title: Gish

text: As a writer, Billy Corgan wanted to find the balance between classic rock of bands playing heavy riffs like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and the sensuality and grace of alternative bands like the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and My Bloody Valentine. "For us, it was trying to become this balance point between what felt like dumb riff rock and then the stuff we were really attracted to coming out of the U.K. And then we put those pieces together with the Beatles somewhere in the middle". A song like "Rhinoceros" reflected that balance and what Corgan wanted to achieve: "we could be beautiful, pretty, psychedelic, and then flip the switch and be heavy and play a ripping lead." When composing the songs, Corgan was experimenting taking LSD to get a psychedelic feeling: "LSD gave me the confidence to attempt these things on kind of a weird tightrope wire act".


title: Gish

text: "Gish" was recorded from December 1990 to March 1991 in Butch Vig's Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin with a budget of $20,000. Vig and Corgan worked together as co-producers, at the time Vig was still a relatively unknown producer. The longer recording period and larger budget were unprecedented for Vig, who later recalled


title: Gish

text: (Corgan) wanted to make everything sound amazing and see how far he could take it; really spend time on the production and the performances. For me that was a godsend because I was used to doing records for all the indie labels and we only had budgets for three or four days. Having that luxury to spend hours on a guitar tone or tuning the drums or working on harmonies and textural things... I was over the moon to think I had found a comrade-in-arms who wanted to push me, and who really wanted me to push him.


title: Gish

text: The inclusion of a massive production style reminiscent of ELO and Queen was unusual for an independent band at the time. Whereas many albums at the time used drum sampling and processing, "Gish" used unprocessed drum recordings, and an exacting, unique guitar sound. Corgan also performed nearly all of the guitar and bass parts on the record, which was confirmed by Vig in a later interview.


title: Gish

text: The album's sessions, lasting 30 working days, were brisk by Pumpkins' standards, largely because of the group's inexperience. The recording sessions put an intense strain on the band, with bassist D'arcy Wretzky later commenting that she did not know how the band survived it, and Corgan explaining he suffered a nervous breakdown.


title: Gish

text: The album is about pain and spiritual ascension. People ask if it's a political album. It's not a political album, it's a personal album. In a weird kind of way, "Gish" is almost like an instrumental album—it just happens to have singing on it, but the music overpowers the band in a lot of places. I was trying to say a lot of things I couldn't really say in kind of intangible, unspeakable ways, so I was capable of doing that with the music, but I don't think I was capable of doing it with words.


title: Gish

text: The album was named after silent film icon Lillian Gish. In an interview, Corgan said, "My grandmother used to tell me that one of the biggest things that ever happened was when Lillian Gish rode through town on a train, my grandmother lived in the middle of nowhere, so that was a big deal ..." Later, Corgan joked that the album was originally going to be called "Fish", but was changed to "Gish" to avoid comparisons to jam band Phish.


title: Gish

text: "Gish" was met with largely enthusiastic reviews. On the month of its release, Chris Heim of the "Chicago Tribune" credited producer Butch Vig for helping the band achieve a "clearly defined" and "big, bold, punchy" sound for the album. Heim also indicated that the varied styles of the album would be a good addition to the alternative music culture of Chicago at the time—a culture that was sometimes perceived as inaccessible for new bands. Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" picked up on the eclectic mix of musical style on "Gish" as well, complementing its "pummeling hard rock", "gentle interludes", and "psychedelic crescendos". In an end-of-year recap of 1991 releases, Heim noted that the album constituted a "smashing local success story" for the Chicago area. Greg Kot, also of the "Tribune", called "Gish" "perhaps the most audacious and accomplished" of all 1991 albums released by local bands; in an article later that year, Kot listed the album among the best of 1991. "Rolling Stone" called it "awe-inspiring" with "meticulously calculated chaos" and a "swirling energy".


title: Gish

text: Many substantive reviews of "Gish" emerged only with the 1993 release of "Siamese Dream", when mainstream critics took their first look into the back-catalog of a band whose popularity was exploding. Derek Weiler of the "Toronto Star" noted that songs on "Gish" contained "either galloping riffs or trippy feedback hazes" and that the latter were especially effective and entertaining.


title: Gish

text: In 1992, "Gish" and the Smashing Pumpkins earned recognition at the Chicago Musician Awards, for which local music publication "Illinois Entertainer" polled readers and Chicago music industry figures such as critics, writers, and club owners. In separate polls, readers and industry figures chose "Gish" as the "best local album". Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha won individual honors for their performances on the album, and the band as a whole earned the "best hometown national act" award.


title: Gish

text: "Gish" spent one week on the "Billboard" 200, peaking at number 195 (later re-peaking at number 146 upon its 2011 re-release); however, the album reached number one on the "College Music Journal" chart, which tracks airplay and popularity on college radio stations. It also had a six-week run on the New Zealand Albums Chart, peaking at number 40. Despite an inauspicious start, the album sold 100,000 copies in less than a year, far exceeding the expectations of indie label Caroline Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records. In the US, the album was certified gold by RIAA on March 14, 1994. Until the release of the Offspring album "Smash" in 1994, "Gish" was the highest-selling independently released album of all time. "Gish" would later be reissued under the Virgin label, and was certified platinum in the US on February 5, 1999.


title: Gish

text: The first mastering of "Gish" on CD was from Digital Audio Tape and appeared on Caroline Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records. In 1994, after the success of follow-up "Siamese Dream", the album was given a slight remaster and redesign and was reissued on the Virgin label. Both editions credit Howie Weinberg as mastering engineer. In 2008, the Smashing Pumpkins announced a 17th anniversary box set re-release of the album that would include older bonus material, but this set experienced delays. After finally negotiating the rights, "Gish" was re-issued in November 2011, being remastered on CD and Vinyl with extra tracks and packaging.


title: Cuthbert

text: Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria, today in north-eastern England and south-eastern Scotland. Both during his life and after his death he became a popular medieval saint of Northern England, with a cult centred on his tomb at Durham Cathedral. Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of Northumbria. His feast days are 20 March (Catholic Church, Church of England, Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church) and 4 September (Church in Wales, Catholic Church).


title: Cuthbert

text: Cuthbert grew up in or around Lauderdale, near Old Melrose Abbey, a daughter-house of Lindisfarne, today in Scotland. He decided to become a monk after seeing a vision on the night in 651 that Aidan, the founder of Lindisfarne, died, but he seems to have experienced some period of military service beforehand. He was made guest-master at the new monastery at Ripon, soon after 655, but had to return with Eata of Hexham to Melrose when Wilfrid was given the monastery instead. About 662 he was made prior at Melrose, and around 665 went as prior to Lindisfarne. In 684 he was made bishop of Lindisfarne, but by late 686 he resigned and returned to his hermitage as he felt he was about to die. He was probably in his early 50s.


title: Cuthbert

text: Cuthbert was born (perhaps into a noble family) in Dunbar, then in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, and now in East Lothian, Scotland, in the mid-630s, some ten years after the conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria to Christianity in 627, which was slowly followed by that of the rest of his people. The politics of the kingdom were violent, and there were later episodes of pagan rule, while spreading understanding of Christianity through the kingdom was a task that lasted throughout Cuthbert's lifetime. Edwin had been baptised by Paulinus of York, an Italian who had come with the Gregorian mission from Rome, but his successor Oswald also invited Irish monks from Iona to found the monastery at Lindisfarne where Cuthbert was to spend much of his life. This was around 635, about the time Cuthbert was born.


title: Cuthbert

text: The tension between the Roman and Celtic Christianity, often exacerbated by Cuthbert's near-contemporary Wilfrid, an intransigent and quarrelsome supporter of Roman ways, was to be a major feature of Cuthbert's lifetime. Cuthbert himself, though educated in the Celtic tradition, followed his mentor Eata in accepting the Roman forms, apparently without difficulty, after the Synod of Whitby in 664. The earliest biographies concentrate on the many miracles that accompanied even his early life, but he was evidently indefatigable as a travelling priest spreading the Christian message to remote villages, and also well able to impress royalty and nobility. Unlike Wilfrid, his style of life was austere, and when he could, he lived the life of a hermit, though still receiving many visitors.


title: Cuthbert

text: In Cuthbert's time the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria included, in modern terms, part of northern England as well as parts of south-eastern Scotland on an intermittent and fluid basis as far north as the Firth of Forth. Cuthbert may have been from the neighbourhood of Dunbar at the mouth of the Firth of Forth in modern-day Scotland, though "The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints" ("Butler's Lives"), by Alban Butler records that he was fostered as a child near Melrose. Fostering is possibly a sign of noble birth, as are references to his riding a horse when young. One night while still a boy, employed as a shepherd, he had a vision of the soul of Aidan being carried to heaven by angels, and later found out that Aidan had died that night. Edwin Burton finds it a suggestion of lowly parentage that as a boy he used to tend sheep on the hills near that monastery. He appears to have undergone military service, but at some point he joined the very new monastery at Melrose, under the prior Boisil. Upon Boisil's death in 661, Cuthbert succeeded him as prior. Cuthbert was possibly a second cousin of King Aldfrith of Northumbria (according to Irish genealogies), which may explain his later proposal that Aldfrith should be crowned as monarch.


title: Cuthbert

text: Cuthbert's fame for piety, diligence, and obedience grew. When Alchfrith, king of Deira, founded a new monastery at Ripon, Cuthbert became its "praepositus hospitum" or guest master under Eata. When Wilfrid was made abbot of the monastery, Eata and Cuthbert returned to Melrose. Illness struck the monastery in 664 and while Cuthbert recovered, the prior died and Cuthbert was made prior in his place. He spent much time among the people, ministering to their spiritual needs, carrying out missionary journeys, preaching, and performing miracles.


title: Cuthbert

text: After the Synod of Whitby, Cuthbert seems to have accepted the Roman customs, and his old abbot Eata called on him to introduce them at Lindisfarne as prior there. His asceticism was complemented by his charm and generosity to the poor, and his reputation for gifts of healing and insight led many people to consult him, gaining him the name of "Wonder Worker of Britain". He continued his missionary work, travelling the breadth of the country from Berwick to Galloway to carry out pastoral work and founding an oratory at Dull, Scotland, complete with a large stone cross, and a little cell for himself. He is also said to have founded St Cuthbert's Church in Edinburgh.


title: Cuthbert

text: Cuthbert retired in 676, moved by the desire for a more contemplative life. With his abbot's leave, he moved to a spot which Archbishop Eyre identifies with St Cuthbert's Island near Lindisfarne, but which Raine thinks was near Holburn, at a place now known as St Cuthbert's Cave. Shortly afterwards, Cuthbert moved to Inner Farne island, two miles from Bamburgh, off the coast of Northumberland, where he gave himself up to a life of great austerity. At first he received visitors, but later he confined himself to his cell and opened his window only to give his blessing. He could not refuse an interview with the holy abbess and royal virgin Elfleda, the daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria, who succeeded St Hilda as abbess of Whitby in 680. The meeting was held on Coquet Island, further south off the Northumberland coast.


title: Cuthbert

text: In 684, Cuthbert was elected Bishop of Hexham at a synod at Twyford (believed to be present-day Alnmouth), but was reluctant to leave his retirement and take up his charge; it was only after a visit from a large group, including King Ecgfrith, that he agreed to return and take up the duties of bishop, but instead as Bishop of Lindisfarne, swapping with Eata, who went to Hexham in Cuthbert's place. Cuthbert was consecrated at York by Archbishop Theodore and six bishops, on 26 March 685. But after Christmas 686 he returned to his cell on Inner Farne Island, where he died on 20 March 687, after a painful illness. He was buried at Lindisfarne the same day, and after long journeys escaping the Danes his remains chose, as was thought, to settle at Durham, causing the foundation of the city and Durham Cathedral. The St Cuthbert Gospel is among the objects later recovered from St Cuthbert's coffin, which is also an important artefact.


title: Cuthbert

text: After Cuthbert's death, numerous miracles were attributed to his intercession and to intercessory prayer near his remains. In particular, Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, was inspired and encouraged in his struggle against the Danes by a vision or dream he had of Cuthbert. Thereafter the royal house of Wessex, who became the kings of England, made a point of devotion to Cuthbert, which also gave a useful political message, as they came from opposite ends of the English nation. Cuthbert was "a figure of reconciliation and a rallying point for the reformed identity of Northumbria and England" after the absorption of the Danish populations into Anglo-Saxon society, as Michelle Brown puts it. The 8th-century historian Bede wrote both a verse and a prose life of St Cuthbert around 720. He has been described as "perhaps the most popular saint in England prior to the death of Thomas Becket in 1170." In 698 Cuthbert was reburied at Lindisfarne in the decorated oak coffin now usually meant by St Cuthbert's coffin, though he was to have many more coffins. In 995 the "community of Cuthbert" founded and settled at Durham, guided by what they thought was the will of the saint, as the wagon carrying his coffin back to Chester-le-Street after a temporary flight from a Danish invasion became stuck hard on the road.


title: Cuthbert

text: During the medieval period, Cuthbert became important in defining the identity of the people living in Northumbria north of Tees. Symeon noted that it was the 'people of St Cuthbert', that is, 'the whole people between the river Tees and the river Tweed', who waged an unsuccessful campaign against the Scots at the Battle of Carham in 1018. By the later 11th century the Bishops of Durham had established a semi-autonomous region known as the Liberty of Durham, later the Palatinate of Durham, between the Tyne and Tees. Within this area the Bishop of Durham had almost as much power as the king of England himself, and the saint became a powerful symbol of the autonomy the region enjoyed. The inhabitants of the Palatinate became known as the "haliwerfolc", which roughly translates as "people of the saint", and Cuthbert gained a reputation as fiercely protective of his domain. For example, there is a story that at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, the Prior of the Abbey at Durham received a vision of Cuthbert, ordering him to take the corporax cloth of the saint and raise it on a spear point near the battlefield as a banner. Doing this, the Prior and his monks found themselves protected "by the mediation of holy St Cuthbert and the presence of the said holy Relic". Whether the story of the vision is true or not, the banner of St Cuthbert was regularly carried in battle against the Scots until the Reformation, and it serves as a good example of how St Cuthbert was regarded as a protector of his people. A modern interpretation of the Banner, designed by Northumbria University academic Fiona Raeside-Elliott and embroidered by local textile artist Ruth O'Leary, is now on display at the saint's shrine in Durham Cathedral.


title: Cuthbert

text: Cuthbert's cult also appealed to the converted Danes who now made up much of the population of Kingdom of York, and was also adopted by the Normans when they took over England. Cuthbert's shrine at Durham Cathedral was a major pilgrimage site throughout the Middle Ages, until stripped by Henry VIII's commissioners in the Dissolution of the Monasteries.


title: Cuthbert

text: According to Bede's life of the saint, when Cuthbert's sarcophagus was opened eleven years after his death, his body was found to have been perfectly preserved or incorrupt. This apparent miracle led to the steady growth of Cuthbert's posthumous cultus, to the point where he became the most popular saint of Northern England. Numerous miracles were attributed to his intercession and to intercessory prayer near his remains.


title: Cuthbert

text: In 875 the Danes took the monastery of Lindisfarne and the monks fled, carrying St Cuthbert's body with them around various places including Melrose. After seven years' wandering it found a resting place at the still existing St Cuthbert's church in Chester-le-Street until 995, when another Danish invasion led to its removal to Ripon. Then the saint intimated, as it was believed, that he wished to remain in Durham. A new stone church—the so-called "White Church"—was built, the predecessor of the present grand Cathedral. In 999, his relics were enshrined in the new church on 4 September, which is kept as the feast of his translation at Durham Cathedral and as an optional memorial in the Catholic Church in England.


title: Cuthbert

text: In 1069 Bishop Æthelwine attempted to transport Cuthbert's body to Lindisfarne to escape from King William at the start of the Harrying of the North.


title: Cuthbert

text: In 1104 Cuthbert's tomb was opened again and his relics translated to a new shrine behind the altar of the recently completed Cathedral. When the casket was opened, a small book of the Gospel of John, measuring 138 by 92 millimetres (5.4 × 3.6 inches), now known as the Saint Cuthbert Gospel (now British Library Additional MS 89000, formerly known as the Stonyhurst Gospel), was found. This is the oldest Western book to have retained its original bookbinding, in finely decorated leather. Also recovered much later were a set of vestments of 909–916, made of Byzantine silk with a "Nature Goddess" pattern, with a stole and decoration in extremely rare Anglo-Saxon embroidery or "opus anglicanum", which had been deposited in his tomb by King Æthelstan (r. 927–939) on a pilgrimage while Cuthbert's shrine was at Chester-le-Street.


title: Cuthbert

text: Cuthbert's shrine was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but, unusually, his relics survived and are still interred at the site, although they were also disinterred in the 19th century, when his wooden coffin and various relics were removed. St Cuthbert's coffin (actually one of a series of several coffins), as reconstructed by Ernst Kitzinger and others, remains at the cathedral and is an important rare survival of Anglo-Saxon carving on wood. When the coffin was last inspected on 17 May 1827, a Saxon square cross of gold, embellished with garnets, in the characteristic splayed shape, used later as the heraldic emblem of St Cuthbert in the arms of Durham and Newcastle universities, was found.


title: Cuthbert

text: The flag of County Durham since 2013 features the Cross of St Cuthbert, counterchanged in the county colours of blue and gold. The flag of Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland since 2016 likewise features the Cross of St Cuthbert, whose name is the origin of the county's name. The Cross of St Cuthbert features as the principal charge on the coat of arms of the University of Durham, granted in 1843, blazoned "Argent, a Cross of St Cuthbert Gules, on a canton Azure, a chevron Or, between three lions rampant of the first" ('A red Cross of St Cuthbert on a silver shield, with three silver fighting lions around a gold chevron on a blue square in the top left-hand corner'). The Cross also features in the arms of many of its constituent colleges. The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, formerly King's College in the University of Durham, also features St Cuthbert's Cross on its arms, granted in 1937. The Newcastle University arms are blazoned "Azure, a Cross of St Cuthbert Argent, and on a chief of the last a lion passant guardant Gules." ('A silver Cross of St Cuthbert on a blue shield, with a red lion walking and looking towards you on the silver top third portion of the shield.') The cross of St Cuthbert also features on the badges of the two Anglican secondary schools in Tyne and Wear, namely Dame Allan's Schools and Sunderland High School.


title: Cuthbert

text: St Cuthbert's Society, a college of Durham University established in 1888, is named after him and is located only a short walk from the coffin of the saint at Durham Cathedral. The Society celebrates St Cuthbert's Day on or around each 20 March with a feast. "Cuth's Day", the annual college day, is celebrated in the Easter term with music, entertainment, festivities and drinking. Cuddy's Corse is a waymarked walking route between Chester-Le-Street and Durham Cathedral; it marks the journey between two of the last resting places of the coffin.


title: Cuthbert

text: St Cuthbert is also the namesake of St Cuthbert's College in Epsom, New Zealand; St Cuthbert's Day on 21 March is a day of school celebration. The school's houses are named after important locations in the life of the saint: Dunblane (yellow), Elgin (green), Iona (purple), Kelso (blue), Lindisfarne (white), Melrose (red), York (orange) and Durham (pink).


title: Cuthbert

text: St Cuthbert's High School, a Roman Catholic school in Newcastle upon Tyne, is named after the saint. St Cuthbert's Day is celebrated with Mass, and the school prayers include reference to their patron saint (always ending with the invocation "St Cuthbert, pray for us"). The school badge features a bishop's crook in reference to St Cuthbert's time as a bishop, as well as ducks, reflecting his love of the animals.


title: Cuthbert

text: St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society (now Scotmid) opened its first shop in Edinburgh in 1859, and expanded to become one of the largest co-ops in Scotland. Its dairy used horse-drawn delivery floats until 1985, and between 1944 and 1959 employed as a milkman Sean Connery, who later played James Bond.


title: Cuthbert

text: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle holds St Cuthbert as its patron saint, with the consecration of bishops in the diocese always taking place on 20 March, Cuthbert's feast day in the Catholic Church.


title: Cuthbert

text: Many churches are named after Cuthbert. An Orthodox Community in Chesterfield, England, has taken St Cuthbert as their patron.


title: Cuthbert

text: Fossilised crinoid columnals extracted from limestone quarried on Lindisfarne, or found washed up along the foreshore, which were threaded into necklaces or rosaries, became known as St. Cuthbert's beads.


title: Cuthbert

text: In Northumberland, the eider duck is known as the cuddy duck. While on the Farne Islands, Cuthbert instituted special laws to protect the ducks and other seabirds nesting on the islands. They still breed in their thousands off the Northumberland coast.


title: Cuthbert

text: In Cumbria, the civil parish and hamlet of Holme St Cuthbert are named after him, as is the parish church. It is a rural area, with one larger village and numerous smaller hamlets.


The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region ( "Ḥizb al-Ba‘th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī fī al-'Irāq"), officially the Iraqi Regional Branch, is an Iraqi Ba'athist political party founded in 1951 by Fuad al-Rikabi. It was the Iraqi regional branch of the original Ba'ath Party before changing its allegiance to the Iraqi-dominated Ba'ath movement following the 1966 split within the original party. The party was officially banned following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, but despite this it still continues to function underground.


title: Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region

text: The Iraqi Regional Branch of the Ba'ath Party was established in 1951 or 1952. Some historians claim that the Iraqi Regional Branch was established by Abd ar Rahman ad Damin and Abd al Khaliq al Khudayri in 1947 after their return from the founding congress of the Ba'ath Party held in Damascus, Syria the same year. In another version, Fuad al-Rikabi established the Iraqi Regional Branch in 1948 with Sa'dun Hamadi, a Shia Muslim, but became secretary of the Regional Command in 1952.


text: The Iraqi Regional Branch was Arab nationalist and vague in its socialist orientation. Al-Rikabi, expelled from the party in 1961 for being a Nasserist, was an early follower of Michel Aflaq, the founder of Ba'athism. During the party's early days, members discussed topics regarding Arab nationalism, the social inequalities that had grown out of the British "Tribal Criminal and Civil Disputes Regulation," and the Iraqi Parliament's Law 28 of 1932 "Governing the Rights and Duties of Cultivators". By 1953, the party, led by al-Rikabi, was engaged in subversive activities against the government.


text: The party initially consisted of a majority of Shia Muslims, as al-Rikabi primarily recruited his friends and family, but it slowly became Sunni-dominated. The Ba'ath Party, and others of pan-Arab orientation, found it increasingly difficult to recruit Shia members within the party organisation. Most Shias saw pan-Arab as largely Sunni, since most Arabs are Sunni. As a result, more Shias joined the Iraqi Communist Party than the Ba'ath Party. In the mid-1950s, eight of 17 members of the Ba'ath leadership were Shia.


text: According to Talib El-Shibib, the Ba'ath foreign minister in the Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr government, the sectarian background of the leading Ba'ath members was considered of little importance because most Ba'athists did not know each other's sectarian denominations. Between 1952 and 1963, 54% of the members of the Ba'ath Regional Command were Shia Muslims, largely because of al-Rikabi's effective recruitment drive in Shia areas. Between 1963 and 1970, after al-Rikabi's resignation, Shia representation in the Regional Command had fallen to 14 percent. However, of the three factions within the Ba'ath Party, two out of three faction leaders were Shia.


text: By the end of 1951, the party had at least 50 members. With the collapse of the pan-Arabist United Arab Republic (UAR), several leading Ba'ath members, including al-Rikabi, resigned from the party in protest. In 1958, the year of the 14 July Revolution that overthrew the Hashemite monarchy, the Ba'ath Party had 300 members nationwide. General Abd al-Karim Qasim, the leader of the Free Officers Movement which overthrew the king, supported joining the UAR, but changed his position when he took power. Several members of the Free Officer Movement were also members of the Ba'ath Party. The Ba'ath Party considered the President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser, the leader of the pan-Arab movement, to be the leader most likely to succeed, and supported Iraq's joining the union. Of the 16 members of Qasim's cabinet, 12 were Ba'ath Party members. However, the Ba'ath Party supported Qasim on the grounds that he would join Nasser's UAR.


text: Shortly after taking power, Qasim changed his position on joining the UAR and started campaigning for the "Iraq first policy". To strengthen his own position within the government, Qasim created an alliance with the Iraqi Communist Party, which was opposed to the notion of pan-Arabism. The change of policy provoked several pan-Arab organisations, especially the Ba'ath Party. Later that year, the Ba'ath Party leadership was planning to assassinate Qasim and take power to continue the policy of pan-Arabism.


text: Saddam Hussein was a member of the operation. At the time, the Ba'ath Party was more of an ideological experiment than a strong, anti-government, fighting machine. Most of its members were either educated professionals or students, and Saddam Hussein fit the bill. Abdul Karim al-Shaikhly, the leader of the operation, asked Hussein to join it when one of the team members left. The idea of assassinating Qasim may have been Nasser's and speculations exist that some participants in the operation received training in Damascus, which was then part of the UAR. However, "no evidence has ever been produced to implicate Nasser directly in the plot."


text: The assassins planned to ambush Qasim at Al-Rashid Street on 7 October 1959. One man was to kill those sitting in the back of the car, the rest would kill those in front. During the ambush, Hussein began shooting prematurely, which disorganised the whole operation. Qasim's chauffeur was killed and Qasim was hit in the arm and shoulder. The assassins thought they had killed him and quickly retreated to their headquarters, but Qasim survived.


text: At the time of the attack, the Ba'ath Party had less than 1,000 members. Some of the plotters quickly left the country for Syria, where Michel Aflaq gave Hussein full party membership. The Iraqi government arrested some members of the operation and took them into custody. At the show trial, six of the defendants were sentenced to death and, for unknown reasons, the sentences were not carried out. Aflaq, the leader of the Ba'athist movement, organised the expulsion of leading Iraqi Ba'athist members, such as Fuad al-Rikabi, on the grounds that the party should not have initiated the attempt on Qasim's life. At the same time, Aflaq secured seats in the Iraqi Ba'ath leadership for his supporters, including Hussein.


text: Qasim was overthrown in the Ramadan Revolution in February 1963, which was allegedly supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and led on the ground by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. Declassified documents and the testimony of former CIA officers indicate there was no direct American involvement, although the CIA had been previously notified of an earlier Ba'athist coup plot in July 1962 by a high-ranking informant within the Party. The CIA official working with Archie Roosevelt, Jr. on a separate plan to instigate a military coup against Qasim, and who later became the head of the CIA's operations in Iraq and Syria "from late 1968 to June 1970," has "denied any involvement in the Ba'ath Party's actions," stating instead that the CIA's efforts against Qasim were still in the planning stages at the time. Several army units refused to support the Ba'athist coup. The fighting lasted for two days, during which 1,500–5,000 were killed. Qasim was captured and, an hour later, he was killed by firing squad. To assure the Iraqi public that Qasim was dead, the plotters broadcast a film of Qasim's corpse being mutilated.


text: Abdul Salam Arif became the president of Iraq and Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr became prime minister after taking power in February 1963. Ali Salih al-Sa'di, secretary-general of the Regional Command of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, became deputy prime minister and Minister of Interiora post he lost on 11 May. Despite not being prime minister, al-Sadi had effective control over the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. Seven out of nine members supported his leadership in the party's Regional Command.


text: According to Coughlin, in the aftermath of the coup, the National Guard initiated an "orgy of violence" against all communist elements and some left-wing forces. This period led to the establishment in Baghdad of several interrogation chambers. The government requisitioned several private houses and public facilities, and an entire section of Kifah Street was used by the National Guard. Many of the victims of the rout were innocent, or were victims of personal vendettas. According to Coughlin, the most notorious torture chamber was located at the "Palace of the End," where the royal family was killed in 1958. Nadhim Kazzer, who became director of the Directorate of General Security, was responsible for the acts committed there.


text: The party was ousted from government in November 1963, due to factionalism. The question within the Ba'ath Party was whether or not it would pursue its ideological goal of establishing a union with Syria, Egypt or both. Al-Sadi supported a union with Syria, which was ruled by the Ba'ath Party, while the more conservative military wing supported Qasim's "Iraq first policy". Factionalism and the ill-disciplined behaviour of the National Guard led the military wing to initiate a coup against the party's leadership. Al-Sadi was forced into exile in Spain.


text: Al-Bakr, in an attempt to save the party, called for a meeting of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party. The meeting exacerbated the party's problems. Aflaq, who saw himself as the leader of the pan-Arab Ba'athist movement, declared his intent to take control of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The "Iraq first" wing was outraged. President Arif lost patience with the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, and the party was ousted from government on 18 November 1963. The 12 Ba'ath members of the government were forced to resign, and the National Guard was dissolved and replaced with the Republican Guard. Some authorities believe that Aflaq supported Arif's coup against the Ba'athist government in order to weaken al-Sadi's position within the party and strengthen his own.


text: At the time of al-Sadi's removal from the post of Interior Minister, factionalism and discontent were growing within the party. al-Sadi and Mundur al-Windawi, the leader of the Ba'ath Party's National Guard, led the civilian wing. President Arif led the military wing and Talib El-Shibib led the pro-Aflaq wing. However, a bigger schism was underway in the international Ba'athist movement. Four major factions were being created: the Old Guard led by Aflaq; a civilian alliance between the secretary-generals of the Regional Commands of Syria and Iraq, led by Hammud al-Shufi and al-Sadi respectively; the Syrian Ba'ath Military Committee, represented by Salah Jadid, Muhammad Umran, Hafez al-Assad, Salim Hatum and Amin al-Hafiz; and the Iraqi military wing, which supported Arif's presidency, represented by al-Bakr, Salih Mahdi Ammash, Tahir Yahya and Hardan Tikriti. The military wings in Syria and Iraq opposed the creation of a pan-Arab state, whereas al-Shufi and al-Sadi supported it. Aflaq officially supported it, but privately opposed it because he was afraid al-Sadi would challenge his position as secretary-general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party, the leader of the international Ba'athist movement.


text: Both Syria and Iraq were under Ba'athist rule in 1963. When President Arif visited Syria on a state visit, Sami al-Jundi, a Syrian cabinet minister, proposed the creation of a bilateral union between the two countries. Both Arif and Amin al-Hafiz, President of Syria, supported the idea. al-Jundi was given the task of setting up a committee to begin establishing the union. al-Jundi selected al-Sadi as Iraq's chief representative in the committee in a bid to strengthen al-Sadi's position within the Ba'ath Party.


text: Work on the union continued with the signing of the Military Unity Charter which established the Higher Military Council, an organ which oversaw the integration and control over the Syrian and Iraqi military. Ammash, the Iraqi Minister of Defence, became the chairman of the Higher Military Council. The unified headquarters was in Syria. The establishment of the military union became evident on 20 October 1963, when Syrian soldiers were found fighting alongside the Iraqi military in Iraqi Kurdistan. At this stage, both Iraqi and Syrian Ba'athists feared excluding Nasser from the union talks since he had a large following.


text: The Syrian state and its Ba'ath Party criticised the fall of al-Bakr's first government but relented when they discovered that some members of the Iraqi cabinet were Ba'ath Party members. However, the remaining Ba'athists were slowly removed from office. The Syrian Revolutionary Command Council responded by abrogating the Military Unity Charter on 26 April 1964, ending the bilateral unification process between Iraq and Syria.


text: In the aftermath of the coup-led against the Ba'ath Party, al-Bakr became the party's dominant driving force and was elected secretary-general of the Regional Command in 1964. Saddam Hussein received full party membership and a seat in the Regional Command of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party because he was a close protege of al-Bakr. With al-Bakr's consent, Hussein initiated a drive to improve the party's internal security. In 1964, Hussein established the Jihaz Haneen, the party's secretive security apparatus, to act as a counterweight to the military officers in the party and to weaken the military's hold on the party.


text: In contrast to the coup of 1963, the 1968 coup was led by civilian Ba'ath Party members. According to historian Con Coughlin, the President of Iraq Abdul Rahman Arif, who had taken over from his brother, was a weak leader. Before the coup, Hussein, through the Jihaz Haneen, contacted several military officers who either supported the Ba'ath Party or wanted to use it as a vehicle to power. Some officers, such as Hardan al-Tikriti, were already members of the party, while Abdul Razzak al-Naif, the deputy head of military intelligence, and Colonel Ibrahim Daud, the commander of the Republican Guard, were neither party members nor sympathisers.


text: On 16 July 1968, al-Naif and Daud were summoned to the Presidential Palace by Arif, who asked them if they knew of an imminent coup against him. Both al-Naif and Daud denied knowledge of any coup. However, when the Ba'ath Party leadership obtained this information, they quickly convened a meeting at al-Bakr's house. The coup had to be initiated as quickly as possible, even if they had to concede to give al-Naif and Daud the posts of Prime Minister and Defence Minister, respectively. Hussein said at the meeting, "I am aware that the two officers have been imposed on us and that they want to stab the party in the back in the service of some interest or other, but we have no choice. We should collaborate with them and liquidate immediately during, or after, the revolution. And I volunteer to carry out the task".


text: The 17 July Revolution was a military coup, not a popular revolt against the incumbent government. According to Coughlin, compared to the coups of 1958 and 1963, the 1968 coup was a "relatively civil affair". The coup begun in the early morning of 17 July, when the military and Ba'ath Party activists seized several key positions in Baghdad, such as the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, television and radio stations and the electricity station. All the city's bridges were captured, all telephone lines were cut and at exactly 03:00, the order was given to march on the Presidential Palace. President Arif was asleep and had no control over the situation. al-Bakr masterminded the plot, but Hussein and Saleh Omar al-Ali led operations on the ground. A power struggle began between the Ba'ath Party led by al-Naif and the military led by Daud, which al-Bakr had anticipated and planned. Daud lost his ministership during an official visit to Jordan, while al-Naif was exiled after Hussein threatened him and his family with death.


text: At the time of the 1968 coup, only 5,000 people were members; by the late 1970s, membership had increased to 1.2 million. In 1974, the Iraqi Ba'athists formed the National Progressive Front to broaden support for the government's initiatives. Wrangling within the party continued, and the government periodically purged its dissident members, including Fuad al-Rikabi, the party's first secretary-general of the Regional Command. Emerging as the party strongman, Hussein used his growing power to push al-Bakr aside in 1979 and ruled Iraq until the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.


text: Several major infrastructures were laid down to assist the country's growth, and the Iraqi oil industry was nationalised with help from the Soviet Union. Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, signed the bilateral Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in 1972.


text: In June 2003, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority banned the Ba'ath Party, and banned all members of the party's top four tiers from the new government and from public schools and colleges, a move which some criticised for blocking too many experienced people from participating in the new government. Thousands were removed from their positions, including doctors, professors, school teachers and bureaucrats. Many teachers lost their jobs, causing protests and demonstrations at schools and universities.


text: Under the Ba'ath Party, one could not reach high positions in the government or in schools without becoming a party member. Membership was also a prerequisite for university admission. While many Ba'athists joined for ideological reasons, many more joined as a way to improve their options. After much pressure by the U.S., the policy of de-Ba'athification was addressed by the Iraqi government in January 2008 in the highly controversial "Accountability and Justice Act," which was supposed to ease the policy, but which many feared would lead to further dismissals.


text: The new Constitution of Iraq, approved by a referendum on 15 October 2005, reaffirmed the Ba'ath Party ban, stating that "No entity or program, under any name, may adopt racism, terrorism, the calling of others infidels, ethnic cleansing, or incite, facilitate, glorify, promote, or justify thereto, especially the Saddamist Ba'ath in Iraq and its symbols, regardless of the name that it adopts. This may not be part of the political pluralism in Iraq."


text: Some or many of its members in the Iraqi Ba'ath Party who were purged and dismissed went on to join Al-Qaeda in Iraq which eventually morphed into the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.


text: On 31 December 2006, one day after Saddam Hussein's execution by hanging, a previously unknown group called the Baghdad Citizens Gathering publicly issued a statement in Amman, Jordan, at the Jordanian Regional Branch of the Ba'ath Party endorsing Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri as the new president of Iraq and the party's secretary-general following Saddam's death. The statement referred to Iraqis killed in the 1980–88 war with Iran, the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait and the 13 years of sanctions afterwards, and went on to say, "We vow to liberate our country from the heinous criminals, neo-Zionists and the Persians in order to restore Iraq's unity". The party's armed wing since al-Douri's ascension is the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order.


text: According to Abu Muhammad, a Ba'ath Party spokesman from al-Douri's faction, on the eve of Saddam's death, "Comrade Izzat has been leading the [Ba'ath] party's political and resistance factions since 2003, but it is a matter of protocol and internal regulation to appoint him officially as the party's secretary-general." Al-Douri was elected the party's secretary-general in early January.


text: Despite al-Douri's succession, another high ranking Ba'athist, Younis al-Ahmed, called for a General Conference of the Iraqi Ba'ath party in Syria to elect a new leadership (the faction's armed wing is The Return). This move caused a significant amount of controversy within the party, with al-Douri issuing a statement criticizing Syria for what al-Douri claimed was an American-supported attempt to undermine the Iraqi Ba'ath party, although this statement was later downplayed. The conference elected al-Ahmed as secretary-general, and al-Ahmed issued an order expelling al-Douri from the party, resulting in al-Douri issuing a counter order expelling al-Ahmed and 150 other party members. These events led to the existence, in effect, of two Iraqi Ba'ath Parties: the main party led by al-Douri, and a splinter party led by al-Ahmed.


text: al-Ahmed's Ba'ath Party is based in Syria. It is believed to contain most of the remaining leading party figures who were not arrested or executed, including Mezher Motni Awad, To'ma Di'aiyef Getan, Jabbar Haddoosh, Sajer Zubair, and Nihad alDulaimi. In contrast to al-Douri's group, al-Ahmad's faction has had success in recruiting Shi'as to the party. While al-Ahmed and the faction's senior leaders are Sunnis, there are many Shiites who are working in the organization's middle level. Upon his election as leader, an al-Ahmed's faction statement said he was "of Shia origins and coming from Shia areas in Nineveh governorate". In contrast to al-Ahmed, al-Douri has stuck to a more conservative policy, recruiting members from a largely Sunni-dominated areas.


text: It could be said that al-Ahmed has returned to the Ba'ath Party's original ideology of secular pan-Arab nationalism which, in many cases, has proven successful in Iraq's Shi'a dominated southern provinces. However, despite his attempts, al-Ahmed has failed in his goal to overthrow al-Douri. Al-Douri's faction is the largest and the most active on the Internet, and the large majority of Ba'athist websites are aligned to al-Douri. Another failure is that al-Ahmed's faction, which is based in Syria, does not have exclusive Syrian support and, considering that it is based in Syria, the party is susceptible to Syrian interference in its affairs. However, despite the differences between the al-Douri and al-Ahmed factions, both of them adhere to Ba'athist thought.


text: On 2 January 2012, the Organizations of Central Euphrates and the South (OCES), believed to be headed by Hamed Manfi al-Karafi, issued a statement condemning sectarianism within the party, specifically criticizing al-Douri's faction. The OCES condemned the leadership's decision of creating a primary Sunni leadership and a reserve Shiite leadership.


text: This decision by the al-Douri faction leadership was a response to complaints by Ba'athist organizations in Shiite-dominated areas on what they considered policy errors which led to marginalization and exclusion of Shiite members. The OCES rejected the decision, and considered them illegitimate. In its statement, the OCES stated that "the failure to implement [its] decisions is considered a rebellion against legitimate authority [...]" and "a conscious and explicit threat, and an attempt to impose a bitter reality through decisions that are tainted by sectarian and regional motivations." In its ending remarks, the OCES statement read "any connection or link with any member of the Iraqi branch leadership locally or abroad, while continuing organizational activities according to the Organizations of Central Euphrates and the South leadership's decisions that were reached last year based on prior understandings with the national leadership". Despite breaking with al-Douri's faction, al-Karafi's faction has not aligned itself with either al-Ahmed's faction or Resurrection and Renewal Movement, a third Ba'athist group.


text: al-Douri has been considered more of a symbol, but he doesn't actually hold that much power over the party. In a discussion with the American embassy in Amman, Jordan, in 2007, retired Lieutenant General Khalid al-Jibouri stated that he believed "a powerful shadow group of personnel [was] behind him who really constitute the operational leadership of his faction". He further noted that the party was modernizing, in the sense that it recognized it would be impossible to return to power alone, while, at the same time, it returned to its old, Ba'athist ideological roots. In another note, al-Jibouri noted that the Ba'ath Party had become a major enemy of al-Qaida in Iraq.


text: In the wake of Muammar Gaddafi's downfall, the new Libyan government sent documents to the Iraqi government which claimed that Ba'athists, with help from Gaddafi, were planning a coup. Because of the revelations, the Iraqi government initiated a purge of thousands of public officials. The purge triggered Sunni protests, with many calling for Sunni autonomy within Iraq. Surprisingly to outside observers, al-Douri's Ba'ath party opposed Sunni autonomy and, in a statement, referred to it as "a dangerous plan to divide Iraq along sectarian lines." However this condemnation was mostly symbolic as Al-Douri's group participated in protests where calls for Sunni Autonomy were present and allied with groups that believed in and agitated for autonomy.


text: In July 2012, the Ba'ath Party published a videotaped speech of al-Douri, in which he condemned the existing government and American interference in Iraq. However, in a change of tone, al-Douri stated he wished to establish good relations with the United States when the American forces had been withdrawn and when the government had been toppled. As of 2013, it has been reported that al-Douri is living in the city of Mosul, having left Syria because of the ongoing civil war. Many analysts are afraid that the Ba'ath Party has the potential power to initiate another civil war in Iraq because of al-Douri's popularity in localities with Sunni majorities.


text: The Regional Command (RC) () was the Iraqi Regional Branch highest decision-making organ. Throughout its history, the RC has normally had 19-21 members. When in power, the Directorate of Security Affairs was responsible for the security of the president and the senior members of the Regional Command. The Regional Congress was (in theory) the "de jure" decision-making organ on Iraqi regional affairs when in session, but was (in practice) a tool in control of the Regional Command.


text: The Ba'ath Party had its own secretariat (), through which every major decision in the country was channelled. According to Joseph Sassoon, the secretariat functioned as the "party's board of directors," overseeing the running of the party branches which, in turn, controlled and collected information about civilian and military life throughout the country. The secretariat had the power to propose marriages and, in certain cases, to approve and disapprove marriages for the sake of the party. At the 8th Regional Congress, the leadership laid emphasis on building "a strong and central national authority." The party leadership's response to the party's apparent lack of centralisation came with a Revolutionary Command Council resolution which stated that "all correspondence between state ministries and party organisations are to be sent through the party secretariat."


text: The head of the secretariat was the deputy director, who was the second in the order of precedence. The office of director of the secretariat was the leading organ within the body. The secretariat had 11 departments: the Military and Armaments Department, Vocational Schools Department, Courses Department, Finance Department, Organisational and Political Department, Party Affairs and Information Department, Personnel and Administrative Department, Technical Department, Information and Studies Department, Legal Department and the Audit Department. The only non-department under the direct responsibility of the secretariat was the Saddam Institute for the Study of the Qur'an.


text: The functions and responsibilities of the secretariat were drawn up in a detailed manner. The Office of the President issued a directive to formulate its hierarchy, and the functions of the sections and departments were clearly defined. The secretariat encompassed all party branches. This system led to the bureaucratisation of the party, and decision-making was often cumbersome and inefficient. This inefficiency meant that Saddam could govern without fearing any rivals.


text: The Department for Organisational and Political Affairs (DOPA) was the most important department of the secretariat. It prepared material for discussion that the secretary-general (), the party's leader, personally ordered. The DOPA also was responsible for following up on political matters in party branches. One of DOPA's sections was responsible for gathering information for candidates for important positions within the party or the government. Some departments had a similar job to the DOPA section, and were responsible for admissions to the military colleges, institutions for higher education and the Saddam Institute for the Study of the Qur'an. The party sought to control these institutions so that no single opposition party could gain a foothold in them.


text: Below the Regional Command were the bureau structures (), which would gather all party activities in a single geographic area into the responsibility of a single unit. Until 1989, there were six bureau structures in the country: in Baghdad, Al-Forat, the centre, southern and northern Iraq, and one bureau for military affairs. By 2002, there were 17. Below the bureau structures was the branch (), which supervised the activities of the sections, divisions and cells (. Several of these organs were merged or split, and the number of branches had increased to 69 branches by 2002. The numbers of sections and divisions varied between provinces. As membership increased, new sections and divisions were established. In Maysan province, the number of sections increased from five in 1989 to 20 in 2002, each section in turn having 93 divisions. By September 2002, there existed 4,468 party offices in the country, and there were 32,000 cells.


text: Nationally, the Ba'ath Party functioned as an institution acting as the eyes and ears of the government. During its rule, the party gained influence over the military, the government bureaucracy, labour, professional unions and, not least, the building of the cult of personality of Saddam. From the 1990s until the fall of the Ba'ath Party in 2003, it became involved in the handling of food distribution, the pursuing and apprehension of military deserters and, by the end, it was responsible for the preparations for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Branches and sections enjoyed powers similar to those of the police in the West. Outside of Baghdad, they were "legally authorised to incarcerate suspects using Extrajudicial procedures".


text: One of the party's most important functions was gathering information about its opponents. In Northern Iraq, the Ba'ath gathered information about the Kurdish Democratic Party by tracking their activities among the local population. They tried to recruit members from Kurd-dominated areas through supplying food or a literacy campaign. During the drive to Arabise Kurdistan, the party resettled several hundred loyal party officials there to strengthen the party in the area. Kurds who had moved from Kurdistan would, in most instances, not be allowed back unless they were loyal Ba'ath Party members. The Military and Armament Department was responsible for coordinating the distribution of arms to party officials.


text: The Ba'ath Party instilled party discipline in its members. According to a statement in the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), "Party members are expected to inspire others by their exemplary behavior, sense of discipline, political consciousness, and willingness to sacrifice themselves in the interests of the Party and state." Saddam was a great believer in discipline, and believed that lack of discipline and organisation were behind any failure. In accordance with this view, the party issued a myriad of rules and regulations to combat laziness, corruption and abuses of power. Members found breaching the party code were either demoted or expelled from the party.


text: The Ba'ath Party was supported financially by the RCC, the highest executive and legislative body of government. Members were required to pays fees commensurate with their ranks. For instance, a supporting member would pay 25 Iraqi dinar for membership, while a branch member would pay 3,000 Iraqi dinars. Fees were important in the party's balance sheet. The central party leadership often emphasised the importance of members' financial abilities. The leadership encouraged members to contribute more to party finances. According to Jawad Hashim, a former Minister of Planning and the RCC Economic Advisor, Saddam gave the Ba'ath Party the five percent of Iraqi oil revenues, which were previously owned by the Gulbenkin Foundation. Saddam's reasoning was that, if a counter-coup took place and the Ba'ath Party was forced from power, as had been the case in November 1963, the party needed financial security so that it could reclaim power. By Hasim's estimates, the Ba'ath Party had accumulated in external revenues by 1989.


text: When the party came to power in 1968 in the 17 July Revolution, it was determined to increase party membership so that it could compete with ideological opponents such as the Iraqi Communist Party. Saddam had a clear plan, and on 25 February 1976 he said, "It should be our ambition to make all Iraqis in the country Ba'athists in membership and belief or in the latter only." This is contrary to his statements in the 1990s, when increasing membership was more important than recruiting members who adhered to Ba'athist ideology.


text: Like most parties, the Ba'ath membership was organised in a hierarchical manner. The head of a branch, division or section was the secretary-general, who was responsible to the secretariat. At the bottom was sympathiser, a member seeking to climb the party ranks with the status of active members, which could take five to 10 years. In certain provinces, "national activity" was the status given to the lowest level of the hierarchy. Where this level existed, it could take two to three years to climb up to the rank of sympathiser. The report to the 10th National Congress stated that "It is not sufficient for a member just to believe in the idea of the party, but what is required is total commitment and not simply a political affiliation."


title: Carne asada

text: Carne asada is grilled and sliced beef, usually chuck steak (known as Diezmillo in Spanish), though skirt steak or flank steak can also be used. It is usually marinated then grilled or seared to impart a charred flavor. Carne asada can be served on its own or as an ingredient in other dishes.


title: Carne asada

text: The term "carne asada" translates literally to "grilled meat"; the English-style dish "roast beef" is called by its English name in Spanish, so that each dish has a distinctive name. The term "carne asada" is used in Mexico and refers to the style of grilled meat in those countries. In South America, the term used for grilled meat is "asado" and it has a different style and preparation.


title: Carne asada

text: Carne asada can be purchased from meat markets either prepared ("preparada", i.e., already marinated) or not ("no preparada"), for marinating at home. The meat is characteristically marinated in lime juice, salt, and Mexican seasonings, but may also be simply rubbed with salt or spice rubs such as lemon pepper, before grilled. After grilling it is typically chopped for filling tacos and burritos, which also minimizes toughness.


title: Carne asada

text: Carne asada can be served as a main dish, but it is also commonly chopped up and used as an ingredient in other dishes. These popular dishes use "carne asada" as a main ingredient:


title: Carne asada

text: Mexico and other countries in Central America, the phrase "carne asada" can also be used to describe a social event, the equivalent of a social barbecue, where family and close friends gather.


title: Carne asada

text: Carne asada is especially popular in northern Mexico, where it is considered a staple food. It is the most common dish served at parties, celebrations, and other events in northern Mexico.


title: SD-WAN

text: A software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is a wide area network that uses software-defined network technology, such as communicating over the Internet using overlay tunnels which are encrypted when destined for internal organization locations.


title: SD-WAN

text: If standard tunnel setup and configuration messages are supported by all of the network hardware vendors, SD-WAN simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. This concept is similar to how software-defined networking implements virtualization technology to improve data center management and operation. In practice, proprietary protocols are used to set up and manage an SD-WAN, meaning there is no decoupling of the hardware and its control mechanism.


title: SD-WAN

text: A key application of SD-WAN is to allow companies to build higher-performance WANs using lower-cost and commercially available Internet access, enabling businesses to partially or wholly replace more expensive private WAN connection technologies such as MPLS.


title: SD-WAN

text: When SD-WAN traffic is carried over the Internet, there are no end-to-end performance guarantees. Carrier MPLS VPN WAN services are not carried as Internet traffic, but rather over carefully-controlled carrier capacity, and do come with an end-to-end performance guarantee.


title: SD-WAN

text: WANs were very important for the development of networking technologies in general and were for a long time one of the most important application of networks both for military and enterprise applications. The ability to communicate data over large distances was one of the main driving factors for the development of data communications technologies, as it made it possible to overcome the distance limitations, as well as shortening the time necessary to exchange messages with other parties.


title: SD-WAN

text: Legacy WAN technologies allowed communication over circuits connecting two or more endpoints. Earlier technologies supported point-to-point communication over a slow speed circuit, usually between two fixed locations. As technology evolved, WAN circuits became faster and more flexible. Innovations like circuit and packet switching (in the form of X.25, ATM and later Internet Protocol or Multiprotocol Label Switching communications) allowed communication to become more dynamic, supporting ever-growing networks.


title: SD-WAN

text: The need for strict control, security and quality of service meant that multinational corporations were very conservative in leasing and operating their WANs. National regulations restricted the companies that could provide local service in each country, and complex arrangements were necessary to establish truly global networks. All that changed with the growth of the Internet, which allowed entities around the world to connect to each other. However, over the first years, the uncontrolled nature of the Internet was not considered adequate or safe for private corporate use.


title: SD-WAN

text: Independent of safety concerns, connectivity to the Internet became a necessity to the point where every branch required Internet access. At first, due to safety concerns, private communications were still done via WAN, and communication with other entities (including customers and partners) moved to the Internet.


title: SD-WAN

text: As the Internet grew in reach and maturity, companies started to evaluate how to leverage it for private corporate communications. During the early 2000s, application delivery over the WAN became an important topic of research and commercial innovation. Over the next decade, increasing computing power made it possible to create software-based appliances that were able to analyze traffic and make informed decisions in real time, making it possible to create large-scale overlay networks over the public Internet that could replicate all the functionality of legacy WANs, at a fraction of the cost.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WAN combines several technologies to create full-fledged private networks, with the ability to dynamically share network bandwidth across the connection points. Additional enhancements include central controllers, zero-touch provisioning, integrated analytics and on-demand circuit provisioning, with some network intelligence based in the cloud, allowing centralized policy management and security.


title: SD-WAN

text: Networking publications started using the term SD-WAN to describe this new networking trend as early as 2014. With the rapid shift to remote work as a result of lockdowns and stay at home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, SD-WAN grew in popularity as a way of connecting remote workers.


title: SD-WAN

text: WANs allow companies to extend their computer networks over large distances, connecting remote branch offices to data centers and to each other, and delivering applications and services required to perform business functions. Due to the physical constraints imposed by the propagation time over large distances, and the need to integrate multiple service providers to cover global geographies (often crossing nation boundaries), WANs face important operational challenges, including network congestion, packet delay variation, packet loss, and even service outages. Modern applications such as VoIP calling, videoconferencing, streaming media, and virtualized applications and desktops require low latency. Bandwidth requirements are also increasing, especially for applications featuring high-definition video. It can be expensive and difficult to expand WAN capability, with corresponding difficulties related to network management and troubleshooting.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WAN products are designed to address these network problems. By enhancing or even replacing traditional branch routers with virtualization appliances that can control application-level policies and offer a network overlay, less expensive consumer-grade Internet links can act more like a dedicated circuit. This simplifies the setup process for branch personnel.


title: SD-WAN

text: The MEF Forum has defined an SD-WAN architecture consisting of an SD-WAN Edge, SD-WAN Gateway, SD-WAN Controller and SD-WAN Orchestrator.


title: SD-WAN

text: The SD-WAN Edge is a physical or virtual network function that is placed at an organization's branch/regional/central office site, data center, and in public or private cloud platforms. MEF Forum has published the first SD-WAN service standard, MEF 70 which defines the fundamental characteristics of an SD-WAN service plus service requirements and attributes.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WAN Gateways provide access to the SD-WAN service in order to shorten the distance to cloud-based services or the user, and reduce service interruptions. A distributed network of gateways may be included in an SD-WAN service by the vendor or setup and maintained by the organization using the service. By sitting outside the headquarters in the cloud, the gateway also reduces headquarters traffic.


title: SD-WAN

text: The SD-WAN Orchestrator is a cloud hosted or on-premises web management tool that allows configuration, provisioning and other functions when operating an SD-WAN. It simplifies application traffic management by allowing central implementation of an organization's business policies.


title: SD-WAN

text: The SD-WAN Controller functionality, which can be placed in the Orchestrator or in an SD-WAN Gateway, is used to make forwarding decisions for application flows. Application flows are IP packets that have been classified to determine their user application or grouping of applications to which they are associated. The grouping of application flows based on a common type, e.g., conferencing applications, is referred to as an Application Flow Group in MEF 70. Per MEF 70, the SD-WAN Edge classifies incoming IP packets at the SD-WAN UNI (SD-WAN User Network Interface), determines, via OSI Layer 2 through Layer 7 classification, which application flow the IP packets belong to, and then applies the policies to block the application flow or allow the application flows to be forwarded based on the availability of a route to the destination SD-WAN UNI on a remote SD-WAN Edge. This helps ensure that application performance meets service level agreements (SLAs).


title: SD-WAN

text: Features of SD-WANs include resilience, quality of service (QoS), security, and performance, with flexible deployment options; simplified administration and troubleshooting; and online traffic engineering.


title: SD-WAN

text: A resilient SD-WAN reduces network downtime. To be resilient, the technology must feature real-time detection of outages and automatic switch over (fail over) to working links.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WAN technology supports quality of service by having application level awareness, giving bandwidth priority to the most critical applications. This may include dynamic path selection, sending an application on a faster link, or even splitting an application between two paths to improve performance by delivering it faster.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WANs can improve application delivery using caching, storing recently accessed information in memory to speed future access.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WANs can incorporate Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) for continuous troubleshooting and fixes to network issues.


title: SD-WAN

text: Most SD-WAN products are available as pre-configured appliances, placed at the network edge in data centers, branch offices and other remote locations. There are also virtual appliances that can work on existing network hardware, or the appliance can be deployed as a virtual appliance on the cloud in environments such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Unified Communications as a service (UCaaS) or as Software as a Service (SaaS). This allows enterprises to benefit from SD-WAN services as they migrate application delivery from corporate servers to cloud based services such as Salesforce.com and Google apps.


title: SD-WAN

text: As with network equipment in general, GUIs may be preferred to command line interface (CLI) methods of configuration and control. Other beneficial administrative features include automatic path selection, the ability to centrally configure each end appliance by pushing configuration changes out, and even a true software defined networking approach that lets all appliances and virtual appliances be configured centrally based on application needs rather than underlying hardware.


title: SD-WAN

text: With a global view of network status, a controller that manages SD-WAN can perform careful and adaptive traffic engineering by assigning new transfer requests according to current usage of resources (links). For example, this can be achieved by performing central calculation of transmission rates at the controller and rate-limiting at the senders (end-points) according to such rates.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WAN is a core component of secure access service edge solutions (SASE) which incorporate network and security capabilities to more efficiently and securely connect distributed work environments (branch office, headquarters, home office, remote) to distributed applications located in data centers, cloud infrastructure, or delivered by SaaS services. With SASE, SD-WAN is combined with other network and security technologies including Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Secure Web Gateway, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Firewall, and other capabilities to connect and protect users and applications. In December 2021, research firm Gartner estimated that by 2025, 50% of SD-WAN purchases will be part of a single vendor SASE offering.


title: SD-WAN

text: There are some similarities between SD-WAN and WAN optimization, the name given to the collection of techniques used to increase data-transfer efficiencies across WANs. The goal of each is to accelerate application delivery between branch offices and data centers, but SD-WAN technology focuses additionally on cost savings and efficiency, specifically by allowing lower cost network links to perform the work of more expensive leased lines, whereas WAN Optimization focuses squarely on improving packet delivery. An SD-WAN utilizing virtualization techniques assisted with WAN Optimization traffic control allows network bandwidth to dynamically grow or shrink as needed. SD-WAN technology and WAN optimization can be used separately or together, and some SD-WAN vendors are adding WAN optimization features to their products.


title: SD-WAN

text: A WAN edge router is a device that routes data packets between different WAN locations, giving enterprise access to a carrier network. Also called a boundary router, it is unlike a core router, which only sends packets within a single network. SD-WANs can work as an overlay to simplify the management of existing WAN edge routers, by lowering dependence on routing protocols. SD-WAN can also potentially be an alternative to WAN Edge routers.


title: SD-WAN

text: SD-WANs are similar to hybrid WANs, and sometimes the terms are used interchangeably, but they are not identical. A hybrid WAN consists of different connection types, and may have a software defined network (SDN) component, but doesn't have to.


title: SD-WAN

text: Cloud-based SD-WAN offers advanced features, such as enhanced security, seamless cloud, and support for mobile users, that result naturally from the use of cloud infrastructure. As a result, cloud-based SD-WAN can replace MPLS, enabling organizations to release resources once tied to WAN investments and create new capabilities.


title: SD-WAN

text: An overview discussing three typical reasons to compare MPLS with SD-WAN. Specifically where IT teams need to retain MPLS due to contract commitments and where the Enterprise migrates from MPLS to an Internet-based SD WAN.


title: SD-WAN

text: As there is no standard algorithm for SD-WAN controllers, device manufacturers each use their own proprietary algorithm in the transmission of data. These algorithms determine which traffic to direct over which link and when to switch traffic from one link to another. Given the breadth of options available in relation to both software and hardware SD-WAN control solutions, it's imperative they be tested and validated under real-world conditions within a lab setting prior to deployment.


title: SD-WAN

text: There are multiple solutions available for testing purposes, ranging from purpose-built network emulation appliances which can apply specified network impairments to the network being tested in order to reliably validate performance, to software-based solutions.


title: SD-WAN

text: IT website Network World divides the SD-WAN vendor market into three groups: established networking vendors who are adding SD-WAN products to their offerings, WAN specialists who are starting to integrate SD-WAN functionality into their products, and startups focused specifically on the SD-WAN market. The global SD-WAN market stood at $ 3.25 billion in 2021 and the market is expected to grow 30% in 2022. According to SD-WAN market Report Datavagyanik, North America accounted for more than 77% of the market.


title: SD-WAN

text: Alternatively, a market overview by Nemertes Research groups SD-WAN vendors into categories based on their original technology space, and which are "Pure-play SD-WAN providers", "WAN optimization vendors", "Link-aggregation vendors", and "General network vendors". While Network World's second category (startups focused specifically on the SD-WAN market), is generally equivalent to Nemertes' "Pure-play SD-WAN providers" category, Nemertes offers a more detailed view of the preexisting WAN and overall networking providers.


title: SD-WAN

text: Additionally, Nemertes Research also describes the in-net side of the SD-WAN market, describing the go-to-market strategy of connectivity providers entering the SD-WAN market. These providers include "Network-as-a-service vendors", "Carriers or telcos", "Content delivery networks" and "Secure WAN providers".


title: SD-WAN

text: MEF 70 standardizes SD-WAN service attributes and uses standard IPv4 and IPv6 routing protocols. SD-WAN services also use standard IPsec encryption protocols. Additional standardization for other SD-WAN functions and related security functionality not covered in MEF 70 are under development at the MEF Forum. There are several opensource SD-WAN solutions and opensource SD-WAN implementations available. For example, the Linux Foundation has three projects that intersect with and help the SD-WAN market: ONAP, OpenDaylight Project, and the Tungsten Fabric (formerly Juniper Networks' OpenContrail).


title: Perch

text: Perch is a common name for fish of the genus Perca, freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Perciformes, from the (), simply meaning perch, and the Latin "forma" meaning shape. Many species of freshwater gamefish more or less resemble perch, but belong to different genera. In fact, the exclusively saltwater-dwelling red drum is often referred to as a red perch, though by definition perch are freshwater fish. Though many fish are referred to as perch as a common name, to be considered a true perch, the fish must be of the family Percidae.


title: Perch

text: Perch have a long and round body shape which allows for fast swimming in the water. True perch have "rough" or ctenoid scales. Perch have paired pectoral and pelvic fins, and two dorsal fins, the first one spiny and the second soft. These two fins can be separate or joined. The head consists of the skull (formed from loosely connected bones), eyes, mouth, operculum, gills, and a pair of nostrils (which has no connection to the oral cavity). They have small brush-like teeth across their jaws and on the roof of their mouth. The gills are located under the operculum on both sides of the head and are used to extract oxygen molecules from water and expel carbon dioxide; the gills have gill rakers inside the mouth.


title: Perch

text: External anatomy can be used to determine the sex of perch in multiple ways. Perch have two posterior openings located on their abdomen, the anal and urogenital. In males, the shape of the urogenital opening is round and larger than the anal opening. In females, the urogenital opening is often a V- or U-shape which is a similar size to the anal opening. Also, males usually have a more brown-red colored urogenital opening compared to females.


title: Perch

text: The esophagus is a flexible tube that goes from the mouth to the stomach. The stomach is connected to the intestine via the pyloric sphincter. The intestines of perch consist of the small intestine and large intestine; the intestines have many pyloric caeca and a spiral value, the small intestine consists of a part called the duodenum. The spleen is located after the stomach and before the spiral value. The spleen is connected to the circulatory system, not part of the digestive tract. The liver is composed of three lobes: one small lobe (includes the gall bladder) and two large lobes. Perch have long and narrow kidneys that contain clusters of nephrons which empty into the mesonephric duct. They have a two-chambered heart consisting of four compartments: the sinus venous, one atrium, one ventricle, and conus. Perch have a swim bladder that helps control buoyancy or floating within the water, the swim bladder is only found in bony fish. In perch, the duct connecting the swim bladder to the pharynx is closed so air is unable to pass through from the mouth, these fish are called "physoclists". Specifically in perch, the gas bladder can vary from 12% to 25% of oxygen and 1.4% to 2.9% of carbon dioxide gas. Perch reproductive organs include either a pair of testes (sperm-producing) or a pair of ovaries (egg-producing).


title: Perch

text: Perch are classified as carnivores, choosing waters where smaller fish, shellfish, and insect larvae are abundant. The perch can be found in the central parts of the United States in freshwater ponds, lakes, streams, or rivers. These fish can be found in freshwater all over the world, and are known to inhabit the Great Lake region, in particular Lake Erie. These fish inhabit bodies of water where vegetation and debris is readily accessible. In the spring when the perch chooses to spawn, they use vegetation to conceal their eggs from predators.


title: Perch

text: Perch are a popular sport fish species. They are known to put up a fight, and to be good for eating. They can be caught with a variety of methods, including float fishing, lure fishing, and legering. Fly fishing for perch using patterns that imitate small fry or invertebrates can be successful. The record weight for this fish in Britain is , the Netherlands , and in America .


title: Perch

text: Perch grow to around and or more, but the most common size caught are around and or less and anything over and is considered a prize catch.


title: Korg (character)

text: Korg is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Greg Pak and artist Carlo Pagulayan, the character first appeared in "The Incredible Hulk" (2000) #93 (cover date May 2006) during the "Planet Hulk" storyline.


title: Korg (character)

text: Taika Waititi portrays Korg, through the use of motion capture, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films "" (2017), "" (2019), and "" (2022) along with the short film "Deadpool and Korg React" (2021). Additionally, Waititi voices an alternate timeline version in the Disney+ animated series "What If...?" (2021).


title: Korg (character)

text: Created by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan, Korg was inspired by Thor's origin story and was later retconned in "The Incredible Hulk" vol. 2 #94 into one of the stone creatures that fought Thor in "Journey into Mystery" #83 released in 1962.


title: Korg (character)

text: Korg is part of the Kronan race seen in "Journey into Mystery" #83. After his defeat at the hands of Thor when the Stone Men tried to invade Earth, Korg became a prisoner of the Red King on the alien planet of Sakaar. He was forced into slavery by an obedience disk and made to fight for his life in the gladiatorial arenas. Korg was made to kill his brother Margus against his will, a fact that continues to haunt Korg.


title: Korg (character)

text: When the Hulk was exiled to the Red King's planet, Korg became the Hulk's ally after he and five others were victorious during one of the gladiator games that rule on the planet as a form of entertainment. Korg was the first to let the group talk to each other, and after more victories in the game, Korg became a gladiator. Still fighting alongside the Hulk, Korg was part of the group that rebelled against the Red King after the Silver Surfer used his Power Cosmic to destroy the disks that controlled the slaves. The Surfer had also been made a slave by such a disk, but it was destroyed by the Hulk when they were forced to battle (in the film adaptation, it was Beta Ray Bill, not the Silver Surfer, using the lightning powers of his hammer, Stormbreaker, to perform this feat).


title: Korg (character)

text: After the detonation of Sakaar, Korg convinces Hiroim (who has lost hope and wanted to stay and die) to come with him on the space ship. Korg was with the Hulk and the others and managed to knock out Wonder Man. However, after the discovery that Miek had triggered the destruction of Sakaar, Korg and the other surviving Warbound surrendered to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, only to escape when earthquakes began to tear Manhattan Island apart due to the damage the Hulk had caused. Working with fellow Warbound member Hiroim and Earth hero Thing, Korg was able to heal the damage caused to the island, before he and his fellow Warbound retreated into the sewers.


title: Korg (character)

text: Korg is also featured in "World War Hulk: Frontline" as a detective of sorts and is partnered up with a New York detective when investigating the death of Arch-E-5912. In the "" issue of World War Hulk, Korg is confronted by his fear when Trauma comes to rescue his fellow Cadets: Korg's worst fear is the Thunder god Thor.


title: Korg (character)

text: In the miniseries Warbound, he helps in the defeat of the Leader who has turned a city in the middle of the desert into a new Gamma World but at the cost of Hiroim's life.


title: Korg (character)

text: During the "World War Hulks" storyline, Bruce Banner calls on Korg's help when Leader and MODOK transform an army and many of Earth's heroes into "Hulks", helping subdue them.


title: Korg (character)

text: During the 2010–2011 "Chaos War" storyline, Korg ends up helping the Hulks and A-Bomb fight a resurrected Abomination and the forces of Amatsu-Mikaboshi. When the Zom part of Doctor Strange is awakened by Amatsu-Mikaboshi, Marlo Chandler ends up using the death fragment to resurrect some of Hulk's allies. One of them is Hiroim as it is shown that Korg and Hiroim had a relationship (although Korg's people have no separate genders).


title: Korg (character)

text: During the 2016 "Civil War II" storyline, Korg was with the Warbound when they receive word that Bruce Banner is dead. When at Bruce's funeral, Korg stated how Hulk wanted to be left alone and how he made allies that were like family to him.


title: Korg (character)

text: When the Skrullduggers were emerging from a portal to Weirdworld in a Roxxon facility, Korg appeared to help the Brood-infected human Blake and Roxxon's Man-Thing in preventing the Skrullduggers from emerging from the portal. This was confirmed when Weapon H and Dario Agger came to check up on Blake and Man-Thing. Three days ago, Korg saves some soldiers from the Skrullduggers. His inner monologue states that he came to Weirdworld after hearing that Hulk is back from the dead. In the present, Korg learns from Dario Agger that the Roxxon soldiers are safe in a bunker in Weirdworld. As Weapon H leads the mission to Weirdworld, they are attacked by a tribe of blue-skinned humanoids called the Inaku who blame them for breaking the Earth and allowing the Skrullduggers to take their queen. After Weapon H frees his fellow captives, he has Korg and Titania stay behind to help Man-Thing fortify the Inaku village in case the Skrullduggers show up while Weapon H, Angel, and Blake go on a stealth mission to the Roxxon outpost. He and Titania help the Inaku set up a pit filled with spikes that are coated in berry poison. When the Skrullduggers attack, Man-Thing, Korg, and Titania assist the Inaku in defending their fortified village from the Skrullduggers until they suddenly go in one direction. Korg, Man-Thing, Titania find Weapon H with the Skrullduggers under Morgan le Fay's control as they attack the Inaku village. Thinking that Weapon H is in a battle frenzy, Korg reminds Titania that Weapon H is part-Hulk. When Morgan le Fay of Earth-15238 shows up and is identified as a queen to the Inaku, Titania and Korg are attacked by Protector Hara, the Skrullduggers, and Weapon H. Korg faces off against Weapon H. Korg and Titania catch up to Weapon H where they find that Dario has transformed into Minotaur. When everyone evacuates through the portal during Minotaur's fight with Morgan le Fay, Korg carries Sonia through the portal. After Dario pays them the terms of their contract, Titania takes Blake, Korg, and Man-Thing out to a burger joint down the street.


title: Korg (character)

text: Like all Kronans, Korg possesses a body made of a durable, silicon-based substance that grants him protection against nearly all forms of physical harm and gives him a rock-like appearance. In oxygen-rich atmospheres, Korg also possesses vast super strength almost comparable to Thing. His mineral state also grants him an extremely prolonged lifespan.


title: Korg (character)

text: When fighting as a gladiator, he mostly relied on his physical power and extremely durable form, rather than actual fighting skills. He is, however, an experienced military strategist and consummate pragmatist, constantly assessing his environment so he can tell what actions are necessary for his continued survival.


title: Korg (character)

text: Korg appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), voiced and motion captured by Taika Waititi. This version is blue, polite, speaks in a New Zealand accent, and says what is naturally on his mind. Waititi based Korg's voice and mannerisms on Polynesian/Maori New Zealanders, who are usually very soft-spoken and known for using humor.


title: Gloria Jones

text: Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as "The Queen of Northern Soul". She recorded the 1965 hit song "Tainted Love" and has worked in multiple genres as a Motown songwriter and recording artist, backing vocalist, and as a performer in musicals such as "Hair". In the 1970s, she was a keyboardist and vocalist in Marc Bolan's glam rock band T. Rex. She and Bolan were also in a committed romantic relationship and had a son, Rolan Bolan (born September 26, 1975), together.


title: Gloria Jones

text: Jones was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of seven, where she first started singing. Jones' first taste of fame came at the age of 14, when, while still at school, she formed with Frankie Kahrl and Billy Preston the successful gospel group the COGIC Singers, with whom she recorded the album "It's a Blessing". Although she remained with the group for some four years, she soon found herself drawn into the Los Angeles pop scene.


title: Gloria Jones

text: In 1964, Jones, in her late teens, was discovered by the songwriter Ed Cobb. Signing with Cobb's Greengrass Productions, she recorded her first hit record, "Heartbeat Pts 1 & 2," which Cobb wrote and produced.


title: Gloria Jones

text: She toured the United States, performing on several American television programs, footage of which still exists. One performance occurred at a Rock and Soul show in Disneyland in the summer of 1965. "Heartbeat" became a rhythm and blues tune which was recorded later by Dusty Springfield, Spencer Davis and many other artists.


title: Gloria Jones

text: By then, Jones had recorded other songs for Uptown Records, a subsidiary of Capitol/EMI. Included among these was another Cobb-written song, "Tainted Love". So strong was Jones's following in Northern England that she was proclaimed "The Queen of Northern Soul".


title: Gloria Jones

text: Jones also recorded an album for the Uptown label entitled "Come Go with Me" which was released in 1966. Jones studied piano, and acquired an advanced classical degree primarily in the works of Bach.


title: Gloria Jones

text: In 1968, she joined the cast of "Catch My Soul", a rock and soul version of the play "Othello", which included cast members Jerry Lee Lewis, The Blossoms, and Dr. John. During the summer of 1968, she performed in a play called "Revolution", at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. That winter, she joined the Los Angeles cast of "Hair", the musical. Eventually, she was to meet Pam Sawyer, who asked her to write for Motown Records. Jones and Sawyer were amongst the second string of writers at Motown, but still wrote for such artists as Gladys Knight & the Pips, Commodores, The Four Tops and The Jackson 5.


title: Gloria Jones

text: As Jones was also initially a singer for the label, protocol demanded a pseudonym, so for some of her co-writes she used the name LaVerne Ware (not to be confused with another Motown songwriter/producer, Leon Ware).


title: Gloria Jones

text: Songs that Jones worked on during this period include The Supremes' "Have I Lost You" (writer), Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross's "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" (writer), Junior Walker's "I Ain't Goin' Nowhere" (writer/producer) and the Four Tops' "Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)" (writer). In 1970 she provided backing vocals on Ry Cooder's eponymous first album. The best-known song that Jones penned was Gladys Knight and the Pips' "If I Were Your Woman", which was nominated for a Grammy in 1971. Jones left Motown at the end of 1973, following the release of her album "Share My Love".


title: Gloria Jones

text: Jones first met Marc Bolan of T. Rex in 1969 while performing in "Hair" (Los Angeles cast). While touring in Europe, Bolan and Jones met for the second time at the Speakeasy in London. In 1972, she was recommended by Warner Brothers' Bob Regehr to sing backing vocals behind T. Rex at Winterland in San Francisco.


title: Gloria Jones

text: Soon after joining T. Rex, Jones and Bolan became romantically involved. They had a son, Rolan Bolan (b. September 26, 1975). She sang backing vocals and played clavinet with T. Rex from 1973 to 1977. Her rendition of "Dock of the Bay" appears as a bonus track on T. Rex's album "Bolan's Zip Gun". Jones released an album in 1976, called "Vixen", which featured several songs written by Bolan, and he also was the producer for the album.


title: Gloria Jones

text: In 1977, Jones worked with the group Gonzalez, producing several of their singles, and also penning the disco hit, "Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" for the group. She toured the UK with Gonzalez, first on the Bob Marley tour, and then with Osibisa.


title: Gloria Jones

text: She was the driver of the car, a Mini 1275 GT, that crashed near Barnes Common, striking a tree and killing Bolan at 4 a.m. on September 16, 1977, on the way back to Bolan's Richmond property. They were returning from an evening at a restaurant in Mayfair where they had both been drinking wine. Jones was found by her brother Richard, her foot trapped beneath the clutch by the engine, while Bolan was found still in the passenger seat which had been dislodged and landed in the rear of the vehicle. Jones broke her jaw in the accident. When she was well enough to leave the hospital, she was informed that Bolan's fans had looted most of their possessions from their house. She was later scheduled to appear in court in London on charges of being unfit to drive and of driving a car in a dangerous condition. However, she left the UK with her son and returned to the US before the court date so the Coroner's Court recorded a verdict of accidental death.


title: Gloria Jones

text: Having lost her possessions, Jones moved with her son back to Los Angeles where they stayed with Jones' family.


title: Gloria Jones

text: In 1978, she released the album "Windstorm", which she dedicated to the memory of Bolan: the back cover reads, "Special dedication in memory of my son's father, Marc Bolan, whom we miss very much." Her single "Bring on the Love" was a success on the American R&B chart.


title: Gloria Jones

text: Jones stayed in the music industry for several years after, releasing an album produced by Ed Cobb, titled "Reunited" in 1981. She also collaborated again with Billy Preston and other Cogic Singers for a 1984 reunion album "The Cogic's". She has since worked as a musical supervisor for films.


title: Gloria Jones

text: In 2010, together with her son Rolan, she established the Marc Bolan School of Music & Film in Makeni, Sierra Leone.


title: Tobiko

text: The eggs are small, ranging from 0.5 to 0.8 mm. For comparison, "tobiko" is larger than "masago" (capelin roe), but smaller than "ikura" (salmon roe). Natural "tobiko" has a red-orange color, a mild smoky or salty taste, and a crunchy texture.


title: Tobiko

text: "Tobiko" is sometimes colored to change its appearance: other natural ingredients are used to accomplish the change, such as squid ink to make it black, "yuzu" to make it pale orange (almost yellow), or even "wasabi" to make it green and spicy. A serving of "tobiko" can contain several pieces, each having a different color.


title: Tobiko

text: When prepared as "sashimi", it may be presented on avocado halves or wedges. "Tobiko" is used in the creation of many other Japanese dishes. Often, it is used as an ingredient in California rolls.


title: Tobiko

text: Frequently, "masago" (capelin or smelt roe) is substituted for "tobiko", due to its similar appearance and flavor. The smaller size of the individual eggs is apparent to the experienced diner, however.


title: Ukraine International Airlines

text: Ukraine International Airlines PJSC, often shortened to UIA (, ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Ukraine, with its head office in Kyiv and its main hub at Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport. It operates domestic and international passenger flights and cargo services to Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and Asia.


title: Ukraine International Airlines

text: It was established as an alternative to Ukraine Airlines - a remnant of the Soviet Era in which each country had an operating airline under financial and commercial control of Aeroflot's main office in Moscow until the Soviet Union broke up and the airliners on the ground at each airport became the property of the state in which they were grounded. In early 1992, the then Minister for aviation in Ukraine reached an agreement on the lease of 2 B37-400's from GPA and the establishment of a new airline to operate to "Internationally acceptable standards of Safety, Reliability, and Service between Ukraine and Europe.


title: Ukraine International Airlines

text: In September 1992 GPA and the new airline appointed the International Aviation consultancy - Dublin-based, Avia International - to project-lead the establishment and launch of the airline. Working closely with selected ex-staff of Ukraine Airlines the joint team succeeded in launching flights to multiple destinations on schedule - on 25 November 1992 with a Kyiv-London flight. Other routes inaugurated in this period were Kyiv to Berlin, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Amsterdam.