwise motion in the bass to the dominant root. In three-part counterpoint, free use of the diminished triad in first inversion is permitted, as this eliminates the tritone relation to the bass.


title: Tritone

text: It is only with the Romantic music and modern classical music that composers started to use it totally freely, without functional limitations notably in an expressive way to exploit the "evil" connotations culturally associated with it, such as Franz Liszt's use of the tritone to suggest Hell in his "Dante Sonata":


title: Tritone

text: —or Wagner's use of timpani tuned to C and F to convey a brooding atmosphere at the start of the second act of the opera "Siegfried".


title: Tritone

text: In his early cantata "La Damoiselle élue", Debussy uses a tritone to convey the words of the poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.


title: Tritone

text: Roger Nichols (1972, p19) says that "the bare fourths, the wide spacing, the tremolos, all depict the words—'the light thrilled towards her'—with sudden, overwhelming power." Debussy's String Quartet also features passages that emphasize the tritone.


title: Tritone

text: The tritone was also exploited heavily in that period as an interval of modulation for its ability to evoke a strong reaction by moving quickly to distantly related keys. For example, the climax of Hector Berlioz's "La damnation de Faust" (1846) consists of a transition between "huge B and F chords" as Faust arrives in Pandaemonium, the capital of Hell. Musicologist Julian Rushton calls this "a tonal wrench by a tritone."


title: Tritone

text: Later, in twelve-tone music, serialism, and other 20th century compositional idioms, composers considered it a neutral interval. In some analyses of the works of 20th century composers, the tritone plays an important structural role; perhaps the most cited is the axis system, proposed by Ernő Lendvai, in his analysis of the use of tonality in the music of Béla Bartók. Tritone relations are also important in the music of George Crumb and Benjamin Britten, whose "War Requiem" features a tritone between C and F♯ as a recurring motif. John Bridcut (2010, p. 271) describes the power of the interval in creating the sombre and ambiguous opening of the "War Requiem": "The idea that the chorus and orchestra are confident in their wrong-headed piety is repeatedly disputed by the music. From the instability of the opening tritone—that unsettling interval between C and F sharp—accompanied by the tolling of warning bells … eventually resolves into a major chord for the arrival of the boys singing 'Te decet hymnus'." Leonard Bernstein uses the tritone harmony as a basis for much of "West Side Story". George Harrison uses tritones on the downbeats of the opening phrases of the Beatles songs "The Inner Light", "Blue Jay Way" and "Within You Without You", creating a prolonged sense of suspended resolution. Perhaps the most striking use of the interval in rock music of the late 1960s can be found in Jimi Hendrix's song "Purple Haze". According to Dave Moskowitz (2010, p. 12), Hendrix "ripped into 'Purple Haze' by beginning the song with the sinister sounding tritone interval creating an opening dissonance, long described as 'The Devil in Music'.". The opening riff of Black Sabbath, the first song on Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album, is an inversion of a tritone; the album, and this song in particular, are considered to mark the birth of heavy metal music.


title: Tritone

text: Tritones also became important in the development of jazz tertian harmony, where triads and seventh chords are often expanded to become 9th, 11th, or 13th chords, and the tritone often occurs as a substitute for the naturally occurring interval of the perfect 11th. Since the perfect 11th (i.e. an octave plus perfect fourth) is typically perceived as a dissonance requiring a resolution to a major or minor 10th, chords that expand to the 11th or beyond typically raise the 11th a semitone (thus giving us an augmented or sharp 11th, or an octave plus a tritone from the root of the chord) and present it in conjunction with the perfect 5th of the chord. Also in jazz harmony, the tritone is both part of the dominant chord and its substitute dominant (also known as the sub V chord). Because they share the same tritone, they are possible substitutes for one another. This is known as a tritone substitution. The tritone substitution is one of the most common chord and improvisation devices in jazz.


title: Sanak

text: Sanak () is a 2021 Indian Hindi language action thriller film directed by Kanishk Varma and produced by Zee Studios and Sunshine Pictures. It stars Vidyut Jammwal, Rukmini Maitra, Neha Dhupia and Chandan Roy Sanyal. Principal photography began in January 2021. The film was released digitally on 15 October 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar.


title: Sanak

text: Vivaan Ahuja, a skilled MMA trainer, learns that his wife Anshika Maitra's heart can stop at any time and an operation is required. The operation is successful. As she recovers in the hospital, a terrorist group led by Saju Solanki attack the hospital to retrieve their illegal arms dealer and leader Ajay Pal Singh, who was actually responsible for the deaths of 18 Indian Army soldiers due to his supply of faulty weapons and was moved to the hospital for emergency surgery after his pacemaker was tampered with in prison. The hospital patients are taken hostage, including Anshika, while Ajay is unconscious under anaesthesia after his surgery. ACP Jayati Bhargav and her team are tasked to free the hostages.


title: Sanak

text: Vivaan, who is just leaving after visiting Anishka is in the hospital basement, oblivious to the invasion until he is attacked by one of the terrorists, where he manages to kill him. Shocked, he takes the black pouch belonging to the terrorist, which contains a walkie talkie and a remote detonator and sneaks back into the hospital. Vivaan meets a hospital guard named Riyaz and a child named Zubin who had been hiding, and befriends them. Meanwhile, Jayati is stunned to see that her daughter Aanya is being used by the terrorists, strapped to a bomb. Saju blackmails her, saying that he will blow up the hospital unless she supplies a chopper and a bus to them. Jayathi agrees, but secretly plans to attack them.


title: Sanak

text: Vivaan learns the hospital's layout with Riyaz's help and plans to attack the hospital's control room so that Saju can't see him coming. He is attacked again but with Zubin's help, he kills the terrorist. The bodies of both terrorists are found and Saju orders Vivaan to be killed. Vivaan manages to contact Jayati intermittently and inform her about Saju. He continues to kill and evade the terrorists stationed around each floor and is finally able to take control of the control room with Riyaz and Zubin. Vivan frees the patients held hostage on the ground floor. Saju, who is on the ninth floor realizes that Vivaan is related to one of the hostages and tries to figure out who it is. Unable to do so, Saju kills a nurse to force Vivaan out of hiding. Ajay wakes up and they plan for their escape.


title: Sanak

text: Vivaan realizes during a conversation with Riyaz that Saju was lying to the police; he was never going to use the bus and chopper he had demanded but rather escape through the sixth floor. He is actually planning to blow up the stairs and the elevator in order to erase evidence by killing the hostages. Vivaan relays this to Jayati, who decides to trust him and play by his information. She and her team enter the hospital where they free Aanya and deactivates the bomb. Vivaan kills Saju's accomplice and finally defeats Saju. Saju is eventually killed after the falling elevator collapses on him, and Jayati shoots Ajay to death. Jayati thanks Vivaan for his help, remarking that he should be given a medal for his work but respects his wish to keep his identity away from media.


title: Sanak

text: "Bollywood Hungama" gave the film a rating of 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Vidyut Jammwal starrer Sanak majorly rests on Vidyut Jammwal's presence and the novel and exciting action scenes."


title: Sanak

text: Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" gave "Sanak" a rating of 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, ""Sanak" should have been more like a non-stop ride but it is still sparkling because of the stylish and exciting action sequences".


title: Sanak

text: Archika Khurana of "The Times of India" gave 3 out of 5 stars and said: "Overall, Vidyut Jammwal's slick kicks, punches and backflips raise the stakes of this action-packed drama."


title: Sanak

text: Udita Jhunjhunwala of "Firstpost" gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, ""Sanak" over-emphasizes the action, leaving the story and the emotional core under-developed."


title: Sanak

text: Shubham Kulkarni, from Koimoi gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Vidyut Jammwal is the biggest reason to watch "Sanak", but cannot be the only attention-grabbing point of the feature length film.


title: Sanak

text: The film's music was composed by Chirantan Bhatt and Jeet Gannguli while lyrics written by Sameer Anjaan, Manoj Yadav and Rashmi Virag.


title: Sanak

text: The song "O Yaara Dil Lagana" is a remake of the song of same name from the 1996 film Agni Sakshi sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy, composed by Nadeem–Shravan and written by Sameer Anjaan.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: The 26th of July Movement (; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates its 26 July 1953 attack on the army barracks on Santiago de Cuba in an attempt to start the overthrowing of the dictator Fulgencio Batista.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: This is considered one of the most important organizations among the Cuban Revolution. At the end of 1956, Castro established a guerrilla base in the Sierra Maestra. This base defeated the troops of Batista on 31 December 1958, setting into motion the Cuban Revolution and installing a government led by Manuel Urrutia Lleó. The Movement fought the Batista regime on both rural and urban fronts. The movement's main objectives were distribution of land to peasants, nationalization of public services, industrialization, honest elections, and large scale education reform.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: In July 1961, the 26th of July Movement was one of the parties that integrated into the Integrated Revolutionary Organization (ORI) as well as the Popular Socialist Party (PSP) and the 13 March Revolutionary Directorate. On 26 March 1962, the party dissolved to form the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC), which held a communist ideology.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: The 26th of July Movement's name originated from the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, an army facility in the city of Santiago de Cuba, on 26 July 1953. This attack was led by a young Fidel Castro, who was a legislative candidate in a free election that had been cancelled by Batista. The attack had been intended as a rallying cry for the revolution. Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison but, along with his group, was granted an amnesty after two years following a political campaign on their behalf. Castro traveled to Mexico to reorganize the movement in 1955 with several other exiled revolutionaries (including Raúl Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Juan Almeida Bosque). Their task was to form a disciplined guerrilla force to overthrow Batista.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: The original core of the group was organized around the attack on the Moncada Barracks merged with the National Revolutionary Movement led and Rafael García Bárcenas and with a majority of the Orthodox Youth. Soon after, National Revolutionary Action led by Frank País would join. Because of the commonality in their ideology and their goal of wanting to topple the Batista regime, the M-26-7 would quickly add more young people from diverse political backgrounds.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: On 2 December 1956, 82 men landed in Cuba, having sailed in the boat "Granma" from Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico ready to organize and lead a revolution. The early signs were not good for the movement. They landed in daylight, were attacked by the Cuban Air Force, and suffered numerous casualties. The landing party was split into two and wandered lost for two days, most of their supplies abandoned where they landed. They were also betrayed by their peasant guide in an ambush, which killed more of those who had landed. Batista mistakenly announced Fidel Castro's death at this point. Of the 82 who sailed aboard the "Granma," only 22 eventually regrouped in the Sierra Maestra mountain range.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: While the revolutionaries were setting up camp in the mountains, "Civic Resistance" groups were formulating in the cities, putting pressure on the Batista regime. The poor and many middle-class and professional persons flocked toward Castro and his movement being tired of the corruption of Batista and his government. While in the Sierra Maestra mountains, the guerrilla forces attracted hundreds of Cuban volunteers and won several battles against the Cuban Army. Ernesto "Che" Guevara was shot in the neck and chest during the fighting, but was not severely injured. (Guevara, who had studied medicine, continued to give first aid to other wounded guerrillas.) This was the opening phase of the war of the Cuban Revolution, which continued for the next two years. It ended in January 1959, after the Right-wing Dictator Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic, in the early hours of New Year's Day when the Movement's forces marched into Havana.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: The guerrillas increased their ranks to 400 men in February 1958. In comparison, the forces of Batista reached 50,000 men, but only 10,000 were able to be used at once to confront the guerrillas. Batista launched an offensive of 10,000 with air and land support to encircle and destroy the guerrillas hidden in the Sierra between April and August 1958, this campaign ended in a decisive failure for the development of the conflict. Finally, after two years of war, the rebels defeated the Batista forces, causing them to flee to the Dominican Republic and take power 1 January 1959. At that time they added around 20,000 to 30,000 guerrillas and the war had cost the lives of between 1,000 and 2,500 people.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: Sabotage and the dissemination of propaganda were key parts of the M-26-7's strategy in both the urban and rural theaters of operation and were used to generate an atmosphere of crisis and to destabilize the public and economic order of the Batista regime. In the countryside, guerillas burned sugar cane fields and oil refineries, blocked bridges and trains, and attacked Batista's soldiers, while in the cities, M-26-7 members cut telephone lines, coordinated strikes, kidnapped public figures, bombed government buildings, and assassinated government officials. The M-26-7 ran its propaganda operations to portray the violence of its actions in a positive light, and notable propaganda efforts included the broadcasting of Radio Rebelde beginning on 24 February 1958 and the invitation of foreign journalists and reporters, such as "New York Times" war correspondent Herbert Matthews and U.S. military intelligence agent Andrew St. George. Both domestic and international propaganda efforts were aimed at informing audiences of the goals and policies of the M-26-7 and glorifying the lives and exploits of the guerilla fighters to generate sympathy for the movement.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: The M-26-7 divided its operations between the rural guerillas, who were based in the Sierra Maestra mountains, and the urban underground, which consisted mostly of middle-class and professional Cubans living in towns and cities. Castro focused his efforts in the rural countryside on fighting Batista's soldiers and liberating and governing increasing amounts of territory taken from Batista's control. The M-26-7 incorporated large numbers of peasant men and women into the ranks of the M-26-7 where they served as soldiers, collaborators, and informants to fight Batista's regime. Many peasant leaders were also affiliated with the PSP and used their connections with Communist Party members and sympathizers to recruit support for the M-26-7. Most notably, the Campesino Association, which had been an active Communist organization since 1934, allowed the M-26-7 to access and build on the network of peasant political organizing. The leaders of the Authentic Party (PA) and Orthodox Party and their constituents of small, medium, and wealthy landowners supported M-26-7 as well through funding and protection from Batista's forces, although Castro's platform of agrarian reform would lead to the eventual break between wealthy farmers and landowners and M-26-7.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: As they occupied increasing large parts of the rural countryside, the M-26-7 provided public services to local peasants ranging from elementary schooling and literacy education, setting up hospitals and medical services, maintaining toll roads, providing protection from bandits, and enacting laws and decrees. In return, the M-26-7 taxed the peasants under its control and enforced prison sentences and fines against those convicted of tax evasion as well as other crimes including banditry, the cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana, and cockfighting. Castro created bureaucratic organizations to administer the rebel-controlled territories including the Administración Civil para los Territorios Liberados (ACTL) in September 1958, which was active in the Sierra Maestra, and the Agrarian Bureau, which was created on 3 August 1958 to oversee the Oriente province.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: In 1955, Castro designated Frank País as chief of action of the Oriente province after País merged his organization, Oriente Revolutionary Action (ARO), with the M-26-7. As the head of the M-26-7's urban underground, País centralized its operations under a core leadership known as the National Directorate and moved the M-26-7's headquarters from Havana to Santiago. He also created six separate sections of the M-26-7 which were responsible for organization, labor outreach, civic resistance among the middle class, sabotage activities and an urban militia, propaganda, and a treasury to raise funds. País attempted to support Castro's landing from the "Granma" with a failed armed uprising in Santiago on 30 November 1956, and after Castro and the surviving guerillas regrouped in the Sierra Maestra, the guerillas depended on their urban counterparts for medicines, weapons, ammunition, food, equipment, clothing, money, propaganda production, and domestic and international publicity. In addition, the urban underground organized worker strikes as well as patriotic clubs for Cuban exiles in the United States, which provided funds for the purchasing of arms and ammunition. The M-26-7 frequently coordinated its actions with other urban-based anti-Batista groups such as the PSP, the Student Revolutionary Directorate (DRE), and the Organización Auténtica (OA), but by May 1957, the arrests and killings of large numbers of the DRE and the OA and the history of the PSP's collaboration with the Batista regime led the M-26-7 to be the dominant anti-Batista force in the cities.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: Frank País's assassination by Santiago police in July 1957 prompted mass demonstrations and worker strikes in the city that quickly spread across the island, leading to a nationwide general strike on 5 August 1957. Though the strike saw limited success, the M-26-7 believed that the speed at which the strike spread and its popularity meant that a future nationwide strike could destabilize Batista's regime enough to lead to his overthrow. However, a subsequent national strike held on 9 April 1958 ended up being a failure for the M-26-7 due to the preparedness of Batista's forces for such an event and poor communication between the M-26-7 and labor groups as to the time of the strike. Many M-26-7 members were also killed in firefights with the police and army as they tried to stage an armed uprising during the chaos.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: After the takeover, anti-Batistas, liberals, urban workers, peasants, and idealists became the dominant followers of the M-26-7 movement, which gained control over Cuba. The Movement was joined with other bodies to form the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which in turn became the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965. Cuba modeled itself after the Eastern European nations that made up the Warsaw Pact, becoming the first socialistic government in the Americas. Once it was learned that Cuba would adopt a strict Marxist–Leninist political and economic system, opposition was raised not only by dissident party members, but by the United States as well. Fidel Castro's government seized private land, nationalized hundreds of private companies—including several local subsidiaries of U.S. corporations—and taxed American products so heavily that U.S. exports were cut half in just two years. The Eisenhower Administration then imposed trade restrictions on everything except food and medical supplies. As a result, Cuba turned to the Soviet Union for trade instead. The US responded by cutting all diplomatic ties to Cuba, and have had a rocky relationship ever since. In April 1961, a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles and dissidents launched the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion against Cuba, shortly after Castro had declared the revolution socialist. After the invasion, Castro formally proclaimed himself a communist.


title: 26th of July Movement

text: Despite the support that the M-26-7 received from many Catholic students and priests during the fight against Batista, the movement's victory in 1959 created a split between the M-26-7 and Catholic Church, which resisted the agrarian reform program and what members of the Church saw as Castro's turn to Soviet Communism. Following the National Catholic Congress's protest against the lack of Catholic values in the policies of the M-26-7 and a riot on 17 July 1959 in front of the Cathedral of Havana involving representatives of the Catholic Church and pro-Castro protestors, Castro publicly denounced the leadership of the Roman Catholic church on 12 August. On 6 January 1960, M-26-7 militants then occupied Catholic seminaries, churches, and schools across Cuba and arrested the leaders of the Young Catholic Workers (JOC). After the Bay of Pigs invasion, the M-26-7 closed more churches and detained a number of priests and bishops on 17 April 1961, and the Catholic Church was expelled from Cuba on 1 May in the wake of the nationalization of all private colleges and the expulsion of foreign priests from the island.