title: Andre Johnson

text: Andre Lamont Johnson (born July 11, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver who played most of his 14-year career with the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Miami, and was drafted by the Texans third overall in the 2003 NFL Draft. He is 11th all-time in NFL career receptions, and in NFL receiving yards. Johnson holds nearly every Texans receiving record. He was also a member of the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans. During his career, Johnson was named to the Pro Bowl seven times, the All-Pro team four times, and emerged as one of the NFL's most productive wide receivers of the 21st century.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson attended Miami Senior High School, where he graduated in 1999. He played high school football and was rated as one of the top prospects in the country. As a senior, Johnson caught 32 passes for 931 yards and was named a "Parade" All-American.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson enrolled at the University of Miami, where he was a standout wide receiver on the Miami Hurricanes football team from 2000 to 2003. He was co-MVP of the 2002 Rose Bowl, in which the Hurricanes defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers by a score of 37–14 to cap an undefeated season and their fifth national championship. In that game, Johnson connected with quarterback Ken Dorsey for two touchdowns and 199 yards. Johnson finished his college career catching 92 passes for 1,831 yards (19.9-yard average) and 20 touchdowns. His 1,831 receiving yards is ranked fifth on the University of Miami's all-time career list.


title: Andre Johnson

text: While at Miami, Johnson also ran for the Hurricanes track and field team. In 2002, he won the Big East 60-meter dash with a time of 6.81 seconds at the Big East Indoor Championship and followed that up by winning the 100-meter dash with a career-best time of 10.59 seconds at the Big East Outdoor Championships. He won the 200-meter dash at the 2003 GMAC Championships with a career-best time of 21.48 seconds. Also a top competitor in the 400 meters, he ran a career-best time of 46.47 seconds in the finals of the 2003 FHSAA Class 3A Championships.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson was the third overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans. He severed ties with NFL agents Michael Huyghue and Jeff Moorad before hiring sports attorney Don West, Jr. to negotiate his rookie contract with the Texans. Johnson was signed to a six-year, $39 million contract and was able to start training camp on time due to a timely contract negotiation. His rookie contract included over $13.501 million in guaranteed compensation.


title: Andre Johnson

text: In Johnson's rookie season, he started and played in all 16 games, recording 66 receptions for 976 yards and four touchdowns for the 5–11 Texans. He had three games going over the 100-yard mark on the year, one of which was his first NFL multi-touchdown game in Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs in a 42–14 loss. He was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson's breakout year came in 2004 when he combined with Texans quarterback David Carr to record 79 catches for 1,142 yards and six touchdowns in the Texans 7–9 season. He had four games going over the 100-yard mark, including a 170-yard, two-touchdown day against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5. He was selected to his first Pro Bowl in recognition of his successful season.


title: Andre Johnson

text: In Week 12, Johnson had 12 receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown against the St. Louis Rams in a 33–27 loss. In Week 16, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he had seven receptions for 119 yards and a touchdown in a 38–20 loss. Johnson played in 13 games due to injury and had 63 receptions with 688 yards and two touchdowns as the Texans finished a franchise-worst 2–14. When interviewed in 2012, Johnson said that he was frustrated with the team's struggles, even saying that at times he "didn't want to get up and go to work", but knew that with a new franchise, struggles were expected and he wanted to be there to see the team make the next step.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson returned from injury and started all 16 games. In Week 3, against Washington, he had 11 receptions for 152 yards in a 31–15 loss. In Week 4, against the Miami Dolphins, he earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week with nine receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown in a 17–15 victory. He led the NFL in receptions with 103 and finished with 1,147 yards and five touchdowns in the Texans 6–10 season. He made his second Pro Bowl appearance.


title: Andre Johnson

text: On March 3, 2007, the Texans signed Johnson to a six-year extension; the deal was worth $60 million and includes $15 million in guarantees.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson started the 2007 season with seven receptions for 142 yards and a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs in a 20–3 victory in Week 1. In Week 2, against the Carolina Panthers, he had seven receptions for 120 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a 34–21 victory. Starting in Week 3, Johnson missed seven games due to injury. He returned mid-season to finish with 851 receiving yards and a career-high eight receiving touchdowns as the Texans went 8–8. He led the league in receiving yards per game in 2007 with 95.6.


title: Andre Johnson

text: For his efforts in the month of October, Johnson earned AFC Offensive Player of the Month. In the month, he had 41 total receptions and had games with 131, 178, 141, and 143 receiving yards. On December 14, 2008, Johnson recorded his first 200-yard game with 207 yards and one touchdown in the Texans' 13–12 win over their AFC South rival Tennessee Titans. Johnson finished the 2008 season recording career highs in receptions and receiving yards totaling 115 receptions for 1,575 yards (both of which lead the league) and touchdown receptions with eight. This same season, Johnson became the first player in NFL history to record seven games with at least 10 receptions. He was named to the Pro Bowl and was a First-team All-Pro.


title: Andre Johnson

text: In Week 2, against the Tennessee Titans, Johnson had ten receptions for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the 34–31 victory. In Week 5, against the Arizona Cardinals, he had eight receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns in the 28–21 loss. In the following game against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had eight receptions for 135 yards in the 28–17 victory. In Week 14, against the Seattle Seahawks, he had 11 receptions for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the 34–7 victory. He followed that up with nine receptions for 196 receiving yards in the 16–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams in Week 15. In the 2009 season, Johnson once again led the league in receiving yards with 1,569 on 101 receptions and a career-high nine touchdowns to lead the Texans to a 9–7 record, the first winning record in franchise history. Johnson joined Jerry Rice as the only two receivers since the merger to lead the league in receiving yards in consecutive seasons. However, the Texans narrowly missed the playoffs on tiebreakers to the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets, who also finished with a 9–7 record but had better conference records. Once again, Johnson was named to both the Pro Bowl and the First-team All-Pro.


title: Andre Johnson

text: On August 4, 2010, Johnson became the highest paid wide receiver in NFL history when he signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him under contract through the 2016 season.


title: Andre Johnson

text: In Week 2, a 30–27 victory over the Washington Redskins, he had 12 receptions for 158 yards and a touchdown to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week. In Week 6, against the Kansas City Chiefs, he had eight receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown in the 35–31 victory. In Week 10 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he had nine receptions for 146 yards and a touchdown in the 31–24 loss. In Week 12, against the Tennessee Titans, Johnson became the first player in NFL history to have 60 or more receptions in each of his first eight seasons. In the same game, he fought Tennessee Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan. After being jammed hard off the line of scrimmage by Finnegan to the head and neck area repeatedly throughout the game, Johnson lost his temper and pulled off Finnegan's helmet. Finnegan then removed and threw Johnson's helmet down-field and was promptly thrown to the ground by his jersey. Johnson then proceeded to strike Finnegan on the back of his head and neck before being pulled away by the referee. Johnson and Finnegan were ejected from the game, but not suspended. Both were fined $25,000 for their unsportsmanlike actions. In Week 13, against the Philadelphia Eagles, he had six receptions for 149 yards in the 34–24 loss. In the following game, he had nine receptions for 140 yards and two touchdowns against the Baltimore Ravens in the 34–28 loss. Johnson finished the 2010 season with 86 receptions for 1,216 yards and eight touchdowns. He was invited to the 2011 Pro Bowl, but the Texans finished 6–10 and missed the playoffs once again. He was ranked seventh his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2011.


title: Andre Johnson

text: In the first three weeks, Johnson had caught seven passes in each of the first three games for at least 90 yards per game and had two touchdown catches. However, just as running back Arian Foster had returned from a hamstring injury, Johnson suffered one of his own in Week 4 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the second quarter, as Johnson caught a pass from Matt Schaub, he went down untouched, grabbing his right hamstring. The injury caused him to miss nine games and playing limited snaps in the other three. Johnson finished the season with career-lows in games played (7), receptions (33), yards (492), and touchdowns (2), but the Texans, in their tenth season in the NFL, made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history by winning the AFC South Division with a 10–6 record.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson made his playoff debut against the Cincinnati Bengals in the on January 7, 2012. In the game, Johnson had five receptions for 90 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown catch. The Texans won 31–10 and advanced to the where they fell to the Baltimore Ravens 20–13. Johnson caught eight passes for 111 yards in the losing effort. He was ranked 15th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2012.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson started off the 2012 season with eight receptions for 119 receiving yards and one touchdown in a 30–10 victory over the Miami Dolphins. In Week 6, Johnson became the first Texan in franchise history to reach the 10,000 receiving yards milestone during a "Sunday Night Football" loss to the Green Bay Packers in 2012.


title: Andre Johnson

text: On November 18, 2012, Johnson had the best game of his career in a Week 11 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had 14 receptions for 273 yards in that game, including the 48-yard game-winning touchdown in overtime. His receiving total was ninth-most in a game in NFL history and was the most for any receiver since Terrell Owens had 283 yards for the San Francisco 49ers in 2000. On November 22, Johnson had nine receptions for 188 yards in a Week 12 victory, again in overtime, over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Thursday, crossing the 1,000 yards receiving mark for the sixth time in his career. Johnson set the NFL record for the highest receiving total in back-to-back games with 461 yards, beating the previous record of 450 yards set by Chad Johnson. Due to Johnson's efforts, he was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month. In Week 15, against the Indianapolis Colts, he had 11 receptions for 151 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 29–17 victory. In the regular season finale against the Colts, he had 12 receptions for 141 receiving yards in the 28–16 loss.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson finished the 2012 NFL season second in receiving yards with a career-high 1,598 yards after Calvin Johnson and fourth in receptions with 112 receptions after Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall, and Wes Welker. Johnson had one of the best seasons of his career even though he played through a groin injury that limited his production during the first half of the season. Many analysts doubted he would not be able to return to top form after his injury in 2011 and his limited production during the first half of the season. Johnson had his third 1,500+ yard season in his career. He is tied with Marvin Harrison for the second-most 1,500+ yard seasons with three, after Jerry Rice who has four. Johnson was selected to play in the 2013 Pro Bowl, his sixth selection of his career. Johnson was voted onto the 2012 All-Pro Team's Second-team, his fifth All-Pro selection in his career. He was ranked 14th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson started out the 2013 season with 12 receptions for 146 receiving yards in a 31–28 victory over the San Diego Chargers. In Week 4, against the Seattle Seahawks, he had nine receptions for 110 yards in the 23–20 loss. In Week 9, against the Indianapolis Colts, he had nine receptions for 229 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in the 27–24 loss. In the game, Johnson became the second-fastest player in NFL history to reach 12,000 career receiving yards. In Week 11, against the Oakland Raiders, he had ten receptions for 116 receiving yards in the 28–23 loss. In Week 13, against the New England Patriots, he had eight receptions for 121 receiving yards in the 34–31 loss. In the following game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he had 13 receptions for 154 receiving yards in the 27–20 loss. He appeared in and started all 16 games for the Texans. He had 109 receptions for 1,407 yards and five touchdowns. He was named to his final Pro Bowl. He was ranked 21st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014.


title: Andre Johnson

text: In the 2014 season, Johnson appeared in, and started, 15 games. He had 85 receptions for 936 yards and three touchdowns in what was his final season with the Texans.


title: Andre Johnson

text: On March 2, 2015, Johnson was informed that he would not be starting for the Texans for the 2015 season. He was given permission to seek a trade and if unsuccessful, he requested to be cut. After failing to find a team willing to trade for Johnson, the Texans released him on March 9, 2015.


title: Andre Johnson

text: With the retirement of Reggie Wayne, 34-year-old Johnson began the 2015 season as the NFL's active leader in receiving yards, which he remained until passed by Steve Smith Sr. in Week 4 of 2016. The best game of Johnson's 2015 season came against his former team, the Houston Texans, where he caught six passes for 77 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson was released on March 9, 2016. In his only season with the Colts, Johnson made 41 receptions for 503 yards and four touchdowns.


title: Andre Johnson

text: On July 29, 2016, Johnson agreed to a two-year contract with the Tennessee Titans. In his lone season with the Titans and final season in the NFL, he appeared in only eight games and started four. He had nine receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns. One of his touchdowns was a fourth down game-winner against the Detroit Lions in Week 2 from Marcus Mariota.


title: Andre Johnson

text: Johnson announced his retirement on October 31, 2016. On April 19, 2017, Johnson signed a one-day contract with the Texans so he could officially retire as a member of the team. During his farewell press conference he said his only regret was not bringing a championship to Houston and "even when I was with the Colts and the Titans, my heart never left this place." On November 19, 2017, Johnson was the first-ever inductee into the Texans Ring of Honor.


title: Andre Johnson

text: In 2003, Johnson's rookie season, he founded the Andre Johnson Foundation for children and teens growing up in single-parent homes. He has a daughter, Kylie, who was born in February 2010.


title: Andre Johnson

text: On December 4, 2012, Johnson made headlines around the world when it was shared that he spent over $19,000 for kids aged 8–16 in Child Protective Services to have a shopping spree at Toys R' Us. Johnson's own foundation, the Andre Johnson Charitable Foundation, funded the spree. The shopping spree is an event that Johnson partakes in yearly; however, due to a photo of him holding up lengthy receipts, this was the first year the shopping spree generated worldwide attention. After the spree, Johnson also joined the Houston Police Department's Blue Santa program to surprise 800 students at Houston's Bastian Elementary School with Christmas presents.


title: Jae Suh Park

text: Jae Suh Park (Korean: 박재서, born April 5, 1984) is an American actress who starred in the 2017 Netflix comedy series "Friends from College".


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: Domenico Tedesco (; born 12 September 1985) is an Italian-German football manager who was most recently the head coach of RB Leipzig.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: When Tedesco was two years old, his family emigrated from the Italian province of Cosenza to Germany and settled in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg. Tedesco and his younger brother later acquired German citizenship. As a player, he was active for ASV Aichwald in the Kreisliga A.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: On 1 July 2008, Tedesco began to work in the youth department of VfB Stuttgart as an assistant coach under Thomas Schneider. From 2013 onwards he was assistant coach of the under-17 team before being promoted to head coach during the course of the season. At the end of the 2014–15 season, he left Stuttgart to become youth manager for 1899 Hoffenheim. He was promoted to under-19 coach ahead of the 2016–17 season. He graduated from the Hennes-Weisweiler-Akademie, Germany's football coaching academy, as the top student of the class of 2016.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: On 8 March 2017, the then last-placed team of 2016–17 2. Bundesliga Erzgebirge Aue appointed Tedesco as their new head coach. He earned 13 points from his first five matches and ended the season in 14th place, sparing the club from relegation. He finished with a record of six wins, two draws, and three losses.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: Starting with the 2017–18 season, Tedesco took over the managerial spot for Bundesliga side Schalke 04. He inked a two-year deal with the Royal Blues on 9 June 2017.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: On 25 November 2017, Tedesco's side went 4–0 down at half time against rivals Borussia Dortmund. Schalke eventually drew 4–4 in a historic Revierderby, earning him Bundesliga's Man of Matchday 13, the first manager to ever win the award.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: He guided Schalke to a second-place finish in the Bundesliga in his first season in charge of the club.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: After a 0–7 defeat against Manchester City in the Champions League round of 16 and seven winless games in a row, Tedesco was sacked on 14 March 2019.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: On 14 October 2019, the Russian club Spartak Moscow appointed Tedesco as their new head coach. He signed a contract that ran until June 2021.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: Throughout his tenure he generally kept Spartak at the top of the league table, gaining popularity amongst the fans, not only for his performance as manager, but also because of his emotional, charismatic and outgoing character.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: On 16 December 2020, he announced that he will not extend his contract with Spartak after June 2021, the originally agreed date, due the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the time he is able to spend with his family.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: In a highly emotional final game, in which Spartak needed to either draw or win against FC Akhmat Grozny to remain in second place and reach the Champions League third qualifying round, the final score was 2–2. This was despite Tedesco's team being 2–0 down at half-time.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: On 9 December 2021, Tedesco took over the head coach position at RB Leipzig. In the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, RB Leipzig reached the semi-finals, in which they were eliminated by Rangers 3–2 on aggregate. On 21 May 2022, he led RB Leipzig to win the DFB-Pokal Final 4–2 on penalties against SC Freiburg.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: Despite the successful first season, the 2022–23 season started with several disappointing results, and he was fired on 7 September 2022 after a 4–1 home Champions League loss to Shakhtar Donetsk.


title: Domenico Tedesco

text: Born in Rossano, Italy, Tedesco's parents emigrated to Esslingen, Germany, when he was two years old. Coincidentally, his last name, Tedesco, means "German" in Italian language. After completing his vocational training as a wholesale merchant, he obtained a bachelor's degree in business engineering and a master's in innovation management. He holds dual German-Italian citizenship.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: Amanda Rollins is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama "", portrayed by Kelli Giddish. Rollins was a detective with the Manhattan Special Victims Unit at the 16th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: Rollins transfers from the Atlanta PD to Manhattan SVU in June 2011. Being from Atlanta, she is a fan of the Braves, whose schedule she keeps on her refrigerator door. She has a dog named Frannie that she dotes on.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: Rollins grew up in Loganville, and has a bachelor's degree in forensic science. While working for the Atlanta PD, she was stationed at Precinct Zone 8.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: Rollins comes from a dysfunctional family. Her father Jim (James Morrison) is an alcoholic and a gambling addict who often beat her mother, Beth Anne (Virginia Madsen), and her younger sister, Kim (Lindsay Pulsipher), is a cocaine addict with bipolar disorder whose frequent brushes with the law often cause trouble for Rollins. She has a strained relationship with her mother, who favors Kim and whom Rollins looks down on for not fighting back against the abuse she suffered. This has sometimes affected her interactions with domestic abuse victims.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: The character is at first portrayed as wet behind the ears and over-eager, and is frequently chastised by Captain Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) for getting ahead of herself. Over time, however, she grows into the job.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: She shares a good rapport with her partner, Detective Fin Tutuola (Ice-T). Shortly after transferring to the 16th Precinct, Rollins investigates a series of rapes that she believes are being committed by a suspect in one of her cases in Georgia. Rollins tries to prove to Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) that the rapist originated in Atlanta and has come to New York for new prey. She nearly falls victim to him while trying to flush him out; the rapist has a preference for blonde, athletic women like her.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In the season 14 episode "Poisoned Motive", Rollins is shot by a sniper in front of the precinct. Her shooting leads back to the daughter of Tutuola's former partner, who is seeking revenge on the NYPD after her father was injured on the job.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In the season 14 episode "Deadly Ambition", Kim shows up at Rollins' door after leaving her abusive boyfriend, Jeff Parker (Theis Weckesser), who is also the father of her unborn child. One day, Rollins returns home to find Parker apparently raping Kim, and she shoots and kills him. Eventually, however, she discovers that Kim staged the rape to manipulate Rollins into killing Parker, all so she could collect on his life insurance policy. Kim makes withdrawals from the policy in both their names, making it look as if Rollins masterminded the plan to kill Parker, and disappears. Rollins is arrested and charged with murder, but is exonerated with help from the SVU squad.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In the season 16 episode "Forgiving Rollins", it is revealed that while Rollins was working for the Atlanta PD, her sister got into trouble with the law, and Rollins was willing to sleep with her boss, Deputy Chief Charles Patton (Harry Hamlin), in order to get the charges dropped. When he started to get too rough with her, Rollins withdrew her consent, but Patton overpowered and raped her. She later helps another of Patton's victims, APD Detective Reese Taymor (Dreama Walker), get justice, resulting in Patton going into forced retirement and being put on the sex offender registry.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In "Spousal Privilege", Rollins expresses the belief that domestic violence should be kept private unless the victim wishes to come forward, feeling that the police have no right to make choices on a woman's behalf. This leads to a conflict with Amaro, who witnessed his father regularly beat his mother, who refused to leave and report him. During an argument, Rollins drunkenly attempts to goad Amaro into hitting her, but he walks away. Much later in "Great Expectations", after having a child, she expresses disdain for a mother who did not protect her children from their father's abuse, and says the possibility that the mother is also being abused is no excuse.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: It is implied in several episodes that Rollins is in a romantic, or at least sexual, relationship with Amaro. In one episode, a suspect asks if they are sleeping together; they do not answer his question and change the subject. When Amaro beats up a suspect, Rollins blackmails the suspect's wife to get him to drop the charges. In the episode "Reasonable Doubt", Amaro comes out of a shower in Rollins' apartment, and joins her on a sofa, clad only in a towel. It is confirmed in season 17 that Amaro and Rollins were romantically involved when Rollins discovers she is pregnant and says Amaro is not the father, meaning they did at least sleep together.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: The father of Rollins' child is later revealed to be Lt. Declan Murphy (Donal Logue), her former commanding officer. Murphy is deep undercover in Eastern Europe when he learns of the pregnancy, but he returns to New York to give her a direct line to him if she ever needs him. While Rollins is in labor, she suffers a placental abruption, almost resulting in her death, but she survives and gives birth to a baby girl she names Jesse. Her partner, Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, (Peter Scanavino), who comes from a large family, frequently assists Rollins with the baby.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In "Heightened Emotions", Rollins’ turbulent relationship with her sister is revisited, as Kim is granted parole after having apparently gotten sober and found religion. At this point, Kim begs to stay with Rollins rather than going to a shelter, and Rollins reluctantly agrees. However, near the end of the episode, Rollins finds Kim taking pills and accuses her sister of relapsing, only to learn that the drugs were actually lithium and asenapine, which Kim has been taking for bipolar disorder after being officially diagnosed during her trial. Kim then admits to Rollins that while she misses her former manic energy, this is the first time in her life that she has felt good about herself.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In "Service", it is revealed that she dislikes escorts, to the point of suggesting that an escort rape victim brought the assault on herself. The victim shows up at the station to complain that the investigation is hurting her business, and Rollins gives her $300 out of disgust; insulted, the victim throws the money in Rollins' face. Eventually, however, Rollins comes to see the victim as a human being and is instrumental in bringing her rapist to justice. While having dinner with the victim to apologize for her behavior, Rollins admits that her prejudice against escorts stems from a former boyfriend cheating on her with one.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In "The Book of Esther", she uses deadly force during a hostage situation with a religious cult. Afterward, she finds out that she fired the shot that killed one of the cult members, a young woman she had tried to save from her abusive father, the patriarch of the cult. She is wracked with guilt, but finds some comfort in going to church.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In "Man Up", she reveals to Benson that she is pregnant with her second child. Also, she meets up with Dr. Al Pollack (George Newbern), her ex-boyfriend, for a lunch date and prepares to tell him about her pregnancy, but bolts out when she sees him flirting with a waitress and becomes unsure of balancing her second pregnancy with raising Jesse and with her work at SVU. In "Zero Tolerance", she considers getting back together with Pollack and tells him she is pregnant. When she is stunned by his reaction offering to pay for her abortion, after bonding with a girl who is separated from her mother and would like another sibling, she later decides to keep the baby, telling Pollack she does not need anything from him. After Pollack apologizes for his insensitive comments, Rollins decides to give him another chance. He eventually asks her to move in with him at his apartment. She contemplates the situation, seeing as there is barely enough room for her and Jesse in her own apartment, yet is unsure of her own feelings for Pollack. After Carisi tells her to do what she feels is best for herself and her children, however, she agrees to move in with Pollack. She gives birth to a girl she names Billie in "A Story of More Woe"; Pollack proposes to her while she is in labor, but she rejects his proposal and breaks up with him, admitting that she does not love him.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In "Eternal Relief from Pain", Rollins is granted temporary custody of Kim's son and allows both of them to stay at her apartment. She reluctantly extends the invitation to her father Jim so that he can visit his grandchildren, even though he is a drug addict and the terms of Kim's parole bar her from associating with known addicts. Jim overdoses on heroin and is rushed to a hospital, but leaves shortly after recovering. The experience unnerves Kim so badly that she voluntarily returns to prison in order to undergo drug treatment, leaving her son in her mother's custody.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In the Season 24 episode "And a Trauma in a Pear Tree," Rollins marries Carisi and retires from the NYPD in order to accept a teaching position at Fordham University.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: The season 13 episode "Home Invasions" reveals not only that Rollins struggles with a gambling addiction, but that she owes money to a suspect in one of SVU’s murder investigations. When her gambling interferes with her job, Cragen offers to get her in a rehabilitation program. During a meeting, she reveals that her father also had a gambling problem.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In the season 15 episode "Rapist Anonymous", Rollins is caught in the middle of a case when a woman from her program claims to have been raped by her sponsor. When the alleged rapist is killed, the woman is put on trial and Rollins testifies on her behalf, alienating her colleagues at SVU. When ADA Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza) cross-examines her, he forces her to admit that she has been sleeping with her sponsor, Nate Davis (Thomas Sadoski), and reveals that Davis has had sexual relationships with several of his sponsees. This proves too much for her to handle and her gambling addiction relapses. In the episode "Gambler's Fallacy", she is caught gambling in an illegal club and forced to work on the wrong side of the law by the criminals who run the club. One of the criminals is in fact an undercover police officer, Lt. Declan Murphy, who enlists Rollins to help him with a sting operation to arrest the club's owners. The sting is successful, and Murphy makes sure that Rollins keeps her detective's shield. Benson, however, says that she no longer trusts Rollins, and would transfer her if the precinct were not so short-staffed while Tutuola and Amaro were also upset at her for not telling them. Fortunately, Rollins managed to gain back their trust once the truth about her rape comes out.


title: Amanda Rollins

text: NBC announced on June 27, 2011 that Giddish would join the cast of "" for its along with "Cold Case"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro, coinciding with Christopher Meloni's departure from the series. Giddish told "TV Guide" during summer filming; "Everybody on the set is really excited and energized. They've lost a family member with Chris Meloni leaving, but they've been very accepting of us. Amanda is thrilled to be here working with these people, and so am I."


title: Amanda Rollins

text: In an interview with "TV Guide" prior to Giddish's debut episode as Rollins, "", Giddish says about her character, "My character is in complete awe of Olivia, Amanda's really eager to get in there because she knows her stuff and really eager to learn. She has come from Atlanta and there was a ceiling there, so she's come up to New York." Giddish felt great about joining the series in its 13th season, "I couldn't feel better about it. ... There's no intimidation, what attracted me was the prospect of re-invigorating a franchise that's been so well-known and so well-liked, and then to be the shaker and mover." Giddish is confident that viewers will warm up to Rollins and Amaro with time. "They're going to love us because it's not being forced in their faces," she says. "The more you know about us and the more you see us in your living room, the more you're hopefully going to love us."


title: Amanda Rollins

text: At the end of season 13 of "Law & Order: SVU", she and co-star Danny Pino weighed-in on their first season and both Giddish and Pino say they received not only a "very warm welcome" from "SVU"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s cast and crew, but saw their respective characters explored more than they could hope for in their first season. "They’ve given me a lot to work with — and I hope they give me more next season," says Giddish. "We're still playing 'musical chairs' in terms of partners, and that’s a great way to go about exploring the different characters." Pino added, "That’s what you hope for when you’re putting it down on paper and discussing what you want to play. I had [pre-season] conversations with [showrunner] Warren Leight, and you hope that starts materializing — and it did. And that bodes well going into ."


title: Amanda Rollins

text: Rather than have both newcomers paired together, Rollins is primarily partnered with Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, a factor which contributed to the character's positive reception. Ice-T, who has portrayed Tutuola since the show's second season, praised both Giddish and Pino in the wake of Chris Meloni's departure, "We had to regroup, like a football team," said Ice-T. "The quarterback changed, but we still had to move the ball down the field. And we did well... Danny came in, strong. Kelli came in, strong. And we shut down the doubters."


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Thomas Stephen Monaghan (born March 25, 1937) is an American entrepreneur who founded Domino's Pizza in 1960. He owned the Detroit Tigers from 1983 to 1992. Monaghan also owns the Domino's Farms Office Park, located in the Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan, which he first started building during 1984.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan is Catholic and announced his retirement in 1998 after 38 years with Domino's Pizza Inc. Monaghan sold 93 percent of the company to Bain Capital, Inc. for about $1 billion, ceased being involved in day-to-day operations of the company, and subsequently dedicated his time and considerable fortune to Catholic causes. A supporter of the pro-life movement and other Catholic teachings "to combat the nation's 'moral crisis, Monaghan has spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting them.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: He and his wife, Marjorie Zybach, whom he met while delivering some pizza, were married in 1962 and have four daughters: Margaret, Susan, Mary and Barbara. As of 2014, they have 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: After his father died when Monaghan was four years old, Monaghan's mother had difficulties raising him alone, and at age six, in 1943, Monaghan and his younger brother ended up in an orphanage until their mother collected them again in 1949. The orphanage, St. Joseph Home for Children in Jackson, Michigan, was run by the Felician Sisters of Livonia; one of the nuns there inspired his devotion to the Catholic faith and he later entered St. Joseph's Seminary, in Grand Rapids, with the desire to eventually become a priest. Subsequently, he was expelled from the seminary for a series of disciplinary infractions.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In 1956, Monaghan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps by mistake; he had meant to join the Army. He received an honorable discharge in 1959.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan returned to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1959, and enrolled in the University of Michigan, intending to become an architect. While still a student, he and his brother James borrowed $900 to purchase a small pizza store called DomiNick's in Ypsilanti, Michigan. "I started out in architecture school, and got into the pizza business to pay my way through school," he has said. "The pizza business was losing so much money I never got back into architecture." This business would, after a lawsuit from Domino Sugar, grow into Domino's Pizza. Tom, after opening a further three stores, traded his brother James a Volkswagen Beetle for his half of the business. Monaghan dropped sub sandwiches from the menu and focused on delivery to college campuses, inventing a new insulated pizza box to improve delivery. The new box, unlike its chipboard predecessors, could be stacked without crushing the pizzas inside, permitting more pizzas per trip, and keeping them warm until they arrived. As Monaghan spread his model to other college towns through a tightly controlled franchising system, by the mid-1980s there were nearly three new Domino's franchises opening every day.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In 1989, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for a boycott of Domino's because of his active opposition to abortion, but it is unclear what effect, if any, that had on the company's sales.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In 1998, Monaghan reportedly sold his 93% of stock ownership of Domino's Pizza to Bain Capital, an investment firm based in Boston, for an estimated $1 billion. Domino's Pizza is an American restaurant chain and the international franchise pizza delivery corporation is headquartered at the Domino's Farms Office Park (the campus itself owned by Monaghan) in Ann Arbor Township, Michigan, United States, near Ann Arbor.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In December 2011, Monaghan embarked on his second quick service restaurant brand by starting Gyrene Burger Company. The military-themed burger delivery concept was a throwback to Monaghan's days in the U.S. Marines. The term "Gyrene" was used in the 1940s and 1950s as a nickname for Marines. At Gyrene Burger, Monaghan provided franchise incentives to eligible Marines and veterans of the other military branches. The flagship store for the brand was located in Naples, FL, before relocating to Knoxville, TN. As of August 2018, no locations are in operation.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: The wealth Monaghan amassed from Domino's Pizza enabled a lavish lifestyle. However, after reading a passage by C. S. Lewis on pride (from "Mere Christianity"), Monaghan divested himself of most of his more ostentatious possessions, including the Detroit Tigers in 1992. He gave up his lavish office suite at Domino's headquarters, replete with leather-tiled floors and an array of expensive Frank Lloyd Wright furnishings, turning it into a corporate reception room. He also ceased construction on a huge Wright-inspired mansion that was to be his home. (The house remains half-finished.)


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In 1983, Monaghan bought the Detroit Tigers, who won the World Series a year later. In 1984, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. He became close to Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who remained a close friend, business associate and participant in his many philanthropic works. Monaghan ultimately sold the Tigers to his competitor Mike Ilitch of Little Caesar's Pizza in 1992. Combining his passion for pizza and baseball, his 1986 autobiography was titled "Pizza Tiger". Shortly before giving up control of the team, Monaghan made the much-maligned and eventually reversed decision to fire legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan is an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, and the Domino's headquarters in Ann Arbor Township, Michigan strongly resembles Wright's Prairie School architecture adapted to a larger scale. The headquarters' address of 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive also shows Monaghan's admiration. He has been one of the foremost collectors of Wright artifacts, including an oak dining room table and chairs for which he paid $1.6 million. He purchased a portion of Drummond Island in Michigan, where he created a private resort complex featuring buildings designed in the style of Wright, and later sold it to Clifton Haley and Denny Bailey.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Another of Monaghan's expensive passions had been automobiles, and for a time his collection included one of the world's six Bugatti Royales, for which he paid $8.1 million in 1986, and sold it for $8 million in 1991.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In the early 1990s he also built a mansion in a Honduras mountain town, and funded and supervised the construction of a new cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, after the old cathedral was destroyed in a 1972 earthquake.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan is a Roman Catholic with a particular interest in pro-life causes. He established or helped establish a number of Catholic organizations and educational establishments. The orchestral "Ave Maria Mass", by composer Stephen Edwards, was commissioned by Monaghan "to express in music the spiritual commitment behind the founding of Ave Maria College and Ave Maria School of Law". This mass, recorded and released on CD in 2002, was dedicated by the composer to the victims of September 11. Monaghan publicly promotes daily attendance at Mass, daily recitation of the rosary and frequent sacramental confession. He has also committed to spending what remains of his $1 billion fortune on philanthropic endeavors.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Although Monaghan has claimed that he was never a member of the Word of God community, in 1989, a coalition of 7 groups (including, among others, the National Organization for Women, the Latin American Solidarity Committee, and the Ann Arbor Commission to Defend Abortion Rights) protested the Monaghan/Word of God connection.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In 1983 he established the Mater Christi Foundation, today known as the Ave Maria Foundation, to focus on Catholic education, media, community projects and other charities. Monaghan is founder and CEO of Legatus International, an organization of business Executives, Presidents, CEOs, and their spouses who are committed to studying, living and spreading the Catholic faith. Founded in 1987, Legatus empowers their 5,000+ members to boldly live their Catholic identity as “Ambassadors for Christ in the Marketplace.” In 1988, St. Pope John Paul II addressed members of Legatus and encouraged them, “The world needs genuine witnesses to Christian ethics in the field of business and the Church asks you to fulfill this role publicly with courage and perseverance.”


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In 1997, he recruited former Evangelical pastor Al Kresta to lead Ave Maria Communications, which became the first Catholic radio apostolate in America with the popularly known Ave Maria Radio. He also established the Ave Maria List anti-abortion political action committee, and the Thomas More Law Center, a public interest law firm dedicated to promoting social conservative issues such as opposition to abortion, same sex marriage, and secularism.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In addition, his foundation established the Spiritus Sanctus Academies. These elementary schools are administered by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: The Ave Maria Foundation has subsequently fine-tuned its focus to higher education, and has established both a university and a law school. Along with that change in focus, many of the other non-profit entities that the Ave Maria Foundation established have become independent or are in the process of being weaned from Ave Maria Foundation grants.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan is reputed to be a member of Opus Dei and has been aligned with a number of other conservative Catholic organizations and causes.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan is a donor to Priests for Life, a Roman Catholic anti-abortion organization. He is a knight of magistral grace in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: The Ave Maria School of Law, previously located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, opened its doors in 2000, and received full accreditation from the American Bar Association in 2005. The school was a dream of several professors from the Catholic University of Detroit Mercy, who publicly left that institution when it allowed several pro-choice members of the Michigan Supreme Court to appear at the school's annual "Red Mass". Professors Stephen Safranek, Mollie Murphy, Richard Myers and Joseph Falvey, setting out to form a new orthodox Catholic law school, presented their idea to Monaghan (who had previously been a strong supporter of opening a new law school at Franciscan University) to provide significant funding through his Ave Maria Foundation. Together they enlisted Bernard Dobranski, Dean at The Catholic University of America's law school and former Dean of Detroit Mercy's Law School, to lead up the new school as dean. Monaghan served as president of the school's Board of Governors.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Faculty members have included conservative legal scholar and Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia assisted in developing the school's curriculum, and the school's first annual Ave Maria Lecture was presented by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1999. The school's stated goal is to educate competent moral attorneys who will influence all aspects of the legal profession and advance natural law theory. The Ave Maria Law School graduated its last Michigan class in the Spring of 2009 and relocated to Naples, Florida permanently immediately thereafter.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: As a step to fulfilling his dream of creating a new Catholic university, Monaghan founded Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. In various attempts to accelerate accreditation, Monaghan acquired St. Mary's College of Orchard Lake and a campus in Nicaragua, renamed Ave Maria College of the Americas.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Due to lack of funding, the college, against faculty and student protests, closed in 2007. Alternative funding was not secured to prevent the school's closure. St. Mary's College was sold and is now under the auspices of nearby Madonna University.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In early 2002 Monaghan sought to establish the Ave Maria University in Ann Arbor, at Domino's Farms, the large corporate office park that he owned and leased to Domino's Pizza. The plans included a 250-foot crucifix, taller than the Statue of Liberty. Local officials refused to approve the zoning change, forcing him to look elsewhere for a site. Eventually, community leaders in Collier County, Florida, offered him a large undeveloped tract of land thirty miles east of Naples, Florida to develop the university.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: In February 2006, ground was broken for the new Catholic university and town, Ave Maria, Florida. A joint venture, in which Monaghan is a 50% partner with developer Barron Collier, controls all non-university real estate in the town, and plans to build 11,000 homes and several business districts. Pulte Homes has been signed up to build most of the private homes. Monaghan said in 2005 that any town retailers would not be allowed to sell contraceptives or pornography, a statement that drew legal criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Threatened with lawsuits, Monaghan and the developers went on a national public relations campaign in March 2007 to retract the notion that Catholic doctrine could ever be enforced as law. Defenders of Wildlife also challenged the development, stating it is destroying habitat of the endangered Florida panther.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan helped to establish the Ave Maria Mutual Funds by asking friend George P. Schwartz of Schwartz Investment Counsel, Inc. to launch the Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund in May 2001. There are now five Ave Maria Mutual Funds. They are described as targeted at investors seeking to place their money in companies whose operations are in keeping with the core teachings of the Catholic Church. The fund calls their shareholders "morally responsible investors". The funds are open to individual investors with a $1,000 minimum investment.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan is a member of the Catholic Advisory Board. The board sets the religious criteria that screen companies before the funds will invest in them. Involvement with contraception, non-marital partner employee benefits, pornography, and abortion are some issues that disqualify a company from the fund. Lou Holtz, Larry Kudlow, Michael Novak, Phyllis Schlafly and Paul Roney are the other members of the Funds' Catholic Advisory Board. Cardinal Adam Maida (of the Archdiocese of Detroit) is the board's ecclesiastic advisor.


title: Tom Monaghan

text: Monaghan has been active in Republican Party politics, and was one of the key financial backers of Sam Brownback in his 2008 presidential campaign. Monaghan also endorsed Donald Trump during his 2020 presidential campaign.


title: George S. Patton's speech to the Third Army

text: Patton's Speech to the Third Army was a series of speeches given by General George S. Patton to troops of the United States Third Army in 1944, prior to the Allied invasion of France. The speeches were intended to motivate the inexperienced Third Army for its pending combat duty. In the speeches, Patton urged his soldiers to do their duty regardless of personal fear, and he exhorted them to aggressiveness and constant offensive action. Patton's profanity-laced speaking was viewed as unprofessional by some other officers but the speech resounded well with his men. Some historians have acclaimed the oration as one of the greatest motivational speeches of all time.


text: A shorter and less profane version of the speech became well known after it appeared in the 1970 movie "Patton", given by George C. Scott as Patton while standing before an enormous American flag. Scott's performance was instrumental in bringing Patton into popular culture and transforming him into a folk hero.


text: In June 1944, Lieutenant General George S. Patton was given command of the Third United States Army, a field army which was newly arrived in the United Kingdom and which was composed largely of inexperienced troops. Patton's job had been to train the Third Army to prepare it for the upcoming Allied invasion of France, where it would join in the Operation Cobra breakout into Brittany seven weeks after the Operation Overlord amphibious invasion at Normandy.


text: By 1944, Patton had been established as a highly effective and successful leader, noted for his ability to inspire his men with charismatic speeches, which he delivered from memory because of a lifelong trouble with reading. Patton deliberately cultivated a flashy, distinctive image in the belief that this would inspire his troops. He carried a trademark ivory-handled Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357 Magnum. He was usually seen wearing a highly polished helmet, riding pants, and high cavalry boots. His jeep bore oversized rank placards on the front and back, as well as a klaxon horn which would loudly announce his approach from afar. Patton was an effective combat commander, having rehabilitated the U.S. II Corps during the North African Campaign and then led the Seventh United States Army through the Invasion of Sicily during 1943, at times personally appearing to his troops in the middle of battle in hopes of inspiring them. Patton's army had beaten British general Bernard Law Montgomery to Messina which gained him considerable fame, although the infamous "slapping incident" sidelined his career for several months thereafter.


text: At the time of the speeches, Patton was attempting to keep a low profile among the press, as he had been ordered to by General Dwight Eisenhower. Patton was made a central figure in an elaborate phantom army deception scheme, and the Germans believed he was in Dover preparing the (fictitious) First United States Army Group for an invasion of the Pas de Calais. On each occasion, he would wear his polished helmet, full dress uniform, and gleaming riding boots, and carry a riding crop to snap for effect. Patton frequently kept his face in a scowl he referred to as his "war face". He would arrive in a Mercedes and deliver his remarks on a raised platform surrounded by a very large audience seated around the platform and on surrounding hills. Each address was delivered to a major general-led division-sized force of 15,000 or more men.


text: Patton began delivering speeches to his troops in the United Kingdom in February 1944. The extent of his giving the particular speech that became famous is unclear, with different sources saying it had taken this form by March, or around early May, or in late May. The number of speeches given is also not clear, with one source saying four to six, and others suggesting that every unit in the Third Army heard an instance. The most famous and well known of the speeches occurred on 5 June 1944, the day before D-Day. Though he was unaware of the actual date for the beginning of the invasion of Europe (as the Third Army was not part of the initial landing force), Patton used the speech as a motivational device to excite the men under his command and prevent them from losing their nerve. Patton delivered the speech without notes, and so though it was substantially the same at each occurrence, the order of some of its parts varied. One notable difference occurred in the speech he delivered on 31 May 1944, while addressing the U.S. 6th Armored Division, when he began with a remark that would later be among his most famous:


text: Patton's words were later written down by a number of troops who witnessed his remarks, and so a number of iterations exist with differences in wording. Historian Terry Brighton constructed a full speech from a number of soldiers who recounted the speech in their memoirs, including Gilbert R. Cook, Hobart R. Gay, and a number of other junior soldiers. Patton only wrote briefly of his orations in his diary, noting, "as in all of my talks, I stressed fighting and killing." The speech later became so popular that it was called simply "Patton's speech" or "The speech" when referencing the general.


text: The troops under Patton's command received the speech well. The general's strong reputation caused considerable excitement among his men, and they listened intently, in absolute silence, as he spoke. A majority indicated they enjoyed Patton's speaking style. As one officer recounted of the end of the speech, "The men instinctively sensed the fact and the telling mark that they themselves would play in world history because of it, for they were being told as much right now. Deep sincerity and seriousness lay behind the General's colorful words, and the men well knew it, but they loved the way he put it as only he could do it."


text: A notable minority of Patton's officers were unimpressed or displeased with their commander's use of obscenities, viewing it as unprofessional conduct for a military officer. Among some officers' later recounting of the speech, "bullshit" would be replaced by "baloney" and "fucking" by "fornicating". At least one account replaced "We're going to hold the enemy by the balls" with "We're going to hold the enemy by the nose." Among the critics of Patton's frequent use of vulgarities was General Omar Bradley, Patton's former subordinate. It was well known that the two men were polar opposites in personality, and there is evidence that Bradley disliked Patton both personally and professionally. In response to criticisms of his coarse language, Patton wrote to a family member, "When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to a bunch of little old ladies, at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can't run an army without profanity, and it has to be eloquent profanity. An army without profanity couldn't fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag."


text: Under Patton, the Third Army landed in Normandy during July 1944 and would go on to play an integral role in the last months of the war in Europe, closing the Falaise Pocket in mid-August, and playing the key role in relieving the siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December, a feat regarded as one of the most notable achievements in the war. The rapid offensive action and speed that Patton called for in the speech became actions which brought the Third Army wide acclaim in the campaign.


text: Historians acclaim the speech as one of Patton's best works. Author Terry Brighton called it "the greatest motivational speech of the war and perhaps of all time, exceeding (in its morale boosting effect if not as literature) the words Shakespeare gave King Henry V at Agincourt." Alan Axelrod contended it was the most famous of his many memorable quotes.


text: The speech became an icon of popular culture after the 1970 film "Patton", which was about the general's wartime exploits. The opening of the movie saw actor George C. Scott, as Patton, delivering a toned-down version of the speech before an enormous American flag. It began with a version of Patton's "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country ..." quote. Scott's iteration omitted much of the middle of the speech relating to Patton's anecdotes about Sicily and Libya, as well as his remarks about the importance of every soldier to the war effort. In contrast to Patton's humorous approach, Scott delivered the speech in an entirely serious, low and gruff tone. Still, Scott's depiction of Patton in this scene is an iconic depiction of the General which earned Scott an Academy Award for Best Actor, and was instrumental in bringing Patton into popular culture as a folk hero.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. (September 15, 1914 – September 4, 1974) was a United States Army general who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972, which saw United States troop strength in South Vietnam reduced from a peak of 543,000 to 49,000. He was then Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1972 until his death in 1974.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: In 1980, the United States Army named its then new main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, after him. The IG Farben building in Germany was also named after Abrams from 1975 to 1995.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in the Class of 1936 (ranked 185th of 276 in the class), and served with the 1st Cavalry Division from 1936 to 1940, being promoted to first lieutenant in 1939 and temporary captain in 1940.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams became an armor officer early in the development of that branch and served as a tank company commander in the 1st Armored Division in 1940.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: During World War II, Abrams served in the 4th Armored Division, initially as regimental adjutant (June 1941 – June 1942), battalion commander (July 1942 – March 1943), and regiment executive officer (March–September 1943) with the 37th Armor Regiment. In September 1943, a reorganization of the division redesignated the 37th Armor Regiment to the 37th Tank Battalion, which Abrams commanded; he also commanded Combat Command B of the division during the Battle of the Bulge.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: During this time Abrams was promoted to the temporary ranks of major (February 1942), lieutenant colonel (September 1942), and colonel (April 1945). Abrams was promoted to lieutenant colonel eleven days before his 28th birthday.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: During much of this time, the 4th Armored Division (led by the 37th Tank Battalion) was the spearhead for General George S. Patton's Third Army, and he was consequently well known as an aggressive armor commander. By using his qualities as a leader and by consistently exploiting the relatively small advantages of speed and reliability of his vehicles, he managed to defeat German forces that had the advantage of superior armor and superior guns. He was twice decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism, on September 20 and December 26, 1944. General George Patton said of him: "I'm supposed to be the best tank commander in the Army, but I have one peer—Abe Abrams. He's the world champion." Frequently the spearhead of the Third Army during World War II, Abrams was one of the leaders in the relief effort that broke up the German entrenchments surrounding Bastogne and the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945, he was promoted to (temporary) colonel but reverted to lieutenant colonel during the post-war demobilization. On April 23, 1945, Will Lang Jr. wrote a biography of Abrams called "Colonel Abe" for "Life".


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Following the war, Abrams served on the Army General Staff (1945–46), as head of the department of tactics at the Armored School, Fort Knox (1946–48), and graduated from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth (1949).


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams commanded the 63rd Tank Battalion, part of the 1st Infantry Division, in Europe (1949–51). He was again promoted to colonel and commanded the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (1951–52). These units were important assignments due to the Cold War concern for potential invasion of western Europe by the Soviet Union. He then attended and graduated from the Army War College in 1953.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Due to Abrams' service in Europe and his War College tour, he joined the Korean War late in the conflict. He successively served as chief of staff of the I, X and IX Corps in South Korea (1953–1954).


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Upon Abrams' return from Korea, he served as Chief of Staff of the Armor Center, Fort Knox (1954–56). He was promoted to brigadier general and appointed deputy chief of staff for reserve components at the Pentagon (1956–59). He was assistant division commander of 3rd Armored Division (1959–60) and then commanded the division (1960–62) upon his promotion to major general. He was transferred to the Pentagon as deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (1962–63) and during this time he served as representative of the Army Chief of Staff overseeing the armed forces deployed to support the enrollment of James Meredith at the segregated University of Mississippi. He performed a similar role in May 1963 during the civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama. Following these roles Abrams demanded a more coherent policy for the swift employment of Federal forces domestically and on 25 May 1963, the Joint Chiefs formalized those arrangements with the Strike Command instructed to be prepared "to move ready, deployable, tailored Army forces ranging in size from a reinforced company to a maximum force of 15,000 personnel".


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams was on the cover of "Time" magazine three times in ten years: 1961 (October 13), 1968 (April 19), and 1971 (February 15).


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams was promoted to general in 1964 and appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, but not before being seriously considered as a candidate for chief of staff. Due to concerns about the conduct of the Vietnam War, he was appointed as deputy to his West Point classmate, General William Westmoreland, commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), in May 1967.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams succeeded Westmoreland as COMUSMACV on June 10, 1968, although his tenure of command was not marked by the public optimism of his predecessors, who were prone to press conferences and public statements.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: It has been asserted by authors such as Lewis Sorley that in contrast to Westmoreland, Abrams implemented counterinsurgency tactics that focused on winning the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese rural population. A joint military-civilian organization named Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support under CIA official William Colby carried out the hearts and minds programs. According to a colonel cited in "Men's Journal", there was more continuity than change in Vietnam after Abrams succeeded Westmoreland. "Newsweek" magazine at the time of Abrams' appointment observed that its sources within the Lyndon Johnson administration had spoken at length with Abrams in the past and had come away convinced that the general would make few changes. The magazine quoted an unidentified military analyst to the effect that, "All this talk of dropping search-and destroy operations in favor of clear-and-hold is just a lot of bull." Indeed none of the strategy papers produced by Abrams on assuming command of MACV indicated the need for any change in U.S. strategy and U.S. forces continued large-scale operations to engage People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) main force units including the Battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: From 1969, the Vietnam War increasingly became a conventional war between the military forces of South Vietnam and North Vietnam. Following the election of President Richard Nixon, Abrams began implementing the Nixon Administration's Vietnamization policy to decrease U.S. involvement in Vietnam. With this new goal, Abrams had decreased American troop strength from a peak of 543,000 in early 1969 to 49,000 in June 1972. The South Vietnamese forces with aerial support from the U.S. repelled the PAVN conventional Easter Offensive in 1972. The prolonged efforts and expense of the war had by then exhausted much of the American public and political support. Abrams disdained most of the politicians with whom he was forced to deal, in particular Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy, and had an even lower opinion of defense contractors, whom he accused of war profiteering.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams was also in charge of the Cambodian Incursion in 1970. President Nixon seemed to hold Abrams in high regard, and often relied on his advice. In a tape-recorded conversation between Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger on December 9, 1970, Nixon told Kissinger about Abrams' thoughts on intervention in Cambodia that: "If Abrams strongly recommends it we will do it." Troop levels in Vietnam eventually reached 25,000 in January 1973, at the time of the four power Paris Peace Accords. Although it occurred before he assumed total command, Abrams bore the brunt of fallout from the My Lai massacre in March 1968.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Nixon grew increasingly dissatisfied with Abrams' performance during Operation Lam Son 719 and had debated for some time whether to recall Abrams. On May 4, 1972 Nixon resolved to replace Abrams with his former deputy General Frederick Weyand, but the decision was not publicly announced until 20 June 1972.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Abrams was appointed Chief of Staff of the United States Army by Nixon in June 1972. However, he was not confirmed by the United States Senate until October, due to political repercussions involving accusations of unauthorized bombings of North Vietnam. It has also been reported that Congress had delayed the confirmation to question the administration's war in Cambodia. During this time, Abrams began the transition to the all-volunteer army, also known as Project VOLAR.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: In January 1974, Abrams directed the formation of a Ranger battalion. The 1st Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry, was activated and parachuted into Fort Stewart, Georgia, on July 1; the 2nd Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry followed with activation on October 1. The 3rd Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 75th Infantry (Ranger), received their colors a decade later on October 3, 1984, at Fort Benning, Georgia. The 75th Ranger Regiment was designated in February 1986. The modern Ranger battalions owe their existence to Abrams and his charter:


title: Creighton Abrams

text: Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and raised in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, he was the son of Nellie Louise (Randall) and Creighton Williams Abrams, a railroad worker. Abrams married Julia Berthe Harvey in 1936. She founded the army group of Arlington Ladies and devoted time to humanitarian causes.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: The Abramses had three sons and three daughters. All three sons became Army general officers: retired Brigadier General Creighton Williams Abrams III, General John Nelson Abrams, and General Robert Bruce Abrams. Daughters Noel Bradley, Jeanne Daley, and Elizabeth Doyle all married army officers.


title: Creighton Abrams

text: A heavy cigar smoker, Abrams died at age 59, eleven days before his 60th birthday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., from complications of surgery to remove a cancerous lung. He is buried with his wife Julia in Arlington National Cemetery.


title: Third Indochina War

text: The Third Indochina War was a series of interconnected armed conflicts, mainly among the various communist factions over strategic influence in Indochina after Communist victory in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1975. The conflict primarily started due to continued raids and incursions by the Khmer Rouge into Vietnamese territory that they sought to retake. These incursions would result in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War in which the newly unified Vietnam overthrew the Pol Pot regime and the Khmer Rouge, in turn ending the Cambodian genocide. Vietnam had installed a government led by many opponents of Pol Pot, including former Khmer Rouge most notably Hun Sen. This led to Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia for over a decade. The Vietnamese push to completely destroy the Khmer Rouge led to them conducting border raids in Thailand who had provided sanctuary.


title: Third Indochina War

text: China strongly objected to the invasion of Cambodia. Chinese armed forces launched a punitive operation (Sino-Vietnamese War) in February 1979 and attacked Vietnam's northern provinces, determined to contain Soviet/Vietnamese influence and prevent territorial gains in the region.


title: Third Indochina War

text: In order to acquire full control over Cambodia the People's Army of Vietnam needed to dislodge the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders and units, which had retreated to the remote areas along the Thai-Cambodian border. After the Paris Peace Conference in 1989, the NVA withdrew from Cambodian territory. Finally regular troop engagements in the region ended after the conclusion of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords.


title: Third Indochina War

text: In Laos, an insurgency continued until 2007, with the government being supported by both China and Vietnam.


title: Third Indochina War

text: After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became leader of the Soviet Union. His denouncement of Stalin and his purges, the introduction of more moderate communist policies and foreign policy of peaceful coexistence with the West angered China's leadership. Mao Zedong had been following a strict Stalinistic course, that insisted on the cult of personality as a unifying force of the nation. Disagreements over technical assistance for developing China's nuclear weapons and basic economic policies further alienated the Soviets and the Chinese as opposing forces of communist influence across the globe. As decolonization movements began to pick up speed in the 1960s and many such countries descended into violence, both of the communist powers competed for political control of the various nations or competing factions in ongoing civil war fights. Ever more diverging Chinese and Soviet strategic and political doctrines had increased the Sino-Soviet split of the mid-1950s.


title: Third Indochina War

text: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), which had chosen to ally with the USSR, justified incursions into neighbouring Laos and Cambodia during the Second Indochinese War by reference to the international nature of communist revolution, where "Indochina is a single strategic unit, a single battlefield" and the Vietnam People's Army's pivotal role in bringing this about. However, this internationalism was obstructed by complicated regional historical realities, such as the "timeless oppositions between the Chinese and the Vietnamese on the one hand and the Vietnamese and the Khmers on the other". North Vietnam intervened in the civil war between the Royal Lao Army and the communist Pathet Lao until the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation" signed in July 1977. Permanently stationed North Vietnamese troops secured and maintained vital supply routes and strategic staging sites (Ho Chi Minh trail). From 1958 on, Northern and Southern Vietnamese combat troops also began to infiltrate the remote jungles of eastern Cambodia where they continued the Ho Chi Minh trail. The Cambodian communist insurgents had joined these sanctuaries during the late 1960s. Although co-operation took place, the Khmer communists did not adopt modern socialist doctrines and eventually allied with China.


title: Third Indochina War

text: The complete American withdrawal instantaneously eliminated the principal and common adversary of all the communist powers. The communist regimes of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos pledged allegiance with one of these two opposing factions. The ensuing hostilities were fuelled by century-old animosities between Vietnam and Cambodia, and – particularly – Vietnam and China.


title: Third Indochina War

text: After the Fall of Saigon and Phnom Penh in April and May 1975 and the subsequent communist takeover in Laos five months later, Indochina was dominated by communist regimes. Armed border clashes between Cambodia and Vietnam soon flared up and escalated as Khmer Rouge forces advanced deep into Vietnamese territory and raided villages, killing hundreds of civilians. Vietnam counter attacked and in December 1978, NVA troops invaded Cambodia, reaching Phnom Penh in January 1979 and arriving at the Thai border in spring 1979.


title: Third Indochina War

text: However, as China, the U.S. and the majority of the international community opposed the Vietnamese campaign, the remaining Khmer Rouge managed to permanently settle in the Thai-Cambodian border region. In a United Nations Security Council meeting, seven non-aligned members drafted a resolution for a ceasefire and Vietnamese withdrawal which failed due to opposition from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Thailand tolerated the presence of the Khmer Rouge on its soil as they helped to contain the Vietnamese and Thai domestic guerillas. Over the course of the following decade, the Khmer Rouge received considerable support from Vietnam's enemies and served as a bargaining tool in the Realpolitik of Thailand, China, the ASEAN and the U.S.


title: Third Indochina War

text: Khmer Rouge forces operated from inside Thai territory attacking the pro-Hanoi People's Republic of Kampuchea's government. Similarly Vietnamese forces frequently attacked the Khmer Rouge bases inside Thailand. Eventually Thai and Vietnamese regular troops clashed on several occasions during the following decade. The situation escalated as Thailand's territorial sovereignty was violated on numerous occasions. Heavy fighting with many casualties resulted from direct confrontations between Vietnamese and Thai troops. Thailand increased troop strength, purchased new equipment and built a diplomatic front against Vietnam.


title: Third Indochina War

text: China attacked Vietnam in response to Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia, entered northern Vietnam and captured several cities near the border. On March 6, 1979, China declared that their punitive mission had been successful and withdrew from Vietnam. However, both China and Vietnam claimed victory. The fact that Vietnamese forces continued to stay in Cambodia for another decade implies that China's campaign was a strategic failure. On the other hand, the conflict had proven that China had succeeded in preventing effective Soviet support for its Vietnamese ally.


title: Third Indochina War

text: As forces remained mobilized, the Vietnamese Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army engaged in another decade-long series of border disputes and naval clashes that lasted until 1990. These mostly local engagements usually wore out in prolonged stand-offs, as neither side achieved any long-term military gains. By the late 1980s the Vietnamese Communist Party's (VCP) began to adopt its "Doi Moi" (renovation) policy and reconsider its China policy in particular. Prolonged hostile relations with China had been recognized as to be detrimental to economic reforms, national security and the regime's survival. A number of political concessions opened the way for the normalization process of 1991.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: The second season of the American situation comedy television series, "The Office", premiered in the United States on NBC on September 20, 2005, and ended on May 11, 2006. The season had 22 episodes, including its first 40-minute "super-sized" episode. "The Office" is an American adaptation of the British TV series of the same name, and is presented in a mockumentary format, documenting the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The season stars Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and B. J. Novak, with supporting performances from Melora Hardin, David Denman, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nunez, and Phyllis Smith.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: Beginning with "The Dundies", the second season further developed into the plot of the fear of company downsizing, along with the introduction of new characters and developing some of the other characters—especially that of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). Michael Scott (Steve Carell) soon starts a relationship with his boss Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin), and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert's (John Krasinski) relationship become one of the focal points of the season. Their compatibility becomes more obvious as Jim's feelings for Pam continue to grow, while she struggles with her relationship with warehouse worker Roy Anderson (David Denman).


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: Season two of "The Office" aired on Tuesdays in the United States at 9:30 p.m. from September 20, 2005 to December 6, 2005. The timeslot changed to Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. from January 5, 2006 to May 11, 2006. The season was a ratings success, bolstered by Carell's success in the 2005 film "The 40 Year Old Virgin". The season also received widespread acclaim from critics, with many calling it one of the greatest sitcom seasons ever produced. The second season was released in a four-disc DVD boxset in Region 1 on September 12, 2006, and in Region 2 on January 28, 2008. The DVD set contained all 22 episodes, as well as commentaries from creators, writers, actors, and directors on some of the episodes, while also containing deleted scenes from all of the episodes. It was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: The second season of the show was produced by Reveille Productions and Deedle-Dee Productions, both in association with NBC Universal Television Studios. The show is based on the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who are executive producers on the show. "The Office" is produced by Greg Daniels, who is also executive producer and show runner. Returning writers from last season include Daniels, Larry Wilmore, Michael Schur, Mindy Kaling, Paul Lieberstein, and B. J. Novak. Joining the writing staff for the second season are Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who also served as story editors, and Jennifer Celotta, who was a consulting producer. Some of the actors also received promotions: Kaling was promoted to story editor, Novak became a co-producer, and Lieberstein became a co-executive producer. Series star, Steve Carell, wrote his first "Office" episode, the season finale, "Casino Night".


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: Season two featured episodes directed by eight different directors, each of whom aside from Bryan Gordon directed multiple episodes. Gordon, Ken Kwapis, Ken Whittingham, and Daniels had all previously directed episodes during season one, while Dennie Gordon, Paul Feig, Victor Nelli, Jr., and Charles McDougall each made their directorial debut for the show. While "The Office" was mainly filmed on a studio set at Valley Center Studios in Van Nuys, California, the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the show is set, was also used for shots of the opening theme.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: Despite low ratings from the first season of the show, NBC renewed "The Office" for a second season. Originally, six episodes were ordered, but NBC later ordered an additional seven. In early November, NBC again expanded the season by ordering three more episodes, before ordering a full season of 22 episodes in January 2006.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: "The Office" employs an ensemble cast. All of the main characters, and some minor ones, are based on characters from the British version of "The Office". While these characters normally have the same attitudes and perceptions as their British counterparts, the roles have been redesigned to better fit the American show. The show is known for its large cast size, many of whom are known particularly for their improvisational work.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: Halfway through the season, eight of the show's recurring guest stars were promoted to series regulars and credited just after the main titles and before the writers and producers.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: The season premiere, "The Dundies" was viewed by 9.0 million viewers, a drastic increase from the first season finale "Hot Girl", which was viewed by only 4.8 million viewers. As the season progressed, the success of Carell's hit summer movie "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and online sales of episodes at iTunes helped the show to garner viewers. The increase in viewership led NBC to move the series to the "Must See TV" Thursday night in January 2006, where ratings continued to grow. The season hit a ratings peak with the twelfth episode, "The Injury", which was viewed by 10.3 million viewers. The season finale, "Casino Night"—which was also the show's first forty-minute-long episode—was viewed by 7.6 million viewers. By the end of the 2005–06 season, it placed 67th (tied with "20/20"). It averaged eight million viewers, and scored a 4.0/10 in the Nielsen ratings, meaning that on average four percent of households were tuned in at any given moment and ten percent of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into the program. The show received dramatic gains in viewers from the previous year, up forty percent in total viewers and up sixty percent in viewers ages 18–49. A year-end report by NBC noted, ""The Office" was the fastest-growing series on television this season versus last ... "The Office" grew by 60 percent this season in adults 1849 (to an average 4.0 rating from a 2.5 the prior season)."


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: The second season of "The Office" was released largely to critical acclaim and commercial success. Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk wrote that the British version "can't hold a candle to the American" version during this season, due to the show coming "into its own, becoming the best half-hour show on TV." Furthermore, Rizzo wrote that the season was filled with "fantastically real characters" as well as "one of the best-handled romances in TV history". Eric Goldman of IGN noted that season two transformed "The Office" "from a very funny show into a truly brilliant show". Goldman praised the world-building of the season, writing that it "does a wonderful job of developing the rest of the staff of Dunder-Mifflin , something the UK version could never do to this extent". He ultimately gave it a ten out of ten score. Josh Wolk, an "Entertainment Weekly" television critic, said that the show has "perfecting workaday moments so hilariously and relatably awkward that it makes viewers both laugh and cringe".


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: The season was also a commercial success. Midway through the season, a deal was made with Apple Inc to offer the show's episodes for download on the iTunes store. This action, in turn, led to many fans buying the series before the DVD set was released. For some time, "The Carpet", the season's fourteenth episode, was the second most-downloaded episode of a television show in the store, and by early January 2006, episodes from "The Office" occupied ten of the twenty slots in the iTunes list of most popular downloads. In 2006, after the release of the DVD, the second season was the seventeenth highest selling DVD on Amazon that year.


title: The Office (American season 2)

text: The second season of "The Office" received five Primetime Emmy Awards nominations at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards, and won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Other nominations included Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Steve Carell, for his portrayal of Michael Scott, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Michael Schur, for the episode "Christmas Party", and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series for both "Christmas Party", edited by David Rogers, and "Booze Cruise", edited by Dean Holland. Carell also received the Television Critic's Award for Best Individual Achievement in Comedy, and the show received the Television Critic's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. For the episode "Michael's Birthday", Ken Whittingham won the award for Outstanding Director in Comedy Series at the NAACP Image Awards. At the 2007 Writers Guild of America Awards, "The Office" received the award for Best Comedy Series, and Carell won the award for Episodic Comedic Writing for the episode "Casino Night". "The Office" was also honored as a recipient of a Peabody Award in 2006, honoring the show for excellence in radio and/or television broadcasting.


title: Mechanics

text: Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, "mēkhanikḗ", "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects result in displacements, or changes of an object's position relative to its environment.


title: Mechanics

text: Theoretical expositions of this branch of physics has its origins in Ancient Greece, for instance, in the writings of Aristotle and Archimedes (see History of classical mechanics and Timeline of classical mechanics). During the early modern period, scientists such as Galileo, Kepler, Huygens, and Newton laid the foundation for what is now known as classical mechanics.


title: Mechanics

text: As a branch of classical physics, mechanics deals with bodies that are either at rest or are moving with velocities significantly less than the speed of light. It can also be defined as the physical science that deals with the motion of and forces on bodies not in the quantum realm.


title: Mechanics

text: The ancient Greek philosophers were among the first to propose that abstract principles govern nature. The main theory of mechanics in antiquity was Aristotelian mechanics, though an alternative theory is exposed in the pseudo-Aristotelian "Mechanical Problems", often attributed to one of his successors.


title: Mechanics

text: There is another tradition that goes back to the ancient Greeks where mathematics is used more extensively to analyze bodies statically or dynamically, an approach that may have been stimulated by prior work of the Pythagorean Archytas. Examples of this tradition include pseudo-Euclid ("On the Balance"), Archimedes ("On the Equilibrium of Planes", "On Floating Bodies"), Hero ("Mechanica"), and Pappus ("Collection", Book VIII).


title: Mechanics

text: In the Middle Ages, Aristotle's theories were criticized and modified by a number of figures, beginning with John Philoponus in the 6th century. A central problem was that of projectile motion, which was discussed by Hipparchus and Philoponus.


title: Mechanics

text: Persian Islamic polymath Ibn Sīnā published his theory of motion in "The Book of Healing" (1020). He said that an impetus is imparted to a projectile by the thrower, and viewed it as persistent, requiring external forces such as air resistance to dissipate it. Ibn Sina made distinction between 'force' and 'inclination' (called "mayl"), and argued that an object gained mayl when the object is in opposition to its natural motion. So he concluded that continuation of motion is attributed to the inclination that is transferred to the object, and that object will be in motion until the mayl is spent. He also claimed that a projectile in a vacuum would not stop unless it is acted upon, consistent with Newton's first law of motion.


title: Mechanics

text: On the question of a body subject to a constant (uniform) force, the 12th-century Jewish-Arab scholar Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi (born Nathanel, Iraqi, of Baghdad) stated that constant force imparts constant acceleration. According to Shlomo Pines, al-Baghdaadi's theory of motion was "the oldest negation of Aristotle's fundamental dynamic law [namely, that a constant force produces a uniform motion], [and is thus an] anticipation in a vague fashion of the fundamental law of classical mechanics [namely, that a force applied continuously produces acceleration]."


title: Mechanics

text: Influenced by earlier writers such as Ibn Sina and al-Baghdaadi, the 14th-century French priest Jean Buridan developed the theory of impetus, which later developed into the modern theories of inertia, velocity, acceleration and momentum. This work and others was developed in 14th-century England by the Oxford Calculators such as Thomas Bradwardine, who studied and formulated various laws regarding falling bodies. The concept that the main properties of a body are uniformly accelerated motion (as of falling bodies) was worked out by the 14th-century Oxford Calculators.


title: Mechanics

text: Two central figures in the early modern age are Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton. Galileo's final statement of his mechanics, particularly of falling bodies, is his "Two New Sciences" (1638). Newton's 1687 "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" provided a detailed mathematical account of mechanics, using the newly developed mathematics of calculus and providing the basis of Newtonian mechanics.


title: Mechanics

text: There is some dispute over priority of various ideas: Newton's "Principia" is certainly the seminal work and has been tremendously influential, and many of the mathematics results therein could not have been stated earlier without the development of the calculus. However, many of the ideas, particularly as pertain to inertia and falling bodies, had been developed by prior scholars such as Christiaan Huygens and the less-known medieval predecessors. Precise credit is at times difficult or contentious because scientific language and standards of proof changed, so whether medieval statements are "equivalent" to modern statements or "sufficient" proof, or instead "similar" to modern statements and "hypotheses" is often debatable.


title: Mechanics

text: Two main modern developments in mechanics are general relativity of Einstein, and quantum mechanics, both developed in the 20th century based in part on earlier 19th-century ideas. The development in the modern continuum mechanics, particularly in the areas of elasticity, plasticity, fluid dynamics, electrodynamics and thermodynamics of deformable media, started in the second half of the 20th century.


title: Mechanics

text: The often-used term body needs to stand for a wide assortment of objects, including particles, projectiles, spacecraft, stars, parts of machinery, parts of solids, parts of fluids (gases and liquids), etc.


title: Mechanics

text: Other distinctions between the various sub-disciplines of mechanics, concern the nature of the bodies being described. Particles are bodies with little (known) internal structure, treated as mathematical points in classical mechanics. Rigid bodies have size and shape, but retain a simplicity close to that of the particle, adding just a few so-called degrees of freedom, such as orientation in space.


title: Mechanics

text: Otherwise, bodies may be semi-rigid, i.e. elastic, or non-rigid, i.e. fluid. These subjects have both classical and quantum divisions of study.


title: Mechanics

text: For instance, the motion of a spacecraft, regarding its orbit and attitude (rotation), is described by the relativistic theory of classical mechanics, while the analogous movements of an atomic nucleus are described by quantum mechanics.


title: Mechanics

text: Note that there is also the "theory of fields" which constitutes a separate discipline in physics, formally treated as distinct from mechanics, whether classical fields or quantum fields. But in actual practice, subjects belonging to mechanics and fields are closely interwoven. Thus, for instance, forces that act on particles are frequently derived from fields (electromagnetic or gravitational), and particles generate fields by acting as sources. In fact, in quantum mechanics, particles themselves are fields, as described theoretically by the wave function.


title: Mechanics

text: Historically, classical mechanics had been around for nearly a quarter millennium before quantum mechanics developed. Classical mechanics originated with Isaac Newton's laws of motion in Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, developed over the seventeenth century. Quantum mechanics developed later, over the nineteenth century, precipitated by Planck's postulate and Albert Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect. Both fields are commonly held to constitute the most certain knowledge that exists about physical nature.


title: Mechanics

text: Classical mechanics has especially often been viewed as a model for other so-called exact sciences. Essential in this respect is the extensive use of mathematics in theories, as well as the decisive role played by experiment in generating and testing them.


title: Mechanics

text: Quantum mechanics is of a bigger scope, as it encompasses classical mechanics as a sub-discipline which applies under certain restricted circumstances. According to the correspondence principle, there is no contradiction or conflict between the two subjects, each simply pertains to specific situations. The correspondence principle states that the behavior of systems described by quantum theories reproduces classical physics in the limit of large quantum numbers, i.e. if quantum mechanics is applied to large systems (for e.g. a baseball), the result would almost be the same if classical mechanics had been applied. Quantum mechanics has superseded classical mechanics at the foundation level and is indispensable for the explanation and prediction of processes at the molecular, atomic, and sub-atomic level. However, for macroscopic processes classical mechanics is able to solve problems which are unmanageably difficult (mainly due to computational limits) in quantum mechanics and hence remains useful and well used.


title: Mechanics

text: Modern descriptions of such behavior begin with a careful definition of such quantities as displacement (distance moved), time, velocity, acceleration, mass, and force. Until about 400 years ago, however, motion was explained from a very different point of view. For example, following the ideas of Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle, scientists reasoned that a cannonball falls down because its natural position is in the Earth; the sun, the moon, and the stars travel in circles around the earth because it is the nature of heavenly objects to travel in perfect circles.


title: Mechanics

text: Often cited as father to modern science, Galileo brought together the ideas of other great thinkers of his time and began to calculate motion in terms of distance travelled from some starting position and the time that it took. He showed that the speed of falling objects increases steadily during the time of their fall. This acceleration is the same for heavy objects as for light ones, provided air friction (air resistance) is discounted. The English mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton improved this analysis by defining force and mass and relating these to acceleration. For objects traveling at speeds close to the speed of light, Newton's laws were superseded by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. [A sentence illustrating the computational complication of Einstein's theory of relativity.] For atomic and subatomic particles, Newton's laws were superseded by quantum theory. For everyday phenomena, however, Newton's three laws of motion remain the cornerstone of dynamics, which is the study of what causes motion.